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Electronic Arts has published its quarterly report. CFO Stuart Canfield commented on Apex Legends in a webcast:
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In a highly competitive quarter, Apex Legends did not meet our expectations, as our teams continue to learn and iterate with each new season and event. In the past few weeks, our recent cross-over promotion showed early promising signals, delivering two of our highest net bookings days over the fiscal year.
With Season 20 launching in February, our teams will deliver more innovation as we continue to build for the long-term. We remain committed to Apex Legends, a proven franchise with loyal fans, and we will continue to invest in opportunities to drive new growth points as we build and expand the franchise over time through engaging a broader base of players.

Other interesting quotes from the webcast:
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Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Marok with Raymond James.
Andrew Marok: "(...) I wanted to dig into a couple of things on the recent Apex event this last month with FINAL FANTASY. So commentary sounded really good in the prepared remarks, but with the dynamic that versus prior collection events, it was maybe less expensive for the first few items, but more expensive to complete. How did that affect payer dynamics and what are some of the key learnings coming out of that event for you guys?"
Andrew Wilson (CEO EA): "I guess - at a macro level we're really, really happy with that event. It was very well received by the community and it actually performed incredibly well. And certainly as we were in what was a very, very competitive quarter, there were a couple of competitive titles that, actually did some really unique and interesting things in the quarter. And so, the performance of Apex with that collection event in the context of some of these other unique things happening in the competitive landscape.
We think shows tremendous promise for how the franchise continues into Season 20 and beyond. I've spent a lot of time with the team lately. The team are very committed to the game. They're very committed to the community. They're working diligently to offer new types of content and new types of mechanics into the game. And they've put tools in place to test those meaningfully to ensure that, both they're enhancing gameplay.
But also that they're fulfilling the needs and motivations of the community. And I'm very encouraged by what we saw out of that collection event. And I'm very encouraged as we go into Season 20 and all the new and interesting things that the team's doing."

Source: https://seekingalpha.com/article/4666199-electronic-arts-inc-ea-q3-2024-earnings-call-transcript

The Patrol Part 8
By TheSouthernSir
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First Previous
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** In this installment, marines do more than eat crayons while taking stock of the aftermath. The Sullivans joins the fight and the enemy shows some flex. **
On the planet, Scout Explorer Reese was being a go between for the Marines and the natives despite the fact the translation program was doing ok, Lieutenant Ahonen wasn’t much of a diplomat. He tried of course, he was trained, passed his classes and even did better than some others, it still was not what anyone would mistake as his strong suite. He had casualties and was seeing to them and the security of the village and his troops. “Corporal, where are we on the stragglers?” “Sir” the Corporal replied “2 teams of 6 are on it though they report little luck. It seems the local wildlife is also hunting the runners. According to Pratt, there may be 2 or 3 left but they have gone to ground. It’s only a matter of time until they are all accounted for.” “Good, keep me apprised and tell the troops to avoid the wildlife if possible and no one and I mean NO ONE is to try and sneak back any so-called pets.” Ahonen nodded, he didn’t know what was up but he didn’t want to cause any more problems with the locals if he could help it. “And get that scout over here.” Cleanup on this was going to be massive and with the shelter in place order, he would just have to wait for news of the space battle. In the meantime, he was going to assume that they were on their own and make preparations accordingly.
“Reese is it?” The Lieutenant called out to the Scout. “You handled yourself well, good intel, my men and I appreciate it.” “Thank you Lieutenant” Reese replied without going on, knowing that usually there was more. “We have casualties and are setting up a bivouac, see if there are natives that need help and then see what you can do with the ones on that ship.” “Yes Sir, I will take care of it” Reese had been doing just that when he was summoned. “And Reese, see if you can find out what is, ummmm, acceptable to do with the native casualties. We can’t have their dead rotting all over the place.” With that, Marson slumped a little with the creeping realization of the events that had transpired. He wasn’t a rookie, he had seen plenty in his career with the Exploration corps though it always affected him. “Yes Sir, I will see what can be done.” For a moment, he thought he even saw a crack in the Lieutenant’s shell as he turned and focused on a dead native that was burned horribly and shook his head before moving on to supervise the coming work.
Marson Reese had always wanted to see the universe, travel among the stars and as a child idolized the early explorers, Lewis and Clark, Marco Polo, Neil Armstrong, Zheng He, Han Thue and the like. People that didn’t go conquering but where there to see what could be seen and tell stories about it had always thrilled him. He loved his work, the sights he had seen and the stories he could tell and those others told to him were almost not to be believed. He wasn’t sure where this story would sit in the mix, would it be seen as sad, happy, adventure or terror, only history would tell. For now, he would swallow his pain, focus on the needs of the situation and see to the natives as best he could. He went to find help and found those still in the meeting chamber, all catching up with each other just in time to head off a standoff. “What’s going on?” he asked looking at a Marine medic standing at the end of a spear. The medic looked at the scout and slowly pointed at one of the natives who was hurt. Raybek and one of the others were keeping the marine at distance, after all, other humans had hurt them and the only human they had spoken to was Reese. Raybek spoke up, the translation was a bit gapped but amounted to “….. ……. too much hurt, …….. let no hurt.” The marine and Reese both nodded. “Raybek, he is a healer. He wants to heal. Let try heal.” After a short time, they looked at each other and then lowered the spear. The medic took this as a sign and moved slowly to examine the injured elder on the floor. He slowly treated some scrapes, cuts and braced an injured leg. Watching closely, the others nodded and spoke, “Thanks given.” The medic nodded and slowly looked to the next person.
Marson exhaled slowly as the tension dropped. He then looked to Raybek and asked “Who are Elders, spirit leaders, priests? I talk.” Raybek nodded and pointed to an elderly native with two younger natives guarding him. Marson approached and then lowered to a knee. “Elder, may I speak?” The Elder spoke, gently and firmly, “Speak outsider.” Marson bowed his head slightly, “Thank you elder. My people healing, need help to speak with hurt. Much fear, can you meet?” The elder spoke “Raybek help, Lamark help.” Both of the young men looked and came over quickly as they heard their names called. “Help outsider, help hurt.” They agreed. Marson spoke some more. “My people honor your dead.” The elder listened, thought a moment, “What is dead?” Marson pointed to the dead pirate across the room, “Dead, no move, no breath.” The elder responded, “No spirit.” Marson agreed, “No spirit, dead, my people, how honor no spirit.” The elder called across to another that came over and then he spoke to them, “Teach honor no spirit.” The other responded “Yes elder, honor no spirit.” Marson bowed his head to the elder, “Thanks given.” He took the teacher and introduced them to the marines ready to deal with the dead bodies and the teacher taught them how to care for the dead respectfully. The marines, while not being particularly diplomatic, did exactly as instructed and over the next few hours gathered the dead. Two more marine medics joined Reese and the others as they went to the ship to see about the prisoners. Slowly, they released them, cared for them and rejoined those not too badly injured to the main group. It was clear this was a humanitarian or xenotarian crisis now and just as marines have done for hundreds of years, they were there to bring aid to those in need.
Elsewhere in the cosmos, Gaia smiled softly to Marok and Leesha speaking kindly. “Your children are safe now. My children will see that they are safe in the future so they can grow as you guide them.” Marok looked to her, his sadness fading, “But your children hurt them and the others. How can they trust?” Gaia looked at him with a sadness, “Yes, some of my children are wayward and in pain and cause pain to others without cause. Much as I am sure you have had children stray, we all have. It will take time, my children will prove trust and in time, all will be strong friends and, in more time, equals.” Marok looked to his wife for reassurance and she nodded as she gripped his hand firmly, “It will take time, for now, we need to help our children heal.” Marok looked back onto the world and sighed, “Yes, perhaps, it will take time.”
Back aboard the Munro the translation event was called out by Ensign Gagnon, “Captain, translation event, bigger than the previous, range, 680K, waveform suggests fleet, emergence now.” The Captain nodded, “That’s The Sullivans. Comms, get them on the line, Fornier, maintain evasive and bring us around to a supporting position, maybe we can help Pincer this thing.” Captain Gerardo looked at the tactical display in her helmet. As the Sullivans translated into normal space, in moments, they threw themselves into the fight. In short order they brought their main rail cannon to bear on Juno and began firing steady rate shots. Due to the range, the enemy was able to evade however, it did seem to make them a slightly easier target for Foxtrot and Golf as the number of hits from both increased. “Incoming message from The Sullivans” comms announced. “On screen.” The older Chinese man appeared on the screen in standard naval space combat armor a smile on his face as he began to talk. “Captain Gerardo, glad I didn’t miss the party. It seems you have been through it, how are you holding up?” With a wry smile Dalia replied, “Last report, the marines on the ground have things in hand, sheltering in place. We will need significant repairs but are at about 65% combat effectiveness. Juno, that new ship is a tough nut. We are not out of the fight yet.”
Just as she said that, an icon on the tactical display flared and went dark. One of the original snake ships, Golf, took enough hits that it’s power core shut down. The other snake ship, Foxtrot was doing much better with the evasive maneuvers and delivering lots of accurate plasma fire onto Juno. Unfortunately, Juno is really a tough nut to crack and it doesn’t seem to have lost much combat ability. “Looks like we might be left to deal with this one on our own.” Captain Liu, also watching the tactical display nodded. “It does look like that. Guess it’s time for us to give them the good news and get stuck in. If you can captain, let’s keep you at range a bit so they have to divide fire. If Juno doesn’t take out Hotel and India, we will have to deal with them too.” Captain Gerardo nodded, “Yep, guess we need to get to work. Initiating tactical link, weapons will coordinate fire. We are a little light on missiles but plenty of rail ammo available. Tactical readouts should be coming online.” A tactical link allowed real time updates of all sensor and tactical data between Federal or Navy ships. It allowed coordination between weapon strikes, sensor data and ship status to a degree that bordered on AI. People still made the decisions; they just had a lot better situational awareness than ever before. Liu replied, “Yes, we have them now, moving to engage. Liu out.”
With that, the broadcast on the main screen ended and the tactical display resumed. Foxtrot was doing a good job evading while hammering Juno relentlessly. This alien was good and knew his ship well. They were concentrating fire well on one hemisphere of the enemy ship. Juno, for it’s part was pouring loads of fire out in all directions, it really was a brick covered with guns, a very large, very solid brick with loads of armor. Both of the human pirate ships unload their full missile load at Juno, 6 missiles each as they hope to overwhelm the defensive systems as they add their own anti-ship laser fire to the damage that Foxtrot is doing. Just then, Lieutenant Lagunov called out, “Prepare for rail, coordinating in 3, 2, 1, NOW!” The ship’s acceleration cut, then everyone was slammed sideways a moment as the ship pivoted around it’s center of mass precisely to aim the rail and then the vibration is felt as the rail begins to fire. Whooomp, pause, whoomp, pause, whoomp, is felt though the ship as the fire mission is launched toward the enemy, 135mm tungsten-lead slugs hurled at the enemy from this long range, 2 more shots and then the ship rotates back to the path of flight and resumes acceleration. “Fire mission complete” Lagunov announces. As they started this sequence, some portion of a second later The Sullivans also pivoted to aim though they had less to rotate through since they were already heading toward the enemy and their 150mm main rail fired it’s own tungsten-lead slugs. Both flights of shots, coordinated by the targeting computers of the two ships working together to predict the target’s flightpath. The first 2 shots of each miss as the enemy ship evades, the next 3 impact but not solidly from The Sullivans. One bounces off a glancing blow of the shielding with seemingly no effect, another is solidly deflected from the armor with a shower of sparks and one seems to hit somewhat solidly but between the shielding and armor, there are no sparks and no apparent effect. Similar results are had from the Munro’s shots however one of theirs seems to remove a defensive weapon from the target in a shower of shrapnel. “Good hits, minor damage” Lagunov reports.
Gerardo winced at the news, the display showing the missiles closing in and then the massive array of defensive turrets open up, the space between the ship and the missiles flash brightly with streams of plasma bolts lashing out toward the missiles. A moment later, the flashes of exploding missiles fill the void, not a single missile finds it’s mark. The human slavers then break off to evade combat as it seems clear that their weaponry isn’t adding to the fight. “Firing in 3, 2, 1!” Lagunov calls out as again the ship dances around it’s axis and another series of rail shots are launched in coordination with The Sullivans. This time the enemy cruiser avoids more of the shots and takes minimal damage. It’s shields weakening slightly and it’s armor proving very substantial. Captain Gerardo hits her comms, “Liu, this isn’t working, sooner or later it’s going to run out of other targets to shoot.” “I agree Captain, did you have an idea?” Liu retorted. “Well, as long as it’s point defense is so strong, missiles won’t score hits, perhaps if we close into cannon range and work to strip it of defensive armaments it might help, otherwise we will have to just sit at long range and see which gives out first, our magazines or it’s shields and armor” “Yeah, pretty straight forward right? Wish I had something creative or novel to add but it seems pretty straight forward” Liu replied then went on “It does seem that that Foxtrot has focused on one hemisphere.” Gerardo nodded, “Well, let’s get to work.
With that, The Sullivans and the Munro turned into the combat and began in earnest to lay siege to the enemy cruiser. It was evident that this would not be a speedy fight and it was in fact a dangerous opponent. Just as they began a series of maneuvers to bring them into the fight at a fair range but enough outside the range of plasma fire, the human slavers decided to take this opportunity to attack the Munro seeing it as the weaker target. As lasers lanced through space and peppered the shielding of the Munro, they conducted evasive maneuvers. Captain Gerardo “Damnit! Weapons, try to disable them but if you don’t see an opening quickly, knock them out. Lieutenant Lagunov replied “On it, firing.” All the main laser cannons focused the closest slaver ship and the space between the two became a very unhealthy place to be. Both taking hits however it was quickly clear the offensive firepower and accuracy of fire from the Munro was wining the engagement. Just then, their target took a rail shot through the main drive housing and their drive flared and went out as the ship lost power. “That’s one you owe me” Captain Liu chuckled. Captain Gerardo nodded as damage reports came in. “Lagunov, end it!” With that command, the ship twisted on it’s center of mass again and 2 rail shots later along with supporting shots from The Sullivans and the second human slaver ship was a tangled mess of scrap. It didn’t detonate but having your drive section ripped off the main hull wasn’t a good.
“Shields, 41%, troop deck and both cargo bays compromised, casualties in engineering, the reactor and drives are stable Captain” Dobbs reported. It was a bit grim but there was still fight in the Munro. Captain Gerardo keyed the comms, “Engineering, this is the Captain, Status report.” “Captain, Engineering here, Ensign Abera here Lieutenant Commander Mackie is injured but not seriously, the reactor is unharmed, drive is fully functional. We have taken a beating but we are still in the fight.” “Good job Abera, do your best, Captain out.” With the slavers out of the fight, Foxtrot seemed to be occupied, that left Juno and now, with a clear field to fight, we could focus all efforts on them. She keyed her comms again, “Back to business Liu, we are in rough shape but still in the fight.” Captain Liu nodded, “Aye, keep dispersed, at range and let’s keep them pincered between us and basically ignore Foxtrot unless it wants to shoot at us.” “I agree, I will engage with hive rounds to try and drain their shields and maybe strip some of that weaponry” Captain Gerardo stated. “Good plan, engaging now” Liu replied.
“Weapons, switch to hive, let’s see if we can drain their shields from range” the Captain commanded. “Aye Aye Captain.” Hive rounds were much larger and slower, where as the standard tungsten-lead round was a heavy, hard tip/cored round designed to penetrate targets, the hive rounds were a canaster of nickel lead darts packed as tightly as possible around a very small explosive core designed to disperse the darts when close to the target. It was designed to deliver as much kinetic energy as possible to the target without ricochet. They are also useful for engaging missiles at range. Just then, the ship pivoted and the rail fired round after round, pivoting back after 6 rounds. These rounds had a much longer time to target, as they approached the target and it’s evasion, The Sullivans was firing nearly constantly. As the rounds closed on the target, just before impact, they explode and basically create a small cloud of projectiles. After multiple strikes, Juno was showing signs of some shield depletion. All the while Foxtrot was pouring plasma fire into the target while suffering almost constant return fire. Juno eventually wised up and started to direct fire from the unoccupied weapons toward the human ships.
Noticing the pattern, Gerardo thought for a moment and then in the tactical display, ran back the previous few minutes of sensor track at high speed to confirm, then, “Fornier, get us around behind Foxtrot at range and keep it between us and Juno.” Keying her comms, “Liu, Foxtrot has been doing it’s best to limit fire to a single hemisphere of Juno, I suggest we try the same if we can.” “Agreed” came the reply from Liu. Both human ships moved in position as they began to alternate firing missions, shot after shot poured into the enemy ship, Foxtrot poured fire into it as well, it’s own shields and armor taking a heavy beating, many of it’s weapons were not functional but it fought on. Juno had begun to take damage as well, several of its weapon emplacements were wrecked. Apparently, either the ability to retreat was lost or both parties simply didn’t want too. The Sullivans had taken a lot of fire as well, it’s shields were half gone, it’s armor pock marked and showing some damage. As all the ships poured fire into Juno, it’s combat capability didn’t seem to be much reduced. It had lost a few main lasers but it had so many that didn’t really make a difference and it had lost more than a few defensive weapons.
Abord the Star’s Talon, Prime Claw Tharth was frustrated and angry. This was to have been a lucrative deal to allow him to recover from a couple of bad quarters. Now, these monkeys have wrecked it on top of that ass Rolock showing up. Worse, due to some engineering issue, likely from subpar maintenance, the Star’s Grasp was out of action. It’s firepower is missed because this Rekitaw cruiser was proving that their reputation as tough if uninspired design was well earned. Tharth was considering disengaging the fight, at least he had that useless Zarsh he could torture and then drop the blame on to keep operating for a few more quarters. Then there were those monkeys were helping take some of the fire so he might could last until the others arrived. “Sssssshhhhaaa” Tharth exhaled in frustration, “Open the fight, bide our time for the reinforcementssss to arrive.” His navigator affirmed his command and they opened up the attack vector while weapons continued to pour fire into the Rekitaw ship.
Captain Liu decides to take a risk and unloads a flurry of 8 missiles at Juno in combination with the ongoing rail fire. Captain Gerardo takes the cue, “Weapons, 6 torpedoes, now.” Moments later, the missiles are ejected from the multiple launchers and flash alive, accelerating toward the enemy. The Munro continued to coordinate rail fire against the enemy, throwing another burst of hive rounds timed to land slightly before the first of the missiles could reach the target. Multiple hits from both working to saturate the shields of the enemy flashed brightly as the close in defensive turrets of the enemy light up the missiles. It was clear that the fields of fire were less than before, the ship thrusting sideways to bring some of the missiles into lines of fire. Multiple missiles were incinerated as they grew close, each of the missiles blossoming out into large ball of expanding plasma, each successive missile getting closer and closer before exploding. In a flash of light, an all-new, much larger explosion was seen. “Damn, good hit, confirmed, good hit Captain” Lagunov shouted! Captain Gerardo nodded, “At last some good news.”
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First Previous

The Patrol Part 6.
by TheSouthernSir
First Previous Next
** In this episode, space explosions, ship damage, some info about the enemy and things settle down. Or do they? **
Just then 4 missiles are coughed from their launch tubes and fall behind the ship as it continues accelerating, the lasers from both ships flashing back and forth, they tumble to point toward Alpha and flare to life. Almost instantly they are accelerating at 60+ Gs and tracking their target. Simultaneously laser cannons light up the space between the ships as both take a few hits. “Captain, shields are at 22%, we can’t take much more” Dobbs called out. The Captain bellowed out orders, “Pilot, bring us around now, maximum burn! Steady Weapons.” Without hesitation, Fornier slams the ship into as tight an arc as the ship groans and shakes, everyone is slammed into their acceleration seats and the Munro turns to the offense. Just as the nose begins coming around, the missiles are approaching Alpha and Gagnon starts counting down, “3, 2, . . .” “NOW!” Captain Gerardo shouted and almost instantly the acceleration G forces stopped and everyone was momentarily weightless, the ship snapped on its axis to bring the rail cannon to bear on the target and everyone was again slammed sideways.
The missiles exploded just a moment before impact with 4 massive flares just as Alpha’s defensive cannons started to open up, in the chaos of this, Lugunov triggered the railcannon in a rapid-fire burst, the ship shuddered with a staccato thump, thump, thump as 135mm by 2.5m tungsten lead darts are hurled at the target mercilessly. The target was rolling to try and evade the missiles and with the flash from their detonations, there is little more than a second as the deadly projectiles cross the distance and slam into parts of Alpha. The initial shot barely clips one of the laser cannons with a shower of sparks and exploding, vaporized metal. The Munro is facing the enemy head on, sliding sideways along the path of its momentum as it fires shot after shot. The second shot slams into the ship’s midsection passing right through it with a spray of sparks. The third shot hits the second laser cannon at the base and completely rips it free as the ship beings to tumble. The fourth seems to core it from the front through a portion of the ship exiting out the side a bit since the ship is now tumbling. Two more shots and the ship beings to break apart as the ship is now tumbling out of control and Lagunov ceases firing as the temperature hits 67% maximum. “Captain, the target is neutralized, no energy signatures and tumbling uncontrolled, rail temp is 67%” he reports.
“Sensors, how far away is the other group?” the Captain asked. Ensign Gagnon reports “4 minutes 40 seconds until standard missile lock.” “Good” she replied, “Pilot, keep them off of us, open the distance if possible but keep them on our tail. We don’t want them turning their attention to the planet.” Settling in her seat as the acceleration forces return, “XO, report.” Lieutenant Commander Dobbs looked over the reports coming in to his station, “Shield at 21% and charging, estimated 23 minutes until capacitors are fully charged. We lost defensive turrets 3, 6 and 7. The remaining turrets will be reloaded in 2 minutes. Rear turret 5 is out, engineering does not have an estimate yet. Sections E3, 5 and 6 are depressurized, engineering is working on it, they expect to have them sealed in 3-5 minutes. The galley took a hit and section C2 through 5 are depressurized. Engineering doesn’t have an estimate yet but it looks like we will be eating ration packs for a while. Medical reports eleven casualties, three fatalities. We are down to 20 missiles; radiators are operating at 84% efficiency so the rail will be ready for full burst fire in about 7 minutes. Range to the other group is 224 thousand kilometers.”
“Well, it could have been worse, have engineering and medical keep us apprised” Captain Gerardo retorted. She pulled up the tactical display and started thinking of what is next. They couldn’t keep up the acceleration forever, modern naval personal armor, modern anti-acceleration drugs, modern acceleration chairs and training can do a lot but extended high G acceleration is dangerous and deeply fatiguing. “Fornier, keep us ahead of them. Anything other than the planet we can use to lure them into a case of ring around the rosy?” Gagnon replied “No Captain, planet 3 is several hours away at sublight and this planet has no satellite.” Dalia thought a moment, remember to focus on one problem at a time, “Ok then, Fornier, planet it is, let’s lead them away from the landing sites and if possible, let’s see what we can to do reduce acceleration. What do you reckon their max speed is” she asked. Fornier replied “We are at 82% of our max, I guess we will find out.” “Weapons, if possible, let’s take a few pot shots from time to time with the rail to keep them interested. Let me know the moment those aliens fire at us. Until then, keep it limited to the humans.” For the next hour and a half, intermittent spurts of acceleration saw them approach 91% of maximum speed. They kept slightly opening the distance but kept the enemy at a distance. At the pursuit speed, everyone could relax as acceleration is reduced.
“Captain, we are keeping pace, going back and forth but we can’t keep this up forever, sooner or later they will either give up or one or the other of us will run out of reaction mass” Fornier reported. The Captain knew it was true, just a matter of time. Engineering was doing great work as most sections were repressurized and they were able to restore power to turret 5. At least for now, they were out of weapons range and still in fighting shape. Captain Gerardo took the time to update command. “Captain Resser, we took a beating but are still in fighting shape. Defensives are a bit reduced and we are playing tag with the group of cruisers and the pirate craft around the planet. The marines have secured the natives, are mopping things up and sheltering in place. Either we are faster than they are or they are happy to play chase for a bit. I assume they are waiting on the reinforcements to help spread out and pin us down.” Captain Ressler nodded, “That’s our assessment as well. Liu should be there shortly so if you can avoid getting into a furball until then, at least you will have some backup.” “Aye Captain, we will do our best. Gerardo out.”
Back on the planet, Lieutenant Ahonen had rounded up a few strays, a few had run to ground. They had managed to find one snake alive though fairly injured, hiding in Box 1. Apparently, the snakes’ bodies were not too fond of 10mm light AP. While he couldn’t talk to the snake, some body language is universal. The wounds were tended as best as they knew how and the prisoner was bound and put in one of the cages in the cargo vessels holds. They even found some containers of what they assumed were rations in what looked like a galley to give the prisoner. Medics were fixing up the hurt natives though without advanced scanning equipment they were limited in just how much care they could provide. Slowly the crimes of these slavers came to light as they searched the buildings, discovered the grizzly evidence and made a security perimeter.
About half the marines were cleaning up the mess, gathering bodies, putting out fires and the like. The remains of the two the marines killed by the anti-ship laser from one of the ships were recovered. All were accounted for and then skirmish parties were sent out to find the stragglers. On more than one occasion, it was reported that a wild best of one kind or another attacked the stragglers. One marine reported that one of the large pig/hippo beasts was even seen to be tossing the body of a pirate around like it was playing fetch with itself. Her follow up comment gathered a laugh by the lieutenant. His reply was simply, “No, Specialist, you can’t take it back with you and I better not find you or anyone else trying to smuggle one of it’s young.”
After the marines had stormed in, after the stranger Ree-eese explained they were not the same and they were friend, it started to became clear that the threat had passed, Mother finally broke down in tears, sobbing uncontrollably as she held her children close. Many of the other natives also seemed to break down as the situation stabilized and they realized they were safe. After a bit, one of the older natives among the captives, though beaten and bruised, rose and stepped forward to Raybek. He took up Raybek’s spear, wiped a finger across the blade gathering some of the blood. He handed the spear back to Raybek. Some of the others took note and turned to face the elder falling silent. The elder took the bloodied finger and reached out and made a sigil on Raybek’s head in the middle of his 4 eyes. He bowed his head and spoke some words quietly and then clasped Raybek’s hand and then loudly proclaimed, “In battle you have become a man. I, Ru’kek proclaim it. Stand proud warrior, Son of Marok.” The rest of the men thumped their chest with their off arm and cheered as the women bowed their heads. Mother wiped her tears, stood, hugged her son and then bowed her head to him as well. The marines stood quiet and gave the across the chest salute as well. Then, as things settled down, somewhat some of the marines took off their helmets, much to the shock of some of the natives as medics began to move forward and deliver medical care. The translation program was very helpful, even if limited.
Aboard the Star’s Talon, Prime Claw Tharth had watched the battle with interest. He was somewhat impressed by this ship of hairless apes. They were decisive, somewhat clever and it appeared their ship could take a bit of a beating. It was faster than the Star’s Talon but that was to be expected given that it was at least 5 times the mass of the smaller ship. “Sensors, report, what do you know about this small hooman sship?” His sensor officer turned, “My Prime, it is a sssmall combat craft, it appears to be built around a central massss accelerator, it has 6 energy pumped focused light weapons and multiple ssshort range, rapid fire, projectile launchers. Further it has launchers for high ssspeed, ssself-guided, atomic fusion weapons, it currently has 20 on board.” The Prime Claw was somewhat impressed though curious at the interesting choice of ballistics. “My Prime, the accelerator significantly outranges our particle weapons.” The Prime Claw took in the information and considered the implications. This unknown ship from an unknown star empire using ballistic weapons had just taken on multiple targets and defeated them and did not seem significantly diminished. “Communications, what is the status on that message they sent?”
The Prime Claw wasn’t a rash or hot-headed individual, you didn’t become a Prime that way. Something was eating at him. This “deal” went from a cheap and easy profit and return on the money that Idiot Zarsh had borrowed to something much worse. These hairless apes appeared pretty clever and apparently, they had some internal conflict going on. Perhaps one he could make money off of, perhaps not. But that might only be possible if he could keep from starting some kind of incident. Of course, that would mean leaving them to their own devices and dealing with that idiot Zarsh. Like so many younger belly crawlers, he had ambition, aggressiveness and greed, but he didn’t have patience and awareness and that was going to be the end of him. The Prime Claw shook his head as he left his revelry, “COMMS!” he bellowed.
The harried Communications officer turned with a terrified look on his face and stuttered, “Ap p pologies Prime C c claw, we still don’t have a full translation, as best we can tell, they are some kind of law enforcement and the hoomans are to be confined. I think they want us to stay out of it Prime Claw.” The comms officer then cowered hoping to not be relieved of his position and his life due to his struggles with this alien language. He glared at the comms officer and the officer shrank back further. “Get that belly crawler in here since he has dealt with these monkeys and see if he can help figure it out. Make sure that he knows it was my command and it needs to happen FAST.” He thought to himself, it looks like this easy job and nice payoff might be down the river. He would stick around for a while longer, maybe the belly crawler will yet pull it out. He does still have 2 good sized ships at his disposal and that little hooman ship has just been through a fight, it’s hard to judge the damage but who knows how sturdy it is.
Zarsh was brought in to review the message, the humans on the other two ships had told him what it said before and like all perfectly good criminals with a bit of a gang behind him, he promptly ignored it. Now things had gone as twisted as the Harek river delta, the humans were mad at him since their ships had been destroyed a few minutes earlier, they hadn’t heard anything from the surface and the last message was that there was an attack. Now, he was being dragged up to the bridge to face the Prime Claw. This went from a sweet deal to a giant cesspool and he would have to keep his wits if he wanted to keep his guts.
Across the gulf of space, the cat and mouse game continued, repairs went well as they made quick course changes and kept up the job of keeping the distance open. From time to time, the Munro would do a cartwheel to bring the railgun to bear and let loose a shot or two toward the human pirate ships Hotel and India. Of course, with the range, they could dodge relatively easily but they had no weapons that could reach the Munro in return other than missiles and those are always in short supply. Captain Gerardo looked over the plot table and the situation, so far, they hadn’t turned back, broken up or headed for the surface. She was also aware of the incoming reinforcements expected for the aliens as well as her own expected backup. As she poured over the tactical display with the XO, comms chirped. “This is the bridge, go ahead.” “Bridge, engineering, Mackie here.” “Go ahead.” Lieutenant Commander Mackie began his report. “Captain, we have repressurized all necessary areas, the marine armory and storage area 2 remain depressurized, we can’t recover those with materials on hand. Number 5 turret is functional but at 73% effectiveness. It will be slower and doesn’t have the full range of movement. I was able to get a team to access defensive turret 7 and it’s back up and going, 3 and 6 are total losses.” Gerardo replied, “Great job, tell your section that when we get back to port, I am buying everyone a round.” “Aye Captain, I will. Try and keep us in one piece. Mackey out.”
As always, the professionalism and skill of the engineering team impressed the Captain. Some of those kids were barely out of their AIT tech school and barely older than 21 but their skills continued to impress even with the new tech. Gerardo hit the comms, “Medical, this is the Captain, report.” “Captain, corpsman Ricks here, the chief is finishing up surgery on Ensign Harrod, she took a serious shrapnel when the defensive turret was hit. We have eleven casualties, 2 serious, 4 are back at station, the rest are either in the infirmary or bedded in quarters nearest the infirmary rigged for acceleration.” “Thank you, Ricks, keep up the good work, hopefully we won’t have any more for you. Gerardo out.” She turned, “Gagnon, anything new on sensors to worry about?” The ever present and somewhat fidgety sensor officer and navigator turned to face the Captain, “No Ma’am, no new contacts, no debris or hazards in our immediate area. The aliens and hostiles seem content to pace us for now. The alien reinforcements have an unknown ETA as long-range scans are intermittent, they are passing through some kind of nebulae/irradiated area or some other space phenomena that our, and fleet’s, long range sensors are struggling with.”
She nodded as she considered the report, no surprises so far. “What about the enemy ship debris?” “It’s in a degrading orbit, the closest fragments should begin reentry in 28 hours or so. As long as we stay out of low orbit range, we should be safe.” “Good, keep me informed if something or someone else shows up. It wouldn’t do to bounce off a random asteroid or junk in the middle of a fight. It’s just bad form.” “Aye aye Ma’am.”
Captain Gerardo took a moment to take stock of the situation, thinking through options and issues as she ate a combat ration bar and sipped an energy drink packet. While they did the trick for food and hydration, no one could tell you that a 1500 calorie, high protein, moderated release carb mix bar made from a concoction of plant paste supplemented with vitamins, minerals and some so called “real fruit chunks” was tasty, preferred or whatever. Supposedly there are marines that will trade for these and use them as “ante” in poker. Of course, marines will play poker with grenades, ammunition and clean socks as bids so there is that. The drink pouch was much better, it genuinely tasted of apple juice though it was less sugar and had some electrolytes in it. High acceleration took energy, the constant, trained clenching of muscles, the contraction of the space armor suits, the simple act of keeping your limbs in place to operate ships systems took a lot of exertion in combat. Artificial gravity was new, it mostly works at low acceleration speeds but in combat, you can’t have people trying to compensate for gravity in one direction and inertia in another, it’s just too much. It’s good everyone got their rest, they needed it.
Just as she was about to take another bite of her bar, an alarm blared and Enson Gagnon’s station lit up like a Vegas casino marquis. Gagnon yelled “Captain, transition in progress, it’s pretty big and sensors didn’t detect in before! Range, 860 thousand kilometers ahead off our port bow and we are closing fast.” “DAMNIT!” she yelled, “Weapons, get a lock as soon as you can, Pilot, get us out of here, maximum acceleration in 5 seconds.” She tossed the food aside and keyed the comms.
“ALL HANDS, MAXIMUM ACCELERATION NOW!”
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This post might come across as a sort of stream of consciousness (as most of my posts tend to be) but I spent some time thinking about Ahsoka today (as I've done recently) and I came to a few really cool realizations about Paganism's influence on Ahsoka's lore.
To start, we have Morgan Elsbeth, a witch who practices a very different form of the force called Magik.
Baylan and Shin's last names, Skoll and Hati are references to the wolves in Norse mythology who chased the sun and the moon across the sky.
Marok is a name lifted from Arthurian myth, which is known to have very Pagan influences. In the tale, a knight is transformed by a witch into a werewolf.
The symbols the ancient Nightsisters use to represent Peridea is the triquetra, a symbol used to represent the Triple Goddess in Neopaganism
The Triple Goddess is a goddess in Neopaganism that represents three aspects of a woman's life. The maiden, the mother, and the crone. The maiden represents youthful inexperience and eagerness, the mother represents caring and nurturing, the crone represents experience and wisdom.
In Jungian psychology, the triple goddess is considered an archetype, a representation of a universal idea present in the collective unconsciousness. (I know that's a lot, but Yung also heavily influenced Joseph Campbell and George Lucas when crafting Luke's arc (look into Luke's integration of his shadow to learn more about that))
These archetypes have also been present in a lot of modern pop culture fiction from Game of Thrones (3 of the 7 aspects of the Many-Faced-God are the maiden, the mother, and the crone) to Alien (Ripley's arc in the three films is said to follow the maiden in Alien, the mother in Aliens, and the crone in Alien 3).
Why do I bring this all up? Well, if you look at our three leads so far, Sabine, Hera, and Ahsoka, you can see that they more or less fight in with the triple goddess archetype. Sabine is the inexperienced (relatively speaking) maiden, Hera is the nurturing mother (to not just Jacen but also Sabine and Hera) and Ahsoka is the crone, wise and old (relatively speaking, of course).
Pretty cool! One last thing I saw when looking into the Triple Goddess is the Horned God, often considered the consort to the Triple Goddess. The Horned God is represented by this symbol. Tattooed on Morgan Elsbeth's forehead is this symbol which seems to mirror that in some regard.
Also last one that is definitely reaching, but in when Jung and his colleague, Karl Kerényi defined the triple goddess archetype, Kerényi highlighted the Greek goddess (or pagan goddess) Hera:
"With Hera the correspondences of the mythological and cosmic transformation extended to all three phases in which the Greeks saw the moon: she corresponded to the waxing moon as maiden, to the full moon as fulfilled wife, to the waning moon as abandoned withdrawing women"
So I think these ideas have definitely been in place for a while. I could probably look back at Rebels and see a ton of pagan symbolism and influence there too especially involving the Lothwolves and the Temple.
Now that I'm thinking of it, both Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were influenced by Paganism as well (along with heavily Catholic/Christian overtones as well) and Ahsoka the White is connected to Gandalf who was based very heavily on Odin and pagan magic.
And the World Between Worlds is based on The Woods Between Worlds in C.S. Lewis' works.
I'm getting way too deep and I warned you this was very "stream of consciousness" but I just had to write this stuff out before my head exploded.
Thanks for reading.

The Patrol Part 3.
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By TheSouthernSir
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** I tried to break up paragraphs more, make transitions clearer and overall improve readability. Let me know how I did. Don't hold back. In this installment, the crew of the Munro get eyes on target and prepare for battle, aliens discuss a trade deal of sorts and Reese gets to see the local fauna charge a pirate. Enjoy. **
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First Claw Zarsh knew he was in a precarious position. He knew that he was walking a tightrope here, since his last run in with the Prime Claw. Nothing like losing your superior over a month’s profits on a bad mining deal. The Nest doesn’t put up with the non-productive, read “profitable.” When the average clutch is 30-50 eggs and around 10-15 get to adult age since eating your young and murdering weaker clutch mate was outlawed, 2+ clutches per year, on average, population has been exploding and the Nest needs resources.
“Yes my Prime, this is a warm, farm classsss planet, ripe for the taking. It hassss a sssparce population of nativesss and these Humansss will buy the population if we can transssport them.” The Prime Claw eyed him with deep suspicion. Slavery wasn’t an issue in the Nest since the population was so large there were always plenty willing to compete for even the worst jobs. His frill was on edge, after the last “deal” he was missing his cycle targets and of course the Nest always wanted their cut regardless and targets must be met. But a new planet for farming would be quite profitable and not having to answer questions about natives would be even better.
“What do you know about these tree climbersss Zarssshh?” Tarth asked as he rubbed his frill slowly. Zarsh took the question as a good sign, “My Prime, I met their leader a while back at the free port in ssstar block 23. He was seeeling mineralsss. They were a good price and he assssured me they were not coming from anyone elsesss territory. The deal allowed me to purchasesss the 2 T’retk cargo haulers on the sssurface. With 5 loads of minerals, he said he ran out but knew how we could get more quickly.” Tarth started to appear more confident, rose up a little higher as he continued, “It ssseeemsss they have some mines and they need workers to extract more minerals.” Prime Claw Tharth glared at Zarsh, “So, Tarth, I will assssk you one last time . . . “ He paused and glared at Zarsh, “Why. Am. I. Here?”
Zarsh’s frill fell flat and his scales tightened, “My Prime, I owe you a great debt, I can only transport 50 or so per T’retk per trip. I know you have much larger transportsssss. I hope you will be willing to use them and some troopsssss to transport the nativessss. In exchange for all the profits from those you transport, all I ask is 20% of the profitssss from this planet and my skin. The humanssss even offer to handle the mining on this planet too.” Tarth’s eyes narrowed a bit, “And why would I not take this planet for my own Zarsssh?” Zarsh’s circulation nearly stopped and his frill tried to turn inward, it took all of his concentration to not cower, “I filed the claim paperwork on this ssssesstem 3 cycles ago my Prime.” Prime Claw Tharth huffed, the belly crawler might learn a thing or two yet. He turned his gaze to the system map and issued a command, the image changed and the planetary map came up.
It was almost time to translate into real space and Captain Gerardo had just finished a conference with fleet to apprise everyone of her plan. New bursts were coming in more often, the language program was up to about 300 words and they have a better fix on the ships in space. “Dobbs, what’s the latest?” she asked. “Captain, the 2 cruisers, we have designated Foxtrot and Golf along with the pirates Hotel and India are making a leisurely passage from the outer system toward the planet. We estimate that the current course and speed, approximately 5 hours to orbit. Still nothing on capabilities. The ships on the ground don’t appear to have moved. Probes are ready.” Gerardo nodded, it was as she expected, they were taking their time and one had to assume they thought they were safe.
Everyone was on edge, meals had been passed around, everyone was suited up and armed, the last of the preparations were made, time to show up to the dance. “Captain, we are translating in 10 . . . 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Translation complete, initial scans put us right where we wanted.” Ensign Gagnon reported. Lieutenant Lagunov spoke up next, “Probes away, functioning normally, running hot and true.” Morales, “No detected comms traffic Captain.” Ensign Gagnon spoke again, “Captain, we are in the planetary shadow, they can’t see us, system scans show no other ships. Bouy’s deployed, probes will have eyes on targets in 17 minutes.” She nodded as she looked at the tactical display, her crew, despite some of their youth was performing well.
Seventeen minutes later, the first probe got eyes on the 4 ships heading toward the planet. Using passive sensors, it began taking a much more thorough look at the ships and a much better picture of capabilities started to take shape. The other probe, quietly entered orbit of the planet with much better and much more specific scanning abilities. Short bursts relaying info to the Munro and all of it being passed to the buoy to relay to fleet as Captain Gerardo and everyone else pouring over the data. Now, things would get much more serious.
“Report.” Captain Gerardo called out. Her XO started in, “The human pirate ships in space, Hotel and Golf are medium hauler class civilian ships, each one has 2 anti-ship lasers, 2-4 point defense and each one has a bolt on box of missiles, we will have a count on them soon. Pirate Alpha is the same though it looks like 2 boxes of missiles. Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Echo are all small class haulers, a single anti-ship laser, 2-3 point defense and a box of missiles. Box 2, Delta and Echo have relocated closer to Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Box 1. We assume Box 2 has passengers.” Lieutenant Lagunov spoke up next, “The big aliens, Foxtrot and Golf are cruiser class ships based on size and power output. We detect 12 turreted anti-ship size energy weapons per ship and at least a dozen smaller point defense size energy weapons. We don’t see any missiles but that doesn’t mean they don’t have them. There are no detectable rail guns or other spinal mounts.” Well, they weren’t as heavily armed as they could be but it still wasn’t good news.
In the forest, hiding behind a tree, Scout Explorer Grade 3 Marson Reese was in a pretty sticky spot. He had eyes on one of the humans that had invaded this world, with the help of some other race of reptilian like aliens he had never seen, to make slaves of the indigenous race of aliens who were also new to humanity. This, all just a few meters from an adolescent alien that he had just shared food with, also hiding behind a different tree watching the human taking a stroll in the woods. A quick assessment and Reese decided it was unlikely they could remain hidden indefinity if the pirate kept moving along the same direction. Decisions, decisions, just as Reese slipped his knife from it’s sheath, the native grunted a few times. In the woods a bit off, something, well, several somethings answered those grunts.
To his amazement, some of the local herbivores, looking somewhat like a cross between hippopotamus and a pig came wandering out of the brush 20 meters away. He counted at least 5 with one pretty large leader in the front. It was maybe 1.5 meters tall, at least that long and no kidding, built like an over grown pig. The native grunted a few more times and it perked up and answered, seeming to be a little less than happy about it as it stomped the ground and then looked back at the others in the group. It reminded Reese of calling Turkeys back home. You used a threat call to entice the tom to come to you and defend his females. Suddenly, the nose of the beast went up a little, his head turned a little and what might have been ears perked up. Then it’s tail shot straight up and it exploded into a run.
What happened next was both amazing and frightening. The beast charged the pirate, plowed through the brush without hesitation and charged up to within 2 meters of the pirate and came to a stop, staring straight at the human, it’s tail swiping side to side slowly, it’s head ducked down and it’s large mouth open in a clear threat display. The pirate, to their credit, didn’t run, immediately anyway. And then his nerve broke and he raised his weapon and shot the beast. The native cowered down, the pirate turned to run, the beast roared and shook it’s head, and exploded into motion as it charged the pirate, slamming into them like a truck as it snaped it’s jaws down you could hear the crunch and scream followed by the beast tossing them like a rag doll through the air. Reese moved quickly in the noise to retreat from the beast and the pirate and get back into the woods. The native easily kept up with him moving from tree to tree, cover to cover as they both disappeared into the trees.
In the CIC of the Munro, Captain Gerardo and her staff are pouring over information and options. It has been a bit over 2 hours since they translated to real space, intel is flowing in and as far as anyone knows they have been undetected. Lieutenant Morales called out “Captain, priority message from command.” “Send it” Gerardo replied.
Captain Ressler appeared, “Captain, command has been pouring over the data you have been sending. The Sullivans will be there in a few hours. It looks like you will have some unwelcome company soon. Long range scans appear to show some large class ships heading your way, as large as those cruisers if not larger. Estimated time in system 6 hours or so.” “Aye Captain, thank you for the heads up. Guess we have less time to plan than we thought. Well, no time like the present. We will take care of it.” “Good luck Captain and good hunting. Ressler out.”
“Well then, looks like we have to get a move on. Navigation, plot a course to get us to the planet over those ships ASAP, coordinate with the marines and check the weather so they aren’t strung out across the continent in the drop. Lieutenant Ahonen, get the boots ready you are going to drop in two strings one for each landing site. The shuttles with be there for support and we will remain in high orbit to keep them on the ground or deal with them if they take off. If possible, we are going to give them the good news and a chance to surrender a minute before you are due to hit the ground. I want you on those transports first and foremost to disable them. Keep them on the ground at all costs. Try to limit collateral damage and of course save the natives.” “Understood Captain, you can count on us” Ahonen replied.
In the dark, in the meeting house, Mother and Jaleil were huddled with others, they hadn’t eaten since the morning meal, what seemed a lifetime ago. The muffled pain of most there could be heard as the beasts watched over everyone like plainsherds. From time to time a new person or two would be tossed into the group as it looks like those from the outlying farms were being rounded up too. The smell was terrible, the burned dwellings, the spilled blood, the filth of nature. “Mother, I’m hungry and thirsty.” “Hush my sweet child, have faith, Marok watches over us” whispered softly as she pulled a roll from her garment as mothers are often want to do. “Be quiet, have a bite and pass it along.”
As Marok saw his children in pain, he also saw the approach of the others that strange Gaia had spoken of and his mood lifted. To his surprise, one of them had shared food with his child and his beast had killed one of the invaders. With a whisper to his wife Leesha, a plan forming, he sought out again the one known as Gaia. “Some of mine will want to fight back. I think I know how I can help them, with your help.” Gaia smiled softly.
After covering half a kilometer and being well away from the village and ships, Reese and the juvenile came to a stop, hiding in the woods. He was impressed at the speed and skill of the young one in hiding. At least he didn’t panic and wasn’t a liability. He decided to try out the new translation program. He crouched low in the cover, keeping an eye out for any sign of danger. In a low whisper he voiced “I Reese who you” while pointing to himself then the adolescent. He looked at the adolescent expectantly as the youth’s four eyes went wide. Raybek stopped still, not knowing if he heard what he thought he heard coming from this strange thing. At least it knows what to do in the woods. Thinking a moment, he taped his chest “I am Raybek son of Kartec, you Raybek.” Reese smiled.
Aboard the Munro, plans were made and the ship began to streak toward the planet. The bosun’s whistle sounded then the Captain spoke “All hands, this is the Captain. Secure all stations, prepare for combat maneuvers. We are about to engage the slavers. We have fought together, we have bled together, you know your duty, we are the lifeline, those natives down there are counting on us to save them. Semper Paratus!” The call rang through the ship as the crew echoed “Semper Paratus!”
In the marine barracks another short speech was made. All the marines gathered around in a circle, standing or kneeling. Lieutenant Ahonen looked about then began to speak. “We are dropping on two groups of ships simultaneously. First squad will be out the door in 11 minutes, second squad 38 seconds later. Fall time is 6 minutes 41 seconds. Watch your spread, we need to be on top of those transports first and foremost. The shuttles will be overhead for covering fire about 3 minutes after we hit the dirt. Marines, for 391 years, we have been taking the fight to the enemies of humanity and beyond. Before our nation existed, we were called to service to free slaves on the Barbary Coast. Today, we are called again to deliver death to our enemies and freedom to those in chains. And we gladly answer the call. Semper Fi, do or DIE, Oorah!” All the marines echoed “SEMPER FI! Oorah!”
Dobbs called out “Captain, they see us and are accelerating as well. Closure time estimated 26 minutes.” Gerardo nodded and switched on her comms, “Marines, drop in 2 minutes. Give them hell devil dogs!” Her father was a marine, he was a bit disappointed in her choice of service but in the Patrol, what used to be the Coast Guard, she had stood out and now was a Captain of her own ship and saving lives. He had beamed when she earned her promotion, even if she wasn’t a marine. “Anything on sensors yet?” “Nothing yet Captain” Ensign Gagnon reported. “Good” she replied, “Stay on course, let’s not spread the marines across half the planet.”
They were dipping through the atmosphere at ridiculous speed, the ship was bucking since the rear cargo door was open ready for marines to HALO jump from 42 km. The marines, while not in drop pods would be fine with their power armor and deceleration packs. Lieutenant Lagunov “First string away, reporting a clean drop.” A little later “Second string away, reporting a clean drop. Shuttles away, clear for orbital maneuvers.”
“Get us back into space Fornier!” “Yes Ma’am!” came the reply from the pilot as the ship pulled up harshly and the bucking intensified. “Weapons, let me know when they are about a minute from the ground. Comms, I want that broad band broadcast ready.” Lieutenant Morales “Yes Ma’am.” Looking at the tactical display she was stern and resolved, as the ship protested while accelerating back into space, her thoughts wandered, “Not quite like the holos huh Dalia?” She could hear her father’s words as they hurtled into battle. “Flower, remember to work the problem, improvise, adapt, overcome. No matter how hectic things get, focus on one problem at a time until there are no more problems to solve.” Her wandering thoughts instantly brought back to the present by Morales, “One minute Ma’am.”
She nodded, looking at the camera, “Attention all sentients in this system. This is Captain Dalia Gerardo of the Federal Security Frigate Douglas Albert Munro. All humans in system, you have been observed attacking the local natives and are under arrest. Stand down and submit immediately to lawful detention, resistance will be met with lethal force.”
“To all other sentients in this system, power down and stay where you are. Do not fire upon us or you will be fired upon. Repeat, power down and await further instructions. Do not involve yourself in this law enforcement matter.”
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The Patrol Part 2.
By TheSouthernSir
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Jaleil’s scream echoed as the pieces of the door exploded into the storm shelter. Light pouring in before being obstructed by something entering the shelter. It was fairly large, hideous and loud, roaring as it waved a long thin metal club around then suddenly, it flashed, thundered with a loud noise and splinters of wood from a rafter sprayed through the air. Huddled in the corner, Jaleil’s eyes grew wide as she suddenly lost the breath to scream. Her mother held her close and started begging Marok for help. “Great Father Marok, please save us from these monsters, someone, anyone, please come. Save my child!” she screamed. The beast came closer, seemingly yelling sounds they could not understand. It’s meaning was clear, it wanted them to go to the door, waving it’s upper limbs, toward them and then toward the door. Jaleil had never even dreamed of a demon as horrible as this. It was huge, had a large head, 2 eyes close together facing front, what looks like 2 legs and then there was it’s magic weapon that held thunder inside. Her mother pulled her along, holding her behind as she moved, shaking in terror toward what was left of the door. Jaleil didn’t have any screams left and moved along as her mother moved her.
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They shuffled along on their 4 shorter legs, moving toward the middle of the settlement, others were there, many buildings were on fire, she didn’t know what was happening or why, all she could do was hold tight to her mother and pray for Marok to save her. Then, she saw it, a pile of burning flesh and strips of clothing, dark bluish splotches of blood on it. Her face fell slack as did the rest of her as she almost collapsed if not for her mother holding her up as recognition came to her, this was Harook the weaver, his body in almost 2 pieces. Her mother reached to cover her 4 eyes but it was too late, Jaleil was just numb. Her, her mother, the others were being rounded up like field beasts toward the other end of the settlement by these monsters and most just kind of shuffled along, almost lifeless, numb. For just a moment, she thought of her brother Raybek and hoped he would not be hurt by these demons.
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At the sector base, Captain Ressler and the command staff reviewed the new data burst, Admiral Nuwanda was patched in for the viewing. He spoke first. “Well, Reese would make a good covert opps trooper if he wasn’t a Scout. He has been busy. I assume there is nothing from the others?” “No Admiral, this was it along with a lot of data that intel is feeding into the language AI. Planetary maps will be available within the hour and I have already retasked everything I have to converge on that area.” “Good Captain. It looks like slavers and that alien ship looks to be a hauler so we know what that means. I have to talk to the brass. Expect a follow up shortly.” “Yes Sir.” Ressler responded. The captain looked about, a frown on his face. “What do we know about those ships?” His intelligence officer spoke up. “Sir, looks like there are 2 light hauler class and a medium hauler class ship in this spot, sensor readings from the drone indicate upgraded power signatures and visuals confirm upgraded weapons and external missile packs. Based on the readings from the orbiting satellites, there is at least one other group of ships on the ground, as best we can see, 2 converted small haulers and another one of those alien ships. We have designated them Box 1 and 2. We can see external weapon mounts but they are inconsistent with any known human weapons and they come in 2 sizes, what must be ship to ship size and a fair number of much smaller close in weapons. Engineering suggests possibly plasma or energized particle weapons. No indications of missiles, no spinal mount railguns and unknown shield and armor ratings.” “Good work.” Ressler looked at his comms officer, “Webb, how long was the delay?” “Sir, transmission time was about 13 minutes total” Webb replied. “XO, where is the fleet?” Walton motioned and a hologram appeared. “The Sullivans is in route as you ordered, they report 100% readiness. The Haida and the Russell are on the way as well. We don’t have anything else within 6 days travel.” “Well, it will have to do, I imagine that this will either be resolved in the next 24 hours one way or another.” Webb piped up after his panel beeped and he glanced at it. “Captain, it appears the AI has a rough translation program ready, maybe 100 words or so. Should help if/when contact is made. That Scout is something else. Lots of video with sound, mapping and so on. I doubt an intel agent could do better.” “I need to update Gerardo.”
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Just then comms chirped and Webb took a glance, then called attention to the Captain. “It’s Admiral Nuwanda Sir, priority 1.” “Admiral, I assume it’s ok for my staff to be here?” The Admiral nodded, then a new hologram appeared showing fleet distribution as the Admiral spoke. “So we have 2 new alien races, intel doesn’t have anything on those ships and our allies either don’t know or aren’t saying who they might be. It’s obvious that these are slavers and the aliens are helping, buying or something. Regardless of that, we have to end this and end it quickly. Hopefully this new race isn’t all slavers but the Central Command and the Secretary General agrees that we have to be ready if they are and want to get rough. In that vein, your forces are on the way. The Nineth Fast Reaction force has been dispatched; they will be in space in 30 minutes. Estimated arrival at station keeping is 55 hours. The 129th battle group will arrive in 5 days. Neither group will drop in system unless things heat up. Tell your people to haul their ass, Central Command has escalated this to top priority. Wartime reserves are authorized. Let’s hope your Captain Gerardo can get it cleaned up quick or stay alive until help arrives. Unless this escalates, you are spearheading this. Keep me informed. Nuwanda out.” The holo faded and the people around the table were quiet and a little surprised at the size of the reaction force apparently, Fleet wasn’t taking any chances. Leaning back in his chair, “Anyone have something to add?” Ressler asked. The XO spoke up, “Apparently Fleet doesn’t want to be caught on the back foot. Do we need to issue a travel warning? What about an isolation order? Do we warn the civilian populations in the area?” Captain Ressler pondered a moment, “No, not yet, if it ends up being just pirates and slavers then it will be over fast and no need to warn the populace. If it turns into more, we will have time to warn the population. That system is pretty far out, the only things near there are a few mining camps and so on. Have legal prepare the isolation order and get cartography on the beacons and order monitoring satellites to have them on hand. No matter what it falls under the Prime Directive and will be marked. Bring us to full alert, all assets.” “Yes Captain” Walton replied and turned to get to work as the klaxon sounded. “Webb, prepare a packet with the latest language algorithm we have. Also, send an override to that booster to query the watchers and burst updated intel, full spectrum, full system passive scans on a random sequence, no more than 15-minute interval. Update everyone, patch in all ships heading into the area so they get the bursts too. OH, loop in the reaction force and Fleet automatically. Then get Gerardo on the line, secure encrypted. From this point on, assume full wartime procedures until this is resolved.” “Aye aye Captain, I am on it” Webb acknowledged. He rose, “Dismissed.”
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The coms chirped, this time Captain Gerardo was awake quickly, sleeping in armor wasn’t great but the patch helped. Her station came to life, she entered her verification and Captain Ressler appeared. “Captain, I will be brief, the second bust shows they aren’t just pirates out for a bit of looting, they are rounding those natives up and putting them into those bigger ships. Yes I said ships, there are 2, designated Box 1 and 2. All our intel is included in this packet as well as a basic translation program for the locals. You have been patched in to the bursts from the booster so it will give you as much local intel ahead of time as a set of watchers can passively obtain. As you know, The Sullivans will be arriving in a couple hours, the Haida and Russell as follow on. Fleet has assigned the Nineth Fast Reaction force that will be on station in about 55 hours and the 129th Battle Group will be there in 5 days unless recalled.” Gerardo’s eyes went wide at the news and she leaned back slightly. “Sir, how, that time frame, why . . .” He cut her off, “Fourth generation warp drives. The Nineth is all equipped with them, super new, super fast, they will be a game changer as ships are refitted. Next, the Secretary General and Central Command feel that we should be ready in case that alien race turns out to be a full-on slave society and wants to fight about it. We will not be caught on the back foot if this goes south. The sector is on full alert. Let me make this clear. The Federation does not tolerate slavery of sentients. Period. Get in there as fast as you can and if possible, resolve this by any means necessary. I want those human slavers in dealt with as fast as possible. Protect the indigenous population. Do what you can with the aliens but if at all possible, don’t let them take those people off planet. They think they have a free reign, that’s why they have not been in a hurry otherwise they would have likely shipped out hours ago. You are authorized to use all available means to get it done at your discretion.” She stiffened at the tone and responded, “Yes Sir. We will take care of it. Though sir, we have been pushing 5% over and will be there in about 2 hours 40 minutes. Tell The Sullivans to haul their ass or this will be all over. Gerardo out.” She cut the transmission.
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She yawned, looked over to a picture on the shelf by her rack and smiled to herself. It was her graduation from primary school. “I was so young then, carefree, optimistic”, she thought to herself. “No time to reminisce.” She punched the comms. The boson’s whistle rang out, then she spoke, “This is the Captain, command staff to the CIC.” She released the button and headed to the CIC herself, her pace hard and fast, stiff, upright and determined, she entered the CIC, “Report.” Dobbs, her XO started speaking. “We are 2 hours, 37 minutes from system entry. Weps reports all systems are 100%, Engineering reports engines and reactor running smoothly at 105%. 87% of the crew has had 6 or more hours sleep. Medical has distributed med kits and staffed forward and aft temporary infirmiry. The ship and crew are 100% operational and morale is good Captain. We are ready.” She nodded, looked at the Lieutenant Luganov, he took the hint and began speaking. “Captain, all marines are rested, armored, standard anti-boarding patrols are in effect. The crew has been armed and armored appropriately. The shuttles are fully armed and check out 100%.” Good. Webb, play the newest packet. The data flowed and expressions hardened, once done, they looked to the Captain. “Ok, as you can see, what was a mess is now a lot worse. Central command has deployed the Nineth Reaction Force, they will be in system in 55 hours and the 129th Battle Group will be here in 5 days. The Sullivans should be here in 8 hours or less and the Haida in 42 and the Russell in 45. Command sent a basic translation program for the natives, that Scout is a real professional. We should be getting updated directly from the system watchers and the booster every 15 minutes. We are to get in and put a stop to this as fast as possible and try to not start a war. Central Command and the Secretary General decided to be ready just in case. Those humans are slavers or working with slavers. We are not to let those alien ships leave with the natives if at all possible. To be clear, the humans are leaving this planet in detention or in a bag as fast as we can make that happen. We will try not to destroy the alien ships but we will not let them leave.” Webb spoke up, “Captain, we just got a pulse, it’s early.” “Put it up” the Captain said.
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Meanwhile, down on the planet, things had gotten worse, far worse. After a lot of snooping around, Scout Reese had gathered a lot of info. He had decided to start pulsing every half hour or after each significant discovery. He was convinced that his tight beam had not been discovered, after all, the entire process took less than half a second from activation, lock on, then from 10 to 18 milliseconds of tight beam transmission followed by a reply of receipt and shutdown. He kept moving around to avoid detection. There was no word from the other 3 Scouts yet. Luckily, he had figured out the local flora and was eating well from the local tubers and some leafy weeds on top of his combat rations. To anyone following a trail, it would look like one of the medium sized herd animals had passed through and munched a few plants along the way. His boots even left the right tracks and he had gotten the gait right. His grandmother had laughed at his desire to earn every possible Scout badge as a kid. This latest packet contained all the info he had, more language excerpts, some info on the humans and the reptilians and what looks like some kind of nation/clan/whatever marking that is common on all the ships, human and alien. There was also video of the natives being herded into a holding area, a large building, video of the damage to the settlement from different vantage points, even video of a local being beaten and tortured to death in front of a group of the others.
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Kneeling in a crowd, Mother and Jaleil were herded into the large worship center. Normally a meeting place for eighth cycle meetings for a day of fellowship and recognition of the seasons and worship of Marok and his family. Now, it was a prison with those monsters at the entrances and outside and those magic staves. Gods those magic staves, sky flashes in a stick. And what they did to poor Resha, in front of his kids, she prayed, Goddess Leesha comfort them and calm their heart. Jaleil had stopped crying and just held tight, looking around. She looked down and patted her dear girl and prayed for her missing son. Quietly she whispered “Marok, watch over Raybek and keep him safe. Please save us Marok, send help, someone, anyone, please great one.” Jaleil prayed too, whispering, “Marok, help us, watch over Raybek and Mother.” Somewhere, somehow, something heard the terrified girl’s whisper.
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Hearing a sound, Reese froze, then turned slowly only to see a younger indigenous male holding a spear and pointing it at him. Reese raised his hands slowly, brought them to waist level, palms upturned and slowly moved them together then wider apart and down to his side. It was the sign of greeting to the locals, he had seen it many times. With that, the young one lowered the spear point slightly. This was going to be a challenge but then again, he was a Scout Explorer Grade 3, challenge was just an appointment after lunch.
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Somewhere in the great cosmos, beyond mortal understanding, Marok frowned, tears falling from his face. His children were hurting, it wasn’t the first time. He watched helplessly as those others came and hurt them, stole them from his grasp, killed them. His dear wife Leesha by his side to comfort him, both hurting as their children were. Quietly, a strange, smallish form approached them. One they had never seen before, she looked like one of the others. With low words she spoke. “I am Gaia. Your children are in pain, I can feel them.” “Yes, they are and I fear they are not strong enough to face the others. I have failed to prepare them.” Marok sighed. With a sad smile, Gaia spoke again, “Some of the worst of my wayward children are part of hurting your children and for that, I am deeply sorry and offer my deepest apologies.” With a wry smile, she spoke with a tiny bit of joy, “Do not worry my friends. Your children are young, in time they will stretch far and wide and sing your praises. For now, some of my loyal and loving children are coming close, a few have already met yours. They know of your children’s pain and they will never abide it. Do not worry, my children are older, stronger, fierce as the burning stars and as compassionate as you and I. Your children have friends among the stars they have not met yet and my wayward children are about to get a harsh lesson.” With a soft smile and a comforting brush of her hand to their arms, Gaia offered comfort and assurance to Marok and Leesha and their expression was softened a little.
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After the new pulse info played, Captain Gerardo’s expression was hard, fierce and held a hit of sadness. She looked to the assembled staff and with a strong, cold voice spoke. “XO, get us to 115%, more if possible. Weps, full analysis on those ships and options if we have to take them on the ground. Ensign Gagnon, find the fastest way to get us to that planet with as much cover as possible. We are outnumbered and even if they are converted civilian craft, those missile packs aren’t. Lieutenant Ahonen, your squad is drop rated, right?” The Lieutenant nodded, “Yes Ma’am, but this ship doesn’t have drop pods or attack shuttles, those boarding shuttles would get us to the ground but it would not be fast and they could be taken out with missiles, they handle like beached whales.” “I agree Lieutenant, I want options in case we have to go to ground. Morales, I want to know everything there is to know about this system 3 seconds after we drop out of hyperspace.” The Lieutenant “Yes Ma’am.”
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Time was drawing short, Captain Gerardo was pouring over the initial maps. The new burst allowed an upgrade to the translation program, it was up to a little over 200 words. The rest of the crew had grabbed some shut eye. Just then, a new burst came out of schedule. Something must be really important to have this happen. The command staff was always close at hand since the CIC was just behind the command deck, the new burst came up, much better mapping, ship locations marked on the main settlement, some orbital pics of the other landing sight. System scans had bad news, really bad news, there were four new signatures in system, not yet in orbit but about 1/3 of the way from the rim of the system to the planet. Two of the signatures fit the size and energy output that would support the converted civilian craft. The really bad news was the 2 other targets, those two were going to be the real problem, their power output was consistent with a good-sized destroyer or cruiser. “Lagunov, get on these, we need to know what we are facing.” “Morales, make sure fleet knows.” A pair of “Aye aye Ma’am.” followed. “What do you think XO?” Lieutenant Commander Dobbs was a thoughtful man but not one to let planning or thoughtfulness keep him from action. His Purple cluster and Silver Starburst would bear witness to anyone of his ability to act.
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Dobbs manipulated the solar map and looked at it from a few different directions. Zooming in and out again, then turning the display, he pointed to the 6th planet, a medium size gas giant that was fairly close, stellar distance wise, to the 4th planet. “There, we can come in from the dark side here and they won’t see us coming unless their sensors are a lot better than ours or they have some other surveillance. We can get a better idea of the situation. No matter what, we have to deal with those 4 first before we can do much of anything about those on the ground. It does complicate things a lot depending on what weapons they carry. We have the booster and the watchers as limited they are, we can launch a few standard probes but they aren’t stealth equipped and each one increases our change of being discovered before we can surprise them.” The Captain nodded. We can’t really go with stealth unless they attack us or we see something concrete to confirm the ones in space are in with those on the ground. As to the human ships, we have to give them a chance to surrender and power down. The ones on the ground will get one chance though honestly, I kind of hope they don’t take it. The Jarheads would love the exercise.”
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With that, as if on cue, Lieutenant Ahonen clunked in, his armor clean and square. He also brought his platoon leader, Staff Sargent Lundry, her armor was a bit more, ummm, “seasoned” which is to say It shows the scars of battle, age and hard use. She wore 5 chevrons on her forearms and her chestplate displayed a Purple Cluster with 4 marks, a Silver starburst and a Bronze starburst with 2 marks. The contrast was stark, Ahonen was fairly young, 2.03 meter tall wall of a Finn, Lundry was 1.7 meter, middle aged Mediterranean woman, she was a lifer and to his credit, Ahonen was smart enough to defer to her experience in a lot of things. It was good to see a young officer deferring to his very experienced and battled hardened veteran Staff Sargent. “Lieutenant, Sargent” Gerardo acknowledged. “Captain” both replied with a salute. The Captain returned the salute and then went on. “We have 4 more problems on our hands, at least 2 are cruiser class and they aren’t sitting on the planet. We are going to drop in behind the gas giant so we can gather a little intel, unless of course, something happens to change that.” Ahonen replied “Aye, that does complicate things. We have several options prepared depending on how you want to proceed. I doubt our small force can take those cruisers, the smaller ships, easily. If we had time, we could take shuttles down and march in. We could HALO drop on top of the ships directly. We know you don’t have drop pods but we can drop from 40 km or so without issue, possibly use the shuttles as a distraction.” “Well then, it’s good to have options. Now to see what these 4 are up to. We won’t have backup for 4+ hours once we are in system. We have about an hour 45 before translation. How long to be ready for those options?” The Captain asked. The Lieutenant replied, “We are ready to go with about 2 minutes notice.” Gerardo nodded, “Thank you” she looked up with a piercing stare, glaring at the Lieutenant, “I want this to be perfectly clear, no confusion, make sure the boots understand. Those slavers get one chance to surrender, we are required to offer that. Any that have to think about, any that fight, any that aren’t immediately face down are weapons free. I want them in bindings or bags. Disable all ships. ALL ships. Save the indigenous.” “Yes MA’AM” the Marines replied. “It will be OUR pleasure.”
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Back on the ground, to his credit, Scout Explorer Resse, even without the AI translation, knew enough to do some basic communication. The native with the spear, seemed to understand and lowered the tip a little. Reese slowly turned fully around and then sat down. Speaking of lunch, he pulled out a tuber from his pouch, broke it in half and offered the youth a piece. He then spoke softly “Well, who are you and what are we going to do now.?” Knowing full well the youth couldn’t understand him, he looked at the youth, still holding out the half tuber before taking a bite of his piece. It tasted kind of like an apple mixed with a sweet potato, not all that sweet but palatable even when not cooked. It was better than rations and added fiber, heaven knows you need that if you are living off rations. With his bite, the youth tentatively took the tuber in his 4 fingered hand and quickly backed up, again keeping the spear pointed toward him as he took a bite and began to chew quickly. A few bites later, both looking at each other, the youth settled on his kind legs, his fore legs still upright and it was clear he was quite alert to the area around them. Two eyes forward center, not much different than humans with a second pair of eyes a bit farther back on the head and a little higher much like a horse, cow or llama. Add ears low on the sides of the head without overlarge outside flesh, not a lot different from humans, short, fine fur with no significant mane or tail. His feet were wrapped with hides he wore a light coat like garment that looked like it would protect from sun and rain but would not be too hot. About 1.4 meters tall, kind of thin, he was a typical youth and looks healthy. As he finished his tuber, the youth reached into his bag and pulled out a few things that looked somewhat like green beans crossed with asparagus. He put one in his mouth and held out 2 more to Reese. I took one, sniffed it and took a bite. It certainly wasn’t a bean, tasted more like a firm grape with hints of acidity like a tomato. He nodded and moved to get a drink of water from his canteen. Just then a noise came near them through the trees, too rhythmic, too regular, not natural. The youth heard it too and runed, his spear coming up quick as he ducked down and moved close to a tree. I ducked behind my own tree and looked. Sure enough, there was a human pirate walking through the woods taking a nature stroll like he was crossing a park.
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Aboard the Munro, comms called out a new message incoming. “Captain, Captain Liu on comms” “Thank you Lieutenant, put him on the main.” Gerardo replied. “Aye aye Captain.” Just then, a middle aged somewhat darker skinned Asian man came on screen, also in space combat armor. His eyes sparking despite the advancing of age. “Looks like you are about to wade in hip deep. We have been burning hard, should be about 6 hours behind you, the Chief Engineer assures me that there is no risk. What were your thoughts on this developing situation?” “With these new guests to the party, we are going to drop in just behind the gas giant and drop a few better sensor buoys. Gather some intel on those cruisers and then carry out an attack plan. The regular bursts are helpful but, as you know, the watchers aren’t exactly designed to provide military grade surveillance. The marines are prepped for any eventuality. I will be honest, even if lightly armed, I don’t think we can splash them all without help unless those on the ground stay on the ground and we can catch these 4 by surprise.” “Agreed.” Captain Liu nodded. “We are pushing hard, unless you can wait around for a few hours, you need to have some great tricks up your sleeve.” “Yeah, let’s hope I don’t have to be too much of a magician.” Captain Gerardo mused. Liu pondered a moment, “We will be there as fast as we can, the engineer is taking us to 120%, we will have your back as soon as we can. Liu out.” The communication ended and Captain Gerardo went back to looking at the system map and reviewing tactical simulations as the computer ran the numbers on each option her and Dobbs could come up with. Time passed as new data came in, the locations of the ships were narrowed down and the FSF Munro streaked through hyperspace on the way to save some aliens no one had met yet.
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Elsewhere, deep in system abord the cruiser Star’s Talon, Prime Claw Tharth looked at the system map and then to the others in the room. “Why am I out here in this remote system with thesssse smelly, hairlessss tree climbers Zarsshhh?” “My Prime,” First Claw Zarsh replied, “I have a busssnesss proposition for you and I wanted to show you firssst hand. Tharth didn’t know exactly what the belly crawler was up too but it better be worth the extra fuel and time to get here or he would seriously consider adding his preserved hide to the bow of the ship. “Get on with it then and ssstop wasssting my time.”
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First
Next

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The Patrol Part 1.

by TheSouthernSir
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Somewhere in a distant starsystem, on the fourth planet, a stealth satellite picked up a transmission and dutifully relayed it to it’s partner booster. It’s sensors alive with readings it should not have, it was scheduled for a databurst in 3 days time but the incoming transmission command had it packing everything it had collected over the last 4 days into it’s tightbeam data burst and pulsing the booster. The booster replied that it had a clean reception. It had new orders, full observation and pulse update every 12 hours until further notice.
“Mother! What are they?” screamed Jaleil as she ran into the home. Outside loud bangs like thunder could be heard rapidly, over and over, more than any storm the young one had ever experienced and she was terrified. Her mother held her arms wide and embraced the small child, holding her close to comfort her. “I don’t know Jaleil, I have never seen anything like that before. Where is your sibling, Rabek?” Jaleil’s mother looked around trying to be brave for her youngest but she clearly worried as the noise was nothing she had ever heard before and those, things, those creatures did not look like anything she had ever seen, heard or learned about before, not even in the most fanciful legends. Jaleil looked up, her face twisted by fear, “I don’t know mother, he went with his friends after first chores, probably deep in the trees or at the quarry messing around.” Jaleil hugged close, flinching with each boom and trembling in fear, her mother’s arms tight around her but it was little comfort. “Let’s go to the storm shelter, we should be safe there. Come!” her mother commanded as she turned and almost drug her child with her as she scooped up an overgarment and the basket of rolls from daybreak on the way to the shelter.
Heading toward her quarters, Captain Dalia Gerardo kind of slumped her shoulders in an almost universally recognized gesture of fatigue. This had been a long patrol, really long, most border patrols were 6 to 8 weeks long before shore leave and restock. The FSC Munro had been in space nearly non-stop for 13 weeks and was not really equipped for these long patrols but with the conflicts the Terran Federation was involved in, sacrifices had to be made. They had just had a short layover at forward base Coral to drop off some prisoners, deliver and receive mail and replenish supplies. The 24 hours didn’t leave much time for genuine rest and relaxation. At least the crew got to enjoy a mixed martial arts match live at the base. That did seem to boost spirits. Captain Gerardo entered her stateroom, shrugged off her uniform, washed her face and laid down to get some sleep. Captain or not, she had her duty shift in a few hours. They were in FLT moving to their next system on the patrol route and would drop out just as her shift was to begin.
The FSF Munro, technically the Federal Security Frigate Douglas Albert Munro was a qualified navy ship of the line. In reality, it was an up gunned, somewhat rebuilt and refitted border patrol cutter. It started life 64 years ago as the FSC Munro, a Justice class patrol cutter with a 110mm spinal mount rail gun, 6 rapid fire close in defense cannons, 2 turreted anti-ship lasers and 3 launchers containing 6 Hellstrike 2 variable yield, thermonuclear, multi mission anti-ship missiles each. At the time, it was a lot of punch in a small package. Of course there was a price, it wasn’t all that fast, it wasn’t super maneuverable and it didn’t have space for a lot of amenities like supplies and armor. Much like the early submarines, it was small, cramped and not designed for comfort. Eight months ago, the Munro came out of the shipyard almost unrecognizable.
Now, the newly christened FSF Munro was a new and improved, refitted, Resolute Justice class frigate having undergone a significant refit and the rushed Block III upgrade as well. Physically, you could barely recognize her or her roots. Now, she was 148 meters long, 18 meters wide, and 16 meters tall, sported an improved fast firing 135 mm railgun. Close in defense was upgraded by 33%. With a new configuration and 9 cannons now with much greater overlapping fields of fire. Four turreted anti-ship lasers now sat in a ring around the nose and 2 more added aft. The missile launchers were upgraded to be 3 launchers of 12 Hellstrike 3 missiles each. Of course, shields were upgraded 26%, armor was updated with the new monocrystalline alloys and energy absorbent ceramics, the reactor was upgraded to power all the new toys, the hull was stiffened, sublight speed increased a respectable 19%, the entire maneuvering thruster system was replaced so she was much more agile even with the added weight and with the Block III refit, she was one of the smallest ships in the fleet with an FTL communications array. Hell, they even added space for a full platoon of 48 marines, their armor and 2 boarding shuttles to carry them. Even with the longer hull and the plumping of her middle, it was a tight fit.
A large bang made her ears pop, much larger than all the rest and now there was bits of wood and roofing falling from the sky burning. She prayed to Marok that Rabek would be safe as she made her way into the storm shelter, she looked about nervously and didn’t see him anywhere. Those things were large, loud, hurting people and horrifying to behold, she saw someone laying on the road toward the community and it made her belly churn. She skillfully kept Jaleil from seeing the person laying on the soil as she scuttled her into the storm shelter. She hoped that Rakek would run. He was a smart boy, strong, skilled and growing to be a fine young man and she was sure he could live in the trees until the cold came if needs be. She was terrified as she now bolted the entrance to the storm shelter she moved to the corner, sat and held her child close, silent tears falling down her cheeks.
Somewhere along the Terran Federation border at the sector base and intercom came to life. “Captain, this is coms, you need to see this.” Captain Ressler sat up from his workout, the sweat dripping from his brow and keyed the intercom. “Coms, this is the Captain, what is it?” “Captain, we have a burst transmission from a monitoring booster in system 18773, Sector R7. It has a security code Blue 3 priority message attached.” “I am on my way.” Captain Ressler knew a little bit about the Blue codes, they were used by the Explorers and often meant someone was in trouble and needed help. Priority 3 meant it was urgent. Wiping his face with the towel he slipped on his tunic and moved quickly to the command center. “Status?” he commanded as his command staff was going about the day to day work of running a sector base. “Coms, show me what you have, main screen.” Executive Officer Walton turned to the Captain “All departments are nominal Captain.” Ressler looked at his coms officer, Lieutenant Webb expectantly the to the screen.
Webb was young, new, wet behind the ears as they say but disciplined and professional enough to not come across as a child. “Yes Captain.” The message began to play. A large data dump, scan reports of ships entering the system, then orbit and finally a surveillance video from orbit of ships on the ground near some buildings, movement around the ships and among the buildings and finally a video of what looked like humans moving through some wooden buildings, firing weapons wildly and then a flash of something else. Finally, a face in camouflage clothing and hood. “This is Scout Explorer Grade 3 Marson Reese, registration juliet mike november three three seven niner seven two eight. Me and my team were dispatched to survey this system 5 weeks ago. We detected a population on the fourth planet and per protocol launched a repeater and injected watchers in orbit. We 4 are spread out across the planet, I was dropped 2 days travel from this population to observe per the Prime Directive and have been hidden here 6 days now observing. A few hours ago, I heard ships deorbiting and got closer to take a look. I sent you the vid and all the data I could, it looks like at least 3 ships have landed, they are armed, firing about, I haven’t gotten close to see if there are any casualties but I can tell there are humans and a reptilian looking race I have never seen among the ships. I will maintain observation as best I can, I have set the watchers to burst every 12 hours. I will update as security allows and avoid contact. Out.”
“Webb, what is that code?” Ressler asked. Webb punched up the code and put it on the main screen. “Standard exploration mission, system 18773, Sector R7, standard main sequence star, seven planets, survey the system, surface map planets, gather basic readings for mineral and atmospheric elements. First detected 13 years ago, no unnatural EM emissions detected, 2 planets in the inhabitable range. And apparently the fourth has some indigenous population based on the report.” Walton chimed in “Captain, based on the satellite images of those ships, at least 3 of them are human origin, looks like smallish merchant ships, that big one is something the computer hasn’t seen. The data suggests a drive signature not recorded before.” “Yeah, not good, a pre-industrial civilization and a new space faring species all in one day and not one damn first contact protocol in sight” Captain Ressler looked up, rubbed his temples then looked to Webb. “Get me Admiral Nuwanda on a secure channel immediately to the conference room. XO, get me locations of all the ships anywhere near that system.” A short 5 minutes later and Ressler exited the conference room. “Well XO, this is a pile of crap and we are sitting in it. Who do we have?” “Captain Gerardo on the Munro is closest; we estimate that with hard burn they can be there in 14 hours or so. Captain Liu on the destroyer The Sullivans can be there in maybe 20 hours. We can have 2 more destroyers, on station 38 and 41 hours after that respectively. Anything heavier will have to come from fleet Sir.” “Good, get Liu and the others moving, get me a secure line to Gerardo and bring all sector assets to Status 1. This is not a drill.”
The loud bangs were getting closer and the ground shook from time to time. Dust falling from the floor above the storm shelter coating everything. Jaleil sobbed in her mother’s arms not noticing the tears falling silently from her Mother’s face. Both were rocking softly and praying to Marok for it all to stop. Jaleil looked up to her mother and asked “Do you think Raybek is ok?” Her mother looked down and sobbed, holding her tight softly saying “I hope so my light.” The smell of smoke was growing and just then a noise was at the shelter door.
The coms panel beeped. Then beeped again and again. Dalia rolled over and punched the comms. Groggily she replied “What?” “Comms, Captain, you have a coded message incoming, priority 1 black” She sat upright immediately awake and looking for her tunic. “Comms, are you sure?” she confirmed. “Yes Captain, security code verified, incoming FTL transmission, patching to your station.” Pulling her tunic on, she punched up her workstation. “Command verification Gerardo, Dalia, Captain, FSF Douglas Albert Munro, whiskey whiskey rodger foxtrot three seven three three verify.” The computer, transmitted the verification, a few seconds later the message came back and the computer chimed “Verified. Incoming transmission.” The screen lit up with Captain Ressler’s frowning face. “Captain, I will be brief, less than 2 hours ago we got the following data burst.” He let her view the data burst and once it finished, he returned to the screen. As you can see, we have a mess. You are the closest to clean it up. What is your assessment?” he asked. Captain Gerardo took a moment, wiping the sleep from her eyes before replying. “It looks like some humans are on a planet with a previously unknown species and shooting the place up. Also looks like some other space faring race we don’t know is also involved.” Ressler replied “That’s our assessment too. Get over there, put a stop to that as best you can and try not to start a war with a new race in the meantime. The Sullivans is about 6 hours behind you for support. Officially, you are ordered to system 18773 immediately at best possible speed. Once there you are to assay the situation, engage the humans in system and on the fourth planet and contain cultural contamination as best you can. As far as we know, there are 4 scouts on the planet. We will patch you through to the data bursts as we get them. Keep us informed when you are about to drop in system. The next data burst should be in 10 hours. Understood?” “Yes Sir, understood.” “Good hunting Captain.” “Thank you Sir, Gerardo out.”
She winced, moved to her locker, pulled off her tunic, looked in the mirror, the puffiness under her eyes was barely visible with her smooth chocolate skin, she shook her head and wiped her eyes again. Pulling out her combat armor and slipping it on quickly wishing she could have a shower but that, and sleep, will have to come later, for now, the shit has hit the fan. Punching the comms, “Comms, this is the Captain, battle stations, command staff to the CIC and wake up that Finn.” “Aye aye Ma’am!” Moment’s later the familiar bosons whistle played throughout the ship and the lights went from regular to red and Lieutenant Morales voice came across strong and clear despite her Central American accent “Attention! All hands! Battle Stations! Battle Stations! Set condition 1 all stations. This is not a drill. Command staff to the CIC. All hands, Battle Stations! This is not a drill.” Captain Gerardo winced as she buttoned up her armor and grabbed her helmet, heading to the CIC.
Dodging people moving about quickly to their stations, donning combat armor and such, weaving through the passages she entered the CIC. Her XO Dobbs called out “Captain on deck” as everyone came to attention. She replied “At ease, report.” “Captain, all stations report condition 1 ready, the marines will be suited in 3 minutes, all systems green” said as he finished sealing his own combat armor. “Thank you XO.” Marine Lieutenant Ahonen strode in clunking away in his command combat armor, saluting as he came to the table. Dalia returned the salute and looked to her comms officer “Morales, play the message packet from my station.” As the packet is projected over the command table, the command staff watch intently. The expressions of most changing as the gunfire was played out and Lieutenant Lugunov the weapons officer pointed to the new ship. “What is that Captain?” “Command doesn’t know, it’s profile and drive signature match no know ship or species” she replied.
She began, “As you can see, we have a shit show and lucky us, we are the closest ship to clean it up. It is about 14 hours burn. Our orders, are to intercept and engage the human ships, put a stop to this and contain whatever cultural contamination we can without starting a war with whoever or whatever that odd ship is. Options?” She looked up to her staff. Ensign Gagnon was the first to speak up as he punched away at a terminal setting the course from here. “Captain, based on our position, we can make it there in 13 hours and 23 minutes. They could be long gone by the time we get there. If we burn at 5% over standard, we can shave that to 12 hours and 42 minutes, it’s not much but.” Nodding the Captain replied, “Set course and speed, 5% over authorized. Get it done.” Ensign Fornier, the helmsman, called back from the bridge just forward of the CIC, “Aye aye Captain!” as the ship turned abruptly and the hum of the powerplant and engines increased to a deep, low growl. The XO was next to speak up. “Captain, we can’t hit them with missiles or rails while they are on the ground, variable yield warheads be damned, even a minimal strike would incinerate that settlement.” Ahonen piped up, “We can take them on the ground, I have no doubts if this is what we are facing that my marines can handle them. Issue is, we would have to walk in a good distance to get surprise, maybe or come in on top of them but the shuttles are for boarding not orbital insertion or stealth, they handle like flying turds even if they can take ship lasers without crying. Besides, we don’t know what they will be doing by the time we get there.” “Understood. See if you can figure out other options. We have 13 hours, 22 minutes, the next data burst should be here in just under 10 hours. I want a full weapons check, flight check on the shuttles and have them assault ready.” “XO, did you get a report on the #3 turret, it was acting up after that last engagement with the smugglers. I don’t remember a status on it.” “Yes ma’am, engineering says they checked it in port and repaired the actuator ring that was damaged. We are 100% operational.” She nodded. “Ok everyone, set combat shifts, I want everyone possible in the rack so we are all as fresh as we can manage. Maintain battle stations. Resume here in 7 hours 45 minutes for the data burst and have options ready. Understood?” They all nodded, “Dismissed.”
She went to medical for a quick sleep patch and to check on their preparations, then to engineering. “Chief Engineer Mackie, how are we looking?” Pulling his head out of an access crawlway, Mackie turned, “Captain, she is running smooth as silk. I have to admit, the upgraded power package is quite nice, it’s handling 5% over without even a wiggle in on the graphs. We are finishing some minor maintenance on the secondary power grid controller interface now.” “Good, keep me apprised, space trials are nice, shooting a smuggler scow twice with ship lasers was not a real test, in a little over 13 hours, we are probably going to be in the shit and we need everything at 100%. Dobbs says you fixed #3?” He replied “Yes Ma’am. Some debris hit the actuator ring and galled it up. We replaced it fully so it's good as new.” “Good Mr Mackie, tell your staff thank you and keep it up.” “Aye aye Captain.” She turned and headed to her quarters to get 4 hours sleep. Thankfully the sleep patch would see to that though sleeping in combat armor isn’t what one would call comfortable. It’s the price you pay as captain, set the example you expect of your crew.
With that, the newly up gunned Federal Security Frigate Douglas Albert Munro hurtled through hyperspace, 138 crew and 43 marines narrowed their attention to a laser focus on their respective tasks and Captain Dalia Gerardo laid back down to nap, her head churning through the situation over and over as she slapped the sleep patch on her neck and fell asleep.
​
Jaleil screamed through the dark, slightly smoky air as the door to the storm shelter burst inward in a series of loud booms as pieces of door fell down the steps.
​
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Su mokslo metų pradžia, mielas jaunime! Štai atėjo rugsėjis, ar jau susipirkote visas reikalingas prekes mokyklai? Na, tai ar jau nupirkote savo atžalai naują penalą, pieštukinių klijų ir vėl to brangaus supisto guašo su akvarele, kurio nichera jūsų Kajukas ar Elzytė nenaudoja jau kelintus metus iš eilės ir dabar uždžiūvus toms dailės reikmėms viską reikia pirkti iš naujo? Che, studentai turbūt žvilgtelėję į tą vieną sąsiuvinį jau linksi galvas sakydami „nusipirkom“. Spėju jaunimas dar sugebės prisiminti savuosius pirkinius mokslo metų pradžiai. Blecha, kokia galybė pagal mokyklos sąrašą reikalingo brudo – pieštukai trisdešimt šešių spalvų, vaivorykštiniai flomasteriai, penalai su kažkokiais minekraftais, aplankalai vadovėliams, pratyboms ir sąsiuviniams, skirtingų formų liniuotės, skriestuvai, šlykštūs gaubliai ir plastilinas, kurio niekas niekada nėra naudojęs, na nebent kokie varganos valstybinės įmonės darbuotojai, kai reikia užplombuoti patalpas ir jas prispausti spaudu. Žinoma, plastilinui reikės dar atskirai ir pjaustymo lentelės su pjaustymo peiliuku.
„O kuprinė?“ jau girdi kaip burba sugyventinė, kurios taip ir nevedei, nes tikėjaisi palikti ją vieną su vaiku. Teisingai, dar reikės ir kuprinės atžalai, kuri kainuos bent pidisoką ir kurią tas nesantuokinis vaikas naudos vietoje futbolo kamuolio.
„Kostai, tai, kad čia sakvojažas, ne kuprinė!“ pamenu sykį man sakė antroji žmona, kai supirkinėjome vaiką mokyklai dar prieš 2009 metų krizę.
„Cit, nešios mūsų Domukas va šitą. Solidu, patogu ir praktiška. Che, klasika net ir Kaune klasika“ tariau prabraukdamas tėvišką griūšę vaikui per pakaušį su pageltusiu nykščio nagu ir suvėlęs savo žiopliui plaukus iš turgaus nupirkau diplomatinį čemodaną tuometiniam penktokui. Žmonai bandant balbatuoti, savo antrame golfe atkirtau, kad jeigu aš tokį nešiojau, tai gali ir mūsų sūnus, o jeigu išsaugos, tai ir politechnikume pravers. „Nepatinka – gali būti vieniša motina su vaiku“ atsimenu atkirtau nedžentelmeniškai.
Džiaugiuosi, kad manieji vaikai jau užaugę ir nebereikia jų apipirkinėti mokyklai. Va, vyriausias eina į devintą ar tai vienuoliktą klasę (nežinau, nes nebendraujam), tad iš alimentų jam viską superka motina ir čia jau jos reikalas. Atleiskite, aš kaip visada nukrypau.
Jaunime, kai supirksite visas šmutkes savo stebūklėliui, susirinksite iš maksimos visus tuos chaliavai duodamus plastmasinius puponautus, atminkite, kad apipirkinėjimas mokyklai dar nesibaigė. O kur dar sportinė apranga kūno kultūros užsiėmimams? O kur dar prijuostė ir lobzikas darbų pamokai? O kur svarbiausias rūbas – mokyklinė uniforma, kad jūsų pasaulėlis niekuo neišsiskirtų iš visų mokinių? Reikia gi ne tiktai avalynės, bet ir kostiuminių kelnių, švarko ir bent poros baltų marškinių, kurie po mėnesio lankymo bus ties kaklu ir pažastimis pageltę. Gerai, kai dabar kauniečiai turi bazę, o vilniečiai Gariūnus, bet pagalvokite, kur anuomet apsipirkinėdavo biednesnių miestų gyventojai. Ogi vykdavo į didmiesčių turgų, kad galėtų rasti bent kiek padoresnį kostiumą, kuris nebūtų to paties modelio kaip ir tas švarkas su kuriuo išlydėjote savo amžinatilsį dieduką į paskutinę kelionę.
Kaip jaunimas dabar sako, pafleksinsiu sakydamas, kad devyniasdešimtaisiais visi kaimiečiai, na ir biednesni kauniečiai, prieš rugsėjo pirmąją plūdo į dvidešimtpenkmečio turgelį pas ne ką kitą, o jūsų ištikimą istorijų tarną Kostą Dumauską! Taigi norėčiau pasveikinti jus atvykusius paskaityti istorijos „Mokykla“!
Viešpatie Dieve, koks būdavo antplūdis nemokančių dorai lietuviškai šnekėti asmenų tą pasiutusį rugpjūtį. Tais, berods devympenktais metais biednesni kauniečiai turbūt prisimena ėję į tą turgelį pirkti kostiumo, gal jaunimas net prisimins mane, visą suplūkusį, prakaitų prasmirdusį, visada lakstantį su cigarete ir pučiantį dūmus į vaikus?
– Gal jūs jau nebepūskite dūmų mano Karoliui į akis? – sakydavo mamos, kurioms į akis pūsdavau miglą apie prekių kokybę.
– Che, ponia, toks gyvenimo tempas, kad net parūkyti žmogiškai nespėju. Pažiūrėkite prašau į šį horizontaliai raštuotą juodą kostiumą „Glaukoma“, – rodžiau vieną iš pigesnių egzempliorių motinai. – Turkiškas audinys, neyrančios pažastys, puikus raštas. Žmonės turguje šneka, kad net pats Prarabas turi Glaukomą, – gydžiau susidomėjusią klientę. Teisybę pasakius, tokie banditai kaip minėtasis Kauno nusikalstamo pasaulio autoritetas Prarabas tikrai nebūtų nešiojęs tokio prasto kostiumo. Vienintelis kas galėjo nešioti „Glaukomą“ tai nebent mūsų turgaus pusaklis sargas su viena pienine akimi, sirgęs tikra glaukoma.
– Na pavadinimas tai atsiprašau... Neapsikrės? – sukikeno mama, nurimusi, kad bent nebepučiu į jos išsigandusį sūnų cigarečių dūmus.
– Baikit, ką jūs, – uždėjau draugiškai ranką ant peties. – Turkiškai glaukoma reiškia... reiškia... turtą!
– Už kiek švarkas su kelnėmis?
– Tapsiu ubagu, bet parduosiu jums jį už 18 dolerių arba devyniasdešimt litų.
– Oi ne, – purtė galvą į šonus klientė apsirengusi džinsiniu kostiumėliu, kurios pilvas prasidėjo nuo makšties. – brangokai.
– Gerai, šešiasdešimt litų ir jūs man kada nors atnešite rūkytos dešros, nes už tiek pardavęs neturėsiu už ką pavalgyti, – gražiuoju pasakiau.
– Oi ne, manęs neapsuksi. Mudu su sūnumi čia jau vakar trynėmės, tai Žaneta, ta kur prie rusų vaistinės, tokį patį kostiumą už 25 litus parduoda.
– Nu tai ir pyzdink pas tą savo Žanetą, – atkirtau ir nuvijau ją su vaiku nuo savo staliuko. Negalėjau pakęsti burbančių pacientų, kad kažkur kitur pigiau. Nebijojau, kad grįš su vyru ir bandys aiškintis dėl negarbingų žodžių jos pusėn, matėsi, kad vyras ant jos jau kelis metus buvo padėjęs.
Moterėlė, žinoma, pasišalino ir nuėjo pas netoliese prekiavusią Žanetą kur nupirko vaikui kostiumą į mokyklą. Mintyse ją iškeikiau, nes buvo verslo konkurentė, bet ta padariau tik mintyse, nes buvo visai graži. Tvirtai sudėta merga pačios gamtos sukurta gimdyti vaikus, o ne pardavinėti švarkus ir kostiumus ir taip švaistyti savo gražias dieneles ant turgaus. Priedo, jai jau buvo virš dvidešimties, tad vyresnės turgaus bobos jai kasdien primindavo, jog „nepastebėsi kaip bijūnėlis nuvys, jeigu nesusirasi vyro“. Žanetai buvo nusispjauti, ši būsima senmergė ir toliau sėkmingai kalė pinigą ant turgaus ir lengvai uždirbtus pinigėlius leido visokiems blizgučiams ar vakarėliams su draugėmis. Su Žaneta abu atstovavome dvi skirtingas pardavėjų barikadas – mergužėlė pati pirma visuomet užkalbindavo potencialų klientą ir šiam užkibus sugebėdavo nemeluodama išgirti prekę, kad ir kokia prasta ji bebūtų. Sakydavo „medžiaga pigi, bet atrodo prabangiai“, kas pakerėdavo vos užklydusį pirkėją. Žaneta visada pirkėjų paklausdavo kaip einasi dienelė, vyresniųjų moterų būtinai pasidomėdavo apie skydliaukės problemas. Aš, tuo tarpu, buvau kiek kitoks. Mintyse beveik visus savo klientus buvau išjuokęs arba pasiuntęs chujum. Niekada nebuvau su jais atvirais, net ir pigiausią prekę gebėdavau apibudinti taip, kad ji atrodydavo kaip brangiausia. Klientams brangias prekes parduodavau žodžiais „ai šitas? Ne, jūs neįpirksite. Štai, žiūrėkite, turime ir pigių daiktų kaip tik jūsų kišenei“. Dažnas klientas pasijausdavo įžeistas ir nupirkdavo gerokai brangesnę prekę negu šiam reikėdavo. Tas pats ir su kostiumais. Būdavo, kad prekes su Žaneta pirkdavome iš to pačio cecho, bet parduodavome už skirtingas kainas. Manosios, savaime suprantama, buvo didesnės.
Maždaug perpiet pas mane atbėgo minėtoji Žaneta, kol pietums dorojau lašinių brizą. Buvo išsišiepusi, tad supratau, kad pas Dvidešimtpenkmečio turgelio vilką ši mergužėlė atėjo su prašymu.
– Sveikas, Kostai, kaip reikaliukai? – permetus savo ilgus plaukus nuo krūtų ant nugaros paklausė Žaneta.
– Ai, būna ir geriau, – tariau ir lyg tarp kitko prasegiau pinigų pilną turgelininko piniginę, besimaivant, kad toks geras uždarbis manęs netenkina.
– Ar galima tavęs kai ko paprašyti? – uždėjo ranką ant peties Žaneta.
– Bandyk, – nerodžiau jai susidomėjimo, nors jutau kaip pradeda tvinksėti.
– Turiu išvažiuoti porai valandų ir nenoriu patikėti toms plepioms boboms savo kostiumų, – pradėjo ji, man atsainiai klausant ir kramtant ilgai čiaumojamą sūrų lašinį. – Gal galėtum palakstyti per du stalus? – paprašė Žaneta prekiauti jos kostiumais.
– O kas man už tai? – paklausiau.
– Gausi procentą nuo pardavimų. Galėčiau viską uždaryti, bet čia tik porai valandų ir nenoriu prarasti klientų. Galėsim gal po to kažkur nueiti alaus atsigerti, – mirktelėjo akį Žaneta, turbūt viena iš nedaugelio galėjusių mane apgerti ir neprisileisti mano gašliems grabinėjimams.
– Procentas toks kaip visada?
– Kaip ir visame turgelyje, – patikino Žaneta. Turguje vieni už kitus prekiauti buvo galima, turėjome kažkokį nustatytą procentą, bet nei aš pats primenu koks jis, nei turbūt jums įdomu.
– Davai, varyk linksmintis, paprekiausiu už tave, – suteikiau merginai progą tvarkyti savo reikalų.
Kol raikiau juodą duonukę ir žiūrėjau, kad klientai netyčia neišeitų su mano produkcija nesusimokėję, Žaneta pasakė kur pardavimų sąsiuvinis, kur nauja produkcija, kur sena ir dar kažkokią nereikšmingą informaciją, kuri nebuvo aktuali vienam geriausių kostiumų prekeiviui rajone.
Taip ir pralaksčiau kaip debilas tas porą valandų tarp savo ir Žanetos prekystalių, girdamas ir meluodamas apie neva puikų kostiumą „Glaukoma“ ar „Super Sport“, siūtą turkų princui, bet kaip tyčia pritinkantį jūsų aštuntokui jau sveriančiam aštuoniasdešimt kilogramų.
– O kur Žaneta? – paklausė viena moterėlė atėjusi su vaiku.
– A chren znajet, gal gimdo, ką aš žinau, paprašė paprekiauti už ją, – atsakiau.
– Bet čia ji prekiauja, taip? – pasitikslino pas Žanetą atėjusi mama. Man patikinus, jog taip, visai simpatiška mamulė pradėjo kostiumų paiešką savo atžalai. Metalinės aukštos grotos buvo nukabinėtos įvairaus modelio, siuvimo, dydžio ir kainos kostiumais.
– Tai sakykite ko norit, padėsiu, – pasisiūliau ir paraginau paskubėti.
– Na, reikia kostiumo mokyklai šiam vaikinukui, – paaiškino mama ir nusišypsojo.
– Ką jūs sakot, negali būti, – burbtelėjau po nosimi. – Puiku, tuomet štai visa siena skirta kostiumėliams. Na, vyruti, ką mėgsti veikti? – paklausiau jos vaiko.
– Žaisti kamuoliu, – atsakė bejausmis pacukas.
– Kamuoliu sakai? Gal tada norėtumėte nupirkti savo sūnui pilkai juodą, kaip futbolo kamuolys, kostiumą? Sako, kad rusijoje vaikai vienas kitą pjudo, kad galėtų tokį gauti, – tariau ir pirštu bedžiau į vos ne ant žemės gulintį kostiumą „Chariok“, ruskių siuvimo, kuriuo pats neprekiavau, bet Žaneta dar turėjo kelis dydžius.
– Ne, kažkoks nekoks materiolas, – pačiupinėjusi liko nepatenkinta mamka.
– O ką berniukas mėgsta veikti? – bandžiau kažkaip paimti Žanetos taktiką.
– Kaip tai ką, lindėti kieme su draugais, būna kartais grįžta naktį, – atsiduso vaiko mama. – Na, o man vienai pernelyg vakarais liūdna, – mirktelėjo pantera.
– Jeigu vaikas mėgsta tamsą ir naktį, kaip jums šis kostiumas? – tariau ir supratęs, jog visai būsiu sužavėjęs vaiko močią, parodžiau vieną iš brangesnių kostiumų, tokį žalsvai mėlyną, šūdmusės atspalvio. – Žinokite, jo pavadinimas irgi egzotiškas – „Mucher“. Pasiūtas Maroke. Tik, gaila, nežinau ar jums tiek duos pinigų jūsų mama šiam kostiumui.
– Ką jūs, kokia dar mama? Aš pati pirksiu! – pyktelėjo nesupratusi manęs vaiko motina.
– Che, šaunuolė sesutė, kad broliui kostiumą perką. Ehe, ehehehe, – prajukau ir vaiko motina taip pat pradėjo kvatotis, mat neva ją supainiojau, lyg ji būtų ne mama, o sesuo, nors akivaizdžiai kabantys buvusios žindyvės krūtis išdavė apie keturias dešimtis sukauptų metų.
– Oi baikite, prašau, aš gi jo mama! – kvatojosi ji, kol su ilgu pagaliu nukėliau viršuje buvusį daugmaž vaiko dydžio kostiumą ir įdaviau ketvirtokui į rankas.
– Na, bernužėli, še, pasimatuok, – tariau ir vaiką pastačiau ant kartono, prekybos vietos kampe. Dėl vaizdo nuleidau kažkokią širmą, taip sukurdamas Žanetos improvizuotą persirengimo kabiną.
– Visai šmaikštus jūs vyriokas, – mirktelėjo akį jauno sultingo vyro ištroškusi mama. – Tik bėda, kad nesu labai bagota ir pinigų daug kostiumui skirti negaliu.
– Septyniasdešimt litų manau tikrai rasite, – mandagiai nusišypsojau, bet mintyse vadinau ją ubage.
– Be šansų... Vyras mane palikęs, verčiamės su sūnumi dviese, – bandė lipti ant sąžinės klientė.
– Parduosiu aš jums jį tuomet su nuolaida, – mirktelėjau. – Šešiasdešimt litų.
– Meldžiamasis, daugiau keturiasdešimties negaliu sau leisti.
– Šešiasdešimt litukų.
– Vyras alimentų nemoka...
– Na nuleisiu tuomet iki penkiasdešimt penkių, tinka?
– Brangoka vis tiek, – nusiminė motina žiūrėdama į to modelio kostiumus, sukabintus ant tvoros. – O kostiumas labai gražus.
– Tuomet galiu duoti pasimatuoti Charioką, – nukirtau.
– Ne, duokite tą „Mucher“, atiduosiu paskutinius pinigus, – giliai atsiduso mama.
– Gerai, atiduodu už penkiasdešimt, bet jūs man skolinga kavos, – bandžiau išpešti naudos ir sau.
– Keturiasdešimt penki litai ir kavos galėsime atsigerti kartu pas mane namuose, – merkė akį derybininkė.
– Keturiasdešimt ir aš pas jus atvyksiu ne ant kavos, bet su visais po to sekančiais navarotais, – ištiesiau ranką patvirtinti sandoriui.
– Sutarta, – atsargiai ranką paspaudė mama pardavusi save už vaiko kostiumą ir gašliai nusišypsojo. – Kaip tau ten tas kostiumas, patinka? – paklausė mama. – Kainuos nemažai, keturiasdešimt litų, – mirktelėjo mama. Pamaniau patikrinsiu kaip vaikui sekasi matuotis kostiumą.
– Bet čia parašyta keturiasdešimt trys, – man įkišus galvą jau žiojosi vaikas. – Dėde, kišenėje radau...
– Tylėk, blet, ir dėkis švarką, – tyliai sušnypščiau ir nuplėšiau kainą. – Puikiai, žinokite, grynai ant jo siūtas! – uždėjęs vaikui ant pečiu per didelį švarką parodžiau jį motinai. – Žiūrėkite, dar gal kitiems metams bus, ant išaugimo pats tas.
– Bet mama, man jis per didelis ir negražus, – bandė išsisukti nuo šūdmusės vaidmens vaikas.
– Oi, stipruolis koks, švarkas jam per didelis! Mama nespės tau pirkalioti kostiumų, jeigu pirks pagal tavo dydį, – sudrausminau vaiką, kas labai patiko mamai.
– Bus gerai, – motina užmetė akį į vaiką, bet mačiau, kad galvojo apie kažką kitą. – Gyvenu prie Taubučių, tikiuosi atvyksite? – tarusi ji įkišo man į kišenę du banknotus ir šiek tiek grybštelėjo už kišenės turinio.
Iš tokio netikėtumo aš, žioplys, adreso ir jos vardo neprisiminiau, nors kaip tuoj pamatysite tai buvo labai svarbi informacija. Ne ne, nepagalvokite, kad ši istorija bus apie tai kaip tapau to vaiko patėviu ir vežiojau jį į mokyklą ir padėjau ruošti namų darbus. Oi ne...
Pardavęs šūdmusės kostiumą pribėgau prie saviškio prekystalio, pardaviau kelis kostiuminius batus, pas Žanetą gal dar kokius penkis kostiumus ir septynis marškinius su dešimčia šlipsų ant gumytės. Laikas prabėgo, Žaneta grįžo turgui po truputį užsidarant.
– Viešpatie, Kostai, atsiprašau, kad užtrukau! Kaip sekėsi?
– Gerai, Žanut, – mažybiškai kreipiausi į didelio stoto mergą, kurią turėjau vadinti ne Žaneta, o tikra Žana. – Pardaviau kelis Chariokus, Glaukomos švarką, dar lygtai apipisau vieną ant dešimties litų su Svensonu, pardaviau netgi tą šlykštų Mucherą. Pažiūrėk pati sąsiuvinyje, dabar tiksliai nepasakysiu.
– Mucherą pardavei? – suraukė antakius Žaneta.
– Taip, tik biški pigiau negu parašyta buvo, trimis litais mažiau.
– O kurį Mucherą pardavei? – sunerimo Žaneta.
– Ką žinau, tą kuris buvo pačiame viršuje po tuo ekspoziciniu.
– Ne ne ne, negali būti, – Žaneta pribėgo prie prekystalio ir su pagaliu nukabinusi visus Mucherus, pradėjo juos kraustyti, čiupinėti.
– Blet, Žana, kokių tu traleliūškių prisiėdei, a? Ko čia nerimsti? Žiūrėk, visos bobos spokso, – nesuprasdamas stebėjau Žanetos performansą. Ši pradėjo čiupinėti kiekvieną lopinėlį Muchero švarko ir purtyti kelnes.
– Kur jie, jobtvajumat, kur jie?! – psichavo turgaus pardavėja.
– Kas tie jie, Žaneta? – atsargiai priėjau prie jos, kaip prie išprotėjusio šuns, kurį reikėjo užmigdyti.
– Pinigai, kaip tai kas?! – rėkė ant manęs Žaneta.
– Pas mane pederastkėje, rytoj darbe atsiskaitysime. Žaneta, gal greitąją iškviesti? – sunerimau net pats, matydamas artėjančią Žanetos psichozę.
– Ne šitie! – ašarota bliovė Žana. – Mucher švarke buvau įsiuvusi tris tūkstančius dolerių, Kostai, negi neprisimeni?
– Ką? – nesupratęs suraukiau kaktą.
– Gi, blet, sakiau prieš išeinant, kad jeigu pardavinėsi Mucherą, pažiūrėk ar neįsiūti pinigai, nes nespėjau jų išimti! – šaukė ant manęs Žaneta ir suleido į dilbį nagus. – Maldauju, Kostai, pasakyk, kad čia dar vienas tavo debiliškas juokelis.
– Nieko tu man nesakei! Nieko aš netikrinau! – gyniausi, nes tikrai neprisiminiau, kad kažką konkretaus ji man sakė apie tai, jog kažkurio kostiumo turėčiau neparduoti.
Žaneta suvokusi, kad jos neapgaudinėju, pradėjo svirduliuoti ir supratusi, jog neteko trijų tūkstančių dolerių, pradėjo alpti. Turgaus bobelės prie alpimų buvo taip įpratusios, jog nepraėjo nei bokso trenerio tempo skaičiavimų iki dešimt, kai Žanetai po subine buvo kišama taburetė, ant galvos dedamas šaltas rankšluostis, o po nosimi kišamas vatos bumbuliukas su amoniaku.
Prasičiuchinusi Žaneta atrodė taip, kad tuoj mane sukals iki komos, kaip koks girtas kaimo erelis savo giminaitį per eilinį balių.
*****
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Iki sekančio malonaus, mielieji.
Kostas Dumauskas
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Taip pat dalyvauju ir Facebooke, galite pasekti mane ir ten.

entry for [Gone Horribly Right]
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Aeoula was the brains of the outfit…as an andaalan they couldn’t be anything but. They rubbed five of their nine manipulator tentacles together in anticipation. They had vetted the human…wanted in human space for some serious heists, and always with a different crew.
The human had brought them the big score they needed. All that remained was to convince the scale-brained lethan brothers Jebrik and Marok.
As lethans, the brothers liked to consider themselves the muscle of the group. Now that Alixi-sopranit the fifth was dead, it looked like that was the case. She was a sight to behold. Female creshiks are fatality machines; four arms, long, retractable rending claws atop each manipulator, razor-sharp beaks, and faster than anything.
Alixi had had the added benefit of titanium plating on her lower rending claws and beak edges. That didn’t help when she bested an assassin in a senseless bar brawl. Sure, she won the fight, but the assassin gutted her in her sleep.
The job the human was offering was perfect for a four-person crew. Normally, the person that comes up with a job like that hires out the talent and takes a cut. The human wanted to be part of it…one of the crew.
“Listen up. Ever since Alixi got herself deaded, we’ve been doing small-time gigs. We’ve got a play lined up for big stakes.” Aeoula pointed to the vault blueprints and layout map on the table with a tentacle.
“Getting into a gem exchange is going to be rough,” Jebrik said. “We’d need to hire a safe cracker to get into the vault, too.”
“No, we won’t. The human that brought us this job has it figured out to the last detail. Why don’t we listen to him and then make up our minds?” Aeoula motioned with a few tentacles for the human to approach.
He was shorter than all of them, but then so were all humans. He had medium-brown hair streaked with grey under a dark hat, and wore large, dark glasses. A deep scar ran down the side of his face, disappearing into a full beard shot with grey.
His heavy boots thudded on the floor as he approached, making Aeoula think he might be far more solid than he looked in his baggy clothing. “Howdy, fellas.”
The lethans looked at each other in confusion, and back at the human. “What did you call us?” Marok asked.
“I was just sayin’ hello is all. I’ve already talked to Aeoula about this little adventure, and I guess you’d be Jebrik and Marok. My name’s Houdini.”
“Are you the safe cracker?” Jebrik asked.
“Nope, no need for one.” The human to the andaalan. “You didn’t tell ’em the plan?”
“I thought I’d leave you the honor.”
“Right, right.” The human leaned over the drawings and laid down a device. “This. This will open up every deposit box in the vault. Before you ask, let me ask you a question. Who designed the vaults for the gem exchanges?”
The lethans looked confused, while Aeoula twirled their tentacles in amusement. When the human looked to them, they answered. “The humans did. Summerlin Locks, to be precise. And the lead engineer for that project, is standing here: Harry Houdini.”
The human waved a hand. “Now, there’s no need for all the butterin’ up. This here device will scramble the security software long enough to open all the deposit boxes. ’Course this’ll only work once. When they figure out how it was done, they’ll patch it.”
Marok raised a claw. “It opens the boxes, but how do we open the vault?”
“We don’t. That’s the beauty of the plan. Gather ’round and let me enlighten you.”
After going over the plan, Aeoula added their own modifications. “You want to use the knockout spray on everyone, even though you only know it works for certain on humans? These are not fighters; they’re going to do whatever the creature with a blaster tells them to.
“Jebrik and Marok will tie up the customers, and Houdini will tie up the clerks. Just make sure they step back from the counter before they have a chance to hit the silent alarm. Everything else, exactly as you said. It should take station security at least fifteen intervals to react, unless that alarm is triggered. We’re in and out in seven. Questions?”
Jebrik asked, “What about cuffs? We don’t have any.”
“I got that covered,” Houdini said. “I got a case in storage, with the blasters. No serials on anything, all untraceable.”
Aeoula picked up the device. “I have two questions for you, Houdini. First, why…what do you hope to get from this?”
“Ten percent of the take, that’s all.” He spit on the floor. “Human space is all kinds of fucked right now with the Muram invasion. I just want a chunk of money so’s I can go hide out somewheres until it blows over. What’s the second question?”
The andaalan raised a pistol that they’d concealed. “What’s stopping me from taking this device and plan, and killing you right now?”
The human laughed. “You’d be in a world of hurt, buddy. That ain’t the real device, it’s a mock-up. I ain’t takin’ the real device out until we’re ready to do the deed. Besides, you gotta know exactly where the port is. It’s not marked or anything.”
Aeoula put the pistol away. This human had some smarts, almost enough to run their own crew. He was no andaalan by any stretch, but he was one of the more intelligent non-andaalans they’d run across. “Well played, Houdini. See you at the designated time and place.”
The cycle came, and Aeoula met up with the lethan brothers and the human. He handed each of them a handful of security cuffs, designed for all known sapients, and gave blasters to the lethans. “I didn’t have a fourth blaster,” he said, “but I figured since you’re the boss and all, you got your pistol on you at least.”
“You see that,” Aeoula said, “this human gets it. You vacuum-brained idiots follow him in and stick to the plan.”
The human patted a canister on the belt at his waist. “I was hopin' to get a chance to use my spray. Oh, well.”
The human led them into the exchange and yelled out. “Clerks! Step away from the counter! Hands, manipulators, tentacles and tails in the air! Everyone else, on the floor! Now!” He fired a single shot into the ceiling that got everyone motivated to move.
“Careful,” Aeoula said.
“Heh, yeah. Watch out, guys. Hair trigger, I guess.” He turned back toward the counter. “Stay clear of the counter! Wouldn’t want anyone to trigger any alarms.”
Aeoula watched as the lethans cuffed the customers and the human did the same to the cashiers. The human had said he didn’t want anyone hurt if he could avoid it, and it seemed like he was true to his word. After cuffing them all, he helped them to the floor, so they were out of reach of the alarms, but not injured.
When he stood up after helping the last one down, the human asked the lethans, “Did you check the toilets?”
While they were busy looking confused, the human ran across toward the lavatory, pulling out his incapacitating spray.
“Don’t spray that around us!” one the lethans said.
Aeoula walked into the vault and laid out the fourteen bags they’d carried in. The few gems that were currently out, they put into a bag right away. The human came running in from the lavatory laughing.
“That was fun.”
“Hurry up. We don’t have time to play.”
“Right, right.” The human counted down the boxes in the second column from the door, stopping at one about waist height to him. He plugged his device in and a few seconds later, all the deposit box doors popped open.
“Let’s go.”
Aeoula could pull and bag four boxes at a time, while the human was stuck doing them one by one. Still, the two of them made short work of clearing out the deposit boxes and filling bags, which the andaalan would fling out to the lethans with their ninth manipulator tentacle.
The human filled the last bag, then threw the device in the corner and blasted it. The noise was deafening in the echoing vault and Aeoula had had enough. “Give me the blaster, you clumsy oaf.”
“Sure, sure,” he said, handing it over. “I’ll grab this last bag and meet you out front.”
Aeoula knew that the haul in the last bag was far less than ten percent, but they’d had enough of following the human’s lead. “That’s your cut. We part ways here. Don’t let me ever see you again.”
“You won’t,” the human said.
Stepping out of the vault, Aeoula said, “Let’s go, we’re gone. Forget the human.”
They ran out the door to find a security contingent in firing positions. The three of them began exchanging fire with the guards, until their blasters stopped working. “That stupid human!”
Before Aeoula could tell them to run, he was dead, and the lethans followed close behind.