Keybord symbols

https://i.imgur.com/UfzuAx0.png
https://i.imgur.com/uIQ8O9h.png (with Fn key toggled)
this is 'hacker keyboard' for android. its further customizable with rows and sizes, other options, but this is the jist of it.
steam decks implementation of cursor keys is not good. the lack of critical keys like control and F row keys, is perplexing, considering the point of the keyboard is compatibility, and some require these keys to access things.
instead, so much is missing....but emojis are there. really? what gives.
my keyboard doesnt even work like its supposed. it leaves weird symbols when trying to use cursor keys, idk what the problem is. i hoped it was a big that would resolve, but its been a while.
Volvo, plx fax keybord.

Since couple of days my remote completely stopped working. Turning the ps5 on works no problem, as soon as its booted, theres a symbol of a mouse, keybord and controller being connected and nothing works.
Also the voice command button on it has been dead since release and never mentioned again.
Anyone experiencing the same problems or having any fix for that?

I'm trying to code lil bit and use "anysoft keyboard". It so annoying to switch between layouts to find proper symbol. Can you advice some keybords which wouldn't keylog my data and would be convinient to type code?

I am looking to build my first Corne keybord but for the life of me I cannot find any information about setting a layout on the keyboard with Qmk or setting the layout through OS software. I currently use the Workman layout modified for UK use, so ISO layout with the £ symbol on the number row. This is installed on Windows with the installer generated by the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator so I can change layouts on the fly with a keyboard shortcut if I need to change back to Qwerty for whatever reason. If I build a keyboard and flash the workman layout directly to the keyboard, do I also need to install the workman layout on the PC, or leave it default? I'm very confused by it, that also goes for Linux. I have a custom xmodmap layout that I use, would this become redundant as the layout is on the keyboard?
Thanks for the time reading.

Just posting this since I didn't manage to find anything valuable during the last past months to fix the increasing ghosting issues that I have with the Logitech G413 keyboard that I have since almost 4 years now. I've been a loyal customer of Logitech for almost 15 years now, but I don't recognise the quality of their product nor their customer service since a long time. Many of my keys are typing up to 3 times their symbol when only pressed once, and while an anti chattering software helped to dampen most of them, it's still way too inconsistent with some keys. I also buy those too-expensive spray of dry air to clean all mechanisms, without any significant result. I'm really sad about this because I try as much as possible to avoid buying superficial stuff and I really fond in love with the slick not-too-gamy silver aluminium look of my G413, but this ghosting ruins my days of work and my games, and I don't believe that Logitech will freely replace my keyboard since it's out of warranty. To give you some context, here are some stats of Keybord Chattering Fix showing how bad the ghosting is: - A: 12,85% out of 358 presses - SHIFT: 13,49% out of 515 presses - SPACE: 5,51% out of 810 presses So if any of you guys have a good idea that would convince me that my problem ⠀can be fixed, please shout or I'll leave my G413 for a second-hand offer and join Razer with their Ornata V2 !..

For example, when using multiple layers keyboard, and the key caps change symbols/colors. Something similar to a stream deck, but ofcourse more of a keybord.
I would love a minimal keyboard with layers, but accidently trigger the wrong layer concerns me, but seeing the key caps change might help.

Does anyone know if there is a way to make a customized "language" keybord layout u get homemade symbols"letters" insted of normal letters?

Just posting this since I didn't manage to find anything significant during the last past months to fix the increasing ghosting issues that I have with the Logitech G413 keyboard that I have since almost 4 years now. I've been a loyal customer of Logitech for almost 15 years now, but I don't recognise the quality of their product nor their customer service since a long time.
Many of my keys are typing up to 3 times their symbol when only pressed once, and while an anti chattering software helped to dampen most of them, it's still way too inconsistent with some keys. I also buy those too-expensive spray of dry air to clean all mechanisms, without any significant result.
I'm really sad about this because I try as much as possible to avoid buying superficial stuff and I really fond in love with the slick not-too-gamy silver aluminium look of my G413, but this ghosting ruins my days of work and my games, and I don't believe that Logitech will freely replace my keyboard since it's out of warranty.
To give you some context, here are some stats of Keybord Chattering Fix showing how bad the ghosting is: - A: 12,85% out of 358 presses - SHIFT: 13,49% out of 515 presses - SPACE: 5,51% out of 810 presses
So if any of you guys have a good idea that would convince me that my problem can be fixed, please shout or I'll leave my G413 for a second-hand offer and join Razer with their Ornata V2 !..

First of all, sorry if the title is off, I'm not sure what's the issue here and what the proper terms are.

What I'm doing

I'm using GTK to write a GUI application. My actual domain logic is all pure functions, so that's all nice and good, no problem there.
I have my event handlers (I'll be using a keypress event for canvas widget as example here) running in EventM monad which is just newtype for ReaderT (IORef AppState) IO etc.
Currently, the event handlers use constraints like this:

canvasKeyPress :: (MonadState AppState m, MonadKeyboard m) => Gdk.EventKey -> m (EventResult ()) 

And here's my instance for MonadKeybord:

instance MonadKeyboard EventM where getKey = Gdk.getEventKeyKeyval >=> Gdk.keyvalToUpper 

In the handler I then go something like this:

canvasKeyPress eventKey = do key <- getKey eventKey case key of Gdk.KEY_J -> ... -- do things if J was pressed -- etc... 

What I want to be doing

What I'd like to achieve is to make this polymorphic on the event parameter type (Gdk.EventKey). (And then get rid of all of concrete Gtk/Gdk from all event handlers, but that's probably another story), resulting in a logic that is completely abstract and interpretable.
So, rather than having the above type for my event handler, this (with the relevant parts) is what I'd like to be able to say instead:

canvasKeyPress :: (MonadState AppState m, MonadKeyboard m) => ev -> m (EventResult ()) canvasKeyPress eventKey = do key <- getKey eventKey case key of key_J -> ... -- do things if J was pressed 

Basically, the Gdk.EventKey type is replaced with type variable and I'm not matching the key value against Gdk-defined key values, but some other type.
My idea was that I should be able to replace the GUI from GTK to something else with only providing new class instances and replacing the initialization that builds up the GUI and assigns handlers for events and stuff like that.
Here's what I've tried so far to make this work.
A multi-parameter typeclass:

class (Monad m) => MonadKeyboard m ev k where getKey :: ev -> m k key_J :: k -- ...followed by other key symbols that are needed 

To clarify

• ev is the type for keyboard event that's passed to an event handler
• k is the type that represents key symbols.

After this, the event handler is

canvasKeyPress :: (MonadState AppState m, MonadKeyboard m ev k) => ev -> m (EventResult ()) 

And here's the instance of it for my application's event handling.

instance MonadKeyboard EventM Gdk.EventKey Word32 where getKey = Gdk.getEventKeyKeyval >=> Gdk.keyvalToUpper key_J = Gdk.KEY_J -- ...followed by other key symbols that are needed 

Why I'm not doing it

The following presents events of my confusion in chronological order.
Let's start from the point where I have defined the MonadKeyboard class and the instance for it as shown previously.
build =>

 • Could not deduce (MonadKeyboard m0 ev0 k) from the context: MonadKeyboard m ev k bound by the type signature for: key_J :: forall (m :: * -> *) ev k. MonadKeyboard m ev k => k at src/Luukasa/Event/Keyboard.hs:23:5-14 The type variables ‘m0’, ‘ev0’ are ambiguous • In the ambiguity check for ‘key_J’ To defer the ambiguity check to use sites, enable AllowAmbiguousTypes When checking the class method: key_J :: forall (m :: * -> *) ev k. MonadKeyboard m ev k => k In the class declaration for ‘MonadKeyboard’ 23 key_J :: k ^^^^^^^^^^ 

Fine, I'll enable AllowAmbiguousTypes, because I don't know what else I'm going to do.
build => (there's a bif of unrelevant code in the error message below, just ignore it. getKey is the relevant part)

• Could not deduce (MonadKeyboard m ev a0) arising from a use of ‘getKey’ from the context: (MonadState AppState m, MonadKeyboard m ev k) bound by the type signature for: canvasKeyPress :: forall (m :: * -> *) ev k. (MonadState AppState m, MonadKeyboard m ev k) => ev -> m (EventResult ()) at src/Luukasa/EventHandler.hs:104:1-91 The type variable ‘a0’ is ambiguous Relevant bindings include eventKey :: ev (bound at src/Luukasa/EventHandler.hs:105:16) canvasKeyPress :: ev -> m (EventResult ()) (bound at src/Luukasa/EventHandler.hs:105:1) • In a stmt of a 'do' block: key <- getKey eventKey In the expression: do s <- get key <- getKey eventKey let dispatch = dispatchAction s let result = ... .... In an equation for ‘canvasKeyPress’: canvasKeyPress eventKey = do s <- get key <- getKey eventKey let dispatch = ... .... 107 key <- getKey eventKey 

This is not good, because I've even less grasp of what's going on plus I'm a lazy thinker.
So, I don't have the faintest idea of what I'm doing, but I'm going to add a functional dependency on the typeclass

class MonadKeyboard m ev k ev -> k where getKey :: ev -> m k key_J :: k 

(As a sidenote, I've also tried to replace the multi-parameter typeclass + fundep with associated type (TypeFamilies) for the key value so that instances can define what the type of Key values are, but it leads to the same thing that happens next.)
The functional dependency gets rid of the previous error, so I continue to refactor the event handler logic:

key <- getKey eventKey case key of key_J -> undefined 

build =>

 This binding for ‘key_J’ shadows the existing binding imported from ‘Luukasa.Event.Keyboard’ at src/Luukasa/EventHandler.hs:28:1-39 111 key_J -> undefined ^^^^ /home/ollidev/luukasa/src/Luukasa/EventHandler.hs:111:9: warning: [-Wunused-matches] Defined but not used: ‘key_J’ 111 key_J -> undefined ^^^^ 

Ok, so those are "only" warnings, but obviously the thing doesn't work. I'm out of voodoo, and I'm guessing I've taken a wrong turn already somewhere at AllowAmbiguousTypes.

TL;What did I just read?

In a nutshell:

• I want to see if it's possible to define my event handling logic in completely abstract manner.
• For this, I think I need a way to say that my MonadKeyboard instance has certain type for keyboard key values and the same for type that represents keyboard events (Gdk.EventKey in my current implementation). Multiparameter typeclasses with all these parameters don't feel nice, but having tried with associated types didn't get me any further.

Finally, I'm fine with writing all the handlers in plain IO, because the application isn't super big and the typeclass approach might be overkill here anyway. But on the other hand, even though I'm writing the program in question for actual use case, I'm taking the opportunity to experiment and trying to learn something, rather than being a reasonable software engineer, which I'm not on my free time :p
So how would I make this work? And if my approach to this is just plain not good, then feel free to point me to another direction.
Thanks!

Hi Figma friends,
I am relatively new to Figma (since February 2021) and I really love it. I decided to try to write a plugin which will help me with inserting glyphs/symbols into my design (I had a great workflow for this in Sketch and I missed it in Figma).
So I have created plugin Unipaste (https://www.figma.com/community/plugin/964930640501844415/Unipaste) which cover all functionality I need (search, favorites, keybord controllable, ...)
Can I ask you for your feedback? Does it work well? Do you have any ideas for another features?
Thanks a lot 🙏🏻
https://preview.redd.it/700iaujruuw61.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=760164918bd1f3af8298b0c8fe9d3cdbf078ebec

In my keybord there aren't that two symbols and on Windows i use alt + 60 to write them but on Ubuntu (running on a Virtual Machine) it doesn't work so i don't knao how to write them

If you are seeing this, you digited random symbols on your keybord, right? Well, post whatever you want here, I don't really care. It can be anything, even NSFW. Ok bye

Morse code translator
fancy text
Lanny faces
Emoji
Text Decoration
Symbols
tools*

I own this keyboard for two weeks and I want to write what is good and bad about keyboard so people are aware.
Good side: * Battery life, I know people will say 30 hours are not much. I think it’s fine for rgb keybord and I charge it only once per week. * low profile keycaps. God I missed this so much, was using low profile keys before then I switch to the mechanical g910 and then got back to g915, what a feeling :) * Wireless keyboard, I think I will never get back to cable. Freedom! I can finally eat on my table and throw the keyboard behind me. * Slim design, It just not using too much space as g910 * bluetooth switching easy from my pc to macbook great thing * No need for wrist rest. Yeah I really don’t need it table is my wrist rest. No pain after 8 hours of coding.
Bad side: * Num lock tray status? Whoever designed this, how did u manage to forget tray status for num lock? There is a tray lock for caps lock and battery. * Scroll lock tray status is missing... same as above. Would it really hurt to give one glowing led ? Or this was so battery life is * rubber macro buttons not able to change color. Not a big deal for me but ppl will complain who don't like that. * two legs on keycaps. I just can’t comment how long keycaps will last but this could be improved so gamers don’t break them easily when they got mad. * When u turn off the light to extend the battery life, or if u don't like the glowing keycaps. U can barely see the lettesymbol on the keycaps (Paint sucks). The paint/print or laser cut, w/e it is is way better on g910. If I turn off the light on my G910 I could see what lettesymbols are on the keycaps. G910 paint color on keys is more white, while on g915 are gray. * So keys with the second symbol, there is just no cut out for lighting special characters underneath the numbers or the "@" "$" "?", "<", ">", etc. characters. They don't glow, and that makes a problem, because they are gray, making hard to see what is what. What is not a problem on G910, still I prefer this to stay like this but paint color would be nice to be white not a gray! Or give an option them to be laser cut so they can glow, maybe just dim it a bit. Still not a problem for the user like me because I don't need to look at a keyboard to type, but it should be improved for all costumers. (I think this is also a thing on other manufactures like Razer Chroma V2 have this problem, and I dunno do they follow up each other) * Missing Wrist rest. Even that I have mentioned that I really don't need it, I believe some users would love to have it, and for the product with such price, it should be included for free. * For this amount of money they could give us a sleeve for safety portable keyboard.
Software side bad thing * When you are on Bluetooth connection, the device is not recognized on G Hub app. * When you are on a cable connection, show command lightning does not work sometimes. It just gets lost or bugged, I need to turn on On-Board memory Mode and turn it off in order to make it works again. * On-Board Memory mode, does not remember my command lightning settings. Sucks when you are moving a keyboard to another PC or if u are using Bluetooth connection. I would like if I could save all the settings on the board memory.
That’s all from my end. Hopefully, in 3 years we will get full product :D
Funny thing, after 1 month how this keyboard is released, I still can't register it on Logitech site, I can't find the keyboard using SN number, or I can't even find the keyboard on the list for support. I dunno is this intended or not :)

So everytime I type in the @ symbol the keybord hides away. How do I fix this? It's driving me insane and its caused me to send sh*t when I'm not even done typing because I click send or..... Anyways, I am using the default keyboard. PLEASE HELP.
(I am pretty bad at getting to reddit so sorry if it takes me a bit to respond.)

So I have a galaxy s7 edge and I'm looking for a way to use multiple keybords per apps? I want to use hacker keyboard for my terminal and Linux applications while using other keyboard for everything else. I heard of Tasker but I'm wondering how heavy is it and if there are privacy issues ? The default samsung keyboard always glitches the enter and search button in the terminal and symbols are missing so a hacker keyboard would be optimal.

Hey everbody! I decided to make this a continuing thing as a "Break" from other stuff i'm writing. This takes place in the "FUEL" Verse and will build upon that. I plan on having a proper wiki up at somepoint, and I will either be expanding on this story following our rescued slave from chapter 1, or random one-shots from other parts of humanity, whatever tickles my fancy for that day. I'm calling Lifa's adventures from now on "Adventures of the Harbinger". Hope you enjoy, i mostly wrote it while bored at work, so forgive the rushed nature.
Edit: Minor edits involving things like the Gloop accords as i try to bring FUEL's cannon into somthing resemblance sense, as well as a grammar edit or two.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Queen Cried.
Her tears rolled down her face, and the normally stoic female choked back sobs, and the whole court bowed their heads and looked away. It was impolite to recognize the queen’s moment of weakness. No one could blame her after all. To have her son and daughter in law, the prince and princess, killed and his children, her grandchildren, being held hostage was a kind of terror and horror that no one in the entire universe should have to endure. She would have been a regal woman on any other day, her gentle silver grey fur sleek and her throat long and willowy, she was adored by everyone. Today, she was disheveled as she held the message pad that come with pictures of her grand children, bound and gagged. If there was any semblance of the royal queen left, it was buried underneath the worry of a old woman who’s only family left in the world was in danger. The messenger who had delivered the message had shouted some propaganda before killing himself, leaving them no leads. Her Vizier, a fellow Canous named Lonkul, stepped near, trying to speak calmingly to her.
“My Queen… Please… do not despair. Not all hope yet is lost.”
She rounded on him, and he felt a moment of terror run down his spine. He was much smaller than her, as was his stature as a lowly male advisor, and should the Queen had wanted to, she could have snapped his neck with hers like a twig. But, he had served her loyally for many years, and though the fear was instinctual, he showed no outward signs of it.
“HOPE?” She screamed, so close that the fur on his face shifted. “HOPE?! What hope is there! Oh my Son! My Son! My Son is dead and my Grand babies are in the hands of monsters! What hope is there!?”
Lonkul took a deep breath and braced himself. She would not be happy with his answer, but it was the only hope they had, that the children had.
“The terrorists are Nofta rebels my Queen. They have declared themselves a distinct entity from us, and have attacked a non-military personnel. This is against the Gloop Accords my Queen.”
She sniffed as she tilted her head nearly upside down, her neck craning softly.
“What does Gloop have to do with this? Those bastards who would threaten us if we did not sign their stupid papers! They should have blown out of the sky!”
Lonkul winced internally. It was well known that the queen had no love for the pseudo-parliamentary council that ruled all interactions between species. Many species where not happy about giving up any portion of sovereignty, even if it was mostly only in name, but with the Furaisto’s backing and several other powerful races, it was either sign on with the grand experiment, or face war from those who had signed. No race, not even the Furaisto, could face down the unified might of the races that signed the accords. It was a powerful threat, and it was far better to sign than to not. But, for once in its existence, the Accords would work for them.
“My Queen” he said as calmly as he could. “If they have broken the Accords, that means that they are subject to enforcement. Perhaps with the assistance of the Gloop, we can rescue them! I have already taken the liberty of sending a missive, they are sending a team via wormhole jump, they will be here soon!” She growled at him, but it was a weak, exhausted thing.
“Fine Lonkul. But you bet your own head on this folly.”
There came a knock on the grand door, the echo rumbling through the grand hall and turning every eye of the court to it.
“Perfect timing.” muttered Lonkul to himself.
One of the men at the door pulled it open and in walked a young Gorbani female, wearing a garment that wrapped around her chest and waist. This was unusual for several reasons. First, was the fact that the Gorbani where a slave race, but this one wore no collar. As slaves, the Gorbani also wore only rags, but the clothing, while minimalistic was clearly made out of very fine cloth. Also of note was that in the center of her chest was tattooed the symbol of a planet, a shield and sword in front of it, letters in a foreign tongue wrapping around it. Upon entering the room she walked forward to the queen, and then bowed as was customary, tilting her neck to expose it should the queen be displeased with it. The whole court was filled with murmurs as the queen acknowleged the bow and made a motion for the Gorbani to speak.
“Queen Unska of Canous, your petition has reached the ears of Captain Augustus of the First United Earth Legion. He has brought some of his men to your world to enforce the law as is his right by the Accords upon which we are all signatories. He has sent me ahead as a Vanguard to inform you of his intentions, and to apologize on his behalf for not appearing before you in person just yet.”
The queen tilted her head again.
“Why has he chosen not to appear before me and instead send a marked slave to my chambers?”
With that, the Gorbani stood up tall, her back straightening, and Lonkul was able to pinpoint what was so strange about this one. She held herself proudly, unafraid. It looked strange on a race no one had ever seen except beneath the whips of their masters. Her voice when she spoke was strong, proud, and confident.
“I am not a slave Queen Unska. I am Lifa Earthsworn, Citizen of the United Earth Empire, Harbinger of the First United Earth Legion.”
The whole room buzzed as courts are apt to do with large pronouncements. It was something of a show of power to show the enslaved Gorbani not only free, but as the harbinger. It was a powerful statement. The queen looked down and there was almost a hint of a smile as she nodded her agreement. Lonkul could not help but feel amusment at the scene. As much as the queen was feared for her strength and ruthlessness to her enemies, she was loved because of her habit of treating those around her like beloved children. It seems this trait extend outside of the species.
“I did not mean to offer insult Lifa Earthsworn the harbinger.”
Lifa smiled back and bowed again.
“None has been taken Queeen Unska. As for where the captain is, he and his soldiers are waiting outside. They did not wish to enter without sending a representative first, less they frighten those of weaker constitutions.”
The court murmured again and Lonkul blinked in surprise. He had been told by his contact at Gloop that the new fighting force of the Gloop was impressive, but he had never had the chance to lay eyes on them himself. He wondered how much of this bluster was for show.
“With your permission” Lifa continued “I will invite them in.”
The queen nodded, and Lifa held up her arm and spoke to her wrist which must have had a communicator somewhere on her.
“Captain, You have permission to enter the premise.”
The doors burst open this time with a loud bang, and in strode 12 creatures. Those nearest to the door nearly fell over in fright and the rest took several steps back. Even Lonkul had to stop himself from hiding behind the queens throne. Eight where bipedal, and four were quadrupeds, but all where covered from head to toe in gleaming metal armor. The lead bipedal wore a red cloak and had red bands on his arms and seemed to be clearly the leader. The ones behind him where not as ornamental, but split into two clear groupings. The first set of soldiers seemed to have very little ornament at all except for the FUEL insignia on their chests and on the shields on their backs. But it was the second set that had everyone recoiling in terror. The soldiers themselves did not look very different, but the ornaments they wore where. Covered in hanging pieces of bones and teeth, they strode alongside massive quadrupeds that came anywhere from to their hips to their waists.
The quadrupeds were covered in armor too, but unlike the humans, the armor plated over a long muzzle that opened to a mouth that was rowed with teeth. The animals were eerily silent and stepped in pace with the bone decorated soldiers. The queen stared silent at them, unable to show the fear that everyone else in the room felt at the oddly clad soldiers and the quadrupeds that strode beside them. The red cloaked captain stepped up near Lifa, stopped, then turned to her.
“Thank you Lifa.”
She nodded, but stood ramrod straight and pressed a fist over the left side of her chest.
“Of course Captain.”
He then turned to the Queen. Lonkul looked at him and tried to find out what kind of person this was, but the armor completely hid his face from view.
“Queen, there is no time to be lost. This is mostly formality, but there is a purpose to our intrusion. We need two things, and with those, we will return your family to you.”
The queen looked shock at the statement.
“Of course! Anything you need! Just return my babies to me!”
The captain gave a sharp nod of his head.
“Something that belonged to them, and the body of the messenger who came here.” +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lifa stood in the small room with Lonkul as they watched the viewscreen. He had volunteered to assist and watch the operation himself, and when Lifa had gone to a small room that had been set up as a “Operations center” he had followed. On a hologram screen, he watched the group through their own eyes, their armor transmitting the signal back to them. He stared as the quadrupeds nosed the ground, growling and letting out sharp bursts of noise as they moved ahead of the group of soldiers, the bone ones standing along side them and making similar bursts of sound and occasionally turning back to the other soldiers to relay information, such as “Scent strong. We find. No problem Captain.” Or “Scent weak. Need 30 seconds. We find.” Lonkul looked to Lifa, who was hastily typing something on a datapad.
“Why exactly are they speaking like that? The universal translator should completely render their speech into ours, unless they are speaking their own language incorrectly.”
Lifa nodded.
“Hell Hound soldiers are a little different than the rest. They are of one mind with their beasts, and it influences them both. The hounds are of an intelligence that matches some humans, but the humans mind becomes feral and influenced by the wild nature of the hounds.”
Lonkul looked at the great beasts, hounds apparently, and mused aloud.
“What world do these hounds come from? I was under the impression that FUEL was a earth, human only, organization, the fact that both you and these creatures are part of it makes me think I was misinformed.”
Lifa shook her head.
“You have not been misinformed sir. I’m a “Alien Citizen”. I have accepted the earth empire and it’s planet as my home, and I am subject to it’s law, as is my child, but we are not “Human Citizens”. I am not allowed to know the secrets of the armor or weapons, nor may I hold a position of government. Only humans may wear the armor or wield their weapons. I work as the harbinger, diplomat, and all around assistant for the Captain as a volunteer to earn extra E-credits for things to spoil my daughter with. As for the hounds…. They are pets of the humans.”
Lonkul blinked and looked at the great beasts and his voice filled with a little bit of wonder in spite of himself.
“Pets?”
Lifa nodded and smiled.
“They co-evolved. The hounds help the humans guard and hunt, provided companionship, and lend their enhanced senses to them. The humans in turn defend the hounds, feed them, bring to use their tools and technology, and provide them companionship in return.”
She giggled softly.
“Not all of them are as mighty as the hell hounds though. They where genetically enhanced by the Furaisto and the ability for them to have mentally melded with the human soldiers who are their partner is new as well. Before, humans and hounds just trained each other to read cross species signals. Many hounds, or dogs, back on earth are much smaller, and much more…. Cuddly. I and my child have one. He is very small, but very… fluffy.”
Lonkul wanted to ask more questions, but suddenly they where outside a old abandoned building. The lead Hell Hound stopped and shook his head. The soldier who accompanied the dog spoke.
“Nero say this it. We smell messanger, but also smell children. Twelve, maybe fourteen others recently. Easy prey, but could hurt children first. We agree, much too dangerous.”
The other hounds sniffed and their handlers agreed with the assessment. The Captain waited for a moment then spoke.
“Livia, Get us some locations. I want the Grunts to be able to single strike.”
A female voice that Lonkul hadn’t heard up until now came through the link.
“On it Captain.”
Lifa pulled up another screen, but this one showed a completely different vantage point, of the rooftops nearby. Augustus’s voice came through again.
“Lifa begin the B.A.N.G. protocol and file the papers for a 16-16 Exemption. We may need to go in hot.”
“Yes Captain.”
With practiced speed, Lifa began to type into the keybord. Lonkul leaned his head over, stretching his neck to look.
“What is the bang protocol? And a 16-16 Exemption?”
The view from the female voice moved with a sudden jerk, flying through the air across the street and landing with an impossible silence as she landed, leaping again before landing on top of the abandoned building. She held up her hand and a spike emerged from it. The tip began to spin, and acting as drill, drove through the roof. Suddenly, the whole building was lit up in a 3d render, including people inside. Which, Lonkul noted, included a tiny room with two guards outside, and which inside slept the grandchildren. Lifa grinned as she began to type.
“ Bunker Assault Neutralize Group. It’s a plan of action for dealing with a hostile force where they are holed up and may be difficult to hit. A 16-16, or Article 16 Section 16, exemption is concerning an attack on civilian personnel where the civilian’s life may be in danger. See, FUEL has to follow the rules. One of those rules is that you can’t break a rule your ignorant of. They’re allowed to STOP you, but their not allowed to punish you if you didn’t know it was a rule.”
Lonkul looked at the screens with worry as the people began to slowly surround the building.
“Then they must announce themselves before they attack? But the hostages will be killed!”
Lifa nodded.
“Hence why I’m filing a 16-16 exemption. It doesn’t relieve them of their duty not to punish the ignorant, but instead changes their duty from “Punishing lawbreakers” to “Rescuing Innocents”. In that latter role, any and all actions they take are permissible so long as they directly lead to the rescuing of the innocents. Up to and including neutralizing any threats to those innocents.”
As he watched them move around the building, Lonkul felt another twinge of worry. The soldiers where clad in gleaming armor, how in the bright sun they had not been spotted yet, Lonkul wasn’t sure. It was at that moment that he noticed the bodies near the door and on the roof. He blinked in surprise and pointed to them.
“When did that happen?”
Lifa blinked and looked.
“Oh that? When she made the jump. Livia never misses, especially at that close of a range. She’ll collect the knives after the mission is done.”
The building was two stories tall, and filled with hallways and little rooms on the second floor and a mostly empty second floor that seemed to be used for storage. The Captain strode up to the front door and the motioned to the left and to the right. As if they could see him, the Hellhound soldiers acted in concert, first their dogs and then themselves leaping through the windows. Men who had made the unfortunate choice to stand near those windows where pounced upon by the mighty beasts. Lonkul winced as the hounds ripped out the long throats of the terrorists. Canous necks where particularly muscular and strong, and to see them ripped out, not crushed but ripped through like tissue paper, induced him the urge to lose his lunch. This feeling was only increased as the soldiers followed their hounds through the windows, slashing with short swords in vicious cuts that felled terrorists like fire blazing through dry leaves. The “Grunt” soldiers slammed through the front door, hitting all the terrorists who where chasing after the dogs and their masters in the back, cutting them down in seconds.
All the while, blasts of pulse fire slammed into the soldiers, and they harmlessly scattered across them, turing them into colorful glowing weapons of destruction. Personal shields stood no chance as the metal swords, knives, and other weaponry of the soldiers cut through them like paper, digging into the flesh of their enemies. When they realized that weapons wouldn’t work, some tried to bite and claw, but the hounds made short work of any who tried to close in, and even those who got close could not get through the heavy metal plating of their armor. Lonkul looked at the screen that showed the children in the second floor closet and chewed his tongue with worry. One had moved forward to strike any who came up the stares, and the other had turned to grab the children.
He shouldn’t have worried. The screen that showed the view of the female shoed her suddenly kicking straight down, causing a circular portion of the roof to come crashing down on the terrorists head, bringing her full weight to bear on him. The combined weight of the armored foe and the stone roof left not much of the enemy left to provide resistance. As the enemy tried to turn on her, she launched herself through the air, twisting and throwing two sharp daggers of the grey metal which slammed into the elbow joints of the enemy. As he dropped his weapon and screamed in pain, she landed directly on his chest, driving her heavy metal frame into him that the sound of bones popping and cracking could even be heard over the com. She leaned down close, and Lonkul could hear the gentle whisper of the soft voice.
“Do you feel that? That’s the feeling of your bone structure pressing through your lungs. Every time you take a breath, you’ll drive it deeper and deeper in. Soon, your blood will pool inside them, and you’ll drown. You’ll drown in your own blood.”
Lonkul shuddered, at the sound of the voice, the look on the dying man’s face, and the look of abject glee that was on the face of Lifa. The terrorist began coughing up blood. Whimpering in terror.
“Yes… just like that… In a few moments, it’ll all be over. You’ll never hurt another child again.”
“Please” choked out the downed man. “Please don’t…”
Livia… giggled a bit.
“I’ve not done anything. You brought yourself here. And now you will die here. And you will have all the time in the world as you drown to make peace with your deities. Or at least… you would. But I don’t want you scaring the children.”
With a swift cut, she slashed the man’s throat and stood up, before walking back towards the closet. Lonkul through the female’s eyes as she knelt over the cowering children.
“It’s alright… I’m with FUEL… my name is Livia. I’m here to save you. I’ve got bunches of friends downstairs who are taking care of the bad guys, but you wanna sneak away? Queen Grandma is waiting for you!”
The kids nervously giggled at the “Queen Grandma” comment and allowed themselves to be picked up and placed into her arms. She spoke into the coms as she led them to the hole in the ceiling. With grace and ease as if her suit did not weight hundreds of pounds, she leapt into the air onto the roof.
“Kids are secure. You fully moped up in there?”
“Yup. Good timing. None of these guys left. Let’s get these kids home.”
Lonkul let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. For once, he was going to be happy to deliver news to the queen.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Queen was crying again. This time, she wept tears of joy as she held her grand-children as tight as she could, wrapping her arms and neck around them like she could shield them from everything at the world all at once. The soldiers, still covered in bits of grime and gore from the battle, stood patiently, silently, like metal statues. Once again, the female in the darker grey was no where to be found, but Lonkul had learned swiftly that her place was not to be seen at all. A “Ghost” Soldier they called her.
The queen looked up at Captain Augustus and tried to speak clearly.
“T-t-thank you…. Sniff thank you for bringing my grand babies back to me. Anything you want, anything you ask for, if it is in my power, it’s yours. Thank you.”
Augustus waived his hand and shook his head.
“No need ma’am. It’s our job.”
Lonkul had to resist laughing. Lifa had said he would be to proud, and had slipped them an address where they could donate to a charity that was run by the Furisto to help rebuild earth after the genocide. But what the captain didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
They left soon after that, and Lonkul knew that life would return mostly to normal soon. But he kept a contact saved in his datapad. He hoped he would never have to call it. But now he understood, that the game was changing. Gloop wasn’t just a toothless animal anymore. That animal now had teeth. Deadly, razor sharp, and a mind to use it. How, he wondered, would the universe change, when the rules actually started being enforced? The future was in Chaos, but Lonkul decided that for today at least, he would enjoy their victory, and that the lives of two children where saved.