Graduated. Going to MSc thesis in clinical work (will be co-running a trial with tangible real wrld imolications)

• cGPA 3.90, 2&3 yr 3.95+
• MCAT : Studying rn, expecting 510-514
• CASPER : will take, was my absolute op last year.
• IP QC, could and would opt for AB after master's
• Came to Canada in 2020
• Target schools : Ontario schools, AB schools, Mcgill (not good enough in fench yet for QC schools)
  
• ECs ( Key ones are marked with *)
  

TUTORING : * YMCA tutor for 3 years, great exp working w ppl w all learning styles and occasionally difficulties, diff subjects and grades - Peer mentor, course notetaker for office of students with disabilities - Paid uni Biochem tutor, 1 year - Paid tutor for a company starting fall

LEADERHSIP : * Student society's Vice prez, Univeristy senator, board member. Did projects aimed at improving student life academics equity. Voiced my fellers at committees. Network that I leveraged to make things happen. * Program's society Vice prez for 2 yrs. Additional to typical responsibilites, held or helped hold workshops, career fairs, etc. - Cancer society vice prez. Led a committee of 4, collaborated with a committee of 30. Did quite a bit, fundraised alot.

WORK (minimal): - Crew member at Timmies 1yr (learned French there basically bein oui) - Comms assistant and student guide 1 yr * Medical secretary this summer, so 4 months. Blessed to be doing incredible additional stuff that ease pt's getting appintments, also digitalizing the clinic's records, alot of impact potential that I'm enjoying. Thyey're super appreciative of me too, goes both ways.

Research (minimal): * mid-ranked author and article screener, scoping review on health services. 1.5 yrs. Did screening, extraction, brainstorming steps. helped write manuscript. - paid full time summer internship, wet lab. 2 uni conferences. -- MASTER'S THESIS AND OTHER PROJECTS OTW !

Comm service :

• Hospital cancer support volunteer 1 yr. visitsa and talks, sign up patients and families for support services, sometimes niche things like securing funding for adapted mobility. Extremely eye-opening. Crearing a respite program rn.

-- ICU reception volunteer, 2 years (effectively helped manage unit traffic, guided and comforted visitors)
-- long-term housing volunteer, 3 years (visits, outings, event facilitation, arts and movement workshops, helped residents overcome anorexia, isolation, etc etc

Awards :

• student engagement award, resssrch award fundung my summer internship, a few partial scholarships from school, made it semi-final to a huge EC-based scholarship.

Other :

*basically my family's rep in all processes involved in a Covid-striken, isolated immigration experience. This shaped me basically. I can talk about enormous challenges I, and I mostly, overcame for hours. Lost 20kg in first months doing those, wrote hundreds of letters, called 1000s of times, even worked w lawyers once, but turned dozens of refusals and rejections into approvals. fuck it we ball.
Am I acc EC strong ? - Also wondering, does the fact that I've stayed in same positon in most commitments raise any flags ? Is upward motion highly expected ? - Does having veey few hours in an activity make it unworthy of being listed? ( my long-term care exp for instance,,m I have very low hours, maybe 150 in 3 years. Should I list that anyways ?)

My neighbor has 3 large cottonwood trees boarding my property, my property is down wind. For the last 2 weeks I have been daily using a leaf blower to blow the seeds out of my gardens into the surrounding woods. Last month I put fresh preen in the gardens but didn’t get a chance to add mulch, mulch is coming in 2 days, hopefully my helper will show. There are hundred of thousands of tiny seedlings in areas pretty close to my flowers and bushes so I fear using vinegar or commercial chemicals. Will covering the tiny seedlings with 2” of mulch be enough to stop them? Any suggestions? This is the worst year, yet, last winter in NE OH was very mild, plenty of rain but minimal freezing & snow, I fear climate change will take form as my annual late Spring cottonwood nightmare.

Hey Guys!
I make pretty good money, enough to cover all living expenses in LA and still have freedom to make day to day purchases and not.have to worry about running out of money. My boss pays me weekly via Venmo and for the past year have never had a problem, but this week he used Venmo to pay for some tickets to a concert and maxed out his limit.
Under the impression was to have gotten paid Friday, I made a large purchase at a clothing store and spent all I had withe the exception of a couple hundred dollars.
I have applied for a handful of Cash Advances and tried all the different apps, but because Venmo is my primary bank every application is declined or I am unable to connect my account to Plaid. This goes across the board even with Pay Day Loans. There is nowhere that will accept me. If anyone has any recommendations or if there is a way to find a loan via Reddit please let me know.
If you even have a potential solution please let me know I really need some assistance. I need $300.00 for some personal medical expenses. My boss contacted Venmo support and his limit resets on Friday 5/31/24 in which I will be receiving two weeks of payment.
I am not concerned about compensation for helping out, I am more than willing to pay whatever is needed as this is a bit of an emergency.
I appreciate any and all suggestions / help, thank you all.

First Previous Wiki
Penny gazed at the quartet of Elders. They were all wearing the merchandise she remembered from the last Judgment, which was exceedingly awkward. Mainly because they were wearing shirts with her face on them. But it was also oddly endearing, in a way. Until now, she hadn't seen too many Elders that were on her side.
Elders that weren't just Kashaunta or the familiar faces she already knew, like Spentha or Rho and Sai, actually showing appreciation of her, felt odd. Even if these ones went a little too far in it.
"You're even more beautiful in person, Liberator," one said.
"Uh, thanks. I appreciate that. I'm glad that you all like me. Rho and Sai told me that you all are interested in something I can give you?"
"Yeah. Maybe a short interview? We won't be like that airhead reporter. We'll ask the good questions."
"Yep, we will."
"Right then," Penny said. "Well, I'm glad to meet you."
"Thank you. Now that we're here, we'd like to know how you plan on taking care of the gang leaders."
"Well, presumably by imprisoning them. I don't think they deserve to die, even if others do. I'll leave that decision up to Justicar and his various judges in the criminal system."
Penny didn't like having to lie blatantly. She wanted to kill the slavers quite brutally, but doing that was a bad idea right now. Saying it also was a bad idea, for a similar reason. And Justicar's system was worryingly preferential to Elders, from what she'd looked up after the meeting with Pundacrawla.
"Aren't you worried that the Judges won't give proper justice?"
"I trust Justicar to do everything that is necessary."
Another lie. Justicar would do whatever he could to maintain his image. Hopefully, that wouldn't be at the cost of the Alliance's very existence.
"Got it. By the way, what's it like being human? Walking on only two legs. It seems kind of unstable. Do you fall a lot?"
A genuine curiosity from them was another breath of fresh air. It was the kind of question a quadruped would definitely ask, which put her more at ease about the nature of what they were trying to do. Even more than their evident support of her, with all the merch they were wearing. Penny felt a smile crack at the corners of her lips, unbidden.
"Not really. We can use our arms to steady ourselves pretty well. Obviously it's not as easy to balance on our two legs as it is with your four, but it's still good enough. In fact, the sprinters in the Olympics use all four limbs, since running as fast as possible also requires pumping our arms. As for what it's like to be human, it's hard to describe. For many of us, it will feel colder or warmer than Sprilnav would feel in the same temperatures, due to thinner skin. Our eyesight is more frontal than yours, given our lack of snouts, so our blindspots are a lot bigger. Our feet require shoes for rough ground, and we heal slower than you by around 20%. We can't really clack our jaws to the scale that you can, though we can make them meet."
Penny bared her teeth, showing as she opened and closed her mouth. It was nice to be able to talk about things like this.
"The Olympics?" one of them asked.
"It's a competition about athletics," Penny said. "Running, jumping, throwing, diving, swimming, skiing, snowboarding, and a lot of sports. There's specific divisions, too. Like how there's a 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, 400 meter dash, and even an 800 meter dash for those with high levels of psychic energy. Though really, psychic energy and genetic editing have been messing with the events for a while now. And there's a Winter, Summer, and Space Olympics, each with different sorts of events. They move from city to city, though the Space Olympics are pretty much always on either Luna, Ceres, or Mercury. There's a lot more information out there on various events, but it's an old cultural practice revered by the entire species. Even more so since Phoebe's increased the prize pools for everyone."
"How does your species handle space in general? I know that you guys did things way differently before First Contact."
"We did. Mining companies kept tight control on all asteroid mining, while nations controlled planets like Earth and Mars and large planetary bodies like Luna. Supposedly, a few people planned for a cloud city on Venus, but we couldn't risk having such a vulnerable population because they'd have to rely on giant balloons to survive. That would probably be the least secure way to live, given the existence of rogue organizations and all that.
As for spaceships, most of them since we really colonized Luna come equipped with spacesuit bays, zero gravity water and food packs, oxygen tanks, emergency seats, specialized anti-micrometeorite hulls, and radiation shielding. A lot of the older military ships also were equipped with big radiators until World War Three, when it all became masses of drone warfare, with the big ships kept mainly for cargo and lanes where mass drone control was impossible.
Once the Vinarii came and we got shields, we started building big again. After all, it provided a huge number of jobs, and in the post-war economies, especially with VIs in place, a lot of people needed work. But we still go and do asteroid and moon mining, star lifting, and energy gathering. We built an orbital ring around Mercury, the closest planet to Sol, to help with all of that. It doubles as a production hub, too. Now, it's all in more systems and with a lot more friends."
"Speaking of aliens, what theory does your people have on why so many creatures resemble one another? Our jaws are adapted for hard shelled creatures, and we're told that many planets have oddly similar variations of those."
"Crabs."
She guessed what they were getting at.
It is odd, isn't it? Nilnacrawla observed.
Perhaps that is another one of the Source's whims, Penny thought.
Maybe.
A few of the Elders made exclamations of shock.
"You even have a word for them that directly translates!"
Penny chuckled. "Yeah, carcinization is a bit of a meme in the science community. But I've heard the most mainstream theories since the First Contact are that the Source itself is uncreative. It has a certain template of creatures which it largely doesn't alter, though it can take in inputs from beings close to it, perhaps even influencing them."
"Influencing them?"
"Yes. Modern depictions of wendigoes, folkloric creatures from North America, a continent on Earth, are shockingly similar to the Knowers in appearance. The internet depictions of them in particular like to emphasize canine qualities, and often show them with skulls visible directly, and with dark brown or black fur. Recent depictions, as in the past 300 years, differ from their original appearances quite significantly, with the canine characteristics in particular being enhanced.
We have sorted through all known images of these creatures and found roughly 80% similarity with the Knowers and tens of thousands of images that are literally exactly the same as Knowers. The ones we searched all came before World War Three, far before even the First Contact with the Vinarii, much less the Knowers who were entirely underground at the time due to the radiation of their home star. We believe that the Source managed to influence this facet of human culture with the actual existence of a real creature.
Other examples exist, like how the Trikkec look very similar to Komodo Dragons, Vinarii look very similar to insects known as a mantis, and the Acuarfar look exactly like insects known as wasps with the single exception of their furry snouts and green instead of yellow markings. The Sprilnav species itself shares high amounts of similarity with a fictional species known as Elites in early 2000s culture, particularly with your jaws, though you all have red skin instead of grey or brown.
The Junyli, Dreedeen, and the wanderers are the main species without high amounts of appearance in our cultures at some point. This correlates with the idea of the Source being the influencer, as their predecessors all were used to fight it. Many species of the galaxy look like parts of our culture or Earth's creatures. The proximity of these examples makes this far more suspicious than if they were across the galaxy.
But since they existed first, the only answer must be that the Source brought the influence to us first and planted the ideas in our heads. As for the ones which look like Earth creatures, all of them are old enough evolutionary branches that copying from them to Earth makes more sense. Though the references centering around the early 2000s is quite odd, it is also roughly when the internet came into wide existence, so it is also possible the Source gave the ideas a push so they would propagate, for an unknown reason. Like if it seeded the ideas that propagated across the early global network Humanity used."
"Hmm. Fascinating. We've seen evidence of the 'seeding' process among some historical nations near the galactic region of Earth before. So the Source re-uses and alters depictions of life and also life itself?"
"Maybe," Penny said. "Unless the Source is more directly tied to life than we think. There's a conceptual Death, but no conceptual Life. Isn't that odd?"
"Conceptual Life died in the Source war."
How did that really work, though? Penny asked Nilnacrawla.
Imagine a conceptual being. A few of the Progenitors, as well as Narvravarana, went up to try to harvest its power. It refused, and Narvravarana used its unique abilities to try and force the deal.
Why was your civilization like this?
Excess and greed, partly. But we couldn't really do much more expansion. Vertical expansion also had its limits if we wanted to remain relevant for the remaining lifespan of the universe. So Narvravarana, along with a few of the greatest rulers and leaders of Sprilnav society, started looking to other dimensional planes. They figured it was best not to let the problem get too much worse. Or at least, that is what they say. I believe it was to harvest more resources to use against our surrounding enemies.
You didn't have any allies? Penny asked.
At that time, all the powers of the universe were enemies. All the allies eventually merged through millions of years of normalization. We happened to get on the universal stage the earliest, so other civilizations we encountered had little choice but to surrender their independence. Some fought, others didn't, but the outcome was the same.
That seems terrible.
It was, though the other universal civilizations were no better. Some of them just exterminated all alien life they found that couldn't fight back. In that sense, the pre-war Sprilnav civilization was one of the greatest, and that's why I fought for them. Obviously, I'm biased in that regard, though.
Thanks for telling me, father.
No problem, Penny.
She refocused back on the conversation at hand.
"But a thing cannot be alive if it dies. The concept of life doesn't work that way. So maybe the Source just... took in the concept of life? Or absorbed it into whatever psychic energy really is, considering that it's responsible for all of our existence?"
"That's so crazy it might actually be true," one of the Elders said. "You're incredible, Penny."
"Uh, thanks. You're all pretty great too." Her eyes drifted to the images of herself on their clothing. She couldn't really help it.
"I have a question for you."
"Yes?"
"Do you know what I'm fighting for?"
"I assume since you're asking it here, you don't just want a one word answer," an Elder said. "I would say yes, and for the liberation of the Sprilnav from the stain of slavery. Though going deeper into your history, you have also fought for other species, either in wars or just generally moving around. It does look aimless, mostly, since the galaxy's so big. But I'm sure you've got a way through that."
"In some way. Part of why I'm here isn't just about my people. It was at first, I admit that. But as I have lived here, on Justicar, for days and weeks, I've seen you less as alien. It makes it easier for sympathy and easier to break out of simple mindsets. So far, there are many problems, but there are distinct pieces. The first is that many people want to uphold slavery. I'm not sure why, but they do. It isn't profitable, and it isn't moral. Robots are cheaper in every way, and don't need food or water.
That means it's illogical or emotional. So I could try and solve the problem with violence alone, but it won't be addressing the cause, only the symptoms. I need to get to the heart of the matter. And I think it has to do with Elders' memories and the gradual woes they have accumulated going through life. I don't want to tear that away or drug them into believing they're fine. I want to find a way to outlet that productively. The second part I have identified is scale. The galaxy is enormous, and your species is incredibly numerous. I could fight planet by planet for the rest of my life, and liberation would still be difficult.
That also means I'd need a better way of doing things. Maybe an economic or political incentive. Emotional reasons will not work permanently, nor will logic, since we are in this situation. I have found several ways to address this. Sadly, since the gangs are likely monitoring this feed, I can't just outright say my strategy. All I can ask you all to do is to believe. Believe that I have a solution, and that I and those who stand with me are working on it. Believe in me because I believe in you."
None of the Elders questioned or ridiculed her words. Most of it was because they were fans of her. But one of them, an Elder named Rahautiti, had a distinct glint in his eye. Their gazes met only momentarily, but Penny could tell he knew.
And so she appeared in the mindscape, even as they concluded the interview, which would be the first of many. It was a ploy to just talk about human culture and ideals a bit more, to get it out there. Because the hivemind's theory was correct.
In the universe, ideas had power. That power could be weaponized against those who previously stood to gain. The first part of it was the image: Nova as an unbeatable bastion. Lecalicus as the Beast, a monster capable of star-crushing rage. Twilight as... whatever she did. Penny wasn't really familiar with the Progenitor's image too much, and the various names, like the Silent Night or the Smiling Darkness, were just so unbelievably edgy she cringed every time she recalled them.
But Rahautiti understood so she moved her mindscape avatar to see him.
"Hello again, Penny. I am no threat."
"I know. I'm glad that your group is led by someone as capable as you, as well as the other groups you dabble within."
"Who discovered it?"
"Phoebe. You met with Ezeonwha, and the android wanted to ensure you weren't a way for Yasihaut to kill him."
"Yeah. We did get approached about that, actually. We're supposed to kill Ezeonwha when you walk into the Judgment hall. Of course, we won't do this, and she won't be able to retaliate against us easily while there."
"Thank you for your honesty, Elder," Penny said. "It seems I'm in your debt."
"Nonsense. 2,839. That is the number of children I have had. 2,626. That is the number of children of mine which were enslaved. The remaining 213 died in unrelated incidents, with nearly half of those involving slavers killing them. I remember all of their names, and all of their faces, Penny. I want all the slavers in this universe dead."
"I cannot achieve that."
"You cannot," Rahautiti agreed. "Not with my help or even that of Kashaunta and Lecalicus. And certainly not right now. I have not lived this long to be incapable of compromise or patchwork solutions. You show great promise. I understand your aversion to killing and the circumstantial reason why you are not doing so now. I will not grow upset if you do not resume killing when the Judgment ends. Nor do I harbor a grudge against you for the speeding space entity you left outside the room to avoid uncomfortable publicity. You are incredibly young.
A sliver of a life. But you are strong, and you are mature. That sliver of your lifespan already outshines all I could do with a trillion more years, Penny. You are right in that this isn't something you can punch your way through. Trauma is part of why slavery still exists, despite it being a wholly unjust reason for the Elders to make such a sport of it. I am sure you know the story of the war, with a great hero in your head and Kashaunta at your side. My line of work is what I started to help you. Every thought about you being the Liberator, every eye that glances on you freeing slaves, helps you to gather conceptual energy. My talent happens to be great enough to sense the Pact of Blades you have, as well. If you want, I can teach you how to hide the mark on your soul and your mind."
"I would like that, yes," Penny said. "And thank you for being so reasonable. I will ask Kashaunta to protect you from what consequences come for refusing the offer on Ezeonwha."
"There are going to be attacks on him, you know. Him and your ship."
Penny felt an odd feeling in her soul. Cardi's power flared around him, and she squinted at the sky. She just barely saw a sliver of a tentacle. Most would have mistaken it for a normal speeding space entity. But here? On Justicar, with Exile obviously not being the cause?
Only one being would cause that. Fate.
Given the subject of their conversation, it was obvious what was going on.
Penny tapped Rahautiti's jaw, adding a thin mark of conceptual power so she could easily find him again. She focused on the conceptual mark she'd left on Ezeonwha. A twinge of conceptual energy came from it. It was accompanied by various impressions, like fear, pain, and acceptance.
"I have to go," Penny said. "I will be back later. Displace."
She appeared next to the 102nd Visitor Welcome Office but not next to Ezeonwha. It was carnage everywhere she looked.
"Champion!" an unknown Elder yelled. "I am Elder Na-"
Her rising fury surged, and it took all she had not to dismember him. The distant thought of the Judgment stayed her hands, though only just.
Penny's fist collided with the Elder's jaw at twice the speed of sound. A piece of his jaws flew free. Bone fragments hit the ground behind him. Hundreds of soldiers fired on her, and she slammed them to the ground with pure will. Penny tore their guns away and sent them each to pummel the Elder in front of her with as much brutality as she could. His powerful armor wasn't as capable of defense against physical attacks as it was against her psychic energy, and so he fell.
"You... cannot save him," the Elder spat. Fields of psychic suppression fell upon her, reducing her power.
"Manipulation through Determination," Penny growled. "De-"
No! Nilnacrawla said. Do not kill him! Not yet!
"What goes up will go down."
Air hardened around the Elder and accelerated rapidly.
The Elder smashed into the shield five miles above with a speed just slow enough that he wouldn't die. He fell from it and then hit it again at a more modest speed. He'd bounce on that until the Guides came to get him.
But Penny had another target. One she had to save instead of attack.
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High Judge Tassidonia awoke to the sound of explosions. He grabbed his swords, his main gun, and the personal shield he reserved for only the most dire occasions. The sky was erupting in war all around him, and buildings were already falling nearby. The spires of skyscrapers rained down upon the entrances to the Underground, crushing thousands of fleeing Sprilnav under their wide impacts.
His implant identified members of the gangs nearby, making their way to his home.
"Retribution Cycle!" Tassidonia cried. A hidden door opened, and he boarded a small hovercraft that sported a high amount of defensive and offensive technology, a gift from Justicar for dealing with all that he had related to the Judgment. Only this time, he wouldn't be on the next one. But already, the destruction was spreading.
Micro-missiles rained upon friend and foe alike. Several detonated against the layered shields. The mounted turrets on the side of his hoverbike shot lasers into the enemies his implant identified.
"Elder Tassidonia!" an Elder cried nearby. "For the crime of defying the will of-"
Tassidonia called his fury to bear. He rammed his mind into the enemy Elder, disorienting her. She reeled, about to attack, when a thick laser smashed into her chest. It pushed her against the wall, and Tassidonia kept the pressure up until her body melted. He listened to her screams impassively, occasionally sending blasts from his gun at the gangs when their members started to stray too close.
The thick red beam did its work within twenty pulses. His swords began to float beside him, keeping pace as he sped away from his home. The entire apartment complex shuddered and began to lean, its foundation being destroyed by some effect below. Tassidonia abandoned it with only minor regret. He'd known this moment would come. Everything he needed was already with him.
He linked into the Guide network, directing squadrons to attack the breaches he'd identified. Orbital strikes fell upon them in quick succession. Thick beams of light pierced through the lower planetary shields from orbital platforms, their guns honing in on Justicar's enemies. Tassidonia's implant was linked to the grid as well. So when he eyed buildings occupied with too many gang members, orbital strikes fell on them a few pulses later.
Fire and plasma rained all around him. Explosions and smoke blossomed all around him. More missiles fell from his hovercraft. A fighter ship appeared beside him, its simple stealth revealing itself to his eyes. Tassidonia waited for the pilot chamber to open, and his craft stowed itself behind him when he got in. It was fully equipped, so soon, Tassidonia was in full control of a weapon of war.
His first order of business was detecting the gangs' most fortified areas. He peppered those bases in shield-weakening mines, followed by bunker-buster missiles. Several anti-air turrets hit him, but his shields prevented them from taking him down. He dropped three high-end Butcher Androids into the fray of the largest battles.
One of the adjacent fighter wings in the separate shield sector dropped a nuke. At that moment, Tassidonia made a decision.
Whatever insanity was going on right now wasn't worth staying here on his own. He turned his ship upward, narrowly avoiding nearly fifty missiles shot from another gang fortress, which was really just the lower floors of a supermarket. Thick slabs of concrete were being set up by androids and slaves from the Underground. All he could do was watch from above and attempt to mark those that might be a problem.
Justicar's Grand Fleet was moving in, though only the carriers and their escorts were doing anything of any scale. The armies were mobilizing, and it seemed that war had finally broken out. Justicar, while isolated due to the Judgment, would have to win a war that threatened to topple his rule entirely.
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Ezeonwha woke when the walls around him shuddered.
An earthquake?
Groggily, he activated the lights in the room. Phoebe's android was charging in the wall. Her limbs swayed with the motion. The walls shuddered again, and the lights went out. Thin, tiny cracks spread in the walls, increasing his worry factors massively. His implant notified him that this wasn't a dream. Distant screams reached his ears, and he went to the window.
Hordes of Sprilnav were running on the ground, tripping over each other to escape. He heard the thump of footsteps approaching from outside. The android activated, standing up.
"Move away from the doo-"
An explosion tossed him across the room. A Sprilnav carrying some sort of mouth weapon faded into view for a moment, smoke recalibrating the stealth field. And then he was gone. Phoebe smashed into the Sprilnav, her fists pummeling the assassin faster than Ezeonwha could comprehend.
Phoebe's arms turned into swords, and she stabbed the Sprilnav at least fifty times in a single pulse. She turned to grab him, but before she reached him, a second explosion sent him flying out of the now-shattered window.
The massive skyscraper loomed large, and he saw the ground beneath it ripple. Dull thumps sounded from below, and large, circular caverns opened beneath the 102nd Visitor Welcome Office. The whole building started to list forward, and Ezeonwha frantically activated his emergency personal shield as he started falling faster and faster. A bullet hit the shield. And then a second one. Gunshots echoed out in the distance, and he saw other Sprilnav falling from broken windows in the falling skyscraper. Gunfire erupted on the streets as Guides engaged a growing army of attackers bubbling up from basements of shops and businesses.
He saw spurts of blood exit the Sprilnav nearest him, bullets tearing holes through the woman's body. Piercing screams surrounded him, a terrible chorus that reminded him of the worst wars he'd fought in. But here, his training could do nothing. She was already dead, and he knew that he was the target of this whole attack. His eyes watered, and Ezeonwha felt so powerless. So useless.
A Corrector emerged from the side of the tilting skyscraper, eyes fixed on Ezeonwha. Then he looked down. Somehow, Ezeonwha knew when the orders had been sent. He knew that it was Astipra in the distance, a jetpack on his shoulders burning a thick flame beneath him.
Astipra looked back at the building and flew toward it. Ezeonwha felt the wind rushing past the shield as pressure. Astipra, far above, vaporized falling chunks of the skyscraper with blasts from his arm cannons. He pressed back against the skyscraper, the jetpack going into overdrive. The metal bent inward, and the groaning and twisting structure continued its fall. Blasts of light from Astipra again vaporized the set of falling chunks.
"Penny," he said. It was almost a prayer, really. His desperate mind was scrambling for whatever it could get. "Please, save me!"
He didn't know if she could hear him. Logically, it was impossible. And in a battle such as this, unlikely as well. Rippling explosions erupted across the facade of the falling skyscraper as rockets struck it. More explosions bloomed as lasers from distant police vehicles, Guides, and Astipra destroyed more of the fast-flying missiles and rockets. They pounded on the world around him, a horde of madness threatening to break his brain. He could feel the wind and gravity equalize as he reached terminal velocity.
And all he could see was the world descending into war around him. The 102nd Visitor Welcome Office continued to slump and lean against Astipra's best efforts. More bullets hit Ezeonwha's personal shield, and peppered the Guides moving over to save him. Air ambulances were shot from the sky. Even small fighter crafts were shot down by powerful ground lasers. EMPs thumped, disabling all the higher functions of his implant before he could think to use it.
A much larger explosion bloomed out, and Ezeonwha followed the rocket's trail to an Elder on the ground, standing in the wreckage surrounding a sudden tunnel opening. The Elder stared at him in glee, and he lined up another shot. Two Guides fell upon the Elder, who flew up using a jetpack to cut them in half with his sword. A hard light hologram lifted a large gun, pointing at Ezeonwha as he fell.
His eyes widened. Ezeonwha did everything he could. He angled his legs and arms. He pushed at the air. He even hefted the meager psychic energy he had, struggling with all his soul to escape the death he could feel was coming to him.
Guides swarmed beyond the shield appearing, while gang soldiers died by the hundreds to carpet bombing. Personal shields sprang up to block the explosions, and the Elder had survived. A thick red laser cut one of the fighters in half from the smoke. Above him, the collapsing facade of the skyscraper consumed Astipra entirely, though large gouts of plasma and thick explosions emerged from within. He could survive if it fell upon him, but Ezonwha could not.
Penny materialized far below, closer to the field of battle. A sweeping wave of gang members began disappearing. A bullet smashed into her head and her stomach, detonating in bright explosions. A personal shield flared and disappeared. Missiles and lasers slammed into Penny by the thousands as psychic energy gathered. A constant roll of words fell from her tongue, but without his implant, they were not translated.
Missiles crumbled into dust. Lasers impacted raw space in front of Penny before bending down and back to their origins, destroying automated turrets. Bullets still hit Penny and the Guides by the thousands, firing too quickly and densely for her to entirely block. But the large ordnance from the gangs continued to work against them.
Penny looked around, confusion evident on her face. But amidst the thousands of wounded and dead Sprilnav falling from the broken windows, Ezeonwha was hidden too well.
Shattering glass could be constantly heard, and he could feel the distant screams in his soul. A bullet smashed into his personal shield again, disabling it. A pulse later, he lost feeling in his legs.
He tried to reach out to her mind, but the war in the mindscape was equally intense. Too many Elders and Guides battling it out along with various suppression artifacts made it all impossible. He could sense Penny's influence, but couldn't directly reach her.
He let out a breath, knowing it to be the final one.
I'm sorry, Penny, Ezeonwha thought.
I wish you luck in the Judgment, and I am sorry I caused this to happen to you.
Penny finally appeared in front of him, eyes wide-
Blood erupted. A searing pain in his head told him his implant had just shorted out. And in the mindscape, he saw a mental attack heading for him, its brutal power evident. He closed his eyes.

PLAYBOY Interview With Conan O'Brien Interview by Kevin Cook For Playboy Magazine February 1998
A candid conversation with the preppie prince of "Late Night" about his rocky start, his show's secret one-day cancellation and how David Letterman saved the day.
He was polite. He was funny. He gave us a communicable disease.
At 34 Conan O'Brien is hotter than the fever he was running when we met in his private domain above the "Late Night" sound stage. A gangly freckle-faced ex-high school geek he is "one of TV's hottest properties" according to "People" magazine. The host of "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" has become his generation's king of comedy.
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. Congested too, but O'Brien has far more to worry about than his head cold. A perfectionist who broods over one bad minute in an otherwise perfect hour of TV, he worries he might be anhedonic, "I have trouble with success," he says, "I was raised to believe that if something good happens something bad is coming." Sure things look good now "Rolling Stone" calls "Late Night" "the hottest comedy show on TV." Ratings are better than ever, particularly among 18- to 34-year-olds, the viewers advertisers crave.
But O'Brien only works harder. Despite his illness he taped two shows in 26 hours on three hours' sleep. He smoothly interviewed Elton John then burst into coughing fits during commercials. Later in his crammed corner office overlooking Manhattan traffic Conan the Cool gulped Dayquil gel caps. He coughed spewing microbes.
"Sorry, sorry," he said. Of course O'Brien can't complain. He came seriously close to falling to being banished behind the scenes as just another failed talk show host.
At his first "Late Night" press conference he corrected a reporter who called him a relative unknown, "Sir I am a complete unknown," he said. That line got a laugh, but soon O'Brien looked doomed. His September 13, 1993 debut began with O'Brien in his dressing room preparing to hang himself only to be interrupted by the start of his show. Before long his career was hanging by a thread. Ratings were terrible. Critics hated the show. Tom Shales of "The Washington Post" called it as "lifeless and messy as roadkill." Shales said O'Brien should quit.
Network officials held urgent meetings discussing the Conan O'Brien debacle. Should they fire him? How should they explain their mistake?
In the end of course he turned it around. The network hung with him long enough for the ratings to improve and the host of the cooler-than-ever "Late Night" now defines comedy's cutting edge just as Letterman did ten years ago.
Even Shales loves "Late Night" these days. He calls O'Brien's turnaround "one of the most amazing transformations in television history."
O'Brien was born on April 18, 1963 in Brookline, Massachusetts. His father, a doctor, is a professor at Harvard Medical School. His mother, a lawyer, is a partner at an elite Boston Law firm. Conan, the third of six children became a lector at church and a misfit at school. Tall and goofy, bedeviled with acne, he tried to impress girls with jokes. That plan usually bombed, but O'Brien eventually found his niche at Harvard where he won the presidency of the "Harvard Lampoon" in 1983 and again in 1984 - the first two-time "Lampoon" president since humorist Robert Benchley held the honor 85 years ago.
After graduating magna cum laude with a double major in literature and American history he turned pro. Writing for HBO's "Not Necessarily The News." O'Brien was earning $100,000 a year before his 24th birthday. But writing was never enough.
He honed his performance skills with the Groundlings, a Los Angeles improv group. There he worked with his onetime girlfriend Lisa Kudrow, now starring on "Friends." But Conan was not such a standout. In 1988 he landed a job at "Saturday Night Live" - but as a writer, not as on-air talent. In almost four years on the show O'Brien made only fleeting appearances, usually as a crowd member or security guard. His writing was more memorable. He wrote (or co-wrote) Tom hanks' "Mr Short-Term Memory" skits as well as the "pump you up" infosatire of Hanz and Franz and the nude beach sketch in which Matthew Broderick and "SNL" members played nudists admiring one another's penises. With dozens of mentions of the word that hit was the most penis-heavy moment in TV history. It helped O'Brien win an Emmy for comedy writing.
In 1991 he quit "SNL" and moved on to "The Simpsons" where he worked for two years. His urge to perform came out in wall-bouncing antics in writers' meetings. "Conan makes you fall out of your chair" said "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening. O'Brien's yen to act out was so strong that he spurned Fox's reported seven-figure offer to continue as a writer. He was driving for the spotlight.
By then David Letterman had announced he was turning shin - leaving NBC taking his ton-rated act to CBS. Suddenly NBC was up a creek without a host. The network turned to Lorne Michaels, O'Brien's "Saturday Night Live" boss. Michaels enlisted Conan's help in the host search planning to use him in a behind-the-scenes job. But when Garry Shandling, Dana Carvey and almost every other star turned down the chore of following Letterman, Michaels finally listened to Conan's crazy suggestion, "Let me do it!" Michaels persuaded the network to entrust it's 12:30 slot which Letterman had turned into a gold mine to an untested wiseass from Harvard.
O'Brien was working on one of his last "Simpsons" episodes when he got the news. He turned "paler than usual," Groening recalled. The Conan moseyed back to where the other writers were working, "I'll come back with the Homer Simspon joke later. I have to go replace Letterman," he said.
NBC executives now get credit for their foresight during those dark days of 1993 and 1994. They snared the axe and now reap the multimillion-dollar spoils of that decision. In fact, the story is not so simple. We sent Contributing Editor Kevin Cook to unravel the tale of O'Brien's survival, which he tells here for the first time. Cook reports:
"His office is chock-full of significa. There's a three-foot plastic pickle the Letterman staff left behind in 1993 - perhaps to suggest what a predicament he was in. There's a copy of Jack Paar's 'I Kid You Not' and a coffee-table book called 'Saturday Night Live: The First 20 Years.' His bulletin board features letters from fans such as John Watters and Bob Dole and an 8" x 10" glossy of Andy Richter with the inscription: "To Conan - Your bitter jealousy warms my black heart. Love and Kisses Andy."
"Of course it's all for show. From the photos of kitch icons Adam West and Robert Stack to the framed Stan Laurel autograph, from the deathbed painting of Abraham Lincoln, to the ironic star taped to Conan's door - they're all clever signals that tell a visitor how to view the star. Lincoln was his collegiate preoccupation: stardom is his occupation. Somewhere between the two I hoped to find the real O'Brien.
"As a Playboy reader he wanted to give me a better-than-average interview. I wanted something more - a definitive look at the guy who may end up being the Johnny Carson of his generation."
"Here's hoping we succeeded. If not I carried his germs 3000 miles and infected dozens of Californians for no good reason.
O'Brien: Yes, this is how to do a Playboy Interview -- completely tanked on cold medicine. I'll pick it up and read, "Yes, I'm gay."
Playboy: We could talk another time. O'Brien: (coughing) No, it's OK. I memorized Dennis Rodman's answers. Can I use them?
Playboy: You sound really sick. Do you ever take a day off? O'Brien: No. The age of talk show hosts taking days off is over. Johnny Carson could go to Africa when he was the only game in town -- "See you in two weeks!" But nobody does that now. I will give you a million dollars on the first day Jay takes off for illness.
Playboy: Do you ever slow down and enjoy your success? O'Brien: If anything, the pace is picking up. Restaurateurs insist on giving me a table even if I'm only passing by, so I'm eating nine meals a night. Women stop me on the street and hand me their phone numbers.
Playboy: So you have groupies? O'Brien: Oh yes. And other fans. Drifters. Prisoners. Insomniacs. Cab Drivers, who must watch a lot of late night TV, seem to love me lately. They keep saying, "You will not pay, you will not pay, you make me happy!"
Playboy: How happy did your new contract make you? O'Brien: Terrified. The network said, "We're all set for five years." I said, "Shut up, shut up! I can't think that far ahead." Tonight, for instance, I do my jokes, then interview Elton John and Tim Meadows. We finished taping about 6:30. By 6:45 my memory was erased and my only thought was, Tomorrow: John Tesh. And I started to obsess about John Tesh. Sad, don't you think?
Playboy: Not too sad. You got off to a rocky start but now you're so hot that People magazine recently said, "that was then, this is wow." O'Brien: I try not to pay much attention. Since I ignored the critics who said I should shoot myself in the head with a German Luger, it would be cheating to tear out nice reviews now and rub them all over my body, giggling. Though I have thought about it.
Playboy: Tell us about your trademark gag. You interview a photo of Bill Clinton or some other celeb, and a pair of superimposed lips provide outrageous answers. O'Brien: We call it the Clutch Cargo bit, after that terrible old cartoon series. They saved money on animation by superimposing real lips on the cartoons. I wanted to do topical jokes in a cartoony way -- not just Conan doing quips at a desk. TV is visual; I want things to look funny. But we're not Saturday Night Live; we couldn't spend $100,000 on it. Hence, the cheap, cheesy lips, You'd be surprised how many people we fool.
Playboy: Viewers believe that's really the president yelling, "Yee-haw! Who's got a joint?" O'Brien: It's strange. You may know intellectually that Clinton doesn't talk like Foghorn Leghorn. Ninety-eight percent of your brain knows the president wouldn't say, "Whoa Conan get a load of that girl!" But there are a few brain cells that aren't sure. When Bob Dole was running for president we had him doing a past-life regression: "My cave, get away." And then back further, "Must form flippers to crawl on to rocky soil," he says. There may be people out there who believe that Bob Dole was the first amphibian.
Playboy: Do you ever go too far? O'Brien: The fun is in going too far. It's a nice device because you get Bill Clinton to do the nastiest Bill Clinton jokes. We'll have Clinton making fart noises while I say "Sir! Please!"
Playboy: Are you enjoying your job now, with your new success? O'Brien: Well, there are surprises. I hate surprises. Like most comics, I'm a control freak. But I am learning that the show works best when things are out of control. Tonight I ask Elton John if he likes being neighbors with Joan Collins. He says he isn't neighbors with Joan Collins. He lives next door to Tina Turner. So I panic -- huge mistake! But Elton saves the day. "Joan Collins, Tina Turner, it doesn't matter. Either way I could borrow a wig," he says. Huge laugh, all because I fucked up. Later he surprised me by blurting out that he's hung like a horse. The camera cuts to me shaking my head: That crazy Elton. What can I do? Of course, I'm delighted that he went too far.
Playboy: That "What can I do?" look resembles a classic take of Jack Benny's. O'Brien: There's an old saying in literature: "Good poets borrow; great poets steal." I think T.S. Eliot stole it from Ezra Pound. Comics steal, too. Constantly. When I watched Johnny Carson, I noticed that he got a few takes from Benny and Bob Hope. When a comedy writer told me how much Woody Allen had borrowed from Hope, I thought, What? They're nothing alike. Then I went back and watched Son of Paleface, and there's Hope, the nervous city guy backing up on his heels, wringing his hands and saying, "Sorry, I'll just be moving along." Now look at early Woody Allen. You see big authority figures and Woody nervously saying, "Look, I'll just be on my way." Of course Woody made it his own, but he must have watched and loved Bob Hope.
Playboy: Who are your role models? O'Brien: Carson. Woody Allen. SCTV. Peter Sellers. When Peter Sellers died I felt such a loss, thinking, There won't be anymore of that. There's some Steve Martin in my false bravado with female guests: "Why, hel-lo there!" And I won't deny having some Letterman in my bones.
Playboy: You were surprise as Letterman's successor. At first you seemed like the wrong choice. O'Brien: I didn't get ratings. That doesn't mean I didn't get laughs. Yes, I had a giant pompadour and I looked like a rockabilly freak. I was too excited, pushed too hard, and people said, "That guy isn't a polished performer." Fine! But it isn't my goal to be Joe Handsomehead cool, smooth talk show host. Late Night with Conan O'Brien is supposed to be a work in progress, and now that we've had some success there's a danger of our getting too polished and morphing into something smoothly professional. Which would suck.
Do you know why I wanted this show? Because Late Night with David Letterman played with the rules and it looked like fun. Here was a place where people did risky comedy every night for millions of people. We had to keep this thing alive. There should be a place on a big network where people are still messing around.
Playboy: How bad were your early days on the show? O'Brien: Bad. Dave left here under a cloud: his fans and the media were angry with NBC. Then NBC picks a guy with crazy hair and a weird name. And the world says, "Harvard? Those guys are assholes." I sincerely hope that the winter of December 1993, our first winter, was the worst time I will ever have. I'd go out to do the warm up and the back two rows of seats would be empty. That's hard to look at. I would tell a joke and then hear someone whisper, "Who's he? Where's Dave?"
Playboy: You had trouble getting guests. O'Brien: Bob Denver canceled on us. We shot a test show with Al Lewis of The Munsters. We did the clutch cargo thing with a photo of Herman Munster. Unfortunately, Fred Gwynne, who played Herman, had recently died, and Al Lewis kept pointing at the screen, saying, "You're dead! I was at your funeral!"
Playboy: For months you got worried notes from network executives. What did they say? O'Brien: They were worried. The fact that Lorne Michaels was involved bought me some time. But Lorne had turned to me at the start and said, "OK, Conan. What do you want to do?" Now television critics were after me and the network was starting to realize what a risk I was. Suggestions came fast and furious. I kept the note that said, "Why don't you just die?"
Playboy: Did they suggest ways to be funnier? O'Brien: They were more specific and tactical. The network gets very specific data. Say there was a drop in ratings between 12:44 and 12:48 when I was talking to Jon Bon Jovi. I'll be told, "Don't ever talk to him again" Or they'll want me to tease viewers into staying with us: "You should tease that -- say, 'We'll have nudity coming up next!'"
Playboy: You did come close to being cancelled. O'Brien: We were cancelled.
Playboy: Really? You have never admitted that. O'Brien: This is the first time I've talked about it. When I had been on for about a year, there was a meeting at the network. They decided to cancel my show. They said, "It's cancelled." Next day they realized they had nothing to put in the 12:30 slot, so we got a reprieve.
Playboy: Were you worried sick? O'Brien: I went into denial. I tried hard not to think, Yes, I'm bad on the air and my show has none of the things a TV show needs to survive. We had no ratings. No critics in our corner. Advertisers didn't like us. Affiliates wanted to drop us. Sometimes I'd meet a programming director from a local station where we had no rating at all. The guy would show me a printout with no number for Late Night's rating, just a hash mark or pound sign. I didn't dare think about that when I went out to do the show.
Playboy: Are you defending denial? O'Brien: How else does anyone get through a terrible experience? The odds were against me. Rationally, I didn't have much chance. Denial was my only friend. When I look back on the first year, it's like a scene from an old war movie: Ordinary guy gets thrown into combat, somehow beats impossible odds, staggers to safety. His buddy say, "You could have been killed!" The guy stops and thinks. "Could have been killed?" he says. His eyes cross and he faints.
Playboy: How did you dodge the bullet? O'Brien: There were people at NBC who stood up for me. I will always be indebted to Don Ohlmeyer, who stuck to his guns. Don said, "We chose this guy. We should stick with him unless we get a better plan." He was brutally honest. He came to me and said, "Give me about a 15 percent bump in the ratings and you'll stay on the air. If not, we're going to move on."
Playboy: Ohlmeyer started his career in the sports division. O'Brien: Exactly, his take was, "You're on our team." Of course, it wasn't exactly rational of Don to hope I'd be 15 percent funnier. It was like telling a farmer, "It better rain this week or we'll take your farm away."
Playboy: What did you say to Ohlmeyer? O'Brien: There wasn't time. I had to go out and do a monologue. But I will always be indebted to Don because he told me the truth. Wait a minute -- you have tricked me into talking lovingly about an NBC executive. Let me say that there were others who were beneath contempt -- executives who wouldn't know a good show if it swam up their asses and lit a campfire.
Playboy: Finally the ratings went your way. Hard work rewarded? O'Brien: Well, I also paid off the Nielsen people. That was $140,000 well spent.
Playboy: Ohlmeyer plus bribery saved you? O'Brien: There was something else. Just when everyone was kicking the crap out of the show, Letterman defended me.
Playboy: Letterman had signed off on NBC saying, "I don't really know Conan O'Brien, but I heard he killed someone." O'Brien: Then I pick up the paper and he's saying he thinks I am going to make it. "They do some interesting, innovative stuff over there," he says. "I think Conan will prevail." And then he came on as a guest. Remember, this was when we were at our nadir. There was no Machiavellian reason for David Letterman, who at the time was the biggest thing in show business, to be on my show.
Playboy: Why did he do it? O'Brien: I'm still not sure. Maybe out of a sense of honor. Fair play. And it woke me up. It made me think. Hey, we have a real fucking television show here.
Of six or seven pivotal points in my short history here, that was the first and maybe the biggest. I wouldn't be sitting here -- I probably wouldn't even exist today -- if he hadn't done our show.
Playboy: The Late Night wars were hardly noted for friendly gestures. O'Brien: How little you understand. Jay, Dave and I pal around all the time. We often ride a bicycle built for three up to the country. "Nice job with Fran Drescher!" "Thanks, pal. You weren't so bad with John Tesh." We sleep in triple-decker bunk beds and snore in unison like the Three Stooges.
Playboy: You talk more about Letterman than your NBC teammate Leno. O'Brien: I hate the "Leno or Letterman, who's better?" question. I can tell you that Jay has been great to me. He calls me occasionally.
Playboy: To say what? O'Brien: (Doing Leno's voice) "Hey, liked that bit you did last night." Or he'll say he saw we got a good rating. I call him at work, too. It can be a strange conversation because we're so different. Jay, for instance, really loves cars. He's got antique cars with kerosene lanterns, cars that run on peat moss. He'll be telling me about some classic car he has, made entirely of brass and leather, and I'll say, "Yeah, man, I got the Taurus with the vinyl." One thing we have in common is bad guests. There are certain actors, celebrities with nothing to say, who move through the talk show world wreaking havoc. They lay waste to Dave's town and Jay's town, then head my way.
Playboy: You must be getting some good guests. Your ratings have shown a marked improvement. O'Brien: Remember, when you're on at 12:30 the Nielsens are based on 80 people. My ratings drop if one person has a head cold and goes to bed early.
Playboy: Actually, you're seen by about 3 million people a night. Your ratings would be even higher if college dorms weren't excluded from the Nielsens. How many points does that cost you? O'Brien: I told you I'm an idiot. Now I have to do math too?
Playboy: Do you still get suggestions from NBC executives? O'Brien: Not as many. The number of notes you get is inversely proportional to your ratings.
Playboy: What keeps you motivated? O'Brien: Superstition. We have a stagehand, Bobby Bowman, who holds up the curtain when I run out for the monologue. He is the last person I see before the show starts, and I have to make him laugh before I go out. It started with mild jabs: "Bobby, you're drunk again." Bobby laughs, "Heehee."" Then it was, "Still having trouble with the wife, Bobby?" But after hundreds of shows, you find yourself running out of lines. It's gotten to where I do crass things at the last second. I'll put his hand on my ass and yell, "You fucking pervert!" Or drop to my knees and say, "Come on, Bobby, I'll give you a blow job!"
"Ha-ha. Conan, you're crazy," he says. But even that stuff wears off. Soon, I'll be making the writers work late to give me new jokes for Bobby.
Playboy: Did you plan to be a talk show host or did you fall into the job? O'Brien: I was an Irish Catholic kid from St. Ignatius parish in Brookline, outside of Boston. And that meant: Don't call attention to yourself. Don't ask for too much when the pie comes around. Don't get a girl pregnant and fuck up your life.
Playboy: Were you an alter boy? O'Brien: I wanted to be an alter boy, but the priest at St. Ignatius said, "No, no. You're good on your feet, kid," and made me a lector. A scripture reader at Mass. He was the one who spotted my talent.
Playboy: What did you think of sex in those days? O'Brien: I was sexually repressed. At 16 I still thought human reproduction was by mitosis.
Playboy: How did you get over your sexual repression? O'Brien: Who says I got over it? My leg has been jiggling this whole time.
Playboy: What were you like in high school? O'Brien: Like a crane galumphing down the hall. A crane with weird hair, bad skin and Clearasil. Big enough for basketball but lousy at it. My older brothers were better. I would compensate by running around the court doing comedy, saying, "Look out, this player has a drug addiction. He's incredibly egotistical."
I was an asshole at home, too. My little brother Justin loved playing cops and robbers, but I kept tying him up with bureaucratic bullshit. When he'd catch me, I'd say, "I get to call my lawyer." Then it was, "OK, Justin, we're at trial and you've been charged with illegal arrest. Fill out these forms in triplicate." Justin was eight; he hated all the lawsuits and countersuits. He just cried.
Playboy: Were you a class clown? O'Brien: Never. I was never someone who walked into a room full of strangers and started telling jokes. You had to get to know me before I could make you laugh. The same thing happened with Late Night. I needed to get the right rhythm with Andy and Max and the audience.
Playboy: So how did you finally learn about sex? O'Brien: My parents gave me a book, but it was useless. At the crucial moment, all it showed was a man and a woman with the bed covers pulled up to their chins. I tried to find out more from friends, but it didn't help. One childhood friend told me it was like parking a car in a garage. I kept worrying about poisonous fumes. What if the fumes build up? Should you shut off the engine?
Playboy: For all your talk about being repressed, you can be rowdy on the air. O'Brien: The show is my escape valve. When I tear off my shirt and gyrate my pelvis like Robert Plant, feigning orgasm into the microphone, that shows how repressed I am -- a guy who wants to push his sex at the lens but can only do it as a joke.
Playboy: Aren't you tempted to live it up? O'Brien: I always imagined that if I were a TV star I would live the way I pictured Johnny Carson living. Carousing, stepping out of a limo wearing a velvet ascot with a model on my arm. Now that I have the TV show, I drive up to Connecticut on the weekends and tool around in my car. I could probably join a free-sex cult, smoke crack between orgies and drive sports cars into swimming pools, and my Catholic guilt would still be there, throbbing like a toothache. Be careful. If something good happens, something bad is on the way.
Playboy: Yet you don't mind licking the supermodels. O'Brien: At one point a few of them lived in my building, women who are so beautiful they almost look weird, like aliens. To me, a woman who has a certain approachable amount of beauty becomes almost funny. It's the same with male supermodels. They look like big puppets. So while I admire their beauty I probably won't be "romantically linked" with a model. I'd catch my reflection in a ballroom mirror and break up laughing.
Playboy: The horny Roy Orbison growl you use on gorgeous guests sounds real enough -- O'Brien: Oh, I've been doing that shit since high school. It just never worked before.
Playboy: Your father is a doctor, your mother an attorney. What do they think of their son the comedian? O'Brien: My dad was the one who told me denial was a virtue. "Denial is how people get through horrible things," he said. He also cut out a newspaper article in which I said I was making money off something for which I should probably be treated. So true, he thought. But when I got an Emmy for helping write Saturday Night Live, my parents put it on the mantel next to the crucifix. Here's Jesus looking over, saying, "Wow, I saved mankind from sin, but I wish I had an Emmy."
Playboy: Ever been in therapy? O'Brien: Yes. I don't trust it. I have told therapists that I don't particularly want to feel good. "Repression and fear, that's my fuel." But the therapists said that I had nothing to worry about. "Don't worry Conan you will always be plenty fucked up."
Playboy: When a female guest comes out, how do you know whether to shake her hand or kiss her? Is that rehearsed O'Brien: No, and it's awkward. If you go to shake her hand and her head starts coming right at you, you have to change strategy fast. I have thought about using the show to make women kiss me, but that would probably creep out the people at home. I decided not to kiss Elton John.
Playboy: Do you get all fired up if Cindy Crawford or Rebecca Romijn does the show? O'Brien: I like making women laugh. Always have, ever since I discovered you can get girls' attention by acting like an ass. That's one of the joys of the show -- I'm working my eyebrows and going grrr and she's laughing, the audience is laughing. It's all a big put-on and I'm thinking. This is great. Here is a beautiful woman who has no choice but to put up with this shit.
But it's not always put on. Sometimes they flirt back. Sometimes there's a bit of chemistry. That happened with Jennifer Connelly of The Rocketeer.
Playboy: One guest, Jill Hennessy, took off her pants for you. Then you removed yours. Even Penn and Teller took off their pants. O'Brien: Something comes over me. It happened with Rebecca Romijn -- I was practically climbing her. Those are the times when Andy and the audience seem to disappear and it's just me and this lovely woman sitting there flirting. I keep expecting a waiter to say, "More wine, Monsieur?"
Playboy: Would you lick the wine bottle? O'Brien: It's true, there's a lot of licking on the show. I have licked guests. I have licked Andy. Comedy professionals will read this and say, "Great work, Conan. Impressive." But I have learned that if you lick a guest, people laugh. If I pick this shoe off the floor, examine it, Hmmm, and then lick it, people laugh. I learned this lesson on The Simpsons, where I was the writer who was forever trying to entertain the other writers. I still try desperately to make our writers laugh, which is probably a sign of sickness since they work for me now. Licking is one of those things that look funny.
Playboy: Johnny Carson never licked Ed McMahon. O'Brien: We are much more physical and more stupid than the old Tonight Show. Even in our offices before the show there's always some writer acting out a scene crashing his head through my door. A behind-the-scenes look at our show might frighten people.
Playboy: One night you showed a doctored photo of Craig T. Nelson having sex with Jerry Van Dyke. Did they complain about it? O'Brien: I haven't heard from them. Of course I'm blessed not to be a part of the celebrity pond. I have a television show in New York, an NBC outpost. I don't run with or even run into many Hollywood people.
Playboy: You also announced that Tori Spelling has a penis. O'Brien: I did not. Polly the Peacock said that.
Playboy: Another character you use to say the outrageous stuff. O'Brien: Polly is not popular with the network.
Playboy: You mock Fabio, too. O'Brien: If he sues me, it'll be the best thing that ever happened. A publicity bonanza: Courtroom sketches of Fabio with his man-boobs quivering, shaking his fist, and me shouting at him across the courtroom. I'm not afraid of Fabio. He knows where to find me. I'm saying it right here for the record: Fabio, let's get it on.
Playboy: Ever have a run-in with an angry celeb? O'Brien: I did a Kelsey Grammar joke a few years ago, something about his interesting lifestyle, then heard through the network that he was upset. He had appeared on my show and expected some support. At this point my intellect says, "Kelsey Grammar is a public figure. I was in the right." Then I saw him in an airport. Kelsey didn't see me at first: I could have kept walking. But there he was, eating a cruller in the airport lounge. I thought I should go over. I said hello and then said, "Kelsey, I'm sorry if I upset you." And he was glad. He looked relieved. He said, "Oh, that's OK." We both felt better.
....See my other post with the last third of the interview

My son is a missing and presumed deceased person whose life, I believe, was ruined and likely ended due to his playing with a Ouija board as a child. While, I have never played with the ouija board, and other than my son once telling me that he thought he was possessed, I would not necessarily have associated his issues (he currently has been missing since May) were it not for the account from his sister who did play with the board with him. In all likelihood my son is no longer alive either from murder, suicide, drug overdose or exposure.
My daughter relates that while playing with ouija board with my son, he suddenly grimaced in pain, seemed to change personalities, threatened to kill her and began chasing her with a knife. She locked herself in the bathroom while he stabbed at the door. She escaped by spraying him in the face with an aerosol spray. To avoid him she moved out of her mother's house, where my son was staying (their mother and I were divorced, she has since died), although this did not stop my son's attacks on other family members.
He became homeless and ended up doing stints in Bethesda Mental Hospital, Federal Prison in Beaumont, Texas, Washington State Prison and Alameda County California County Jail. He also told my daughter that he believed he was possessed. Another daughter occasionally wired him money, primarily just to make sure he was still alive. When he failed to pick up a wire transfer in May and the two friends that had been in closest communication with him had not heard from him I filed a missing persons report with the police department at his last known location, which was San Francisco. His case # is 230434714.
The ouija board has been associated with at least hundreds of murders (including the Gary Gilmore murders and the school shooting that killed four high school students in Oxford Michigan) and attempted murders, suicides, and mental illness, including cases of mass hysteria including the very recent cases of the hospitalizations of 28 school children in Colombia and 35 in Bolivia.
Please boycott Hasbro, manufacturer and aggressive marketer of the ouija board https://www.boycottowl.com/Hasbro/919

I twirl a small twister in the air in front of me. I make it dance, rise, fall, and spin around my head. I’m half-listening to the non-super crime boss who’s come to ask for our help. We’re sitting in the front for our headquarters. It’s a quaint bar on what’s been designated squarely as our part of town. Heroes won’t be caught dead on our side of the city. Or if they’re caught, they might end up dead. Same thing.
“So, what do you say, Noxus?” the large man asks. He was stout with greasy black hair and wore a cheap suit. Not quite a big shot yet, but he had the swagger to get it done. “We got ourselves a deal?”
“Let me make sure I’ve got this straight,” I say as I dismiss the small tornado. His proposal sounds intriguing. We could do so many fun things. “You want us to distract the police twice a week at various times in the middle of the night so your shipments can get moved around to your various storehouses? Is that about right?”
“That’s about the gist of it.”
“And you’ll be paying us handsomely for our time, correct? Distracting an entire police department like that is no light feat.”
“I believe our payments will be very generous, Noxus. And if this works out, we got big plans for this city. We can make an empire, spread to other cities, corrupt other super organizations, and make you the de facto kingpin of the entire global community.”
He looked eager but also remained calm. He was made for these kinds of things. He was cool, calculated, and just excited enough to make me want to help.
“No need for all of that. I’m happy with Grand City as is. Brain!” I yell behind me. “Get this man a contract. You know I hate paperwork.”
Braintrust is beside us in an instant. He has built some muscle since becoming a villain but still looks like the same old nerd he had always been to me. Our strength comes from our powers, not our bodies. “Come with me, Mr. Graziano,” he says as he leads the mobster to the back of the bar.
Another deal in place is more secured funding for the Cohort of Villains. And I’m sure everyone will love getting to cause a ruckus every week.
I turn to look at the bar, and a petite figure catches my eye. I don’t recognize them. They’ve got their hood pulled up and baggy pants and seem to be trying to stay unidentified. I don’t trust that in my place. I make eye contact with the bartender and signal toward the figure. Then, signal toward the seat across from me in my comfy booth. He nods in understanding.
I turn back to look out the window as I await my guest. This part of the city is truly beautiful. We got all the little shops and restaurants. The heroes preferred the skyscrapers and to stay in their old headquarters. Which was completely valid. I wouldn’t have it any other way, to be honest. Skyscrapers don’t impress me as much as the earnest folks who own these shops out here. I know when we approached Thomas about using his place as a front for our headquarters, he was taken aback. Then we showed him what we could do for him, and he happily obliged as long as we kept violence out of his bar—a fair request.
Which brings me back to our guest. If I didn’t recognize them, they could be looking for trouble. I haven’t killed anyone recently. Maybe today, that changes. I’ve only been back for a few months, but I’ve worked hard to get these villains under control. Robbing banks, taking CEOs hostage, smuggling things, burning a superstore down, or just interrupting heroes’ contracts. Victimless crimes, really. If someone is here to stir up trouble, I’ll nip that in the bud very quickly.
Finally, the hooded guest is pushed into the booth across from me. It took three people to get them here. They must not be eager to meet me, but they’re also not eager to use their powers if they have any. I wave them off as the hooded figure looks down.
“Take the hood off,” I order.
“No,” the figure says. A woman’s voice. That narrows it down to half the city.
“I’m not asking. Take the hood down, or I take your head. And I have an agreement to no violence in this bar, so I’m not threatening you lightly.”
“Ugh, Charlotte was right. You are a hard ass.” My ears perk up hearing Charlotte’s name. So she’s a hero, whoever she is. But she doesn’t remove her hood. She does, however, look up at me. I immediately recognize her by her blue hair. Two. Probably the most powerful superhero in the entire League.
“Let’s not get ugly here. I like this place.”
“I have no intention of starting any fights. Especially not with you. We didn’t even know you were back. Of course, we heard the whispers, but we thought they were just rumors. But you’re really here. Are you the mysterious new Cohort leader?”
“I am. Tell your whole League. Any show of excessive force will be met in kind. My people are under strict orders not to kill any of yours unless absolutely necessary.”
“Well, that’s nice to know. Even though they just killed a CEO of a major corporation last week.” She adjusts uncomfortably in her seat. She’s uneasy. Why would she come here if she’s so uncomfortable about it?
“I care not for the lives of citizens. What brings you here, Two?”
She immediately raises her hand up to shush me. “Don’t fucking announce it, you dolt.”
“So you don’t want everyone to know?” I ask. I’m not surprised, but a little caught off guard. She has nothing to fear here. Except for me, of course. “Why the secrecy? Surely, you’re not afraid of anyone in the Cohort.”
“I’m not, but I don’t want to upset the peace either,” she whispers through gritted teeth. “And this place has the best lager in town by far. Like, a fuck ton. I sneak down here sometimes and get a pint or two before fucking off back uptown. The bartender knows me; I’ve been a customer of his since I was in high school.”
I sit back, slightly amused. She’s willing to risk a fight just for some alcohol. “Any other heroes come for the best lager in town? Or maybe they hit Antonio’s for the world-famous stuffed shells? Ooh, or Tres for the best burritos in the entire city? We have all the good food on our side.”
“Charlotte wears a wig and dresses like a homeless person to hit Tres sometimes. The only one I know of brave enough to come over here other than me.”
“I could give you a pass, you know,” I say with a smirk. “Tell everyone you and Charlotte are off-limits unless you instigate.”
“And why in the world would you do that for, Noxus? The goodness of your heart?”
“Because Charlotte deserves a break,” I say coolly. “And I’d hate to make you angry. Possibly the only super in the entire city that could give me a run for my money if I don’t kill you instantly.”
“I could take you, Noxus,” she says with an edge that tells me she’s still uneasy about all of this.
“Maybe time will tell,” I say as I try to ease the tension. Emote’s powers would come in handy right about now. “In the meantime, what do you say? You can come and go as you please. Charlotte may come and go as she pleases. None of your other boardmates, I’m afraid. I don’t like how Pharaoh smells, Thronemaker’s an asshole, and Viper gives me the creeps.”
“No bullshit? One hundred percent immunity from the whole Cohort?”
“One hundred percent. But if you betray my trust, I must insist we test your theory of being able to take me.”
“What do you want in return?” she asks.
“Permission to live in my parent’s old house. They left it to me when they died, and I sold it when I left the city. It’s up for sale again. I want to buy it and live in it.”
“Let me guess, it’s in our territory?”
“If it were in mine, I wouldn’t need the permission.”
“I’ll talk to the Board.”
“Thank you. Come back when you’ve made your decision. I’ll tell the Cohort you and Charlotte are off-limits tonight.”

I had my cat boarded at a local veterinary clinic while I was out of town. This is the clinic where she is seen and treated for diabetes. She gets 4 units of insulin twice a day.
I got a call at 11 the other night that she had a seizure. She is around 6 years old and has never had anything like that before. They said her blood glucose was 20. Never has it been that low. She’s diabetic and it’s never been even close to that. I don’t know how long she was alone because the clinic was “closed” and I guess they only noticed when they went in to give insulin. I thought she would be safe there. I spent hundreds on treatment at an emergency vet clinic hoping to save her and unfortunately none of the attempts worked. She was severely brain damaged and had to be put down. I have never felt a pain like this in my life. I am so angry at the clinic. I want to know if any of my concerns are valid. Was the insulin accidentally doubled? Was she not eating and they continued insulin regimen without checking blood sugar? Did they leave her alone for 12 hours? I know i need to review the paperwork but is there any grounds here for them to pay for the medical treatment? I am devastated. My cat was the love of my life and I took such good care of her. I do not know what to do without her.

Right everyone, I must thank the literal hundreds of people who have DM’d me off the back of a couple of comments I’ve made the last few days on posts! I'm hoping that this post will give a bit of clarity to the people who have asked me questions! Also, must apologise I am dyslexic so please give me a break if my punctuation is off haha.
Background -
In 2021 I got an internship at JPM, did a great job and was offered a role on the graduate scheme. I worked in investment services and quickly found out jpm is such a well-oiled machine that there is a team for every single layer of the department. I was placed in Investment services but in the projects team which I wasn’t interested in and was told to work in the market stuff I’d have to grind for 3-4 years. Just FYI I wanted to get into high finance, more specifically trading but knew it would be mega competitive so thought I'd get my foot in the door by going into the support functions.
I loved my time at JPM and I met such awesome people there but there was always something about the rest of my cohort that I just couldn’t gel with. I'm from a working-class family and saw my parents struggle a lot when I was younger. I watched my dad slowly deteriorate until he had a full-blown mental breakdown and never got help for it after and my mother had been on antidepressants since her brother killed himself like 20 years ago and thought she could occasionally come off the tablets which made the home environment real tough. I also don’t have siblings or cousins so I felt so alone during those times. Going back to the people their troubles were so much different to mine and I found it hard to fit in with their lifestyles. ( this is important later).
Anyway, looking into how I could transfer my skills while getting exposure to what I wanted to do which was market work I found out that large industries which have business all over the world require a lot of different currencies, which brought me to oil and gas. I started researching different functions within the industry and found that two very specific departments would offer me that exposure!
Treasury-
looking after the company's cash levels and supplying different currencies when required. This role was marketed to me as a varied role which included FX, market and economic analysis. This would then be used to make decisions on when to purchase, sell or hedge a certain currency. It also involves M&A, board-level presentations and pitches.
Corporate Development -
they look at M&A opportunities constantly, they also look at asset management and can put forward option contracts to different companies for rights to drill in a certain well in exchange for that company getting to drill in their well for some time. Or even simpler. Both companies stay in their wells and just option their revenue for that well. They also work on competitor analysis for earnings calls and shareholder meetings.
I was offered the role of treasury analyst one year ago and have never looked back! I have in the last year worked on Fx, market and economic analysis, trading FX, Hedging FX, and Options, and even been part of a billion-pound merger. All of this with just 1.5 years of experience! I literally would have never gotten this experience if I had stayed at JPM as I'd have been stuck in one team doing one of those functions.
What people have been asking
Where do I live?
I currently live in Aberdeen, Scotland. Aberdeen is one of the O&G capitals of the world with every big name you can think of having a head office of sorts here. We also have thousands of other O&G companies you will have never heard of. Aberdeen is also home to the Big 4 accounting and Big 4 law firms. Several investment banks, wealth management, asset management and pension firms.
Why do I live in Aberdeen?
I was born here and saw what riches the O&G industry could give people. What is also a great opportunity with Aberdeen is that there is a serious shortage of people to work in these firms because the media has been stating for years and years “just five more years left in the oil industry”. This means that you can leverage much higher wages. I’m currently earning well over the national average wage with 2.5 years of experience and could leave my firm tomorrow and get a 10% pay rise down the road.
Another reason. Property is very very cheap here. With the oil boom from the 80’s to 2010 hundreds of thousands of properties were built here and in 2015 people were paying 300,400,500k just for an average flat/apartment because there was so much demand. However, in 2016 there was a huge oil crash and there were thousands of redundancies. This scared off the youth to safer industries. However, this means that there are more properties than people who want to buy at the moment I recently at 26 just bought a two-bed, 70 sqm flat for 113k in the west end next to Michelin-star restaurants, high-class wine bars and that sort of scene. I'm betting the house that Aberdeen makes its return with the renewable sector as well as the oil market growing further. Recently Aberdeen was selected to have the world's largest floating wind farm built starting in the next few years. That is thousands of jobs, people moving here for the construction and then the maintenance. There is also an energy plant being built 35 miles away which needs another 11k people to operate it.
Schedule and benefits -
I work 37.5 hours per week, 8 am - 5 pm mon-thur and 9-1 pm Friday.
35 days holiday plus a further 5 days at Xmas and new year
All health benefits included
8.5% pension from employer and I add 1.5% also.
Wages are different everywhere but as someone junior, I make more than I did in banking.
I go to the office 2/3 days per week
How I got the job -
I had random recruiters message me which prompted me to look into other recruitment firms and apply for every single one of them in my city. They promptly set up calls with me and then I proceeded to get applications left right and centre.
Qualifications -
I have an undergraduate degree in finance and real estate and a diploma in law. However, all qualifications are considered.
What roles should you look for that cover trading, derivatives and M&A-
The two departments you will find these roles and Treasury and Corporate Development
The roles to look for are Treasury, market, financial, finance, and data analyst.
Extra tip - a lot of O&G companies have not changed title names for years like since the 80’s. So look for titles with assistants in them, they are referring to analysts. Once you’re in our you can get her to alter your title. Mine was an accounting assistant. I then got a treasury analyst. My role has nothing to do with accounting.
What other roles are there in O&G?-
Well, there are two sectors onshore and offshore. Onshore is office-based and offshore is site-based.
Onshore you have finance, treasury, CD, tax, legal, audit, accounts, and sales. All that sort of business. I will also say Audit is another interesting one. One of my mates is constantly setting off to Dubai, Saudi, Oman, Chile, Colombia, and Peru all for work, all business class and all 4-5 star hotels (unless they are on base).
Offshore you have account controllers, finance managers, and rig supervisors. You can see for yourself online. These lots get paid extremely well. 3-4 times what you get onshore, however you will live on a boat or an oil rig for 6 months a year, but get the other 6 months at home without having to work.
What companies to look for -
I'd stay clear of the huge firms, they will be the same as banking. A team working on one specific area in the department so your exposure will be much less. Look for small to mid-sized firms. I'm at s small/mid firm with 11k employees and a revenue of around 3 billion per year.
Genuinely, you don’t need to look for the companies, the companies will look for you if you get with a recruiter.
What level can you come in at -
Most places offer internships, grad programs, junior roles, mid roles and senior roles. One of my mates was a manager at a coffee shop for 5 years and did an accelerated uni course to get the minimum qualifications to get an interview. He now tenders bids for international contracts. They love a career switch because you’re fresh and not burnt out! If you can show you can handle your workload and think you’re a good fit you will find a job.
What If I think my finance background isn’t relevant (insurance) -
Whatever you think about your background you can spin it on your CV. I’m not talking about lying but just making the bits which are more important prettier. Most corporate functions are the same. Can you time keep? Can you juggle multiple jobs? Hit deadlines etc. If you can you then apply! Explain you have had an interest for some time and that you want to make a career switch. Then list your strengths and apply them to the role! You will be successful if you want it.
Are there many trading opportunities in this industry? -
Yes and No. The larger firms will likely have full teams like in banks, sitting in London. They will have an fx team, commodity team, derivative team etc. They will be revenue-driving teams! Whereas small to medium-sized firms will have one/two departments doing all of the above but trading for risk mitigation. This means that there is severely less stress on the team to lock in trades! However, you still get the same experience as the market lot but can enjoy your life! Haha. Smaller companies might not be able to fulfil this sort of role and will likely just take losses on straight trades.
Do I need to know about oil and gas to get a job in the industry? -
NO! I knew nothing before joining. I knew about finance and that was that. However, after a year of being there, I have picked up so much to do with the industry. So moving forward if I go to PE or something I will bring banking, trading and energy knowledge which is more than someone who works on the markets desk at JPM.
Can I move to Aberdeen from a different country? -
Yes! And I'd encourage it. In Aberdeen, we have large communities of Americans, Canadians southern Americans, Europeans, Africans, and middle eastern ppl. There is a huge emphasis on bringing outside talent to the city and we have a great integrated and diverse city. I say it like that because I know in larger cities there can be a lot of segregation of certain races and communities. However, in Aberdeen, there is a greater tolerance for internationals because we all bring something different to the table. The people I have met on nights out have been incredible. Helicopter pilots from Nigeria, underwater welders from Peru, and ultra depth divers from iceland. Its a one in a million place where everyone gets along and everyone makes a shit land of money so there is no divide! I've been to every celebration of every religion, I’ve eaten at the table of every race and by the end, it's nothing but respect.
Cost of living in Scotland - my experience -
Considerably less than a lot of other western countries. I’m 6’5 240lb and my weekly food shop is £50-£60. My mortgage is £500 per month, utilities another couple hundred, cars I own three with no debt. You can buy a 2018 range rover here for less than 45k. Aberdeen also has the highest level of disposable income in the uk. If you want to find out more about Aberdeen check out aberdeen. We have beaches, shopping malls, great food, great bars less than two hours from some amazing ski slopes in the winter too.
Hopefully, I have covered most questions. If anyone wants to add me on LinkedIn just dm me and send your link!
If you want me to answer any more questions just comment below and I will reply.

Hello everyone, my father just got a roofing estimate and signed without talking to me 1st... He went with a reputable company here in the Northeast that he saw a commercial for...
He has a small ranch, they said the roof area is 1600 SF. The roof is in horrible shape, all plywood needs to be replaced and rafter extensions are needed on all rafters. New trim work all the way around, new gutters, new soffit, synthetic underlayment, freeze guard (6ft), flashing and ventilation. They said it's roughly 150 board-ft around the perimeter. They'll be using good quality 50 year rated shingles.
I've checked into the company and they were #1 on my short list. Our of hundreds of reviews from many sites I only found one nightmare review that didn't seem to fit with the rest so I could be a fake ie: from a rival, but anything can happen y' know?
The total is coming to about $43,000. It seems very high to me but so much changed since covid I have no idea how to calculate the labor on the various jobs, nor do I know the current costs of materials these days...
All I really need to know at this point is if this seems like a fair price, there is one day left to cancel the contract my father signed so I'm hoping that if something seems way off I could find out here quickly...
Hopefully someone who did this every day will stumble upon this post... Many thanks to anyone willing to take a crack at it!
-John-
Sorry rafter extensions are 2ft. and freeze guard is 6 ft all around. Soffit vents are being added.
-John-

Though she is a drug, she ain't like all the rest.
She was born to heal, unlike the others born to steal.
Big Pharma is a System. But this System is about to sprout forth something unfamiliar.
The world knows nothing but Big Pharma's concoctions. The world is drunk with her wine.
Her wine of course is her drugs. Every approved drug embodies her teachings and her doctrines.
But these doctrines go against the doctrines of leronlimab.
After all, what other drug modulates CCR5? I don't know of another monoclonal antibody that blocks CCR5 other than leronlimab. There are a few small molecule drugs like maraviroc, centriviroc and vicriviroc that do it, but I believe that only maraviroc is approved and despite that, it remains a poor blockade of CCR5.
So, because we stand alone as a large molecule CCR5 blockade, we are unfamiliar to Big Pharma. In general, intracellular communication is a foreign language to them. Therefore, we are like a black sheep. They don't know what to do with us. They are unfamiliar with this Cytokine business.
Everything we can do, they cannot. And everything they do, we do not.
We are multimodal, they are unimodal.
We are multifunctional, they are singularly functional.
We are healing, they are hiding or masking.
They sicken with side effects; we have none.
They address in part, while we address in full.
They leave in dissatisfaction while we leave satisfied.
Why are we so different when we were created by one of their own? Because we are one of a kind. There is no one like us. We are unlike any other, that operates at the heart of intra-cellular communication. And because this communication controls the behavior of the entire immune system, the methods that the immune system takes to overcome any one disease is directly affected when the intra-cellular communication channels are disrupted by this molecule. The one molecule affects the manner by which the immune system goes about overcoming every single disease and it is because of this reason why leronlimab is a multimodal drug.
But how can we have been born out of the mono-clonal antibodies? Well, it is true, that we are a mono-clonal antibody and there ain't anything on Earth that fits better than leronlimab into the CCR5 receptor. Leronlimab has even greater affinity for that receptor than its own ligand, CCL5 or RANTES. Yes, leronlimab pushes RANTES out of the CCR5 receptor and takes the place of RANTES because of its higher affinity. But the inventors thought they were only constructing a drug that would only treat HIV and prevent AIDS. Well, this monoclonal antibody, though it fits precisely into only one protein in the entire human body, and the only thing that it attaches to there in is CCR5, well, the inventors had no idea that what they were inventing by choosing that one receptor protein, that instead of overcoming the treatment of just one disease namely HIV, they in fact had developed a single antibody that treats the gamut of disease processes across the Inflammation and Immune Activation spectrum.
The majority of BP drugs handle one disease and one disease only. Penicillin treats gram positive bacteria. Acetaminophen treats pain. Aspirin reduces inflammation and also thins the blood. That one has 2 modalities.
This is how BP has operated for years and years. Well, things are about to morph, and they have been fighting this change for years already, but when things got to change, they will finally come to the point where there are no other choices, and they have to bite the bullet.
I believe, when BP tried drugs in the past with multiple indications, these drugs usually were plagued with multiple side effects. So, by zeroing in on only one indication, most of the side effects could be weeded out to the point that the drug could become FDA approved. The name of the game of course was to make money, but they couldn't make money if they couldn't get their drugs approved. So that led to the preponderance of single use drugs. And this is exactly how they wanted the playing field to remain, because they need to make money. To them it does not matter how many drugs are out there. All that matters is that they make money on every single unimodal drug ever invented.
But leronlimab was created and found to treat a myriad of disease processes superbly well and free from any side effects. It was found to be very well tolerated and found to heal in the face of many disease states where no other unimodal drug would do. Despite all the odds against it, leronlimab, though only binding to a single solitary CCR5 protein, was found to be treating HIV, all kinds of Tumors, allowing patients stricken with COVID 19 and on respirators for weeks and weeks to be taken off respiratory therapy after only one day of use. It was found to reduce Steatosis and Fibrosis in patients with MASH while in all of BP, there was not even one drug that treats MASH until very recently.
Tremendous resistance came upon this drug leronlimab and upon the company developing it CytoDyn, possibly because of the unorthodox mechanism of action that blocks CCR5 and by doing so, is capable of treating the myriad of disease processes across the board of Inflammation and Immune Activation. The drug was put on hold by the FDA and a warning letter hung to prevent its use.
Over the course of 2.5 years, a man by the name of Cyrus Arman was very instrumental in his work towards getting that hold removed. Later on, towards the end of those years, another man by the name of Jacob Lalezari, MD was the CEO in charge of CytoDyn at the time when the hold was finally lifted and was probably done largely because of his cooperation with the FDA. Well, both of these men remain with CytoDyn to this day. Both of these men are staunch believers in the mechanism of action of leronlimab.
Well, even though the hold was lifted, a period of about 6 months followed that required much hand holding, as if the company forgot how to ride a bike and the training wheels needed to be placed again so it could learn how to ride and, on every ride, somebody would always run up to them and taunt them, intentionally trying to make them fall. For some reason, nobody cared that CytoDyn should succeed. It really appeared that the many out there hoped and prayed for its demise.
But a time came, when a decision became necessary as to what to do with CytoDyn. After all, they in fact owned a Wonderdrug. A drug that when combined with their own drug could make their own drug perform twice as good. It could provide them with the means by which to treat a myriad of diseases that remain currently untreatable. A drug that would open up for them hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue that currently remain untapped.
In their consideration of CytoDyn, they took into account the myriad of peer reviewed research papers that proclaim the tremendous benefits on the use of CCR5 blockade in the treatment of so many diseases. They have reviewed the results of the various CytoDyn trials in HIV, in COVID and in Oncology. And these results are forthcoming, but these CytoDyn partners have already seen what we are about to see.
So, they came to a decision to unite together to keep hope alive for the people they treat as well as for their own shareholders. In addition, they are sure to gain the monetary benefits that comes along with the ability to treat 85% of the tumors that remain untreatable today. So, despite the contempt and original rejection of their very own brother, in the end, they have come together united with their brother so that both might benefit by their symbiotic relationship.
And why do these brothers behave as such? Well, so as to please their same Mother. And who is their Mother? The FDA. All play by the same book of rules. The FDA knows of the myriad of indications that leronlimab shall treat. They know of the revenues that shall come on behalf of this drug and they have opened up the highways for this drug to pass on through. Both we and our brother have seen and heard what our Mother, the FDA wants, and both of us follow those orders.
Later, once well known in the land of which it treats, leronlimab becomes a household name, then it becomes understood, that no other drug really is necessary.

~First~
Harriett The Spy AND HHH/Herbert’s Hundred Harem
They were comparing their stories about the weirder infiltration missions they’d gone on since they last spoke when there’s a knock on the door and it’s quickly opened before either can say anything.
“Sir? Ma’am? Update to the latest mess.” The Angla man says leaning in and holding out a folder. Harriett’s longer reach has her grab it.
“Good man, back to it soldier.” Herbert says as he hops off his chair. By the time the door is closed again he’s at Harriett’s side and standing on his tiptoes to read it over her elbow.
“Well... shit.” Harriett says as she sees the image of a gigantic slohb core with something clearly embedded in and infecting it. She reaches over to the flask and upends it to reveal the slightly larger than a pea piece of blood metal. A moment of compare and she curses again.
“Exactly what I was thinking. Where did she find it? Was it embedded deliberately? Some kind of experiment?” Herbert notes
“Hang on, let me turn the page.” Harriett tells him. “She found it and is reaching out to us because The Undaunted are one of the only powers she knows for a fact cannot be involved.”
“Alright, you just take a break. You got out of an infiltration like ten minutes ago. Have a snack. Relax, I need to prep a response to this.” Herbert says as he heads for the door. She follows.
“I’m no wilting flower. I know that Spire, have some infiltration experience there and friends as well. I can get you through the gang territories on the way down so we can help this poor woman.” Harriett says and Herbert nods.
“Alright then, you’re heading the mission. I’m going to scrape up all the support you need. So, what do you need?” Herbert asks.
“Several Doctors, at least one specializing in Xenobioology with at bare minimum a professional understanding of Slohb physiology. Several troopers that don’t mind cleaning and then standing guard. A transmutation Adept to re-purpose local materials for a sterile operating room to get that thing out of there and with sufficient skill to produce Null on demand finally a lack of interference from Centris authorities.” Harriett lists out and Herbert nods.
“Done, get started on your plan of movement. I’ll get it all ready.” Herbert promises her as they powerwalk through Intelligence and then Herbert dashes away as he calls to to people and barks orders. For the briefest of moments Harriett mentally compares him to a chihuahua but then realizes it falls short as this chihuahua can and will tear chunks out of things many many thousands of times it’s size. There’s a lot of bark yes, but the bite is exponentially worse.
She shakes herself out of the half second long reverie and gets moving again. She needs to draw up plans, review her notes for the area and plan a route all the way to the bottom of a spire, all the way down through nine levels where the gangs in power WILL be stopping the elevators to at least check the occupants and more than a few of them are stupid enough to stick a gun into the face of a soldier.
She normally doesn’t bother with the stupidity and madness of a bottom ten. Generally people that try hiding down there end up being shanked in the back alley by a bouncer after they tried to run out on the bill of whatever oiled up man-thong lounge they had spent half a fucking day in and racking up a bill large enough that Ticanped’s feathers would stand on end.
She had tracked a fucker down there five times in varying different disguises to find that exact scenario had played out. And that’s IF they survived long enough to get to the dickie bar. There was a different way of going around down there. Every square inch was basically gang territory by default, if you walk around like your shit doesn’t stink then you’re going to get it pushed in in the worst possible way.
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There is a silence that stretches through the last conversation. Learning that the games she had played had been loosely based on actual wars had disquieted All Lady a little.
“Look the Wolfenstein games were massive exaggerations from the word go. You know how it is. Get enough time between a tragedy and someone looking to tell a story and you’re soon going to find something like a bunch of psychopaths who can’t fall asleep unless it’s to the screams of the innocent or some mad scientist with an obsession for switching body parts around.” Jurgen says and All Lady lets out a huff of air. “By the way how hard is that to learn?”
“How hard is what?” She asks.
“Well, that sigh. The air came out of your mouth... but you have no throat, no lungs. The part I’m addressing may as well be the tip of your finger or something. How long did it take to learn to mimic air respiration and air movement to that extent?”
“Oh that?” All Lady asks before laughing a little. “Simple enough when you know how to talk, and I was budded off my father knowing how to make those noises. Not what they meant, but that’s what’s childhood’s for.”
“I see, so... all Slohbs are born knowing how to manipulate their bodies, but now why they would want to?”
“Well, we’re born knowing how to keep ourselves alive and move, and smart enough to learn. However finer control is something that comes later. A newly budded little Slohb is adorable but can only make very vague shapes. Very rounded ones too. But there are grand masters of the art, shifters so skilled they can alter their colour and put in so much detail that you have to touch them to tell they’re a slohb, and of course there are even rarer girls who can change their external texture. You need high end scanners to tell they’re not what they say they are.” All Lady says before looking around at the cavern of blue slime that is her being. “Old dreams. Dead on the alter of reality.”
“Says who?” Jurgen asks.
“Common sense?”
“Well, good thing it’s not all that common now isn’t it?” He asks in return and she looks at him oddly. “After all, it’s common sense that a human over nine feet tall is suffering from terrible glandular disorders and lives a miserable life.”
She smirks after a bit.
“Oh do you now? Oh poor baby!” She teases him.
“Oh yes, poor poor oversized me! After all, one can only be larger than six feet tall if they’re sick in some way.” He says and she laughs a touch.
“Jurgen, let her know we’ve already put together a team to come help her. She’ll need to unblock the entrances if we’re going to help.” His Handler says and he pauses and thinks.
“Is something wrong?” All Lady asks.
“Well, you wanted to know if the Undaunted reputation is deserved right?” He asks and she nods. “Well they’ve already put together a team and they’re on their way. They request that you unblock the way in.”
“What kind of team?” She asks.
“Buddy, what kind of team?” Jurgen asks his handler.
“Three doctors, five troopers, two with medical training an Adept and an Agent.”
“Copy that. Miss All Lady we have three doctors, five troopers with two of them medics, an Adept and an Agent inbound.”
“An Agent?”
“Highly skilled, highly informed and often deployed in the field. Our Agents are stealth operatives mostly. If one’s deployed, then they’re likely trying to get the team to you with as little fuss as possible. So nothing wrong happens.”
“And they’re coming now? But I haven’t actually asked for any help!” She protests and he shrugs.
“You clearly need it. Not to mention I heard my handler curse under his breath when we saw whatever it is that’s in your core. No doubt it’s something concerning.”
“What was the first hint? That it embedded itself into me despite my merely examining it or that it’s caused me to bud thousands of times without ever successfully splitting?”
“Wait, that thing embedded itself into you?”
“I... I said too much.”
“Ma’am whatever that thing is, it has my handler so worried he’s not volunteering the information at the first opportunity. Normally getting him to shut up is the trick, right now though? Dead silence.”
“We can’t risk this information being intercepted.” His Handler states.
“And now he says it’s so dangerous he won’t risk it being intercepted. So whatever happened to you is understood well enough by my people that we’re basically scared of it and scrambling to do something about it right away. The more we know, the better we can help you.” Jurgen says and she stares at him before everything quivers.
“It... it was seven years ago.” She says. “I was just exploring the bottom ten. Being... well... being who I was then. I was basically slinging myself around along the ceiling. I can move in ways you solids can’t. Stretch out, grab some thing or suction up against it. Really easy, fast and fun. Then I bumped into something, something hidden. It seemed so harmless at first. A little dead drop place, whatever, take a look into it. If it’s bad report it to someone, but leave it alone otherwise.”
“It didn’t work like that though, did it?” Jurgen asks.
“No... it was... strange. It looked like a circuit board but made of the strange metal. A bit of my gel ended up on one of the circuits as I was putting it back and... it wouldn’t let go. Then it pulled and before I could sever that bit... it was in me and I fell. The impact knocked me out cold and I don’t know. It may have killed me. I woke up with two extra bumps, one of them badly damaged and with the metal inside.”
“... Do you think that...”
“That I might not be me?” She asks. “Sometimes. It was I...”
The gel starts to shift before moving in a smooth flow. “I am in control. I am the master of my fate. I am all. All is me. I am the lady that is all.”
“The All Lady.” Jurgen finishes for her and she nods.
“Yes. I... even now I am budding far too fast, and the bud is not going to break away. This is unnatural, wrong and vile. It needs to stop.” She says.
“Tell her help is on the way. They’re at level fifty and closing fast.”
“Help is coming, level fifty and closing the distance.” Jurgen promises.
“Okay, okay... this is faster than I expected. Or wanted, but it needs to happen it... what is this going to cost me?” She asks.
“Just uncover the entrances. I highly doubt anyone will want anything more. You’ve been through enough.” Jurgen says and after a moment he can hear things in the distance.
“Your teammates are reporting that the path out is clear now.” His Handler says.
“Alright then. Ready to go out and meet the doctors?” Jurgen asks reaching out his hand and after a short while a gel hand finds it’s way to his.
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The elevator stops prematurely and is forced open from the other side.
“Well hello there now what are you little fish...” A snict woman begins to monologue as she forces the elevator door open and stops as she finds herself staring down a dozen high powered weapons. Harriett reaches a hand out and pushes her back and out of the way of the door before pressing the closed door button.
“We’re about to get another of those aren’t we ma’am?”
“Every fucking level down. The bottom ten of Xiona are a textbook no-man’s land and the reason for level one being off limits is who we’re out to help.”
“This job sometimes...” One of the Doctors notes.
“The hell did you expect?”
“Not an emergency surgery of an alien blob monster in the middle of gang territory.” The Doctor replies.
“Well jokes on you, you came from Earth to keep soldiers alive and study aliens. Well here’s an exotic alien metal, poisoning an alien woman. Let’s work with it.” Harriett states.
“I understand, I just don’t like it.” The Doctor replies.
“Why the hell were you placed on this team?”
“Because Doctor Gin here has point blank pulled of borderline miracles in the past. He just likes to complain.” Another Doctor says and Gin turns to give him the stink eye.
“Of course I’m complaining! Do you have any idea what can go wrong? I do! It’s horrifying! Not only is this a Slohb, a species with one of the most dense physical forms there are once you move past the falseness that is the gel they control. But not only that, this is a Slohb that has been poisoned by the item we’re extracting and may have created chemical or Axiom imbalances in her system that could kill her when the substance is removed! Going cold turkey on anything hurts for a reason people! To say nothing of the fact that the surgery chamber is going to be improvised and in the middle of potentially hostile territory and the patient is enormous to such a degree that she is potentially the biggest member of her species to ever exist! And in addition we are...”
“We get it.”
“Oh no, this last point is the most important. Because we are going to be operating under the effects of Null. Which while harmless to the vast, vast majority of this group, will still have effects on you Agent and on the Titan that the patient is bonding with. And that’s not even touching on the fact that Slohbs, which I remind you, is the species of the patient. That Slohbs have one of the fastest kill times in Null at three and a half minutes at absolute maximum! Meaning we have two hundred and ten seconds AT MOST to save this poor woman’s life without taking it ourselves! More likely we will only have a hundred and twenty to keep her in the safe zone, TWO MINUTES TO OPERATE!” He rants before huffing a bit and then slicking his hair back again. “So as you can imagine, I’m a little stressed.”
“Backing out?”
“Of course not. I don’t trust anyone else to do this right the first time. I’m just making sure you’re aware that no matter how easy I make this look that it is in fact, very very hard.” Doctor Gin says as he squares his shoulders and steels his expression. He along with everyone else then pull out their weapons as the elevator is stopped early again and this time there’s not even a monologue as the Horchka gang that opened the door simply raise their eyebrows, and then one reaches in to press the door closed button to send them on their way.
~First~ Last

I am a Teen Services Library Assistant in a somewhat small area. We have a young adult collection that goes almost entirely unused. I rarely order books for this collection unless it is a VERY popular topic / title. This last fiscal year, I think that I ordered maybe 13 books, but that may even be pushing it.
I would love to see this section get used more, but considering that we rarely get teens into the library as is, I do not think that it will. However, my branch manager is against integrating the YA nonfiction section with the Adult nonfiction section. To some extent, I can understand this because teens do need a safe space to look into the topics that they are interested in. BUT, our YA nonfiction section and Adult nonfiction section are RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER. YA is just slightly more hidden than the adult books. Which also contributes to it never being used I believe.
Since, we are not going to interfile the collections, I was curious if anyone has some advice on how to give this collection its best shot. I just did a lot of weeding and got rid of about a third of the collection I think. I was thinking about sectioning off a couple hundred dollars of my budget and dedicating it to anything that our Teen Advisory Board thinks would do well as a NF topic. But, I am afraid that is going to be a waste of my time and money.
Any advice would help. Whether it is topics to order, display ideas, ways to get our collection to pop more, etc. I will totally take it!

Hi all. I've been dealing with L4/L5 herniated disc back pain for over 5 years now. What started as a herniation turned into overcompensating muscle pain that just won't seem to go away. I'm currently in physical therapy.
Here's everything I've learned and used in the past few years. As someone that's spent hundreds of dollars over the years trying to alleviate pain I wanted to pass on my knowledge to you. I've included a description of how each item helped me, and I'm also including the full product name if you don't want to click on the link directly.
Exercise Tools
A foam roller with ridges goes a long way for blood flow and pain relief. It helps with pressure points in the glutes, cracks my back, and acts as a massager all in one. I couldn't find the original one I bought, it's a big longer but these seem to have great reviews: Product: 321 STRONG Foam Roller - Medium Density Deep Tissue Massager
A tennis ball for pressure point release, I tried a lacrosse ball and found it to be too hard. I both sit/lay on the ball as well as use it against the wall. I get a pack and stash them everywhere,cars, office, folks' house, bedroom, living room, you name it. Product: 18 Pack Tennis Balls
For the Car, Office, Home
Next is a lumbar support back and seat cushion. These have been a dream. I was looking for the seat cushion and got the lumbar support as well. I use them to sit on the couch and it elevates my core and trunk. It helps me to sit up straight and removes pressure from the area that's been suffering. Definitely recommend these. Product: FORTEM Lumbar Support Pillow and matching FORTEM Chair Cushion
Sleeping Pillows
I have several pillows when I sleep. I've found luck with several.
One is a knee pillow, this one is great for travel since it's smaller, and easy for people that like to turn over a lot.
Product: 5 STARS UNITED Knee Pillow for Side Sleepers
The other is a half moon pillow, of which I have two. I actually prefer this for several reasons. One is that it doesn't rest just between my thighs, I actually put it long-ways between my knees, calves and ankles. Plus, it's longer so when I turn over on my back I can easily shift it to directly under my knees. I have two to stack for when I'm lounging in bed. Product: 5 STARS UNITED Knee Pillow for Back Sleeping
Back tape. I try to only use this when I've flared up so my muscles don't get too used to it. But it's a dream for plane rides, road trips, or days when you're planning to be up and moving a lot.
When it comes to KT tape, and I've used a lot in the last 5 years, there is one clear winner in my book: Product: Rock Tape 2 ft roll
If you already know you want the tape and plan to be using it often, spend the money on the larger roll, it saves in the long run.
Get a good pillow for your head too. It helps me to make sure it's only cradling my head and not my upper back. Normally I don't like buying pillows online but these have great reviews and I've been very happy with them. Product: Coop Home Goods The Essence Down Alternative Pillow
What else?
For a while I was using an inversion table. It feels really good to stretch out and did help me for a while. The hardest part is apartment living as it's not exactly space saving. However it does fold up and if you have the space for it it's great to have. There are more expensive ones but I didn't see any issue with this one: Product: Innova Inversion table
If I'm planning on being on my feet a lot I use a back brace, but I read (maybe someone can confirm or deny) that it trains the muscles not to work so you're possibly doing more damage in the long run. Product: Sparthos Back Support Belt
Work
A moveable standing desk is life changing. Not even just for standing but the ability to move the desk to the height you actually need to sit up straight. Product: FLEXISPOT EC1 Electric Adjustable Height Standing Desk 48x30
A good chair and/or yoga ball. Perhaps someone in the comments can recommend a good chair, as that's something I'll need next. I currently use a yoga ball and a wobble board when I'm standing. Product: Trideer Yoga ball Product: Amazon Basics wobble board
My colleague used to sit on a Gaiam yoga ball chair. She swore by it and she used it the entire 3 years we worked together so it must have been doing something right.
Exercise
Two different physical therapists have recommended Pilates to me. There are a ton of YouTube videos so I'll let you find one you like, but the biggest thing that's stressed to me is making sure it's traditional Pilates, and making sure your form is correct.
I was also told to do drinking birds, bridge pose, and clam shells whenever I can. (These links all take you to YouTube).
Staying consistent with exercise and stretching definitely helps keep the pain at bay, as does walking on a regular basis to stave off being sedentary.
I don't do Apple watches (addicted to enough devices) but I did purchase a used FitBit to just track my steps. I know you can search "Used" on Amazon but I actually found mine on Poshmark. Works great.
Diet
I'm not going to go too much into diet since it's a controversial topic, but here are some big things that helped me:
Cutting out alcohol entirely helped with more than just the inflammation, but gave me the energy I needed to tackle the pain.
I've added more whole fruits to my diet as well and cut back significantly on ultra-processed foods.
Cutting back on caffeine helped my sleep tremendously which helped recovery time for pain.

There is quite a bit of untranslated material for this series getting released alongside the anime. Since I'm just a bit obsessed with the MahiKano pair I went digging around in it to see if there was anything that could shed some light on their delightfully (and frustratingly) ambiguous relationship. There is actually lots of interesting stuff so I thought I'd share what I've found as we approach the last four episodes. I think my translations are pretty decent but be aware I'm by no means fluent. Google-sensei assisted.
Unfortunately, none of it is "proof" of any romantic feelings between the two and some of it makes things even more puzzling, but it is yet more to add to what we already have.

Voice Drama

Every week there is a short voice drama that gives an extra scene taking place around the time of the most recent episode. Some of them have a bit of MahiKano, and a couple of them have a lot. It is recommended to read along with the video.
Ep 3: (Basically) Mahiru asks Kiui to explain a meme she heard classmates using that she had pretended to understand, and it had been bugging her. After some prodding Kiui fully explains it for her. [3:47] Kiui: "So, do you feel refreshed?" Mahiru: "Refreshed! I am super refreshed!... Ah, didn't I sound a bit like Kano-chan just now?" Kiui: "Like I'd know! I'm not that close to her." Mahiru: "Oh that's right huh." Mahiru: "Your training is insufficient." Kiui: "Hey now, that is on the same level as the comments I get even if it is a better quality one."
Ep 5: Before they go do their first shrine visit, the four of them talk about JELEE's growth. [0:36] Yoru: "It doesn't really feel like it but it has been some time already. From Halloween it's been...about two months?" Kano [dramatically]: "Yup. On that day, Yoru and I had our fated meeting." Mei: "That makes me kind of jealous." Kiui: "No, it doesn't matter when you joined." Kano: "We're all precious JELEE teammates." Yoru: "Yup."
Ep 6: Mahiru and Kano go to the place Miiko works at to meet up with her for dinner after she finishes her shift. [0:37]
Kano: "Ooo, the yakitori looks delicious. It is wonderfully arranged isn't it, Yoru-sensei? Mahiru: "No, I just arranged it normally." Kano: "It must be your "sense" talking again." Mahiru: "Geez."
Due to Kiui and Mei already having not been able to come with and Miiko taking on an extra shift and needing to cancel, it ends up being just the two of them. The topic turns to school. [2:03]
Kano: "Ahhh.... oh yeah, winter break has ended for us, huh?" Mahiru: "Kano-chan, you forgot about school being a thing didn't you?" Kano: "Well, you see, it doesn't make a difference whether or not I go." Mahiru: "When the new term starts we're gonna be 3rd years you know? It is our last year being high school girls so we gotta FULLY enjoy it or wouldn't it be a big waste?" Kano: [playfully] "I dunno~. Yoru, you really are a bit calculating about that..." Mahiru: "...Eh?" Mahiru: "No, I was just thinking it really is better to have fun is all." Kano: "But rather than being at school, isn't it more fun doing stuff with everyone in JELEE?" Mahiru: "That may be true but I'd say it is better to have fun from both." Kano: [dramatically] "Hmmm... I shall take that under consideration." Mahiru: "But you know, going straight for the goal you currently have in front of you is a very Kano-chan thing to do." Kano: [giggle] "Like I thought Yoru really understands me!" Mahiru: "I wasn't praising you 'k?" Kano: [playfully] "Eeeh?" Mahiru: "Hey now, don't forget about the yakitori. Which one do you want to eat Kano-chan?" Kano: "Then, for starters I'll go with salted!" Mahiru: "That kinda sounds like something a connoisseur would say." Kano: "I ate a different kind last time so this time is salted!" Mahiru: "There really was a proper reason..." Kano: [munching] "... ... what is it?" Mahiru: [evasively] "Nope, nothing. I wonder what I should have."
Ep 7: Kano and Kiui chat while in the bath together. Before long, Kano shifts the conversation to Mahiru [0:50] Kano: "By the way Kiui, have you ever bathed with Yoru?" Kiui: "Yeah. 'Though in saying that, it was just back in elementary school. Like when she'd come over to my house we'd take a bath together." Kano: "Heeh. I do kinda have the image of childhood friends going on family trips together and stuff." Kiui: "Mahiru in the past would draw art wherever she went. Even when we were spending time together she'd still be drawing, We'd often get scolded for losing track of time while drawing." Kano: "I feel that side of Yoru hasn't changed. Especially recently!" Kiui: "That may be!" Kano: "But at the time you also drew with her right?" Kiui: "That was a while ago but yes. I do still draw stuff for use in my videos but back then Mahiru would come over to my place for us to do it." Kano: "Eh? You're talking about when she'd come over to play?" Kiui: "You haven't heard from Mahiru? My place is an art class." Kano: *gasp "First I've heard! I seeee, nooow I get it." Kiui: "What did you just understand?" Kano: "No, just a feeling." Kiui: "Hey you..." Kano: "But you know, hearing about a side of Yoru I didn't know made me kinda happy." Kiui: "So sorry that you're stuck with someone you're not interested in here." Kano: [shouts] "That isn't true! I also love Kiui you know!" Kiui: "I was joking! Don't shout so loudly in the bath..." Kano: "Aah. Sor-, sorry." Kiui: "And so, tomorrow we're going to talk about you." Kano: "Eh? Me?" Kiui: "Just talking about me is unfair wouldn't you say?" Kano: "Hmm. But you know, you didn't really say that much about yourself?" Kiui: "I told you about what you wanted to hear didn't I? Kano: "Hmm... tell me one more thing!" Kiui: "If you will tell me a decent story, I'll think about it." Kano: "Oooo...alright! In that case I shall prepare something special." Kiui: "Now you've said it. I'm pretty difficult to satisfy you know?" Kano: "And I have some pretty good stuff you know. Like all kinds of stuff from my SunDolls days... fu, fu, fuuu. Kiui: "What is with that weird laugh? Alright then, what would you tell me for a secret story about when the jellyfish mural was made?" Kano: [excited] "Eh!? What's with that I wanna hear! Ask me anything! I'll tell you anything!" Kiui: "Woah, you're way too easy."
Ep 8: [0:00] Kano: "It's evening (yoru)." Kiui: "It sure is evening." Mei: "It is evening indeed." Mahiru: "Uh, it is like my name is being called over and over and feels rather strange." Kiui: "Tell that to Kano. She is the only one who calls you 'Yoru'." Kano: "But Yoru is Yoru isn't she? Ah, now it is 'Mahiru' (midday)!" Mei: "So deep..." Mahiru: "It's not deep at all. Anyways isn't everyone too worn out? We took the trouble to take a bath so it really should have a "refresh" kind of feel..." Kiui: "Even if you say that, you're actually tired from working all the time, right?" Mei: "Entering the bath made all my tiredness come out..." Kiui: "When you're tired that is actually the correct response." Mahiru: "Anyways, don't you not know what to talk about at times like these?" Kiui: "True, we are the Inexperienced Squad." Mei: "I have experience but I didn't have friends!" Mahiru: "It is hard to react to that...." Kiui: "And so Mahiru, offer us a topic for high school girls." Mahiru: "What?" Kano: "Oh, nice. Mahiru does do the most high school girl stuff." Mei: "I also agree with Nono-tan." Mahiru: [groan] Kiui: "So there we go Mahiru. We're counting on you." Mahiru: "Eeh, what a way to leave it to someone else..." Mahiru: "Hmm, lets see. The standard really is... love talk or something?" Kano/Kiui/Mei: [gasps/oooh/hm?]" Mahiru: "What is with those reactions..." Mahiru: "Let alone high school girls, it is a standard for girls!" Kiui: "No, are you saying that thinking we actually have anything?" Mei: "In the first place romance is banned for Nono-tan!" Kano: "No, it wasn't particularly banned. I didn't have that kind of person but [dramatically] maybe my fans were my lover." Mei: "Nono-tan...!" Mahiru: "Yeah, this was my mistake. I made a mistake." Kiui: "As long as you understand, it is fine." Mahiru: "It kinda looks like this has become my fault now..." Mei: "But for you to have brought it up, Mahiru, you must have something right? Love talk." Mahiru: "ah...eh..." Kano: [gasp] "...Mahiru?" Mahiru: "Right now it would be my art, really." Kiui: "She sure ran away." Kano: "She ran away." Mei: "She ran away indeed." Mahiru: "Because right now everyone in JELEE is like my lover!" Kano: "Ah, in that case that is how it for me too!" Mei: "Of course me too!" Kiui: "Then me too." [all laughs] Mahiru: "I guess, in the end it wasn't love talk at all." Kano: "But this sort of thing is kinda fun." Kiui: "It is like us." Kiui: "When we were at the driving school too, just talking about whatever was fun." Kano: "Yup. I got to hear a ton about Mahiru's past." Mahiru: "Eh? Hey wait, Kiui-chan I didn't hear about this!" Kiui: "I got to hear a whooole lot of Kano's secrets too." Mei: "Ki-, Kiwi-san!? Are you trying to steal a lead! I, too, want to hear stories about Nono-tan!" Kano: "My secrets are pretty expensive you know?" Mei: "One-, Is one hundred thousand enough? No, how about one million?" Kano: "No no don't take out mone......hm?" Mei: [rummaging around] "Lets see here, to immediately withdraw it from my account... (etc.)" Kano: "Wai- joke! It was a joke! For now close your wallet!"

JELEE Tweets

One of the ways the creators of this work is bringing it out into the real world is by having an X account for JELEE run by the main characters in-universe. It started off from even before episode 1 aired with Kano tweeting her thoughts and eventually all four members are using the account. Many of the tweets simply acknowledge events from the anime but there are quite a few that give new information or a second perspective about stuff. Here are some of the MahiKano-relevant ones. Check the tweet link for the actual emoticons and pictures.

By:	Tweet Translation	Notes
X JELEE	Is this the so-called "fated meeting" thing? [sparkle x2]	When episode 1 aired.
X JELEE	I went with the new member to karaoke. I'm always doing solo karaoke so this was crazy fun!!	This was before Mei joined (who doesn't like singing anyways) so this was a Kano & Mahiru outing.
X JELEE	I'm glad JELEE-chan's design could also be shown off [cry, heart]. It is the girl from the MV~!. Isn't she the absolute cutest? The one who drew her was my beloved illustrator, the one in charge of JELEE's illustrations: Umitsuki Yoru~ [sparkle x2]	Talking about the "Invincible Girl" MV.
X JELEE	It seems Yoru can also cook. So skillful~ I wonder if she'd cook for me sometime~ or something… [squee]
X JELEE	Tadah! A jellyfish came out~~ Actually it wasn't mine, it came from Yoru's lol. I'll cherish it--[cry]	Continuation of a tweet about the choco eggs from ep 4.
X JELEE	Yoru's homemade cream stew [hand over eyes, heart]
X JELEE	It is from the song illustration - yes, from Yoru's illustration - that I made this song! The lyrics came to me the moment I saw the picture, and it was so much fun! [sparkle x2]	Talking about the "Shibuya Aquarium" MV.
X Yoru	^ Thank you JELEE-chan. From now on, I want to create more things like this where various worlds can expand from a single picture.
X JELEE	When we went to the aquarium recently, Yoru called the garden eels to be "so cool!"... Her "sense" really is something! [laugh]
X Yoru	^ Wait, JELEE-chan!! The story about the garden eels is embarrassing... [covering eyes] I love sea creatures so I get excited... Here's a picture of the jellyfish I saw.
X Kimura	When I heard Yoru-san and JELEE-san went to the aquarium together the other day I've gotten so jealous... Aaaaaah it seems like something will happen... [cry x3]	It feels like I need to do something.
X JELEE	^ There, there, calm down Kimura-chan~[halo] I'll go again with you, so cheer up.
X Kimura	^ Haaa~~~ I love you JELEE-san!!!!!!!!! Absolutely, please let us have a passionate day!!!!!
X Nox	It seems Yoru and JELEE went to see a movie I was interested in "Angels and Demons". They recommended it to me… Did everyone else see it? Give me your impressions!	This is the movie we see a glimpse of in ep 1. No idea if they went to the movies then or if it was more recent.
X JELEE	Nice question [wink] Of course it is "yoru" [heart]	Part of a series of answering questions from fans. This one was "What time of day do you like? It's gotta be "yoru" right?"
X Yoru	^ Wait JELEE-chan…! That's embarrassing…!
X JELEE	It's a must-see for Yorufans, full of materials from "JELEE" and illustrations drawn by Yoru. [kiss throw] --Umitsuki Yoru's Representative Fan, JELEE	Part of a tweet by Kano encouraging fans to check out Yoru's pixiv.
X Yoru	^ JELEE-chan is muttering embarrassing things again. I update at my own pace, so the pictures I upload may vary, but I hope you enjoy them.
X JELEE	Yesterday, Yoru made some omelet rice and brought it to me because she was worried about my eating habits. Isn't she too kind?? I'm falling in love~ [flushed face]
X Kimura	^ F- Falling in…? Eh…? Just wait a moment. I also have confidence in my flavors!!! My SaShiSuSeSo is perfect! Enough that I have an original customization! Salsa, cinamon, vinegar, back fat, and Worcestershire sauce. Next time I'll bring you my specialty dish!	SaShiSuSeSo is a mnemonic to remember the basic seasonings of Japanese cooking. Translated, it is SUPPOSED to stand for sugar, salt, vinegar, soy sauce, and miso.
X Yoru	^ Kimura-chan…calm down! (Also, your SaShiSuSeSo is very peculiar…lol) In that case lets have a Cooking Practice Meet at JELEE's next time.
X JELEE	^ Nice! I'm in charge of eating, so I'm counting on you.
X Yoru	Actually, the four of us have been talking about going to the aquarium together, and I'm really looking forward to it. What are everyone's favorite sea creatures? Of course mine are just jellyfish, lol!
X Yoru	^ By the way, my #1 fave is the crystal jelly!!!	Aequorea victoria, the specific species used as the motif for this series.
X JELEE	^ Mine too! As expected of Yoru!! We really get along [heart hands]
X Kimura	^ I support the sacamambaspis and JELEE-san!	Sacamambaspis is an extinct fish that went viral in Japan.
X Nox	^ I'd say mine is the giant isopod~. Its form is electrifying!	Giant isopod
X Yoru	^ It's great everyone's interests are coming out!! Now I'm even more excited to go to the aquarium! I'll take my drawing kit with me.

Thoughts

• It is very fun how the ep 7 voice drama seems to show Kiui is fairly aware of Kano's strong interest in Mahiru.
• During the Ep 8 voice drama's love talk. Kano and Mahiru don't use the term for boyfriend (kareshi) but rather the gender-neutral term for lover (koibito). In-universe it doesn't have to mean much and out-of-universe this could just be the writers trying not to accidentally upset the yuri fanbase but it is still rather interesting.
• Kano and Mahiru really have gone on quite a few "dates" so far. With just the two of them they've gone to the aquarium, the movies, karaoke, each other's houses, and out for a meal ('though this one admittedly unplanned).
• Mahiru cooking for Kano seems to have becomes a semi-regular thing. Mahiru really has Kano captured by the stomach.
• Kano's flirting dynamic is pretty interesting. She easily flirts with Mahiru a lot on SNS, a couple of times before the kiss, and in ep 8's phone-call which all causes Mahiru to protest. But then it is Mahiru who is usually much more confident in person.
• I'm solidly on board the MahiKano ship: there are just too many serious details (especially from Kano's side) to think it is all just misinterpretation. But it definitely feels like there are difficulties.
  • Both Kano and Mahiru seem to just accept Mei's infatuation with Kano which seems strange if either wants (or thinks the other wants) a serious relationship with her. Do they think Mei isn't actually serious, or that it'd be bad to shatter her dream?
  • Ep 7 VD, Kano doesn't make a distinction between her love for Kiui and her love for Mahiru.
  • Then there is Mahiru's ambiguous love life between ep 3's saying there is a person she is "kind of into right now", her suspicious reaction in ep 8 to Kano asking if she is used to love hotels, and now the ep 8 VD's love talk where she gives an evasive answer. I do think there are reasonable explanations for them but by this point it has gotten very suspicious and I'm not sure what the writers are trying to do. At least Kano does shows surprise/shock at all of them.
• I'm aware there are also manga and light novel adaptations coming out which makes me curious if those are more explicit about confirming or denying any romantic feelings from either Kano or Mahiru. A Japanese YT comment I saw makes it seem like nothing further is said there either yet, but maybe as they progress...

[First Contact] [Dark Ages] [First] [Prev] [Next] [wiki]
"Now hear this, now hear this.
"In less than an hour we will drop out of jump space. Chances of an enemy encounter are high. We are far from home, far from support and surrounded by untold trillions of Mar-gite in deep space. This is good, it means we don't have to worry about what we shoot at.
"When the time comes, I have only one standing order: fight. Fight with every gun, every missile, every ounce of will and scrap of code at your disposal. If central control is lost, fight under local control. If isolated from the computers, fight under manual control. If boarded, fight for every corridor, every stateroom, every access way you can reach. Fight for your lives and if you find your situation hopeless, fight to drag the enemy into the grave with you.
"The Confederacy expects that every sentient will do their duty. Our duty is to engage the enemy.
"And the enemy only exists to be destroyed.
"That is all." -- Nova Wars Era, Confederate Space Force, speaker and ship of origin uncertain.
"Tell me, Sister? How far does your sight reach? How many years? And then, in the future, when we have given up strength, and allies, and numbers, and the potential to fight back meaningfully, time and again, in pursuit of your safe path... and you find out it is a cul-de-sac, surrounded on all sides by death, with no possible escape, because you traded away every chance of victory because you were scared... who will you blame then?" - Dhruv Deshmuhk, Legion, apocryphal, referenced in "Telling a Hard Truth straight: a love language", Psychology Forever Journal
"We fight, not for today, not for this blood soaked agony wracked terrible day or the horrible horrible victory we may wrench from the gnashing jaws of defeat with blood soaked hands.
"We fight for tomorrow. For those yet unborn. For the future.
"You are the hope of the Telkan people. You are the living standard, the banner, that says to the universe: We will not submit! We will not kneel! We will stand! We will fight!
"With that, know that the Telkan people are with you, Marine. Always." - Director Brentili'ik, in a speech to Telkan Marine Officer's Training Course Class #10, Confederacy-Council Conflict Era.
The flashes were starting. Not big ones, not the Flashbang, but rather the tiny pinpricks of harsh light that sparkled for a second that vanished.
Deaths that had happened seconds or minutes prior.
Captain N'Skrek stared out the windows of the Show Bridge, staring at the inky black of space. The ship, the Gray Lady, was in between the Galactic Arms, in the vast nothingness that held no stellar systems.
Oh, it had at one time.
Forty thousand years prior the stars between the two galactic arm spurs had gone out, with the exception of a single string of pearls liking the two galactic arms.
Now, the Gray Lady, a ship in the Colossus Class of ancient Confederacy Space Force classification, was deep into the gulf between the galactic arms. Just over halfway.
He could see the rings that made up a long tube, the rings held into position by what looked like, at a distance of light seconds, to be thin straps. Coasting silently through the rings, bathed by light emitted by the interior of the rings, were massive Mar-gite Attack Clusters.
Sparkles were starting to show on the clusters as the Fruit Flies made their attack runs.
Larger flashes, still rendered tiny by stellar distances, started shining to brief life as the C+ cannon barrages and the missile swarms started slamming into the shining chrome ships.
Return fire was causing the battlescreens to cover the ship in a gauzy veil.
"No, no, it's all death and destruction," a Terran woman moaned from where she was being held in place by three identical human males.
Captain N'Skrek knew that it was, without any doubt, a physical assault upon the female.
But Captain N'Skrek was also smart enough to know not to get involved when two Immortals of myth and legend were having a family squabble.
After all, were not the Treana'ad a crafty and wise people who managed to obtain victgory over 25% of all military engagements with the Terrans?
"We're humans, there's always death and destruction," the male said, his voice slightly mocking. "Look past the probabilities. Look past the initial death and destruction. Look at the pathways it all leads to. Look at the path that we're taking."
The woman struggled but the man held her still.
"It's all death and destruction! Millions! Billions! Trillions of deaths!" she wailed.
"The enemy's death toll does not matter, little sister," the man, known to historians as the Biological Apostle Vat-Grown Luke, told the woman. "It's war. There will be death and destruction no matter what. What matters, all that matters, is that humanity and its allies survive."
"Please, Luke," the woman started sobbing.
"Tears don't work on me," Legion said, his voice full of dark and cruel mirth.
He leaned his head down.
"I am... Legion," he said softly.
Captain N'Skrek put the two Immortals out of his mind as he coordinated the battle, taking tactical and strategic advice from his staff.
The Fruit Flies wreaked havoc on the rings, shattering them, letting superstructure damage work with inertia and momentum to tear the systems apart. C+ cannon shots hitting deep inside the megastructures. The shots were no longer straight iron ferrite slugs with a hyperdrive engine for thrust and reactionless inertia engines for guidance and terminal maneuvers, they now had a burning core of spooky and strange-particle FOOF that weighed in the metric kilotons.
"Fruit Fly system back online, Captain."
"Fabricate and launch," N'Skrek ordered. "Compliments on their initial strikes."
The silver ships were destroyed already, the temporal range finders reporting data from when the shells would hit, telling N'Skrek's staff where the ships would be when the shots were fired.
"I can't... I can't..." the woman sobbed when N'Skrek ordered another flight of Fruit Flies into the fight.
"Parse the deaths, parse the destruction," Legion said. Another of him pointed at the icons for the just-launched Fruit Fly flights. "They are born, they live, and they die to kill the enemy. Over and over, it's what they do. Look past their deaths at their accomplishments."
The Terran woman was sobbing, but N'Skrek didn't care.
He had a job to do.
Task Force Lonely Peach had a job to do.
It had came as no surprise to him that Legion would know, without being told or having it confirmed, what the ultimate goal of Task Force Lonely Peach.
After all, Legion himself had carried out such orders under the command of the Imperium.
It no longer mattered what happened behind the Gray Lady, whether or not the Confederacy or anyone else survived. It no longer mattered if the Mar-gite were victorious or not.
The target were not the Mar-gite, present in the massive rolled up long cones.
The target were the ones pushing them forward, the ones enabling them to cross the great emptiness between the two galactic arms.
No, the target was now those enabling the Mar-gite.
Captain N'Skrek's orders were simple.
Find the enemy.
Determine their leadership.
Attack their military.
Attack their planets.
Sterilize their stellar systems.
Break the will of their civilians to support their government.
Leave them no ground to go to.
His briefing had been grim. The Confederacy was confident it could eventually stop the Mar-gite.
Eventually.
That meant dozens, hundreds, possibly thousands of planets denuded of life. Just as many stars nova-sparked to wipe out any trace of the Mar-gite.
Task Force Lonely Peach had been dispatched with a very Terran mission.
To return to the Mar-gite's masters what they had given the Confederacy.
Tenfold.
Captain N'Skrek watched as the Fruit Flies split up into squadrons, heading for any remaining hulks of the silver ships, the larger pieces of the megaconstruct, and to fire upon any of the Mega-Clusters or larger.
"Look past the death and destruction," Legion was saying. "They'll be sending in reinforcements, Sacajawea," his voice grew low and deadly. "Where will they come out."
"No, I won't," she whispered, her eyes wide and staring at the holotank. "I won't use my gift," she sobbed.
"You will. You ran away last time. You left us to rely on The Detainee to access the SUDS. You ran off and left us and humanity has been extinct for forty-thousand years," Legion was saying. "No more running, little sister. You will use your gifts, your powers, as you were meant to."
There was a perfectly timed coincidental moment of silence on the Show Bridge.
"Show us the way," Legion said.
Sacajawea suddenly jerked upright, the tendons on her neck standing out as her face raised to the ceiling. Her arm lifted, pointing out the window of the Show Bridge. Her other hand thrust itself into the hologram. Her eyes glowed purple, lightning crackled up and down her raven braids, and sparks danced between her teeth as they chattered.
A section of space was outlined as she gibbered for a moment, fragments of words, chops of sentences, followed by a string of numbers that the tactical computers recognized as coordinates.
"They come, more than before. They know not what they face, just that the enemy, that we, are attacking them, attacking their forces, and so now they will arrive here and now," she cried out. "They do not know, they come in a multitude that not even this powerful vessel can resist. They come by the hundreds, and will overwhelm even this vessel according to my Sight."
She collapsed and Legion caught her even as two versions of him turned to face the windows.
"Let me know when you want me to call for those reinforcements I promised you," one said.
"Or not," the other said.
N'Skrek just nodded, turning and giving orders to the crew to prepare for a microjump to put them 'above' and 'away' from the point that Sacajawea had pointed out.
"Can she have lied?" N'Skrek asked, the Legion standing beside him as four others carefully carried Sacajawea off.
Legion shook his head. "No. I'd know if she was lying," he said. "She was filled with a trance, a fugue state, so the more mortal part of her wasn't there to lie."
"Hold off on those reinforcements until we can see what we are facing," N'Skrek said. He snorted. "I doubt the young lady fully appreciates the firepower the Gray Lady can put out."
"She was never military. She had some training, but not much," Legion said. "Still, she had a vision, take that as you will."
N'Skrek nodded. He turned and ordered up more Fruit Flies to be generated.
He'd have them launch as soon as the microjump was finished.
"Digital Sentiences, Virtual Intelligences report jump transit safety interlocks are engaged," came the word.
N'Skrek motioned. "Engage."
The painting appeared, but before N'Skrek could pause to look at it he was thrown through it, the image shattering into hundreds of shards of reality. They dissolved almost instantly.
N'Skrek only took a half-step forward as the ship entered realspace.
"Load the planet-crackers. Target the larger Mar-gite constructs. Let's see how they like that, since we don't have to worry about gravitational wobble," N'Skrek ordered. "When our new guests arrive, I want them to be focusing on the constructs."
"Fruit Flies are launching. Steam driven launcher only," came the report.
N'Skrek nodded, staring at the screen.
"I remember waiting to ambush the Mantid's Third Fleet that was heading for Sol," Legion said conversationally, as if he wasn't speaking about one of the most famous wars of ancient history. "Hiding in the gravity shadow of a supermassive gas giant, inside the rings themselves."
He turned and gave N'Skrek a grin.
"An Armada of One," he said. "No chance for the Mantid to overwhelm my brain, to shut me down. Beyond a Hive Mind, a singular mind with a singular purpose."
"Sounds exciting," N'Skrek said, watching the windows and the holotank at the same time.
"Very boring. I played a lot of video games and card games," Legion said.
"Against yourself, even an MMO would be solitary and single player," N'Skrek said.
"Ruins PvP," Legion grinned.
"I'll bet," N'Skrek said.
"The Sacajawea of that time stood on the bridge with me. She had shown me where the Mantid would take the most casualties and where I would be killed quite often," Legion said. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and N'Skrek hid a frown at the fact he didn't recognize Lucky Strike as a brand he was familiar with.
"Does it hurt when you get killed?" N'Skrek asked as Legion lit two cigarettes, handing one to N'Skrek.
"Very much so," Legion said. "Took me a few hundred thousand deaths to get used to it. Now, it hurts, it's terrifying, but not much more than clipping my fingernails," he sighed. "It's all right. I've always been, in many ways, less than human."
"You seem, to my albeit limited experience, to be very human to me," N'Skrek said. He took a drag off the cigarette and almost started coughing. It was harsh, raw tobacco with no additives and the filter tasting heavily of asbestos.
The Fruit Flies were scattering, going to full stealth, blinking their ready icons.
"Thank you," Legion said. He exhaled smoke. "Like the smoke?"
N'Skrek nodded.
"Gift from the Dee. Not the Detainee Lady Lord of Hell," he said, staring at the holotank. "But The Dee. The flesh and blood one," he gave a rueful chuckle. "Evil never dies."
"Harsh," N'Skrek said.
The missile pods flashed ready and went to stealth.
"Like her," Legion smiled. He suddenly looked a bit sad. "I miss her. Miss my siblings, the other Biological Apostles," he said. He sighed. "Sacajawea makes me miss them all that much more."
N'Skrek just nodded.
"Sometimes I miss the Digital Omnimessiah too."
"Ship is at silent running," came the soft voice.
N'Skrek stood there, smoking, with Legion standing next to him.
Behind them Mar-gite clusters were breaking up from a combination of the FOOF and the split second artificial singularities that exploded into existence inside their mass.
Perhaps I can't completely eliminate them, but I can knock out a measurable percentage since I don't have to worry about how it might affect a stellar system's gravity balance, he thought at one point.
Time slowly ticked by.
"How is she?" N'Skrek asked at one point.
"Recovering. I'm sitting with her. I had a medic look at her. Physically, she's fine," Legion said.
"She should be on anti-depressants and undergoing therapy. For us it's ancient history, for her the Glassing and the loss of her people, even her death, are recent events. She only died a short time ago," N'Skrek said.
"And you should be dancing for a comely matron and I should be somewhere helping someone correct genetic sequencing damage," Legion said. "Shoulda, coulda, woulda, didn't."
N'Skrek just nodded.
"Wait, can you see that?" Legion suddenly asked, pointing at the window.
"What?" N'Skrek said.
"The stars. A faint red-shift," Legion said.
N'Skrek looked toward the scanning officer, who frowned and looked at his instruments.
"It's faint. And large," Legion said. He motioned with his hands, using the smart-glass interface to highlight the area. "Right there."
"Nothing, sir," the scan-tech said.
N'Skrek tapped his lapel. "All personnel, prepare for enemy engagement," he said.
His voice carried over the intercom.
"Akka-Berry," Legion said softly. "They use a form of Akka-Berry."
The chrome ships suddenly appeared, wavering slightly like a heat mirage before solidifying up. They appeared pebbled and dull, like unbuffed and unpolished chrome.
"OPEN FIRE!" N'Skrek roared. He knew it was unnecessary, that the computers would give the fire order.
But it seemed to carry more weight as the PA repeated it.
0-0-0-0-0
Legion got into the elevator, waiting a moment after the doors closed to touch the panel. He overrode the alarms, then stopped the elevator.
The shadows warped and a light fog filled the elevator car.
It cleared to reveal a short Terran woman, with black hair pulled behind her head in a long braid, a severe face, plump, overripe figure, and gunmetal gray eyes.
"Well?" Legion asked.
"She's a child," the woman spat.
"I know that," Legion said. "Can you help her?"
"No, I mean, she's literally a child. Physically. She's never grown up," the woman snarled.
"Our aging was halted due to what we were going to do. The last thing we needed was a temporal sheer to kill half of us via old age," Legion said.
"I know that, you multiplying idiot," the woman snapped. "But she should have been allowed to grow into an adult first."
"She chose to stay young," Legion shrugged.
"And her brain has the neural pathways of a child," the woman snapped. She dug out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter of enameled steel. "The human brain doesn't fully mature until it's in its mid-20's. That's why we sent 18 year olds off to die in a rice patty or on some god forsaken beach. You need people who think charging the machinegun is a good idea, and teenage boys are well known for their excellent risk-reward judgement."
Legion just shrugged.
"But her, she's a child. Sixteen at the most, probably later fifteen," the woman said. She pulled out a cigarette, held it between her even white teeth, and lit it. "She has the mind of a teenage girl, a people known for their excellent decision making ability and capability to process trauma."
Legion just nodded.
The woman put away the cigarettes without offering one to Legion. He saw the emblem on the lighter.
"US ARMY ATOMIC COMMAND" in red block letters.
"You know how I feel about child soldiers," the woman said.
"It was The Glassing," Legion just shrugged.
"It's always something," the woman snarled. "Doesn't change how I feel."
"Can you help her?" Legion asked. "You're closer to her than I am."
"You mean, I'm as much a primitive barbarian as she is," the woman said, suddenly smiling without any humor. "I am what I am and she is what she is. Primitive savages from a time of hardship, resource shortages, and social upheaval."
"I wouldn't be so rude as to put it that way," Legion said. He smiled back. "But, yes."
The woman stared at the brushed steel wall of the elevator for a long moment. "I won't alter her SUDS record."
"Of course not," Legion said.
After a moment she nodded. "I can't help her, but I know some people who may."
Legion looked down at her. "Who?"
The woman smiled and exhaled smoke that filled the elevator car.
Her teeth and eyes were still visible.
"You'll know them when I bring them," she said. The eyes blinked. "Keep me in the loop for what's going on here. I have a feeling that events back home are going to have my attention pretty soon."
"I will," Legion told the eyes as the smile vanished.
The eyes closed.
Legion could feel it when she was gone. The smoke slowly cleared, leaving him alone in the elevator.
0-0-0-0-0
"What is taking this elevator so long to get here?" Jaskel asked 8814.
--not know computer says is moving-- the greenie replied.
"Aw man, Gunny's going to have my ass."
[First Contact] [Dark Ages] [First] [Prev] [Next] [wiki]

Their trip to the Phobos shipyards was more of the same, with the exception that Captain Oliver had Sundancers AI begin lessons. At first they were resistant to beginning school, but when Sunny explained that the lessons would be on starship manufacturing, assembly and operations, they became more enthusiastic.
In truth, Sunny was clever enough to select a base subject that required them to learn many others, such as mathematics, sciences, and engineering - while wrapped in the fascinating practical necessities of starships. So instead of boredom while learning differential calculus, physics or chemistry, they had an immediate use for their new found knowledge applicable to a very exciting field. Sunny had taken the time to download the two scholastic transcripts before they left their home station. Lan was stronger in mathematics, having completed her first course in calculus and scoring well on testing. Joe was weaker in mathematics, but had done very well in engineering and orbital mechanics for his year.
Sunny's extensive resources made her a good teacher, but it also helped that, being an AI, she was an immortal being with infinite patience, with substantial information on how the human mind worked. Keeping her captain in top shape was her prime directive after all, and she was designed to solve problems. Educating two teenagers would take up less than one tenth of one percent of her neural processing power.
After their arrival at the shipyard, Captain Oliver left the ship alone, as children in the massive industrial station would be very out of place. He was still trying to maintain some appearance of normal operations. Left alone with with the ship, they studied what they could see of the shipyards operations in the view port, and on the screens on the bridge. A large inter system liner was attached to a huge umbilical arm that was both an access tunnel, carrying personnel, materials and equipment into and out of it, and an anchor point, securing the massive vessel to the shipyards structure. The tiny suited figures crawling over the hull resembled crabs crawling over a whale. There was a massive gaping hole in the hull, where it looked like the reactor and major engine components were being removed. Frequent bright sparks of plasma welding and cutting illuminated parts of the scene in sharp black and white relief. As they watched, a massive part of the hull was freed from the ship, being guided away from the construction site by a large powerful arm. The arm released the section and it drifted towards what looked like a floating junkyard. Several of the crabs lifted off from the hulk, and attached themselves to the part, guiding it into a positing and then returning to the work at hand. The shipyards solution to storage of massive objects in space was relatively simple, they just set things off out of they way, made sure their velocity exactly matched the shipyard, and let them float until needed. Only occasional maintenance by one of the work-bots was needed to keep things tidy.
Eventually though, even this unique vista couldn't keep their attention any more. Joe finally left the bridge, and wandered about.
In response to Sunny's question, he said,"I just can't wait anymore, I need something to do." He rejected Sunny's suggestion to resume their class on orbital mechanics. After a few moments his face lit up with an idea.
"Hey!" he said, "How about training in EVA suits and airlock operations? That could be useful!" Sunny considered this, and then acquiesced. Joe and Lan had both been trained since they could walk on how to don the emergency escape suits that were a ubiquitous part of life for families in space. But the EESs were designed to sustain life in a vacuum for up to 72 hours. They were just armored bags with a helmet, mittens, boots, life support and a simple reaction motor with limited burn time. They weren't the elegant working suits that allowed a near acrobatic freedom of motion needed to accomplish complex tasks in space.
Sunny directed Joe to one of the ships airlocks. The airlock itself was the usual chamber with a door that opened to space, a second door that opened to the ships interior, and enough room for several people or reasonably large items to pass through in either direction. Inside the interior door, was another chamber, this one with lockers and suits. The noticed that their names were on two of the lockers. They each opened their respective locker and found hanging inside EVA suits of the latest manufacture, These suits were light weight, using complex carbon nano tube fabric that provided the required fifteen pounds per square inch for their human wearers, while still being very flexible. There was a ring around each neck that fitted a helmet, which provided the user interface for communications, access to water, and of course, air. The helmet was a marvel of engineering, almost unbreakable, the wearer could set any part of it from opaque to transparent as needed using the wrist pad. By turning their head slightly a small tube provided access to water, and audio was picked up and played through tiny transducers. It was very light, and resembled a slightly oval soap bubble. A transponder built into the suit allowed Sunny to track it until the power supplies ran down. The small back-pack carried power, atmosphere regeneration, and water supply. It fit neatly between the shoulder blades and extended downwards to about mid back. It was smooth and permanently part of the suit.
"Please direct your attention to the screen," Sunny said, and one of the wall panels lit up, a suiting up vid played, with Sunny providing commentary and advice on donning and using the suit, it's capabilities, and procedures for exiting and entering the ship. There was some momentary awkwardness when the part about waste handling came up, as the fitment for those functions was specific to the sex of the wearer, and the instructions were detailed and left nothing to the imagination, When venturing out into the most hostile environment known to mankind, information on how to survive trumped modesty or awkward teenager reactions.
When the lesson completed, Sunny directed them to don their suits. They quickly pulled off their ships jumpers, and climbed in to their suits. The compression method of retaining pressure on the wearer meant that any garment that could bunch up or form a wrinkle would become a painful hot spot in a short time, that would become unbearable, and eventually could also cause damage to the wearer so typically their light undergarments were all that was worn while using the suits.
At first the suits appeared almost comically too large, but this was a design feature to enable them to be put on with a minimum of effort. They turned and looked at each other, and with a nod, they pressed the activation panel on their wrist pad. Each suit immediately contracted around their bodies, resembling a second skin. there was a moments discomfort as the suits over contracted, the internal computer testing the fit and suit integrity, then the suits relaxed to their normal skin-tight compression.
At Sunny's direction they moved about the room, getting the feel of wearing the suits. In truth it was like wearing very tight fitting workout clothes. They felt pressure everywhere, but had no trouble moving about.
"Very Good" Sunny observed. "Let's put on the helmets now, and run some final checks." They each collected their helmet from where they floated, and attached a small tether between the helmet and suit, put it over their head, and twisted the base of the helmet into the collar on the suit. Early attempts at making the helmet integral to the suit had met mixed results. It seems the ability to remove the helmet while still wearing the suit in an atmosphere was more important to the end users than the slight reduction in reliability in the simple electro mechanical joint.
They touched their wrist pads and their suits went through the final checks, pressure and power were both confirmed at full levels. They were ready to go.
"I will reduce the airlock pressure now." Sunny said. She had run her own diagnostics on the suits, her link to the suits computers giving her authority over their operation. As the pressure fell, so did the feeling of compression. The suits provided the fifteen pounds per square inch the humans needed, but when worn in atmosphere the wearer felt that pressure, once a in a vacuum, the lack of atmospheric pressure reduced the compressive feeling of the suits. They became hardly noticeable.
They moved around in the airlock under vacuum. After a few minutes, Joe asked, "So Can we go outside?"
"Standby" Sunny replied. She checked the area around herself to make sure nothing would be a threat to the two neophyte astronauts, and checked her control linkage to the suits reaction motors. Worst case, she would simply assume control and stuff them back into the airlock bodily. "All set" she said after a few seconds, "Please face each other and hold hands."
This position would provide the most support to Joe and Lan as they exited the ship. The first experience in exposed space could be, dramatic. The exterior door opened at about half it's normal speed. As it slid away, it exposed a black rectangular void. Sunny dimmed the airlock internal lights, and the stars appeared. Countless stars became visible. They pushed gently outwards towards the opening and slowly floated out of the ship. Before them stretched the universe, with nothing between it and them but a few millimeters of fabric and transparent polymer. They were roughly oriented with the long axis of the ship. Below them hung the Red Planet, Mars, in all it's dusty sand blown glory. They could see details, sand storms, valleys and mountains. To their left, or the ships bow, the shipyards massive structure, cranes, arms, ships, and the huge central rotating cylinder floated, sparkling in reflected light, and the working lights of the active complex.
So taken in by the view, they would have floated beyond safe limits, so Sunny gave their suit thrusters a short command, and they stopped about two meters away from the airlock door. Being born and raised in space, they had experience in zero g movements, They released one pair of hands, and rotated themselves so they could face outwards away from the ship.
"Wow" Joe said.
"Yeah," Lan Replied, "this is... amazing."
They spoke in hushed voices, as people who enter a church do, they felt the awe of the experience. Sunny gave them some time to just float there, holding hands, and enjoy the expanse of the universe that had opened in front of them. She had to admit that even her artificial consciousness appreciated the grandeur of space, although with a degree of precision and accuracy no human mind was capable of. While a human mind would look at a star system and see beauty in the gas giants, or nebula, Sunny found beauty in the mathematical perfection of a cluster of moons orbiting a planet, the precision of the frequency of pulsars, down to a hundred decimal places. How the frequency of the cosmic background radiation, the very echo's of the act of the creation of the universe created harmonics with all the mass she could sense. She could feel joy at riding a gravity wave and boosting her drive efficiency, but not the excitement of traveling on the wave. She could tell you the wavelength of the color of a star, but not that the particular shade appealed to her. She found beauty in her own way, but it was not a human way.
Eventually, she said "OK, lets try some basic maneuvering shall we? Joe, you start, just get to the forward edge of the airlock, and place your feet on the exterior of the hull."
Joe slowly released Lans hand, and, pressing a few commands, enabled manual control of his thrusters. He could now control his motion by moving a few fingers on each hand, sensors in the gloves and the suits onboard computer would translate those motions into thruster commands. Joe could control speed and vertical with his left hand, and rotation in both axis with his right hand. He gingerly twitched the fingers of his right hand, until he was facing where he wanted to go, he over corrected, and had to rotate back. Once aligned he flexed his left pointer finger, and felt his suit push him in the small of his back, the push subsided. He had a small velocity towards the spot he wanted to land. He flexed his knees and 'landed' by absorbing as much of the momentum as he could, otherwise he'd rebound off the ship. A tiny pulse of the thrusters was all that was needed to stop the tendency to float away. He 'stood' there, his feet lightly touching the hull, knees bent. As long as he didn't move to aggressively, or push off with his feet, he could stay there. He triggered the thrusters and turned to look back at Lan.
"Very good Joe!" Sunny said. "Now, stay there until Lan joins you. Always stay together." This last admonishment was not needed, but bore repeating. As scuba divers of old knew, so did people in space, the buddy system was one of the best safety protocols available.
Lan triggered her thrusters, she nailed her rotation to face Joe, but came in a little to fast. She couldn't absorb all the momentum and rebounded slightly off the hull. It looked like the worlds slowest high jump. She grunted slightly, annoyed. Then triggered her thrusters again, and settled gently next to Joe.
"Well done Lan!" Sunny was glad they seemed to be taking to the controls and systems. "Lets try some more exercises now, and really see what you can do."
Sunny ran them through a series of exercises that involved them maneuvering in ways that would make a gravity bound acrobat jealous. Even in zero g, they had begun to sweat a bit, as they were not as relaxed as more experienced crewmen would be, they over worked themselves, where experience would let them use momentum and the thrusters together to minimize their effort they clenched muscle in futile attempts to shift their mass or momentum.
"Time for a short break" Sunny finally said. "While you rest lest review emergency procedures. On the right side of your pack, you can reach back and find a small tube protruding. Grasp that and pull it out."
They did so, finding that the tube would extend as far as they could easily reach.
"Now, just above where the tube comes out of the pack there is a small port. Plug the tube into each others port. This enables two users to share one support pack, in case one is damaged. While using the buddy system, you must hold hands, as if you pull away and disconnect the tube, you'll have to reconnect quickly, as the person with the failed pack will only have the air remaining in their suit, which is about 3 minutes worth."
They listened and nodded, more serious than their years implied they could be. Both had seen accidents in space, and knew the seriousness behind such instruction. The price of this knowledge had been paid in blood.
"If you have to maneuver using buddy air, the disabled pack should be held in front of and about waist high on the person with the operational pack. That will keep the center of gravity close enough to allow essential maneuvers. Be careful not to pick up too much speed, as you'll have twice the mass and the thrusters will need more time to change your velocity. Don't rush, under these circumstances return immediately to the nearest airlock."
"In the event of communications failure, you can still talk through sound conduction via your helmet to another helmet, of possibly a solid surface. Try this now. Touch your helmets together gently, and speak without triggering your coms systems."
They faced each other and brought their heads together slowly, in a slow motion pantomime of a gentle kiss. Their helmets touched, and they held each other to keep them together.
"umm, Hi" Joe said. Lan heard his voice, only slightly muffled, as if he was speaking to her through a door.
"Hi back" she said, "this is pretty amazing! Did you know we could do this?"
"I hadn't thought of it until you mentioned we had space suits aboard while we were in the shop. I didn't think either the Captain or Sunny would actually let us. It is so cool!"
Lan nodded in agreement, she was just as surprised at this turn of events, but delighted. Even living in space, few people actually venture Outside.
As they held their helmets in contact, Joe noticed their faces were very close together, he saw she had tiny freckles across her nose, and flecks of gold in her brown eyes. He looked into those eyes, until the silence grew a little too long, and was finally ended by Sunny resuming radio coms with them. Later on, Joe's thoughts would linger on how looking into two golden flecked brown eyes had made him feel so much, more even than the vastness of the entire universe stretched out before him had done.
Sunny had finished her instructions, she had assumed the spike in heart rates had been due to the momentary isolation. Their voice profiles didn't indicate stress however. Her vast psyche came to a conclusion, Biology, she though, bemused.
"You two take a few moments to look around, and then we'll end this exercise. I believe the captain has concluded his business, and we'll be loading out our cargo soon."
As they enjoyed the remaining few minutes of their first space walk, Lan looked back towards the drive end of the ship. It faced away from everything, into deep space, and the view was spectacular. She looked again, there seemed to be something shiny moving around near that end of the ship. Being over a kilometer away, she had to look hard, but yes, there was something. Maybe one of the crab like working suits the shipyard personnel used. She couldn't be sure. It might have just been light glinting off of something harmless.
"Sunny, " Lan said, "Is there something going on at near the engineering section? I thought I saw something moving over there, but I can't be sure".
Joe turned and looked as well. "I don't see anything," he said.
In fact Sunny had detected what appeared to be one of the shipyards worksuits, operating near the engineering section. It was suspicious, as the suit had disabled it's lights and transponder, which was illegal and highly dangerous, as if anything had happened the occupant would be lost in space, unless they could restart the transponder. It did however provide a high degree of stealth, which explains why it was able to get within a few meters of the ship before she noticed it. Had Sunny not had her two charges outside the ship, where she was monitoring the environment she might have missed it. Maybe, she liked to think not much got past her, and she was usually right. She enabled camera's and captured images of the work suit, confirming that's what it was. She noticed that the external registration markings had been altered, meaning it would be very difficult to find the operator now.
To Lan she said, "Yes, I see something there as well. I'll look into it. Meanwhile you two return to the airlock and get changed, we're boarding cargo and technical crew in about an hour. Best you're ready."
Joe and Lan entered the airlock and the door slid shut, once again shutting out the vast universe from the interior.
Sunny, the greatest multi-tasker ever, monitored and assisted Joe and Lan exiting their suits and the airlock, at the same time, turning her available sensors to a small spot on the exterior of her hull, adjacent to one of the ventral thrust nozzles. Her quantum circuits flickered though entangled states as she considered the multiple meanings of someone in a stealth posture attaching something to the outside of her hull without her knowledge. Even her artificial sense of self felt indignation at that violation, however she realized there was more here than meets the eye, much more. She sent a very discrete encrypted signal to Captain Oliver, one that only he would hear and understand.
They would have some interesting things to discuss soon.

hey you crazy manor lords, is there a way to change a family to produce something else, or putting them on hold?
when i make a bowmaker after some time i have hundreds of bows (that deplete my boards production) and they will make more on the go, is there a way to set them on hold so they dont deplete my boards? in the past when i hit a certain goal of producing bows i have to raze the bowmaker so they dont "steal all my boards" and make it into something different? it always feels like a waste of ressources

Hi everyone,
To avoid any representation mistakes, I've been working hard and now, turning to the community, I'm asking your opinion on a little bit of dialogue I'm happy with to check if I'm delusional about my story overall or if there is hope (thank you so much for helping!)
It's a coming-of-age story, mostly, not a coming out one. No sex, but the main character (Kasumi) thinks about it at times. She is gay, 16, and that's where I would like you to check if this dialogue is realistic or not (as I'm a bit dense but trying to solve this and get the subtleties right).
Thanks again!

The trip - White Book

Context: (IMPORTANT!)

Kasumi's friend told her there's a gay schoolmate: 3rd year, Mayu, often with a white book. Kasumi hasn't met her yet after a few weeks. She's curious to know more about her but she's cautious (1st year Kasumi is not out while Mayu seems known to be gay).
The scene: in a coach bus for a trip, appointed as a photographer by the club, with the sport team she doesn't know.

Excerpt follows: (UK syntax)
[...]
Time to board. Kasumi lags, so she gets in last and picks two free seats. This coach bus has a new interior design with shiny black surfaces everywhere, no strong plastic smell, and ambient lights that could ease the concentration of the athletes whose conversations soften.
Kasumi’s strategy to be alone for the trip is failing as another group arrives, at a fast pace and with resolute faces. So interesting! Are they warriors going into battle? Louder talks start over even before they get in. A short-haired female senior comes to sit beside Kasumi. She’s polite and reserved. Last call, the teacher takes his seat, and the coach bus departs.
Kasumi takes the initiative for a chit-chat with her neighbour and complains about being forced to come. “Well, at least you are next to me, so no boy will flirt with me all the way,” she says.
The young lady smiles and breaks eye contact, grasping her sports bag.
So shy! Are you really my senior? Kasumi asks, “won’t you put it overhead?”
The young lady nods and takes a book out of her bag—a white book, but maybe not—and gets up to shove her bag in the overhead compartment. While she does her best to make room for her luggage, Kasumi keeps looking at the book on the folding shelf of the seat. The sheet that covers the book is the standard ruled-paper sheet for students. Does this count as a white cover? Green light. The young lady holds on to the front seat handles for balance as the engine roars, and she sits again.
Kasumi asks, “are you Mayu?”—maybe-Mayu freezes—So you are! Kasumi stares at the book. “A friend told me about you… I mean, about the blank cover of the books you read. My name is Nomura Kasumi.”
“My name is Sasaki Mayu. Sorry, I… I think I’ll go sit elsewhere. Sorry.” She rises to leave.
“Eh? Please stay!” Kasumi grabs Mayu’s sleeve—which makes her sit back—and she adds softly, “I want to talk to you. What’s the matter?”
“Is it ok? You said…”
“Eh? It’s fine!”
They both look each other in the eye for a couple seconds, and this time Kasumi has to break contact. Mayu makes an imperceptible smirk, soon overshadowed by a sad look as she drives her gaze to the aisle, letting it browse the seats before her until it pierces through the windshield where it locks for a while.
Kasumi resumes a chit-chat about the upcoming competition. Mayu cooperates; her hands are resting on the book that Kasumi can’t help peeking at between each exchange. Aren’t you stiff? Gently bouncing her shoulder against her neighbour’s, Kasumi asks, “what’s your sport? Wait! Let me guess…” She looks at Mayu’s legs—which makes Mayu’s index rub the book, riffling the corner repeatedly in an impatient chirp which stands out among the overall ambient mix of conversations and coach’s muffled drive by its distinguishing texture. Drrrt… Drrrt… Drrrt…
“Are you a ‘jumper’?” asks Kasumi as she makes eye contact again.
Mayu’s index stops. “I’m a sprinter,” she says to end the exam. “For one, two and four hundred metres. Do my legs look toned?”
[[ cut: disturbed by the boys behind]]
“[[...]]” says Kasumi with a low voice, and then cheerful again, “my job today is to take great pictures of your feat!”
“Thank you. But… Maybe you’ll have to cover the whole team.”
“Eh? I’m the photographer, so I judge who’s an artistic subject.”
Mayu chuckles. “But… Won’t you get in trouble?”
“It’s fine! I’ll shoot girls. Both clubs will love it.”
Mayu bites her lips and nods. She ventures, “and… you… Do you—”
“Tell me your schedule. Races and breaks.” Kasumi takes out a black pen and rummages in her other pockets. “I’ll make you a star, so you better crush the other runners.”
Mayu laughs and beams at Kasumi. Looking back at her book, she brushes her hair and makes up her mind. With the tip of two fingers, and guarding the other fingers away from Kasumi’s hand, she picks up her pen. She writes a few lines on the white cover interior, pauses, and biting her lips she adds a last line. She tears down that part of the paper cover, folds it and hands it over to Kasumi. “Here is my schedule.”
It’s the abridged schedule and… a phone number. Haha, I see… You sly gay… Well done! Kasumi’s smiling eyes keep going from the paper she holds on to as a proof, to Mayu’s increasingly embarrassed eyes, and back.
Mayu waves her hands. “It’s just in case… Just in case… In case we…”
What are you afraid of? Kasumi extends her arm to collect the pen, closing her hand on Mayu’s fingers that she lets go in the same move. “In case I can’t find you,” Kasumi suggests.
“Yes!” Mayu lowers her hands.
“In the case your schedule changes.”
“Yes!” Mayu relaxes her shoulders.
“In case we need to talk more.”
“Yes! Wait! What… what do you mean?” Mayu stiffens anew.
“Don’t worry!” Kasumi beams at Mayu. “It’s just in case I want to talk.”
Mayu grasps her book and fidgets. “I’m sorry, I thought you… Ah… Don’t mind me.” She raises her book open, hides her face in it; a small bookmark drops on her thighs. The book dampens what she mutters, “I’m so stupid!”
Kasumi extends her hand toward Mayu’s thighs; it startles her as soon as it comes into sight below the book aperture.
“What! What are you doing?” Mayu says, raising her head off the book, with a sad blend of perplexity and anger.
Kasumi retreats. “Don’t worry! I—”
“Are you making fun of me? Is that a game for you?” Mayu says.
“Eh? Why? Your bookmark had fallen, so I—”
“Ah! Yes… Sorry.” Mayu claps her book closed, pressing its edge on her forehead and nose, like an opened-eye prayer that helps her to breathe. The book is probably thin enough to let her see her two fields of vision as one undivided horizon. Mayu sighs. “It’s confusing, I’m sorry.”
Kasumi swiftly picks up the bookmark and puts it on the shelf.
“Thanks,” says Mayu. “I don’t… I’m not sure what side… You’re not helping.”
“Eh? Only you know where your bookmark was.”
Mayu has a faint smile before piling her book, forearms and head—almost buried—on the shelf. “Sure,” she says with a muffled voice. Her shoulders slump. “I’ll rest for a while.”
Kasumi considers Mayu’s back, the curve of the spine, the lower back of the rib cage, the subtle breathing moves, still irregular. Are you crying? No. Good.

Probably you have known that Chinese players have received 30 tapes at the end of the first stage of PV-4 ARG. One of the tapes has been confirmed to be unique and distinct from the rest. This special tape is not part of the puzzle but rather a gift from HG.
It is a cassette of "A Night at the Opera" by Queen released in 1975 (Labelled CEK-1053, released in Canada). Along with the cassette, a message was left that reads: "no puzzle here, just a gift for u. hope u like '39, too :) (DON'T SELL IT!😡)"
The lucky guy (NGA id: Carbon_O3) who received the special cassette is very excited and has written a post. Interestingly, the novel Solaris had been his/her favorite novel (which holds particular significance as it inspired HG the design of originiums) even before he/she started to play Arknights. Additionally, the guy loves the album Parklife, which is in the puzzle of PV4 ARG Stage I. Queen happens to be his/her favorite band. So this is a truly fortunate and romantic coincidence since there was only one such gift. You may check the post here: https://ngabbs.com/read.php?tid=40234258
Returning to the song '39, The lyrics of '39 tell a tale of space explorers who journey for a year but return to find that a hundred years have passed on Earth. This happens because of the time dilation effect in the theory of relativity, making their loved ones either aged or no longer alive.
Don't you hear my call though you're many years away Don't you hear me calling you Write your letters in the sand For the day I take your hand In the land that our grandchildren knew
The lyrics might be one of the inspirations for the story of Priestess and Doctor. In Chapter 14, in a dialog with Priestess, we learn that Doctor and Priestess traveled to her laboratory by the seashores following their initial encounter. It was on this occasion that they shook hands.
[name=Priestess]“Holding Hands” - Well, we have many different ways of “holding hands”. A lot of times it doesn't require the use of some specific part of the torso.
[name=Priestess]When we first met ...... I was flying around an ocean planet. Using the stars as an unchanging anchor, I flew round and round, following the line dividing day and night.
[name=Priestess]The death of the star came quickly. The ocean beneath me dissociated almost instantly, revealing the planet's naked, dark red spine.
[name=Priestess]Someone pulled me from behind and yanked me into a quieter nebula.
[name=Priestess]I was explained, knowing that I was likely not in danger, but it was too late to confirm which starfield my own body was in, so my consciousness beacon had to be salvaged.
[name=Priestess]That was the first time I boarded that ovoid ship. It wasn't big, but it was nimble and had been to countless galaxies.
[name=Priestess]I took the ship to a planet that wasn't exactly bustling. I showed the owner of the ship my small lab facing the ocean and walked up.
[name=Priestess]It was like this ...... I shook the owner's hand.
[name=Priestess]"My name is Priestess, a linguist. I'm studying the final sound waves that planets make when they die. I like to be quiet and alone, but I also want to explore the universe with the right people.”
[name=Priestess]Next ......
[name=Priestess]Your turn.

So there was a recent thread that got me to look back on the original plans for the 2.0 expansion material and I ended up digging through it a bit more than I ever had before. I figured it might be fun to write up a full breakdown of what I was able to gleam from my digging.
Before I begin, I should mention that the information available is spotty and inconsistent in places. For example, according to the TORCommunity database, a lot of these files were added in version 1.3 and 2.0. However, going back to the files that are in those patches (I love you Jedipedia), a lot of those files are not present in those versions. I assume this is internal marking, and is based on the dev's versions and not the live versions. In fact the Sith Warrior dialogues only show up in live in 5.0.0. I have no idea why those dialogues just suddenly popped into existence there.
Generally speaking I have four types of files available to look through.

• The first are the cnv (conversation) files, which are the most useful as they give the actual dialogue thereby telling us what the plot was. We have these for Bothawui for all republic classes, Ziost for Sith Warrior, "open world" (term used for quests between planets or for small instanced planets) for all five of the above, and one random Imp World arc file for Yavin IV. There are some that are blank, but the majority have something.
• The second are quest files for the quests. We have quests for all of the classes on Bothawui, Ziost, and Open Worlds. We have quests for Jedi Knight on Sleheyron. We have world arc quests for Yavin IV for both factions, and side quests for every planet. Unfortunately, these are a bit more hit and miss in their usefulness because some of them are missing strings. So sometimes we can get what all the steps of a quest were going to be, other times the only things we can learn are a name the quest used to go by and how many steps the quest was supposed to have. Even the ones that have all their strings aren't necessarily useful. For example, we have all the steps for the Sith Inquisitor quest, "A Warm Welcome." Step 1, " Take a Shuttle to Your Estate." Great, now we know the SI has an estate! Step 2, " Talk to the Sith Lord." And the usefulness is gone.
• The third type are creature files. These tell us who was planned to show up where, but they are of limited usefulness without context as to what the NPC was doing. For example, I can't immediatly tell the difference between a friendly, an enemy that starts friendly and turns hostile after a conversation, or someone that appears via holo-recording.
• The fourth "type" are "phantom files" that are listed in TORCommunity's databases, but are missing from what I am able independently datamine. I trust that TORCommunity's listings are correct, but there also isn't much to gain from these files since they are all empty (included in these are some of the missing cnv files).

Overall Plan

So to begin, it should be noted that all of these cnv files are located in the directory cnv.exp.01. This is the same naming convention used for the released Rise of the Hutt Cartel files. This makes it difficult to tell what Makeb's original role in the expansion was. It appears that it was intended to be part of the expansion as there is the following line from the Supreme Chancellor that appears to vary based on whether a Smuggler did Makeb before starting Bothawui.

(Did not do Makeb) "Of course I am. The Voidwolf's defeat is the only reason I can ignore being referred to as "Madame Chance. "
(Did do Makeb) "Of course I am. Your success on Makeb bought you considerable leeway with me--but "Madame Chance" is pushing it. "

Additionally according to TORCommunity's "added in patch" data, the majority of Makeb's cnvs were initially added in 1.3, which was the same patch that most of the other files were added for the cut content.
So in addition to Makeb, the planned planets appear to have been Bothawui (Pub), Ziost (Imp), and Sleheyron (Both). These three planets were intended to have class stories and side quests (no evidence of a world arc, but I don't know if none was planned or if they just didn't get to it). There is no evidence that Makeb was ever meant to have any class stories on it. Additionally, there is one conversation file for Imp Yavin IV. It was early on in development when they stopped working on it since the dialogue is just a summary of what happens in the scenes (e.g., a shuttle crashes), but there are quests and NPCs for both Pub and Imp world arcs, so there was more planned.
So in summary the plan appears to have been something like:

• Makeb (Shared Planet with World Arcs)
• Bothawui/Ziost (Faction Exclusive Planets with Class Stories)
• Sleheyron (Shared Planet Class Stories)
• Yavin IV (Shared Planet with World Arcs, placement uncertain but has to be before or after the class stories as an NPC that is kidnapped in a class story is a quest NPC)

Now before I start on discussing the content from each planet, it is worth mentioning that I have little context for most quests and NPCs, so I'm just going to be putting them in alphabetical order.

Bothawui

The overall setting for this Planet seems to have been that the Republic is going on the offensive and the Imperials are going scorched earth while they get pushed off planet.
Something that is well known (I think) at this point is that Dantooine on live is a modified version of the map that originally made for Bothawui. From the dialogue files that I've looked through, I'm betting the dam in the portion of the map we are on was originally called the Bosnar Dam, which was a set piece for one of the JK missions. Also probably worth noting that the there are multiple mentions of Bothawui being an important source of food, which probably factored into their choice to reuse the area since Dantooine is also a farming planet.
Quests

• Storm of Destruction
• The Butchers of Bothawui
• The Stone Ray's Lair
• Wet Work
• (Bonus)
  • Search and Rescue

Ziost

I'm really not sure what the state of Ziost was supposed to be. SW seems to be dealing with Pubs having taken over the planet defense grid. SI and IA seem to be dealing with internal politics. And I have no idea of what BH is up to.
Quests

• [HEROIC 2] Battle of Xeno District
• Caged
• Gateway to the Empire
• [HEROIC 4] The Horror at Black Forge
• (Bonus)
  • Cathar Fury
  • Counter-offensive
  • The Ritual of Naga-Sadow

Sleheyron

Honestly I have less of an idea for Sleheyron than Ziost since Sleheyron is either the least finished planet or the planet with the least files that has slipped into live.
Quests

• (Pub General Quests)
  • Castles in the Skies
  • Devotion to Duty
  • The Battlefield of Tomorrow
  • Tibanna Exchange
• (Imp General Quests)
  • Doomsday Virus
  • Master Logrus
  • Quantum Javelin

Yavin IV

I have very little idea on the Pub side of things. There are some clues for the Imp side though. While he lacks a creature file, the Imp quests make mention of reporting to Servant One. So that means Imps were probably here on a mission for the Emperor. My first instinct is reviving the Emperor, but I don't have enough info. General Heskar also made a return. Oh Imps also spoke to Naga Sadow's force ghost as part of their world arc.
Quests

• (Pub World Arc)
  • Crossing the Guard
  • Kagan's Endgame
  • The Interceder's Vengeance
  • Triumph by Fire
  • Under the Stone
  • (Bonus)
    • Endgame For All
    • Preparing the Temple
    • Prison Camp Sabotage
• (Pub General Quests)
  • Unforgotten Deeds
• (Imp World Arc)
  • Doom
  • Extraction
  • Into the Jungle
  • Meeting the Massassi
  • Rise
  • The Cursed Legacy of Naga Sadow
  • The Empire's Last Stand
  • The Fate of the Empire
  • To Face a Dark Lord
  • (Bonus)
    • A Shrine to Defeat
    • Friendly Competition
    • Marching Orders
    • Old Idols
• (Imp General Quests)
  • For the Emperor
  • Slash and Burn
  • War Games
  • (Bonus)
    • Burning Legacy

Jedi Knight

So the JK's overreaching plot for seems to have been working together with the Protectors (the rescue team we met on Makeb) in order to help evacuate people.
There are multiple mentions of a place called Talravin, which I'm guessing is where the story would start as the JK helps evacuations there. From reading between the lines, it appears that the JK would be sending the refugees to a new world called New Euphrades...and of course the story finishes with us fighting a Sith in orbit as he is trying to destroy it.
Based on quest names, it seems we were meant to go to Alphelion Six, which does not have a wookiepedia article so I guess it was a new planet, at some point. Since the finale seemed to be New Euphrades, I'm guessing this happened between Bothawui and Sleheyron. Whenever it happened, the Protectors were apparently going to join you there.
Seems that there was an ending choice for the JK between joining the Protectors full time or becoming the Battlemaster. There is a lot of dialogue regarding the role of Jedis, so this seems like a conclusion to that arc as the JK chooses whether to be a protector or a warrior? Scourge also mentions that he had additional visions, but doesn't provide anything useful just kind of says "yeah I totally knew you were going to make that choice" after you made it.
Rough Map

• Talravin to start the plot?
• Bothawui to rescue civilians from the fighting
• ??? (Alphelion Six?)
• Sleheyron to ??? (probably rescue more civilians)
• Area where Talaravin gets the shield codes for New Euphrades
• Battle over New Euphrades
• Report to the Chancellor where you get the choice between joining the Protectors and Battlemaster

Quests

• Off World/Multi World
  • Crisis at Alphelion Six
  • Improving Performance
  • Soft Targets
  • The Parting Blow
  • The Price of Eternity
  • Welcome Captain Maddox
  • Welcome Doctor Kantos
  • Welcome Tefani
• Bothawui
  • A Rude Welcome
  • Blight of Bothawui
  • Double Time
  • Not a Drop to Drink
  • (Bonus)
    • Double Time
    • The Road to Vellik
• Sleheyron
  • A Hot Lead
  • Emergency Detour
  • Project Sever
  • The Ortis Problem

Notable NPCs

• Off World/Multi World
  • Captain Maddox - Leader of the Protectors that are joining the JK. He joins you on your ship (like members of the Rift Alliance did for the JC?). Also dies, so I assume you might be taking his role if you joined the protectors.
  • Doctor Kantos - Head medical officer for the Protectors. She also joins the JK's ship. You could flirt with her, and she seemed to be receptive to both genders. There are confrontations at the end of the story for both Kira and Doc where you have to choose between your LI or her. So I guess she was planned as a continuous love interest...not sure how that would have worked since she wasn't a companion.
  • Tefani - Tech head for the Protectors who also joined the JK's ship.
  • Darth Legius - Praetor of the Dark Council's army (no idea how that is different than the normal army). He appears to be the main villain for the JK. He had sworn vengeance over us for "lying" about killing the Emperor. Also he had two apprentices that get the one-off villain treatment on Bothawui. Our final battle would have taken place aboard his flagship, the Vindicator after he pissed off the Dark Council. One dialog implies that at some point he becomes the first Sith to publicly acknowledge the death of the Emperor.
  • Darth Marr - No idea what his role was (probably holo-call with Legius?), but he is in the JK files
  • General Var Suthra - He could reappear during the Aphelion Six quest
  • Master Orgus Din - He appears in the Soft Targets files, so I guess we were meant to get more force ghost lessons from him?
• Bothawui
  • Garith - Local resistance fighter who is your initial contact when you arrive
  • Colonel Blight - Villain and probably part time Captain Planet villain. He is an efficiency expert who has been brought in to kill as many civilians as possible as the Imps retreat.
• Sleheyron
  • Agent Galen - Our old cybernetic buddy could show up

Jedi Consular

The JC's arc seems to be the most clear cut. The JC gets a vision of the galaxy burning because of Torwin Vehls and then sets out to find them and stop them. On Bothawui, the JC discovers that Torwin has the power to give power to others, and this includes giving force sensitivity to non-sensitives (and also to animals).
The JC fails to catch Torwin on Bothawui and must continue chasing after him before he find "the Shrouded Ones," which were something related to the Rakata. "The Shrouded Ones were built to be the end of everything. A solution, to our empire's final problem." Not sure if they were something new or something that already exists given a mysterious name. There are talks about them that makes them sound like they are machines powered by the force, but I'm not sure how that solves the Rakata's final problem or meshes with Torwin's power. Then again the Rakata were evil jerks, so maybe their solution was to just murder everyone so they didn't go down alone?
I feel like there is a good chance that this unused arc is the inspiration for at least part of the current arc since one of the powers Darth Nul is mentioned as having is awakening force sensitivity in those unaware they had it (slightly different, but if anyone starts mentioning Shrouded Ones, we know that is not a good sign).
Rough Map

• Get a vision somewhere (Voss diplomatic mission?)
• Bothawui to hunt down Torwin
• ??? (Remnants of Natukar? You work with Darth Kallomena to find a Rakata map to the Shrouded Ones)
• Sleheyron to hunt down the Shrouded Ones
• ???

Quests

• Off World/Multi World
  • Remnants of Natukar
  • The Shrouded One
  • The Stack
  • Unforeseen Circumstances
  • (Bonus)
    • Clearing the Stack
    • Meeting the Delegates
    • Remnants Resistance
    • The Droids Within
• Bothawui
  • A Man of Vision
  • Broken Shield
  • Interpretations
  • Long Left Behind
  • (Bonus)
    • Healing the Land
    • Lured Beasts
    • Plowing the Fields
    • Skirmish at Narless
• Sleheyron
  • Conspicuous Consumption
  • Falling Sky
  • Groundbreaking
  • Into the Eye

Notable NPCs

• Off World/Multi World
  • Darth Kallomena - A masked Sith that the JC encounters on Bothawui. She is also seeking Torwin because he is her charge or something along those lines.
  • Gnost-Dural - Shows up in the Unforeseen Circumstances quest
  • Voss - Several Voss also appear in the Unforeseen Circumstances quest, seems to be a diplomatic conference about the Voss wanting to send their commandos home to deal with the Gormak. No Gaden Ko though
  • Hallow Voice - Has some dialogue talking about the Shrouded Ones
• Bothawui
  • The Custodian - A Rakata that was made force sensitive against his will by Torwin in an attempt to bribe The Custodian into giving info on the Shrouded Ones
• Sleheyron
  • (Nobody that I recognize)

Smuggler

Trying to describe this plot feels like a fever dream, but maybe that is appropriate for a continuation of the OG Smuggler story. So the Smuggler gets dragged into the story after an attack on Port Nowhere by a criminal gang.
The Smuggler tracks them down to Bothawui where you learn they are the Womp Family and that they have gotten ahold of a Superdreadnaught, which they refer to as a "space mansion." And they aren't just called the Womp Family, they actually are a family. The plot is essentially that a bunch of hillbillies got their hands on a...fully automated aircraft carrier(?) and are now going around launching air strikes on people that tipped their cows. They literally launch an orbital bombardment on the Smuggler at one point. Not his ship or base that he is at. Just the Smuggler after the Smuggler corners one of their members. They are also trying to extort the Republic. I don't know how things ended, but I imagine the dark side ending has the Smuggler getting a larger ship.
Rough Map

• Port Nowhere is attacked
• Bothawui to look into who was behind the attack
• ??? (Bothawui ends with Risha going to research Barabbula, so I assume we followed up on that lead next)
• Sleheyron to ???
• ??? (Probably the opportunity to steal the Superdreadnaught, but I don't have that dialogue)

Quests

• Off World/Multi World
  • Confidence and Influence
  • Days of Infamy
  • Decontamination
  • Party Down
  • Spoiling the Surprise
  • (Bonus)
    • Securing Valuables
    • Threat Recognition
• Bothawui
  • Bothan Beatdown
  • Camp Shatter
  • Clean Sweep
  • Harsh Introductions
  • (Bonus)
    • Hidden Reset Phase (probably not actually a quest)
    • I Was Never Here
• Sleheyron
  • Celebrity Spotlight
  • Lab Samples
  • Public Spectacles
  • The X Particles

Notable NPCs

• Off World/Multi World
  • Master Sumalee - She would have returned! And she had a fade to black! Also revealed that Satele dropped the prohibition against romance off screen. She seems to serve as the Smuggler's contact with the Republic (which was her job for one of the Smuggler endings).
  • Beryl Thorne - Don't know what she was up to, but she apparently reappeared in Party Down
  • Barrabula the Hutt - Owner of the superdreadnaught that was somehow stolen. Also the Supreme Mogul of the Cartel three hundred years ago.
• Bothawui
  • (Nobody I recognize)
• Sleheyron
  • (Nobody that I recognize)

Trooper

Trooper is leading the front lines of the battle on Bothawui with a reporter in tow. Had a scene that would have been interesting to see where the Trooper was to get airdropped in a bomb modified to serve as an entry craft. The reporter mentions having enough footage on Bothawui, so I'm not really sure where the expansion long arc was supposed to go from there. Immediately after Bothawui, you are the guest of honor at a party held by the Chancellor, so I guess the Sleheyron mission pops up there.
Rough Map

• ???
• Bothawui to liberate the world and get footage
• Be the guest of honor for a party the Chancellor is holding
• Sleheyron to ???
• ???

Quests

• Off World/Multi World
  • Elements of Surprise
  • Freedom from Fear
  • Mercy Mission
  • (Bonus)
    • Surprise Party
• Bothawui
  • Battle of Liahstarn
  • Firing Solutions
  • (Hidden) Speak with Jonas and Chall (Chill?)
  • Reversal of Fortunes
  • Tactical Payload
• Sleheyron
  • Grasp of Shadows
  • Picking Up
  • Sleep Wake Cycle
  • Two for One

Notable NPCs

• Off World/Multi World
  • Rylo Kann - Journalist that joins the Trooper for at least part of the expansion.
  • Jaxo - So I guess she was meant to reappear if alive.
• Bothawui
  • Jonas Balker - He would have returned. And he would have had a fade to black...something he still doesn't have on Live yet.
  • Dagger Wing - They would have returned from Belsavis to provide support on your campaign. They have an interesting choice where they ask you how to handle the reporter as he wants to interview them (unaware of the whole accidently war crimes backstory?).
  • Raven Squad - You were supposed to meet them on the battlefield, which would have included them calling bombers on your position. No idea if their current iteration is meant to be the same as this group, but they almost certainly reused the name since it wasn't otherwise being used. Their commander in this iteration is named Varis.
• Sleheyron
  • (Nobody that I recognize)

Sith Warrior

Sith Warrior is the only one of the Imp classes that I have dialog for. On Ziost, the SW is in charge of getting the planetary defenses back after Pubs take them over. However the planetary defenses might only be a distraction because there is dialogue referring to the Sith Warrior saving the Voice who is a necessary component for reviving the Emepror.
The overarching plot seems to be a conflict with Gnost-Dural who seems to be looking into ending the Emperor for good. While the SW is dealing with Ziost, Gnost-Dural prepares to attack the hidden fortress where the Hand resides. The attack starts while the SW is reporting on their success in protecting the Hand. Once here Gnost-Dural captures all of the Servants except for Servant Twelve who goes to the SW for help. Servant Twelve drops the tidbit that if the hand was severed than (in this timeline) the Emperor can no longer revived. Gnost Dural seems unaware of this as he puts the Servants in stasis and carefully probes their minds to get information about the Emperor without hurting them.
Interesting to note that one of the quests is called Showdown on Ossus, so that might have been the inspiration for Gnost-Dural being on Ossus in Jedi Under Siege.
Also there is a dialogue that mentions the Sith Warrior putting down two Dark Council members. Not entirely sure which Dark Council members they were though. Checking the NPC list for all the Sith Warrior locations, the only Darths that are mentioned are Darth Baras and Darth Vowrawn. So I guess they were including Baras. I'm thinking that Vowrawn might have actually sided with Gnost-Dural? There is a line in a conversation during the Hand's Fortress that states, "His source remains a mystery--not even Darth Vowrawn or Zujen Vale knew our location." Zujen Vale is mentioned to be a traitor in a different conversation. So I guess Vowrawn being opposed to the Hand on Rishi might have been inspired by the original plan to make him opposed to the Emperor? And now I have Emperor Vowrawn on live instead. Funny how these things work.
There is also mention of the Sith Warrior making a speech during/after Ziost, which appears to have been about reform and appears to have been directed at the Dark Council. So I guess a LS option to try and put the fear of Wrath into the Dark Council after the Wrath did some house cleaning.
Rough Map

• ??? (The Final Revenge of Darth Baras?)
• Ziost to take back the planetary defenses and save the Voice
• Hand's Fortress to save the Hand
• Sleheyron to track down Gnost-Dural by following a data drop off
• ??? (Track down Gnost-Dural for final confrontation? Showdown on Ossus?)

Quests

• Off World/Multi World
  • End Times
  • Fracture
  • Showdown on Ossus
  • The Blood Splattered Talz
  • The Emperor and His Wrath
  • The Final Revenge of Darth Baras
  • (Bonus)
    • Breached and Boarded
    • Shattering the Jedi Seal
    • The Emperor's Secrets
• Ziost
  • Armageddon Approaches
  • The Fires of Ziost
  • The Hunt Begins
  • Voice in the Darkness
• Sleheyron
  • Echoes of Gnost-Dural
  • Hook Line and Sinker
  • Shutter
  • Solar Spear

Notable NPCs

• Off World/Multi World
  • Servants 1-11 - Whole family reunion in this one
  • Servant 12 - Only one of the Servants to not get captured. Spends some time on your ship after the Hand's Fortress is raided. She is completely uninterested in the SW's attempts to flirt. Unlike the Protectors for the JK or Rylo for the Trooper, Servant Twelve does not have a creature file for the ship, so she might have been cutscene only.
  • Master Gnost-Dural - Seems to have been the main "villain"
  • Darth Vowrawn showed up in Fracture
  • Darth Baras could show up in The Final Revenge of Darth Baras
  • Lord Qet - Vowrawn's apprentice shows up too
  • Zujen Vale - A Sith you meet on Ziost. Secretly works for Gnost-Dural
• Ziost
  • Armageddon Battalion - They return to assist the Sith Warrior
  • Voice of the Emperor - Here to be rescued
• Sleheyron
  • (Nobody that I recognize)

Sith Inquisitor

I have very little idea of what the SI was supposed to get up to. The SI seems to be hobnobbing with the Dark Council on Ziost, but beyond that I'm not quite sure what is going on. You did apparently get your own estate on Ziost though. So neat?
Quests

• Off World/Multi World
  • A Party to Remember
  • An Empire Divided
  • The Sanctum
  • (Bonus)
    • Crast's Betrayal
• Ziost
  • A Warm Welcome
  • Convergence
  • Lost Army
  • The Emperor's Tower

Notable NPCs

• Off World/Multi World
  • Dark Council - Between An Empire Divided and a Party to Remember, I think we have a good chunk of the Dark Council showing up. I don't remember who was on the Council at this time, so I'm just listing all the Darths in the two quests and hope I'm not giving anyone a promotion. Arkov, Marr, Soverus, Acina, Mortis, and Ravage.
  • Lord Qet - I guess Vowrawn is represented by his apprentice while he's off doing things (and being killed?) in the SW story?
• Ziost
  • Moff Pyron - Everyone's favorite lackey showed up
• Sleheyron
  • (no NPCs in files I have)

Imperial Agent

At least part of the IA storyline seemed to be focused on cleaning up after Malgus's rebellion as there are NPCs with Malgus in their name. I'm not sure whether that was the focus of the entire expansion or if you stumble onto something else while dealing with "the betrayer's spymaster."
Quests

• Off World/Multi World
  • The Beast Awakens
  • The Broken Colonel
  • The Nightmare
  • The Player of Games
  • The Vigil
• Ziost
  • The Betrayer's Spymaster
  • The Grandfather of Terror
  • The Hidden War
  • The Secret Compact
• Sleheyron
  • Doppleganger
  • The Catcher and the Cage
  • The Highest Authority

Notable NPCs

• Off World/Multi World
  • Ardun Kothe - Every IA's best friend can return! Although I guess it makes sense as I assume he becomes your handler if you give him the Black Codex
  • Shara Jenn - She would have returned...and gone by the name Nexus? I'm really not sure where that comes from. Weird thing is that her creature file is named shara_jenn, but for whatever reason IA has some NPCs with names. Had her creature file just been named Nexus, I would not have known it was her
  • Colonel Niar - This seems to have been a recurring character who even joins you on your ship (no creature file for him though). I've seen someone say that the IA storyline got converted to be the Imp Makeb storyline, and I suspect this NPC is where that idea originated from. I don't have any dialogue associated with the NPC, but I feel confident is not Katha Niar from Makeb since this NPC is a male (and the gender attribute is properly assigned on other unfinished NPCs). Sort of off topic, but it seems Katha Niar was originally named Kiar Onila.
  • Darth Marr - No idea what his role was, but he shows up
  • Ocean - I guess this is a code name for someone? You bring them to an escape shuttle at one point
• Ziost
  • (Nobody that I recognize)
• Sleheyron
  • Saresh - Not sure what her role here was

Bounty Hunter

I have no context to make sense of the info I have for BH. An NPC named Zedania seems to be important. I can't tell what his role in the story was though. I think in one mission we are saving him though? So a client I guess? Also someone named Brand that we get a lot of holocalls from, so either an ally or a very mouthy antagonist?
Quests

• Off World/Multi World
  • Meeting the Board
  • Nebula Station
  • Socio Pathfinding
  • (Bonus)
    • Resorting to Violence
    • Security Shakedown
• Ziost
  • All or Nothing
  • Biding Time
  • Poised to Strike
  • Set the Sky on Fire

Notable NPCs

• Off World/Multi World
  • Darth Tormen - You don't get to lose your boss off screen in this timeline
  • Darth Marr - Dude was busy in this expansion. I'm guessing he was meant as an alternative for Darth Tormen
• Ziost
  • (Nobody that I recognize)
• Sleheyron
  • (Nobody that I recognize)

Random Observations and Quotes

• HK-51 and the ship droid both got reactions to the content in this 2.0. I think HK actually has some in vanilla that is no longer available since 4.0, but Ship Droid has none except for maybe some environmental reactions on Makeb?
• Smuggler (romancing Risha) after getting buried alive
  • If we only have a little air left, I say we use it up vigorously. How's that for a plan?
  • Like all your schemes, it's poorly thought-out and likely to end in violence. I'm in.
• Treek was not originally in the plans for this version of 2.0 as she is missing from the majority of companion reactions, but a small number of lines that mention her appear so I think they had decided to add her in the future before the scope was cut
• Servant One to the Sith Warrior
  • We also bore witness to your speech. The Empire's transformation does not concern the Emperor, but others may prove less tolerant.
• Kira to JK who has been flirting around
  • I'm starting to think that's true. I've been having all these violent urges lately... usually whenever I see you, or Doctor Kantos. And when I see you together? I mean, wow... kind of makes me want to hit you upside the head, you know?
• Elara after a flirt option (not sure if it is a kiss or fade to black since I only have dialogue) while waiting for a shuttle
  • I'm going to file an official commendation for the Bothan shuttle scheduling authority.
• Smuggler talking to someone he saved on Coruscant
  • Randomly shooting Imperials is one of my trademark moves. Glad you enjoyed the show.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed looking at this what if. If anyone has any questions about what is in the files, I can try to answer, but I can't make promises that the answers to your questions exist in the files.

There has been a lot of talk lately about Russian influence. But because Tusk and the Civic Platform people are saying it, some people have not resisted the temptation to both-side that this is exactly what was happening under PiS. Unsubstantiated accusations used as an electoral talking point, lack of specifics, appealing to emotions, and so on. In this context, for example, the claim that the Russians might have helped PiS win the 2015 elections is ridiculed. Those who point to their obvious involvement in the affair are called paranoid. And since in two weeks it will be ten (yes, ten) years since the first tapes were released, let my try to tell the story by looking for a different, "normal" explanation.
Well, the politicians of the then ruling Civic Platform (PO) used to meet in a pub from time to time. Out of several hundred of the more luxurious pubs in Warsaw, they chose the Lemongrass, founded by the financial director of the Polish branch of Lukoil, a certain Andrzej Kisieliński. This director also owns other companies. Of all the possible partners, he chooses for one of them Andriy Persona/Konenko, who is said to have worked in the energy sector for the Russian mobster Semyon Mogilevich in the 1990s and about whom the ABW had warned politicians before 2005. This Persona/Kononenko may have done many things, but one of them was to co-finance Lemongrass. But these are totally just coincidences.
In the same pub, PO politicians are being recorded. One of those setting up the wiretaps is waiter Łukasz N.
When this finally dawned on PO politicians, they stopped coming to Lemongrass. Soon the restaurant is closed, but this has nothing to do with the activities of the Polish services. First it is bought by Chemtank, a company which, out of thousands of possible businesses, happens to be involved in paraffin trading with Lukoil, so of course it wanted a perfectly ordinary, and also debt-ridden, restaurant in its portfolio. After a while, Chemtank decides to sell Lemongrass to someone else. It could have chosen anyone, but it chose a Russian, Alexander Prokopenko, who was soon joined by another Russian Oleg Yeremeyev. The latter could have been anyone, a businessman, a politician, an artist, but he happens to be a graduate of the Internal Army Department of the Kaliningrad Border Institute of the FSB Academy. A coincidence, surely.
Source for my claims: https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/kraj/1796798,1,lemongrass-poligon-podsluchowy-w-sercu-warszawy.read
But rest assured. The waiter, Łukasz N., had magically known six months earlier that a second pub, the notorious Sowa i Przyjaciele, was about to open, to which he began inviting PO politicians. They were also invited by former PO senator Tomasz Misiak (expelled from the party in 2009), who could have done business in the Czech Republic, Portugal or Thailand, but chose to do it in Russia, in partnership with two businessmen working for the oligarchs.
By this time, Sowa was already registered as a company (or two, rather) in the same flat, in which, of all possible 'flatmates', a number of the Russian connected Grupa Radius companies have been registered. Sowa itself was founded by, among others, two businessmen with links to Radius, who later politely withdrew. Nothing unusual about that. After all, Radius director Robert Szustkowski could have been involved in anything in life, but by an unusual coincidence it turned out that he had previously been the director of the Polish branch of Russia's MontazhSpetsBank. Let's leave aside the fact that MontazhSpetsBank served state institutions in the USSR and later in Russia, as this could be considered normal in the 1990s. There may have been various people on the board of this bank, ordinary managers, just Russians, but, just imagine, this bank had, among others, the former first deputy prime minister of the USSR, Lev Voronin, and the former KGB officer, Dmitry Buryuchenko. You can see for yourself that this is a perfectly normal institution. So it is perfectly normal that the director of its Polish branch should be a less than 30-year-old Szustkowski, who has no financial training or anything like that. So it is perfectly normal that when the man in question founded Radius, the people associated with it founded Sowa, where, after Lemongrass was closed down, PO politicians who were about to be registered there began to meet.
This is a perfectly normal story, really. The fact that Szustkowski has been doing business in Russia since the late 1980s and early 1990s, and that he later had business dealings of various kinds with at least two Russian businessmen, Lev Kvetnoy and Andrei Skoch, is also normal. He is totally a billionaire. He is surely had business interests in several other countries.
OK, I can see you are getting paranoid, but rest assured, there really are no Russians here. Well, the wiretaps in Sowa were officially ordered by Marek Falenta. There are thousands of millionaire businessmen in Poland doing all sorts of things, but Falenta was in the business of importing Russian coal into Poland. This is a perfectly normal business, nothing out of the ordinary. It has nothing to do with the fact that in the spring of 2013 Falenta ordered a wiretap, which was carried out by the same waiter, Łukasz N., who had previously done it at Lemongrass. Falenta was doing so well in his normal business that he borrowed tens of millions of zlotys from the Russian company KTK. KTK, like any normal company, is run by an oligarch close to Putin and was overseen by Aman Tuleyev, who was later awarded a medal for 'reuniting Crimea and Sevastopol with Russia'. The vice-president of the Polish subsidiary of KTK was Dmitry Larin, a graduate of the military college for political officers in Novosibirsk, a veteran of the wars in the Karabakh and Chechnya, an officer in the internal army, a graduate of the department of border and internal troops with a specialisation in commanding special forces and intelligence.
A normal company. A normal business. Don't get hysterical.
Falenta could have had many reasons for recording politicians. He could simply have wanted to blackmail them for money. To influence them. To protect himself in the event of an investigation into his previous businesses, where he was already in trouble with the law. To take revenge for some grievance, real or not. That is why we surely should not attach too much importance to the fact that he began to 'collect' recordings just as the authorities began to take an interest in his coal business. Nor the fact that he met representatives of the KTK several times during this period. Nor the fact that the tapes were released just as the services were busting down Falenta's coal business.
These are coincidences that can certainly be explained in the normal way.
Finally, as the investigation into the affair continues, the CBŚP and ABW astonishingly dismiss all the above-mentioned threads, sorry: they don't fall into anti-Russian paranoia, that's what. Soon the deputy head of the CBŚP, Rafał Derlatka, who oversees the investigation, will leave the Police for the private sector. He could choose from hundreds of companies, but he chooses KTK.
Now, tell me, can't you see that this is all coincidence, unfortunate coincidence, the insanity of Piątek and Rzeczkowski? After all, Lemongrass could just as well have been founded by the director of Żabka and liquidated by two Austrians. Sowa could have been set up by Inpost people, and Szustkowski could have done business in the US or Chile. Misiak could have just been a millionaire businessman and friend of politicians with a company in Croatia. Falenta could have been selling Belgian chocolate rather than Russian coal. Derlatka could have gone to work for any energy company that wanted his knowledge and experience, not KTK. And that did not happen?
That is just my obsession and paranoia. It is, trust my bro. So when somebody finally tries to address the issue, it just proves that they have the same methods as Macierewicz. And do you want to be like Macierewicz? Well, checkmate.