Good Training – Chapter 11: Shenanigans Part 3

12y 9m AV
HMS Sharman, Folctha, Cimbrean

Champion and Sergeant Daar of Clan Stoneback

Advanced training progressed very quickly. Both Stoneback and Whitecrest possessed active warrior and soldering traditions and that proved critical, since it gave them a strong aptitude for the tasks at hand. And all the Brothers were, of course, effectively the very best Gao had to offer, each in their own ways.

Whitecrest were the consummate problem solvers and masters of tactics and deep perception. Their minds were every bit their greatest weapon, and they had their now greatly improved bodies to back their thoughts and stratagems with force and skill.

And if that was not enough? Daar, the pinnacle Stoneback, a supremely physical being by either Human or Gaoian standard, stood with them. He may not have possessed the deeply analytical and clever mind of a Whitecrest but he was far from stupid. He consistently showed a cunning and an intelligence the humans found impressive. Book smart? Absolutely not. But give him a practical task or problem and he would amaze. He was a born engineer and took to his studies with relish, rapidly working his way through the many practical exercises and scenarios almost as fast as Sikes could recall or devise.

He knew the men by name, now. They delayed the briefing as long as they could but, alas, given the environment and the nature of the training, they could not hold out forever. When he had finally received the DEEP RELIC briefing it was one-on-one with Powell and Vandenberg. It affected him deeply, and personally, for he now understood the nature of his intelligence assignment and what it may have cost him, had his cover been blown. That of course didn’t even consider the cost to his people that would have eventually fallen, if the Humans did not survive.

It made for a quiet evening. Daar sat on the bed with Rebar as they watched videos in silence. Not even stupid cats could cheer the two males. Eventually Rebar gave up, put his tablet away, pulled off his shirt and shorts, and made for bed. Daar quietly curled up on his favorite spot, which was right at the foot of the bed, against the wall.

“…Rebar?”

“Yeah?”

There was a very long pause. “Why did you share this with us?”

If one struggled mightily, it would be difficult to ask a more loaded question.

Vandenberg sighed and turned over to face Daar. “Honestly? This ain’t necessarily a popular opinion, ‘kay? But, uh…you’re the only species worthy of it. I mean, who else?” He scoffed, “All the rest o’ galactic life, ‘cept maybe the Celzi, they’re, uh, either too alien or too useless, or too compromised. An’ the Celzi, well, they’re prol’ly too violent, too.”

“So…we’re your last resort, then.”

“Wh—no! Dude, we see the best of us in you. You…okay. We’re aliens, right? But here we are, sleeping in the same goddamned bed together. Why? Because we like you. That ain’t no accident, and there ain’t no other species out there that matches up as well as we do. And, um…” he groped for words, “I don’t think we’d really learn as much from anyone else, either.”

Daar imitated a human gesture and raised an eyebrow. “After everything you’ve showed us that’s hard to believe.”

“Well, you showed me how to flip a truck!” He grinned and pulled Daar into a hug.

Daar produced a frighteningly deep, rumbling chitter. “That hardly counts as revolutionary.”

“Maybe not. ‘Know what it showed us? A training deficiency. We Defenders, we’re all about altering the terrain to our advantage, right? Be it space or land. A lotta times that’s with tech and explosives or whatever. But honestly? Most of the times, it’s just muscle power.”

Daar pointed out, “You’re way stronger than me!”

“So? We ain’t being good at it if we’re not thinking about the process of work, are we? I mean, most of what we do is pushing, pulling, punching, hauling, digging, smashing…it’s a lot of work. And, y’know? You were right. You saw immediately we were relying too much on being strong and not enough on being smart. We needed someone like you, who was trained since forever to be both. Make sense?”

“I suppose…”

“Naw, don’t suppose, dude. Know. And that right there? That’s just the first thing you taught me on the first fuckin’ day we met. Watching y’all learn has taught us as much as we’ve been teachin’ you. Trust me. We sometimes feel like we’re getting the better end of the deal outta this.”

“…really?”

“Yeah really. C’mere.” A quick noogie and an affectionate neck scritch communicated more than words ever could. “We fuckin’ love ‘ya guys, man. And that means something. It’s gotta, right?”

“…I suppose.” He didn’t sound entirely convinced.

“Okay.” Rebar knew enough to let it ride, for the moment, “Let’s get some sleep. Just…think about that. You don’t gotta believe me, but watch us tomorrow, man. See if I ain’t right.”

Rebar rolled over to sleep, ending the conversation. “Goodnight buddy.”

“Goodnight.” Daar curled up into a ball, tucked his nose under his tail, grumbled a bit, and followed Rebar to dreamland.


12y, 9m, 3w
After graduation

Master Sergeant Harry (Rebar) Vandenberg

“We have you literally red-handed.” Rebar gave the angriest look he could muster.

“Pawed. Whitecrest have hands like yours. Stoneback, we have paws.”

He held up his massive mitts to illustrate the difference. While they were, indeed, still hand-shaped, and had proper digits and opposable thumbs, the construction was vastly more rugged and calloused well beyond the point that simple hard work could induce. That gave them a frankly awe-inspiring toughness and a grip strength to rival any man on the team. The tradeoff was an almost comically non-existent sense of touch, along with a slightly clumsy precision grip that relied heavily on his claw tips. Calling those meathooks ‘hands’ was clearly inappropriate.

Regaari chimed in. “And anyway, it was good training. We rely too much on claws for climbing and honestly? Whitecrest never considered it a utility skill to teach all our Brothers. We do now.”

“Plus,” added Daar, “You already have your giant castle up there and Adam and John have their little Feet everywhere, and then there’s that hidden dagger you can only see from on top anyway. You can’t tell me we’re wrong.” By now Daar had learned that Rebar’s very worst Motivations for pranks and such were generally benign.

Unpleasant, yes. But not ultimately so terrible as to dissuade anyone from hijinks. Putting their mark on the most important human installation there was? Totally worth it.

Vandenberg knew they knew, of course, and he couldn’t maintain his scowl. “Oh, I’m not mad.” Quite the opposite, really. “Personally I think it’s pretty awesome. I take it those are Whitecrest and Stoneback logos?”

“I think ‘mon’ would be a better term,” said Regaari. “A Clan’s symbol is always reproducible with a single color and avoids intricate detail.”

Rebar stroked his chin. “I gotta admit, they’re pretty. I assume the one with the big mohawk is Whitecrest?”

“The crescent moon atop a stylized Gaoian head.” Regaari corrected him. “The symbology is elaborate. Light the darkness, but do not reveal too much…”

“It’s pretty abstract…but I see it, now. Stoneback’s is very different.”

“Our name and motto in our ancient Clan script, inside a diamond,” said Daar. “The diamond is the traditional shape of a battle flag.”

“What’s the motto?”

“Can’t tell you, sorry.”

Rebar raised his eyebrow at that. “Serious?”

“Part of the Rites. It’s a tradition of the very most ancient Clans.”

“He won’t tell me and we’re Cousins. And Brothers, now.” Regaari saw Vandenberg’s look, “Yes, I know the implications. Call it a less than perfect translation and leave all incestuous possibilities out, please.”

“Heh, okay.” Rebar chuckled and shook his head.

“Anyway, Whitecrest is a very modern Clan and came long after those traditions. We’re less than a hundred years old. Stoneback? They’re—”

“At least fifteen thousand years old, if our archeology is any good.” Daar rumbled, proudly.

Rebar whistled. “…Man. Dude, my home country is only, like, two hundred and fifty years old. Fifteen thousand is… I don’t think we had writing back then. Or even the wheel.”

“Regaari, didn’t the unified script come out around five thousand years ago?”

“About that, yeah.”

“Wow. That’s really, like, past my scale. We forget how young we are, y’know?”

“We do not.” There was a loaded humor in the statement, a suggestion of some of the old bitterness Regaari once felt towards the humans and their manifestly impressive accomplishments in such a short history. He’d since moved on to rueful resignation and acceptance.

It never failed to make the humans uncomfortable, either. Regaari watched with some small satisfaction as Rebar squirmed a bit in embarrassment.

But only for a moment. “Right. Like I said, I ain’t mad. But see, we had to pay a price for our shenanigans. Need t’convince Admiral Knight they should stay, yeah? So I’m thinking…Tigger!” This was Daar’s callsign and one he really hated. “You’re in luck! We have one field left that needs to be plowed up and re-sown with new turf. The original Cimbrean stuff is gettin’ all sorts of dead. Why don’t you rig up a harness and git ‘er dun?”

Daar blanched at the order. “That…it must be a hundred hectares!”

“Should keep you busy all week, then. And weren’t you braggin’ just the other day your legs are stronger than anyone on the team? Prove it.”

Daar deflated, already sensing the pain he would be suffering. “Yes, Sergeant First Class.”

“Good boy.” Rebar smirked a little. “This doesn’t excuse you from training, either. Be lucky we’re entering our light rotation.”

“Yes, Sergeant First Class.”

“Now, as for you, Dex,” he fixed Regaari with his death glare. “You’re gonna help. Someone’s gotta sow all that seed and turn all those rows over. You’re welcome to recruit the rest of your Brothers…”

A trap. It was, of course, a full-team effort to get the enormous mons painted overnight, but only those two had literal red hands (or paws) to show for it. Since Rebar couldn’t prove anything…

“I’ll manage, Sergeant First Class.”

Vandenberg nodded approvingly. “Good. I may send them out anyway, but the responsibility is yours. Now, the way I see it, your week starts tomorrow, so you may as well spend the weekend gettin’ yer’ harness rigged, Daar.” He paused, “I’ll, uh…help you get it rigged. And maybe I’ll help get you started, too. ‘Kay?”

That was the important thing about Motivation. It needed to ride a fine line between “awful” and “punishment.” Generally speaking, this meant the NCO, if he was a good NCO, would suffer along with the Motivated men, at least a little.

Rebar was a very good NCO.

“Yes, Sergeant First Class.” They said it in unison.

“Good, off you go.” They turned to leave.

At the last moment, a thought struck Vandenberg. “WAIT. You said something about a giant dagger?”

“…Yes. Part of the landscaping. You can only see it from on top of the water tower.”

“Hmm.” Rebar stroked his chin. “How long has it been here?”

“How should we know?”

“Fair ‘nuff. ‘Sides, I know exactly whodunit…dismissed.”

They parted ways, Dexter and Tigger without any particular enthusiasm. Rebar, on the other hand, stormed up to the barracks.

“HIGHLAND, FRONT AND CENTER!”

It was remarkable how quickly the barracks drained of any Human or Gaoian not in the immediate line of fire. Any other man in the SOR would have obeyed with an air of trepidation or resignation. Murray on the other hand seemed more confused in his polite, mild way.

“Yes, Sergeant First Class?”

Vandenberg studied the big Scot for a moment.

“I have a bit of a pickle and I think you’re just the man to help me out.” He grinned grimly, “Seems someone quite enthusiastic about daggers and subtlety did a bit of landscaping a while ago. I wonder who that could be?”

“I can certainly see why you would come to me, Sergeant First Class.”

“Indeed. Let’s consider our options, shall we? Could it have been Righteous? …Nah. It’s only his adopted symbol, for one, and that kinda quiet little thing just ain’t his style. Would you agree, Colour Sergeant?”

“A fair and reasonable assessment, Sergeant First Class.”

“See, I thought so.” Rebar flashed a bit of a grin; both men knew what was coming but that wouldn’t stop them from enjoying the play. “Could it possibly have been Stainless? Now, that would be dangerous for me to go accusing my superior officer of disobeying his own orders, don’t you think?”

“That it would, Sergeant First Class, though may I ask which order specifically you’re referring to?”

“Oh, our very favorite, the ‘General order and discipline’ clause. Nice little rule. Makes it real easy to Motivate anyone being a horse’s ass. Particularly, say, when Admiral Knight inevitably learns of this. I just know he’d be tickled pink by the surprise landscaping, wouldn’t he?”

“I’ve always considered the Admiral to be a man with a fine sense of humour, Sergeant First Class.”

“Hmm. Humor from officers, see, that terrifies me. Must be an American thing. Anyhow, we haven’t gone through all the candidates! There’s also Starfall to consider. But… well, I just can’t see him exercising that level of… what’s the word… foresight?”

“As you say, Sergeant First Class.”

“Now, that I think gives some progress! Who else could it be… suggestions?”

“Our list of candidates is definitely getting limited, Sergeant First Class.”

“Hmm, yes indeed. Tell you what, we’re getting big into cross-training these days, yeah? And I always think better after a little Motivation in the gym, don’t you? Go and get changed. We can think about that list while we pump some iron. We’ll kill two birds with one stone! Oh, and I’d strongly suggest you bring your Crude, too. I wouldn’t want you to miss out on any of the Defender experience.”

“Yes, Sergeant First Class.” Murray took the Motivation with apparent good humor, which suggested he’d got away with it for more than long enough to balm his ego.

“Oh, and Murray?”

“Yes, Sergeant First Class?”

“It’s leg day.”

That deflated him. “…Right you are, Sergeant First Class.” He stalked off to change, and perhaps to fortify his mental resolve.

Rebar, on the other hand, ambled over to check on Daar. He was in their tool shed with the two-furrow plow, his harness, some chain, and some eyelets. He was just contemplating the TIG welder—and how he might fit the welding mask over his snout—when Vandenberg arrived.

“Hey bro, put that down for a bit. We got a Scotsman to train.”

Daar growled happily and followed.

Writer:
ctwelve
Series:
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Date point: 14y 2m 3w 4d AV SOR barracks, HMS Sharman, Folctha, Cimbrean, The Far Reaches Meanwhile… Brother Faarek (Southpaw) of Clan Whitecrest–SOR “Are you sure you want to do this, Brother?” “Yes,” Thurrsto said with absolute conviction. “She’s the most beautiful Female I’ve ever seen and she’s hurting. I can’t bear doing nothing.” Faarek

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 54: Here Be Dragons Part 5

ESNN Magazine article: “Prisons In Their Head- an interview at Camp Tebbutt” Author and photographer: Ava Magdalena Ríos [Cover image: two men seated on a bench in front of a chain-link fence, with a stunning Alaskan vista behind them. On the left is a scruffy bearded white man with shaggy salt-and-pepper hair, and next to

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Rising Titans – Chapter 50

+15 Minutes The Canada “Can this thing fly?” Shouted Pankin as a rattling howl began to echo through the ship, the crew members on what was now the ceiling tightening their straps as objects that had been floating began to rattle on the floor as the ship dove deeper into the atmosphere of the planet.

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 54: Here Be Dragons Part 4

Date Point: 16y2m2w AV Weaver dropship, Rich Plains contact volume, Kwmbwrw Great Houses TSgt Timothy “Tiny” Walsh All throughout the ordeal of becoming HEAT and finally earning the Mass, the one thing running through Walsh’s head was that one day, he too would serve at their level. Do the mission like none other. Walk through

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 54: Here Be Dragons Part 3

Date Point: 16y2m1w5d AV Camp Tebbutt Biodrone Internment Facility, Yukon-Koyukuk, Alaska, USA, Earth Ava Ríos “You ever rode a helicopter before, Ava?” Ava jumped, and looked away from the window. She’d been enjoying the view. It was her first trip to Alaska, and the thing that struck her as she’d watched the landscape rolling by

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 54: Here Be Dragons Part 2

Date Point: 16y2m1w2d AV Gaoian embassy, Alien Quarter, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Daar, Great Father of the Gao There was shit to catch up with. Stuff to read, stuff to make decisions on, stuff to be briefed on in case he had to make a decision later… At first Daar did his best to

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Good Training – Survival Part 4

Date point: 14y 2m 1w AV Planet Akyawentuo, The Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Singer “So, if we salt the roots in boiling water with some herbs, and use a very tight…what was the word?” [“Jar,”] Julian said encouragingly. “—And then we boil the whole jar with the lid on loose, so the bad spirits

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Rising Titans – Chapter 49

+10 Minutes The Singer [Vann] stood in the center of the bridge the three-dimensional hologram showing the entirety of his fleet as well as the surrounding space. The cubic formation was going to be tested now, up to this point the only gauge of effectiveness was how [Charles] had reacted to it in simulations. He

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 54: Here Be Dragons Part 1

Date Point: 16y2m5d AV Planet Akyawentuo, Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Xiù Chang Yan was having to explain himself. It wasn’t that the men who’d come out to hunt the Brown One were disappointed, exactly. None of them had been looking forward to the battle at all. They all knew the stories of how many

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 53: The Wild Hunt Part 6

Date Point: 16y2m4d AV Planet Akyawentuo, the Ten’gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Julian Etsicitty Daar caught up with them about an hour after Xiù called ahead to let them know he was coming. A lot had happened in that hour. Yan had laid out his bibtaws in a kind of scent lure, some distance out

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 53: The Wild Hunt Part 5

Date Point: 16y2m3d AV Gaoian embassy, Alien Quarter, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Daar, Great Father of the Gao People who didn’t know Daar all that well thought he had a pathological aversion to Civilized pursuits. Not true at all! Daar had always enjoyed history, writing, and the more subtle arts of courtship, and he

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 53: The Wild Hunt Part 4

Date point: 16y2m3d AV Planet Akyawentuo, the Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Daniel “Chimp” Hoeff Julian had a habit of singing in the woods. Not loud, exactly, and Hoeff wasn’t even sure he was totally conscious he was doing it, but loud enough to hear. Apparently it kept critters from blundering into them that might

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Rising Titans – Chapter 48

+ 7 Minutes 38 Seconds The Canada “Captain, your message?” asked Arik as her Avatar superimposed itself over the main monitor. “Surrender now, call off the fighters and we’ll let you live. Then we can begin to negotiate for an end to this pointless violence.” “That’s it?” asked Arik after a moment. “Unless anyone else

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Good Training – Survival Part 3

Date point: 14y 1m 2w AV “Clan Young Glory,” western unincorporated territories, Gao Sister Naydra Naydra and her fellow Sisters were slowly dying. The “Clan” that had “liberated” them from the clutches of what they now knew were biodrones had decided their honored guests needed “protection.” Their so-called protection consisted of imprisonment. Their “protection fees”

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 53: The Wild Hunt Part 3

Date point: 16y2m3d AV Planet Akyawentuo, the Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Professor Daniel Hurt “What exactly did he say he’s fetching, anyway?” “An M107.” Daniel frowned. Although he’d learned more about firearms in general over the past few years than he’d ever imagined he would, there were times that the people who really “got”

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 53: The Wild Hunt Part 2

Date Point: 16y2m1d AV Chiune Station, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Allison Buehler Allison hadn’t slept well in a couple of nights. It wasn’t that she begrudged Julian and Xiù going offworld, not at all, but it did disrupt the sense of familiarity that made home, well… Home. If she didn’t have her brothers to

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Rising Titans – Chapter 47

+ 30 Seconds The Canada “The Empire ships are now in range of the ACE field!” reported Arik. Stagg grimaced as the ship shook “Activate,” “New contact!” shouted Arik interrupting. “What?” “IFF is identifying the vessel as the HSB Russia, they just exited a spatial rupture directly between us and the Empire fleet!” “Open communications!”

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 53: The Wild Hunt Part 1

Date Point: 16y2m1d AV personal sanctum, Dataspace. Cynosure/Six Data sophonts did not sleep, and thus did not dream. Nevertheless, Cynosure had a recurring nightmare of sorts. When his attention wandered, he found that it almost inevitably alighted on a handful of disturbing subjects. The details varied, as he worried at different aspects of the problems

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Good Training – Survival Part 2

Date point: 14y 7d AV Planet Akyawentuo, The Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Later that day Julian Etsicitty It was approaching mid-day and the day’s morning work had been taken care of. The scouts had come back and reported that the nearby werne had just calved and would need to be left alone for a

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 52: Autoimmune Part 6

Date Point: 16y2m AV Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Daar, Great Father of the Gao “Poor bugger hardly knew which way is up…” Powell grunted, once Wagner was gone. “Who can blame him? His whole crew going violently psychotic on him with no warning, only to be stasis-hopped right into a Corti’s lab being sniffed

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Rising Titans – Chapter 46

9 Years, 6 Months, 14 Days After Eridani Landing Jikse Diana blinked in surprise as the jungle was suddenly lit up by a fantastic reddish glow, glancing behind her towards the city Diana watched as another blast of energy, identical in color to the flash fell from the sky. Unable to see from her vantage

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 52: Autoimmune Part 5

Date Point: 16y2m AV Folctha, Cimbrean, The Far Reaches Julian Etsicitty The house was a mess when Julian got back, which was rare. Nobody in their household was naturally untidy—living on Misfit had driven Allison, Xiù and himself into an ingrained habit of orderliness, and the boys had lived in fear of their father’s belt

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 52: Autoimmune Part 4

Date Point: 16y2m AV Hierarchy/Cabal Joint Communications session #1536 ++Asymptote++: I have bad news. It would seem our new drones are detectable. ++0004++: <Dismay> you’re certain? ++Asymptote++: The force I sent to Cimbrean was captured immediately upon arrival. ++0007++: How? ++Asymptote++: Unclear. The Arutech drones don’t report as concisely as conventional biodrones. The connection is…

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 52: Autoimmune Part 3

Date Point: 16y2m AV The Thinghall, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Gabriel Arés Every civilization needed its icon of executive power. The UK had the black door of Number Ten Downing Street and, somewhere behind it, the Cabinet Room; the USA had the White House, and the Oval Office; Folctha had the Alien Palace. The

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Good Training – Survival Part 1

You may also want to read Pyrophytes in The Deathworlders series. Same story, different angles. Date point: 14y 7d AV Planet Akyawentuo, The Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Professor Daniel Hurt “You want me to read it by next week?” Julian mopped the sweat from his face and bounced loosely in place. “What was it

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Rising Titans – Chapter 45

-7 Hours CHRONT THE CANADA “More contacts!” said Arik as she flashed every monitor on the bridge a bright red. Stagg glanced up at the monitor, “How many more?” “I’m counting!” “You’re counting!?” A grainy image of the approaching Empire patrol vessel was quickly displayed, a small box around it. Additional boxes quickly filled the

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 52: Autoimmune Part 2

Date Point: 16y2m AV Alien Quarter, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Nofl Leemu had become unresponsive. Nofl’s quarantine facility had alerted him after the patient had been anomalously still for twenty minutes, and the reason why became obvious upon a quick inspection of the cell: Leemu was sprawled on his back, staring blissfully up at

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Good Training – April Fool’s

13y 3m 29d AV One-Fang workhouse, Alien Quarter, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Sergeant Regaari (Dexter) of Clan SOR One of the best things about the humans was that they had a springtime holiday dedicated to mischief. Before them, only the Gao could claim to celebrate such a thing and it was one of the

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 52: Autoimmune Part 1

Date Point: 16y2m AV Alien Quarter, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Nofl Nofl’s lab was spacious, but inevitably finite. When it contained an alarming number of alarmed Humans, not to mention one particularly sculpted canine and a Gaoian brownie who was doing his best not to loom at everyone… well, there were times when Nofl

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 51: Anticlimax Part 5

Date Point: 16y2m AV Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Allison Buehler After a lifetime of helicopter parenting, Tristan and Ramsey seemed addicted to every opportunity they could find to do something their mother would have scooted them away from. And who could blame them? Amanda had never managed to get her head around the idea

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Rising Titans – Chapter 44

9 Years, 6 Months, 28 Days After Eridani Landing Deep Space The Russia shuddered again as the engines slowly powered down and the ship slid out of the red blue haze that was the tachyon FTL corridor. James blinked several times trying to clear the haze from his eyes as the regular black background of

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 51: Anticlimax Part 4

Date Point: 16y1m AV Dataspace adjacent to Mrwrki Station Entity The Entity understood the concept of boredom in an academic, abstract way. It could even vaguely summon up Ava’s memories of being bored. But understanding the idea and actually feeling the emotion were two different things. The closest it could get was the sensation of

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 51: Anticlimax Part 3

Date Point: 16y2w AV Air Force One, somewhere over Asia, Earth President Arthur Sartori “…You want to give us a Farthrow generator.” Daar’s image was janky and low-resolution thanks to the vagaries of current wormhole comms, but the audio was a lot clearer now. Technology marched onwards. “It’s loaded up on a train and ready

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Good Training – Pecking Order

13y, 8m AV Operator’s Barracks, HMS Sharman, Folctha, Cimbrean Officer Regaari (Dexter) of Clan Whitecrest “I got an idea, Regaari.” Regaari flicked his ears forward in annoyance. “This again?” “Well, yeah. I gotta win that bet, Cousin!” Regaari duck-nodded wearily. Not long after Daar had received the SACRED STRANGER briefing, he’d sulked off to think

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Good Training – The Champions – Tidying Up

Messier 24 Mission day: 3 Sergeant Daar (Tigger) The third day was always when things settled into routine. Daar didn’t really know why, ‘cuz that was prol’ly some complicated psychology stuff (maybe he should read up?) but he did know how it worked, practically speaking. Daar always pondered morning thoughts like that when he was

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 51: Anticlimax Part 2

Date Point: 16y2w AV Weaver dropship, Gaoian space Sergeant Ian “Hillfoot” Wilde “So in all the excitement, we clean forgot about these things. That’s what you’re telling me.” Champion Meereo made a sound that was half a sigh and half a chitter. “…That’s more-or-less exactly right, yes. We had… well, bigger priorities.” Wilde had to

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Rising Titans – Chapter 43

9 Years, 6 Months, 28 Days After Eridani Landing Bellona “Ready?” asked Alpha from where he sat on top of the Captain’s chair. “I’m good!” said Red from where he sat at the controls for the ship. It hadn’t taken much to convince him to pilot the vessel. James glanced down at his own console

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 51: Anticlimax Part 1

Date Point: 16y AV Yukon–Koyukuk, Alaska, USA, Earth Zane Reid The cold didn’t hurt anymore. At first, it had been like forcing his way through a wall made of knives that cut through his clothes. Zane’s every breath had blinded him as it billowed and steamed in the air, and when he’d experimentally licked his

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 50: Counterattack – Trigger Part 5

Date Point: 16y AV Camp Tebbutt Biodrone Internment Facility, Yukon–Koyukuk, Alaska, USA, Earth Hugh Johnson Snow. Of course, snow in January in Alaska was hardly surprising, and this one threatened to be heavy. At first, Hugh had thought it was probably just an seasonable dusting that’d add a couple of inches to the foot or

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Fight!

I had made my way through the tournament, but most of my matches had been won by the skin of my teeth, and I had only the advantage of being evolved from a pursuit predator to thank for it. Our great endurance had been the one boon that had kept me going, and I was

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 50: Counterattack – Trigger Part 4

Date Point: 15y 10m 1w AV HMS Violent, Rvzrk System, Domain Space The ground battle churned on for days. That was the problem with Hunters. There was no surrender involved, it was a kill-or-be-killed fight where smashing their will to engage in war simply didn’t achieve enough. Any Hunter left alive would just keep murdering

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Good Training – The Champions – Doom and Gloom Part 4

He awoke to a pleasant smell. “…Eggs?” Hoeff detangled himself from Natalie and the sheets and stumbled towards the kitchen. Daar was busy in front of the comparatively little stove and fridge, humming some terrible Gaoian tune to himself. Seriously, their music was like Chinese opera with extra pain. Some Humans liked it, though…but “atonal”

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Rising Titans – Chapter 42

9 Years, 6 Months, 15 Days After Eridani Landing The [Singer] The explosion hit and [Vann] watched at the lights on the main hologram and different panels flashed a blinding white light, before dying and plunging the entire bridge of the [Singer] into darkness. “What were we supposed to do?” asked someone near the weapons

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Infestation

Day 1. I’ve made it on board the human trading vessel! They didn’t detect my presence, and I’ve managed to smuggle myself into their engineering bay, and disguised myself within a cluster of cables! My small, serpentine body makes me indistinguishable from a thin, grayish cable, and the Humans won’t notice my existence until it

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 50: Counterattack – Trigger Part 1

Date Point: 15y 10m AV Camp Tebbutt Biodrone Internment Facility, Yukon–Koyukuk, Alaska, USA, Earth Hugh Johnson Camp Tebbutt wasn’t actually a bad place to live, if you didn’t count the fact that it was essentially a prison for innocent victims. Hugh understood why he was there, and why he couldn’t leave… but after eleven years,

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Good Training – The Champions – Doom and Gloom Part 3

Firth Regaari chittered, “It is difficult to imagine you ‘humbled,’ Righteous.” “Heh,” Firth chuckled. “You do know most of my attitude is straight fuckin’ bullshit, right? Adam and John know why.” Regaari looked over at John, who shrugged massively. “He’s a scary dude. Being ridiculous kinda takes the edge off, y’know?” Regaari duck-nodded. He was

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Rising Titans – Chapter 41

9 Years, 6 Months, 13 Days After Eridani Landing Jikse Moving down the hallway Diana paused at the double doors, carefully she moved forwards into it’s threshold and they slid open. A woman in an orange smock looked up from her Comm for a moment, and then going back to look at it did a

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The Good Samaritan

I felt a white-hot pain in my back as I was stabbed. Once, twice and then three times. I fell to the ground clutching my new openings, and for a moment I couldn’t grasp what had just happened. I had walked through an alley as a shortcut back home, and then suddenly someone had grabbed

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 50: Counterattack – Homefront Part 6

Date Point: 15y9m3w AV Mrwrki Station, Erebor System, Unexplored Space Darcy “Does it seem… different to you lately?” “What?” “The Entity. It’s actin’ different, dude, I swear it is.” Darcy sighed and set aside her work as Lewis sat down. She was sitting drinking a Moroccan Mint tea in the station’s rec lounge, with its

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Rising Titans – Chapter 40

9 Years, 6 Months, 13 Days After Eridani Landing Jikse Popping the restraints off of her legs Diana swung herself off of the table, the two class A’s still in their isolation suits were pounding at the door of the room the three of them were in. “It’s out! Open the door!” shouted the man

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Good Training – The Champions – Doom and Gloom Part 2

Master Sergeant Christian (Righteous) Firth The end of the movie came and the ladies were fast asleep and prolly too tired to head home with any comfort. The other bros were asleep, too, and Firth was tangled up with them pretty good. Oh well, both ‘Base and ‘Horse were heavy-ass sleepers and only danger or

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Hell

Hell. It’s a completely Human concept. The concept of a realm of eternal torture, to which you are sent depending on the whims of one deity or another, is something only found in Human fiction. And it’s not an isolated occurrence. Almost every human culture since the dawn of humanity itself has had it in

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