Our attack on Mars was nothing short of a suicide run, it was unsanctioned by the empire, and we had no aid, no escape route, and no rear guard, but we needed resources, and with the Terran planet Mars being the aggregate of all raw resources within their empire it was an obvious target.
We made a mad dash, pushing our engines to the limit to come out of warp over the planet, suicidal in its own right as it's supposedly impossible to warp to individual planets. And with our warp engines fried, we had no escape if we failed, but if we succeed and got out before Earth heard of this incident we would be victorious, we could rebuild our engines and leave rapidly.
But our first issue arrived the instant we left warp, our guns started firing instantly on the six rings that orbited Mars, ten thousand naval yards a third of them holding complete ships, another third under construction, and the last third purely for intake from other planets. While they interlocked at the center with a colossal space elevator going to the surface.
We couldent see it happen but soon after our shells hit the orbital rings we asumed alarms started to sound on the station as the docked ships began to fire back, even those which were under construction began to fire with the few weapons they had, some of the ships so colossal they touched hulls along their edges where they were docked
It would be suicide to stay and fight each ship, even with our entire navy of eight thousand ships the Terran vessals were almost impervious to our weapons with their shields raised as our conquering empire refused to give us the modern technology they created.
So our ships pushed through, and at almost reckless speeds we crashed through the wall of vessels and defensive stations attempting to get to the surface.
I was on one of the crews that were meant to lead the first assault, even attempting to get to our dropship with how the ship shook and the gravitation fields failed to fight against the gravity of Mars was incredibly difficult. Yet as our vessel leveled itself out in orbit I got to my designated vessel. With the bottom of the ship opening below us as the ramp closed we dropped out falling down to the surface.
The ship barely caught us as we touchdown on the surface even such important things like thruster fule were limited having to use it on a bare minimum as the ships above needed it most.
We charged out with pride in our hearts, we had broken through the greatest wall in the galaxy and landed on the most defended planet, yet as we charged into the red sandstorm we found… nothing.
Our sensors had told us there were hundreds if not thousands of people exactly here, we had hoped to run through this city and take slaves along with resources expecting there to be no defenses on the surface.
As my commander called back up to the ships asking what was going on I couldent help but feel dread, there was nothing on the surface, sure there were hundreds of thousands of warehouses and trillions of miles of tracks ad several billion drones floating around but nothing was alive.
That was till we heard the heavy iron stomping, slowly it got closer and closer shrouded in the dust. It only came into view as a colossal steel foot came down over me.
Jumping out of the way I quickly rolled over to look at the towering beast as the sandstorm finally cleared. None of my allies found the bravery to fire as a hundred towering machines were lined up ahead of us, some as short as 50m tall while the one infront of me was no less than three hundred.
I had heard of these machines, everyone had, titans. But they were myths, stories tossed around by crewmen from whisperings from the bridges of starships, machines that whipped out entire armies, they weren't lumbering monsters but agile beasts that mimicked the human form perfectly.
And that was proven true as the female-shaped machine squatted down infront of me the sound of pistons hissing almost deafening as titanium creaked.
“You invade the dwarven forge of Mars and now you face the students of the gubernator scholae (pilot school), but since you are here you will be perfect target practice, or do you surrender?”
“We do not, you humans and your machines won't scare us… men, raise arms.” our commander shouted at the machines and us. All we could do was look at him as if he was mad, fighting the Titans, even students were crazy. Hell, we were all wondering what kind o madman gives students such machines.
Yet without the commander's voice, it seemed to seal our fate as the machine stood up seemingly not interested in our personal views. We watched all shaking in fear as it drew a colossal weapon from its back holding it in its hand. We only had to wonder what the weapon was for a moment before liquid started to drip from the barrel and a flame sparked on the end of a brass pipe.
“Run for it” I called out as I started to run across the barren landscape. Only a few of my comrades followed me as many were rooted in fear as the colossal titan pointed its weapon towards up pulling the trigger and letting out a colossal ocean of fire. It was a few seconds before the fire touched me that I was able to dive into a cave. Many of my comrades and others I dident know were quickly cut down and erased from existence as the wall of steel removed us from existence. It wasn't an attack as it was so clean and quick it couldent be called that. There were no bodies remaining to take home or burry as I watched the machines step over where I was hiding calmly chasing our lines off the planet and stepping on our landing craft as if they were tin cans crushing them under foot not even shifting or flinching when their fuel and ammunition stores exploded.
I dident even care at that point about my people this attack was suicidal anyway, all I wanted to do was escape, but with nowhere to go all I did was run into the desert.
It wasn't till a few days later when the last of our ships were falling from the sky that the forces of Mars began their search and rescue efforts when I was innately discovered. Now that I sit in a pow camp I can't really say what my future is but at least I've been treated better than we would have the humans. Food for one thing.

What do you think of when you hear the term ocean? Do you think of sitting on the beach, watching the waves hit the land and just feeling good? How you stand in the water and the tides gently enclose your feet and the sunlight reflects on the wide water surface?
Or are you thinking further ahead? Are you thinking about what is really beyond the shore? Are you thinking about what you can't see? Of what lurks deep in the absolute darkness of the sea?
I thought until recently that the ocean was a fascinating place. The sheer size made it, in my eyes, a wonderful place for sea creatures and a whole other world is down there that we can't see with the naked eye.
Originally, I was also planning on doing a job that had to do with the ocean. Not boring jobs like fisherman or captain of a cargo ship, but much more something along the lines of marine biology. After all, I wanted to explore things myself and not just swim around bored on them. I don't have to have a profession for that. I could do it that way, too. However, this desire disappeared long ago after I found the message of my recently deceased grandfather.
He was also a "sailor". At least that's what my parents always called his profession. At some point, he had suddenly stopped doing that and seemed extremely afraid of the sea. We suspected that his long working hours on the high seas simply had a negative effect on his psyche and caused an actually unfounded fear in him. He had also never explained to us why he was so afraid of the sea.
You must know that the house I live in is not a new house. It is the house of my great-grandparents. They built it and we have lived in it ever since. My mother, my father, my little brother and me. The original plan was that the house would be passed down from generation to generation. And we still had tons of old junk lying around in the attic that had probably already taken root there.
Anyway. My mother had persuaded my father to move out of this house. I didn't care if we moved out of that house, because our new house is closer to my friends and to my school. It would only make things easier for me but otherwise not change anything.
On the day of the move, I entered the attic and we moved some of the stuff stored there into the moving truck. My brother had just put away a bag of weird stuff and a small inconspicuous box caught my eye. Since I needed to know if the box and its contents were relevant to our move and should be saved, I opened it and looked to see what was inside. However, I could not find more than a dusty envelope.
Without giving it much thought, I opened it. When I read the first line, I was puzzled.
"My dear family, if you are reading this letter, either I have died or you have actually gone through with leaving this house..."
I didn't read any further, as the "dear family" confused me a bit. My eyes wandered to the foot of the letter. Signed by my grandfather was "Love, your grandfather."
I started to grin and looked behind me to make sure no one saw me. I suspected they were just my grandfather's farewell words prepared long before and wanted to be the first to read them. I folded the paper and put it in my pocket. I brought the rest of the things from the attic downstairs and we drove off to our new home. In the evening I fell into the bed that was in my new freshly decorated room, completely exhausted.
As I threw myself on the bed, I noticed the folded paper in my pocket. I pulled it out and noticed that it had become somewhat crumpled in my pants pocket over the course of the day. Fortunately, it was still easy to read everything. So no big deal. I rubbed my eyes again, yawned, and then turned my gaze to the unfolded page.
"My dear family, if you are reading this letter, either I have died or you have actually managed to leave this house. Or both.
I have left it up to fate when this information reaches the light of day. Once the information reaches the light of day, it should be ready to be received. I want to emphasize at the outset that none of what I am telling you here are figments of my imagination. I am tired of these confused looks from my children and I just need to somehow get rid of what happened to me. Writing this down currently feels like the only solution.
Where do I start? I was the assistant officer of a large transport ship in 1957. Our goal was to transport toxic substances such as sulfuric acid, cyanide, nitroglycerin and many other substances. We stored these substances in a special storage room on the ship, which could only be entered with protective suits. The cargo was very dangerous, so three times a day someone had to check the situation in this room. It had to be ensured that the substances did not come into contact with each other and that no substance escaped uncontrolled.
Although I was second officer, my help was seldom called upon because the chief officer always emphasized that he had everything under control. This did not bother me. On the contrary! It gave me the opportunity to perceive this transport as a real vacation. I could lean back and let the first officer do his job. And yet I still had authority over the rest of the crew. No, not that I would ever abuse the power I had. But I felt powerful nonetheless.
I spent most of my time in my cabin, attending to isolated crew matters, but otherwise didn't have much to do. I finished my daily work so early that I could relax early in the afternoon, and even before the night when everything went downhill, I went to bed early. I only got rid of my shoes. I left the rest of my uniform on. I closed my eyes and shortly thereafter sank into the realm of dreams.
I was rudely awakened by a member of the deck crew. He was visibly in stress. Bathed in sweat and with a worried expression on his face, he shook me awake.
"Wake up! There's an emergency!" he stuttered. I exhaled a little annoyed.
"How can I help you?" I said in a slightly annoyed voice.
"We're not alone on the ship. I went down earlier to check on the cargo. There I found that it had disappeared!" he explained in a somewhat shaky voice.
"When I tried to find a lead for the disappearance, I found a body in the canteen."
I looked at him in disbelief.
"You what? Show me that body immediately!"
I straightened up, put on my shoes and asked him to take me to the corpse in the canteen. Once there, I saw the body of one of the security men. His limbs were stretched out. He was lying on his back. His eyes were staring at the ceiling and his mouth was painfully wide open. It looked so unnatural. I checked the pulse and found that the sailor was right. He was dead. I tried to gather my thoughts and instructed him to sound the alarm.
After he disappeared, I checked the rest of the body. I saw deep scratches on the chest and a black liquid oozing from the body openings caused by the scratches. I did not dare to touch the liquid. Shortly after, the deck crew member came back, breathing heavily. He told me that he found the body of the chief officer on the command bridge when he tried to sound the alarm. Furthermore, he said, something had devastated the command bridge and disabled the alarm.
I asked him if he had sent out a distress call to surrounding ships while he was on the bridge. He replied in the negative. I got angry and yelled at him why he didn't do it right away when he was already there.
"Where is everyone else anyway?" I asked him as I grew louder, visibly overwhelmed with the situation.
"I'm sorry, officer. I was already on the lookout for other members of the crew. The doors of all the cabins were open as I made my way through the sleeping quarters. But nowhere could I spot anyone on the way to the bridge," the frightened young man said in a shaky voice.
"What's going on sailor! I demand answers!" I shouted at him.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what happened either. When everyone was already asleep I was simply completing my patrol when I noticed the missing cargo and the body. And then I immediately came to you because your cabin was the closest. I don't know what happened either." he answered me intimidated.
"Then we must assume that we are not alone. Someone must have stolen the cargo and caused the death of our comrades" I said while pulling my pistol from the holster on my belt.
"We go to the command center and send out a call for help. After that, we'll go to a lifeboat until we know what's going on."
The young sailor nodded, slightly uncertain. We walked toward the top deck and finally arrived at the hatch. I lifted the hatch a bit and peered outside. It was pitch black and extremely quiet. The lights on the deck were off. I heard nothing except for the restless waves of the ocean crashing against the wall of our ship. I squinted my eyes, hoping to make out anything, and I could dimly make out a human-looking figure that seemed to have its back turned to us.
Relieved, I was about to open the flap when the figure turned its head to the side and I noticed the extremely wide open mouth of the creature, which was equipped with strange protuberances, one of which I thought was the tongue. At that moment, I can tell it like it is, I almost shit my pants. I was shaking all over and felt like my heart was stopping.
"What's going on officer?" asked the sailor.
"There's something out there!" I whispered in a frantic voice and immediately closed the hatch again.
"We don't enter the command bridge through the main entrance by the top deck, but through the stairs behind the cabins. There's something up there and I'm not going out there under any circumstances," I explained to the sailor.
"What's out there, officer?" the sailor asked in an anxious voice.
"I'll explain as soon as we're safe," I replied, stuttering slightly.
We were making our way to the command bridge when we heard footsteps in the immediate vicinity. And they were getting closer. I wanted to be careful after seeing that thing on the top deck and peeked cautiously around a corner. My breath caught in my throat when I saw what was below deck with us. A strange creature that had taken over the human body of a comrade was walking in this guise towards the canteen and thus, fortunately, past us.
The creature had a human body, but its eyes were blacker than night, on the neck of the human body it had gills, and on its hands it had webbed fingers and regular claws. The mouth also had these disgusting protuberances and the tongue was considerably long. The skin was chalky pale and this strange black liquid was dripping from this thing onto the floor. Along with the footsteps, the thing was making sounds that sounded like a cat hissing. I tried to stay calm and we stayed still and quiet until we couldn't hear the thing anymore.
We then crept to the command bridge and carefully locked the door behind us so that the thing could not follow us. I immediately went to the radio to send a call for help. I paid no major attention to the officer's body.
"Hello? This is Deputy Officer Harper reporting, we need assistance immediately. We found bodies aboard the ship. One in the mess hall and one here on the command bridge. We..."
But at that moment, the lights went out, as did the radio, and my heart began to beat faster. Something had cut the power. My eyes wandered to the sailor who was looking at me worried and scared.
"It's all right sailor, they've probably still heard the most important part. We'll just get to the lifeboats and then everything will be fine," I said in a calm voice, even though I was freaking out inside. I took a deep breath, knowing that we would now have to go outside to get to the lifeboats. We suddenly heard a bloodcurdling scream that I guessed was coming from the lower levels of the ship, and it was clear to me that whatever was on the ship could not have been human.
I opened the door a crack and peered out. I couldn't see anyone. Presumably the things had mostly retreated inside the ship. I made my way outside and pointed my pistol in all directions. Nothing.
I instructed the sailor with a wave of my hand to come out and follow me. He followed my instruction and we tiptoed to one of the lifeboats. But there I remembered that lowering the lifeboats makes a big noise. I instructed him to get into the boat and when he had both feet in the boat, I lowered the boat down. As the boat approached the surface of the water, I heard the screaming again. This time louder and closer and I realized that they had noticed us.
Without hesitation I jumped over the railing into the lifeboat which was about halfway to the surface. Just as I landed on the boat I heard the screaming from above and the windows as well. It was a miracle that my landing in the lowered lifeboat did not seem to have any serious consequences for the boat. The sailor helped me up and we saw the creatures pressing their ghastly grimaces against the window panes and trying to break the glass with their bare hands. When I looked up, where the screaming was also going on, I saw two of the things climbing on the railing and getting ready to jump.
I raised my pistol and fired a few shots at the creatures. The first shot hit one of the creatures in the head, whose lifeless body detached itself from the railing and fell next to us. At that moment our boat reached the surface of the water and we immediately loosened the chains that lowered it and began rowing for our lives. A few of the creatures broke through the glass and crawled through the broken windows.
But we had already been able to put distance between us and the ship as the waves came to our aid somewhat. I breathed a sigh of relief in the hope of having escaped, but when I turned around the sailor looked at me with a broad smile. His eyes were black and gills had formed on his neck. I backed away, startled. He jumped at me and we started a scuffle on the small lifeboat. I tried to grab my gun, but the thing had learned and tried to snatch it from me. A few scratches it landed on me. Thanks to my martial arts training, I managed to overpower the thing, level my weapon, and kill it with a well-aimed shot to the head. Shaking and exhausted, I fell to the ground as the shot cleared and the thing tumbled over the edge of the boat into the sea.
I felt a nauseous feeling come up inside me. I threw up into the ocean and I could feel myself slowly going black. I was about to lose consciousness. I can't quite describe what happened next. It may have been my imagination, because I was about to faint. But shortly before I lost consciousness, I could see two huge white eyes in the water, which opened under the water surface and looked directly at me. Those eyes were gigantic and looked somewhat reptilian. My eyes went black.
I awoke on another ship and received medical attention. When I regained consciousness, the officer of the ship asked me what had happened. I tried to explain it to them. But he just looked at me in confusion and explained that his crew had already searched the ship and they didn't find anyone there. I know I didn't imagine any of this. The scratches I still had were real.
I made this clear to the officer, who looked at me with a very serious look.
"Whatever you saw on the ship. You will tell no one about it. Do I make myself clear Officer Harper?!"
I just nodded. I realized that the officer on the other ship knew something I didn't. I was taken home and made to understand once again that I was not to tell anyone about this incident. This time when I asked why not, the officer stopped, turned his head to me and said in a calm voice, "You saw it yourself."
After that, two of the men took me off the ship. Since the time I am writing all this down, it has been many years and by the time anyone reads this I will probably be dead and then it won't matter if anyone reads this.
So dear family. I know Anthony likes to deal with the ocean, but if you find this letter before he does, which I assume you will, try to talk him out of it. The ocean is an evil place we know too little about.
And I myself would call myself a strong man. And yet it took me years to come to terms with what I saw.
You are now warned. With love, your grandfather."
Thereupon his letter ended. An extreme uneasiness spread through me and I could not believe what I was reading. I think it is unnecessary to mention that I did not sleep that night and also the following nights it was difficult for me to fall asleep. I decided to keep the letter a secret and not show it to my parents. I didn't want to scare them. The dream job of a marine biologist was also out of the question.
Even though what my grandfather experienced at that time seems surreal to me, I see no reason not to believe him. The ocean is a place that is extremely little explored, so I do not think something like this is unthinkable. I believe that my grandfather was telling the truth here and therefore I would like to publish his letter to warn all people about the depths of the ocean.
You never know what might lurk beneath the surface of the water.

Howdy, long time buyer first time seller. Unfortunately SHTF for me financially in the past week due to being furloughed (and will stay that way for some time), and I need to sell of just about everything airsoft related I have bought since the new year. I'm effectively treating my situation as a quitting airsoft thing (if you can count not even playing a single game as being in airsoft) and plan to gradually list more and more as time goes til I'm recalled to work or things go even further south. Unless picked up 2nd hand (will specify if it has been), everything has been a catch and release, nothing has ever been fielded, just plinked around with and fired a few shots to make sure internals were working. Can provide more pics or firing videos if requested. Unfortunately I don't have a chrono, so I am unable to provide up to date FPS measurements. Since I'm cash strapped, prices aren't exactly firm and might not include costs of shipping (been selling on eBay recently, shipping is insane a lot of the time, especially for heavier things like airsoft would be).
https://imgur.com/a/q8kSpn2
OspreyScopes Pistol Red Dot Sight - $90 - great little red dot for pistols. Worked great for my MP5k and I think it would be great for a P90 as well.
KSC CO2 Mini Uzi - $130 - Catch and release from this subreddit, have only had it less than a month. This is for the airsoft version and not the dangerous airgun version. Has seen some use and has cosmetic wear around the charging slide and mag. The mag is boneyard, the feeding lip at the top is chipped and won't feed into the gun. The CO2 casing is dented and the screw is kind of stripped. It can screw back in but not without difficulty. I have been able to test the GBB system since this is open bolt, and man it would be so much fun to use, it does kickback a good bit even from dry firing. As a disclaimer, I do believe the internals of the gun are functioning and that it's only the mag that is causing it to not fire. If you buy this from me, you must understand that if you buy/have a new mag for this gun and it still doesn't fire that I was none the wiser and not my fault.
WE Tech G18C Gen 4 w/ upgrades - $120 - Another catch and release from this subreddit. Includes the gun, extra rear grip, x2 23 rd GG mags. Unfortunately the original post for the gun is gone, so I do not have specifics about what was changed, however I do believe all the internals had been changed before, save maybe the trigger (a trigger was a bit mushy from my experience). The gun shot perfectly before, however the pin for the mag release came undone and I haven't been able to get it back into place, so I'm unable to load it or make a shooting video of this gun. Extended mags are pictured however those have sold and aren't included. I'll toss in a propane adapter as well.
Replica ACOG - $80 - A great repro of an ACOG sight. Fiber optic is in working condition and has a great sight picture for longer ranges.
MAG 130rd M4 Midcap bundle - $70 - A lot of 8 STANAG midcaps in grey, never used, made of polymer. Not separating. Shipping included in the cost since they're lightweight.
*PENDING* Tokyo Mauri SPAS-12 w/ metal folding stock + extra shells - $320 - How about something you don't see everyday, a TM with the folding stock? The stock never had the hook at the end, but otherwise it's all complete. Great shotgun that is one of my favorites. It's practically brand new, however there is some cosmetic wear on the rear sight (from folding the stock over) and around the screw point on the stock. Includes 5 extra shells that are all functional and are different brands than TM, but have a fair bit of cosmetic wear on them.
G&G UMG High Cap mags - $70 - 3 UMG 530 round high cap mags. 2 are coupled together and can't be taken apart. Both of those have some dirt on them, the other mag has some silver sharpie written on it. I'll toss in an adapter for M4 style guns that apparently make these mags work with those.
OD Green gear lot - $200 - Price is for the whole lot. Might separate things if the price is right. Comes with plate carrier, triple pistol pouch, triple 5.56 pouch (open design without velcro), x5 UMP/P90 pouches, x1 admin pouch, x1 large dump pouch, hydration carrier (unused, never put on my mouth), x3 7.62/SCAM14 pouches (2 are still in plastic).
UCP gear lot - $250 - Price is for the whole lot. Might separate things if the price is right. Comes with plate carrier, triple AK pouch, x3 UMP/P90 pouches, x1 large mag holder (might be an admin pouch, it can hold 3 STANAG mags loosely), x1 large dump pouch, knee pads, elbow pads, goggles (full seal around eyes, MICH2000 helmet with UCP cover, beanie.
THE BELOW GUNS ARE GOING TO BE FOR LOCAL PICKUP ONLY. Since I don't expect to have much interest for local pickups, pics and timestamp will be by request. Can travel about half an hour or so from the 40509 area. I would love to be able to ship these, however I have been unable to find boxes that are long and only a few inches tall. If you have any suggestions to find them so I can ship them, I'm all ears.
VFC SCAR-H AEG (TAN) - $400 - fantastic externals and shoots great. Includes 1 tan high cap and 2 (hard to find) black midcaps, 2 rail covers in tan (they are kind of loose), and a foregrip. The gun is catch and release from the subreddit, the midcaps are brand new and never used. They are also official VFC mags and are made of a nice metal.
Golden Eagle M16A4 AEG - $100 - basically a pretty standard entry level gun. Comes with the original battery, carry handle, and 4 black rail covers made by different brands (the length is all the same). I swapped out the pistol grip for something a bit nicer, but isn't top of the line.
G&G F2000 - $300 - honestly this might be my favorite gun externally, the polymer is top of the line. This is the tactical version of the gun, without the fancy scope. There is a bit of sticker residue from those lovely compliance stickers, but otherwise brand new. This is the 2nd gen version where it has an ETU in it.
Cybergun FAMAS - $100 - I think I had this for a couple of weeks now? Is yet another catch and release from this subreddit. It's a pretty nifty gun, and while not higher end like the SCAR, it seems like it would be fun to field. Includes a high cap, a midcap, and the bipod. Has a bit of scuffing on it, but nothing major.
CYMA AK47 CM.050A - $250 - Absolutely fantastic polymer on the outside, and it feels great to hold in my hands and shoulder. Internals seem pretty good too, it's a CYMA after all. Includes a foregrip and waffle high cap mag. The orange flash hider was glued on funny a

Starship Troopers: Extermination (let's call it "ST:Ex" from here on for brevity) is fantastic and way better than I thought it'd be, but this post isn't about that game really, it's about some insights it revealed about Star Citizen ground gameplay and combat.
TLDR - Valk may not be a great dropship, but it is a great exfil ship. Risk/reward ground objectives are a good way to force non-ship combat. Player interactions on the ground can be greatly expanded with gadgets and a few tweaks. Temporary player owned structures could be a good compromise for many of the unknowns about player outposts and raiding.
​

• The Valk's Combat Role may be Slight Misunderstood - There's a lot of frustrations with the Valkyrie in combat scenarios that gets kicked around. Most around 3 things: lack of HP for what it is, large crew demand/low solo-ability compared to competitor ships, and other dropships "doing it better for less." Essentially, why should I use 5 crew to have an effective dropship in battle that carries less, can take less damage, and dishes out less than a Herc can w/ 3 crew?
  • Every ST:Ex match ends with a hectic, sometimes panicked dash for a very Valkyrie-like rescue exfil ship as other players already there desperately try to cover your sprint to the finish line. It made me realize the Valk may not shine as an attack dropship, but it seems far better specialized as a combat rescue/exfil vehicle ("dropship" seems to insinuate deployment). It shines at intaking a large amount of players quickly, and maybe a vehicle or two. Previously, I didn't differentiate - a dropship should be equally good at dropping off as it is picking up, but that just isn't the case in SC. You'd have to be absolutely insane to pack a single Valk with 20 players (+5 crew) and head into battle. The volume of dropseats has confounded me for years until I realized it's not for dropoff, it's for latitude when picking up. Everyone is guaranteed a seat to GTFO at high speeds. Additionally, no other SC ship has the same 360 degree coverage to secure it's own perimeter - that's what the crew demand is for, not fighting off other ships or managing the cargo bay.
  • Prowler and Herc are two main Valk competitors, but they too have their optimal situations.
  • As for HP, the Valk does currently need a big boost for what it is. It'll get it's armor someday.
• Situations that Call for Troops - This is a heavily theorycrafted subject by both devs and fans. What are the conceits that can be built into SC that won't feel arbitrary but will promote a ground game over just flying in? Having a team of Marines isolated on the ground with minimal air support is something that will really, really shine in SC once there's scenarios to promote it. The UGFs will be really nice, but they're akin to a "dungeon crawl." I'm referring to a true open world scenario that requires a squad on the ground working together that wouldn't just be quickly solved with a MOAB or a hovering ship blasting away. A lot of the theories have to do with area denial (storms, environmental hazards, ground shields, or stronger AA turrets), but offering functionality rather than taking it away may work equally well.
  • The missions of ST:Ex offer an interesting take on it: to secure valuable resources, you need to construct temporary resource extractors on the ground and then monitor, defend, and move the resources. Something a ship can't do. A SC ship could cover you in a similar scenario, but (thankfully) ship weapons are awful at targeting personnel. Truly securing a ground perimeter would fall to FPS and vehicles. The only thing we're missing is persistent and challenging ground NPC waves. Even if it was insanely valuable ground mineables within enemy or infested territory, that would work.
• True Ground Combat in SC is PlayeOrg Driven but there's Some Holes - The two big ones are the dynamics for sharing resources among players in FPS combat and area denial functionality.
  • When it comes to sharing resources during a firefight or battle, dropping mags/medpens/whatever on the ground is really the only way to do it on the fly. CIG devs have mentioned functional backpacks in the future that could drastically shift battlefield roles. If someone had an ammo pack strapped to their back that was tuned to be over-stuffed with ammo types (and maybe less functional or not at all for random items) and you could run up to them, interact w/ their pack without asking them to make themselves vulnerable by going into their own inventory, that would be huge. As a quick aside: literally the only practical use for the Drake Mule I've found is putting crates on the racks filled with ammo and driving it along the rear lines of a ground battle. Players can run right up to it, interact w/ crates, and refill ammo.
  • Area denial and battlefield gadgets in SC are also a long time coming. Like many of us, I thought even laser trip mines would be in our hands a long time ago. Everything from smoke screens, color smoke markers (that can be easily seen by air support), throwable/launchable beacons, mines, flashbangs, etc will be of immediate use in FPS. With the many grenade types you can imagine, having drums for the grenade launcher for each type is a very natural risk/reward. The drums are sizeable, the launcher is rare, and if you're bringing nonlethal and functional grenade types, you're already making a weighted tactical choice. Heck, even an underbarrel laser pointer that generates a party marker wherever it's aimed - can you imagine how effective that would be at directing air support?
• Lastly, Temporary Structures - We're all so excited for the day when we can establish our own permanent outposts, but there's some obvious big questions that still arise around that. Is it like Rust and I can be raided when I'm not online? Or will player outposts and towns be like Star Wars: Galaxies and often be perpetually empty, abandoned, and non-interactable?
  • ST:Ex involves the process of easily and quickly building a FOB (Forward Operating Base) that provides strategic advantages, is formidable, but ultimately is meant to be destroyed/temporary. With structure damage being mentioned by SC devs recently, it may be a clever solution to have certain military-aligned player structures be the more raid-able and destructible outpost types, while allowing colonial outposts to be less vulnerable. It would allow for both camps of outpost-oriented players to be appeased: those that want to have a home and not have to worry, as well as players that want the challenge/risk of raids and the associated benefits of securing areas for themselves. This would also (I presume) offer a natural weathering and eventual deletion of abandoned temporary structures, helping servers in the long run. Also, a Pioneer helping dish out a kick ass destructible FOB in no time would really open up it's functionality.

I have a loose plan for this and want to see where it goes.
Chapter 1 - Stranger
When Daglan woke up that morning he didn't see anything unusual. He had awoken from a drop of water falling from the ceiling as he did many mornings. His best friend Rozere was in the kitchen with her father cooking what smelled of eggs. The sun was shining through the cracks in the curtains and holes in the walls as it always did. What felt different? Then he heard voices outside, voices that grew louder and louder. At this point Rozere and her father Koshu had heard the commotion as well and stepped outside to see what it was. Daglan hastily followed suit, after finding his tunic and boots.
Lying on the ground outside was a young man, no older than 25. He lay face up in the dirt wearing only baggy purple pants and a black conical hat covering his face. His long black hair seemed to be tied at the base of his head in a long spiky ponytail, his slender muscular body was covered in dozens of battle scars, and at his waist was a black katana with its sword tied firmly inside its sheath. Almost the entire town had crowded around him, murmuring and shifting anxiously. It wasn't often people arrived in town, mostly just traders on their way to and from Inoris, and that too was a rarity.
"Back now people, give this man some room! And for the love of Reza, quiet!" Barked Doc Silvis as she pushed through the crowd. She immediately knelt down and felt his neck with her fingers. She paused for a moment and gave a very annoyed sigh, slapping away his hat. "He's alive alright. This dumbass is sleeping in the street." She gave the stranger a hard slap across the face, one that would have probably knocked him out, had he been awake. The crowd watched in awe as he yawned and scratched his nose, barely affected by Silvis.
"What should we do?" Someone asked.
"Do you know who he is?" Asked another.
As the murmurs heighted Daglan could tell Silvis was getting fired up, over the years Daglan had gotten to know Silvis quite well, with all his escapades outside the town walls. Daglan knew better than anyone that Silvis hated when a patient ignored her, and more so when she had to repeat herself.
"I said quiet! Don't you lazy bums have more important things to do?! Livani! Koreso! Aren't you two on watch?! Scram the lot of you!" A wave of fear crashed down upon the crowd and everyone began to disperse. All but Daglan, as Rozere pulled on his sleeve.
"Come on Daglan," she hissed, keeping an eye on Silvis like she was some wild animal, "You don't want to make her angrier."
"I'll be fine," he whispered, without looking back, his eyes stuck on the sleeping man. What was this feeling? It was like the feeling he got when Silvis healed his wounds, but not as warm. Almost closer to the feeling he got when abominations were near, when he ventures past the walls, but not as malicious. Before he knew it he was kneeling next to Silvis, watching her run her hand across his body, her hands glowing faintly, his curiosity bubbling.
"He isn't cursed or hypnotized, I can't feel a single thing wrong with him. I do believe this man is really just asleep, and slept through a slap in the face." Silvis sighed. After a few moments she looked at Daglan with a tired smile, then frowned. "Thanks for being quite Daglan, now since you're gonna bum around, get to work hauling this bastard back to my infirmary and don't let him out of your sight. I want to know as soon as he wakes up."
Daglan looked around to ask Rozere for help but she was already gone, how long had he been watching this stranger and Silvas? He looked down at the smiling, snoring face of the stranger, scooped under his arms, and with much difficulty began dragging the older, bigger boy to the infirmary.
The infirmary was quiet today, there hadn't been a major abomination attack in quite a few weeks which didn't happen often. It wasn't long before Rozere came in with a grimace on her face and her fingers on her nose.
"Honestly," she said in that strange nasally voice when you hold your nose, "I hate how much time you make me spend here. Between you getting hurt and my dad making me help Silvas, I can't get away!" She plopped down next to him and sighed. "So what's with this guy? Why are you still here with him?"
"Silvas asked me to watch him and tell her when he wakes up. Apparently I can't let him leave till she talks to him." He shrugged, trying more to convince himself. She eyed him suspiciously, but immediately dropped the subject.
"Did you notice his sword was tied closed? I wonder what that's about?" She reached out and placed a hand on his sword, and just then the weird energy the stranger gave off changed from similar to those of the abominations , to even scarier than anything he'd ever felt from them. Rozere fell to her knees and screamed as the stranger stood over her. When had he stood up?! Daglan shot to his feet, a smile ripping across his face as excitement crackled through his body. He prepared to defend his friend, when just as quickly as the evil energy had manifested, it disappeared. In fact the feeling Daglan had been getting from the stranger had all but subsided completely.
He stared at Daglan and Rozere with a confused look. When Rozere had eventually stopped screaming, Daglan held out his hand to help her up. Daglan’s mind raced with questions but could he do nothing but stare at the stranger as he stared back.
“Uh, hello-” he began and just then Silvas and Koshu burst through the door with Livani and Koreso close behind. Koshu sprang in between Rozere and the stranger, towering over him.
"What did you do to my daughter!" He said through gritted teeth. The stranger scratched the back of his head and opened his mouth when Rozere spoke up,
"It was nothing dad, he just woke up and scared me! Look at me I'm fine, now would you stop!" But Koshu didn't flinch, not until Silvas spoke up.
"Back off Koshu, Rozere is right, she's fine, and this boy is obviously no danger at the moment." He mumbled something under his breath but did as he was told . "Yeah, listen to Silvas and not me." Rozere grumbled, crossing her arms.
"Now listen here young lady, you will show your aunt some resp–" Koshu began but Silvas smacked him in the back of the head.
"Now isn't the time, Koshu, take her and go," she glared at the stranger, who was still smiling awkwardly and scratching the back of his head.
“Everyone out, now.”
"Uh, where am I? He eventually stammered.
"Daglan, out." Silvas said forcefully, without taking her eyes off the stranger. As well as Daglan knew Silvas, he'd never seen her this worked up, not even about the abominations . She was so strong-willed, so much more than anyone else in town. He had heard stories about Silvas, but only bits and pieces around town, probably all made up. Still there was one he heard more than others, he had heard before she lived in Graybarrow she had fought in some kind of war.
Daglan sat outside the infirmary trying to hear as much as he could. Wondering what could have gotten Silvas so worried, and if that man was even human. He could barely hear anything, mostly Silvas's mumbled questioning and the nervous laughter of the stranger. As he sat and pondered, an extremely tall, wide shouldered man sat down next to him and lit a cigarette. He had a long thick mustache that covered his upper lip but came down on the sides past his chin, and scruffy brown hair that stuck up at weird angles.
"Oh, hi Mr.Lucio." Daglan said as he pretended to have not been eavesdropping.
"I haven't seen you in class," he said as he blew out a cloud of smoke, "and I don't often see you hanging around here by choice." He continued to puff his cigarette as they sat in silence.
"Mr.Lucio… I can feel him like the abominations and Silvas's healing. What is he?"
"I'm not sure, from what I've heard he sounds human enough. What do you think?"
"I don't know… I think he's human? But why can I feel him?"
"There must be something similar between him, Silvas's healing, and the abominations from the mountains and forest, hmm?"
"I guess so…" They continued to sit in silence until Lucio had finished his cigarette.
"You can always talk to me if you need help, Daglan. You may like getting experience more, but a little book learning can go a long way." He stood up, pressing his cigarette out between his fingers and putting the butt in his pocket. "It's always good to see you, don't be a stranger." He said as he waved his hand walking away. Daglan thought about what Lucio had proposed, something similar. It didn't seem like Silvas or the stranger would be coming out soon so Daglan decided to go home and see what Rozere thought about all this.
When he did get home both Rozere and Koshu were in foul moods, having most likely fought since earlier. Deciding that he'd rather not be part of that, he grabbed his bag and scurried out the front door before Kusho had time to notice.
It's a short walk to the gate, the guards had patched up his last hole in the wall, but he had since come up with another, more thrilling way. Climbing up to the top of the traders hall, he'd be high enough to jump to the wall once the guards had passed. Then it was a quick jump down and a sprint out of their eyesight before he was able to relax. He walked along a path he knew quite well until he came up on a small ladder, it was built into a tree that led up to a small treehouse.
His exploration headquarters as he liked to call it. The inside was small and filled with trash, and his souvenirs from his adventures sat on a roughly made table. A small Salegitti skull, a broken dagger missing its tip, and a small crystal like rock that shown with faint yellow light. Next to them were three well worn books. He picked up the book titled journal and sat on the ground, scribbling furiously with a small piece of charcoal. He then began to study the other two, older, bigger books. One titled, Abominations of Hel’s Peaks, and the other, Creatures of South Shodun. Mr Lucio was right about book learning, but he liked his own books.
Back in town Rozere was wandering around with her hands behind her head, whistling to herself. “I wonder where Daglan is?” She pondered allowed, before realizing she had stopped in front of Silvas’s office. She stared at the large building with its off-white stone, and massive steel doors. There were various cracks and dents all along the wells and doors, as well as wooden planks over the windows, Silvas called them the clinic’s battlescars, there was nowhere safer to hide in the whole town.
She stared for a long time before realizing there was a man sitting in the grass, a large bottle of alcohol in one hand, and multiple empty bottles sitting neatly by his legs. His long spiky hair was a little cleaner, and the copious amounts of drool were now wiped away. His face was a bright red, and he had a cigarette hanging from his lips. He stared at her with a slight wobble,
“Hey… You're that girl that touched my sword right?” He took another large gulp from his bottle.
“Yeah? What of it?” She asked with defiance, her hands on her hips. He smiled a sickening smile and shot to his feet faster than Rozere could see.
“Why don't you try it again? Or will you simply scream for help? Little girls shouldn’t play with monsters.” He said as he towered over her. “Go ahead.” He lifted his arm in the air so his katana was unblocked. Rozere’s knees began to shake and a lump formed in her throat but she did not look away. She was an ant, and this man was a giant. She wasn't going to back down, but he could stand faster than she could see. Surely dropping his arm even faster would be no problem right? He was right, she wanted to scream, but she stood firm.
“Maybe I will!” She returned his malicious smile and reached out for his sword as fast as she could, bracing for the impact and the horrible crunch of bones as he grabbed her arm and snapped it in half. She flinched as her nerves went off, electric sensations coursing through her fingertips. It's happened! But what she felt wasn't pain, but the hard yet somehow soft grip of a katana hilt. She opened her eyes to see her hand firmly gripping his katana and a much more playful smile somehow even wider across this strange man’s face. He began to laugh loudly as she stumbled backwards and fell. He held out his hand, still giggling a little. She eyed him hard then after a moment smacked his hand away. She stood up, and began to brush herself off, glaring at him all the while. He apologized in between giggles.
“My name is Noboru, you've got quite the spirit to face me down. What's your name kid?” He asked as he sat back onto the grass and took another long swig from his bottle. Rozere straightened up and looked at him with a fiery gaze.
“Rozere of Grayborrow.” She said, crossing her arms. “And you dont scare me!”
“What are you yelling about Rozere?” Silvas asked as she appeared behind her. “You!” she exclaimed as she saw Noboru “Where did you get all of that from!? Rozere give me a hand and throw away these bottles would you?”
“She's already gone.” Noboru giggled. Silvas spun around to see that Rozere had indeed disappeared, as Noboru began to laugh louder. Rozere could hear the slap from across town as she sat against the traders hall. As she pondered just how big a lump must be on the side of Noboru's face, a ball smacked her’s.
“Hey who did that!?” She demanded as she hoped to her feat, tears forming in her eyes, which she quickly wiped away.
“Oh, sorry Rozere! I didn't mean to! Honest!” Said the boy as he ran up and grabbed his ball off the ground before the evil Rozere could kick it away, her foot swishing in the air. The boy was a few years younger than Rozere, had shaggy blonde hair, a tunic that was two sizes too big for him and a pair of round glasses broken in several spots.
“You better be sorry, pipsqueak!” she said, wiping her eyes and now running nose. “I'll have to beat you up if not!”
“Come on give Vilcus a break he said sorry. What are you doing over here by yourself anyways? Daglan run away again?” Said another girl with little blonde pigtails and red cheeks, as she came up behind Vilcus.
“Hi Meska and no he didn't run away again.” Rozere said, sticking her tongue out. “I just think he went for a walk is all… he'll be back… soon!” She crossed her arms and held her chin up. “Well why don't you come play with us until he gets back?” Meska asked, turning around and walking away, “We are playing dodgeball, maybe you can hit Vilcus in the face.”
“Hey nuh-uh! She won't hit me!” Vilcus persisted as he followed after her. Rozere sniffled, rubbed her nose with her sleeve, and smiled.
“Okay fine, but wait up!” She yelled.

As Daglan walked through the trees, he could feel the malicious energies from abominations all around him, it was making his blood boil. He remembered the stranger looking down at him and Rozere, overflowing with the most malicious intent he had ever felt. A smile began to creep across his face once more, as he could feel something close behind him. He spun around to see a creature he had only seen in books, the sight of which excited and terrified him. 

A giant humanoid creature with a long smooth snake-like torso, and grotesquely elongated arms and legs stood before him. It had a small pair of arms on its hips that bounced as if boneless, and a strange human face. Smooth indents of skin sat where the eyes should be, and it had a beak lined with razor teeth that jutted out at multiple angles. It clicked its tongue and sniffed the air then began to lick its beak with what could only be called a smile.
“What should I call you big fella?” Daglan asked nervously as excitement shot through his body. This wasn't like anything he'd ever encountered in the forest, or during attacks. This creature was much more dangerous. He gritted his teeth and forced an equally disgusting smile, even though he was sure the abomination couldn't see him. He pulled out the dagger he had smithed in secret at Koshu’s forge and dropped his stance lower, lower, lower. The creator was clicking and sniffing in anticipation, no doubt it could feel Daglan’s bloodlust.
Daglan took a slow step forward, then another. The creature's head tilted and it sniffed harder, then in a flash that Daglan couldn’t even see, it lashed out, slashing his shoulder apart. Adrenaline had already made its way to Daglan’s brain and he didn't even feel the warm blood soaking into his tunic or notice his limp arm flailing behind him as he attacked. He rolled under the creature’s arm and slashed at its ribs ripping its open sending its guts pouring out. It screamed in pain and whirled around, but its tall body and long arms whizzed over Daglan’s head. He rolled again, this time in between its legs, slashing at its knee, cutting down to the bone. It screamed again and fell to its knees with a gross squishy thud from one. It twitched and spazzed as it began twisting its body around in a disgusting manner.
Daglan approached cautiously, but the adrenaline had worn off and he looked down at his arm. It was almost completely blue, and the little skin and bone that held his arm to his body squirted copious amounts of blood. There was a blur then he was flying through the brush stopping when he thudden into a tree. His eyes began to blur with red, then black. The last thing he heard was a familiar voice...
“You are by far the most interesting of the bunch. Hey, can you hear me?”
When Deglan awoke he was looking at a ceiling he knew all too well. In a bed he had awoken in many times. But this time he couldn't move. “Silvas! What's happening?! Silvas! Rozere!” Daglan began to thrash when he heard that same voice.
“Hey hey hey! You're going to hurt yourself more than you already have!” When standing over him, blocking the light with his conical hat, was the stranger. “That was a nasty creature you were tangling with out there. I heard you like to fight but I'm guessing you've never seen a lasari before? Ugly things, and not easy to kill with small weapons if you don't know how.”
“I do know how.” Daglan said matter of factly, “They have two brains located behind the eye sockets.”
“Oh-ho-ho,” the stranger smiled maliciously, “ but how do you stop them from reproducing after that?” Daglan went silent for a moment. “What do you mean?"
“Lasari have a fun ability to reproduce from their corpse. Specifically, their heart has two eggs inside that will hatch if it ever stops beating. So to properly kill one you must burn the heart.” He laughed and presumably sat back down, out of Daglan’s eyesight. There was a slight pause and Daglan was about to speak when he heard a gasp and the stranger continued.
“Anyway, you almost lost your arm. Luckily, your doctor and blacksmith were able to fix you up, those two are something else. It'll take some time for your bo-” Daglan cut him off.
“What do you mean I almost lost my arm?! What did they do to me?!” He exclaimed, thrashing, memories of his broken and bleeding arm flashing through his mind.
“If you don't calm down, I will calm you down.” He said forcefully. “I hate babies. I thought you were supposed to be a tough kid? Now anyways it's just me and you here, everyone else is asleep, so please. I know you've heard of the metal prosthetics of this country, Metics, I think they're called? I’ve seen people in town with them. Well your blacksmith had to help your doctor make you a new shoulder.”
“So why are you being so helpful? I don't know you, and you feel the same as an abomination.” “See it's things like that!” He shot back up his face noticeably red.
“You're so interesting! I don't remember how I got here…” He scratched his head for a second, “but boy have I had fun since I've shown up!” Your girlfriend Rozere-”
“She's not my girlfriend, and you leave her alone!” He shouted.
“Well she's fearsome! And you’re so interesting too! Definitely the best five year o-”
“I’m twelve. Rozere is thirteen.”
“Well twelve then. Point is, I like you and your little girly friend, so I thought I'd help out and not let you die.” Then it dawned on Daglan, there was no way a search party found him like when he normally gets in a scap and passes. He had thoroughly lost and was deep in the woods. By all accounts he should be dead. Daglan was so angry he hadn't even thought about what happened afterwards.
“It was you. So what do you want from me? Are you some abomination loo-” This time the stranger cut him off.
“My name is Noboru, the handyman.”
“I've never heard of that species.”
“Well I'm not an abomination, I'm a jack-of-all-trades, so to speak. I travel from place to place making money doing odd jobs. Anyways, you remind me an awful lot of someone I used to know. So don't go throwing your life away against such low level trash as the abominations around here.” Daglan began to feel the intimidating malice from Noboru, almost that of when Rozere had touched his sword. “I know you can feel my energy. Unlike the people of this town, save a few, I think you're gifted.” Then it was gone just as quickly as before. “What do you want, Daglan.” Daglan’s blood was fire and his eyes daggers, piercing the ceiling with determination.
“I want to be remembered.”
“So get out of this town and maybe one day you can fight me, and I’m not even the strongest out there. Come… show this world what you're… made of because I for one… can't wait.” Just then Daglan heard a thud followed by an endless cascade of snores from Noboru.
“Would someone get me out of here!”

Bought a brand new motherboard from a popular UK store. Won't say who so I don't break the rules. Double checked and indeed purchased it brand new, not opened box.

motherboard box not sealed

OK so ASUS don't do this apparently

inner cardboard boxes all empty

Huh

all the documentation and (packaged) leads thrown in the bottom

Ok maybe whoever packed it had a bad day

marring / stained cpu socket

Looks to me like thermal paste remover....

marring / stained rear cpu socket

Kinda looks burned?
Can anyone confirm or deny this is a used motherboard before I complain / RMA?
Thanks
https://imgur.com/a/a7EID3M

Note: Links are gonna be posted in the comments, apparently I am disliked by the deities of this website. Also trying out a different approach to editing, feedback appreciated.
Loyalty to the ASS (Actively-Shitposting-Scriptwriters) u/Saint-Andros & u/Killsode-slugcat is mandatory. I thank them for the assistance provided.

{The Snake and the Scrapper}

[3rd of June, 2224] - [Tajara, Serdanisk refugee]
“Welcome to Velatum, friends. Once again I shall remind you. This is not under the jurisdiction of any power, the Free Systems are a loose confederacy. Different planets, even regions, have different laws.”
The pilot was a Cornacchiaris, one of the species that my nation came into contact with.Then immediately went to war with.And what do you know? Nobody won. Actually, the only ‘winners’, technically, were the Free Systems.
The bastards managed to get their own little slice of paradise…that’s why I’m here.
I held my two vestigial arms together, while I held onto a support with my left arm. The ride was rather bumpy, due to the constant cloud-cover and storms that gave this planet its name. Apparently it meant ‘Veiled’ in a dead human language. Oh Well.
I had escaped the habitat I was hatched on to find myself a new life. The Free Systems was just that. Earth and Alari were both no-gos, even though they were all about freedom and equality, the underlying hatred for my species was ever-present. Idraxi was part of the Free Systems, but there was still some Sahlari presence on that planet. Velatum was the only choice for me, it was both populated enough to where it wouldn’t feel lonely, and empty enough to where I didn’t have to breathe someone else’s air every second.
The only downside was the damn clouds. I would be getting barely any sun, and my pale-green tail was going to need it.
The shuttle touched down, and the rear ramp opened, letting us leave the tin-can that is a standard Free Systems shuttle. My objective? A scrapyard owned by one James Walken, apparently the nephew of one of the humans first contact crew.
It was less of a scrapyard and more of a tinkering workshop, as he put it. Frankly, I couldn’t care less. I just need a proper job on this damn planet. ‘Least it isn’t mining.
After an hour of treacherous roads and privately owned infrastructure, I could finally see the sign: ‘Walken Workshop’, with the word workshop being written over what I believe said ‘scrapyard’.
I knocked on the side of the open door.
“Ah hello! Welcome to my workshop. I’ve got some UNO-Standard mags and sidearms on discount right no-”
“I’m here for the job.” I wanted to cut off his sales speech before it even started, but his speaking speed was impressive.
“Oh! You must be… Tajara?”
“Yes, that’s me.” The human was more excited than me, for some reason.
I guess he didn’t have many people working with him?
“Thank you for actually coming in, seriously. I was left on read by other people after they realized they wouldn’t work under UNO jurisdiction.”
“Happens often?”
“Yeah, it does. It’s not that bad here, you definitely have more freedom than in Orion, but I guess the pirates scare everyone away.”
Pirates? Oh fuck, I forgot about that.
“About pirates, what’s their activity around here?”
“Surprisingly little, they only go against UNO and Sahlari vessels, apparently the locals made a sort of privateer pact with them.”
That’s… good? That’s really good!
“That’s nice to hear, I imagine it doesn’t impact business that much?”
“The opposite, in fact. I get some pirate crews who want repairs or modifications to their weaponry and systems. Definitely not the cleanest business, but money’s money around here.”
“I understand.”
Decent enough income… Steady stream of business… Getting to tinker with alien tech? Dear Moons, this really is a paradise!
“Anyways, you didn’t send me a resume.”
Shit.
“That’s because… I didn’t… What in the stars is a resume?”
“Oh. You don’t have those? It’s basically a summary of your past experiences.”
“I kinda… ran away? I could tell you my past experiences?”
“And what are those?”
Don’t mention the military, don’t mention the military-
“Well I have extensive knowledge on the usage of chemicals for sanitary purposes, I am capable of safely handling and connecting high voltage cables-”
“You can clean and do basic wiring. Anything else?”
“No…” Moons, don’t kick me out, please!
“That’s fine. You can be an apprentice, I guess.”
Did he… did he say yes? He said yes! By the Moons, he said yes! I am indomitable-
“You will handle the cleaning first, though.”
Fuck!
“Right.. Right. When do I get started?”
“Is it okay for you to start right now?”
Fuck it, why not?
“Yeah, it is.”
“Great! Cleaning supplies in the back, third door on the right.” I immediately headed to the back, quickly identifying the door and gathering a… bucket and strange stick with very large hairs coming off of it?
“What is this?”
“Oh that’s a mop.” Wha-
He had appeared right behind me, somehow remaining perfectly silent and covering his metallic and oily sce- Metal and oil, that’s the entire atmosphere in this damn place! That’s why I couldn’t smell him!
“Do not scare me like that! What is a mop, and how do I use it?” I quickly shoved the mop into his hands and put my fists on my waist.
“You don’t have mops…?
“Apparently we don’t. What do you use them for?”
“Cleaning the floor?”
“You don’t get cleaning robots to do it for you?”
“Do I look like a guy who owns an army of roombas?”
Huh?
“What the fuck is a roomba?”
“Forget it, why do you not have any mops?”
“I was born on a habitat-station, human. We didn’t have the luxury of letting water evaporate freely.”
“Don’t ‘human’ me, snake. You haven’t even signed a contract yet, I can kick your as-tail out.”
This fucker. I turned, quick as lighting, and nearly smashed into this jackass.
“Listen here, James. Let me make it very clear. No, I didn’t sign a contract, and no, you wouldn’t be able to even get near me without me smashing your head in.” Was that too far? Fuck it, might as well go through with it.
“You waltz in, act like you want a job, then start shit with me-”
“An insufferable little shit, that’s what you are!”
James fell silent. Then he started smirking.
“You’re hired.”
What?
“Huh?”
“Can’t have an employee who can’t back up their words, welcome to the workshop.”
Is this human serious?
“I… don’t get it?”
“Neither do I. Now all you have to do, is pour that cleaning solution into the bucket with some water, put the mop inside, then start cleaning. Don’t drench it too much, though.”
As the human, James, went back to… whatever he was doing, I started actually cleaning the floor. After two hours, that floor was spotless. There isn’t even a ship's radiator as shiny as that.
“I… am the best janitor this side of the Systems.”
“Don’t get too cocky, now.” He appeared behind me, again.
“Oh fuck off!”

So I recently changed the rear rotors and brake pads on my suv. After installing the new parts, my car was running and braking fine , after a short test around the neighborhood.
After my first time taking the car out on a longer drive, I came back to find the car not budging (yes, the E-brake was off). Any advice? I can tell it’s the rear passenger tire as it left a small tire streak when I tried forcing the car forward in drive.
I suspect it has to do something with the caliper pins or piston. I may have not pushed back the piston for that caliper 100% and I had trouble putting the pins back in.

Chapter 1 - Stranger
When Daglan woke up that morning he didn't see anything unusual. He had awoken from a drop of water falling from the ceiling as he did many mornings. His best friend Rozere was in the kitchen with her father cooking what smelled of eggs. The sun was shining through the cracks in the curtains and holes in the walls as it always did. What felt different? Then he heard voices outside, voices that grew louder and louder. At this point Rozere and her father Koshu had heard the commotion as well and stepped outside to see what it was. Daglan hastily followed suit, after finding his tunic and boots.
Lying on the ground outside was a young man, no older than 25. He lay face up in the dirt wearing only baggy purple pants and a black conical hat covering his face. His long black hair seemed to be tied at the base of his head in a long spiky ponytail, his slender muscular body was covered in dozens of battle scars, and at his waist was a black katana with its sword tied firmly inside its sheath. Almost the entire town had crowded around him, murmuring and shifting anxiously. It wasn't often people arrived in town, mostly just traders on their way to and from Inoris, and that too was a rarity.
"Back now people, give this man some room! And for the love of Reza, quiet!" Barked Doc Silvis as she pushed through the crowd. She immediately knelt down and felt his neck with her fingers. She paused for a moment and gave a very annoyed sigh, slapping away his hat. "He's alive alright. This dumbass is sleeping in the street." She gave the stranger a hard slap across the face, one that would have probably knocked him out, had he been awake. The crowd watched in awe as he yawned and scratched his nose, barely affected by Silvis.
"What should we do?" Someone asked.
"Do you know who he is?" Asked another.
As the murmurs heighted Daglan could tell Silvis was getting fired up, over the years Daglan had gotten to know Silvis quite well, with all his escapades outside the town walls. Daglan knew better than anyone that Silvis hated when a patient ignored her, and more so when she had to repeat herself.
"I said quiet! Don't you lazy bums have more important things to do?! Livani! Koreso! Aren't you two on watch?! Scram the lot of you!" A wave of fear crashed down upon the crowd and everyone began to disperse. All but Daglan, as Rozere pulled on his sleeve.
"Come on Daglan," she hissed, keeping an eye on Silvis like she was some wild animal, "You don't want to make her angrier."
"I'll be fine," he whispered, without looking back, his eyes stuck on the sleeping man. What was this feeling? It was like the feeling he got when Silvis healed his wounds, but not as warm. Almost closer to the feeling he got when abominations were near, when he ventures past the walls, but not as malicious. Before he knew it he was kneeling next to Silvis, watching her run her hand across his body, her hands glowing faintly, his curiosity bubbling.
"He isn't cursed or hypnotized, I can't feel a single thing wrong with him. I do believe this man is really just asleep, and slept through a slap in the face." Silvis sighed. After a few moments she looked at Daglan with a tired smile, then frowned. "Thanks for being quite Daglan, now since you're gonna bum around, get to work hauling this bastard back to my infirmary and don't let him out of your sight. I want to know as soon as he wakes up."
Daglan looked around to ask Rozere for help but she was already gone, how long had he been watching this stranger and Silvas? He looked down at the smiling, snoring face of the stranger, scooped under his arms, and with much difficulty began dragging the older, bigger boy to the infirmary.
The infirmary was quiet today, there hadn't been a major abomination attack in quite a few weeks which didn't happen often. It wasn't long before Rozere came in with a grimace on her face and her fingers on her nose.
"Honestly," she said in that strange nasally voice when you hold your nose, "I hate how much time you make me spend here. Between you getting hurt and my dad making me help Silvas, I can't get away!" She plopped down next to him and sighed. "So what's with this guy? Why are you still here with him?"
"Silvas asked me to watch him and tell her when he wakes up. Apparently I can't let him leave till she talks to him." He shrugged, trying more to convince himself. She eyed him suspiciously, but immediately dropped the subject.
"Did you notice his sword was tied closed? I wonder what that's about?" She reached out and placed a hand on his sword, and just then the weird energy the stranger gave off changed from similar to those of the abominations , to even scarier than anything he'd ever felt from them. Rozere fell to her knees and screamed as the stranger stood over her. When had he stood up?! Daglan shot to his feet, a smile ripping across his face as excitement crackled through his body. He prepared to defend his friend, when just as quickly as the evil energy had manifested, it disappeared. In fact the feeling Daglan had been getting from the stranger had all but subsided completely.
He stared at Daglan and Rozere with a confused look. When Rozere had eventually stopped screaming, Daglan held out his hand to help her up. Daglan’s mind raced with questions but could he do nothing but stare at the stranger as he stared back.
“Uh, hello-” he began and just then Silvas and Koshu burst through the door with Livani and Koreso close behind. Koshu sprang in between Rozere and the stranger, towering over him.
"What did you do to my daughter!" He said through gritted teeth. The stranger scratched the back of his head and opened his mouth when Rozere spoke up,
"It was nothing dad, he just woke up and scared me! Look at me I'm fine, now would you stop!" But Koshu didn't flinch, not until Silvas spoke up.
"Back off Koshu, Rozere is right, she's fine, and this boy is obviously no danger at the moment." He mumbled something under his breath but did as he was told . "Yeah, listen to Silvas and not me." Rozere grumbled, crossing her arms.
"Now listen here young lady, you will show your aunt some resp–" Koshu began but Silvas smacked him in the back of the head.
"Now isn't the time, Koshu, take her and go," she glared at the stranger, who was still smiling awkwardly and scratching the back of his head.
“Everyone out, now.”
"Uh, where am I? He eventually stammered.
"Daglan, out." Silvas said forcefully, without taking her eyes off the stranger. As well as Daglan knew Silvas, he'd never seen her this worked up, not even about the abominations . She was so strong-willed, so much more than anyone else in town. He had heard stories about Silvas, but only bits and pieces around town, probably all made up. Still there was one he heard more than others, he had heard before she lived in Graybarrow she had fought in some kind of war.
Daglan sat outside the infirmary trying to hear as much as he could. Wondering what could have gotten Silvas so worried, and if that man was even human. He could barely hear anything, mostly Silvas's mumbled questioning and the nervous laughter of the stranger. As he sat and pondered, an extremely tall, wide shouldered man sat down next to him and lit a cigarette. He had a long thick mustache that covered his upper lip but came down on the sides past his chin, and scruffy brown hair that stuck up at weird angles.
"Oh, hi Mr.Lucio." Daglan said as he pretended to have not been eavesdropping.
"I haven't seen you in class," he said as he blew out a cloud of smoke, "and I don't often see you hanging around here by choice." He continued to puff his cigarette as they sat in silence.
"Mr.Lucio… I can feel him like the abominations and Silvas's healing. What is he?"
"I'm not sure, from what I've heard he sounds human enough. What do you think?"
"I don't know… I think he's human? But why can I feel him?"
"There must be something similar between him, Silvas's healing, and the abominations from the mountains and forest, hmm?"
"I guess so…" They continued to sit in silence until Lucio had finished his cigarette.
"You can always talk to me if you need help, Daglan. You may like getting experience more, but a little book learning can go a long way." He stood up, pressing his cigarette out between his fingers and putting the butt in his pocket. "It's always good to see you, don't be a stranger." He said as he waved his hand walking away. Daglan thought about what Lucio had proposed, something similar. It didn't seem like Silvas or the stranger would be coming out soon so Daglan decided to go home and see what Rozere thought about all this.
When he did get home both Rozere and Koshu were in foul moods, having most likely fought since earlier. Deciding that he'd rather not be part of that, he grabbed his bag and scurried out the front door before Kusho had time to notice.
It's a short walk to the gate, the guards had patched up his last hole in the wall, but he had since come up with another, more thrilling way. Climbing up to the top of the traders hall, he'd be high enough to jump to the wall once the guards had passed. Then it was a quick jump down and a sprint out of their eyesight before he was able to relax. He walked along a path he knew quite well until he came up on a small ladder, it was built into a tree that led up to a small treehouse.
His exploration headquarters as he liked to call it. The inside was small and filled with trash, and his souvenirs from his adventures sat on a roughly made table. A small Salegitti skull, a broken dagger missing its tip, and a small crystal like rock that shown with faint yellow light. Next to them were three well worn books. He picked up the book titled journal and sat on the ground, scribbling furiously with a small piece of charcoal. He then began to study the other two, older, bigger books. One titled, Abominations of Hel’s Peaks, and the other, Creatures of South Shodun. Mr Lucio was right about book learning, but he liked his own books.
Back in town Rozere was wandering around with her hands behind her head, whistling to herself. “I wonder where Daglan is?” She pondered allowed, before realizing she had stopped in front of Silvas’s office. She stared at the large building with its off-white stone, and massive steel doors. There were various cracks and dents all along the wells and doors, as well as wooden planks over the windows, Silvas called them the clinic’s battlescars, there was nowhere safer to hide in the whole town.
She stared for a long time before realizing there was a man sitting in the grass, a large bottle of alcohol in one hand, and multiple empty bottles sitting neatly by his legs. His long spiky hair was a little cleaner, and the copious amounts of drool were now wiped away. His face was a bright red, and he had a cigarette hanging from his lips. He stared at her with a slight wobble,
“Hey… You're that girl that touched my sword right?” He took another large gulp from his bottle.
“Yeah? What of it?” She asked with defiance, her hands on her hips. He smiled a sickening smile and shot to his feet faster than Rozere could see.
“Why don't you try it again? Or will you simply scream for help? Little girls shouldn’t play with monsters.” He said as he towered over her. “Go ahead.” He lifted his arm in the air so his katana was unblocked. Rozere’s knees began to shake and a lump formed in her throat but she did not look away. She was an ant, and this man was a giant. She wasn't going to back down, but he could stand faster than she could see. Surely dropping his arm even faster would be no problem right? He was right, she wanted to scream, but she stood firm.
“Maybe I will!” She returned his malicious smile and reached out for his sword as fast as she could, bracing for the impact and the horrible crunch of bones as he grabbed her arm and snapped it in half. She flinched as her nerves went off, electric sensations coursing through her fingertips. It's happened! But what she felt wasn't pain, but the hard yet somehow soft grip of a katana hilt. She opened her eyes to see her hand firmly gripping his katana and a much more playful smile somehow even wider across this strange man’s face. He began to laugh loudly as she stumbled backwards and fell. He held out his hand, still giggling a little. She eyed him hard then after a moment smacked his hand away. She stood up, and began to brush herself off, glaring at him all the while. He apologized in between giggles.
“My name is Noboru, you've got quite the spirit to face me down. What's your name kid?” He asked as he sat back onto the grass and took another long swig from his bottle. Rozere straightened up and looked at him with a fiery gaze.
“Rozere of Grayborrow.” She said, crossing her arms. “And you dont scare me!”
“What are you yelling about Rozere?” Silvas asked as she appeared behind her. “You!” she exclaimed as she saw Noboru “Where did you get all of that from!? Rozere give me a hand and throw away these bottles would you?”
“She's already gone.” Noboru giggled. Silvas spun around to see that Rozere had indeed disappeared, as Noboru began to laugh louder. Rozere could hear the slap from across town as she sat against the traders hall. As she pondered just how big a lump must be on the side of Noboru's face, a ball smacked her’s.
“Hey who did that!?” She demanded as she hoped to her feat, tears forming in her eyes, which she quickly wiped away.
“Oh, sorry Rozere! I didn't mean to! Honest!” Said the boy as he ran up and grabbed his ball off the ground before the evil Rozere could kick it away, her foot swishing in the air. The boy was a few years younger than Rozere, had shaggy blonde hair, a tunic that was two sizes too big for him and a pair of round glasses broken in several spots.
“You better be sorry, pipsqueak!” she said, wiping her eyes and now running nose. “I'll have to beat you up if not!”
“Come on give Vilcus a break he said sorry. What are you doing over here by yourself anyways? Daglan run away again?” Said another girl with little blonde pigtails and red cheeks, as she came up behind Vilcus.
“Hi Meska and no he didn't run away again.” Rozere said, sticking her tongue out. “I just think he went for a walk is all… he'll be back… soon!” She crossed her arms and held her chin up. “Well why don't you come play with us until he gets back?” Meska asked, turning around and walking away, “We are playing dodgeball, maybe you can hit Vilcus in the face.”
“Hey nuh-uh! She won't hit me!” Vilcus persisted as he followed after her. Rozere sniffled, rubbed her nose with her sleeve, and smiled.
“Okay fine, but wait up!” She yelled.

As Daglan walked through the trees, he could feel the malicious energies from abominations all around him, it was making his blood boil. He remembered the stranger looking down at him and Rozere, overflowing with the most malicious intent he had ever felt. A smile began to creep across his face once more, as he could feel something close behind him. He spun around to see a creature he had only seen in books, the sight of which excited and terrified him. 

A giant humanoid creature with a long smooth snake-like torso, and grotesquely elongated arms and legs stood before him. It had a small pair of arms on its hips that bounced as if boneless, and a strange human face. Smooth indents of skin sat where the eyes should be, and it had a beak lined with razor teeth that jutted out at multiple angles. It clicked its tongue and sniffed the air then began to lick its beak with what could only be called a smile.
“What should I call you big fella?” Daglan asked nervously as excitement shot through his body. This wasn't like anything he'd ever encountered in the forest, or during attacks. This creature was much more dangerous. He gritted his teeth and forced an equally disgusting smile, even though he was sure the abomination couldn't see him. He pulled out the dagger he had smithed in secret at Koshu’s forge and dropped his stance lower, lower, lower. The creator was clicking and sniffing in anticipation, no doubt it could feel Daglan’s bloodlust.
Daglan took a slow step forward, then another. The creature's head tilted and it sniffed harder, then in a flash that Daglan couldn’t even see, it lashed out, slashing his shoulder apart. Adrenaline had already made its way to Daglan’s brain and he didn't even feel the warm blood soaking into his tunic or notice his limp arm flailing behind him as he attacked. He rolled under the creature’s arm and slashed at its ribs ripping its open sending its guts pouring out. It screamed in pain and whirled around, but its tall body and long arms whizzed over Daglan’s head. He rolled again, this time in between its legs, slashing at its knee, cutting down to the bone. It screamed again and fell to its knees with a gross squishy thud from one. It twitched and spazzed as it began twisting its body around in a disgusting manner.
Daglan approached cautiously, but the adrenaline had worn off and he looked down at his arm. It was almost completely blue, and the little skin and bone that held his arm to his body squirted copious amounts of blood. There was a blur then he was flying through the brush stopping when he thudden into a tree. His eyes began to blur with red, then black. The last thing he heard was a familiar voice...
“You are by far the most interesting of the bunch. Hey, can you hear me?”
When Deglan awoke he was looking at a ceiling he knew all too well. In a bed he had awoken in many times. But this time he couldn't move. “Silvas! What's happening?! Silvas! Rozere!” Daglan began to thrash when he heard that same voice.
“Hey hey hey! You're going to hurt yourself more than you already have!” When standing over him, blocking the light with his conical hat, was the stranger. “That was a nasty creature you were tangling with out there. I heard you like to fight but I'm guessing you've never seen a lasari before? Ugly things, and not easy to kill with small weapons if you don't know how.”
“I do know how.” Daglan said matter of factly, “They have two brains located behind the eye sockets.”
“Oh-ho-ho,” the stranger smiled maliciously, “ but how do you stop them from reproducing after that?” Daglan went silent for a moment. “What do you mean?"
“Lasari have a fun ability to reproduce from their corpse. Specifically, their heart has two eggs inside that will hatch if it ever stops beating. So to properly kill one you must burn the heart.” He laughed and presumably sat back down, out of Daglan’s eyesight. There was a slight pause and Daglan was about to speak when he heard a gasp and the stranger continued.
“Anyway, you almost lost your arm. Luckily, your doctor and blacksmith were able to fix you up, those two are something else. It'll take some time for your bo-” Daglan cut him off.
“What do you mean I almost lost my arm?! What did they do to me?!” He exclaimed, thrashing, memories of his broken and bleeding arm flashing through his mind.
“If you don't calm down, I will calm you down.” He said forcefully. “I hate babies. I thought you were supposed to be a tough kid? Now anyways it's just me and you here, everyone else is asleep, so please. I know you've heard of the metal prosthetics of this country, Metics, I think they're called? I’ve seen people in town with them. Well your blacksmith had to help your doctor make you a new shoulder.”
“So why are you being so helpful? I don't know you, and you feel the same as an abomination.” “See it's things like that!” He shot back up his face noticeably red.
“You're so interesting! I don't remember how I got here…” He scratched his head for a second, “but boy have I had fun since I've shown up!” Your girlfriend Rozere-”
“She's not my girlfriend, and you leave her alone!” He shouted.
“Well she's fearsome! And you’re so interesting too! Definitely the best five year o-”
“I’m twelve. Rozere is thirteen.”
“Well twelve then. Point is, I like you and your little girly friend, so I thought I'd help out and not let you die.” Then it dawned on Daglan, there was no way a search party found him like when he normally gets in a scap and passes. He had thoroughly lost and was deep in the woods. By all accounts he should be dead. Daglan was so angry he hadn't even thought about what happened afterwards.
“It was you. So what do you want from me? Are you some abomination loo-” This time the stranger cut him off.
“My name is Noboru, the handyman.”
“I've never heard of that species.”
“Well I'm not an abomination, I'm a jack-of-all-trades, so to speak. I travel from place to place making money doing odd jobs. Anyways, you remind me an awful lot of someone I used to know. So don't go throwing your life away against such low level trash as the abominations around here.” Daglan began to feel the intimidating malice from Noboru, almost that of when Rozere had touched his sword. “I know you can feel my energy. Unlike the people of this town, save a few, I think you're gifted.” Then it was gone just as quickly as before. “What do you want, Daglan.” Daglan’s blood was fire and his eyes daggers, piercing the ceiling with determination.
“I want to be remembered.”
“So get out of this town and maybe one day you can fight me, and I’m not even the strongest out there. Come… show this world what you're… made of because I for one… can't wait.” Just then Daglan heard a thud followed by an endless cascade of snores from Noboru.
“Would someone get me out of here!”

Devil found the Aurora, he was looking for a fight He just came back from Georgia after a deal that didn't go right he came across an immortal playin' a harmonica and playing it well now the devil bent into the vent and said "Boy, you're bound for hell" "I guess you don't quite know me, but I know of you, And I'm a real captain and harmonica player too but I'll lead you to a city so old with sins untold if I can't play better than you."
The mate said "Fuck you Mr! I am the captain, but let's make it a bet, you might regret, 'cause I won't let you win" Johnny clean your comb and play your music well a new devil’s on aurora and he knows a planet that’s like hell and if you win you’ll find new tales to be told and if you lose he won’t leave you whole
the devil opened up his case and said “I’ll start this show” and smoke came from his nostrils, as he prepared to blow he put the organ to his lips and made an evil hiss and some stowaways joined and it sounded something like this: [Insert awesome harmonica resembling once upon a time in the west]
Jonny said, “well, you’re fucking good old scratch but sit in that chair right there by the maintenance hatch”
Johnny played battle at dolores, run stones run jack’s in the house of the rising sun Empty trails beneath steel skies Tim’s gone crazy, Lenny’s gonna die
and the devil laughed although he had been beat and dropped a map right down at jonny’s feet Jonny said “this was fun I just might try again, and I told you glorified mate once I am the captain”
FIRST MATE!

Slightly longer one here, I think I like them this length. Anyway, as always, thanks for reading! :)
---
“I am unsure Miss,” Ton'et's central body turned somewhat and look of deep thought came over them, “wait… we’ve established that these three are not party with these Tinsne. They are wearing habsuits and have died more recently. At this time we have two questions. One, Where did these three come from? And two, What was that disturbance?” They looked at Penelope.
“…I’m not sure I’m following.”
“I’m suggesting that these two questions may have the same answer. The sound and jostling correspond with an airlock alignment and clamping sequence. I believe we have been just boarded by whoever sent these three here.”
“… Shit.”
“An apt Terran expletive.”
Ton’et noticed the human’s eyes tarry on the weapons crates but was surprised when she instead stood and moved to the doorway.
“Can’t do anything from here. Follow behind me and we`ll see what we’re dealing with. If something happens just hide and stay down.” Penelope let out a hollow chuckle.
“An expression of amusement? Why?” Ton’et asked as they moved to the airlock.
“Well, you wanted firsthand data on human biology, right? It looks like you’re gonna get it.” she said, moving to the door.
“I see… not quite what I had in mind Miss…”
Penelope gave Ton’et a wry smile as she waited for them to take a position behind the lip of the door. Pressing the button, the doors slid opened quickly but no one waited for them in the airlock itself and the doors to the Blue Nebula wouldn’t unlock until the outer door was closed. As such, the two moved in and again took up positions. Penelope at the door and Ton’et behind cover.
This time Penelope waited. Moving the side of her head up against the door and pausing for a moment. She then repeated the odd action lower on the door.
“What are you doing Miss Penelope?” Ton’et asked.
Penelope tapped the fleshy protrusions on her head, “Listening. There’s something mechanical on the other side of the door.”
“How can you… questions for later. It’s most likely a frame. There’s nowhere near enough folks turning to piracy to fill a crew so its not uncommon to see them using mechanical assistants.”
“Great…”
Really? Robots?
A focus came over the human as she motioned for Ton’et to stay down. It almost scared them how her face changed expression. There was no smile anymore, and the eyes took on a deadly seriousness. They shuddered to think of themselves on the receiving end of this aura.
Having noted her companion’s hidden position Penelope took a deep breath and opened the door.
In an instant, it slid open and her target was in front of her. A machine about half her height with three leg-like appendages supporting a round body and atop that a cylindrical shaped head. A lens was looking down the hall to the cargo bay before it quickly refocused on the large creature surging forward from the airlock. A small laser weapon deployed from body but it had no time to fire as Penelope’s left hand gripped its head, lifted it into the air, and slammed it into the opposite wall.
Penelope had apparently used enough force to crush the thing’s head entirely as its body detached and fell to the floor. The shattered head only remained due to Penelope’s grip.
Oh… well then, that was…
“Huh… I honestly thought that it would be a bit more durable.” She said as she looked at the crushed cylinder in her hand and then let it drop to the ground.
After a brief moment of shock Ton’et produced their datapad and began taking notes. Penelope noted that the rest of the corridor was clear and began making her way to the bridge.
“Bridge first, hopefully we can get a good idea of what we’re up against… and where everyone is.”
Ton’et made a gesture mimicking a nod and followed at a distance.
Reaching the turn in the corridor, Penelope peeked around the corner and saw that the bridge doors were wide open. It wasn’t a great angle, but she could see one frame of similar design past the open doors. Holding out a hand she motioned for Ton’et to stay put.
Ton’et was again surprised and made note of the near silence with which Penelope dropped low to the ground and made her way to the open bridge door. What was one frame from the angle of the corner revealed itself to be two frames and an alien in a familiar style habsuit.
Penelope was used to perfectly controlling her movements in regular gravity and with the ship operating on half that norm it was almost nothing to move with speed and silence. She moved past the first frame she’d seen which was evaluating the security console. Making sure not to alert that frame she moved up behind the alien and the frame it stood next to. They were apparently attempting to slice the console attached to Captain Deag’s chair. This task seemingly so engrossing that neither noticed Penelope taking a position directly behind them.
In a flash of motion she grabbed the alien by its habsuit with her left hand and the frame by its head with her right. In one fell motion she crushed the frame and whipped its body across the bridge into the second frame destroying them both. She turned the aliens face towards the pile of frame parts and then back to her.
“Call for help and I promise you, that habsuit wont even slow me down. Understand?” she said with a deathly growl, staring into its eye.
It began to shake in the suit and uttered a single wilting, “…yes.”
“Good. Now, you’re gonna answer some questions for me.”
Ton’et barely watched where they were walking as they moved onto the bridge. Tapping away at the data pad and muttering to themselves.
“Inquire about limits of superb strength. Inquire about ability to move silently despite size. Inquire about ability to launch objects at speed and with accuracy.” They continued as they moved into a corner and sat down.
The alien in Penelope’s grip noticed Ton’et but did nothing but shake in fear and wait for the questions.
“First. How many of you are there?” Her tone was cool and controlled.
“Five total now, thing on other ship got Mol, Vardin, and Eiggia. More frames. Me here, three others should be in cargo bay with your people, frames too. One left on our ship. Please don’t kill me.”
“Cooperate and I won’t harm a hair on your…” she noticed it was seemingly hairless, “Look, talk and you’ll be fine. Deal?”
It made a gesture that Penelope assumed was equivalent to a nod.
“Excellent. How many frames? And is everyone using energy weapons?”
“Ehrm, seven frames and…” It seemed to be confused about the second question, “energy weapons… yes? I am the only one not armed.”
“Last question. You have a means of communicating with your friends?”
The alien’s eye tarried to a belt on its suit. Hooked on it was a small round device.
“This?” Penelope grabbed the thing and held it up.
“Yes. Touch screen, speak.” It offered.
“No need.” She responded as she crushed it in her grip and let the pieces fall to the ground.
The alien made a kind of buzzing noise as it looked down at the crushed commlink.
“Now,” Penelope continued as she moved to a corner of the bridge, “you’re going to sit in this corner and do absolutely nothing because you know that if you try anything there is nowhere you can run that I cannot get to you, yes?”
It enthusiastically made its equivalent of a nod once again. Satisfied, Penelope set them down and turned to her security console. She readjusted its height to suit her and pulled up the corridor cameras and the cargo bay camera. What the little alien had said was true. The corridors were clear. There were three individuals with laser rifles and four more frames in the cargo bay. They’d gathered the crew back by the large bay door and were looking over the cargo.
“Ton’et, stay here and keep an eye on this one…,” she evaluated the situation, “and come over here. I think I have an idea you’ll like.
“Of course Ma’am.”
After explaining her little plan Penelope left Ton’et with the alien who, true to their word, made absolutely no movements save a little shaking. She made her way down the other corridor from the one they’d come through and overrode the locking mechanism on its airlock, ensuring no one would be joining the party… or leaving too early. Next, she went not to the door that led to the cargo bay but the engine room and its many maintenance tunnels.
---
Gareth had just met up with Deag and had begun to explain the situation when the pirate ship sent a warning signal and began boarding them. Docked as they were, there wasn’t much to be done to stop the vessel. They were quickly corralled together with the rest of the crew at the back of the cargo bay.
“Now I’m not sure if this is your first time but we’re not barbarians. Well take what we want, and you’ll be on your way. No harm done. Simple as that.” The leader explained to them. He was a sort of bright yellow and red insectoid, though it was hard to tell under the habsuit. He was just a hair taller than Gareth and sported bug-like wings from his back that the suit accounted for.
Gareth wanted nothing more than to yell, “I told you so!” but he would never admonish the captain in front of the crew. Besides, he had more pressing matters to think about. Like how to handle the fact that Penelope was currently on board the derelict ship seemingly with no idea they’d been boarded by pirates. He wasn’t sure what to do and couldn’t exactly discuss it with the captain lest their captors hear them. The captain was no doubt in the same position as he looked to Gareth. Unfortunately, neither of them were telepathic.
He could attempt to scare the pirates by telling them about Penelope but then they might be able to disengage the airlock and trap her and Ton’et on the other ship. That would not do at all, and they’d probably think he was just bluffing until they sliced the ships’ computers and saw proof of her identity. That said he was fairly sure that none of these pirates were fond of violence. Most just used the threat of it to get valuables and leave. It was mostly a calm affair compared to what he knew of ancient human piracy. He decided the best thing to do was just talk but not mention Penelope. He was good at talking and a better sense of these pirates would serve well.
“So, what happened exactly. I’m curious. We found three wearing similar habsuits to yours on that ship.”
“A question for a question. I answer that one and then ask one of my own. Fair?” the leader’s wings buzzed.
Gareth looked to Deag who just nodded, “Fine.”
“We found that ship not long before you, knew it was just us in the system so we checked it out. Sent the three over and then… nothing. Dead coms, life signs gone. Weren’t about to just give up on it and it presented us with an opportunity. We wait for another to check it out and either they go the same way as ours did in there and we loot their ship, or they figure out whatever happened for us and we take everything.”
“Ahh, so a trap. Just not one set by you.”
“I suppose. But now my question. You are alive so you managed to survive whatever was on the ship. What was it? What killed my people?”
Before he could respond, though, a familiar voice came over the ship’s intercom.
Ton’et!?
“Hello pirates. This is… um well I suppose my name doesn’t really matter… well I’m here to give you a threat? Message? Kind of a request too to be honest. All three, yes… Anyway. Put down your weapons and surrender to the captain. That would be Captain Deag… The Corvul… oh gosh I’m really no good at this. Uhm, just surrender or else you’ll regret it cause our security officer Penelope is going to… do something that I’m of course not going to reveal to you. But its… bad, so you should really surrender. Ton’et out.” The intercom cut out abruptly.
“…What?” The pirate leader looked more confused than anything.
“They’re a scientist, not an orator. But you really should consider surrender because if Ton’et is on the bridge then Penelope must already be on her way here. You see what we found was an anti-personnel turret. A human weapons platform. We were able to deactivate it thanks to our new security officer. A human who, if I had to guess, is about to burst through one of those doors.”
The pirate leader wheeled around and aimed his rifle at one of the doors.
“Cover the doors!” he yelled.
The other two aliens and the four frames took aim at the two points of entry. The high pitched whine of charging laser weapons sounded from all of them.
“Keep aim. We know where its coming from and no personal shield could hold up under all our fire.”
They held but nothing happened. Gareth broke the silence.
“You know captain. There’s another human phrase I think you’d like. I think even a human would call you bat shit crazy sometimes. You know you really should look up some of those terms. Having Penelope hanging around.”
“I suppose I should?” Deag responded with a quizzical look.
“Silence you two!” the pirate said without averting his gaze from the doors.
“You really aught to LOOK them UP captain…” he repeated emphasizing the two words.
The captain suddenly understood what Gareth was trying to tell him and, as covertly as possible, glanced up to the ceiling of the cargo bay. Immediately his eyes shot back down as he witnessed perhaps the most terrifying sight of his life.
Even in the greys of his vision he could see, hanging from the crane attached to the tall ceiling of the cargo bay, their security officer. Penelope had apparently accessed one of the maintenance tunnels that Thwilll most often used and followed it to a hatch that let out in the ceiling. She had then, silently, swung her way across the support structure to the crane system that was used to move especially heavy cargo. Now, she hung from it with one arm as she gazed down at the unsuspecting pirates. All of whom were still solely focused on the doors.
“So that’s a no to the surrender?” Deag asked.
“Silence!” the bug yelled.
The final part of Penelope’s plan became apparent when everyone in the cargo bay was suddenly forced down into the floor. The bay’s gravity had just been jacked up to its maximum.
“AGH!” one of the pirates yelled as they were completely pinned to the ground.
A similar sound came from many as they all struggled against the force. The leader and the other alien managed to stay vertical but were clearly struggling to move. Even the frames struggled somewhat, clearly not built by a species that worked under such gravity.
Deag looked up with disbelief to see Penelope seemingly unaffected, still holding on to the crane with a single hand. She evaluated the situation for only a moment before simply letting go. Her massive form careened downward, taken quickly by gravity.
SLAM!
The resounding sound came as she landed on the floor. Her legs bent as they absorbed the impact. Rising to her full height she moved with incredible speed. Her hands shot out and grasped the two frames she’d landed between. With a twist of her torso and extension of her arms, she threw them into opposite walls. Still working off the shock, Penelope managed to surge forward and crush another frame under her foot. Its shell shattered as she put her full weight atop it.
Finally, the shock seemed to wear off and the pirates began to react. They moved sluggishly, though, their rifles more than doubling in weight. The leader attempted to take flight, but his wings did little more than buzz incessantly, not even lifting him from the ground. Penelope, however, moved with ease. Gareth could almost see relief in her eyes as she enjoyed the time under earth-like gravity. She dispatched the final frame without much of a show, simply reaching down and crushing its cylindrical head in her hand.
The leader gave up trying to take flight and the only other pirate not pinned to the ground managed to levy their rifle at Penelope who made no attempt to avoid it or take cover. The hot beam shot out and struck her center mass. Elation and then terror came over them as they celebrated striking the human only to see the sustained beam was having little effect. Penelope held its gaze as she calmly waltzed forward, ripped the rifle from the aliens’ hand, and snapped it in half over her knee. Tossing the two pieces to the ground she just palmed the alien’s face and sent them to join their broken toy.
With that she turned to the leader to see something that changed her demeanor entirely. The leader had aimed his rifle, but not at her. Instead, the emitter was pointed at Captain Deag. A storm came over her face.
“Stop, or he dies…” the leader warned.
“Now, now. We were playing by a certain set of rules, and I was happy to do so. You left them out of it, and I didn’t kill any of you. That was fine by me. But you’re about to change those rules,” her hand slowly lowered to the pistol that had remained unused at her side, “and I will play by them.”
“You’d risk his life to take mine?” the bug asked.
“Nope. Charge time on those rifles seems to be just over a second. That plus your piss poor reaction time and I’m fairly certain I could get off two, maybe three, shots before you fire. That’s one to disarm you, one to put you down, and one more just to be sure.”
The bug found only cold certainty in Penelope’s eyes as he tried to discern whether she was lying or not. He struggled to keep the weapon steady.
The rest of the bay was silent.
“You’re bluffing.” He said but wilted under her intense gaze.
“The question isn’t whether or not I’m bluffing. The real question is whether or not you’re willing to bet your life on that gamble. I wouldn’t.”
He felt so small under her gaze. His instincts screamed at him that this was no creature to trifle with. Those eyes burned into him and yet he felt nothing but a freezing sensation in his gut.
Don’t do it.
The rifle dropped to the ground with a thud.
Good choice.
---
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hi all! my roommate and i are/have moved to rogers park off of Sheridan and Pratt and need help. i am from the chicago suburbs while he is from north west indiana so our knowledge about the city is little to none. while we are planning to take public transportation to work and school we would still like to have both our cars in the city to visit family, our partners, etc. that are outside of the city. this is where i need all the advise. our apartment does not come with parking spaces and neither of us wanna screw too much with street parking if possible. he has a Subaru Outback and i have a Ford Escape. where are some places that we can long term park that don’t cost $500? i have googled some things but i would love a perspective of people on the ground. would love a garage or somewhere where i can come and go and not have to move it as much. i am open to farther away from me if it’s cheaper cause i will be starting at my first big girl job and have a lot of student debt i need to pay off. anything helps thank you!

This morning when I started my Jeep (2015 Wrangler) for work, my rear passenger window opened all on its own and now it won't go back up.
Anyone else experience this?

She drives our 2013 Subaru Outback and had to go in to replace her tires, fix her rear break light, and repair her exhaust/muffler system. I was expecting tires to be around 600-650 (ended up being $650), break light to be around $40 (was $50), and muffleexhaust to be around $330 (they said it would be $500). Turns out they said she also needed her rear breaks to be fixed which might be true but if so I was expecting around $250-300 for that (they said it would be $400)
Is she getting overcharged? Is there anything I should to to ensure she isn’t. To me it seems like they takes on an extra $100+ to each of the final 2 listed repairs