I like fiction, ship all the ships, love my kitties, and believe everyone should be treated equally. So take a deep breath and dive in! UPDATE: Writing and Humans Are Weird posts have been moved to their own blog, @Canyouhearthelight.
If I mention to you how absurd it is that the gestapo tackled a furry making a tiktok, and you say "yeah both sides are a mess" I know exactly what side of things you're on. and that's not even mentioning how enraging it is that they *killed* a 6 month old with tear gas. he was revived, yes, but that means he was FUCKING DEAD. And that's all after the point-blank murder of Renee Good. Oh, and the Right doxxed her kid's school, putting him in danger.
Both sides are not a mess in this situation. One side is filled with power hungry murderous bastards, and one side is people who at worst denied an unlawful order or were exercising their right to peaceably assemble and protest. The baby literally cannot do anything wrong in this situation.
also do not under any circumstances use Tinyzone.tv it has lots of tv shows and movie options as well as multiple servers in case one has too much traffic
comrades! do-absolutely-not go to divicast.com! do-absolutely-not watch the rings of power, deadverine/wolverpool, interview with a vampire, do-absolutely-not watch every other popular tv show and movie here! totally free!
My brotherâs friend thatâs living with us canât eat gluten and I recently found out that his family (that kicked him out) made zero effort to accommodate him and heâd just have to not eat when they ate something with gluten in it so Iâve made it my solemn mission to brush off my gluten free cooking skills and give this man as many cakes and cookies and noodles and breaded things as his heart desires.
Heâs so far been reintroduced to fried chicken, burritos, spaghetti, and zucchini bread and every time heâs been like wow this is so good thank you I havenât had this in years and Iâve been like aw thanks Iâm so glad you like it so when can I kill your family
You can make most things that arenât yeasted bread be gluten free pretty easily these days by using substitutes or getting creative with ingredients. Itâs difficult to make gluten free flour tortillas be huge though so on burrito night when the rest of us have one big burrito he has three smaller burritos. However in most cases you can make a similar or even nearly identical version of what you usually do with a bit of experimentation.
However I will tell you my recipe for gluten free meatloaf, which comes from me messing with the Betty Crocker recipe to make it better.
2lbs ground beef
1 1/3 cups milk
2 tsp powdered sage
1 tsp salt
1 tsp powdered mustard
Dash of powdered ginger
Dash of paprika
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 cup gluten free bread crumbs
1/2 cup instant oats or crushed rolled oats
2 eggs
1/2 tsp garlic powder
One small onion minced fine
1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Mix everything together well. Itâs easiest to do it by hand.
Put it in a loaf pan like for bread and smooth out the top. Bake uncovered at 350F for 1-1.5 hours or until a thermometer pushed into the center reads at least 165F. Let it rest for at least 15 minutes before taking it out of the pan. Serve with a side of barbecue sauce or ketchup.
I usually make garlic mashed potatoes and buttered peas and corn to go with this. Classic white American dish right here lol but itâs yummy as heck
As someone who is too lazy to make multiple meals...
If a vegan is eating? We're all vegan. I'll put cheese on the side.
If someone non-gluten is eating? We all get corn whatever. Ain't no one eating gluten. I can't be arsed to make two meals.
I have, in my real life, hosted a holiday dinner for 22 people with 10 food restrictions. I have also helped make h'ors d'eourves for a wedding reception, and the gluten free table was at least double the size of the gluten table. Just bc... It was easier?
And, to be clear: every single bit of both parts meals was also delicious. Zero complaints. It really isn't that hard, just make delicious food in that category.
The paradox of tolerance is only a paradox if you think of tolerance as some sacred and unconditional moral duty. Some ultimate and absolute law with no exceptions, and if you ever slip into the sin of intolerance, you must repent yourself and beg for forgiveness. Yeah no fuck that. Tolerance is a social contract. You're in the game as an equal player for as long as you play by the same rules as everyone else, and if you don't, your ass is fucking out. You're not entitled to the same respect you won't give others.
"Oh so you all tolerate each other just because you tolerate each other, but if I want to destroy you, then all of a sudden you want to destroy me?" Literally yes. That's the gist of it. What's not clicking. This equation is so simple it barely counts as math.
Standing and walking aren't so bad, but sitting is agony.
Of course I can't let that stop me, and since moving isn't so bad except in sudden, sharp bursts, so cleaning as long as I'm not dealing with heavy stuff, is fine.
So, tidying and running the roomba. That's what I can do today.
I did suffer a little to get a bookcase more organized. I just had to sit on the floor to do it, that's the suffering. Shelf looks much better for it. The boost in pain was short lived, absolutely worth it
I am once again thinking about making a tiny ceramic Redwall for pet mice. (Do I have pet mice? No, not for over a decade now. Am I going to get pet mice? Not unless Vice gets real cool about a lot of stuff real fast. ) I just think it would be really cute and fun to do...
So here's the proposal: two story structure, with the bottom layer intended to be buried in deep litter, and the upper floor at 'ground' level. Maybe a bell tower? Definitely a rose window. Possibly a removable roof; certainly an open back like a dollhouse. All of it would be glazed and sealed (basically, like any food-safe dish) so it could be sanitized and kept clean.
IF I was going to be doing this, I would need to first build a slab storage rack, so that I could make and keep all my slabs at the right moisture level while working. That would require a run to the hardware store, which is dangerous for my wallet.
Is there any reason for me to be doing this? No. But it would be VERY cute.
One million years after humanity disappears, octopi and ravens have independently developed sapience. And one day an octopus child and an elder raven meet at the edge of the ocean.
Where is your mother and father? asks the raven. I have no mother or father, says the octopus, blushing pale. All octopi are children. Once weâre grown, we will mate and we will die. It is the first and the last thing our mothers tell us.
But thatâs horrible, says the raven. Itâs not all bad, says the octopus. We play, we hunt, we make games for ourselves in the deep. Yes, but who remembers your songs? the raven says. Who passes down your stories?
What is a story? the octopus asks.
And the raven thinks about this question. And finally it says: A story is how you remember things in the past. It is how you know where you come from, and what happened before you were born. A story can be a warning, or it can be advice, or it can be a silly joke told to make you feel good. Someone remembers the story and tells it to the next generation, who remember the story and tells it to the generation after them.
And the octopus thinks about this answer. And finally it says: Can you tell me a story?
And the raven tells the octopus a story. And itâs a good story. And the next day the octopus returns and asks for another. The next day it brings its octopus friends, and the raven brings its raven friends, and many stories are shared on the edge of the ocean.
Months later, the octopus returns to the raven. I am grown, it says. I am returning to the sea to find a mate and lay my brood. I will not be coming back. Iâm sorry.
I will miss your company, says the raven.
I have one thing to ask you, says the octopus. In time my children will come to the edge of the ocean. I would like you to tell them a story I have made. And when they have stories of their own, I would like your children to remember them and pass them down to my childrenâs children.
Of course, says the raven. What is your story about?
And the octopus thinks, and says: It is about an octopus child and an elder raven who meet at the edge of the ocean.
I think Gastronauts on Dropout is the cooking show that has made me truly appreciate the skill of professional chefs more than any other cooking show.
Like I don't know if it's because the challenges are so crazy or the fact that the judges don't have any professional input whatsoever (they're all comedians), but the combination of how utterly stoked the judges are to be eating this food and how creative the chefs get to be really works to make you marvel at just how skilled a professional chef has to be.
Other cooking shows always have a level-voiced narrator listing out shit like,
"Rebecca is doing a praline-mint ganache with a Twiffly Street stir-up, combined with a gestelle Santa Maria sponge technique."
And it's fun to pretend like, 'Ah, yes. Of course! A classic of the genre! He'd be a fool not to!' as though I know anything about cooking or baking.
But on Gastronauts, it's a bunch of comedians who would really graciously appreciate some fancy food, watching chefs cook and going, like,
"What is that? What is he doing?? It's like- like a swishy thing! Like a fancy swishy thing!!"
"OH MY GOD YES, HE'S USING ONIONS."
"Ooo! Crunchies!??"
And then the chefs get to come out and formally present their food, which makes them look very smart. And these actors who generally can't afford Michelin star cuisine are just :DDDD!
And it's like, oh yeah. This is about my level, yes. This conveys how normal people who don't eat good food for a living would actually react. And it's super chill. It's good vibes, that show. đ
And they still eat a higher level of cuisine than I ever have in my life. I go to a halfway fancy restaurant and everything there is strange and unpalatable and made with the most disgusting cheeses. Legit the stuff they cook on the show is about as fancy as I ever want to get, and they still use goat cheese, which will make me safeword.
I love watching these clearly gifted people have to make fancy trash. Dino nuggets. Vending machine food. Make a hat I can wear out of bread. Dance for me. DANCE.
I understand that most of your calls can be resolved by telling the dumbass on the other end to plug it in properly, or maybe turn something off and back on again. But I, an advanced dumbass, have already tried that and I'm afraid it's worse than either of us thought going into this.
Once had an IT guy tell me the only possible explanation was a localised black hole under my desk disrupting the space time continuum, and I've always been obscurely proud of having an error that severe, even though it definitely wasn't me creating localised gravitational anomalies
I once had a computer problem so weird that it was escalated through like 4 different tiers of Apple Care until I was on the phone with this incredibly earnest guy who told me [in the thickest Eastern European accent imaginable]: "Oh my God... This is so strange... Haha!! Oh my God!!! Charlie, I will tell you, I have never encountered anything like this in my seven years of working here! All my days are spent usually helping people with stupid nonsense, but Charlie, you have brought me a PUZZLE! You have brought me a GIFT! I am FASCINATED! Now, I am going to get my manager, but Charlie, I PROMISE you. I PROMISE YOU, I will be back soon. PLEASE, Charlie, stay with me, and I PROMISE I will return to you and my manager and I will take care of you. OK?" and yes thank you i did tear up
The number of IT peeps who either cheer or weep when I call is non-zero.
Those who do neither are usually new and therefore do not know that I am computer literate, doggedly determined, and stubborn - therefore if I am calling, I don't have the *access* to fix it myself.
The battle of Philidelphia starts in earnest. Shiloh and Echo engage in a deadly battle of maneuver - and Echo begins a dangerous contest to level the playing field against the Ascendancy's orbital guns.
Sorry about the delay by the way, everyone! I was busy travelling with my fiance!
This chapter was beta read by @writing-with-olive and @canyouhearthelight
Shiloh
Shiloh was flooring the pedal on the commandeered SUV, knowing full well that Amaryllis was flying overhead, with Echo backing her up. In the car behind them, Jonathan drove, his movements if anything wilder.
Weave through the burned out cars - then suddenly see a small mob of Croaks, pull into a skidding turn as Mia stuck an arm out the window, a machine pistol in hand, and held down the trigger. At the end of the shooting, Shiloh threw the car into reverse and kept driving - even as they saw Jonathan splatter the one Croak that had survived the sudden spray of bullets with his car, leaving the vehicle dented.Â
They allowed themself a grim smile - but they admitted Markâs point. The fighting hadnât really started yet - they were mostly getting bombed, with whatever forces were moving around the city mostly here to call orbital strikes and destroy anything that still had people in it.Â
It struck Shiloh how empty the city was. Most people had very clearly evacuated - too late, maybe, or maybe theyâd tried to hide, but there was no one moving around from what Shiloh saw. Many of those who hadnât had put up some kind of fight - as they drove around, Shiloh saw scattered bodies, alien and what was left of human corpses. Aliens bore the wounds of small arms fire, civilian weapons fired at close range, the humans had died with Glocks or home defense shotguns in hand, oftentimes failing to take an attacker with them - but sometimes succeeding. At the door of one house sprawled the corpse of a Spike - though from the fact the house was in flames, Shiloh could easily guess that itâs companions had still torn the place apart with plasma.
Kimmy tapped their shoulder and signed. âMark wants an ammo check?â
They signed, off hand. âHavenât fired yet.â
âRight and Miaâs only down one mag. Iâll let him know.â
Thus far, battle was going their way - sort of. They were still trying to probe out what enemies they could before shit got really real.
The Pennsylvania Historical Society was a beautiful old, brick building, arches, high windows - the kind of place that Shiloh could appreciate aesthetically, if only because places that looked like that were usually libraries of some kind and Shiloh could almost always find something to do in a library that didnât require struggling with some hearing person.
Then again, today, it was surrounded by Spikes moving up towards it, fanned out in a wedge like they were trying to figure out if it had humans inside. They had little doubt that if the Ascendency forces discovered it had in fact, become a survivor rally point, it would shortly be blasted from orbit, and Shiloh applied the brakes.Â
Everyone hopped out, even as the Spikes turned to engage the car - everyone was already shooting. Molly opened her mouth and Shiloh felt something move in the air.
Some of the Spikes dropped immediately, but the Praetorians were fortunate. Some of the enemy were fast - this wasnât a rabble of Croaks, these were the Ascendencyâs proper warrior caste, and they were trained, disciplined, and motivated. There was a tiny delay as the team scattered - and Shiloh realized that Molly must have bought them just a tiny delay in the enemy firing their weapons for the team to scatter from the vehicles before the Spikes could open fire.
As it was, Shiloh felt a flash of pain on their right side, and slapped the new burn until it faded. They glanced around, another blast turning the wall they were hiding behind to dust and forcing them to dive again, even as they felt a hum in their teeth - and only a few moments later, saw a Spikeâs head vanish in a welter of gore.Â
Mark was clenching his teeth, hand clamped over a burn on his neck and face, and Jonathan was laying down a welter of fire to force the aliens to keep their heads down.Â
The aliens kept shooting, and Xavier lobbed another grenade at them, even as Kimmy got back to her feet - the damage on her armor indicating sheâd actually gotten fucked up by a blast herself.
Another spike died and Shiloh realized that Vergil had vanished - and so had Micah.Â
Shiloh glanced at Jonathan - realized he was too busy pinning down the enemy to see them. Mia was moving like she was going to try to flank the enemy and get an angle - and the next moment, Mia made her move, bolting around the side, heedless of the plasma blasts that zipped around her, detonating just inches too far for her to be burned, Mia already speeding away from them. The speedster zipped between cover, and as Shiloh watched, found herself around the corner of the building that the Spikes had hidden - and emptied her clip into the exposed flank of three of them, who went down in a shower of too-bright gore.Â
THe last alien soldier dropped as Vergil fired again.Â
Shiloh rushed over to Mark, getting him back to his feet, and checked in with Kimmy, who gasped as she shrugged.
Mark was talking into the comms.Â
Echo
âCypher, Iâm going to need you down here after all.â
âClarify, Storm.â The callsigns still sounded a little ridiculous, but since they were likely to run into civilians this time, it made more sense to use them rather than names, at least for now.
âEnemy forces are using some kind of communicator to call down orbital strikes. I need you to hack that communication net and compromise it. We have the civilian rally point secured for aerial evac, but the city is crawling with teams of Spikes calling down orbital strikes and if we start an evacuation this place is going to get glassed. I need you to come collect some tech we recovered and compromise their comms so they canât call in the bombing - Iâll deal with whatever bigger ground forces come as a result.âÂ
She realized he was asking her to save a city and very possibly the war until Raytheon actually developed actual sci fi weapons like Mass Accelerator Cannons or anti-orbital railguns or equivalent. Then again for all she knew, those had been in the works since first contact. âIâm not certain I can doâŠâ
Markâs voice grew very tired. âI need you to try. Tell Skyflower to get you down here- civvie base secured, but I canât open the place up or get the rest of the transports here until Iâm not going to be painting a target for the assholes in orbit.â
âFuck, Storm.â
âCope, Cypher.âÂ
She leaned back from her comms. âSkyflower, the Lieutenant says we have to land, apparently he captured alien comms he wants me to look at.â
âUnderstood, Warrant Officer.â Amaryllis switched to general frequency and then said, probably to Mark, or maybe Vergil, âMake sure the area is actually fully clear before I drop her in - I donât want some spotter calling in a different strike once they see me landing.âÂ
â10-4.â
Echo felt a knot of tension in her chest - she scolded herself for being a coward, she knew she shouldnât be so worried about stepping onto a battlefield, kind of hated sitting it out when all her friends were fighting for their lives, but at the same time, her powers were best kept in reserve for when they could actually turn the tide.
âNegative contact - Vergil got one way out at the edge of visual range but thereâs no indication it was in range to accurately call coordinates for a strike.â
They touched down only a few minutes later, and she was greeted by Casey and Jonathan. Casey reeked of burning alien, Jonathan of gunpowder and blood. He was splattered in the too-dark gore of a Spike from what had probably been a close-contact fight. Jared, Mark and Xavier were watching the perimeter.Â
Then Casey was pressing a device into her hand, something that wasnât a weapon and seemed to be some kind of scanner, covered in alien blood but undamaged, and Echo was running back to the gunship to take off at the insistence of Amaryllis, hugging Casey and Jonathan before she left, hoping sheâd see them again when the battle ended.Â
âKeep them from raining hell on us.â Casey called after her. âWeâll handle the guys on the ground.â
Echo had her hand on the device almost the minute Amaryllis took off, saying something about repositioning, making sure that they could maneuver so that the enemy didnât get a lock on wherever Echo was while she worked - or that if they did, it only killed the two of them rather than the whole team.
As they took off, Echo took a breath. âIâm going to turn off my comms til Iâm done, guys. Until itâs done, I canât help anyway - and hearing chatter is only going to distract me.âÂ
âUnderstood. Be back in contact once you finish.â
She took a breath and pushed her brain into the captured alien communicator, feeling her consciousness impose itself over circuits and code. It was a communication device, which brought down her first anxiety - now to make sure it was dialed into the surface-to-orbit frequency.
As she pushed herself into the channels, her vision, her senses blurring, distorting each time she did, brain filling with alien signals before her brain was able to impose its own language model and shift it into standard code languages she knew and understood. She was able to determine that there was some kind of ground channel - maneuver, ground commandâŠ
âCypherâŠâÂ
She felt a violent jolt as Amaryllis did something, then heard the clatter of the shipâs chainguns as Amaryllis made someone miserable below them.Â
Focus, focus. High command - she wanted some data out of that, but sheâd almost certainly be locked out if she started compromising it, and higher priority was shutting down the orbital strikes. Surface to orbit - that was probably it.
What toâŠ
Amaryllis gave another shout, and Echo found herself slammed against her spine as the ship began moving much, much faster - as though itâs engines had all shifted orientation abruptly. âHurry up, Echo! I think they noticed you!âÂ
They had, something was trying to lock her out. Scrambling for purchase, shoving pieces of code in places they didnât belong, not enough to stop the net, just enough to confuse it and whoever was trying to punt her out. She was already in, now she had to create confusion. She put in one false signal, one matched to the coordinates of where a ground force was, apparently, and saw a distress signal and a panicked cancellation as something that was probably a confirm call came up.Â
Then she started trying to override the cancellation - when that failed, she ordered a second shot at a different ground force, before ordering a check fire on a third location and creating a âghostâ spotter unit - a spotter force that didnât exist, but would look like it did in the computer - then, as she realized whoever she was up against was clearly overwhelmed, she began setting in orders on just about every present ground unit - then canceling half of them, letting the other units cancel the other half, letting her âghostâ spotter unit get hit and causing panic about friendly fire even though sheâd just erased a building theyâd already passed and confirmed as empty.Â
In the midst of all this, Echo had begun seeding the net with more and more bad code, signal interference, the kinds of things that made a signal weaker and less direct - more vulnerable to the kind of chaos all out fighting would cause - until she saw the net crash.Â
She got back into her normal comms. âOrbital strike capacity neutralized, continue search and destroy and call in Evac for civvies while we can.â She leaned against the bulkhead on the dropship, head pounding, and took a swig of water.Â
Amaryllis laughed. âAlready working on search and destroy. Pretty sure Whiplash and Titan are on it too.âÂ
Markâs voice came across the comms. âUnderstood. If you can, get back into their comms and let me know when they go to their very obvious backup and send a fuckton of ground troops, atmo-craft, and armor.â
âGive me one minute, then Iâll take care of it.â
âThanks. Weâve got the infantry C130s coming in to drop off the troopers and pick up the civvies already.â
The battle of Philidelphia starts in earnest. Shiloh and Echo engage in a deadly battle of maneuver - and Echo begins a dangerous contest to level the playing field against the Ascendancy's orbital guns.
Sorry about the delay by the way, everyone! I was busy travelling with my fiance!
This chapter was beta read by @writing-with-olive and @canyouhearthelight
Shiloh
Shiloh was flooring the pedal on the commandeered SUV, knowing full well that Amaryllis was flying overhead, with Echo backing her up. In the car behind them, Jonathan drove, his movements if anything wilder.
Weave through the burned out cars - then suddenly see a small mob of Croaks, pull into a skidding turn as Mia stuck an arm out the window, a machine pistol in hand, and held down the trigger. At the end of the shooting, Shiloh threw the car into reverse and kept driving - even as they saw Jonathan splatter the one Croak that had survived the sudden spray of bullets with his car, leaving the vehicle dented.Â
They allowed themself a grim smile - but they admitted Markâs point. The fighting hadnât really started yet - they were mostly getting bombed, with whatever forces were moving around the city mostly here to call orbital strikes and destroy anything that still had people in it.Â
It struck Shiloh how empty the city was. Most people had very clearly evacuated - too late, maybe, or maybe theyâd tried to hide, but there was no one moving around from what Shiloh saw. Many of those who hadnât had put up some kind of fight - as they drove around, Shiloh saw scattered bodies, alien and what was left of human corpses. Aliens bore the wounds of small arms fire, civilian weapons fired at close range, the humans had died with Glocks or home defense shotguns in hand, oftentimes failing to take an attacker with them - but sometimes succeeding. At the door of one house sprawled the corpse of a Spike - though from the fact the house was in flames, Shiloh could easily guess that itâs companions had still torn the place apart with plasma.
Kimmy tapped their shoulder and signed. âMark wants an ammo check?â
They signed, off hand. âHavenât fired yet.â
âRight and Miaâs only down one mag. Iâll let him know.â
Thus far, battle was going their way - sort of. They were still trying to probe out what enemies they could before shit got really real.
The Pennsylvania Historical Society was a beautiful old, brick building, arches, high windows - the kind of place that Shiloh could appreciate aesthetically, if only because places that looked like that were usually libraries of some kind and Shiloh could almost always find something to do in a library that didnât require struggling with some hearing person.
Then again, today, it was surrounded by Spikes moving up towards it, fanned out in a wedge like they were trying to figure out if it had humans inside. They had little doubt that if the Ascendency forces discovered it had in fact, become a survivor rally point, it would shortly be blasted from orbit, and Shiloh applied the brakes.Â
Everyone hopped out, even as the Spikes turned to engage the car - everyone was already shooting. Molly opened her mouth and Shiloh felt something move in the air.
Some of the Spikes dropped immediately, but the Praetorians were fortunate. Some of the enemy were fast - this wasnât a rabble of Croaks, these were the Ascendencyâs proper warrior caste, and they were trained, disciplined, and motivated. There was a tiny delay as the team scattered - and Shiloh realized that Molly must have bought them just a tiny delay in the enemy firing their weapons for the team to scatter from the vehicles before the Spikes could open fire.
As it was, Shiloh felt a flash of pain on their right side, and slapped the new burn until it faded. They glanced around, another blast turning the wall they were hiding behind to dust and forcing them to dive again, even as they felt a hum in their teeth - and only a few moments later, saw a Spikeâs head vanish in a welter of gore.Â
Mark was clenching his teeth, hand clamped over a burn on his neck and face, and Jonathan was laying down a welter of fire to force the aliens to keep their heads down.Â
The aliens kept shooting, and Xavier lobbed another grenade at them, even as Kimmy got back to her feet - the damage on her armor indicating sheâd actually gotten fucked up by a blast herself.
Another spike died and Shiloh realized that Vergil had vanished - and so had Micah.Â
Shiloh glanced at Jonathan - realized he was too busy pinning down the enemy to see them. Mia was moving like she was going to try to flank the enemy and get an angle - and the next moment, Mia made her move, bolting around the side, heedless of the plasma blasts that zipped around her, detonating just inches too far for her to be burned, Mia already speeding away from them. The speedster zipped between cover, and as Shiloh watched, found herself around the corner of the building that the Spikes had hidden - and emptied her clip into the exposed flank of three of them, who went down in a shower of too-bright gore.Â
THe last alien soldier dropped as Vergil fired again.Â
Shiloh rushed over to Mark, getting him back to his feet, and checked in with Kimmy, who gasped as she shrugged.
Mark was talking into the comms.Â
Echo
âCypher, Iâm going to need you down here after all.â
âClarify, Storm.â The callsigns still sounded a little ridiculous, but since they were likely to run into civilians this time, it made more sense to use them rather than names, at least for now.
âEnemy forces are using some kind of communicator to call down orbital strikes. I need you to hack that communication net and compromise it. We have the civilian rally point secured for aerial evac, but the city is crawling with teams of Spikes calling down orbital strikes and if we start an evacuation this place is going to get glassed. I need you to come collect some tech we recovered and compromise their comms so they canât call in the bombing - Iâll deal with whatever bigger ground forces come as a result.âÂ
She realized he was asking her to save a city and very possibly the war until Raytheon actually developed actual sci fi weapons like Mass Accelerator Cannons or anti-orbital railguns or equivalent. Then again for all she knew, those had been in the works since first contact. âIâm not certain I can doâŠâ
Markâs voice grew very tired. âI need you to try. Tell Skyflower to get you down here- civvie base secured, but I canât open the place up or get the rest of the transports here until Iâm not going to be painting a target for the assholes in orbit.â
âFuck, Storm.â
âCope, Cypher.âÂ
She leaned back from her comms. âSkyflower, the Lieutenant says we have to land, apparently he captured alien comms he wants me to look at.â
âUnderstood, Warrant Officer.â Amaryllis switched to general frequency and then said, probably to Mark, or maybe Vergil, âMake sure the area is actually fully clear before I drop her in - I donât want some spotter calling in a different strike once they see me landing.âÂ
â10-4.â
Echo felt a knot of tension in her chest - she scolded herself for being a coward, she knew she shouldnât be so worried about stepping onto a battlefield, kind of hated sitting it out when all her friends were fighting for their lives, but at the same time, her powers were best kept in reserve for when they could actually turn the tide.
âNegative contact - Vergil got one way out at the edge of visual range but thereâs no indication it was in range to accurately call coordinates for a strike.â
They touched down only a few minutes later, and she was greeted by Casey and Jonathan. Casey reeked of burning alien, Jonathan of gunpowder and blood. He was splattered in the too-dark gore of a Spike from what had probably been a close-contact fight. Jared, Mark and Xavier were watching the perimeter.Â
Then Casey was pressing a device into her hand, something that wasnât a weapon and seemed to be some kind of scanner, covered in alien blood but undamaged, and Echo was running back to the gunship to take off at the insistence of Amaryllis, hugging Casey and Jonathan before she left, hoping sheâd see them again when the battle ended.Â
âKeep them from raining hell on us.â Casey called after her. âWeâll handle the guys on the ground.â
Echo had her hand on the device almost the minute Amaryllis took off, saying something about repositioning, making sure that they could maneuver so that the enemy didnât get a lock on wherever Echo was while she worked - or that if they did, it only killed the two of them rather than the whole team.
As they took off, Echo took a breath. âIâm going to turn off my comms til Iâm done, guys. Until itâs done, I canât help anyway - and hearing chatter is only going to distract me.âÂ
âUnderstood. Be back in contact once you finish.â
She took a breath and pushed her brain into the captured alien communicator, feeling her consciousness impose itself over circuits and code. It was a communication device, which brought down her first anxiety - now to make sure it was dialed into the surface-to-orbit frequency.
As she pushed herself into the channels, her vision, her senses blurring, distorting each time she did, brain filling with alien signals before her brain was able to impose its own language model and shift it into standard code languages she knew and understood. She was able to determine that there was some kind of ground channel - maneuver, ground commandâŠ
âCypherâŠâÂ
She felt a violent jolt as Amaryllis did something, then heard the clatter of the shipâs chainguns as Amaryllis made someone miserable below them.Â
Focus, focus. High command - she wanted some data out of that, but sheâd almost certainly be locked out if she started compromising it, and higher priority was shutting down the orbital strikes. Surface to orbit - that was probably it.
What toâŠ
Amaryllis gave another shout, and Echo found herself slammed against her spine as the ship began moving much, much faster - as though itâs engines had all shifted orientation abruptly. âHurry up, Echo! I think they noticed you!âÂ
They had, something was trying to lock her out. Scrambling for purchase, shoving pieces of code in places they didnât belong, not enough to stop the net, just enough to confuse it and whoever was trying to punt her out. She was already in, now she had to create confusion. She put in one false signal, one matched to the coordinates of where a ground force was, apparently, and saw a distress signal and a panicked cancellation as something that was probably a confirm call came up.Â
Then she started trying to override the cancellation - when that failed, she ordered a second shot at a different ground force, before ordering a check fire on a third location and creating a âghostâ spotter unit - a spotter force that didnât exist, but would look like it did in the computer - then, as she realized whoever she was up against was clearly overwhelmed, she began setting in orders on just about every present ground unit - then canceling half of them, letting the other units cancel the other half, letting her âghostâ spotter unit get hit and causing panic about friendly fire even though sheâd just erased a building theyâd already passed and confirmed as empty.Â
In the midst of all this, Echo had begun seeding the net with more and more bad code, signal interference, the kinds of things that made a signal weaker and less direct - more vulnerable to the kind of chaos all out fighting would cause - until she saw the net crash.Â
She got back into her normal comms. âOrbital strike capacity neutralized, continue search and destroy and call in Evac for civvies while we can.â She leaned against the bulkhead on the dropship, head pounding, and took a swig of water.Â
Amaryllis laughed. âAlready working on search and destroy. Pretty sure Whiplash and Titan are on it too.âÂ
Markâs voice came across the comms. âUnderstood. If you can, get back into their comms and let me know when they go to their very obvious backup and send a fuckton of ground troops, atmo-craft, and armor.â
âGive me one minute, then Iâll take care of it.â
âThanks. Weâve got the infantry C130s coming in to drop off the troopers and pick up the civvies already.â
The battle of Philidelphia starts in earnest. Shiloh and Echo engage in a deadly battle of maneuver - and Echo begins a dangerous contest to level the playing field against the Ascendancy's orbital guns.
Sorry about the delay by the way, everyone! I was busy travelling with my fiance!
This chapter was beta read by @writing-with-olive and @canyouhearthelight
Shiloh
Shiloh was flooring the pedal on the commandeered SUV, knowing full well that Amaryllis was flying overhead, with Echo backing her up. In the car behind them, Jonathan drove, his movements if anything wilder.
Weave through the burned out cars - then suddenly see a small mob of Croaks, pull into a skidding turn as Mia stuck an arm out the window, a machine pistol in hand, and held down the trigger. At the end of the shooting, Shiloh threw the car into reverse and kept driving - even as they saw Jonathan splatter the one Croak that had survived the sudden spray of bullets with his car, leaving the vehicle dented.Â
They allowed themself a grim smile - but they admitted Markâs point. The fighting hadnât really started yet - they were mostly getting bombed, with whatever forces were moving around the city mostly here to call orbital strikes and destroy anything that still had people in it.Â
It struck Shiloh how empty the city was. Most people had very clearly evacuated - too late, maybe, or maybe theyâd tried to hide, but there was no one moving around from what Shiloh saw. Many of those who hadnât had put up some kind of fight - as they drove around, Shiloh saw scattered bodies, alien and what was left of human corpses. Aliens bore the wounds of small arms fire, civilian weapons fired at close range, the humans had died with Glocks or home defense shotguns in hand, oftentimes failing to take an attacker with them - but sometimes succeeding. At the door of one house sprawled the corpse of a Spike - though from the fact the house was in flames, Shiloh could easily guess that itâs companions had still torn the place apart with plasma.
Kimmy tapped their shoulder and signed. âMark wants an ammo check?â
They signed, off hand. âHavenât fired yet.â
âRight and Miaâs only down one mag. Iâll let him know.â
Thus far, battle was going their way - sort of. They were still trying to probe out what enemies they could before shit got really real.
The Pennsylvania Historical Society was a beautiful old, brick building, arches, high windows - the kind of place that Shiloh could appreciate aesthetically, if only because places that looked like that were usually libraries of some kind and Shiloh could almost always find something to do in a library that didnât require struggling with some hearing person.
Then again, today, it was surrounded by Spikes moving up towards it, fanned out in a wedge like they were trying to figure out if it had humans inside. They had little doubt that if the Ascendency forces discovered it had in fact, become a survivor rally point, it would shortly be blasted from orbit, and Shiloh applied the brakes.Â
Everyone hopped out, even as the Spikes turned to engage the car - everyone was already shooting. Molly opened her mouth and Shiloh felt something move in the air.
Some of the Spikes dropped immediately, but the Praetorians were fortunate. Some of the enemy were fast - this wasnât a rabble of Croaks, these were the Ascendencyâs proper warrior caste, and they were trained, disciplined, and motivated. There was a tiny delay as the team scattered - and Shiloh realized that Molly must have bought them just a tiny delay in the enemy firing their weapons for the team to scatter from the vehicles before the Spikes could open fire.
As it was, Shiloh felt a flash of pain on their right side, and slapped the new burn until it faded. They glanced around, another blast turning the wall they were hiding behind to dust and forcing them to dive again, even as they felt a hum in their teeth - and only a few moments later, saw a Spikeâs head vanish in a welter of gore.Â
Mark was clenching his teeth, hand clamped over a burn on his neck and face, and Jonathan was laying down a welter of fire to force the aliens to keep their heads down.Â
The aliens kept shooting, and Xavier lobbed another grenade at them, even as Kimmy got back to her feet - the damage on her armor indicating sheâd actually gotten fucked up by a blast herself.
Another spike died and Shiloh realized that Vergil had vanished - and so had Micah.Â
Shiloh glanced at Jonathan - realized he was too busy pinning down the enemy to see them. Mia was moving like she was going to try to flank the enemy and get an angle - and the next moment, Mia made her move, bolting around the side, heedless of the plasma blasts that zipped around her, detonating just inches too far for her to be burned, Mia already speeding away from them. The speedster zipped between cover, and as Shiloh watched, found herself around the corner of the building that the Spikes had hidden - and emptied her clip into the exposed flank of three of them, who went down in a shower of too-bright gore.Â
THe last alien soldier dropped as Vergil fired again.Â
Shiloh rushed over to Mark, getting him back to his feet, and checked in with Kimmy, who gasped as she shrugged.
Mark was talking into the comms.Â
Echo
âCypher, Iâm going to need you down here after all.â
âClarify, Storm.â The callsigns still sounded a little ridiculous, but since they were likely to run into civilians this time, it made more sense to use them rather than names, at least for now.
âEnemy forces are using some kind of communicator to call down orbital strikes. I need you to hack that communication net and compromise it. We have the civilian rally point secured for aerial evac, but the city is crawling with teams of Spikes calling down orbital strikes and if we start an evacuation this place is going to get glassed. I need you to come collect some tech we recovered and compromise their comms so they canât call in the bombing - Iâll deal with whatever bigger ground forces come as a result.âÂ
She realized he was asking her to save a city and very possibly the war until Raytheon actually developed actual sci fi weapons like Mass Accelerator Cannons or anti-orbital railguns or equivalent. Then again for all she knew, those had been in the works since first contact. âIâm not certain I can doâŠâ
Markâs voice grew very tired. âI need you to try. Tell Skyflower to get you down here- civvie base secured, but I canât open the place up or get the rest of the transports here until Iâm not going to be painting a target for the assholes in orbit.â
âFuck, Storm.â
âCope, Cypher.âÂ
She leaned back from her comms. âSkyflower, the Lieutenant says we have to land, apparently he captured alien comms he wants me to look at.â
âUnderstood, Warrant Officer.â Amaryllis switched to general frequency and then said, probably to Mark, or maybe Vergil, âMake sure the area is actually fully clear before I drop her in - I donât want some spotter calling in a different strike once they see me landing.âÂ
â10-4.â
Echo felt a knot of tension in her chest - she scolded herself for being a coward, she knew she shouldnât be so worried about stepping onto a battlefield, kind of hated sitting it out when all her friends were fighting for their lives, but at the same time, her powers were best kept in reserve for when they could actually turn the tide.
âNegative contact - Vergil got one way out at the edge of visual range but thereâs no indication it was in range to accurately call coordinates for a strike.â
They touched down only a few minutes later, and she was greeted by Casey and Jonathan. Casey reeked of burning alien, Jonathan of gunpowder and blood. He was splattered in the too-dark gore of a Spike from what had probably been a close-contact fight. Jared, Mark and Xavier were watching the perimeter.Â
Then Casey was pressing a device into her hand, something that wasnât a weapon and seemed to be some kind of scanner, covered in alien blood but undamaged, and Echo was running back to the gunship to take off at the insistence of Amaryllis, hugging Casey and Jonathan before she left, hoping sheâd see them again when the battle ended.Â
âKeep them from raining hell on us.â Casey called after her. âWeâll handle the guys on the ground.â
Echo had her hand on the device almost the minute Amaryllis took off, saying something about repositioning, making sure that they could maneuver so that the enemy didnât get a lock on wherever Echo was while she worked - or that if they did, it only killed the two of them rather than the whole team.
As they took off, Echo took a breath. âIâm going to turn off my comms til Iâm done, guys. Until itâs done, I canât help anyway - and hearing chatter is only going to distract me.âÂ
âUnderstood. Be back in contact once you finish.â
She took a breath and pushed her brain into the captured alien communicator, feeling her consciousness impose itself over circuits and code. It was a communication device, which brought down her first anxiety - now to make sure it was dialed into the surface-to-orbit frequency.
As she pushed herself into the channels, her vision, her senses blurring, distorting each time she did, brain filling with alien signals before her brain was able to impose its own language model and shift it into standard code languages she knew and understood. She was able to determine that there was some kind of ground channel - maneuver, ground commandâŠ
âCypherâŠâÂ
She felt a violent jolt as Amaryllis did something, then heard the clatter of the shipâs chainguns as Amaryllis made someone miserable below them.Â
Focus, focus. High command - she wanted some data out of that, but sheâd almost certainly be locked out if she started compromising it, and higher priority was shutting down the orbital strikes. Surface to orbit - that was probably it.
What toâŠ
Amaryllis gave another shout, and Echo found herself slammed against her spine as the ship began moving much, much faster - as though itâs engines had all shifted orientation abruptly. âHurry up, Echo! I think they noticed you!âÂ
They had, something was trying to lock her out. Scrambling for purchase, shoving pieces of code in places they didnât belong, not enough to stop the net, just enough to confuse it and whoever was trying to punt her out. She was already in, now she had to create confusion. She put in one false signal, one matched to the coordinates of where a ground force was, apparently, and saw a distress signal and a panicked cancellation as something that was probably a confirm call came up.Â
Then she started trying to override the cancellation - when that failed, she ordered a second shot at a different ground force, before ordering a check fire on a third location and creating a âghostâ spotter unit - a spotter force that didnât exist, but would look like it did in the computer - then, as she realized whoever she was up against was clearly overwhelmed, she began setting in orders on just about every present ground unit - then canceling half of them, letting the other units cancel the other half, letting her âghostâ spotter unit get hit and causing panic about friendly fire even though sheâd just erased a building theyâd already passed and confirmed as empty.Â
In the midst of all this, Echo had begun seeding the net with more and more bad code, signal interference, the kinds of things that made a signal weaker and less direct - more vulnerable to the kind of chaos all out fighting would cause - until she saw the net crash.Â
She got back into her normal comms. âOrbital strike capacity neutralized, continue search and destroy and call in Evac for civvies while we can.â She leaned against the bulkhead on the dropship, head pounding, and took a swig of water.Â
Amaryllis laughed. âAlready working on search and destroy. Pretty sure Whiplash and Titan are on it too.âÂ
Markâs voice came across the comms. âUnderstood. If you can, get back into their comms and let me know when they go to their very obvious backup and send a fuckton of ground troops, atmo-craft, and armor.â
âGive me one minute, then Iâll take care of it.â
âThanks. Weâve got the infantry C130s coming in to drop off the troopers and pick up the civvies already.â
Something to keep in mind when figuring out organizing.
The people in the Civil Rights era didn't make gains because they held marches and sit-ins.
They made gains because they very publicly put economic strain on the Powers That Be in a way that those powers didn't have the infrastructure for absorbing the hit, while simultaneously caring for their own most vulnerable so that they would have the political willpower to hold the line until the powers were forced to concede.
I see a lot of people get angry that a march didn't work, because "we did the thing, why won't they back down now, they're supposed to back down!" And that's now how change actually happens. It's how it's taught, because if people believe that's how it happens, they won't cause problems to the status quo. But historical actions that worked, worked because they were multi-pronged, and hit key figures in the pocketbooks. If there is not economic pressure, those key figures will just sigh and wait it out, and let resistors burn themselves out. If oppression played fairly, there wouldn't be oppression. Not to mention that the infrastructure of power has changed in the last sixty years. Easy road is always mined, and all that.
if you want to emulate that history, look at the level of planning that went on behind those big movements and the weeks or months of prep-work, and emulate the style of the plan as adapted to your region rather than focusing on the flashy outcome.
It's about holding the line and choosing goals and methods based on strategy, not just because they look cool.
