#( II. ) VIS. / A TIME BOMB SET INTO MOTION

[courageousheroism]

tag dump

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 11.1

365 – The Alemanni cross the Rhine and invade Gaul. Emperor Valentinian I moves to Paris to command the army and defend the Gallic cities. 996 – Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk, Bishop of Freising, which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi (Austria in Old High German). 1009 – Berber forces led by Sulayman ibn al-Hakam defeat the Umayyad caliph Muhammad II of Córdoba in the battle of Alcolea. 1141 – Empress Matilda's reign as 'Lady of the English' ends with Stephen of Blois regaining the title of 'King of England'. 1179 – Philip II is crowned as 'King of France'. 1214 – The port city of Sinope surrenders to the Seljuq Turks. 1348 – The anti-royalist Union of Valencia attacks the Jews of Murviedro on the pretext that they are serfs of the King of Valencia and thus "royalists". 1503 – Pope Julius II is elected. 1512 – The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time. 1520 – The Strait of Magellan, the passage immediately south of mainland South America connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, is first discovered and navigated by European explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the first recorded circumnavigation voyage. 1555 – French Huguenots establish the France Antarctique colony in present-day Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 1570 – The All Saints' Flood devastates the Dutch coast. 1604 – William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello is performed for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London. 1611 – Shakespeare's play The Tempest is performed for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London. 1612 – During the Time of Troubles, Polish troops are expelled from Moscow's Kitay-gorod by Russian troops under the command of Dmitry Pozharsky (22 October O.S.). 1683 – The British Crown colony of New York is subdivided into 12 counties. 1688 – William III of Orange sets out a second time from Hellevoetsluis in the Netherlands to seize the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland from King James II of England during the Glorious Revolution. 1755 – In Portugal, Lisbon is totally devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing between 60,000 and 90,000 people. 1765 – The British Parliament enacts the Stamp Act on the Thirteen Colonies in order to help pay for British military operations in North America. 1790 – Edmund Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France, in which he predicts that the French Revolution will end in a disaster. 1800 – John Adams becomes the first President of the United States to live in the Executive Mansion (later renamed the White House). 1805 – Napoleon Bonaparte invades Austria during the War of the Third Coalition. 1814 – Congress of Vienna opens to re-draw the European political map after the defeat of France in the Napoleonic Wars. 1848 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the first medical school for women, Boston Female Medical School (which later merged with the Boston University School of Medicine), opens. 1861 – American Civil War: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan as the commander of the Union Army, replacing General Winfield Scott. 1870 – In the United States, the Weather Bureau (later renamed the National Weather Service) makes its first official meteorological forecast. 1893 – The Battle of Bembezi took place and was the most decisive battle won by the British in the First Matabele War of 1893. 1894 – Nicholas II becomes the new (and last) Tsar of Russia after his father, Alexander III, dies. 1894 – Buffalo Bill, 15 of his Indians, and Annie Oakley were filmed by Thomas Edison in his Black Maria Studio in West Orange, New Jersey. 1896 – A picture showing the bare breasts of a woman appears in National Geographic magazine for the first time. 1897 – The first Library of Congress building opens its doors to the public; the library had previously been housed in the Congressional Reading Room in the U.S. Capitol. 1911 – World's first combat aerial bombing mission takes place in Libya during the Italo-Turkish War. Second Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti of Italy drops several small bombs. 1914 – World War I: The first British Royal Navy defeat of the war with Germany, the Battle of Coronel, is fought off of the western coast of Chile, in the Pacific, with the loss of HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth. 1914 – World War I: The Australian Imperial Force (AIF) departed by ship in a single convoy from Albany, Western Australia bound for Egypt. 1916 – In Russia, Pavel Milyukov delivers in the State Duma the famous "stupidity or treason" speech, precipitating the downfall of the government of Boris Stürmer. 1918 – Malbone Street Wreck: The worst rapid transit accident in US history occurs under the intersection of Malbone Street and Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, New York City, with at least 102 deaths. 1918 – Western Ukraine separates from Austria-Hungary. 1922 – Abolition of the Ottoman sultanate: The last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI, abdicates. 1928 – The Law on the Adoption and Implementation of the Turkish Alphabet, replaces the Arabic alphabet with the Latin alphabet. 1937 – Stalinists execute Pastor Paul Hamberg and seven members of Azerbaijan's Lutheran community. 1938 – Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral in an upset victory during a match race deemed "the match of the century" in horse racing. 1941 – American photographer Ansel Adams takes a picture of a moonrise over the town of Hernandez, New Mexico that would become one of the most famous images in the history of photography. 1942 – World War II: Matanikau Offensive begins during the Guadalcanal Campaign and ends three days later with an American victory. 1943 – World War II: The 3rd Marine Division, United States Marines, landing on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands, secures a beachhead, leading that night to a naval clash at the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay. 1944 – World War II: Units of the British Army land at Walcheren. 1945 – The official North Korean newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, is first published under the name Chongro. 1948 – Athenagoras I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, is enthroned. 1950 – Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate US President Harry S. Truman at Blair House. 1950 – Pope Pius XII claims papal infallibility when he formally defines the dogma of the Assumption of Mary. 1951 – Operation Buster–Jangle: Six thousand five hundred American soldiers are exposed to 'Desert Rock' atomic explosions for training purposes in Nevada. Participation is not voluntary. 1952 – Nuclear weapons testing: The United States successfully detonates Ivy Mike, the first thermonuclear device, at the Eniwetok atoll. The explosion had a yield of ten megatons TNT equivalent. 1954 – The Front de Libération Nationale fires the first shots of the Algerian War of Independence. 1955 – The establishment of a Military Assistance Advisory Group in South Vietnam marks the beginning of American involvement in the conflict. 1955 – The bombing of United Airlines Flight 629 occurs near Longmont, Colorado, killing all 39 passengers and five crew members aboard the Douglas DC-6B airliner. 1956 – The Indian states Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Mysore are formally created under the States Reorganisation Act; Kanyakumari district is joined to Tamil Nadu from Kerala. 1956 – Hungarian Revolution: Imre Nagy announces Hungary's neutrality and withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact. Soviet troops begin to re-enter Hungary, contrary to assurances by the Soviet government. János Kádár and Ferenc Münnich secretly defect to the Soviets. 1956 – The Springhill mining disaster in Springhill, Nova Scotia kills 39 miners; 88 are rescued. 1957 – The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at the time, opens to traffic connecting Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas. 1963 – The Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, with the largest radio telescope ever constructed, officially opens. 1963 – The 1963 South Vietnamese coup begins. 1968 – The Motion Picture Association of America's film rating system is officially introduced, originating with the ratings G, M, R, and X. 1970 – Club Cinq-Sept fire in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, France kills 146 young people. 1973 – Watergate scandal: Leon Jaworski is appointed as the new Watergate Special Prosecutor. 1973 – The Indian state of Mysore is renamed as Karnataka to represent all the regions within Karunadu. 1979 – In Bolivia, Colonel Alberto Natusch executes a bloody coup d'état against the constitutional government of Wálter Guevara. 1979 – Griselda Álvarez becomes the first female governor of a state of Mexico. 1981 – Antigua and Barbuda gains independence from the United Kingdom. 1982 – Honda becomes the first Asian automobile company to produce cars in the United States with the opening of its factory in Marysville, Ohio; a Honda Accord is the first car produced there. 1984 – After the assassination of Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India on 31 October 1984, by two of her Sikh bodyguards, anti-Sikh riots erupt. 1987 – British Rail Class 43 (HST) hits the record speed of 238 km/h for rail vehicles with on-board fuel to generate electricity for traction motors. 1993 – The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union. 2000 – Chhattisgarh officially becomes the 26th state of India, formed from sixteen districts of eastern Madhya Pradesh. 2000 – The Republic of Serbia and Montenegro joins the United Nations. 2012 – A fuel tank truck crashes and explodes in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, killing 26 people and injuring 135.

[michaelmalloryfanfic-blog]

fic update: o thou, destroyer named - chapter vii

they are like two wounded animals, circling one another, waiting to see who will strike first

. millory outpost 3 au .

post links: chapter i // chapter ii // chapter iii // chapter iv // chapter v // chapter vi // chapter vii // chapter viii // chapter ix //

ao3 links: chapter i // chapter ii // chapter iii // chapter iv // chapter v // chapter vi // chapter vii // chapter viii // chapter ix //

a/n: sorry. again. it's crap and I don't ever edit before posting. I'm like an overly excited puppy with a new toy. So. Idk guys. I've been feeling real down on myself lately. I just feel like...this whole fic is kinda shit and pales in comparison to other fics that are waaaaay better and more popular. I really wanna finish but I feel like my heart isn't in it. I'll finish the next chapter and see where I fall.

and remember kids: kudos are nice comments are better but nosy anons get me wetter :)

chapter summary: uh. mostly filler. I split up this chapter like I did the last one but I figured I'd try stretching this out since I may be giving up on this fic.WARNING! Dream sequence ahead. Also Langdon gets a little handsy ;)

Michael Langdon is bored. This is as true of the current moment as its true of the last year or so. Oh sure, the whole apocalypse thing had been exhilarating at first. When the first bomb had fallen, Michael had felt such an intense moment of fulfillment. He had been standing at the precipice of the completion of his entire life’s purpose. He realizes all too late, what many a grade school genius may already know, that it’s a terrible thing to peak too early in life. Currently, he finds himself sitting in a car in complete silence besides the occasional hiss from Mead who’s operating system is working overtime on her update and needs to let off heat and a sleepy sigh from Mallory who is fast asleep.

Michael Langdon is bored and so through his subjectivity he has always been bored. The only upside to this is that he’s found that he has a propensity for finding entertainment wherever it can be found. And one of the most entertaining things he’s found is invading the minds of other. However, slipping into another person’s mind is a messy affair, even for the Antichrist. It can be discombobulating; memory and thoughts are rarely ever straightforward. Strangely enough, the human mind, which is supposed to be used to understand, seems to naturally resist being understood. Sight tends to take a back seat and experience becomes more about sensation. One moment he is in the back of the SUV. Mead is about fifteen minutes into her update and Mallory is across the seat. The next moment, he can taste the salt sea. He feels the cacophony of her limbs tangling around one another. The world tumbles over and over on its axis while the white wash pulls her under. He feels the grit of sand in her teeth when she crawls back up onto the shoreline. She’s just nineteen and it's the first time she's been to the ocean. He hears the echoing chambers of her heart. She is struggling to breathe, her chest burning yet she feels alive for what seems like the very first time.

There are other memories, most of them like an impressionist painting of emotion and sensation. Many memories resist comprehension, too intense or too faded into nothing more than a single feeling so vague that it has no name. But other things come easily, vividly. Pain is the clearest of all in her mind. How like a glittering jewel of broken glass, how like the revolving illumination of a lighthouse is pain in her head. He can taste her own saliva, pink with blood from biting her lip too hard, as her father buries his steel toe boot into her side for the third time. The memory is old, worn down to just the most intense bursts of pain and sadness. She’s only seven. Michael can smell her mother’s perfume when she drops down and curls around Mallory. The shock wave of her father’s boots can still be felt even through the shield of her mother’s body.

All this is both illuminating and not. She’s had a rough go of things but nothing that should make her singular. Mallory should be nothing to him, just another sad kid with a hole in her heart and yet he wants to feast upon her, gorge on all these moments of her humanity. In the darkness of the backseat, he looks at her placid features and feels her mind turn over. She’s beginning to dream. He can feel the tumult, fear, and intrigue pulse through her mind. In her dream, she is running. He can feel something behind her moving like a great, shining beast. It’s amazing how her mind can dream of heated pursuit but her face remains as impassive as ever.

He smells blood and feels panic rise in her. Dreams are always such messy, impractical things and he has never had much use for them. He is already disengaging from her mind when he becomes stuck in her mind like a pieces of fabric snagged on a thorn. In the physical world, he feels the communication device in his hand vibrate but he is hypnotized by his own image in her mind like Narcissus and his reflection. It is always strange to see yourself in someone else’s head. People tend to either exaggerate the things they like or the things they hate. Michael has seen himself hewn as a god, as an enemy, as an object of desire in the minds of others. He has seen himself so distorted to the point where he is unrecognizable even to himself but when he sees himself in Mallory’s mind he’s surprised. Not just because she sees him so terribly clearly, he’s like a photograph in her dream, but because of what she feels.

The car jolts, the vibration of the device in his hand has just ceased and a red dot pops up above the little phone icon on the screen. He feels her dream tremble. It buckles under the weight of her conscious mind awakening. Just as she wakes, the phone vibrates in his hand again and he answers. It is disappointing news but he barely cares, instead he focuses on how she tries so hard to steady her breathing. He ends the conversation with a threat and watches as her eyes shift beneath her eyelids. He waits for a moment to fiddle with his device but soon enough he can’t hold his words anymore.

“Sweet dreams?” Langdon asks from across the seat.

Once the two SUVs crunch to a halt and three bio-suited figures immediately hop out of the front seats. They hurry towards the other car, popping open the back doors. They extract from the second car what turns out to be a portable decontamination station. The three figures make quick work of the set up and soon enough one of the men are leading Michael and Mallory into the tent. Mead stays behind. She waves over one of the three suits and they discuss the next steps to decommission Outpost 3.

Their suits are sprayed down with a chemical cocktail and then they are led into another chamber where they are stripped of their suits and then its into the back of the SUV. As soon as they are seated, Langdon pulls out a device that looks suspiciously like a smart phone but like none Mallory's ever encountered. In the darkness of the cabin, his face is set aglow with pale blue light from his screen. His seem almost silver.

Mallory tries to peek over at what he's so fixated on but when he catches her looking he just pulls the device closer and smiles.

“Eyes to yourself, Mallory.”

After being chastised, Mallory turns her attention to the view out her window. Finding it an endless of expanse of gray mist, she presses her head against the cold glass. Despite all that’s happened, she’s a little excited to be taking a drive. Mallory had always loved long drives. The first one she could remember was when she was eight. Mallory remembers that they had started out early in the morning, long before sunrise. Her father, still drunk from the night before, sat snoring in his recliner as they shuffled out into the frigid darkness. When Mallory thinks of this moment, the image of her mother pressing one finger up against her lips, purple and bruising, always returns to her. It’s such a fragmented memory. She remembers thinking how pretty the shiner darkening her mother’s left eye looks in the early morning light. Mallory remembers the ache in her own right side where her father had kicked her five times the night before. It is to this memory that her mind wanders as she sits in the silence of the back cabin of an SUV while they wait for Mead.

She isn’t sure when it happens, but before she notices any difference she’s fast asleep. And as Mallory sleeps, Mallory dreams.

The outpost is a maze. Outpost 3 had always been a confusing network of passages, hallways, and chambers but now it is transfigured into something organic, nonsensical, alive. In the dark, she stumbles blindly and always behind her there is some burning, writhing thing that stalks her every move. It never reaches out, never strikes but she knows that if she stops running, if she is caught she will be consumed. So she runs. And runs. And runs.

Runs towards an orange glow that is always just beyond her reach, around another corner.

Behind her she hears a voice and realizes with dread that it is her own voice speaking.

“Look back,” the thing says as if it has her own tongue in its blazing mouth. “Look back and know me again. Perish and be reborn.”

It’s a trap. She knows this. Knows that if she looks back all will be lost. A pillar of salt, a vicious wound is all she will be. And yet she feels her muscles tense, move beyond her will. She is turning even as she runs. Is she moving in slow-motion or does it only feel that way? She wills her eyes to close but her body is not her own. Every second she inches closer and closer to looking back. The bright thing behind her, the orange glow before her, her life hangs in the balance between.

Just a little further. Please, please just a little more and I will be safe, she pleads. To whom? She doesn’t know.

But they must hear her because before she looks back, before the thing reaches her she is standing in a haze of orange and before her is a door. She remembers it and looks down to see Langdon’s blood seep out from beneath. Above the door the words are written but they are different now.

Igne natura renovatur integra

Behind her the shining thing hisses, I am the fire. I will birth you anew. Let me hold you. Let me devour you.

She slips into the room but instead of the antechamber, the candlelit room circling around, she finds her own room. It is both as tiny as she remembers but as vast as anything she knows. Her bed has become an alter and on it are her things, the crystals, the sprig, the charcoal and the matches. Kneeling at the altar are three cloaked figures. Blood pours from the altar like water bubbling up from a spring. Suddenly, Mallory realizes she shouldn’t be here. She tries to back away. The cloaked figures rise to their full height. Someone grabs her by the shoulders and spins her around. It is Michael and he is exactly like he was in that moment when she was no one, a nameless creature who had just spit up her own death like a ball of tar black phlegm. He is smiling when he wraps his hands around her little throat. He squeezes and she gasps but not from pain. No it isn’t as simple as that. It is pain but also comfort. Even as her vision bleeds to black, her windpipe buckling beneath his thumb, she is grateful, relieved even.

He leans down to whisper in her ear. His cheek his so warm against her own and his breath is scorching in the shell of her ear.

“This is what happens when you ask for it, Mallory darling.”

The last thing she sees is the curtain of Langdon’s hair falling over her like a golden curtain of light.

The world shakes and the sound of great metal gears echoes through the dreamscape. All color begins to drain. Red from the blood that still pools at her feet. The gold from his hair that smells of smoke and secret things. The blue from his eyes that shine like the summer sky. They all fade until all that's left is -

Darkness. She is thrown into the amniotic blackness behind her eyelids by the sudden shifting of the car around her, the crunch and howl of machinery sounds around her. It is a cacophonous reintroduction to consciousness and it takes a great amount of effort to keep quiet. For a moment she is lost, adrift. She tries to keep her breathing even, her eyes closed and then she hears from somewhere besides her Langdon’s voice.

“I ordered that the update include the restoration of all her old memories in full.” There is a series of no's punctuated by brief silences before he sighs deeply, “I don't respond kindly to failure as I’m sure you’re aware. Fix it or I will handle both you and the situation myself.”

She peeks over at him. He seems to still be completely preoccupied with his device. His eyes are almost silver in the blue light of his screen.

“Sweet dreams?” he asks suddenly and Mallory jumps.

“I - uh - sorry,” she settles on the last word with an embarrassment.

When she glances up at him she sees the tiniest smirk on his features.

“Answer the question. What did you dream about?” he asks sounding less than interested.

He is still fiddling with his device. He taps the screen with his thumbs, texting someone or writing something down.

“I was back at the outpost,” Mallory mumbles as she turns to look back out the window.

Instead of gray mists, she finds that its just darkness now, smooth like oil. Occasionally, a soft orange light would pass overhead barely detectable through the heavily tinted windows. There was an oily smudge where head had been pressed up against the window. She moves to wipe at it with her sleeve but winces when she feels a tightness in her left shoulder from sleeping in an awkward position for too long.  Mallory reaches up with her right arm to try and massage her crick in her neck.

“Is that all?” he says this time the tiniest bit of interest seeping into his voice.

She shakes her head, no. Rotating her shoulder a few times, Mallory presses harder into the tight bundle of muscles tucked under her shoulder blade. A spasm of pain shoots through her and she hisses. Mallory stretches, hoping to hear that satisfying crack but to no avail. She begins to work at the muscle again before she hears him call to her.

“Come here,” he says quietly.

He is still in the same position as before, so completely still that she thinks she may have imagined hearing him. Mallory glances at Mead who sits stone-faced, staring straight ahead. She too is completely silent and when Mallory waves a hand in front of Mead’s face she doesn’t react.

“Leave Ms. Mead alone,” Langdon sighs then he tucks his device away and reaches out a long arm to wrap it around her. “I said come here.”

Mallory’s first instinct is to jump back. She’s never been big on physical intimacy, more than one of her former partners have bemoaned her unwillingness to cuddle or hold hands, calling her a cold fish. But Langdon is persistent. His fingers find the tight muscles in her shoulder and begin to knead them. The sudden relief that his touch brings is enough to throw Mallory off her guard. For a moment, she forgets to resist and that’s all Michael needs to pull her in.

“You capricious thing,” he murmurs only mildly irritated.

Mallory can only hum in response. His hands are so warm on her skin and seem to know exactly where the tightness is. There is one particular spot, the root of the problem, that he seems to always just miss. He is so maddeningly specific in his ignorance that she’s certain he’s doing this on purpose. Instead of giving her release, he works at the areas around that longing spot and after a few minutes of this she’s practically keening for relief.

“Tell me more about the dream,” he says and he’s so close now that she that she can feel the warm air carried by his words as they run over her head.

“I was running from something,” she breathes and then hisses as he ghost over that spot she so desperately wants him to press down on.

He knows, he knows. Though he touches her where she needs him to his fingers suddenly lose all strength. They are like air. Mallory shifts hoping to catch the pressure of his fingers on the bundle of muscles that she longs for him to attend to but he knows what she’s playing at.

“I couldn’t see it but I knew it was behind me,” her voice is almost nothing more than a whine now. “I could feel it.”

She’s embarrassed at herself pressing up against him like a cat in heat. But the undulating shift between pleasure and pain is heady. Mallory is still half asleep and in a haze.

“What was it? What was chasing you?”

She’s fully pressed against his side now. This is the first time she’s been close enough to smell him when he isn’t covered in blood. He smells warm like amber and sweat.

“I don’t remember,” she breathes her head is spinning and she’s needy for that one spot to be attended to. “There were women there too. The women who live in my head. They were kneeling at an alter. And then - then you were there.”

“Dreaming about me, Mallory darling?” he hums into to her ear.

She begins to nod but then yelps when he suddenly presses down right at the center of her tightness. White flashes behind her eyes but the pain passes as quickly as it comes. She is practically melting as he slowly begins the knead the tightness away.

“Keep going,” he whispers hotly in her ear.

“You told me, you - you said something ,” she slurs as the tension flees her body. “I can’t remember.”

Mallory’s eyes begin to droop and her breathing slows. Michael can feel her fighting against the darkness, against the comfort and warmth.

“Sleep, Mallory,” he insists, his voice is a purring in her ear. “We still have a ways to go.”

Zoe Benson is no stranger to death. Not even the current reigning Supreme can boast familiarity with the darkest art the way Zoe can. Only Madison rivals Zoe in this way. Despite its pristine look, Outpost 3 reeks of death. The witches can smell it. Its energy is rotten to the core. All three of the witches know this but Zoe feels the narrative of its evil of how it reaches back not just to the bombs but years and year, decades and decades of evil. It opens to her like a book.

Despite what Cordelia orders, the witches find none of their sisters in the abandoned outpost. The place is for all intents and purposes, barren. The shelves had been stripped of their books. The rooms have no mattresses. Metal and wooden bed frames sit like skeletons in their rooms. Much to their dismay, the provisions have also been cleared out. When they had taken down the first few outposts, there had been a plethora of supplies but now, the kitchens and med-bays are cavernous in their emptiness.

Scorched earth. The Cooperative may be on to them and this makes Cordelia cautious.

“Split up and search the rest of the facility, but stay close,” Cordelia says her face grim as she takes Zoe’s hand in her’s. She squeezes lightly. “I can’t afford to lose you.”

“Any of you,” she adds with a pointed look at Madison who only rolls her eyes at the sentiment.

Almost immediately after this interaction, Madison finds a bathroom to hole up in and lights up the other half of the blunt she had rolled that morning. The place is empty and everyone that used to live there is either dead or long gone. No amount of searching is going to change that. Madison hated outpost runs and she had previously had no reason to be involved. As far as she was concerned, she’s given more than enough for the sake of her coven. She’s died a few times already for this little girl scout troop and then some. She didn’t really feel like dying again. So make no mistake, when her name had come up in conversation about the next and possibly last outpost run, Madison had every intention of telling Cordelia and the council to fuck right off. Except, Zoe had come to her first with her dark eyes and mournful mouth. Zoe had come to Madison with a worried plea.

“Please, M,” Zoe had said. “I have a feeling about this one. I think something big is gonna happen and I can’t tell if it's gonna be good or bad. I need you with me.”

She had reached out a small pale hand and laced her fingers through Madison’s. The next she knew she was cloaked up and hiking cross country through radioactive mists. Madison had always been a sucker for a pretty face.

“Madison!” a voice rings out and Madison nearly drops her joint in surprise.

“Speak of the devil,” Madison mumbles to herself.

Madison takes one last drag before leaving her little hovel to seek her sister witch out. It takes a little while and a few more shouts before she finds the tiny room that Zoe inspecting a little square impression in the wall that forms a sort of shelf.

“Mah-” Zoe begins to shout again but halts with a small ‘oh’ when she turns to find Madison leaning against the door frame.

“What’s up buttercup?” Madison says casually.

Zoe only rolls her eyes but Madison catches that small secret smile that she thinks Zoe keeps only for her.

“So you girls always split up like the scooby gang on these runs?” she quips. “Seems a little risky doncha think? You know the whole split up thing was just so Fred could screw Daphne’s brains out behind a dumpster.”

“Or smoke a joint?” Zoe replies with a knowing look but doesn’t press any further. “Come here. What does this look like to you?”

Madison finally enters the room although it’s so small there’s barely enough space to actually be in the room. She saddles up next to Zoe who stands at the head of an empty metal bed frame. She’s staring intently at what seems to be a bunch of trash.

“Uh. Four Swarovskis and some crap,” she replies and looks around again at the meager room. “Listen, can we get out of this place already. I’m getting seasonal depression just from here.”

Zoe sighs but honestly isn’t surprised. Casting had never been Madison’s strong suit.  

“Crystal for clarity, four of them for each cardinal sign. Charcoal to absorb evil intent and a sprig of rosemary for remembering. Fire for purity,” she explains but the look on Madison’s face says that doesn’t follow. “It's a memory spell.”

“Who would be doing a memory spell?” Madison says and as soon as she does she seems to answer her own question.

“Someone who was made to forget,” Zoe unnecessarily replies. “We need to get Cordelia in here. Now.”

Zoe makes to leave but before she can go Madison takes her hand.

“You think it’s her don’t you.”

Zoe only squeezes Madison’s hand tighter. Both witches leave the memory spell behind and seek out their superior, their hands still entwined.

Next Time: Welcome to the Sanctuary! We have tasteful sweaters, chinos, and nefarious plots galore!

[theseviolentdelightss]

Counting Paths X

Series Summary: After a lifetime on the run from the Empire, Reader makes a move that could have drastic impacts for both friend and foe. A Reader insert/fanfic. Gifs belong to their respective owners.

Word Count: 6204

Author’s Note: I really enjoyed writing this newest chapter and I’m so happy that I’m finally getting over my writer’s block hence the massive word count. Thank you all for sticking around and showing your support with likes and reblogs. It is always much appreciated.

Part I Part II Part III Part IV Part V Part VI Part VII Part VIII Part IX

If there was one universal truth you knew, it was that fear is poison. If you allow, it will fester and spread to the furthermost corners of your life. In war it's even worse, it's contagious...

Years ago, shortly after being bumped up to sergeant you had been sent to hold the line during a two month skirmish on a cold forest planet. A small faction of the rebellion had been almost entirely encircled by Imperial troops. It was a battle that should have been won in a matter of hours but instead dragged on for days. The shift in the world's climate brought on sudden fierce blizzards making air cover and evacuation virtually impossible. Thankfully it also kept the Empire from reinforcing their troops. Leaving you and your comrades no choice but to dig in, suppress any Imperial offensives, and maintain your position.  

Whatever the Empire lacked in numbers they made up for in artillery. Every few hours they would barrage your positions with bombing raids. It was unlike anything you had ever experienced. One minute your dug in your ranger grave, drying out your socks and suddenly the sky is exploding above you. Splitting the tops of decades old trees into splinters in bright flashes. The colors bursting in the sky were terrifyingly beautiful yet whenever they ceased came the screams. The near endless sea of voices crying out as your fellow Rebels lay broken and in pieces around you. The sight before you wasn't beautiful, only terrifying. This was hell, and you were living in it.

You watched more of your comrades die in those few short days than you cared to think of. Losing a person you care about is always a shit situation. There is no debating that, but seeing someone you've shared meals with, someone you've laughed, fought, cried with, watching them die is something else entirely. To have to listen to them wail in agony for their mother as you struggle to ebb the flow of blood inside the mess of red and wood that once was their chest. To feel a body grow still in your hands. To witness the light fade from their eyes. Moments such as that stick with you.

Simply put, it fucks you up.

There may be a more poetic way of saying it but it's the harsh truth of the matter. You're never really the same after seeing it. The true ugly face of death. Each time it happens it chips away a bit more of the person you thought you were.

One night you found one of the greener solders in your squad trying to dig a ranger grave with his bare hands. He didn't even seem to notice that he had torn off his fingernails in the process. You got him out of there quickly, set him as far back from the line as possible and told him to find a hot meal. It wasn't just for his own good, it was for all of you. Morale in combat is a domino effect. One slips and the rest gradually follow. It was part of the reason why the Rebellion warned their recruits about the dangers of forming relationships while enlisted. Caring too deeply about a particular person was a liability. If something should happen to one the other would undoubtedly struggle moving forward. Hell, they might even question rather it was worth it to fight.

Sure, they wanted you all to care about each other but preferably in a platonic manner. Not that there weren't rebels in relationships with one another. In fact many were. It was simply best if those relationships didn't take place between team members. It created too large a chance for a conflict of interest. Consider this, if one had to chose between their team members and the person they love most in the world how many wouldn't choose the latter? That was why they didn't want anyone getting too close.

Comradery was what held you all together, love had the capability to tear you apart.

Two days later you read the same soldier's name on the list of casualties and felt next to nothing. The letters of his name scribbled in small text. The paper wrinkled and torn at the side from having been passed through too many hands. The further down the list you went the more the handwriting changed. Each person updating it before passing it along. It was such an archaic form of keeping up with the dead but it was the least you all could do. There wasn't any time to mourn. All you could do was read the names and hope that when their time came it was quick and painless, however unrealistic a hope that might be.

Among the names there were a handful you recognized but far more that you didn't. The vast majority were low ranking new recruits. That in itself was telling. You weren't losing fellow sergeants of other NCOs. You were losing replacements. Such a reason was partly to blame for why you had long ago given up on befriending new recruits. They all came in the same. All geared and ready for a fight. Half the time you didn't even bother to learn their names. There was too many of them, rushing in all piss and vinegar, replacing high ranking veteran officers that other dumb new recruits got killed. Couple days later and the're lying on the ground with their guts spread out, screaming for help, begging for their mothers.

They never seemed to realize they were already dead.

When the weather finally cleared enough for your troops to evacuate there was no choice but to leave the bodies behind. Rebels aren't often lucky enough to be afforded a funeral or even a grave for that matter. Be that as it may, upon returning to base you found yourself gathering the young man's belongings from his barracks and bringing them to his mother. His jacket, a stack of notebooks, a spare pair of boots, and a photo of home. All that was left for a mother to remember her son by.

That had been the first time you traveled to Nar Shaddaa.

“I'm not typically one to pass judgement but this seems incredibly sketchy.” You mused simply. Turning to your companion and ignoring the irritated look on his face. 

Roland had filled you in on only the minor details involving his mission on the off chance that things went badly and he had to make a sudden run for it. Bringing you back to Yavin IV safely was clearly not a high priority of his. He had provided a ride to Nar Shaddaa as he had promised. Being true to his word in the simplest of measures. If he had to leave without you he would. After all, Theodren never said anything about bringing you back.

Outside the ship's windshield the smuggler's moon grew larger with each passing second. Its lights shining as brightly as they had when you had passed through a second time, nearly a year before. After fleeing from the Empire you had decided to lie low. A densely populated moon in the outer rim seemed as good a place as any. It was easy to keep your head down, take odd jobs when you could, and never stay in the same place for too long.

It wasn't exactly ideal. Try as you may to deny it you knew that deep down some part of you wanted some semblance of a normal life. To survive pass the war and know what it feels like to truly live in peace. The rational part of you argued that such dreams were unrealistic. That they would make doing what was necessary to survive that much more difficult. Truth be told you had long ago come to terms with your own mortality. That the chances of you someday seeing thirty, or even your next birthday for that matter, were debatable at best. It was better to simply accept the worse rather than to merely expect it.  

“Well I didn't ask for your opinion did I little miss 'I like to point out the fucking obvious for no fucking reason' did I?” Roland practically barked. Taking the time to mimic you and even going so far as to add overly dramatic air quotes.

By this point you were used to it. The man was unspeakably crass but after a few hours it became obvious he was just a blow hard. All bark and no bite. He cursed rampantly which was perfectly fine by you but he was also easily irritated. Other than that he was merely another solider going through the motions. Doing whatever the Rebellion required of him. Yet without a doubt, better cut out for solo missions.

“I'm not calling bullshit!” You replied, matching the volume of your voice to Roland's. “I'm simply saying that it would appear as if the Rebellion has had very little contact with this arms dealer that your procuring this shipment from. Perhaps a bit of-”

“Hush it tutz!” He barked again. “You've got your own bullshit to worry about.”

Sighing you pushed yourself out of your seat and moved to gather your things. Knowing that you would be landing soon. Shuffling through your bag you double and triple checked your belongings. Blaster, extra ammo, first aid, and macro binoculars all exactly where they should be. The ship shook beneath your feet as it entered the moon's atmosphere. The speed quickly decreasing as it began its slow decent. Tossing your pack over your shoulder you holstered your blaster beneath your coat and tried to calm yourself with the few remaining moments you had left. Assuring yourself that despite your normally pessimistic nature you were not going to fail.

You were going to find Cassian. You didn't care if it seemed crazy. You were going to find him and you were going to bring him home.

“You've got six hours” Roland shouted as you exited the ship. He had decided to dock his ship on the furthest spaceport possible. Even so, it was still fairly packed with other ships and shuttles. 98 percent of the Nar Shaddaa's surface was consumed by its ever growing cities. You could hardly walk a half a foot without crossing paths with someone. Privacy in a place such as this was a luxury few could afford.

Though it made sense for Roland to dock his ship so far out considering what he was there for it certainly didn't help him look any less conspicuous. Not to mention it would take you over an hour just to make your way into Hutta Town. Still, it was better than being stuck on base doing nothing.

“I will fucking leave you!” Roland shouted, his voice echoing through the massive loading bay.

“Your loss!” You replied, waving over your shoulder at the grumpy pilot. Clearly not distraught over the thought of being left behind. Stepping into the nearest elevator you avoid eye contact with its other occupants as floors fly by rapidly above you. The spaceport was huge but there was little to no security.  Saving you some much needed time as you slid pass the oblivious guards and made your way through one of its exists. The crisp night air blew back your hair as you stepped outside the spaceport's thick walls. Carrying with it the sounds and smells of the city that lay ahead. Instinctively you began scanning the horizon and trying to memorize landmarks. Making your way towards the bustling city streets. Cold sweat clinging to your skin like wet clothing as you finally pushed into the minor thoroughfares.

Theodren's intel hadn't given you much to go on but it had suggested a small handful of locations that had been scouted for Cassian's mission. The only option you had was to bounce between each of them and hope the dark eyed Captain would show up in one. It was too risky to ask questions, if Cassian was still working it might blow his cover. When it came to his mission all you knew was that he had been sent to make contact with a Rebel informative that may be leaking information to the Empire and to determine the truth of the matter. If the rebel that Cassian sought had in fact turned coat than Cassian's mission would have become one of assassination. Not that it would have been the first time. Given the way people spoke of him, it would seem as if Captain Andor was well versed in the act of killing. It was one of the few things the two of you shared in common. For the most part he and you were as different from each other as the sun and the moon. 

If only there could have been more happy exceptions.

In a city as crowded as this you knew that simply making your way through the streets would eat through too much of your time and time was currently of limited supply. After a fair bit of searching you at last found a building tall enough to grant you a solid vantage point and piping strong enough to climb upon. Most of the outlying buildings were condemned at best but it would have to do. Finally reaching the top you pull yourself over the small wall that separates you between the roof and what would surely be a fatal fall. Positioning yourself safely against the cool stone you carefully retrieved your macro binoculars and began scanning the vast array of buildings and crowded streets beneath you. Finding Cassian would be like finding a needle in a haystack; yet, if you could at least pinpoint the specific locations that had been scouted out for him you'd have a place to start.

It took a fair amount of searching and manuvering to finally locate one of the named locations. The sign shone a bright shade of crimson in the distance. Arcadia had been listed as a smuggler's hideout in Cassian's mission dosier. Though, its owners had done one hell of a job disguising it as what could only be described as a high class dive bar. If such a thing even exists. The inside wasn't much to look at either. Weaving through the miss matched tables and various other patrons you made your way to the bar. Unable to shake the feeling that someone was watching you. Waving over the bartender you quickly ordered your drink. Making sure to tip him well. Knowing the importance of not offending the locals as you kept your time on the clock. Though Nar Shaddah was tidally locked there were still routine doc scans implemented to civilians every hour on the hour. Bars such as Arcadia were like beacons for the Empire. They practically screamed 'criminal activity' meaning they were the first ones they hit. As the minutes ticked on you knew you had to get moving. Glancing around the room a last time before making your way back into the congested street.

All of the other locations were more of the same. You stayed long enough to look for Cassian but never long enough to raise suspicion. More often than not people were happy to ignore you and you were happy to ignore them. Even so, you couldn't shake that sensation of being watched every where you went. Finishing off your third drink you slid your money across the bar and made your way towards the exit. Thanking whatever twist of fate had granted you the capability to hold your liquor. 

Occasional alcoholism seeming to strong a term.

Hurrying out the doorway you felt that unforgiving feeling of weightlessness that preludes a sudden fall. The tip of your boot had caught on the edge of an unevenly placed brick and sent you hurdling into the passing crowd. Closing your eyes tightly you braced for the coming impact.

“The hell!” A voice shouted loudly as your bodies collided and fell in a heap on the ground. It hadn't been intentional but you had inadvertently taken some poor stranger down with you. “Y/N?”

Your head snapped up so quickly it sent a bolt of white hot pain across the back of your neck. You had become unaccustomed to being called by your true name. There were so few people left alive that even knew it. Merely a handful. Perhaps that is why you recognized this particular one instantly. Some faces are harder to forget.

“Han?” Your voice was laced with muted excitement as you spoke. 

“Its Captain.” He boasted, that same unwavering charm about him still very much intact since you had last seen him.

“Pardon me for skipping the formalities Captain Solo. Would you mind helping a girl to her feet?” 

Han had always been fairly quick on his feet and had manged to keep the two of you upright long enough to lessen the impact of your fall. Still, you weren't particularly content being pinned beneath him atop the grimy sidewalk. Just as smoothly as he spoke Han lifted you up and set you right. His hands remaining atop your shoulders as you gained your balance.

“Nice of you to drop by.” He chuckled, watching as you dusted yourself off. Your braid having came loose, allowing your normally tame curls to fall about your face. Tentatively Han brushed them aside and helped tuck them behind you ears.

“Sorry about that.” You apologized, now dusting off his vest and the side of his arms.

“What is there to be sorry for?” He teased.  “You're welcome to fall into my arms anytime you like.”

You couldn't help but chuckle, giving up the tough facade you normally wore. Feeling that false exterior fade was a welcome change. It wasn't terribly often that you found someone you felt comfortable enough to be yourself around. Han; however, was one of the few. If you ever had to choose a small group of individuals you truly trusted Han would undoubtedly be one of them. Accompanied by his fury companion, Theodren and perhaps even Cassian. The list was small but it was more than enough by your standards. Though Han did a truly spectacular job of acting like he didn't care about anyone but himself and that Wookie;  truth be told, he was a good man. When you were on the run and in desperate need of work Han had taken a risk on you with nothing to gain.  

Perhaps that is why for a time you had allowed yourself to care so deeply for him.

“You working?” You asked quietly, moving in closer to allow the strangers passing by on their way.

“Always.” He replied, leaning down to your level as he spoke. Even with the considerable height difference between the two of you this move was totally unnecessary. It was an old habit he never seemed to break, particularly not after you made it clear how you felt about personal space. Han knew what he was doing, and he damn well knew the effect it had. No matter how aggravated or frustrated you were it always managed to make your heart skip a beat. Leaving behind an uneasy fluttering that lingered.  “And what brings a lovely girl like you to a dump like this?”

“I'm looking for someone.” Your voice was little more than a whisper as you spoke but you knew he heard. Immediately his eyes drifted from your own.

“A man?” He asked simply, seeming instantly distracted.

“Yes.”

“Tan skin, dark hair?” He continued, his inquiry taking you slightly off guard as his eyes wandered towards a spot in the distance.

“How'd you know?” You asked, trying to follow his line of sight and discover how his speculation was so spot on.

“Because that broody looking fella heading this way has been watching you since you came out that door. Looks pissed at one of us. I just assumed it was me.”

Sure enough, from out of the crowded streets appeared a fiery Cassian Andor. You may have ran up to him and pulled him tightly into a hug if it weren't for the look on his face. Han was right, Cassian looked pissed.

“What are you doing here?” He hissed under his breath, those deep brown eyes boring holes into you. Demanding an answer. If only you could remember any of the dozen you had prepared. In the few seconds it took for Cassian to reach you, your heart had swelled and melted. The relief pouring over you in waves. Cassian was alive and unhurt.

“Hi.” Was all you managed. Beside you Han straightened his back, bringing himself to his full height. One hand moved to rest atop his blaster as the other found its way to the small of your back. The smuggler in him always kept Han at the ready. Papered for a fight if ever it should break out. He had no way of knowing that Cassian was your ally. Which meant it was time to get the awkward introductions out of the way if you wanted to avoid violence.  “Cass, this is Han. Han, this is Cass, we work together.“

The two men eyed each other carefully, sizing the other up. Cassian's eyes darted between you and Han, brow furrowed in confusion. You could feel Han's arm slink its way around your waist, pulling you closer, and trying to nudge you to stand behind him. It never surprised you how quickly he could shift between his gruff smuggler self to that of a gentleman. That was just Han. Granted, it was totally unnecessary, you were perfectly capable of taking yourself. Not to mention, had proven yourself a better shot than Han on numerous occasions. A fact you knew drove him mad.

“Looks like a rebel to me.” Han said, treading carefully. Clearly aware of the rising shade of red that was beginning to overcome Cassian's face. If he was pissed off before now he was furious. Not only had you gone off world but you were here, on Nar Shaddaa of all places, with this stranger it appeared you knew very well.

“Han...” You warned, moving away from the smuggler and positioning yourself between the two men. “Please.”

“Thought you swore you'd never go back to that loss cause.” Han scoffed slightly, genuinely surprised by your apparent return to the Rebellion.

“You know me, I have weakness for causes once they're truly lost.” You smiled softly, comfortable admitting it.

All those nights Han and you had laid together. Speaking in soft voices about both of your past and the pain that came from it. So many times you had sworn you would never return to the Rebellion. To never put yourself within the Empire's grasp and yet here you were. The more the smuggler looked you over the more obvious it became. Something in you had shifted since the two of you had last seen each other. A readiness to make difficult choices. To do whatever was necessary to make things right. Judging by the unwelcome grimace on the face of the man who now stood beside you it was obvious that he was your partner of some sort. Though he couldn't pin point exactly what, Han couldn't deny there was obviously something unspoken that lingered between the two rebels that stood before him.

“I was beginning to wonder where you were!” You cheered, finally glancing the large Wookie pushing through to crowd towards the three of you.

Unfazed by the tension Chewie stepped in front of his Captain and spread his arms wide. Grinning from ear to ear you hurried forward and into the welcome hug. Burying your face into his fur and closing your eyes tightly. It had been months since anyone had shown you such open kindness. Chewie roared joyfully, lifting you off the ground and taking Cassian slightly by surprise.

“I missed you too big guy.” You patted Chewie kindly on the chest as he set you on your feet. Your cheeks flushed with joy. Out of all the people you had encountered in you life there weren’t many as kind and loving, as Chewbaca. At first you had just assumed that all Wookies were simply like that; yet as you spent weeks working along side him aboard the Millennium Falcon you came to realize that he was one of the purest souls you had met. His kindness was infectious to you and made it impossible not to smile. Cassian hadn't seen you this happy since the day he took you to Sky Gazer Hill. It was evident you had a past with these two strangers. Though one was purely platonic he didn't care for the way the other man's eyes lingered on you.

“I need to speak to you.” Cassian lent forward, taking a light hold of your arm and whispering into your ear. “In private.”

The combination of the feel of Cassian's breath on your neck and his tone caused the goosebumps to raise atop your skin while simultaneously forming knots in your stomach. He would no doubt have countless questions as to why, and how you had gotten here. This sudden meeting with Han would undoubtedly require some explaining as well. The idea of having to justify your actions to Cassian was daunting. Even so, he was alive which was more than you had been told to expect. Nodding you motion for Cassian to wait as you turned your attention back towards Han and Chewie.

“It was good seeing you again.“ You began, moving towards the tall smuggler.

“You too doll.” Han replied, stepping forward and pulling you tightly into a hug. Nuzzled against his chest you could tell he was still using the aftershave you had bought him while on a job in Courusant. One of your rare happy memories. As you began to pull away he bent forward and placed a firm kiss atop your forehead. His eyes on Cassian, and not at all surprised by his obvious look of disapproval.

“Take care of him Chewie.” You instructed as you lent forward and hugged the Wookie again.

Waving to your old friends a final time before you allow Cassian to begin pulling you through the crowd. Your heart in your throat as you trailed beside the dark haired rebel. His grip still firmly on your arm. The two of you hurried like alley cats through the busy streets. Weaving in an out of the endless crowd until Cassian finally spotted a small gap in between buildings and lead you into it.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Cassian hissed, his cheeks red with anger. Standing this close you could practically feel the heat radiating off him. He wasn't just mad, he was fuming. That didn't take long. Sighing you tried to compose yourself. It might have helped if you had a bit more space to yourself but the small gap between the crumbling bricks left little wiggle room.

“I was getting cooped up on base so Theodren pulled some strings-”

“Like our trip to Skygazer Hill?” He asked coolly.

“Yes.” You stammered.

“You do know Theodren told me you asked him, right?” Again Cassian's voice was icy as he spoke. The anger inside him threatening to boil over. You weren’t exactly doing yourself any favors. If anything your were confirming a pattern.

“I-I just needed to get off world for awhile. Theodren found a job I could assist on.”

Cassian rolled his eyes, angrily pushing the hair out of his face. You hated seeing him like this, so full of aggression and frustration. It all now directed at you. Suddenly, you felt like a child trying to lie for the first time. All of that confidence, that poise  you prided yourself on was stripped away. 

“On Nar Shaddaa of all places, and you expect me to not find that odd?” Cassian replied sarcastically, he clearly wasn't buying it.

“Yes!” You snapped, the pain at having been left in the dark causing your heart to thump angrily against your chest. “It's not like I could have known you were here. You didn't tell me anything, you just left!”

Sighing, you turned your attention towards the street beside you. Desperate to escape this moment. As bad as you felt about lying to Cassian you were equally hurt by what he had done. You would have never asked him to stay behind. You knew too well just how much the Rebellion meant to him. How important of an asset he was to them. You simply wished he trusted you enough to have told you he was leaving. A simple heads up would have been appreciated.

“Look I'm-” Cassian began, but as your eyes continued to gaze over the mass of faces passing by the sight in front of you caused you to cut him off.

“Fuck!” You gasped, your eyes glued to the polished white uniforms heading your way. “Troopers.”

Cassian's eyes widened with worry for a moment before he began searching for a possible escape. It was futile. The two of you were literally squeezed inside a 4 by 4 stone box with the only possible exit being the street. That was a definitive no. If Cassian and you suddenly took off it would raise even more suspicion. Granted the two of you were currently nuzzled into a small confine space, speaking in hushed voices, and looking rather out of place so your chances weren't terribly high to begin with. If you were found the troopers would undoubtedly ask to see papers.

“We're trapped.” Cassian said, his voice quite but definite. Once again carefully glancing into the street. Only this time he wasn't searching for a chance at escape, he was counting heads, weapons, searching for any possible way to high ground. Ignoring the odds and the high probability of death. He just needed to think of something quickly.

“We can't just stand here waiting to be caught.” You insisted, the sudden fear growing inside you like a cancer. Branching out from inside your chest. From the heels of your feet to the tips of your fingers it felt as if every muscle tensed. That instinctual reflex of bracing for a crash once you know it’s inevitable. This was why you had always detested the way fear effected you. It made you rash, on edge, never considering the long term consequences of your actions until it was too late. Until you had already dove head first into whatever foolish situation you had found yourself in.

“They’re checking scan docs.”

“How many are there?” You asked, trying to at least get an idea of what you were up against. 

“Too many. ” Cassian said even as he readied his blaster. Reaching forward you took a hold of his hands. Pulling the blaster from his grip you slid it beneath his jacket. Reaching around his waist to place it firmly in its holster. “What are you doing?”

“We can't fight our way out.” You muttered. “And we can't run.”

“Then what do you suggest we do?” Cassian demanded, he hadn't expected you to give up so easily. That wasn't the women he had come to know. Even now, you didn't look defeated, as if you had something up your sleeve. Knowing you, it would be something reckless and likely result in you getting yourself killed. As your hand began its slow crawl for your own blaster it became obvious that Cassian's assumptions had been correct.

“We can’t, but you can.” You stated firmly. Quickly pulling out your blaster and willing Cassian to do as you said. Praying that he would listen and resist the urge to be a hero. Instead he reached forward and gripped your wrist tightly.

“Don't!” He shouted. The volume of his voice was far louder than he had intended.

“We're not both getting out of here Cassian.” You insisted, trying to free your wrist from the Captain's grip but he wasn't letting up. The steady thump, thump, of the troopers synchronized footsteps moving closer. Sighing you tried again to free yourself but to no avail. You were already too late. The window of opportunity had passed. Even if you fired upon the troopers now they would still capture Cassian. The tightness grew and twisted inside your chest. “I can't let you die here.”

Cassian could see the panic washing over your face. That far away look of failure in your eyes. The  faint sound of your voice breaking as you spoke. For all the countless hours spent together he had never seen you express so much emotion. You were kind, funny, and even sarcastic at times; but, for the most part you kept your emotions to yourself. The only person he had ever seen you become worked up over was Theodren and the two of you had been friends for years. That made sense. This, however, took him by surprise. He had been so angry with you for following him here, and truthfully he likely still would be if you two somehow managed to survive this. Even so, for all his anger he couldn't deny the pang in his heart at the idea of you caring enough to do so.

“We aren't going to die here.” He uttered in a low whisper, the sound of the troopers radio conversation now near enough to hear. There was no more time for waiting. Leaning forward Cassian cradled your neck in his hand and kissed you firmly. You couldn't help but gasp as he pressed his body flush against yours. Now wrapping his other hand around your waist, leaning you against the wall as he deepened his kiss. Though the shock had yet to wear off as the troopers grew closer you began to understand the strategy at play here. This wasn't merely some outburst of emotions during a moment of desperation. It was a distraction. Typically, most people turn away from the sight of two strangers going at it. Troopers, for all their training, are no different.

That; however, didn't seem to stop Cassian from making this moment appear as authentic as possible. As his tongue grazed your bottom lip you did your best not to let it unsteady you. This was all an act after all and if you wanted those troopers to buy it than you needed it to be convincing. Playing the part you draped your arms over Cassian’s shoulders and returned his kiss. Weaving a single hand through his hair, admiring the softness off it as it slid gently through your fingers. Though you tried to fight it, the true reason for your current situation began to disappear into the far recesses of your mind. Instead you focused on the warmth of Cassian's hand pushing underneath the hem of your shirt and to flesh beneath. His rough fingers squeezing your hip as he pulled you even closer. 

Two dozen white suits passed by with hardly a glance in your direction. The coast was now clear. It had worked. If you had been thinking clearly you would have stopped then and there. Pulled apart from Cassian, and tried to laugh it up as a win. Ignoring the very unnerving truth of it.

You should have stopped, but you didn't. 

Something unspoken had passed between the two of you. Leaving each of you breathless and grasping for more. You weren't sure how long you may have continued if you hadn't felt an old familiar sting. That drop in your stomach that you always tried so hard to ignore.

Pulling away from Cassian the two of you stood breathlessly in front of each other. Hair and clothing out of place. Faces covered in cool sweat.  Neither of you had been expecting such a moment and now neither of you knew how to address it. Even with everything clamoring in your mind something told you that you had to leave. That something was wrong. That someone else needed you. It was an unnerving and unignoble feeling. That feeling of falling that capitulates you awake.

Something terrible was about to happen.

“I have to go.” You mumbled, squeezing out from between the wall and Cassian before hurrying down the busy street. Unable to catch your breath as you pushed through the endless stream of bodies, unsure of where it was you were even going. It was as if some invisible rope was pulling you forward, leading you down the alleyways and around corners. Taking you further away from the very real truth of what had just happened. Of what it meant. 

That's the thing about fear. We spend the majority of our lives afraid of what could happen, what might happen, what might not happen.  We fight wars because of it. With each other. With ourselves. Never truly realizing that fear is the real enemy.

[k2kid]

18th Battalion Association[i] Windsor and Detroit Branch *MEMORIES*

Every time we meet Harold Aikenhead[ii], the general and competent Secretary of our London Branch, it always brings back memories of our first or second trip into the Front Line. I don’t recall where it was but Harold claims it was B & C trenches and he should know.

It was a very quiet part of the Front as the lines were far apart and the only thing you had to worry about was the occasional shelling, which didn’t occur often. About thirty yards behind the Front Line there was a reserve trench, which was narrow and not too long. Some of us were of the opinion that it had been specially built for the machine guns or mortars. At the far end some had left an obsolete bombing machine, which worked on the same principle as a slingshot. You set the dial on the left, placed the bomb in the pocket, and pulled evenly on two handles which were attached to some heavy springs. The farther down you pulled the handles, the more distance you got with the bombs.

On a monotonous afternoon some of the younger set decided to try it out and, as there were no bombs available, they decided to make their own by filling some jam tins with stones, shrapnel, mud, or anything they could find. They then repaired to the trench and took turns at working the rusty machine. Everything went fine. The dial was set to sixty yards, and the jam tins left the pocket nicely, arched over our front line and landed in no man’s land. Butch Crammond [Cramond[iii]] had to be different. He changed the dial and pulled the handles back with a jerky motion. His jam tin left the pocket in a hurry and seemed to go higher than all the others, but didn’t travel quite so far. In fact, it only travelled as far as our own front line and when it came down it landed on poor Harold’s noggin almost knocking him cold. He still carries the scar. We were all sorry, Butch more so than the rest of us, as Harold was one of the best-liked in the Platoon and one of the most obliging. He later proved this when he became Steward of the little “Y” at Vierstraat.

Harold and I were discussing the incident some time ago and we believed that six or seven took part in the experiment. The accident happened in late September (1915) and by the following spring, at least three of those involved (Carthy[iv], Drinkwater[v], & Lee[vi]) had been killed in action and two others including Jimmy Cork[vii] had been so severely wounded they never returned to the Battalion. The turnover of Officers and Men in all the Infantry Battalions was tremendous. That was why there were nearly three thousand replacements set to the Eighteenth Battalion During hostilities.

The approximate area of the incident. This is a Circa 1916 British Trench map. The Canadians would have occupied the blue line representing the C.E.F. trenches. The red lines (in detail) are the German trenches. Vierstraat is to the rear of the Canadian lines.

The Story

The 18th Battalion was blooded in Belgium at the end of September 1915. It was serving in the line near Vierstraat where it would begin to experience combat for the first time. It may have been a deliberate assignment for the battalions of the 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade to be placed in “…a very quiet part of the Front…” but, as is borne out by the War Diaries of the Fall of 1915, the Battalion began to suffer casualties and deaths from their exposure to this environment.

The use of grenade catapults by Imperial Forces was only one of many tools used to overcome the tactical challenges trench warfare offered. These catapults offered a relatively inexpensive, accessible, and local solution to increasing the firepower of the soldiers in the front lines. Some of the models available for use were of British design, such as the Leach Trench Catapult, the West Spring Gun, and the French Sauterelle Grenade Launcher, where used to launch grenades across the lines towards the Germans in order to damage trenches. The accuracy of these devices would not be wholly practical to offer consistent results, but the grenades exploding in and around the trenches would have some value as a weapon of nuisance and to interdict the activities (sleep, trench maintenance) of the enemy. In addition, the British pre-occupation with percussion grenades, as opposed to using grenades with timers, would have been well suited for grenade launchers.

Leach Trench Catapult

West Spring Gun

Sauterelle Grenade Launcher

From the description given by the author it is very likely that the device being used may have been a Leach Trench Catapult. The Leach Catapult used a rotating two-handed winch to put tension on the springs to fire the device and the description of the catapult by the author indicates using “two handles” to pull evenly back to load the springs that would fire the projectile. Thus, the interpretation of pulling on the two handles may relate to the cranking of the two handles projecting on either side of the catapult. Sixty-five years had transpired since the incident and if the description of the device was second-hand this could account for the apparent inconsistency about how the device worked.

Leach Trench Catapult

The incident is verified by the Medical Officer’s War Diary which relates on October 3, 1915 that: “No. 5416 H. R. AIKENHEAD was hit in head with bully beef tin which someone was using to test a trench catapult [illegible] was sent to 5 F.A.” This incident is reflected in private Aikenhead’s service record as he did attend No. 5 Canadian Field Ambulance with a “head wound, accidental” on that date and released back to duty the following day. Private Aikenhead was one of the Battalion originals that served with the 18th until December 1917 where he was assigned to the Canadian Corps Reinforcement Camp with the Department of Military Services. Y.M.C.A. continuing his previous experience at Vierstraat helping the soldiers through the auspices of the “Y”.

Private Alexander “Butch” Vincent Cramond survived the war. Apparently, his transgression did not reflect on his military service with the C.E.F. as he rose to the rank of corporal and was eventually assigned to an Officers Training Course in May of 1917 where he became a temporary lieutenant and was returned to the 18th Battalion at that rank on October 4, 1917 just before the hell of Passchendaele. He lived until November 5, 1957, dying at the age of 64 years old and is buried at Mountainview Cemetery in Cambridge, Ontario. He was a resident of Galt, Ontario and joined the 18th Battalion in October 1914.

The other soldiers mentioned in the story share some characteristics. Private Aikenhead enlisted at Galt, Ontario, as did Privates Carthy, Drinkwater, and Lee. Carthy was the youngest at 18-years of age with his companion Drinkwater and Lee being a relatively “old” 20-years of age. Cramond was 21-years old when he enlisted. Private Cork, who was transferred from the 33rd Battalion just before the Battalion left for England at the middle of April, was from London, Ontario and 19-years old. The appellation applied to these soldiers as the “younger set” was apt. They were young. And Carthy, Drinkwater, and Lee would die young as well. Private Eric Carthy was to perish in the Vierstraat Sector, apparently from German machine gun fire, on Boxing Day, 1915. Next to perish of this group was Private Harry Drinkwater who was struck by a shell on April 25, 1916 and died that day of his wounds. He was, then, only 22-years old. Last to die of the “younger set” was Private John Lee who was killed, along with many other 18th Battalion men, during the attack at Flers-Courcelette on September 15, 1916 at the Somme. Private Cork was, relatively, lucky. He was wounded but his right elbow was so badly shattered he required an amputation. Hard for a farmer to suffer such a wound. He returned to Canada in October 1916 and was discharged where he was granted a pension at 60% disability for one-year worth $208.00[viii].

The memory of the 18th Battalion “younger set” experimenting with the trench catapult is replete with interesting details and nuance. The reference to a weapon system that was adapted to the conditions of trench warfare and the use of tins and other projectiles reflects to the grenade shortage the Imperial Forces experienced at the start of the war and into the end of 1915. Though the tins fashioned by the soldiers of the 18th probably did not have any explosive one wonders what the opposing German soldiers thought as these tins full of “anything they could find” were shot into the air. They also must of wondered why these projectiles only landed in No Man’s Land. Perhaps the “younger set” did not want to provoke a response from the Germans or they miscalculated the range and capability of this “obsolete bombing machine”. Private Cramond certainly did. His actions led to the injury of a fellow member of his unit. One would suppose that upon his return Private Aikenhead reminded Cramond of his lack of martial skills with the catapult without mercy. If not, one can imagine the rest of the men in Cramond’s platoon would talk of this event for some time and the news must have travelled through the Battalion grapevine with some alacrity.

One also wonders if this activity had the direct approval of an officer? Such actions, such as shooting objects towards the enemy, was certainly to be of some concern to the platoon sergeant and officer as this activity could be considered aggressive and warrant a response by the Germans, perhaps by artillery, which would be unwanted, especially from actions not condoned by a higher authority. Yet, other than Aikenhead’s aching head, there appear to be no repercussions from the Germans or from a higher authority in the 18th Battalion.

Its akin to teenagers making with a prank. Something goes wrong. They stop. And all is forgiven and blamed on youthful exuberance.

But in a combat zone the outcomes could have been much worse. On October 3, 1915 some young men pushed the limits and an accident probably stopped them before something more serious occurred.

[i] The blog has come into the possession of an exciting and valuable series of documents care of Dan Moat, a member of the 18th Battalion Facebook Group. His Great Grand-Father, Lance-Corporal George Henry Rogers, reg. no. 123682 was an active member in the 18th Battalion Association and the Royal Canadian Legion. With is interest in the post-war Association a series of “MEMORIES” in the form of one-page stories relate many of the Battalion’s experiences from the “other ranks” soldiers’ point-of-view.

It appears that the documents were written in the early 1970s, a full 50-years after the end of The Great War and are a valuable social history of soldiers’ experiences as told in their own words about the events that happened a half-century ago to them, and now a full century for us. This is the first of the series, and suffice to say, the reference, names, experiences, and strong immediacy of these stories bring the men of the 18th Battalion alive.

[ii] Aikenhead, Harold Raymond: Service No. 54160.

[iii] Cramond, Alexander Vincent:  Service no. 53896.

[iv] Carthy, Eric:  Service no. 54209.

[v] Drinkwater, Harry:  Service no. 54015.

[vi] Lee, John:  Service no. 53934. There are several soldiers serving with the surname Lee but Private Lee, reg. no. 53934 appears to be the only Lee to have perished with the 18th Battalion and his service record details are consistent with the details of the story.

[vii] Cork, James William:  Service no. 54310. Most likely. Name and wounding consistent with detail in story.

[viii] Approximately $3,500.00 CDN today.

Private Aikenhead and the “Younger Set” 18th Battalion Association[i] Windsor and Detroit Branch *MEMORIES* Every time we meet Harold Aikenhead, the general and competent Secretary of our London Branch, it always brings back memories of our first or second trip into the Front Line.

[deepfriedtwinkie]

Kingsman: A Trainee’s Mission (Pt. IX)

PREQUEL FIC, this section ~3,500w, ****THE BIG FINALE**** (choreographed violence set to 80s music ahead)

pt. I  | pt. II  | pt. III  | pt. IV  | pt. V  | pt. VI  | pt. VII  | pt. VIII

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No one ever told them whereabouts in England the compound was located, despite how long it’s been their address. It was always shuttle here, shuttle there. Clearly it’s far enough from London to justify a plane ride, albeit a very short one.

They forfeit their altitude just as Harry emerges from the quarters in the back, clad tie-to-toe in Simons’s finished product. Every seam is flawless, as if he were born in it. His chest swells as he examines the mirror. Not only does he look his new part, but feels every bit of it, too.

Except for one thing. “Here,” Martin says, approaching with a small case in hand. “Put these on. And don’t ever be without them. They cost the devil’s own fucking ransom to replace.”

Harry takes the case, opening it carefully. Inside is a pair of glasses, these in dark tortoiseshell, in same style he’s seen all the agents wearing. Up to now, he’s just assumed they all had cataract problems.

A monumentally stupid assumption, he realizes, the moment he slides them on.

The whole world is enhanced. He’d thought his vision was already twenty-twenty, but through these eyes, he second-guesses everything he knows. The picture is sharper than any television—or reality, for that matter—is capable of. When he faces Martin, a green mess of boxy digits appears, framing him in binary code that rearranges into statistics. MARTIN TURNER. ALIAS: LAMORAK. 54. FRIENDLY. He blinks, and they pixelate, then disappear.

“These are the new model,” Martin says. “They’ll identify anyone they recognize, mark the rest as possible hostiles, and broadcast video directly to the control room. Calendar and calculator functions, too. And a crap version of Pac-Man. Engineers had a bit of a laugh with that one, I think.”

The cabin lights dim, signaling descent. Pulled from his astonishment, Harry pounces on one of the windows. There’s nowhere to land, nothing but city below, full of teeming crowds and police barriers. Every Englishman knows what day it is, except, apparently, for the pilot.

“Should we be concerned?” he asks Lamorak. It’s dialed back a bit, at that.

A good call on his part. Lamorak smiles. “You’ll see.”

Flying low, the plane does a loop, away from the path of the paparazzi’s helicopters. Half a mile away from the chaos in general, if not more. They make a pass above a dead-end road, blocked off to all traffic, between two commercial buildings with ‘CLOSED’ in nearly every window. ‘FOR LEASE’ in some.

When they pass again, the street itself opens like a mailing box.

Harry watches, enrapt, as they ease down the ‘runway’ and into the earth, then gives his mentor an impressed eyebrow. “No, I wouldn’t say concern is necessary.”

“I didn’t think so.”

They disembark into an underground hangar, identified only by a single circle-K beneath the plane. Markings on the mildewed walls identify this place as a now-defunct bomb shelter, left over from the second World War. It’s a long, continuous tunnel toward the center of the city, running directly parallel to the route the royal motorcade’s soon to take. Several more branch off down the way.

“You’d think there ought to be a police presence down here,” Harry remarks.

“There would be, I’m sure, if anyone knew about it. You’d be amazed the schematics you can vanish from city records with a little ingenuity.”

“And gadgetry.”

“That too.”

It’s a long walk ahead, and they keep up the pace. Lamorak stops only once, a minute or so in, leaning one-handed against a wall to pull something from the heel of his shoe. A spiral cord follows. It’s a phone. A fucking phone, for God’s sake. He’d left that one out on the tour.

“The glasses are a two-way radio as well, but there’s fuck-all reception down here,” he explains as it rings. Then someone picks up. “This is Lamorak. Landing secured. Approaching target now. Is the way clear?”

Harry knows the answer without needing to overhear it.

Largely because it’s speeding toward them on motorcycles.

“Oh, fucking bollocks.” The phone clatters to the cement as Lamorak grips his umbrella. “Shield up, Galahad!”

He’s on it before the words have even left his mentor’s mouth, raising the cane like a rifle and deploying the canopy. A greenish disc displays their assailants as if in night vision, slaloming to dodge the spray of bullets from Lamorak’s weapon. Harry joins the fire, and the motorists deflect that too.

“Don’t turn your back to them!”

It’s impossible; the three bikes fan out before they can take any cover, circling like vultures, making caged birds of the Kingsman. Lamorak only manages to take out one before another yells in Russian, and whirling his spent shotgun, catches Lamorak upside the head. He drops like a sack of flour.

“Shit!”

A second biker skids into the wall before Harry knows it was his bullet’s doing. The third, he catches on the next go, blasting him clean away from the beast he rode in on.

He drops to his knees beside Agent Lamorak, pressing two fingers beneath the left side of his collar. Then he scrambles for the dropped phone.

“Is anyone there?” Fuck’s sake, tell me someone’s there. Now would be a wonderful time for someone to be there! “This is Galahad; can anyone hear me? Lamorak’s been decommissioned, but he’s alive. We’ve been ambushed by hostiles, three of them, of unconfirmed origin, though one of them spoke Russian. Hello?”

If anything, he expects to hear Arthur. Or static, if he’s particularly unlucky.

What he hears instead is Hamish, panicked.

“Galahad, we’ve got a problem.”

Oh, have we? Do tell! I was just hoping for a problem!

“What’s going on?” Harry barks, eyes vigilant around the tunnel. “How the hell did Arthur miss those incomings?”

“He’s unconscious, that’s how.”

Oh, wonderful, that’s it, keep them coming! One isn’t near exciting enough! “What do you mean ‘he’s unconscious?’ Has someone infiltrated us?”

“No, there’s no breach. I found him on the ground when I got here. When I checked his pulse I found a medical ID. He’s fucking diabetic. I’ve called for help but Lancelot’s just left on assignment, I don’t think there’s anyone left in the whole wing but me.”

Well, then that’s going to have to be enough, isn’t it? I could do far worse.

Wish me luck, mother.

“We’re going to have to do this alone.” Harry fleetingly evaluates the three crashed motorbikes and picks the one least damaged—so not the one in flames, then—tilting it upright by the handlebars, swinging a leg over the side. There’s a gun holster on the panel that he co-opts for his umbrella. Meantime, in keeping the phone to his ear, he’s taken Lamorak’s shoe with him. He’d like a word with whomever depicted this job to be glamorous.

He tests the engine with a few revs over Hamish’s protests, partly because there’s little time, and partly because his friend sounds like this is the worst idea he’s ever heard, and that sort of negativity isn’t helpful at the moment. “You don’t even know the objective, Galahad. You don’t know who you’re looking for. And I’m not authorized to make any call yet without Arthur’s consent. We’ve got to stand down and wait for a senior agent.”

‘Stand down’ translates to ‘kickstand up.’ His hearing’s always been peculiar that way. “There isn’t time. Are you going to help me or not?”

The wait is under half a second, ended by the sound of some material object in motion. Harry knows it marks the donning of Merlin’s headset.

“Go.”

He’s off. The bike swerves beneath him as he rockets through the tunnel, unused to its carriage, making him hunch against inertia. His attempt to change the gear turns on the radio instead.

The winner takes it all The loser has to fall It’s simple and it’s plain Why should I complain?

“I’m in, I’ve found Agent Lamorak’s file,” Merlin shouts over the noise. “Take a right! Now!”

Harry barely manages to bank over without becoming a fascinating stain on the concrete.

“Two ahead, incoming!”

Up goes the Rainmaker. Four one-handed shots pick off the hostiles, sending vehicles tumbling. He rides an S curve around the wreckage.

“In case it’s on the agenda, a hint as to what the devil I’m doing would be marvelous about now!”

“It’s Margaret Thatcher.”

“I sincerely hope that came out wrong!”

“No—I mean, yes. She’s a guest at the wedding. Some vigilante offshoot of the KGB’s got plans to kill her the moment she arrives. They’re trying to start a war proper.”

He can’t spare the energy to hold his tongue at the moment. “By assassinating Margaret Thatcher? Wouldn’t Charles and Diana make more sense as targets, considering they’re actually liked?”

“They’re more heavily protected—look, the next time I take afternoon tea with Soviet renegades, I’ll ask, all right? Take a left!”

This time the bike curves obediently. It’s a relief he’s got the hang of it, at least until he sees what’s ahead.

Double doors of solid steel.

“Merlin, I can’t get through.” He races to scan. There’s no padlock, no keypad, no access point. “Open the doors. You can do that, right?”

“Hang on, I’ve got to unscramble the access code.”

Harry tries everything, but can’t get the bike to brake. There’s no room to either side to turn around. “Merlin, nothing’s happening. I can’t possibly oversell the urgency of the situation.”

“Will you give me a fucking minute?”

“I haven’t got a fucking minute to give!” he panics. “For the love of God, you have to–”

The doors pull apart just in time to slide unscathed through the opening.

“You’ve reached your destination.”

Now the brakes work. He unsticks them with a slam of his heel, pivoting to a clean stop, and turns down the kickstand, clearing his throat. “Fine timing, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“And I’d just like to say you’re doing wonderfully so far, by the way.”

“Save it for headquarters, get a move on.”

“Right.”

The sound of ABBA recedes in his wake as Harry moves away from the motorbike, expanding the Rainmaker again, Lamorak’s shoe-phone wedged between his ear and shoulder. He moves ahead with caution, eyes shifting to all sides.

“Switch the glasses to thermal. There’s a setting for that,” Merlin says. “Turn the dial in the frame below the right lens. Two clicks counter-clockwise.”

One click paints his vision all in technicolor. The next reveals sketchy red blobs of humanoid shape around the upcoming corner. Four of them. In poses that give away machine guns.

“Do you need an alternate route?”

This, he can handle without question. “Ask me again in a moment.”

Digging into his pocket, he comes up with a gold lighter. His thumb flicks the cap. Rearing his arm back, he pitches.

The explosion from the next room is a cluster of crimson through his lenses. When it dissipates, there’s none left whatsoever.

“Nicely done,” Merlin commends as Harry switches modes back.

“All in the written test.”

There’s no point in asking where to go from here. It’s obvious. The only way out of this room is a lift, just ahead at his ten o’clock. Harry hurries for it, closing his umbrella, praying to no particular god that he’s still on Lamorak’s schedule. Or, if not, that at least no one will be dead by the time he catches up. Lamorak and Arthur included.

“Is there any code?”

“Not that I’m seeing, no. It should op–”

It opens with a fist to Harry’s jaw. His glasses skew; Lamorak’s phone goes scattering across the floor. He stumbles backward. A second hit draws blood.

It’s the moment he’s grabbed by the lapels that his reflex decides he’s through with this.

Bashing the Rainmaker upward breaks his attacker’s hold. Then it breaks his teeth in. Both of them grappling for it, they stagger into the lift, closing the doors. It starts to move.

A sudden hefty twist of the cane rips at his arms; his back goes slamming into the wall, feet wrenched from under him. The ringing in his ears picks up tin music from the overhead speaker.

Crack that whip Give the past the slip Step on a crack Break your momma’s back

He’s up in time to dodge a kick to the abdomen, rounding on his attacker as the steel-toed boot gongs into the baseboard. A clutch of the man’s ear threatens to tear it off as he throws him to the floor. A leg sweep brings Harry down alongside.

“Harry!” It comes from his glasses. They must be aboveground.

Answering would spend the breath he needs; it goes to a snap-roll instead. On his feet, he digs the Rainmaker’s point into the enemy’s chest, opening to keep him down, then firing. A burst of blood fills the umbrella’s screen just in time for a gentle ding from the lift’s floor indicator.

“Just a bit of trouble,” he says to Merlin, heart pounding. “Hardly worth mentioning.”

“No time to rest,” Merlin warns. “I count five on the rooftop. Lamorak’s intel says they’ll be dressed like Scotland Yard, but that’s them. They’re the snipers.”

Five of them, Jesus Christ. He fights his breathing into check. “Anything you can do to level the playing field?”

“Not from here.” Then, just as quickly, he corrects himself, rapid clacking filling the background. “There’s one thing I can try, but I dunno if it’ll work. There’s a powered circulation vent on the roof.”

“What can you do with that?”

A few more clacks come over the line, the last more decisive than the rest. From outside the lift, Harry hears the erratic zapping noise of an electrical surge, accompanied by the very distinct screams of two men. Then two whumps of collapse.

“Oh, not much.” The smirk in Merlin’s voice is plain to hear. “How’s three against one sound?”

His jaw aches behind the smile that’s drawing on.

“Manageable.”

The lift doors slide open. One more time, Harry raises the Rainmaker to aim level, deployed at the ready. He creeps with careful sideways steps around the cover of a rooftop heating unit. Sounds of celebration float up from the streets below, hollering, whooping and cheering, and his peripheral vision catches the flutter of multicolored confetti. The crowd begins to sing “God Save the Queen.”

“Oh, shit—Galahad, the car’s approaching now.” The alarm has returned to Merlin’s voice. “I’m looking at the paparazzi’s video feed right now; that’s her license plate. She’s in that car. You’ve got no time at all.”

The thermal function of his glasses re-activates with the touch of a thumb. He’s not sure how it happened, but every bone in his body is perfectly calm.

“Harry, it’s got to be now!”

The red shapes that had flocked to their electrocuted friends begin to fan out. Two headed for the street-facing corners of the rooftop. The third moving backward, posing himself as a lookout.

No one notices when the third man disappears, dragged from the top of the unit with Harry’s tie around his throat. A twist of his chin, and his dead weight drops to the asphalt.

“They’re in position!”

Harry edges his way silently around the heating unit, sights set. His first shot lands square in the back of the nearest gunman, crumpling him in place.

He turns to take aim at the second.

Who’s nowhere to be found.

The crack of a rifle butt comes down across the back of his head. All at once his body gives out underneath him. He collapses like a ragdoll.

“Who the fuck have we here?”

The words filter blearily into Harry’s throbbing head. Another gruff Russian accent.

“Harry? Harry! What’s going on?”

Blinking away spots, he manages to turn himself over, glaring murder at the man with a rifle now pointed at his skull. He’s squinting down at him from under a portly brow, leaning slightly forward, inspecting him like a maggot in a pile of shit.

“Looks like some kind of dandy to me.”

The throngs still sing. “Oh, Lord, our God, arise;”

Below, the sound of engines is a block away, if that.

“Scatter her enemies;”

“How come you choose today to die, dandy-boy?”

“And make them fall…”

Bloody-lipped, Harry peels into a wicked grin.

“Actually, if it’s all the same to you, I was hoping you’d tell me.”

A flip of his ankles, one over the other, catches the man off-balance. He goes pitching to the side, arms pinwheeling in midair for a grasp that never comes, aim forgotten. Then a swift final kick sends him toppling over the rooftop’s edge, his short scream ending with a crack and a bang in the alleyway below.

Almost frantically, Harry crawls to the edge, peering over. The limp Russian lies at the bottom of a rusted dumpster, eyes open, blood pooled beneath his bloated head.

He looks left toward the motorcade route in time to see Margaret Thatcher, accompanied by aides, wave her way into St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Only then does he flatten to his back, heaving a sigh to end them all.

“Fucking spectacular!” Harry chuffs out a haggard laugh. He’d almost forgotten Hamish was on the line. “Well done, Harry! Well done Galahad.”

It’s incredibly likely he’s not catching his breath for weeks after this. “And you,” he tells his friend, wiping blood away from his lip. “Anything on Arthur?”

“The medics are here to help him now. He’s gonna be all right. And we’ve got transport on the way for Lamorak as well.”

All’s well that ends well.

“My turn to ask you a question?” Hamish queries.

He’s exhausted enough to let fair play win. “I don’t see why not.”

“How fucking hard is that head of yours?”

This time, there’s considerably more strength in Harry’s laugh.

“Very, I’ve been told.”

Simons redundantly proves his worth as headtailor when Harry finds a box waiting for him upon return. It’s a second tie, a clone of the one he’d garroted the Russian with.

Let’s do hope this one lasts longer than a day, sir, says the note enclosed. Fondly, -S.

Harry smiles. He’s not sure he can promise it won’t be a habit.

Then again, he’ll be here quite long enough to find out.

Debriefs, so they’re told, typically take place in the dining room. Today, in deference to Arthur’s health, they report to the infirmary instead. An unconscious Lamorak nurses his concussion in the bed adjacent, monitors beeping steadily that all else is well, while Arthur sits upright in his own, setting aside an empty cup of applesauce on his bedside tray.

“Two bloody hours,” he says. “Two bloody hours, and the two of you have already managed to completely defy every convention of order upon which the Kingsman operation depends.”

Standing at attention before him, arms folded behind their backs, Harry and Hamish trade a glance. This can’t possibly be a reprimand, don’t you think?

Arthur smiles. “Bravo.”

Ah, there, you see? I didn’t think so either.

Their new boss looks to Hamish first. “Merlin.” Harry is aware without looking of his friend’s immediate snap in posture, no matter how straight it already was. “I am quite impressed with your conduct this morning. Both in my own assistance and the navigation of Galahad’s mission. Three people are alive today because of your quick work. That’s something to be very proud of.”

He is. Harry can tell. He steals a peek, and the quiet way it radiates from him is unmistakable. It might be the most chuffed he’s been in his lifetime. It’s good to see.

“Thank you, sir.”

Your aunt would be proud as well, he thinks, making a mental note to tell him later.

Then Arthur’s focus is on him. “Agent Galahad.” He straightens extra in the same way, defiant of his injuries with pride. “You saw to the completion of your fellow agent’s objective, despite all reason to the contrary, and eliminated no fewer than a dozen immediate threats to not only national security, but the continued peace of the developed world. I had a feeling you were going to be a pain in my arse, frankly, and that you may yet turn out to be… But you should know that you have proven yourself more a Kingsman than any who’ve come before you.”

It’s more than he anticipated. More than he ever could’ve dreamt. He hopes the brimming of his eyes won’t be held against him.

“Thank you, sir,” he somehow manages at an audible volume. “I’m honored.”

You can’t possibly know how much.

Arthur levels his best authoritative gaze on them both. “Now. Since you’ve proven yourselves so capable, rest up. Tomorrow you’re to meet me in the dining room at oh-nine-hundred sharp. We will discuss your next assignment.”

Breaking into an insuppressible grin, Harry looks at Hamish, finding him returning the same.

Here goes the rest of our lives.

“Fall out.”

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[harriskm]

A Classic Take on Modern Music

“A few musical designs shaped most Classical music, no matter who the composer or where the concert…these forms have proved timeless, serving composers down to the present day.”

-Craig Wright, The Essential Listening to Music, pg. 116  

Applying Classical Forms to Modern Songs

Last week we learned about the different forms of music from the classical era, so this week we will be looking at modern day music and comparing it to the forms we learned about. This may include Sonata-Allegro, Theme and Variations, Ternary, or Rondo form. We will review the type of form analyzed with each song.

Analyzing Emerald Princess, by Two Steps From Hell:

Two Steps From Hell is a film/epic music group. Emerald Princess was written as a tribute to the Swedish artist, according to Thomas Bergersen, the composer for the piece. (via the pinned YouTube comment) Upon listening closely to it, I notated some melodic/rhythmic patterns I deemed as different themes. Above are the themes I came up with, and on the left are the respective timestamps within the YouTube video linked above that the theme first occurs in the song. I believe this song most closely resembles a “Sonata-Allegro With Variations” form.

Emerald Princess most resembles a mix between Theme and Variations, and Sonata-Allegro forms-- Sonata-Allegro With Variations-- because of the changes in and dispersion of themes. Here are two models of how the song might be following Sonata-Allegro form:

Model 1: A (Bridge), B, B1 (Exposition)

A, C, D and C, D and E, D1 and B1 (Development)

D2 and A1 (Recapitulation)

Model 2: A (Bridge), B, B1, A, C, D and C, D and E (Exposition)

D1 and B1 (Development)

D2 and A1 (Recapitulation)

The themes have been sorted as such in Model 1 because it seems like a more natural development of the song, with the bulk of the themes in the Development category. Model 2 is designed to follow the above template more by establishing all themes first in the Exposition and then further developing a couple, ending with the same Recapitulation as Model 1. 

A and D seem to be the two most main or recurring themes, which is why they come back near the end. The progression of the song resembles Sonata-Allegro form because of the way it comes back to the first and fourth theme. The song resembles Theme and Variations because even in the Sonata-Allegro models, it does not end back in the tonic key. In fact, the whole song has quite a lot of key changes. Interestingly enough, though, the piece does come relatively close to ending on a tonic, literally, because it starts in A minor and ends in F-sharp minor. F-sharp minor is the relative key to A major, which is parallel to A minor. So, only a few keys off.

Realistically, this particular piece shares qualities with many classical forms. It is similar to Rondo with the returning themes, however Emerald Princess changes the themes too much to be completely Rondo (ABACDCDEB… vs. ABACA). It is not completely Theme and Variations because it introduces several themes rather than just varying one. It shares similarities with the minuet-trio ternary form as well, but ends with different themes than it began with, as Theme D carries to the end. (ABA/CDC/DEB… vs. ABA/CDC/ABA)

This is why Emerald Princess is most like Sonata-Allegro With Variations; though not following all of the Sonata-Allegro template, it develops several themes but changes them almost every time they are re-introduced.

Analyzing the Famous Bohemian Rhapsody, by Queen:

Before we start analyzing almost all of the song, we need to know, what is a “Rhapsody.” Well, a rhapsody as a musical form is a single-movement work that is episodic (i.e. has distinct groups of musical ideas), free-flowing in structure, and features a range of highly contrasting moods. Expect something that has an air of improvisation and virtuosity – something that's going to take you on a journey, just like a dramatically recited epic poem.

Bohemian Rhapsody most resembles Sonata-Allegro form. The song begins with an introduction, a four-part homophonic chorale, “Is this the real life?” The introduction develops with piano accompaniment and a solo voice emerging in the texture (0:00-0:48). This song changes chords progressions and keys many times throughout, giving it a unique sound and pattern.

The next episode features a piano ballad with solo voice over an arpeggiated accompaniment. The expansive, expressive mood here is very fitting of a rhapsody (0:49-2:37). This part of the song is repeated twice in a verse, however everything is the same except for the lyrics. The movement, I > VI > II > V can be characterized as a chain of fifths root-motion. The arrangement is quite bare in the first verse. The material of the ballad then moves into an extended guitar solo with the feeling of a free-flowing improvisation-- something you’ll hear in many 19th-century pieces of music-- by the amazing guitarist Brian May (2:37-3:03). The solo is in a mixolydian scale, because the scales from B Flat Major to B Flat Major have an A Flat Major alteration a flattened seventh that is necessary for the E Flat Major. The harmony in the last bar of the solo changes chromatically as it the key changes to A, which is a drastic difference.

Mixolydian Scale: A scale that begins on the V note of the key

  The famous pseudo-operatic midsection follows, with all those “Galileos”. This section is rich in chromaticism, with rapid rhythmic and harmonic changes. Special shout-out to Roger Taylor's high falsetto B flat on “for me”, which forms the structural climax of the Rhapsody (3:03-4:08). This is where a lot of chromatic and sporadic chord and key changes occur. The whole harmonic sequence is repeated once again to dramatize the struggle and negotiation, until it reaches another layered wall of vocals. And changing the pulsation to triplets until finally resolving to E Flat Major.

That high B flat (“for meeeeeee”) leads into the head-banging hard rock episode with blazing virtuosic guitars and drums (4:08-4:55). However, as it continues, there is a B Flat Major that is followed by an F Minor with a seventh this time. The sequence is repeated twice. An outro ballad concludes the song, releasing the tension of the operatic and hard rock episodes and reprising the material of the opening piano ballad (4:55-5:55), which has the same pace and form as the intro part.

Analyzing Morrisey’s Everyday is Like Sunday

In many pop songs, a re-imagined Sonata-Allegro form is often used. It follows the rough outline of an exposition that presents the prominent themes then follows with a contrasting development and ends with a recapitulation. In Morrisey’s Everyday is Like Sunday, it begins with the first verse:

Trudging slowly over wet sand,

Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen

This is the coastal town,

That they forgot to close down

Armageddon, come Armageddon

Come Armageddon, come

Then follows with the first repetition of the chorus:

Everyday is like Sunday

Everyday is silent and grey

 The presentation of this verse and chorus sets up the themes that are prevalent in the remainder of the song. A second verse succeeds the chorus that closely resembles the form of the very first verse:

Hide on the promenade, etch a postcard:

“How I dearly wish I was not here”

In this seaside town,

That they forgot to bomb

Come, come, come nuclear bomb

The exposition is then closed by another repetition of the chorus. And although the next part is not in a different key, the development differs melodically and only slightly texturally with the bridge:

Trudging back over pebbles and sand,

And a strange dust lands on your hands,

And on your face,

On your face, on your face, on your face…

Typically in the end of modern pop songs the chorus is repeated but it is usually the exact same as when it first appeared. Everyday is Like Sunday concludes with the chorus only it slightly varies from the original chorus. This slight difference makes it much more like the recapitulation found in the classical sonata-allegro form.

So What? Why Does This Matter?

Above we analyzed a few more recent songs and how their form compared with those of the classical era. There were many forms that came out of the classical era and many modern day songs still reflect the basics of some of those forms.  

 Who did what:

Kaila Harris: Introduction, Emerald Princess

Quinlan Shick: Title, Quote, and Bohemian Rhapsody

Tatiana Neufeld: Conclusion, Everyday is Like Sunday

Sources:

Sonata-Allegro Form Graphic:

https://sakai.plu.edu/access/lessonbuilder/item/1261696/group/Music_and_Culture_Fall_2019/Classical%20Style%20and%20Classical%20Forms:%20Haydn%20and%20Mozart/Sonata%20Allegro%20form.gif (taken from the Sakai page)

Bohemian Rhapsody Picture: https://skyethelimit.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/queen-y-la-huella-inolvidable-de-freddie-mercury/

Bohemian Rhapsody Analysis: https://www.ukessays.com/essays/music/analysis-of-bohemian-rhapsody-music-essay.php

https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/music-theory/queen-bohemian-rhapsody-structure/

Mixolydian Scale definition:

https://gosk.com/scales/mixolydian-scale-for-guitar.php#targetText=The%20Mixolydian%20scale%20is%20the,same%20as%20a%20C%20major.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 11.1

365 – The Alemanni cross the Rhine and invade Gaul. Emperor Valentinian I moves to Paris to command the army and defend the Gallic cities. 996 – Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk, Bishop of Freising, which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi (Austria in Old High German). 1009 – Berber forces led by Sulayman ibn al-Hakam defeat the Umayyad caliph Muhammad II of Córdoba in the battle of Alcolea. 1141 – Empress Matilda's reign as 'Lady of the English' ends with Stephen of Blois regaining the title of 'King of England'. 1179 – Philip II is crowned as 'King of France'. 1214 – The port city of Sinope surrenders to the Seljuq Turks. 1348 – The anti-royalist Union of Valencia attacks the Jews of Murviedro on the pretext that they are serfs of the King of Valencia and thus "royalists". 1503 – Pope Julius II is elected. 1512 – The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time. 1520 – The Strait of Magellan, the passage immediately south of mainland South America connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, is first discovered and navigated by European explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the first recorded circumnavigation voyage. 1555 – French Huguenots establish the France Antarctique colony in present-day Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 1570 – The All Saints' Flood devastates the Dutch coast. 1604 – William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello is performed for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London. 1611 – Shakespeare's play The Tempest is performed for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London. 1612 – During the Time of Troubles, Polish troops are expelled from Moscow's Kitay-gorod by Russian troops under the command of Dmitry Pozharsky (22 October O.S.) . 1683 – The British Crown colony of New York is subdivided into 12 counties. 1688 – William III of Orange sets out a second time from Hellevoetsluis in the Netherlands to seize the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland from King James II of England during the Glorious Revolution. 1755 – In Portugal, Lisbon is totally devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing between 60,000 and 90,000 people. 1765 – The British Parliament enacts the Stamp Act on the Thirteen Colonies in order to help pay for British military operations in North America. 1790 – Edmund Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France, in which he predicts that the French Revolution will end in a disaster. 1800 – John Adams becomes the first President of the United States to live in the Executive Mansion (later renamed the White House). 1805 – Napoleon Bonaparte invades Austria during the War of the Third Coalition. 1814 – Congress of Vienna opens to re-draw the European political map after the defeat of France in the Napoleonic Wars. 1848 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the first medical school for women, Boston Female Medical School (which later merged with the Boston University School of Medicine), opens. 1861 – American Civil War: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan as the commander of the Union Army, replacing General Winfield Scott. 1870 – In the United States, the Weather Bureau (later renamed the National Weather Service) makes its first official meteorological forecast. 1884 – The Gaelic Athletic Association is set up in Hayes's Hotel in Thurles, County Tipperary. 1893 – The Battle of Bembezi took place and was the most decisive battle won by the British in the First Matabele War of 1893. 1894 – Nicholas II becomes the new (and last) Tsar of Russia after his father, Alexander III, dies. 1894 – Buffalo Bill, 15 of his Indians, and Annie Oakley were filmed by Thomas Edison in his Black Maria Studio in West Orange, New Jersey. 1896 – A picture showing the bare breasts of a woman appears in National Geographic magazine for the first time. 1897 – The first Library of Congress building opens its doors to the public; the library had previously been housed in the Congressional Reading Room in the U.S. Capitol. 1901 – Sigma Phi Epsilon, the largest national male collegiate fraternity, is established at Richmond College, in Richmond, Virginia. 1911 – World's first combat aerial bombing mission takes place in Libya during the Italo-Turkish War. Second Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti of Italy drops several small bombs. 1914 – World War I: The first British Royal Navy defeat of the war with Germany, the Battle of Coronel, is fought off of the western coast of Chile, in the Pacific, with the loss of HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth. 1914 – World War I: The Australian Imperial Force (AIF) departed by ship in a single convoy from Albany, Western Australia bound for Egypt. 1916 – In Russia, Pavel Milyukov delivers in the State Duma the famous "stupidity or treason" speech, precipitating the downfall of the government of Boris Stürmer. 1918 – Malbone Street Wreck: The worst rapid transit accident in US history occurs under the intersection of Malbone Street and Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, New York City, with at least 102 deaths. 1918 – Western Ukraine separates from Austria-Hungary. 1920 – American fishing schooner Esperanto defeats the Canadian fishing schooner Delawana in the First International Fishing Schooner Championship Races in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 1922 – Abolition of the Ottoman sultanate: The last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI, abdicates. 1928 – The Law on the Adoption and Implementation of the Turkish Alphabet, replaces the Arabic alphabet with the Latin alphabet. 1937 – Stalinists execute Pastor Paul Hamberg and seven members of Azerbaijan's Lutheran community. 1938 – Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral in an upset victory during a match race deemed "the match of the century" in horse racing. 1941 – American photographer Ansel Adams takes a picture of a moonrise over the town of Hernandez, New Mexico that would become one of the most famous images in the history of photography. 1942 – World War II: Matanikau Offensive begins during the Guadalcanal Campaign and ends three days later with an American victory. 1943 – World War II: The 3rd Marine Division, United States Marines, landing on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands, secures a beachhead, leading that night to a naval clash at the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay. 1944 – World War II: Units of the British Army land at Walcheren in the Netherlands. 1944 – Donald Watson, an English animal rights activist, coins the term "veganism." 1944 – World War II: A United States Army Air Forces F-13 Superfortress conducted the first flight by an Allied aircraft over the Tokyo region of Japan since the 1942 Doolittle Raid. 1945 – The official North Korean newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, is first published under the name Chongro. 1948 – Six thousand people die when a Chinese merchant ship explodes and sinks off southern Manchuria. 1948 – Athenagoras I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, is enthroned. 1950 – Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate US President Harry S. Truman at Blair House. 1950 – Pope Pius XII claims papal infallibility when he formally defines the dogma of the Assumption of Mary. 1951 – Operation Buster–Jangle: Six thousand five hundred American soldiers are exposed to 'Desert Rock' atomic explosions for training purposes in Nevada. Participation is not voluntary. 1952 – Nuclear weapons testing: The United States successfully detonates Ivy Mike, the first thermonuclear device, at the Eniwetok atoll. The explosion had a yield of ten megatons TNT equivalent. 1954 – The Front de Libération Nationale fires the first shots of the Algerian War of Independence. 1955 – The Vietnam War begins. 1955 – The bombing of United Airlines Flight 629 occurs near Longmont, Colorado, killing all 39 passengers and five crew members aboard the Douglas DC-6B airliner. 1956 – The Indian states Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Mysore are formally created under the States Reorganisation Act; Kanyakumari district is joined to Tamil Nadu from Kerala. 1956 – Hungarian Revolution: Imre Nagy announces Hungary's neutrality and withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact. Soviet troops begin to re-enter Hungary, contrary to assurances by the Soviet government. János Kádár and Ferenc Münnich secretly defect to the Soviets. 1956 – The Springhill mining disaster in Springhill, Nova Scotia kills 39 miners; 88 are rescued. 1957 – The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at the time, opens to traffic connecting Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas. 1960 – While campaigning for President of the United States, John F. Kennedy announces his idea of the Peace Corps. 1963 – The Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, with the largest radio telescope ever constructed, officially opens. 1963 – The 1963 South Vietnamese coup begins 1968 – The Motion Picture Association of America's film rating system is officially introduced, originating with the ratings G, M, R, and X. 1970 – Club Cinq-Sept fire in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, France kills 146 young people. 1973 – Watergate scandal: Leon Jaworski is appointed as the new Watergate Special Prosecutor. 1973 – The Indian state of Mysore is renamed as Karnataka to represent all the regions within Karunadu. 1979 – In Bolivia, Colonel Alberto Natusch executes a bloody coup d'état against the constitutional government of Wálter Guevara. 1979 – Griselda Álvarez becomes the first female governor of Mexico. 1981 – Antigua and Barbuda gains independence from the United Kingdom. 1982 – Honda becomes the first Asian automobile company to produce cars in the United States with the opening of its factory in Marysville, Ohio; a Honda Accord is the first car produced there. 1984 – After the assassination of Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India on 31 October 1984, by two of her Sikh bodyguards, anti-Sikh riots erupt. 1987 – British Rail Class 43 (HST) hits the record speed of 238 km/h for rail vehicles with on-board fuel to generate electricity for traction motors. 1993 – The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union. 2000 – The Republic of Serbia and Montenegro joins the United Nations. 2012 – A fuel tank truck crashes and explodes in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, killing 26 people and injuring 135.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.20

70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots. 792 – Kardam of Bulgaria defeats Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI at the Battle of Marcellae. 911 – Rollo lays siege to Chartres. 1189 – Richard I of England officially invested as Duke of Normandy. 1225 – Treaty of San Germano is signed at San Germano between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX. A Dominican named Guala is responsible for the negotiations. 1398 – The Battle of Kellistown was fought on this day between the forces of the English led by Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March against the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles under the command of Art Óg mac Murchadha Caomhánach, the most powerful Chieftain in Leinster. 1402 – Ottoman-Timurid Wars: Battle of Ankara: Timur, ruler of Timurid Empire, defeats forces of the Ottoman Empire sultan Bayezid I. 1592 – During the first Japanese invasion of Korea, Japanese forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi captured Pyongyang, although they were ultimately unable to hold it. 1705 – A fire in Oulu almost completely destroyed the fourth district, which covered the southern part of the city and was by far the largest of the city districts. 1715 – Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Empire captures Nauplia, the capital of the Republic of Venice's "Kingdom of the Morea", thereby opening the way to the swift Ottoman reconquest of the Morea. 1738 – Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan. 1799 – Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first of six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia. 1807 – Nicéphore Niépce is awarded a patent by Napoleon for the Pyréolophore, the world's first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France. 1810 – Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain. 1831 – Seneca and Shawnee people agree to relinquish their land in western Ohio for 60,000 acres west of the Mississippi River. 1848 – The first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, a two-day event, concludes. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek: Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman. 1866 – Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa: The Austrian Navy, led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea. 1871 – British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada. 1885 – The Football Association legalizes professionalism in association football under pressure from the British Football Association. 1903 – The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile. 1906 – In Finland, a new electoral law was ratified, guaranteeing the country the first and equal right to vote in the world. Finnish women were the first in Europe to receive the right to vote. 1917 – World War I: The Corfu Declaration, which leads to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia. 1920 – The Greek Army takes control of Silivri after Greece is awarded the city by the Paris Peace Conference; by 1923 Greece effectively lost control to the Turks. 1922 – The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom. 1932 – In the Preußenschlag, German President Hindenburg places Prussia directly under the rule of the national government. 1934 – Labor unrest in the U.S.: Police in Minneapolis fire upon striking truck drivers, during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, killing two and wounding sixty-seven. 1934 – West Coast waterfront strike: In Seattle, police fire tear gas on and club 2,000 striking longshoremen. The governor of Oregon calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks. 1935 – Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen. 1936 – The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime. 1938 – The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards to the studio system. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948. 1940 – Denmark leaves the League of Nations. 1940 – California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway. 1941 – Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrentiy Beria its chief. 1944 – World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. 1949 – The Israel–Syria Mixed Armistice Commission brokers the last of four ceasefire agreements to end the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. 1950 – Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs. 1951 – King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem. 1954 – Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany. 1960 – Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government. 1960 – The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time. 1961 – French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte. 1964 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Định Tường Province, Cái Bè, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of whom are children). 1968 – The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities. 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11's crew successfully makes the first manned landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later. 1969 – A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the "Football War". 1974 – Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d'état, organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios. 1976 – The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars. 1977 – The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments. 1977 – The Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 people and causes millions of dollars in damages. 1981 – Somali Airlines Flight 40 crashes in the Balad District of Somalia, killing 40 people. 1982 – Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses. 1985 – The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles. 1989 – Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. 1992 – Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia. 1997 – The fully restored USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years. 1999 – The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide. 2005 – The Civil Marriage Act legalizes same-sex marriage in Canada. 2012 – James Holmes opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others. 2012 – Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the cities of Amuda and Efrîn without resistance. 2013 – Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca. 2013 – Syrian civil war: The Battle of Ras al-Ayn ends with the expulsion of Islamist forces from the city by the People's Protection Units (YPG). 2015 – A huge explosion in the mostly Kurdish border town of Suruç, Turkey, targeting the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, kills at least 31 people and injures over 100. 2015 – The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades. 2017 – O. J. Simpson is granted parole to be released from prison after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 11.1

365 – The Alemanni cross the Rhine and invade Gaul. Emperor Valentinian I moves to Paris to command the army and defend the Gallic cities. 996 – Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk, Bishop of Freising, which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi (Austria in Old High German). 1141 – Empress Matilda's reign as 'Lady of the English' ends with Stephen of Blois regaining the title of King of England. 1179 – Philip II is crowned King of France. 1214 – The port city of Sinope surrenders to the Seljuq Turks. 1348 – The anti-royalist Union of Valencia attacks the Jews of Murviedro on the pretext that they are serfs of the King of Valencia and thus "royalists". 1503 – Pope Julius II is elected. 1512 – The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time. 1520 – The Strait of Magellan, the passage immediately south of mainland South America connecting the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, is first discovered and navigated by European explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the first recorded circumnavigation voyage. 1555 – French Huguenots establish the France Antarctique colony in present-day Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 1570 – The All Saints' Flood devastates the Dutch coast. 1604 – William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello is performed for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London. 1611 – Shakespeare's play The Tempest is performed for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London. 1612 – During the Time of Troubles, Polish troops are expelled from Moscow's Kitay-gorod by Russian troops under the command of Dmitry Pozharsky (22 October O.S.) . 1683 – The British Crown colony of New York is subdivided into 12 counties. 1688 – William III of Orange sets out a second time from Hellevoetsluis in the Netherlands to seize the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland from King James II of England during the Glorious Revolution. 1755 – In Portugal, Lisbon is totally devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing between 60,000 and 90,000 people. 1765 – The British Parliament enacts the Stamp Act on the Thirteen Colonies in order to help pay for British military operations in North America. 1790 – Edmund Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France, in which he predicts that the French Revolution will end in a disaster. 1800 – John Adams becomes the first President of the United States to live in the Executive Mansion (later renamed the White House). 1805 – Napoleon Bonaparte invades Austria during the War of the Third Coalition. 1814 – Congress of Vienna opens to re-draw the European political map after the defeat of France in the Napoleonic Wars. 1848 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the first medical school for women, Boston Female Medical School (which later merged with the Boston University School of Medicine), opens. 1861 – American Civil War: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan as the commander of the Union Army, replacing General Winfield Scott. 1870 – In the United States, the Weather Bureau (later renamed the National Weather Service) makes its first official meteorological forecast. 1884 – The Gaelic Athletic Association is set up in Hayes's Hotel in Thurles, County Tipperary. 1894 – Nicholas II becomes the new (and last) Tsar of Russia after his father, Alexander III, dies. 1894 – Thomas Edison films American sharpshooter Annie Oakley, which is instrumental in her hiring by Buffalo Bill for his Wild West Show. 1896 – A picture showing the bare breasts of a woman appears in National Geographic magazine for the first time. 1897 – The first Library of Congress building opens its doors to the public; the library had previously been housed in the Congressional Reading Room in the U.S. Capitol. 1901 – Sigma Phi Epsilon, the largest national male collegiate fraternity, is established at Richmond College, in Richmond, Virginia. 1911 – World's first combat aerial bombing mission takes place in Libya during the Italo-Turkish War. Second Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti of Italy drops several small bombs. 1914 – World War I: The first British Royal Navy defeat of the war with Germany, the Battle of Coronel, is fought off of the western coast of Chile, in the Pacific, with the loss of HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth. 1914 – World War I: The Australian Imperial Force (AIF) departed by ship in a single convoy from Albany, Western Australia bound for Egypt. 1916 – In Russia, Pavel Milyukov delivers in the State Duma the famous "stupidity or treason" speech, precipitating the downfall of the government of Boris Stürmer. 1918 – Malbone Street Wreck: The worst rapid transit accident in US history occurs under the intersection of Malbone Street and Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, New York City, with at least 102 deaths. 1918 – Western Ukraine separates from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 1920 – American fishing schooner Esperanto defeats the Canadian fishing schooner Delawana in the First International Fishing Schooner Championship Races in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 1922 – Abolition of the Ottoman sultanate: The last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI, abdicates. 1928 – The Law on the Adoption and Implementation of the Turkish Alphabet, replaces the Arabic alphabet with the Latin alphabet. 1937 – Stalinists execute Pastor Paul Hamberg and seven members of Azerbaijan's Lutheran community. 1938 – Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral in an upset victory during a match race deemed "the match of the century" in horse racing. 1941 – American photographer Ansel Adams takes a picture of a moonrise over the town of Hernandez, New Mexico that would become one of the most famous images in the history of photography. 1942 – World War II: Matanikau Offensive begins during the Guadalcanal Campaign and ends three days later with an American victory. 1943 – World War II: In the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, United States Marines, the 3rd Marine Division, land on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. 1943 – World War II: In support of the landings on Bougainville, U.S. aircraft carrier forces attack the huge Japanese base at Rabaul. 1944 – World War II: Units of the British Army land at Walcheren in the Netherlands. 1944 – World War II: A United States Army Air Forces F-13 Superfortress conducted the first flight by an Allied aircraft over the Tokyo region of Japan since the 1942 Doolittle Raid. 1945 – The official North Korean newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, is first published under the name Chongro. 1948 – Six thousand people die when a Chinese merchant ship explodes and sinks off southern Manchuria. 1948 – Athenagoras I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, is enthroned. 1950 – Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempt to assassinate US President Harry S. Truman at Blair House. 1950 – Pope Pius XII claims papal infallibility when he formally defines the dogma of the Assumption of Mary. 1951 – Operation Buster–Jangle: Six thousand five hundred American soldiers are exposed to 'Desert Rock' atomic explosions for training purposes in Nevada. Participation is not voluntary. 1952 – The United States successfully detonates Ivy Mike, the first thermonuclear device, at the Eniwetok atoll. The explosion had a yield of ten megatons TNT equivalent. 1954 – The Front de Libération Nationale fires the first shots of the Algerian War of Independence. 1955 – The bombing of United Airlines Flight 629 occurs near Longmont, Colorado, killing all 39 passengers and five crew members aboard the Douglas DC-6B airliner. 1956 – The Indian states Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Mysore are formally created under the States Reorganisation Act; Kanyakumari district is joined to Tamil Nadu from Kerala. 1956 – The Springhill mining disaster in Springhill, Nova Scotia kills 39 miners; 88 are rescued. 1957 – The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at the time, opens to traffic connecting Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas. 1960 – While campaigning for President of the United States, John F. Kennedy announces his idea of the Peace Corps. 1963 – The Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, with the largest radio telescope ever constructed, officially opens. 1963 – The 1963 South Vietnamese coup begins 1968 – The Motion Picture Association of America's film rating system is officially introduced, originating with the ratings G, M, R, and X. 1970 – Club Cinq-Sept fire in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, France kills 146 young people. 1973 – Watergate scandal: Leon Jaworski is appointed as the new Watergate Special Prosecutor. 1973 – The Indian state of Mysore is renamed as Karnataka to represent all the regions within Karunadu. 1979 – In Bolivia, Colonel Alberto Natusch executes a bloody coup d'état against the constitutional government of Wálter Guevara. 1981 – Antigua and Barbuda gains independence from the United Kingdom. 1982 – Honda becomes the first Asian automobile company to produce cars in the United States with the opening of its factory in Marysville, Ohio; a Honda Accord is the first car produced there. 1984 – After the assassination of Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India on 31 October 1984, by two of her Sikh bodyguards, anti-Sikh riots erupts. 1993 – The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union. 2000 – The Republic of Serbia and Montenegro joins the United Nations. 2012 – A fuel tank truck crashes and explodes in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, killing 26 people and injuring 135.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.20

AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots. 792 – Kardam of Bulgaria defeats Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI at the Battle of Marcellae. 911 – Rollo lays siege to Chartres. 1189 – Richard I of England officially invested as Duke of Normandy. 1225 – Treaty of San Germano is signed at San Germano between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX. A Dominican named Guala is responsible for the negotiations. 1398 – The Battle of Kellistown was fought on this day between the forces of the English led by Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March against the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles under the command of Art Óg mac Murchadha Caomhánach, the most powerful Chieftain in Leinster. 1402 – Ottoman-Timurid Wars: Battle of Ankara: Timur, ruler of Timurid Empire, defeats forces of the Ottoman Empire sultan Bayezid I. 1592 – During the first Japanese invasion of Korea, Japanese forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi captured Pyongyang, although they were ultimately unable to hold it. 1715 – Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Empire captures Nauplia, the capital of the Republic of Venice's "Kingdom of the Morea", thereby opening the way to the swift Ottoman reconquest of the Morea. 1738 – Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan. 1799 – Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first of six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia. 1807 – Nicéphore Niépce is awarded a patent by Napoleon for the Pyréolophore, the world's first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France. 1810 – Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain. 1831 – Seneca and Shawnee people agree to relinquish their land in western Ohio for 60,000 acres west of the Mississippi River. 1848 – The first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, a two-day event, concludes. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek: Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman. 1866 – Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa: The Austrian Navy, led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea. 1871 – British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada. 1885 – The Football Association legalizes professionalism in association football under pressure from the British Football Association. 1903 – The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile. 1917 – World War I: The Corfu Declaration, which leads to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia. 1920 – The Greek Army takes control of Silivri after Greece is awarded the city by the Paris Peace Conference; by 1923 Greece effectively lost control to the Turks. 1922 – The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom. 1932 – In the Preußenschlag, German President Hindenburg places Prussia directly under the rule of the national government. 1934 – Labor unrest in the U.S.: Police in Minneapolis fire upon striking truck drivers, during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, killing two and wounding sixty-seven. 1934 – West Coast waterfront strike: In Seattle, police fire tear gas on and club 2,000 striking longshoremen. The governor of Oregon calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks. 1935 – Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen. 1936 – The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime. 1938 – The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards to the studio system. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948. 1940 – Denmark leaves the League of Nations. 1940 – California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway. 1941 – Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrentiy Beria its chief. 1944 – World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. 1949 – The Israel–Syria Mixed Armistice Commission brokers the last of four ceasefire agreements to end the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. 1950 – Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs. 1951 – King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem. 1954 – Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany. 1960 – Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government. 1960 – The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time. 1961 – French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte. 1964 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Định Tường Province, Cái Bè, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of whom are children). 1968 – The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities. 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11's crew successfully makes the first manned landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later. 1969 – A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the "Football War". 1974 – Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d'état, organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios. 1976 – The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars. 1977 – The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments. 1977 – The Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 people and causes millions of dollars in damages. 1982 – Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses. 1985 – The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles. 1989 – Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. 1992 – Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia. 1997 – The fully restored USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years. 1999 – The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide. 2005 – The Civil Marriage Act legalizes same-sex marriage in Canada. 2012 – James Holmes opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others. 2013 – Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca. 2015 – A huge explosion in the mostly Kurdish border town of Suruç, Turkey, targeting the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, kills at least 31 people and injures over 100. 2015 – The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades. 2017 – O. J. Simpson is granted parole to be released from prison after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.20

AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots. 792 – Kardam of Bulgaria defeats Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI at the Battle of Marcellae. 911 – Rollo lays siege to Chartres. 1189 – Richard I of England officially invested as Duke of Normandy. 1225 – Treaty of San Germano is signed at San Germano between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX. A Dominican named Guala is responsible for the negotiations. 1398 – The Battle of Kellistown was fought on this day between the forces of the English led by Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March against the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles under the command of Art Óg mac Murchadha Caomhánach, the most powerful Chieftain in Leinster. 1402 – Ottoman-Timurid Wars: Battle of Ankara: Timur, ruler of Timurid Empire, defeats forces of the Ottoman Empire sultan Bayezid I. 1592 – During the first Japanese invasion of Korea, Japanese forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi captured Pyongyang, although they were ultimately unable to hold it. 1738 – Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan. 1799 – Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first of six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia. 1807 – Nicéphore Niépce is awarded a patent by Napoleon for the Pyréolophore, the world's first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France. 1810 – Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain. 1831 – Seneca and Shawnee people agree to relinquish their land in western Ohio for 60,000 acres west of the Mississippi River.[1] 1848 – The first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, a two-day event, concludes. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek: Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman. 1866 – Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa: The Austrian Navy, led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea. 1871 – British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada. 1885 – The Football Association legalizes professionalism in association football under pressure from the British Football Association. 1903 – The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile. 1917 – World War I: The Corfu Declaration, which leads to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia. 1920 – The Greek Army takes control of Silivri after Greece is awarded the city by the Paris Peace Conference; by 1923 Greece effectively lost control to the Turks. 1922 – The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom. 1932 – In the Preußenschlag ("Prussian coup"), German President Paul von Hindenburg dissolves the government of Prussia 1934 – Labor unrest in the U.S.: Police in Minneapolis fire upon striking truck drivers, during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, killing two and wounding sixty-seven. 1934 – West Coast waterfront strike: In Seattle, police fire tear gas on and club 2,000 striking longshoremen. The governor of Oregon calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks. 1935 – Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen. 1936 – The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime. 1938 – The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards to the studio system. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948. 1940 – Denmark leaves the League of Nations. 1940 – California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway. 1941 – Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrentiy Beria its chief. 1944 – World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. 1949 – Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen-month war. 1950 – Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs. 1951 – King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem. 1954 – Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany. 1960 – Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government. 1960 – The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time. 1961 – French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte. 1964 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Định Tường Province, Cái Bè, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of whom are children). 1968 – The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities. 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11's crew successfully makes the first manned landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later. 1969 – A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the "Football War". 1974 – Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d'état, organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios. 1976 – The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars. 1977 – The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments. 1977 – The Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 people and causes millions of dollars in damages. 1982 – Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses. 1985 – The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles. 1989 – Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. 1992 – Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia. 1997 – The fully restored USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years. 1999 – The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide. 2005 – The Civil Marriage Act legalizes same-sex marriage in Canada. 2012 – James Holmes opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others. 2013 – Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca. 2015 – A huge explosion in the mostly Kurdish border town of Suruç, Turkey, targeting the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, kills at least 31 people and injures over 100. 2015 – The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades. 2017 – O. J. Simpson is granted parole to be released from prison after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.20

AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots. 792 – Kardam of Bulgaria defeats Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI at the Battle of Marcellae. 911 – Rollo lays siege to Chartres. 1189 – Richard I of England officially invested as Duke of Normandy. 1225 – Treaty of San Germano is signed at San Germano between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX. A Dominican named Guala is responsible for the negotiations. 1398 – The Battle of Kellistown was fought on this day between the forces of the English led by Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March against the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles under the command of Art Óg mac Murchadha Caomhánach, the most powerful Chieftain in Leinster. 1402 – Ottoman-Timurid Wars: Battle of Ankara: Timur, ruler of Timurid Empire, defeats forces of the Ottoman Empire sultan Bayezid I. 1592 – During the first Japanese invasion of Korea, Japanese forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi captured Pyongyang, although they were ultimately unable to hold it. 1738 – Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan. 1799 – Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first of six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia. 1807 – Nicéphore Niépce is awarded a patent by Napoleon for the Pyréolophore, the world's first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France. 1810 – Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain. 1848 – The first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, a two-day event, concludes. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek: Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman. 1866 – Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa: The Austrian Navy, led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea. 1871 – British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada. 1885 – The Football Association legalizes professionalism in association football under pressure from the British Football Association. 1903 – The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile. 1917 – World War I: The Corfu Declaration, which leads to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia. 1920 – The Greek Army takes control of Silivri after Greece is awarded the city by the Paris Peace Conference; by 1923 Greece effectively lost control to the Turks. 1922 – The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom. 1932 – In the Preußenschlag ("Prussian coup"), German President Paul von Hindenburg dissolves the government of Prussia 1934 – Labor unrest in the U.S.: Police in Minneapolis fire upon striking truck drivers, during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, killing two and wounding sixty-seven. 1934 – West Coast waterfront strike: In Seattle, police fire tear gas on and club 2,000 striking longshoremen. The governor of Oregon calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks. 1935 – Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen. 1936 – The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime. 1938 – The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards to the studio system. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948. 1940 – Denmark leaves the League of Nations. 1940 – California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway. 1941 – Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrentiy Beria its chief. 1944 – World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. 1949 – Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen-month war. 1950 – Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs. 1951 – King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem. 1954 – Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany. 1960 – Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government. 1960 – The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time. 1961 – French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte. 1964 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Định Tường Province, Cái Bè, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of whom are children). 1968 – The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities. 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11's crew successfully makes the first manned landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later. 1969 – A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the "Football War". 1973 – Bruce Lee, the famous Chinese actor and martial-arts expert, dies in Los Angeles at age 32 from a brain edema possibly caused by a reaction to a prescription painkiller. 1974 – Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d'état, organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios. 1976 – The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars. 1977 – The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments. 1977 – The Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 people and causes millions of dollars in damages. 1982 – Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses. 1985 – The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles. 1989 – Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. 1992 – Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia. 1997 – The fully restored USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years. 1999 – The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide. 2005 – The Civil Marriage Act legalizes same-sex marriage in Canada. 2012 – James Holmes opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others. 2013 – Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca. 2015 – A huge explosion in the mostly Kurdish border town of Suruç, Turkey, targeting the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, kills at least 31 people and injures over 100. 2015 – The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades. 2017 – O. J. Simpson is granted parole to be released from prison after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.20

AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots. 792 – Kardam of Bulgaria defeats Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI at the Battle of Marcellae. 911 – Rollo lays siege to Chartres. 1189 – Richard I of England officially invested as Duke of Normandy. 1402 – Ottoman-Timurid Wars: Battle of Ankara: Timur, ruler of Timurid Empire, defeats forces of the Ottoman Empire sultan Bayezid I. 1592 – During the first Japanese invasion of Korea, Japanese forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi captured Pyongyang, although they were ultimately unable to hold it. 1738 – Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan. 1799 – Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first of six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia. 1807 – Nicéphore Niépce is awarded a patent by Napoleon for the Pyréolophore, the world's first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France. 1810 – Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain. 1848 – The first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, a two-day event, concludes. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek: Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman. 1866 – Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa: The Austrian Navy , led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea. 1871 – British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada. 1885 – The Football Association legalizes professionalism in association football under pressure from the British Football Association. 1903–The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile. 1917 – World War I: The Corfu Declaration, which leads to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia. 1920 – The Greek Army takes control of Silivri after Greece is awarded the city by the Paris Peace Conference; by 1923 Greece effectively lost control to the Turks. 1922 – The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom. 1932 – In the Preußenschlag ("Prussian coup"), German President Paul von Hindenburg dissolves the government of Prussia 1932 – In Washington, D.C., police fire tear gas on World War I veterans, part of the Bonus Expeditionary Force, who attempt to march to the White House. 1934 – Labor unrest in the U.S.: Police in Minneapolis fire upon striking truck drivers, during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, killing two and wounding sixty-seven. 1934 – West Coast waterfront strike: In Seattle, police fire tear gas on and club 2,000 striking longshoremen. The governor of Oregon calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks. 1935 – Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen. 1936 – The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime. 1938 – The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards to the studio system. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948. 1940 – Denmark leaves the League of Nations. 1940 – California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway. 1941 – Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrentiy Beria its chief. 1944 – World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. 1949 – Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen-month war. 1950 – Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs. 1951 – King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem. 1954 – Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany. 1960 – Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government. 1960 – The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time. 1961 – French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte. 1964 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Định Tường Province, Cái Bè, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of whom are children). 1968 – The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities. 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11's crew successfully makes the first manned landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon (July 21 UTC). 1969 – A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the "Football War". 1974 – Turkish occupation of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d'état, organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios. 1976 – The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars. 1977 – The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments. 1982 – Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses. 1985 – The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles. 1989 – Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. 1992 – Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia. 1997 – The fully restored USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years. 1999 – The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide. 2005 – Canada legalized same-sex marriage, being the fourth country in the world to do so. 2012 – James Holmes opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others. 2013 – Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca. 2015 – A huge explosion in the mostly Kurdish border town of Suruç, Turkey, targeting the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, kills at least 31 people and injures over 100. 2015 – The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades.