#Routing and Remote Access

[richardmhicks]

Always On VPN Client IP Address Assignment Methods

When Always On VPN clients connect to the VPN server, they must be assigned an IP address to facilitate network communication. When using Windows Server and Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) for VPN services, administrators must choose between Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and static address pool assignment methods. DHCP DHCP is a quick and easy way to handle VPN client IP…

[fanfic-obsessed]

We are all Jedi

Consider this:

It is barely a few months into the war. The Jedi know they have been manuevered into leading a child slave army, of course they know. But knowing and being able to do anything substantial about it are two different things. Then an idea sparks. 

No one is quite sure how or who. Perhaps it started as a way to let the Younglings help with the war effort, they all want to help so badly.  Perhaps it started as a complaint from an exhausted Council member.  Perhaps from the Crechlings who found out that Anakin Skywlaker had never been in the creche and insisted that he sleep there one night when he was on leave from deployment (after all, all Jedi need to sleep in the creche at least once) and he came out of that night so much more settled. Perhaps it grew, organic, the way such madness does.  

The Idea: they would induct the clones as members of the Jedi Order. It could not become official until the war ends, they would have to be honorary members until they were allowed to update their roles, but they could have a ceremony.  It is decided that the Initiates and younglings would design the ceremony, which ended up including a night spent in the creche.  The younglings insisted that this ceremony had to be done in smaller groups, so it could be special, so it took nearly a year to induct all of the clones (the first group being the Coruscant guard). And it is entirely possible that Fox and the CG accidentally, and without realizing it, found a way to shield certain information from Palpatine. After all there is a Rodian younlinging in the Creche who’s first words was ‘Fox’.  Whom he may visit every other tenday, because she loved to cuddle him and all of the creche masters told him that he was her favorite. 

From the point of the first ceremony there were always a few platoons worth of clones in the creche with the younglings.  Clone Cadets were given access to, and encouraged to take, the remote classes setup for the initiates and padawans. Padawan commanders now had study groups of their own troops where they could discuss philosophy and ethics and that one essay (Everyone has that One Essay). 

It should have been such a small thing, such an insignificant thing, at first many of the the Master wept for the fact that they could not even make it official. Could not free the troops, could not push back against the senate. Could not even tell anyone that the Clones are part of the Order, rather than just belonging to it.  But…But, every trooper got experience sleeping under a pile of younglings. Had the pleasure of being fought over, not because they were made for war, but because this one colored the best or that one could do fancy braids. They could wander in and out of the Temple like any other Jedi. And there would always be Pong Krells in the world, but it was so much harder to see someone as disposable or less than when you run into them at 3am in the archives, trying to finish an essay you remember struggling with as a child.

Some things change and others do not. 

Then Order 66…The Jedi are traitors. 

Only…

The Clones are also Jedi, they slept in the creche and everything. And we could go the sad route: Madness and suicide and even more genocide. But we could also go the other way. 

If the Clones are Jedi and the Jedi are traitors then the Clones must be traitors as well. And Good Soldiers follow Orders but they are not Good Soldiers.  They are Traitors. There are a number of clones that have a minor freak out because they ‘don’t know how to be a traitor!!!!’ but then someone goes, ‘we can ask our Generals/ Commanders/ our Creche masters, they’ll tell us’. 

There is still a good couple of hours of utter confusion for everyone involved as the Jedi try to work out why the troopers thought they were all traitors.  In the creche it was universally decided to hand any trooper that comes through the door a youngling to hold as it seemed to calm everyone down. In the Archives, a dozen archivists conspire to give the troopers, many of whom are shaking and confused, something easy and fun to research (the resulting papers would later be cited as the foremost authority in a hundred different topics). Two battalions that had been fighting droids at the time of Order 66 accidentally enter into a cease fire when they inform the droids that they are traitors to the Republic and the droid can’t figure out if they are supposed to keep shooting or not (the clones don’t know either) (the Jedi generals are just glad for the respite). 

And the Coruscant guard has possibly been waiting for this moment their entire lives. Each member of the ‘Guard has a list of senators, aides, and assorted others that they would kill given even a sliver of a chance. Immediately upon the news that they are traitors, Fox has them armed and storming the Rotunda.  Most of them expect to die, and want to take a few of those bastards out before they go. 

Fox himself, feeling more cheerful than he had in some time, meets up with Padme Amidala in a Senate hallway. He nods his head to her respectfully ‘ma’am’, as if she hadn’t just seen him shoot a particularly odious senator's aide. 

Padme is cautious and very pregnant, but she is one of the few people who the troopers are trying not to hit. “Commander Fox? What’s going on?”

“Oh, the Chancellor declared us traitors.”

And Padme, heavily pregnant, looks around at the panicking being rushing through the halls, the troopers stalking through somehow radiating a menacing glee, “So your first action is…this”

Fox nods agreeably, still far too cheerful, “Have to be sentient to be traitors. If we’re sentient, then we’re being abused and assaulted, and all those other words where a sentient is being hurt by other. Can’t blame us for taking a piece out of our abusers.”

And Padme feels like she should be able to argue with this but really can’t find the words. Fox, on the basis that she is one of maybe one hundred non clones in the Senate building who is not on any of the ‘Guards kill list, decides that she should be escorted to the Jedi temple with it’s healers. She is very pregnant, all this stress could not be good for her,  and the Temple has better medical facilities. Fox manages to round up one of his medics and three troopers whose lists were small enough that they have exacted their revenge already. They are to escort Padme to the temple, along with any of the other ‘Not to Kill’ beings that they might come across.  

Anakin starts to storm past, but realizes that Padme is there. He is half fallen to the dark, dazed and looks a bit like corpse. Fox decides that he also needs to be escorted to healers, and makes a joke that Anakin should ‘help’ escort Padme, to make sure this stress isn’t going to hurt her. Anakin, being dazed and more suggestible than is truly healthy (also oblivious about many many things), takes him seriously.  They are sent on their way to the temple, where the healers look at Anakin and Padme, promptly getting both of them into a bed.

A few troopers, chasing a senators aide, find Master Windu in the lower levels and bring him to the temple (they may want revenge but they are Jedi first and Windu is one of theirs).

Sidious, who was on nearly every kill list, is powerful. There is no doubt about that.  He can easily stop up to twenty blaster shots, plus three slugs, at once. However there are 150 Couruscant Guard, including Fox and Stone, who are able to claim the privilege of shooting him. Twenty five of those with slug throwers. 

He died without ever finding out what went wrong with his plan.

[esamastation]

Part forty-two of Shizuroth, aka, the SOLDIER General's Self Saving Shizun.

Ao3 link.

Previous parts: twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty, forty-one

-

The Turks have arranged everything. Sort of. The charcoal burner's house is long abandoned and remote, not close to any main routes, so it would be private. In the books, both Sephiroth and Angeal are taking part in a classified mission with the Turks, which has been approved by both the Director of the SOLDIER program and the Acting Director of the Turks. It would take someone higher up in the Public Security Department to delve deeper than that, and since the President had already given his seal of approval, there's not much even Heidegger can do about it.

"And Rude is bringing everything we'll need to survive," Reno finishes. "Starting today, your priority is sorting out whatever is going on with you, free of distractions, external stressors and hopefully of further incidents."

Sephiroth still seems to be stuck on the getting his shit together part of the mission and apparently isn't sure whether to be insulted or not.

Angeal clears his throat. "And what are we supposed to… do, exactly?"

"Hell if I know," Reno shrugs and nods at Sephiroth. "Figure you'd sort it out by yourself, with your new spooky… whatever it is you got going on. You seem to have some idea."

"Uh," Sephiroth answers. 

Eloquent.

Angeal runs a hand down his face. Then he laughs. "Okay, I have to admit. I'm impressed. I didn't really think you'd do anything, but - I'm impressed." And more than slightly intimidated by the connections and liberties the Turks have, but that's not exactly new. "How long do we have?"

"Until further notice, or until someone back in Midgar gets antsy," Reno shrugs. "I'm thinking maybe don't worry about time. If you need more, we will arrange some."

Huh. "This is really that important, then?"

Reno gives Sephiroth a look and then looks at Angeal. "Yeah," he says, a deceptively easy answer.

That's… somehow a little disconcerting. Certainly Sephiroth is invaluable to the program and to the company, but this… this is beyond VIP treatment.

"I see," Angeal murmurs and clears his throat.

Sephiroth finally shakes himself loose from his surprise, enough to look first somewhat sheepish - and then intrigued. "So, I can do whatever I want here?"

"Pretty much," Reno agrees, without any care for how alarming the question is. "And if you need something to further your whatever, we'll get it for you."

"Nice. And there will be no other missions if I don't want to do them right now?" Sephiroth asks.

"You can do them or not as you'd like - none of them have higher priority than this, and they can be delegated to other people, if it comes to that."

Sephiroth runs a hand over his chin. "And if I want access to some material that might be to some extent classified?"

Reno narrows his eyes. "Like what?"

"Haven't decided yet," Sephiroth answers flippantly. "But it might come up."

"... Great. We'll review case by case when we come to it," Reno mutters. "Though you know it's a bitch to get stuff shipped here, right? We're on another continent."

"Yes, yes, it's very impressive," Sephiroth says dismissively and thinks about something for a moment. Then he looks at the charcoal burner's house with a discerning eye. "And you'll be staying here too?" he then asks, glazing at Reno. "To watch us?"

Reno shrugs, unapologetic.

Sephiroth eyes him for a moment and then turns back to the house. "Very well. It will do."

"... Awesome," Reno says and motions. "Go, make yourselves comfortable or whatever. I'm going to walk the perimeter and set some traps."

"Mmhmm," Sephiroth answers, already striding back into the house with a proprietor's casual confidence, and Angeal can just imagine the furniture soon to be rearranged inside.

He hesitates before following and looks at Reno. "What is this really about? It's not just that Sephiroth lost control, is it?"

Reno considers him. "Well, duh, no," he says. "It's the stuff he's been saying in between."

And the abilities he seems to be on the verge of developing. "What's the official view on what's happening to Sephiroth?" What are they expecting from him?

"There isn't one," Reno says and arches his brows meaningfully, and then turns to go.

Angeal's face tightens, and he knows he probably doesn't understand the implications… but then maybe he does. All this effort and all the stuff that's been going on… whatever it is, the company is looking forward to benefiting from it greatly. And they want no one messing with what is happening before they do.

Angeal thinks of the moment Sephiroth communed with the old tree the day before, and for a moment he really wishes it was Genesis here with him instead. Genesis would actually know how to handle all of this. Angeal isn't even sure if he can ask Genesis about this, if he can talk to him about this!

Never mind the fact that Genesis probably has his hands full with whatever is happening back at Shinra Building… the aftermath of Sephiroth's incident and whatever Professor Hojo was doing…

Angeal turns to head inside.

… Where Sephiroth has begun poking around the house, and, of course, is already moving furniture around.

"I see you are all for this," Angeal comments.

"I'll take all the extra time I can get," Sephiroth mutters while carrying a little table to the middle of the main room. "Though I am not exactly happy about being under Turk supervision, I'll take it over the alternative."

Angeal hums, looking around and then deciding that Sephiroth probably doesn't need - or want - his help in decorating. "What's the alternative?"

Sephiroth grimaces and goes to move a bookshelf.

Okay then. Ominous. Angeal sighs and sets the Buster Sword down to lean against the wall near the door, right beside Masamune. "You know they expect something to come from this. For you to… to make it worth their while."

Sephiroth half laughs and half scoffs. "I just bet they do," he agrees and picks up somewhat dusty cushions and considers them with a frown.

Angeal folds his arms. "Are you going to?" he then asks, worried.

Sephiroth pauses and looks away, dropping the cushions by the table in the middle. "No," he says finally. "I don't imagine I will. Regardless," he shakes his head. "This is the next best thing to a full-on seclusion, and I am damn well going to make the most of it."

Angeal doesn't know what that means, but it doesn't matter. "Okay," he says and draws a breath. "Guess we'll… just stay here for the time being, then."

Sephiroth hums in agreement. "Guess so. Does it bother you?"

"No more than anything else around Wutai," Angeal admits and looks up at the ceiling. "We were already looking forward to a prolonged stay in someone's abandoned home. This place is honestly an improvement."

Sephiroth relaxes a little. "Yeah. And hey, the people here weren't chased out or killed by Shinra. That's something."

Angeal looks at him curiously. "How do you know that?"

"The original owner left a scrap piece of letter behind. Apparently they were invited to the capital," Sephiroth says.

… Sephiroth reads the Wutai language? Huh. Angeal didn't know that.

"I guess that's good to know," he says and then sighs. "Okay, so. This… thing you're doing. Your energy alignment stuff. Is there anything I can do to help? What do you need?"

Sephiroth hesitates between moving some jars around and looks at him. "I need a proper cleared training area," he says and offers him a wry smile. "At least as big as the training room back at Shinra Building."

"I can do that, yeah," Angeal says. "Anything else?"

Sephiroth thinks about it for a moment before setting the jars back down. "I'll let you know."

Angeal nods and gets to it. There's not much he can do when Sephiroth refuses to trust him, but… he'd do what he could.

Hopefully by the end of it, it would be enough.

-

Time for a training montage.

[agentrouka-blog]

Maybe I misunderstood but didn't his low born prostitute lover lie in court about him which could've gotten him killed? Not saying murder was the best route but he didn't just randomly do it /genq

She's a lowborn prostitute. Yes, she lied, but if Tyrion remotely tried to rub two braincells together he could easily guess that she was pressured and trying to make the best of a bad situation. See also Alayaya, or the fact that previously Tywin had threatened to hang Tyrion's next "whore". She knew the Lannisters were dangerous and she no longer had access to any of her money.

Could she freely say no to testifying?

Could she freely say no to Tywin?

None of these questions even register to him, really. She is an extension of his own needs, an extension of his relationship with Tywin even, almost from the beginning. An object.

Tyrion felt the need to avenge himself on a person who had no real options and was in the position to be used against him because time and again he had prioritized his ego and sexual needs over her safety or even any common sense.

No, he didn't murder her randomly. That doesn't make it less horrific.

[chaosbarelycontained]

See Me Go Through Changes

North Country Boy Chapter 4

Pairing: Simon “Ghost” Riley x AFAB!OC

TW: Swearing

Words: 2k

Synopsis: Price gives Jules access to much more than her usual tech and Ghost gets the third degree.

“You need a medic?” Price asked gruffly once the Lieutenant had left the gym.

“No sir, I’m good,” Jules responded, resisting the urge to rub her aching jaw, instead placing her beret back onto her head.

Price nodded once and set off at a brisk pace. Jules followed the Captain down stark corridors, each taking them deeper and deeper into the bowels of Stirling Lines barracks. They encountered a myriad of soldiers on their journey, most of them wearing the caps and badges of the SAS or the SRR, and all of them saluted Price as they passed.

They must have taken a circuitous route that Jules hadn’t used before but they ended up in a wing that was familiar to her and where she’d spent a lot of her time during her SRR training. Stopping before a closed, unmarked door, Price paused with his hand on the door knob. He turned to Jules with a devilish look in his eye.

“Now before we go in, just remember, I don’t want you to get all over-excited on me, Sergeant, understood?”

“Understood,” Jules replied, but her tone was raised, as if her response were a question.

Price pushed open the door and then stepped aside to reveal a bank of monitors and some of the most advanced computing and remote surveillance equipment Jules had ever seen. She stepped into the room with a soft gasp and ran her fingers delicately across the top of the monitors. Her skin prickled with goosebumps in the air-conditioned coolness and she turned back to Price with a genuine smile of joy.

“Fuckin’ ‘ell! Are you flirtin’ with me, Sir?” she teased, earning her a deep, rumbling chuckle.

“If I wanted to flirt with you, Tiger, you’d know about it. I take it you like the set-up?”

“Like it? It’s mint!” Jules exclaimed, practically vibrating with excitement.

“Good. I need you to make sure it's got everything you need. If anything’s missing then there needs to be a list on my desk by 0800 hrs tomorrow. Anything, Sergeant. If you need it, just ask.”

“Absolutely, Sir,” Jules said, but already sounded distracted as her attention was drawn back to the equipment before her.

“One more thing,” Price stated, pulling her focus back to him.

“Yes, Sir?”

“Lieutenant Riley,” Price began and Jules immediately stiffened. “I don’t know what’s gone on and I don’t need to, unless it compromises my team. Will it compromise my team, Sergeant?”

“N-no, Sir,” she replied, her face flushing with embarrassment at her very public loss of control.

“Good. See that it stays that way,” he ordered, but then his face softened. “Go on then, have at it,” he nodded towards the monitors and left Jules to it.

She slid into the comfortable wheeled chair, removed her beret, and lifted the headset onto her head. One swipe of the mouse and the screens before her lit up to show the familiar MOD log in screen. She tapped in her credentials but the homescreen she was expecting to see didn't appear. Instead of the SRR logo with the Corinthian helmet and sword there was a design she hadn’t seen before. The centre of the logo still featured a sword but instead of the helmet there was a skull and they were bordered by a pair of feathered wings and a laurel wreath. The only text visible was under the hilt of the sword and all it stated were the numerals 141.

Moving the cursor over the logo, Jules left-clicked on it and the screen dissolved to show a desktop layout that wouldn’t look out of place in any office in the country but a closer look at the icons showed programs that the majority of people wouldn’t even know existed. There were flight scanners, access portals to world-wide air traffic controls, drone programming systems, access to civilian emergency service and CCTV networks, both radio wave and microwave detector systems for communications interceptions, banking network portals, and pretty much anything else she would need. There, at her fingertips, were the tools she needed to monitor and even start incursions the world over. There was even the Spotify app, which made her huff out a chuckle.

Even with only the most cursory of glances over the system, Jules couldn’t see anything that was conspicuous by its absence. Her list for the Captain was, for the moment, unpopulated. Checking the time on the clock in the bottom left of the screen she noticed a small icon that she recognised but had never had the opportunity to use.

“You’re shittin’ me,” she breathed, before double-clicking on the tiny image.

The screen darkened for a moment before lighting up with a soft blue glow. An electronic chirp sounded from one of the desk drawers and Jules opened it to reveal a high end VR headset resting on a magnetic charging dock.

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ,” she squealed, picking up the tech and cradling it in her hands.

Swallowing down the knot of excitement in her throat she removed the headset she was wearing and slowly replaced it with the VR gear. Sighing in satisfaction at the new accessibility she had gained she weaved her hands through the air in a graceful pattern, relishing the lack of need for hand controllers. A few gestures later and she was walking through the streets of Kyiv and then, in a flash, had been transported to favelas of Rio. Throwing her head back and letting out an excited laugh she allowed herself to get lost in the advanced technology that she loved.

* * * * * *

“Geek,” Rob said affectionately, scrubbing his hand over the top of her head. “Computer Science though, Jules? Why the fuck did you pick that?”

“Cause I like it, knobhead,” she replied, shoving his hand away and batting at his shoulder.

The pub in Preston wasn’t that busy for a Saturday afternoon and the train ride up from Manchester that morning had been uneventful. It had mainly consisted of Jules trying to study for a seminar whilst Simon did his best to antagonise her once he’d finished with the copy of FHM he’d picked up at Piccadilly Station.

“She’s good at it too,” Simon added, catching her eye over the rim of his pint glass. “Got some mint grades on your last assignments, didn’t y’Jules?”

“Yeah, suppose so,” she nodded, flushing a little at his praise.

Rob’s eyes flickered between the pair of them and narrowed in suspicion.

“Is there summat going on wi’ you two?' ' he asked.

“Nah!” Jules exclaimed hurriedly, spluttering around her cider and blackcurrant whilst Simon just let out a short laugh and shook his head.

“Just seem a bit pally, that’s all,” Rob hummed, draining his pint.

“Y’said to look out for her while y’were away,” Simon shrugged.

“I can look out for my own bloody self, Jesus,” Jules muttered. “Fuckin’ cavemen.”

After a chippy tea and a farewell to her brother, Jules and Simon made their way back to the station. He seemed lost in thought, not speaking much as they walked onto the platform to wait. Jules leaned back against the red brick wall and wrapped her arms around herself to stave off the chill of the evening.

A shadow fell across her, blocking the light from the station floodlights as Simon leaned over her, caging her in with a devilish smile.

“Didn’t realise the thought of bein’ wi’ me was so bad,” he rumbled, one hand propped against the wall above her head whilst the other came to rest at her waist.

“Was I wrong though?” she protested with a tilt of her chin. “We’re not exactly seein’ each other are we?”

“Well I’m not seein’ anyone else, Jules,” he said, his face turning slightly more serious.

“What’re y’sayin’ Si?” she breathed.

“Just think we should start bein’ honest with ourselves, that’s all,” he replied, his chestnut eyes trailing over her face.

“What about Rob?”

“I reckon he’d be alright with it,” he said, raising his hand to cup her face.

“I reckon he would too, but I think he’d kick your arse first,” Jules laughed softly.

“I’d let him if it got me wi’ you,” he laughed with her as his thumb brushed gently over her cheek.

“Dick’ead,” she murmured, her tongue darting out across her bottom lip as he lifted her chin and tilted his head down to capture her lips with his.

* * * * * *

Ghost waited at the door to Price’s office, outwardly presenting the model of military perfection but his mind whirled in a mess of guilt and confusion. He regretted pushing Jules as far as he had, and there wasn’t much in his life he did regret. Strange how a lot of it involved her though…

“Si, stopppp!” she laughed, batting his arm away from her waist.

Price rounded the corner of the corridor, his face drawing into a scowl as he spotted Ghost. He didn’t need to say a word, simply making a gesture to enter that Ghost followed without question.

The scent of patchouli permeated his nose as they climbed the uneven stone steps of the old drapery building that housed Affleck’s Palace.

He stood at ease before the Captain’s desk as Price sat and deliberately took his time making himself comfo​​rtable. Opening his top drawer he pulled out a cigar, clipped the end with a silver clipper that Ghost himself had gifted him and then lit the tobacco. He stared at his Lieutenant with an ambiguous expression as he waited for Ghost to break the silence.

“It’s on the top floor innit?” he asked, groaning at her pseudo-innocent face.

‘I didn’t know! I swear down!” she gasped out a giggle, grabbing his wrist and hauling up the stairs behind her.

“She’ll do,” Ghost rumbled, scrunching his nose a little under his mask which made the drying blood crack away from his skin.

“And is that your professional opinion?” Price asked, a hint of sarcasm making its way into his words.

“Yeah,” Ghost nodded once.

“Si! I found ‘em!” Jules squealed, bouncing over to him with four small figurines and a beaming smile on her face.

“Want to talk about it?” the Captain probed but Ghost shook his head.

“Negative.”

“Just going to throw this out there Simon, but maybe you need to talk to her.”

Ghost shook his head again but found himself unable to meet Price’s stare. They remained in their non-verbal standoff as the seconds ticked by but Price eventually let out a huff and shook his head in defeat.

“Go on then, dismissed. Just…stop being an arse to her, yeah?”

“It’s like you don’t even know me,” Ghost retorted, trying to lighten the atmosphere a little before leaving the office.

Slipping unseen into an empty room along the corridor, Ghost locked the door and then leaned back against it before sliding to the floor. Pulling his balaclava off over his head he ran his hand through his short blond hair and probed at his throbbing nose. It wasn’t broken, although it wouldn’t have been the first time. Resting his arms on his raised knees he dropped his head and let out a deep sigh.

They had to pass through the cafe on their way back to the stairs that would take them out of the building. Jules walked beside him clutching the paper bag that held her treasured purchase. He didn’t want to leave just yet, desperate to spend more time with her.

“D’you fancy a hot chocolate?” he asked, nodding his head towards the cafe’s counter.

“Umm, yeah, we could do that,” she replied.

He ordered for them whilst she found them two seats, near the window so they could watch the world go by below.

“Here y’are,” he said, placing a mug of hot chocolate topped with all the trimmings before her.

“Cheers, Si,” Jules muttered, but he could tell she was distracted.

“What’s up, chuck?” he asked, nudging her knee under the table.

“Y’don’t…y’don’t think it’s a stupid present?” she asked timidly, nodding towards the paper bag on the table.

“Don’t be daft Jules, he’s gonna love ‘em, and if he doesn’t, I’ll ‘av ‘em,” Simon grinned, trying to reassure her. “If someone bought me Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figures for my 19th I’d be made up!”

“Is that a hint?” Jules laughed, “‘cause I’m not buyin’ you Turtles for your birthday.”

Taglist: @aykxz98

[crypticemerald]

I've got nothing to post right now so have my oc, hes part of a subdivision of smaller iterators (in the sense of robot-like creatures) able to think of themselves (but are mobile) aka Operators :D

more rambling about Operators below :)

Operators serve as a way to persue small tasks between closeby groups, created during gen 2 of Iterators they serve as a ''fix it all'' having a set manual encoded in them which provides them with the necessary tools to fend for themselves and geolocate closeby structures which provide energy.

Being off the strings for them it means that they function off few neurons which they carry inside their body (which keeps them alive and stores some necessary stuff + recently given commands + records important events during their travels from one facility to the other). They recharge via a chargeble battery installed in their system by connecting it to anything remotely mechanical, such as shelters, karma gates (which they are able to access unless theyre karmically imbalanced or arent given permission to), communication stations/arrays and so on.

They do not have a great memory, they work on a limited one when off-field and when they reach the closest iterator they will connect to their structure, offering a scan of their can and offering to solve any issues they are able to fix within it, but most important they will empty their memory (think of outside storage) in order to recieve a new command/order/task. Their main purpose is to serve under the rules of the ancients and help with upkeeping iterator groups local to them or following their orders which may change from anything such as pearl collection, transferring data, rearranging faulty memory conflux structures, eliminate any threatening bodies to their host iterator can and so on!

[cough, if they find mobile rot even if their host iterator tells them not to kill it they will go on the violent route to eliminate the rot or mold]

Greatly respectful of ancients and senior iterators they will greatly follow orders given by seniors and other iterators, doing small tasks for them and serving low range messenger/support friend if you will. They are shorter than most iterators (with my guy being shorter than five pebbles) but more resistant and resilient than the mid iterator puppet plus a lot stronger!

Usually theres anywhere between none to five in groups, depending on their size and how old they are.

IDK they have some sort of weapon which they probably either carry around or its part of their design, mine has claws.

Their main rules are:

-follow iterator wishes

-ensue their safety

-dont mess with the enviroment (less prone to violence towards organic creatures)

ABOUT MY OC TE HEE

Ordinary Maintenances is under Chronicler of Methologies (an archivist iterator which belongs to @nemofil and they work under pearl collection duty most of the time, why most of the time?

Scavengers think of Ordinary Maintenance as a very very shiny object, so they trade him around until he menages to actually get up and leave their premises which is sadly not that successful. Seeing as Chronicler is quite a pacifist and feel bad about Scavenger he will often do nothing (not as he can do it) about it, leaving often time OM being traded around for shiny stuff.

Im not sure how i wanna kill them off but oh well, hes quite the resistant one, surviving through an iterator attacking them, being a chewtoy sometimes on sundays, and witnessing some pretty violent scav conflicts hes quite the silliest :)

stay in pieces chronicler, may you be loved by him as yk bros do (/j)

[rabbitcruiser]

Redwood Gulch, CA (No. 2)

Prior to its completion, the California coast south of Carmel and north of San Simeon was one of the most remote regions in the state, rivaling at the time nearly any other region in the United States for its difficult access. In 1920, the 26 mi (42 km) trip from Carmel to the Pfeiffer Ranch in the Big Sur valley on the Old Coast Road in a light spring wagon pulled by two horses could be completed in about 11 hours, while a lumber wagon pulled by four horses could make the same trip in 13 hours. The rough road ended in present-day Posts and could be impassible in winter. No road existed beyond Posts, only a horseback trail connecting the homesteads to the south.

The highway was first proposed by Dr. John L. D. Roberts, a physician who was summoned on April 21, 1894 to treat survivors of the wreck of the 493 tons (447 t) S.S. Los Angeles (originally USRC Wayanda), which had run aground near the Point Sur Light Station about 25 miles (40 km) south of Carmel-by-the-Sea. It took him 3+1⁄2 hours on his two-wheeled, horse-drawn cart, a very fast trip for the day. The initial survey for the highway was completed in 1918, and its construction began in 1921. The project ceased for two years in 1926 when funding ran out, and after 18 years of construction, the Carmel–San Simeon Highway was completed in 1937. The route was incorporated into the state highway system and re-designated as Highway 1 in 1939.

The winding, narrow road, often cut into the face of towering seaside cliffs, is a "symbolic image" of Big Sur. In May 2017, a 5,000,000-cubic-foot (140,000 m3) slide blocked the highway at Mud Creek, north of Salmon Creek near the San Luis Obispo County line, to just south of Gorda. The road was reopened on July 18, 2018, but is subject to closure during heavy storms. On January 29, 2021, the land under the road collapsed into the sea due to heavy storms near Rat Creek 15 miles (24 km) south of Big Sur Village. After 30 days of debris removal and only 56 days of construction, the highway was reopened on April 23, 2021. The highway has been closed more than 55 times by landslides. It was closed repeatedly during the storms of 2022-23. On January 8, 2023, the highway was closed at Paul's Slide 22 miles (35 km) north of the San Luis Obispo/Monterey county border and as of January 2024 remains closed, with Caltrans estimating a Spring 2024 completion of repair works. The Nacimiento-Fergusson Road also remains closed.

Source: Wikipedia

[dear-mrs-otome]

What made you dislike Rio? How complex is his relationship with Silvio?

I'm just slapping this whole spoilery thing behind a cut:

As a person I don't necessarily dislike Rio. I think he has many admirable qualities and at heart he's a caring, kind man. But for me personally, when it comes to Rio in a romantic sense, I find him clingy, entitled, overprotective, and manipulative.

I dislike how he gatekeeps Emma and access to her, is borderline obsessed, and how he feels entitled to continually make his feelings HER problem and to forever shove them in her face when she's made her disinterest or her intent to keep him as just a friend VERY clear. I get secondhand embarrassment every time he spouts off about his love and Emma does her best to placate him, clearly feeling uncomfortable.

I dislike how it takes him an entire route of his own to even remotely stop sticking his head in the sand and pretending that he can go on ignoring everything about his past, especially since we know he has an inkling of the truth the first time he and Silvio speak. Some people might find it romantic that he's willing to just ignore any past he might have in favor of staying with Emma but to me that's irresponsible, childish, and downright disrespectful to Emma - she deserves the truth, and to be able to make a fully informed decision about their future.

As for he and Silvio....ridiculously complex doesn't even begin to describe it. They're textbook love/hate - Rio is rightfully traumatized by the things that Silvio's done to him in the past, and still tries to do (taking away the things that Rio loves) but by the same token, he has no idea of the things Silvio's done to try and protect him, and how a lot of Silvio's behavior stems from envy and feeling (rightfully) overlooked in favor of Rio being the king's darling favorite who can do no wrong. Silvio wants to hate Rio, but more than anything I think what frustrates him is seeing Rio be favored and feeling that Rio doesn't deserve it - he calls Rio a coward and always tries to provoke him into standing up for himself more, because he wants to see Rio be a stronger person and worthy of being a prince of Benitoite.

[equatorjournal]

Porters, few of whom owned any footwear, were issued with gym shoes for the last leg of the approach march to the mouth of the Sanctuary. 1970. "The ascent of Annapurna by Maurice Herzog's French expedition in 1950 was one of the great landmarks in the history of moun taineering. For although his team made the attempt by the most easily accessible route, the climb represented a significant break through-the first conquest of a 26,000-foot peak. Yet the real challenge of Annapurna remained-the South Face, over 10,000 feet of rock and ice and one of the most formidable mountain walls in the world. Nothing remotely comparable had ever been attempted before. At the end of March 1970 an expedition led by Chris Bonington arrived at Base Camp in the Annapurna Basin or 'Sanctuary'. Two months later, on 27 May, two members of the team, Don Whillans and Dougal Haston, reached the summit. The seem ingly impregnable South Face had been conquered..." From "Annapurna South Face" by Chris Bonington, 1971. https://www.instagram.com/p/CpVlsBxt3AL/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[thehomelybrewster]

Miscellaneous Worldbuilding Idea - Applying the Mandala to Fantasy

One aspect as someone who likes to study history and religion and politics that always fascinated me is the idea of the mandala political model.

The mandala (Sanskrit for "circle") is mostly used for art, but it is also used to describe the at-times interlocking spheres of influence powerful cities had in Southeast Asia before the 19th century.

The closer another polity, be it a tribe or other city or petty state was to a powerful city, the closer it was integrated into the system of that city, and the further away it was, the looser control generally became. Small polities would often have allegience to multiple regional centers, same with itenerant groups.

In fantasy settings, it's rather easy to apply.

A huge fortified city projects power along the established trade routes that go near by it. Rural communities rarely feel the power of the large city, but can occasionally call upon them for protection and have a useful market to send their goods to. They are politically however independent of that city with a hundred times it population.

The Orcish warband that migrates through the continent every year pays tribute to the big cities it comes close to, and in exchange the Orcs get access to the trade centers.

A remote forest is home to a religious community eager to avoid big city life. By not being close to any trade routes, either by sea or by land, officials of the city-states don't bother showing up.

The centrally-located island run by elves maintains ties with every coastal community, but several villages on the northern shore of the Great Ocean also swear fealty to the inland alliance of dwarven hillforts.

Basically, when worldbuilding, you can create interesting conflicts that come about by not following a "Westphalian" model of statehood, where areas are generally under the firm control of a single state entity. It even makes it harder to have modern nation states in your setting, allowing you to both explore fringe systems of government such as theocracies or anarchist communes without those polities having to function on a larger scale, and to have a clear focus on trade routes and diverse groups over all.

[richardmhicks]

Always On VPN and IPv6

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) has been with us for nearly 30 years. IPv6 adoption on the public Internet has steadily increased over the last decade, and today is approaching 50%. However, enterprise adoption of IPv6 has been surprisingly sluggish despite its numerous benefits. IPv6 includes an expanded address space that removes complex subnetting requirements and globally unique addressing…

[rideboomindia]

What are the benefits of using a ride-sharing app like RideBoom?

Using a ride-sharing app like RideBoom can offer several benefits for both passengers and drivers. Here are some of the advantages:

Benefits for Passengers:

Convenience: Ride-sharing apps provide passengers with a convenient way to request a ride anytime, anywhere, using their smartphones. They can avoid the hassle of flagging down taxis or waiting for public transportation.

Ease of Use: The user-friendly interface of ride-sharing apps makes it simple for passengers to book a ride, track the driver's location, and make cashless payments. The apps often provide estimated arrival times and fare calculations, enhancing transparency and ease of use.

Safety and Security: Ride-sharing apps typically incorporate safety features such as driver identification, real-time GPS tracking, and the ability to share ride details with friends or family. Passengers can have peace of mind knowing that their journey is monitored and recorded.

Cost-Effective: Ride-sharing services often offer competitive pricing compared to traditional taxis. Passengers can benefit from affordable fares, especially for shorter distances, making it an economical transportation option.

Availability and Accessibility: Ride-sharing apps provide access to transportation services in areas where taxis might be scarce or public transportation options are limited. Passengers can easily find a ride, even during peak hours or in remote locations.

Variety of Vehicle Options: Some ride-sharing apps offer a range of vehicle options to cater to different passenger needs and preferences. Passengers can choose between standard sedans, larger vehicles for groups, or even luxury cars, depending on their requirements and budget.

Benefits for Drivers:

Flexible Work Schedule: Ride-sharing apps offer drivers the flexibility to choose their own work hours. They can log in and out of the app as per their availability, allowing them to balance work with other commitments or personal responsibilities.

Additional Income: Becoming a ride-sharing driver can be a way to earn extra income. Drivers can leverage their own vehicles and time to provide transportation services and generate revenue.

Increased Efficiency: Ride-sharing apps help optimize driver efficiency by providing a continuous stream of ride requests and efficient routing suggestions. This can help drivers reduce downtime and maximize their earnings potential.

Driver Safety Measures: Ride-sharing apps often incorporate safety measures, such as driver and passenger ratings, trip tracking, and customer support. This can help create a safer working environment for drivers.

Income Transparency: Ride-sharing apps typically provide drivers with transparent earnings information. Drivers can track their earnings, view trip details, and understand their income breakdown, enabling better financial planning.

Support and Resources: Ride-sharing companies often offer resources and support to drivers, including driver training, customer support, and in-app assistance. This can help drivers navigate any challenges they encounter on the job.

[eponymous-rose]

I found it super useful to do this in a previous year, so here's all the stuff I've got going on for the next three-month quarter. Hope this is interesting to anyone thinking of going the academic route or just curious about what their professor does all day when they're not teaching!

Context: I'm a fifth-year assistant professor (tenure-track) at an R1 public university in a science field.

I'm just teaching the one class this quarter! It's a class I created myself and have taught on four previous occasions, so I have a lot of really great materials available to me. Its enrollment has also quadrupled since the first time I taught it. Womp-womp. Designing and giving lectures 3x/week, creating new assignments 1x/week (carefully ChatGPT-proofed when they're not integrating critical assessments of ChatGPT), writing two take-home midterms, grading all of the above, and, of course, innovating on the course. Trying out some fun new activities to replace the individual projects that have become unwieldy with this number of students. And, inevitably, the scheduled and unscheduled office hours.

I'm primary advisor for a great new grad student, but, in all the federal government's deadline-y wisdom, the grant proposal I was going to use to fund his research fell through. While we scramble to re-submit, the department has given me 9 months of funding, but that also means this student is going up for some highly competitive graduate fellowships to help fill the financial void. Lots of working with him to craft his very first proposal while we talk the undergrad to grad transition, classes, and These Winters Oh You Know (he's from the PNW, he's all set). His actual research is a little on hold for now, but we'll be doing some very cool stuff collaborating with a friend at another university as well as someone at a federal agency that I'm gonna sweet-talk into inviting us down for some in-person work in May. We meet for an hour every week.

As part of that, I'm meeting weekly with my co-PI on that failed proposal to craft a resubmission (we got very positive reviews, just didn't make the funding cutoff). It's a process!

My other active grad student is getting to the end of his PhD already! He just wrapped up two internships this summer and is full of ideas and new directions, which is great, but also: now is the time to find that finish line. He has his last pre-defense exam coming up soon, and my job is to make sure he has a solid story to tell that has a well-defined ending. I'd like to see him publish another paper before finishing as well, and I think he'll have no problems doing so. He's on a federal research grant and also needs to discharge some responsibilities there and make sure he has a transition plan in place for whoever takes over from him. Had a friend at another institution reach out expressing an interest in hiring him for a postdoc, and he's interested, so also going to try to get him a visit down there. We meet for an hour every week!

Said student has also initiated a collaboration with some of his friends from school back in China to do some truly wild stuff, and honestly in this case I'm just along for the ride and to gently steer them back on-course when they start getting a bit in the weeds. We're meeting every second week, and the biggest thing I have to do here is make sure he has open access to a supercomputer to do his thing. It's cool to have reached the stage where my main responsibility is to get out of his way.

Said student also independently reached out to someone with a really cool dataset, and after a meeting carefully smoothing over that e-mail from "blasé demand for free data" to "opportunity to collaborate as a team", we've got a pretty cool project lining up. Might have to wait until after his PhD defense, though.

I have another grad student who took a job elsewhere and really, really wanted to finish his Master's remotely, which is all well and good, but honestly, doing that while trying to start a new job is soul-crushingly difficult. Our department has recently created an option to get a Master's without writing a thesis, so I need to follow up on that and get him this Master's degree.

A former student has reached out about converting his Master's thesis to a journal article, and that'll be a long process, but sure? Maybe? We'll figure it out.

A colleague and I have decided to create a research project for an undergrad who reached out to us looking for opportunities to get more credits. We're still not 100% sure where we're going with this, and a lot will depend on her programming skills, but she's only a sophomore and so we'll ideally have several years to work together on this research. We meet once a week.

Said colleague and I are also working on blending our research groups a bit (mainly because it's awkward to have 3-person "group meetings"), and as part of that we're trying to find a time to have both groups do biweekly coffee-shop meetings where we discuss a cool paper in the field.

I'm participating in a weather forecasting competition that involves writing a forecast 4 days a week, occasionally sending out reminder e-mails, meeting weekly, and probably giving a briefing at some point.

Traveling in October to give an invited seminar at a very big-name university in my field. This has been happening more and more lately (I've now given invited seminars/keynotes in four different countries, to say nothing of the conference talks elsewhere) and I have a pretty solid template for a one-hour talk, but this is a group of people who specialize in my area of research, so I've gotta step up my game there. I'll also be meeting with folks there for a day and will have to figure out what to do with my course while I'm gone.

One other bit of out-of-state travel in October is to attend a meeting of a national group I'm a part of - they've thrown in an early-career workshop, and the whole thing is being paid for, so I'll be there for one extra day learning me a thing. Excited that my grad school officemate will be there!

Final travel this quarter will be during the final exam week, when I go to a giant conference in my field along with my nearly-finished PhD student - we'll both be giving talks there, and since it isn't my usual professional organization hosting it, I get to avoid all of my usual wave of volunteer responsibilities. Phew.

This isn't happening until January, but I was invited to speak at the biggest student conference in my field, and while I can't travel there, they've set up an opportunity for me to do it virtually - I need to get my materials to them by November, I think.

I'm still on the editorial board for three different academic journals, which comes with a fair number of reviews (often "tiebreakers" when the other peer reviewers are in disagreement) every month. Genuinely really enjoy it, because otherwise when the heck am I gonna find time to deep-read any new papers in my field? Also writing reviews for federal funding agency grants now, which is a longer process but also very interesting and helpful.

I'm coordinating the charitable fundraising among the faculty in my department this year - I have a meeting coming up with the head honcho at the university level about what charity drives we'll be doing in the run-up to the holiday season and then I think I just mostly forward e-mails? This is a new position for me.

I'm one of four faculty (plus a grad student) on a new hire search committee for a tenure-track faculty member. It's been interesting thus far, but due to some financial tapdancing going on at the moment, we may delay the hire by a year. Our department typically gets 100+ highly qualified applications for each position (which is wild, we're not huge and have like 21 faculty total), so that's a huge time sink once the ball gets rolling on it. We did put together the ad we were going to send out.

I extended my term on the college's scholarship committee, which generally involves a couple meetings a year of giving out extra money to students. Good stuff, especially since we received a gift at the college level recently that means nearly everyone who applies gets something.

I'm working on a research project I got funded through a small internal grant - it's been weird to have a research project that's just me doing coding and writing. I really need to block out some protected time for that! It's a fun project and I think I budgeted for two publications. We'll see how it turns out!

A while ago, I was approached by a truly giant scientific journal to write a review article about my entire research focus. I brought on three colleagues who had written similar reviews in the past, got our proposal approved, and promptly had multiple freakouts trying to get a full draft written. Recently got most of that draft completed and sent it to the editor, who had AMAZING and detailed feedback. This is the kind of article where we have an art team at our beck and call to create graphics for us. We really want to do this right.

I got pulled into a research thing with a national lab a while ago and keep forgetting about it - my role appears to be mostly done, and now I mostly just occasionally get random e-mails with dire security clearance warnings that amount to "I wrote this whitepaper report, can you confirm I properly represented your contribution?" It would be lovely if a publication came out of this, it's fun work (not military), but who knows.

A colleague and I are waiting to hear back on a really, really cool grant proposal we submitted a couple months ago. We probably still have 6 months before we hear anything, but man, I think about it every day. It would be so neat and the program manager agreed that it was an awesome idea, but of course now we're in the reviewers' hands. We might do some preliminary work in anticipation of possibly having to resubmit next year.

Speaking of grant proposals, I need to at least put a draft together for a new project. As my grad students graduate, I need funding to bring new ones on! This is also the one thing my department chair has suggested is a little weak on my CV: number of grants obtained. It's SUCH a long process, with probably 80-100 hours of work for each grant proposal written. Ugh. It is fun when it's an idea I'm excited about, at least.

I'm on the committees of about a half-dozen grad students (and am anticipating possibly hearing from one more) - my role is mostly to provide very occasional guidance on the overall research project, providing specialized knowledge the student and their primary advisor may not have, and attending all exams. I also have to keep an eye out for and help mediate any issues between the student and their advisor. That can get messy.

We have 3 weekly seminars in the department! They're very interesting and I'm mostly just glad I'm not coordinating one of the seminar series this year.

I've started getting inquiries from potential graduate students. See above re: not knowing if I'll have funding for a new student next year. Why can't we just coordinate our deadlines?

I've started working with a science advisory board for a major organization within my field, which has been interesting so far! As a more junior member, my input isn't being super actively sought yet, so I get to just learn about the processes involved and nod sagely a lot. Thankfully the two-day meeting last week was remote.

I'm on another national committee that's currently working on organizing our next big conference in late 2024. There's always a lot that goes into that (and I don't have a super high opinion of the guy running the group after he posted some crappy stuff about students on social media), but thankfully I've managed to dodge some of the bigger responsibilities.

I'm part of a very cool peer-mentoring group where I chat weekly with scientists in different-but-comparable fields about any and all of the above. It's very nice to have a bit of a place to vent!

Oh yes, and the tenure/promotion-application process kicks off this year. I have a meeting next week with my mentoring committee to see if they feel I'm ready to go up. Here goes nothing...

I think that's mostly it? It's gonna be a busy 3 months. Time to make some lists...

[sullustangin]

Fluffy February Day 16: Spontaneous

SWTOR

Time: Sometime during KotFE

Word count: About 1200, but Lana does ultimately have fun.

~~

Lana Beniko cursed the day she had met Theron Shan and Eva Corolastor.

She should have drowned both of them at Manaan.  Taken their intel and proceeded apace to stop the Revanite conspiracy –

…and as always, her internal rant stopped there, because Lana remembered how green she was at spy games and all the skills she lacked before she went on the run.  She had learned all the things she could live without.  She also learned about the things that could and did kill her. 

As Theron later indicated, it was always important for a spy to know their weaknesses and know when they could not be compensated for in a mission. 

The Empire was expert at limiting free will and spontaneity. The Republic apparently tolerated a certain amount of improvisation, which explained not only Theron’s own high-flying achievements but also a good number of his injuries.  Nothing truly needed to be said about the constant state of chaos that existed among smugglers; Eva traveled along the ebbs and flows of business and adventure in the galaxy, fluctuating and ever-changing.

Lana did not tolerate spontaneity well, as it gave her ulcers.  Eva was the absolute top source for them.  Her rescue and insistence upon saving every wayward Zakuulan en route had depleted the bismuth supply Lana kept with her in her medkit. 

Eva’s improv skills prevented Lana from accompanying her to the Star Fortresses.  Praise the stars for Bowdaar’s return; the Alliance wouldn’t have gotten its kick-start into active operations without Eva having a partner that wasn’t currently guiding her remotely (Theron), an easily disabled droid (HK-55), incapable of doing stealth (Koth), or cramming antacids down her throat in fistfuls (Lana). 

The antacids supply in medbay dwindled when Eva went on walk-about; she’d disappear from the base, only to reappear when she felt like it… or when Lana couldn’t take the absence anymore and sent Theron to retrieve her. 

This was also why Lana could never own a cat; the requirement to let it do as it pleased at any given moment was overly indulgent, in Lana’s opinion.

The current cause of Lana’s churning stomach acid was Eva’s impromptu decision to say that, as an exercise in counter espionage, the entire base was required to play The Assassins Game.  Everyone had a packet of purple dye, and they were to squirt it on their target, assigned to them by the Master Assassin.  Those who survived the first round proceeded to the second, until someone was declared the best assassin on base and was rewarded with their choice of liquor from Virtue’s Thief and a three-day leave pass.

That wasn’t the problem. 

No, it wasn’t even that Theron Shan was the Master Assassin who had helped Eva arrange the game and the target assignments.

The problem was that Lana Beniko accompanied the liquor with the winner on their three-day leave pass. 

This idea apparently had been born overnight, in the short 7 hours Lana had taken to sleep. 

She stormed into the war room only to find those two jokers sitting at the war table.  “YOU.”

The pair had the audacity to smile at her.  Theron’s expression was more akin to a smirk, while Eva smiled with all of her teeth, a bit feral.  “In our defense,” Eva began, “it was the only way to exempt you from the Assassins Game.”

Theron indicated Eva.  “She can’t play, because she’s the commander of the base – unlimited access anywhere at any time.  I can’t play because … well, first, I’d win, and second, I had to make the assignments; I know who has which target.” 

Lana could feel the heat just radiating from her eyes.  “And you couldn’t come up for anything for me?” 

“We did!” Theron and Eva said in unison.

“I’m the prize,” Lana said with dismay.  “Along with a bottle of liquor and a shuttle pass.”

Eva waved a finger back and forth.  “No, no.  You have the most important job of all, Lana.”    She exchanged a knowing look with Theron and gave him the floor.

Theron squared up, datapad in hand.  “The winner of the competition… has already been contacted.”

Lana tilted her head to the side, wondering if she hadn’t heard correctly.  “What?”

Theron launched into his briefing.  “You will be accompanying a young Quarren pilot to his planet of choice, which will be Kamino, an ocean world.” 

The planet flickered to life on the war table, with a few finger taps from Eva.  “And just to remind you, much like Mon Cal, Quarren are biologically incompatible with humans!”

Lana growled at her as Theron continued, unfazed.  “Your mission there is to investigate some … disturbances among the local wildlife…”  Theron gestured to Eva.

Eva ran her fingers along the edge of the table, summoning up an image of… a Jedi?  “So, around 300 years ago, the planet Ossus got trashed by a supernova, caused by our old buddy from Yavin 4, Exar Kun.  On the way out, a Jedi master from the Swimmer race called ‘Qalsneek the Bull’ smuggled artifacts off Ossus before the whole place was irradiated.  He supposedly hid the loot on Kamino.”

The light went on in Lana’s head.  Aha!

Eva cocked an eyebrow at Lana.  “I have my suspicions about how ‘Jedi’ this guy was, with a name like that and a bolthole on Kamino readily available to store this stuff.”

Lana nodded.  “The entire Exar Kun affair… was highly disruptive to the Jedi Order and the galaxy at large.  The histories may not be complete…”  She stared at the planet then turned to Theron.  “What’s caused the artifacts to activate and cause the disruption, thus attracting our attention?”

Theron gave her a smile, appreciating how she’d knit everything together promptly.  “That’s what we need you to find out.  And if it’s safe, retrieving the artifacts would be helpful for our little enclave …though we might be able to use them strategically to generate goodwill with the Jedi Order at a later date.”

“Oooor the Sith Order – whoever is the highest bidder in terms of credits or war materiel,” Eva piped up. 

Theron gave her a look.  “We’ll talk about that later.”

Eva hopped off the edge of the war table.  “You’re the only one of us that’s Force Sensitive among us, so you’ve got to go…plus you’re the least believable to have cooked up the Assassins Game –”

“I’ll remind you I made you a cannibal on Rishi,” Lana retorted. 

She could be spontaneous!   …if she planned it well enough…

“So you’ll take your hot date and your nice booze in stride and … put up a good show for the base, one way or another?” Eva dangled out there.

Lana sighed and blew a puff of hair up at her bangs.  “I will be appropriately devastated by my doomed romance with a biologically incompatible Quarren.  But I will enjoy the liquor.” 

“Thanks, Lana,” Theron said, already burying himself in the next round of Assassin assignments.

“Can’t do it without you!” Eva added.  “So, wanna go up to the observation deck and watch our idiots chase each other all over Odessen and squirt each other with grape juice?”

“Absolutely!”

~

@fluffyfebruary

[elbiotipo]

Varied worlds of Campoestela:

This time they are outside from the Esteloplatense Confederation (you can call it Space Argentina). Some of them are from the wider 'human space', others not.

Hilav: A pleasant world of blue seas and archipaelagos, at the junction of several trade routes. Initially settled by Alevis from Turkey, their influence can still be seen in the local culture and architecture, but is now probably one of the most cosmopolitan worlds of human space, with bustling universities and markets. The orbital ring around Hilav glitters with the constant docking and undocking of ships, and is a reminder every time you look at the sky of just where you are.

Fraternité: A tropical world with low-lying lands and extensive river systems, terraformed with African flora and fauna. The Republic of Fraternité is one of the newest members of the Ubuntu Union, and is located in a privileged new aetheric route leading to Concordia. The cities of Fraternité are booming with cranes and construction robots, even as it tries to retain its traditional forestry genemodding art it is still known for.

Iaotol: Homeworld of the ibis-like Syuted, a dry world with rivers fed by melting glaciers. The canyon cities of Syuted are where you would find the sometimes uncanny displays of traditional Syuted "magic", including sentient gemstones and talking corpses whose secrets are tightly kept. The newer cities in the desert fed by hydroponics are where most of the population lives nowadays.

Ruleta: A million-years old ancient ring-shaped orbital, it has an overall steppe oceanic climate and geography, but it's unclear if that was the original configuration of its builders. Countless cultures have risen and fallen here, many still live in mountain chains or open spaces within the orbital. The current human inmigrants, perhaps because of nominative determinism, are known by their lavish casinos by the seas.

Berekti: A world under an ice age, with karstic caverns sheltering pockets of vegetation from the glaciers. Originally inhabited only by Oriental Orthodox monks from Ethiopia and a small spaceport town with EXCELLENT cafés, in the past few decades it has recieved some attention by extreme sports fans who come to enjoy the rugged geography.

Smaragaid: A carefully terraformed world of forested islands each with their own unique dialects and cultures, it was colonized by Irish culture revivalists who took the rather extreme step of completely banning English and related languages from the planet. Despite the trade opportunities, it remains a rather closed world, only accessible to chosen confidants who have to be vouched as trusted by local councils and families.

Utveh: Homeworld of the snake-like Feisans. While having a variety of climates, Feisans do prefer to live in the many floating 'mangroove' forests that spread over the tropical seas of this world. The basic political unit in Utveh is precisely the Floating Forest, and they have translated this to their expansion into space, preferring to live in independent orbitals. Their orbital constellations are often close to human worlds, coexisting or competing with them.

Saudade: Part of the Brazilian diaspora, this world of beautiful granite formations and flowered valleys experienced such political inestability that it turned into an absolute monarchy. Over the centuries, a constitutional regime emerged, but the dramas and turns of the Realeza are known all over human space, despite the thriving communist movement who's fucking sick of them.

Nueva Valparaíso: A remote, lightly populated world above the galactic plane. Rumors of strange elements on its stormy seas have brought several prospectors, but few settlements besides some remote floating platforms loosely aligned with the Cruzur. It always rains in Nueva Valparaíso, even if it's just a drizzle, hiding the spectacular views of the Campoestela.

Saesfi: A dry world with a thin atmosphere, with lush lowlands with unique ecosystems separated by lifeless mesa-like continents. Homeworld of the Saihisi, a cactus-like species. Saihisi mostly live in connected genets, and one driving factor for their spacebound exploration was to avoid damaging the fragile enviroments of Saesfi. They have settled in all sorts of "gardens" across the stars, but some embrace a more individual existence.

San Marco: Capital of the Serenissima Unione and a major trade center, San Marco is a warm world of low-lying seas, stromatolites and coral reefs, with colorful iridiscent fauna. Because of its beautiful sunsets and islands, it's considered one of the most romantic worlds in human space, at least according to the tourist board. There is a replica of Venezia in one of the atolls, but over time it has adquired a more tropical flair.

Concordia: If there is a true center of Campoestela, it's Concordia. Located in the crossroads of the main three aetheric currents, every space traveller eventually ends up here. A dyson sphere made of swarms of habitats of diamond-like carbon, it has been inhabited over millions of years, in fact, many cultures long extinct are still found here. From the modern city-ports to the ancient palaces and the edenic habitat gardens, Concordia is a sharp contrast of itself: a bustling, modern trade center with a yet not-wholly understood history stretching into the night of time.

Gagarin ("Little Terra"): An O'Neill Cylinder in Concordia, built under the auspices of the Terran Council to represent humanity in the galactic center. Over time, it has become an overbuilt city with people from all over human space and beyond. You can find virtually everything and everybody in the streets of Little Terra with every organization and culture represented somewhere. Many other habitats have been built around it, giving a bit of a ramshackle appearance. However, it retains its political and economic importance.