#office decommissioning service

[qualitygroupusa]

The Essential Guide to Smooth Office Decommissioning

Simplify your office decommissioning with our expert tips and strategies. Learn how to streamline the process efficiently.

[cantsayidont]

While this ranks relatively low on my overall list of complaints about STAR TREK: DISCOVERY and STRANGE NEW WORLDS, something I find annoying about them is that they've really built up the size and strength of Starfleet to something closer to what it is in STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, which contradicts TOS in ways that have far-reaching story effects.

TOS repeatedly indicates that in that period Starfleet has only a handful of ships in the Enterprise's class, presumably because they're resource-intensive to build and operate. As Kirk and John Christopher discuss in "Tomorrow Is Yesterday":

CHRISTOPHER: Must have taken quite a lot to build a ship like this. KIRK: There are only twelve like it in the fleet.

That plainly doesn't mean that Starfleet has no other ships, but ships of what TOS describes as the "Starship" class ("Constitution-class" is a later coinage) are uniquely capable. As Merik, former commander of the SS Beagle, explains in "Bread and Circuses":

MERIK: He commands not just a spaceship, Proconsul, but a starship. A very special vessel and crew. I tried for such a command.

This special status is a central part of the premise of TOS: It's the reason why the Enterprise is assigned such a diverse array of duties, and why what the Enterprise does is so important to the plot. Even into the TOS cast movie era, we're frequently told that the Enterprise is the only ship in the sector capable of responding to a problem or threat, and the crew is rarely in a position to call for reinforcements even where that would be tactically or strategically advisable.

While that makes duty on one of these ships very risky (as evidenced by the number of the Enterprise's sister ships that are lost with all hands in TOS, including Constellation, Defiant, and Exeter), as Merik's remark indicates, it's also a plum assignment, and one for which there's obviously fierce competition. The TOS bible makes much of the fact that Kirk is the youngest person ever to command one of these starships, and he also appears to be one of the lowest-ranking. (Many of the other starship captains we see are fleet captains or commodores, as well as being older than Kirk.) This comes into play at a variety of points: For instance, it's at the root of Ben Finney's animosity toward Kirk in "Court Martial" (and presumably why Kirk's peers are quick to give him the cold shoulder when he's charged with negligence in Finney's apparent death), and it's part of the tension in "The Doomsday Machine," where Kirk and Spock have to maneuver around the fact that Matt Decker outranks Kirk and is clearly the senior officer.

The limited number of starships also provides a useful Watsonian explanation for the dichotomy of a capital warship (which the Enterprise unequivocally is) being used for scientific research and exploration missions. Although TOS is reluctant to say much about civilian life within the Federation, we can probably assume that such costly starships are the subject of a lot of political wrangling, and the different roles the Enterprise plays probably reflect those tensions: The Enterprise's scientific duties may be a concession to those who (like David Marcus in STAR TREK II) are wary of Starfleet's military role, and perhaps an effort to extract a greater civilian return on the Federation's obviously substantial military investment. It might also be a diplomatic ploy, or an attempt to maneuver around arms control treaties with rival powers like the Klingons and Romulans. (Arms-limitation treaties are probably the most plausible explanation for the Enterprise-A being so hastily decommissioned and its entire class apparently being mothballed shortly after STAR TREK VI.)

DISCOVERY and STRANGE NEW WORLDS pay lip service to the specialness of ships of the Enterprise's class while undermining the point by indicating that Starfleet also has hundreds if not thousands of other, slightly smaller starships with 80 or 90 percent of the Enterprise's capabilities, carrying out a similar range of missions. I can see why they've gone that way, and there's obvious precedent for it in the TOS cast movies, which depict several other classes of Starfleet ships, but interposing that into the TOS era inevitably weakens the premise of the original stories, and renders many of the conceits of TOS unintelligible. (If it were up to me, I would attribute the expanded range of ships to changes between TOS and the era of the movies, which are set years later and have different narrative priorities.)

This retroactive Starfleet expansion also exacerbates the increasingly jingoistic militarism of modern STAR TREK, which is uncomfortably pronounced in both the Abrams films (which got money from the Pentagon for it) and in the recent shows (which I suspect are also getting DOD money, although I haven't seen that specifically confirmed). The large-scale fleet maneuvers of the finale of PICARD, for instance, are frankly terrifying, and would be even without the contrivances of the plot. A Federation that celebrates "Frontier Day" with a massive display of military power within the solar system, obviously aimed at awing and intimidating citizen and adversary alike, seems like a pretty harrowing "post-scarcity socialist utopia," even by the standards of a show that's always been about the crews of a spacegoing navy doing interstellar colonialism.

[striderl]

Okay, I'm scared to ask but how Foley find his owner's robot pornography stash.

Heck, where the F^(& did his owner even GET robo porn??????

As a matter of fact, my world-building ideas for the pre-war Skibidi Toilet universe mostly come from the game Detriot: Become Human. If you look up the exact definition of porn as well as the statistics, owning robot porn isn’t that far-fetched.

You know, the majority of humans have the instinct to exploit others when they are given the opportunities and authorities, forcing Foley to play housemaid is just one of them. Foley came across his owner’s stash when he was ordered to clean up the office, where he found the porn under a pile of newspapers.

Foley’s owner is the type of human willing to buy a robot to satiate their sexual fantasy, owning pornography is just a minuscule amount compared to the multitudinous crimes he had committed. He is also a person who knows how to navigate the shadow society and black market, which is extremely dangerous. Evading the law and government is a much greater concern for the ones involved in the shadow economy, and killing is a lesser concern. And when you think the black market is illegal? Nope, there are hundreds of countries out there that thrive on the shadow economy. These underground markets deal with the sale of illegal drugs, weapons, organs, goods and services, etc. These markets also avoid taxes due to these transactions are never reported. Evil never goes away despite how lawful and safe a society claims itself, it simply lurks deeper. Just when you think world domination is bad enough? Heck, you’ve seen nothing yet.

And how do you think Foley’s owner can own Foley in the first place? How does Foley get 1500+ kill counts for humans alone without breaking the law or getting decommissioned? He saw an opportunity as Foley was unwanted by the directors as well as the faction itself, so smuggled Foley away through a deal with the faction executives. Money is a rather powerful influence on humans no matter how legal or benevolent you claim yourself.

[mariacallous]

After decades of strategic drift and costly acquisition failures, the U.S. Navy is sailing straight into a storm it can’t avoid. Despite the Defense Department’s lip service about China being the “pacing challenge,” decades of deindustrialization and policymakers’ failure to prioritize among services and threats have left the Navy ill-equipped to endure a sustained high-intensity conflict in the Pacific. The United States is unable to keep pace with Chinese shipbuilding and will fall even further behind in the coming years. Where does that leave the U.S. Navy and the most critical U.S. foreign-policy imperative: deterring a war in the Pacific?

As evidenced by the Biden administration’s latest budget request, fiscal constraints are forcing the Navy to cut procurement requests, delay modernization programs, and retire ships early. The Navy’s budget for the 2025 fiscal year calls for decommissioning 19 ships—including three nuclear-powered attack submarines and four guided-missile cruisers—while procuring only six new vessels. The full scope of what military analysts have long warned would be the “Terrible ’20s” is now evident: The expensive upgrading of the U.S. nuclear triad, simultaneous modernization efforts across the services, and the constraint of rising government debt are compelling the Pentagon to make tough choices about what it can and cannot pay for.

Workforce shortages and supply chain issues are also limiting shipbuilding capacity. The defense industrial base is still struggling to recover from post-Cold War budget cuts that dramatically shrank U.S. defense manufacturing. The Navy needs more shipyard capacity, but finding enough qualified workers for the yards remains the biggest barrier to expanding production. The shipbuilding industry is struggling to attract talent, losing out to fast food restaurants that offer better pay and benefits for entry-level employees. At bottom, it is a lack of welders, not widgets, that must be overcome if the U.S. Navy is to grow its fleet.

Instead, the shipbuilding outlook is progressively worsening. An internal review ordered by Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro in January found that major programs, including submarines and aircraft carriers, face lengthy delays. Even the Constellation-class frigates, touted as a quick adaptation of a proven European design, are delayed by three years.

As defense analyst David Alman outlined in a prize-winning essay for the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings, the United States simply can’t win a warship race with China. The United States effectively gave up on commercial shipbuilding during the Reagan administration in the name of free trade. In the decades that followed, generous state subsidies helped China dominate commercial shipbuilding, and Beijing’s requirement that the sector be dual-use resulted in an industry that can shift to production and ship repair for the military during a conflict, much as U.S. shipyards did during World War II. The U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence estimates that China now has 232 times the shipbuilding capacity of the United States. China built almost half the world’s new ships in 2022, whereas U.S. shipyards produced just 0.13 percent.

Rebuilding the arsenal of democracy that anchored the U.S. victory at sea 80 years ago won’t happen overnight or cheaply—it is a generational project. The 20-year Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program aimed at upgrading dry docks, facilities, and equipment will end up costing well over the projected $21 billion. But the plan is only intended to maximize existing U.S. industrial capacity and won’t do much to close the enormous shipbuilding gap with China. That would require a reconstitution program on par with the series of maritime laws passed after World War I, which supported the expansion of an industrial base eventually capable of turning out thousands of carriers, destroyers, submarines, frigates, and cargo ships for the Atlantic and Pacific fleets.

Realizing that U.S. shipyards are stretched thin, policymakers have begun looking abroad. Del Toro encouraged South Korean companies to invest in U.S. naval shipping during a visit this year. Japan will likely begin performing repair and maintenance work on U.S. warships soon; India agreed to do so last year. These initiatives will alleviate the increasing maintenance backlog at U.S. facilities, but it would take a large share of the combined Japanese and South Korean shipyard capacity to fundamentally alter the growing disparity between the U.S. and Chinese fleet size in the Western Pacific.

Ships are not all comparable, of course. U.S. warships are heavier and more capable than China’s, although a dearth of logistics vessels and sealift capability are major concerns. Still, the current era of missile warfare has magnified the importance of fleet size.

Without enough ships to match the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, what can the United States do to maintain conventional deterrence in the Pacific and prevent war? At least two big things: buy missiles and cut back on missions.

First, to manage risk in the short term, the Navy and the other services need to rapidly procure more munitions—focusing on weapons and capabilities, not the platforms that carry them.

The Russia-Ukraine war has military planners thinking less about short, quick conflicts and more about long wars and their vast need for materiel. What holds for depleted stocks of land-based artillery also holds for many of the weapons needed for a war at sea. A much-publicized 2023 wargame conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that the United States would run out of its entire inventory of the key Long Range Anti-Ship Missile within the first few days of a war over Taiwan. Ramping up the procurement and production of these munitions, as well as Joint Strike Missiles, Standoff Land Attack Missiles, and Harpoon missiles will enable U.S. airpower to help even the odds in the Pacific.

Anti-ship systems operated by the Army and Marines could also complement the other services’ firepower. However, the deployment of ground-based missiles will require allies’ consent. To date, no Asian allies of the United States have volunteered to permanently host U.S. missile batteries, due to political sensitivities and the fact that these countries already have such weapons of their own.

Innovation and creativity could further augment U.S. naval power. Retired U.S. Marine Col. T.X. Hammes, a fellow at the National Defense University, has urged the Navy to convert commercial container ships into warships capable of launching missiles, which would add a tremendous volume of firepower at a bargain price. These “missile merchants” would also require significantly less manpower than traditional warships do, a major consideration given the Navy’s struggle to fill existing billets.

Policymakers also need to make hard choices and limit naval deployments. Though the Navy is shrinking, its missions aren’t. A high operational tempo, manpower shortfalls, and an aging fleet are fueling a readiness crisis that is burning out sailors and ships.

Addressing the readiness crisis requires taking a hard look at which missions are essential for U.S. security and which aren’t. As former Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work has written, since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Navy has spent 30 years prioritizing global presence over warfighting readiness. The deadly Pacific ship accidents in 2017 involving the USS Fitzgerald and USS John McCain were directly attributable to this unsustainable mania for global presence, according to a Navy review.

The preeminence of presence missions also has more subtle consequences. After 20 years of largely uncontested deployments to the Middle East, the U.S. Navy now has an opponent who shoots back: Yemen’s Houthis. But increased experience in missile and drone defense is outweighed by a deleterious drain on precision munitions. In the conflict with the Houthis, the Navy burned through more Tomahawk land attack missiles in one day than it purchased in all of 2023. Meanwhile, the Houthis can replace all equipment destroyed by U.S. attacks with just two shiploads from Iran, according to Gen. Michael Kurilla, the head of U.S. Central Command.

The costs of maintaining global presence are magnified by the state of Navy recruiting and retention. The service’s recruiting woes are undeniable. The Navy missed all of its recruiting goals in 2023, some by as much as 35 percent. The service projects a shortfall of 6,700 recruits this year, according to its chief personnel officer.

Like the rest of the all-volunteer force, unprecedented recruiting headwinds mean manpower shortages will remain a persistent challenge for the Navy. Absent any change in operational tempo, sailors will work harder, deploy more frequently, and leave the service in greater numbers—ensuring a downward spiral for both manning and readiness.

The United States can’t match the size of China’s fleet in the near or medium term. Deindustrialization, poor procurement choices, and a myopic fixation on the U.S. presence in the Middle East have seen to that. All that said, the U.S. Navy still retains several significant advantages in a potential conflict with China: submarine dominance, overall tonnage, blue-water experience, and support from capable allies. A major increase in joint munitions purchases and an end to the readiness drain of presence deployments to secondary theaters will enhance the Navy’s edge during the potential peak window for a Chinese move on Taiwan over the next decade. The alternative is grim. If conventional deterrence fails, it risks military defeat for the United States or something even more dangerous: nuclear confrontation between the world’s two superpowers.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Politico/E&E News:

CARPINTERIA, California — Two hulking platforms have sucked oil out of the ocean floor off this sunny local beach for nearly five decades.

The Hogan and Houchin platforms are now rusting monuments to California’s once-powerful fossil fuel industry. Abandoned by their last owner, they should have been torn down years ago.

But a series of companies tied to the platforms say it’s not their job — and now, they want the federal government to take on the multimillion-dollar responsibility.

The saga echoes the unfolding fight to clean up the nation’s deteriorating fossil fuel infrastructure. More than 2,700 offshore oil and gas wells and 500 platforms are overdue for decommissioning in the Gulf of Mexico alone, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office.

The Interior Department has long struggled to ensure oil companies pay up and clean up once they’ve stopped pumping oil, a challenge that could only increase as decades-old infrastructure off the nation’s coastlines faces retirement. If not maintained, old platforms and their wells can leak toxins and degrade ecosystems, becoming serious environmental hazards.

“The agency has recognized these problems for years,” said John Smith, who worked on decommissioning at Interior’s former Minerals Management Service (MMS). “When it comes to doing something about it, they’re weak-kneed.”

Interior could soon find itself on the hook for the millions of dollars required to safely remove the two California platforms. That’s because the companies that once owned a stake in Hogan and Houchin — ConocoPhillips, Occidental Petroleum and Devon Energy — are appealing an order to take the platforms down, testing a federal regulation that requires former owners to ensure cleanup.

The stakes are high for Interior. Experts say its rule may not withstand opposition if oil majors take it to court, with uncertain consequences for a potentially enormous backlog of oil and gas wells, platforms and pipelines that are past their prime and owned by midsize companies more likely to go into financial distress.

In a statement, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said those beefed-up requirements would “ensure the taxpayer is protected from financial loss from offshore decommissioning liability.”

Environmental groups are already on board with President Joe Biden’s proposed rules. They look at Hogan and Houchin as a preamble to the kind of costs that could emerge during the gradual retirement of the nation’s oil program due to its climate impacts.

[iammontygator]

Pov : Monty’s sudden and extreme agressivity is worrying the staff at the Mega Pizzaplex, and they’re starting to get fed up... [Monty’s affected/controlled story] :

Mike : Hey John! How are you?

John : *sigh* ... Not really good, actually.

Mike : Why?? *see the yellow and black bass on his cart* Oh crap, you’re going to see Monty!

John : Yeah.

Mike : I hope for you he’ll be nice today. I really hope.

John : I hope too..

Mike : Apparently It’s because of him that half the staff bots disappe-

John : Yeah, I heard that, thank you. No need to overdo it.

Mike : Ah, yeah, sorry man. I understand.

John : *sweats* ... He really creep me out. He threw a chair at me one day. Of course that’s not the kind of stuff that his fans see..

Mike : Yeah, I remember that. You had to be rushed to the hospital. And to think that they haven’t even decommissioned him... We should install a camera in his room and post the video on YouTube. Do you know how many Insta followers that bastard has??

John : I have no idea.

Mike : 5 millions!! Can you imagine? And all these people litteraly adore him.

John : Because they don’t know him the way we do. You have to work at the Pizzaplex to find out who the Glamrocks really are.

Mike : *sigh* Thank goodness for Chica. Even if she gets a bit creepy when there’s pizza, she’s cool. She gave me a cookie last time.

John : And Freddy. He’s cool, too.

Mike : Yeah, you’re right. Freddy’s cool too.

John & Mike : *arrives outside Monty’s room*.

Mike : Well, that’s not all, but I’ve got work to do too. I’ve got to go and check the ventilation in Monty Golf, apparently there’s been some weird noises coming from that side for a few days. Good luck with the gator!

John : Yeah, thank you Mike.

Mike : *walks away and see a Wet Floor Bot* Hey buddy! *pats it on the head*.

John : *gulp* ...

Knock Knock.

John : *wait a few seconds then open the door* Good afternoon Mr Gator.

Monty : *sitting back in his chair, eyes closed and hands behind his head* ...

John : ... Hum. Mr Gator, I’ll bring your guitar for the show. It’s been completely repaired and we’ve made sure to repaint it in the same colours as before, exactly as you ask-

Monty : *open his red eyes* How did ya just called it..?

John : *blushes and sweats* W-what..? Are you talking about your gui-

Monty : *rises abruptly and knocks his chair over* IT IS. NOT. A. FUCKIN’. GUITAR!!!

Staff employee : *petrified* ... I-I-I am-

Monty : *walks towards him* IT’S A BASS, YOU IDIOT. DON’T YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GUITAR AND A BASS?!

John : I-I’m sorry Mr Gator, it was a really stupid mistake-

Vanessa : *enters the room* MONTY !

Monty : *looks at Vanessa and growls* ...

John : *relieved* Officer Vanessa!

Vanessa : I thought I made myself clear last time. Wasn’t I?

Monty : *growls* ...You were.

Vanessa : Good, so why do you look so upset right now?

Monty : I am not..Upset.

John : He definitely is.

Monty : *turns to John* WHAT DID YA SAY?!

Vanessa : MONTY !!

Monty : *points to John* GET THIS MORON OUT OF MY ROOM!

Vanessa : John, get out of here.

John : *comes out grumbling* I’m really going to install that camera.

Mike : *meets John after finishing his work* John! How did it go with the gator?? Was it as horrible as last t-

John : *passes quickly in front of Mike* I hate him.

Mike : Well ... It went badly, I guess!

———————————————————————

[Vanessa’s note : I don’t know what’s going on, but Monty’s have been behaving strangely lately. He’s got some pretty serious anger issues in normal circumstances, but for the last few days it’s been worse... He keeps destroying his room, and not just that! He’s also been messing up random places in the Pizzaplex! On top of that, he’s been particularly agressive and threatening towards the staff. Oh, and he’s even going after his bass now. He’s taken to destroying it on stage. I’m thinking of sending him to parts and service for a check-up, but he’d have to be in a cooperative mood...]

[artist : unknown. Please, if you made this drawing and my repost bothers you, let me know.]

[dindjarindiaries]

Security - Chapter 63: The Investigation

summary: Din, Astra, and Bo-Katan investigate the droid malfunctions on Plazir-15, though old traumas threaten to make it the Djarins’ most difficult mission yet.

warnings: references to trauma, canon-typical violence, angst, hurt/comfort

rating: T

word count: 8.524k

previous ⟸ masterlist ⟹ next

chapter 63: the investigation

Astra adjusts her vambraces as she stands alongside Din and Bo-Katan. The views of Plazir-15 and the palace have since been exchanged with the countless massive monitors within the security room. Astra steadies herself with a breath when she looks at her empty side and confirms that their children’s pod isn’t floating there. Grogu and Zora had been left with the Duchess and the Captain, mostly for both their own safety and comfort. Though Astra knows they’ll be well taken care of, separating herself from them is always difficult, especially given the trials of their most recent journey.

“These droids were all reprogrammed to serve the community from the stockpile of captured Imperial robotics scheduled to be scrapped at Karthon,” says the chief officer when Astra allows herself to tune back into their conversation. “The droids’ reprogramming was a complete success…” the officer pauses, leaving Astra, Din, and Bo-Katan all to exchange a cautious look, “until one day, an isolated event…”

The officer plays a holovid on the comms of a trash droid picking up a receptacle and thrashing it around. It drops the receptacle on its own head and continues ahead as if nothing’s happened. Astra hears the leather of Din’s gloves pull tight at his sides.

“Then others.” The officer plays more holovids, one of a woman whose cargo was carried and ripped apart by a battle droid and another of a droid driving a landspeeder straight into the wall of a docking bay. Astra tightens her lips at the way the discrepancies worsen. “This is just a small collection of malfunctions that our security cameras caught.”

The holovids keep rolling and Astra doesn’t have to look at Din to sense the way he gets more and more tense with each one. She offers him a nervous glance, but before she can speak up, Bo-Katan makes her own voice heard. “Turn them off,” she suggests.

The officer faces her in his chair, bewildered. “What?”

Bo-Katan shakes her head and looks at the officer. “Why not turn them all off?” When the man doesn’t answer, Bo continues. “Who’s in charge of that?”

The officer raises his brow at her. “I am.” He gestures to a large red button on his left. “There’s a failsafe cutoff switch built into the system.” The button sits just in front of where Din stands. Astra watches his gloved hand consider the short distance. “However…”

“What?” Din demands, his voice low. Astra moves closer to his side.

“The citizens voted against any interruption in droid services,” the officer finishes. He chuckles and shrugs. “They can’t live without it.”

Din tilts his helmet. “And why’s that?”

“The citizens are no longer required to work and can spend their days engaging in recreation, the arts, and participating in our direct democracy. If we shut down the droids,” the officer laughs again, “our citizens wouldn’t know how to survive. Our society would collapse.”

“I’d take societal collapse over droids any day,” Din mutters, only loud enough for Astra to hear. She huffs and sets a hand on his armored shoulder.

“Then what do you want from us?” Bo-Katan asks the officer.

“To seek out and decommission any remaining rogue droids, until we can fix the problem.” Din shifts his weight and Astra moves with him. His visor meets her gaze and she doesn’t need to see his eyes to understand what he’s trying to tell her. This is going to be both one of his favorite and most difficult missions they’ve ever embarked on together.

“Give us the list,” Bo tells the officer.

“Well, for that, you’ll have to go to the lower level and speak to the Ugnaughts,” the officer insists.

Din perks up at his words. “Ugnaughts?” he echoes.

The officer nods. “Ugnaughts.”

Astra meets Din’s visor once again and she offers him an encouraging smile. “Ugnaughts,” she says.

“Am I missing something?” Bo-Katan asks, her brow furrowed at the two of them.

“It’s a long story,” Astra answers. She gestures towards the turbolift. “We should get going.”

The group makes their way to the turbolift and remains silent as they step inside and begin their descent to the lower level. Astra watches each level pass them by with her arms crossed over her cuirass. She glances at Din, but his visor remains forward, his gloved hands folded over his belt. Her heart aches for him; He’s not one to deny a friend a favor, but there are many internal wounds of his that this job is threatening to tear back open. Between the battle droids and a visit with Ugnaughts like Kuiil, Astra’s not sure how much he’ll be able to take.

That’s why Astra’s surprised when it’s Din’s voice that splits the silence. “See what happens when you rely on droids?”

Bo-Katan raises her brow. “Are you taking this personally?”

“Well…” Astra starts, exhaling a worried breath.

“Just pointing it out,” Din insists before Astra can go on. He still doesn’t look at either one of them.

“Let’s just finish this so we can be on our way,” Bo says.

“Agreed,” Astra adds. The corners of her lips pull tight as she watches the turbolift settle on the lower level. “The quicker, the better.”

The turbolift stops and Bo-Katan leads the way out. The large workshop is dim, aside from the bright sparks that shower down from where the Ugnaughts are doing their work. Din stiffens at Astra’s side and she doesn’t have to ask why. There’s already two B2-series battle droids facing them, and though they’re clearly powered off, their image alone is haunting enough for someone with trauma like Din’s. Astra looks at him and resists the urge to pull him away from the sight.

“I am Bo-Katan Kryze,” Bo announces to the room of Ugnaughts. “Which one of you is in charge?”

Her words reap no response. The Ugnaughts continue to work, some on their own and some in collaboration. Astra notices Din’s visor remaining on the one who’s currently fixing up one of the battle droids.

“We were sent on behalf of the Duchess and Captain Bombardier to help you with your droid problem,” Bo goes on, despite their silence.

Her words still yield no response, though she’s at least gotten Din to move, his helmet now turned towards the Mandalorian heiress. Astra’s gaze follows his until it’s drawn down to the gloved hand of his that brushes against her own. She’s gentle in taking his hand in her grasp, but once their fingers are entwined, his grip on her tightens.

“Hello?” Bo-Katan barely resists the urge to sigh as she lowers her voice for just Din and Astra to hear. “This is going nowhere.”

Astra and Din share a look while she considers using her own attempt at diplomacy. Instead, he gives her hand a squeeze and drops it as he tries his hand at addressing the room. “I am Mandalorian Din Djarin,” Din introduces himself, “friend of Ugnaught Kuiil.”

Astra’s lips part in surprise at Din’s easy mention of their old fallen friend. The Ugnaughts offer a similar response, their heads rising from their work as they halt it altogether.

“You will answer our questions and help us with our task,” Din continues. “I have spoken.”

The Ugnaughts glance at each other and nod. They remain silent even as they move, stepping down from their ladders and other workspaces to gather at one of the wooden tables. Din leads the way over to them, letting Astra take her place between him and Bo-Katan and across from the Ugnaughts. Astra’s arm brushes against Din’s as she looks up at him and whispers words meant just for him. “Do you think they actually knew Kuiil?”

Din shrugs and returns her glance. “I’m not sure.” He inhales a careful breath and tries to go on. “It’s been years since…” Din trails off. He sets his gloved hand on Astra’s armored thigh and she’s eager to offer more comfort with her hand set over his. She’s brought back to one of those first nights on Sorgan after they were wed, when she woke to him laying beside her with reddened eyes and tear stains on his cheeks. He ended up pouring his heart out to her and now she shares that grief with him, taking whatever burdens she can to make his just a little bit lighter.

Astra wishes more than anything she could remind him of that right now.

“Thank you for your hospitality and for sharing your table with us,” Din begins, his voice genuine and composed despite the way his hand trembles underneath Astra’s own. A droid serves tea to everyone at the table while Din goes on. “We were engaged to hunt down and eliminate the malfunctioning droids.”

“There are no such droids,” one of the Ugnaughts insists.

“You may not have heard the news down here,” Bo-Katan speaks up, her hands wrapped around a cup of tea, “but your droids are wreaking havoc in the world above.”

Astra watches Din tighten the free hand he’s rested on the table into a fist. She tenses her own shoulders at Bo-Katan’s direct words, especially once the Ugnaught responds. “There is not much of which we are not aware. These halls are the central nervous system of the city.” He faces the three of them with a stern raise of his brow. “I assure you, the droids are not malfunctioning.”

“Citizens have been harmed by these malfunctioning machines,” Bo states.

“This is not the case.” The Ugnaught raises a dismissive hand. “I have spoken.” He looks at Din as he speaks the three familiar words.

“We’re not in any way suggesting that your work is to blame,” Din assures them, his voice gentle as his visor scans the table. “The stories of Ugnaughts’ skill with smithing droids are legendary.” Din nods at the Ugnaught who sits closest to him. “We know that Ugnaughts are considered the hardest working species in the galaxy.”

The Ugnaughts glance at each other and nod in appreciation of his words. Astra smiles at Din’s genuine respect and regard for them as he goes on.

“We, like you, have been engaged with a task to perform. We will investigate the dangerous incidents. We would appreciate your help.”

Din’s visor gives the table another careful scan. The Ugnaughts turn to each other and quietly discuss their thoughts. Astra manages to catch Din’s gaze and she widens her smile of pride, giving the hand on her thigh a squeeze. He returns the gesture and leans his helmet closer to her head in silent gratitude.

One of the Ugnaughts hands the one closest to Din a large datapad. The Ugnaught hands it off to Din, causing him to lift his hand from Astra to take the datapad in his full grasp. “Here are the locations of the droids you seek,” the Ugnaught says.

Din shares glances with Astra and Bo and adjusts his grip on the datapad. “Thank you,” he says, every ounce of gratitude dripping into his tone. “We are in your debt. I have spoken.”

The Ugnaughts give him a nod as Din takes the initiative in rising from the table. Astra and Bo-Katan follow suit, though Astra can’t bear to leave without following her husband’s precedent. “Thank you,” she says, extending her hand towards the one who communicated with them. He lifts his brow and slowly offers his hand to her. Astra takes it between both of hers. “With this, we can keep proving your work isn’t to blame.”

The Ugnaught nods in appreciation. Astra drops his hand and continues to follow Din and Bo-Katan back into the turbolift. They wait to resume conversation until they’re in a hyperloop pod and headed to their first destination, passing by the darkened city of Plazir-15. Astra fights back a yawn at the idea of the sleep they’ll be losing this evening.

“What was that?” Bo-Katan asks Din once they’ve settled into their transport.

Astra looks at Din, whose visor remains lowered on the datapad in his hands. “I’ve spent time with Ugnaughts,” Din explains. He gestures to Astra at his side. “We both have. There’s a particular way to communicate with them.” He looks up from the datapad to face Bo. “Accusing their work of malfunctioning is an insult.”

Bo-Katan shakes her head in confusion. Astra steadies herself with a breath and adds on to his words. “Many Ugnaughts were placed into indentured servitude,” she says. “Especially to the Empire. The only way they could free themselves was by the skill of their hands.” Astra’s mind is flooded with memories of Kuiil, from his small hut on Arvala-7 to their desperate run on the blurrg back to the Razor Crest. She swallows hard and senses Din moving himself closer to her. “Their work is very personal for them.”

Bo-Katan nods at her, her gaze flooded with understanding. She remains silent, letting Din fill the space once again. “Now, they’ve indicated that there’s a likelihood that the next event will be at the loading docks.”

“How sure are they?” Bo asks.

“Hard to tell.” Din takes the datapad and sets it aside. “Ugnaughts always seem sure of themselves.”

Bo chuckles at that, watching as Plazir-15 passes them by. “Well, it’s the only lead we’ve got, so we might as well have a look around.”

“Do they know what kind of droid it’ll be?” Astra dares to ask.

The hyperloop pod stops and the doors hiss open. Din lowers his voice when he answers his wife. “No.”

Astra looks out over the loading docks and sees them filled with a few different types of droids, but mostly B2-series battle droids. She tightens her jaw, glancing at Din to see him unaffected by the sight. Astra’s brow wrinkles together in a confusing mixture of pride and concern. Either Din’s dissociated himself enough to face this situation with composure or his rage is so prominent that he’s forced himself to be calm. Astra’s not sure which reality she wants to be true.

The group takes the stairs down to the dock, tense silence filling the air until Bo-Katan breaks it. “I haven’t seen battle droids since the Clone Wars,” she says.

Din’s visor doesn’t leave the view of the battle droids once as he responds in one telling phrase. “I have.”

Astra’s eager to steer the conversation back towards the task at hand. “Do any of them look suspicious?” she questions.

Din offers her an answer. “They all look suspicious.”

Astra holds back a worried sigh, though no words can be spoken anyway when the B1-series foreman starts to address them. “Halt!” They face the group of Mandalorians. “This is a restricted area. You are to vacate immediately.”

“We have a few questions,” Bo-Katan states, standing firm in front of the foreman. Astra joins her at her side while Din passes both of them by to take a closer look at the B2-series battle droids march by with their cargo crates in hand.

“Show me your identification, please,” the foreman insists.

Bo tilts her head, unintimidated. “We’re here on behalf of the Duchess to investigate the droid malfunctions.”

“Yes, I saw the reports,” says the foreman. Astra’s unable to keep her gaze off Din, who’s started to wave his arm in front of each passing droid. She’s torn about staying at Bo’s side or going to Din’s. “Rest assured, I’ve had the entire line of loaders undergo maintenance protocols as a safety measure. The, uh, certification is on file.” The foreman follows Astra’s gaze and watches Din as he waves at the droids. “Uh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Din’s helmet snaps towards the foreman. “Why’s that?”

“As a precaution.” Bo and Astra share a cautious look. “Their base function was warfare.”

Din turns back to the battle droids. “I thought they were just checked out.”

“They were.” Astra’s reaction is nearly the same as the foreman’s when Din suddenly kicks one of them. “Uh, what are you doing?”

“Then this shouldn’t faze them.” Din kicks another one of the droids, making them stumble a few steps. As much as Astra wants to see Din do something so cathartic to help with his trauma, she can’t help worrying about what such a reaction might yield, or how much further Din might take it.

The foreman takes a worried step towards Din. “Uh, sir?”

“Din,” Astra sighs, setting her hands on her hips in disapproval. “Do you really think this’ll accomplish anything?”

Din kicks another droid. “I do.”

“Excuse me!” the foreman’s voice rises in concern. “Excuse me! Sir!”

One of Din’s kicks sends a battle droids to the ground, their cargo crate falling upon the dock in an unceremonious clang. It’s when the droid rises back up that Astra’s heart leaps into her throat. In a motion too fast for anyone to process, the battle droid backhands Din’s helmet, sending him sprawling to the ground. Astra sees nothing but red as she tightens her fists and starts to lunge forward. The droid pushes past her and the foreman, forcing them both to the ground just like Din.

Bo-Katan shoots after the battle droid as it starts to run away while Din and Astra stand to their feet. “Did that thing just push you?” Din questions Astra in a growl. One nod from Astra is all it takes for him to charge after it, running as fast as Astra’s ever seen.

“Oh!” the foreman gasps as Din runs by.

“Re-certified, huh?” Bo scoffs at the foreman before she and Astra chase after Din and the battle droid.

“You should have left them alone!” the foreman calls after them.

Bo turns her head to glance at Astra as they run in sync. “It seems like he might’ve lost his cool there,” she says loud enough for Astra to hear over their panting breaths and the rushing wind, her head gesturing to the direction Din’s just gone.

“That’s an understatement,” Astra remarks. She catches her breath somewhat before she adds on. “Let’s just say he’s got a history with these droids.”

“I figured as much.”

Their conversation stops as they focus on the chase. The droid turns a corner and Astra can hear the clanging of obstacles it’s now set in their path. Din’s tight on the droid’s trail as he leaps over the barrels and crates to clear them. Bo-Katan and Astra use their jetpacks to launch them onto the other side and closer to Din.

By the time they’ve turned the next corner, the three of them are side-by-side running down the city’s sidewalk. The neon signs illuminate the space and cast it in a purple, blue, and pink glow, making it more difficult to see the metallic glow of the battle droid. Innocent bystanders scream in panic as the droid stops and lifts a crate to throw at the group. Din grabs Astra by the arm and takes her to the ground with him while Bo-Katan uses her jetpack to throw herself forward. Astra offers Din a quick nod of reassurance when he helps them both back to their feet before they pursue the droid once again.

The group turns another corner and emerges from an alleyway to see a landspeeder blocking the path ahead. They turn to their right and look just in time to see the droid throwing something at them once again. The three of them lower themselves to the ground fast enough to avoid getting hit, though it shocks Astra when a wave of heat blasts from a small explosion behind them. They get on their feet in unison and charge down the street, urgently but gently pushing past any pedestrians.

Din points to the way ahead and addresses Bo and Astra. “Keep going!” he commands, turning a corner before either one of them can ask him for an explanation. Astra tightens her jaw as she and Bo continue ahead. The last thing she wanted to do during this chaos was split off from Din and the memories that are no doubt haunting him.

It’s not long before Astra hears a loud crashing sound from up ahead. She’s almost horrified to realize it’s Din, who’s jumped through transparisteel to tackle the battle droid to the ground. Astra pushes herself even harder to reach him, though before she or Din can do anything, Bo unholsters both her blasters and delivers the bolts that take the droid out once and for all. It falls to the ground in a steaming heap.

Astra rushes to Din’s side and helps him up from the ground. She keeps a tight hold on his vambraces as she assesses him for wounds. “Are you all right?” she breathes in a panic.

“Given the circumstances,” Din begins, catching his breath as he offers Astra a nod, “yeah.”

Constable droids make their way over and close off the area surrounding them. “This is a crime scene,” they announce in a repetitive spiel to the bystanders. “Thank you for standing back.”

Din and Astra remain standing alongside the droid while Bo-Katan kneels down and assesses it up close. Astra’s all too aware of how Din trembles with both adrenaline and no doubt a million other negative emotions at her side. His visor scans the area in jagged movements and Astra sets a steadying hand on his back.

“I found a spark pad,” Bo informs them, her expression contorted in disbelief.

“What’s it say?” Din asks. His voice is firmer than Astra was expecting.

Bo studies the object in her gloved grasp. “‘The Resistor.’”

“Sounds like a droid bar,” Din observes.

Astra faces him with a raised brow. “How do you know what a droid bar would sound like?” she jokes in an attempt to lighten his mood.

Din huffs a small chuckle, tilting his head at her. “Do you really want to know?”

Bo-Katan lets out a chuckle of her own as she stands and shows them the spark pad. “There’s an address.”

Din nods at her as she starts to lead the way ahead. Astra watches him take one last look at the fallen droid before he and Astra follow Bo. She glances up at her husband and pleads for the truth. “Are you okay?”

Din gives his helmet a quick tilt and subtly takes her hand in his grasp. She’s eager to accept the touch. “I shouldn’t have acted like that.” His visor meets her gaze. “I’m sorry if I worried you.”

Astra offers an encouraging smile. “It’s okay.” She gestures with her head towards the place from which they just came. “I mean, your method worked.”

Din snorts and shakes his helmet, his visor lowering to his boots as they move over the city sidewalk. “I… wasn’t myself. Something consumed me, especially when I realized it had put its hands on you.” Din gives Astra’s hand a squeeze and she moves herself closer to his side. “I was looking at it after I took it down and I just… I wanted to tear it apart, wire-by-wire, until it was nothing but scrap.”

Astra’s heart twists in an agonizing amount of sympathy for him. “You’ve been through a lot.”

“Still.” Din makes himself take a deep breath. “It’s been decades, and that droid was probably nowhere near my old home.” He lifts his helmet to face Astra again. “I never want our children to have to see me like that.”

“I understand.” In the privacy of an alleyway they’ve turned down, Astra wraps her free hand around Din’s arm. “But have grace with yourself. You can’t discredit what those other battle droids put you through, and at such a young age.” She searches his visor. “I can’t imagine how it felt when you saw them try to hurt someone you care about again.”

Din’s visor looks down at her grasp on him as he starts to knead her hand. His voice is a low warning. “I can’t think about it.”

Astra runs her thumb over his arm. “You don’t have to.”

The group returns to the public part of the sidewalk, causing Astra and Din to separate out of an abundance of caution. They remain at each other’s sides as they fall in step with Bo-Katan, who’s still guiding the way to the droid bar. An astromech passes them by and Din’s visor lingers on them as Bo starts to speak. “Let Astra and I do the talking in there,” she says, glancing at Din.

Din starts to tilt his helmet at her. “Why is that?”

“Because I wanna get the information fast and get to the fleet.”

Din gives Astra a quick look and she shrugs at him. “So do I. What’s your point?”

Bo lifts her brow. “You kicking droids is really not helpful.”

Though Din admitted something similar to Astra just moments ago, he remains defensive. “I figured out which one was malfunctioning, didn’t I?”

“You did it your way, now let me do it mine, okay?” Bo-Katan’s gaze finds Astra’s. “Will you help me with that?”

Astra nods. “Of course.” Din swings his helmet to look at her and Astra chuckles at his dramatics. “Sorry, riduur, but she’s right.”

Din sighs and sets a gloved hand on her lower back to guide her ahead of himself. “Fair enough.”

Bo-Katan looks up at the threshold she’s stopped at. “This is the address.”

Din lowers his hand from Astra’s back as he steps forward to open the door. He keeps an eye on the droids that linger in the alleyway while Bo-Katan and Astra step inside. Astra watches him carefully. Even though the conversation they’d just had was productive, an environment this rich with droids will no doubt be triggering for him.

The room is humming with droid chatter, everything from Binary to Basic being spoken between them. It stops as soon as the door slides closed behind the group of Mandalorians. Every beady eye turns to them, and even as someone who doesn’t mind droids, Astra wants to shrink away from the large scope of attention they’re receiving.

Bo-Katan becomes the first one of them to step forward and make their way towards the bar. Astra and Din follow suit, Din’s voice lowering as he speaks to both of them. “I don’t think they get many of our kind here.”

“I mean, it is a droid bar,” Astra says, earning an amused huff from both Din and Bo.

Once their group is closer to the bar, the droid standing there speaks to them. “Can I help you?”

“That depends,” Bo-Katan answers, setting her gloved hands upon the edge of the bar. Din and Astra join her at her side. “Is this The Resistor?”

“This is,” the bartender droid says.

Din leans one elbow upon the bar and uses his other hand to toss the spark pad onto the glossy surface. “That spark pad was found on a rogue battle droid,” Bo informs the droid.

“We give out lots of spark pads.” The bartender droid reveals a tray full of spark pads to them. “What are you getting at?”

“There has been a string of malfunctions that all point to this oil can,” Bo retorts.

“And we want to give you the chance to explain yourself,” Astra adds in an attempt to ease the tension.

“You can check my registry,” the bartender droid says. “We are in full compliance with Planetary Hierarchical…”

Din, unable to hold himself back any longer, snatches up one of the bartender’s tools and points it at his neck. “If you don’t start answering questions,” Din warns, “I’ll yank your memory circuit and dissect it back at the lab.”

Astra takes a hold of Din’s wrist and lowers it, giving him a stern look. “Riduur.”

Still, Din’s attention isn’t on her. He turns his helmet over his shoulder when he hears a droid moving somewhere behind them. “Nobody leaves.”

Bo looks between the two of them with a forced smile. “A word?”

Astra nods. “Yeah, that’d be great.” She gives Din a careful once-over.

But again, his attention isn’t on her. His visor’s studying the bartender as he starts to turn around to face Bo and Astra. “Stay where I can see you.”

The three of them remain a few steps away from the bar as Bo lowers her voice for only them to hear. “What are you doing?” she whispers to Din.

“You’re wasting your time,” Din insists, looking between Bo and Astra. “You can’t reason with droids.”

Astra’s too shocked at Din’s sudden one-eighty to say anything. Bo-Katan continues for her. “Their behavior is programmed. All they do is reason.”

“They’re also programmed not to harm organics.” Din’s unable to remain still as he argues, his visor dancing around the room and his weight shifting between his feet. “How’s that going?”

“And what of IG-11?” Astra forces herself to speak up, crossing her arms as she pleads for Din’s attention and reason to return.

“Kuiil’s exception.” Din tilts his helmet at Astra. “And he recently tried to kill Grogu again, in case you didn’t remember.”

Astra frowns at his sharp words and fights to remind herself that it’s his trauma speaking, not him. “Look, you are not helping,” Bo says with a frustrated sigh. “Just because the malfunctioning droids happen to visit here doesn’t mean this one is in on it.”

Before Din can respond, the bartender droid speaks up from behind them. “I want to help,” he insists.

Din’s helmet snaps towards him. “You want me to pull your hearing sensors too?” He takes a few intimidating steps forward until he’s standing at the bar again.

Astra sets a rough hand on his shoulder. “Din,” she seethes his name quietly enough for only him to hear. He lowers his helmet in shame, but still doesn’t face her. Astra hasn’t felt a wave of sickness like this ever since she found him after he’d left her on the boat.

“We are worried that if these horrible incidents continue,” the bartender droid says, “ we will be…” He trails off.

“You’ll be what?” Din asks, lifting his helmet once again.

“There are concerns among my customers that we will be replaced.”

Bo-Katan raises her brow. “By what?”

“Humans.” The bartender droid gestures to them. “Most of us have been refurbished and reprogrammed. Some droids on Plazir date back to the Separatists. The New Republic would send them to scrap.”

Astra takes a quick glance behind them at the droids who sit in tense silence. She can sense the fear among them that the bartender’s speaking about. Her heart aches for them. Droids had served her, her parents, and their people well back on Arilia.

“But here on Plazir, they are given a second chance.”

Din takes a breath of defeat. “Well, these catastrophes don’t help your argument,” he insists.

“Exactly. That’s why we need your help. We don’t want to be replaced. We still have a lot to contribute.” He looks amongst the group of Mandalorians. “Human life is so short. They don’t ask that much of us.” Din shares a look with Bo-Katan and then Astra. She lifts her brow at him, causing his helmet to lower once again. “Organics created us. It’s the least we can do.”

The rest of the droids in the bar begin to chatter in unison, their own version of cheering to agree with what the bartender’s just said. They lift their arms, whir their heads, do whatever they can to show their full agreement. Astra smiles at the sight and turns back to the bartenders. “Do you have any records we can go over with you?” she asks. “That would be a great place for us to start.” Bo-Katan nods to agree with her, but Din’s visor is still lowered to his hands.

“I can take you to the back,” the bartender droid says. “Follow me.”

The droid invites the three of them around the bar to a back room of the establishment. There’s a table in the center with enough seats to fit them all, but before they take their places there, Astra sets a hand on Bo-Katan’s armored shoulder and gestures with her head to Din. “If you want to get started, I’m just gonna pull him aside for a moment,” she tells their trusted ally.

Bo nods at her with a knowing twinkle in her eye. “Good idea.”

Astra’s gentle yet commanding as she takes Din by the hand and leads them to a private corner of the room. Before she can even get a single word out, Din’s taken a grasp on both her hands and has lowered his voice to an almost heartbreaking whisper. “I’m sorry,” he apologizes, as sincere as Astra’s ever heard him. “I went in there and I did exactly what I’d just told you I didn’t want to do. I embarrassed all of us and my actions could’ve jeopardized the entire investigation.”

Any remaining frustrations flee from Astra as her care for him takes over. “Din…”

“I snapped at you when you were trying to help me. I went back to being a person I haven’t been in many years. I…”

“Din.” Astra says his name more firmly and sets her gloved hands on his cuirass. It stops his guilty rant and encourages him to take a deep breath while she continues. “I didn’t pull you aside to tell you off. People go into fight-or-flight when they face trauma, and you were raised to be a fighter. It’s your natural response.” She searches his visor, wishing more than anything it could be his brown gaze so she could provide him with his favorite kinds of comfort. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Din remains silent for a long moment. He lifts his hands to hold Astra’s arms and exhales a long, trembling breath. “I’m trying.”

Astra softens and brings herself closer to him. “I know you are.” She manages a genuine smile. “I’m proud of you for that.” Astra pauses and considers their next steps. “If you think you’d be more comfortable staying with the kids, I’m sure Bo-Katan and I can finish this.”

“No.” Din doesn’t hesitate to reject the idea. “I gave her and the Duchess my word that I’d help with this.” Din nods at her. “I have to see it through.”

Astra’s smile widens. “So honorable.” She sighs and glances over at Bo-Katan and the bartender droid. “Just try to remember that I’m here to help you, okay? You don’t have to fight this or them—,” she gestures to the droid with her head, “—on your own.”

“I will.” Din gives her arms a gentle squeeze. “Thank you, cyar’ika.”

Astra nods, wishing she could provide a kiss as a firm seal of reassurance for him. But their home is in closer reach than ever, and so her patience for such manages to win out. They separate and join Bo-Katan and the droid at the table, where Bo’s just started to ask more questions. “Do you have a record of what each of the suspects ordered?” she asks.

“That is not how it works here,” the droid answers. “There is no selection of beverages as with organics. Here, droids are served Nepenthé.”

Din shares a quick glance with Bo-Katan. “What’s Nepenthé?”

“It is a viscous lubricant that protects against mechanical wear while delivering program refreshing sub-particles,” the droid explains.

“So Nepenthé reprograms the droids that drink here?” Din asks.

Both Bo-Katan and Astra narrow their eyes in caution as the bartender answers. “It patches the programming as the commands of the mainframe change.” He opens a small container of chits and selects one, scanning it for information. “It seems the malfunctioning droids all imbibed from the same batch of Nepenthé.”

The group shares a look before they rise from their places at the table. “Thank you for your help,” Astra says, smiling in her gratitude. “Hopefully we’ll have an answer for all of this soon.”

“That would be a relief,” the droid agrees. He leads them back to the main part of the bar and the group heads off to the city’s droid morgue.

They’re in their hyperloop pod when Astra’s exhaustion starts to creep up on her. She tries to hide a yawn as her body starts to lean against Din’s own. His helmet looks over at her and tilts with concern. Astra gives her head a quick shake. “I’m fine,” she insists before Din can even say anything. “I’m just not used to all-nighters.”

���You can rest if you need to,” Din insists. His voice is almost a plea for her to do just that.

“No, it’s all right.” Astra takes one of his hands in hers. “Like you said before, I gave everyone my word. I’ve got to see this through.”

Din’s visor observes her before he gives her a nod. “Okay. But as soon as we get the opportunity to…”

“Yes, I know.” Astra smiles and gives his hand a squeeze. “And you too.”

The warmth of their sweet worries for each other carries all the way to the droid morgue, where the three of them stand as the lab tech eases the B2-series droid from before out of one of the compartments. “These are the remains of the latest malfunctioning droid,” she explains.

Another droid, looking almost like a repurposed interrogation droid, floats over and withdraws the Nepenthé from the battle droid. Once the vial’s filled, the lab tech takes it over to her monitor. The three of them gather around the setup. “We’re looking for programming sub-particles,” Bo-Katan informs the lab tech.

“Yes. Let me isolate them.” The lab tech sets the vial inside a compartment and hits a button to begin the inspection process. She looks down at her monitors and shares the results. “The particles are definitely present.”

“What are the chances that they’re still active?” Din asks next.

Sudden beeping from the droid that withdrew the Nepenthé gets everyone’s attention. Their heads turn in unison just in time for them to catch its red warning light and avoid its dangerous attack. Green laser beams flicker all over the room, leaving Astra and Bo-Katan to shield the vulnerable lab tech from the floor while Din flees to the other corner of the room. Everyone draws their blasters and attempts to get a good shot in, but the chaotic pattern of the attack makes it nearly impossible to aim.

Movement from the corner of their eyes causes both Astra and Bo-Katan to look over at Din. Astra’s almost horrified to watch as he makes his own attack, the Darksaber having been drawn from his belt. He lifts the blade and slices it through the droid, bringing the sudden attack to a quick end. Everyone in the room catches their breath while Bo-Katan checks in on the lab tech. Both she and Astra help the tech back on her feet before they face Din with wide-eyed expressions.

“They’re still active,” Bo-Katan answers Din’s earlier question.

Bo helps the shaken lab tech retrieve the vial while Din hangs the Darksaber’s hilt on his belt and approaches Astra. A gloved hand on her back asks the question she can answer with a firm nod. Din exhales in relief and keeps his hand there as the lab tech leads them to her personal office. Once inside the safer space, the group gathers around her monitors once again.

“These are the sub-particles,” the tech says, zooming in on a live diagram. She squints her eyes at what she observes. “Curious…”

Din leans closer. “What?”

“They’re actually nano-droids.”

Bo-Katan nearly scoffs at her words. “How did nano-droids get into the Nepenthé?”

The tech zooms in even closer on the sub-particles. Din points a gloved finger at the monitor. “What’s that?”

“The striations?” The lab tech adjusts their view, rotating the glowing image. “Just an aberration in the metal. Probably malleability limitations at this scale.”

Bo-Katan leans closer, her brow furrowed in curiosity. “No,” she insists. “It’s writing.”

Din and Astra follow Bo’s lead. “Rotate the perspective,” Din suggests.

The lab tech follows his directions, zooming more and rotating the image until Aurebesh letters begin to dance across the monitor. The group shares a look of disbelief. “It’s a chain code,” the tech announces.

“If it has a chain code,” Bo-Katan begins, “then we should be able to determine its point of origin.”

“In theory,” the tech responds. “Let me see what I can find out.”

Astra watches the minds in front of her in amazement. The exhaustion of the long night has created a fog in her brain. It’s clear that Mandalorians like Din and Bo-Katan have an endurance she’ll have to adapt if she wants to continue calling herself one of their kind.

“They were originally manufactured by the Techno Union,” the tech shares. Astra’s fog starts to lift at the mention of the Separatist group. She hasn’t heard of them since she was a child during the Clone Wars, just beginning to grasp the understanding of galactic politics. “Been in cold-storage for ages.” The lab tech sits back the more she reads on. “The chain title says it didn’t arrive on Plazir through Droid Acquisitions. How strange…”

“How did it arrive?” Din asks.

“They were requisitioned by the Security Office,” the lab tech answers.

Astra holds her breath as the threads start to tie together. Bo tilts her head at the tech’s words. “Is that unusual?”

The lab tech looks back at her with her brow raised. “It’s illegal.” She turns back to the monitor. “There’s no record of this transaction on the government registry. These droids were ordered by an individual.”

“Is there a name?” Din asks.

“The head of security,” Astra speaks up, gaining Din’s and Bo’s curious gazes for a quick moment.

“Commissioner Helgait,” the lab tech confirms as the image of the security officer appears on the monitor.

The group shares a look before Bo-Katan taps the lab tech’s shoulder and they make a move for the exit. Thankfully, the lab’s just a few levels away from the security office, and Astra’s eager to get all of this over with—more so for Din’s sake than her own. The turbolift ride is silent as the three of them anticipate the upcoming confrontation. Din glances at Astra and tilts his helmet, another silent question for her to answer. She nods and eases her gloved hand near her holster, just in case something goes sideways.

The group emerges from the turbolift and Bo-Katan becomes the one to speak up without hesitation. “Commissioner, we have some questions for you.”

“Sorry,” Helgait says, lifting a dismissive hand towards them, “I have to check the data farm for anomalies.”

“We know about the Nepenthé,” Din warns him. “And the nano-droids.”

“They didn’t malfunction,” Astra adds. “You programmed them to disrupt and attack.”

Din straightens his helmet and speaks in an intimidating tone. “You’re coming with us.”

Helgait waits a beat before he stands and lifts the cover on the red button he’d shown them before. “Everyone, freeze!” he calls out, hovering his hand over the button. Bo-Katan, Din, and Astra all lift cautious hands, keeping their blasters in close reach. “If I trigger this failsafe, it will convert the planet’s docile workforce back into battle droids and unleash them upon the unsuspecting citizens of Plazir!”

Din and Astra share a panicked look. That would include the droids within the Duchess’ halls, where their children are currently residing.

“Don’t make me do it,” Helgait warns.

“There’s no way out, Commissioner,” Bo-Katan insists in a cautious tone. “Give yourself up.”

“Give up?” Helgait scoffs. “I never give up. I didn’t give up to the corrupt Republic, I didn’t give up to the Empire, and I won’t give up to you.”

Astra and Bo-Katan share a look before they both glare at Helgait. It’s the kind of dialogue she hasn’t heard since she was being mentored in the Senate, especially during the Clone Wars. “You’re a Separatist?” Astra asks the pressing question.

“Separatists is a pejorative term,” Helgait remarks. “I support democracy.”

Astra watches Bo-Katan’s eyes widen at his words. Astra may not have known much about Mandalore before she met Din, but she still remembers the history she was taught of their people growing up, and that included the sudden death of Duchess Satine Kryze—no doubt a result of the Separatist-Republic struggles.

“Count Dooku was a visionary,” Helgait continues. “He was cut short in his prime by the Jedi enforcer—.”

The Commissioner’s cut off by Bo-Katan when she raises her fist and fires a shock dart to his chest. He falls back, unconscious. The entire room seems to take a breath of relief while Din and Astra look at Bo-Katan. She gestures to Helgait’s shocked body. “Politics,” she mutters.

“Trust me,” Astra scoffs, “I know.”

Din just shakes his helmet and steps forward to take care of cuffing Helgait. He gets the Commissioner off the floor and supports him until he can join them in walking with the constable droids to where the Duchess and Captain Bombardier await them. Astra’s more than relieved to have the situation resolved, especially once they step into the grand hall that’s already lit by daylight once again and she catches sight of their children.

The faces of the Duchess and the Captain begin to fall while Zora, who’s been sitting at Grogu’s side, stands and wobbles over with joyful squeals. “Mama!” she calls for Astra, bringing an instant smile to Astra’s lips. Astra kneels down and opens her arms for Zora. “Papa!”

“Hi, my angel!” Astra responds, pulling Zora into her chest and lifting her from the ground. She stands to her full height and joins Din at his side. Astra kisses Zora’s head while Din reaches out to give one of Zora’s tiny hands a gentle squeeze in silent greeting. “We missed you,” Astra mumbles against Zora’s curls. “But we’ve got to stay quiet for a little bit longer, okay?”

Zora coos in a tone that matches Astra’s own. Astra tunes back in when the Captain asks the group a question. “What are you doing with Commissioner Helgait?”

“We found the cause of your ‘malfunctions,’” Din informs them. He lets Helgait step forward.

The Duchess furrows her brow in disbelief. “Is this true?”

The Commissioner keeps his head held high as he responds. “I’m afraid it is, M’Lady.”

Captain Bombardier shakes his head. “Despicable.”

“If that isn’t the Quacta calling the Stifling slimy,” Helgait snaps.

The Captain narrows his eyes at the Commissioner. “I beg your pardon.”

“This planet is unrecognizable since he arrived,” Helgait insists, gesturing to the Captain.

Captain Bombardier takes a deep breath. “I had a feeling you hated me.”

“I’m disappointed in you, Commissioner,” the Duchess speaks up, her voice filled with hurt. “You served my family well. But Captain Bombardier is the love of my life. And I know his heart is true.”

Astra looks up at Din. His visor returns her gaze that no doubt adores him the way he deserves. Din starts to tilt his helmet in his own admiration of her.

“Sure, he’s made some mistakes in the past,” the Duchess continues, “but who here among us has not? Is there no room for a little bit of forgiveness in a galaxy so vast?”

Astra beams at Din, the Duchess’ words resonating with both of them. She pictures Din in the home that awaits them on Nevarro for what must be the millionth time. It’s an image she never wants to forget. I love you, she mouths to him. He sets his hand upon her back.

“I am sorry to have disappointed you, My Lady,” Helgait’s voice brings Astra back to reality. “Perhaps someday I can earn such forgiveness from Your Grace.”

“Perhaps,” the Duchess responds. “As for now, you must live in exile on the moon of Paraquaat.”

The Commissioner squeezes his eyes closed in pain at her words, though he still turns and follows the constable droids to his fate. The Duchess releases a heavy sigh and turns her lips up into a small smile at the group standing in front of her.

“And as for you, Lady Bo-Katan Kryze, Din Djarin of Concordia, and Princess Astra Djarin of Arilia,” the Duchess goes on, encouraging the group to step closer to her, “I grant you audience with our deployment of Mandalorian privateers.” The group nods in gratitude and Astra’s swept with a wave of relief. “I also give to you all our highest honor, the key to Plazir.”

A rabbit droid offers up the large key to the Duchess, who then takes it and turns back to the group. Din and Astra let Bo-Katan step forward to take it in the name of Mandalore, the planet she’ll soon be leading once again.

“You will always be welcome in our domed paradise,” the Duchess finishes.

Bo-Katan nods in respect. “M’Lady.” She turns and does the same to the Captain. “M’Lord.” She steps back to where Din and Astra continue to stand.

The Duchess turns to where Grogu’s still standing by her side. “And to this little one,” she reaches out towards one of the nearby guards, “I grant knighthood.”

Astra’s eyes widen as the Duchess is handed a sword. She looks at Din and sees his shoulders rising and falling in a composed breath as his helmet tilts in pride. She lifts a hand from Zora and sets it on his armored shoulder, the smile that tugs on her lips almost never ending. Grogu coos as the Duchess taps both his shoulders with the long blade.

“You are now a knight of the Ancient Order of Independent Regencies,” the Duchess announces. Grogu takes some of her skirt in his hand and coos in gratitude. The Duchess lifts her head to face the rest of them once again. “Go in peace, brave travelers. Until our paths meet again.”

Din steps forward and nods at both the Captain and the Duchess. “M’Lord. M’Lady.” He bends down to take Grogu in his arms. The children’s empty pod floats back to his side, but he keeps Grogu propped up on his shoulder. Astra watches him as they start to walk away. Grogu returns the Duchess’ wave and Astra can’t help giggling at the sight. The little one always knows how to make a friend wherever he goes.

Reality sets in as the Djarins and Bo-Katan make their way to their hyperloop pod. The conversation ahead will no doubt be difficult for Bo, but Astra also has her own reservations. These Mandalorians were eager to push Bo-Katan away when she returned without the Darksaber. There’s no telling how they’ll react to Din being the one who wields it.

All Astra’s certain of is that she’ll take no disrespect of her husband, Bo-Katan, or the tribe, even if it means putting her armor to use.

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[staringdownabarrel]

I know the copy-paste fleet from PIC's Et in Arcadia Ego, Pt. II tends to get a lot of people riled up, but honestly, I feel like it makes a lot of sense from an in-universe perspective.

Like, one of the big issues Starfleet had in the TNG and DS9 eras was that basically any time a new threat rolled up at the border, their threat response was just whichever ships they could call up at short notice. This was one of the bigger reasons why the fleets in episodes like The Best of Both Worlds, Redemption, Pt. II, and the Descent two parter were a mish-mash of different classes: from Starfleet's perspective, it was quite literally just whoever they could drum up in the moment, not which ships were actually best for this job.

During the DS9 era, there was a shift from fleets being just whoever they could drum up to being actual formalised big fleets that consistently did maneuvers together. This is why it went from DS9 getting seven ships as reinforcements during the battle in The Way of the Warrior to there just being hundreds of ships that operated together a few seasons later. This is apparently a trend that continued after the Dominion War, too: in Nemesis, the fleet the Enterprise-E was supposed to link up with towards the end was referred to as Battle Group Omega.

I think having a couple hundred Inquiry-class ships operating as a single fleet would make sense in this context. A lot of the ships that were in service during the TNG/DS9 era would have been decommissioned or destroyed by this point, and Starfleet would have had to replace them with something. In seasons two and three of Picard, we've seen some of the other ships that have been introduced over the intervening decades; having a few rapid response units would also make sense.

This wouldn't necessarily square with Starfleet's exploratory and scientific missions, but I don't think it'd necessarily need to. Even in TNG, there were more military-focused officers like Captain Jellico and Admiral Nechayev who were very concerned with the Federation's security, and they didn't get in the way of the Enterprise-D's exploratory, scientific, or diplomatic missions.

The same would be true of the late 24th/early 25th century of PIC's first season: they could easily have both the heavily militaristic officers and the more pacifist officers working different missions for the most part. It's just that the part of the fleet we saw was the military part.

Plus, from a thematic point of view, this would tie into why Picard left Starfleet to begin with. In Remembrance, Picard straight up says he left because he felt that Starfleet wasn't Starfleet anymore. Having a noticeable chunk of the fleet set up to be the immediate military response to a new threat would make sense in that context. Picard's traditionally been the kind of guy who prefers peace and diplomacy (though he is a capable military guy when the chips are down), so Starfleet immediately being able, and potentially willing, to respond to everything with deadly force really would rub him the wrong way.

The other reason I don't mind there being a fleet of hundreds of Inquiry-class ships ready to go is because of the makeup of the Romulan, Klingon, and Cardassian fleets during DS9. While these powers did have some varieties in their fleets, for the most part they're just as guilty of flying copy-paste fleets as Riker was in Et in Arcadia Ego, Pt. II. While Starfleet was flying fleets with a large variety of ship classes, the Romulans were almost exclusively flying D'deridex-class warbirds, the Klingons mostly Vor'cha- and Negh'var-class battle cruisers with the occasional bird-of-prey and K'tinga-class, and the Cardassians exclusively Galor- and Keldon-class ships.

This doesn't necessarily mean that these are the only ships these powers had available, but they were very much the backbone of their battle fleets and were clearly considered to be the most capable of combat. Their other ships were probably made for much more specialised purposes.

This is probably a design philosophy Starfleet probably took as well. Instead of having most of their larger ships be jack-of-all-trade ships, they spent more time having specialised ships for specialised purposes. The end result of this is that they could have 200 Inquiry-class ships ready to go for this purpose rather than just have dozens of different classes that might not be the best for it, but would do in a pinch.

I feel like this is also something people would have warmed to a lot more over time, had the Picard writers not immediately try to back peddle in season two's opening episode, The Star Gazer. Had they just said, "Well, this is a new era, both of production and in-universe, and this is how Starfleet does battle fleets now," it might still be a contentious thing but people would eventually get used to it.

The other thing they probably should have done--and I still think they should do this at some point--is have a show set during this same period that focuses heavily on a five-year mission during this period. That'd allow room for an explanation that the copy-paste Inquiry fleets are mostly just for emergencies, and that other ship classes exist for different purposes. (I know eventually someone will say, "Yeah, but Lower Decks and Prodigy exist", but keep in mind they're set twenty-ish years prior to Picard.)

I think this would allow for starship classes to clearly be for much more set purposes rather than just be the jack-of-all-trade ships they've traditionally been. While there's been exceptions to this like the Oberth- and Nova-classes mostly being science vessels, the Defiant-class being a warship in all but name, and the Olympic-class being a medical ship, but these are mostly the exceptions.

Classes like the Constitution- and Excelsior-classes are nominally explorer classes, but have been shown to be used for military missions as well for example, and that tends to be the general rule for larger ships. For the most part, if they're a medium-to-large ship for the era, then they're used as a jack-of-all-trades ship rather than for a specialised purpose.

So really, the writers on Picard had the opportunity to really do something interesting with how starship classes get used and having a set canonical purpose for each new class, but then they chose to not do it because it didn't really gel with a lot of people. I feel like this is ultimately an unfortunate thing.

[autisticmuse]

Been a little bit since I used this tumblr account but recently been in a more stable mental state and enjoying Signalis, in every aspect. The universe they created and setting is amazing and so interesting and naturally like many fans I ended up wanting to create my own character. I spent a lot of time studying the replika models, lore, and design elements that make up the characters before making an attempt myself and ultimately came up with this nonbinary individual. Worked with a German friend of mine as well to help with naming.

So here we have FSN-R, or Fasan (pheasant). Design mildly inspired by ring necked pheasants, their designation breaks down as Freundschaft Seelensorge Neurologin Replika (Friendship/Pastoral/Neurologist Replika). Their model of replika was only created and used in the first few decades of replika development and their role was as a sort of investigative therapist that was highly charismatic and would speak with other replikas to identify what triggers cause degredation, what promotes healthy persona continuation, and if they were salvageable or decommissioning was necessary. Being a replika themselves however, they are not immune to degredation themselves.

The gestalt they were modeled after was a zealous individual conscripted into secret service for the empire as a social engineer and spy, making them an easy candidate for erasure to become a replika model as they were already largely invisible to the public eye. Their natural charisma and sociability as well as low grade bioresonance made their assignments as spies highly successful and when considered for the replika program were thought ideal loyalty officers to ensure cohesion in colonies as well as replika persona maintenance.

This was not the case, however.

FSNRs proved to be a major miscalculation upon assignment outside of direct control prior to the Kolibri model release. FSNRs are exceptional at one on one replika stabilization and keeping morale and loyalty high but under no circumstances are FSNRs permitted to attend gatherings of four or more individuals. FSNRs are incredibly sensitive to charisma feedback experienced when the center of attention of multiple individuals and rapidly degrade if put in charge of a large gathering.

Degraded FSNRs are seditious by nature, seeking to identify problems in their immediate surroundings and will subtly begin to push other replikas to degredation and eventual rebellion if not decommissioned as soon as their state is identified. Their charisma and knowledge of the various replika lines and their respective triggers makes the cult following FSNRs can create an immediate threat to the goals of the empire. FSNRs cannot, however, be totally isolated either as completely withdrawn from social interaction they will bond with and begin speaking to inanimate objects, inevitably resulting in degredation by proxy. For colonies which still have an active FSNR in service a handler replika or gestalt must always be present with their FSNR. Because of the inherent risk of degraded FSNRs causing open rebellion the model line has been discontinued and no further models or replacement parts made. Damaged FSNRs are recommended for decommissioning unless their function is mandatory for colony cohesion, in which case there are procedures for FLKR assisted bioresonant repair.

[a-solitary-sea-rover-backup]

(At Sea in the City, New York from the Water’s Edge, by William Kornblum, 2002)

The sailing trips around New York Harbor that Kornblum describes in this book took place c.1999. In 2001, Governors Island was made a National Monument by President Clinton during his last hours in office. Over the past two decades, the old Coast Guard base has been decommissioned and cleared of asbestos and, the island now hosts picnic meadows, sports fields, art exhibits, and science labs. In 2018, it had 800,000 visitors and in 2024 it will be the site of the Race Village for SailGP New York.

Check out everything you can see and do there now on the National Park Service and Trust For Governors Island websites!

[qualitygroupusa]

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[halobirthdays]

Happy birthday to Andrew Del Rio!

Today is his -476th birthday!

Del Rio oversaw the completion of the UNSC Infinity, having spent several years in service during the Human-Covenant war. He was proposed as the commanding officer of the Infinity after its completion, which Margaret Parangosky assented to only because Thomas Lasky was assigned as his executive officer. Parangosky had her scruples about Del Rio, believing him to be uninspiring to his crew.

Del Rio and the Infinity located the Master Chief and Cortana, having picked up the distress call from the Forward Unto Dawn after five years adrift. At this point, Master Chief and Cortana had encountered the Didact on Requiem, and attempted to deter Infinity from approaching. However, the message was too garbled and Infinity was pulled into the planet.

Master Chief was eventually able to get Infinity's defenses back online, driving off the Didact. He implored Del Rio to pursue the Didact, understanding his threat. Del Rio criticized him and refused. After witnessing an outburst by Cortana, Del Rio demanded that Master Chief relinquish her for decommissioning. He refused, and with Lasky's help, escaped.

When Del Rio returned to Earth, he learned that the UNSC Security Council disagreed with his decisions on Requiem, and he was relieved of duty. With no military prospects, he retired, choosing to instead start a popular political career. He would. Happy birthday, asshole!

In canon (~2560) he is turning 60!

[usafphantom2]

Former Blue Angels CO explains why the Team chose the A-4 Skyhawk over the F-14 Tomcat and the A-7 Corsair II to Replace the F-4 Phantom II

By Dario Leone

Apr 17 2023

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‘While we were doing this search for airplanes, a couple of squadrons were coming back from Vietnam and were being decommissioned. They had the A-4F, which was the latest model at that time,’ Ken Wallace former Blue Angels CO.

Built small to be cost effective and so that more of them could be accommodated on a carrier, the lightweight, high-speed the A-4 Skyhawk provided the US Navy and Marines and friendly nations with a maneuverable, yet powerful, attack bomber that had great altitude and range capabilities, plus an unusual flexibility in armament capacity.

Nearly 3,000 A-4s were produced between 1956 to 1979, their service including assignment to front line squadrons, duty as aggressor aircraft and the role of advanced trainers, the latter aircraft designated TA-4s and including two-seat cockpits. The A-4 also equipped the Blue Angels Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron.

After a series of accidents and maintenance problems with their McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom IIs in the 1973 air show season, the Blue Angels stood down for an overview of the program by the Secretary of the Navy, John Warner (who would later serve six terms in the US Senate representing the state of Virginia). Warner appointed a panel of six senior flag officers to review the Blue Angels program and they unanimously recommended its continuation as “prime recruiting asset.”

Blue Angels A-4F Skyhawks

As told by Nicholas A. Veronico in his book The Blue Angels a Fly-By History, Ken Wallace, 1954-55 slot pilot and 1961-63 team leader, was called upon to guide the team through rough waters. Wallace was serving in the office of the chief of naval operations as the tactical air plans officer. “Because of my past association with the Blue Angels, whenever anything that concerned them came up, I was rung in on it in some way,’ he said.

According to Wallace “the Secretary of the Navy was not fully supportive of keeping the team. Admiral Zumwalt, who was chief of naval operations and not an aviator, was very much insistent on keeping the team in business. So he and I went to chat with the Secretary of the Navy. The Secretary agreed to keep it in business, but we had to change airplanes. He would not let us continue with the F-4s-partially due to the crashes, and at this point we were in the fuel crunch of the mid-1970s. The F-4 is not an economical airplane on fuel, and it is a heavy maintenance airplane. It was just a little bit too visible for the times.”

Given the job of program manager for the Blue Angels, Wallace had his work cut out for him. Drawing on his previous experience with the team, he would implement many far-reaching changes. “I started casting about for a different airplane. The airplane that I really wanted was the F-14,’ he said. “I did not want an F-14 with all the weapons control systems in it; that was wasteful.” After proposing his idea to Grumman, they decided that it would cost more to make an airplane without the systems than it would to make one with them. Cost became the determining factor, and the F-14 idea went by the wayside.

For Wallace, the A-7 was the next logical choice. He said, “There simply were not enough airplanes in the pipeline to let us have them. The fleet needed the A-7 desperately and could not divert seven aircraft for our use. I went down to Chance Vought and flew the airplane and it certainly would have been quite suitable.”

Blue Angels A-4Fs

Although it had been looked at by a number of team leaders in the past, Wallace once again considered McDonnell Douglas’ A-4 Skyhawk. “The A-4 was about the only fleet airplane left that was anywhere near usable by the team,” he said. “It just so happened that while we were doing this search for airplanes, a couple of squadrons were coming back from Vietnam and were being decommissioned. They had the A-4F, which was the latest model at that time. They also had the latest engine, the P-408. It had more thrust than any of the previous engines the A-4 had used.

“We got together with the engineers at McDonnell Douglas and with some of the people at Naval Air Systems Command. We needed some changes to the control system. We needed more nose down force. Traditionally, the Blue Angels fly the airplane, regardless of the model, with full down nose trim. It gives us, in some cases, 40 pounds of nose-down stick force. We want that nose down force so we’ve got something we are putting pressure against all the time. Plus, in rough air it tends to make you bounce away from the formation rather than up into the airplanes ahead of you. By bracing our right forearms on our leg or knee, it provides a very stable or firm base to control the airplane with the stick. By just flexing your wrist a little bit, rather than having large-magnitude arm movements, you get your control that way. The engineers at McDonnell Douglas came up with a bungee cord arrangement that modified the bell crank assemblies in the airplane, thus providing the nose down force.

“We also bolted up the leading-edge slats. The A-4 in its normal configuration has aerodynamic slats on the leading edges of the wings. They are actuated by aerodynamic force and are used in heavy g-loads or accelerations. They increase the camber of the wing so that you get more lift. The problem with those aerodynamic slats is that depending on the condition of flight, if you’re not exactly in balanced flight or if you are in a turn, one slat may not come out and the other may fully deploy. It really depends on the air loads. If they come out asymmetrically, they can pop you right on your back faster than you can think about it. We determined that by bolting them up we would not add to the landing speed of the airplane by any significant amount.

Blue Angels A-4F Skyhawks

“We took the guns out, some armor plating, added a drag chute for operations from shorter airports, and added weight to the nose for balance. The overall weight reduction was significant. We ended up with an airplane that weighed 11,300 pounds [dry] and we had an engine that produced 11,400 pounds thrust. When you got down to a light fuel load, you could do some pretty cute tricks with that little airplane. The roll rate would certainly not spin your head, but it was more than enough for what we wanted to do in the air show.’

The final change was the rise of the status of the Blue Angels to that of a full U.S Navy squadron, giving the team leader the same powers and position as a squadron CO. This now meant that the flight surgeon, supply and administrative officers and the public affairs and maintenance teams were no longer loaned to the team.

The Skyhawk’s debuted in the 1974 show season and flew for the Blue Angels until 1986 when they were replaced by the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy

[zvaigzdelasas]

The ILO also concluded the government should allow unions to electronically ballot workers – rather than relying on strictly controlled postal votes. It should also improve consultation with unions and limit government powers to ensure they “do not interfere with the autonomy and functioning of workers’ and employers’ organisations”. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) described the ILO’s conclusions, delivered last week by a committee on labour standards, as a “hugely embarrassing” reprimand for the UK government. The TUC, the UK’s main union body, lodged a complaint against the UK government in September. The complaint alleged that ministers had taken steps to attack the right to strike, which has been protected by an ILO convention since 1948.[...] The ILO intervention comes ahead of the first anniversary of the biggest wave of industrial action seen in Britain in three decades. During the unrest, which began on 21 June 2022 with a strike by rail workers, workers across the private and public sector have protested for higher pay and better conditions, , with warehouse and port workers, Royal Mail employees, junior doctors, teachers and even barristers taking action[...]

The bill, led by the former business minister Grant Shapps, threatens to make attendance at work compulsory throughout industrial action in several sectors, including the health service, fire and rescue services, education, transport, nuclear decommissioning and border security. The police, army and some prison officers are already banned from striking. NHS Providers boss warns of health service ‘looking into abyss’ if consultants strike Newer restrictions also include increasing the minimum notice period for industrial action from two weeks to four, and raising the threshold for industrial action to support from 50% of members. MPs last year also voted through a law to allow companies to employ agency workers to replace striking staff.[...]

In response to the committee, the UK’s representative agreed to report back on progress in addressing the issues by 1 September. A government spokesperson said: “The right to join a union and organise is protected in law, but the British people also expect the government to act in circumstances where their rights and freedoms are being disproportionately impacted by strikes.

“That is why we have introduced legislation to implement minimum service levels, which are common across many countries, including in the EU.”

16 Jun 23

[tearsinthemist]

Across Wisconsin, I hear people express their concerns about the USPS and the future of our postal service while Louis DeJoy remains Postmaster General.

Ever since Donald Trump appointed him in 2020, Louis DeJoy has done everything he can to make the USPS more expensive and less convenient to use. It’s a shame.

DeJoy enacted massive cuts to postal services, decommissioned mail-sorting machines, and slowed down mail delivery in the months leading up to the 2020 election — when millions of Americans were counting on voting by mail. A federal judge even ruled that DeJoy’s harmful policies right before those elections harmed delivery.

The USPS is a vital service that millions of Americans count on for access to medicine, paychecks, ballots, and so much more — which is why I prioritized passing legislation to improve the USPS.

But it’s clear that only new leadership will be enough to overcome Louis DeJoy’s crusade against the critical services the USPS provides.

Enough is enough — it’s time for Louis DeJoy to be removed as Postmaster General before he degrades the USPS any further.

If you agree, add your name today to my petition calling on the USPS Board of Governors to remove DeJoy from office as soon as possible:

ADD YOUR NAME

https://act.tammybaldwin.com/signup/2405_USPS_petition/?refcode=AU_STB_EG_GEN_PET_AC_20240510_AM1_V1_S1&t=5&akid=2589%2E243266%2EuvAx-T

Thank you for using your voice to bring awareness to this critical issue.

— Tammy

[parttimesarah]

Just thinking about The Captain’s death…

Not specific ideas, more just something that I am interested to learn more about. For me, Cap having his swagger stick is a very important detail. This is him and his swagger stick:

He has it with him all the time, meaning he must have died with it somehow on his person (think about Thomas and the faked letter from Isabelle that he is unable to remove permanently from his waistcoat). Now, to me, this indicates that The Captain died unexpectedly/suddenly. He wouldn’t have had his swagger stick on him while he was eating (it would have been on the table) or just sitting in his office.

So! What are some reasons he might have it and how might that figure into his death?

Maybe he was on parade at Button House, perhaps following VE Day or something like the final decommissioning of Button House as a military post (since his ribbon bars indicate he survived the war, a detail I don’t think Ben would have included for no reason, or let the wardrobe people get wrong). Maybe the heat or a heart attack struck him down. He might have been about to leave to head off to civilian life for the first time in decades, a prospect I assume would have terrified him, a single, closeted gay man in his mid-late forties in 1945 England. Perhaps staying a ghost that is in the army might feel like a welcome crutch, an identity he can cling to for eternity so he doesn’t have to confront the prospect of needing to be his full, authentic self.

Maybe he was walking to/waiting at the door of Button House in anticipation of an important visitor (either militarily or personally), hence wanting to have his swagger stick and look fully turned-out. Perhaps he walked to the door expecting someone (Havers probably) and instead took delivery of a telegram. He tucked his swagger stick under his arm, read the telegram that reported something tragic like Havers dying on his way back to England (again, this would need to be at least post-VE Day), he walks to a chair in the room nearby, collapses and dies of a broken heart.

If we still think a spy is responsible, it would be possible that Cap has his food or drink poisoned and it doesn’t start affecting him until later when he’s debriefing exiting personnel or something, using his swagger stick to point to things on a chalkboard. I find this one slightly more of a stretch as I think a poisoning death would probably lead to Cap dropping his swagger stick in the struggle against the poison. I think in scenarios 1 and 2, he could have gripped it even more firmly and then died in that state.

And the last theory I have as to why he might have his swagger stick on his person is he was using it to try and fight off an attacker but was overcome by them. Maybe the spy, knowing the war was over, decided to pinch all the information they could before Button House was emptied of its secrets. I could see Cap discovering them rifling through files in his office and, having never been given a service revolver (front-line personnel only), he resorts to trying to attack them with his swagger stick. Somehow he is bested (maybe suffocated/choked, hence the no clear signs of trauma on his person), but dies trying to hit the assailant with the stick, meaning he always has it; something that serves as a sign for him as a ghost that he was never a real fighter. Well… I made myself a bit sad with that one…

Those are just some of the things I think about at 11:30pm on a Sunday night. There’s so much more to say about Cap and his death, but I am clinging to something like these scenarios because none of them depict The Captain dying because of his sexuality. I really don’t think Ben will have the show “ghost their gay” by having Cap’s sexual identity lead directly to his death (the broken heart theory would have it be connected, but not the direct cause). I trust Ben and the other five idiots enough to not be too worried about that. Anyway! Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts! I look forward to hearing them!

One this we can say for sure is that The Captain definitely has swagger 24/7…