#so linked to species that it's a little odd to classify

[bi-hop]

having read the manga now... I still think they're t4t but in a new unprecedented fashion. I have no idea what's going on with Laios, but take my hand...

[ofcowardiceandkings]

... I may regret this but... why is Lake Baikal cursed?

lol i found this out by accident and hated it gjskjd i was actually looking up how deep the various great lakes are while watching that one ask a mortician video about lake superior and the edmund fitzgerald ,, there are a LOT of charts about how deep various bodies of water are (i like Numbers but visual representation always helps) so heres an example of what i found

so yeah ...

to make it worse as well, it owns a lot of deeply unsettling top or high on the list spots

> 7th largest lake by area (lake superior is 2nd to the caspian sea)

> THE largest lake by depth by nearly 200m

> because of those two its absolutely the 2nd largest depth by volume (again after the caspian sea) and contains more water than the whole great lakes system combined

> it has a clarity depth of up to 50m in some times of the year, and the whole lake is very oxygenated which is pretty odd for such a deep body of water

> its also classified as an ancient lake ! lakes and bodies of water are actually pretty transient ! it may well be THE oldest lake currently on earth, at around 35-20 million years old

> despite all that shit, its average residence time (the time it takes for all the water to have cycled out) is only 330 years

> a quick blessed fact before i make it truly cursed, it has amazing biodiversity !! 80% of its species are endemic only to the baikal system !! theyre species of ALL kinds, some of these are entirely endemic families and genus’ , and the googly eyes tiny tiny freshwater seal i put the baikal tag on is one of those endemic species :’)

> okay now for the worst bit .. its a Rift Lake, as in the lake is where the Siberian Craton of Eurasia and Amur Plate pull apart, its basically a giant split in the earth’s surface, and it covers MOST of the rift basins’ area. thats all well and good, but the current estimate is that the bottom of the rift is up to a good 11km below the ground surface so about 7km of that is sediment with the lake sat on top :)) its not an overly geologically active area considering how active the rift is (2cm a year is pretty decent going) it has little earthquakes and hot springs but its quiet compared to its strain ...

so yeah !! lake baikal !! fascinating, has tiny seals with puppy eyes !!! may have eldritch horrors in it !!!

also heres a link to a similar chart with like .. all of the water on it and some jokes too

[yikesharringrove]

Zoo date as requested by @xgardensinspace

Here is a link to my post about Harringrove for BLM, and here is a link to Writers/Artists Against Police Brutality

Here’s also a link to the Masterlist of Harringrove for BLM coutesy of @harringrovetrashh

Thank you all for organizing, participating, and donating. 

-

Modern au

Please ignore my rhino facts I love them so much

Steve’s encounter with + reaction to the rhino is based on me from a few years ago

-

“Wait, this is, this is where you’re taking me?”

Billy was pulling into a spot in the parking lot of the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park.

“Yeah. You’ve never been to this one, and I know how much you love a zoo.” Steve was vibrating in his seat.

This was one of the best zoos in the country.

He chucked off his seatbelt, making Billy laugh as he scrambled out of the car.

He danced around as he waited for Billy to grab the backpack he had put together for the day, before taking his wrist and dragging him to the ticket counter.

“Baby, I already got us tickets.” Billy shuffled him to the gate, jostling him past the birds at the beginning of the park. “We’re on a schedule, Pretty Boy. Gotta be there in ten.” He led Steve to the Ranger Base, walking up to the ticket window.

“Hi, we’re in the 10 am caravan group.” The woman behind the counter took their tickets, pointed them to another group a little ways away.

“Wait, are we doing one of the tours?” Steve was sitting close next to Billy, all pressed up against him. Billy kissed his forehead.

“You’ll see.”

Their tour leader began explaining a few of the rules of the caravan to them, shuffled them aboard, and set off across the park, leading to the large open African Plains.

Steve cooed at all the buffalo, taking picture after picture of any baby animals they saw, getting yelled at when he excitedly almost stood up in the moving truck.

“So, a few things about feeding the giraffes.” Billy could feel Steve begin wiggling next to him. “You each get three pieces of lettuce. Stand like this, hold the lettuce out, and let the giraffe take it from you. Do not touch the giraffe’s face or neck or anything.”

“Wait, Bill we get to, to feed them?” People had formed a line as one of the giraffes came loping slowly towards them.

“Yeah, this is like, the extra bitchin’ tour. You get to see all the animals real close, and feed ‘em and stuff.” Billy’s mom had taken him when he was little.

Steve was staring up at the giraffe, the first few people posing as the people they were with took pictures of them with the giraffe. Billy pushed him forward a little, taking about a fucking million pictures of Steve looking like a little kid, so fucking excited to feed the tall baby. Billy gave him one of his lettuce pieces so that he would keep smiling like that.

The caravan rattled on, transitioning to the Asian Savanna.

“Oh, my, God. Bill look at the rhino. Bill look.” Steve was slapping his arm. The guide laughed at him.

“You a fan of rhinos?”

“I love them. They’re my favorite.”

“Well, you’re in luck.” The cart stopped as the huge black rhino began lumbering towards them. “So, to feed Edison, our adult male Indian Black Rhino, wait for him to open his mouth, and toss a piece of apple in there for him. Everyone gets four pieces.”

Steve’s eyes were huge.

“You can touch his horn gently, but do not touch his eyes or nose. And he has the jaw power to rip your hand right off, so don’t put any fingers in his mouth.”

Steve’s fingers were tight around Billy’s wrist.

“Indian black rhinos come from northern India, Nepal, and Easter Pakistan. They have one thick horn, whereas African white rhinos have two long thin ones. Unlike most horned animals, a rhino’s horn is not made from bone. It is made from keratin, the same as your hair and fingernails, so it’s essentially like one big fingernail on it’s face.” Steve was nodding along. He knew probably every fact about the different kinds of rhinos. “White rhinos are typically larger, but the black male rhino has an average weight of nearly five thousand pounds.”

The rhino had approached the caravan. Steve was titled over the edge, staring at the thing.

“The Indian black rhino is now longer classified as endangered after the conservation efforts in the Indian subcontinent over the past two or so decades, unlike the northern white rhinos, with a population of two. Here at the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, we are making conservation efforts in our frozen zoo, where we keep genetic samples from thousands of species. We are currently working on a way to artificially inseminate a female black rhino, or a southern white rhino with a northern white rhino fetus in order to try and grow the population that way.”

Steve was hanging onto his every fucking word.

They let everyone line up before them, Steve was too busy just fucking staring at the animal while he listened to the guide’s speech to move, apparently.

“See, this is why I got us on this one. Knew you’d lose your damn mind if you got to feed a rhino.” The guide handed Steve a few extra pieces of apple, shooting him a wink.

Billy stood behind him as he leaned over the side of the caravan, tossing apple into the rhino’s mouth, patting his horn.

“You’re the sweetest baby in the world. I love you so much. You are perfect, and amazing.” Billy stifled a laugh as he filmed Steve.

When he finally stood up he was fucking holding back tears.

“I just, I love them so much.”

“I know, Baby.” He put one arm around Steve’s shoulder on the ride back to the rest of the zoo.

Steve must’ve thanked the guide about a million times before they set off to do a loop around the park, stopped for close to twenty minutes in the petting zoo so that Steve could pet a little black goat.

Billy lost his fucking mind in the reptile house, spent at least a few minutes with his nose pressed to the glass of every terrarium.

“Stevie, fucking look at that tiny baby.”

The tiny baby in question was a twelve foot anaconda.

Steve kept his distance as Billy cooed over some scorpions, called a Goliath birdeater tarantula a beautiful boy. Steve knew his taste in animals was odd, but then They passed by the giant old tortoises, and Billy went berserk.

“They look like sweet little men. What amazing gentlemen. They are kind and wise.” He was passionately gesturing at the creatures, leaning over the rail around the enclosure.

Steve can’t fault Billy for going all soft at the desert cat nursery, as Steve was shoulder to shoulder with him as they smushed up against the glass to look at the tiny little things.

In the Australia section of the park, Billy only used an Aussie accent, would make Steve laugh because it was actually really good. He would make his voice all deep and say wallaby all drawn out, just to make Steve’s smile get bigger. Steve gasped when they saw the platypus.

“I didn’t think these were even real.”

“Are you serious?” Billy still had that fucking accent.

“Yeah. I mean, they sound so silly. They’re like, a duck and a beaver and a snake. They’re weird little hybrids with venom, Bill. Venom.” They watched the awkward little thing waddle across the field.

“It’s kinda growin’ on me.”

Steve got an amazing picture of Billy with about fourteen butterflies on him in the butterfly pavilion, And Steve got shit on by the parakeet they were trying to feed.

They hit the bird show on their way back to the entrance, would laugh and grab each other’s hands as large birds would swoop overhead.

They finally left the park after spending a minute at the gift shop, Billy surprising Steve with a soft stuffed rhino at the exact moment Steve presented him with a floppy stuffed tarantula. Billy couldn’t wait to put them on their bed.

Billy threw his arm around Steve’s shoulders as they walked to the car, the sun beginning to sink.

“That was a real good day.” Steve was slurping at the remains of an ice cream cone.

“For sure one for the books.” The tops of Billy’s shoulders on either side of his tank top were a little red from the sun.

“Thank you for bringing me. You know how much I love zoos. And getting to, getting to touch and feed a rhino, Billy that made my fucking life.” He kissed the side of Steve’s head.

“I’m glad, Sweet Thing.”

[krixwell-liveblogs]

Worm asks

Have you tried to give D&D alignments to The Travelers yet, and if not how would you classify them?

Hmm.

Trickster: True neutral

Sundancer: Neutral good

Ballistic: Chaotic neutral

Genesis: ???

Noelle: Lawful? good

Oliver: Chaotic nerd

Gurer’f abguvat vaqvfchgnoyl njshy tbvat guebhtu, ohg V’q qrsvavgryl yvxr gb frr yrff uvagvat znxr vg guebhtu gur fperravat gb Xevk

Sharks: Fher guvat. V’ir orra ehaavat bss gur vqrn gung vs vg’f va gur sbezng bs na ubarfg dhrfgvba, va beqre gb nibvq nabgure Fpragyrff Zna vapvqrag, ohg V pna svarghar vg vs crbcyr jnag?

As usual, translate here.

While you’re checking out all the Simurgh fanart, you should listen to this theme someone made for her: (google Simurgh Husr, first result. Hopefully sharks can just replace this with the actual link) Same person who made that Leviathan theme linked way back.

https://soundcloud.com/user-371879520/simurgh

This was really nice. I like how it does sound like a good melody while at the same time exhibiting some of the pattern-defying nature of the tune. 🙂

I think you miiiight have jumped to conclusions from an ask that simply asked you if you could list the Traveler’s cape and civilian names. Miiight have. Also, I’m pretty sure most of them where refered to by their civilian names in previous arcs.

It’s certainly possible.

It’s not so much that I jumped to the conclusion as that the ask opened my eyes to the possibility of it, which I hadn’t considered before. From there, I had to reevaluate things and consider how things would change if it turned out I had gotten the two mixed up. Ultimately I think I’d prefer for Cody to be Ballistic, but I’m still not sure either way (even with this ask heavily implying it’s Luke).

As for names, most of their names did show up (all the more reason for an ask about matching names to capes being kind of odd if it wasn’t trying to set me thinking of something), but I can’t recall Ballistic’s being one of them. But you know how my memory can be.

That smurf song you posted definitely says “dab dab dab” several times, despite the video being uploaded to YouTube in 2009, and the song supposedly being from 1978. So that’s suspicious as hell.

I… think that has to be the bits where it actually says “tramp, tramp, tramp på en smurf” (“stomp, stomp, stomp on a smurf”).

Either way, now we’re all forced to consider the concept of the Smurfs dabbing, so thanks for that. 😛

“Dragonberry” was Scarfgirl’s old character on City of Heroes, a MMORPG with a superhero theme that no longer exists. I know you’re not reading the chapter comments, but if you ever go back to read the early ones, you’ll see that quite a lot of the early readers were City of Heroes players who had an interest in superhero fiction. That’s why Scarfgirl’s art is signed “Dragonberry”, because it’s how people knew her back then.

Ah, interesting. Fun to hear a little about the fandom’s early history. 🙂

I’ve had many names, myself. Once upon a time I used to make a different name, if not more, for just about every site I was on. One of the names that stuck with me the most was Elementarion, which I used in the game Godville and a few other places (not every Elementarion that comes up on Google now is me, though), because I found long-time friends while using that name.

Though for some reason I wonder why 😛, nobody seemed to want to type it out every time they wanted to mention me. I’ve been called almost every short form of Elementarion there is. El was the most common (made watching Stranger Things kinda odd the first time around, even though I’d long abandoned the name), but I’ve been called Ele, Elem, Eleme, Elemen, Element…

A couple other highlights I remember were Hiatus (in a browser game I don’t remember the name of), OldHeavens (NewGrounds) and Barbute (ArmorGames).

It wasn’t until I came up with Krix Jace, later Krixwell Jace, that I started stabilizing my name.

1. Do you think people ever submit misleading questions just to fuck with you?

Some, probably. And that might be a good thing — if there are some asks that deliberately imply things that are wrong, it makes it harder to trust accidental implications of things that are right.

2. Have you ever noticed that Danny and Eidolon have never been in a scene together?

Hmmmmmm 🤔

Still no Travelers interlude… do you still think you’ll get one, or has this dashed your hopes?

Ahaha

Yeah, no, I’m counting this as everything I asked for and more. 😛

Sharks:

http://www.nospoiler.com/y/WenCYI_Bn7I

Sent in by “ewerwqer”. “Simurgh Scream” by person257 Don’t… Open it with headphones on. Trust me. Don’t.

I’m scared.

*disconnects his headphones*

…not as bad as the description sounded, but yeah, probably a good idea to not use headphones. It’s a well put-together bit of mind noise, nice work. 🙂

Worm fanart

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By Winkle92

Oooh, there are more of these? Awesome! They’re all going in my backgrounds folder.

I love how Behemoth just kinda peeks around the corner of the image border. It’s okay, don’t be shy!

(Also I just discovered I can do slideshows. Neat.)

K6BD ask

My favorite part is the Master of Aesthetic saying “she is an idiot, and a loathsome schemer!” and YISUN is all “YEP, YOU GOT THAT ONE RIGHT 😀 😀 :D”. With Aesma standing right there.

YISUN is the type of person who has “precious trash babies” in every fandom they’re in. 😛

I feel like you all need to know, even if you don’t care about MLP:FiM, that the final episode of the show proved us all wrong.

The show’s resident Skitter is not Queen Chrysalis, the villainous, scheming ruler of a hive full of insect ponies.

Nor is it Twilight Sparkle, the mainest character and socially awkward brainiac who leads a team of five other main characters and always does her research if she can.

No, because of this one episode, it becomes clear:

It’s Rarity.

…

Okay, that’s just a joke, Twilight is still the best fit among the Mane Six, but Rarity using spiders for her fashion did immediately make me think of Taylor.

Twilight – Taylor

Applejack – Brian

Rainbow Dash – Rachel

Rarity – Lisa

Fluttershy – Alec??

Pinkie Pie – Aisha??

(Spike – Shatterbird??????)

K6BD patron comments

1. “What happened to Hansa” is addressed in the Prim story so that’s still out there if you want to know.

Ahh. That would explain why it was left unexplained in Aesma, aside from acting as a noodle incident if you haven’t read Prim.

2. As you observed, the word “demon” has appeared very rarely in the comic, outside of epic title drops & an instance where drunk Allison used it in place of “devil”. It’s used in some of the bonus texts but without a clear definition. Can you speculate further on what it might mean?

The priests seem to call Aesma a demon in the sense of a being of evil, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a definition that’s relevant to the comic’s title (and what appears to be Allison’s “name” in some sense, though the Demiurges do seem to have misinterpreted other parts of the prophecy and Zoss didn’t unambiguously use it as a name). It may be more about inner demons, Allison killing her fears, doubts and insecurities as she grows into the role of a king/queen of the cosmos. Six billion might be hyperbole, in that case, but still.

Alternatively, the prophecy and name might actually refer to Zaid, who could easily end up being the final villain of this thing even if he’s not actually Zoss’ intended successor. In that case, “six billion demons” might refer to humans, if Zaid gets really nasty with his own species. We know very little about Zaid’s base personality beyond “kinda sleazy boyfriend”, so a lot of developments are plausible on that front.

Though there are other parts of the prophecy, as well as illustrations, that do fairly clearly indicate Kill Six Billion Demons is Allison and will be flanked by White Chain and Ciocie, so it referring to Zaid is unlikely.

3. I think the author once said that there are still Aesma-worshippers active in Throne. What do you think they’re like and what would she think of them?

(Somehow the flesh sellars come to mind.)

Well, clearly they’d be Slytherins, if they understand her teachings. Aesma might treat them as ants, if she were still around, but bask in their adoration.

4. Kalpa — a Hindu / Buddhist concept meaning a really fucking long time. Besides in the story you just read, the term has also appeared in the comic at least once so far.

Good to know. I think I kind of just assumed it was Throne’s equivalent of a year, however long it might be.

5. Panopticon — a prison design envisioned by philospopher Jeremy Bentham, allowing all prisoners to be observed from a central point.

Makes sense. When I read it in Aesma’s story, the word’s construction was clear enough that I figured out what it was immediately, before I finished reading the sentence. It very clearly means a place from which to see everything.

6. Root — penis.

Yeah, I figured that one out. 😛

7. To offset the unfortunate scarcity of Cio in your life lately, here’s some of the old concept art:

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(The quantity of arms was somewhat uncertain.)

Oooh.

Her arms and legs look so spidery here. I suppose that might be why she was introduced with the Coat of Arms.

Can Skitter control her?

8. Not related to K6BD but Abaddon has also been working on a tabletop mecha RPG and here’s the very nice cover art:

Ooh, you’re right, this looks very nice. It kind of gives me a K6BD x Steven Universe x Star Wars vibe. And a little bit of RWBY with that one guy that reminds me of Tyrian. I can definitely see the resemblance between this an K6BD in terms of character design style, despite the genre shift.

I particularly like the blonde in the lower left.

In the interest of transparency, I should also mention that the patron has said he probably won’t sponsor full liveblogs of any of the other bonus texts, but has sent me a few recommendations and links to some of the ones I’ve passed (besides Prim). I might read some of those on my own time, though, especially the second Aesma story. If I do, I will of course let you know and discuss any particularly notable observations.

Between: PB7

[soldier306]

Headcanon: Gallifrey II races.

This is purely how the gallifreyans on Gallifrey II have distinguished races on the new planet and not entirely representative of the mother Gallifrey's races.

I thought it was about time I made a headcanon on the different Gallifreyan races on this muse's home planet. Gallifrey II is a planet created by The Master, The Doctor(ten), and The Doctor(DB). It consists of natives called Filorumbas, Gallifreyans saved by DB before his universe blew up(and pocket universe where Gallifrey was located), Galllfreyans created by the same cloning machine Jenny was created, loomed Gallifreyan soldiers, and mixed breeds.  

The planet consists of six races of Gallifreyans. Unlike humans, these races are purely genetic based. Some races on earth are also a social construct WITH a genetic factor. Skin tone also plays a part in race classification on earth. Of course, that’s an over simplification of races on earth. I'm merely mentioning it because in canon, Gallifreyans can regenerate into someone with different skin tones, genders, and appearances, yet it doesn't suddenly change their RACE. This is why genetics that does not change despite outward appearances on Gallifrey II became a way to classify a Gallifreyan. Although, depending on the race they may not be accepted in society and I’ll bring that up below. Anyway, onto the races!

War Loomers

This is the race this muse is. It is a race of Gallifreyans created in war looms. (If you need information on looms itself you can find that here.) I have done quite an big headcanon on war loomers already. Link here. So I won't bore you again with every detail. However, I will say they are created for the sole purpose to fight wars. They are stronger than the other races and have mechanical components inserted in them during the looming process. Gallifreyans of other races donate their DNA in order to create them. However, it is just a base code. The DNA is altered so much that if a DNA test was performed they would not match the doner. They are also the only race in the group that several pieces of DNA are used to create them rather than the typical two sets of DNA or asexual reproduction creation. 

They are a slave race. They have little to no rights on the planet. They are not given proper names but rather numbers. There are only two laws regarding possible integration into society for them. One, if they want a name they need to wait until after the war is over. They need a society member to name them and give a reason why they chose the name. The high council has the right to deny the request regardless. Two, if they can pass an entrance exam they may be allowed to join the academy(Education system). However, the test is set up for failure and even if they happen to pass often times the academy won't grant them entrance. It should also be known that they have a device in their heads for "decommissioning" AKA mass execution. Even if they survived the war the odds are they will be killed shortly after. This is justified by saying it's population control. Millions of war loomers are created for the war and that sort of population post-war isn't sustainable. 

Echo Clones

This is a race created in progenation machines, which are cloning machines originating on the planet messaline.  Jenny  is the most famous “echo clone.” They are asexually produced gallifreyans that do not have the ability to regenerate. They do not have have other biological traits often associated with gallifreyans but not nearly as "mutated" as mixed breeds. They can be mortally injured and survive. Depending on the person that created them they can be accepted in normal society. However, most are exiled to low town or the outscirts of the main cities.

Gali-Humans

This is a race of gallifreyan and human mixed breeds. They are one of the rarer races because often times fetuses do not survive to birth due to the differing DNA. It depends on the traits the infant inheirted from the human and gallifreyan parent. They are often times sterile due to the DNA mixing and have genetic conditions associated with chromosone abnormalities. Although there is a racist term in society for them they are genuinely treated like most gallifreyans.  Link to hedcanon on this mixed breed. 

Rasslinians

This is the race most associate with what it means to be Gallifreyan. They were created when rassilon redesigned gallifreyan biology on the mother planet Gallifrey.  Although they are not as physically strong as war loomers, they have a number of strenghs that go far beyond what a human can withstand. They were created in rassilon's perfect image and are actually the first to look the way they do. Humans evolved after them and therefore, humans look Gallifreyan, not the other way around. Most times they are created in regular looms but this is not always the case. There is a law banning sexual intercourse on the planet but artifical incemination is allowed. If they are approved they can get pregnant this way. If loomed they can either be asexually loomed or have two parents. 

They are the second largest Gallifreyan race on the planet. 95% of them were from DB's universe that were saved by him. The remaining 5% are originally from this universe and survived the time war that destroyed the mother planert in this universe. This universe Gallifrey wasn’t saved. They are the Gallifreyans that almost 100% of the time earn the "Time Lord" title. If they are not exiled or turned their backs on the society they are the race that are split into houses and chapters. Beyond a select few they are the race running the government. If you want to know about their biology I created posts about them here and here. 

Pythians

Although not entirely accurate of a term, this is what people of Gallifrey II call Gallifreyans that are decendants of the dark time gallifreyans prior to Rassilon's redesign. They are also decendants of the Sisterhood of Karn. Often times they are also decendants of heros, a race of super gallifreyans that have powers beyond typical gallifreyans. Heros most recornizable trait is their red hair. It is not possible for a normal gallifreyan to have red hair. If they do have red hair they have hero DNA. Pythians is merely a term to lump a large group of OLD races from the mother planet that are pre-rassilon. This is the rarest race on the planet. There are only 10 known full blooded pythians. Most are mixed with other races. 

Mismiktos

This is also a mixed bag term for a group of Gallifreyans. They are mixed breeds of other species other than humans. Their parents also greatly determine their acceptance in society, although the odds are being fully accepted is slim. A VERY SMALL percentage have the time lord title. Depending on their parents they may be sterile and have genetic conditions. They are the most concentrated in the city slum called Low Town. They are known for their accent that sounds the most like an american southern accent. This muse learned English from a Mismikto and given his young age ended up picking up their particular accent.

[amollion]

Newcomers Pt 9

Pt 9

Communication with the Gal was strictly forbidden by the Alliance High command, when Humanity had inquired as to why they simply said that the Gal's communicated by a telepathic link that could kill instantly. The Humans though, ever the curious ones and suspicious ones did not quite believe the Elong who seemed to hold the majority of the power in the Alliance. So in secret they captured a number of Gal in an attempt to study and communicate. Some of what the Elong said was true although exaggerated, the Gal's telepathic nature when directed at a Human caused intense headaches and mild hallucinations. Painful and frightening but hardly fatal. Many put this down to Humanity odd resilience to various things the other races in the Alliance were not. Somewhat it was true but no other race really every tried to speak to the Gal and it would seem that not even the Humans could connect their minds with them. But, unlike the other races, Humanity had many forms of communication, speech alone was a very small part of how they communicated, there was tone, emphasis on various words, what context they were used in, who was speaking, who was present, gestures, facial expression, stance and countless more. But also, sign language. The Gal's body was mainly a collection of tentacles and they could easily mimic the shape of a Human hand. They picked up on it quickly and soon were having whole conversations, what they told the Humans was worrying.

The Gal were genetically engineered and created by the Elong centuries ago to be their army, they serve faithfully but mainly because the Elong had the Nerve, which is what bound them all together. Without it they would be lost and mindless, in a sense the Gal had no individuals, they shared memories and experiences, they were all the Nerve and the Nerve was all of them. After so long of the Gal being used as slave warriors the Nerve executed it's own escape and fled into the void. The Alliance having lost their army found a new race, the Benemar to be their army and they hunted them down. But that was not all, Humanity had been told that the Alliance forbid the ownership of other sentient creatures as property. The wording was the key, the Alliance could simply classify a race non sentient and conquer their world and enslave the population.

The Gal, being very empathetic sought their freedom and launched raids into Alliance territory, mainly to keep their attention away from the many other sentient races that surrounded the Alliance's boarders. But Humanity's appearance had been a game changer, the Gal could overwhelm the Benemar with their great numbers unless they were heavily dug in. The Humans though could not only best a Gal but a great many before they were slain.

This revelation of the Gal's true nature came shortly before the liberation of Remer with the Humans and Gal had been in negotiations for some time as the Humans wished to verify the Gal's accusations. It was not to hard to find, Chamo troops who wore heavily advanced armour that could make them almost invisible infiltrated the Alliances core worlds, worlds Humanity had so far been not allowed to visit. What they found appalled them the Alliance was no grand state that protected it's members, it enslaved them. Worse yet, documents were found that betrayed their future plans. They were trying to start a war between the Benemar and the Humans so that the Humans could take their place as enslaved soldiers of the Allaince. This was the final straw, slavery was something Humanity cannot and will not tolerate on any level. Their leaders flew into a rage at this revelation, by this time the Benemar were about to besiege Terra and with a simple yes the alliance between the Gal and the Humans was formed. The Elong and their own “Alliance” would feel retribution.

“Gal?!” captain Clerk exclaimed “Really?” he was speaking to the Admiral over the com, a Gal was also present on the screen.

“We are ready to bring the Elong to justice and to fight alongside Humanity” the Gal signed, all Humans knew sign language as it was taught to them all growing up.

“And you are sure this information on the Elong is correct” Clerk asked.

“I too have my reservations” Captain Kiev added his own voice.

“It has all been verified by our special forces, we have been lied to” Admiral Winston said.

“Then what about the rest of our fleets” he asked “And I assume this is not all of your ships?” he said addressing the Gal.

“Our fleets are joining more Human fleets and gathering on the boarder” he signed.

“If the Admiral if happy with this arrangement then I shall protest no further”

“Well then” Clerk said satisfied himself, shall we burn Bento Prime”

“Race you to the surface” the Gal joked and signed the motion for laughter which made Clerk smile, he suddenly felt very guilty over the battle on Remer where he and his soldiers had killed a great many of them. Oddly though the Gal felt no anger towards the Humans about this or about any of the battles they had against each other. Humans and Gal may not be able to link minds but the Gal were very empathic and could sense the feelings of others often better than they themselves could. They knew that the Humans were truly guilty over what they had done and angry at being manipulated. The Gal knew exactly how they felt.

The fleets began their approach to Bento Prime and the trio of High chiefs all quite literally shit themselves.

The first waves were of bombers and fighter craft they probed the Benemar defences testing their reaction times and trying to find weaknesses. The Gal and their organic based ships would fire seeds which carried their warrior caste Gal. The Humans had been quickly briefed on the nature of the Gal and their different sub species. There were artillery Gal, that were full of combustible chemicals that they could fire over great distances from a cannon like muscle on their backs, These were some of the largest of their kind. Next were the guard Gal, they were not as big as the artillery but their armour was far greater they had huge shields about their heads that could absorb incoming fire as was their role in battle. They were quite effective but once the Gal encountered the Humans found themselves rather useless, the Humans rifles could not penetrate their armour but Humans were just as or even more deadly than Gal at close quarters where their main advantage lies. Next were the grunt Gal, these were the common foot soldier and numbered in the millions, they had little to no ranged capabilities but with their many tentacles, even more so than the others they could overcome most opponents if not by themselves then with force of numbers.

The Gal sent forth their seeds alongside the Human fighters and bombers and the Benemar defences opened up, they had done their preparations well and in the opening volley hundreds of Human craft were shot down and many more Gal seed pods each containing dozens or more Gal.

The fleet came in closer to bring more of their guns to bare and to give their craft more cover fire, now the platforms were torn between engaging the fleet or the incoming craft and pods. This paid off as the Gal seeds impacted the platforms and stations and began slaughtering their crews.  Human soldiers did not like boarding actions and was often considered a major weakness and that they were timid in fleet battles. The main reason was really a simple one, they did not like entering enclosed hostile spaces, this did not mean they wouldn't but they would only do so really if they had at least some knowledge of the ships interior. Since that information was not present to them the Gal took the lead on boarding actions.

“All forward gun concentrate fire on the central station” Admiral Winston ordered his ships. The central station was the largest one in the formation and it's destruction would open a sizeable hole in their defences. The ships then began to converge and direct their fire towards it, it had a spectacular array or heavy guns for fighting battleships but against the smaller fighter and bombers it was found wanting and the Humans bombers reaped a bloody toll on it's systems.

But it was still a vastly powerful station and it opened up it's weaponry onto the approaching fleet. It main cannons struck a number of the Gal's central ships that helped the Gal keep contact with on another through the Nerve. They became disoriented and the Humans moved to help protect these ships.

The stations third weapons array fell first, destroyed by a bomber that got through the stations fighter defence. It had now lost a quarter of it's fire power, without the array the guns could not aim and would fire blind and hit lord knows what. But they fired anyway and some lucky hits were scored. By the time the fleet was within optimal fire range the Human fleet had lost 6 ships and Gal had lost 11. One of the Human losses came when a shell from the station hit it's engine and it flew helplessly into another ship.

Finally it was struck by boarding seeds and the Gal began flooding the station, the Humans halted fire so as not to kill their new allies but the Gal told them it was okay, they do not see death as a problem as their minds would be reborn into another body by the Nerve.

The Gal flooded the corridors and rooms of the station, the Benemar fought back as hard as they could but the Gal's biology meant they were perfectly fitted for this enclosed combat. This along with the fleet continuing to fire meant the station was about to fall.

The Benemar defence fleet tried to intervene but were kept away by Kiev's fleet which was although smaller was blocking the approached with expertly aimed and timed volleys. Clerk was performing a flanking manoeuvre on the other end of the defences, somehow he had manged to get his ships behind them and thus out of range. The defence platforms were large and heavy things, even in the void moving them was difficult and sometimes clumsy so Clerk was managing to pick them off with minimal losses.

The High Chiefs could do nothing but watch as their defences that had been built up for over a century were picked apart one by one. As a whole the defence grid would be considered unbreakable to a single attacker but the combination of the Gal and Humans and how their forces oddly seemed to compliment each other meant that the defence platforms could not as effectively repel them. Across Bento Prime the Benemar began to prepare, this time they would not let the Humans swarm across the planet like last time. This time they would slaughter them as they touched Benemar soil.

The dug their ditches to hinder the Gal and build gun points inside cliffs and on open fields to destroy the approaching Humans, a lot of it was guess work as these two armies had never worked together. How will they attack? Separately letting one army go forth first then one from the other? Or combine their armies which was unlikely as their forms of fighting were different.

The salves were all locked in their pens but some remarked how oddly calm but they quickly dismissed it as below their concerns what their slaves think.

On the horizon the Benemar froze as they saw balls of flame hitting the ground, some thought it was meteors or falling debris. But those who were wiser saw them for what they were. Gal seeds and Human pods.

The invasion had begun.