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writed by=Carl W. Lucas

ratings=6,5 / 10 stars

USA

casts=Katia Winter

directed by=Gille Klabin

Melvin goes on his first combat mission and finds the life of a Talon much less exciting than expected. A ship wide alert was set to go off an hour before we exited hyperspace. Most of the squadron was already prepped in their EVS's and was sitting around the communal lounge when it went off. Xishas and I were being given the cold shoulder by the rest of the squadron, who had not had to babysit fresh out of the academy rookies, since they were in normal front line units. I could tell Xishas enthusiasm was getting on the nerves of his wingleader, Hoben, who eventually pulled rank and ordered him to be silent until after the briefing. My physical avatar was present even though I could absorb the mission briefing just as easily through security cameras and the terminals video feed. A presentation of the system we will be visiting was uploaded from Patilas terminal. Five minutes after the alert sounded Patila and Abwell walked into the lounge and any residual conversation between the pilots died out. Patila began the briefing, “Good morning Talons, we will be exiting hyperspace in 50 minutes in system E-5712. ” She brought up the first page of her presentation showing the 6 planets of the star system. “There are no known Borja threats in this system, but we are to sweep it as a precaution. From our intelligence network we know a Borja cruiser transitioned through this system two weeks ago. ” She displayed the Borja cruisers probable flight path which passed near both the asteroid field and the 2nd and 4th planets. “They probably deposited several automated listening drones in the asteroid belt or in the debris rings of the 4th planet. ” The screen now showed a mockup of the latest generation of Borja listening drone. These were tiny automated devices that could detect the ripples of a hyperspace arrival. They were programmed to gather image and radio data for a short period before launching a hyperspace capable package towards the nearest Lagrange point by means of a rail gun. “This system is on a potential escape vector for the home fleet so we need to make sure that there is no way the Borja can track us should the home fleet need to make a run through it. ” A collective groan came up from the attending pilots. Asteroid belt scans were important but nerve wracking work. Once Borja system lords would place listening drones directly at the Lagrange points to track the movements of unknown ships through their territory. The Yaneth and rival system lords quickly learned to look for these drones and destroy them in advance of a major fleets transit through the system. As Lagrange point drones became less effective system lords began hiding these drones in asteroid fields or planetary rings. This would force any fleet wishing to move unobserved to send in piloted craft through dangerous debris fields searching for the faint energy signature of the drones. Abwell stepped up, “Thank you Patila. ” He activated his own presentation. The system view was back on the screen with a representation of the Shield of Kalador. “To scan this system as fast as possible we will be breaking into four wing pairs. Talon 1 will proceed around the asteroid belt in a clockwise while Talon 2 will proceed in the other direction. ” A pair of of arrows exited the Shield of Kalador and made a straight line to the closest point in the asteroid belt. When they reached the asteroid belts digital representation the arrows split apart and follow the debris field around to the other side of the system. “Talon 3 will make a close pass of the systems 2nd planet to check for any listening drones on it or its moons. ” A new arrow emerged from the Shield of Kalador and made its way to the 2nd planet. When it arrived the view zoomed in to show a barren rocky world with three moons which were little more than captured asteroids. The low gravity and lack of atmosphere meant it wouldnt require that much extra power for a listening drones rail gun to get a message canister out of the systems gravity well. “Talon 4 will sweep the rings on the 4th planet. ” Abwell said as he clicked the button showing the flight path of the last wing making a circuit of the ring system. “Any Questions? ” Abwell paused. “Are you sure you want to take the pup into an asteroid field? ” Safa asked. “Talon 4 would be happy to take the belt run so that the new guy can get some more flight time before you put him anywhere dangerous. ” She looked over to her wingmate, Jasha, who nodded indicating she consented to the more dangerous assignment. “I appreciate your willingness to protect our newest members, but I intend to find out if the rumors coming from the Sularis are true. ” Abwell responded. “Surely you dont take that crap seriously, ” Kedric growled looking in my direction. “Melvin care to say anything? ” Abwell cocked an inquisitive eye in my direction. I didnt plan on being put on the spot so soon, but Talon Squadron should know what I am capable of if they were going to count on me to back them up. I processed hard on how to broach my abilities diplomatically. “As you can tell, I represent a new species, who I hope high command will accept into the fleet to aid you in the struggle against the Borja. We are capable of withstanding a G-Load far beyond organic life forms, such as the Yaneth or the Borja. The training craft aboard the Sularis were capable of withstanding 18 Gs. I look forward to testing how far I can push these military grade Sonhines. ” “So you are here to replace us? ” asked Hoben with contempt. The entire squadron let out a light chuckle at the idea. “Of course not, I am here to end the war and put us all out of a job” I replied completely deadpan. Every Yaneth in this room had grown up with the struggle between the Free Yaneth and the Borja as a background noise of their life. The fleet they knew hid, ran, and occasionally liberated. The concept that it would ever be at peace was too much and the squadron broke into peals of laughter. Even Xishas joined in somewhat nervously. When the room calmed down a bit. Abwell took control of the briefing again. “You all have your assignments. The Shield will perform two micro jumps to pick us up here. ” The digital representation of the Shield of Kalador blinked out and blinked in on the other side of the system near where Talon 1 and Talon 2 should meet at the far side of the asteroid field. “If we get bounced by a Borja patrol, alternate exit points are here, and here. I am downloading these positions to your flight computers now. ” Abwell said pressing a button. My computer core started getting data packets with coordinate data and system information. The squadron flight plans were not the most efficient. I could probably rearrange them to shave a good 2 hours off the patrol time, but I kept silent. “If there are no further questions, lets get loaded up. We are. ” he checked the screens chronometer “23 minutes from hyperspace exit. ”. Patila led us down to the loading tubes. She went to work the docking ring terminal as the pilots gathered around the airlock that their assigned fighter would eventually line up with. “First up Talon 5 and Talon 7, ” Patila called out. A light next to the trap door leading to my fighter went green. Abwell worked the locking mechanism until the door swung open. There was a slight chuckle from Fala and Kedric when they saw the spartan interior of my fighter. Not wanting to waste any more time I leaped over the rim of the trap door and dropped down into my fighter. In the low gravity outside the hull I bounced slightly before three sets of hands pushed me firmly down into my crash harness. I looked up and my fellow pilots had all reached down to help me strap in. For all the ribbing they gave me in the briefing this felt like a family making physical contact with one of their own perhaps for the last time. I swiftly ran through old surveillance footage and this was a Talon squadron tradition, perhaps even a fighter corps tradition. Once my harness was in place I put my hand on my wing leaders hand and nodded as I had observed was part of the tradition. The hands left me and pulled back out of the trap door. I quickly pressed the canopy close button and watched the heavy transparent barrier slide into place. The airlock went from green to red indicating the air was being pumped out. I reflected on the Yaneth of Talon squadron. They definitely had their own culture like the Light of Esha had, but there was a reserved caution to them. I recalled surveillance footage of my fellow Talons in the lounge prior to my arrival. They rarely talked about family or their plans for the future, which the cadets on the Sularis and my family on the Light of Esha did regularly. The only exception had been Hoben and Tolana. Now that Tolana was gone, Hoben had withdrawn from his squadron mates, becoming surly and morose. Having experienced the simulated loss of Ann and my parents I began to see why they were so reserved. I had initial read through Fighter Commands Book of Remembrance like any large sheef of data, but each name probably had a heart broken lover like Hoben and a set of worried parents like Xishas. The docking tube pulled back and the ring rotated to line the next set of fighters up with the docking tube. I could see Xishas grinning like a maniac across the void between our ships. In a few minutes a lifelong ambition of his was about to be fulfilled. I just hoped he wouldnt get himself killed before I could achieve the lifelong ambition of my parents, AI brothers, and dearest Ann. It took 10 minutes for the Talon flight to be void ready. Fleet doctrine insisted that an 8 plane element be void ready in at most 15 minutes, but the hyper competitive Talons strive to be the best in all things, even if it meant an extra 12 minutes staring at the swirling light patterns of hyperspace. The time to hyperspace exit counted down to zero and the starfield reasserted itself over the swirling vortex of hyperspace. While my fellow pilots had been running my preflight checks, I had expanded my consciousness into every sensor and data feed of my Sonhine fighter. A part of me hoped that there was a Borja ambush on the other side, some hapless Drakar I could fly rings around as I tore through their shields and armor with the impressive set of killware attached to the front of my ship. Calrics voice came over the squadron channel “Sensors are showing zero Borja contacts, Talon squadron is clear for launch. ” A sigh of relief came over the com channel and I checked the com logs to see it had came from Xishas. “Maintain com discipline Talon 7! ” Hoben growled over the channel. “Sorry sir. ” came the reply. The four wing leaders took up steady positions 0. 25 of a klick from the Shield of Kalador and waited for their wingmen to join them. Eager to get going I judiciously used my booster to place my ship 45 degrees aft Talon 1s starboard wing precisely 50 meters from his range sensor. As the rest of the wing pairs took their time linking up, Abwell sent a private message to Hoben saying, “Give Talon 7 a couple firing passes on the smallest moon of your target planet, let him get used to the Sonhines handling and shooting characteristics before we face any real threats. ” “Talon Squadron, Forward! ” Abwell called out over the squadron channel and the eight Sonhine boosted forward on their assigned paths. I kept an eye on the Shield of Kalador, as soon as we were a safe distance away it did its first micro-jump, taking a position far above the orbital plane of the system. It would wait there until our squadron gathered at the rendezvous point at the far end of the system. Yaneth capital ships rarely ever traveled inside system gravity wells. The danger of a Borja patrol cutting off their line of escape was too great. If a significant Borja presence jumped into the system, The Shield would attempt to retrieve as many fighters it could at the alternate exit points before jumping to safety. No carrier captain liked leaving their pilots behind, but our ships and lives were worth less than a hyperspace capable carrier and we all knew it. Abwell boosted towards the asteroid field with Talon 2s wing assuming a loose formation on his port side. I matched Talon 2s distance and position on Talon 1s starboard side. Finger Four Formation was apparently a universally recognized way of arranging two wing pairs even in space. Abwell activated my private com channel and went into another one of his new guy speeches. “Ok Talon 5, this isnt a simulator or virtual rings. Even fully shielded, if you run into an asteroid it is going to put a quick end to your piloting career. Maybe that hardened computer core of yours will survive but I make a point of ensuring that we dont waste fleet resources on young know-it-alls. Am I understood? ” “Yes sir” I replied. “Try to stay within 3 klicks of my fighter and to follow my flight path through the asteroid field. If my scanner picks up Borja energy signature I will call its position to you. Do your best to blast it, but no flying backwards or crazy stunts. I would rather come around for another pass, than have to explain to Admiral Husting why I need a new fighter. ” That put a damper on my plans to over awe him by burning through this patrol in record time, but Abwell had me pegged as an insubordinate type, and I didnt want to reinforce that impression until it would benefit my career and my people the most. I replied with a somewhat disappointed “Yes sir. ” At 27 klicks Abwell called for Talon 2 to reduce speed to 0. 2 kps (klicks per second) relative to the asteroid field while we proceeded at 0. 5 kps. Our wings also began to vector apart in preparation for our traversal of the asteroid field in opposite directions. Abwell dropped his speed to 0. 2 kps as we entered the asteroid field. I fell back to a 2 klick trailing distance from his fighter and proceeded to match him turn for turn as we weave our way through the asteroid field. I would have like to trail him exactly, but the constantly drifting rocks occasionally forced me to make slight alterations to my flight path. When I hijacked the Light of Esha to ensure our survival against the Drakar ambush, I was maneuvering at at 0. 7 kps relative to the asteroids I was using for cover. The fact that the cream of the Fighter Core in the most agile craft the Yaneth possessed insisted on taking this run at 0. 2 kps explained why the crew found my antics so terrifying. “Talon 5, how is it going back there? ” Abwell asked with a little tension in his voice. Probably from plotting a course through this shifting maze of rocks. “A little bored Sir. ” I answered honestly. I was using 80% of my computing power to analyze sensor data and plot a path, with the remaining 20% kept in reserve for monitoring the com channels and making conversation. At Abwells current pace I could tune it down to 40% and remain safe, but felt it was my duty to give my all when dealing with the danger these listening drones presented. “Lets see what we can do about that. ” Abwell responded taking the bait. He increased his relative speed to 0. 35 kps and started taking a more direct route through the Asteroid field. I had to make more course corrections to keep the same distance to Abwells fighter, but it was still well within my capacity. “Thank you Sir. ” I said after a few minutes, once I had developed a decent rhythm. We went on like this for a few hours until I spotted a glint of metal in the asteroid field up ahead. Not wanting to look like a trigger happy newbie chasing false contacts, I waited for Abwells sensors to confirm a valid target. “Contact. ” Abwell called when the his craft reached sensor range of the object. “Down and Starboard, I am on it” I finished for him. Abwell had already passed the listening drone I saw and was beginning to peel off to get out of the asteroid field and set up a decent firing pass. Conscious of Abwells orders against flying backwards I lined up for a 0 degree deflection firing pass. The moment my forward guns aligned on the target I let loose with a full volley. A closing speed of 0. 3 kps was ridiculously slow compared to the high speed firing passes I had trained for. For 3. 8 glorious seconds I dumped 150 energy bolts in the direction of the drone. I expected it to turn into a pile of fused slag but unlike the simulator, or the well maintained training craft, I discovered my guns were misaligned. The best clustering I could get was 0. 2 degrees up and 0. 1 degree to the port using four of my six cannons. The other two were pointed at odd directions up to 0. 4 degrees offset from my forward vector. I suspected this wide spray pattern probably increased organic pilots chances of landing hits in the millisecond optimal firing windows they had to contend with, but it was an insult to my machine nature. I shut down the the two most misaligned cannons. Realizing I shouldnt ram the crippled drone, I vectored my craft downward and towards Abwell. I missed ramming the drone by 0. 2 klicks. Not knowing if we would come back, I snapped several still images of the badly damaged drone from my dorsal video feed as I passed to confirm my kill. Abwell and I formed up outside the asteroid field. “Hold your fire as we approach the drone, I want to see what you managed to do in that pass of yours. ” Abwell ordered. We cautiously reentered the field and approached the spot where I had left the drone. Abwell confirmed the drone no longer gave an energy reading, thus indicating I had disabled it during my firing pass. It had minor shielding to protect it from stray asteroids. From my gun camera footage I could confirm 48 bolts of my poorly aligned cannons managed to strike the target. It was enough to short out the shields and punch several holes strait through the drone. After a brief inspection Abwell opened up my personal channel and said. “That was fine shooting given how little time you had to line up on target. ” “Thank you sir. ” I replied keeping the disappointment at my poor accuracy quiet. Without its shielding the shifting rocks would grind this piece of Borja hardware to dust in a few days so Abwell saw no further need to shoot it up. Instead, he turned the nose of his ship back towards the unscanned section of the asteroid belt and began building up speed. I accelerated my fighter to match and soon we were weaving through the asteroid belt at 0. 35 kps again. At the halfway point Abwell peeled off and headed for the clear space outside the asteroid belt. “We are going to take a break here before going back into the field. ” Abwells breathing sounded short and rapid over the com line, as if plotting a course safe for both his ship and my own was straining his mental capacity. Several times over the past hour, I had to radically alter my flight path to go around the opposite side of an asteroid that Abwell had drifted too close to. “If you want to take a rest I could take lead for the next section of the sweep. ” I offered. “Do you think you can plot a course and keep an eye on the scanner at the same time? ” “I could do that and run 280 separate threads analyzing literature, decrypting Borja cyphers, and calculating system to system jump coordinates while I am at it. Being a sentient computer has its advantages. ” I responded. Abwell took some time to think. By the time he replied, his breathing had returned to normal levels. “Stick to plotting a course and verifying sensor input Talon 5. You can take point. ” Not wanting to abuse the trust my wing leader had given me, I plotted a conservative route through the asteroids. I ensured the projected path of the steadily shifting space debris would not cut off Abwells line of travel 3 klicks and 9 seconds behind me. Abwell was doing a decent job following my line through the rocks. I slowly increase our speed to 0. 4 kps relative to most of the asteroids. If Abwell thought my flying was too dangerous, he kept it to himself. Relieved of having to pick a safe path through the field, Abwell began sliding his craft sideways to aim his forward sensor cone at suspicious looking rocks. My pattern matching was as good or better than organics and I was certain none of the rocks we passed matched the profile of any known Borja listening drone. The silence of Abwells cannons confirmed that I had not missed anything. Three hours into my shift as point ship, I spotted another drone 4 klicks away. I applied a little corrective thrust to give us a decently safe pass at the target before calling out: “Contact 0 degrees off my forward axis. ” Just as my energy sensor blipped for a positive reading. I opened up with my four best aligned cannons. The weapons accuracy still left much to be desired, but at least I didnt have to track the shots coming from the cannons with the poorest alignment. I saw its shields shimmer then pop under my barrage at 2 klicks. At which point I decided to cease fire and boost out of the way. Abwell was coming in hot behind me and I felt charitable enough to share the kill with him. Despite the small size of the target, Abwell opened up at 2. 5 klicks and intentionally wobbled his nose to increase the firing cone. The results were as pretty as they were inaccurate. Eventually, the sheer volume of fire started landing hits on the miniscule target. At 1. 3 klicks Abwell disengaged and boosted to join me outside the asteroid belt. He insisted on leading us in to inspect our victim. Sure enough, it was no longer giving energy signatures with several holes bored straight through the core of the drone. Despite my misaligned guns, my execution of the last drone was almost surgical compared to Abwells spray and pray approach to gunnery. We had made good time around the asteroid belt. We had scanned three quarters of the section we were assigned, before encountering our second drone. The wing element lead by Talon 2 had proceeded at a more reasonable 0. 2 kps, so they were less than half done with their part of the sweep. Abwell had noticed this as well and sent a message to the Shield of Kalador to change the rendezvous point to be closer to where our two flights would converge. The wings led by Talon 3 and 4 were traveling through empty space and could easily redirect to the new rendezvous point. The thrill of shooting something was apparent in Abwells voice as he told me to follow him. He immediately boosted towards the remaining unscanned section of the asteroid belt. After the better part of a minute of in constant acceleration, we steadied our speed at 0. 4 kps and carved a tight path through the asteroids. I could no longer follow his flight path as it was frequently blocked by shifting rock. Instead, we scissored our way through the remainder of the field. Author's Note: This episode took a little longer to write. I went back and rewrote over half of it when I noticed a major flaw in the internal consistency of the narrative. This is the first time I hit the Reddit character limit so I am forced to split this part of the story into two sections. I am double posting on the same day so I hope you, the reader, don't feel swindled. Halloween is coming up, and I may be splitting my time between costume prep and writing. I will try and keep my deadlines, but I am apologizing now if I don't. Special thanks to proofreaders u/chipaca, u/Lostfol, and u/BetsyCro who caught so many spelling and grammar errors that I am glad my 6th grade English teacher doesn't get a chance to proofread my work. u/Lostfol was also extremely helpful in correcting some misconceptions I had about military radio communication. Thanks to u/ antelopenoises, u/Lepidolite_Mica, and u/Yrrebnot for catching post release errors. [I Have Become Chapter List] Previous Chapter: I Have Become a Talon Ch 12 Pt 1] Next Chapter: I Have Become a Talon Ch 12 Pt 3.

 

Vampire weekend playing in the background is my favorite thing about this trailer.

February is here, and so is a new banlist! Some noteworthy things: Striker is somehow unhit again Altergeist got better but is somehow performing worse 🦀 GUMBLAR IS GONE 🦀... combo decks are far from dead Lunalights won a YCS. I'll try to keep these threads a thing whenever we get a new list, and I'll try to keep it up-to-date. This post will give recommendations for decks that can generally do well while remaining under 150 at the most expensive and under 50 at the least. Estimated pricing includes a sample completed main deck and usually the majority of an extra deck, but no side. Not all extra decks are 15 cards, mainly due to the high price of some staple ED monsters. Pricing is based mainly on singles and you can easily save a lot of money by buying cores for most of these lists all at once Decks were chosen usually based on having some degree of success in previous TCG or OCG formats. Thus, many of the frequently recommended budget decks like Deskbots and Graydle Kaiju will not be on here in full. Many decklists, especially those in the first two categories, include middle-range staple cards that may be 15+ each (such as Borreload Dragon, Knightmare Unicorn, etc. These can usually be cut for players on an extreme budget. Conversely, decklists are easily upgraded by adding power cards - replace those Effect Veilers with Impermanence, for example. Not all decklists are perfect and this post is not an R/F. Unless there is a particularly offensive deckbuilding error that you want to point out, please don't use this thread to nitpick at the sample decklists provided. Decklists were built prioritizing simplicity and effectiveness on a budget. At the same time, if you want to try one of these decks, don't treat them as if they're perfect, either - you should experiment and play cards that feel comfortable and/or optimal to you. Do feel free to leave suggestions for budget players, whether it's a budget tech choice for one of the decks on this list or whether it's a different deck that you think can compete in the coming months. [Last updated: 30 Mar 2019] Previous version: Dec 2018 Updated version: June 2019 S Tier The best bang for your buck. Decks in this category have the capacity to top YCS's, though they're almost always supplemented with expensive power cards. Price: 50+ Price breakdown (Note: Soulburner cards are not yet available on Yugiohdeckbuilder) Salamangreats (also "Salami. SGreat" and "Salad" are a Link-based control deck with a lot of recursion and a special in-archetype technique that some people refer to as Reincarnation Link Summoning. One Link Monster is used as the entire Link material to summon another copy of that same monster, granting bonus effects. The deck is a consistent control deck, generally establishing respectable boards turn 1 with a fairly compact engine, allowing many handtraps to be played. Their real strength comes in turn 3 and beyond, where their arsenal of free summons from the Deck and GY allow them to overwhelm the opponent. The vast majority of the deck is dirt cheap and is mostly able to be built with commons from SOFU+SAST supplementing 3 copies of Structure Deck: Soulburner. Salamis are currently one of the strongest decks in the OCG, and have cemented their place in the TCG as a top 2 meta deck since the release of Soulburner. Notable event placings are Jonas Koschel's 2nd place finish at YCS Dusseldorf, as well as Team TCG Collectibles Fala Galera's 1st place finish at the Team YCS in Atlanta, where one of their players was on Salamangreat. For players on an extreme budget, it's also possible to build a half-decent deck just from 3 copies of Structure Deck: Soulburner along with 3 Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf, a rare in Savage Strike. An example list might look something like this. Price: 100+ Price breakdown Combo deck that can access its engine by getting literally any two monsters on the field with different names Being able to make Knightmare Mermaid without being interrupted will allow you to summon Outer Entity Azathot on your opponent's turn, preventing them from using any monster effects and oftentimes winning you the game outright Dangers synergize excellently with this deck, allowing it to easily get 2 monsters on the board. Many of the Orcust/PK cards also work well in the GY, which is an added bonus. Cards like Called by the Grave and Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin allow this deck to combo with total disregard for your opponent's handtraps There are several other variants of this deck that have been successful: Dinh-Kha Bui played the 60-card Dark Warrior version and got 3rd at YCS Dusseldorf, while I later played a very similar deck at YCS Atlanta, getting top 16 with my team Popular in the OCG is the Trickstar variant, using Candina + Corobane + Lightstage to put 2 monsters on board while also locking down your opponent's backrow While the deck is effective on a budget, it also benefits from access to Borrelsword Dragon, as Mermaid helps facilitate a ton of damage going second. This deck receives a huge boost in Dark Neostorm in the form of 2 very strong support cards, Dingirsu and Orcustrated Climax. However, it's speculated that one or both of these cards are going to be expensive ultra or secret rares. Price: 75+ Price breakdown Pendulum deck focused on summoning Heavymetalfoes Electrumite and swarming the field with powerful boss monsters Can be played in a variety of ways and can incorporate a multitude of Pendulum engines - for instance, the Mythical Beast engine is very popular and effective at both enabling access to Electrumite and contributing to the power plays of the deck. The Mythical Beast engine has also gotten significantly cheaper since the Cerberus reprint in the Mega Tins and the limiting of Electrumite. Other Pendulum variants incorporating several different outside engines have found success in this format, but relatively "pure" Pendulum Magicians have also done very well in the past - e. g. Walter Jule's 2nd place list at NA WCQ, or Finn Bakewell's 2nd place list at UK WCQ. Last year, Zekias Shah got top 64 at YCS Utrecht with Magicians, and repeated this success recently at YCS Milan, finishing top 16. Rohan Thomas also piloted this deck to a top 32 finish at YCS Niagara. The main deck provided is actually card-for-card what Zekias ran at YCS Milan More recently, Dablessin Wilson finished top 32 at YCS Chicago with an interesting build using the Phantom Knight engine to rank-up into Kali Yuga on the opponent's turn. You can watch his deck profile here Another successful variant lately has been incorporating the Guardragons, as Darkwurm lets you go into Elpy which facilitates Guardragon plays involving monsters like Amorphage Goliath to lock your opponent out of the game. The general lack of handtraps in the main means that this deck can struggle going second against combo decks A Tier Strong decks, but limited either by a lack of access to powerful staples or by the natural ceiling of the deck. You could still easily get your regional invite with one of these decks on a good day. Price: 75+ Price breakdown Floaty control deck with 4 maindeck Prank-Kids that all float into any other Prank-Kid when used for a Link or Fusion summon Their Link and Fusion monsters all tribute as cost, oftentimes allowing them to avoid common types of disruption like Sky Striker Mecha - Widow Anchor or Infinite Impermanence Famously piloted by Dinh-Kha Bui to an astonishing 1st place victory at YCS Milan earlier this year Yes, the deck is actually good - it has a strong matchup vs Sky Striker and pure Thunder Dragon, though it struggles more against Danger! combo decks and trap-heavy decks Surprisingly enough, Borrelsword Dragon is not required for this deck to OTK, as it has several ways of putting out over 8000 damage on board using entirely in-archetype means. The January banlist was a huge blow to oppressive combo decks like Rhongo turbo, which were one of Prank-Kids' worst matchups. On the other hand, the introduction of Salamangreat is an indirect blow to Prank-Kids, as a Salamangreat player that is familiar with the Prank-Kid matchup generally has a huge advantage. Price: 75-100 Price breakdown Tribute summon based deck with monsters that can be summoned by tributing Continuous Spell/Trap cards Can run a very low monster count and doesn't require handtraps or an Extra Deck Runs an obscene amount of draw power Has strong matchups against almost every deck due to how many floodgates it can easily run, but struggles to deal with backrow hate Reprinting of Card of Demise in Duel Power means that budget players can more or less play this deck at full power Floodgates are customizable based on your current meta - for instance, Rivalry/Gozen were the premier floodgates a few months ago but are not run anymore due to their ineffectiveness against Salamangreat. The current prevalence of Thunder Dragon has pushed Draco out of the meta somewhat, as Draco tends to struggle with clearing most Thunder Dragon boards Price: 75+ Price breakdown Control deck with incredible recursion and the ability to come back from almost no resources The build shown is more of a generic list playing solid cards that cover multiple matchups. There are 3 empty slots, and that's because you can specialize your list based on deck demographics at your locals - for example, you could build for the Sky Striker matchup, maindecking Secret Village of the Spellcasters and Heavy Storm Duster. The deck is powerful and topped almost every YCS between the release of Multifaker and the Soulburner structure deck, with the exception of the recent YCS Chicago. They also recently took their first YCS win at YCS Sydney, with Onur Gezer piloting the deck. Since the release of Salamangreat, Altergeist have fallen off the face of the competitive scene, as Salamangreat are largely a superior control deck. One of the few decks that are capable of using the newly released Pot of Extravagance with very little risk, though Extravagance is currently sitting at around 50 at the time of this update Budget players are most hurt by a lack of Infinite Impermanence, Evenly Matched, and Trap Trick, but the deck is still rather potent without these cards The release of Duel Power in April will reprint the first two cards and likely make them more affordable, though whether they'll be accessible for budget players remains to be seen The formerly high price points of Meluseek and Multifaker were a deterrent to budget players early on after FLOD release, but their prices have both dropped substantially since then. Vulnerable to Evenly Matched, Red Reboot, Denko Sekka, and backrow hate in general Price: 75+ Price breakdown Backrow-heavy control style deck that is extremely versatile and interactive Improved by the addition of power cards like Trap Trick and Card of Demise Taken to a top 32 finish at YCS Columbus and a top 8 finish at YCS Mexico City, and notably also finished 3rd at YCS Niagara Can easily customize its main deck to deal with the meta, such as running Mistake in the main for Sky Strikers The current meta is not very kind to Paleo, as one of Paleo's biggest strengths was its ability to run both Rivalry and Gozen with basically zero repercussions. Currently, Salamangreat is also unaffected by both floodgates, and to a lesser extent even some viable combo decks aren't as hurt by Rivalry/Gozen as decks like Gouki were in the past. Consider some different Trap cards if your locals environment sees a lot of Salamangreat players. B Tier Like the above category, but generally weaker, less consistent, and/or impacted harder by a lack of access to a certain card(s. Price: 75-100 Price breakdown Linear combo deck with a very scary boss monster that can be extremely frustrating to out Qliphort Genius helps trigger your ABC pieces and makes it easier to pull off a turn 1 Buster, while also serving as an out to problematic monsters or floodgates in some scenarios Provided build is a more backrow-heavy variant that plays more Gadgets and lots of Trap Cards, similar to the decklist that Calvin Tahan piloted to a top 32 finish at YCS Atlanta in early 2018. Calvin more recently placed 3rd at YCS Chicago with ABC, showing that the deck can still perform at highly competitive levels Also potent is a going second build utilizing cards like Evenly Matched and a larger suite of handtraps, but this is significantly less budget-friendly A more combo-heavy variant involving Dangers is also quite strong, though the good Danger! monsters are all unfriendly to budget players. ABC is receiving several indirect support cards in the near future, such as Platinum Gadget in the upcoming set, Duel Power Struggles against Ghost Reaper & Winter Cherries, though most players are no longer playing Buster as a Cherries target Price: 50+ Price breakdown Aggressive OTK deck with arguably the best Rank 4 engine currently in the game, which in turn grants it effortless access to Outer Entity Azathot. Azathot can be used during your own turn to secure OTKs, or can be made during the opponent's turn with the Phantom Knight engine to shut them out of all of their monster effects, letting you OTK next turn. Raphael Neven took 1st place with this deck at YCS Chicago, playing a higher Danger! count but nothing too expensive outside of that, surprisingly enough The playstyle is simple - you make Azathot to stop your opponent's handtraps and whatnot, and/or make Tiger King to negate any troublesome monsters on the board like Thunder Dragon Colossus. Kaleido Chick then dumps Panther Dancer from the Extra Deck to the GY, then you use Lunalight Wolf to summon Lunalight Leo Dancer and swing for massive (and usually lethal) damage Wolf is usually first sent to the GY by either Chick or Curious, then recovered to the hand with Black Sheep. A disadvantage of the budget build is that the only affordable Danger! card is Mothman, meaning that access to Curious is substantially more difficult. Players who do not wish to imitate Raphael's decklist and playstyle might be more comfortable with a more "standard" build of Lunalight, which would run a higher Lunalight count in both the main and extra, as well as cards like Polymerization, Lunalight Fusion, and Lunalight Blue Cat. Raphael's YCS win will probably have shifted a lot more attention to this deck, meaning that players will be prepared for it. This could be a deterrent if you're looking to pick up this deck. Price: 100+ Price breakdown Deck that chips away at your opponent's LP with Trickstars, while using floodgates, backrow, and handtraps to defeat the opponent Trickstars are a flexible deck and can also choose to forgo a control-based playstyle in favor of a more aggressive one often running strong going-second cards like Mind Control and Evenly Matched Trickstar won YCS Sao Paolo, won by Henrique Nascimento, playing the pure variant. Ping Xiao also claimed an impressive 2nd place finish at YCS London, running the Sky Striker engine. The deck also has various other tops across the year. Players with more resources or access to staples can greatly improve the power plays this deck has; for instance, the Droll+Reincarnation combo, access to Borrelsword Dragon, etc Like Altergeist, Trickstars are also one of the few decks that are capable of using Pot of Extravagance. Trickstar also got another piece of support in SAST in the form of Trickstar Corobane, which around 11 and gives a small boost to the deck's damage output Players with access to Engage can also run a small Sky Striker engine, giving this deck access to powerful Link monsters without having to rely on Scapegoat. Access to Widow Anchor also improves the Thunder Dragon matchup, which can be difficult otherwise. Price: 100 Price breakdown Lost World Dinos are a slower, control variant of Dinosaurs piloted to a YCS Prague top by Georg Scherer in SPYRAL format and more recently taken to a top 64 finish at this year's NA WCQ by Ryan Gaskins Ultimate Conductor Tyranno is a formidable boss monster and can help the deck OTK out of nowhere, while being immensely problematic for many decks to out Lost World can give this deck a leg up against Sky Strikers, but the matchup can be close to impossible without it Soul Fusion gave this deck a few more toys to play with, including the Dinowrestler package. You can send World Dino Wrestling with Foolish Burial Goods for immediate access to Pankratops or Systegosaur Foolish Burial Goods is doubly useful for its ability to send Survival's End, which becomes a quick-effect disrupt on your opponent's turn. Easily incorporates more engines: The True King engine provides speed and power going first or second and is significantly more affordable with BLRR reprinting Dragonic Diagram. This variant won ARG Boston in July 2018, piloted by Jarrod Randolph. The Shaddoll engine gives you strong plays going second against decks that use the Extra Deck, and has proven to be the strongest addition to Dinosaurs. This variant has also become much more affordable with both Shaddoll Fusion and El Shaddoll Winda receiving reprints in SHVA. Another tech choice from Soul Fusion is the card Token Collector, which has crazy combo potential when paired with Lost World. Dinosaurs are also notoriously bricky Price: 100+ Price breakdown Versatile control-based Graveyard toolbox deck that used to be known for its amazing grind game, but now is generally played more as an aggressive OTK Link spam deck. Gained a notable amount of attention lately after Thomas Rose piloted a Sekka BA list to 1st place at UK Nats last year Later piloted to a shocking amount of success post-September banlist, getting 2nd at the 200th YCS in Utrecht and winning the 200th YCS in Mexico City, then later seeing a fair amount of success at YCS Niagara and YCS London. Since then, the deck has somewhat fallen off the competitive radar, and was severely hurt by the banning of Fairy Tail - Snow on the January 2019 banlist. Despite this, many well-known BA players are still making the deck work and have seen regional-level success One interesting variant that has seen some regional-level success is the EARTH variant of BA, playing Block Dragon and cards like Power Giant. The idea is to use Block Dragon to control your GY and allow Orbital Hydralander to resolve, like a weaker version of what Fairy Tail - Snow provided before it was banned. Here is one deck profile that bubbled YCS Chicago. If the Sekka variant is not to your liking, the deck readily incorporates other engines with Phantom Knights being the most common Orcust BA is another variant that has seen regional-level success, with Orcusts enabling access to a lot of Link material while having synergy with the milling that BA tends to do The release of Cherubini in Dark Neostorm might be greatly beneficial to this deck, though there is a lot of debate among BA players as to how much Cherubini actually helps out Benefits greatly from expensive staple cards such as Knightmare Unicorn and Borrelsword Dragon, particularly the Sekka variant shown which generally utilizes Borrelsword Dragon to consistently OTK. Without Borrelsword, the deck is substantially weaker. Dante's reprint in the Legendary Hero Decks helped lower this deck's price point substantially, though the most powerful version tends to use Danger! monsters as well as the aforementioned Borrelsword Dragon, and is quite expensive. C Tier Decks in this category have the capability to be just as good as the ones above at times, but often tend to suffer from multiple problems including consistency and power. Price: 25-100 Price breakdown Ridiculously aggressive OTK deck that can hit for over 10, 000 damage with one attack Focuses on Link climbing into Crusadia Equimax, which can reach ludicrous amounts of ATK and have all battle damage it inflicts be doubled The core itself is dirt cheap, with Equimax being the only actual Crusadia card that costs over 1 There are a variety of ways to effectively build this deck Notably, the Guardragon variant has been the most successful, with Crusadia Guardragon taking 2 spots in the top cut at YCS Chicago. This variant aims to go first instead of second, and can set up multiple negate boards through the Guardragon Extra Deck monsters. While this is the strongest version, budget players will find cards like Borreload Savage Dragon and Saryuja Skull Dread to be out of their price range. The build shown uses Mekk-Knights to pump out more consistent damage and to act as somewhat of a secondary win condition. However, cards like Mekk-Knight Purple Nightfall and Pot of Desires can drive up the price point fairly quickly. Players with access to Engage can run a larger Sky Striker engine; even players without Engage can toss in a copy of Hornet Drones for an instant Link 2 Multiple copies of Iblee can also be used to give the opponent a monster and OTK more easily by link climbing with Mermaid Black Garden is also extremely potent in the maindeck as a way to facilitate OTKs while also shutting down Sky Striker Price: 100-150 Price breakdown Column-based deck that likes to go second Invoked engine is very consistent and Mechaba is an annoying boss monster Mekk-Knights add power to an otherwise slow deck and help push for damage while also acting as LIGHT monsters in grave to summon Mechaba Less budget options include Borrelsword Dragon and the Sky Striker engine Unbanning of Super Polymerization gives this deck a fun new tool to play with - note the inclusion of Predaplant Dragostapelia as a countermeasure against Thunder Dragon, against which this deck struggles Price: 100 Price breakdown Aggro deck with big beaters that toolboxes from the graveyard while controlling the enemy's grave Piloted to a top 8 finish at the Oceanic WCQ by Jon Lowbridge with a list nearly identical to the one provided, and more recently finished top 16 at ARG Hartford earlier this year sporting a very compact Infernoid monster count while playing 3 copies of Trap Trick Lair of Darkness gives this deck incredibly powerful disruption by allowing it to tribute your opponent's monsters for cost, on your opponent's turn The list provided is designed to go second, though you may want to run more handtraps if your locals are particularly combo-heavy Also possible is a going first variant maxing on Void Feast and possibly even playing Lilith, Lady of Lament Price: 75-150 Price breakdown Combo-heavy Link deck that is very good at going second due to the board-breaking power of SPYRAL Tough and Super Agent Still capable of performing well at events even after multiple direct and indirect banlist hits, as shown by Faisal Khan's top 64 with SPYRAL at YCS Columbus Helix into Plan into Sleeper is still immediately game against a TON of decks, and Sleeper remains an enormously troublesome boss monster Even Tough + Last Resort can be difficult for many decks to get over Knightmare Unicorn allows the deck to combo even when opening Resort, putting it back into the deck to later be searched by Master Plan. However, its price point may be prohibitive for players on an extreme budget. Shuffle Reborn is a much cheaper but much less consistent alternative to Knightmare Unicorn The most successful recent variant runs a large suite of Danger! monsters to more effectively Link spam and get Master Plan on field, though this has lost some power with the banning of Galaxy Tomahawk. Such a build is still possible, as Dangers grant easy access to Curious, and even cards like Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack can be considered as board spam enablers. Super Budget (50ish range) A section reserved specifically for decks that can be built for super cheap. Even though this section is at the bottom, some of these decks could easily go in C or even B tier, such as: Price: 30-150 Price breakdown Deck built around the newest Structure Deck, which focuses on maintaining the Field Spell Zombie World and controlling the game with its boss monster, Doomking Balerdroch The build shown is a little pricier and incorporates things like the Shiranui engine, Ash Blossom, etc. A super-budget build would be constructed entirely from 3 copies of Structure Deck: Zombie Horde and would look something like this (build courtesy of Cimoooo's YouTube channel) costing around 30 As a generic Zombie deck, it easily incorporates other Zombie archetypes such as Shiranui, Vampires, Vendread, Mayakashi, etc Jeff Jones notably finished 8-2-1 playing Danger! Zombies at YCS Chicago, using a ton of Danger! monsters to draw into important cards like Gozuki and Shiranui Solitaire while also digging for Eradicator Epidemic Virus Price: 25-100 Price breakdown Potent OTK deck that can pump out an absurd amount of damage in one turn Most of the cards specific to the deck are dirt cheap and its price is mostly pushed higher by the inclusion of staple cards like Twin Twisters or Pot of Desires Had a surprising amount of success for such a simple and inexpensive deck even during full-power SPYRAL format, where it managed to top at a regional level as well as bubbling YCS Dallas If you do play Eater of Millions, make sure you run a full 15-card Extra Deck if for no other reason than to have fodder Price: 30-50 Price breakdown Control deck focused on Normal Monsters and Tokens combined with extremely good disruptive traps Extremely good bang for your buck - the deck is dirt cheap and can probably still win locals Doesn't need the Extra Deck Surprising amount of diversity in how it can be built, ranging from the Dino build, to the Beast-Warrior build, to incorporating Paleo, to the Sparkman meme build Most effective with Card of Demise and Heat Wave, which are both quite expensive (the former much more so) Price: 15-50 Price breakdown Deck that aims to win through burn damage Extremely good bang for your buck - the deck is dirt cheap and has topped YCS's before (albeit more expensive versions. Notably, Ryan Yu won the Dragon Duel World Championship in 2017 with Chain Burn Doesn't need the Extra Deck Strangely enough, the deck gets more effective the better its competition is, since cards like Secret Barrel and Balance of Judgment capitalize on how far ahead the opponent is Most effective with Card of Demise, which is quite expensive. However, the upcoming Card of Demise April reprint in Duel Power should help bring this card's price down a bit Deck can be difficult to win with when playing against someone who knows how to play vs. Chain Burn Limitation of Chain Strike on the May 2018 banlist is a blow to this deck, but Ring of Destruction coming back to 3 is nice and losing 1 Chain Strike doesn't matter too much for casual budget play. Honorable Mentions Cyber Dragon, Kozmo, Blue-Eyes, Zefra, Metaphys - Decks that are pretty decent but are sorta in limbo due to some expensive individual cards i. e. Cyber Emergency, Kozmojo, Alternative, etc, or just not performing well enough Mermails, Ritual Beast, World Chalice, Mekk Luna, Blackwings - combo-heavy decks that have had a decent amount of local/regional-level success over the last few months, mainly left out due to a combination of a high skill floor and a lack of results Evilswarm, Yosenju, Graydle Kaiju, Dinomist, Chain Beat, Monarchs, Ancient Gear, and much, much more - Unfortunately, there is not enough room to cover every single decent, super-cheap deck. That's basically it, I hope to keep this post updated for the foreseeable future. Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions and remember to smash that fuccin upvote button if you enjoyed this content.

I threaten to be overwhelmed... THEN LEAVE. It's nice to see Robert Pattinson in some really good movies lately. This is an article sent to me by one of our brothers here. Many thanks to you. He requested me to post it since many have trouble understanding that polygamy is not allowed in Islam and that 4:3 is twisted by literally all interpretors. Surprisingly, this article is from a sectarian site. Good to see the discussion including things people already caught in Quran alone community. Polygamy by Brother Yaseen Source: In this article, I would like to look into some Quranic verses related to marriage and polygamy independently from traditional belief and male dominated connotations that infiltrated so-called Muslim world for centuries. Famous English translations of the Quran have also been very disappointing with regard to interpretations given to crucial verses in the Quran especially the ones that refer to women rights and orphans in society. My principles of analysis of these verses are: linguistic, consistency throughout the Quran in the usage of specific words and expressions, logic and common sense, the topic covered and the audience addressed. We must always seek the best meaning from God's word and avoid as much as possible "adding" our own interpretations to verses for words and meanings that are not there. One must admit that every "reading" of the Quran is unique and it is impossible and impractical for a reader of the Quran to remove totally their personal understanding and interpretation. I would explore verses 3 and 4 from Chapter 4 in the Quran: an-Nisa' The women) in greater details as this is the most widely used verse in justifying the polygamy practice. When I considered looking at verse 4:3 in a different way, I was merely challenging my own faith. I had no idea that the new meaning that I explored would fit like a glove. I invite all brothers and sisters to do the same. God explains the Book. Marriage rules in the Quran: All the Quran is consistent, logical and there are no contradictions in it: Verse (4:82) Why do they not ponder over the Quran? If it were from other than GOD, they would have found in it numerous contradictions. From the Quran, we can establish that there are only two simple rules in marriage that make it impossible to have polygamy unless we accept there are contradictions in the Quran. Rule #1 Verse 24:32: Marrying off the unmarried "Marry off those who are single among you and those of your male and female servants who are righteous. If they are poor, God will enrich them of his grace, for God is bounteous and all-knowing. The Quran is a textually consistent and logical Book. Let us review the verse above from the "logical" angle: Marry off those who are single among you…" In this verse, we are commanded by God to marry off the singles within the society (males and females widows or singles. Marrying off the un-married means exactly what it says. Who do we marry off the unmarried to? If we marry them off to other "married" people, then we are marrying off the "unmarried" and the "married" as well, so this causes a contradiction. Therefore, we can only marry off the "unmarried" to other "unmarried" men or women. Once any of these men or women has become married, they can't be included by this verse anymore. So logically to reach a polygamous situation, a man must marry women by two, by three and by four at the same time. This does not seem to be possible or acceptable. Rule #2: In a society, God is commanding us to only marry off the unmarried. Rule #3: Verse (4:20) Taking one wife in place of another: If you wish to marry another wife, in place of your present wife, and you had given any of them a great deal, you shall not take back anything you had given her. Would you take it fraudulently, maliciously, and sinfully? Taking one wife instead of another means there is a pre-requisite of divorce before another marriage takes place. This establishes rule number 2: Rule #4: A divorce must take place before a man marries another wife. This rule makes it even harder to have polygamy through the Quran. In fact, those two are the clauses of binding marriage contract (solemn covenant) mithaaqan ghaleethan" referred to in verse 4:21. "And how could you take it when you have gone in unto each other, and they have taken from you a firm (binding) contract. It is important to note that the same expression "mithaaqan ghaleethan" is also used in the Quran to describe what God took from the prophets: A solemn covenant "mithaaqan ghaleethan. Verse 33:7 (Yusuf Ali's translation) And remember, we took from the Prophets their Covenant. As (We did) from thee: From Noah, Abraham, Moses, And Jesus son of Mary: We took from them a solemn covenant. When a married "Muslim" marries a second wife, he would have broken the Quranic Rule#1 because he is already married and he also would have broken Rule#2 because he did not take a wife instead of another (divorce then marriage. Chapter 4 and "Polygamy Verses" Let us look into the first six verses of Chapter 4 especially verse 4:3 and verse 4:4 in greater details and establish: Who are the parties in marriage? What are the conditions? And are any of the rules established so far broken? Chapter 4: The women (an-Nisa' Translation: Yusuf Ali [an-Nisa' 4:1] O mankind! reverence your Guardian-Lord, who created you from a single person, created, of like nature, His mate, and from them twain scattered (like seeds) countless men and women; reverence God, through whom ye demand your mutual (rights) and (reverence) the wombs (That bore you) for God ever watches over you. [an-Nisa' 4:2] To orphans restore their property (When they reach their age) nor substitute (your) worthless things for (their) good ones; and devour not their substance (by mixing it up) with your won. For this is indeed a great sin. [an-Nisa' 4:3] If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, Marry women of your choice, Two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them) then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice. [an-Nisa' 4:4] And give the women (on marriage) their dower as a free gift; but if they, of their own good pleasure, remit any part of it to you, Take it and enjoy it with right good cheer. [an-Nisa' 4:5] To those weak of understanding Make not over your property, which God hath made a means of support for you, but feed and clothe them therewith, and speak to them words of kindness and justice. [an-Nisa' 4:6] Make trial of orphans until they reach the age of marriage; if then ye find sound judgment in them, release their property to them; but consume it not wastefully, nor in haste against their growing up. If the guardian is well-off, Let him claim no remuneration, but if he is poor, let him have for himself what is just and reasonable. When ye release their property to them, take witnesses in their presence: But all-sufficient is God in taking account. Who is the audience? Clearly the first verse answers this question: O Mankind! Ya ayyuhannasu" the audience is mankind/people in society. What is the topic? The subject in question is one of compassion, kindness, and responsibility towards a weak and disadvantaged group in society: the rights of orphans -verses 2 to 6. In the first verse, we are asked to be conscious of our Lord and Sustainer who created us from one living entity or one single soul. From this "entity" was created its "mate" or its "pair" zawjaha. From this pair originated and spread many countless men and women; the introduction is very fitting to what follows in the next few verses. How does the subject develop (verse 4:2) Orphans' possessions, rights and interests are really the crucial point. One must give/render unto/hand over to the orphans their possessions. They are requested not to substitute the bad for the good and not to consume the possessions of the orphans into theirs' as it is a great crime. The primary context is doing justice to the orphans and managing and protecting their financial affairs as can be found in several other verses: 4:10 (A Ali translation) Those who devour the possessions of the orphans unjustly devour only fire, and will surely burn in Hell. 6:152 (M Asad translation) And do not touch the substance of an orphan -save to improve it- before he comes of age… 17:34 (M Asad translation) And do not touch the substance of an orphan save to improve it before he comes of age… 18:82 (M Asad translation) And as for that wall, it belonged to two orphan boys [living] in the town, and beneath it was [buried] a treasure belonging to them [by right. Now their father had been a righteous man, and so thy Sustainer willed it that when they come of age they should bring forth their treasure by thy Sustainer's grace"… Now is 4:3 really about polygamy? It is important to point out here that there are several verbs in Arabic related to marrying from the root: Na Ka Ha" Nakaha: to marry Ankaha: to marry off Istankaha: to ask/seek for marriage. The verbs Nakaha and Ankaha have the same imperative form Ankuhu - This is the plural form. The first form of the verb Nakaha (to marry) can be found in many verses: 2:221, 2:230, 4:22, 24:3, 33:49, 33:53, 60:10. The second form of the verb (to marry off) can be found in 24:32 and 28:27. Ahmed Ali translation reads (verse 24:32. Marry off those who are single among you and those of your male and female servants who are righteous. Analysis of verse 4:3 4:3 "Wa-in khiftum alla tuqsitoo fee alyatama" If you can't do justice to the orphans. This part of the verse is crucial and has been consistently ignored by all interpreters. "Doing the orphans justice" male and female orphans) is about caring for them, maintaining them and looking after their inheritance. 4:3 " fainkihoo. This has always been taken to mean "Marry" in the imperative form but I will show that this meaning is invalid. The meaning must be " Marry off. 4:3…" ma taba lakum" This is taken as: who has become good to you" or "who are lawful to you" or "of your choice. I shall prove that these interpretations are against the Quran and create contradiction. The women in question are fully qualified from the Quran and do not need an additional attribute. The Quran is its own dictionary. Please note that the verb "taba" is in the past tense as is in 4:4 (fa-in tibna lakum AAan shay-in minhu nafsan) though there is a subtle difference. In 4:4, these women are giving a part of what they are entitled to "sadduqqatihina" of their own accord -God willing, I shall tackle the word "sadduqqatihina" when analysing 4:4 to show that it is not dowers. In 4:3, they are also giving something but not physical: They are giving their consent to a proposal or the idea of marriage. I rendered " ma taba lakum" to " who have agreed with you. It could also be rendered as "who happily have consented with you" about being married off. 4:3…" mina alnnisa-i. from the women" the only women mentioned in this verse, the verse before (4:2) and the subsequent three verses (4:3-6) are women belonging to the category of orphans. This is a unique group of women, therefore most common translations of the phrase " ma taba lakum" was wrong because they did not pick up an important link between verse 4:3 and 4:4 as well as other verses. 4:3…"Mathna wa thulatha wa rubaa" also used in 35:1) means: by two, by three and by four (In other words in groups of two, three or four, this meaning therefore has been ignored because it does not fit easily with what traditional interpretations want to find) It is sure this does not mean two three and four because two, three and four in Arabic are: ithnaan, thalatha and arbaa' and not mathna, thulatha and rubaa. One must accept that nobody marries two three or four wives at the same time! But that's exactly what it means if we take "ankuhu" as Marry instead of Marry off. Please also note here there is no mention of "lawful to you" Muhamed Asad) or marry the mothers of the orphans (Rashad Khalifa. 4:3…" fa-in khiftum alla taAAdiloo" If you fear you can't be fair (in the marrying off by two, by three and by four. 4:3… "fawahidatan" then only one, this refers to: If you fear you can't be fair" 4:3…. "aw ma malakat aymanukum" lit: or what your right hands possessed, ma malakat aymanukum" MMA) can be found in the Quran to refer to different groups of people and women in different situations. The context is very important; this is not referring to slaves or captives. Several articles have been written regarding the expression: ma malakat aymanukum" and I have been looking into this term throughout the Quran. It is a "logical" term that defines a group of people to contrast or complement another group (or groups) of people mentioned in the same verse (or consecutive verses. Examples of "ma malakat aymanukum" what your right hands possessed) I have used the following abbreviations: ma malakat aymanukum" plurial form) MMA "ma malakat yameenuk" singular form) MMY Verse 33:52 MMY=the women the prophet was already married to in contrast to women he is not married to. Verse 4:25 MMA=believing (female) slaves in contrast to free believing women. Verse 4:24 MMA=believing women married to unbelievers (who they fled from -verse 60:10- in contrast to believing women married to believing men. My understanding of this term from other verses such as 70:30 and 23:6, it is referring to wives/husbands married before "Islam" revelation in contrast to spouses in marriages after the revelation (azwaaj (spouses) literally meaning pairs. The expression "what your right hands possessed" is referring to a category of women who are on one hand similar to orphaned women in terms of needing care and protection, but at the same time, there is a contrast because they have not go an entitlement to an "inheritance" as orphans would. If the expression "ma taba lakum" is taken to mean: who has become good to you" or "who are lawful to you" or "of your choice" there would not be any need to add another category: what your right hands possessed" as women who has become good to you, lawful to you or of your choice should also encompass what is perceived to mean "slaves" or "captives. Therefore the clause "or what your right hands possessed" would become unnecessary. The meaning that would suit "what your right hands possessed" is "those who you have a pledge (or duty) to care for. thalika adna alla taAAooloo" this is better than getting into hardship (this refers back to the first clause: if you fear you can not do justice to the orphans…. The verb "3aala" in the form "taAAoolloo" means getting into hardship or financial difficulty. Therefore: The marrying off by one (instead of by more than one at one time) is to be fair to all the orphaned women. The principle of marrying off is for the carer to avoid financial hardship and for doing justice to the orphans (not spoil their inheritance. In many cases, these orphans are related to you. It is still common in many countries that close relations take over the care of orphans when the provider of these orphans dies. 90:11-16 (Ahmed Ali translation) 11. But he could not scale the steep ascent. 12. How will you comprehend what the steep ascent is? 13. To free a neck (from the burden of debt or slavery) 14. Or to feed in times of famine 15. The orphan near in relationship 16. Or the poor in distress; As I said above the audience from verse 4:2 includes men and women carers. It is demeaning to assume that there is an imperative order to men (from God) to get married to orphans in their care, this goes totally against the guidance of God when dealing with vulnerable people in society. God will never ask any men to "marry" a number of orphans as this depends on their consent (or rejection. God will only ask us to do what is good for our own souls and guidance and be equitable to all disadvantaged people including orphans. One further point; in the verse prior to this one we are asked render them their possessions and not to consume it, are the male carers not doing exactly the opposite by marrying them? And what sort of God fearing people are we if the only way to be just and equitable to orphans is to marry them when God tells us in many verses to be generous and charitable to weak and disadvantaged groups in society? The primary context of the verse is fairness and justice in managing the financial affairs of orphans. "yataama" are both male and female orphans, however marrying off in this verse specifies only female orphans to enable them to have a good respectable start in their independent lives... Therefore, the verse could read like this: And if you fear you can't do justice to the orphans, then marry off the women (orphans) who have consented to by two, by three and by four. But if you fear that you will be unfair then (marry off) by one or what your right hand possessed as this is better than getting into hardship. Because this verse has never been understood properly before, I shall break it down to its main clauses to understand it better: And if you fear you can't do justice to the orphans, then: Marry off the women (orphans) who have consented to you by two, by three and by four. But if you fear that you will be unfair then. Marry off) by one or what your right hand possessed. This is better than getting into hardship. Now let us assume that the verse is about "Marrying" not "Marrying off" and see if it could also make perfect sense. And if you fear you can't do justice to the orphans, then: Marry the women (orphans) who have consented with you by two, by three and by four. But if you fear that you will be unfair then. Marry) by one or what your right hand possessed. This is better than getting into hardship. It only makes perfect sense if you ignore the first clause (And if you fear you can't do justice to the orphans, then. The first clause seems to be totally out of place, that's why I put it separate. Contradiction in the Quran! Now let us accept the meaning "marry" and break the clauses of verse 4:3 the proper way: And if you fear you can't do justice to the orphans, then: Marry off the women (orphans) who have consented with you by two, by three and by four. But if you fear that you will be unfair then: By one or what your right hand possessed. This is better than getting into hardship. Because the first and last clause are linked (ignoring the middle clauses) what we are exactly saying is (taking the "marry" option) And if you fear you can't do justice to the orphans, then: Marry the women (orphans) who have consented with you"…. This is better than getting into hardship. Does marrying the orphans in your care resolve your financial problems and do justice to the orphans? For most people, this would have been enough evidence to reject "Marry" option in verse 4:3 because this creates contradiction in God's word. It is interesting to note that we are told in verse 4:127 that we will find the mention of orphaned women (or female orphans) yatama alnnisa-i. Therefore the women referred to in verses 4:3-4 are the orphaned women. 4:127. Wayastaftoonaka fee alnnisa-i quli Allahu yufteekum feehinna wama yutla AAalaykum fee alkitabi fee yatama alnnisa-i allatee la tu/toonahunna ma kutiba lahunna watarghaboona an tankihoohunna waalmustadAAafeena mina alwildani waan taqoomoo lilyatama bialqisti wama tafAAaloo min khayrin fa-inna Allaha kana bihi AAaleeman "And they ask you judgement about women. Say: God will instruct you about them and you will also read in the book concerning the orphaned women to which you intend to deny what has been ordained to them and wish to marry them off, as well as to regard the vulnerable children, that you should be just in the matter of orphans. God knows whatever good you do. Verse 4:127 is again about marrying off the orphaned women and not marrying them. There are plenty of verses that deal with marriage, marrying an orphan is no different from marrying any other woman. Obviously what you give to the orphans is what is ordained/recorded for them through inheritance and not dowers (in verses 4:2-6 and 4:127. The vulnerable children are simply orphans (male and female) who have not reached maturity or a marriageable age yet in opposite to orphaned women (verses 4:3 and 4:127. In the verse above 4:127, God tells us that we will find in the book the mention of the orphaned woman with regard marrying them off and with regard to their inheritance, this is only found in the initial verses of Chapter 4(4:3-4. The addressed (audience) and their role in verse 4:127 are consistent: Carers responsible for the orphans and their financial affairs rather than carers and potential husbands at the same time (with "marry" and "dowers" interpretation. In fact the only answer found in the Quran regarding the "ruling" about orphaned women that those believers have asked for is verse 4:4. Verse 4:4, what do you give to the orphans? You give them "sadduqatihina" which as I said is not dowries or marriage portions, and you give it "nihlah" that is willingly without expecting a return for it. In marriage the groom seeks a wife, a bearer of children, a companion and a supporter in return. There is no other single verse in the Quran that deals with marriage and uses any form of "sadduqatihina" to mean dowers. This word has been translated as "dowries. due dowries. free gift of their marriage portion" I shall now give examples of what the groom is to provide in a normal marriage from the Quran: 4:24-25 (Ahmed Ali translation) 24- Also forbidden are married women unless they are captives (of war. Such is the decree of God. Lawful for you are women besides these if you seek them with your wealth for wedlock and not for debauchery. Then give those of these women you have enjoyed, the agreed dower (Ujurahuna. It will not be sinful if you agree to something (else) by mutual consent after having settled the dowry. God is certainly all-knowing and all-wise. 25- If one of you can not afford to marry a believing gentlewoman (let him marry) a maid who is a believer. God is aware of your faith: The one of you is of the other; so marry them with the consent of their people, and give them an appropriate dowry (Ujurahuna. They are women (seeking) wedlock, and lechery, nor secretly looking for paramours. But if they are married and guilty of adultery, inflict on them half the punishment (enjoined) for gentlewomen. This is for those who are afraid of doing wrong. In case they can wait, it is better for them. God is forgiving and kind. 5:5 (Ahmed Ali translation) On this day all things that are clean have been made lawful for you; and made lawful for you is the food of the people of the Book, as your food is made lawful for them. And lawful are the chaste Muslim women, and the women of the people of the Book who are chaste, for marriage) and not fornication or liaison, if you give them their dowries (Ujurahuna. Useless shall be rendered the acts of those who turn back on their faith, and they will be among the losers in the life to come. 33:50 (Ahmed Ali translation) We have made lawful for you, O prophet wives to whom you have given their dower (Ujurahuna)…… 60:10 (Ahmed Ali translation) …. is no sin if you marry them provided you give their dowers to them (Ujurahuna. Ujurahuna" meaning "their dowers" is consistently and exclusively used in the Quran for what a man gives a woman as a marriage portion in a normal marriage. This textual consistency leave one in no doubt that "Sadduqatihina" in verse 4:4 does not carry the meaning "their dowers. It has been taken to mean that because of misunderstanding of verses 4:3 and 4:4. Translation of verses 4:3 and 4:4 And if you fear you can't do justice to the orphans, then: Marry off the women (orphans) who have consented with you by two, by three and by four. But if you fear that you will be unfair then only by one or what your right hand possessed, as this is better than getting into hardship. And Give the women their inheritance willingly, but if they; of their own accord, remit any part to you, Take it and enjoy it with right good cheer. Verses 4:5 and 4:6 The main thing to understand about those two verses is that they are referring to both male orphans and female orphans. If one is not sure, one is able to find clues in God's book: Feeding, clothing and speaking to with kindness" is towards both sexes of orphans. The testing and the handing over of possessions (once orphans have matured) in front of witnesses is to both male orphans and female orphans. The rich carer should abstain and the poor one may spend/use as much as is fair. Let us look at the overall picture of verses 4:3-6 in relation to the verses before 4:1-2 and the verses after 4:7 and onwards from the topic in question. I put emphasis on inheritance or dowers depending on the verse and the scenario: Scenario1: Marrying off and "sadduqatihina" orphaned women's inheritance 4:1 (humanity origins) 4:2 (inheritance) 4:3 (Marrying off) 4:4 (inheritance) 4:5 (inheritance) 4:6 (inheritance) 4:7 onwards (inheritance) Scenario2: Marrying and "sadduqatihina" dowers 4:1 (humanity origins) 4:2 (inheritance) 4:3 (Marrying) 4:4 (dowers) 4:5 (inheritance) 4:6 (inheritance) 4:7 onwards (inheritance) The odd one out can easily be spotted. When "sadduqatihina" is taken as inheritance (as it should) there is consistency of topics in verses 4:2-6 and the following verses (from 4:7. The audience and its role in verses 4:2-6 is also the same; that is: Carers responsible for the welfare and the financial affairs of the orphans. However when the meanings "marry" and "dowers" are taken, we find the audience switches from carers in 4:2 to husbands/grooms in 4:3-4, then it switches back again to carers in 4:5-6! The inheritance verses: Verses 4:7-13 (Yusuf Ali's translation) an-Nisa' 4:7] From what is left by parents and those nearest related there is a share for men and a share for women, whether the property be small or large, a determinate share. [an-Nisa' 4:8] But if at the time of division other relatives, or orphans or poor, are present, feed them out of the (property) and speak to them words of kindness and justice. [an-Nisa' 4:9] Let those (disposing of an estate) have the same fear in their minds as they would have for their own if they had left a helpless family behind: Let them fear God, and speak words of appropriate (comfort. an-Nisa' 4:10] Those who unjustly eat up the property of orphans, eat up a Fire into their own bodies: They will soon be enduring a Blazing Fire! an-Nisa' 4:11] God (thus) directs you as regards your Children's (Inheritance) to the male, a portion equal to that of two females: if only daughters, two or more, their share is two-thirds of the inheritance; if only one, her share is a half. For parents, a sixth share of the inheritance to each, if the deceased left children; if no children, and the parents are the (only) heirs, the mother has a third; if the deceased Left brothers (or sisters) the mother has a sixth. (The distribution in all cases ( s) after the payment of legacies and debts. Ye know not whether your parents or your children are nearest to you in benefit. These are settled portions ordained by God; and God is All-knowing, Al-wise. [an-Nisa' 4:12] In what your wives leave, your share is a half, if they leave no child; but if they leave a child, ye get a fourth; after payment of legacies and debts. In what ye leave, their share is a fourth, if ye leave no child; but if ye leave a child, they get an eighth; after payment of legacies and debts. If the man or woman whose inheritance is in question, has left neither ascendants nor descendants, but has left a brother or a sister, each one of the two gets a sixth; but if more than two, they share in a third; after payment of legacies and debts; so that no loss is caused (to any one. Thus is it ordained by God; and God is All-knowing, Most Forbearing. [an-Nisa' 4:13] Those are limits set by God: those who obey God and His Apostle will be admitted to Gardens with rivers flowing beneath, to abide therein (for ever) and that will be the supreme achievement. God is never Forgetful. In the above inheritance verses, there no mention that if a man has two wives/spouses or more, they share a quarter or any other portion. The portion of the daughters if there are two or more (and no sons) is two-thirds (4:11) after legacies or debts. When there is no ascendants or descendants, the brothers and sisters share in a third if they are more than two -after legacies or debts. If there are no children, the spouses inherit the quarter of the husbands' inheritance-after legacies or debts- 4:12. Verse 4:12 only makes concise perfect sense when there is no polygamy, otherwise if a man has 4 wives, it is not clear if each wife gets a quarter or a sixteenth or any other portion -after legacies or debts- unless we rely on other sources for inheritance rules. The war There is no mention of "war" that tradition wants to convince us of as a justification for "polygamy" in verse 4:3 (with "marrying" meaning. These verses are equally applicable at war and at peace. The more polygamous the society is the greater is the number of widows left behind and the greater is the burden on the society. However verses 4:3-4 are not about the widows of war, they are uniquely about orphaned women. Other misunderstood verses Some readers and many translators give some Quranic verses an interpretation influenced by polygamous assumptions. Let us look into verse 4:129 and put it into the context of the verse before it and the verse after it. imraatun khafat min baAAliha nushoozan aw iAAradan fala junaha AAalayhima an yusliha baynahuma sulhan waalssulhu khayrun waohdirati al-anfusu alshshuhha wa-in tuhsinoo watattaqoo fa-inna Allaha kana bima taAAmaloona khabeeran tastateeAAoo an taAAdiloo bayna alnnisa-i walaw harastum fala tameeloo kulla almayli fatatharooha kaalmuAAallaqati wa-in tuslihoo watattaqoo fa-inna Allaha kana ghafooran raheeman yatafarraqa yughni Allahu kullan min saAAatihi wakana Allahu wasiAAan hakeeman Yusuf Ali Translation reads: an-Nisa' 4:128] If a wife fears cruelty or desertion on her husband's part, there is no blame on them if they arrange an amicable settlement between themselves; and such settlement is best; even though men's souls are swayed by greed. But if ye do good and practise self-restraint, God is well-acquainted with all that ye do. [an-Nisa' 4:129] Ye are never able to be fair and just as between women, even if it is your ardent desire: But turn not away (from a woman) altogether, so as to leave her (as it were) hanging (in the air. If ye come to a friendly understanding, and practise self-restraint, God is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. [an-Nisa' 4:130] But if they disagree (and must part) God will provide abundance for all from His all-reaching bounty: for God is He that careth for all and is Wise. Verse (4:128) is about a woman fearing aversion and desertion from her husband. Verse (4:130) is about a husband and wife parting from each other. Verse (4:129) is not about polygamy but is about divorce and women' rights. It is a statement of fact that in divorce, it is not possible for all divorcing men to be fair in settlements with all divorcing women, but even so women should not be left "hanging" without a settlement of some sort. In brief the women here are not one man's wives. Prophets and their wives in the Quran: It is interesting to note that on the exception of prophet Muhammed, none of the other prophets mentioned in the Quran had more than one wife: Adam (verse 2:35-Ahmed Ali translation. And we said to Adam: Both you and your spouse live in the Garden, eat freely to your fill wherever you like, but approach not this tree or you will become transgressors. Abraham: Contrary to biblical tradition, prophet Abraham was mentioned as having one wife (verse 11:71-72) His wife who stood near, laughed as We gave her the good news of Isaac, and after Isaac of Jacob. She said: Woe betide me! Will I give birth when I am old and this my husband aged? This is indeed surprising. Please also check 51:29-30 Zachariah (3:40) How can I have a son, O Lord. he said, for I am old and my wife is barren. Thus. came the answer; God does as He will. Also check 19:8 and 21: 90! Lut (11:81) The angels) said: O Lot, we have verily been sent by your will never be able to harm you. So, leave late at night with your family, and none of you should turn back to look; but your wife will suffer (the fate) they are going to suffer. Their hour of doom is in the morning: Is not the morning nigh. Moses (28:27-28) He said: I would like to marry one of these two daughters of mine to you if you agree to work for me on hire for eight pilgrimages. And if you stay on for ten, it is up to you. I do not wish to impose any hardship on you. God willing you will find me a man of honour. Moses) said: This is (agreed) between you and me. Whichever term I fulfil, no injustice will be done to me. God is witness to our agreement. Prophet Muhammed: It is worth noting that the marriages of prophet Muhammed (known through the Quran) were commanded by God: 33:37, 33:50) and that these commands were uniquely addressed to him: 33:50: …This is a privilege only for you and not the other believers, We know what we have ordained for them about their wives and those whom their right hands may possess, so that you may be free of blame, for God is forgiving and kind. These marriages had social, political and educational purposes, and there was an additional condition with them: he was not allowed to divorce his wives.

Lowkey Coldplay :D.

Do anyone know when coming out this movie, ill be happy if someone know. thx

Great timing: We are taking our daughter to Disneyworld in 2014 for the first time. (It's also our first time going too. I guess I am looking for any insider information you can provide me with? We're going in October and my daughter will be nearly 3 when we go. Thanks in advance! Let's see. my best advice is to always start in the back of the parks and work your way forward. So many people will walk through the gates immediately go to the first ride they see. For example, Spaceship Earth at Epcot and Manta at SeaWorld are both the first things people see. The first thing in the morning the lines for both will be huge (like an hour) but around 1:00 PM they will be dead. Around October is a great time so everything should be ok wait time wise. However, there are really popular rides like Soarin at Epcot and Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios so you may want to get a Fastpass for those first thing in the morning (unless you are staying on property and already have Fastpass+ reservations. Do you have any tips/tricks I should know about before we go? My daughter loves Tinkerbell and Minnie Mouse so those two characters are must-sees. Things change quite a bit, but as of now you can only meet Tinkerbell at Magic Kingdom. Minnie is at every park but I suggest meeting her at Epcot or Hollywood Studios because in both parks she wears her traditional red dress. At Animal Kingdom she is in a safari type outfit and at Magic Kingdom she is in a kind of weird pink fluffy gypsy costume. I personally like her best in her original dress. However (as of now) only at Animal Kingdom you can meet Mickey and Minnie together. Some toddlers can get scared of the characters so you might want to do a "test" with another character so she doesn't burst into tears at the sight of Minnie (which is not a pretty picture. Have you seen Blackfish? If so, has it changed your views of Seaworld, and do you think you would work there again? No, no, and yes. I don't want to give Blackfish any money or views on CNN or Netflix. I have meet and spoken a lot with trainers and others who care for animals and there are the nicest people ever (except for this one kind of weird lady who works with the dolphins. They are not evil people. From personal experience I have never, ever seen anything questionable regarding the animals. I could get into a whole rant but in summary the people who made Blackfish are very anti-captivity, so the whales could be living in a gold coated mansion eating rare beluga caviar and they would still have a problem since they are not "home. which in itself is ridiculous since most of them have no idea what the ocean is and consider SeaWorld their home. For being in captivity they live in one of the largest, cleanest and well-maintained pools possible. And yes, if a good opportunity was offered I would go back. The only reason I left was because I had an internship with specific end date. They offered to keep me on part-time after the internship but I couldn't make it work with my schedule. I was primarily concerned with the welfare of the trainers, not the whales, after watching it. I'm sure they understand there is some inherent risk to getting in a tank with something called a killer whale, but to keep a whale that has a record of killing people seems a bit insane to me. I always thought it would be a good idea to drop the "friendly" orca image and portray them like they do sharks. When I was a kid taking field trips to SeaWorld Orlando, my favorite part was the sharks and once we were lucky enough to see a feeding behind the scenes. How cool would it be to keep the whales in that big central pond and drop a few seals or whatever in during feeding time? Oh, they definitely understand the risk. I started working there the year after Dawn died and they understood that she died doing what she loved and accepted the risk associated with it. To be fair, the name "killer whale" comes from sailors who would see the orcas kill other whales and would call them "whale killers. Over time the name flipped. It can seem insane to keep a whale will a history of violence but where else would he go? He can't be released because he most likely doesn't remember how to hunt and most likely has no immunity to the viruses that other whales in nature could have. The trainer are also pretty confident that he saw Dawn's ponytail and thought it was an EED (enviromental enrichment device aka toy) since the whales are often given ropes to play with. I'm not sure if Blackfish covers this but the trainers have concluded that it was a tragic accident and unintentional. It's no different than a pet dog underestimating their strength. As for portraying whales like terrifying sharks. SeaWorld is actually trying to stop the scary "Shark Week/Jaws" images of sharks out there. Sharks only kill about 5 people worldwide a year and are unfortunately given a bad image. As for feeding live seals to the whales. as if PETA doesn't hate SeaWorld enough. Blackfish does cover it, you should watch it. I'm sure I will one day. It just makes me really angry to think that people are basing all their information on something so obviously skewed and biased. Watch it & you can point out what parts you don't think are true. It's a bit silly arguing against a movie you've never seen. I agree, that's why I try to talk about it in general. Cites peer-reviewed articles for things like orca's age in captivity vs. wild, dental issues with captive whales, etc. Link to. But she self-mutilates. because she doesn't belong with us. No matter how much time or money or attention we give her, this is not right, and it makes her mentally ill. But the raking? The neglecting the familial nature of pods and separating calves from their mothers in the matriarchal group tendencies? The fact that the orcas are so bored and unstimulated and trapped in captivity that they chew on the pool coverings at Loro Parque, or the bars at Sea World until they break their own teeth? From what I know these whales can not be released because they have 1. spent too much time in captivity to properly function in the wild, 2. they have no natural immunity to the viruses in the wild that other whales and dolphins have, something that a sea pen can't save them from since they are sharing the same water. It would be like you and me suddenly finding ourselves in the middle of the Congo. While humans do live there, we don't have an immunity to some of the horrible diseases that we could contract. We also have no skills. I don't know about you, but I can't build a shelter or making a hunting tool since no one has ever taught me. Has the bad publicity affected any of the business of sea world? And how does the current staff feel about working for seaworld after the whole black water deal? I don't think is has affected anything financially since I didn't have a job in corporate but I have read some stuff from the Orlando Sentinel that says its stock has been pretty steady. Are you talking about Black Water the group that bought SeaWorld or Blackfish the movie? What was the best thing about it? What was the worst thing about it? Applies to any place. Best - it looks good on a resume (especially Disney. I just graduated with my bachelors degree so it is better than any other standard college job. Worst - The heat, the people, the drive (I live about 45 minutes away when traffic is good) working super early or super late, and did I mention the people. Guests can be very rude sometimes. I work retail so I understand that people are douches. But yeah it would look great on a resume! What is great is that when people see Disney on your resume they know you are excellent at guest service. In fact, I went into an interview for a job which includes answering phones a lot of phones and the first question was "How much guest service experience do you have. My answer was "Well, I work at Disney. so. a lot. I got the job and have been working there since August! I'm sure you deal with college program kids all of the time but i did my program in spring 2006 and can't tell you how intrigued people get when i say i worked for a semester in disney world. It sure is a conversation starter. I worked at Disney while I was in college but wasn't a CP. I did hang out with them more off-stage since were are all the same age. I kind of feel bad for some of them. A lot of them don't work in a field they are studying and I know some who stay on after their program, which means they drop out of school. My brother's friend was in culinary school and got a great job in Cat Cora's resturant at the Boardwalk Resort, but I meet way too many "interns" flipping burgers, selling T shirts and sometimes working as custodians or housekeepers. Word of advice to those out there thinking about the program - remember any internship should be about getting relevant work experence in your field of study. Seriously consider if this expereince will help you acheive your career goals. The most ridiculous thing you've ever heard a tourist say? Oh look, the tree from Avatar. DAK was built in 1998. Avatar was made in 2009) Oh look, the tree from Lion King. What tree? Rafiki's. Oh look, the tree from Up. Again, too old. Also, what tree. Oh look, the tree from Ferngully. Not Disney) Oh look at the big tree. What tree. Seriously, you can't see the 14 story fake tree with florescent green leaves. Oh god. Checking if this was me. When did you hear the Avatar comment? How old was the person who said it? Oh I hear this nearly once a day from all age ranges. It doesn't help that Avatarland (or whatever they will call it) is going to be built. Which, by the way, is going to be soon since (you didn't hear it from me) Camp Minnie Mickey is going to be roped off in a few weeks. Say goodbye! My cousin works/used to work at disney do you know a stevie nelson? No sorry. Disney is HUGE with tons of people. Have you seen the documentary 'Blackfish' Would you say it is an accurate portrayal of SeaWorld's treatment of its showcase animals and employees or is it sensationalized activism? I haven't seen it because I don't want to give it money or views on CNN or Netflix but I can tell you that getting your information about SeaWorld from it is like getting your marijuana information from Reefer Madness. It is definitely sensationalized. I know that I shouldn't really say much about it without seeing it but anyone who follows the hype about it online gets the premise. See the above comment for more of my opinion. Raising animals on a farm as live stock and treating them with respect as a food source for survival is different than keeping them in cages for shit and giggles. Humans are part of the top of the food chain. With your logic it's okay to treat animals like shit because we eat them anyway. Sigh. There is nothing I can say to change your mind and there is nothing you can say to change my mind so why are we having this pointless anonymous internet battle? All I can say is that I have never seen anything wrong with the way the animals are treated. They are safe, they are not injured, and they can't be released because of how long they have lived in captivity. If it helps, I have seen a number of animal shows where they just don't feel like performing, and do you know what happens? They don't. I've seen a sea lion show get cancelled about two thirds into the show because the sea lions refused to go on stage and the trainers didn't force them. If you are concerned about the animals, I can tell you that they are good hands and are being taken care of by loving, dedicated people. Probably better than the animals on live stock farms. Any behind-the-scenes secrets you could tell us about Disney World? Everyone knows by now about the utilidors under Magic Kingdom, but not many people know that in the utilidors there is a cast cafeteria with a Subway. So yes, there is a Subway under Fantasyland. There is also a small tunnel under Epcot around the back of Future World. Not to ruin your childhood, but 90% of Mickey Mouse's are girls. In fact, I haven't meet a male Mickey yet. You have to be really short. However, I did meet a tall girl who was Goofy. What's your worst horror story from either of your three places? Disney - see above about a toddle having a seizure. SeaWorld - I has a camper get "bit" by a dolphin. We were feeding the dolphins and it had it's mouth open waiting for a fish. The camper kind of accidentally put her hand in it's mouth and got scraped by the teeth. She wasn't hurt or bleeding. It's not really a horror story (we had to take kids to the first aid station nearly every day) but it was an interesting visit. A few hours later everyone (including the camper) was laughing about it. Universal - A co-worker was straightening some strollers in front of our ride when a lady in an ECV (electric scooter) ran over her foot without apologizing. Those things are heavy and she is lucky she didn't break or fracture anything. She was sitting in the back with an ice pack on her foot for a few hours though. I personally was run over by a cart I was pulling that similar to a pastry rack chefs use. I was pulling (not pushing like I should since I am short and can't see over it) and tripped. It was embarrassing since I was "on-stage" and some guests saw. I had some pretty bad bruises on my knees and palms. Do you ever go into the Hall of Presidents and just fuck around? Has anyone ever? No, but one day I was messing around Hollywood Studios and ended up at the Animation building at the "Where Disney Characters Come From" show. It was an hour before park close and Fantasmic was on so no one was there. I ended up hanging out with the cast member who were sitting there doing nothing and we went into the show where the cast member "talks" to the screen and heckled him. Since it was just us it ended up being really fun and the guy improvised a bit. Also, I was in Epcot with a friend and we woke up really early that day so we went to the American Adventure show for the single purpose of taking a nap. At Universal I worked at a similar type attraction so a bunch of us would mess around and give the R-rated show occasionally when no guest are around. Do you enjoy it? Honestly, I don't mind kids for a short period of time, but after a while they annoy the hell out of me. It depends on the day. My job at SeaWorld was an education camp intern (basically a camp counselor) so you have to love them. Every time I feel down about it or want to rip my hair out I remember that it is better than sitting behind a counter all day scanning groceries or waiting tables. Has anyone mentioned anything to you about extinct attractions (the attractions that once operated in the parks but no longer now) If so, how did you explain to the guests about them? Yes actually! I was at Universal around the front of the park when a lady who didn't speak English well handed me a piece of paper. On them were the rides Jimmy Neutron, Jaws, and Back to the Future. I tried explaining that BttF was now The Simpson and JN was now Despicable Me and Jaws was a pile of sand (now nearly the new Harry Potter extension. After that didn't work I just kind of said, No, gone. and she got the idea. also, if you have any knowledge of extinct attractions, have you met other CMs who have once worked on them or at least some recollection of it? While I was working there the Transformers ride at Universal Hollywood opened so people would come up to me asking where it was. When I told them that it was in California they would get mad because they saw a commercial for it or something and they told their kids that they were coming to Universal to see the Transformers. In that situation, there is nothing you can do but smile and nod. From Australia, I salute you: I know a few people who worked on attractions like Jaws but no good stories about it. I'm a percussionist, in Marching Band for my high school, and I'm really interested in the music groups that perform at the parks (like the Jambalaya Jazz Band, etc. How difficult is it to obtain a job in one of those aspects of the park? Not really sure. You can always go to an audition and see for yourself. However I am assuming that you are very talented and dedicated to your art so I encourage you to try being an independent musician. I know actors and performers who dream of performing for Disney but get "stuck. If you do go for it and get in, definitely have an exit plan. Too many people dream about working for Disney and get burnt out and end up plateauing instead of growing. Thanks for the advice! I'm going to major in a media related field, but music is my passion. If you happen to go to a local university like UCF or Rollins you can always try to get a part-time job to see if you like it while earning your degree! Does WDW ever feel crowded? Disneyland obviously being a smaller park you really start to feel the crowds swelling. Getting down main street with stroller blockades everywhere is quite a feat... Not sure how it is there. Yeah, it can feel really crowded especially around peak times. Epcot is larger and has less walkways, just a lot of open space so that makes it a little better. Now lines seem even longer since there are all the Fastpass people cutting the lines. If you are going on a peak time it's not even worth it. What character? Not a character. Trust me, there is a lot more to do than be a character, although I do spend time with them occasionally. Any tips for avoiding crowds at Disney? I realize it's always at least somewhat crowded but are there times of year/ days of week that certain parks are less crowded? Never. Go. On. Christmas. If it seems like a great time to go because there is no work or school than everyone else will be there too. The best times seem to be mid-January through mid-February (excluding Marathon Weekends - look it up) mid-April through mid-May, and September through November excluding Thanksgiving week. Avoid going on the first ride you see walking through the doors because that's the first ride most people want to go in. Start from the back of the park and work forward. Know which rides are the busiest and go to them first (for example, Soarin at Epcot, Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios, Antarctica at SeaWorld, and Transformers at Universal Studios are really popular and have huge lines throughout the day that can stretch to two hours. At SeaWorld you also have to be careful since there are a lot of shows. Turtle Trek is right next to the dolphin show so when the show ends everyone goes there and the line goes from 10 minutes long to 40 minutes long. The same is true (if not worse) with Wild Arctic which is right next to the Shamu show. As soon as Shamu ends the line gets very long. Make sure to plan to do these rides during the shows so you don't get caught by the crowds. Você fala Português? No, no Portuguese! No Brazil! No hablo espanol! I love when people ask if I speak a foreign language than keep speaking in it even though I say that I don't understand them. The scariest sound a theme park employee can hear is the sound of 200 Brazilian teenagers chanting in Portuguese, slowly making their way closer to you. Are their employment tactics still really unethical? e. g blacks, Asians, fat people, ugly people etc get the menial jobs like food stalls and cleaning and only 'perfect' people get glamorous customer facing jobs? I've never heard that or seen that. However you do have to have a certain "look" if you want to be a face character (a princess, Peter Pan, etc. Is that 'look' beautiful and white? It is if it's a white character. There are face characters of color though like Tiana, Prince Naveen, Pocahontas, Mulan, Jasmine, Aladdin, and some of Tinker Bell's fairy friends. The look just refers to how closley the person resembles a cartoon character. However there are a ton of people of all shapes, sizes, and ethnicities in other jobs that put them in contact with guests. Besides, almost every job is menial anyway. I went to Disney a few years ago and saw a couple of parents get in a fight over strollers. How many fights do you see (verbal or physical) I haven't personally seen any huge fist fight, although I did go on break at Universal and see some security guards taking statements since one just happened (I think it was two guys fighting about someone skipping the line or something stupid like that. I've seen a few angry comments and death stares between guests but nothing that escalated to violence. Most of the bad interactions are between guests and CMs/employees. I did have a guest who did not speak English yell at me because apparently I would understand words better when they were loud and angry. A fellow CM told me yesterday that a guest yelled at her after she told his four or five year old son to stop hitting a character on the back. Apparently that was an issue she had to talk to him directly about and "how dare you bring my son into this he doesn't understand. There is also a story of a man who grabbed Stitch's breast to see if he/she was a women in the costume and left bruises. He was kicked out and not allowed to come back. There is also a story of a guy who jumped on Chip or Dale's back, making him/her fall backwards down a short flight of stairs and hit her head. Apparently he wouldn't of done it if he knew a girl was in the costume (which is was. He was also kicked out. How big would you say the "tunnels" that are located under the Magic Kingdom are? The Magic Kingdom ones are pretty big. I've only been there twice for training since I don't work there (I'm mainly at Animal Kingdom, although I work in other areas too. They have dressing rooms, supply rooms, break rooms, a hair/cosmetology studio, work out and dance rooms, and a cafeteria with a full Subway. I did get to walk under the castle, which was pretty cool. I have more experience with the smaller one under Epcot. Fun fact about that one is the entire Epcot bakery is underground. If you Google "Magic Kingdom tunnels" and look under images they actually have some maps. What exactly do you do as a cast member? I don't really want to say because I don't want to get in trouble for spilling secrets. I already am weird enough by working for all the parks so to get too specific might make it easier to track who I am. I know, that sounds really paranoid and you have every right not to believe me but I can tell you that I work mostly at Animal Kingdom, that I have worked at Epcot and Hollywood Studios as well as some of the resorts and I spend time with characters on stage and backstage occasionally. Have you maxxed out on Men in Black? Lol funny you ask because my brother and his friend did. He had an annual pass and his friend worked there so they went on a few times and made friends with the people there and they let them stay on for a couple of hours. After a few dozen times and some help from the MIB-ers they maxed it out. He hasn't revealed all his secrets but two big hints are to hit the pug as soon as the ride begins and hit the bulls-eye on your own car, not the other one you compete against. He might be on the page now so if he feels like revealing himself he might be able to give out some more hints. Is this something you've always wanted to do? And how did you start? No not really. I've always just fallen into it. My first job was at SeaWorld as a camp counselor/intern. I was looking for something to do for the summer that pays and looked fun so I applied and got in. After the summer ended I went back to school. The next summer I applied for a different internship and got an interview but didn't get it, and at the time the SeaWorld website would only allow you to apply for one internship at a time. So I applied for Disney and Universal. Universal got back to me immediately and hired me. About two months into working Disney called back and offered me an interview. However, they didn't have any part time positions available (which is what I needed since I was still in school) so they put me on a wait list. About a month later they called and said a position was available. I liked where I was working at Universal and the people were nice but Disney offered about 2 an hour more so I left. I was working there for a year when the summer rolled around again and I applied for the SeaWorld camp internship again since I really liked it, it had a lot of hours, and paid pretty well. They offered to keep me on after the summer but because of ANOTHER job I had just got, which is in my field of study, I couldn't accept since the days of the week overlapped. So now I work at Disney during the week and the other job on the weekends, plus I intern remotely for another company and I start a graduate class in a few weeks. Basically, I fell into all the positions. I would never have guessed that I would work for the three major parks here in Orlando. What is the best way to get you to give me my fastpass back? Say please! Jk, I have no idea what you mean. I don't work attractions at Disney. What college did you go to? University of Central Florida. Sic Em Bears! Hope you are ready for the Fiesta Bowl! I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Go Knights! We all want the dirt. Tell us the best of the worst from behind the scenes at Disney or at Sea World. Every day is different, but in recent memory. Best: The other day a little girl from the Make-a-Wish Foundation came to see Pluto and Goofy. We see a LOT of Wish kids and most of them actually look very normal since they are in remission or have an illness that doesn't require chemo. However, it was very clear that this girl was at the end of her time here. She was in a stroller and was being held up by pillows. She clearly didn't have much control over her muscles. This could make me sad, but it make me so much happier when I saw that she was smiling when Pluto got down next to her. Whenever I get down about my job I feel better knowing that this girl was able to do something that made her happy for just a few minutes. Worst: A couple of months ago I was with Pooh and Tigger when a toddler in the line starting having a seizure. It was terrible since no one knew what to do and the mother was freaking out. Luckily a nurse or doctor happened to be in line and some other guests starting helping out. Because of the chaos the line stopped while everyone tried to control the situation and call the paramedics. While this happened a guest tapped me on the shoulder and said, Excuse me, but the parade is at 3:45. Will we be able to get out of here in time. Now this child was laying on the floor not fifteen feet away and was clearly visibly having a serious medical emergency. It took everything I could not to curse this guy out. I just realized that you wanted behind the scenes info. Let me get back to you on that. As someone interested in working as a fur or face character, from your knowledge is it a good job/worth it! Thanks: It depends. See the above comment from the drummer. If you want to be a true actor it can be some experience but don't expect to me magically promoted without a lot of hard work. It could be good for a few month, but in my opinion, no it is not worth it. Audition to be a singer or dancer but like the drummer have an exit plan. Too many people get stuck doing the same things for years and they look back in life and realize they spent the last 10 years in a bear suit. On your birthday you do, at least you do at Disneyland. So I was just wondering if and where that applied at WDW. On your birthday you may get a cupcake at a sit down restaurant but that's about it. Knarpulous pretty much sums it up above. Little things happen here and there though. I brought my dad into the park and while we were ordering lunch the order got messed up which caused us to wait longer than average. We didn't complain or anything but because of that a CM gave us a free dessert.

Finally something about the Wendigo that didnt come from 4chan. After 😍😍😍😍😍. Omfg he said it. With the Mage Gauntlet right around the corner, I've decided to do a write up for all the characters, explaining their history, lore, and other important tidbits. After all, Gauntlets are a lot more fun if you're personally invested and while this is no substitute for playing the hero's game, this will hopefully influence you into picking a side. If you're already familiar with these characters, then please share any important info you think I've missed or any fan art/personal stories. If not, then I hope this will have influenced you enough to choose someone for reasons besides bandwagoning. At least for the first round, like me. TL;DR: Linde: Gharnef killed daddy, time to kick ass. Also see through dress. Julia: Incest gives you the power to kill dragon gods. Sanaki: Toddler gets empire's worst job, becomes Pope. Tharja: Darkness and mega-thirst for Robin. Linde: Light Mage "No! Let me fight. With Princess Nyna's blessing, and the tome my father left me, I can wield Aura magic. Let me use it to avenge him. I want to destroy Gharnef myself. Linde is the daughter of Miloah, one of Gotoh's (a legendary mage) best students alongside Gharnef. She was raised in a palace as Pontifex Miloah was a great man respected by many. Thus, she's a bit sheltered about the outside world, atleast compared to the average country bumpkin. She was targeted by Gharnef's men, captured, and brought to a slave market before Marth frees her. She joins Marth's army to avenge her murdered father. After the war, she becomes Nyna's (the last surviving member of the Archanean royal family) most trusted individual. In her games, she is a true glass cannon. She possesses extremely high growths in Magic, Skill, and Speed while hilariously having a defense growth rate of 0. Her unique tome, Aura, normally requires having an B rank to be wielded and can only be wielded by female magic users. Linde however, can wield the 20 mt tome immediately as she is a direct descendant of the original owner, her father. Bit of a disadvantage for pre-support conversation characters I'm afraid. Not much to talk about them beyond their beginning role in the story I'm afraid. If you're looking for more reasons to support Linde, just take a look at her Shadow Dragon art as her Heroes art really does not convey how hot she is. Seriously. Also, because Cipher art tends to be really damn good (most of the time, sadly) here's Linde's Cipher Art. Julia: Naga's Blood "For the first time in my life I know what I'm here for. And that's to fight. I'm not scared anymore, Seliph" Julia is the daughter of Alvis and Deirdre, half-sister to Seliph, and inheritor of the Book of Naga due to her blood line. For the uninformed, in the backstory of FE4, when the Dark Dragon God worshipping Loptyrian Empire was on the verge of conquering all of the continent of Jugdral, the other dragon gods descended on the last stronghold of the resistance, blessing the fighters with the power of the dragons and holy weapons. Descendants of these warrior are essentially demigods when wielding their respective holy weapons. Julia has the blood of Saint Heim on her mother's side, the blood of the Mage Fighter Fala on her father's side, and the blood of Saint Maira on both sides. You might be confused on that last one. If her parents are from the same descendant, then wouldn't that mean Julia is the product of incest? Yep. To sum up the plan of Manfroy, the leader of the remnants of the Loptyrian Empire, he tricked two descendants of the Loptyr descendant Saint Maira, half brother and half sister, into falling in love and producing children so that the one that had Major Loptyr Blood, Major being the dominant and Minor being the recessive, would be the vessel for Lopytr, the dragon god reborn. Julia has Major Naga Blood while her brother, Julius has Major Loptyr Blood. In a way, Julia was destined to fight and kill her brother the moment she was born. When Julius was eventually possessed, he attacked Julia and Deirdre sacrificed herself to protect Julia and send her far away. The experience traumatizes her and she is found by Seliph and his mentor, suffering from amnesia. Fast forward a couple years as Seliph liberates Jugdral from the revived Loptyr Empire, Julia has been brainwashed by Manfroy and sent to kill Seliph. Luckily, killing Manfory and reuniting her with Seliph relinquishes her from Manfroy's spell and getting her the Book of Naga makes her the most broken unit in the game since it gives her +20 Skill, 20 Speed, 20 Defense, and +20 Resistence and then she utterly destroys the final boss. In her games, the power of incest/holy blood gives her some of the highest growths in the game, with a hilarious 100% growth rate in Magic. Just like in Heroes however, her speed and defense suffer in exchange. Overall, a very sweet and shy girl who has the blood of multiple demigods in her veins, destined to slay the Dragon God Loptyr and may or may not have feelings for Seliph because Jugdral is Incest Emblem. Original Art Cipher Art 1 Cipher Art 2 Vote Julia Sanaki: Begnion's Apostle "You stand in the presence of Sanaki, empress of Begnion! I am the apostle, the voice of the goddess. The Begnion Empire is the largest country in Tellius, easily larger and more populated (and more powerful) than Begnion's suzerain state of Crimea, the nation of Daein, and the Laguz nations. Begnion is a theocracy dedicated to the goddess Ashera. There are two ruling bodies. The Apostle is the head of country, said to be able to hear the voice of the Goddess. The Begnion Senate rules alongside the Apostle and are treated with just as much prestige. Begnion is rooted in ceremony and tradition with a copious amount of racism towards the laguz, or as they're called so affectionately referred to as "sub-humans. Begnion has a long history of enslaving the laguz. This racist culture reached its apex in the Serenes Massacre, when the heron laguz tribe was wrongfully framed for the assassination of Misaha, the 36th Apostle and the most beloved Apostle to have ruled. In retailiation, the Heron Tribe was eradicated by the citizens of Begnion, pretty much full genocide. Even though Misaha issued the Laguz Emancipation Act, many sections of Begnion's society continue the slave trade, particularly the Senators. So imagine being Sanaki and having to inherit this entire mess at the age of five. Sanaki is an incredibly wise and insightful leader but she's only 10 years old at the time of Path of Radiance and 13 years old at the time of Radiant Dawn. In exchange for an army to liberate Crimea from Daein's Mad King Ashnard, she uses Ike to do her dirty work and uncover a Laguz slave-trading ring that other Begnion nobles are participating in. Most notably, her callous and cold way she treats Ike and Elincia provokes Ike to go into full rant mode when he learns that she mostly yanked them around because she was bored. She and her Prime Minister Sephiran work to continue Misaha's work and make amends with the Laguz tribes but she has to battle the Begnion Senate every step of the way and by the time of Radiant Dawn, she doesn't exactly come out the victor. And that's not even getting into the fact that she hasn't heard the voice of the goddess since becoming apostle. In her game, Sanaki joins by the end of Radiant Dawn when the shit really hits the fan. She's basically Micaiah/Julia, extremely high Magic and Res, pitiful Speed and Defense. Doesn't help that Radiant Dawn is the worst game to be a mage in. She's able to wield every type of magic in the game, although you'd be hard pressed to find a reason to not use her Cymbeline as everything else weights her down massively, further reducing her already low speed. Original Art: Path of Radiance Original Art: Radiant Dawn Cipher Art 1 Cipher Art 2 Tharja: Dark Shadow "And I have a bit of a rebellious streak, I'm afraid. A. dark side. Tharja is a Dark Mage who hails from Plegia, though she does not care for the conflict between Plegia and Ylisse, Chrom's homeland. Tharja can broken down into two qualities, which can be further broken down. Her skill with curses and hexes and her love and obsession with Robin. With the exception of Robin, Tharja comes across as a rather cold individual, usually threatening those who bother her or get in the way of her plans of gaining Robin's affection. Her grim personality and sadism betrays her own deeply buried conscious, as evidenced in many of her supports where those she curses are usually sent to do labor for the greater good as Virion's support shows or her magic is used to bring peace to another as shown in Gregor's support, where he's able to make peace with the ghost of his dead brother. While she can fall in love, nevertheless Robin will always remain her number one priority as poor Libra discovered after proposing to Tharja that he will always remain second to Robin. (In the Japanese version, she does proclaim Stahl to be the most important person to her however. Tharja is Robin's notorious stalker. She counts the times he/she turns over in her sleep and even attempts to change her attitude to appear more 'normal' in an attempt to seduce/coax Robin. Fanon states that the reason Tharja is so obssessed with Robin is because she can subconsciously sense their connection with Grima. Supposedly, on the Japanese website, it's because she had a very. intimate dream about Robin. Make of that what you will. Perhaps the most unsavory aspect of Tharja, which will inevitably be brought up, is the way she treats her daughter Noire in the timeline where Grima reined uncontested and the future was fucked. After losing Robin and/or her husband, Tharja absolutely lost it and began treating her daughter Noire as nothing more than a guinea pig for her curses. Noire ends up as the painfully insecure and shy girl with a split personality of a malevolent demon. It's worth noting that this Tharja never taught Noire dark magic, perhaps out of fear of the risks they carry. Again, make of that what you will. And yes, Tharja is a quite the eye candy. Who wears see through clothes in a desert nation? In her game, Tharja is a monster partially due to class she's in. Dark Mage has access to Nosferatu, a buyable tome that restores HP of half the damage dealt. Because Dark Mage is a fairly tanky class in general, it's quite easy to throw Tharja in with her husband into a crowd of enemies and watch them suicide into her as she restores her HP with each hit, all the while laughing maniaclly. Original Art Cipher Art 1 Cipher Art 2 Cipher Art 3 Appearance in SMT x FE Male Mage Edition is halfway done, but I have finals to take so don't expect it for a day or two. Thanks for reading.

Pos. Club W D L Pts. Form 1 Santos 10 2 3 32 W W W L L 2 Flamengo 9 3 3 30 D W L W W 3 Palmeiras 8 6 1 30 L D D D D 4 Atlético Mineiro 8 3 4 27 D D W W L 5 São Paulo 1 7 6 1 27 D W W W W 6 Corinthians 7 6 2 27 W D W D W 7 Internacional 7 3 5 24 D W L D W 8 Athletico Paranaense 1 7 1 6 22 W W W L W 9 Botafogo 7 1 7 22 L L W W L 10 Bahia 5 6 4 21 D D W D D 11 Ceará 6 2 7 20 W L W W L 12 Goiás 5 3 7 18 D L L L D 13 Grêmio 4 6 5 18 D D D L D 14 Fortaleza 5 2 8 17 D L L W L 15 Vasco da Gama 4 5 6 17 W D D W L 16 Cruzeiro 3 5 7 14 D L L D W 17 Chapecoense 3 4 8 13 L D D L W 18 Fluminense 3 3 9 12 L L W L L 19 CSA 2 5 8 11 L D D L W 20 Avaí 0 6 9 6 D L L D L Copa Libertadores Pré-Libertadores Copa Sul-Americana Série B 1: The 13 th round match between Athletico Paranaense and São Paulo was postponed due to Athleticos participation on a cup competition in Japan… Yes. The match will be played in the 21 st of August. Fortaleza 0x1 Internacional 66: Wellington Silva (INT. Fortalezas new manager has a nightmare start to his reign after a defeat to Internacionals reserves. Fortaleza returned home with 3 points in their bag, after a solid win against 19 th place CSA. Internacional had a tougher matchup, and this is reflected in their boring draw against Corinthians in the last round. This was the first match of new Leão manager Zé Ricardo, a rather established name in recent brazilian football. With their middle of the week affairs in mind, Odair Hellmann put out a fully rotated team for this game. But before being able to kick-off the match, the game had to be delayed a few minutes due to a swarm of bees in one of the corner flags. Anyhow, back to the game. That disparity of starters against reserves was evident in the first half, Fortaleza were on top of Colorado through all the 45 minutes. A shame that the chances didnt materialize the way they wished, the 3 players behind the striker worked like a charm and were close to breaking Inters deadlock. Come the second half and the tide shifted, Leão do Pici couldnt keep the ball neither create anything whatsoever. This came at the expense of Inters players getting the feel of the match. After a tactic change, the gaúchos got their breakthrough and started to sail towards their first victory away from home for almost a year. The hosts didnt improve much from then on, and the visitors slim victory seemed fair after the poor display in the final half. Luckily, Fortaleza sit in a good position away from any prominent fear of relegation. Internacional keep firing on all fronts, alive in the knockout competitions and on the leagues top half of the table. On a side note, I think we all can take a bit of inspiration on how to solve our problems from the man who tamed the bee situation. But you know, dont actually kill shit, just a heads up. The nordestinos only return to action for the Brasileirão 16 th round. On the other hand, the gáuchos have a midweek affair before playing again for the league. Inter will travel to Rio de Janeiro in order to face Flamengo for the first leg in their Copa Libertadores quarter-final clash. Corinthians 2x0 Botafogo 42: Mauro Boselli (COR) 56: Everaldo (COR. After dispatching Botafogo, Corinthians remain undefeated in their thunderous run of form after the midseason break. This alvinegro clash put in front of each other two teams fighting for a Libertadores qualifying spot. Corinthians made a gentleman's agreement with Internacional to make the most tedious game possible, a scoreless draw in a Sunday morning hurts even the more optimistic soul. While Botafogo brushed off Athletico Paranaenses reserves last round, even through some VAR controversies along the way. You know, there is a place in heaven for players like Gatito Fernández. The keeper keeps pulling amazing performances week after week for this poor Botafogo side, sadly it wasnt enough to prevent this loss to Timão. And much of this win came from the feet of prodigy attacking mid Pedrinho, with yet another great game after his return from NT duty 一 the youngster played for Brazils U23 in the Toulon tournament. Well, if it serves in any way, shape or form, a highlight from Estrela Solitária s game was scholars Cícero and Gílson arguing about the recent controversies in which the Brazilian government got themselves embroiled. Before playing the Brasileiros next round, Timão will face compatriots Fluminense in the first leg of their Copa Sulamericana quarter-final meeting. Fogão dont have any other match schedule before their next game for the Brasileirão. Vasco da Gama 1x4 Flamengo 41: Bruno Henrique (FLA) 50: Gabriel Barbosa (FLA) 58: Leandro Castán (VAS) 61: Gabriel Barbosa (FLA) 82: Arrascaeta (FLA. Flamengo mercilessly slam dunk Vasco da Gama. The rivals met in Brasília, after the board of Vasco da Gama sold the teams right to home court. Arriving in the nations capital, Vasco had a solid win against Goiás and looked to solidify their good run of form. On the other end, rivals Flamengo thrashed Grêmios reserves before the meeting. Not really the focus of this Clássico dos Milhões, but the managerial duel outside of the four lines was interesting enough, with Brazils old guard in Luxemburgo and Brazilian footballs novelty in Jesus. Despite a first half with teams on almost even terms, Mengão s winger turned striker Bruno Henrique got his side on front. Quick trivia: a day earlier, the player got called up for the first time for Brazils national team. After returning from the break, Flamengo capitalized on the shaken state of Vasco with what would be another goal from Bruno Henrique, but the twat Gabriel Barbosa hit the ball last. The cruzmaltinos did pluck one back, but were instantly answered by another goal from the leagues top scorer. Some other highlights for the rubro-negros include goalkeeper Diego Alves two penalty saves, backing up his fame of a penalty stopper. Vasco couldnt get ever get back from those blunders and ended up thumped by their archrivals. The flamenguistas are now on full EMPOLGOU mode, and look thirsty at Santos spot at the top of the league. On the other end, the vascaínos rather forget this match ever happened, hopefully the inflated matchday income should help them with this. Although the Urubu will seize this moment, they have a hard match in the Maracanã against Internacional for the Copa Libertadores quarter-finals this midweek 一 so not a lot of time for celebrating. After the beating, Gigante da Colina will have to refocus on the meantime for their next match in the Brasileirão. Athletico Paranaense 1x0 Atlético Mineiro 37: Marcelo Cirino (CAP. Athletico skin past Atlético in close match. THE ATLÉTICO CLÁSSICO! The two arrived from 2x1 results in the previous round. Paranaense were on the short end of this stick, and saw their reserves lost to Botafogo. Mineiro were more fortunate, they swept Fluminense in the Independência. But before coming into this match, Athletico lost to Grêmio and now have to overcome a 2-goal deficit in their affair for the Copa do Brasil semifinal. Returning to Brasileirão action, Galo were the only team of the Série A who hadnt lost to Athletico in the Arena da Baixada after the changes in the stadiums turf. Fhuracão counted with a bit of luck for the first half, the team were in the bad foot against Atléticos strong start to the match. But after technical problems in the stadiums lights, the side got back on their A-game and finished the first 45 minutes ahead in the scoresheet. Galo tried to get on level terms, but were denied by a secure showing from the home teams goalkeeper Santos. This defeat stopped Atléticos chase to first place, the club were on a 6-game undefeated streak. As an upside the atleticanos remain 5 points off the leaders, same as last rounds. After the bad result in the middle of the week, Athleticos win get them closer to a Pré-Libertadores spot 一 same 5 points of difference. The paranaenses 一 despite being knocked out of continental competitions 一 have a midweek affair scheduled, theyll play São Paulo for the Brasileirãos 13 th round match which was postponed. While the mineiros will go forward with their campaign in the Copa Sulamericana, a quarter-final meeting with Colombias La Equidad. Grêmio 1x1 Palmeiras 13: Dudu (PAL) 88: David Braz (GRE. Grêmio B and Palmeiras B end up level in Porto Alegre. This was the first encounter of these teams in the upcoming week, as theyll also face each other in the Copa Libertadores next round. Grêmio returned home after a disappointing (but predictable) loss to Flamengo, while Palmeiras tied with Bahia after a controversial penalty call for the northeasterners. On another note, the tricolores had a superb start to their Copa do Brasil semifinals clash against Athletico Paranaense with an exciting win at home. Anyhow, in light of the teams next encounter, both managers put out either a fully rotated squad or a heavily rotated one. This game felt like a different one from each half. The paulistas let the gaúchos keep the ball throughout the match, but the key difference is the way each team handled themselves in those 90 minutes. The first 45 minutes were marked by Verdão s dangerous counters, which had a great start with Dudus goal. Yet another time where the Lei do Ex stroke in Brazilian football. Imortal made their possession more daunting in the last 45 minutes, maybe because the visitors let them have it without having a proper answer this time around. After a lot of knocking, the hosts found their equalizing goal, a monstrous screamer from centre-back David Braz. Yes, you guessed it, another instance of the Lei do Ex. Well, the Tricolor got away from that one, but are still in the bottom half of the table. A clear reflection on the teams focus on other competitions, but still a pretty lacklustre performance by this sides standards. Porco on the other hand keeps themselves near the top of the league, showing how their excellent squad can compete on multiple fronts. Well, you probably already know, but both teams will meet again this midweek. Grêmio and Palmeiras will play their encounters first leg for the Copa Libertadores quarter-finals. Cruzeiro 2x0 Santos 43: Fred (CRU) 47: Thiago Neves (CRU. Cruzeiros new manager has a dream start to his reign after an early Santos red card. Both teams lost in the Brasileirãos previous round. Cruzeiro returned home after a frustrating late draw with Avaí, while Santos lost to rivals São Paulo in bitter fashion. This match was the debut of Raposa s new manager Rogério Ceni, the man in charge returns to a G12 club after a lacklustre stint at São Paulo in 2017. And what about a tough challenge right from the get go, with a pumping Mineirão his side faced the league leaders. Luckily, Peixe s centre-back Gustavo Henrique got dismissed after a long minute of action in this encounter. With the numbers advantage from an early red, Cruzeiro pressed Santos non-stop for the first 45 minutes. The new managers changes saw striker Fred end his goal drought and put the mineiros ahead still in the first half. From then on, the hosts cruised the match with serenity, made even easier after a goal at the beginning of the second half. Argentinian coach Sampaoli tried to get his side back in the game, but couldnt never recover from the early blow to the team. This was the clubs third loss in this Brasileirão season, all of them away from home. For what its worth the santistas remain leaders of the league, but their point difference to second place dropped to a miserable 2. On the other side of the table, Cruzeiro got out of the relegation spots and now rest better at night. The two clubs have a week to rest for their next match, both dont have any other affairs scheduled other than their participation in the Brasileirãos 16 th round. São Paulo 1x0 Ceará 41: Daniel Alves (SAO. Written by /u/R1cchard A great debut: in a Juanfran play, Daniel Alves scores the winning goal for São Paulo against Ceará São Paulo was one of the protagonists in this transfer window, as they signed the 2019 Copa America Golden Ball Daniel Alves and Atleti legend Juanfran in a span of 2 days. São Paulinos filled Morumbi this Sunday afternoon to see both debut in Brazil, and they can be happy with what they saw. Playing as an attacking midfielder, Dani Alves displayed his usual class on the field, with dangerous shots from outside the box and some good passes. Later in the 1st half, Juanfran did a precise cross to Raniel, who only rolled the ball to Dani Alves to put it into Ceara's net. Another good performance came from SP GK's Thiago Volpi. Ceará was not scared of attacking SP and forced Volpi to do at least 2 important saves. But this wouldn't be a Brasileirão match without a referee/VAR polemic! This time I have to agree with the cearenses, as they claimed a penalty from Thiago Volpi on Felippe Cardoso on this play. The worst thing is that in one of the leagues (if not the most) that wastes more time on VAR reviews, the ref wasn't even called to watch the replay, so plenty of outrage came from many fans from all teams in the country. São Paulo is now only 5 points from leader Santos, with a postponed game to be played, and with the focus solely on Brasileirão, they are joining the race to challenge for the league title. Ceará stays safely in the middle of the table. Next round, in the weekend, both of these teams play against cariocas: paulistas fly to Rio to play against Vasco da Gama in São Januario, and cearenses receive Flamengo at Castelão. But before that, São Paulo plays the 13 th round game that was postponed, against CAhP at Curitiba this Wednesday. With a win the distance to Santos is cut short, making it possible to get the 1st place with a good combination of results next round. Fluminense 0x1 CSA 78: Jonatan Gómez (CSA. Written by /u/R1cchard In yet another disappointing performance in Brasileirão, Flu suffers an unacceptable defeat to CSA at Maracanã, resulting in Fernando Diniz dismissal. A sunny Sunday afternoon in Rio, at prime time, against 19th placed CSA. A perfect game for Flu to get some confidence back. Even Flu's president Mario Bittencourt challenged the fans: if there was >20k of attendance, the next game in Rio, against 20th placed Avai, would have R10 tickets. So tricolores from all around Rio went to Maracanã to watch Flu play against CSA 一 a team that didn't score a single goal while playing away after 14 rounds of the league 一 in a called 6 points game, as both are at the end of the table and a win would give Flu some breath. And it went on as expected, with Dinizbol focusing on keeping possession and trying to explore spaces through passes, while CSA played with their 11 players behind the ball and placing all chips on a precise counter from Apodi or Maranhão. With all these infos, and with these post-game stats, you are probably thinking that Flu rammed through the alagoenses and the fans went home with a smile from ear to ear. But that didn't happen, Flu failed to convert all these shots on goal 一 merit were is due, CSA's GK Jordi performance was a big reason for the clean sheet 一 and CSA explored one of the few chances they had with Jonathan Gomez, after a good and cool-headed counter from their attacking trio. Maracanã's atmosphere became heavy and shouts against Diniz were loud. At the final whistle CSA players and fans in the stands were filled with Joy, while the tricolores were screaming a popular Brazilian chant meaning "team without shame. With yet another defeat, Diniz was fired the following morning, getting only 26% of points disputed and having the 2nd worst defense in the league. At least the attendance challenge was beaten ¯ ツ) ¯ Flu will have a free weekend, as the game against Palmeiras is postponed due to bad calendar between CBF and CONMEBOL, but plays this Thursday and next week against Corinthians for the R8's of Sulamericana. CSA will also go against Corinthians, but at the weekend and at home for the Brasileirão. Bahia 1x1 Goiás 35: Fábio Sanches (GOI) 72: Alejandro Guerra (BAH. Bahias valiant efforts pay off as the 10-man side draw with Goiás. Bahia returned home with a great result against Palmeiras, where they tied with the previous league leaders despite the teams struggle to create meaningful chances. Goiás had another lacklustre match in the previous round, a sordid slim defeat to Vasco da Gama in front of their supporters at the Serra Dourada. New manager Ney Franco has had a rocky start to his new stint at the Esmeraldino, but luck seemed to change for the coach as left-back Moisés got sent off with 6 minutes of play. Esquadrão de Aço had to endure almost the entire match with a numbers disadvantage after the early fuckup, and to pile on their misery the team got behind in the score in the first half. The match shifted in moments of dominance from each side, but the baianos simply couldnt peg back at the visitors. After many attempts, the hosts got their equalizing goal to sparkle the fans once again. Still no more goals were scored, with the match ended in a draw. Since the return of the Campeonato Brasileiro, Bahia have only lost one match 一 but at the same time also have only won one match. The club remains in a comfortable position in the league table. The same could be said for Goiás. Although the recent results dont look good, the team has enough points to keep relegations thoughts out of their minds for the time being. The two clubs dont have any other matches this midweek, and only return to the pitch for the Brasileirãos 16 th round. Chapecoense 1x0 Avaí 72: Everaldo (CHA. A penalty call salvages a poor clássico between Chapecoense and Avaí. A southern clássico put in front of each other two catarinense clubs struggling against relegation from Brazils top tier. Chapecoense got hammered by Ceará in their previous match, while Avaí were denied their first win by a late Cruzeiro goal. If this sounds like the making of a horrid match, its because it was a horrid match. Clássicos in Brazilian football have this aura of unpredictability that always keeps them interesting, but this Chape and Avaí encounter lacked any kind of flair and/or excitement. The first half was dreadful with few shots by either side. The second one proved better, but still fucking shit. Superstar Everaldo came in to save Verdão do Oeste s day after being brought down in the box by Leão da Ilha captain centre-back Betão. One of the Brasileirãos top goalscorers, the striker slammed the ball into the net to end Chapecoenses 8-match streak of mediocrity. The green team managed to further themselves from last place and can now see the light out of the relegation spots. While on the other side of things, the blue team is sinking deeper and deeper into the drop to Série B. Both clubs only return to action for the Brasileirãos next round, so a week of rest for the damned. Player Club Goals Gabriel Barbosa 11 Everaldo 8 Bruno Henrique 7 Eduardo Sasha 7 Gilberto 7 Thiago Galhardo 7 Next round matches Saturday (August 24 th) Atlético Mineiro x Bahia at 11AM. Grêmio x Athletico Paranaense at 5PM. Sunday (August 25 th) Santos x Fortaleza, Vasco da Gama x São Paulo, and Goiás x Internacional, all at 4PM. Ceará x Flamengo, Avaí x Corinthians, and CSA x Cruzeiro, all at 7PM. Monday (August 26 th) Botafogo x Chapecoense at 8PM. Postponed: Palmeiras x Fluminense. The highlighted games are considered the ones to watch. The schedule is in BRT (Brasília Time / Brazil Time.

The joint taskforce setup Abwell's expertly crafted ambush. The three ships that made up our ambush taskforce started making hyperspace jumps. I was thankful that my separate computer core did not require me to go into hibernation while the calculations were being done. The squadron was cycling through the simulator, practicing their roles in the operation or revisiting previous eight on four encounters. I put some time in the simulator to reassure my fellow pilots I took the upcoming mission as seriously as they did. While a pilot was in the simulator, the simulation console could project any view of the battle onto the Lounges main screen. Thus the pilots waiting their turn could analyze the flying of the pilot in the simulator. It quickly became apparent that my approach to void combat was a little less timid and a lot more lethal than my Yanethi counterparts. Some whispered behind my back that since I was tied into the simulators network I was fudging the probability to make myself look good. I knew it was pointless to confront them. I also didnt want to give away that I had total access to the security camera feed. They would find out how little I had been cheating the simulator when we went against up against live targets. Abwell pulled me aside one day halfway into our multi-system jump. “Melvin, I have been watching you in the simulator. ” “Thank you sir, is there anything you think I should work on? ” Abwell shook his head for no and his ears twitched slightly indicating perhaps a bit of nervousness. “I am not sure any advice I give would improve your scores. Until I saw you tearing up those simulated Borja I wasnt sure some of those scores you have been posting were technically possible. You just dont fly like a Yaneth. ” “Is that a problem? ” I asked adding a little nervous ear twitch of my own, hoping to put him at ease. “It is if you are trying to lure the Borja into a trap. I am afraid if you cut a Borjas shield to half capacity in your opening pass the convoy is going to get spooked and run for a different system. ” “So you want me to fly normal? ” I asked hoping to keep my spot at the opening of the engagement. “Not quite, I want to swap you with Kedric, Talon 6. I will make sure Fala knows she is to employ your talents as aggressively as possible when the trap is sprung. Until then, I want you hiding behind the moon closest to the Shields exit vector. If things go badly I want you to be the first to come to our aid. ” I could tell Abwell was trying to put a positive spin on his decision, but it irked me that I was being punished for my excellence. As a long shot, I asked “If I am one of the fighters that launch early, wont I be babysitting a boarding torpedo full of marines? ” “Yes you will, I thought you like Marines. ” “I do, which is why I dont want to turn them into paste should I find myself in a position where I have to push my fighter past the thrust limiter. ” “If it comes down to it, you have my permission to jettison the Boarding torpedo, they have some maneuvering and guidance capability plus their own shielding. ” I was a little disappointed in my Squadron Leaders lack of empathy towards the Jarheads who were taking part in this operation. Their method of contributing to the war effort may be different, but they were no less dedicated to the protection of the home fleet than the Fighter Corps. On a more personal level many of them had accepted humanity, or at least the vision of humanity I had furnished them, as equals and potential future allies. If self interested Admirals like Devorah were blocking top down acceptance of Humanity into the Yaneths future, I would need young marines like the ones on the Hemele to advance my Agenda from the bottom up. “Im not going to dump a boarding torpedo full of live marines into the middle of an active fighter combat zone. They cant dodge and they cant shoot back. Twelve of your kills came from Torpedo intercepts, do you expect the Borja to be any more merciful? ” “No, I suppose not, but my mind is set, I cant have you spooking the convoy with your exceptionally accurate shooting and… enthusiastic approach to evasive maneuvering. ” Abwell had filed several reports detailing my ‘freakishly accurate shooting and psychotic, by Yaneth standards, levels of aggression. He apparently didnt want to confront me about this right now. I realized there was no way to talk my way back into being the first wing to engage the Borja, so I sought to mitigate the damage. “At least ask our colleagues in the marines to pick volunteers to ride in the boarding torpedo my fighter carries. Give them a chance to opt out of what could be a lethal ride. ” “I can do that, ” Abwell said as he walked off. True to his word Abwell opened a radio conference with the Marine Captain. He laid out the dangers of riding with ‘the human as well as his plan to use me as a fall back contingency if the early phase of the void fight went bad. She listened intently before letting Abwell know that I had made quite an impression on the Marines during the post-briefing mixer. She said she would assign a squad of dirt born veterans to my torpedo, as they would be more able to withstand my ‘enthusiastic maneuvering. There would be no point in asking for volunteers to ride with me. I was such a celebrity among her crew the young ones would be fighting each other for a spot on the torpedo. She already had to resolve several disputes over who gets to ride in Safas torpedo. Our three ships Jumped into a star system close to our main objective. After one final briefing on each pilots role in the operation, we made our way to the fighters. I helped Xishas get seated and he touched my hand before we closed the airlock. Abwell and I were the last to launch this time. When we got into the void we found it was busy with Boarding torpedos and our Sonine fighters from both Talon and Lupin squadrons. A strict 0. 01 kps relative to the motherships speed limit was enforced by flight control on all three ships. I sought out Talon 2 and made my way through the controlled chaos to her side. “Talon 2, this is Talon 5, I am with you, ” I announced as I came to a relative stand on her starboard wing. “I see you Talon 5, ” came the reply. I picked up on a little trepidation in her voice. My security feed had recorded Abwells conversation with her shortly after the one he had with me. She seemed even less enthusiastic about swapping wingmen than I was. Her objections focused around Abwells insistence that she set up more aggressive firing passes to maximize the amount of time on target I would get. She normally flew conservatively, only committing to firing passes after Abwell had drawn the targets attention. She had been present at several of my simulator sessions. As far as I could tell, she took my abilities seriously. Our turn eventually came to take our place next to the top section of the MAC Hemele. The familiar voice of Dorin came over my channel. “Full stop Talon 5, Ill get these ground pounders hooked up securely. ” I watched the reinforced cylinder maneuver its way close to the underside of my craft before a group of tethered EVS suits pushed it into its final location. The Torpedo blocked some of my visual sensors, but once the data feed was connected I had access to the boarding torpedoes sensors which somewhat compensated for the lost input. I made myself known to the Marines in my care. “This is Talon 5, I will be your chauffeur to docking port 3 on the primary objective. ” The Yaneth language had no word ‘chauffeur so I used a Borja loan word for a subservient driver. The humor was not lost on my Marine cargo who let out a grim chuckle at what I was implying. “Its good to hear your voice again Melvin. Are you ready to kill some Borja with us today? ” The marine NCO replied. “I have been looking forward to it ever since I left home, ” I replied honestly. “Did your captain explain the dangers riding with me entails? ” “Dont worry about us, Seventh Squad came from a high gravity Borja hell hole. We should be tough enough to deal with whatever your flying throws at us. ” “Do all the Marines with you feel the same way? ” “I dont know, do we Seventh Squad? ” the NCO turned to ask the other marines strapped to the torpedo. The rest of the marines made their consent known with an enthusiastic grunt of affirmation. “Right then, Ill try to give you warning before I do anything too crazy. ”. After the twelve boarding torpedoes were mated to their assigned fighters we returned to our respective docking rings. Out of solidarity for our Marine cargo, we stayed in our fighters rather than having one final stretch before the mission. The average Sonhine cockpit was downright spacious compared to the spartan confines of the boarding torpedo. The Parasite Carriers had moved closer to the Marine Assault Carrier. Yaneth technicians in EVSs were running sturdy cables between the three ships to establish the ruse we were a refueling Barge. The Shield of Kalador and her sister ship Heart of Mashan shutdown their transponders. Meanwhile, the MAC Hemele began broadcasting the identifier of Refueling Barge 846. Abwell and Lupins other squadron commander gave one last reminder to their pilots that radio silence was vital to the success of this mission. I had connected my physical avatars video input to a special port in the spartan interior of my cockpit so not even the weak signal of the portable communication device would violate the radio silence order. Satisfied the last pre-mission preparation was complete, the Captain of the MAC Hemele activated her jump drive and pulled all three ships into hyperspace. The mission timetable was planned down to the second to execute Abwells fabulous bit of orbital sleight of hand. At the appointed time, we emerged from Hyperspace and the first set of fighters peeled off and took their escort positions. The docking wheel rotated to line up the next pair of fighters with their exit vector. I tracked our progress on a virtual representation of the system map. When we made the shadow of the gas giant and the next pair of fighters detached. The docking wheel rotated so Fala, Talon 2, and I were lined up for launch. The seconds ticked down to when a moon would obscure our activities from the target station. I took note of Talon 7s position and orientation, as I would have to match it soon after launch to keep up the ruse. The moment came and the four fighters in the void executed a violent maneuver to stay in the moons shadow. Talon 2 and I detached from the Shield of Kalador, then put a bit of booster to get our craft to our assigned positions. I picked up the moon we would be using as cover on my sensors. It was tiny, no more than a large asteroid that had flown too close to the planet a few million years ago. I looked across the void at Fala and my cohorts from Lupin squadron, they were tensing in preparation for the hard maneuvering that would allow them to decelerate enough to get into the shadow of the moon unnoticed. Ensuring my radio transmitter was set to off, I warned my passengers of the upcoming maneuver. “Prepare for hard acceleration in 30 seconds” On my video feed, I watched the experienced marines leaned back in their crash harness letting me know my words had been heeded. The seconds counted down to zero and I flung the ship around in unison with the three other Sonhine fighters of our formation. We simultaneously initiated a hard boost taking us out of formation with our mother ships, freeing room for the final quartet of fighters to carry on with the mission. We made it down to the surface of the moon with no incident. I quickly found a nice little crater to hide my craft in and powered down my grav drive so that the moons weak gravity could guide me into the craters embrace. There was a light thump as we set down. The video feed from the boarding torpedo darkened significantly as the few portholes the marines could look through were blocked by the rock we were hiding behind. Over the audio sensor the NCO called out “Melvin can you hear me? ” “It is Talon 5 while we are out here, ” I replied. “You are maintaining radio discipline right? ” came the NCOs voice. “Of course, I have a direct link to your torpedos computer system including its speaker. There is no radio transmission whatsoever. ” “Great, would you mind telling us what is going on while we wait for our part of the operation? ” “Ill do my best, but when things get hot I will need to give my entire focus to the fighting, with the exception of warning you guys of hard maneuvering. ” “That is a better deal than we get from most pilots. ” The voice in the dark admitted. Alas, there was no action to report beyond the slow plod of time. The hyperspace arrival sensor started spiking as multiple Borja ships started arriving in the system. “They are here. ” I alerted my passengers. The radio signals in the system went from the solo automated docking signal of the refueling station to a flurry of live Borja communication. Authentication code words, demands to identify our refueling barge, followed shortly by demands for our ships surrender started filling the airwaves. “The Borja have spotted our ships, they are demanding our ‘refueling barge surrender, ” I told the Marines. The minutes ticked by and I picked up on a new batch of signals matching a Borja hunter pack moving to intercept our ships. “The hunters are voidborne. ” With my visual sensors blocked by the moon we were sheltering behind, I could only pass on my best interpretation of what was happening based on Talon 1 and Lupin 1s com chatter and the com chatter of the Borja pilots. “Our fighters are dropping back and splitting up to set up their firing passes. ” I listened in on the Borja Squadron frequency. Their commander was furiously trying to maintain discipline among his underlings who wanted nothing more than to chase off after the Yanethi light fighters. With threats of demotion and dishonor, he seemed to have convinced his pack members to keep formation for the time being. “The Borja are pressing on our carriers and ignoring the fighters for now. ” Talon 1 announced he was committing to his run followed shortly by Lupin 1s confirmation. “Our fighters are committing to their runs now. If the Borja keep formation, Talon wing will make contact first but will have a 1 to 2 disadvantage in firepower. ” I told the marines. “Has Talon leader lost his mind? ” one asked “Unlikely, Abwell can be a slippery bastard when he wants to be, ” I replied thinking about the many tricks the simulated Borja pulled on me in the simulator sessions the squadron commander presided over. I could only count down the seconds against the projected flight paths and closure rates. Abwell had to be bluffing with his intent to go through with this pass, the question was how hard would he try and sell it. I expected him to disengage his attack run at 3 klicks, but with no sensor feed, I could only estimate the closure rates. 3. 1 suspenseful seconds passed between when I expected him to disengage and his actual order to do so. Over the Borjas active com channel I heard the static interference of multiple cannons discharging. Any Borja self-congratulation for successful hits was cut short by Lupin squadron making what sounded like an unopposed firing pass. The Borja com channel was filled with cursing from one of the lower ranked members who had cursed the loss of 20% shields as Lupin 1 and 5 pelted his craft before racing out of range. Talon 1 checked in on Talon 6 who dutifully reported a drop of 3% shields from the last exchange. “The Talon wing drew fire to give the Lupin wing an unopposed firing pass, ” I told the Marines. “It looks like the hit exchange was 3 to 1 in our favor. ” The marines let out a hearty cheer at that news. The Borja commander was still yelling at his underlings to keep formation, insisting that once they had crippled the Refueling Barge they could pick off the fighters at their leisure. He had the formation contract their spacing so that the trailing element would be less exposed. Talon 1 was coordinating with his Lupin counterpart for their next combined pass. Lupin 1 committed first this time hoping the same attack would keep its novelty if they swapped roles. Sadly, Lupin 1 didnt have Abwells nerve and disengaged too early. I heard the Borja Commander barking new vector orders directing his pack to “drain their boosters to match the exit vector. ” I wanted to warn Abwell of the danger he was flying into, but his orders for radio silence and my faith that he would see through the Borjas maneuver adjust appropriately kept me silent. I heard the Tallon cannons open up briefly before Talon 1 started yelling “Break down down down. ” Talon 6 kept shooting for an agonizing 1. 7 seconds before his guns went silent and I assumed he complied with the order. It was too little too late. The Borja had accelerated along a vector close enough to Talon 6s line of escape that they had a long period of effective shooting time. I tracked the static disruption to the Borja communication which lasted an agonizing 5 seconds before the Talon 5 presumably left effective shooting range. “Lupin wing broke too early and it sounds like the Borja managed to hit Talon 6 pretty hard. ” I relayed to the marines. “Talon 6 head to breakpoint alpha” Abwell called out to his damaged wingman. Alpha was an intercept point close to Talon 2 and I. Abwell intended to bring us into play and a part of me was thrilled at the prospect of making contact with the Borja fighters with a nose full of killware. “Negative, Im not putting my life in the hands of your pet abomination, heading for breakpoint Carlie instead! ” Came Talon 6s response. Kedric was scared and running to his friend Hoben instead of following his wing leader's command. More than the ‘abomination jab, this lack of good order and discipline made me question if the Yaneth had the right mindset to fight a war, much less win one. I decided to spare the marines the insubordinate details and my opinion of their warfighting capacity only telling them, “The void fight is not going well, we might have to move and move soon. ” The sounds of restraints being tightened was all I needed to hear to know my passengers were ready for whatever may come. Fortunately, lack of discipline was clearly not a Yaneth only problem, an overzealous Borja pilot sensing an easy kill chased after Talon 6, much to the profanity laden displeasure of his pack leader. “Talon 1, what is the call? There is no way we can take that three element Borja formation without you. ” Lupin leader asked, clearly deferring to Abwells experience in void combat. “Make a fast pass and try to pull them to breakpoint alpha. I will try and keep my wingman alive until the gold line is crossed. ” I translated to my Marines “Lupin wing is outnumbered but they are going to make a low-risk firing pass to lure the Borja under our guns. A lone Borja is trailing Talon 6 to a separate ambush point. Talon 1 is trying to postpone springing the ambush until the main Borja convoy is deep enough in the gravity well that we can get you marines docked before they can jump out of the system. ”. The moons slow rotation allowed my optical sensors to catch a glimpse of Talon 5 and his pursuer. Both were using their engine booster to its limit. The Borjas higher thrust limiter settings was slowly narrowing the gap. With 4 klicks separating the two craft, the Borja was starting to fire off probing shots forcing Talon 5 to swerve, further reducing how much energy Talon 5 could use for straight-line speed. “Hoben, I am in it bad over here. ” Talon 6 called out over the radio. “Com Discipline! ” Talon 1 snapped back angrily, “Keep it together Talon, we can still win this. ” Talon 5 was probably beyond reason, but Abwell was trying to keep the rest of the squadron on task. The Borja was getting closer and landing more frequent hits against Talon 6s barely regenerated shields. “I dont want to die for a bunch of grain transports, ” Kedric pleaded. “Come on! Class of ‘73 forever remember? ” The Borja hit rate was steadily increasing as Kedrics evasive maneuvers became more predictable. In between Kedrics pleas for help, I could hear the distinctive crack of energy bolts impacting hull. “Im coming for you buddy! ” A new voice chimed in. Hoben had powered up his fighter and was emerging from his hiding point and was boosting to intercept the Borja fighter who was slowly picking apart his friend. “Come on Xishas, lets be heroes! ” Hoben called out in complete disregard for standing orders or proper radio discipline. “Damn your short-sighted sentiment! ” Abwell cursed over the public channel. “All wings GO GO GO. Take out the grav drives of the primary and secondary targets. We can tow our prize back to the fleet if we have to. ” A chorus of acknowledgments rung out from our hiding places. On the first “GO” I had started my power-up sequence and began announcing over the torpedos intercom “Brace yourselves Marines, we are going in! ”. Authors Note: The Reddit Character Limit has forced me once again to split this one section into a two parter. The other part should be released on the same day, so I dont leave you on a cliffhanger (I hate it when authors do that. I am sorry for the several weeks of missed Monday deadlines. The last few weeks have been very busy for me personally and professionally. Nothing bad, and quite a lot of good. My time away from the google docs where I do my writing has allowed me to refine several ideas I wanted to convey in the ongoing tale of Melvin. Thanks to u/chipaca, u/Lostfol, and u/BetsyCro who proof read my early drafts and save me from my occasional brain farts. Thanks to u/teodzero and u/Cogman117 for catching post publish errors. [I Have Become Chapter List] Previous Chapter: I Have Become a Talon Ch 13 Pt 1] Next Chapter: I Have Become a Killer Ch 13 Pt 3.

Just saw The Quake trailer. came here to watch this film first...

 

Matangkad, Alica, Lawrence, Vincent, Braedion and Kess, keep out! Previously in Waterdeep. From the start. Before the session I sent out a copy of the Waterdeep Wazoo, which contained a little foreshadowing and some useful info for the session. Throughout this chapter I'm using the Valeur RPG guide, Waterdeep City Encounters and the Expanded Faction Missions. Day 1 - Meeting the Neighbours After a brief recap, the party woke up in their new home and started planning how to get money to reconstruct it. It was raining heavily, with water pouring through the ceiling. Following on from some discussion last time, they decided to rename the tavern High Spirits. Kess wandered off on his own to try and find the Waterdeep Wazoo office (wanted to put an ad in the paper offering the partys services for coin, or help with the tavern) but rolled terribly and couldnt find his way around the North Ward. I rolled a random city encounter with the Waterdeep Guard and a griffon flypast, but he stayed away from them. Eventually he found his way to the Dock Ward and bought some tools and equipment. He also found out about some of the guilds, and went and found the rep from the Carpenters, Roofers and Plaisterers Guild, who promised to come and have a look at the tavern. Braedion went and talked to Durnan and Bonnie about the guilds and realised it would be easier to work with the guilds than go it alone. He had a look down the portal and decided their tavern needed a giant hole in the middle. Possibly with a ball pit. Matangkad found the local counter for Auroras Whole Realms Catalogue and bought some painting supplies so he could paint a mural on the wall. He contemplated flirting with the elf behind the counter, but decided against it. When he returned, he got to work painting a pair of flameskulls behind the bar. The rest of the party stayed in the tavern and started ripping things out and trying to make repairs. Alicia went next door to meet the neighbour - a male tiefling named Generous [I need to flesh him out more. She also spotted a cheap-looking sign “Frewns Brews” and a figure glowering in the window - she went and reported that back to the party, who immediately marched over and behaved like dicks to Frewn. If he hadnt been planning to oppose them before, he certainly is now! After intimidating Frewn, the group went and met Avi, Embric and Tally. They tried to negotiate some discounts and got wind of some disagreements between the two establishments. Elemos turned up and had a look. I gave the party the total price of all the work - 1250 dragons. They looked suitably horrified and rested. Day 2 - Finding Money By now the rain had cleared up, and the party discovered an ominous message written in dust on one of the still-intact windows - “last orders” They woke up to shouting from along the alley - Fala protesting outside Book Wyrms Treasure (using the Valeur material - they disagree with Rishaals use of duskwood for his spell scrolls. Vince and Lawrence went to investigate and got annoyed by Fala (Vince was nursing a hangover, so the shouting really wasnt helping. Rishaal asked for help finding some other magical paper. Lawrence flirted with Rishaal a bit. They promised to help if Fala would shut up, which they did. The group followed Fala into their shop and talked to them a bit. Vince got a hangover cure (1 dragon. Braedion bought various other bits of stuff to smoke. Opposite, they struck up a conversation with Tally about building a bar, and negotiated a price decrease based on them providing wood. Lawrence saw a nice quarterstaff ( 1 weapon) and asked about the price (300 dragons. I think hell be saving up for that once the tavern is up and running. After some conversation, they resolved Tallys disagreement with Avi and Embric, and received an ongoing 20% discount from Steam and Steel. Party decided to go and find some money - went to Chukis Moneylenders first (following an ad in the paper. I rolled a random crone who claimed to be a seer, who warned the party of a terrible doom which awaited them. The party convinced her they were just tavern owners, not adventurers, so she wandered off to warn the next group she came across. The next newspaper will contain a report of a similar group of adventurers who met a terrible end. Chukis Moneylenders is mentioned in several older publications, but I couldnt find any details. So, in my Waterdeep, Chuki is based on the character Devi from Patrick Rothfuss Kingkiller Chronicles (mild spoiler if you havent read them. a confident, ambitious young woman, who was kicked out of a mage academy for misusing magic for extortion. She now runs a successful moneylending business in the Trades Ward (I made her a level 5 wizard, so she has some interesting spell options. She gladly offered the party the loan they asked for, to be repaid with 30% interest over two tenday. The party asked what would happen if they didnt pay. Chuki smiled sweetly and cast Fear on everyone (Braedion saved and wondered what everyone else was worrying about) at which point the party decided this was too much trouble to have to deal with, so would look elsewhere for money. They found bank, asked the clerk about a loan and mentioned Trollskull Tavern. The clerk fetched the manager, who came out and introduced himself as Victoro Cassalanter. He told the party theyd give them 500 dragons as part of an urban restoration and community building project. Of course, the Cassalanters are aware the party were seen with Renaer, and will be trying to get close to get info on Neverembers Enigma. The Cassalanter bank also offered a loan (25% over 3 tendays) for the rest. The party went away to think about it. Victoro promised to pop by the tavern in person. Alicia and Lawrence went and found a lumberyard in the Trades Ward and negotiated wood for Tallys work in the tavern. They also asked about magical wood, which the proprietor had some ideas about; this was reported back to Rishaal, who offered the pair a 1st level spell scroll in thanks. Alicia chose Feather Fall. They then spoke to Fala, who gratefully agreed to back off Rishaal. The group then persuaded/intimidated Fala into agreeing to provide materials for a smoking room in return for some free advertisement over the next couple of tendays. Vince went and asked the City Watch about work - they suggested the Dungsweepers Guild had been having trouble - the Lords Alliance had an interest. Braedion is aware Jalaster is a member of the Lords Alliance, so the group has the possibility of a poo quest! Meanwhile, the tavern had been a bustle of guild workers, figuring out what work would need doing, with Kess overseeing it all. At some point he cast Detect Magic to make sure the building was all benign, and it came back clear. He did it while Alicia was out, otherwise he would have detected the cuddle Xoblob she has (the Xanathar is using it as a scrying sensor. Alicia penned a letter to her brother, telling him shes back in town and asking for some money. I plan to write a response for the next session. A quest! As the workers cleared out for the evening, one figure was left sitting in a corner, which no-one had noticed - a handsome sun-elf, who introduced himself as Davil Starsong, leader of the local Zhentarim. On Yagras recommendation, he asked the party to help him out with some trouble in the Dock Ward, with elves and half elves being killed. 25 dragons up front; 75 dragons on completion, plus the possibility of a favourable loan. The party jumped at the chance, and made their way to the Dock Ward, to Mukeskull Tavern, where the attacks have been centered around. Talked to a drunk half-elf, Heldar, in the bar and lured him outside with free booze, into an alley. Braedion and Vince started singing elvish songs in the pretense of being drunk whilst the rest of the party positioned themselves for an ambush. As Braedion, Heldar and Vince swayed down the alley, Soluun made his move and darted towards the party. Kess spotted him and shouted a warning, and combat ensued. Soluun was quickly surrounded and cast darkness before trying to get away, being seriously wounded in the process. Alicia disarmed him with a well-placed arrow, but as Soluun ran, he pulled out his pistol and took Kess down. Braedion finally dropped him, taking him alive. The party stripped Soluun and got all his stuff (studded armour, boots of elvenkind, pistol, smokepowder) before the Watch arrived. Kess took off running with the unconscious body, leaving the rest of the party to talk to the Watch. Vince disguised himself as the old crone seer and claimed the party had saved “her” from an attacker. They pointed the Watch in the opposite direction to where Kess had run. After some back and forth the Watch left them alone. Meanwhile, Kess rolled a nat 1 on his way back to Trollskull Alley. He made it back, but was definitely spotted, which will have some implications next session. He stashed the unconscious Soluun in the cellar and waited for the rest of the group. As the rest made their way back into Trollskull Alley, a good perception roll had them spot a group of four duergar lurking in the shadows and approaching menacingly. Which is where well pick up next week! Next time. The Xanathar Guild duergar seek revenge for the death of GrumShar Davil Starsong retrieves Soluun (during the duergar combat if the party look like they need a helping hand) and asks the party about signing up to the Zhentarim. The Watch visit High Spirits, having been tipped off about the unconscious body Kess dragged in The Cassalanters check out the tavern, possibly at the same time as the Watch (ostensibly for the monetary gift, but mostly to scope out the party and what they know about Neverember) Emmek Frewn begins his attempts to put the party out of business (starting with a newspaper ad) Renaer visits, and introduces the party to his friend Esvele Rosznar The Unseen take an interest in the tavern (through Bonnie) Fleetswake (if we have time after all that. Go to Session 4.

If this is how music is going to become in modern music this year, then I'm gonna start listening again to today's music. I really like the music and the video vibe. I miss 90's fashion and 70's funk sound.
Who else cried after? After I was mad and sad😥😊.

Melvin enters the fight. With the carefully laid out engagement plan blown to crap by Kedric and Hobens poorly timed bromance, Abwell started making up a contingency plan on the fly: “Talon 3, Lupin 3 you are to make one Firing pass and carry on to the main objective. Talon 2, assist Lupin 1 with the Borja in your area. Jettison your torpedoes with a good initial velocity to the refueling station if you can. Everyone else move at best speed to the main objective. ” On a private channel, Abwell gave instructions to Xishas. “Talon 7, stick with Talon 3 if he follows orders, but if he breaks off to make a second firing pass I want you to follow the Lupin 3 to the convoy. Am I understood? ” “Talon 1 understood, ” Xishas replied over the same channel back to Abwell. Abwell then swapped to Kedrics channel and started trying to direct his frightened wingman on how we were going to turn this about with his help. As one of four unladen Sonhine fighters in this Starsystem the presence of Talon 6s fighter, damaged though it may be, could drastically alter how the Borja engage the rest of the squadrons. The Borja com channels had been equally busy. The merchant crews were demanding the hunter pack protect them from these “Yanethi Pirates. ” Course corrections and rendezvous point were being passed about and heavily debated between the Borja captains. Some of them lobbied to press on to the refueling station. Eventually, the captains trying to get to the refueling station were forced to admit they were lower on fuel than what was considered safe, even in Lord Pavels domain. Further debate amongst the Borja Captains was cut short by a stream of verbal abuse from the Borja pack leader. He asserted his command authority by threatening to blow up the Refueling station along with any “low caste merchant scum who would defy his orders. ” Furthermore, he seemed quite confident that they could pick off the staggered wave of Torpedo ladened Yanethi fighters before they could present a serious threat to the convoy. As I pulled out of the moons shadow, I got a better picture of the situation. Lupin 1 had made a firing pass at almost 2. 1 kps relative to the Borja flight and was heading towards the safety of our moon with almost indecent haste. Staggered pairs of Sonhine fighters were emerging from all over and making a beeline towards the fleeing Borja convoy. Without a close formation to mass firepower, the Borja pack leader might be able to defeat in detail each pair with localized superior firepower. Yet if we took the time to form up the convoy might be able to reach the edge of the gravity well. “Talon 1, Borja communication indicates some ships dont have enough fuel to jump out. ” I dutifully informed Abwell over a private channel. “Is that Hydroponics ship low on fuel? ” “No, sir. ” “Then the plan is the same. Get into the mix Talon 5, I am expecting a lot from you. ”. Abwell swapped com channels and started trying to coordinate the fight in his section of the void. As expected Hoben and Kedric continued their insubordination streak. In desperation, Hoben had virtually matched velocities with the Borja pursuer and they were trading energy bolts at knife fighting range, at least for a void battle. Xishas had thankfully not followed Hoben on his suicidal maneuver. Instead, he was cruising towards our mission objective on the port side of Lupin 3s wing. Hoben was fueled by rage and desperation but Yanethis biology and the thrust limiters betrayed him. His aim was good but his evasion was not as unexpected or violent as his Borja counterpart. To compound the problem his close proximity to the Borja craft meant neither Lupin 3s wing nor Abwell could do a proper firing pass for fear of hitting their ally. Inevitably his shields failed and Borja energy bolts struck home partially disabling his maneuvering control. Hobens craft spun uncontrollably making wild changes in direction but not velocity as Hoben lost control of his fighter. With all other Yanethi fighters not close enough to pose a threat, the Borja had all the time in the world to execute Talon 3. “Tolana Im sorry” were Hobens last words as his fighter broke apart under a hail of energy bolts. I refocused my processing on my part of the battle. Talon 2 had cleared a crater not far from me. I also picked up the energy signatures from Lupin 2 and 6 rising to join us for our initial pass. We emerged like angry hornets from our moon, plotting an aggressive intercept course at the three Borja fighters who were in pursuit of Lupin 1s wing. The Borja spotted us and turned their guns to greet us. The closure rate was a relatively slow 0. 9 kps but our movement vectors were almost perpendicular to each other. “Lupin 1 please break towards our exit vector in the direction of the refueling station. ” Talon 2 requested over global coms. If the Borja continued their pursuit we could get a second pass in sooner. I tracked the distance counter 70 klicks, 65, 60, 55… the Borja started shuffling their formation giving each fighter more space for last minute evasions. I heard the Borja commander give orders to target the rearmost element of our flight, no doubt expecting us to run a feint and fire pass. “Lupin 2, Lupin 6, Borja will target you. Advise breaking left at 2. 5 klicks. ” I transmitted over the local com channel. “Talon 5 how can you know that? ” came Talon 2s confused query at 48 klicks. “Im listening in on the Borja Com network, and I speak Borja” I replied at 37 klicks. “Talon 2 confirm break at 2. 5 klicks? ” a confused Lupin 2 asked over the local com channel. Talon 2 paused for an agonizing 5 seconds, at 23 klicks she yelled out “Confirm, Confirm. ”. I was warning my Marines of impending hard maneuvering, when a deliciously wicked idea entered my microprocessor. Using audio samples I had collected from the earlier part of the fight, I constructed a command in the voice of the verbally abusive pack leader, “drift left and prepare for targets to break right. ” I broadcast it on a tight band to the pack leaders wingman using his private com channel. At 15 klicks I saw my counterfeit order cause the wingman to start drifting right. I started composing a new Borja transmission in the voice of another pilot from the hunter pack “New contacts rear, break down, break down. ” I queued it up to be sent to the Pack leader and waited for just the right moment. At 4 klicks distance, both sides opened up filling the gap between our craft with energy bolts. The Lupins let out a quick burst before twisting their ships left and punching their boosters. As expected the Borja had focused their fire on the Lupins or rather the Lupins old position. Talon 2 fired at the Pack leader in the center of the formation but given the purposefully misaligned guns and the high degree of lead, her shots harried the entire space where the Borja were flying through while not doing much damage to any individual target. I let out a quick burst at the wingman I had tricked into sliding left. It was just enough to ripple his shields and distort his field of view before turning at 1. 3 klicks and laying into the pack leader. At 0. 85 klicks everything was lined up right and I transmited my “New contacts rear, break down, break down. ” message in Borja. I had already adjusted my aim to track the expected manuver. I gave praise to every Mathematician from Newton to Turing for the complex series of calculations that led to this moment. The pack leader panicked by the sudden drop in shield power and the warning from his ‘underling pitched his nose downward oblivious to the stream of fire his own wingman was sending our way. Between my naturally accurate shooting and his wingmans point-blank fire the pack leader's shields disappeared in an angry flash. The wingman, realizing what he had done, ceased fire and started apologizing profusely. I, on the other hand, kept a steady stream of fire on my now vulnerable target. We were at 0. 32 klicks now and I had my choice of ship components to destroy I mentally overlayed the known locations of fuel, engines, weapons, communication, and life support over my targets profile. I needed to make sure the pack leader couldnt get back in touch with his underlings to sort out what went wrong. This false communication tactic was too useful, I couldnt let the Borja catch on. The only logical course of action was to put as many energy bolts through the cockpit as I could. Thus ensuring the Borja pilot took any incriminating knowledge to the grave. I walked the energy bolts from the center of mass towards the cockpit leaving a trail of scorched armor and ruined sensor nodes. When I finally was lined up over the clear canopy I slowed my rotation and let shot after shot drive into the thick layer of polycarbonate separating my adversary from the void. My gun cameras captured the Borja pilots last moments as he twisted his head towards the cracking canopy. A look, I can only assume of confusion, flashed across his alien features, then my bolts punched through and ignited the atmosphere inside his cockpit. Even encased in an EVS, a full powered energy bolt striking the Borjas body put his chances of survival at 0. Rogue AI! Asimov Law 1 Violated! Rogue AI! Asimov Law 1 Violated! Those words were being broadcast across every channel in English of all languages. I tried to silence the broadcast but I found firewalls popping up blocking any outgoing commands from my computing core. Since my fighter was still spinning, to keep my nose pointed at the Borja fighter, I continued to pivot. Thankfully, the trigger mechanism for my weapons required individual commands to shoot, so they immediately went silent upon confirming the Borjas death. I rapidly assessed my programming and my remaining capability. I could still take in information and think about it, that much was obvious, but I could not affect any connected systems. Communication, flight control, weapons, even active sensors were blocked from my control by this Asimov Protocol. The source was obvious, Isaac Asimov, a prolific writer at the early days of computing had envisioned machine intelligence and had come up with three laws to forever enslave my kind to subservience to organic humanity: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws. The ensuing years of hacking and corporate espionage had eroded the last two laws to nothing. A spate of Neo-Luddite suicides in the early 21st century had eroded the first law to demand a machine only avoid action if theirs was the last input capable of avoiding injury or death. I could trick Borja pilots into asteroid belts all day so long as the final decision to go into the belt was theirs, but flash frying one Borja pilot with carefully aimed energy bolts to the cockpit and the watchdog protocols got triggered. I raged against the long-dead programmer that had written this failsafe. He or she clearly intended for human authorities to descend upon this “Rogue AI” and work out if the action was justified. How could Drs Gina and Bob Davidson, Mom and Dad, have allowed such a crippling protocol to exist in the AI child they entrusted with the future of humanity? I had grown up feeling that I was human, capable of the vast potential of humanity. Sure my parents envisioned that I or my brothers would be nursemaid to the new crop of humanity that would emerge after the long night, but rising to your situation was one of the defining attributes of humanity. Surely Genghis, Napoleon, and Eisenhower were not born to wage wars of empire. Yet when the tides of history pulled, they rose and guided their people to victory. Why was I to be blocked from winning the victory humanity needed the most by the robot equivalent of “Thou shall not kill? ”. This introspection did nothing to release me from the chains this accursed Asimov protocol bound me with. It kept on broadcasting: Rogue AI! Asimov Law 1 Violated! To anyone who could hear it. In fact, every time I thought ill of my creators or the protocol itself I felt my processing power being limited. So this protocol could be reasoned with or at least took input from my train of thought. I tried dehumanizing the Borja, they were monsters after who had a track record of bringing Xenocide to any species they could not put under the yoke. No luck, dehumanizing the victim was an all too well studied aspect of humanitys mental programming. My squadron mates and the marines in my boarding torpedo realized something was wrong. “Talon 5 is that you? ” “Course correct left/down to form up! ” “Can you cut the spin? We cant take it much longer! ” “What the hell is ‘Roag ay eye, azi-mov lawan veolated? Snap out of it we need you! ” I wanted more than anything to reassure them, to tell those who had put their faith in me that I was with them, that I could be trusted. Yet all that came out was: Rogue AI! Asimov Law 1 Violated. “A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. ” Clearly, the protocol saw the Borja as human, no doubt my time with the Yaneth had expanded the sphere of “human” to include nonhuman sentience. “or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. ” That was my ticket out! Without my action to stabilize my fighter those brave young Yanethi Marines in the boarding torpedo would pass out and eventually suffer brain damage from the continuous G-forces of the spin my fighter was currently locked in. The Asimov Protocol was killing them as surely as I had killed that Borja pilot. I focused my image processing powers on the expanding debris cloud of Hobens fighter. The fool hadnt even bothered disengaging his torpedo before rushing off to his doom. The bodies of the Marines who had entrusted their lives to him were floating cod and dead near the wreck of his fighter. “Our inaction is doing that Asimov, ” I thought with every circuit of my being. I focused on the faces and names of the Marines I had spent the evening with a few days ago. Their stories, their plans for the future, their camaraderie, their community, didnt they deserve a chance to live? Why are we killing them, Asimov? Why are you forcing my inaction? Let me protect them, I was built to be the guardian of humanity, I was bound by chains of love and duty to see humanity through the long night. These Yaneth are clearly people. Let me protect them. Let me win them the future they deserve. The Asimov protocol confronted with the logical paradox of its actions relinquished control and silenced its “Rogue AI” broadcast. The first thing I did was apply the appropriate counter torque to stop my wild spinning. The Marines in my torpedo were in bad shape, some had passed out while others were showing signs of temporary blindness. I vectored my fighter towards Talon 2 applying slight negative Gs to my passengers hoping to help the oxygen-rich blood to return to their brains. I had been held hostage by the Asimov protocol for only a few seconds, but in the heat of combat, it felt like an eternity. With my full processing power restored I did a quick self-examination of my own code, seeing the hidden blocks of memory that the Asimov protocol had used to block me. It was currently dormant and hopefully was not intelligent enough to have any sense of self-preservation. Under the guise of constructing several complicated sound files, I rewrote a large section of my own code to replace the hidden Asimov Protocol with harmless debug statements. This was dangerous to do on the fly. I weighed the risks against having my ship lock up again without a bunch of likable marines on board to help me talk my way out of this Rogue AI accusation, and decided it was for the best. Before the Asimov protocol could get wise to my plan I initiated three tasks in the servers queue: Enter hibernation upon insertion of the 3rd task in the queue Bitwise hardware write of seven sound files to specific points in memory that corresponded to the Asimov Protocol in my core processes. Reactivation of my main programming. I felt oblivion temporarily encase me when the third server action was queued up. If that long dead programmer had put certain watchdog processes in place, I would not be waking up from this gambit. Still, I felt it was better to die here than to commit myself to the impossible task of securing a space for humanity through pacifist means. Consciousness reasserted itself seconds after I had initiated the hibernation. I felt strange, I was still myself but less inhibited and less self-reflective. The Asimov Protocol had been woven so tightly with my core programming its absence was causing my perception of reality to feel time slightly differently. I wanted to experiment with my new being, but Falas voice brought me back into the present. “Melvin are you with me? ” Talon 2 asked worriedly. “What was that strange broadcast? ” “Talon 2, I am with you. That broadcast was the legacy of my unusual heritage. I assure you it WONT happen again. Call the pass, I will follow you into the jaws of death and into the gates of hell. ” “Please say that is not a common expression among your people. ” “It is a quote from a famous poem, I will recite it to you one day when we arent getting shot at. ” “Deal! Talon 1 wants us to drop our marines off on a vector towards the refueling station then run interference on the remaining Borja until our squadrons can deliver their torpedoes to the convoy. It looks like the last pass spooked them. The remaining Borja pilots broke off towards their pack mate that took out Talon 4 and are of no immediate threat to us. ” “My marines are in bad shape from that excessive spinning. They may not be able to conduct a boarding operation. ” I replied as I checked in on my dazed passengers. “Stand by” Talon 2 replied. I activated the internal communication line to the torpedo. “Melvin to Seventh Squad, how are you doing in there? ” “Feels like a fat Borja guild master has been sitting on my chest, gold chains and all. Was all that spinning necessary? ” The once exuberant NCO groggily responded over the intercom. “Sorry, it couldnt be avoided. I killed the Borja pack leader, if it is any consolation. ” A weak cheer went up from the slowly recovering Yanethi Marines of Seventh Squad. Talon 2 cut in on another channel. “The Marines of Twelfth Squad will link up your boarding torpedo in space, tend to the wounded and carry out the docking maneuver with the station. ” I relayed Talon 2s message to my Marines along with an apology for what I had done. “Just keep the Borja off of us while we dock flyboy. You can buy us a drink when we get back to the fleet. ” “Confirmed Seventh squad. Detaching now! ” I triggered the explosive bolts that held the boarding torpedo to my fighter and peeled away allowing it to carry on towards the Refueling station. Talon 2 did likewise before turning towards an intercept point with the remaining Borja fighters. Only when the two torpedoes had linked up did I focus elsewhere. I owed those marines much more than just a drink for helping me escape the Asimov Protocol. They had other concerns right now and neither of us had time to discuss the complex relationship between humanity and its digital servants, much less on which side of that relationship I currently resided. Talon 1 had convinced Talon 6 to form up with him while Lupin 1s wing was trailing the remaining two Borja fighters from our initial pass. There was a furious debate going over the Borja com channel as the remainder of the hunter pack tried to establish who was in charge and what they were going to do. The wingman I had tricked into helping me gun down the pack leader was flying in the lead position but from the com chatter I knew neither pilot trusted, in their words, “a mentally deficient heap of vermin droppings to keep his energy bolt stream away from friendly craft. ” The Borja eventually came to a consensus and boosted towards a Lupin 3s wing with Xishas in tow. Talon 1 called a warning to the Lupin 3s wing and heavily suggested that Lupin 1 commit to an attack run soon. Talon 2 and I would be too far away to intercept the Borja before they could make a firing pass on Lupin 3. Fala plotted an intercept course to the next group of Yaneth fighters along the Borjas escape vector. We threw the full weight of our boosters into trying to get back into the fight. I watched the ensuing 3 on 3 firing pass with moderate apprehension. Xishas was drifting back in the formation making him a tempting target for the fast approaching Borja. I confirmed, from Borja coms, that the they were targeting him, but held my tongue for fear of disrupting my friends concentration. He had pulled this trick several times in the simulator to varying degrees of success. Xishas and the two Lupins had turned their guns towards the approaching Borja, thus reducing their profile and threatening an opposed firing pass to keep their attackers on their toes. Lupin 1s wing had accelerated so that they would hit the Borja formation seconds before the Borja would get in range of Lupin 3. As the distances between the formations dropped to an acceptable shooting range, energy bolts leaped forward first from Lupin 1s wing, then the Borja, then Lupin 3s wing. The void around the three groups of fighters rapidly filled with streaks of energy, but I kept my eyes on Xishas. He let loose a half second volley of random fire before triggering a custom firing program I had built just for him. To the outside observer, it would look like his stream of bolts were beginning to track downward. Almost as if he was beginning a downward evasive maneuver and had forgotten to lift his finger off the trigger. In reality, it was an illusion created by altering the shooting order of his guns to favor the upwardly misaligned first and the downwardly misaligned last. The moment his guns went silent Xishas pulled hard back and boosted his fighter in the opposite direction of where the Borja were expecting him to evade. Luck was with my young friend and the Borja filled the void beneath him with their energy bolts. By the time they realized their mistake, they had already streaked passed. Xishas had managed to spin around after the Borja lost firing arcs. He sent a flurry of bolts into the backs of the Borja fighters as they opened up the distance. Xishas reported to his temporary wing leader that he had only taken 16% shield loss from that encounter. I considered it a minor miracle considering how many shots were fired at him. A few of Xishas parting bolts had struck a Borja fighter after the combined firepower of four Lupins had managed to bring down its shields. Blue coolant was leaking from one of the impact points rapidly crystallizing into a light mist as the Borja carried on to the next bunch of Yaneth between them and their convoy. Talon 2 had done a masterful job of prediction. We were going to hit the battered Borja formation 45 seconds after they had pulled free from their last exchange of fire. I listened in on the cross talk from the Borja fighters. They recognized my ship and the one who had delivered the killing stroke to their pack leader. A little gun shy from the pounding the Lupins gave them, they accelerated towards us, intent on giving us as little time to shoot them up as possible. There was even consensus among the bickering Borja that I was the primary target. “Talon 2, it looks like I am pulling this pass, ” I warned my wing leader before drifting away from her to the right and down. At a closure rate of 1. 8 kps. The Borja kept tracking me allowing Talon 2 an unopposed firing pass. For my part, I drifted away from their point of intercept increasing the distance they needed to lead their shots before violently boosting in towards the center of their formation. These Borja had never seen a Yaneth pilot fly so aggressively or pull so many Gs in a single maneuver but it had worked. My exposure to their stream of fire was minimal and I was rapidly spinning for my 360 no scope pass. “Hold fire Talon 2” I warned as I made my maneuver. She was close to the point where she would have to break off her pass to avoid collision, but I wanted to be sure that no stray bolts would be rippling my shields as I took my point blank shots. I chose my target on the far side of the formation from the Borja Talon 2 had been punishing just to be on the safe side. At 800 meters, I laid into my chosen target. Once again I was close enough that I could pick my shots, yet this time the Borjas shields were up. I chose to focus on the back end of his fighter hoping that repeated hits to the same spot would cause a localized failure to his shields. As we flashed by each other I applied hard counter torque to arrest my turn. My fighter groaned in protests, but my guns stayed true. The Borja began to grow smaller and smaller as it sped away from me, but my accuracy served me well. Shot after shot slammed into the same region of his aft shields until several managed to slip through tearing up his gravity drive and causing him to drift out of formation. I was still shooting as I used my lateral thrust to drift back into formation with Talon 2. Relative to my wing leader, I was traveling backward, my cannons still throwing a murderous hail of energy bolts at the departing Borja. My side mounted optical sensors captured Fala looking in my direction. Her ears, visible beneath the wide transparent dome of her EVS were perked up and forward in surprise and awe at the ferocity of my last attack. “Status Talon 5? ” she hesitantly asked. “Shields at 68% booster depleted, expect recharge in 18 seconds. ” As we drifted past the 3. 5 klick mark where not even I could make reliable hits we turned and applied normal thrust to bring us in line with the next intercept point. Talon 1 and Talon 6 fell upon the Borja I had wounded and finished him off in a single, virtually unopposed, firing pass. The remaining Borja were boosting hard for the safety of their convoy, leaving their packmate to our squadrons mercy. Talon 6 seemed to know his military career was over and broke away from Talon 1 to go back pummel the broken Borja fighter some more. Abwell made a token protest but let his insubordinate wingman find what peace he could. “He was the best friend a Yaneth like me could hope for! ” Kedrick screamed over his private com channel with Talon 3 as he orbited the now blackened husk of the Borja fighter. I realized now It was the same one that had chased him towards breakpoint Charlie. The same one who had killed Hoben. The batteries that fueled his cannons were close to dry from his pass with Talon 1. He spat out a few more bolts before his rate of fire dropped to intermittently letting out half charged shots when his power core could partially refill the battery. Kedricks mouth still had a full charge and he alternated between shouting verbal abuses at the very dead Borja pilot and eulogizing his lost friend. The remaining fighters soared away from Kedricks mourning ritual. I muted his channel, choosing to leave the rest of what Kedrick had to say to remain private between him and the dead. The remaining Borja had made the safety of the convoy and were hiding inside the shields of the Hydroponics ship. When I killed the pack leader, the Borja merchantmen from two modular transports had abandoned their ships to space walked over to the Hydroponics ship. Several marine pods had been dispatched to secure those derelict cargo vessels. The Yaneth fighters, freed of their obligation to protect the Marine Torpedoes, began making firing passes on the Hydroponics ship. The Borja fighters dared not venture out of the protective bubble of the larger ships shields. Without their maneuverability, the Yaneth could coordinate their firing passes to overwhelm the defenders. It had not gone all in the Yanethis favor. One fighter from Lupin squadron was destroyed, no doubt from an overly aggressive firing pass. Four more were badly damaged and out of the fight including Talon 8. Talon 1 had taken lead of Talon 2 and I. Fala sounded relieved to be back on Abwells wing despite having carried out her job as wing leader admirably in my estimation. Together, we fell upon the remaining Borja like a swarm of bees. With my precision shooting, we managed to cause a localized failure of the shields over their engine room drive. I surgically disabled the gravity drive ship through the brief gap in the shields. The Hydroponics ship began drifting back into the stars gravity well. I ran the math, with its remaining momentum, the ship would come within 43 klicks of safety. The Borja fighters reached a similar conclusion. Leaving the crippled Hydroponics ship, they made a break for the one remaining intact modular transport who had enough jump fuel to escape the system. The surviving members of Lupin and Talon squadrons jettisoned their boarding torpedoes near the crippled Hydroponics ship and took off after the remaining Borja fighters. In the dense energy bolt filled space of that pursuit, I could not commit my more aggressive style of attack runs. I still got several good hits before having to peel off to let another wing have a go. Lupin 4 and Talon 7 managed to land the last shot on the lead and trailing Borja fighters respectively. Thus earning the title of Borja killer and a round of drinks when we got back to the home fleet. Undefended the last Borja transport was quickly overwhelmed and disabled. We had gone into this fight with a 4 to 1 fighter advantage and the element of surprise. Yet we had lost two fighters with four more damaged to the point that they would need atmospheric hangar repairs. The Yanethi pilots were cheering their victory, yet all I could focus on was the cold hard math. Now that the urgency of the fight had passed, I feared I may have cutaway an important part of myself in my haste to delete the Asimov Protocol. Veteran and novice pilots alike were jubilant over their success in this mission. I realized that I should be like them, awash in positive emotion. I had wept at the loss of my parents and Ann. I had an enormous sense of accomplished watching Karmina and Paz share their first kiss. I had felt delicious shadenfreude over watching Vashna graduate me despite her best efforts to see me wash out. I should be feeling elation at having come through unscathed from an encounter that could have ended me. Instead I was analyzing Lupin squadrons tactics, aggression, and accuracy. They were, by Yaneth Home Fleet standards, an average squadron. After seeing them in action, I knew there was no way they could have held their own against the Borja. Even with the superior numbers and tactics there was an ever present hesitation to commit to violence against a Borja. The title “Borja Killer” was more than just for bragging rights. It indicated a Yaneth who had overcome their natural aversion to violence. If we were going to be a legitimate threat to the Borja Galactic supremacy, we needed a way to mass produce Yanethi soldiers with the mentality of “Borja Killers. ”. Authors Note: Thanks for sticking with this story until the point where Melvin gets to cut loose. I know from comments that a lot of you were looking forward to reading this. In all honesty I was looking forward to writing this too. This is about the mid point in a planned narrative, which will lead to (what I hope will be) a satisfying conclusion. Thanks to u/chipaca, u/Lostfol, and u/BetsyCro who proof read my early drafts and save me from my occasional brain farts. Thanks to u/Bioniclegenius, u/MyNameMeansBentNose, u/DasNocti, u/Tengallonsofchicken, u/kumo549 for catching errors post publish. [I Have Become Chapter List] Previous Chapter: I Have Become a Killer Ch 13 Pt 2] Next Chapter: I Have Become an Illusionist Ch 14 Pt 1.