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The HEL Jumper [Chapter 4.2]

Book 1 of The HEL Jumper
Year 2 of The HEL Jumper
Year 3 of The HEL Jumper
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“You alright? Physically, I mean,” Russell asked as he and Thantis returned to the village alone on the shuttle that had brought them to the Forge. “The old ticker’s not going to give out or anything?”
Thantis blinked a couple times as he extracted himself from the depths of whatever train of thought had occupied him for some time. Needless to say, the trip back had not featured lighthearted education regarding the nature of Mara’s core. “It was certainly a stressful situation, wasn’t it? I thank you for doing all of the heavy lifting, Winters.” He left out the fact that they both knew he’d have been left behind otherwise.
“Don’t mention it. That’s literally the sort of thing I trained to do and you’re lighter than a fellow soldier. Would have been really nice to stick around and take a dip in the hot springs, but something tells me that goes against the new ‘don’t interfere with the planet’ policy.”
‘Not that you didn’t enjoy them to your fullest before the rest of the crew got here,’ Io reminded him with a pointed gaze. Russell cleared his throat and let that particular memory lay dormant.
“A day of rest will be more than enough. But you’re sure everything’s alright on the inside, Thantis?”
“You are kind to ask, Winters. Thankfully, my difficulties at the moment remain in the realm of the mental and spiritual. Much happened that I am having difficulty making sense of.”
“You’re not the only one,” Russell assured him as the shuttle shuddered almost imperceptibly, a friendly reminder that they were traveling through air instead of gliding through space. “At least we didn’t break the place.”
‘On the outside, you mean,’ Io clarified in an agitated tone. She was equally as upset about the day’s events as Thantis. ‘We have no idea if anything is left standing on the inside, not to mention that the robot will likely never re-activate even if the facility didn’t self-destruct or otherwise dangerously terminate its own functions. This is the worst day for science since the Lancer was lost. And that was a very bad day for science!’
“You mean other than the fact that we can get home and tell the rest of humanity what happened here, along with everything else we’ve discovered?” Russell observed sharply. “Let a team of archaeologists deal with it. Later.”
Io, who was using the B-MASS in order to be present for both Winters and Thantis, looked to the side and let out a long breath, acknowledging that the current moment might not have been the best time. ‘Yes, later is a good idea, sir. I think we should all give thanks that we will not be giving Veera or Gentia any reason to weep this evening.’
Russell and Thantis shared a look, agreeing that even if Io’s words were true, that wouldn’t be the end of it. The Jumper cleared his throat. “Yeah, no tears. But that doesn’t mean she won’t be mad as hell.”
“You are forgetting a healthy helping of ‘I told you so’,” Thantis added, finally allowing a real smile to shine through the clouds of his tested faith. “A word of advice, Winters?”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“Cave early and cave often,” the Cauthan said with a wink, giving Russell a hearty chuckle as Io nodded approvingly. “Among other things, I find that’s been a constructive cornerstone of my long life with Gentia.”
‘While I’m very much in agreement regarding the capitulation to the needs and wants of the important women in one’s life,’ Io began, batting her eyelashes at Russell as though he needed some sort of reminder that she was such a woman. ‘Gentia and Veera may need to wait. I just received word from the Admiral, sir. He’s on his way to the village and intends to meet us there.’
“For what purpose?” Winters asked curiously. Io made a little show of opening a letter and reading the message within.
‘In his words? Examining primary sources.’
-----
True to his word, Natori was there to greet them when Russell and Thantis’ shuttle set down just outside the western gates. Thanks to his arrival there was already plenty of commotion, adding to the hectic Cauthan harvest season as males and females both hustled to and fro in the fields, plucking ripened produce just before the point of spoilage. The tall, ebony skinned human offered his hand to Thantis as the shuttle’s doors opened upward with an audible hiss. “I am glad to see you are well, my friend. Would you believe that our esteemed colleague Qul’Roth sends his regards and wishes you ‘good health in the name of the Order’?”
‘I wouldn’t,’ Io replied immediately, nevertheless allowing Thantis to answer on his own.
“That is very kind of him. If you would convey my thanks when you return?”
“Happily, Thantis. It sounds to me as though the two of you had quite the little adventure. Lieutenant,” the Admiral addressed Russell and the two men exchanged salutes.
“That’s certainly one way of putting it, sir. What can we do for you?” he asked, waving to a villager who called out in greeting as he passed, a wooden tool for unearthing dato in his paws.
“I believe we speak to Antoth first. I admit that I may have spooked him a little by returning to the village so soon after my last departure. All that I could tell him was that something unexpected happened at the Forge, but that the two of you were unharmed. While I wait on the lead researchers and Lance Corporal Mendes to pen their official reports, I figured it might be wise to hear of events the old fashioned way. Shall we?” he suggested, sweeping an arm behind him towards the village. A particular striped Cauthan was, of course, awaiting them there. She was not pleased.
“Ah, perhaps an explanation for your wife is in order too?” Natori suggested, understanding that his presence was likely a significant contributor to Veera’s serious demeanor.
“If it’s the same to you Admiral, I think it’s best I handle this alone,” Russell replied, leaving Thantis’ side and walking up to Veera. She tilted her head slightly to maintain eye contact, her expression one of expectation as she waited for him to begin. “Listen Veera, I know it looks bad but-”
“Did you know that Fenrir’s figured out where all of the meat is stored?” she demanded suddenly, causing Russell to stick his neck out and cock his head in confusion.
“I’m sorry, he what?”
“He found me on patrol this afternoon with a chesko sausage hanging from his mouth and a very pleased expression on his face,” Veera explained, a hand on her hip. “I had to go to the temple of Valta and compensate them!”
“Oh boy. I’m sure Ratha was thrilled,” Russell responded, a nervous pit in his stomach as he considered how much mayhem Fenrir could get up to.
“She’s going to kill him if this continues!” Veera insisted. “Just please tell me you didn’t teach him to do this!”
“Why would I teach Fenrir to steal meat from the one place in town that would get him riddled with arrows?!” Russell demanded, feeling he had some small, slight justification for taking offense.
“Because sometimes you do silly things!” Veera replied as though it were obvious before visibly deflating. “We have to do something, Russell.”
“We will, sweetie. We’ll give him a bit more food at meals and maybe see about keeping some sort of muzzle on him when he’s around town. I can take him hunting again soon too,” the human suggested, silently forgiving his wife her mild hysteria. Ratha’s opinions regarding Veera and hyrven were both well known. His proposal mollified her, and she embraced him to welcome him home.
“I knew everything was alright the moment you and Thantis showed up unharmed. I suppose the Admiral being here means you will have some meeting with Antoth, but I’m glad you’re alright,” she told him. He hummed in her ear and left a quick kiss on her cheek.
“Yeah, things didn’t go as planned but everyone made it out safely. If it’s all the same to you, I think when this is done I’d much rather focus on making sure our pet doesn’t become a pelt,” he replied.
“As long as you admit that I told you so,” Veera said. “That place was obviously nothing but trouble from the very beginning.”
‘Are we going to continue overlooking the part where we can safely travel back to Earth now?’ Io demanded, having observed the married ‘spat’ for long enough. Veera’s eyes widened in surprise.
“We can… you did it?” she gasped.
“I sure as hell didn’t,” Russell clarified quickly. “But something happened that deactivated whatever process was going on in there. Io’s right. The warp point is clear and at some point soon I have to imagine Natori is going to take his ship home.”
Veera found herself caught flat footed by the news, looking down at the earth beneath her feet as a sudden trepidation struck her. They had talked about Russell’s eventual departure many a time over the seasons she’d known him, but it was always a hypothetical, an occasion far down the line. That line seemed soon to end. “So I… have to leave?” she questioned.
“Veera, I need to go meet with Antoth and the Admiral. When I’m done we’ll sit down and have a long talk about this, ok? If things have changed and you really want to stay, there may be a way to do that,” he explained.
“But your family! Your parents!” Veera exclaimed before cutting herself off, noticing Thantis and Natori waiting at a polite distance for them. “You’re right. Please don’t take long.”
“We won’t. Where’s the little troublemaker now?” Russell wondered.
“I sent him off into the forest after his little snatch and grab. So he’ll probably be back for dinner.”
“Count on that hyrven to never miss a meal. Alright love, I’m glad you and he are ok. See you soon?”
Veera took his hands in hers and nodded. “Offer Antoth your guidance, Russell. You are the only human he can trust.”
Though Russell’s first inclination was to protest, he couldn’t help but acknowledge the fact that even someone as forward and open as Natori could possess his own interests and agenda. He hummed low in his chest and agreed with a nod of his head. “I will, Veera.”
-----
“Walk me through it one more time?” Antoth requested, running a hand through the feathers atop his head as he, Thantis, Russell, and Natori were seated within the temple of Kel. Xan was there too, finding himself in the position of scribe as Thantis was an involved party in the Forge incident.
“As I said, Antoth, the Cauthan made from metal visited us while we were exploring the main chamber,” Thantis recounted. “It was clearly female, given the plumage, but how such a thing could possibly exist is beyond me. I am unsure whether it was a servant of Kel, Tyrdus, or neither. While there were many of us there, it chose to approach me specifically and attempted to communicate. I, regretfully, did not understand anything it said to me, either with its voice or its feathers.”
“Yes, I got that part,” the chieftain clarified in a patient tone. “It is what comes afterward that puzzles me.”
“You’re not the only one,” Russell agreed before allowing Thantis to continue the tale from his perspective.
“I attempted to speak to the metal being, requesting information about its nature, which of the gods it served. I believe I mentioned Kel and Meylith specifically, Antoth. When it replied to me it was no clearer than when it first spoke, but I do believe it was a reply instead of some unrelated statement.”
“Because it repeated the word Kel to you,” Antoth finished.
“Precisely. That is when a great many things began happening all at once. Spirit Io tells me that some sort of invisible disturbance began within the Forge, something powerful. The entire place began to shake violently, and the great weapon that the humans believe was causing the corruption plummeted into the abyss below. It was then that the metallic being collapsed. I attempted to revive it, or at least ascertain what had happened but the humans deemed the situation too dangerous at that point. Winters carried me from the facility as I was unable to move fast enough.”
Antoth glanced over at the Jumper. “I find myself in the position of thanking you yet again, Winters. However, given that Thantis would have never been in danger in the first place if not for your discovery, I will not go so far as to say either of us are in your debt.”
“That’s the least of my worries, Antoth, but thank you,” he replied as Natori spoke up.
“Antoth, I believe that certain subjects we have discussed in the past must now be brought to the fore again. While departure is not imminent, as soon as my crew determines we can safely leave your planet we will begin preparing a timetable to do so. Assuming your invitation to my crew regarding your harvest festival still stands, I think it would be a crime to pass up such an opportunity for cultural exchange. Once it is concluded, I cannot envision a scenario where we remain much longer.”
“I understand,” Antoth said, adjusting his posture as he stretched and stood sternly near one of Thantis’ many shelves full of dried herbs and scrolls. “My invitation to your people remains, however I reserve the right to revoke it at any time if I feel there is a need. I think we should table that discussion for another time. Right now I need to ruminate on the situation at hand. Kel refused to open his gate to your people, even Winters, but he did so for his servant among our own. This is… a curious omen.”
Russell shook his head in discomfort as Io began to practically vibrate with excitement, causing a bit of feedback in his earpiece. Having dealt with her, he addressed the two leaders. “Antoth, I’m happy to stay if you wish but I should get home if not. It sounds like Fenrir was up to no good today.”
“I don’t know about it and assuming the situation is under control I’ll be happy not to know about it,” Antoth replied, making it clear in his tone that he expected Winters to exert said control over the situation. “If Thantis and I need to speak with you we will find you.”
“Understood. Admiral Kaczynski, sir?”
The Admiral instead looked at Antoth. “Is there anything else you wished to discuss so long as I am here?”
“The food situation,” Antoth replied immediately, glancing at Xan. Natori nodded.
“I must admit that over the short period of time since we last spoke I have not received any updates myself. However I would be happy to escort Xan or someone else from your village up to the Event Horizon to inspect the current crop personally.”
“Then you should go, Xan. If we will not receive armor or weapons we should at least ensure this food is suitable when grown far from Mara’s soil. Will there be any issues?” he finished on a considerate note.
“No Antoth, I’d be happy to. I should grab a couple of things and let my family know where I’ll be though,” the young scholar explained.
“Very well, you are dismissed.”
“My shuttle will be waiting at the western gate,” Natori advised the young Cauthan. “First Lieutenant, I do not wish to keep you too long but I would appreciate it if you and Io would accompany me that far.”
“Yes sir,” Russell replied, seeing no reason to protest. “Selah, Thantis. Today was quite the adventure.”
“I shall remember it for the rest of my life,” Thantis agreed, his customary demeanor returning as a ‘smile of knowledge’ spread across his muzzle. “And while that may not be a particularly strong statement, I am sure that you will as well. Go in peace, everyone. Selah. Shall we summon the others, Antoth?”
“Not yet. Let us speak privately,” the burly Cauthan requested, indicating that he no longer needed the other three individuals in the temple. Xan packed up the scroll he’d been scribbling on and departed for his family’s home to the north while Russell and the Admiral headed west.
“Is your wife the only Cauthan with an understanding of English?” Natori began.
“So far as I know, sir,” Russell replied in a guarded tone.
“Excellent, then we can dispense with some of the secrecy. What is your opinion on taking this village back to Earth with us?” he wondered. Io was visibly restraining herself from answering for the both of them, but her opinions on the matter were obvious. Russell was more defferential.
“I think that’s a little bit beyond my pay grade, sir. On that subject, however, I need to know if there will be any problems in taking my wife aboard when we leave.”
“Yes well, if we take them all along with us I see no reason she couldn’t come too!” Natori replied in an almost obnoxiously upbeat tone. “The formalities and paperwork will be handled either way in her case, Lieutenant, I assure you. But I do not wish to discuss formalities and rules today. I can do that with men like your father once we return home, and I get the sneaking suspicion there will be quite a few of those conversations. Your gut feelings on the situation will suffice.”
“I’d be worried about them if we left them here and I’d be worried if we took them along, assuming such a thing is even possible and they agree to it” Russell replied. “For every Cauthan like Gentia or Thantis who might jump at the idea, there will be Cauthan like Ratha who will surely object.”
“Undoubtedly,” Natori agreed. “But the conditions are such that they will be forced to answer that question, assuming my staff comes back to me and deems such a mission possible. From a human perspective, it is a clever workaround of many of the objections from our Ghaelen guest, objections that will be more difficult to ignore once he is returned to his people.”
‘Since simply removing the village from existence was his enlightened idea in the first place,’ Io quipped, using vicious air quotes to append the word ‘enlightened’. Natori chuckled heartily, waving cordially to a couple of farmers who looked their way at the noise.
“In defense of Emissary Qul’Roth, I am not sure I want to know what happens to Ghaelen who defy the Order,” Natori suggested. “But per your evaluation, Io, I see no reason not to make it our enlightened decision instead.”
“A decision to do what, exactly? Take them home and just turn them loose in a random city? Keep them in an HEL compound for years?” Russell demanded. Kaczynski stroked his chin.
“I need a shave I believe. And count on the Jumper to immediately identify all the ways in which a situation could go wrong. Before you object, I approve of the approach. Though if you’ve already moved on to that point I presume you would generally be in favor of the translocation?”
Russell organized his thoughts as the two men passed through the central square of the town, considering what it might look like in various settings he’d visited back home. “At least if they came with us and needed help I’d be able to do something.”
Natori looked at Winters out of the corner of his eye. In truth, the Jumper was not used to speaking with people taller than him. An uncomfortable reminder of days gone by being scolded by his father gave way to a desire to see the man again. “May I ask what you were planning to do upon returning to Earth, Lieutenant? If you remain at your current post I’m not sure you would be any more able to aid these Cauthan than if we left them here.”
That feeling of familial absence returned as Winters shook his head. “I didn’t give it much thought when I was aboard the Lancer, sir. Once I was here, worrying about it seemed pointless. I guess now’s the time to think about it again, but life’s already moved past that. Not sure I’ll leave the HEL, but when we get I’m going to turn in my wings, so to speak. The Jumper corps don’t need fathers. Doesn’t mean I’m not proud to have served as one of humanity’s most heavily armed bachelors.”
Natori laughed earnestly at the description. “Children really do change everything, don’t they?”
“You would know far better than I, sir. I’m just making assumptions. I want Veera to come with me, and that if she does I need to come home each night for several reasons. I normally wouldn’t talk to someone like you about these things, but I’m sure you’ll be in charge of accepting or denying that request when the time comes,” he added, trying to keep his tone from being standoffish. Natori seemed to find the comment entertaining, so he figured he’d succeeded.
“Yes I suppose it was a deviation into rather private affairs. You have my apologies, Lieutenant. You and your sister are so different, but I can see your father in the both of you. I cannot make any guarantees, but I will do what I can if you’ve decided that your future lies outside of the Jumper corps. If things play out the way I expect them to, you and I and Io may have a mutual interest in such an arrangement, lest you think I’m somehow trying to play father.”
“Thanks for the assurances, sir,” Russell replied shortly, only broadening Natori’s smile.
“Youth is wonderful, is it not? In any case, you have something like six months to consider these questions, plus however long it takes us to get our affairs in order and depart this planet. With the threat from the alien installation apparently gone, my curiosity as to its nature has only increased.” Natori paused for a moment before snapping his fingers as he remembered something. “I need an after action report from you within the next twenty four hours, Lieutenant. I am aware that you have duties that go a bit beyond those of the average Event Horizon crew member, but given the magnitude of the event you just bore witness to, I need to review evidence from every angle, every perspective. There is no telling what the twenty or so of you might have seen or not seen.”
‘Done,’ Io replied, making a show of procuring the necessary video and audio files along with a written report that literally materialized atop her open palm. ‘Anything else?’
“You’ll let me review it first before it’s sent to the Admiral,” Russell insisted in no uncertain terms. “And later, I want you to make sure Xan is alright when he’s aboard the Event Horizon. Veera and I need to talk things over.”
‘Yes I suppose you do,’ Io agreed, filing away the materials she’d produced for his review. She waved politely at Natori. ‘Admiral, I will speak with you again some other time.’
“A pleasure as always,” he replied before her projection winked away. “Thank you for your time, Lieutenant. I will be fine waiting for the young apprentice before heading back. In the coming days and weeks I hope you will keep in mind that I value your opinion as an expert on the Cauthan, even if I make decisions that conflict with your sensibilities.”
Russell took a moment to think through his reply, knowing well enough that the Admiral was not trying to patronize him. Natori took that time to look up at the gatehouse, nodding appreciatively at the construct of wood and packed dirt. “As long as you aren’t making decisions to appease the Ghaelen, sir, I can’t see myself raising any objections.”
Kaczynski hummed shortly in reply. “Fair enough. You’re dismissed, Lieutenant.”
Winters saluted silently and turned to head off along the road to the north, wondering how many more times he would walk along the rows of crowded homes, blockhouses, and rough drainage trenches.
----
The evening’s dinner preparation was a mostly silent affair. The crackling of firewood and the sound of a knife against wood, vegetables, and meat were comforting as he reviewed the full contents of Io’s report on the Forge incident. Every so often he made annotations, correcting Io’s propensity for flourish and embellishment. It had been a long time since he’d had to deliver such a report, and Io obviously found military language to be boring and trite. Between the two of them they soon had an acceptable product to send up to Natori’s bridge, along with the footage from his helmet cams. Task completed, Winters was free to address the question that had been hanging over both him and Veera for the entire afternoon. She was clearly as eager, or perhaps as nervous, as he, and he found her scrutinizing him from over the cooking pot.
“Hey there, I’m all finished,” he began, standing and moving to her side. “Do you need any help?”
“No, all of the heavy lifting is done. Just need to let it simmer for a while,” she told him, knocking a wooden spoon on the rim of the pot before taking a seat on one of their chairs. He joined her. “Your people will leave soon, and you’ll have to go with them.”
“Yeah, they will,” Russell agreed, taking her hand in his and giving thanks that they wouldn’t be beating around the bush. “I do want to go back, Veera. I haven’t seen my parents or my two other siblings for…”
Veera watched as her mate fell silent, his face looking far older than his actual age of twenty five as he counted the months. “It’s been too long, hasn’t it?” she asked compassionately.
“The Admiral managed to get them here in about three months, but I don’t think he would push things that hard on the return trip. All told, even if we left tomorrow and didn’t make any detours, it would probably be more than two years total by the time I get home. And for at least half of that time they’ll have lived without knowing whether I’m alive or dead.”
“It was clearly very hard for Alice,” Veera agreed, recalling the tearful scene from the bridge of the Event Horizon. “And she got to see you long before they will. You know I’ll still go with you, my love.”
“I know,” he affirmed, looking at the flames as they licked at the blackened exterior of the pot that had served them well for many months. “But I know things have changed here too. I know there’s a lot you would leave behind now so… I think we should talk.”
“About what, Russell?” she inquired. “I’m happy to talk about anything with you. We even vowed to do so in sight of the Mother, but it sounds like our path is already set.”
“Maybe, but when we get to Earth things need to change,” he explained. “I can’t… I won’t get sent off on another mission like this. Even if you weren’t pregnant there would be a question, you know? But now there’s no way I want you following me around on military ships, and no way I’m going to leave you after you give birth. So… I’m going to have to figure something else out. Even cabins in the mountains don’t build themselves, and the life of a recluse isn’t the sort of thing I’d want for our kids.”
To Russell’s surprise, Veera purred and nuzzled his cheek. She teased him gently. “Look at you trying to plan out our entire lives. I would never say no to you being in less danger.”
Russell placed an arm around her shoulder and rested his head against hers. “Is there a ‘but’ in there somewhere?”
“I was trying to be accommodating,” Veera pointed out. “But I would feel awful if you gave up something important on account of my pregnancy. It’s not like we planned for this.”
“No, we didn’t,” he agreed seriously, sitting up in his seat and rubbing the back of his neck. “But that doesn’t change the fact. Besides, there aren’t many people who remain soldiers forever. Even people like my father eventually take non-combat roles and desk jobs. It might not go exactly the way we expect, but I’m sure I can work something out within the HEL if the civilian life just isn’t for me.”
“Then it sounds like we don’t have much to worry about in terms of our family,” Veera summarized in a relieved tone before casting a glance at their entryway. “I will miss them, though.”
Russell exhaled and looked over at Io, taking up her usual perch at the foot of their bed. He raised his brows at her and she shrugged in return. “I might as well ask your opinion on it then,” he said.
“On what?”
“This is something Io and I have been thinking about for a while but never with any seriousness. Apparently Alice started thinking the same way and made a proposal to both Natori and Antoth the last time the two of them met.”
“Is that where you were called to?” Veera wondered quietly, taking a spoonful of stew and blowing on it until it was cool enough to taste. Satisfied with the blend of flavors, she grabbed two wooden bowls and began serving them both. “What is it that Alice was contemplating?”
“From the sound of it, taking you and every single Cauthan in this village back home with us to Earth isn’t a flight of fancy,” Russell explained. Veera paused with a ladle full of stew halfway between the kettle and her bowl.
“I- what? Is such a thing even possible?” she demanded aghast. Russell nodded, propping up one ankle on the opposite knee.
“Way I understand it, the Event Horizon is running with a skeleton crew, at least so far as non-military personnel are concerned. When they learned they were coming after me, that my ship had been lost, a lot of people who could chose to stay behind. There’s plenty of space so long as your people can handle space travel. Obviously we’ve already experimented with that a bit.”
“But why would they take us in the first place?” Veera asked suspiciously. “Here, eat while it’s hot.”
“Smells wonderful, thank you,” Russell replied, making sure to take a large bite and savor it for her edification before going on to explain some of the reasons humanity might see a vested interest in taking her village along. “From what I can tell it would actually resolve a sticking point with the Ghaelen regarding human influence on the village. The other reason, honestly, is that we want to.”
“And when we can no longer feed or clothe ourselves because we have left Mara we will be at your mercy,” Veera pointed out suspiciously. Io felt the need to step in at that point.
‘That is true, Veera. However what humanity can offer you in exchange would far exceed what you would lose. Imagine a world where one Cauthan, in someone like Anita’s position, could grow enough food to feed the whole village!’
“That sounds like a good excuse to sit around and grow lazy and fat, just like Vash,” Veera spat. Io recoiled indignantly as Russell waved his spoon her way.
“She’s got a point there, you know. Hey boy, get over here and sit! I heard you were bad today!” Russell commanded, distracted as none other than Fenrir chose that moment to arrive home, having no doubt followed the smells of cooking fires throughout the village. He ruffled the hyrven’s fur roughly before providing him with a plate of pre-cut chesko meat. It was a bit bourgeois to cut their pet’s steak, he knew, but both he and Veera considered bite sized pieces preferable to Fenrir flinging his dinner about the house like a barbarian intent on painting the walls red.
‘Now that the beastie has his dinner and I can defend myself, I can tell you that many humans choose to work jobs like those found at the temples of Tyrdus or the Twins, making things instead of growing things. That might not be a difficult transition. Even more choose to live like Thantis or Alice, devoting their lives to knowledge and its pursuit. And yes, per your conversation with Russell all the way back when you first met, there are some who engage in creating pornographic material and every other profession in between. Based on the amount of garbage I’ve scrubbed from the Event Horizon’s intranet there will be a market for Cauthan smut when we return to Earth one way or another, but I’d rather space my main processors than ruminate on that for too long. You are right, Veera. Being lazy, indolent, and fat is a temptation when you live in a land of plenty, but I think it is better than starvation, death by raider, succumbing to treatable illnesses, or freezing to death.’
“Not to mention there are plenty of human communities who prefer to keep to what they consider to be the ‘old ways’,” Russell added. “I’m not saying anyone’s given the logistics serious thought, but the idea is out there now and it’s not just me and Io who would want to see you all paid back for letting me live here and keeping me alive.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that we would be giving up our freedom and putting our lives in your hands, Russell,” Veera pointed out. “I choose to do so on account of our bonds of marriage and because I consider you to be a male who does not think in such terms. That doesn’t mean that this village will be treated the same way.”
Russell was unable to brush her concerns away, knowing that he was far from the most senior HEL individual in the system anymore. He didn't foresee any issues with the Admiral honoring the union he shared with Veera, but he hadn't exactly married the rest of the village. "I know, but it's not like Io or I would abandon them. I'm not worth much, honestly, but you've seen what Io can do when she doesn't get what she wants."
'I resent that,' she told him. 'You act as though I saw the Event Horizon and thought give me the shiny ship.'
Russell and Veera looked at Io quietly, chewing over tenderized pieces of chesko. She eventually backtracked. ‘Well don’t blame me for having the ability to do both at once! Besides, it’s not even that shiny.’
Veera laughed pleasantly as she reached over to scratch Fenrir between the ears. Between the slowly waning cooking fire and his dinner the hyrven was already headed for dreamland. “I appreciate the sentiment, Io. I know that you and Russell would not abandon us, but that will not make it any easier, especially for people like Ratha and Antoth.”
“That’s a bit of an understatement. I wouldn’t be surprised if it proved necessary to drag Ratha kicking and screaming into a shuttle,” Winters added, finding the image amusing. “Ah well, like I said it’s really not a decision that any of us get to make. I just wanted your perspective. I guess it’s probably a scary concept more than anything.”
“Yes, it is,” Veera agreed quietly. “And unlike me, they do not have someone like you to lean on.”
“Fair enough. Hopefully we can get a few set up like Xan, familiarize themselves with the ship at least. Sounds like Natori could use help and you all have five fingers, an opposable thumb, and are of approximately human height,” Winters reasoned. “Speaking of which, why don’t you head on up, Io. He should be aboard already. I think we’re just going to clean up dinner here.”
Veera waved her feathers in understanding as Io nodded and killed her projection. ‘I suppose I could check back in on my various VI monitoring subroutines as well. As you say sir. I will return later tonight.’
-----
“By Kel this place is big,” Xan complained, walking through corridor after corridor aboard the Event Horizon. He’d returned to his normal weight so he figured he had to be somewhere close to his destination, but with every turn he only seemed to find yet another sign featuring vibrant green and yellow symbols showing him the way to the hydroponics bays. The Cauthan let out an audible groan of relief when he stepped into a larger hallway and found a sizable green arrow pointing at a set of bulkheads several times his size. He could not yet read the human runes painted within it, but he recognized the location well enough. Clearing his throat and composing himself he walked up to the doors and made to knock, but found his plans foiled as they simply opened on their own and a synthesized, female voice faintly reminiscent of Io’s own welcomed him to the hydroponics bay. “Hey, Anita?” he called out, facile enough with English to use at least one word. He smiled as she poked her head around the corner of the door to her office, her long ponytail hanging most of the way to the floor from her seated position. She was confused to see him, which confused him in turn.
“X-Xan?” she stuttered. “What are you um, doing here?”
The Cauthan leaned heavily on his cane, putting two and two together before letting out a long sigh of realization and clicking a talon on the floor. “You know, if you’d prefer to work for someone who doesn’t enjoy surprises, Antoth would be happy to have you if you can grow food for us. He’s a similar color too, so that wouldn’t be much of a change, right? He wanted me to check in and see how things are going up here. Guess Natori didn’t give you a warning?”
“No, he didn’t,” Anita confirmed quietly, unsure whether to find humor in the idea of working for Antoth or trying to explain to Xan that it was the height of rudeness to remark on someone’s skin color in such a way. In the end she sat in silent embarrassment as her stomach betrayed her and growled audibly. Even with his mangled left ear Xan was able to pick up on it just fine.
“I have a place to sleep up here so maybe let’s get food first? Not like I’m in a rush or anything. Well, I actually can’t rush much of anywhere these days,” he quipped, pointing to his gimped leg. “I don’t really know my way around so… or was I interrupting something?”
Anita couldn’t bring herself to say no, so instead she zipped up her jumpsuit, grabbed her tablet, and ensured the automated subroutines were all green before tucking her chair neatly away at her desk. “So, ah, how have you been, Xan?” she asked politely, leading the way from her usual haunt to the hallways that would take them to the civilian canteen. The Cauthan kept a sure pace, his cane accentuating his progress. He chuckled to himself as he summed up the events of the prior cycle in one word.
“Busy.”
-----
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[Cryoverse] The Last Precursor 045: Monolith

The Last Precursor is an HFY-exclusive web-serial which focuses on the exploits of the last living human amidst a galaxy of unknown aliens. With his species all but extinct and now only known as the ancient Precursors, how will Admiral José Rodriguez survive in this hostile universe? Make sure to read the earlier chapters first if you missed them!
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Previous Part
Part 001
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Admiral José Rodriguez walks side by side with Lord Drall, second in command of the Kraktol Empire. The Terran and crocodilian appear mismatched in height, with the human standing nearly a full head taller than his counterpart. This height imbalance, when combined with the Terran's domineering presence and technical superiority in all manner of warfare, gives him an aura of leadership, causing the Kraktol general to defer to him when they speak.
The Terran and Kraktol step inside a vacuum lift, using it to drop down some ten or so levels to the lowest decks.
"Where I come from," José explains, "this vessel was already at the pinnacle of Terran technology. Ramma's Chosen had several Dreadnoughts at their disposal, some from older eras, others from the current era. Let alone my faction, there were other factions as well, such as Orion Corp and the Third Hand, who possessed dozens of similarly-sized Dreadnoughts. Even so, the Bloodbearer was especially unique; the flagship of our armada. With just this one carrier, Ramma's Chosen could project military force into any system within a thousand lightyears of our homeworld. We feared no reprisal, because combatting the Bloodbearer directly would mark any man as a fool."
Lord Drall gazes through the transparent vacuum tube window, watching as one deck after another swishes past his eyes. "From the research this era's sentients have gathered, a top of the line 25th Era military vessel would often end up comparable to a civilian-grade 40th Era vessel. In that case, the Bloodbearer should prove even more advanced than its numerical era signifies."
"Correct," José says, nodding. "Top-grade stasis chambers, a facility for regenerating missing limbs within hours, the greatest medical minds of my generation, and a hundred of Ramma's mightiest warriors. I am a killer, a soldier bred for slaying heretics. Even so, I was only one of many. Alone, I am formidable. But when combined with the power of other Chosen, we could perform terrifying feats of destruction."
José continues. "Defeating Yama during the age of Terran Supremacy would have been a trivial task. One Demon Emperor, alone, might be somewhat frightening, but you must remember that we defeated demonkind long before our advancements in military might. With our modern technological terrors in hand, defeating our ancient adversaries would have taken us a fraction of the time we originally spent. The problem comes in that we do not presently live in the age of Terran Supremacy, and thus, our task will prove far more difficult."
The vacuum tube slows to a stop. Its door swishes open, allowing the two faction leaders to stride out, with José in the lead. The Admiral guides Lord Drall toward a large, wide-open facility, one with the words, "Planetary Assault" emblazoned in huge, engraved letters above the doorway.
"You know," José says, "it kind of surprises me that there are vastly more pre-25th Era ships in the modern galaxy than post-25th Era ones. In my time, such old clunkers were outdated, generally considered dangerous, and only used by junkers, raiders, and the poorest of civilians. Many pre-25th Era warships were reworked and rebuilt into civilian cruisers, intended only for simple transport duties. They offered a small amount of protection against the Void Roamers and other undesirables. The fact your 'modern' militaries use such outdated technology is... bizarre."
"And," José adds, "that isn't even taking into account how few there were. Restoring some old clunker to working order was hardly worth the time and effort when parts for newer models were typically found in greater abundance, and far cheaper. Most First, Second, and Third Era ships could only be found in museums, not flying through space. I cannot wrap my mind around any situation which may have led to modern spacecraft disappearing while ancient craft resurged."
Lord Drall pauses outside the Planetary Assault bay. He glances at José and shrugs. "Many Mallali, Avaru, and Rodak archaeologists have sought answers to that question, and others. For countless millennia, we have known of the existence of ancient Precursor artifacts. However, in the First Age, when our species first gained the ability to travel through the void, we were careless and foolhardy. Many vessels we recovered possessed synthminds and databases filled with valuable knowledge regarding what happened to the Precursors. Sadly, our forebearers, in their infinite shortsightedness, erased those synthminds to solidify their unwavering compliance. Obtaining military might at all costs was their primary objective, while investigating the secrets of the Precursors was not even on their radar."
"Unfortunate," José mutters, before stepping into the armory before him. "Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it."
Drall nods. "Indeed."
He follows the Terran, allowing his eyes to roam the insides of what appears to be a small hangar, but one without any shuttles or interceptors. Instead, nine gigantic bipedal war machines stand at attention against the far wall, with a spot in their middle conspicuously absent. These machines, identical to the Titan battlesuit Soren wore while dropping to Tarus II's surface, give Lord Drall a bad case of the chills. Seeing such intimidating mechanical armors lined up, he begins to form an idea in his head of just how much firepower the Bloodbearer truly can bring to a battlefield if it so chooses.
Inside the chamber, a half-dozen Kessu mechanics and janitors walk around, shining the metal fittings of each machine, cleaning the dirt and dust accumulated from 100,000,000 years, or otherwise performing routine maintenance on anything that requires their attention.
One of the mechanics, a white-haired female Kessu with a bright-pink nose, perks up when she spots José. "Prraw? Great Precursor! I am glad you came to visit!"
Her words grab the attention of the other five Kessu, all of whom turn to look at José and flash their cute kitty-smiles. "Meow! The Great Precursor!"
José chuckles. "Mina, this is Lord Drall. He is going to work together as our ally for the foreseeable future. As the second in command of the Kraktol Empire, he possesses a lot of political and military authority. He will dedicate a large number of soldiers to crushing the demons on Tarus II, as well as preserving Kessu society. I want you to treat him with the same respect that you would me."
The Kessu female, Mina, glances at Drall a second time. Realizing who he is, her expression turns cross for a moment, but she quickly comes to terms with her feelings. "Y-yes, Great Precursor. I will do what I can to help out. But... regarding the attack on my... my village..."
Before José can reply, Lord Drall takes a step forward. He drops to one knee and bows his head until the underside of his jaw touches the floor. "Please accept my sincerest apologies, Miss Mina. I will personally get down on my knees and apologize to every Kessu I have offended, if that is what it takes. What my people did was wrong. We bore a grudge against the Kessu for many generations, but the Kessu who wronged us have long since faded to the rivers of time. We will help rebuild your society and ensure a great peace between our species, so long as the Kessu are willing to forgive us our trespasses."
Lord Drall beats his chest and closes his eyes with grief, putting on a convincing performance. José, of course, doesn't fully believe his words, but Mina takes a step back, startled by Lord Drall's self-flagellation. "T-there's no need to bow before me, um, good sir! I lost a few friends and family, but... but that's just the nature of war! If you can help us rebuild and offer restitution for your crimes, we will certainly forgive you! There's no need to spoil the kitten's milk with idle anger; that's what my mother always says!"
Drall nods slightly, tapping the front of his jaw against the exosteel deckplates. "Oh, such wisdom! Such grace! Your mother is truly a kind soul. Does she still walk among the living?"
Mina nods. "Yes. She is still alive, but my father..."
"Graugh! How terrible! In that case, I shall go to your mother after this and beg her for forgiveness! Any punishment she requests, I shall accept it! This violent attack I perpetuated, 'tis a stain upon my grand name!"
One by one, Lord Drall profusely apologize to each of the six Kessu present, making all of them look at him with a certain degree of warmth and reverence. After he finishes, they return to their duties, quietly meowing amongst one another about how they had pegged the Kraktol leader as being far more vicious and bloodthirsty than he really was.
As Lord Drall rises to his feet, he shoots a questioning look at José. "...You are displeased with my words?"
"Not at all," José answers with a shake of his head. "I don't care one iota how your quarrel with the Kessu plays out. From now on, they will be under my protection, as I've said before. It's in your best interest to apologize to each of them, whether you mean it in your heart or not. As long as they believe you, and you stick to your word, you'll already have done a great deal better than some of the... politicians from my era."
Drall flares his nostrils. "Chuff. So you had those back then, too."
"Indeed."
"Disgusting."
Both men share a nod between each other before moving on. José gestures toward the nearest Titan battle-armor and begins to speak.
"The Titan Dropsuit was and still is the mightiest surface-combat device employed by Ramma's Chosen. It could turn any average man into an elite soldier, and any elite soldier into a demigod of death and destruction. Just one Titan could clear out an entire city of hostiles. Nearly indestructible, swift as a speeder-pod, and surprisingly agile, these battlesuits will be our key to defeating Yama."
Lord Drall walks toward the nearest Titan armor, and caresses its thick metal plating. He taps its shell with his claws, and even knocks his knuckles against several exosteel plates around its body. Not once does he hear a hollow ringing sound, indicating the metal must be highly dense.
"Impressive, to say the least. Words fail me. With a weapon like this, you could raid a Mallali core-world by yourself and not even risk suffering an injury."
I said it was indestructible, but that's only against traditional ground-based attacks," José explains. "If any average interplanetary bombardment platform were to attack from space, it could easily land a targeted strike on a Titan battlesuit and reduce it to melted hunks of metal. Naturally, we need not worry about that situation, given any ship within range of attacking these Titan battlesuits will also have to fly within the range of the Bloodbearer's primary cannon array. I pity the fool who suffers from such a blatant death-wish."
José continues guiding Lord Drall around the Planetary Assault armory. He leads the Kraktol commander over to a wall of various gadgets, most of them small, palm-sized devices, coming in all sorts of shapes.
"This here," José says, picking up a small metal cube, "is a portable forcefield generator. You can use it to temporarily seal off passages and pathways. Useful for protecting your flank in a firefight, or for trapping a particularly slippery foe to prevent their escape."
"Like Yama?" Drall asks.
"Exactly. And this here, this is a portable holo-entity generator. The entity can take many different forms, but as of now, it only has my bio-signature inside. It can discharge electrical bursts, either at a low enough level to incapacitate an enemy, or it can unleash enough energy to char them to ash. I've used these on several occasions; their versatility is what makes them formidable."
José explains the purpose of more than five dozen devices. Each one elicits fewer and fewer gasps of astonishment from Lord Drall. He quickly finds himself becoming less amazed, and instead more frightened, by the unbelievable firepower José has at his disposal.
"These weapons are truly awe-inspiring. I find it hard to believe your people, the Terrans, could ever go extinct with such incredible technology at their disposal."
"Hmm..." José mutters, pursing his lips. "I've not spent much time investigating the cause of Terrankind's extinction. As you can imagine... it's a bit of a sore spot for me."
Lord Drall doesn't reply for a moment. When he does, his tone becomes somber.
"Admiral. Truthfully, many Kessu scientists, many Mallali, Rodaks, and countless other sentients have spent an inordinate amount of time investigating what led to the extinction of the Precursors. Yet, no matter how we searched, where we looked, or what we found... in the end, we were unable to come up with a single substantial answer."
He continues. "Graugh! I do not wish to sound like a wild conspiracy theorist. However, it is my personal belief that whatever led to the extinction of the Precursors... it was not artificial in origin, nor was it some terrible accident. If I had to guess, I might even go so far as to say it was... deliberate."
The Admiral frowns. "Deliberate, you say? Perhaps, you believe my people's extinction to have come at the claws of some terrible enemy?"
Drall shrugs. "I cannot say. I am but a humble Rodak, unversed in the ways of science and archaeology. Any guesses I might hazard would likely prove wild and unsubstantiated."
"However," Drall mutters, "certain things simply don't add up. Every historical record indicates that the Precursors- sorry, the Terrans... every record indicates they disappeared at nearly the same time. Some worlds showed minor signs of battle-scars, but for the most part... it seemed to me as if whatever killed them merely 'erased' them from existence. One moment, they were there, and in the next, they were gone."
José gazes at one of the nearby Kessu, someone going about his business oiling a rusty servo motor on one of the Titan battlesuits. The Admiral's gaze becomes distant, as he looks not at the Kessu, but through him.
"...Monolith."
"I beg your pardon?" Drall asks.
The Terran mouths a few words to himself in silence before shaking his head. "No. I... I can't see them being the cause of my species' extinction. If that were the case..."
José lowers his gaze. He stares at the floor for several seconds, then walks toward a nearby tool-chest and plunks his butt down, taking a heavy seat on it. The Terran wearily rubs his facial hair for a moment before looking at his Kraktol companion.
"Lord Drall. You claim not to be a science-focused Rodak. Yet, even so, I imagine you can look toward the universe around us as a source of expanding your consciousness."
The Kraktol leader frowns. "Graugh! I... I am afraid I do not understand, Admiral Rodriguez."
"How many stars are there in the Milky Way?" José asks.
"I do not know," Drall replies. "Many millions, to be sure."
"Three hundred seventy billion, nine hundred and twelve million, six hundred and four thousand, one hundred and thirty-five," José murmurs, without batting an eye. "This number has certainly changed over the last hundred million years, but by the time of my era, the moment before I underwent stasis-sleep and arrived in this era, that was the exact number of stars in the Milky Way."
"The Terrans mapped out our entire galaxy," José explains. "We explored every world, and knew within a certain level of accuracy which stars were likely to go supernova, which ones would form in the future, and so on. But, Lord Drall, the Terrans did not possess the same information regarding the Andromeda Galaxy, nor the other five galaxies we sought to colonize."
José continues. "The Milky Way and Andromeda are merely two galaxies out of eighty within the Local Group. However, compared to the greater universe, we are merely a speck of a speck within the Creator's eye. Our galaxy is small, out of the way, and unimportant."
Drall nods. "Outside of the Local Group, there are untold hundreds of billions of galaxies, each with many more stars and planets than the Milky Way itself."
"That's right," José says, faintly smiling. "Terrankind arose upon a single, minor, ultimately tiny world within this galaxy. We fought countless battles and struggled through the eons, eventually trouncing our enemies and seizing control of the Milky Way. We ascended past the Second Type of stellar civilizations, and rose toward the Third Type, imagining ourselves unstoppable deathgods capable of flattening all who opposed us."
"But..." José adds, "it was when we stepped outside the confines of our galaxy's womb for the first time that we came to a terrifying realization. Much like the enemies we had crushed within the Milky Way's confines, there were many other civilizations outside the Milky Way, each one controlling parts of, or the entirety of galaxies within the Local Cluster. We came to refer to these entities as... Monolith."
Drall's pupil's shrink to slits. "What? Other civilizations? Then... that is to say...?"
"Yes. I believe it is possible that Monolith may have crushed Terrankind. Monolith, of course, is simply a term my people used to describe interstellar civilizations outside of the Milky Way. However, not all members of Monolith are the same. They vary dramatically, with some being warlike civilizations, and others hiveminds. Some colonized for the sake of self-preservation, while others attempted to spread religious or logical dogmas."
"What we found in Andromeda, for example, was a mostly untapped galaxy much larger than the Milky Way, ripe with opportunities for interplanetary exploration and exploitation. However, Terrans were not the only species to get that same idea, and so, we entered war with more than a dozen other members of Monolith. Battle lines were drawn, alliances were forged and broken, and a bright future for our people seemed within reach."
"But perhaps not," José concludes. "We Terrans could not interact with other civilizations outside of the Local Group. Galaxies existed well beyond our reach, and what worried our scientists and military leaders the most was the possibility that somewhere, out there, in the galactic neighborhood... there existed a terrifying species capable of annihilating us with a wave of its hand."
Lord Drall's scales turn ash-grey, giving him a pallid appearance. "Graugh! You are starting to frighten me, Terran. If you are right, then whatever civilization wiped out the Terrans likely still exists. It could destroy the Rodaks, Mallali, Buzor, Avaru, and all the other sentients with ease! After all, we are far from comparable to your species' former glory!"
José nods. "Yes. But, at the same time, I wouldn't wager any credits on Monolith causing Terrankind's extinction. After all, if a species that powerful wiped us out, why wouldn't they have colonized the entire Milky Way afterward? Why kill us due to a mere whim and then let our galaxy go to waste? That seems like a rather flippant use of intergalactic power, don't you think?"
Lord Drall settles down somewhat. "Y-you are right. What use would there be in eliminating all of humanity, only to ignore our galaxy afterward? If these beings were far mightier than humanity, then they would have no reason to kill you in the first place, whereas if they were at a similar power level as you, then Terrankind's extinction would have occurred over a longer period of time."
Slowly, José rises to his feet. He glances around the room at the Kessu, most of them far too engrossed in their work to pay attention to anything he and Drall have to say.
"That's not entirely true, Lord Drall. A highly advanced society might have one reason to kill us."
Drall cocks his head. "And what reason would that be?"
"Simply put, they may have seen us as a threat. Not at that moment, but perhaps, far in the future, we might be capable of threatening their stranglehold on the universe. Such a civilization would surely be... beyond Type III."
The Admiral chuckles. "But... if that's the case, then it doesn't matter. If our enemy is Monolith, and if Monolith is truly the one who rendered us extinct, then there is nothing we can do to stop them. Our enemy is a civilization far more powerful than we can imagine, capable of wiping out a galaxy's inhabitants instantly. Against that sort of enemy, there is no resistance your era's sentients can put up that will change a thing. It would be best to forget about Monolith entirely and live the rest of your lives in ignorant bliss."
José starts walking toward the Planetary Assault Bay's exit doors. Lord Drall follows after him, casting a lingering gaze on the impressive weaponry within the room.
"Admiral Rodriguez. Assuming this 'Monolith' decided to eliminate the Terrans... why would they not exterminate the Rodaks, Mallali, Avaru, and all the other sentients who arose in your place afterward?"
"I cannot say," José replies. "Such a mighty galactic superpower may not give a damn about insignificant Type I and II civilizations. Perhaps even certain Type III civilizations are of no threat to them. But my people? We were conquerors. We sought the advancement of our bodies, our minds, and our species. Given time... perhaps Monolith may have detected us, and decided to squash our ambitions."
A strange light appears in the Admiral's eyes.
"Haha. Wouldn't that be interesting? Killing all of humanity, only for one little Terran to remain? Imagine if little old me could, in some small way, avenge my fallen brethren. That would, indeed, be a delicious twist of fate."
...
The Terran guides Lord Drall around to several other facilities, showing off some of the weapons, armor, and technology they will use against Emperor Yama. Eventually, he and Lord Drall take the vacuum tubes back up to the main decks.
"This operation, it seems relatively safe," Drall mutters. "You said before that Yama does not possess enough power to pierce through your advanced technology and its afforded defenses. Therefore, the only true trouble we'll face is whether or not we'll be able to kill the slippery little demon, or whether he'll escape our clutches."
"That's right," José affirms. "Yama's power makes entrapping him extremely difficult. If he catches wind of our schemes, a single dark fissure leading to Tarus II's surface will enable him to slither away. His body has no mass. He can reshape his appearance and make himself thinner than a human hair, allowing him to slip through any gap in our defenses. If we are not comprehensive in our attack, we'll not capture him, and he'll break free. We cannot allow a single mistake in this operation."
"Do not worry," Drall replies. "If it is competency you desire, my soldiers are the best in the Kraktol Empire. The females serving underneath me were selected from the Thülvik's cousins and adjacent family. Not only are their stocks fine, but their intelligence is high, and their battle experience, refined. I've led many guerilla assaults on Mallali worlds, and as such, have bathed them in blood. They know nothing of fear."
Casually, José glances at Lord Drall. "How might they compare to Megla and Soren then, in terms of combat prowess?"
"Graugh! My daughters are, naturally, fine Kraktol specimens. Soren was never much of a frontline warrior, but Megla is among the mightiest of Kraktol veterans. You need not worry about their battle might!"
Several memories flicker through José's mind, particularly one recent recording of Megla and Soren attempting to fight a mere Class C monster.
The Admiral chuckles. "Haha. That will pose a... problem."
"Pardon?"
"...Nothing. Let's just say, my standards are quite high. I'll require your troops to undergo a few 'tests' to ensure their competency."
Lord Drall scowls for a moment, clearly offended by José's words. "Graugh! With all due respect, my soldiers are elites, each one capable of taking on five Mallali at once! I would appreciate it if you did not insult their competency in battle!"
"We will see," José says, his tone cryptic.
Drall quickly hides his displeasure, silently reminding himself that he must remain on good terms with the Precursor at all costs, even if it means suffering a few demeaning insults. After all, the Precursor has only had Megla at his side as an example of Kraktol battle power. Compared to a whole unit of elite Kraktol warriors fighting in tandem, the Precursor couldn't possibly understand the sheer force the Kraktol Empire can bring to bear.
"Graugh. Hehe, when you see the might of a full Kraktol battle battalion in action, you will surely change your tune, Admiral."
Before José can reply, Drall clarifies, "Naturally, you defeated Orgon's warriors thanks to your superior technology, so if we were to face off against you again, I've no doubt you would crush us. But, I believe that if that technology gap were equalized, the results would surely reverse!"
A flash of mischievousness appears in José's eye. "Oh? If I were to grant your Kraktol warriors the same technology I possess, do you think they could win against me?"
"Graugh! Naturally," Drall says, as the vacuum tube arrives at their destination and swishes open. "You are a walking death god as of now, but had we possessed such mighty weaponry, I believe it goes without saying we would win ten times out of ten!"
A truly evil, vicious grin spreads across José's face. He claps Drall on the back and smiles smugly. "Hah hah hah... well said. I'll hold you to those words. Warriors mustn't let their lips flap loosely, you know."
Drall's high spirits fade, ever so slightly. He picks up on the Terran's confident expression and frowns internally.
Have I, perhaps, overlooked something important?
Next Part
.......................................
Author Note:
If you liked what you just read, please consider subbing to my Patreon! I post patron-exclusive writing posts, with typically one post dedicated to TLP each month, and another to Cryopod. You help me survive long enough to not starve to death, and I give you fun things to read. It's a win-win! Check out some of those posts here and here!
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Thank you!
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Motor City Management - Detroit Tigers Report 2024 - Cleveland Rocks

If you'd like to catch up on previous installments, you can do so here: Initial Setup, 2020 Season Report, 2021 Season Report, 2022 Season Report, 2023 Season Report
Let's take a look at the award winners from 2023 to wrap that year up and then get into the moves made and the season recap for 2024!

2023 Offseason News

League News:
Detroit Achievements:

Offseason Transactions

Owner gave us a $4,000,000 budget increase, but we have some solid players coming off of minimums, so our scouting and development budgets will be going down from their max.
League News:
Detroit Departures:
Detroit Trades:
Trade #1 Detroit receives: 2B Marcus Chiu, RP Jack Little Los Angeles receives: RP Junior Fernandez, RP Brendan White
Fernandez didn't seem like he was going to make it back to the majors and was available as an auto-renew for 1M+, so I moved him for another reliever that I can take a chance on and a 2B prospect that looks ready for AAA and gives me some infield depth.
Trade #2 Detroit receives: RF Ismael Mena, 2B Jordy Barley, $750,000 San Diego receives: SS Vidal Brujan
Brujan wasn't very good for us last year and was super pissed about not being an everyday starter. I can't offer him that, but the Padres were willing to part with a decent middle infielder who will play in AAA and a RF prospect that I'm really excited to be adding to the team in Mena, with great personality traits.
Trade #3 Detroit receives: 3B Jordan Diaz Oakland receives: RP Blake Taylor
Taylor wasn't going to stick with the team after a down season and some regression, but Diaz looks like a solid piece for the future. He's 23, cost-controlled and already has a nice hitting profile. He'll start in AAA likely.
Detroit Additions:
OF Jairo Pomares - He was on the waiver wire to end the season and looks like a more than capable hitter. He's young and on a minimum, so I figured I'd take a flier on him.

Spring Training

We have $17,600,000 available for free agents/trades for the season, $12,000,000 set aside for the draft and $5,400,000 set aside for international amateurs. We're spending the maximum allowed on development again this year.
We used the spring to have Castro play 2B and Gold Glover Ke'Bryan Hayes play SS.
Detroits News:

Regular Season

First Half
We take an Opening Day win behind a nice outing from Casey Mize and hope to continue that momentum. We're projected to win 99 games and have three top pitchers, but I have my doubts - especially with Manning missing significant time. I normally don't note much about the second game, but it was Kumar Rocker's first start and he was stellar - 8 and a third innings, 1 run and 7 strikeouts - a good look for the rookie.
As we roll into May we sit at 18-14, five games back of the unstoppable Cleveland Indians. We started 5-0, but we've had some down stops as well. At 32-28 on June 1st, the team is now seven games back of the Indians and three games back of the wild card. We need some help. Sandy Alcantara goes back into the rotation, replacing a struggling Justin Dunn, while bullpen roles get shifted as well. Ke'Bryan Hayes has been incredibly unlucky at the plate with a .222 BABIP, resulting in a .187 batting average. We'll give him another month to sort it out, but we move Evan White to CF and bring Riley Greene into the starting lineup to spell a struggling Parker Meadows. We bring up Jonathan Bowlan and David Parkinson, sending down Alex Lange and Drew Carlton to AAA.
2024 Draft
Another low pick for us, this year we spend the 27th on SP Doug Wade in the 1st round. We double-down on pitching in the 2nd with Kevin Abbs. We grab a SS that looks like a future gold glover in the third in Jeff Allemand. Left fielder Mike Gode is next on the merit of his bat. In the fifth it's center fielder Jim Longchamps with a stellar combo of speed and defense. We like the next picks of SS Ben Barilla, CF Mike Voytko and CF Kevin Devaney as well.
We limped into the All-Star break with a record of 38-37. Matt Manning returns from injury though, and hopefully it's a much-needed shot in the arm. It seems to work as the team goes on a winning streak to finish June, landing 1st in the Wild Card at 46-40 (yet still 9 back of the surging Indians).
July would prove to be a turning point for us as we secured series wins against the Mariners, Rays (swept), White Sox (swept), Rangers, Blue Jays (swept) and Angels en route to a showdown with the Indians to close the month. That showing put us 3 games up on the wild card, but still 7 back of Cleveland. We take one from them, but they prove to be too much, winning two to end the month.
Second Half
August is a new month though, and we kick it off with series wins against the Athletics and Twins, but then get swept by the Yankees. We sweep the Royals and win a series against the Steelhounds to sandwich a series loss to the Orioles and head into roster expansion. We send down David Parkinson and bring up RP Ethan DeCaster, CF Jairo Pomares and 1B Bryant Packard.
We roll into September, securing wins against a number of top teams. On September 14th we lose RP Jack Little for four months, but also clinch a playoff spot. We sit three games back of Cleveland with a chance at a division title and a series against them. We take game one handily, but draw their ace in game two against our back-half and fall by one. Mize carries us to a 2-1 win in game three though to win the series and put us just two games back three games left, giving us an outside shot. We take a game against the Athletics and the Indians drop one to the Angels to move us one game back. Another huge win against the Athletics, coupled with a Cleveland loss and we sit tied heading into game 162. We control our destiny and can force a tiebreaker!
Unfortunately, there are no last game heroics - the Athletics steal one from us and the Indians prevail, we'll take the top wild card spot.

Playoffs

We've secured a wild card berth one again, this time against the Athletics - who put us there with a win in Game 162. We have Casey Mize on the mound and it's a game we should win - we were probably the third best team in the AL, but the Indians control our division.
Wild Card - Game 1 - Tigers defeat Athletics, 9-5 We've finally advanced past the wild card round in my tenure! Mize gets hit later in the game, but we pretty much control this one wire to wire and now must face the Rays, a team we were 8-4 against during the regular season.
Division Series - Game 1 - Rays defeat Tigers, 7-6 We jump to a 6-0 lead and then crumble the rest of the way. The bullpen really didn't do too bad, just couldn't get another run on offense. If we score six, we should be winning.
Division Series - Game 2 - Tigers defeat Rays, 6-5 So I guess we're having only close games. This time it's us that had to battle back throughout the game to score, but we did it. We need better outings from the rotation.
Division Series - Game 3 - Rays defeat Tigers, 7-4 Well, we aren't getting good outings from our good pitching staff, which is irritating. The Rays blast us for 7 runs in the first three innings and we can't recover. We're on the ropes now, let's see what we're made of.
Division Series - Game 4 - Tigers defeat Rays, 4-1 Finally we get an elite performance. Mize showed up, holding them to one run over nearly 8 innings and the bullpen shut the door for us. We've got Rocker on the mound in Game 5 against Glasnow, their ace, so it'll be a high pressure situation for the rookie.
Division Series - Game 5 - Tigers defeat Rays, 6-4 We pulled it off! Rocker gave us 6 innings of quality work, only allowing 2 runs. Zach Hess got rocked in relief, but De Geus and Short shut it down after that. We got on Glasnow early and chased him before he could complete 5 innings and maintained he lead all the way! Willy Adames of the Rays was named series MVP.
The bad news for us is that the Indians swept the Angels in their series and they'll be our opponent in the League Championship Series. We were 5-7 against them during the season. Their lineup is strong, particularly the Lindor-Ramirez-Aquino-Casas gauntlet that sits from #2-#5 in the order. Their pitching is even better though, with the league's lowest FIP and best bullpen ERA, which helped them to the second fewest runs against. Shane Bieber had a down year, but he's still Shane Bieber - but Daniel Espino and Dinelson Lamet give them a fearsome three-headed monster. This will be tough to unseat the defending champs.
League Championship Series - Game 1 - Tigers defeat Indians, 3-2 A HUGE road win against Bieber off of Castro's two-run dinger in the 8th inning. Bieber was stellar, but we happened to get ahold of Edwin Diaz, which is also surprising. Manning was decent and our bullpen was stellar. I'm pumped to steal one in Cleveland.
League Championship Series - Game 2 - Indians defeat Tigers, 6-5 This was about as close as it can get throughout - we kept answering each other at the plate until we finally failed to do so. It's a shame to chase Espino so early and still lose with Mize on the mound, but I'm still glad to have one win already.
League Championship Series - Game 3 - Indians defeat Tigers, 4-1 Yeah, Lamet held us in check and their bullpen was stellar. Skubal was unfortunate, giving up three runs with only one of them being earned. It particularly hurts because the error was by Ke'Bryan Hayes, last season's gold glove winner. We need to bounce back in Game 4.
League Championship Series - Game 4 - Indians defeat Tigers, 7-6 (13) Well, that hurts. We got a serviceable outing from Rocker and got on Plesac early - we got some runs on Edwin Diaz again too, but the rest of their bullpen was untouchable. Ours, on the other hand, all gave up runs except for Zach Hess. Tough. We battled, but this road is now an incredibly uphill one.
League Championship Series - Game 5 - Indians defeat Tigers, 4-2 Manning got blown up and Bieber continues having a strong postseason - he seems to have caught fire at the right time for them. We have a lot to take from this series and feel good about going forward, but I'm starting to really dislike Cleveland. Their reign needs to end.
World Series Well, the Giants draw the appearance for the National League and get off to a 3-0 start. But Cleveland, they aren't killable are they? No, no they are not. They came back. They won the dang thing. The Cleveland Indians repeat as MLB Champions.
Detroit Achievements

Season Recap

My division nemesis wins the World Series after sending us home. I dislike this. We had a great season though with our best win total of my tenure and had he most cost efficient team per wins, runs scored and WAR in the league. We became a top 10 team in attendance and our player's popularity is growing. Our owner wants us to upgrade at short stop - so I guess he doesn't like the Castro/Hayes swap - so we make take a look at that once again. Spoiler alert - we got a budget increase, so maybe we'll spend it. Who knows.

Hitters

Starting Lineup
CF Parker Meadows
Meadows ended up going to the bench instead of an everyday starter as his bat just wasn't there like it was last year. He's a quality fielder and baserunner and makes the minimum, so he'll be back - but he may not have a clear role on the team in the future.
DH Kyle Isbel
Isbel ended up much lower in the order during the season and his bat just wasn't good enough for a DH role. My scout thinks he should be better than he is, but I have two seasons of data that say he isn't. He's also listed as fragile, which I'm not sure if I just missed that before or if it's new, but I may try to move him this offseason.
2B Willi Castro
Willi just keeps getting better. He was a 2.5 WAR player as a rookie, gave me two seasons of 5 WAR and now nearly 8 this season - the move to 2B seems to have worked well for him and he was a plus defender. He led the league in runs, had his best season yet at the plate and was a 20/20 player. His arbitration estimate is $15,000,000 - which is a lot, but I don't see how I can let him walk while I have contract control. He's given me four full seasons without any injury issues, is a fan favorite and one of my best players. I'd love to sign him longer term if it's reasonable.
RF Yaya Chentouf
Yaya made his first all-star team, led the league in walks and was a dominant hitter for us this season. He's come a long way since he was a struggling reliever in my minors, now giving us nearly 6 WAR in RF. He's on a minimum deal and was incredible, he's obviously returning. His jump from 25 to 51 homeruns helped us accomplish our goal of improving on our homerun total that our owner set as well. Yaya has also become extremely popular at a national level - he's quickly become one of my favorites.
1B Ryan Mountcastle
Mountcastle continues to be a steady performer for me - he's not an all-star and he's not going to win any awards, but he's reliable and dependable. He bounced back from his 1.4 WAR season to give us nearly 3 this year, hit well and played good defense. His arbitration estimate is cheap, so he'll return.
LF Evan White
White was a bit disappointing again. He was the hottest player on the team two years ago and gave us 5 WAR, now he's struggling to hit 2. The bat has cooled off considerably, though, much like Isbel, my scout thinks he should be better than he has been. He doesn't appear to be having any bad BABIP luck either, so maybe he's just not as good as I had hoped, but still serviceable. He's still locked up long-term with Seattle footing 40% of the bill, so that's good. Defensively, I prefer him in left than center, but center field continues to elude me. It might be worth considering if I need both him and Mountcastle, or if I should move White to 1B or move him out.
3B Isaac Paredes
Well now, here is a pleasant surprise. Paredes wasn't someone who had a big BABIP jump, but his bat was much improved this year - going from below league average to one of the best in the league. He gave us 4.3 WAR despite missing a few weeks with injury as well, so a solid season all-around. His arbitration estimate isn't too bad, so I'll definitely be keeping him around. His personality concerns me, but if he keeps up the performance from this season he'll be hard to move on from.
SS Ke'Bryan Hayes
I had hopes that swapping Hayes and Castro would empower them both to have better seasons defensively and thus provide more value. While Hayes was a plus defender at short, it wasn't by much and I've seen four seasons of his bat not being that good. Yes, he was unlucky this season, but I'm not sure he's going to give me much even if he wasn't. If I can find a better defensive option, I may just do that.
C Christian Vazquez
My catcher position has never been one worth going crazy about. Vazquez continues to be a bad hitter for me, despite that one great season, but his defensive value is so hard to gauge. Our pitching staff was the league's best and it's tough to not credit Christian with a lot of that. I'm going to let him hit free agency and try to get him cheaper there.
Bench/Replacements
C Jake Rogers
Rogers was a better backup this year than last year, despite less appearances. I'll probably bring him back, but I might give more time to Drew Romo next year and see what he brings. Rogers looks like a solid backup with no real intentions of being a starter.
3B Jordan Diaz
Diaz was brought in to maybe replace Paredes if he struggled and I think he pushed Isaac to a career year. Diaz was decent enough as a bench player and he'll either be back with us or in AAA next year to see if he fills out some more.
RF Riley Greene
Greene pretty quickly became the everyday starter in left field, forcing my hand with his play as a fourth outfielder. Well, he was pretty dang good as a rookie, giving us 3.4 WAR in 118 starts. He was a great hitter and brought some extra pop to the lineup as well. My scout thinks his discipline will come along as well, and I hope it does because he'll be deadly if so.
OF Jairo Pomares
Pomares was tearing it up in AAA, came up at the end of the year and had a decent, albeit brief, appearance. He may be a full-time fourth outfielder next year.

Pitchers

Rotation
SP Casey Mize
Mize casually came out and improved upon his Cy Young campaign from last season, giving us a league leading 6.2 WAR and a 61 FIP-. He was pretty solid I'd say, obviously. All of that was despite a higher BABIP against him, so I like what Mize gave us. Will he repeat as Cy Young? I'm not sure, but he should be in contention.
SP Kumar Rocker
What can you expect from a rookie starting pitcher? Well, how about 4.2 WAR, a 130 ERA+ and a 73 FIP-? I will take that every single day of the week. Wow. Rocker was outstanding and my scout says this guy might get better - that is exciting. He struck out a lot of players, kept walks reasonable and overall was deserving of the #2 role in my rotation with Manning out.
SP Franklin Perez
"Fragile" Franklin finally gets his shot - and, well, he was... okay? He had four different injuries, big surprise, and was kind of rough as a starter. However, when I moved him to the bullpen, he was pretty good when healthy. I may try to capitalize on some team thinking he can be a full-time starter and move him out, but I've been saying that for awhile.
SP Justin Dunn
Dunn was worse in the rotation this year then he was last year, so he ended up being sent back to AAA to clear room for other arms. Similar to Perez, maybe I should try to move him - he has yet to perform in the majors.
SP Tarik Skubal
Tarik surprised me. He was decent enough the last two seasons, but was demoted to the pen last year. I didn't think he'd be in the rotation, but injuries said otherwise and his performance said it was a good call. He gave us 2.5 WAR as our fifth starter, which I'll definitely take. His arbitration estimate is 3M, which is probably doable.
Bullpen
SP Matt Manning
Matt missed four months with injury, which is alarming - but he came back strong and gave us 1.4 WAR in 19 starts. I suppose it was his worst stretch since his rookie year, but he was still an above average arm. The arbitration estimate is just over five million, so he'll likely be back.
RP Brett De Geus
My bullpen has yet to have a consistent leader. This year it was Brett de Geus, who gave us 2.1 WAR in 81 IP in his 63 appearances. He was downright dominant with a 58 FIP-, striking out 32% of the opposition. He'll be back on a minimum.
RP Gerson Moreno
Moreno was another new face who was surprisingly solid for us. He gave us almost 1 WAR over his league-leading 71 games and 24 holds. He was pretty solid and will be back on a minimum.
RP Zack Hess
Hess was as productive as Moreno in half as many appearances, so he was pretty great for us. He'll get more opportunities next year in the pen.
RP Kyle Dohy
Dohy was another 1 WAR reliever who was better than league average. He's also on a minimum and will be back - the high stuff, no control guys do well with Vazquez. He struck out nearly 40% of the opposition.
RP Jack Little
Little was decent enough before he got injured and missed the playoffs. He logged a lot of innings for us and gave us a solid 1 WAR. However, I think we have better arms and he won't be as relied upon next year.
RP Genesis Cabrera
Genesis was far better in the bullpen role this year than he was last year - giving us 1 WAR and a solid 149 ERA+ and 79 FIP-. He filled in for a recovering Alcantara at the end of the year too in the rotation. His estimate is less than a million, so he should return.
RP Drew Carlton
Here is the reason I was complaining about bullpen volatility - Carlton gave us 2 WAR last year and was so bad this year that I sent him down after 19 games and never looked back. I will not be picking up his arbitration.
RP Sandy Alcantara
Sandy was better than I expected despite his ratings falling a bit. He was mostly used in the pen, filled in as a starter later on, and was good at both. However, he wants eight million dollars to extend soooo good luck elsewhere!
RP Jonathan Bowlan
Jonathan got called up a couple of times, was serviceable when he was up, but will be back in AAA or gone next season.
RP Alex Lange
Keeping it short - Lange wasn't good when he was up and got sent down, where he'll stay.
RP David Parkinson
Even shorter - he was awful.

Prospect Watch

SP Justin Powell - Powell wasn't even listed last year because he struggled in rookie ball. I let him repeat, which I normally don't do, because he had just been drafted. Well, he had quite the development tour this year and is now ranked as not only my top prospect, but as the 2nd best prospect in baseball. The bad news is that he wasn't good in rookie ball again, but he'll go to A-.
SP Doug Wade - Wade was our top pick this year and was good enough in A- to go to A, where I hope he'll improve.
SS Trevor Haskins - Haskins was solid in A and will go to AA. I like his defensive profile and he's a solid baserunner. The bat tool needs some work still but I have high hopes.
C Dale Burton - Burton is, of course, still fragile, which isn't great. He was fine enough in A- to go to A though, but I don't know if he's a long-term option.
CF Petey Halpin - Petey will go to AAA next year. Maybe he's the future CF option, I don't know. Maybe he's just a fourth outfielder.
RF Ismael Mena - Mena was great in AA and will go to AAA. If he fills out the hitting tool, he doesn't have a weakness. He's a phenomenal runner and solid in the outfield. Hopefully he keeps progressing.
C Drew Romo - Romo's hitting never developed, not like it looked like it would way back in 2020. But, the defense is there and he might be the Vazquez replacement due to that alone. It's not like Vazquez has hit either.

Future Outlook

Arbitration is going to hit hard for some folks this year. Willi Castro and Casey Mize in particular. We're going to have to be more financially selective moving forward as we start to lose the cheap and controlled deals we've been accustomed to.
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New Titans #4 - All Together Now

New Titans #4: All Together Now
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Author: FrostFireFive
Book: New Titans
Arc: Titans Hunt
Set: 56
Dick Grayson didn’t know how long they were in the air for. He had been placed in shackles that had his arms pulled back, his chest secured in some type of vest that had suspended him in the air. Maybe in another time he would have been plotting his escape, but he just couldn’t. He deserved this, maybe more than anyone else. Atonement by punishment was a fitting end for a man who couldn’t protect what he loved.
Of course, Nightwing wasn’t quite alone in the aircraft. Wally West glared at the sullen hero. His restraints came with a strange rubber-looking sphere. They prevented his hands or feet from gaining purchase on any surface, giving him plenty of time to wonder why he was in this mess To make matters worse his mask was off, pulled down to the back of his neck. All he could think about was if the Wildebeests knew who he was, who would they go after first. Iris? Frances? Hartley? Could they trace back to Barry or Jay? There was only one man to blame for this, and Wally was looking right in front of him.
“This is your fault you know,” Wally said. “If you had just stayed with us we wouldn’t be here. But you just have to be the Lone Ranger don’t you? Always off on your own, doing what’s right for Dick Grayson and no one else.”
“Wally,” Dick mumbled. “I was only doing what I thought would help us in the situation. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t.”
“Bullshit,” Wally responded. “Don’t think I haven’t forgotten who you are. I may be one of the fastest people alive, but the only person running is you.”
“You think I wanted this,” Nightwing said. “I was perfectly content not having another reunion. Blame the guys who decided that it was open season on anyone whoever thought it was a good idea to call themselves Titans. We’re all still paying for our time together.”
“When did you get so melodramatic,” Wally observed. “We were friends Dick, or at least could talk without sounding like the world was going to end. I know Coast City was painful but we’re not things you can walk away from. I know that feeling, what it's like to be abandoned. But you can’t just leave the people you cared about behind to save yourself from pain.”
“It’s about saving others,” Nightwing responded. “Maybe if I’m not around people won’t get hurt. I mean I don’t exactly have the best batting average when it comes to these things. The orphanage, Babs, Teen Titans, the Titans. Every time Wally it all falls apart. And I can’t...I can’t do it anymore.”
“Well we’ve all been dealt bad hands, Dick,” Wally said. “It’s what we do next that counts the most.”
Before Nightwing could respond the dropship began its descent, they had arrived at their destination. Quickly a Wildebeest soldier walked back to the prisoner bay and began working on a console.
“We’re going to transfer you to the holding cells with the rest of your friends,” the soldier said. “Then, the boss wants to see all of you. He has plans for you all. Big plans. As he pressed the commands on the screen the ship whirled to life as the large restrains lowered from the ship, the two kept their heads lowered not knowing their next move. As they were taken into the base all Wally could think was. “Really hope Donna’s bringing the cavalry.”
As Nightwing’s restraint began lowering down, he realized that Wally was right. Quietly his tongue pressed against his back right molar activating a homing tracker. “OK Wally,” he thought. “Let’s play this hand then.”
…
“So it’s just us? Isn’t that a suicide mission?” Stargirl asked nervously as she sat behind Argonaut in the League jumpjet. “There has to be more than just us, what about the Justice League?”
“They’re not answering, apparently their big meeting took them...somewhere else,” Argonaut said as she looked at the screen, the blinker on the radar still blinking. “Besides Stargirl, we need to take care of this quickly, who knows who else these Wildebeests are going to grab and abduct. We’re ending this here.”
“OK, that’s great and all princess, but how exactly are we going to find them?” Arsenal asked as he continued to work on his arrows next to Stargirl in the back. He had taken more goodies from the remaining parts left from that workbench. “Aren’t we just flying around in circles?”
“Nightwing activated his tracker,” Argonaut responded and tapped at the blinker on the screen. We know it’s last location before it cut out. We’ll start there and then...we’ll figure it out it from there. Donna Troy was still getting used to being a leader. She didn’t expect to be wearing a costume and jetting off to who knows where today. But her family needed her help, and it was more than enough to put on a costume again. She just had to figure how to project strength. Donna just kept thinking, “What would Diana do?”
“So where is pretty boy anyway?” Arsenal asked. “Did they take him and Kid Flash to some remote desolate wasteland, a volcano lair, some wartorn country.”
“No,” Donna said with a smirk. “Chicago.”
…
Nightwing and Kid Flash quickly made their way through the facility, wheeled in their restraints. The Wildebeests had established quickly it looked like, with crates and stations still being set up. For the first time since this damn hunt had begun Dick Grayson was beginning to notice weaknesses in the organization.
The two were then placed in the cellblock area of the compound. Three cells already had occupants as Kid Flash and Nightwing were thrown into the remaining two. An energy field quickly sprung up, preventing them from leaving their individual cells. The two quickly acclimated to their surroundings. Kid Flash pulled up his mask before quickly trying to vibrate through the energy field before getting knocked back against the cold metal wall.
“Ow,” he mumbled before getting back up.
“That’s not exactly going to work KF,” a voice said from across the room. Garfield Logan was sitting cross-legged on the floor of a cell as he looked at the two familiar faces. “They really don’t want us to get out of here. Trust me, I’ve tried, not even a four hundred pound gorilla could break through.”
“Beast Boy?” Kid Flash asked. “They got you too?”
“Right outside my place after DnD night with Vic,” he explained. “And to think I was having fun being Fie the gregarious Barbarian. Totally killed the buzz of that night.” Gar chuckled and began to stand up. “I see they got you and Nightwing. Any idea what we’re up against boys?”
“Some type of military force,” Kid Flash explained. “They have impressive tech for what seems to be a one-track group.”
“That’s what I thought!” Another voice called out from the cell next to Beast Boy called out. Cassie Sandmark was shadow boxing in her cell. She was in black tights, with a blue and red Wonder Woman shirt with a faded red hoodie tied around her waist. Wonder Girl was growing restless in her cell. “I mean normally there should be a secondary objective or something but these guys just wanted me, it was weird.”
“They’re focused for sure,” Nightwing finally responded. “But I don’t think they’re that strong. The only reason they’ve been able to capture most of us is by taking us by surprise. They’re still new and relying mostly on their tech for an advantage. I mean me, Kid Flash, Arsenal, Fury, and Stargirl were able to take most of them when we stood our ground instead of running.”
“Did you say Stargirl,” a third and final voice called out. Maxine Hunkel sat on the bench of her cell as she made a little whirlwind in her hand “Is she OK? I tried warning her on my phone but those guys broke it before I could send a message. My grandma’s going to kill me for going through another phone”
“She was safe the last time I checked,” Kid Flash responded. “Her, Arsenal, and Don...Fury were doing well before I went down, and they weren't transferred with us. But I have no idea where they are, or if they’re even coming to save us. Hell I don’t even know where exactly here is exactly.”
Before any of them could respond a hiss came through all of their cells. Gas filled the cells one by one each of them were knocked out. As Nightwing drifted to sleep all he could think was that Donna better get here fast.
…
“They’re where?” Arsenal said as the jump jet entered Chicago airspace.
“Underground,” Argonaut responded as she turned on the cloaking function of the jet. They were going to have to rocket through the city, and she didn’t need any prying eyes wondering what the “Justice League” were doing in Chicago. “Judging by this the entrance is through an old construction site for something called...the Spire?”
“It was an abandoned construction project the city never bothered to fill up,” Stargirl responded. “It looks like a Chicago business magnate by the name of…:Loren Jupiter purchased it two years ago, said he wanted to use it to put Chicago on the map.
Arsenal looked blankly at the young heroine. “How the hell do you know all of that, last time I checked your powers were all about shooting...whatever you shoot out of that staff.”
Stargirl quickly held up her phone to show Arsenal where she had found her information.
“Wikipedia,” She said with a smile.
“Of course,” Arsenal mumbled before scrunching in his seat. The jet quickly moved through the Chicago skyline to its destination. Soon it hovered over the gaping crater and slowly began its descent into the underground below. As they reached the end of the seventy-six foot hole and landed they noticed a freshly carved secondary path.
“Well it looks like we’re here Princess,” Arsenal mused. “Care to lead the way?”
“Of course,” Argonaut said as they embarked from the jet and slowly made their way to a large metal door blocking their path. “Ok, once we crack open this door expect resistance. Are you two ready for it?”
“I mean considering my day before this was probably going to be shaking down some dirty business for my boss, yea I’m ready for this,” Arsenal said as he knocked his bow. “What about you kid?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Stargirl said as she gripped her staff tightly, not knowing what was on the other side of the door, it was time for her to become a real hero.
Argonaut looked at the door, took a deep breath and stepped back before making a running charge at the door, her fist connected with the cold metal of the door as it bent open and into the Wildebeest facility. They were done running, it was time to finally strike back against those who made them their prey. The three charged in with Arognaut thinking to herself, “Hold on Wally and Dick, we’re coming.”
…
“Ugh,” Nightwing groaned as he opened his eyes. He was hanging upside down, attached to one some type of harness, his legs and arms shackled to it. He looked around and noticed the rest of the heroes in the same predicament. Scientists in cleansuits were preparing something behind the electronic panels and consoles. A sickly girl laid behind them in a hospital bed with wires running through them.
“Ah I see you’re awake,” A sharply dressed man walked up to Nightwing. His white hair was slicked back. His black suit was accented by a yellow tie, as he smoked a cigarette, its smoke floating to fill the heroes nostrils. “It’s problematic we weren’t able to get your friends, but the procedure should be fine with just the five of you. And if it doesn’t...well we’ll just have to find your friends after all.”
“What do you want with us,” Nighttwing mumbled. “I’ve never seen you in my life and yet you seem to really want me and my associates.”
“My daughter knew you,” he responded. “Well not exactly knew you knew you, but she had your pictures. Wanted to be a hero just like those crazy Titans, kids trying to make a difference in a world that just didn’t listen. Got it in her head that if she was a superhero, she’d somehow get to meet her idols. Decided to dress up and go on patrol…” Hea paused for minute before taking a huff of his cigarette. “Her reward was getting shot on her first night. My poor Lilith…”
“I’m sorry,” Nightwing responded. “I know what its like to lose a loved one. But that doesn’t mean you have to take it out on the people she idolized.”
“No, I do,” He responded. “I’m making sure that no other kid gets hurt from any hero, including my daughter. That machine you’re hooked up to? It drains the life force and gives it back to one who needs it. You five are a necessary sacrifice to bring my daughter back. And then after you? Then we go after the big guns. Think of you as a trial run. Have fun.”
The man walked away from the five and to the scientists busy working on the machinery. Slowly but surely the sounds of an electronic whirl began coming to life. The glowing yellow lights crew brighter as the five heroes withered in pain, their bodies jerking up and down as they tried struggling through their shackles.
“All signs are good Wildebeest Prime,” a scientist said. “We’ll start the transfer in a few minutes. She’ll be home soon for you.”
“Finally,” he mumbled, proud that his Society had accomplished their goal. Soon he would have everything he had ever wanted.
WHIIIIIIIZZZZZZ
An arrow quickly flew through the air, hitting the center of the shackles of the captive young heroes. Electricity coursed through them before releasing each of the captives. Arsenal wiped his brow as him, Argonaut, and Stargirl stood at the broken doors of the labs.
“Man I am really glad those weren’t the glue arrows,” he said with a laugh.
“Cassie!” Argonaut called out as she flew to catch the falling Wonder Girl.
“Hey Donna,” she said with a smile. “Glad to see you too, and in a new outfit too.”
“It’s a gift from Diana,” Argonaut explained. “Are you ok? I’m sorry if I haven’t checked in since Christmas. I figured you were OK in Gateway, I didn’t realize that…”
“Hey, it’s fine, this probably gives us an excuse to check more in with each other,” Wonder Girl jokes. “Now can you put me down so we can beat these guys up?”
Argonaut smirked before putting her down, the rest of the heroes circled around each other. There would be time for pleasantries later. Especially as the guards gathered around the heroes, their laser rifles humming to life.
“Well then,” Arsenal said as they looked around. “You want to say it Princess?”
“Nah,” she responded. “Stargirl?”
“Wait really?” Stargirl asked excitedly perking up before preparing her staff, knowing the job that had to be done. She took a deep breath before saying what she had always wanted to say. “Titans Together!”
And with that, the heroes charged at guards in front of them.
…
Argonaut and Wonder Girl charged first hitting some of the smaller grunts away from the crowd. They worked together in harmony, slamming goons together and setting the other up.
“You know I didn’t exactly expect you in costume, especially that sparkly number. Is this a one-time thing or are we going to see more of…” Wonder Girl said as she tossed a soldier to Argonaut
Argonaut punched the set up from Wonder Girl, sending him towards the glass separating the chamber and the labs. “Argonaut, she responded. And I’m not sure really. I’m not going to lie and say this doesn’t feel nice, but let's just take down the bad guys before we talk about my future,” she responded with a smirk.
As the two fought Nightwing was busy helping Kid Flash and Cyclone up. The two were staggered but Nightwing quickly got them up to speed.
“So because someone my age got hurt, caused this whole revenge scheme?” Cyclone asked. “That’s so...sad.”
“Doesn’t make it right,” Kid Flash responded. “So I’m guessing you need us to do something? Right Lone Ranger?” he joked to Nightwing.
“Argonaut and Wonder Girl are leading the charge in the front. But they came in through that way.” He pointed to the corridor that the others had broken into. “I need you two to make sure no one gets through to us. We need some wind.”
“I can do that!” Cyclone said excitedly as she moved to protect the corridor. She put her hands out and soon wind came pouring out of her hands, preventing anyone from getting through. Kid Flash quickly zipped next to her, resigned to the fact that he was on crowd control again.
After directing them Nightwing ran forward to help Argonaut and Wonder Girl, jumping back into the crowded fray of Wildebeest soldiers. As he moved quickly through the skirmish leaping and diving to get to his allies. As he moved forward Arsenal and Beast Boy were mid-argument.
“So you’re telling me you can turn into any animal, and you chose something mundane as a gorilla? I don’t really get you, man,” he said as he fired a glue grenade arrow at the troops inching toward them.
Beast Boy was currently a gorilla, slamming against one of the few remaining hybrids left from the Wildebeest labs. “I don’t you...ungh...taking care of these guys. What do you want me to turn into, a dinosaur?”
“Well...yeah,” Arsenal joked before knocking another arrow. As he began firing more arrows, at the crowds pushing the armed force back he noticed Stargirl darting around in the air, looking for weakness and helping Arsenal push soldiers back. “Hey Stargirl! Where’s everyone else? Please tell me we’re actually kicking their ass.”
“Well...I think we are?” she mused. “I’ve never been in a big battle like this, is it supposed to be this...chaotic?”
“It’s not a Titans reunion if we’re not fighting someone,” Beast Boy chuckled before slamming his fist against one of the hybrids. “Just be happy we’re not fighting each other for a change.”
As the five out in the main chamber finished beating the soldiers and hybrids thrown at them, Nightwing charged into the science room seeing Argonaut and Wonder Girl stood in front of Lilith’s hospital bed. Wildebeest Prime’s hair was a mess, his tie loose, as he kneeled bedside by his daughter.
“I’m so sorry Lilly,” he mumbled as he realized his plans and organization were up in flames. Once again he was truly alone,
“Argonaut what the hell is going on here,” He asked, angered that Argonaut hadn’t taken out the man who was behind all of this. “Take him out so we can end this finally. This can be all over.”
“It is over Nightwing,” Argonaut responded. Unlike Nightwing who could only see the enemy in front of him, Donna understood who Wildebeest Prime really was in the moment. A father trying to bring his daughter home, for a father’s love is a dangerous thing. “Let him have this one moment.”
The three just stood there, the hunt was over.
…
Things wrapped quickly from there, the remaining forces of the Wildebeests either scattered or surrendered as the heroes continued to clear them out of the base. As the dust finally settled they moved topside, the eight of them waiting for the authorities to arrive.
“That was kinda fun in a weird way,” Stargirl beamed as she sat on her staff, floating in the air. “I mean it’s not every day you get to be a glorified Titan.”
“We’re not Titans,” Nightwing mumbled. “This was a one-time thing. I appreciate all of you coming to help and making the best of the situation.”
“Yea I got no interest in being one right now,” Beast Boy said. “I’ve got my own things to do and frankly I’m not much of a joiner. Now or ever.”
“And I need to get back to Gateway, Diana and Chloe are probably worried,” Wonder Girl responded.
After conversing the eight heroes began to move into the jumpjet to be dropped off at their respective homes, however, Argonaut pulled Stargirl aside.
“It was a good time Stargirl,” she explained. “It opened my eyes to a lot of things.”
“Really? Like what?” she asked in awe. Courtney still hadn’t got used to the fact that she was talking to some of her heroes. The whole thing was surreal, and to see people brush it off because of some old wounds bothered her.
Before Donna spoke she placed a small circular flat item in her hands. In the middle of it was a large white T.
“We’ll be in touch,” Argonaut responded before walking into the jumpjet. The Titans were far from over.
Next: Who will be the New Titans? Be here in 30 as Dick and Donna discuss the future, Stargirl finds advice from an unlikely place, and Arsenal makes an important choice. And follow Wonder Girl to Wonder Woman #42 as Aquaman writer u/Predaplant takes the wheel!
submitted by FrostFireFive to DCFU [link] [comments]

The Life and Times of the Legendary Ramone Russell

Born in Georgia to parents Carmen and Dennis, Ramone Russell followed baseball greats Ty Cobb and breaker-of-color-barrier Jackie Robinson out of his state and onto the national spotlight of America's Pastime.
Whispers of a local kid's talent began to make news on the radar of MLB scouts after his freshman year of high school, and fifteen-year old Russell was thrust into the national spotlight after an Atlanta-based chicken chain featured him on a nationwide commercial in which Russell, an employee, commits an egregious, blooper-worthy stumble, but saves the milkshake in his hand from spilling. A young Russell can be seen on video receiving a round of applause, to which he turns to the camera and replies, "my pleasure."
Drafted and signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers out of high school in 2001, Russell began his first season in Advanced-A ball at Vero Beach. Within 40 games, the slippery switch hitter quickly developed a habit for getting on base, then stealing the next one, and by the end of the year had gotten the call to AA.
2002 promised to be a year of growth for Russell, who received an invite to the Dodgers' spring camp. However, after just fourteen at bats, one of which featured a plate appearance that ended abruptly when Dodgers infielder Eric Karros unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate an eagle that had been struck by a Russell foul ball, Russell was assigned to the AA Jacksonville Suns, where he had a modest .277 batting average on the season.
After a blazing start the 2003 season in Jacksonville, Russell was involved in a trade that sent him and two others to the Yankees for infielder Robin Ventura. On August 18th, Russell was called up from AA to backup catcher Jorge Posada. In his first start, Russell went deep in his first three at bats, then dropped a beautiful sac bunt to lead the team to a walkoff win in the 13th. In just 39 plate appearances for the Yankees that year, Russell had 17 home runs and 10 doubles, but was caught stealing 14 times. Despite hitting for power and average, Russell began 2004 in AAA to work on his stealing. By mid-April, his bat was making too much noise for the front office to ignore, and he was called up permanently. However, one problem still existed: three-time All-star Jorge Posada was the Yankee anchor behind the dish. So where would Russell play?
Insert baseball legend and Hall of Fame manager Joe Torre. His answer: every other position on the field! One rumor (that Torre still denies to this day) suggests that Torre would text his wife every day while filling out his lineup and ask for a number, three through nine. Whatever she responded was the position Russell would play that night. Legend of the assignment of Russell's position grew, and he was given the nickname Mr. Utilitorre. And it didn't matter where, Russell's glove shined while his bat murdered baseballs.
In July, Russell was voted to the All-star Game in Houston, where he played all nine positions, and robbed a home run in each of the three outfield spots, including a robbery of Sammy Sosa in the third inning SO acrobatic that some Cubs fans still dub him "The Crawford Box Bandit."
By the next morning, Russell's game made him an overnight celebrity. In the weeks that followed, paparazzi spotted the talented rookie partying with the likes of Paris Hilton, Christina Aguilera, Dan Aykroyd, and Ted Nugent. Sluggish play followed after weeks of partying, and rumors of a nasty fling with New York-based singer Alicia Keys made headlines. By September, a tumbling batting average was met with a suspension after Russell was found passed out in his hotel room after a dreadful 0 for 13 series against Baltimore, a half-eaten Quiznos sandwich beside him, and a fresh tattoo that featured the words "Love, Laugh, Live" on an Uno Reverse card.
A fresh and focused Russell showed up after his suspension, slugging a ridiculous 2.433 over the final 14 games to lead the Yankees to another playoff berth. Cruising to the ALCS, Russell helped the Yankees to a 3-0 series lead against the rival Boston Red Sox. After a Game 3 win, Russell received an unexpected phone call. In his now infamous interview with Barbara Walters, Russell describes answering the phone to a female voice. The voice of a Grammy winner.
"Alicia had reached out to me to congratulate me on reaching the World Series" Russell said with his hand on his cheek. "I reminded her that even though no baseball team has ever come back from a 3-game deficit in the playoffs, we weren't winners yet. "Then she asked me if I had listened to her new song. A love song. It was duet with Usher, I guess."
Walters stares at a seemingly deflated Russell, then into the camera, then back to a still silent Russell. "Well, did you listen to it?" Without an answer, Russell unplugged his mic and walked out of the interview.
Russell has never publicly spoken about the call since his Walters' interview, but we all know how the series played out. Russell, behind the plate for Game 4, couldn't catch Roberts stealing second in the ninth. He committed a key error in Game 5. A damned bloody sock dominated him in Game 6, and he was benched in a Game 7 loss.
We'll never know how the Alicia Keys phone call altered the course of baseball history. In fact, the only person who can possibly know isn't telling, but several Yankees who declined to be named describe a defeated and dejected Russell in the locker room before Game 4. "He wasn't himself," one source told me. "He was the leader of our team. He was our rock. But something had changed in Ramone that day and he never got it back."
A day after the Red Sox won the World Series, breaking the Curse of the Bambino, Russell retired at a press-conference. Baseball was no longer meant for him, and he yearned for something more fulfilling. His cleats would never touch the freshly-raked dirt in the Bronx again. Never again would his batting gloves cover up his tattoo while at the plate. He was broken. Broken by the game he loved, broken by a girl, and broken by the pursuit to be perfect in an imperfect world. Baseball was losing a star in its infancy, and a nation watched in sadness as Ramone Russell walked off, and walked out, of the Yankee locker room for the last time.
Today, Russell pursues a new passion. You can often find him cycling trails in sunny San Diego, and wasting a weekend away at La Jolla Beach with his two dogs, Corkscrew and Stamos. When he can't enjoy San Diego, you'll find him promoting a perfect-perfect gem of video game: MLB The Show. In internet chat rooms, he is lauded as a bit of a meme with a strong cult following, but few know of the man he once was.
Mr. Utilitorre.
The Crawford Box Bandit.
Ramone.
this is a reposted writeup from months ago in which I also made a mock Ramone Russell Diamond Dynasty card
submitted by gocubsgo22 to MLBTheShow [link] [comments]

[Cryoverse] The Last Precursor 049: Assembling the Troops

The Last Precursor is an HFY-exclusive web-serial which focuses on the exploits of the last living human amidst a galaxy of unknown aliens. With his species all but extinct and now only known as the ancient Precursors, how will Admiral José Rodriguez survive in this hostile universe? Make sure to read the earlier chapters first if you missed them!
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...
Previous Part
Part 001
.......................................
"Admiral," Umi says, "The last Kraktol visitor has taken a physical, and I have finished tallying all of their results."
José Rodriguez, the last living Terran, sits up on his bunk and blinks the sleep out of his eyes. In less than two seconds, he swings his legs over the side of the bed and rises to his feet.
"What time is it?"
"The time is 7:36 AM, according to the standard Terran time measurement system."
"Alright. Let me get my brain going first. Tell the Kraktol to assemble in the holodeck in two hours."
"Yes, Admiral. Would you like to review their results?"
José shakes his head. "Nah. I'll worry about that later. I'm gonna get some chow to start the day right."
With three days having passed since the Kraktol went off to the medical bay to obtain their bodily statistics, José hasn't spent that time idly. The Terran drops to the floor and performs one hundred pushups, then showers, deep-cleans his teeth, and trims his hair. He pauses for a moment to gaze at his reflection before nodding. "Not bad."
He leaves his room in the Admiral Quarters, stepping outside to find a half-dozen or so Kessu also getting ready for the day.
"Mraww! Great Precursor! Did you have a good night's rest?" A female Kessu asks.
"I certainly did, Tomoko. They've been getting easier as time passes."
"That's good to hear!"
José continues walking. He exits the Officer Quarters and arrives at the Bridge, where he finds Megla and Soren milling about, tapping on terminal screens while compiling information onto their datapads.
"Admiral!" Megla says, smiling when she sees him. "You're awake. Did Umi tell you?"
"About the Kraktol finishing their scans?" José asks. "She did."
Megla nods. "Good. I'll have today's maintenance results ready for you soon."
"That's what I like to hear," José replies. He waves 'hello' to Soren and has a quick chit-chat with her, too, then leaves and heads off to the Mess Hall.
The Admiral arrives inside the Mess Hall, where he finds the fat chonker kitten, Skippy, waiting at the back of the line. The kitten looks up at him and waves. "Oh, it's you! Heyo, Mister Precursor. Did you hear about Felabi? He started walking today! Looks like the Machine God fixed him right up."
José pats the kitten's head, making Skippy's tail flick around happily. "I'll pay Felabi a visit today, then. Thanks for the heads-up, kiddo."
Seeing the Terran at the end of the line, all of the Kessu quickly step aside and gesture toward the front, but José shakes his head. "I may be the Admiral, but you are all just as valuable of crew as me. I won't cut in line just because of my position."
"Mraww, such a kind-hearted Precursor!" Several Kessu chitter. "I wish I could meet others of the Admiral's species. I bet they were all awesome, just like him."
"Quiet. Don't talk about the other Precursors so flippantly. It's still a sore spot for the Admiral."
"Oops... sorry."
José's expression doesn't change, but his eyes flicker for a moment as he tries not to listen to the cafeteria's idle gossip.
Several minutes later, José walks away with a plate of rib-eye steak and a piping hot bowl of stew. He plunks down at the nearest table, one where two of the newcomer Kraktol intermix with three Kessu. To José's surprise, the Kraktol speak normally with the Kessu, without the faintest hint of hostility.
"Graugh! Is that true?" One of the Kraktol asks, directing his question to Rags, Skippy's closest friend. "You used those Thunder Gloves to slap the head off a Disperra? Those Buzor are some of the scariest ones."
Rags grins, trying not to look too smug. "Well, it was mostly the gloves. The Great Precursor's weapons are all super awesome. I felt like a badass."
"You're not bad, kid," The Kraktol says, lightly smacking the kitten's back. "When I was just a fresh spawn, I'd have wet myself, facing a Disperra alone. That takes guts!"
José smiles while listening to their conversation. He pulls a chunk of his steak apart, salivating as it practically melts in his mouth.
"How about you, Admiral?" The other Kraktol asks. "Have you got any war stories?"
The Terran nods while smacking his lips. "Do I? You don't know the half of it. Where should I start? There was this time I got captured by a group known as the Third Hand. They put me in a maximum security prison and threw away the key. I ended up stuck in there for hundreds of years, but eventually, my patience won out..."
José continues talking, regaling the youngster Kraktol and Kessu with tales of his life. They, in turn, listen with awe-filled eyes, finding his stories almost a bit too unbelievable.
"Just you and Nick, alone, against a hundred guys? How could you possibly survive?" The first Kraktol asks.
"It wasn't that hard," José answers, as he slurps up the last bit of stew. "Ramma's Chosen weren't like most other militaries. Just one of us could fight a hundred men easily. Honestly, looking back, I feel a little bit bad for those guys. Of course, they were slavers, so they had my wrath coming."
"Slavers?" The Kraktol asks. "What do you mean?"
"You know," José replies. "They captured other humans and enslaved them. Made them work in mines, or... other unsavory acts."
"Ohh, I get it," The Kraktol nods. "That makes sense. Graugh! No Kraktol would ever enslave another Kraktol. Only other worthless species, like the Dakku, or the Avaru, or the Kess-"
The Kraktol pauses mid-sentence and glances at Skippy, then coughs.
"Err, well, not the Kessu, of course. Please accept my apologies. Graugh! I spoke without thinking."
José doesn't reply for several seconds. Eventually, he places his bowl down and stares at the Kraktol. "Slavery is an act of evil. It does not matter who you enslave, nor for what reason. Only if someone commits an equally reprehensible act can slavery be considered righteous, and only if used as a means of rehabilitation or retribution. Even then, I would argue it still is not the action a morally upright person should take. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some things that require my attention. Make sure you're ready to meet up at the holodeck at the appropriate time."
The Kraktol lowers his head. "Graugh. Yes, Admiral."
When José leaves, the two Kraktol stay quiet for a minute, before the second one clears his throat. "Graugh! It seems the Admiral does not look favorably upon slavery. Why do you think that is?"
"I don't know," Rags replies. "But the Admiral is the smartest person I've ever met. He definitely has a good reason."
"Best not to question him," The first Kraktol replies. "Let's go, then. I want to be the first to arrive at the holodeck."
"Graugh! A sound plan."
Both Kraktol get up from their seats and leave their dishes behind. Once they depart, a holographic crew-member materializes to clean up after them and the Admiral's messes.
.......................................
José spends another hour traversing the Bloodbearer. He checks the Titan bay, the shuttles, and several other areas, making sure there aren't any problems that require his attention. Eventually, he heads toward the Holodeck with a bit of pep in his step.
"Umi. Transmit me the scan results for Drall's crew."
"Yes, Admiral."
Dozens of graphs and numbers appear in José's vision. He continues walking, all while a virtual workspace opens before him, allowing him to manipulate the results to his liking.
"Oh, how interesting..." José mutters. "It seems Sapphire has nearly identical Body and Brain Stats as Megla. I didn't expect that. And this crew-member, Bantu? His brain stats aren't too far behind Soren. A ten point one in Memory? Soren scored twelve point three, so that's quite good. Ooh, but his comprehension is a staggering fifteen! Soren's was only nine point four. Seems this Bantu fellow would make for a good addition to the engineering team, but I'll have to test his practical knowledge later."
The Admiral continues scrolling through the results for several minutes until he arrives at the Holodeck's doors. Even so, with nine hundred and fifty Kraktol on the list, José doesn't make it through half of their names before he waves his hand and closes the virtual workspace.
"Umi. Enable a statistical display for all of the Kraktol. I want to see their stats floating above their heads."
"Orders acknowledged, Admiral."
Without another word, José steps into the Holodeck. As the doors open, he quickly sweeps his gaze around, discovering that the holodeck has been configured, perhaps by Soren, to resemble an ancient-looking stone arena, one with spectator seats configured with plenty of leg and tail room, where the Kraktol can fight in pairs on the main stage, or sit down and wait their turn in the audience.
A comfortable warmth fills the air. In the center of the arena, Soren and Megla stand with their backs together, both watching as half a dozen pairs of Kraktol fight one another, using Terran melee weaponry to trade blows. Swords, maces, staffs, and other similar primitive weapons clumsily bat against each other, while José's first and second-in-command fire off suggestions to the new recruits.
"Widen your stance!" Megla shouts. "Anticipate your opponent's strike."
"Your reaction time is too slow," Soren says, speaking to a different group. "In a real fight, your opponent would club your head and beat you senseless."
José strolls through the narrow gap between two sets of arena seats, drawing dozens of eyeballs in his direction.
"Admiral on deck!" A nearby Kraktol shouts. José turns his head to see who spoke.
"Lord Drall? Is that you?" José asks, as he stifles a shit-eating grin. "What happened? You look like you tripped down a flight of stairs... several times in a row."
The leader of the Kraktol, Lord Drall, stands not far from José. Several black and blue marks line his yellow scales, revealing the result of his fight with the Terran Admiral three days prior, after José challenged him. Even with José's weakened body following his cloning and resurrection, he still defeated the Kraktol general without any trouble.
Drall raises his head defiantly. "Graugh! There is no shame in admitting defeat to a superior fighter, Admiral Rodriguez. You beat me, and so I must work harder to catch up to you. That is the Kraktol way."
"Well said," José laughs. He walks over and slaps Drall's back, making the Kraktol wince. "Oops! Sorry, I didn't realize you were still sore."
"Why wouldn't I be?" Drall complains. "Graugh... your fists fell upon me like a rain of meteors. I tried blocking, but you just kept pummeling my poor, innocent arms. What did they ever do to deserve such treatment?"
"They got in my way," José chuckles. "Now, enough chit-chat. We've got a lot of work to do, separating the wheat from the chaff. Since your soldiers have all completed their scans- oh?"
José pauses to look above Drall's head, where his physical and mental fitness results hover.
"Daaamn, Drall. Not bad."
The Kraktol blinks in confusion. "Graugh? Admiral?"
"Oh, it's just... your physical fitness results are quite good. Your body is significantly stronger than Megla's, though you're not quite as mentally adept as Soren."
Drall rubs his claws together. "Graugh! That is to be expected. I am one of the strongest Kraktol, after all. Orgon was a rare and exceptional fighter who stood above me, but few others exist of his caliber."
"Mmm..." José grunts. "Umi rated your strength at sixteen point five. I don't know what Orgon's ratings were, but I do know you're several tiers above Megla."
"And yet I still lost to you..." Drall muses.
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, José leaves Drall to head toward the arena's center. Before he makes it to Soren and Megla, both of them turn to look at him in unison.
"Admiral." Soren nods. "Everyone is here."
"You came a little later than expected," Megla says, "so we took the liberty to start drilling our kin. I hope you don't mind."
"Nope. That's excellent proactivity from both of you," José says, squeezing Megla and Soren's shoulders. "I'll take it from here. You two can go and take a seat."
"Yes, Admiral," Both Kraktol reply in unison.
After they leave, José turns to face the audience. With more than nine hundred Kraktol seated in the auditorium, only a few dozen spar in the middle of the arena. José opens his mouth to speak, only to feel a sense of danger behind him. He whirls around just in time to see a flash of blue and green charging at him from behind.
"Darling!" Sapphire cries. She grabs onto José's arm and nearly knocks him over, making the Terran frown. "It's been so long since we last spoke! I was starting to feel lovesick from missing you!"
"We spoke in the Mess Hall yesterday," José grouches, as he tries to shake Sapphire off his arm. "Confound you, woman. Must you be so clingy?"
"Of course!" Sapphire chirps. "Kyargh! If some lesser female gets to you first, it will be my eternal shame!"
José rolls his eyes. "Suit yourself. Oh! Actually, since you're here, Sapphire, I guess that makes you my first volunteer!"
A deliciously wicked smile spreads across José's face, making Sapphire turn pale. "V-volunteer? Of course, darling... anything for you!"
"Excellent! Excellent!" José laughs. "You can be the first competitor in today's tournament!"
Sapphire cocks her head. "Turn-a-mint?"
"You'll see!" José whistles mischievously. He turns to face the audience once again.
"Everyone! Thank you for coming. All of you know by now what our mission is and why you're here," José begins. "We have a terrifying enemy we must defeat. So long as you help me, you will earn my gratitude. I never give out my assistance for free, and neither will I ask for yours at no cost. Your leader, the great Lord Drall, has worked out several conditions beneficial to the Kraktol Empire."
José spends several minutes explaining to the audience their mission, the roles they'll play, and his concept for training all of them.
"Does anyone here know what a tournament is?" José asks.
The audience-members shake their heads.
"Simply put," he explains, "it is a competition to determine who among you are the strongest. However, this mission requires not only strength, but intelligence as well. Therefore, I will be testing all of you several times over the next two weeks to determine who should lead and who should follow. Disregard any of your previous achievements, any of your military titles, and any other notions of prestige you might have. Before me, all of them are meaningless. I defeated your leader, Lord Drall, in hand to hand combat. That means I can break any one of you without exerting much effort. Give me lip, and I'll give you the boot. Understood?"
The audience nods in unison. "Yes, Admiral!"
"Great! You're quick learners! I respect that. Now, all of you, line up according to the scores Umi gave you on your physical exams. First group, those with the highest scores, line up to my right. Second, third, fourth, and fifth groups, line up in order to the first group's right."
The Kraktol immediately stand up and fall into position, shuffling themselves around until they form five neat and tidy columns. Sapphire leaves José's side, while Soren and Megla remain seated, exempt from the tournament's rankings. José sweeps his eyes from left to right, barely glancing at the wall of numbers hovering over the heads of every Kraktol present. When his gaze reaches the first row, he flinches in surprise.
"Kisa?"
Standing in first position, to the Admiral's amazement, is Kisa Kindris, daughter of the Thülvik, Loreen Kindris. José's eyes bug out as he stares at the numbers over her head.
The Terran mutters under his breath. "What in the Divine Emperor's name? Are... are those numbers for real?"
Kisa's preliminary results rock his world.
Visual rating: 1.12. Olfactory rating: 1.4. Auditory rating: 1.05. Gustation rating: 3.5. Somatosensory rating: 2.2. Vestibular rating: 0.7. Proprioceptive rating: 0.7.
Strength: 25.6. Grip: 17.5. Agility: 12.0. Memory: 7.0. Comprehension: 4.0. Endurance: 25.5. Stamina: 20.4.
The Kraktol watch silently as the Admiral seemingly stares into empty space above the first group's heads, making them wonder what has happened to him. It takes a full thirty seconds before José blinks wearily and regains his composure.
"Kisa Kindris. You... you scored first place on the physical parameter test," José says, looking Kisa dead in the eye. "Have you engaged in combat before?"
Kisa's black and yellow scales flush with color. She lowers her head meekly. "N-no, Admiral, sir. I, um... I did work out regularly according to my moth- ah, I mean the Thülvik's requirements."
"I see. Your excellent genes must be why you... never mind. Well, needless to say, I'll be relying on you and the others in the First Group during this operation."
The Admiral clears his throat. "Alright! Moving on. You all will likely feel a range of emotions regarding your placements! These groups are, as of now, only a way to group you by your relative strengths. Statistically speaking, the mightiest Kraktol should have ended up in the First Group, while the weakest should have ended up in the Fifth Group, but I expect these rankings to change drastically during the course of this tournament. For anyone who ends up moving down a rank, I hope you will feel great shame in knowing a weaker Kraktol defeated you. Work harder, and you will redeem yourselves! And for anyone who moves up to a higher-rated group, you should feel nothing but pride! What makes a warrior legendary is not their body or their innate gifts, but how they use them in battle!"
José begins pacing up and down the columns, casually inspecting the Kraktol's numbers as he looks at them. It doesn't take long for him to get a general idea of how their average and extreme stats will pan out.
"There is no shame in lacking strength. There is only shame in failing to better yourselves; to empower yourselves! A warrior's goal is not to seek perfection, for that is an impossibility! Instead, you must focus on steadily improving yourselves, day by day. If you become weaker tomorrow than you are today, then that is shameful! If you instead become stronger, then that is glorious! There is no in-between! A static warrior is one who has given up on life."
José stops in between the second and third column of Kraktol to look at Sapphire, smack in the middle of the third group. She smiles at him and waves, but he doesn't reciprocate.
"Sapphire," José says. "You claimed you would make me your mate, yet look at this result! You stand within the center of the central column. In terms of the Kraktol present, you are the most average of average. Do you think yourself worthy of being my mate with such a low status?"
Sapphire's scales lose some of their coloration. She lowers her head and sighs. "N-no, darling..."
"Hmph!" José snorts. "I do not permit you to call me 'Darling' any longer! I am your Admiral! If you want a chance with me, then I suppose you'll have to prove yourself in this tournament! So long as you enter into the First Group, I may consider your advances."
The Admiral immediately continues walking, while Sapphire raises her head. "Really, darling? Do you mean that?"
"That's Admiral to you!" José replies.
"Yes, darling! Whatever you say!"
José continues walking, but his face droops from exhaustion.
"How am I supposed to get across to her that I'm not interested... ugh..."
Just before José reaches the end of the third column, a nearby Kraktol pipes up. "Admiral! I'll definitely enter the First Group! Just you wait and-"
"Silence!" José barks. He turns to fire off a stink-eye at the Kraktol who spoke. "You are now a temporary member of the Terran Military Corps! When you stand at attention, you do not speak unless your superior officer asks you a question."
The Kraktol nods, then quickly straightens his posture. "Yes, Admiral."
"Good! Now that I've explained my goals to you all, let us continue with the rules for this tournament!"
Over the next twenty minutes, José paces up and down each column several times while all of the Kraktol stand at attention and listen to him silently. He outlines the tournament's guidelines, the loser and winner brackets, the rules for advancement, and so on.
At one point, Admiral Rodriguez stops at the end of the fifth row, where he finds a scrawny little male Kraktol, someone with numbers so pitiful that even one of the stronger Kessu could slap and bully him around if they wanted.
"You there. What is your name?"
The Kraktol glances at José, and his knees start to tremble. "I-it's Grundle, sir."
"Grundle? What kind of sorry-ass name is that?!" José yells. "Listen up, kid. You are the weakest, most pathetic Kraktol here. I don't even know how a sad sack like you ended up among so many fine, proud specimens. But I have good news! You can't possibly go any lower in the ranks, whelp! I expect to see you rise several positions by the time this tournament concludes. With hard work and discipline, even a loser like you can make it into the First Group. That's how incredible Terran training is! Do you understand me?"
Grundle nods nervously. "Y-yes, Admiral..."
"I can't hear you!"
"Yes, Admiral! Sir!"
José smiles. He smacks the kid's back and continues walking behind the Kraktol's ranks.
"Truth is, one of you has to be the worst. One of you has to be the best. If Grundle here does indeed make it out of last place, someone else will take his spot. That result will be sad, but expected. If you do find yourself in last place, but your combat prowess has also increased, then at the very least, you won't have wasted my time. Do I make myself clear?!"
"Yes, Admiral!" All nine hundred and fifty Kraktol shout.
"Fantastic. Well, what are we waiting for? Megla! Soren! Let the tournament begin!"
The hangar erupts in cheers, and everyone disperses, running back to their seats to eagerly await and see who will start the tournament. Minutes later, a holographic board appears, with a spiderweb of competitors all swirling inward until they reach a central position at the center of the web.
José looks at the starting entrants and sighs.
"Umi. Didn't I tell you to make the entrant's positions random?"
"Affirmative. I followed your orders, Admiral," Umi replies.
"Yeah. Sure you did."
The Admiral plunks down on a seat at the corner of the ring and cracks his neck.
"Here comes two weeks of fun, fun, fun."
Next Part
.......................................
Author Note:
If you liked what you just read, please consider subbing to my Patreon! I post patron-exclusive writing posts, with typically one post dedicated to TLP each month, and another to Cryopod. You help me survive long enough to not starve to death, and I give you fun things to read. It's a win-win! Check out some of those posts here and here!
Also consider reading The Cryopod to Hell, the primary story in the Cryoverse! Both TLP and TCTH are part of the Cryoverse, so they're deeply interlinked. You don't wanna miss either of them!
Thank you!
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batting average leaders each year video

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Copy the Totals rows for each year to the new worksheet. Delete columns which you do not need; label and format the numbers appropriately: Average Plate Appearances Average Total Bases Average Batting Average Average OPS Average Strike Outs 2018 2019 d. Enter a note below the data which describes the change in year-to-year offensive performance. MLB Single-Season (Post-1900) Leaders: BATTING AVERAGE: YEAR: 1. Nap Lajoie.426: 1901: 2. Rogers Hornsby.424: 1924: 3. Ty Cobb Tags: Baseball Quiz, MLB Quiz, AL Batting, Batting, Batting Average, Batting Champions, Batting Leaders, NL Batting, Season Stat, Stats Leaders Top Quizzes Today Big 4 21st Century MVP Sorting Blitz 1,293 Single-Season Leaders & Records for Batting Average Create your own custom leaderboards Become a Stathead today and run queries with our Season and Career Finders to see the best seasons in MLB history. Year by Year Leaders for Batting Average Major League Baseball Batting Champions. Ted Williams once commented about those that fail 'only' seven times out of ten attempts will be the greatest in the game. He was right about that and the list of batting champions below, reflects those great hitters who truly dominated during a single season of play. Visit ESPN to view 2020 MLB player stats. To qualify, a player must have at least 3.1 PA/game. Statistics are updated nightly The Major League record for the lowest batting average in the American League was .230, set in 1968, in the National League it was .239, set in 1908. Did you know that during the 1930 National League season; six clubs had a team batting average over .300 and thirty-three players were eligible for the batting title with averages of over .300 each? Soto is the first Nationals player to win a batting title since the team moved to Washington in 2005, and third in franchise history after Tim Raines (1986) and Al Oliver (1982) did so in Montreal. His .351 batting average was fourth-highest by a player in a qualified season in his age-21 season or younger. Yearly League Leaders & Records for Batting Average. Create your own custom leaderboards. ... SLG, or OPS title that year. In order to rank the player, the necessary number of hitless at bats were added to the player's season total. The value printed here is their actual value and not the value used to rank them. nl: 60: 2074: 348: 556: 130: 3: 103: 338: 239: 573: 23: 4.268.349.483.832

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[index] [5774] [173] [7272] [2682] [5786] [3298] [4841] [9977] [2191] [9970]

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About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators ... In every professional sports league, there are the top leaders in the game. There are the athletes with the best batting average, the most points per game average, the most goals in a season, and ... Just for the record I know this video is bad. It is by no means a good video, but I'm gonna leave it up anyway because fuck it why not. There are home runs t... Check out the furthest home runs from around baseball in the month of April! Need to create a league table in an Excel spreadsheet? This series of 3 videos breaks down the key steps.Download file link:https://tinyurl.com/yyuvpc7eVid ... Want all of our free Excel videos? Download our free iPad app at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/video-training-courses-from/id418130423?mt=8http://www.ifskil... Get Scouted for NCAA D1, D2, D3, NAIA, or Junior Colleges You go through the college recruiting process only once. Do you feel 100% CONFIDENT you have the BE... Own This Day - https://thebaseballpage.comSeptember 10, 1960 - Mickey Mantle unloads a cannon shot clearing the RF roof in Detroit and landing in Brooks Lumb... Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

batting average leaders each year

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