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saintheartwing · 5 years ago

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Invader Zim: The Pigshit Troll, Part Two

"Well, son, I can tell something's truly bothering you." Professor Membrane remarked as he sat down next to Dib in his room, black-gloved hands folded in his lap, his eyes gazing down through his big, large white goggles…not that you could see them, that glass was thick! "I'd like us to be closer. Please, talk."

"Wow, that's new." Dib thought. His dad outright approaching him pretty much out of nowhere just to talk? "Uh…Dad, when you were young, did people call you names? Bully you? Like…a lot? I'm getting accused of being this horrible online bully that's just TRASHING people's stories on the school website."

"You? Oh, Dib, that sounds so silly! You're slightly whiny, my boy, not a troll."

"…thanks, I guess?" Dib muttered as his Dad ruffled his hair.

"Complaining isn't always a bad thing, Dib. When people were getting sick from the food they bought at their local groceries, it took going to Congress and complaining to the government that the food wasn't right to change things. If we don't point out when something doesn't work, then it won't ever get made better. And sometimes it works! Look at that delightful Sonic movie. I remember when I was young, seeing that trailer drop. My heart sank. My hopes were crushed. But then…then they listened to the outcry, made Sonic look far better, and it was as if I was a child again playing Genesis, hidden away in my closet!" He proclaimed. "Sometimes people listen, sometimes they make changes, and it makes things better. THAT'S the eternal hope of people who complain. That if they say just the right words to the right person at the right time…they'll convince them to be better than they are."

"I'd LIKE to think that." Dib sighed. "But sometimes…I think people just wanna get stuff off their chest."

"Well, that's a human response." His dad told him. "That's normal."

"And sometimes I think people just wanna scream at someone and be heard!"

"That's normal too." Professor Membrane added. "At any rate, I'm not going to tell you to simply get a thicker skin and "buck up". The studies show that doesn't work at all!" He remarked, shaking his head back and forth. "And I'm certainly not going to tell you to retreat into yourself either, or just never go online. No, you need to talk to people about it. Talking always helps, that's what the data shows." He told Dib with a firm, wise, nod. "You can always come to me about this sort of thing, son. I promise you."

"That does make me feel a little better." Dib admitted, his father ruffling his hair before he left the room, a soft warmth spreading through Dib's frame. That HAD been nice, being able to just chat with his Dad. Still…he needed a long term solution. Talking to his father about this sort of thing was pretty much just a band aid.

He needed a more permanent fix. Luckily he knew just who to turn to.

"I need your help."

Gaz couldn't believe what she was hearing. She stared at Dib, mouth agape, eyes wide.

"…YOU…need MY help." She remarked as she stopped playing the latest edition of "Super Smash Bros X Street Fighter", putting the controller down. "…I should call Ripley's Believe it or Not. Rarer than Bigfoot! Rarer than the Loch Ness Monster! Rarer than an actual alien! DIB MEMBRANE ASKING FOR MY HELP." She gave a big, fat, grin. "By the way, that reminds me, guess who was using the belt sander?"

"Wait, Bigfoot's back?!" Dib asked, gaping in surprise. "Is he still there?!" He wanted to know as Gaz led him to the garage door.

"It was never Bigfoot, Dib." She told him.

"Then who was it?"

"CHEWBACCA!" She proclaimed with a grin as, sure enough, a tall, crossbow-blaster-wearing furry alien stood there, black nose a bit ruffled as he finished putting the last touches on his new knife using the belt sander, and cheerily grinned at Gaz, waving at her.

"CHEWIE?!" Dib asked.

"What a Wookie." Gaz sighed. "He's been smuggling me parts for my room security ever since I found him. I can't believe you ever spooked him enough to chase him off, though. What on Earth did you use?"

"Well, evidently wookies are positively terrified of air horns." Dib confessed. "Sorry about that. Must have super sensitive ears, huh?"

"HUUUUHRRRRRUUNNHHH!" Chewie agreed, exiting the garage as Dib sighed and turned to Gaz.

"So can you help me track down that troll?" He wanted to know.

"I dunno…" Gaz rubbed her chin. "I mean, I don't like getting bad reviews left on my stories either, but it is KINDA funny to see you squirming and under so much scrutiny." She confessed. "And you can't just move away or anything. Even if you did, if more reviews popped up trashing people's work, they would just all assume it's still you. Other countries got internet, after all. Unless you were literally tied to a pole and couldn't TYPE, people would just assume you're still at it."

"You're all heart!" Dib grumbled.

"Hey, you wanted help, I'm giving you the truth. That's just how people feel, you can be a really condescending asshole." Gaz said. "You ain't no perfect little angel."

"As opposed to being a REGULAR asshole like you or Zim?" Dib said, his temper flaring up, Gaz looking astounded that Dib was actually talking back to her. "And I've never CLAIMED to be an angel, Gaz, I…I KNOW I can be kind of…pushy. Obsessive compulsive. And I know I can be…insensitive to what other people think and…okay yeah! Yeah, I can be a jerk!" He threw his hands in the air and sighed. "But I'm doing something literally no other kid has to do!" He paced around, shaking his head back and forth. "No OTHER kid has to put up with trying to stop an alien lunatic that's not just a megalomaniac and psychotic alien but somebody outright sadistic and evil and petty and manipulative and a total jerk! On a pretty much daily basis! And half the time he almost succeeds at what he does, and if I don't stop him, people DIE! That's…that is WAY too much to put on someone not old enough to shave!" Dib told Gaz.

"…yeah, I'll give you that one." Gaz sighed.

"But I'm the only one who gets shit on. Nobody at school criticizes you because you'll beat the crap out of them. You got those freaky powers and everything! Even the teachers are scared of you! Zim? Zim gets off because people see me trying to expose him and they think I'm bullying him unfairly! Even though every day he's always up to something horrible! Literally! Every day! I shouldn't have to deal with him, OR the stuff I get from you and my classmates and now all of this with people thinking I'm not just nutty for liking stuff they think is strange, but that I'm some rotten troll!"

"Maybe Zim is the troll." Gaz suggested.

Dib stopped in mid-spiel, and he gaped at her. "…that's…not baaaaad!" He murmured. "That IS the kinda thing he'd do! Framing me for something HE'S done! And when he wants to, he can be really fiendishly clever…" He paced back and forth. "But we need to check. Is there any way to check?" He murmured. "Could we trace his IP address?"

"We could if we hack into the school's computer system, and from there, we can access where the reviews got posted. But while you do that, I'm going to go call a…friend." She remarked, nonchalantly making her way off to her room as Dib raced for his, to begin his hard work. Gaz slid on into her chair in her room, typing into a little keyboard built into the armrest, and PING! A vid screen manifested before her, and a short, tubby Irken was on the other end.

Skoodge, Zim's…friend. Though given how he treated him, you'd think Skoodge was more of a servant. When they went to go get snacks and drinks, it was Skoodge who had to carry everything. When Zim wanted something moved, he got Skoodge to do it and never thanked him. And when it came to the food…

"You see, I can't stand eating anything day-old. So its only fair I make up for it in other ways!" Zim was insisting even now to Skoodge from the other end of the basement, leaving Skoodge with the day old donuts while Zim stuffed his face. Skoodge quietly sighed, shaking his head, and then turned to the screen on his computer station, seeing he had an incoming message, and turning it on.

"Ah, Gaz. How're you?" He asked. Gaz smiled back at him. Skoodge was very eager to please, easy to manipulate but, still…compared to most Irkens, he was a civil, nice sort. Conquering planets or the like was just a job to him, it wasn't personal, and he didn't seem to take any real delight in being a jerk the way Zim did, or Tak did. Besides, he also happened to find Gaz attractive. It was the purple hair. For some reason, Irkens looooved the color purple.

"Hey, Skoodge, I need a favor. Has Zim been bragging about being the troll at school leaving all those awful, sick reviews?" Gaz wanted to know.

"Oh, no. But he's loving seeing Dib go to pieces." Skoodge remarked. "It's really mean. He can't stop laughing uncontrollably whenever the topic gets brought up. He said he wishes he'd thought of it, it's so simple and evil a plan that it should have been his plan."

Gaz had to admit that she'd been pleasantly surprised to find Skoodge so agreeable. She'd gone gaming with him, playing online, and she'd grown to learn a lot about him, and also, in return, about Irkens, and it astounded her how much they really had in common with humans. After all, her leaders were also lazy, egotistic, smug jerks who liked hurting people for not being good enough, who forced you into bad jobs that paid barely anything, and thought they were a lot smarter and better than they really were!

And they also placed an emphasis on being tall too. Nobody really respected a short President Man!

Truly, two species joined at the hip without knowing it.

"Thanks, Skoodge. I appreciate it. You're really sure it isn't him, huh? Maybe…it's a long shot but…is GIR doing it? I mean, sometimes GIR gets up to weird things with Minimoose and the Computer."

"GIR has pretended to be a girl online, but he'd never be sadistic enough to leave those kind of messages." Skoodge remarked with a shake of his head.

This was true. The new MMO that came out, "Portal Defenders", a massive crossover game indeed, had come out about five months back and Skoodge had gotten super into it, and he'd been, along with Gaz, very surprised to find a very willing girl character who played as the one and only XJ9 from "My Life As A Teenage Robot" eager to help them. They'd gone on many a raid together and much to their delight, she'd proven invaluable…and also proven to be GIR.

Still, hey. It was a valid life choice. Fine by him.

"Hmm. So much for that. It's not you, is it?"

"No way!" Skoodge insisted. "I get my stories crapped on because I exclusively write fetish material. I'm VERY into macrophilia."

"Yeah, I always wanted to ask, how come you're so into big, huge stories with the rampages or the giants or the big aliens stomping around or eating people? It's kinda odd." Gaz admitted. "I mean, I'm into super metal stuff, I like weird things too, but I always wanted to ask…"

This was true. Skoodge also attended the school in disguise, the same grade as Gaz, and he actually had a lot of talent too. But he reaaaaally enjoyed writing stories with big monsters and aliens. Time after time, they'd be leveling cities or whole towns or some rando would end up becoming a big beast that gobbled up his coworkers or the like. Occasionally he even dived deeper and entire planets would be broken apart or devoured! It was well written, without a doubt, engaging, but it could get…kinda scary.

"Well…I'm short and fat and not the least bit threatening." Skoodge sighed. "Look at me. I'm a tubby loser." He murmured as he picked up his fat gut and shook it about. "But in these stories, I can be anything. I can be big, and powerful, wonderful and terrible all at once. Everyone loves me and fears me all at once. I kinda felt like that right after I conquered Blorch, and the Slaughtering Rat People…until the Tallest shot me outta the closet and another Invader took the credit for my work."

"Wish fulfillment, huh?" Gaz sighed. "Hey, y'know, I get it. I mean, it's why I keep watching "The Craft" or "Carrie" all the time, I'd love to do the kinda things those girls do in those films. Just let loose, y'know?"

"Yeah, sometimes you just gotta feed that wolf that's howling outside your door. Besides, the guidance counselor said it's a good way for me to deal with my more unpleasant urges by expressing them in a creative way." Skoodge added with a smile. "And it's worked! Putting all this on paper made me work through my thoughts and feelings and I began to realize how rotten my species are. We're just the literal worst. Did you know we executed the last artist we had on Irk because he refused to stop drawing propaganda?"

"That sounds dickish."

"It WAS! He said art should be about more than convincing people to blow stuff up. Then they blew him up. A bunch of pieces of him evidently got on Tallest Miyuki when she was in her Invader training, and that's why she decided to tone down the imperialistic tendencies of the Empire…for all the good it did us once Red and Purple came around." Skoodge sighed. "It's too bad, I missed working alongside the Vortians in the labs, those were good years." He confessed.

"Thanks for the help, Skoodge. Keep an eye on Zim for me, wouldja? Good to chat with you again. See you around!" Gaz told him, giving Skoodge a deliberate wink, then shutting the screen off as he sighed softly.

"Anything for you…" He murmured.

Dib meanwhile, had broken into the school system and was looking at various reviews left under people's stories. Hmm, this one was from Gaz-oh. OH! He hadn't seen this before. She was taking umbrage at how the character…an obvious stand-in for her, was portrayed. After all, she had a rough upbringing too, with Professor Membrane never around and yes, when Dib had been younger, he'd done a couple experiments on her. It had actually been what turned her hair purple, and he deeply regretted it, though she'd said she actually ended up LIKING her hair turning that way.

Dib cringed as he read the review. He got that she wanted to see herself as the hero, but…c'mon, Gaz. "I'M the one literally putting my life on the line just about every day, you're playing Game Slave and stuffing your face with pizza, I think I deserve a bit more understanding than you do." He muttered. She came off as so…entitled here!

Oh, and now a new review. "You should be nicer to Zim. He's got mental health issues."

"So do I, but I don't go around trying to destroy planets and enslave people." Dib muttered. "Zim isn't just insane. He's evil. Jesus. Why are there so many Stans for Zim? They all keep thinking he's being picked on when I'm the one who almost always gets it the worst…"

He cringed, stopping himself. "Stop it, Dib. No more pity parties. No more self-flagellating. You gotta focus." He murmured, examining the reviews, scrolling, scrolling. A lot of the troll reviews had been taken down by the teachers because they'd gotten sick of it too, but-wait. A new one. "ReVIEW MY STORiES! YOUR SToRiES ARE PIGSHIT!"

Ah ha. He had the IP address. His fingers swiftly moved across the keyboard, typing rapidly, his eyes widening as he saw where it came from.

It couldn't be. But…

The address was Membrane Labs.

His father's workplace.

What…the…fuuuuuuuck?

#Invader Zim #Zim #Dib #Gaz #Skoodge #fanfiction #fanfic #comedy #drama #dramedy

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firelord-ruby · 2 years ago

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I desperately want to hear the radiation info dump

incoming extremely long post cause i talk too much

okay so get this. you know how when an object goes faster than the speed of sound in air, it makes a sonic boom, and you see a cone surrounding the object? same thing happens with light! like the post says, nothing can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum, but light slows down in non-vacuums, such as to 75% of c in water. some particles, like neutrinos, are less impeeded and can travel faster than light does through that medium.

so, say youve got some dielectric medium (such as water). when a particle passes through this medium but is slower than light going through it, it will generate a "shockwave" of light. this is because when a particle passes close by an atom, it will pass on a bit of its energy onto the atom (i cant remember if its the whole atom or just the electrons), raising its energy level. the atom cant do much with this energy, so it drops its energy level by releasing a photon. this happens to a ton of atoms very quickly, so lots of photons get released as these fronts of light for each area of atoms the particle disturbs.

while this happens a lot, the fronts dont interfere with each other, because the particle cant travels faster than the light it generates. light in the front of the particle may have bunched up wavelengths, and light behind may have longer, spread out wavelengths as per the doppler effect, but thats fine. the *weird* stuff happens when the particle travels faster than light, and the wavefronts start interfering with each other, creating a sort of "sonic boom" of light. this happens quite often, but the interference wavefronts have more ultraviolet light than the violet and blues we can see, so its not visible. when this happens in much greater quantities, then you can start to see the eerie blue glow that defines cherenkov radiation.

now, where exactly does this happen? well, tons of neutrinos are emitted from a major nuclear reaction, such as in nuclear power plants, so we get thag blue glow effect. its most prominent in water, but it works in air too, tho its less strong cause light travels faster in air. in fact, i believe that the flash of light that people see when close to intense nuclear reactions is this. like when the demon core went critical when scientists played with it (this happened twice) they slaw a flash of blue light for the moments it was critical. dont dream about seeing this tho, if you can see cherenkov radiation in air youre as good as dead. which is what happened to the scientists exposed to the demon core within mere days of the incidents.

fuck me this went too long. well you got an infodump. i learned a lot of this from wikipedia and a few other science sites, as well as physics journals, but i am not a nuclear scientist so if any of this is wrong im sorry. i just think nuclear science (which is my current science obsession, ive had so so so many) is neat

#rubles #long #long post #druidspeak #stay tuned for more blabbering about nuclear physics #up next: how we filled the last few boxes of the periodic table...#...and the one time a guy tried to fake three new elements and got caught

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writesandramblings · 7 years ago

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The Captain’s Secret - p.5

“Observable Phenomena”

A/N: Chapter titles! We now have them. I actually started thinking of chapter titles when writing chapter 3, but held off until I could provide a full set of titles I really liked. Hopefully the references in the titles help people identify and remember where things are. ("First Contact," for example, refers to the proximity of a certain tail...)

@coffeewolf: Welcome, welcome! I love PTSD Lorca, too, and I promise he appears eventually in all his full, glorious, dark glory. I also promise a lot of the stuff we’ll be getting through before we reach that point has important ramifications down the line... Muahaha...

Full Chapter List << 4 - Fortune Favors the Brave 6 - Out of Bounds >>

Lalana was thrilled with the hydroponics bay and wanted to touch everything, but not with her hands, with her tongue. Apparently this was a preferred method of interacting with the world for her species. Knowing this put Lalaran's death after having his tongue docked into an even darker context. It wasn't just speech Lalaran had lost in that brutal procedure. Lorca shoved the thought deep down into his mind and tried to ignore it.

Thankfully Lalana was thoroughly distracting. Everything in hydroponics she found to be wonderful, reacting with awe and amazement at the many plants and their uses. Sensing that she could probably spend hours peppering the hydroponics staff with questions, Lorca suggested she come back later and they continued their tour of the ship.

The science lab was wonderful. Astrometrics was wonderful. The galley was wonderful (and filled with curious onlookers Lorca pointedly ignored). Engineering, oh, that was so wonderful, Lalana did a small hop in excitement. There was something very refreshing about someone who saw every inch of a rather unremarkable convoy-level starship as unabashedly awe-inspiring. That's wonderment, thought Lorca, then mentally kicked himself for letting Benford get in his head.

The gymnasium, though, that was something else. As usual, there were a handful of people working out across the room. This included a couple security officers Lalana had seen previously, who did not react with the same level of surprise as everyone else.

Most of the devices weren't usable by someone of Lalana's proportions, but there was one central apparatus that anyone of any size could enjoy, and luckily it wasn't in use.

"...and this is the mat. Go ahead, give it a jump."

Lalana stepped onto the mat tentatively, testing the padding with her foot. She hopped lightly in place. She craned her head up at the ceiling, judging the distance, and studied the mat's dimensions. She backed up into the nearest corner, bounced slightly, and then shot forward.

Two bounding steps propelled her more than halfway across the mat's diagonal, at which point she tucked and rolled. Just before she hit the far corner, she popped out of the roll and backwards into the air with one clean push of her legs, spinning and twisting in the air so she landed roughly in the middle of the mat facing Lorca.

"Whoa!" went an ensign on one of the exercise bikes, and one of the security officers clapped her hands. Lorca followed suit, clapping lightly a few times.

Lalana hopped and spun around, apparently just for the fun of it. Then she looked at the ceiling again.

The gym had a fairly high ceiling. It wasn't as tall as the shuttlebay, but it was the same height as a storage bay, if only for the reason that it was designed to be converted into a storage bay should the need arise.

It was obvious what Lalana was thinking, "Careful, now," warned Lorca.

Lalana backed up into the far corner of the mat with no indication she had actually heard him. She crouched and tensed.

She jumped. She didn't reach the ceiling, but she certainly got closer than anyone else on the ship could have with the gravity turned on, propelling herself a good twelve feet into the air before landing back in the middle of the mat with a bounce that rolled her back onto her tail. It looked like she might have hurt herself and fallen over, but her tongue clicked rapidly as she rolled back and forth on the mat and kicked her legs out into the air, indicating to Lorca at least that all was well.

Finally she popped back onto her feet. "Ah, that was nice! I haven't gotten to leap like that in ages!" Six years, she probably meant. "Thank you, captain."

"You're welcome to the gym any time," said Lorca, omitting the fact it would always be with an escort, because in no universe was he going to let someone the ship's sensors couldn't track by default roam around the Triton unattended.

Last stop was the guest quarters. Two security officers were already posted outside in anticipation of their arrival.

It was a standard guest stateroom, with a bed, desk, small seating area, and bathroom. Lalana immediately rushed over to the window to watch the stars. Lorca joined her.

Lorca loved looking at the stars. No matter how far from home they were, he felt the same looking at them now as he had growing up. It was probably different for Lalana, though. To her, the stars must represent the great distance between her and the world she had been stolen from.

Her hands rotated with contentment at the sight all the same.

They stood at the window watching the stars in silence for several long moments. Finally, Lorca broke the silence. "I'll do what I can to get you home."

She hesitated slightly, her hands squeezing together. "Thank you, Captain Lorca."

He registered her voiceprint with the computer so she could adjust the environmental settings, ran over the basic commands available to control the room's functions, and briefly demonstrated and explained the bathroom facilities. The only thing that tripped her up was the shower.

"You clean yourselves in rain?" said Lalana, staring at the falling water curiously.

"I suppose you use your tongue?"

Lalana clicked her tongue. "Of course not!"

She stepped into the shower, letting the water soak her fur flat against her body. Once she was well and truly drenched, she flicked her tail at Lorca to turn the shower off. She stood in the shower stall, dripping wet and looking for all the world like every other wet, furry living thing: scrawny and unfortunate.

There was a hum as her fur began to writhe and vibrate. The water shimmered and fell away. The humming ceased and she offered the broad end of her tail to Lorca for inspection. It was feather-soft and bone-dry to the touch. "Sonic cleaning," she explained.

"Now that is damn impressive," he said, ranking it above gymnastics.

"Yes, Dr. Ek'Ez was very impressed as well." She stepped out from the shower. Only the pads of her feet had any trace of water. "I wish I had understood better that Dr. Li and Dr. Ek'Ez were looking for harmful microorganisms when I arrived. I could have saved us all a lot of time. I don't have those."

"Is that so?" Lorca stifled a yawn. "Right, I don't know about you, but I'm dog-tired."

"Of course. I am sorry to have taken up so much of your time."

"Nonsense. This sort of thing is the reason I joined Starfleet." They exited the bathroom and Lorca bid her goodnight.

He paused outside the stateroom and turned to the security officers. "No one in or out of this room without my permission, got it?"

"Aye, sir," they answered in unison.

"If she asks, you can take her to the gym or hydroponics. But don't let her near any sensitive systems, and don't let her out of your sight if you do move her."

"Sir."

With that, Lorca strode away. No matter how kind and charming and sweet Lalana seemed, and how true the things she said about herself and her experiences sounded, and how much he liked her and wanted to trust her and take everything she said at face value, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something she wasn't telling him.

This adventure was either going to make his career or end it.

As the Triton held its position on the edge of Dartaran space, Lorca paced the bridge like a madman and tried to force himself to sit in the captain's chair with little success. Thirty seconds he managed, and then he was back up on his feet again.

He had submitted his report to Starfleet first thing in the morning and included a brief tactical outline of his intentions moving forward. Now he had to wait for a response. Tactically, he knew his proposal was brilliant, but politically, he wasn't sure if anyone back at headquarters would recognize this or not. While it was true all admirals had once been captains, it was also true that it took a very different mindset to be an admiral, and that not all admirals had been great captains. Lorca fully intended to be regarded as a great captain before they offered him that particular promotion.

Hoping for distraction, he had requested a copy of Dr. Ek'Ez's in-progress report on Lalana, but even that was failing to keep his mind off the abominable torture of waiting for Starfleet's response. He did learn a few key facts, like that Lalana's fur wasn't fur at all. Dr. Ek'Ez had mostly gone with the term "epidermal filament," but there were a few instances in the report where he used "capillary tentacles," and a note in the margins suggested "macroscopic cilia" was also in the running.

In other words, Lalana's "fur" was actually comprised of millions of protrusions of living skin. Technically, she was hairless.

The other thing that jumped out among the medical jargon was the fact that Lalana's natural diet consisted of insects, fruits and plant matter, and dirt. Lorca had done a double-take at that. Apparently Lalana meant it literally when she said her species could eat most anything.

The comms panel flashed. "Incoming transmission from Starfleet headquarters, sir," reported Russo.

"I'll take it in my ready room," said Lorca, practically flying off the bridge.

He had been hoping for Admiral Cantin, or maybe Kariuki. Instead, he got Admiral Wainwright.

Wainwright had a reputation as a hatchet man. He was widely regarded as being the hardest sell where anything was concerned, be it missions, projects, promotions, or decorations. The one thing he rarely turned down were social invitations.

Lorca made sure not to let his dismay show and played up his drawl slightly. "Admiral Wainwright, thank you for taking the time. I take it you've received my proposal."

"We have, Captain Lorca, and I'm hoping to hear that you haven't acted on it yet."

That was not a promising start. "Just waiting on the good word from you, sir."

Wainwright sighed heavily. "Don't hold your breath, captain. We've reviewed your proposal, and we have serious concerns. Your intent to violate sovereign Dartaran space, to start. Then there's this... 'lully' mystery planet, which could be anywhere in the quadrant."

That was not, strictly-speaking, true. Based on the distribution of species Lalana reported seeing on Luluan, Lorca guessed the planet to be somewhere in the direction of Risa, and had included this assessment in his report. He also felt Wainwright was overlooking the fact that if his plan succeeded, they wouldn't need to figure out where Luluan was, they'd be led right to it.

The one thing Lorca hadn't heard yet was a firm no, which meant his plan wasn't completely off the table, so rather than voice the thought that Wainwright was an idiot, Lorca played nice. "Admiral, I completely understand your reservations. I've had them myself. And if I thought this could be done with the permission of the Dartaran council, then I would have asked them already. But if we tip off the people responsible for exploiting the lului, we may not get another chance."

Wainwright was unmoved. "Or you might discover there's a better, more diplomatic, and legal way to proceed. I realize you're new to command, but here at Starfleet, we prefer our captains exhaust diplomatic options before resorting to clandestine operations in someone else's sovereign territory."

Lorca's eyes narrowed. Wainwright's words were belittling in the worst way, implying that Lorca was somehow lacking both in terms of experience as a captain and with regards to Starfleet principles. While he might be new to captain's chair, his principles were solid and true. He wasn't sure the same could be said of Wainwright.

Wainwright continued, "I get it, Captain, you found yourself a new alien, and now you're invested and you want to see this thing through."

As true as that statement probably was, Lorca refused to let his motives be called out so transparently. "Admiral, with all due respect, what I've found is a pre-warp civilization being murdered for profit, which goes against everything Starfleet stands for. All I'm asking for is the information I need to do what any good Starfleet captain would, and while you may not agree with my methods, I assure you, you will agree with my results."

The admiral templed his hands together and looked at Lorca appraisingly. Kid didn't lack for confidence, that much was certain. "If you muck this up, you could jeopardize our entire reputation in that region of space. You risk offending our relations not just with the Dartarans, but with whoever turns out to have jurisdiction over that planet, and whatever powerful friends they have, which according to your report, might include some key figures in any number of governments and organizations."

"Again, with all due respect, sir, but anyone who's friends with criminals like this is someone we probably don't want on our side anyway."

"We don't always have the luxury of choosing our allies, captain."

Lorca put his hands on his hips and waited, watching Wainwright with a critical eye.

The admiral sighed. "I'm not sure you fully appreciate the diplomatic implications--"

Feeling a "no" on the way, Lorca crossed his arms, took a calculated risk, and cut Wainwright off. "Sir, maybe you should meet Lalana. Let her tell you firsthand what they do to her people when they catch them alive. When they do catch them alive, that is. Most of the time they just chop their heads off and keep the skulls."

"Captain--"

"They cut off part of their tongues. When I asked Lalana why anyone would do that, do you know what she said?"

Wainwright glared slightly, but allowed Lorca to continue.

"To keep them from telling anyone what's going on. See, if you don't know they can talk, you can keep pretending they're just animals. Now, to a lului, a tongue is like a hand is to you or I. They don't just use them for talking, they also taste their environment. So guess what the other lului that was captured with Lalana did after they 'docked his tongue?'"

"I did read your report, captain."

"I don't know about you, admiral, but things would have to be pretty bad for me to bash my own brains out against a wall."

Wainwright let out a long, annoyed sigh. He wanted to say no, but he wasn't heartless enough to ignore the grisly anecdote.

Lorca could see Wainwright was wavering and continued pressing. "If it helps, I'd be more than happy to cut all communications with Starfleet and provide you with a bit of plausible deniability if things go south."

Wainwright gave in. "That won't be necessary. I won't sanction what you're doing, but it's your prerogative, captain. You are released from your regular assignment until further notice."

"Thank you, admiral. And, the information I requested?"

Another long sigh. "Transmitting everything we have on Peter Bhandary to you now." The admiral pressed a button on his desk and the data zipped along the transmission to the Triton's computer.

Lorca's smirk was entirely too self-satisfied. "Again, thank you, admiral."

"Has anyone ever told you you're a jackass, Captain Lorca?"

"Only every day of my life, sir."

As the transmission ended, Admiral Wainwright glanced over at his companion, who had been silently standing to the side during the entire conversation. "You weren't lying, Katrina. He is impressive."

Katrina Cornwell smiled. Lorca had performed every bit as well as she'd hoped, and then some. "I promise you won't regret this."

"Let's hope I don't, for all our sakes. Because if that man screws this up..."

"He won't," said Cornwell, sounding more confident than she actually was.

Part 6

#Star Trek #fanfiction #fanfic #Star Trek Discovery #Captain Lorca

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onychaos · 7 years ago

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End to a ranting saga

So, it has been a long time coming. A end to this rant saga of the speedrunning community. It has been a year, and I want to get this off of my chest. I know what I want to say, and I have a lot to say. This will be my viewpoint, and how I feel towards the community now, as well as other things. This is my experience with the sonic speedrunning community

I should warn you that this is a serious post. as I plan to end this saga, with a bang.

Warning: While reading this post, do take this post with a grain of salt, I will throw shade and I do have my reasons for that. With that being said, let’s start the post.

Editor note: This is me ranting about things, since I really don’t like to use friends as a outlet. If this rant offends you, I’m sorry but It’s a rant. They are never nice, and do take this with a grain of salt. - May 10th

Speedrunning

I guess this is it, huh. To think, I saw my self ranting about this community but things change. As you all know, I made a few rants and talked about how I feel towards speedrunning. Most, if not all was mostly negative, but for good reason.

Speedrunning, I feel that speedrunning used to be a special thing. Back then, before it became a normal daily event. it was a simple hobby meant to see how well could you play a game as fast or beat the game within a time frame. Hell, it was something everyone or friends could for fun. You could speedrun, make new friends, learn how a game works.

Back then in 2013. Speedrunning was a special thing. Something I felt was going to get better… Past me was wrong. While drama was normally not in the speedrun circle I was in, I didn’t really start to see how shit things were, because, I was new to speedrunning, and I just went along with what others did. Pretty much, not having a opinion, following orders.

Not all speedrun communities are like this.

But, it was whatever, the community was “friendly”, if you followed along and I noticed that I became a white knight but it was making my ride in the community somewhat ok. I shallowed my pride and went with it. By doing this, I was both fortunately and unfortunately to meet new people within the Sonic speedrunning community and, on Twitch..

It was not till 2015 - 2016 where I saw a new wave of Sonic “Speedrunners” who are super competitive in speedrunning. This is where I started to see these new toxic runners and this made me slowly resent speedrunning and this feeling of resentment would slowly grow over the next 2 years.. This is, of course, the point where I started to have my own opinions of Sonic runners and their actions.

And, at the same time, this was when I sent after by that person’s white knight lackeys because you know… “Opinions are bad” but anywho, I think around mid 2016, I started to not care about speedrunning but then, I saw “friends” speedrunning and, somehow that sparked a weak flame to speedrun run again. But really didn’t enjoy it as much as I used to.

It’s really sad, I had many plans to speedrun with friends and others. I would love to had the chance to speedrun with friends and others. I mean, I could do that but there really is no longer a point to do these speedruns together. I get speedrunners want to get a good time or get a better time. That’s fine

But when, it’s for fun, the mood just dies. Maybe I am too optimistic, I may as well try to catch lighting in a bottle, it’s not gonna happen, unless hell freezes over then, I can keep dreaming, I suppose… Of a day, where we could just race a game for fun. (Sonic 4 all emeralds, while that was not the race I had in mind. It is close to my idea, at the very least. There may be some hope)

White knights and opinions in speedrunning

We all know what white knights are? Right? Ok to make this quick and simple. A white knight is a user that will rush to someone being attacked, this means that said white knight will rush to the aid of someone being attacked, chances are, they did something to earn this but the white knight will defend all their actions to win their favor. That was anything but quick and simple…

Well, you get a idea. I will be mentioning the Sonic Speedrunning Community, as it does house a number of white knights.

So, as I have said before “the Sonic speedrunning community was "friendly”, if you followed along" this is true from what I seen. Two streamers I watch, I noticed a habit and the effect it has.

Test Subject 1. - He seems to follow along with his fellow Sonic speedrunners and does whiteknight them from harm. Funny thing is… I think he knows that some of the shit they do is fucked up. And if, that is the case, it makes this issue much worse than I thought.

When 1 follows along like a puppet or a pawn with no opinions of other runners, the effect is that, more Sonic speedrunners come to him and, it’s awful cause this just gives the Idea. “if you are my friend, then you can do as you please. if, it does not effect me, go ahead.” Normally, I don’t care but I feel this just gives the impression that shit is ok.

And I noticed that the other streamer is not a white knight. Having a opinion of other runners or the community, and not following along seems to be disliked among the Sonic Speedrun community, I know I am talking about the Sonic Speedrun community, but this is a be all, end all rant.

Speedrunning has lost it’s value to me. But, this is just a me thing. I have to say this because, I know people will read this and go “Speedrunning has not lost all value. You are wrong for saying this” Sometimes, people don’t like to read, so I will be sure to make my comment in Bold :V

*RANT INCOMING*

// I want to get this off of my chest \

Before someone says “Don’t open old cuts” I want you to stop right there. This has been on my chest and GOD DAMN, I’m getting this off of my chest

I would like to mention one thing. So, when I had drama with a streamer who threw me under the bus. I went to said friend and made some jokes. But of course, when I made a “Fox season” joke. (Duck Season, Rabbit Season) Somehow, this joke was “inciting” a witch hunt…I swallowed my pride. But I feel that is total Bullshit. This was a simple joke. And the fact that you saw it as “inciting” A witch hunt, is BS.

“Fox Season” Mind you, this is a fucking thing. If you need, no, have to REACH to make a joke. Or what I said, sound like a attack on your friend, that’s pretty sad

I don’t even think it was the joke. Rather, you zero on me, because I made a post of your friend, and you assume I would Incite a Witch Hunt after your friend.

Look, there is protecting a friend, and then, there is being a white knight for someone. This is borderline white Knighting to me, so, it’s fine for them to fuck me over or throw me under the bus, send their lackeys after me, but because they are your friend, and you are in their circle, that makes it fine to do so? 2017. I took a lot of bullshit to the face. Dealt with a lot of Bull Shit and drama and getting fucked over.

There is a lot of shit I will take. Being called a asshole, I can speak my mind and my opinions may be hurtful, But don’t you GODDAMN tell me that I’m trying to incite a witch hunt, let alone assume anything negative about me. I draw the fucking line there when you start assuming negative about me.

That’s a fucking insult to me, and that is made worse to hear someone that you know for a few years, assume the worst of you, cause of a damn “joke” that had no ill will. But, whatever. I thank you. Because of mid to late 2017, I now know where I stand in this community or rather, I know where I stand with you and your “friends” So, this does help.

Look, let’s get your GODDAMN facts right. I don’t do “Witch Hunts” And do not Incite Witch Hunts. I tell my experience, so that someone else doesn’t have to suffer the same fate as me. Don’t you fucking confuse the two. Talking about a experience (Good or bad) vs. inciting a witch hunt. Are two fucking complete things.

So, before you white knight your friends from the “Big Bad Guy” again. Get your fucking facts straight before you assume shit about me.

No, i’m not ending any friendships over this shit. Because while this did hurt more than it should, Someone I looked up to, supported. It really does hurt to have them assume some about you after they known you for a while. It won’t end anything, but I will be keeping a distance from this person, but it makes sense, he knows them longer, by default, he will believe them and any facts or proof about them doing shady things. He turns a blind eye to it.

It’s funny. I wanted to believe that something was not true, but such a stupid Idea of mine. Something like that. Ha, it’s a silly for me to believe. It’s life, nothing will work out as you have planned. it’s whatever. You live and learn. Friends end up being a disappointment to you, one way or another.

I won’t mention who I am talking about. But I will say this, You have never made me mad. I never had a reason to be so mad at you.. I held you at such a high regard, knowing you wouldn’t disappoint me in the future… And I guess really, I’m not mad at him, just a bit disappointed, is all. That’s it, really. just disappointed, to be honest.

I said what I wanted to say that I didn’t say before. This is a rant.

*Rant done*

Speedrunning, friends, and livestreaming

I am a “speedrunner” I’m not good at it. And I don’t plan on it. and I know this will or may piss off some friends.

a. Livestreaming

Livestreaming is fun and having people to chat with is more fun. Streaming on twitch.tv and being “In” the speedrunning community before I disliked it. I made a lot of “friends” most of them are speedrunners, Nothing wrong with that. we are a small group of streamers / speedrunners. I notice habits that they have shown. Some I noticed tend to show support to speedrunners. I won’t say who.

Again, that’s fine. You like what you like. I won’t stop you. I am grateful that I have speedrunners as friends. And they do support me when I livestream speedruns… I know I can’t rely on speedrun friends because they want to do their own thing. They don’t want to watch a playthrough on Twitch.tv, they want to see speedruns

I guess, in a way. I really don’t ask friends for help. In a way. I envy these people who get support from their friends but at the same time… I don’t envy them at all. I’m weird.

I guess, in a way. I have a back up plan when I do quit speedruns. Look, I know people say that you can’t quit speedrunning, it doesn’t happen, It’s true to some point. But people say a lot of shit. Doesn’t make it true. People speedrun, because they want to.

Getting off topic… I will save this for later when I quit streaming in the future, but that won’t happen for a while. :P Or become a lone wolf in the future I guess. c:

Things I am not fond of in the Sonic Speedrun Community

I should say this, right now

Sonic Runners and/ or sonic members trying to silent opinions of others

People going behind others back to send their lackeys friends after them

Really do dislike people having this hive mindset

Really don’t like having to go along with the Sonic community to have them be friendly towards me.

I hate this mindset “If you are not friends with my friends, then we can’t be friends anymore”

Sonic runners who turning a blind eye or let some of this shit slide because that person is their friend :v

Sonic runners who are your friends but don’t have your back

But having friends who are speedrunners is good and bad.

You have a new point of view or a new outlook on things by knowing them. You can understand new things, rather that’s good or bad, is up to you.

By having friends as speedrunners, I saw a new outlook on life and things. I had laughs, good times

But on the other side of coin. I seen drama from friends that made me keep my distance

I seen how they can be, made me question, if I made a right choice or not.

But for this, the good outweigh the bad, just by a bit. :P

The end of a saga…

So, I guess, this is where I tell you how I really feel about speedrunning. I still resent speedrunning, is what, I would have said. As I wrote this I started to have different thoughts… It dawned on me. I didn’t resent speedrunning but rather, I have resentment towards the Sonic Speedrun Community.

It used to be my home, If I had no opinion and followed along, it would be a friendly place for me to stay but I choose to not follow along, I choose to have opinions of others, I choose to not be some sheep. But this was the main reason why “Sonikmage” or “Soniksama” is gone, This is the reason why all my ties have been cut with the Sonic Speedrun Community members.

I guess in someway, this was bound to happen. While, I am disappointed on how things turned out. I did learn a few things. I guess, to end on this note. I did have “good times” when I was apart of this community. Made some questionable fake acquaintances, made some good friends, lost some “friends” when I changed from “Sonik” to “OnyChaos”. I feel losing those friends, I’m better off without them.

My final note on speedrunning

Speedrunning of late has changed, for the worst, It used to be about going to see how fast you can go in a game and improving one’s time while having fun with friends, and even with strangers.

The environment was friendly and welcoming, you can or could have fun speedrunning, but now, the speedrun environment has become a toxic and unwelcoming environment, in my eyes. all the In-fighting or all this backstabbing in the community or ton of drama that spreads about useless shit, people getting offended over things and shit, friendships coming and going before they can fucking start.

Oh, I hear you now. “Well, you don’t need to be in a community” I don’t, but then, what would the point be than? Being a part of a community is suppose to feel like a home away from home. A place where you could escape life for a bit and talk with your friends and escape bullshit and drama. A area where you could relax from life, even if it is a short haven.

No one seems to try to have fun in the Sonic speedrun community, I can’t blame them, it’s a toxic environment that rewards those who are super competitive and only want to be number one. I used to be like them but i saw what was speedrunning doing to me. Speedrunning can be fun, if you speedrun with friends.

I will not deny that, the Sonic Community, and speedrunning Community has done a lot. They have done some good. I want to get this out the way cause I know someone will read this and get offended. :v

I guess the real take away from this is… Speedrunning is fun to do. It can be a blast. Just don’t put all your time into one community or it will blow up in your face. And don’t be shocked if some acquaintances cut ties with you in the future. I still like speedrunning. But the way I view speedrunning, is in a negative light.. Is that fair? No.

End of the Saga to Sonic speedrunning community ranting…

It’s now over… A community I was in, supported through thick and thin by whatever means, and cheered on, when it was the underdog. The Sonic Community, a place I did see as my home away from home, when I was “Apart” of it. Now, the Sonic speedrun community, a community, I now resent. How things have changed. Something I used to love and cared for, now I resent it with a passion…

Hey… If you somehow made it to the end of this long ass rant and did not get offended / mad or disappointed at this rant. Well done. You get a Sonic 4 Any% race. it’s May. Everything I have bottled up from 2016 - 2017 and up to now, was dumped into this massive rant.

As I write this. I feel like giving the Sonic Community one last chance. But I doubt my impressions towards them will be changed. hey, anything can happen, I suppose… Not gonna unblock them though :x

I am still grateful for the friends i have made and still have now. And while I don’t always agree with them on some matters or choices, I do respect them and still grateful of them sticking with me, during my rants.

if this rant somehow is the one to break the camel’s back to end the friendship with me, I guess it will show me where I stand with them, I suppose, it was meant to end. :v

Ony~

P.S You know who you are. I would not do it, if I were you. >_>

#rant #may #ranting #personal #Venting #sonic speedrunning

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