#scotty site

[henrycavillcumdump]

Scotty Sire via Instagram

[unovabattleresearcher]

I make an online purchase. Unova Post delivers it. I track the delivery, see it's delivered. No package. Not in the mailbox. Nowhere in the mail room. Building management's contracted mail service? Can't find it. It's been two weeks. No package.

I get a replacement shipped. It arrives yesterday by Unova Post. No package. Not in the mailbox. Nowhere in the mail room. Mail service can't find it.

I beg management to check all the lockers. I await a response.

I refuse to accept a refund.

[rbr4c1ng]

Hii! I was wondering if you could maybe explain the bus bros fallout or p2p gate or pretty much all of the McLaughlin-Newgarden lore to me since I'm only getting in to IndyCar now and I want to be caught up before the 500. I understand this is a big ask but I've seen that youve posted about it and I just NEED to know. Any links to other pieces of lore would also be much apreciated. Completely understand if you don't want to write anything though so thank you so much I advance!! <3

YES ABSOLUTELY I WILL EXPLAIN! this is my special interest dw i could write an 18 page essay about their lore.

SO basically scott came into indycar from supercars in 2020-2021 ish and him a josef started getting along like super well, which is honestly a bit odd bc josef is known to not really let people get so close to him, so scotty is a bit of an outlier in that respect.

eventually! they make bus bros!!! wooooo everyone loves it etc etc they have fun making it…. until they don’t! leading up to their breakup there were QUITE a few clues that they knew it was gonna end in flames like scott talked about it on off track (see audio excerpt below) and on hot seats with hinch if i remember correctly?

there’s also a fair share of articles that mention it. they basically knew it was inevitable but i don’t think anyone thought it was gonna happen so quickly??

so then the winter break leading into the 2024 szn happened! this is about when i started getting really into bus bros and was honestly pretty present for some of this shit (i was at the daytona 24 and st pete so i’ve got some first hand evidence but we will get to that later)… anyways so the rumors start going around that bus bros is over around?? st pete time i think??? a little bit earlier. which is odd given that they seemed okay with each other at the daytona 24, even though i thought it was strange that they weren’t both on tower motorsports anymore cause josef switched to penske porsche but GENERALLY it seemed okay (although based on this pic idk their relationship seems a little charged atp but it’s all speculation really)

then after the rumors come out i think it was jenna fryer’s article that did it in? (idk it has a paywall on it for me right now and i don’t care enough to find it here but there’s definitely excerpts floating around) now i do recommend to take anything jenna fryer says with a grain of salt bc she is essentially a gossip columnist for all intents and purposes. but the article basically said that josef and scotty were done and scott wouldn’t answer any questions about it and was only saying that they’re fine or to ask josef about it (tea from todays 100 days to indy episode actually…). they promptly took down the bus bros merch site and have been relatively quiet since then. at st pete they talked on the podium and didn’t seem too bad but i’ve seen other clips where they won’t even sit next to each other or speak to each other so take that as you will. podiums are pretty much just publicity, cameras everywhere, you’d probably want to seem at least cordial with your teammate.

(pic 1 is mine, pic 2 is a pic of my tv from todays episode LMFAO)

so heres where most of the speculative stuff comes in. Josef dissolved his media company, unfollowed everyone, and cancelled bus bros leading into the 2024 season because he wanted to “get rid of distractions”, and really we could leave it at that, but i find it hard to believe that that’s the only thing that happened.

Josef is the dictionary definition of Penske Perfect, you won’t get any closer to it than him. he’s fucking OBSESSED with this idea of being perfect. perfect season, perfect body, perfect car, perfect team. obviously this isn’t feasible, but scotty seemed to have broken through that block in his little Penske Perfect brain and got him to LIGHTEN UP A BIT. and then the 2023 season happened. sure, josef won the indy 500 but it was one of his worst season finishes in a while and, to make matters worse, scott BEAT him. little scotty mac, supercars champion transplant from 2021 beat josef newgarden at his own fucking game after breaking down his walls and making him soft. i can see how that scared josef honestly. so he ended it. Scott doesn’t see things on a plane of winning/losing imo, everything is just experience for him. hell, he didn’t even know if he would end up in indycar and he sure as hell didn’t think he’d win races so soon AND beat his teammate. to josef, it’s JUST winning/losing. if he’s losing, he needs to be better. and he lost sight of that for the 2023 season. that’s why he had to come back and put an end to the shenanigans bc he knows scott makes him soft.

but that’s just my speculation!!!!! literally could just be nothing. maybe it is to josef, but i know for a FACT it isn’t to scott.

OH and with the p2pgate stuff! basically they had a component in their car that. was not supposed to be there! that prevented race control from turning off their push to pass like normal. (marshall pruitt has a rlly good article explaining it all here) and they were caught in long beach when race control forgot to turn on the push to pass during the sunday warm up and HMMMMM why do the penske cars still have it???? when has this happened before??? oh ok st pete! now they’re disqualified. josef used 9 seconds of p2p when it was not enabled and scotty only used 1.9 and will used none. so i’m led to believe that it was a josef-centered choice IF it was intentional to use the p2p when it was supposed to be inactive.

now josef really laid down the water works for that press conference at barber to the point that i was having a VERY hard time watching it. i felt bad for the guy. he seemed really fucking upset and i almost believe that it WASNT on purpose but. it’s just too good to be true right?

honestly i think this all could tie back to the downfall of bus bros in that scott maybe didn’t want to do the p2p thing but josef was willing to? and maybe that caused some sort of divide between them bc then again for josef it’s about Winning No Matter What, and yes scott wants to win but cheating isn’t the way for him. idk.

for more of their lore when they WERE friends, watch bus bros (duh), admit one, 100 days to indy, scott learns america: nashville, hot seats with hinch, and listen to scott’s episode on off track with hinch and rossi! also there are some very brief interactions between them on some older penske games videos before bus bros was even a thing but it’s not much. there are more but i can’t think of them rn…

sorry for rambling, if you have any more qs feel free to ask!!! i’m always available for brain picking :)

[astranite]

Love is Stored in the Pasta

Scott, John and pasta.

This started off from a tumblr post 'cause somebody needed to cook that guy some pasta!!

Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, really very mild scott is hangrysad, ft john's space issues, Chronic Illness, as thats what im treating it as and its not the focus here he's just living with it, Scott Tracy has ADHD, this is important, Autistic John Tracy, lowkey here but also Important to me, this is fun and fluffy and i love them, i hope this is like a warm comforting bowl of pasta to you too

---

“We need to talk,” John said.

On the other side of the call, Scott’s hologram slumped over his desk, his head landing in his hands. “Oh God.”

“I found your search history…” John began.

Scott peered out sheepishly from behind his fingers. “I can explain!”

“It’s just pages and pages of pasta?” 

John was puzzled, honestly. Five to ten recipe blogs and that was Scott trying to decide what to make for dinner during a meeting or while he was struggling to concentrate on work. During lulls between callouts, he and John would sometimes debate options together. More than forty separate sites visited at 3:12pm on a Tuesday afternoon and Eos had flagged it for John, on suspicion that Scott’s computer had been hacked by a malicious entity or some other AI virus.

Scott went from double facepalm of despair to full on faceplant, his head hitting the desk with an audible thunk.

“Why so much pasta?” John questioned. Now his curiosity was piqued, he couldn’t let it go or he’d be doing EVA work later, still turning over possibilities in his mind, which wasn’t conducive to the constant concentration needed while floating around in the vacuum. Outside, any misstep would be your last.

“I dunno. I just feel like pasta,” Scott mumbled into the wood.

Scott sounded…weird. Like he was about to start laughing, or coming down with a cold.

“Scott? Are you okay?”

It had better not be another flu; corralling Scott to take care of himself was hard enough even if he wasn’t feverish. John wouldn’t be able to come down either, quarantined up in Five unless he already had it. Was the slight tug of a headache at his temples from his sinuses beginning to clog up too?

Scott hadn’t looked up yet; his shoulders were shaking. John wiggled his fingers anxiously.

“Scotty?”

Big brother’s head shot up at the nickname John so rarely used. Had John intended to provoke that reaction? The name had been a slip of the tongue but if he was was honest, he sort of had meant to jar Scott out of his thoughts. He never called Scott, Scotty unless he was scared though. And Scott not answering him did tick tick tick up his system from yellow alert into red.

“I’m fine, it’s okay. Don’t worry about me.” Scott’s words ran over each other in an attempt to come first. His voice sounded oddly wet.

Tears, yes those were indeed tears dulled by holographic format, tumbled down Scott’s cheeks.

As soon as he saw John looking, Scott turned away.

Suddenly, John landed on the spark of insight that he had a hunch would crack the code to his big brother’s distress. “Have you eaten anything all day?”

Scott dug around for tissues in a drawer of the desk and gave a half shrug. “I guess not—not really? I tried to before you say anything. Got a mouthful of breakfast in and then there was a call out. Lunch didn’t happen, there was a meeting, I had to make coffee, I ran out of time. I don’t really feel hungry though…”

That did explain a few things. It was well known family lore that Virgil and Alan got hangry, and Gords went all sad and mopey. Scott and John himself though, they got …really, unstably emotional. 

So yeah, hence the unexpected bursting into tears. John got the whole shit interoception and not even noticing if you needed to eat while you were buried in work thing; Scott was way too used to ignoring his body too. 

John took a deep breath. “Scott, and I’m one-hundred percent serious about this, do you want me to come down there and make you some pasta?”

Thunderbird Five systems whirred around John in the quiet as Scott hesitated.

“Maybe,” he whispered. “Or you don’t have to, I’ll wait, Virge’ll be doing dinner in a bit anyway.”

“Virgil won’t be up until past sunset after the hours Thunderbird Two was out yesterday and into this morning,” John said gently. “You need to eat before then.”

Nor would an overwhelmed Scott and the kitchen be a good combination at this point, and John saw the moment Scott realised this, while fidgeting with the rubix cube on his desk. 

“I want to do this for you,” John told him.

Scott dashed at his eyes, sniffled a few times and finally capitulated. “Okay. Thanks, Jay.”

John smiled and signed off, heading for the space elevator. He was usually so far away, he was right now, but it was in his power to close off that distance when he needed to and today he could use that. 

He farewelled Eos; she so often missed him but the opportunities to run the space station on her own that weren’t emergencies where he was incapacitated excited her. They showed how much he had come to trust and rely on her. Plus she got full reign of their virtual chess set.

On Earth, Scott was waiting for him as the elevator docked, his hands stuck casually in his jeans pockets but looking as pale and wobbly as John felt. His face was still tearstained.

“Hey.”

“Hey to you too.” John took a few heavy steps before throwing himself at Scott, wrapping his arms around his brother tightly, all the while careful not to knock him off balance. Scott stiffened then melted into John. 

Usually that interaction went the other way around. 

Scott used the extra height space gave John to rest his head on him without having to duck down like with everyone else. John hugged him close and comfortingly as his fingers tap tap tapped their rhythm at Scott’s shoulder. All of it meant I love you.

“Pasta time?” John said eventually.

Scott nodded silently, following when John started off towards the kitchen. The raw rock wall of the hanger was rough and vividly solid in its three dimensions, as John ran his hand along it for balance as he walked that initial part. He was touching the Earth, he was in the Earth, he was on Earth.

With cold water from the fridge dispenser and the fizzy, brightly coloured tablets shook out of their tube, John made up lidded cups of electrolyte drink for himself and Scott. John needed to be sculling the stuff perpetually to stay upright down here, and he would not be at all surprised if Scott was dehydrated too. It might to something for John’s headache, could go either way for the nausea coming on.

He put a large pot on the heat. One advantage of having a stove so high powered that it could nuke anything it touched was that any volume of water boiled fast. 

An entire packet of fettuccine got tipped into the enthusiastic cacophony of bubbles. John poked at it with a pasta scoop, regretting that he hadn’t snapped the long pieces to actually fit in better. Ah well. 

He shook in an excessive-to-anyone-not-him amount of salt with a shrug ‘cause he needed it, before having another go at separating the pasta. The pasta scoop was quite an effective implement for that, there were reasons after all it was Gordon’s favourite utensil as John remembered from previous discussions. One could also use it to mash potatoes when held vertically, if one so pleased. His second favourite was the tongs as they could be clicked like crab claws and used to pinch unsuspecting siblings. 

Scott watched from his place slumped over the kitchen bench on a stool, chewing on the ragged skin at the edge of his thumbnail. He was trying to work on a couple of screens pulled up as holomonitors, as unsuccessfully as could be expected. John came over and hopped up to sit on the bench, clipping through the projected email inbox and meeting minutes so Scott dismissed them. It was with a sigh of relief.

They smiled tiredly at each other.

The pasta! John tapped at his uniform comms watch. “Eos, set a timer for the pasta, please?” John shaved the minute that had already passed off of the box time and then another couple to ensure it wouldn’t come out mushy.

“So what sort of stuff on pasta do you feel like? There’s a good lot of options you were looking at earlier.”

“We don’t have the ingredients for most of those, I checked. No eggs and no mushrooms so no carbonara. Technically that wouldn’t be authentic carbonara though. No cream cheese. We missed this week’s supply run so we don’t even have any frozen peas!” Scott threw his hands up in the air.

“Hmmm. You feel like something creamy?”

“Yeah. Honestly at this point I’d eat anything.”

John swung his legs and tapped his fingers on the counter while he thought.

“I believe some bacon is hiding in the bottom of the freezer so that’s something. And…” he trailed of as he moved his head too fast and set off a wave of dizziness as he looked around the kitchen.

“Avocado!” Scott exclaimed.

“Avocado?”

“Funny story, we ended up with several cases of them after that rescue on that farm where we saved the whole village and nearly all their trees from catastrophic flooding. They really need eating too and there’s only so much toast you can stand.”

“I have heard theoretically of putting avo on pasta and it does sound good. Mmmm bacon and avocado, John hummed. “Worth a shot?”

Scott reached towards the fruit bowl in answer, grinning at John. “Soon we will have pasta!”

John peeled off the upper half of his uniform and tied the arms around his waist in preparation. In the subtropical summer down here he was already getting too hot and while the temperature regulation built into his suit would do its best to make up for his own body’s lack thereof, it felt weird to have everything covered up from fingertips to neck down here while he was cooking.

Scott began to giggle.

“Huh?” John said, extremely eloquently.

Scott gestured at him. 

“My suit?” Was something up with his suit? The full gloved hands and sleeves flopping about without John in them had been known to amuse the lot of them on occasion, ever since he’d used the empty suit as a phoney decoy of himself to trick Eos. It was pretty funny now no one was in mortal peril and Eos was his friend.

“Your face!” Scott exclaimed.

“What’s wrong with my face?” 

John frowned. Was it his fringe that never could survive true gravity? He hadn’t gotten freckles while he’d been down all of half an hour and inside, had he? Then he looked down.

His t-shirt had a photograph of his face printed on it, and across the chest, emblazoned in neon orange read the words ‘Space Face’, courtesy of one particular fish brother. Ah yes. That.

John sighed, resting his chin on his hand to hide the smile he couldn’t quite control. “Not exactly subtle, is it? In my defence this was the only one in my closet that was clean and you can’t exactly see it beneath my suit. It’s all Gordon’s fault anyway!”

Scott was still laughing, albeit a touch hysterically and at him, but John took it as a win regardless.

Eventually Scott grabbed himself a cutting board and knife to get to work on the avocados as John carefully slipped off the bench, steadying himself on the counter as his ankles went noodley so he could handle the bacon. 

Bacon, bacon, now where had he seen that bacon? He had the image of it in his head, but that was only one piece of the puzzle, a photograph, humanly imperfect, memory woven out of instinct. Digging about in the deep freeze which the evidence pointed to as best John could tell had his fingers feeling like he’d stuck them out in space with out gloves on. They ached sharply as John cursed his crappy circulation. 

He gladly found the bacon though, lurking at the second darkest depths. He would not be willing to venture into the midnight zone of Unidentified Frozen Objects and charred dinner leftovers put away for ‘later’. He chucked the packet into the microwave and thawed out his hands by running them under lukewarm water, wincing all the while. If he’d thought this through, if he’d been smart enough, he would’ve put his suit gloves back on—his space rated, cold proof, most definitely impervious to domestic appliances gloves— and saved himself the pain.

Scott came over to rinse his avocado green hands. He dried them off then wrapped his arms around John’s waist so he could lean on him, giving in for a moment in face of daunting gravity. With Scott, he could because Scott got him; they both could.

“You alright?” And there was big brother smotherhen coming out.

John flexed his defrosted fingers. “I will be.” He turned and smushed his face into Scott’s neck for a little bit, hugging back, Scott rested his head on John’s, and they stayed there for a while.

They were both fading. The pasta would help with that, Scott really needed to eat and so did John at this point, the half a dry bagel for breakfast and another at lunch hadn’t really been enough. The trick now was finishing the task that felt as if it expanding faster by the second than the Universe, as measured by the Hubble Constant was. They could do this though. Together.

Scott chopped up the bacon roughly and John cooked it, hissing back when it spat hot oil at him. 

When Eos notified them the timer had gone off, and John had very scientifically tested the pasta was done by nomming on a bit, he called Scott over carry the large pot to the colander in the sink to strain. 

“Gravity plus boiling water plus my space noodley arms are probably not a good combo,” he laughed. 

He was getting better at knowing his limits. Scott’s smile was small and proud, he saw John.

Scott stared at the bacon with the intensity of a starved wolf with its mouth watering, then stole some pieces hot from the pan and burnt his mouth. Scoff Tracy strikes again. 

They dumped the pasta in a big mixing bowl with the mashed avocado, a little lemon juice, the bacon, and a whole lot of salt, pepper and parmesan cheese, mixing it together with the big pasta scoop.

John swayed on his feet then, grabbing onto Scott to stay upright for long enough to decide actually the best place for him right now was sitting on the kitchen floor just here. John folded himself down to the ground in a slithering pile of too long, too bendy limbs, Scott wordlessly guiding his descent. 

“You want me to grab some sporks to eat with?”

“They’re splayds, technically,” John remarked. He gave Scott the thumbs up anyway, while he rested his spinning head on his knees.

Scott waved about his ‘sporks’ acquired from the cutlery draw with a victorious grin before he sunk to the ground to join John.

John took one, passing the pasta to Scott once he was settled, lanky legs stretched out for miles, bumping into John’s.

“We forgot plates,” Scott said.

John shrugged. “At this point, who cares. We have pasta.”

“We do.” Scott blinked for a moment. “I didn’t before and I wouldn’t’ve but now we do.”

He hugged the warm pasta bowl to his chest, and when John observed more closely he saw the tears collecting on Scott’s eyelashes, sparkling in the kitchen light as he looked up at John.

“Thanks. I love you so much, Jay.”

John gave him a gentle smile, ducking to knock his forehead against his brother’s shoulder like a cat. “Love is stored in the pasta.”

Scott smiled back at him and they both dug in.

It was good pasta.

Really good pasta, because he was here with Scott and through everything they had made it, together.

[edutainer2022]

In commemoration of that time, recently, when I delivered a conference keynote in a ridiculous o'clock timezone, after having been up and neck deep in other energy draining university commitments for three days straight on four hours of sleep at best, here's a little thing. I couldn't remember what I was talking about the minute the presentation ended. Scott Tracy is a public speaker extraordinaire on bingo sleep and adrenaline overdose. His brothers are worried and have to think on their feet. Special thanks to @astranite for nudging my muse in this direction.

AUTOPILOT

The trick was to get him off the stage. Scott Tracy, the Tracy Industries CEO, giving an opening keynote at the New Frontiers Expo had been scheduled a year in advance (involving the program committee begging on hands and knees for a year prior, Scott's annual commitments shuffling, some major security concessions, up to and including Kayo's team practically taking over the venue security altogether, as well as meeting a hard line of excluding any tech associated with Langstrom Fischler from the exhibits or conference talks).

Nobody could predict a mine collapse and Scott Tracy, the Commander of IR and Thunderbird One, being involved on site for the past thirty six hours (a good portion of that time spent underground without sleep).

The family medics' quorum, in full agreement with the family extended quorum, voted for canceling his public appearance and putting him on mandated rest. For a week. But Scott Tracy gave his word. So Scott Tracy gave his talk.

As keynotes go it was a huge success. Scott was passionate, funny and inspired, engaging the audience with dimples, moving personal touches and heartfelt convictions. The listeners were just about ready to "boldly go" wherever Scott would lead the way to a better, technologically enhanced and kinder tomorrow.

They divided forces in case the predictable worse actually came to pass. Virgil was behind the podium with a med kit and med scanner at hand. Gordon unironically got a tranq gun, which earned him a side-eye, but knowing Scott it might as well come handy.

John was in the audience, vigilant and listening to the keynote (and rather enjoying biggest brother public speaking prowess - seriously, how did Scott do it, half-dead on his feet?), ready to step up and take over if need be. That wouldn't be what the hundreds of Expo attendees payed and donated to R&D funds for, but they'd be getting A Dr. Tracy, at least, if The Mr. Tracy collapsed mid-sentence.

That was just the problem at the moment. Scott didn't. He concluded the speech, got a standing ovation, and was now just sort of hanging out on stage, swaying slightly. It was obvious he was running on dregs of fumes of an adrenaline high, refusing to crash on sheer willpower. It was also obvious Scott was completely unfocused and unaware where he was and what he'd been doing the minutes prior. The brilliant blue eyes were getting telltale glassy.

John had a FRANTIC Virgil booming in his earpiece. The public spotlight made the logistics of what needed to happen next tricky: they couldn't just drag him off the podium in a firefighter hold or tranq him - and spoil the profound impression of the speech; they also couldn't wait much longer till Scott fainted in front of everyone (and possibly injured himself by the fall). John was half on his way up to try and steer Scott bodily off the stage. Gordon would have been a better man for the job - dressing the thing up with a quip and some theatrics, but the Fish was still in uniform. IR on site, crashing the keynote, might have set off unwelcome panic, dangerous in a crowded space.

In the end, it was still Gordon's out-of-the-box thinking that saved the situation. They could all hear a boy's voice through their earpieces - Alan went for the highest littlest-brother-in-distress pitch he could master:

"Scotty, could you come here? I'm right behind you! Scotty, please!"

Scott could hear it too. A less exhausted brain would have remembered Allie was on the island still. They agreed Scott would take him the next day on a tour around the Expo and to several talks the kid wanted to attend.

But Scott's bandwidth capacity at the moment was reduced to the most rudimentary parent-brain instincts. So he started slightly, turned on his heel and marched backstage. It took a bit of flailing to placate a wild-eyed Scott that a) Allie wasn't in danger; b) Allie wasn't there immediately available for inspection and protecting from danger.

It came as close as Gordon clicking the safety off the tranq gun. But finally, the blue eyes stopped searching the perimeter behind Virgil's shoulder and rolled back. Scott slumped as a ragdoll in Virgil's hold.

John rushed to join the brothers the moment he heard Alan on comms. In between the three of them they settled the Commander on a hoverstrecher. Virgil insisted on a quick scan on the spot. Nothing more serious beyond bruises, exhaustion, stress and dehydration. Small mercies. Every single one of them had a private itemized inventory of possible injuries Scott might have "forgotten" to mention in order to be cleared for the keynote commitment.

Kayo's security team were clearing the path for them, off the Expo busy routes, to leave for Thunderbird Two discretely.

John lingered to brush the fringe off Scott's now noticeably pale forehead. His original intent was to go straight back to orbit after the biggest brother was sorted out. But now, there was no way Grandma or Virgil would let Scott out of the infirmary for the next forty eight hours at least. Nor would Virgil let biggest brother out of his sight for at least twice as long after. So it would fall to John to take Alan to the Expo and show the boy around.

John didn't favor crowded bustling places on a good day, but it was crucial not to disappoint or worry the kid. Scotty unconscious, sedated and grounded would have him anxious enough. It was also a great bonding opportunity with the baby-brother and a way to lift a bit of weight off Scott's shoulders. John knew biggest brother enough to foresee he'd beat himself up for succumbing to weakness and letting Alan down. John couldn't have that. So he landed a hand for support on Gordon's shoulder and all together they started the way home.

[rocknbolan]

Not at all comprehensive list of rock star relationships.

Skid Row: (Cause that's MY band bishes.)

Sebastian Bach: Axl Rose, Rachel Bolan Rachel Bolan: Sebastian Bach, Scotti Hill Scotti Hill: Snake Sabo, Rachel Bolan Snake Sabo: Scotti Hill Rob Affuso: Not on this site. Do not let him on this site he is innocent. (we're a little insular here if you can't tell)

Guns 'n' Roses: Axl Rose: Sebastian Bach Steven Adler: Duff McKagan Duff McKagan: Steven Adler Slash: Nikki Sixx Izzy Stradlin: Letti

Hanoi Rocks:

Razzle Dingley: Michael Monroe Michael Monroe: Razzle Dingley Sami Yaffa: Nasty Nasty: Sami Yaffa

Motley Crue: Vince Neil: Tommy Lee Tommy Lee: Vince Neil Nikki Sixx: Slash Mick Mars: ??? (Maybe the hookah smoking caterpillar knows.)

Cinderella: Tom Keifer Eric Brittingham Eric Brittingham: Tom Keifer Fred Coury: ??? (Go ask Alice, I think she knows.)

Poison:

Bret Michaels: C.C. Deville

Bon Jovi:

Jon Bon Jovi: Ritchie Sambora Ritchie Sambora: Jon Bon Jovi

Nirvana:

Kurt Cobain: Courtney Love Krist Novoselic: Melissa Auf de Maur Dave Grohl: ??? (An anon maybe?) Hole:

Courtney Love: Kurt Cobain Melissa Auf de Maur: Krist Novoselic

Metallica: James Hetfield: ??? (I'm not asking he bites I hear.) Ron McGovney: ??? (An enigma wrapped in bacon) Lars Ulrich: Kirk Hammet Kirk Hammet: Lars Ulrich Jason Newstead: Marcus Marcus (last name?): Jason Newstead Cliff Burton: Nancy Burton Nancy Burton: Cliff Burton

Megadeth: Dave Mustaine: Marty Friedman Nick Menza: ??? (Tell me for the Vine.) Marty Friedman: Dave Mustaine

If there are others I don't know! Enlighten me so I can add it here.

[anonymousewrites]

Logos and Pathos (AOS Edition) Chapter Twelve

AOS! Spock x Empath! Reader

Chapter Twelve: Manhunt Mission

Summary: Kirk is given an assignment to find Harrison, but Spock and (Y/N) are not fans of it, even with their desire to honor Pike's memory.

            “(Y/N),” said Spock.

            (Y/N) hummed noncommittedly as they stared out the window as the Starfleet HQ building was reconstructed. The sunlight made it all seem so normal, everyday. But everyone knew that the tragedy had occurred. (Y/N) blinked away the ghost of Pike’s deathly emotions.

            “Mister Scott found something in the wreckage of Harrison’s ship,” said Spock.

            (Y/N) faced him. “Found something?”

            “I already called the Commander,” said Spock, referring to Kirk.

            “Let’s go,” said (Y/N), standing. They refused to let Pike’s killer go without facing justice. They’d help Kirk and Spock find Harrison, and then they’d bring him to court to face the consequences of his actions.

l

            Kirk, Spock, and (Y/N) sprinted to the crash site, ignoring the strange looks some people gave them. Scotty looked up as he noticed them.

            “Captain! I found this in the crashed jump ship, sir!” He handed over a piece of machinery.

            “What do you mean?” asked Kirk, looking at it.

            “It’s a portable transwarp beaming device,” explained Scotty.

            “Well, can you figure out where he went?” asked Kirk.

            (Y/N) glanced at Kirk as his anger burned along his skin. (Y/N) was attempting to find peace and focus on justice for Pike’s death, but Kirk…he was furious at Harrison.

            “I already did, sir,” said Scotty. “And you’re not gonna like it.” He pointed at the coordinates. “He’s gone to the one place we…we just can’t go.”

            Klingon space.

            Kirk frowned, and his frustration flared. (Y/N) furrowed their brow.

            “I’m going to speak to Admiral Marcus,” said Kirk, turning and hurrying away.

            “What?” said (Y/N), moving after him.

            “Commander, we cannot cross into Klingon space,” said Spock, following him.

            But Kirk was determined to speak to Marcus anyway.

l

            As straightforward as ever, Kirk barged into Marcus’s meeting. “Admiral, sir, he’s not on Earth. He’s on Kronos, sir.” He stared at the admiral. “I request my command be reinstated and your permission to go after him.”

            Marcus was silent before looking at the men he was with. “Give us a minute.” The men got up, and Marcus walked towards his office. Kirk, (Y/N), and Spock followed. “Kronos.”

            “Yes, sir,” said Kirk.

            “So Harrison’s gone to the Klingon homeworld,” said Marcus, biting the words out in frustration. “Is he defecting?”

            “Uh, we’re not sure, sir,” said Kirk.

            “He has taken refuge in the Ketha Province, a region uninhabited for decades,” said Spock.

            “He’s gotta be hiding there, sir!” said Kirk. “He knows if we even go near Klingon space, it’d be an all-out war. Starfleet can’t go after him, but I can.”

            Spock and (Y/N) looked at each other before staring at Kirk as he continued. This anger, this desire for revenge, it was so bright. (Y/N) worried Kirk would be blinded by it.

            “Please, sir,” said Kirk.

            Marcus was quiet, clearly thinking, before responding. “All-out war with the Klingons is inevitable, Mr. Kirk.”

            (Y/N) was unsettled with the confidence of Marcus’s words. Why would he believe a war was coming? Nothing had happened in years…

            “If you ask me, it’s already begun…” he trailed off darkly. Marcus paced his office and examined his model starships. “Since we first learned of their existence, the Klingon Empire has conquered and occupied two planets that we know of and fired on our ships half a dozen times.” He stared at the biggest model, a dark blue-grey, bigger than the Enterprise-style model beside it. “They are coming our way.”

            (Y/N) frowned. Marcus’s emotions were a cloud around him, understandable for the topic, but that didn’t change the fact that his certainty of war was disconcerting.

            Marcus faced them. “London was not an archive. It was a top-secret branch of Starfleet designated Section 31. They were developing defense technology and training our officers to gather intelligence on the Klingons and any other potential threat who means to do us harm.”

            But we do not have people seeking to harm us. The Klingons have not actively sought battle in years, thought (Y/N). This preemptive desire for weaponry reminded them of incidents throughout planets over centuries where wars for precisely these reasons raged and destroyed countless lives. (Y/N) didn’t want Starfleet to become a part of that.

            “Harrison was one of our top agents,” said Marcus, looking at Kirk.

For a second, his eyes flicked to (Y/N), and they didn’t mistake the ever-so-slight twinge of nervousness—almost fear—accompanying the words. More fear of Harrison? What he’s capable of? What he knows? (Y/N) didn’t like how much was secret about the situation.

            “Well, now he’s a fugitive, and I want to take him out,” said Kirk coldly, his anger flaring.

       ��    “ ‘Take him out?’ Captain—” began (Y/N), not liking the murderous implications of the words. That wasn’t the right thing to do.

            “Pike always said you were one of our best and brightest,” said Marcus, smiling. “You should have heard him defend you. He’s the one who talked you into joining Starfleet, isn’t he?”

            (Y/N)’s stomach twisted as positive emotions swirled in Kirk at the comparison. He wanted to pay Harrison back for killing Pike, and Marcus knew that. It felt almost…manipulative. But Marcus was a Starfleet admiral. He didn’t…he couldn’t have bad intentions. He knew protocol and understood what was at stake. Perhaps he was just encouraging Kirk legitimately.

            Still…(Y/N) felt their instincts go cold.

            “Yes, sir,” replied Kirk.

            “Did he ever tell you who talked him into joining?” remarked Marcus. He sighed. “His death is on me. And yours can’t be.”

            “Sir, please,” said Kirk. “All I—”

            “Mr. Spock, you said the province where Harrison is hiding is uninhabited?” said Marcus.

            “Affirmative, sir,” said Spock.

            Marcus considered before speaking. “As part of our defense strategy, 31 developed a new photon torpedo.” He pressed a button, and a hologram popped up. “Long-range and untraceable, it would be invisible to Klingon sensors. I don’t want you hurt, but I want to take him out. You park at the edge of the neutral zone, you lock onto Harrison’s position, you fire, you kill him, and you haul ass.”

            “Sir, isn’t Starfleet protocol to only use deadly force if necessary?” said (Y/N).

            “It is,” said Marcus.

            “Then shouldn’t capturing Harrison and returning him for judgement in the eyes of the law be our priority?” asked (Y/N). “Sir,” they added.

            Marcus’s now-familiar fear regarding Harrison flashed, and he straightened. “He has been deemed too dangerous to be approached now. Deadly force is necessary against him to keep more people from being killed.” He narrowed his eyes. “Is that understood, Lieutenant?”

            (Y/N) was silent for a pointed amount of time. “Yes, sir.”

            “Permission to reinstate Mr. Spock as my First Officer,” said Kirk instantly.

            Spock furrowed his brow, but Marcus nodded and said, “Granted.”

            “And I want Mx. (L/N) for Communications and Negotiations,” said Kirk.

            Marcus hesitated, and (Y/N) was tempted to narrow their eyes. Clearly, their hesitancy to go along on an assassination mission had upset him.

            “If someone goes wrong near Klingon space, their expertise is invaluable. I know of no better officer,” said Kirk.

            Marcus nodded curtly. “Very well. Granted.”

l

            “What do you think of this mission?” asked (Y/N) as they and Spock walked towards the shuttle to go to the Enterprise.

            “I understand it is necessary due to Harrison’s danger, but it feels like quite a risk,” said Spock.

            (Y/N) nodded. “He needs to be apprehended, but this feels like a lot.” They frowned. “And Admiral Marcus…I don’t know, there was just something weird about his emotions.” They sighed. “I was probably reading too much into them.”

            “Section 31 was highly classified,” said Spock. “It is possible there are variables we aren’t sure of. However, I do not know why the Admiral would want to keep any vital facts from us.”

            “I don’t know, either,” said (Y/N), shaking their head and sitting down. “And I’m worried about Kirk. His anger is deep, and I don’t want it to keep him from making good decisions.”

            Spock sat down beside them. “I agree. We should try to keep an eye out for further warning signs. I do not want to accuse him of such, but undue emotional responses could put the crew at risk.”

            “I don’t think Kirk will do that. He cares about all of us too much,” said (Y/N) decidedly. Even if his anger was blinding him, Kirk wouldn’t put the people he cared about in harm’s way. No way. “But I also don’t like this mission. It goes against who Kirk is and what Starfleet stands for.”

            Spock nodded. “It is against common regulation. And it goes against what Federation law stands for in the case of justice.”

            Speaking of Kirk, he and Bones entered the shuttle a moment later. His anger still burned in him, and Bones looked more displeased than usual. Clearly, Kirk’s emotional distress was still spiraling.

            Alright, so that did concern (Y/N).

            “Status report, Mr. Spock,” said Kirk, sitting down next to them. Bones sat behind him and tried to scan him sneakily.

            “The Enterprise should be ready for launch by the time we arrive,” confirmed Spock.

            “Good, good,” said Kirk.

            “Captain,” said Spock, and Kirk looked at him. “Thank you for requesting my reinstatement.”

            “And mine,” said (Y/N).

            “You’re welcome,” said Kirk, smiling.

            “As I am again your First Officer, it is now my duty to inform you that I strongly object to the mission parameters,” said Spock.

            “I do, too,” said (Y/N), nodding firmly.

            “There is no Starfleet regulation that condemns a man to die without a trial, something you and Admiral Marcus are forgetting,” said Spock.

            Kirk blinked but ignored them.

            “And preemptively firing torpedoes at the Klingon homeworld goes against—”

            “You yourself said the area’s uninhabited,” said Kirk. “There’s only going to be one casualty. Our orders have nothing to do with Starfleet regulation.”

            “Wait a minute, we’re firing torpedoes at Klingons?!” said Bones, alarmed.

            “That makes us nothing more than a rogue ship looking to hunt someone down and kill them. It makes us a military operation, and that’s not who we’re supposed to be.” (Y/N) frowned. “This shouldn’t be a revenge mission, Captain. This should be a mission to deliver a man to court to face justice.”

            “It is morally wrong,” said Spock firmly.

            “Regulations aside, pulling your ass out of a volcano was morally right,” snapped Kirk. “And I didn’t get any points for that. I’m not gonna take ethics lessons from a robot.”

            “Jim,” hissed (Y/N), narrowing their eyes at the insult.

            Kirk looked away from them and winced.

            Spock glanced warmly at (Y/N), surprised by their instant defense of him. Fortunately, he could also handle this and was not offended. He’d been called far worse.

            “Reverting to name-calling suggests that you are defensive and therefore find our opinion valid,” said Spock matter-of-factly.

            “I wasn’t asking for your opinion,” snapped Kirk, still on edge. He glared at Bones, still scanning him. “Bones, get that thing off my face.”

            Bones rolled his eyes and glanced worriedly at Kirk before pulling back.

            “Captain, our mission could start a war with the Klingons, and it is still extremely immoral, no matter how you slice it,” said (Y/N).

            “Perhaps you should take the requisite time to arrive at this conclusion for yourself,” said Spock.

            Kirk took a deep breath and was about to respond when someone stepped up.

            “Captain Kirk,” said a woman with short blond hair. She smiled, but there was nothing but nervousness in her emotions. “Science Officer Wallace.”

            (Y/N) cocked their head. They had never met her, so it was a new officer on the Enterprise. That would explain the nerves since meeting a new captain could be intimidating.

            “I’ve been assigned to the Enterprise by Admiral Marcus,” she said, still accompanied by nerves somewhat. She held out a holopad. “These are my transfer orders.”

            “You requested an additional science officer, Captain?” said Spock, a bit offended. (An offense to his lineage he could take, but his intelligence? Outrageous.)

            “I wish I had,” said Kirk, all smiles and pleasant emotions now that the pretty person stood in front of him. “ ‘Lieutenant Carol Wallace.’ ”

            Wallace glanced furtively at Spock and (Y/N) as her name was spoken, and the nerves shot through her again. Now it was suspicious. (Y/N) didn’t give away their suspicions by looking at Spock, but they knew he felt the same. He was as observant as they were.

            “ ‘Doctor in applied physics, specializing in advanced weaponry,’ ” read Kirk.

            Weaponry like the torpedoes? Wondered (Y/N).

            “Impressive credentials,” said Spock.

            “Thank you,” said Wallace.

            “But redundant now that I am back aboard the Enterprise,” said Spock.

            “And yet, the more the merrier.” Kirk could get back at Spock in this tiny, petty way. “Have a seat, Doctor.”

            “Thank you,” said Wallace.

            “Welcome aboard,” said (Y/N), and Wallace smiled before walking away. (Y/N) patted Spock’s arm encouragingly. “Don’t worry, dear, we all knew who the best Science Officer here is.”

Spock straightened, encouraged despite the boost being more towards his ego rather than facts. (Y/N) always had such an effect on him. He touched their hand in thanks and a small kiss.

            “Oh, god, we’re never going to humble him if you keep being so nice,” grumbled Bones, as grouchy as ever despite his emotions holding no real anger.

            (Y/N) chuckled. “Bones, one day you’ll find someone to love and support you, too.”

            “If I ever become as sappy as you two, shoot me into space.”

            “Doctor, that would be murder. We cannot agree to it.”

l

            When Kirk, Spock, and (Y/N) walked into the Engineering section, they weren’t expecting to see Scotty on a warpath huffing and puffing and arguing with the delivery workers on board.

            “No! I’m not signing anything! Now get these bloody things off my ship!” Scotty noticed them and threw his hands up. “Captain!”

            “Is there a problem, Scotty?” asked Kirk.

            “Aye, sir.” Scotty calmed enough to speak clearly. “I was just explaining to this gentleman that I cannot authorize any weapons on board this ship without knowing what’s inside them.” He gestured to the sleek torpedo.

            (Y/N) looked at it. Admiral Marcus’s “gifts” had arrived. “Captain, Scotty makes another point you should consider. We have no idea what these are. We can’t fire these without knowing—”

            “Report to the Bridge, (L/N),” said Kirk, turning back to them. He looked at Spock. “You, too, Spock.”

(Y/N) pursed their lips. “Yes, Captain.”

“Captain,” acknowledged Spock fairly coldly.

He and (Y/N) exchanged glances as they walked towards the elevator. Yet again, Kirk was ignoring warning signs about this mission.

l

            “Captain on the Bridge,” announced Chekov as Kirk arrived. Everyone was dressed and ready for departure.

            “Sulu,” greeted Kirk, but (Y/N) noticed the exhaustion and sadness of his emotions. Something else had gone wrong, and his emotions remained spiraling.

            “Captain,” said Sulu, taking his seat.

            Kirk leaned over Chekov’s seat. “Mr. Chekov, you’ve been shadowing Mr. Scott. You are familiar with the engineering systems of this ship?”

            “Affirmative, sir,” said Chekov, nodding.

            “Good,” said Kirk. “You’re my new Chief. Go put on a red shirt.”

            “Aye, Captain,” said Chekov, surprised but rising to get ready.

            (Y/N)’s head snapped towards Kirk. “Captain? Did something happen to Scotty?”

            “He left,” said Kirk, swallowing as sadness clouded his emotions.

            He didn’t want to let the torpedoes come on board… (Y/N)’s eyes creased in worry. Oh, Scotty. Let’s hope your warnings don’t go to waste.

            “Retract all moorings, Sulu,” said Kirk, sitting in his chair.

            “Yes, sir,” said Sulu.

            The Enterprise moved into space.

            “Lieutenant Uhura, open a shipwide channel,” said Kirk.

            “Yes, sir,” said Uhura, taking her seat after squeezing (Y/N)’s shoulder comfortingly.

            After everything that had happened, (Y/N) needed the support and smiled at Uhura in thanks.

            “Mr. Chekov, how are we looking down there?” asked Kirk while Uhura prepared the channel.

            “All systems normal, Captain,” said Chekov. “Warp available at your command.”

            “Thank you, Mr. Chekov,” said Kirk. He nodded to Sulu. “Alright. Let’s ride.”

            “Yes, sir,” said Sulu. He pushed the level forward, and the Enterprise went into warp.

            “Channel open, sir,” said Uhura.

            “Attention, crew of the Enterprise,” said Kirk. “As most of you know, Christopher Pike, former captain of this ship and our friend, is dead.” He swallowed as the anger and grief washed over him again. “The man who killed him has fled our system and is hiding on the Klingon homeworld, somewhere he believes we are unwilling to go. We are on our way there now. It is imperative that our presence remains undetected. Tensions between the Federation and the Klingon Empire have been high. Any provocation could lead to an all-out war.”

            He paused, emotions clouded and confused. He looked around at his Bridge crew, his people. Kirk swallowed. He turned back to Spock and (Y/N), gazing back at him evenly. He turned back and took a breath.

            “I will personally lead a landing party to an abandoned city on the surface of Kronos where we will capture the fugitive, John Harrison, and return him to Earth so he can face judgement for his actions.” Kirk chose justice over vengeance. He knew, deep down, that’s what Pike would have wanted him to do.

            He cleared his throat. “Alright. Let’s go get this son of a bitch. Kirk out.”

            Hesitantly, Kirk glanced back at (Y/N) and Spock as they walked up behind him.

            “Captain, I believe you have made the right decision,” said Spock. “If I can be of assistance, I would be happy to accompany you on the way away team.

            “You? Happy?” Kirk smiled wryly.

            “I was simply attempting to use your vernacular to convey an idea,” said Spock.

            “Thank you, Spock,” said Kirk.

            “I’m always here to help. If I came down with you, I could track Harrison with his emotions,” said (Y/N).

            Kirk smiled. “Thank you, (L/N).”

            They nodded, and Spock turned away. (Y/N) paused, though, and touched Kirk’s shoulder. “Captain. Pike would have been proud.”

            Kirk smiled sadly. He hoped so.

Taglist:

@a-ofzest

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@genderfluid-anime-goth

@groovy-lady

@im-making-an-effort

@unending-screaming

@h-l-vlovesvintage

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[politemagic]

AHEM!

Not nearly enough people on this site are talking about Alpha Wolf. So, if you don't mind, I'd like to give you a little background to help make my case as to why YOU should be listening to Alpha Wolf! (buckle in, gang. this is gonna be a little long)

For my fellow Sleep Token fans, you've likely seen these photos, right?

Vessel was photographed in an Alpha Wolf hoodie a while ago, and then Alpha Wolf dressed as Sleep Token for Halloween last year!

but you should really check out the full video on their youtube!

But who are those guys?

Alpha Wolf is an Australian metalcore band comprised of five members! They've toured with the likes of The Amity Affliction, Motionless in White, and Polaris. They have three full length studio albums Mono (2017) (quick side note that they DID have a different lead vocalist for this album), A Quiet Place to Die (2020), and newly released Half Living Things (2024). Now, let introduce you to the band real quick.

Lochie Keogh - Lead Vocals

he has some of my favorite aggressive scream vox, his voice can really pack a punch. also my babygirl, my beloved🖤 | instagram

John Arnold - Bass, Backing Vocals

get yourself a man who can do both, we love our resident cool bassist. (they're staring at you intimidatingly to convince you to listen to their music) | instagram

Scottie Simpson - Lead Guitar

my certified cool guy™ in my book and honestly incredibly photogenic look at that man | instagram

Sabian Lynch - Rhythm Guitar

his tour vlogs are so fun to watch!! he's always having a good time, wonderful fun and cool guy | instagram | youtube

Mitch Fogarty - Drums

a sweet happy lovely goofball. man fills my heart with so much joy you don't even know | instagram

They are always performing with passion & energy. They're one of those bands that you can tell enjoy their concerts, because they're always having a great time on stage. I dare you to scroll through their instagram for five minutes and then try to tell me that they don't look like a fun bunch o' fellas!

Here I present five songs for your consideration.

(thank you to my beloved alpha wolf mutual @simpleapparition for helping me to make this list)

Their most popular track, if you're going to check them out, Akudama is a great place to start. It's their most popular for a reason!

I consider 60cm Of Steel to be another essential Alpha Wolf track. This one is also a collaboration with Holding Absence (another one of my favorite bands, but that's beside the point).

Acid Romance is another song from the same album as Akudama (A Quiet Place to Die). If you're in the market for some angsty lyrics, this bad boy's for you.

For the final two recommendations, I shall present two of our own personal favorites off of their new album, Half Living Things!

Garden of Eyes comes recommended by @simpleapparition

Mangekyō comes recommended by yours truly, @politemagic

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk

[sgt-scottymoreau]

No title for this one as it's 3 small short fics I wanted to share just for fun and a little bit out of the main series. The short stories were written after I finished MWIII back then. It has a lot of mix feelings in them and maybe some OCC. I really needed to get some stuff out of the system. Also mostly posting them because I finally got the courage to write my own fic about the game with a lot of changes lol Ain't no way Soap remain dead nope! He will be save in my version! So technically these short are not canon for me (had tem with the note Fake Canon in my files)

Enjoy!

Goodbye Soap (Words: 975 / Warning: Mention of death)

She rushed through the crossover with Gaz and Ghost. The urgency was high. The police agents with Price and Soap were KIA, Makarov's bomb was still armed and the Russian was on his way to the two men. Never in her life did she feel out of breath like she did right now. It wasn't the running or constant shooting at Konnis. No, it was something different. A bad feeling that had her by the throat. When they finally reached the bomb site, Scotty's mind went on auto-pilot at soon as she saw him. The corner of her eyes catched Malarov fleeing with his Konnis, the other saw Price to the bomb. Gaz shouted at the captain to get on the bomb. "Soap said we need to cut the red wire. Only red!"

The rest of the conversation went into a blurr. She kneeled next to Soap, Ghost also by. He called out his name. "Johnny!" Her eyes trailed on the pool of blood, the injury on his head. Her hands let go of her gun, instinctively rested on his shoulder and her fingers clenched on his jacket. 

"Soap…" The knot in her throat gew thighter. Her hand clenched till her knuckles went white. Her eyes meet Ghost's. They both saw it in each other; the pain. The sadness. Scotty barely paid attention to what was being said from Gaz or Price. They were probably telling Laswell about the one KIA and how Makarov escaped. Her breathing got heavier, her vision blurred. It wasn't the first time she lost a friend on the field. It happened in the army. But it has been a while since. And after all they went through together, she never expected it to happen. 

"Scotty! Hey! Camille!" Ghost's voice finally reached her and brought her back to reality. But her mind only had Makarov. Without a word, she grabbed her gun back, ran to the door he had escaped and threw the weapon at it. Pointless as the door was massive and made of metal, it was made to resist in case of flood in the tunnel.

"Fucking Makarov! You fucking bastard!" She screamed followed by another scream of pure rage and pain that echoed in the tunnels. It was chilling. She took back the gun and banged on the door with it. Scotty still had enough clarity to know bullets would only ricochets. Till Gaz came to stop her. He looked at her with as much sadness as she was filled with. The rage in her eyes slowly died down. "He killed him… he killed Soap." Her voice was weak. 

"I know. We know." Gaz whispered. Her gun fell to the ground. "Come here." He opened his arms and she buried herself in them. Ghost watched in the distance, Price standing next to him. None of them ever saw her like this before but they all understood her pain. Ghost also lost a friend, one of the very few people he trusted. They all knew the risks, yet… they couldn't shake off those feelings. Ghost looked at Soap. His friend… family was gone. Again, he had lost his family. 

"I'm sorry Johnny." He whispered, emotion taking him by the throat as well. 

****

A few days later, the four of them were standing on the edge of the hill. Sunset in the distance. Somewhere on the coast of Scotland. They knew Soap would have agreed with this place. They stood in silence for a moment. Even Gaz had removed his cap. Scotty held Ghost's hand. Her fingers softly squeezed it from time to time. Her eyes kept looking forwards, she heard Price's voice in the wind. Ghost's fingers gently slipped away from hers. From the corner, she watched as he bent to pick up the urn in the bag. One by one the men said something. When her turn came, her eyes filled with tears again. She couldn't stand seeing the urn. But she had to say something. "My best friend, the brother I never had." Her lips quivered, her voice cracked on a few words. Ghost opened the urn and the ashes scattered in the wind. The four of them stood there to watch. Scotty felt the emotions grow bigger and bigger, but she didn't want to break down in front of Gaz and Price. Not again. She did enough on the day itself and at the funeral. Her eyes remained glued to the horizon, till Gaz and Price left leaving only her and Ghost. 

"Camille?" Ghost worried. Her face was turning red, she was holding her breath and the silent tears rolled down. "It's alright, love. You can let go."

No scream. Only sobbing as she crouched. Standing felt like too much. Ghost kneeled to her height and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. The past days had been hard for both, but at least they still had each other. "Why. Why him!" She sobbed loudly. "Motherfucker like Graves fucking lives, but life as to take good guys like Soap! Fuck! Fuck everything! Simon… it fucking hurts and it won't stop… I want it to stop." 

"I know, love. We all want it, trust me." He pulled her closer into his arms. His grip tightened as he also felt some tears on the back of his eyes. She always reminded him of Soap, these two were so much alike. Seeing her like this, broken, it only made it worse for him. He wanted to see her back to her old self. Hear laugh and smile. But this would only come with time. For now, they had to grief their best friend. They stayed in each other arms till she calmed down, till their body ached from remaining in the same position for so long and when Price came to tell them it was time to go home. 

Revenge (Words: 1k / Warning: Violence)

This was the last stretch. After another long game of cat and mouse, after having Makarov slipping away so many times, they had him pinned. The 141 finally got the upper hand, they were two steps ahead of him. Even if they were running after him right now. 

"Ghost, Scotty, take the left! Gaz with me on the right!" Price shouted. 

They will corner him. Makarov found himself running in the old building's hallway, alone with no back up, only a pistol with no mag left. He wasn't the kind of man to be afraid, far from it, but he knew when he was about to be beaten. That enraged him. They ruined his plan back then in London, and they did again here. He swore that if he could make it, Price and his task force would win again. The russian quickly found himself in a dead end. He cursed. 

"Drop your fucking weapon!" Ghost shouted, his own gun pointed at him. 

Makarov did not. He didn't back down, instead firing what was left of ammo to the lieutenant. Ghost fell back, as a few bullets hit him. Scotty grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back to cover. "You good?" Panic was obvious in her tone. There was no denying that this brought back unpleasant memories. 

"I'm good, plate stopped most of them." Most as one did graze his upper arm and he was bleeding. More unpleasant memories, that one time in Las Almas. Scotty felt all emotions boiling up. She had to keep them in control. She leaned from cover and pressed the trigger. Nothing. She kept pulling it but no firing. She let out a curse. The worst moment for a stuck gun. If they didn't do anything now Makarov would escape. She looked for her side gun, forgetting she lost it earlier when they took down all the remaining Konnis protecting their boss. She turned to Ghost to use his, however he had dropped it when the bullets hit him. The sergeant leaned out of cover to see it, just as Makarov did. Their eyes met. In a fraction of second both jumped towards it. Scotty slid on the ground, actually kicking the gun out of reach for both. Makarov turned on his heel to attempt a second time to get it, but her feet locked around his leg and he tripped. He flipped on his back, kicking her on time before she could jump on him. Scotty stepped back holding her stomach. It did hurt. Makarov pushed himself up ready to make a run for it. She quickly reacted by throwing herself at him. They struggled again, till she eventually had him pinned down under her. 

"What now, Moreau?" He taunted. 

"Don't say my name you fucking son of a bitch!" She raged between her teeth. A feeling she thought she had buried long ago, seemed to surface again. 

"Why jump on me, when you could have used your knife?" She realized almost too late what he meant, when his hand reached for her throwing knife. Scotty grabbed his wrist, flipped his arm away, swiftly took her knife and stabbed him in the palm. Makarov groaned in pain. 

"No… No, that would be too easy." The light in her eyes grew darker. "A bullet or a knife in the heart? Too easy. Choking you would be the same… You are a monster for what you did. Sacrificing your own people for a war? Disgusting."

"Lecture me as you want, we both know it won't change a thing."

"Indeed. It won't bring them back. It won't bring back Soap..."

"MacTavish?" Pain jolted in his jaw as she punched him.

"Don't say his name!" She shouted. "Don't you dare! You killed him! You killed my best friend!" Another hit on the opposite side. "And just now you almost killed Ghost!" 

Makarov spat blood, a cocky smile on his face. "Afraid to lose Riley? I wonder why. You are close, right."

She yelled at him to shut up. Rage boiled in every inch of her body. Then, her mind snapped. The memories of Soap lying down in a puddle of blood, motionless, glassy eyes, all while Makarov was running away. "You killed my best friend…" She said softly. But the look she had in her eyes sent chills down his spine. There was no emotion, no life in them. 

Ghost watched in the distance. He saw it all. How her back straightened, how the atmosphere felt heavy and then the noises of punches. The cry from the russian as his bones broke under the impact. Her ragged breath, her cries as the pain from a few months prior resurfaced. He saw the blood tainting her first, splattering everywhere. Price and Gaz finally joined up. The sergeant made sure he was ok, the captain went to check on her. "Scotty? Scotty! Hey!" He tried to approach, but he risked getting hurt. "Camille!"

Hearing her name seems to snap her out of her trance. Scotty's fist lowered down and she slowly turned to face her captain. Price's eyes widened, so did Gaz and Ghost's. They knew she was capable of many things. Just like Soap, she did fight the whole world if needed. But none ever saw such a display. Her face was covered with blood splatter, knuckles were red, her clothes were also tainted. Tears mixed with the red on her cheeks. Under her, Makarov lay still, motionless, in a very bad shape. Price placed two fingers on his neck to find no pulse. He turned back to Scotty who was shaking. He put his hand on her shoulder and forced her to look at him, to have her anchored to reality. "It's alright, lass, it's all over. Take a deep breath." He was surprised that she was capable of killing a man with her bare hands. It was a mess. 

Ghost, with the help of Gaz, lowered himself to her height. What she just did was horrifying, at least in the eyes of a commoner. He was still unsure, but… "Johnny would like that." He said with a smile behind his mask. Despite the injured arm, the blood covering her, he pulled her into a hug. Makarov was dead, but it would never change what he did. 

Dumb move (Words: 938 / Warning: None)

Scotty, Gaz and Ghost were casually talking. Joking around, remembering their lost friend. It took them a while to be able to talk of him without feeling an atrocious pain. It still left them with a bitter feeling, but it was bearable. Price joined their table. "What are you talking about, lads?"

"We were talking about Soap." Gaz said with a faint smile. 

"He would have loved to kick Graves." Scotty added. 

"I guess we have to do it for him now." Ghost finished. "And Shepherd as well."

"That won't be a problem." Price muttered. Or he thought so, he swore he said it softly enough but the look on the three operatives made him realize. They heard him. 

"What do you mean boss?" Gaz wondered. Price knew that he wouldn't be able to keep the secret from them. Not for long anyway. So he explained to them what he did. Gaz and Ghost didn't react too much. This was not surprising coming from their captain and Scotty knew that as well. But something didn't quite sit right with her. The execution of his plan. 

"So you put a target on all of us then?" Her tone was dry. Her face was serious and she glared at the Captain. 

"He put a target on himself the moment he sent Graves after my team." He replied in the same tone. 

"Sure. But isn't entering the pentagon or whenever Shepherd was, walking, shooting him and walking out was a brilliant idea? I don't fucking think so."

"Camille?" Ghost frowned behind his mask. That was unusual from her. 

"Oh please Simon! For fuck sake! Never crossed your brain that they will investigate? That they will check who's the last person who had access to his office? They will check camera footage. Fingerprint even! He was a fucking 4 star general for fuck sake!"

"I had to do it." Price growled. He leaned against the table, his hand clenching in a fist. "He betrayed us, lied to save his ass in front of the congress. He got his fucking job back like nothing happened. Nothing would have been done about what he did! He could have done whatever shady thing he wanted again. We don't play by the rules anymore."

"Then we are not so different from our enemies." This sent a cold around the table. Ghost and Gaz glanced at each other unsure where to put themselves. 

"Don't you fucking dare say this." Price stood from his seat. Scotty did the same, not afraid of him. "We don't kill innocents! We don't go for civilians like most of them."

"But killing people just because you feel like it, is as disgusting. Make me wonder if you are not gonna kill one of us because we don't agree with you."

Price inhaled loudly. Ghost had stood by then, a hand carefully pressed on Scotty's shoulder. "Ok take it easy you two. That's enough."

"It's a little hypocrite coming from you. If I recall you were willing to kill your own commander back then."

"It was fucking self defense Price! He would have killed me! He almost did! If I had killed him I was in all my right! You and Laswell were there, you saw it!"

"And you were there when Graves and Shepherd betrayed all of us. Fuck, you kno-"

"Yes I was in Las Almas!" She cut him in a shout. "I was there with Soap and Ghost as we were running for our life to fucking make it to the next day! It still doesn't give the right to shoot the man in his office, to risk the team being tracked like war criminals!" 

"Then you didn't truly care for Soap." This washed over Scotty like ice cold water. Even Gaz and Ghost looked at the captain in disbelief. The captain was now a few inches away from her. Gaz placed his hand on his shoulder, applying just enough pressure to tell the captain he wouldn't hesitate to push him away. "You know he would have agreed with me. He would have even helped if I had asked!"

"You take that back… You take what you just said back, Price." 

"What? You didn't care about Soap? Call yourself his best friend and yet you let him down even after death." 

"Shut your fucking mouth!" She screamed at him, tears of rage rolling down her cheeks. Ghost pushed her backwards and so did Gaz with Price.

"Come on Price, this way out of line." Ghost warned. 

"She is the one out of line! No respect for her superior."

"If Soap died because of you! You should have let him kill Makarov back then! His death is one you and killing Shepherd and Graves won't change that! You didn't care about him! And now you don't care about any of us! You are willing to target us as war criminals and I won't have this! This is not what I signed for!"

"Then quit. Like I care! If you can’t get your precious hands dirty then maybe you are not fit for the 141!"

Scotty glared at him, not saying a word. She was beyond hurt at this point. But what would happen if they connected Shepherd's death to Price was not something she wanted to see. "I can do the dirty work, but you captain. Can you take one for the team? Can you own up to your mistake if they catch you? Or will everyone drag one of us with you to the death row?" 

She moved away from Ghost grip, leaving the conversation here, before blood would spill.

[startrekucast]

SDCC 2024 Star Trek News + Trailer Reviews

Maybe it's like self check-out, maman. If we're the ones promoting and begging for what we want, they can spend less on marketing. But I'm so tired of begging, maman. We have a whole laundry list of Trek stuff we want, maman. It's a big list. But let's talk about what they're giving us instead, as revealed at SDCC:

Lower Decks Season 5 Teaser Trailer and synopsis

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ Season 3 SDCC Clip

Dr. Roger Korby Returns!

‘Strange New Worlds’ Season 3: More Romance, Genres, And Scotty

‘Prodigy’ Season 2 Coming To VOD On Monday, DVD/Blu-Ray In November + Panel Highlights

Kate Mulgrew Thoughts On Janeway Returning To Live-Action

Live-Action Star Trek Comedy In Development From Tawny Newsome And Justin Simien

SDCC Teaser For ‘Star Trek: Section 31’

‘Section 31’ Movie is 'Guardians of the Galaxy' on Steroids (or Life Support)

New ‘Starfleet Academy’ Cast Members Announced

Robert Picardo, Tig Notaro, Mary Wiseman, And Oded Fehr Join ‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’

Chris Pine Suggests ‘Star Trek 4’ Should Have “Less S#!t Exploding”

Star Trek & Doctor Who Get Game Crossover; Showrunners Say Canon Crossover Up To Fans

Hosts: David C. Roberson Matthew Carroll

Note: This episode of Star Trek Universe continues Dave and Matt's ongoing journey discussing Star Trek as they have since they were 6 years old during the early '90s.

Join Us: Site: http://startrekucast.com Apple: http://bit.ly/StuCast Spotify: http://bit.ly/StarTrekUCast Spreaker: http://bit.ly/StuCastSpreaker

[infectiouspiss]

the captions on this piracy site cannot keep up with a scottish accent they're butchering everything scotty says

[nightwriter357]

I made something horrible and also amazing

sooo.. I kinda wanted to record Spencers cover of "scotty dosen't know" from my series "Are you just playing with me" but I ran into some trouble..

I don't sound like spencer (and I don't know how to make myself sound like I do in the mixing), or even like a man.

I don't really know who to record and don't own any software or equipment.

I recorded some awful versions but it did not work, which sucks because it was so fucking fun to put in audio from smosh videos to use as the casts reactions to the song.

So before I just gave up and went to bed, I found this site https://app.songr.ai/ and it's the best this ever. I put in the lyrics and chose the only male voice so NOW, we have a song. But it's the wrong voice and it's not addepted to the music I had in mind. It sounds horrible but it's also sooo funny I HAD to share.

Also, for those of you who haven't read the series but are planning to, please read it before you listen to this song, it will ruin it for you.

[tdciago]

Fargo: Author! Author!

I've thought for a long time that what we're watching in season 5 is a story in the process of being written. My initial guess was that the author would turn out to be Scotty Lundegaard, who would be writing it as a way of providing some poetic justice for his mother, Jean, who was killed by Gaear Grimsrud in "Fargo" the movie. But I have come to the shocking conclusion that the author of this story is Gaear himself, and Ole Munch represents the author. Gaear has also reimagined his victim as a worthy adversary, and maybe an alternate version of himself. Let's go back to the first episode of the season, because whenever a mystery is resolved, it turns out that the big clue was given to us right at the beginning, but we didn't have the context to understand it. LORRAINE (to Dot): Or here's a thought. Write your own pulp fiction now that you're an outlaw. Lorraine actually refers to Dot twice as an outlaw. This was concerning to me, because I thought Dot's comment about the author Lee Child pointed to Scotty Lundegaard as the author. Lee Child's pen name was derived from a mispronunciation that resulted in his daughter jokingly being called "le child." But Gaear Grimsrud is a legitimate outlaw, and the term "pulp fiction" is ironic, because wood chips are used to make the wood pulp on which those lurid stories were originally printed. And Gaear Grimsrud knows about wood chippers. He also would know about every detail of Jean's kidnapping, and even the most obscure bits of information, such as Marge Gunderson saying to him, "It's a beautiful day." That phrase has been used twice now, once by Indira in the prowler after arresting Dot, and once by Lindo at Camp Utopia. Roy notes of Munch, "You don't talk much. I like that." Gaear says only 80 words in "Fargo" the movie. Perhaps most significant of all is Gaear's fondness for pancakes. Both Munch and Dot have been connected to pancakes. One of these characters is associated with sin, and the other with Dorothy Gale from "The Wizard of Oz." Interestingly, the town of Liberal, Kansas, the setting of season 4's "East/West," is also associated with both of those things. It is the official home of Dorothy Gale, and the site of a famous Pancake Day race on Shrove Tuesday, a day to prepare for Lent, confess one's sins, and receive absolution. Maybe that's what Gaear is trying to do here. In episode 5, "The Tiger," I was struck by a couple of things that might be clues. Indira talks about Lars blaming his gear for his poor performance. "The nine iron, the eight iron, the seven iron....Keeps thinking it's the gear. 'Maybe with better gear.'" The consecutive numbers 987 made me think of 1987, the year that the movie takes place. And the word "gear" sounds like "Gaear." As though, if Gaear were better, things wouldn't have gone so badly. At the end of that episode, Dot drives off in the Kia with dealer plates, another reference to the film. Then there's episode 7, "Linda," which I want to make a separate post about. Not only does Munch re-create Gaear's murder of Carl, but there are a bunch of references to the movie in that episode, as well as things that point us to the fact that this is very much "a long-ago story, come back to haunt" someone. I think the person being haunted is Gaear, and it's Jean Lundegaard's ghost who's haunting him. Gaear may think of his life in the same way as Munch does, rooted in sin, with no escape. The parallels between Munch and Dot increase with every episode. Since Dot serves as a stand-in for Jean, it's as though the perpetrator has come to identify with his victim, and is trying in some way to give her justice. I should also point out that Peter Stormare, who plays Gaear, also played a nihilist in "The Big Lebowski," and Munch literally says, "I'm a nihilist."

[tazaryoot]

Star Trek Novel Review #2

Pawns and Symbols by Majliss Larson (1985)

Hello all, starting on my second Star Trek novel review. I recently was able to acquire a huge haul of new (old) novels from a book fair; including two copies of the notorious Killing Time (a censored and original copy), Star Trek: The New Voyages 2, and a whole lot of the James Blish Star Trek novelizations. The jury is out on whether any of it’s good or not, but nevertheless I’m a devoted Trekkie who enjoys just about anything, so tonnes more to read! My aim is to give more in depth summaries and reviews of a pretty untapped niche of canon, so I apologise if my writing is poor or my photos are bad. Thanks for reading, and LLAP 🖖

Summary :

Scientist Jean Czerny is taken captive by a Klingon battleship after the outpost where she was stationed is destroyed by an earthquake. The Klingons plan to use her as a pawn to get the upper-hand over Kirk and also appropriate the agricultural research she’d been doing. Aernath, a Klingon scientist, begins visiting her- eventually building solidarity enough to discuss her research. Her research of the Quadrotriticale grain is what the Klingons are after.

Back on the Enterprise, Kirk contemplates how to deal with the Klingon threat and retrieve Czerny. Kirk sends a relief party to the station to collect information and possibly learn the whereabouts of the Klingon outpost. Meanwhile, Czerny has been brought to Kang’s homeplanet. There, she sees the effects of a large scale famine on the Klingon people and realises why she’d been captured. Jean continues her research on the Quadrotriticale grain on the homeplanet with Aernath after it’s revealed that it is the only sustainable food source left. Eventually, the Quadrotriticale successfully yields, and Czerny and Aernath are reassigned to Kang’s ship to continue farming the grain on another planet.

Back with the Enterprise, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy investigate the crash site of a Romulan ship to recover survivors and end up taking aboard a bomb along with them. After inspection, the crew finds out that the bomb can only be disarmed by a Romulan. They decide to do a mind meld on one of the surviving Romulans named Reena in order to have her disarm the bomb. Kirk and Spock track down the cause of the Romulan ship’s crash to the Klingons…

On the next planetary assignment, Czerny and Aernath find themselves in prison-like conditions. Czerny adopts a young Klingon girl to save her from the harsh conditions and oppressive government. We quickly find that Kang is attempting to use Czerny and her research to trade for the imprisonment of Mara, his estranged wife, for leaving him and becoming pro federation.

On the next planet, Aernath and Czerny are captured by Mara, where it’s then revealed that Aernath was an agent of hers gathering info on Kang all along. Mara reveals she had given birth to a son unbeknowst to Kang, who she wants to be raised in the Federation. She sends Czerny and Aernath to a faraway planet to tutor him in hiding. There, Czerny and Aernath are tracked down by Spock in disguise, who establishes a temporary mind-meld with them both to gain information. Czerny is recaptured by enemy forces soon after.

Spock returns with Aernath to Federation space on no other than Cyrano Jones’ ship! Wow, they’re bringing everybody aboard. Following a bit of tribble trouble, Aernath and Mara’s son stay aboard the Enterprise. Mara’s plan works, and Kirk and Kang agree to meet on Sherman’s planet to negotiate an agreement.

Midway through the negotiation talks, Czerny suddenly recalls (She apparently had some memory gaps due to injuries from the earthquake at the beginning) her mission on Sherman’s planet was to group up with Mara’s pro-Federation resistance all along! Mara’s plan works, and Kang agrees to the negotiations in return for meeting his son. He frees Jean and Aernath. The book wraps up with a lighthearted epilogue scene where Scotty gifts Spock a pet ngkatha…?

Review and Tidbits :

CW for SA, Attempted Rape

I must admit I purchased this book for its nicely painted cover art. It turned out to be a pretty tough read. It focused very solely on Czerny and Commander Kang, and is more about them than it is about the Enterprise or any main characters. Czerny herself is tenacious and pretty heroic despite for her extremely unfortunate situation.

There’s some fluff between the crew while they’re at the station, including some welcomed inclusion of side characters like our very own singing ensign Riley and ensign Tamura. Uhura also sings a cute little song about Cyrano Jones.

Pawns and Symbols has lot of inside descriptions of Klingon life and culture, particularly wildlife. It introduces lots of interesting Klingon words but was most likely written before the standardised language was created, so unfortunately a lot of them aren’t translateable to modern lore.

Through Czerny’s treatment, the oppressive misogynist regime of Klingon culture is made repeatedly clear; to a frustrating point. Czerny goes through a LOT.

Kang is pretty gross and abusive in this and attempts to force himself on Czerny multiple times. They still try to play a ‘deep down he actually cares about her’ and ‘She finds him attractive tho’ thing despite this which is incredibly aggravating. Czerny eventually gives in to his advances, attempting to use it to her advantage (Hardly though). She’s forced to play a pretty demeaning role to Kang here. Yuck. These books get much more risque than you’d expect Star Trek to be.

Czerny’s memory gaps were only mentioned at the end of the book, so when she recalls them it’s just… It’s another quick resolution like the previous book I read (Black Fire by Sonni Cooper) where they pull a “And it was all an undercover act all along guys!” that just rushes the ending to an unsatisfactory completion.

Spirk Review:

Yeah, not much considering they’re in less than half of the book. There’s this little throwaway though, before Spock is sent off to the Romulan Commander.

Conclusion:

Sadly, the interesting protagonist and detailed Klingon lore doesn’t exactly save Pawns and Symbols from being kind of a drag. At the end of the day I’m reading a Star Trek book for more content of the Enterprise crew, so this much of a distance from the main cast makes it seem a bit unimportant. (Especially with how Czerny’s situation is not treated with much dire attention by Kirk or the others until the very end…)

All in all, if you were interested in doing like me and attempting to read every Star Trek novel you can get your hands on, perhaps this one is an okay pass.

[edutainer2022]

This came out of the blue, as I don't usually do the de-aging AU. Don't ask me about the physics of it - something, something Fischler is an idiot. It's mostly about the the emotional reactions and ramifications. So, in a flash of explosion Scott is three... again. The family navigate their feelings about it, dealing with a confused child. Virgil and John discuss the what-ifs and what-nots. Scotty gets better eventually, or maybe worse... From a certain point of view.

A bow to @janetm74 , whose takes on the trope are always fascinating.

WAY LEADS ON TO WAY

It took some coaxing and a promise of pie to pry the child away from Virgil. Blue eyes, too big for the small face, were full of fear and reoccurring tears. The tiny body was trembling and skinny arms clung to Virgil's flanel shirt ever since the device blew up. Virgil didn't mind one bit, but they needed to run scans and tests making sure the boy... Scott was okay. Or as okay as could be, considering he was now about 25 years younger than should be.

Everyone froze as the boy asked for "Momma and Virgie" the first time and burst into tears. It, surprisingly, took Virgil's voice to dissuade the meltdown, as he was gleefully identified as "Dada" and got a little limpet attached to his torso. The flash of pain in Dad's, actual Dad's, eyes was not lost on either Virgil or Grandma. Virgil hugged the child closer, suddenly self-conscious.

Brains was already deep in the schematics of the malfunctioned device, confiscated earlier that day from a disaster site that happened to be one of Fischler's labs. Kayo was looking stormy, plotting possible bodily harm, although, knowing Fischler, not even enhanced interrogation could  yield reliable information on what happened and how to reverse the effects asap.

John watched Virgil with a now three year old Scotty, his expression unreadable. Eos was already tasked with simulations for reverse engineering the device. It being a Fischler's concoction, they couldn't risk hurting Scott as they would try to get him "back". Alan was shocked and looked a lot younger himself. Grandma hugged him with a reassuring word.

Gordon's natural skill with small kids proved handy, as he was quick to whip out Alan’s old toys from Neptune knew where and produced a heap of his own plushies. The little boy was suitably distracted and involved into play, making vroom-vroom noises with a dinosaur on a Lego plane. The window of calm didn't last long, though, as now little Scotty, obviously tired and confused, became cranky again and cried for Momma and Virgie. Virgil looked up at Dad, at a loss. The child obviously didn't remember much beyond being  'cotty, "this many fingers" old, Mom, and having a baby brother. Jeff, watching the boy with anguished yearning so far, as he got scared and ran to Virgil the first time around, stepped up again. The gruff words got the child shy at first, but Dad was patient explaining to Scotty "Momma and Virgie" were away on a long walk, so Scotty was left in charge at home, like a big boy. There's was a fair measure of tears in the rough gravel that strained Jeff's voice. All colors of eyes around were bright with tears too.

But the trick worked and after a moment of the tiny face frowning and considering more crying, Jeff was declared "Gan'pa!". The boy climbed into his lap, where he was now asleep, wrapped in Alan’s favorite childhood blanket. The small face relaxed from the strain and tears dried out - Scotty looked so sweet and happy.

It was decided to settle the child in Dad's room for the night. The infirmary, barren and unfamiliar, could scare him. And it would be more comfortable for Jeff to watch over the boy - a duty he vehemently refused to yield to any of his sons, who all volunteered readily. Gordon whisked Alan away for some brotherly soothing, as the kid was visibly shaken in the face of loosing biggest brother to the child he once was.

John squinted, eyes darting between Dad, doting and cooing over the tiny bundle of blankets, space-worn features softened and instantly younger too, and Virgil, clearly hesitant to leave. In the end, Jeff softly shooed the elder sons away - even at three Scotty had been a light sleeper.

John was headed to Brains' lab to assist with rebuilding the hapless device. Virgil tagged along, but for the moment they found themselves lingering in the dim hallway, outside of Dad's rooms. The events of the day were A LOT to absorb and to even begin to process. John caught Virgil stealing a glance back at the room, where the child was sleeping peacefully, deep in thought. John braced himself, as he was fairly certain he knew what his brother was thinking. As much as he knew he could never agree.

Virgil looked back, sadness mixed with hope in brown eyes.

"John, don't you think we should..."

"No!"

John didn't expect himself to yell and started, having to gulp down the rest of the protest, lest the child woke up. But Virgil was looking up at him, gaze already frantic with a fast assembling plan.

"I could adopt him! Or Dad. There won't be a legal problem! He's happy, Johnny! We can make sure he never gets hurt! Can you imagine?!"

Hope shone brighter over doubt in brown eyes, but John shuddered and stepped away from Virgil's reach. Because he COULD imagine. That pathway of probabilities was the first one through his mind, as a little boy crawled out of the dust and debris where their biggest brother was standing seconds ago. John COULD imagine. A Scott who had never held them all after Mom's funeral, a Scott, who never rocked Allie to sleep, crying for Mommy, a Scott, who never packed their lunches or picked them up from after-school clubs, because Dad was unavailable, floating in a sea of grief and work. A Scott they never lost to the horror of That Place. A Scott that never came back as a broken shell. A Scott that didn't give up every shred of himself to uphold Dad's legacy and step into Dad's shoes for them all. A Scott that wasn't blaming himself even now that Dad was back. A Scott that wasn't in pain. A Scott they could all see grow up and live a happy life he deserved.

John could see it all too well. It broke his heart to see Dad grasp at the impossible second chance to do right by the eldest son. He saw the eager plea in Virgil's eyes. And John near hated himself as every part of his soul was screaming in protest. Every selfish, terrified little brother part that was in agony at the prospect of losing the very foundation rock of their world - Scott the biggest brother, who loved them, and saw them, and cheered for them, and accepted them all for who they were, and shielded them in a world otherwise cruel and unyielding, a Scott who made sense of everything they were doing, of everything Dad was doing, even when they all drowned in hurt, grief, and resentment. A Scott who could tell them they could do it and they would believe it.

Making sure Scott got a chance at happiness meant loosing him for good. John squeezed his eyes shut against hot angry tears.

Virgil was still looking up at him, hesitant to offer unwarranted touch, and deeply worried. John took in a long stabilizing breath.

"Do you think... Do you think he'd want to never know us all, growing up?"

Virgil's face fell and John felt another pang of remorse.

As if on cue to that thought, the door to Dad's room slid open and tiny feet padded along the hallway. Virgil made a step to intercept the little fugitive, and crouched in front of the child, not to scare.

"What is it Scotty? Do you want some water?"

The boy was obviously drowsy from sleep, small hands rubbing the eyes.

"Wan'Virgie! Didn't say nite-nite t'Virgie! Where'Virgie?"

Big blue eyes were brimming with tears again, confused and desperate. Virgil picked up the feather-light frame and stood up, cradling the boy close and bouncing softly, whispering soothing nonsense to calm the child back to sleep. Brown eyes met a loaded gaze of the turquoise ones. Virgil knew John had a point. But it hurt to consider either way.

John stepped up closer, ruffling the boy's hair. Thunderbird Five, the Voice That Answers, was speaking now, but it was a brother's kiss on the child's temple:

"We'll help you find Virgie, Scotty! I promise! We'll help you get home! We've got you!"

The adult brothers exchanged another Look as the sniffles subsided and Scotty was falling asleep again.

John's comm pinged with a message from Brains. He got something on the device functions. It was quickly decided John would head to the lab. Dad obviously succumbed to the ever lingering fatigue and the stress of the day, so a woken up Scotty could escape. Virgil would stay in the lounge with the boy, watching over for more signs of distress or to mitigate more runaway attempts. Come morning, Gordon and Alan were to take over the babysitting duty. The villa was hopelessly NOT child-proof since Allie was past ten and Scotty's propensity for creative and agile jailbreaks was a significant part of family lore. Even if Brains was close to a reverse effect, they still would need to run tests and simulations, before even considering risking a child.

***

The last thing Scott remembered was a bright flash as the device he brought back for Brains to inspect heated up in his hands, vibrated and exploded. Now he was sitting flat on the floor in the hangar, ears ringing. A blur of motion in his periferal vision materialized in two bodies tackling him further down in a hug. Oomph, make it three bodies. Four. Alright, okay, he LOVED THEM TOO, but he needed to breathe. His ribs creaked. There were more pats down his shoulders and back, a brandished med scanner - unsurprising.

A bit more surprising was another hug, as he finally made it up off the floor and untangled gently, if wobbly, from the pile of brothers - Dad gathered him close in a fierce motion and held tight with no obvious intention to let go. It felt nice, of course, safe. But also worrisome. So for a moment Scott struggled with the conflicting urges to melt into the hug and to FIX whatever got Dad so scared. Jeff just tightened the embrace in response and Scott gave in, relaxing into being held.

He'd have to get to the bottom of it, as more arms joined the hold around him again, especially as he clearly heard Dad whispering "I'm so sorry, Bluejay! I love you so much, son". But for now he was warm, and snug, and obviously so welcome. He was home. Nothing ever felt better.

[hummingbird-of-light]

In Our Favor

Part 319

McCoy

McCoy closed his eyes and let out a frustrated huff of air. Even through the pain medication there was an uncomfortable feeling in his knee as the regenerator worked to heal him.

“Do we have to do this now Leah? How’d you even find out?”

On the bed, his hand searched for Scotty’s. His husband noticed and switched the PADD to his other hand so he could twine his fingers with McCoy’s.

On the device, Leah’s mouth tightened, and she looked down.

“I’m an adult; the hospital doesn’t have to contact Mother or Father,” McCoy pressed as his sister still said nothing. “Scotty’s my first contact.” He glanced over at his husband.

Leah let out a loud sigh.

“I’m assigned to you. I’m trying to do a good job. I get alerts and notices from social media sites when you’re mentioned.”

McCoy took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. This was new for both him and Leah.

“Do they know?”

Leah finally looked back up. “No. I’ve just been piecing things together so far. Couple posts saw you in a park and then someone had a blurry photo of someone who looked like you being loaded in an ambulance. They said it was you. And since you’re obviously answering me from a hospital bed, what happened?”

McCoy sighed. “Someone thought I was someone else and decided to take out my knee.” He flinched as his leg twitched under the regen.

Leah looked at him, a dumbfounded expression on her face.

“Mistaken identity,” McCoy shrugged. “Whoever Steven is better watch his back.”

“What?” Leah’s face scrunched in confusion.

“I know,” McCoy agreed. “Couple people in the park caught the guy who did it. He was surprised I wasn’t the person he was after.”

Leah rubbed a hand across her face. “Are we sure he was telling the truth?”

“How would I know? I’ve got a busted knee and I’m lying here under a regen!” McCoy said in exasperation.

“I’m sure the police will question him thoroughly,” Scotty added.

Leah nodded slowly. “Leonard,” she started quietly. “You know Father is going to think it was targeted at you.”

“I don’t want security back!” he cried out angrily.

Leah held up her hands. “I know you don’t. But we’re going to have to be sure. I really hope it is just mistaken identity. Which really?” Leah shook her head in disbelief.

A knock sounded on the door of the room, before it opened.

“Your highness?” A nurse stepped in.

“Yes?” McCoy said, looking up from the PADD.

“I need to check on the regen, and there’s a pair of officers here to take your statement if you’re ready.”

“Of course,” McCoy smiled politely at her. She continued towards him. “Look, Leah, we’ll call you later if we learn anything else ok?” He turned back to the PADD.

He watched as Leah took a deep breath.

“Ok. I want to hear from you tonight, either way.” Leah’s face softened. “I want to know you’re alright.”

McCoy nodded. “Bye.”

Scotty stood up to put the device back in their backpack after Leah’s goodbye.

“Was that the princess?” the nurse asked nervously, keeping her eyes on the regen.

“The most annoying sister ever?” McCoy laughed. “Yes.”

The nurse looked up with big eyes. “Everything is coming along nicely here,” she said with a gesture towards the regen. “I’ll send the officers in?”

“Yes please.”

McCoy took the moment between the nurse leaving and the officers entering to look at Scotty.

“What a mess,” he said, trying to smile. Scotty gave him a weak smile back, before another knock and the door opened again.

A dark uniformed police officer came into the room, followed by an older woman in Starfleet gray.

“Admiral Winston?” Scotty said as he quickly got to his feet.

Part 320

Scotty

Scotty was very surprised to see the admiral and he gave her a very puzzled look.

"Messrs. Scott-McCoy, good afternoon." Winston gave both Leonard and Scotty a friendly nod before her gaze lingered on Leonard. "We haven't met yet. However, you already know my name. I served as chief of security on various ships for a long time and am still responsible for the safety of the cadets. How are you, young man?"

Leonard nodded to the older lady, who stepped closer to the bed and held out a hand. Leonard took it and shook it.

"Pleased to meet you, ma'am, even if the circumstances aren't the best. I'm okay. The pain is slowly subsiding, but it's still an unpleasant feeling. I assume you heard about what happened?"

"Well, we don't have any specific details yet. All we know is that an attack was made on one of our cadets with serious consequences." Winston glanced at the regenerator. "But I see you're already being well looked after."

The prince nodded in agreement.

"That's true."

"Could you tell me exactly what happened?" The admiral looked from one young man to the other before pointing to the other man who accompanied her. "Lt. Kilman from the local police will take notes."

The younger man nodded to Leonard and Scotty, a PADD in his hands.

"Of course. We were walking in Golden Gate Park and suddenly there was this guy. He hit me in the knee with some kind of bat and then took off."

Scotty could see Leonard's face contort in pain at the memory and he squeezed his hand a little tighter.

"Leonard went down and some people quickly came to help. A few of them ran after the perpetrator and caught him," said the Scotsman, still wishing that he had punched the man responsible hard in the face. He definitely deserved it!

"I see. Are there any clues yet as to the attacker's motive?"

Leonard nodded, but then shrugged his shoulders.

"Well... not quite. The man seems to have mistaken me for someone called Steven. But we don't know who this Steven is or what he's done."

"So you've never seen the perpetrator before?"

Both cadets shook their heads.

"Nae."

"No. Never have." Leonard sighed. "Look... I'm sure it was just a mix-up. It had nothing to do with me."

Scotty could literally hear the desperation in his husband's voice. Leonard seemed to fervently hope that this would not be interpreted as an attack on him.

"I'm sure the police will find out something about this during their interrogation. I will sit down with the officers after our conversation and talk to them," explained Admiral Winston.

Scotty very much hoped that Leonard was right. It simply had to have been a case of mistaken identity!

After asking a few more questions, Winston left the room with the young police officer.

Leonard leaned his head back a little and let out a sigh.

"She doesn't believe it. No one believes it wasn't an attack on me."

"Hey, the truth will come out. I'm sure it will. It'll be all right, mo ghràdh."

Scotty stroked a hand through Leonard's hair reassuringly. He really wanted to believe it. If only for Leonard's sake.