#the birds acted as his secondary alarm system

[koipalm]

hello! i was wondering since idk if you care about or plan on doing anything ssss related anymore, could you post all your notes/information about stranded au? i really love it so much and i need to rotate all the facts around my brain lol thank you

GODDD that was such a fun au ive been meaning to go back to it for a while now. i actually went looking for the notes bc i vaguely remember writing them down but i genuinely cant find them anywhere... if i do find them ill post them though!

ive posted most of what happens in the lead up to it, but the rest of it was fairly vague. i knew i wanted emil to be there for months, hence the changing of seasons, but a lot of emils daily actions were really just surviving. he went inland once the supplies at the rendezvous point ran out & returned to the cat tank to restock, but moved on to an abandoned house like the one he and lalli fortified themselves in. aside from trying to find food and water, he also turned to the books for survival skills & entertainment to pass his days. he mostly got food from trapping or scavenging, n he stocks up on fuel & anything incendiary he can find along the way, probably from old abandoned expeditions & forts. once reynir is able to find him again (which took at least a good few weeks) the mages r able to help guard emil when hes asleep, but not awake, so hes on his own on that front LOL. he does get some warding symbols to draw around the place. i do remember very clearly hes able to set up a radio (i think it was ham radio) in order to get in touch with the others, & has to find a broadcasting station to communicate with the crew, who by this point were pretty skeptical of the mages saying he was alive. he eventually gets attacked at the station & it destroys the equipment, so hes back to only the mage trio in his head. i had a few ideas for how hed get back, but the last one i was making notes on was the bridge they came in on that collapsed behind them. in order to send similar expeditions out, (and in partial hope to reclaim the land one day) it starts to get rebuilt. the crew (who had stayed in iceland to keep trying to reach emil on the radio at the mages request) eventually find out and let emil know to immediately start heading that way, because hopefully construction would be finished by the time he got there. he gets part of the way there but gets waylaid by trolls, and has to stop. he eventually scavenges an old dirtbike from a fort and takes a last ditch effort to reach the bridge before he's overwhelmed. he uses the last of his fuel on the bike and his flamethrower and definitely almost dies with the amount of noise and commotion he makes and some of the faster trolls chase him to the bridge and are shot down by the soldiers protecting the construction and he's able to meet the crew waiting for him on the other side :] aaand thats all i remember of it lol

[ornamental-coral]

Do you have houses combos you love besides Snake Bird ?

Hi sorry it’s take me so long to get to you ‘nonnie human you. I promise if anyone sends me questions, I will get to them eventually! It just takes a while for me thinking about them, researching about them (doing Birdy Bird things with even a one-sentence question...), forgetting I have a sort-hat-chats centered tumblr account (which is... can sort of a Bird thing but also a me thing), and then coming back so we are here (there. somewhere)

I myself am a Snake-Bird. I think I’m pretty neat. Birds are usually very good at entertaining themselves. I think. And I’m lucky I like myself enough because I spend a lot of time with me haha.

I’m a little in love with a remarkable amount of Lion primaries, Snake secondaries and Bird primaries (especially with a Snake secondary to make them extra hard to hold onto *rolls eyes) and apparently I love writing Badger Primaries? I guess I find the challenge of building an “ideal” society that is willing to address the current failings of our timeline a worthwhile challenge and my ink-children rise from the ether to meet me.

I’ve expanded below bar because this is actually a really interesting concept to me - how does a particular house combination react to the others. Below is just my meandering through how specifically My Snake Primary Bird secondary might react on a surface level to the other house types. This doesn’t mean I’m right. There are as many ways of acting within the house system as there are human beings and keep in mind, this is all in good fun.

____________________

Lions

The Idealism of the Lion Primary is something that I find admirable. I posted a more extended musing on the position of Snake Birds within media here. I think the Snake in me understands that when you pick up a person the way Snakes do, you pick up a lot of their wants and regrets too. Snakes pick up People, so that means the whole package. A Lion with a worthy cause can be a very attractive thing to a Snake, who will follow and support them in a very specific kind of way. 

With Double Lions, and Lion Snakes there’s that urge to run after them with a fire-extinguisher in one hand and a big stick in the other - one to put out the fires a Double Lion inevitably lights and the Lion Snake may try purposefully to stoke, and the other to beat off anyone who dares to tell your Lion that they cannot Be A Lion. That’s something only the Snake can do, and that’s only because no matter what the Snake says, the Lion is still Their Person warts and all and the Snake Bird knows damn well what they were getting into, or at least thought they did.

Lion Birds house-match secondaries with Snake Birds but can have explosively different moral codes, largely because they method match. I personally find some Lion Bird characters a little grating because as the audience, I feel I’m getting the same information as the Lion, but as a Snake I have a little too much self-preservation to imagine myself doing anything much about it - at least not the way a majority of Lion Bird characters act - or I come to different conclusion. I also hate conspiracy theories because they require leaps of logic the my Bird model typically just can’t tolerate but the felt-house Lion will participate in. However, Lion Birds can also be the hard-boiled PIs, the Best-at-their-Job secret agents (hi Agent Coulson), the one who has Seen the World and Still Believes It Can Be Saved. So that’s admirable and fun.

Lion Badgers are sweet but my Snake Bird goes “fires, fires everywhere”. And like, not the kind your Lion Snake might think is funny when the Snake Bird tries to put them out. Think Steve Rodgers. MCU Steve has a really strong Snake Performance though when it comes to Bucky which MY Snake finds really confusing because it is So Strong I’d be willing to be money he would have at least tried to find a better way to get rid of the Tesseract if Bucky hadn’t fallen from that train and been declared KIA. I think that particular type of Snake performance also confuses Tony, which is part of why Civil War was the way it was.

But yeah, a fire that a Lion Badger wants to light? it’s not going to go out. For a Snake, having that as Your Person means you either really ride or die for them - and might actually literally have to die, or you are keeping them from burning themselves out before they accomplish whatever they’re doing. For a Snake Bird? this is alarming as hell and it’s a fight between the Secondaries to make sure the Lion takes care of themselves as part of the Lion’s “hard work” Badger, if they’re your person.

Birds

Bird primaries will “build” the people they love into the way they see the world. As a Snake, I think this is just really appealing to me? Snakes are loyal, and older Snakes have the life experience to realize that - painful as it is - this loyalty will not always be reciprocated in the way you hope for (this is the stereotypical bone of contention between Lions, Badgers and Snakes. Lions are focused on their cause and if the Snake’s protective instincts get in the way of that, that causes problems It also hurts when a Lion’s mission supersedes their affection for their Snake people. Badgers’ concerns are for their communities and the split of attention can drive the individually focused Snake crazy). If you get built into the Bird’s world, that always felt like something special and something that took hard work, which made it all the more valuable.

My Snake Birds also likes to imagine it’s equipped to learn to the things that a Bird variety believes in and address those things. It’s the kind of relationship that has the potential to go very wrong, and I do realize that. I think Snake Birds have the tendency to want to be everything for Their Person (or people) and our powers of observation mean that we take it a little personally when we’ve missed something. I’m tempted to call Kaz Brekker of Six of Crows a Snake Bird and it drives him to distraction that he can’t be everything, everywhere, all at once to the handful of a people he truly and deeply cares about.

The Bird Snake in particular house matches in a way that can be particularly challenging and attractive to a Snake Bird? A Snake Bird’s tool is, well, the Bird, and the whole persona can feel ridiculously pleased by being able to “pin down” the Bird Snake, which does not necessarily lend itself to being pinned. There’s also this strong urge to understand the Bird Snake. 

So there’s the Snake secondary who delights in finding new ways to be, and a Bird Secondary delights in learning new things. The discovery element in that relationship can, as long as the Bird Secondary is not stifled by the Snake Primary’s concern, actually be really rewarding. Birds, and Bird Snakes in particular are also often really unique. They think differently, act differently, can be off putting to certain types of house combinations because their moral code can come off is so blue-orange, and is Built on top of that. Snakes take great pride in being very “this is my Person and their brand of weirdness is just another thing I love about them. And on top of that, I Know them.” with their people in any situation, and if a Snake can eventually prove to their Bird Primary that that feeling is unwavering, that’s a relationship that becomes central to both Snake and Bird.

That isn’t to say Birds can’t go dark, but usually they learn to be that way given Birds are evidence-gatherers. Unfortunately, this means I love them too because people of my generation and all generations before and hence have a thing for characters with trauma (see Loki, greasy prince extraordinaire).  It’s -- it’s never not been a thing. Take a look at freaking Gilgamesh, which is the oldest things that we know of, look at Enkidu, and tell me he wasn’t your favorite. Gilgamesh is kind an arschloch of highest proportions. As a more palatable example of this Bird-villain thing, I sort of suspect Bucky Barnes is a Bird of some flavor. If he killed one person as the Winter Soldier, he’d feel bad but probably admit it was the brain washing - but he did it dozens of times. He wonders what does this say about him? He is possibly a Badger, but even pre-winter-soldier he doesn’t seem to care on as wide a scale as a Badger typically does. Steve is Built into the fabric of his world, and he doesn’t react to Steve’s death the way I expect a Snake to either. Maybe a really Old Seasoned Snake and I mean technically he’s old? but the cryogenics thing sort of means he’s not old enough to just let it go. He also doesn’t follow the boy from Brooklyn for reasons I would expect from a fellow Snake but I guess the new show might give more insight on that once I actually watch it.

Badgers

Okay, I like writing Badgers. [Leans back on chaise lounge] this probably has something to do with my mother.

Really though. I model Badger because my mother, although I love her and I’m really lucky to have her, is a teeny tiny bit horrified by Snake tendencies and drilled into me the morality that it is okay and it is above all Good to care about other people (for other Snakes, read Yes Even Strangers). To be fair, the prioritizing that Snakes do (which can get as focused as ”My people first, even if someone else far away is in trouble and I am acutely aware of it”) can seem pretty horrific to a Badger. They don’t necessarily get how you could believe everyone is a person and just... not care. And it’s hard to convince a Badger (for whom not acting can = they are not worth it) that you know exactly what you’re doing but are also aware that if you try to help everyone your head will explode because you can’t keep that many People up there. It’s why Snakes have their rings of caring.

But the result is that for me, Badgers are usually the ones left standing at the end of the story. If they’re done dirty, I like to try and fix it.

I don’t like how media treats Badger primaries generally though? There’s often something “goofy” or the Badger is treated as soft in a really unpalatable way. I mean, and to be fair this directly comes from the way a Snake can sort of be flummoxed with the way Badgers just do things for strangers, yes Badgers irl may be considered gentle. On an individual level, they are often the hearts and hearths of groups and homes.  But there’s this weird place where The State is supposed to be a Badger-shaped institution, so that uneasy balance comes out in weird ways.

I don’t remember who said it, but the difference with Badgers and Snakes is that, with a Snake, you start out at Zero. You’re human, but you’re not the Snake’s human, so I will treat you like a human, but there are My People above you. And with a Badger, you sort of start out at like 85-100%? At least this is my perception. Badgers need-base and that off-balances Snakes.

A Snake with a Badger in my opinion needs to be “eyes open” in a different way than even a Snake with a Bird does, because the Snake needs to understand that the Badger is going to look and act similar - until they don’t, and then the Snake needs to be able to put aside the part of them that was attracted to the mirrored morality and actually work with the Badger to figure out what the Snake needs and how the Snake can in turn support the Badger.

Anyways though, I’m writing a thing where a Badger Bird-modeling-Badger is the last woman standing, committed to fixing a broken type of organization that her Snake, Bird, and Lion companions are Tired of. Lady Badger is nothing if not resilient. I’m writing another thing where a really really Burnt Badger man gets a safe place to learn to be part of a community that is meant to be mutually protective again (he dies because this is a fan work and that’s what happened in cannon, and this is arguably because he’s still unburning at that stage and doesn’t Have a proper community, but I hope to show him having at least Some happy times because in the sh**show show he didn’t have any at all). I’ve got a slightly less developed thing where a number of Badger performing princes learn to work together to fix their kingdom and unbury the history that created it. 

Aaand It’s nearing midnight, I have clearly lost the thread of the thread or whatever

Goodniiight to all my houses. Love you all even if I didn’t write about you here.

-Ornamental

[itswritingtimebaby]

You Remember That Saying? Something About Curiosity and a Cat?

Hey, all! This is my first time posting my writing on here, so I apologize for any formatting/structural issues!

———————————————————————————————————–

Fandom: RWBY

Pairing: Qrow/Reader

Rating: Teen and Up (some mild sexual themes)

———————————————————————————————————–

Sitting on the couch with Qrow nestled into your lap is, quite honestly, the most comfortable you’ve been in a long time. You and Qrow have been out on back-to-back missions for the past couple of months, so finally getting to decompress at your shared apartment together has been a blessing. Your schedules rarely ever converge like this, but you’re not complaining about the uncharacteristic luck you’re receiving.

As though the luck with scheduling wasn’t enough, you had managed to convince Qrow to shift into his bird form, something he rarely did around you if there wasn’t any immediate danger. It did, admittedly, take a lot of pleading and puppy-dog eyes to get him to comply. His exhaustion was also working in your favor. But it worked, and that’s how you wound up in the position you were currently in: lounging on the couch, Qrow in your lap, your fingers gently smoothing down the feathers on his head, occasionally adding in a beak rub. He seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself. His eyes were half closed and he was making a series of soft coos and clicks, so you at least figured as much. This moment was perfect, and there’s absolutely nothing you would do to ruin it.

Well…

You do remember reading something on your Scroll the other day about feather sensitivity. All the information was on parrots, but you figured that testing your theory out on Qrow wouldn’t hurt.

So, on the whim of a half-baked, curiosity-fueled plan, you altered your hand motions. You still ran your fingers down his head, but you angled your wrist so that they would continue down his body to run over his primaries and secondaries. There was no noticeable change in his demeanor, but this was to be expected - there aren’t as many nerve endings that far out on the feathers. You continue like this for a few minutes: over the head, down the primaries and secondaries, occasional beak rub, before you ramp it up a bit.

Just like last time, you repeated the pattern you had built up, but added the primary and secondary coverts into the mix. You even brushed against the marginals, and this got more of a reaction out of the man bird? settled in your lap. It wasn’t incredibly noticeable, but when you touched the small feathers resting close to his wig bone, you could have sworn that you saw his eyes snap open. Plus, there was now a certain… air of discomfort surrounding him. At least now you can reason that the information you found also corresponds with crows. That simple reasoning isn’t enough, though; you had to know for sure. Purely to sate your curiosity, of course. What other reason could you possibly be doing this for? It’s not like you have any future plans for this knowledge. (/s)

You repeat the new petting system for a few minutes, feeling his discomfort grow every time you graze your hand against his marginals. He does a good job of covering for it, but you’ve known him long enough to tell when his mood changes. If he knows that, he doesn’t act on it. Good. Your experiment is almost complete, and you wouldn’t want him to end it before it’s finished. Now, onto the final step. You’ve been successful so far, and are only hoping that this last part won’t backfire.

The next few rubs, you regress your progress. Qrow seems to relax a bit once you stop brushing up on his coverts and marginals, but you can tell that he’s still uncomfortable. His eyes fully close, just for a few seconds, and you allow an almost cruel smile slip onto your face. Running your thumb down the back of his head, you continue in a straight line, and press down hard between his wings.

Qrow’s eyes fly open, an alarmed squawk escapes from his beak, and, with a flurry of feathers, he’s suddenly pushing all of his weight into your lap and pinning you to the couch in a straddle. Well, plan successfully completed, you guess. You look up into his face, noting how red it is. His chest heaves as he looks down at you, and you crack an innocent smile up at him. You register something pressing into your leg and teasingly remark, “Is that your Scroll in your pocket, or are you just really excited to see me?”

“I- you- did-?” he splutters, unable to formulate a trademark comeback. You decide  right then that you’re going to absolutely use this tactic on him again. It’s fun to see Qrow this flustered. He finally manages to collect a few thoughts and asks you, “Did you- did you know that was gonna happen? Did you plan that?” Your grin stretches even wider across your face.

“Perhaps,” was the answer you gave him, barely-contained laughter lacing your tone. His face somehow flushes a deeper red, and he opens his mouth to ask what you assume will be a why. Having decided what you're after, you cut right to the chase. “What’re you gonna do about it?”

Through his daze he manages to put two and two together, and crashes into you with a hunger you never knew he possessed.

———————————————————————————————————–

Hope ya’ll enjoyed! This is my first time writing for Qrow, so I hope that he’s not too ooc. Anyways, if you feel like it, go give my story some love over on Ao3!

[nrsranger]

4.2

Coordinates F-16

NSR Ranger

Main Hanger

09:45 hrs

Taus Maic call sign Tripper and Duc Melbun temporary callsign 9 walked through the hanger doors. As the expanse of engineers fiddling with energy coils, power converter and weapons systems trying to improve efficiency the hanger deck crew were rushing around refueling and recharging and mix of X-Wings, A-Wings and B-Wings, for Duc Melbun his was his first on a real MC-80 Star Cruiser and his head swam with questions and adrenalinn and what he is able to see. As he took in the large room he had to grab onto the wall for stability he was in shock.

Ever since he was a little kid it has always been his dream to be right where he was now, he studied every battle from the Bacta War, the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War, his original plan was to be an A-wing pilot but he kept crashing into things when he was at his secondary school’s simulator, which earned him a spot off the school’s recommendation list and and comfortable seat into the History program. He stole out of History class every chance he could to run more simms, but the teacher in charge of the flight program refused him every chance he got to retake the recommendation test. Then his worst nightmare came true, and he got a pilot's spot on the NRS Ranger.

He began to think of the events that directly lead him to this hanger, before the Hosnian Cataclysm he lived in a medium sized city on the third planet of the Hosnian system, the History program received a grant from the Galactic Historic Core to tour old Clone War battle sites, they were at their final destination and were touring Ryloth when they first heard the news, the teachers and shuttle driver dismissed it as all to common pranks from edgy youths. When they jumped into the Hosnian system nothing remained, it was there when everyone learned that it was no prank. The shuttle briefly poked through the wreckage before they came across Raysho station, a dozen or so civilian transports were already docked and survivors were attempting to find family and friends. When they finally disembarked the port was crowded by too many adults, just not enough parents and there were too many kids walking out not enough children. When it was all sorted, only three kids out of the 100 kid program had at least one parent. Even though the late hour Duc could not sleep so we followed the line, the other older kids and most adults were taken into the recruitment center. When the officer asked if he had any flight experience, he admitted the little training he had, next thing he knew he was on the NRS Ranger as an over romanticized X-Wing pilot. For the last month his squadmates took turns teaching him and his fellow refugee turn pilot Mally Vos how to fly and adjust to Navy life. Today’s lesson was a tour of the ship, followed by simulations, simulations and more simulations.

“Ok, History nerd, riddle me this, how many launch bays does an MC-80 have?” Taus asked

“The Home one type MC-80 had 4 hangers” Duc said still in awe

“Ok, so how many launch bays does the Ranger have?” Taus asked next

“If I am not mistaken this is a Home one type so four?” Duc said confused why this is a question, if the answer was too obvious.

“Wrong, the Ranger has two, it originally had four, but the two rear launch bays were turned into makeshift multi-purpose rooms to quote” Taus said putting up air quote “expand the MC-80’s mission profile beyond that of a warship, unquote” Taus finished and lowered his hands

“Next question, how many fighter squadrons does the Big R carry?” Taus asked

“Currently 3, The Firebirds” Duc squinted his eyes trying to remember the other squadrons names “The…….Blue Birds and Theeee Night owls”

“Correcet, ok nerd, next question, how many fighter squadrons, Could the NSR Ranger carry?”

“Uh, I don’t know?” Duc said puzzled, he never read anything in the manuels that gave a answers to that question

“Marcus” Taus shouted, catching the attention of a Grand who was directing a technician driving a hoverlift, that was lifting the back half of a Y-Wing toward the Hanger one

“What do you need, Tripper?” he asked disenganging himself from his work.

“This is our Deck Chief Marcus Canton but you will always call him chief, and he can tell the damage from a ship just by looking at it. Chief the question I have is, how many squads could we fit in the Ranger?” Taus asked again

“You see the Ranger originally had four launch bays to forward one on each side and two rear one on each side connected by a single hanger, as you are standing in here, since the Military disarmament act limited the amount of fighters a ship could carry, the brass ordered that the rear launched bays be turned into multi-purpose storage rooms there are a lot of useless thing in there and that ticks me off but we are scheduled to undergo a refit to clear them out and unseal the doors we are also reported to get three more squads, but to answer your question, currently three, until we under the refit, and get those doors open” he said pointed to the two large doors that lead to the rear launch bay,”then six, but I am willing to wager, that we could probably fit 10 in an emergency but that would fill up the hanger with no room and each launch bay with no room to spare, there were many times during the rebellion when that happened, and the problem they faced was that they had to launch what was in the launch bay before they could bring out what was in the hanger, even if it was a bay full of unarmed U-Wings” the Grand Deck Chief finished “anymore questions?”

“No, I don’t have any” Taus said “Do you,” he asked looking at his junior who was still in awe and look around at all the busy hustle and bustle

“hm? What no, not yet I think I’m good” Duc said

“Ok, why don’t you look around for a bit, get familiar with a crew working on an X-wing, because if you are ever in a pinch we fill in for them, or if you have to make emergency repairs it might be helpful to know a thing or two, but just stay out of the way” Taus said

“Ok, yes sir” Duc said. He walked through and past the noses and laser cannons of X-wings until he found a crew working on one.

“Oh he’s a good kid” Taus said

“Eh, he’s alright, just make sure he doesn’t return any of my letterbirds damaged” The deck chief said then added, “so why do you like doing this, most squadron X.O hate the new guys”

“Yeah, sometimes it's a chore, but everyone comes from a different background and they all bring a new skill or piece of knowledge to the table and who knows maybe it will be useful later on” Taus said “it also helps with patience, especially when the deck crew needed to fix an X-wing but forgot to add the fuel injector” Taus said this and threw a glance at Chief Canton

“It was only one time, and you have enough life support to survive for…” Canton started to defend

“18 hours” Taus finished.

Chief Canton, did not have time for a snarky reply as the red alert clackson began to blare, and the signal box on the wall flashed the tradinatl red color.

“Red alert, set combat conditions throughout the ship” A voice from the ship's intercom system rang out.

Chief’s voice then rang out in alarm “CLEAR THE DECK of Any and Everything that is flammable, or explosive, lets go, lets go, if were hit by anything stronger than a stund blast this thing will go like a coaxisum on a train.”

The hanger exploded into dozens of technicians grabbing fuel canisters and star ship blaster power packs and dashing for a storage locker.

“Hey new guy,” a technician shouted at Duc who was still confused as to what he should be doing, “grab the other end of this' ' indicating a proton torpedo about to be loaded in an X-wing. Duc dashed over to the technician and lifted one end of the torpedo and they began to speed walk over to an ammunition locker. Taus and the Chief stood on large boxes and directed the traffic. Taus paused and looked through the starboard launch bay, the only two things in the launch bay was the back half of a Y-wing that was half gutted by shrapnel that was about to be ejected into space and the standard fighter recovery tug. He then looked outside of the ship, his eyes adjusted for the blue tint of the launch bay shield and saw two Corellian Corvettes and a Nebulon-B frigate open fire with their stark red point defence cannons. If Taus was upside down, it would look like red rain falling upon his enemies. He kept looking at the trajectory of the point defence cannons as the laser bolts slowly climbed higher and higher, when he guess, whatever they were firing at was right on top of the Ranger, a silence fell over the hanger as each pilot, technician and engineer, held his breath Taus noticed that he was not the only person look out side.

He flinched as five noiseless First Order TIE Bombers pasted over the Ranger

“Are we hit?” a crewmate asked

“No, we would have felt it if we got hit,” Chief Canton said.

A collective sigh fell over the hanger as the five bombers slowly shunk as they were chased off by soundless blaster bolts. Just as the five bombers reached the outer ring of Corvettes a CR-90 scored a hit against one. Black smoak and gas leaked from one of the bombers. Then with four flickers of pseudo motion four of the five bombers disappeared. The fifth bomber did not jump.

“Their hyperdrive has been damaged, they're not going nowhere” Chief Canton observed.

“Ummm, we have a problem.” Duc said pointing. The damaged TIE Bomber made a 180 degree turn and began to head back toward the Ranger.

“Aw Crift!” Chief Canton shouted. He looked out and saw the Bomber drawing a bead on the Ranger, “He;s coming right for the Hanger!, CLEAR THE DECK!!!!!!” Canton shouted.

The gathered technicians scrambled dashing to the nearest door.

“Chief!I have an idea!” Taus shouted toward the Deck Chief as he ran toward the back half of the Y-Wing. In an instant Canton knew and understood what Taus was getting at.

“Jackson, Daniels! Grab that power pack and bring it here” Canton shouted running toward the damaged Y-Wing in the launch bay.

Two technicians who stood their ground, waiting for Canton to leave. Jackson and Daniels did not want to leave until they knew for a fact that the hanger was lost when Canton gave up the hanger so would they. Today their determination paid off as they ran toward a Star Fighter power pack and lifted toward the crippled Y-Wing turret.

Taus jumped in the Ball Turret, while Canton, Jackson and Daniel wired the power pack to the turret. After thirty seconds Taus lights on the dashboard lit up and he gave thumbs up. Canton activated the hover lift and lifted the Y-Wing off the ground and swinged it out of the hanger bay.

Taus in the turret slowly rotated in a circle, when acclimated to the off sensation of having ones surrounds slowly orbit around him, he targeted the doomed TIE bomber coming in for a suicede run on the Ranger’s Hanger. He rotated his cannon and lined up his shot just as he heard the Y-Wing gunners talk about so often in bars and social gatherings. He took a quick breath and let loose with the cannon. The TIE bomber was only 100 meters away from the Ranger when their port side wing and accompanying engine unit. With the starboard engine the only propulsion, the TIE bomber began into a hard port side spiral. Ten seconds later the Bomber exploded. The only damage Taus saw was a CR-90 gently rocked as the bomber exploded a few hundred yards from its port side.

Taus breathed a sigh of relief. No one was hurt and no one died.

“Who’s in that thing just shot down that bomber?” Alek Mauz voice crackled over the comm, not recognizing the turret portion of the Y-wing

“Uh-ah, this is Bomber Slayer One?” Taus said hesitantly

“Tripper?” Alek asked, puzzled.

“What’s up CAG?” Taus asked the same way heroes attempt to deflect the attention from themselves by saying, something like ‘oh anyone would have done that’

“When you get back, report to the Senior Staff Conference Room” Alek ordered

“Yes Sir,” Taus said then under his breath “either I’m getting fired or promoted, both are equally terrifying.”

“Hey Chief, can I come home now?” Taus said reengaging the comm

“Yeah sure thing, let’s see if I can fire up the old tug” Chief Canton said referring to the Fighter Recovery Craft or (FRC) “ETA, 20 minutes”

“Please hurry, I only have 15 minutes of Life Support left”