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a-substantial-trash-pile · 1 year

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HLVRAI notes

did not want to burden my original HLVRAI ref post with this wall of text so i’m just sticking it in its own post.

my personal HLVRAI headcanons under the cut 👇 (WARNING: LONG ASS POST im sorry)

Setting: - The events of HLVRAI happen in virtual reality, but there is also technically a real world, BUT that real world is screwed and humanity is dead(?). Except before the world ended, Black Mesa was working on a project (”The Half-Life Project”) to preserve the universe and humanity forever by making a virtual simulation of the universe and making brain copies of people (with or without consent) and shoving them into this world. Black Mesa dealt in a lot of alien shit/tech, so they were super ahead of the curb and also morally bankrupt. Obviously they can’t get everyone’s brains into VR before the world ends though, so there are also people that are developed by the simulation to help populate the world like it would be IRL. Don’t ask too many questions on how this all works ok. Just think of it like a “our reality is a simulation” conspiracy, except the conspiracy is real. - HLVRAI happens in this virtual reality/simulation, but as its own separate little offshoot of the main simulation. It was built as a game because it was the original early test of the system and Black Mesa is full of nerds. Kind of a stress test in a way. Like “how well is the system going to handle some crazy shit going down” kind of test. The Resonance Cascade has been happening on loop in this offshoot for who knows how long. Because honestly it was kind of forgotten about as Black Mesa moved on to work on the “main” simulation. Anyways, in my head, the end goal for the Science Team is to break free of the game and get into the main simulation. Which they eventually do and can live their lives and go on heists and be gay and happy and shit.

~ ~ ~

Gordon Freeman (Age: 27, Ht: 6′1″) He/Him - Dominican American - Pansexual - Worked for IRL Black Mesa, but at like the super surface level in which he has clearance for barely anything, so he doesn’t actually realize how messed up the organization is until it’s too late. Being into video games and a huge fucking nerd, he volunteers himself for what he’s told is just a little virtual reality experiment testing some new state-of-the-art tech. What he doesn’t know is that Black Mesa essentially makes a virtual copy of him without his consent and traps him in a loop. Gordon doesn’t realize all this until the end of HLVRAI. - Joshua was a just a joke made in the moment and Gordon doesn’t actually have a kid IRL. BUT Dad!Gordon is not lost. Joshua ends up with him eventually. Don’t ask about the details, I’m not sure how this happens yet, only that it involves post-game Science Team needing to save their world from completely breaking and Joshie is key to it. - Gordon doesn’t develop proper feelings for Benrey until post-game, when he gets to know him better in a healthier, less insane, less incredibly stressful environment. - Post-game, Gordon can magical girl transform back into his HEV suit and gun arm when needed. Except when he goes back into normal dad guy mode, his gun arm remains in the HEV suit at the point where it was cut off. So it’s like a cool looking prosthetic. He’s also following his dream of becoming a successful Justin.TV streamer (”GordoFreeTV”) and has amassed a decent following--enough to be his main job. Although he doesn’t really need to worry about money after the whole bank heist shenanigans.

Benrey/Benry (Age: Not sure but when he was a IRL human he was in his 30′s, Ht: 5′2″) He/They- Japanese/Chinese - Transmasc - Gay (wow no kidding) - Benrey is the result of an alien “virus” being mixed with the memories/mind of a human. Gordon was not the first volunteer for IRL Black Mesa’s experiment. Before Gordon, Black Mesa sent out an ad to the public asking for people willing to come in to be a part of their little VR experiment for money. Applicants were interviewed because Black Mesa were specifically looking for people who were desperate and wouldn’t be missed. One of the people chosen was a guy named Beni Henry Song. Beni lived by himself in some crappy apartment, recently lost the only family member he cared about (his mom), and the friends he did have were online ones he played games with--most of which only knew him by his username (”benrybenrybenry”). Because the Half-Life project was in its early stages, Beni got kind of screwed and kind of died and Black Mesa considered his case a failure. What Black Mesa didn’t know was that they had succeeded in getting some of Beni’s mind/memories into VR, but was kind of just floating around as bits of data. As BM kept messing around with alien technology, an alien “virus” got accidentally introduced into the simulation. The virus ended up absorbing the Beni brain fragments, which is how Benry ended up coming into existence. - Benrey was not always the Main Antagonist. After the simulation is developed into more of a game format and Gordon (the 1st proper success case of inserting a human mind into VR) is introduced, Benrey joins the group as an ally and pines over Gordon like the gay ass bitch they are. The game is beaten and everything restarts. This loop happens many, many times. I’m totally not obsessed with time loops because I watched Madoka Magica when I was young or anything. Anyway, Benry is one of the only ones with memories of previous runs, although they don’t maintain many due to their human side being unable to handle it. On one run, he figures out how to “delete” the final boss from the game, so he does because he thinks it’ll make things easier and maybe even end the loop. But the loop doesn’t end and the game needs a final boss. So the game’s script gives that title to Benry. Their thoughts are influenced by the script needing them to be the bad guy. When I say “influenced”, I don’t mean complete mind control because Benrey was an annoying asshole (affectionate) before he got the bad guy role. He just became even more of an asshole with more malicious intent. Benrey doesn’t get freed from the script until after they get “killed” in the final battle at the end of HLVRAI. However during the game, he does have moments where he comes back to himself and tries to fight the script, but it ends up coming out as nonsense due to the conflict of what he and the script wants (ex. "SONY CEO JACK TRETTON SURVIVED A NUCLEAR BOMB”). - Benry’s still a little shit even after being freed from the script, because that’s just how they are, but it’s way less malicious and more so done in fun. When he does cross a line, it’s more so out of ignorance or miscommunication rather than actually wanting to cause harm. He even says sorry sometimes. - Post-game Benrey is slowly gaining more memories from his past life as his human side and alien side become more melded with each other. They’re not Beni Song anymore, but they are learning who they are now. Gordon cooks him different Asian dishes because it seems to be pretty consistent in spurring memories in Benrey (Beni’s mom cooked a lot [he misses her]). He works as a nightshift security guard at a local mall. They like to terrorize the local teenage delinquents and has become an urban legend to them. - yes he’s japanese/chinese because i self project ok

Harold P. Coomer (Age: 68, Ht: 5′0″) He/Him - Hawaiian/Samoan - Transmasc - Bisexual - An AI based on a IRL Black Mesa scientist by the same name. He does not contain the actual mind/memories of IRL Dr. Coomer--just a basic replication of them to act as a base to evolve off of. He was developed in the very early stages of the Half-Life project. An early concept and attempt at “preserving” an individual in VR. He technically wasn’t completed before Black Mesa moved on, which is why his code is a bit out of whack. Thanks to his memories being from someone IRL, he is much more susceptible to becoming self-aware. Although it’s unclear how many of his memories are actually from the real world and how many were created by his programming to fill in spaces. - He and Bubby aren’t in a relationship during HLVRAI, but they do have in-game lore memories of knowing each other long before the Resonance Cascade and have a friendship with a dash of hey-maybe-we-could-be-something-more-someday. That someday is post-game in which they get together and later get married and get a house and have a cute garden. Coomer likes gardening. “It’s therapeutic, Gordon!” - Coomer has had a hard time dealing with the fact that he’s technically an AI and the world is virtual. He had a crisis about everything not being “real”, but post-game he’s learned that just because everything is virtual, doesn’t make it not “real.” Hosting Science Team BBQs, gardening, suplexing Benrey headfirst into a table, stargazing with Bubby--it’s all real enough for him. Of course, like everyone, he has his bad days, but he’s got lots of support now. - He’s got cybernetic limbs and implants. You can see the glow under the artificial skin of his arms and legs. Glow gets brighter when he’s actively using his tech. - fun fact his appearance is based on an uncle of mine back in hawaii because they both like boxing

Bubby (Age: “Always old”, Ht: 5′6″) - He/Xe/Any (aka "I don’t care! I don’t have time for this.”) - German (because that’s what the scientist he was built off of was [Dr. Kleiner]) - Demisexual and nonbinary. Technically?? It’s not something they think about--not that he doesn’t respect it in others, he just doesn’t really care to think about it for xemself. - Originally had no name--only a number given by Black Mesa scientists to help identify xem from the other prototypes [8488]. Coomer started calling him Bubby and they were like “Oh actually I think I like it.” - An AI that was developed and given a basic backstory to evolve off of. Their model’s appearance is based off of a Black Mesa researcher in the real world named Dr. Kleiner, but they share no personality traits with him. Their in-game lore is what’s established in HLVRAI: xe is a test tube baby--the ultimate result of VR Black Mesa’s attempts at growing the “perfect scientist.” - Bubby LOVES space. He wants to know what’s UP THERE. Doesn’t think the same of the ocean though. Does NOT want to know what’s down there thank you very much. - Powers include combustion and turning into a car. Road trips are interesting.

Tommy Coolatta (Age: 37, Ht: 6′6″) He/They - Filipino - Aromantic - Tommy was just another Black Mesa-programmed AI before G-Man grew attached and passed down some of his alien coding to him, hence being his adoptive dad. G-Man/Mr. Coolatta himself is an offshoot of the huge main alien/human AI system (A.K.A. his “Employers”) created to sort of oversee this little part of virtual reality and keep everything running. - Tommy is aware that the game has restarted many times and maintains memories on the other loops. They developed Sunkist over the course of previous loops and made it so she could maintain her memories through the restarts as well, so he could have a consistent companion other than his dad (who isn’t always around) and Benrey (who doesn’t always remember the best). - The loops are why Tommy is good at the pew pew with gun. It’s not just instinct, it’s repetition. He actually knows what he’s doing when handling weapons. He just acts like he doesn’t because it’s funny. It’s canonical that Tommy has the highest kill count out of the Science Team after all. - Tommy is bored and he’s kind of tired ok. They like to try and spice things up sometimes. - In previous loops, Tommy would sometimes just hang out with Darnold for the entirety of the game and not join Gordon at all. Even though Darnold doesn’t know about the restarts or that he’s even in a game, Tommy enjoys spending time with her because she’s so down-to-earth. Darnold played a part in helping create Sunkist, even if he doesn’t remember. - Tommy likes to wear things on their wrist that they can fidget and play with. Usually colorful, stretchy bracelets/bands. He does it when he’s lost in thought or just needs a distraction. Some of his bracelets he’s made himself!

Darnold Pepper (Age: 40, Ht: 5′4″) He/Her - African American - Asexual - Like Tommy, Bubby, and Coomer, Darnold is an AI built off of a IRL Black Mesa scientist. - She’s kind of a shut-in and has a lot of anxiety (particularly social), but post-game he’s learning to come out of his shell because she’s finally found people she can be comfortable with. Darnold wants to Do Things. He wants to get out there and explore. But her anxiety gets in the way a lot of the time. Post-game he’s able to start really pushing himself and start Doing Things. - Where Darnold finds her confidence is in science. Specifically inventing and experimenting. He creates all sorts of potions and gadgets and has fun doing it. She’s also confident in her abilities as a Pro Gamer(tm). When he gets to talk and infodump about the things he enjoys, he almost becomes a different person. - She’s the grounding point of the Science Team. The mediator. Just genuinely enjoyable to be around, even if she doesn’t believe it herself. He worries that nobody really likes him and that he’s just an annoyance that everyone tolerates, but she’s getting better at pushing these doubts from her mind with the help of friends and therapy.

~ ~ ~

MISC. notes (aka why the fuck is sans undertale here)

Here is my sad attempt to give an in-universe explanation as to why there are fictional characters from other media in the simulation too: - So IRL Black Mesa was full of nerds ok. Some of these nerds maybe wanted to make sure their favorite things got inserted into this simulation of the universe. So they put these things in. Somebody tried putting Undertale/Deltarune into the simulation ok. But something along the way got mistranslated in the system and instead of just the game existing as a game in the world, it turned the characters into humans living in the world. Kind of like how Coomer, Bubby, and the others were built off of IRL people, except these new humans were built off of fictional characters from a hit indie video game. They don’t have memories from Undertale/Deltarune and the games don’t exist in the world. They’re just average people living their life. Until the Resonance Cascade Part 2 Electric Boogaloo happens and their reality as they know it starts to break and maybe some powers and memories get reawakened maybe haha. - This is my dumb general justification for all the dumb crossovers I’m probably going to end up inserting into my version of the HLVRAI universe. Is this even an HLVRAI universe at this point? idk anymore. why am i like this - Anyway, in this universe/simulation, Santiago “Sans” Alcade is a streamer on Justin.TV (”sans206″) who has somehow amassed a huge following despite hardly putting effort in his streams (his layout still looks like shit). He lives with his culinary student brother Papyrus Alcade (Pap picked the name when he transitioned) in Washington State. One day, Sans goes on a trip to New Mexico to hang out and do an in-person collab stream with his streamer bud GordoFreeTV. But when he gets there, weird shit starts happening to him, like his hands not making up its mind on whether they want to have flesh or not, his eyes glowing, and a skeleton goop monster haunting him. Also he can summon bones now. Res-Cas Part 2 Electric Boogaloo! - Also Gordon and Benrey have a pet headcrab named Patamon that has little mutated flesh wing bits on its head and is a weird coloration. Patamon will eat anything and loves sitting on heads, but especially Benry’s head (crabs gravitate towards him in general). For some reason when other people who aren’t the Science Team see Patamon, they just think its a really fucked up cat.

#long post #hlvrai #hlvrai ref #hlvrai au

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zpl1nt3r3d-b0n3-zhardz · 1 year

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I haven't used Tumblr in forever but, can you do themed names and pronouns based on computers and/or retro/early technology?

of course! I'm sorry they arent the best!!

tech/techs/techself

te/tech/techself

techie/techies/techieself

comp/comps/compself

comp/computer/computerself

computer/computers/computerself

screen/screens/screenself

light/lights/lightself

type/types/typeself

text/texts/textself

key/keys/keyself

keyboard/keyboards/keyboardself

clack/clacks/clackself

elect/elects/electself

elect/electrics/electricself

electric/electrics/electricself

cyber/cybers/cyberself

cyb/cyber/cyberself

cyb/cybs/cybself

andriod/androids/andriodself

exe/exes/exeself

.exe/.exes/.exeself

png/pngs/pngself

.png/.pngs/.pngself

jpeg/jpegs/jpegself

.jpeg/.jpegs/.jpegself

file/files/fileself

txt/txts/txtself

zero/zeros/zeroself

one/ones/oneself

virus/viruses/viruself

hack/hacks/hackself

laptop/laptops/laptopself

desktop/desktops/desktopself

monitor/monitors/monitorself

mouse/mouses/mouseslf

click/clicks/clickself

click/clack/clickclackself

internet/internets/internetself

www/wwws/wwwself

www./www.s/www.self

http/https/httpsself

https:/https:s/https:self

web/webs/webself

wifi/wifis/wifiself

network/networks/networkself

net/networks/networkself

site/sites/siteself

web/site/websiteself

web/websites/websiteself

website/websites/websiteself

web/websites/websiteself

net/nets/netself

.com/.coms/.comself

.net/.nets/.netself

.org/.orgs/.orgself

digital/digitals/digitalself

technology/technologys/technologyself

ram/rams/ramself

software/softwares/softwareself

hardware/hardwares/hardwareself

email/emails/emailself

disk/disks/diskself

wire/wires/wireself

cable/cables/cableself

plug/plugs/plugself

code/codes/codeself

PC/PCs/PCself

URL/URLs/URLself

system/systems/systemself

USB/USBs/USBself

fullbattery/fullbatterys/fullbatteryself

lowbattery/lowbatterys/lowbatteryself

SIM/SIMs/SIMself

program/programs/programself

firewall/firewalls/firewallself

dial/dials/dialself

cord/cords/cordself

page/pages/pageself

pager/pagers/pagerself

glitch/glitches/glitchself

AI/AIs/AIself

byte/bytes/byteself

bot/bots/botself

browz/browzs/browzself

browse/browses/browseself

browser/browsers/browserself

cursor/cursors/cursorself

load/loads/loadself

loading/loadings/loadingself

online/onlines/onlineself

offline/offlines/offlineself

tab/tabs/tabself

upload/uploads/uploadself

404/404s/404self

junk/junks/junkself

control/controls/controlself

controller/controllers/controllerself

mute/mutes/muteself

sound/sounds/soundself

mic/mics/micself

phone/phones/phoneself

bat/batterys/batteryself

battery/batterys/batteryself

prong/prongs/prongself

mouse/mice/mouself

cam/cams/camself

TV/TVs/TVself

tape/tapes/tapeself

gear/gears/gearself

CPU/CPUs/CPUself

harddrive/harddrives/harddriveself

cache/caches/cacheself

analog/analogs/analogself

data/datas/dataself

database/databases/databaseself

desktop/desktops/desktopself

doc/docs/docself

gigabyte/gigabytes/gigabyteself

icon/icons/iconself

java/javas/javaself

link/links/linkself

media/medias/mediaself

memory/memorys/memoryself

qwerty/qwertys/qwertyself

router/routers/routerself

rom/roms/romself

storage/storages/storageself

terabyte/terabytes/terabyteself

URL/URLs/URLself

virtual/virtuals/virtualself

megabyte/megabytes/begabyteself

kilobyte/kilobytes/kilobyteself

01/01s/01self

00/00s/00self

retro/retros/retroself

hologram/holograms/hologramself

mal/mals/malself

malware/malwares/malwareself

au/aut/auto/autself

bo/bots/botself

compute/computes/computeself

dro/droids/droidself

droid/droids/droidself

gear/gears/gearself

giga/gigas/gigaself

gli/glits/glitself

inter/inters/interself

mechie/mechien/mechs/mechself

pix/pixel/pixelself

pixel/pixels/pixelself

robo/robos/roboself

tech/techne/techself

ty/type/types/types/typeself

vir/virtu/virtuself

ware/wares/wareself

whomp/whizz/whirr/whizself

wir/wire/wirself

ht/html/hts/hts/htmlself

jav/javs/javaself

java/scripts/javascriptself

bu/buz/buzzself

ech/echo/echo(e)s/echocho/echoself

game/games/gameself

🎵/🎶self

beep/boop/beepboopself

buzz/buzzes/buzzself

Stat/Static/staticself

tet/tetris/tetriself

gameboy/gameboys/gameboyself

👾/👾s/👾self

🤖/🤖s/🤖self

🎧/🎧s/🎧self

🎤/🎤s/🎤self

🎮/🎮s/🎮self

📱/📱s/📱self

📲/📲s/📲self

💻/💻s/💻self

⌨️/⌨️s/⌨️self

🖥️/🖥️s/🖥️self

🖨️/🖨️s/🖨️self

🖱️/🖱️s/🖱️self

🖲️/🖲️s/🖲️self

🕹️/🕹️s/🕹️self

💽/💽s/💽self

💾/💾s/💾self

💿/💿s/💿self

📀/📀s/📀self

📼/📼s/📼self

📷/📷s/📷self

📹/📹s/📹self

🎥/🎥s/🎥self

📽️/📽️s/📽️self

🎞️/🎞️s/🎞️self

📞/📞s/📞self

☎️/☎️s/☎️self

🎙️/🎙️s/🎙️self

📺/📺s/📺self

🔌/🔌s/🔌self

💡/💡s/💡self

🪫/🪫s/🪫self

🔋/🔋s/🔋self

⚙️/⚙️s/⚙️self

📁/📁s/📁self

📂/📂s/📂self

🗂️/🗂️s/🗂️self

🔈/🔈s/🔈self

🔇/🔇s/🔇self

🔉/🔉s/🔉self

🔊/🔊s/🔊self

🔔/🔔s/🔔self

🔕/🔕s/🔕self

🗨️/🗨️s/🗨️self

💬/💬s/💬self

📳/📳s/📳self

📴/📴s/📴self

⚡/⚡s/⚡self

👨‍💻/👨‍💻s/👨‍💻self

👩‍💻/👩‍💻s/👩‍💻self

names

tech

techie

techno

electro

elect

cyb

cyber

android

droid

hack

digi

virus

wyre

disk

dial

glitch

byte

404

mic

cam

gear

cache

java

link

qwerty

rom

virtu

auto

bot

malware

glit

blitz

pixel

techne

echo

static

tetrix

mac

apple

siri

chip

digit

coda

arcade

data

bit

giz

gizmo

gizzy

sim

beta

steel

bio

chrome

click

lead

nett

robic

bug

neo

neon

nero

lazar

ret

retro

stero

synth

zip

zipper

script

comp

ram

rammie

rommie

rust

volt

volter

zap

shock

error

crash

jax

button

buzz

blue

bluen

filez

filex

bulb

phon

tapx

alchi

pute

andros

I hope you like it! <3

#name ideas #themed names #noun pronouns #nounself pronouns #themed neopronouns #neo pronoun #tech neopronoun #xenopronouns #neopronoun list #name blog #unisex names #boy names #rare names #genderfluid names

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cuprohastes · 8 days

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I'm just getting interested in Clusterfuck City

Sorry I mean Neom: The Line. Seriously this is brilliant. We all get to live in a world where the disasterous dystopian bullshit you get to experience in games is now a real life place!

The Prince of Saudi who's planning this has more money than briancells and has hired a bunch of yes men at 75,000 a day to tell him whatever he wants to hear...

More analysis here

Summary: Someoen told this pricne that they can have a 200km train that goes end to end in 20 minutes which means that it eitehr won't stop and travels at 500kph, or It stops but hits mach 1.3 between stops.

They also promised animatronic dinosaurs (OK not crazy), an artificial moon to use as a light source and giant, shitty TV (Fucking nuts), Robot maids (OK this one's semi plausible until it does the laundry and folds your clothes while you're wearing them).

Yadda. People have been over this. And all the human rights abuses because I dunno is Nestlé running this project?

The thing I'm fascinated by is the idea of a 200m thick city that's 500m tall and 197m long. Because modern Skyscrapers sway, and they're desgned to. Some of the really tall ones without sufficient width have wind tunnels so they don't just flop over. Now I invite you to think of an entire wall that's 500m high, 200m thick and mostly hollow glass and space frames with excitingly chunky habitat modules bolted on. And what happens when the wind, unencumbered by vegetation or terrain hits this thing and starts pushing on any part of it. In a sensible world, the thing would be sectional, with a flared base ~~so you can pull it back out~~ to resist lateral pressure, and you'd make it in air-gaped sections so they don't grind or twist and crunch into each other.

Which is horrible and I worked in a building where there was a 20cm gap between each halves of the building for this reason. Legend has it, the architect having discovered that the only reason the building didn't fall down was due to the brtalist exterior stairwells being made of iron vs wood, as in the previous building he'd built to the smae plan (Which all collapsed) thought ht ematter over, went up to the roof, picked a direction and started walking until all his troubels were over. This may be apocryphal. That building had panels with warnings on them saying 'If this panel is cracked stop breathing' because they were asbestos. Good times.

Anyway even if they got The Line built (It's been scaled back form 197KM to uhhh, 500m?) it's build on the premise that a whole bunch of tech will get invented and perfected in the next few months, the entire world will be OK witht eh Saudi Forced Labour racket and that 6,000 people per square km won't somehow cause some sort of populations ingularity that will have historians int eh future say "And of course Neom's Line city and Shanghai Walled city ar ehte resons we don't do this"

#neom #the line #computer send shitpost #shitposting #there's two arab guys with hacksaws at the door

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usafphantom2 · 8 months

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How U.S. Navy Pilots Really Get Their Callsigns

A Super Hornet pilot gives us an inside look at how Naval Aviators get their often colorful but unflattering callsigns.

Ben KohlmannView ben kohlmann's Articles

PUBLISHED Aug 23, 2023 1:26 PM EDT

Navy callsigns pilots

U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Felix Garza Jr.

Let’s reminisce about fighter pilot callsigns and how they come about.

I’ll start with mine: 'The Professor,' eventually shortened to 'Prof.'

How I got it: First port call as a new guy in the squadron, we pull into Hong Kong. Everybody always chipped into buying the fanciest penthouse in a big name hotel - think 30 guys and gals crashing on the floor.

(Courtesy of the author)

Someone was always tagged as the 'admin queen.' This individual was required to stay sober and be the adult in the room in case anything went awry and had to talk to the hotel staff.

I pulled Admin Queen duty the second night.

2am, all my compatriots are out on the town. Looking around, I noticed everybody was gone.

So, like anyone would, I change the music from rap to Beethoven and pull out my American History of Law book to pass the time.

Bad move.

An older squadronmate bursts in, tipsy, and sees me.

"What do we have here? It's the Professor at work!"

It was the leading contender at the callsign review board the next week that took place aboard ship.

Let's pause a bit and talk about the 'rules' for callsigns.

It's rumored that Air Force fighter jocks get to pick their own callsigns... which is where you get things like 'Ripper' and 'Ace' and 'Thor.'

Not in the Navy.

"Professor" and his wife Jamie in front of an F/A-18. (Courtesy of the author)

Callsigns are bequeathed for doing something stupid or memorable. The more you fight the more it sticks.

Usually a new guy in a squadron is given something like 'FNG' (Fucking New Guy) or 'New Jack' or 'Don't Speak.'

Eventually, someone does something noteworthy, and the King (or Queen) of the JOPA [Junior Officer Protection Agency] calls a kangaroo court known as a 'callsign review board.'

Everybody can propose a name. There are lots of nominations. Many are absurd and vile.

Eventually, a few finalists are named. They're voted on and by acclimation a callsign is bestowed.

The commanding officer then gets veto authority - and sometimes exercises it. In which case you go back to the white board.

I also had another callsign before my 'official' one.

Before going to the carrier for the first time before we qualify for our wings of gold, we'd all get a temporary callsign through a similar, abridged process.

Mine was 'Stink.' Let's just say I wouldn't always wash my flight suits after a flight in the middle of a Meridian Mississippi summer.

They were pungent.

That one stuck until I got to my first fleet squadron, which is when I got Professor.

(Courtesy of the author)

Now the fun part... other call signs that were part of the 2008-2013 era of Naval Aviation.

'LOTHAR' - Loser Of The American Revolution

I'm pretty sure the guy is still in the Royal Navy and probably a squadron commander by now.

When he was a new pilot, he was the first Brit to get assigned to a front line, American F/A-18 squadron.

He took it well as only a Brit would.

'Chaser'

This was my first fleet commanding officer. He was a grizzled old dude who originally started his aviation days as an F-14 backseater.

But before that, he was an enlisted sailor with the 'HT' rate... Hull Tech. He was one of the guys who would make sure the plumbing worked.

They were known as "shit chasers" aboard ship.

It stuck when he became an officer.

'SLUGZ'

Short Little Ugly Guy.

He actually wasn't all that short. SLUGZ was one of my first mentors in the squadron who saw me through tough first days trying to figure out carrier landings.

But the name fit the personality.

'PETA'

He was department head when I joined my first squadron.

Rumor was that on one of his first flights in the F-14, on the landing rollout he hit a deer!

Deer died.

Plane was fine.

Callsign was obvious.

Mouth, Tiny, Powder and Probes adorn VFA-102 Super Hornets on deck. (U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate Airman Stephen W. Rowe)

'Soccer Mom'

This was my brother's first call sign.

In flight school he had this old green station wagon while his brethren were rolling around in their fancy sports cars.

'Amtrak'

Member of our squadron was an absolute train wreck when drunk.

'Bar Code'

Literally, we painted a barcode on the side of the jet.

Verbally we called him 'R2' since he behaved like a robot. But we thought the barcode was too good to pass up.

'TAKAN'

Talks A Lot, Knows Absolutely Nothing.

This was a play on the navigational aids military aviators used to use when flying across the country.

'Wiki'

The source of all dubious knowledge.

Dude would have an answer for everything... in detail. But he was the father of misinformation before it was cool.

'Delilah'

This is one of my favorite callsign stories because I'm a total nerd.

After pulling into port in Singapore, we were out at the bar.

The commanding officer of the USS Sampson, a battle group destroyer, happened to wander in.

He starts hitting on a squadron mate of mine - a very outgoing woman who was also very junior to him.

Fortunately we were able to extricate her from the situation with nothing lost but pride on the part of Sampson's CO, but she was tagged with "Delilah" after almost bringing down the skipper of the Sampson.

'SANDY'

Skipper And Nasty Did it Yesterday.

Remember Chaser? Well, whenever the commanding officer of the USS Nimitz, callsign 'Nasty,' wanted to go flying, Chaser would fly in his backseat. We were the only two seat squadron on the boat.

Nasty would do ridiculous flybys. I'm talking high speed (near supersonic), barely above the height of the flight deck, feel the shockwave of the jet on the flight deck flybys. He was the master of the ship.

My buddy SANDY was a brand new pilot and thought it would be cool if he tried the same thing.

Not a good idea.

His excuse was literally "But Skipper and Nasty did it yesterday!"

He was grounded for a few days... and got a callsign.

'Steamer'

Buddy's last name was Cleveland.

Best part about this story is that as we were pulling into port to San Diego after a month at sea, the local news station wanted to do a story about us.

I was dual-hatting as the squadron public affairs officer at the time, so they tell me to do the interview.

The camera crew sets up in hangar with some jets behind me... and the one they ask me to stand in front of has 'LT XYZ "Steamer" Cleveland' written in big bold letters in clear view of the camera shot.

They rolled with it and broadcasted it out to SoCal.

Gonzo and Buff on this F/A-18F. (U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate Airman Nicholas B. Morton)

'Tweek'

Dude would go high and right over the smallest thing. He was the target of a lot of ribbing just to see how angry we could get him.

'Farva'

Had a number of guys with this one - especially around the time Super Troopers came out.

'Boom Boom'

My brother had this one temporarily - in C-2 training, he landed and blew BOTH tires on the rollout.

'Jerry'

Marine fighter pilot - and one of the most impressive aviation leaders I've ever met - had a proclivity for older ladies ("geriatric") in his formative days.

'Tofu'

Pudgy, white guy. He owned it.

'Sweet P'

One of our missions in the Super Hornet was to be the on-demand, airborne tanker for the air wing.

You'd launch off the ship then rendezvous with the offgoing tanker to do a "package check" of the refueling tank and hose.

If there was good gas flow, it was a "sweet" tanker, and if there was a problem, it was a "sour" tanker.

On one of his first flights, this gentleman reported back on the open ship frequency "Sweet package, sweet package."

With our minds always in the gutter, 'Sweet P' was the obvious choice.

'Radio'

Guy got to the fleet around the time the movie Radio came out. Not exactly sure what he did... but it wasn't smart.

He became a test pilot and is now in the Astronaut program.

'Shortney'

Callsign for the four-star admiral I worked for - last name was Gortney and he stood no more than 5' 6" tall.

At least when I worked for him he was a great sport about it

'Satan'

One of my air wing commander had this callsign for the longest time. I think people were scared to tell the story. He was an intense dude, but took a quiet liking to me.

The reason I knew he liked me was whenever he saw me, he would body-check me into the walls of the carrier as we passed.

Apparently he only did that to folks that were on his good side.

I think he's a three-star admiral now.

'Don't Ask' & 'Don't Tell'

We had a pair of new squadronmates come aboard - one was a pilot, the other a weapons systems officer. When the callsign crackdown happened in 2011, we thought we could slip one past the goalie by giving those two guys matching call signs that would be painted next to each other on the jet.

Those were quickly vetoed.

(Courtesy of the author)

Lots of other good ones:

'Rabbit,' 'Heed,' 'Mouth,' 'Gimp,' 'Waldo,' 'Cholula,' 'Sasha'... and some others I'm too timid to share in public.

Never had a Maverick though...

This piece was adapted from a Twitter thread by Ben Kohlmann. Ben flew F/A-18s with VFA-41 and VMFAT-101, serving on active duty as a Naval officer from 2004-2015. He currently serves in the USNR and spends his professional time in Venture Capital as an early-stage defense tech investor.

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insane-mane · 10 months

Note

Would the HT Rustbucket be the same as classic or would you add something?

I think the build of it would be similar to on old ‘76 GMC home RV, as that feels closer to Max’s aesthetic than anything high tech. I think he’d want to get away from things like that while on vacation and do some things the way he did with his dad when growing up, passing that along to Ben and Gwen. One thing I’d definitely love to include is for every state they visit, they’d end the trip with bumper stickers chronicling their journey

I think I’d want the general look to be something like this old chrome one to actually show rust forming at the bottom to fit the name

#asks

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mikeshouts · 6 months

Photo

Xiaopeng HT Aero Land Air Carrier Concept Is An Adventure Vehicle That Packs A VTOL For Two

Very cool concept!

#Aerospace #Concept Car #Concept Vehicle #Drone #Electric Aircraft #Electric Vehicle #Flying Car #HT Aero #Hybrid Vehicle #Personal Air Transport #VTOL #Xiaopeng Motors #Xpeng

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a-snowpoff · 2 years

Note

The way you draw HT!Papyrus makes my eyes water (In a good way)

I can imagine them watching Wall-E with Y/N (Wall-E is also one of my favorite movies)

Bruuuh… I LOVE WALL-E! MAN!!! Wall-E is the reason I went to art school hehehehehe. It really inspired me a lot to pursue learning more about art and tech u//v//u

ALSO THANK YOU!!! HT!Papyrus can be such a sweetie to draw hehe~

#snowpoff talks #ask snowpoff

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lizzyverydizzyyo · 6 months

Text

D.E.A.N | Chapter 23 - Retreat

Masterlist and overall summary of the whole novel is here. | Prompt on trope-appreciation-tuesdays that inspired this is here. | @whumptober-archive

Fandom : Original Work

(I) (II) (III) (IV) (V) (VI) (VII) (VIII) (IX) (X) (XI) (XII) (XIII) (XIV) (XV) (XVI) (XVII) (XVIII) (XIX) (XX) (XXI) (XXII) (XXIII) (XXIV) (XXV) (XXVI) (XXVII) (XXVIII) (XXIX) (XXX) (XXXI - END)

AO3

Wordcount : ± 3863

TW : Allusion to CSAM (underage noncon)

Summary:

The team might have arrived in their temporary asylum unhurt physically (except for their charge), but it doesn’t mean they are fine on the inside, and definitely not their charge either. It also doesn’t mean they can breathe easy yet with the brewing war to prepare for.

This story is set in the last half of 2016.

——

The team room and the med bay in 1034’s headquarter are separated by two walls (the med bay wall and the team room wall itself), with a wide hallway in between. Unlike 1056’s headquarter, 1034’s team room is a giant closed-off space, instead of simply a connecting hallway where they plop in their tools and techs. It makes sense for that team since they have almost 20 agents. Still, Mark knows—from when he was walking in—which direction the med bay is.

He stares in that direction, surrounding blurring together and voices around him sounding submerged. He can’t focus on anything else but the thought of Nick’s condition, with his wound now being treated again by Doctor Lowe, his three nurses, and additional doctors and nurses from Central Hub.

“Mark.”

He turns, seeing Anna looking at him with a somewhat irritated look, so he decides to rotate his body to face forward and see the other agents, all standing over their physical paper map while discussing plans with grave voices.

“We have requested backups from Nevada Central Hub, and they said they can give at least 70 personnel within 36 hours, maybe even faster, thankfully,” Mark hears Agent Leonard says. “If possible, we’d like meet them halfway rather than expecting them to help us here. 1056 might have been followed or tracked, at least, so we have to assume staying here isn’t safe either.”

Mark sees other agents nodding at the dark-skinned man.

“Here is our closest route to a convergence point with Central backup’s route. Approximately, they’ll be there at around hour 17:35 tomorrow.”

All the surrounding agents look at where he is pointing at the map.

“But Tactical Intelligence there…” another commanding officer starts, now from team 1023, while she nods at Tactical Intelligence agents next to the crowd around the map, “…said that around 10 miles from this spot—” she is now tapping a spot in the middle of black marker line on the map, pointing with an index finger, “—there is a very probably spot of a Helga circle.”

Mark looks at the Tactical Intelligence agents focused on their computers, then back at the pale woman with tall and burly stature. Her name, if he is not mistaken, is Florence Hall.

“Since you said our informant warned you to expect all circles within 100-miles radius to attack us, I’d rather have this route as the last resort,” Agent Himura says while looking at Anna then the rest of 1056. “We don’t know how many men they have on this spot, or if they are all armed and battle ready.”

“There is another route, which requires us to detour a little to the south,” Horace is now the one talking, pointing his HT antenna to the other black marker line on the map, “but this means we have less time to prepare to make sure we get there in time. It’s 25 miles longer than the one more on the north.”

Mark furrows his eyebrows.

“Is that the only other coordinate we can go to meet Central halfway?”

Now that he is more focused on the discussion, he realizes the convergence point is incredible close to the usual route they used to meet their drop-point agent. That has to be the most predictable route to be tracked by Helga.

“There are other points, yes. We haven’t ruled them out, but we’re prioritizing the closest ones to us,” now 1082’s commanding officer replies—a dark-skinned woman with ponytail dreads named Imani Maxwell.

“Is it possible to just go out of state? It’s much closer for us to go to Oregon or California from here.”

“They will be expecting us to go out of state since, as you said, that’s much closer. It’s too predictable,” Agent Hall responds again.

“And Central Hub closest to us is here, in Nevada, not one out of state. We need backup ASAP more than we need faster route away from possible Helga circles who want to attack us,” Agent Leonard adds. “Besides, we already contacted them and have confirmation of backup coming.”

“But that’s our route when we needed to replenish our stocks. Would that be safe for us?”

Mark looks at Don, somewhat pleased that, for once, they’re on the same thought track.

All four teams’ commanding officers look at each other, consideration and deep thinking clear on their faces.

“We’ll retrace again the route Central gave us, one they’ll use to go to us. See if there are other possible convergence points,” Agent Himura finally concedes, “but we have to decide quickly. Or we won’t be able to send them the coordinates in time. We can’t afford to miss each other.”

Agent Hall furrows her eyebrows and leans forwards a little bit more.

“What if…” she tilts her head to side while looking at one of the black marker lines, “…we ask the backup team to meet us at a later time?”

The others look at her with their own contemplating expressions, but Agent Maxwell replies to her.

“You mean asking them to stay in a spot along that route until we arrive there?”

1023’s commanding officer nods to the 1082’s one.

“But that means the backup have to stay stagnant at the point of convergence while waiting for the agents from here to arrive,” Horace explains now with the others nodding at him. “It will put the backup team in vulnerable position, because it would be easier to ambush them than if they are moving.”

Agent Himura nods too at Horace.

"That's not an option. We can't have them sitting duck because we will be putting both of us in danger."

Agent Van Hoven raises his head from looking down at the table.

"Is it possible that we just go whenever we're ready? And just meet them wherever we will meet them along the route that they sent us?"

The other agents look towards him now, then each other.

"We might miss them and risk having to go back and forth," Anna finally replies.

"We can have consistent online communication with the backup team to update them on where we are and where they are," he adds.

"That's putting our connection in extreme vulnerabilities," Mark now explains. "If it's constantly on, there will be higher chance that it will be detected and intercepted."

Some agents agree with him, nodding their heads.

"We can do it incrementally, then. Just send a signal maybe every few minutes so that we can update each other."

Some agents, including Anna and Agent Himura, seem contemplating.

Eventually, Agent Van Hoven adds, "We won't have enough time to keep discussing where to meet, and all the coordinates we come up with are either too far or unsafe."

After 1034's deputy says that, the man waits a bit to let the others digest his words. Agent Van Hoven takes a while to explain more.

"I think our odds are better if we just go as soon as we are ready, and meet them wherever we can meet them. That way, none of us is vulnerable due to being stagnant in one spot for too long," the lean man suggests more, "and since we don't have predetermined coordinates to meet, we won't risk having information intercepted by Helga since there is no intel to intercept anyway."

Anna seems more receptive of the argument, then she turns to the side where Tactical Intelligence agents are still sitting in front of their computers. Some of them are also hunched in their own spot where there is a table with the destroyed laptop pieces on top of it.

They push around the pieces, prodding and moving them around using a wooden chopstick on top of their gloved hands. They said they are avoiding metals and direct human contact, making sure they don't accidentally transmit some electrical charge or signal if the laptop parts are deceptively still on.

The other agents around Anna also turn to them.

She says, "We can ask them to create stronger signal protection, see if they have any idea for it."

Agent Himura sighs deeply, seemingly not liking his own deputy's idea, but resigned towards the possibility that they might have to do just that. He eventually cocks his head to the side, a gesture to invite the others around him to follow him. He then walks closer to the Tactical Intelligence agents.

Realizing that they're being approached, some of the agents look up to face the Offensive teams.

"Sir," one of them greets Agent Himura, straightening her back as she is subtly deferring to him as a higher hierarchy agent, but also signaling being the leader of the other Tactical Intelligence agents. If Mark is not mistaken, her name is Agent Landau.

"Any progress on what we can find in that computer?"

She looks down again to the table then to her side where the other agents are focused on their own screens.

"We are still separating some of the parts, see which one we can still recover and access. But we're not plugging in any of it to a device with outward connection."

Anna hums in understanding.

"Wouldn't want it to accidentally connect to Helga's server and give away our location."

"Understood," Agent Van Hoven says.

"We're still going to disconnect everything in this headquarter when we plug in any part later, so we hope you can help us check everything in this building that might be connected to the satellite, or anything of kind."

Mark and the rest nod at her.

"Speaking of which, is there anything you need now?" Agent Landau asks professionally.

"We might need extra masking encryption for our communication with Central Hub backup," Agent Himura takes over, "We might have to meet them in a non-predetermined convergence point, and we need something that protect our communication so that we can continuously update them on our location."

"Oh, that makes sense," she replies, "we will figure something out."

Agent Himura nods again.

She is about to turn around to her own subordinates when she halts with an unsure face. She seems to be uncomfortable about something.

"Just... to be sure..."

She falters, slightly biting her lip.

"What... what are we..." she pauses again while her eyes dart again to the side where the row of computers is located, "...if we manage to recover a part, especially things that keep the device memory... what are we going to see?"

She then points to the table where Nick's broken laptop parts are spread out.

Mark's face falls, just as his other teammates' do. Anna parts her lips then blinks, clearly unsure about what to say.

Agent Landau explains again, still uncomfortable, "say, if we recover the drive, or something—and it might have saved the last state of the laptop before it was shut down completely—we're going to see whatever the screen showed before... what would we see there?"

Anderson gulps deeply, clearly sick to his stomach, while Mark feels protective of Nick. He is reluctant to tell her what it was, or let her and the other Tactical Intelligence agents plug it in at all, even if it is important.

Nick doesn't deserve to have that... video... shown to anyone else again.

"It's just..." her eyes now dart to somewhere else, towards the direction of the med bay from where she is standing within the room, "...we got reports on what kind of informant, um, victim he is... and you lot told us he... um... injured himself after this video. And that's why you escaped 1056 headquarter."

Mark, Anderson, and Anna look towards each other. Even Agent Van Hoven and Agent Himura look unsure and uncomfortable too, seemingly having a guess already.

"It's... uh..." Anna starts, clearing her throat tightly, "...something that... we should give to FBI."

Agent Landau furrows her eyebrows, taking a while to connect the dots as the Offensive agents around her squirm uncomfortably. Eventually, her eyes widen.

"What age?" she asks, sounding almost scared.

Anderson lifts his hands to stare down at them and cracks his knuckles absently, as if he is feeling deeply awkward. He tells her, "17."

She surreptitiously sighs in relief, glad that maybe Nick was not too young in whatever she is going to see.

"Um, well, it's..." she turns again to the table, "...it's not guaranteed, though, that we can recover the full state of the machine when it was shut down."

Even if she gives them a professional and impartial look, the atmosphere is still somewhat tense and mourning.

"We probably will only recover partial data."

Mark hears Anna sighing in relief beside him and closing her eyes shortly.

Another Tactical Intelligence agent stands up and approaches her, saying, "Ma'am, we might be able to use this."

He is holding a plastic ziploc bag with a shiny metallic part in it, hands still gloved. Agent Landau looks at him shortly, then turns to Agent Himura again.

"We will have to do that later," she says, referring to the comm additional security layer that Agent Himura requested before. "We need to inspect this now, unfortunately."

Mark and the Offensive team crowd look understanding, promptly taking out their communication devices to deactivate them as Agent Landau instructed.

"Can you two go around and check in with everyone else to turn off their comm devices?" she says to that agent holding the plastic, and another one still standing near the table of the laptop pieces.

They both nod and walk away, presumably doing what they are told. She then turns back again to Agent Himura and those standing behind him.

"If you don't mind, I would like for you too to inform your teams to check for any comm device and turn them off."

They all nod again and disperse, with Mark following Agent Van Hoven to the roof to inform the snipers to disconnect their devices.

There are other spots that they go to, coincidentally meeting the other agents in discussion with Anna and Agent Himura before, then diverging to visit some nooks and crannies of the headquarter to see if there are other stray agents who are not aware of the instruction by Tactical Intelligence.

When they're done, all of the agents walk in droves to the team room, along with the two Tactical Intelligence agents commanded by Agent Landau. Mark sees the other Tactical Intelligence agents who are working on their computers now click around, some even turning their PCs and monitors off completely.

Mark frowns, seeing just how many people are in the room, supposedly waiting to see whatever it is they're going to see on the broken device, or any information at all pertaining Nikolai’s laptop and its access to Helga's server before. Even if it makes sense that they want to know, it still makes Mark feel sick on behalf of Nick. He wishes there were fewer of them here.

Nick's humiliating past and abuses should not be watched by this many people. Or anyone at all. He deserves that dignity, at least. Mark is apparently not alone in this, considering his fellow agents in team 1056 are all looking down or fiddling with their tools tensely.

As the two Tactical Intelligence agents from before approach Agent Landau again, they say something in hushed voices, and then she nods. She faces the Offensive team agents again.

"Please make sure all of you have turned off everything that can connect to the outside. Even your radios."

There is a wave of agents fishing out their pockets to double check if everything is turned off and that they didn't miss anything. At that, she looks quite satisfied and approaches a desk, now the one holding the plastic bag containing a part of Nick's broken laptop.

She gloves up, putting double layers of them, then fishes out the metal piece around half the size of her palm from the plastic. She puts it on a computer desk while pulling a connecting hub full of USB ports, memory card slots, and other ports dedicated to connecting more obscure computer parts. The hub is connected to her own computer with another USB cord.

There is also a PC case that’s opened to the outside. It’s connected by a cable to Agent Landau’s computer through one of the ports in the hub. The PC tower has some hardware attached to the motherboard inside, but some slots remain empty. She tries to plug the broken piece into one of the slots.

She has to struggle a bit because of the somewhat mangled state of the metal piece, making sure that she is gentle enough not to damage it further, but forceful enough to make the part yield to the port shape. She succeeds after a few attempts.

"Wait!"

Everyone turns to Mark, making him realize that he even says anything at all. Some of them look at him with furrowed eyebrows, and others look irritated.

He looks around unsurely, but firms up himself to say, "Not everyone has to be here for it, right?"

He tries to steady himself, hoping he doesn't waver for this.

"I mean, not everyone has to see what's inside there, do they? We just need to know what damage is done to our network, and if all of us here are safe for now?"

He is desperately hoping that they will listen to him for this. He doesn't want Nikolai to be defiled further. Nick deserves this, at least.

Thankfully, the ones who know—like Agent Landau herself, Tactical Intelligence agents who have been listening to the conversation before, and some agents from 1034 and 1056—nod in understanding with forlorn looks.

"I think only the commanding officers and the deputies, except for 1056, need to see this. We will inform any important findings to the rest of you once the inspection is done," Agent Himura commands.

Obviously, the rest of them look puzzled and even offended that they're being singled out.

"It's a sensitive footage of our informant," Horace adds, uncharacteristically testy and seemingly impatient for the other agents to comply. "If you have weak stomach, I suggest you don't stay."

Some still look clueless as to what that means, but others have realizations on their faces, so they whisper to rest to listen and just go.

"Trust me, I don't think you want to see it," one of them whispers as they leave, “Let’s just check our stocks in the back and prepare.”

Mark's fellow agents in team 1056 look down mournfully, some—including himself—also walk out as if they don't want a repeat of what they saw or heard before. Eventually only 10 agents are left in the room aside from Tactical Intelligence agents: the commanding officers and deputies of each team, with Mary and Lena.

They both look sympathetically at him as he walks out. He is trying his hardest to keep his composure and not jump towards the computer and unplug it. Fortunately, he has enough self-control to not do that.

He leans back against the wall outside the team room, closing his eyes for a while to steady himself. When he opens them again, he sees some agents outright getting out of the building with only a handful staying near the team room. The ones who stay in the hallway cross their arms on their chests, also leaning against the wall and uncomfortably avoiding eye contact, especially with the rest of 1056.

He tries to distract his mind from the imminent moment that the footage has to be played again, looking at the doors to the med bay instead. He is hoping that the part is too damaged to be accessed at all. Alas, after waiting a while until he thinks his prayer is answered, he eventually hears whirring from the inside, clacking of keys, and a long moment of silence before he hears loud gasps.

"Oh god."

"Jesus Christ!"

"I can't... I can't see this."

"Can we make it quick, please?"

"Oh, fuck. I'm... I'm sick."

He doesn't recognize the voices, so he assumes they're from the Tactical Intelligence agents. Mark closes his eyes again with wave of cold washing over him, somewhat feeling nausea at the implication of what's being seen inside.

Even highly trained agents who are supposed to be steady in the face of dangers can't help being horrified by it.

The agents around him also appear horrified, looking up to stare at the door. He supposes only hearing partial information without knowing exactly what's going on will make their imaginations run wild. It’s probably worse the longer it takes for the people inside to just… come out and give any news.

The clock is ticking, and the people inside are now growing quiet, but still, it offers no reassurance. It doesn’t feel like a good silence.

Eventually, some agents who are milling around in the hallway choose to stand up to leave. Mark can only guess what the reason is: either bored, impatient, driven with the feeling of urgency to prepare for battle, or unwilling to bear witness to whatever bad news the people inside are going to bring them.

Or maybe all of them.

Mark still cannot make himself walk away, so he keeps witnessing one agent after another walking away, including the rest of his own team. At one point, Luke looks at him, then nods to him in question, offering Mark to leave with him so that he doesn’t continue getting haunted by the agonizing wait. He shakes his head, so Luke sighs and leaves without him.

There are still a handful of agents in the hallway, talking in low voices to one another, but mostly to fellow agents in their own teams. Mark and Anderson now are the only ones left from his team, and they choose not to converse.

He shoots up to stand from leaning against the wall once the door creaks open. He sees Agent Landau standing on the doorway, and she looks pale.

“I’m sorry, but the inspection is going to take a while,” she says with firm voice she is obviously trying hard to maintain, “so I would suggest moving everything in this room that you might need to somewhere else because…”

She gulps and shortly closes her eyes, clearly no longer able to hide that she is shaken.

“Well, we’d rather have the room exclusively for our work in inspecting 1056’s informant’s broken laptop.”

There is some unsaid understanding that Mark sees in some of the other agents, while the rest simply furrow their eyebrows but seem accepting. Mark hazards a guess that they think it’s for technical purposes—that Tactical Intelligence might need the whole room to themselves so that they can work efficiently.

“You can move all tools and things you need inside to another area,” she adds again, now back to firm and impersonal voice.

Some agents who stay around ask her if they can call for the rest of their teams, the reasoning being to help determine which things they will need and then move them to another convenient place. She simply says yes and walks in again while closing the door behind her.

***

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