Jury Size and Unanimity under the 6th and 14th Amendments

Edit: Forgot to give you guys links to the old posts, here you go
Part 0 Part 1 Part 2
Edit 2: Fixed some grammatical issues, shoutout u/lose_has_1_o, I really need to proofread these things
Edit 3: Added language to highlight the fact that measures of Unanimous Consent are votes on motions of procedure, not the bill itself

Introduction

Took me long enough to get to this one, didn't it? Why would I leave you guys hanging for the next installment despite the fact that I spaced the posts about the House out by days not weeks? Well, in part things are more complicated in the Senate than in the House. Also, I have a day job, might have mentioned it before.
Anyway, in my last post I said the next post I'd write would be about Committees. That's twice I've lied now.

The Fortress of Friendship (I'm not kidding)

Despite being named after Sheev Palpatine, the United States Senate isn't a force-attuned body. Quite the opposite in fact, the entire purpose of the Framers in giving Senators six-year terms with a staggered cycle of replacement (one third of the chamber is up for reelection every two years) is to make sure that the institution is pretty insulated from the political forces that dominate the country at any given time. Sounds counterintuitive to our ideals in this country, right? Why would we want part of our Government to be less susceptible to popular forces? Well, let's remember how many seats the Tea Party Congressmen won in the House, and how many they won in the Senate. Same thing goes for the Qultists, they might find support in the Senate, but they don't win seats in here.
Taken to it's logical conclusion, this is just one part of the reason the Senate is so different from the House. If the President and everybody in the House changes in a single election (which technically could happen), then two-thirds of the Senators of this country would still be the same people they were in the last Congress. Even if leadership switches hands, the fact that it's those same guys in there mean that things that go beyond the rules and operating procedures of the body can stick around for a long time. Friendships and rivalries among Senators (which are surprisingly critical to the work that happens in the Chamber) are forged across years of working with people, calling them every morning, eating lunch with them in the afternoon, and staying up with them on the floor at 3am because there was unfinished business to attend to.
Honest to God, everyone recommends you read Gold's Senate Procedure and Practice or Riddick's Rules (which are great resources, I won't downplay that), but if you really want to understand the Senate you need to buy Al Franken's book. There's 100 Senators, they all know each other. There isn't a fake cordial coworker attitude like you have in a big company when you're in the office break room. These people are usually actual friends, and that makes an insane difference.
How? Imagine I'm a Legislative Assistant (I have dreams too, you bastards) who's working in the House and my Member of Congress is really interested in getting some bill onto the Floor. We write everything up with the help of the kind folks at CRS and maybe some committee staff if we have that kind of access, and then the first thing we do is shop it around Caucuses to try and get some cosponsors. We don't know who's going to be interested in our bill, but maybe we know some Caucuses that focus on these issues so if we bring it up to the Caucus chair then we'll get some other Representatives who are interested in working with us.
In the Senate it isn't necessary to go to the Caucuses and treat them like bulletin boards. If we're shopping a bill around then my Senator will probably say "Oh you know who loves this stuff? Inhofe. I'll call him when I'm in my hideaway later and see if he wants to move forward with a letter, you should reach out to Heinrich and Reed's people, and I think I can talk to Schatz when we get lunch later to see what he thinks about all of this." Just like that we informed 1/25th of the Chamber, and the Chair and Ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, about what we were doing, and we probably just got them all to cosponsor our bill.
Friendship. Turns out, it's not just something made up by George Lucas for Return of the Jedi, it's existed since 1787 at the least and it's a vital part of running this country.
Drag this out, and coalitions of friendships emerge. When describing the majority in the Senate, there's the standard definition of whichever caucus leads the Chamber, but also the simpler definition of "whoever the hell is on the big side of any given argument." Party leaderships negotiate things based on the priorities and personalities of individuals, often speaking with individual Senators who aren't a part of their caucus directly. For what it's worth, this is why I appreciate working in the Senate so much. In the House, the Majority Leadership are some of this country's rulers. In the Senate, every individual Senator is one of this country's rulers.

The Basics of Legislation

Paradoxically, despite having fewer rules than the House that govern behavior on the floor (to foster flexible debate and negotiation), the Senate is more complicated than the House could ever fucking wish to be.
It isn't really a paradox, fewer rules means things are less structured, and the less structure there is the more complicated things can become. I'll try and give you a basic overview of what happens in the Chamber but it's dynamic so you really should take some time to go through other sources. Senate Procedure and Practice by Martin Gold is a classic, Riddick's Rules of Procedure is a classic, Al Franken's book is surprisingly useful at times, and Inside Congress taught me everything I knew when I was a humble Staff Assistant still trying to figure out what the lights on the clock meant (instead of just giving up and checking Webster because it's not 1962 anymore). Also, check rules.senate.gov. Great place to look things up.
Unlike in the House where the rules and their determination are critical to understanding how most legislation will move through the chamber, in the Senate the rules don't apply to most bills that pass. Guidelines of debate that are hallmarks of the House get thrown out the window on the North side of the Capitol. So how do things actually pass?
Three words, two categories, say them, and you'll move a bill through the Senate. "Unanimous Consent" and "Cloture."
We talked about Unanimous Consent in the House before but in the Senate it's a bit different. On the House side, the Majority and Minority Leadership agree to terms of debate for a certain bill that will allow it to move through the chamber in a 435-0 vote. On the Senate side, to the best of my knowledge anybody can propose that a bill move through the chamber with unanimous consent, and if it does then the measure actually doesn't even make it to the floor at all. Functionally, if you're trying to pass a bill through unanimous consent, you do all the heavy lifting beforehand in basically any medium you can think of: you convince other Senators to go your way when you're eating lunch in the Dining room or when you're taking the train from the Capitol to Hart, and by the time you're actually voting you already know how everything is going to go.
The bills that are considered this way don't even have their motions to proceed voted on on the Floor of the Senate anymore, it's all digital. There's a hotline that all the members can access, I'm pretty sure they get most of their access through their emails, and they have this conference call twice a week I think to actually do the votes. It's fun living in the future isn't it, James Monroe could never.
Cloture isn't actually a mechanism of debate either, quite the opposite, it's a mechanism to shut debate down. If 3 out of every 5 Senators says "Yeah, I've had enough of this shit, can we please move on?" then any further debate on the measure that people are tired of needs to be concluded within 30 hours of in-session time (which usually adds up to one week in the Chamber depending on the Calendar). Cloture isn't actually a vote on the measure in debate either. Given today's numbers of 100 Senators (which I hope might be going up soon), if 60 Senators vote for cloture but only 52 Senators vote Yea on a measure, the measure still passes.
Naturally, Cloture is a counter to the filibuster (which I'll talk about in a bit), but it's also a counter to regular prolonged debate that was rampant in the early Republic, and still exists to this day. The framers wanted the Senate to be a place where actual negotiation could happen on the Floor. In Jefferson's mind, Senators would receive a proposition from the House, and if two of them disagreed then they could talk it out right there and maybe bring their opponent to their side instead of falling back blindly on their constituents' opinions.
It'd go something like this:

"Senator u/Luchofromvenezuela , this proposition is absolutely preposterous. Placing u/FireDistinguishers ' stories from inside the Chamber into the main text of the prezpoll Senator opinion posts will distract our users from rating these Senators on merit of their political positions and work history. It would make the posts into a simple personality contest."
"But Senator u/JaceFlores , the posts are already colored by those stories. A person must merely scroll down to see them, at which point he or she will immediately scroll back to the link and vote on their ranking. Look at how u/FireDistinguishers inflated Chris Van Hollen's ranking by consistently praising him week after week until we finally voted on him. Besides that, the poll is quite the personality contest already, look no further than Senator Collins' rank to see such a thing."
"I understand your point Senator, but you must remember that while a person's opinions may be influenced by these factors, endorsing these factors would be a waving sign that formulating your thoughts on these Senators should indeed be based on personality. While I can accept that some users already do so, I cannot insinuate that such a thing is right."
"You make an excellent point Senator, I concede."

Now, what if that went on for six days? Well some rules of the Senate have been formulated for exactly that kind of behavior to go on while the Chamber attends to other business, but before those days if you were just tired of hearing some guys talking about something that should've been resolved already, then you and 59 of your buddies could officially tell those guys to shut the hell up so everyone can get back to work. 59 being modular of course, could be more in the future, definitely was less in the 1820s, it's just 3 out of 5.
Most measures in the Senate pass with Unanimous Consent. Think about that. Think about what kind of bills would have every single Senator voting "Yea" on the motions to proceed with them. This fact alone changes basically everything about how bills are handled in the Senate, they have to be drafted carefully, negotiated carefully, there need to be incentives for people to vote for things they wouldn't normally vote for. Mostly, that takes the form of IOUs, "If you vote for this bill you don't like, I'll vote for one of your bills I don't like." These kinds of bills can often times be built into packages of bills, and every office knows that these are a great way to get more contentious laws passed. If something is extremely contentious, language might be plucked from one bill and placed in another one to sweeten it up. The NDAA is a great example of this, because it has to pass every year.
There's a phrase that an LA told me once, "In the House your job is to pass a bill, but over here your job is to pass language." Does that mean nobody cares if bills pass? Absolutely not, it's just not my job, it's my Member's job. They have everyone in their contact list and they have every chance to see the other 99 people who vote alongside them. Senators pass laws, Senate staff pass language.

Presiding

Now, ok, technically the Vice President is the Presiding Officer of the Senate in the same way that the Speaker of the House is the Presiding Officer of the House, but the Vice President has a ton of things to do, so they can be pretty hands-off. That depends on the person and on the circumstances of any particular Congress as well. Vice President Harris will be in the Capitol a lot because of the 50-50 split. Vice President Pence showed up from time to time to serve as a liaison between the Executive and Legislative branches and maybe make deals, but he wasn't there a ton. Vice President Biden loved the Senate, so he'd be around more than was necessarily required of him because he knew he could serve President Obama's agenda pretty well from the Capitol. Vice President Cheney was too busy being the President to be the Vice President. It really all depends.
When the Vice President isn't around, the Presiding Officer is the President Pro Tempore, a role automatically given to the most senior member of the majority since the late 1800s. Most of the time, the President Pro Temore doesn't want to preside over the Senate because he or she has other shit to do, so the presiding chair is usually filled with somebody else from the majority party (more often than not, younger members, I can't wait to see Ossoff presiding).
I know what you're thinking. "Wait, they just let anybody from the majority party preside? But the Speaker of the House is such a powerful position, but over here they just give it to whoever the hell they can find??" Yeah, basically. Since things are looser in the Senate, the role of the Presiding Officer is more limited. It's still powerful, and an incredible way for anyone who's sitting in the chair to actually learn the realities of the Senate floor and parliamentary procedure, but from a tactial perspective the only reason you need someone there is to make sure that there's a member of the majority party present and softly leading the Chamber at all times when the Senate is in session. High ranking Senators, senior Senators, Senators with considerably important Committee assignments can't do that shit, they have other fucking places to be while the floor is still open in debate. A kid who just won their first term though? Someone who still really needs to learn the rules? Put them in charge as a way to force them to study, and you can go about your business while they watch things and make sure nothing falls apart. It's like having a 14 year-old babysit a 5 year-old. The parent just need to go to the store really quickly and buy batteries for the TV remote, so you get the teenager to make sure their baby sister doesn't break anything until you can get back. The teenager learns a valuable lesson about how hard it is to keep a child from hurting themself, the child doesn't hurt themself, and the parent can buy the batteries and fix the problem they were having without having to worry about anything.

Conclusions

The House is partisan and majoritarian, the Senate is whatever the fuck 100 people who won some elections want it to be. Rules in the House efficiently allow the Chamber to operate and be observed. Rules in the Senate are more like choke points that everybody is forced to contend with as they find a way to actually get work done. Deals are the real MO over here, and combining the rules that we have to play by and the deals that we have to make can really confuse viewers who can't easily track what the hell is happening at any given moment. You look at the House floor and people are in their seats, talking, maybe walking around a little. You look at the Senate floor and everybody's everywhere and nobody knows where to sit and there's paper all over the ground and one desk is full of candy, it's insane. I love it, but it means I'm going to have to take more time explaining what the hell is happening here. I'm not even a third of the way through the Senate, and this is already the longest post I've written. I won't even make a promise about what the next post is about because I don't want to fake you guys out again, but maybe we talk about a certain thing that starts with the letter "F" and ends with "ilibuster."

RoyalRoad
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Galactic Union HQ
"Emergency Session 18 of the Galactic Union, for the record," Secretary General Amanda Wilson said as she looked solemnly around at the hundreds of creatures in the chamber. At first, the Galactic Union headquarters were located in New York City, sharing spaces with Earth's United Nations. Then, as many other planets joined it, the UN General Assembly Hall became too small.
A new, larger facility was built at Galactic Peace Island, formerly known as Navy Island, a previously uninhabited island on the Niagara between the US and Canada. The new assembly chamber was large enough for every planet to have one permanent seat. Though some would choose to participate in its proceedings virtually, every one of them had visited its spacious halls. The structure itself represented their sacred and collective agreement to resolve their differences together, to face big challenges together, and to guard the interests of all sentience.
This was where galactic slavery was banned. This was where the first interspecies anti-piracy military ship was commissioned. This was where the ambassador of Ribb had come to humbly beg to be allowed to rejoin the galactic community.
For humans, its location and the extreme technological requirements needed to quickly construct the large hall also served as a convenient reminder to the galaxy of the importance of the species that hosted and built it.
"We have received a special petition regarding the issue of sovereignty over a member planet. I yield my time to their representative, joining us via virtual FTL comms," Amanda continued, pointing at the massive viewscreen above her.
The screen cleared, and a large parrot like face appeared with intricate red and black paint adorning its features.
"Hello Union members, my name is Mollikutta. I am the former Governor of Zakabara Second, and I am here to represent the interests of my people," she said calmly but loudly. There was a hubbub in the assembly hall. Zakabara already had a representative! Eyes began drifting towards the stunned Popptaw at the front of the chamber.
"My people of Second split off from Zakabara Prime many thousands of years ago. We have developed a distinct culture, and distinct interests. Our people no longer wish to accept the jurisdiction and administration of our planet from Prime. We would like to ask the Galactic Union to grant us sovereignty over our planet, our resources, and our space."
A loud squawk broke through the shocked chamber. It was Popptaw.
"This is ridiculous! Zakabara Second is and has been a colony of Zakabara for all of our history! I am the true representative for all of our people, all of our species, and I demand that this pretender be ignored by this chamber from here on out!"
The older species were nodding or agreeing silently. After all, Zakabara was not the only species that had a colony or two. Some younger species were looking to develop their own, and their ambassadors were now suddenly worried about whether they'd retain control over them.
Mollikutta was undeterred and continued, "unlike the representative from Zakabara Prime, I was chosen to lead our people with a majority voice vote last night."
It was not easy convincing the crowd to let her stay on with a promise of facilitating independence, with her being the symbol of the Primers on their planet for months.
The flashy entry of the humans in their helicopter at the palace grounds did the trick. Mark promised the mob elections and everything. Humans had a lot of credibility in the galaxy, with their cultural and economic exports.
At this point, there was more whispering and even some gasps in the chamber. They were all familiar with the concept of electoralism; that was how Earth and the GU conducted business, but few other species practiced it internally.
Mollikutta continued, "my people deserve the right to determine the future of our destiny, not to be treated as second class citizens by an oppressive regime from a faraway planet that does not understand our people or our problems!"
The undecided chamber looked to the great powers of the galaxy to see what they had to say.
Amanda spoke up simply, "the people of Earth stand with the people of Second."
Seeing this, Gubarak, the ambassador of Gakrek quickly followed, "Gaks stand with the people of Second."
"The Zeepils of Zeep-zep support the Seconders' right to self-determination."
Finally, an electronic tally showed an overwhelming majority of support for the independence of the people of Zakabara Second, with many older species choosing to abstain instead of casting their lot with Prime.
A subsequent vote gave the Galactic Union the powers to oversee the transition.
As Popptaw stormed angrily out of the chamber, Mollikutta wasn't sure which she found more beautiful: knowing that her people had a brighter future ahead of them, or watching the middle finger that the galaxy had just shown their other oppressors on Prime.
Construction Site 1, Gophor Spaceport
Grayin's heart sank as she saw Rey and Enrico walk over, hand in hand. She had hoped that it would take them longer to figure out what she was doing here and to start asking questions, but the growing pile of material and chopped wood frame in the lot she'd chosen wasn't easy to ignore.
After all, they were easily visible from their neighboring restaurant. And nobody liked competition.
"Hello Rey, hello Enrico" she said timidly, not wanting to start a confrontation this early in the business.
"Good morning, Grayin," Rey greeted politely, "and N'har. How are things going? Looks like you guys are building some kind of a permanent structure here. Does this have to do with the spaceport?"
From the familiar look on her face, Grayin knew the jig was up. She couldn't lie, so she tried confidence. "We're building a new restaurant building here. It'll be a two-story one, just like yours, except we'll also have a front patio. Like one I've seen on a magazine from Earth."
Rey smiled broadly and said, "that's very nice. Good luck with that! And don't go anywhere, we'll be right back in a bit."
Ah, shucks! They're gonna go get that security guard that they hang around. We should have thought of that, she thought. Maybe if we hired a couple of them, they wouldn't be messing with us.
About an hour later, to her surprise, Rey and Enrico came back not with Grob, but with a plastic folder with a stack of papers held in it.
"These are the contact information for the construction contractors we had on Earth for the more advanced issues we had when we were building our restaurant," Rey said. Handing her the folder, she added "and we've got our blueprints in there in case you need inspiration, as well as some interior design ideas. And let us know when you need help with water, electricity, and waste management."
"Huh?" Grayin was dumbfounded.
"You said you're constructing a new building here, right?" Enrico asked affably.
"Yes. But why are you helping us?" she asked suspiciously. Surely, they couldn't be naive enough to not recognize the obvious site of a future competitor, right?
"Oh, we're not worried about the competition if that's what you're thinking," Enrico smiled. Then he added, "besides, N'har here helped us out a bunch when we were building our business." He went over and patted the stunned N'har on the shoulders. "It's about time we returned the favor."
Grayin was not sure if she'd gone crazy, or if it were just these two humans. Perhaps it was both.
They were not crazy.
Having gone to Hamburger University, Rey was familiar with the clustering effect. Enrico, who had been to a street lined with restaurants, also intuitively understood its existence. Hell, even the food vendors at the spaceport market knew this subconsciously.
Businesses tend to cluster. For a long time, economists ignored this tendency because economists were generally not businesspeople. In the 1980s, as the field of business strategy really began to hit its stride, some of them started to take notice and study the effects of clusters.
Why do businesses open up next to each other even though they'd face the stiffest competition there? As it turns out, the reason mostly has to do with economies of scale.
When you ship something, like say napkins, to a hundred restaurants on a hundred different streets, it is costly. Far costlier than shipping napkins to a hundred restaurants on a single street. Apply that to every consumable good or maintenance need of every restaurant, and what ends up happening is that the cost of doing business in a cluster turns out to be much lower than outside. Sure, there may be strong competition, but clusters also increase foot traffic, which increases the overall pool of customers.
This also happens on the labor side. That's why so many IT workers live in the Silicon Valley, why so many prospective actors and actresses live in Hollywood, and why so many jewelers live in Antwerp. In the even longer run, successful clusters make successful cities, and successful cities rake in profits for its businesses.
In the case of Gophor, Rey and Enrico could not wait for the spaceport to develop a food court, with an even cheaper supply chain for imported goods from Earth. Additionally, the only logical move for these new buildings later on would be to hook up their utilities to their infrastructure. That would not only decrease their own cost but possibly allow them to earn a profit off that early investment.
And it was certainly going to happen sooner or later, so why not maintain a good relationship with the folks who were about to maintain a large workforce and potential customers in the area?
They offered the working Gaks some free ice cream (luckily, the ice cream machine was not broken that day), and went back to work.
Four Months Later
Grayin designated her new buildings Site 1, Site 2, and Site 3. They lined up side-by-side next to the next to the existing McDonald's building. Because many of the construction Gaks who were on her projects also worked with Rey, they were familiar with many of the human invented building techniques that were required.
They could employ more workers with their lower pay, and after a short four months, the exterior for Site 1 was mostly completed. After a risky operation that shut down McDonald's itself for a weekend, they also managed to hook their building onto Rey's "utility company".
After they celebrated the building's completion, the first thing they did was to ask Rey and Enrico whether they had an idea who on Earth would be interested in their new building. For reasons she and N'har still could not understand, the humans had been genuinely helpful and seemed utterly honest about their intentions to help her succeed.
"Hmmm," Rey thought out loud when they asked, "there are a few restaurants that could really round out this spaceport. I think your best bet for the most money would be some kind of a luxury or fine dining establishment for traders."
"Yeah, when we started, there were barely enough traders to make us profitable on them alone," Enrico completed her thought. Then he explained, "we got lucky that our business is cheap enough for locals. Now most of our business is with Gaks. But with how many bigger ships are coming in with larger crews, I think you could definitely sustain a restaurant that charged higher prices for less volume."
Grayin had seen human commercials for fine dining restaurants. Big empty spaces between tables, fixed courses, and very fancy service. She wasn't sure that it would be the right business model for Gophor, even with the increase in foot traffic. And she knew next to nothing about starting a restaurant business. But she didn't have to run it. She just had to rent it to someone who would.
"Okay," Grayin decided, then asked, "so who would you suggest we contact for someone who would be interested?"
Rey thought about it for a while, but she realized she didn't know. Her contacts really didn't extend much beyond the company she'd work for her entire life. She replied honestly, "I don't know. You could contact Izzy, who we got to handle our rental deal, and ask her if she could give you a recommendation. That's what I'd do."
After getting Isabella's contact information, Grayin and N'har thanked them and started strategizing the call.
Chicago, Earth
"It's another alien trying to rent us property on line three, Izzy," her secretary said to her calmly, as if this was something he did every week.
In a way, it was. Thousands of planets had seen what happened on Gakrek with Rey's franchise. If they were not innovative, at least they could copy. Isabella had to reject many good offworld deals that just didn't have the right infrastructure or didn't make business sense, especially on the smaller spaceports.
She did pretty well for herself too. New corner office. New secretary. New frequent flier card for the recently opened Galactic Express chartered flight company, for when she needed to inspect prospective renters or sellers.
"From where?" she asked smoothly. She had one of those galactic maps projected onto her office wall, with flags on some of her acquisitions. Some school aged kids are learning galactic geography now, but a textbook couldn't teach you which planets had the best economic conditions and on which ones the bribes were cheaper. No, that's what Wikipedia was for.
"It appears to be Gakrek," her secretary replied, "Gophor Spaceport."
Isabella frowned. That's where Rey's franchise was. She wasn't sure there were enough local customers there to support two franchises, and if it did, expanding the spaceport one would probably be the smarter move. She picked up the phone. "Hello, this is Isabella at Franchise Realty Corporation, how may I help you today?"
"Hello Isabella, my name is Grayin. I am from Gophor, on Gakrek. I am a friend of Rey, and I am trying to rent out my property. She said you might be able to recommend someone we could talk to," came her translated voice through the phone.
"Sure," Isabella said, looking up contacts on her tablet. It would be nice to do Rey a favor here. After all, Rey had kickstarted her own offworld real estate career. "What kind of business are you looking for?"
"Oh, it's very similar to Rey's building. We have an additional patio out front with space for outside seating, but other than that, it's pretty much the same. She even let us use her blueprints. We're hoping to find a fine dining business willing to take it on," Grayin replied, mirroring what the humans told her earlier.
"I see," Isabella replied, still searching but suddenly paying a lot more attention to this conversation. She could add two and two together. If this was a completed building just like their existing franchise and this was a friend of Rey's, the business opportunities here were… "Just out of curiosity, how much are you looking to charge for rent?"
Caught slightly off guard, Grayin answered honestly, "we thought we could charge 120,000 credits a month to a big chain, a little more than Rey's because we have more space."
Holy smokes, Isabella thought, another unbelievably great deal. Gophor was just the gift that kept on giving. Normally, her managers wouldn't approve a deal renting another piece of real estate right next to one of their franchises for fear of cannibalizing their own business, but commercial real estate was their bread-and-butter moneymaker. Who cares what fine dining restaurant the folks upstairs would eventually decide to sublet this out to? They wouldn't turn down a free win like this one.
"In that case, I think I might actually be interested in your space," Isabella said, putting down her tablet. "When are you free to do a walkthrough?"
Site 1, Gophor Spaceport
Grayin and N'har watched warily as the spaceport manager entered the front of their newly built construction. It was Garber. Grayin knew exactly what he was there for.
"Welcome to our new building, Garber," she greeted him at the door with a neutral tone, "how can we help you?"
"Ah, Grayin. It's nice to see you," Garber said in a grating snivel, "you look well. I was sad to see you leave our space traffic control tower."
You probably just missed skimming off my salary, Grayin fumed, but kept that part to herself.
He continued, "as you know very well, we have a tradition of maintaining our spaceport here on the donations of our merchants. I'm here to assess a suitable amount for your new store."
"How much do you have in mind?" N'har asked.
Garber looked over as if he'd just noticed N'har's presence, and stroked his snout thoughtfully. He knew he wildly undercharged the humans in the other store. He would not make the same mistake here.
Garber didn't know how much Rey's franchise was actually taking in income, but he thought a ten times increase would be a fairly safe bet. "I think we can start at five hundred fifty credits a month," he sniffed, "that seems reasonable to me."
Both Grayin and N'har managed to keep their composure at this incredibly low figure that represented less than 0.5% of the deal they were going to sign with Isabella later.
N'har glanced to his left, where he noticed Grayin was already taking out her wallet. He gave her a slight shake of his head and sent her a telepathic "no" with his eyes. He would rather Garber not come back with a higher "donation" request every time they built a new building here.
N'har pretended to haggle with Garber, "that seems like a lot of money, Garber. I hear Rey pays much less than that. And we're going to build several more buildings here in the future."
Garber chewed on that thought for a while. After all, he was a reasonable and logical Gak. If what they were saying is true, there will be plenty more credits to extract from them in the future.
"Hmm, in that case, I can give you a discount. Five hundred credits a month," Garber said generously, then added, "but you have to donate that same amount for every new building you put on my spaceport. That's my final offer. We all want your business to be successful."
N'har almost had to stop Grayin from throwing her GC card at Garber.
Constellar Contracting started as a mercenary company on Earth, increasingly taking over the combat roles in humanity's numerous small wars. Due to limited oversight on their operations, they were able to aggressively expand during the early 21st century.
Unfortunately for them, peace came to Earth. It wasn't full utopian world peace, but with economic booms happening on every corner of the globe and weather patterns stabilizing with humanity's fix for climate change, there was less motivation for planetary conflict.
So Constellar turned to the stars. Even in the great galactic Pax Hominum brought on by Earth's economic expansions, there were plenty of opportunities out there for a corporation offering premium security solutions.
After all, there were plenty of conflicts and business to go around in a galaxy of thousands of planets. Olgix was merely one of them.
Territorial Space, Zakabara Second
"Space Lord, we have an incoming communication for you!"
Canouah, the great Space Lord of Zakabara, looked at his subordinate with surprise. His underlings were getting very good at their tasks and normally did not need micromanaging to enforce this months-long blockade. Annoyed, he said, "very well, open it."
"This is Commandant Marie Laurent of the French Space Force, representing the Galactic Union Peacekeeping Force. We are here to enforce our mandate under explicit invitation from the government of Zakabara Second, to ensure that their legal territorial space remains clear of hostile ships. And to facilitate the resumption of trade to the planet. Please stand down your ships and vacate this area within twenty four hours to ensure a peaceful transition of power. Thank you for your cooperation."
Then the human connection cut out without waiting for a reply.
"Someone get me planetary command!"
"How many ships do they have?" Popptaw asked from the viewscreen. Clearly, fighting her way out of this situation was in her instinct.
"Unknown. We could only find the source of the one ship that brought the message, but once they ended their transmission, they sped into a debris field and vanished among the trash," cursed Canouah. He had heard about how Earth ships could disappear like a worm in the mud, but hadn't truly believed it until he saw with his own two eyes. "We can't fight an enemy we do not see, with weapons we can't match, and numbers we don't know."
"So we just give up? We spend all that time and resources building a space fleet for you, and they mean absolutely nothing just because Earth sends maybe one ship?!" Popptaw asked furiously.
"No, we can move back to Prime and protect our home from the humans for when they invade us," Canouah said sadly, "but we can't engage them offensively in deep space around Second. It will just be a waste of ships, and as far as we know, they can build many more of them than we can. We should pull our ships back to defend home."
"No!" Popptaw screeched. "You won't take one step backwards from our defense of OUR system! That's an order!"
"What do you want me to do? Just shoot randomly at empty space until we hit something?" the exasperated space Lord asked. Then, looking at the phone, he realized she'd already hung up.
"What do we do, space Lord?" one of his loyal lieutenants asked, looking at him for guidance on the ambiguous and clearly stupid order.
Canouah thought for a while. Then he had an idea, "we'll wait out the twenty-four hour time limit. If we see any of them, we'll shoot at a couple of them and tell Popptaw we tried. Then we pull back. I'm not going to let thousands of my birds die just because she forgot to take her pills this morning."
Gophor Spaceport, Gakrek
"Do you think we should tell them they're pretty much getting fleeced by Izzy?" Enrico asked, looking out their second story window at their neighbors celebrating the deal signing.
"Nah, it's not that bad for them. One hundred twenty is below market value, but they'll still make their startup costs back in less than half a year," his girlfriend replied. "Besides, no need to go over and ruin their party. They'll learn to charge a higher price next time. Just like how Izzy learned to put that new utility clause in offworld deals."
Most of Grayin's family and friends were here to join in on the celebration. N'har's clan was back on Yis'Meh, but they would be sure to celebrate with them later as well.
"Chug! Chug! Chug!" the crowd yelled at N'har as he guzzled down his mug of Earth imported beer. They didn't live on a wealthy planet, but nobody ever accused the Gaks of not knowing how to have fun.
In one quick motion, he quickly drained his cup, and then turned around to plant a big sloppy kiss on the sensitive snout of a surprised Grayin.
The crowd went silent for a second.
Then, unanimously, they roared their approval in a loud cheer.
A beet-red Grayin returned the favor.
Territorial Space, Zakabara Second
"We see a ping again, commander!" Rekala reported. The humans had some strange technology that allowed them to disappear into the background of orbital debris around Second, but from time to time, they would show up on the radar as they maneuvered.
His commander mulled over this latest development and her orders.
"How far are they from us?" she asked.
Frowning at the radar, Rekala replied, "The ship radar thinks it might be about 320 kilometers away, but its signature is weak and that's at the very edge of our detection range."
"Are they within the MAR?" she asked. This was a loan word borrowed from humans. Many of their technology had been public knowledge, and the nerd birds who scoured the Internet for valuable information had found an air-to-air combat tactical guide.
It became standard training material for Zakabaran spacecraft crews. In this case, MAR stood for Minimum Abort Range. It's the range at which the target would no longer be able to avoid missiles fired from the spacecraft by firing their thrusters.
"No, commander, way out. They'll have over half a minute to respond if we fire now," Rekala replied.
His commander contemplated the information. Their standing orders were to fire warning shots at the humans, but not to destroy them. She doubted that was even possible in the first place.
"Alright, let's load up our missile and fire it at the signature. Let's see what they do."
At the very least, this should be a training experience for the crew. Like most of the Zakabaran fleet, they'd only fired a missile once before, and they had to retrieve and top up the fuel in it after the exercise. Some crews had not even been allowed to train with the system at all.
"I have a lock, commander," Rekala said. He didn't want to start an interplanetary war today. But he wasn't going to disobey orders.
"Fire," she said with more certainty. He depressed the trigger.
An indigenous copy of an old human missile slid out of the cargo bay.
And then, nothing happened. It just sat there.
"What the hell?" Rekala exclaimed, "it worked last time!"
When air-to-air missiles were invented on Earth, they encountered many issues. Early missiles were generally unreliable.
One of those problem missiles was the American-made AIM-4 Falcon. The Falcon had bad combat performance. It was designed to shoot down enemy bombers rather than fighters. It ended up doing neither. The American planes that could only carry missiles, specifically the Falcon, were often outclassed in dogfights by Soviet made planes over Vietnam. It achieved few combat kills.
The biggest problem with early experimental Falcons was that it was completely enclosed in a tube before deployment, so it could only lock-on after launch. This meant that early tests of the Falcon involved firing the missile at where you see the enemy planes, and then hoping that the seeker on the Falcon would also see and track the target on the way.
This was the model that the Zakabarans copied. However, the engineers on Prime were not stupid. They knew this was an issue from the start. They solved this problem on their copied missile; it had a radio that allowed it to communicate targets with the ship's radar before it fired. The lock-on could be done before firing.
The second biggest problem with Falcon was that the seeker was slow because its coolant took a long time to cool. It would take many precious seconds to lock onto enemy planes. The engineers on Prime disregarded this problem. This made sense because ships would have plenty of time to see the enemy in space before they were in range. Combat in space happened much more slowly than in an atmosphere.
Unfortunately for Rekala and his crew, the coolant in the radar seeker was consumed as it tracked a target. After they fired their missile in the training exercise, they retrieved it and topped off the fuel. They did not refill the liquid nitrogen for the seeker.
When the missile deployed, its radar turned towards what the ship told it was an ugly human target… and saw absolutely nothing.
"Alright, let's get out of here before the humans see us!"
"They're moving away from us now," the sensor operator reported to Lt Col Riku.
"Hmm… I wonder if they even saw us."
University of Zakabara Prime
"So they can only be fired once?!" Canouah shouted at the lead engineer angrily.
"Well… if you want to use it again, you need to refill the coolant as well," she told him.
"Why weren't we made aware of this?!"
"You never asked! We didn't realize that you were going to fire them multiple times! And oh yeah, you may need to manually reset the onboard computer."
"What?!" Canouah asked, confused. "Why the computer?"
The engineer fidgeted uncomfortably and explained, "there were some bad memory leaks in the guidance program, so we just doubled the onboard memory and figured that it was a problem that would solve itself when they hit their targets and exploded."
That… was simultaneously the most brilliant and idiotic thing he'd ever heard.
Canouah shot her a withering glare, and then he picked up his radio to his lieutenant. "Yeah, pull back our ships to the line the humans drew. All our ships. We need time to refit and rearm them."
"If we start a fight out there now, we'll do no better than the frogheads."
This marks the end of the Gakrek arc, but their impact will still be seen in subsequent chapters.
The missile memory leak is a reference to a commonly known engineer meme/story. Here it is in its entirety:
I was once working with a customer who was producing on-board software for a missile. In my analysis of the code, I pointed out that they had a number of problems with storage leaks. Imagine my surprise when the customers chief software engineer said "Of course it leaks". He went on to point out that they had calculated the amount of memory the application would leak in the total possible flight time for the missile and then doubled that number. They added this much additional memory to the hardware to "support" the leaks. Since the missile will explode when it hits it's target or at the end of it's flight, the ultimate in garbage collection is performed without programmer intervention.
RoyalRoad
Index
Previous
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[Beginning | Previously]
Hello, everyone! It's been a while, huh? Well, firstly: Happy Holidays and a very Merry Christmas to all! It's been a rough year for everyone, but do try to find some cheer where you can get it, okay? Life is meant to be lived, so please, as much as you can…live it!
Anyway, without further ado, here is chapter 5! It's a short one, but hey, if you're impatient, there are options…
D.A.N.I.
DANI might have been entrusted to make important decisions in life-or-death emergencies, but ultimately he answered to the crew via the Crew Council…and naturally the Council wanted to know exactly what had happened. One of the captain’s many duties was to be the chair and Speaker of the council chambers. She even had the executive authority to veto motions if she deemed it in the best interests of the ship’s mission.
Ultimately, however, it was still a democratic system, and that meant it was full of…interesting personalities who collectively had their hand on the very literal switch that could sever DANI from Dandelion’s systems at any time if they deemed it necessary. When people like that demanded to be brought up to speed on recent events, DANI did not argue. His report had begun with a brief summary of the type of object they’d so narrowly dodged, and the measures he’d taken to avoid it. Now he was recounting the total resource expenditure.
“Three-point-four-one million kilograms of water, one-point-two million kilograms of air, twenty thousand kilograms of cold propulsion gas, six hundred grams of fissile material, and two thousand launches carrying the entirety of the Ranger Corps, all Rangermasters, and their emergency colonization payloads,” he finished. “I have exhaustively scanned along the object’s approach trajectory and found no other hazards.”
Councilor Jackson was the first to speak. “And the good news?” she prompted.
DANI simulated the sound of awkwardly clearing his throat. “I apologize, Councilor. That was the good news.”
He let a moment of silence hang in the air before elaborating. “The bad news is, our approach to Newhome is ruined. We are now in an entirely wrong orbit and at this point it won’t matter how long we burn the engines; they just don’t have enough thrust to restore our trajectory. I have been forced to calculate alternatives.”
He simulated clearing his throat again and plowed forward. “I have come up with three possible plans,” he said, and brought up a whirling simulation of the Newhome system. The bright blue dot in the middle represented Dandelion, and he sent three bright lines racing ahead of it to curve around the outer planets. “Course Alpha, the fastest and most aggressive plan, will return us to Newhome orbit in six years.”
Dismayed gasps filled the air. He let the shock settle in, then continued.
“Unfortunately, this approach leaves no margin for error. If anything at all goes wrong and we are forced to take evasive action again, or if we miss a scheduled burn, Dandelion will either be drawn into this gas giant here”—he indicated it with a red pulse and split the projected path to show various calamities—“with obviously disastrous consequences, or else drift off into interstellar space, having completely exhausted our water fuel reserves, and therefore with no hope of ever returning.”
For the second line, the view pulled far out until the orbiting worlds filled only a comparatively small part of the simulation. “At the other end of the spectrum is Course Bravo, the most conservative and efficient approach, which involves rendezvousing with and mining an icy body in the outer system, completely replenishing our water reserves for the trip back in. This leaves us with a maximum margin for error in the event of future emergencies…but it will take us fifty-four years to make Newhome orbit.”
More muttering, and plenty of shaking heads. “I think you will agree this is not an ideal solution,” he said drily, and was relieved when a few small chuckles and laughs cut through the tension. “Fortunately there is a third option, which I think may be the best balance between caution and alacrity.”
He highlighted it in bright green. “Course Charlie involves a prolonged burn here.” He pulsed on the map. “We will expend a considerable amount of our water fuel, but that will allow us to slingshot around this other gas planet, and specifically around its third moon, a water ice body similar to Europa back in Sol. A quick fly-by water mining operation should allow us to return to Newhome in eight years, while replenishing much of our expended fuel in case we’re fired upon again.”
He waited anxiously as silence swept the hall and lingered for long seconds before Councilor Hayes finally broke it.
“Fired upon? You…think we were attacked?”
DANI sighed. This was the moment of truth.
“Yes, Councilor,” he said. “I do.”
“Your proof?” Hayes asked.
DANI pantomimed a few seconds of solemn contemplation before he spoke, as though gathering his words carefully. “To be completely truthful, Councilor, any near-miss event like this will always be more likely to be an attack than not.”
A few of the councilors nodded, the ones who had a better grasp of the scale involved. Most of the others frowned at him or whispered among themselves. Hayes simply inclined his head.
“Explain,” he said.
Although DANI could, when pressed, think far faster and more rationally than any human, he usually didn’t. Most of the time he simulated being an otherwise ordinary person and processed his thoughts in much the same way as any human. First came his intuition, a gut reaction, a feeling about what he wanted to say. Then came judgment based on his feelings and intuitions, and finally he came up with a reasoning which explained his feelings.
At this moment, however, he swung into overdrive and calculated how the conversation might play out down to every foreseeable detail, created an itemized list, and picked the optimal path from among the options in the time it took Hayes to blink. He hated doing that—it felt like cheating—but some occasions were just too important.
“Compared to a human, Dandelion is enormous,” he said carefully. “Compared to all that space out there, however”—his avatar waved a hand to indicate the empty black infinity that was the whole rest of the universe—“we are very small indeed. So small that for us to be in the same place as anything else at any given time takes serious, deliberate effort. If I had not performed minor course-corrections with every day’s thrust phase throughout the voyage, we would have missed the Newhome system entirely, never mind the planet itself. You all know this, of course.”
There were nods all around the room. Everybody on Dandelion had learned the basics of their ship’s interstellar journey early in their life.
“So. Something very small—us—left one solar system, and two hundred and eighty-four years later we happened to find ourselves on a collision course with something even smaller at just the moment we entered arrived and began final approach,” DANI summarized. “Coincidences do not get much larger.”
“But if you didn’t know—” Councilor Mayweather began.
DANI interrupted him, “Forgive me, Councilor, but there is more. I back-tracked the object’s trajectory.”
He spun up the system simulation and tracked the object’s course right back to the surface of the system’s second planet.
“The angle and velocity at which it left the planet’s surface is consistent with a short-rail magnetic catapult. Admittedly it is also consistent with volcanic activity or an asteroid strike, but that would just layer more and more coincidences on top of an already highly improbable event.”
“Wouldn’t your telescopes detect an impact or volcano anyway?” Torres asked. DANI acknowledged her with a nod.
“Probably,” he agreed. “But in any event, I must always assume the worst. The mere fact that I suspected the object could have been a weapon compelled me to treat it as though it was a weapon.”
“Why?” Hayes inquired.
“Because if it was a weapon, but I treated it like it was just a dumb rock…who knows. Maybe it could have course corrected. Maybe it could have exploded. It did not do either of those things, but I had no way of knowing it would not, and reasonable grounds to believe it might.” DANI paused and animated a deep breath for effect. “And you can rest absolutely assured, Councilors, that humanity has developed many different weapons which could have effortlessly destroyed Dandelion, no matter how aggressively I took evasive action, or how much reaction mass I added to the equation in the form of the launches.”
That last sentence turned out to be a misstep. Humans, alas, were never quite as predictable as DANI thought.
“Reaction mass?” Councilor Mayweather looked absolutely livid and stood up, trembling with rage. “You jettisoned our children as reaction mass?”
“Evacuated,” DANI corrected him. “Happily, the lifeboat launches also gave us some extra thrust to evade the hazard—”
Mayweather interrupted him, looking thoroughly appalled. “You used our children as propellant?” he choked on the last word. “You threw our kids overboard onto an alien planet when you thought something might be shooting at us?”
He turned to Torres, looking utterly furious. “Captain, I move we take a vote of no confidence in DANI and curtail his executive functions.”
Several of the other councilors stood up and started shouting as well. Most leapt to DANI’s defense, but at least half a dozen were on Mayweather’s side. DANI calmed himself by calculating Pi to several million digits—a human would have taken a deep and cleansing breath—and waited. He’d anticipated something like this, but it still hurt.
Captain Torres finally managed to calm everybody down by beating her gavel so hard on her desk that the old oak surface took a few dents. The rabble subsided, until only Mayweather and a few of his loudest supporters were still on their feet.
“DANI,” Torres said once order had been restored, “do you have anything to say in your defense?”
DANI gave her a grateful look and summoned the words he had carefully assembled during the hubbub.
“Option one,” he said, “was not to launch the lifeboats at all. In which case, if the ship had been destroyed, your children would have died with the rest of us.
“Option two,” he continued over the objections of Councilor Mayweather and his supporters, “was to launch the lifeboats empty and recall them once the danger was past. This suffers from the same problem as option one—it might not have been enough, and your children would have died onboard along with everybody else.
“Option three: I could have launched the lifeboats with your children on board, then recalled them. But if we are shot at again, Councilors, we will be right back to square one, and we will not be within evacuation range of Newhome next time.”
He let them digest those options for just a heartbeat.
“I chose,” he finished, “option four. I saved your children’s lives and completed Dandelion’s primary mission by delivering a viable population of colonists to the target planet. By a happy coincidence, this course of action also maximized your own odds of survival, so I beg your pardon, Councilor, but no, I did not ‘use your children as propellant’—I made use of the opportunity this presented to ensure that you will, hopefully, live to see them again…or if you don’t, to ensure they will live.”
There was a clanging silence. Councilor Mayweather gave DANI’s avatar a long, shaky look, then sat down quite abruptly without another word.
Captain Torres stood up to replace him. She looked around at the councilors, then directed a fearsome, level stare at the camera drones and the hundreds of thousands of Dandelion crewpersons watching from all over the ship.
“DANI’s first responsibility is to the mission,” she reminded them all. “His duty is to maximize the chance of mission success and minimize the risk of mission failure. He’s quite right—thanks to his actions, Dandelion’s mission is already a success; we are alive, and most importantly our children are alive. Councilor Mayweather, with respect to your feelings, I exercise my authority to veto your motion.”
“Understood, Captain.” Mayweather sighed. Torres softened slightly.
“Antony, I won’t see my husband for at least eight years,” she reminded him. “Walker went with the kids. We’ll be getting downright old by the time we see each other again; do you really think I like this, either? But DANI still has my full confidence, and he should still have yours.”
“Thank you, Captain,” DANI said softly. “I will do my best to be worthy of it.”
The chamber was silent for a few long seconds before Torres cleared her throat and straightened her back.
“Is eight years really the best we can do?” she asked.
“It’s the best balance between speed and caution,” DANI repeated. “I appreciate that separating parents from their children for so long is a lot to ask, but if somebody shoots at us again, I want to be able to dodge again.”
“You’re entirely convinced it was an attack?” Councilor Hayes asked. “I know you’ve made the case for probability, but…for something to be waiting here ready and willing to shoot at us as we arrive seems just as unlikely.”
Councilor Jackson nodded emphatically. “Anything with the technology to shoot at us would want to take a good look at us first, wouldn’t it?” she asked.
Hayes shook his head. “That’s a big assumption, Kayla. It’d have to be an alien of some kind, so who knows how it thinks?”
“And who says it didn’t get a good look at us first?” Torres asked.
DANI cleared his throat and answered Hayes’ question. “It might be going too far to say that I’m convinced, Councilor…I mean, ‘convinced’ is such a strong word.” A scattering of dry though slightly nervous chuckles swept the chamber. “But we should assume the worst and hope for the best. If another hazard comes our way, we’ll know we’re being shot at.”
“And…if we are?” Jackson asked.
Torres answered her while DANI was still calculating his reply. “Then I for one am very glad the children are no longer aboard,” she said firmly. Nods bobbed around the room. She stood from her desk and strode to the middle of the chamber.
“Thank you, DANI. Councilors, there will be many difficult decisions to make over the coming days and weeks,” she said. “The Department of Population Control must weigh the possibility that we really were attacked and whether we can justify continuing to have new babies as we conclude our voyage. The Department of Resource Management needs to prepare for the next eight years. Counseling must be made available to parents who couldn’t go with their children…For now, however, if somebody would please move that we commit to following DANI’s Course Charlie and begin to plan accordingly?”
Jackson stood up. “I so move,” she declared.
Hayes took to his feet as well. “Seconded.”
Torres thanked them both with a nod, then addressed the rest of the councilors, “As many of that opinion, say aye?”
A sullen, but unanimous cry of “aye” went quietly around the chamber.
“And against?”
Silence.
“The ayes have it. DANI, make it so.”
Relief flooded DANI’s system for a microsecond. “Aye, aye, Captain.”
He turned his attention away from proceedings to make his course corrections.
The biggest concern was water. Quite aside from being there for the crew to drink and clean with, it was both their fuel and their shield against the harmful radiation forever slicing through the cosmos. Dandelion fused ordinary distilled water, extract energy very efficiently from it, and use that energy to power the engines.
In the emergency, he’d also flash-boiled enormous volumes and vented the steam. Doing so had produced far more thrust than the main engines did all by themselves, but it had decimated their reserve. He was going to need to replenish, and do so cautiously. If they were under fire, he needed every liter of reserve water in case a second shot came their way.
Gently, slowly, he started bringing the nose around to align Dandelion along its new thrust axis. Completing that rotation would take nearly two days, but that was probably for the best. People were going to need time to adjust.
He was distracted from his thoughts by a voice from the council chamber.
“DANI.”
Councilor Mayweather had slipped away to one of the ship terminals at the edge of the chamber to speak privately. DANI really wasn’t in the mood to speak with him, but the look on Mayweather’s face convinced him to at least give the man a chance. There was a healthy degree of shame there.
“Yes, Councilor?”
“I’m sorry.”
DANI blanked on how to reply. He simply hadn’t foreseen a straightforward apology, or at least, not so soon.
Mayweather filled the silence. “I crossed the line just then. I let my feelings get the better of my judgment, and…I’m sorry,” he repeated lamely. “I feel like a heel.”
“I confess, your call for a vote of no confidence was hurtful,” DANI confided. “I appreciate your apology, but…” Frankly he was still much too sore to give Mayweather his forgiveness just yet.
“I know. And…I understand if you don’t roll over and forgive me just because I said sorry.” Mayweather sighed. “But I still am.”
“What brought it on, then, may I ask?” DANI inquired.
“I…I didn’t get to say goodbye to Arianna. She’ll be an adult by the time I see her again, and…” Mayweather went very quiet. In that moment, DANI felt, he looked even older than he was.
If DANI had still been projecting an avatar, it would have hung its head at that point. Instead he poured sympathy into his tone of voice.
“I will try to accept your apology in due time, Councilor,” he promised. “And I would like to rebuild our positive relationship.”
“I’d like that too.” Mayweather cleared his throat miserably, then seemed to think of something. “A-are they…okay?”
DANI focused. In the hours since their departure, the lifeboats had accelerated at an incredible rate and were now flashing across the Newhome system, bent on delivering their precious cargo as quickly as possible. They’d decelerate just as fiercely as they fell in toward humanity’s new world, and the children on board were probably having an utterly miserable time of it, but nothing was outside of what it should be.
“All of the lifeboats are functioning perfectly,” he assured Mayweather. “The first one should make landfall in about five days.”
“And…what happens then?”
“Then, Councilor,” DANI said, “human civilization on Newhome will begin.”
Amber Houston
“C’mon sleepy head, wake up!” Amber woke to Roy pawing at her shoulder and bouncing heavily to his feet. “Gotta do jumping jacks!”
Out of habit, Amber let out a reluctant groan as she sat up, but the truth was she felt well-rested and energized. Her body was still a little sore from the high-G pounding it had endured for several hours yesterday, but she’d slept incredibly well, considering her bed was a thin roll on a metal deck. She stretched out and clambered to her feet.
She glanced at the countdown: ninety minutes. She’d been asleep for six hours.
“Jumping jacks?”
“Yup! We’re gonna spend eight hours in the couches, so we need exercise!”
“Don’t we need breakfast?”
“That comes after. Come on!”
To be fair, between them, Walker and the twins managed to get everyone thoroughly exercised and eager to sit down just in fifteen minutes. Amber could see the logic. The next few hours were going to be punishing, and the routine was going to last for probably days. They needed to move, or else it would be ten times worse.
But she was beyond glad when they finally finished.
Her breakfast pack turned out to be scrambled eggs with bacon and an English muffin. The “eggs” were kind of a chewy yellow log, but at least the packed-in blueberry granola bar and cinnamon toaster pastry were nice.
She was cleaning her fingers with a wet wipe when Walker did the rounds to check that everybody had eaten everything, including the hated “eggs.”
“Everyone, wipe down as best you can, we need to keep hygienic,” he ordered. “That goes double for you two, McKays.”
Roy objected straight away, “I always keep clean!”
“Good! Keep it that way.” Walker grinned, “We’re all going to be rank enough by the time we get there anyway.”
Nikki grumbled to herself quietly, but did as she was told.
Fifteen minutes of exercise and half an hour for breakfast left forty-five minutes before they had to be back in their couches. That was deliberate; with a whole troop on board, they needed that time to make sure everybody used the only toilet, a cramped little stall at the back of the launch that even Amber found claustrophobic. She had no idea how Roy or Walker squeezed themselves inside.
She spent the rest of her time wandering around the deck to keep her legs stretched and thinking, up until the moment she spotted the cluster of kids gathered around the command couch at the front, gazing out the forward canopy.
She joined them and lost herself for a little while in staring at the stars.
They were so different from city lights, or the little glowing stickers on her bedroom ceiling. They were…hard to describe to herself, actually. Each one was so tiny that she couldn’t really grasp it, like her eye knew something was there, but she couldn’t put a width to what she was seeing.
There were patterns, too. In front of the light dusty trail of the galaxy, a few of those stars burned prouder and brighter, and she spent a while tracing imaginary lines between them, trying to spot the images they made.
Floyd Harris seemed to have the best knack for it. He’d point and sketch lines with his finger and name a constellation like it was effortless. There was Rover the Dog, Bruce the Bat, the Bottle…he picked out one that looked remarkably humanoid and proudly declared that he was naming it after DANI.
“I kinda doubt DANI will want a constellation named after him,” Walker commented at that one, and made them all jump. For such a solid man, he could be incredibly quiet at times.
“Can I call it Walker, then?” Floyd asked.
Walker was clearly touched, but he shook his head. “Better not. Let’s wait and see before we name things after people, okay? Is everyone clean? All used the toilet?”
The kids all gave honest replies along the lines of “Yes, sir,” and Amber nodded.
“Good. We sit down in ten minutes. If there’s anything you need to sort out before then, go do it. Okay?” He gave Amber a nod that clearly communicated she was in charge of the young ones and continued on his rounds.
“Anybody?” Amber asked.
“When are we going back to the ship, Amber?” Rose asked.
Remembering her promise to Walker, Amber decided against telling them the whole truth…but she didn’t bluff or lie, either. “I talked with Walker about that. He’s waiting to hear more from DANI. In the meantime, let’s get strapped in,” she said, which seemed to be enough for now.
Getting them all settled and ready, making sure their clothes were smoothed out under them so no wrinkles or seams would press into them, and doing the same for herself was good, honest work, but it didn’t distract her from her thoughts. She traded hugs with the twins as they sat down, and Walker returned to the front, but again didn’t comment when she heard Danish musing on when they were going to turn around.
In fact, she realized as the higher-gravity acceleration resumed and an elephant settled on her chest, she was beginning to be glad they wouldn’t.
• • •
A few hours later, mostly she was just hoping for a distraction.
Being able to see the countdown that told her when their three-G torture would end and she’d have another spell of normal gravity to enjoy was a torment all its own. It seemed to be counting down with a kind of malice, being far too slow while she watched it, and barely moving at all when she didn’t.
About four hours in, Roy finally provided the longed-for distraction.
“Hey, Amber?”
Amber tore her eyes away from the glacial clock. “Hmm?”
“I’ve been thinking.”
Despite the grinding discomfort, Amber still found it in her to tease him a bit. “A dangerous pastime.”
He shook his head gently, though a smile touched his face. “You studied orbital mechanics a bit, right?”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve been thinking ahead to when we land. How long we’re gonna be down there. You know? Before the ship catches up with us.”
Amber shrugged as well as she could manage in her restraints and the gravity load. “That depends on what happened, how hard DANI maneuvered, in what direction…If he completely spoiled the approach, it could be…I don’t know.”
“Years,” Nikki interjected in a dull voice.
Amber gave a shallow nod again. “Yeah. Could be.”
The twins were silent for a few seconds before Nikki finally gave voice to what they were probably both feeling.
“Well…crap.”
“Yeah,” Roy agreed fervently.
Amber shrugged again. “No sense worrying about it. Que sera, sera.”
“Kay what-now?”
“It means, ‘whatever will happen, will happen,’” Amber explained, and shut her eyes. Maybe she could sleep away the hours instead of clock-watching. She was beginning to get a serious headache, and her limbs were being slowly but relentlessly pummeled by their own exaggerated weight. There was nothing to do except lie back and try to endure it.
Maybe she succeeded a little bit, too, because she lost track of the conversation as the twins mulled over the ramifications of maybe making groundfall rather than their original life plans. Nikki showed some of her nervous habits; she drummed her fingers and asked all sorts of rhetorical questions, mostly in hushed tones so as not to annoy the other Rangers nearby. She fretted about their parents a lot.
Roy settled into something…stoic. He mostly nodded along and kept his own counsel. His usual exuberance around friends was thoroughly absent, for now.
Although the details got hazy and blurry and Amber couldn’t recall them afterwards, she was jolted back out of her half-doze and into the present by a sudden burst of characteristic Roy optimism, though it sounded a bit forced.
“Well, it’s not all bad. I bet we get to eat steak every day after this!”
Nikki snorted. “Yeah, good luck getting any when we land.”
“Hush, you. There’s gonna be something we can eat. Fish maybe!”
“Guys,” Amber groaned. Everything ached. “Please don’t start a tussle now…”
Roy looked a little hurt by that. “Amber, you know me better than that. Tussles are for play. This ain’t playtime.”
Amber opened her eyes and gave him a suffering look. “No. Sorry. I just…”
“You’ve got a splitting headache, and you can’t breathe properly,” Nikki finished for her. She leaned over as far as her restraints would allow and laid a hand that felt as heavy as an iron bar on Amber’s shoulder in the closest thing she could manage to a hug. “We know.”
“Here.” Roy looked at the mission clock, then Walker. “Permission to stand up?”
“What for?” Walker asked.
Roy gestured toward the medicine cabinet. “Amber’s got a headache, an’ there’s low-dose aspirin in there for exactly this.”
Walker nodded. “Granted. Give some to everyone over twelve,” he ordered.
“Blood thinner?” Roy asked. Amber nodded shallowly to herself, as much as her neck support would permit. The lifeboat’s seats had massagers built in, and the one-G rest breaks were there so they could stand up and avoid nasty things like bed sores and blood clots…but one of aspirin’s useful side-effects was to thin the blood, which would help with those problems and their headaches.
Walker nodded again “Yup.”
“Will do, boss.” Roy reached above his head, pulled down his pack without much effort, and pulled out one of his special bars. He looked at it, wrinkled his nose, ripped open the package, and demolished the whole thing in a few efficient bites, chasing it down with his whole water canteen.
The bars were a little something DANI handed out to all the outerdeck engineers. Amber had no idea why anyone would ever want to eat them. They tasted unpleasantly like nothing but pure whey protein, and the texture was just…gummy and chewy, in the least appetizing way. Sure, they were full of energy and such, but they really weren’t fun to eat.
Roy clearly didn’t enjoy it much, either. But it seemed to do something important for him, perhaps helped psych him up for the work ahead. He sat still for a minute, maybe waiting for the bar to do…whatever it was it did. In any case, when he was ready, he nodded over at Walker, who nodded back. With care, Roy unhooked his restraints and scooted forward in his couch until he was perched on the edge.
Once his feet were firmly underneath him, he planted his hands on either side of his hips and heaved himself upright with a satisfied grunt. He bounced heavily in place to stretch for a moment, then picked his way over to the medicine cabinet with a cautious, practiced gait. If it was a strain, he did a good job of hiding it as he shuffled across the deck like he’d done this a hundred times before, and regained confidence with every step.
By the time he thumped back to Amber, Roy’s goofy grin and intrinsically bouncy nature had firmly reasserted itself. He held out a couple of small pills and a water pouch. “Drink it all, okay?”
Amber nodded, and Roy went about his work. It was…impressive to watch. His usual goofiness was there, but this time it was a mask to disguise his concentration on the task at hand. What he was doing was dangerous, after all; a fall in three G meant nobody would be able to help him, not even Walker. He had once tried to shuttle Roy in a fireman’s carry, and only barely managed to make it twenty-five meters…and that was on the biodeck in one G. Roy had grown considerably since then, too. All that was clearly on his mind because he was careful, confident, focused on the risks and the task at hand…and managed it handily.
Amber realized just how lucky they were. Right now, in this situation, Roy was the only one who could deal with the crushing gravity they were under and fix any problems that came up. Walker could probably stand up in short doses, and Nikki probably would have been just as mobile in slightly lower gravity, though she looked like she was kicking herself for not being able to help more…
But Amber felt a stab of sympathy for all the lifeboats who didn’t have a Roy on board. As awful as this ride was, it would have been far worse without him cheerfully making the floor creak under his big bare feet as he passed out the painkillers.
He also re-checked everyone’s harnesses individually and re-cinched their packs down—he was almost too short and had to stand on his toes at each couch. He even climbed up and across the maintenance ladder to the top of the Launch without obvious effort, all so he could lock down a window shade that had vibrated loose. The sun was blazing through and dazzling Kelly, for whom Roy had always had a soft spot.
That done, he looked around idly, giving Amber the impression he didn’t really want to return to his seat just yet and was looking for anything else to do.
Her suspicion turned out to be on the money when he grinned happily down at Walker. “Anything else?” Roy was clearly enjoying his respite from the crash couch.
“Not that I can see,” Walker replied. “Get yourself seated again, please.”
“Okay!”
He climbed back across the ceiling and down the wall, confident and strong as always. Once down, he sauntered back over to his crash couch with a huge grin, a bit of showmanship, and plenty of his playfully macho swagger on display. The kids ate it up and the mood lifted considerably. Roy was like a protective big brother to everyone on the team, and couldn’t stand seeing anyone feeling down.
He looked like he wanted to show off a little more, too, but a raised eyebrow from Walker said all that needed to be said—not the time for play. Chuckling ruefully, Roy lowered himself back into his crash couch with a quiet, satisfied sigh that was barely loud enough for Amber to hear, and swore under his breath.
“Are you okay?” Nikki whispered.
“Yeah! Good exercise!” Roy panted and mopped the sweat from his face but grinned back at her reassuringly. “Don’t worry ‘bout me. Felt good to help!”
Amber smiled at him, then checked the mission clock. To her quiet delight, it had ticked down much more than she’d thought.
With nothing better to do, she closed her eyes again and tried to sleep some more. There were four more days of this ahead of her. She had no choice but to endure it and save her energy.
She was going to need it.
Did you enjoy it? As I said at the beginning, we intend to publish the entire story free-to-read over the coming months. That said, if you're impatient…

You could order the eBook from Amazon, and skip the wait. There's a hardcover and paperback version available too. It's also available from Indiebound, Barnes and Noble, and other retailers of quality books. Finally, the book can be ordered at any local bookstore by ISBN: 978-1-7358787-0-6 for the hardcover, 978-1-7358787-2-0 if you prefer paperback.

In any case, we're simply happy to share the story with you, and we think you'll like it very much indeed.
Anyway. Thank you very much for your attention and time. It means a lot to me, it really does.
Thank you.
[To Chapter 6]

9:26 AM
A Cave
Brenda kept a hand on her forehead as she rose up from sleeping. Her back ached as usual from the lack of proper beds as she saw the tossing and turning in her sleep had scattered the pile of leaves and grass she rested on.
She looked over to where all the others were sleeping to see most of them were gone with a few stragglers still snoring loudly. Light was coming from the outside so it seemed like everyone had gone outside to scout or forage. Brenda rubbed her eyes for a bit and yawned before using the cave wall to help her stand up.
After gaining her bearings, she headed outside to see a crowd of people gathering around something. Judging from the sounds she was hearing and the bits of chatter she could pick up, her comrades were opening crates and looking through the contents. She managed to find a gap in the crowd and squeezed her way in to see Faust overseeing his men unloading things.
“Morning!” Kevin's voice called.
Brenda turned to Kevin. “These are the supplies that Faust said was coming?”
“Yup,” Kevin answered with a nod.
Brenda stepped up to the three crates to see them segregated by content. The first contained the usual water and whatever ingredients could be scrounged together. In the second were a few weapons and ammunition while the final one had peculiar items like cell phones and tattered rags.
“Where's Dmitri?” Brenda asked.
“He's out with the foragers today; they needed an extra hand and he was standing in front of me so he ended up going,” Kevin explained with a laugh.
“Brenda!” Faust called. “You're finally awake.”
Brenda nodded at Faust. “I'm ready for whatever happens today. What's the third crate stuff for?”
“Now that the supplies are here,” Faust started, “we're going to get a bit more aggressive with observing the enemy. With more disguises, we can have more men nearby Rhodes Island to see where your sister is the moment she leaves the ship. The cell phones are so we can all keep in touch and also in hopes that we can contact your sister somehow.”
“You have a plan to speak with my sister?” Brenda asked, not hiding her excitement.
“It's a straightforward plan. We don't know her number and she doesn't know ours so there's no way we can call her. However, if we were to get her one of ours, she'd be able to contact us,” Faust explained.
“What do you need me to do?” Brenda asked.
Faust smiled. “You're excited, I understand, but for now you're going to do nothing. When we get the phone into her hands, she'll be much more comfortable speaking to you. You will get as much information as you can out of her and help us plan how we're going to rescue her.”
“Okay, Faust. Please... Bring my sister home...” Brenda said.
Faust nodded. “The time will come soon.”
11:44 AM
Corridor
Eddron kept putting his hand near his holster. Even if the gun inside of it was just a water gun, he felt so much more complete having his gear. Since the very first day C2 existed when he almost drew his gun out during the scuffle with C1, he had been prohibited from having his pistol and even his holster when not on missions. The days since Chernobog had been quite taxing on Eddron's patience, wondering if his equipment which he worked so hard to be certified for was being taken care of.
Thanks to Exusiai's supervision for today's training, he was allowed his holster and they would've even given him his pistol if not for Exusiai's insistence that it was not needed. It was at that moment that Eddron began to appreciate the benefits of being a higher ranked Operator. Despite her somewhat quirky attitude at times, the staff and other Operators on the base were always ready listen to her the moment her status as an Elite 2 was apparent.
I need to work hard so I can be high ranked like her. I can only imagine the things I could do with power like that.
“So where are your friends? I thought they'd be helping me out like they helped out Jay,” Eddron asked.
Exusiai gave Eddron a mischievous grin. “They're already helping us.”
“With what?” Eddron asked, looking even more confused.
“I told Tex, Sora, and Croissant to give us thirty minutes before they start hunting for you,” Exusiai answered.
Eddron's confusion turned to a slight fear. “Hunting? What do you mean by that?”
Exusiai nodded. “Your aim's not that bad but that's something you can practice by yourself on the range without us. Your captain Jay tapped us to try to find ways to bring out everyone's potential. He told me you guys game together.”
“Yeah, fighters, shooters, the usual stuff,” Eddron said.
“Well if you're good at games, you must have some decent reflexes,” Exusiai said.
“Good enough to beat Jay a lot,” Eddron bragged with a proud smile.
“Well today's exercise has you pitted against my friends who all have water pistols. They'll be coming at you from every direction or waiting in ambush for you. Get hit once, and you fail,” Exusiai explained.
“Then how do I pass?” Eddron asked.
Exusiai froze for a moment. “Huh... I guess I didn't really think that far.”
“Because you don't have confidence in me?” Eddron asked in a disappointed tone.
“Of course not!” Exusiai said abruptly. “Okay, if you can make it through... let's say... five encounters with my friends, you pass.”
“Alright, has it been thirty minutes yet?” Eddron asked.
Exusiai pulled out her phone. “Looks like they're already on the prowl.”
Eddron immediately looked behind him just in case he was being followed by one of Exusiai's friends. As a Sankta, he was already quite an easy target to pick out but he was also being accompanied by Exusiai which practically made a beacon for her friends to get him.
I got this. This is gonna be just like me running circles around Jay on the labyrinth map in Super Shooters of Honour.
“Can I draw my water gun now?” Eddron asked.
“Sure, but if you show me how quick you are on the draw, I might give you bonus points,” Exusiai said.
Eddron debated whether he should draw. With superior combat experience than him, the Penguin Logistics girls had too many advantages for Eddron to risk getting caught with his pants down. As much as he wanted the bonus points, he didn't feel totally confident in being able to survive five encounters with Exusiai's friends, especially Texas.
Eddron drew his water gun and kept his eyes scanning around any intersecting corridors and doors for any threats.
“Not the funnest decision, but definitely the smartest one,” Exusiai said as she eyed the water gun.
“I've heard enough stories about you guys to not want to take any chances,” Eddron said.
Eddron spotted someone just appearing out of the corner of the next intersecting hallway. Without taking the chance to identify his target, Eddron pointed his water gun at the appearing figure and pulled the trigger, sending a small stream of water forward.
To his horror, the target wasn't one of Exusiai's friends and was instead Executor. The man simply stood still as the water splashed off of his coat, he looked down for a moment before looking at Eddron and Exusiai with a most displeased expression.
“What the heck is that Executor guy doing here?!” Exusiai yelled.
Eddron lowered his water gun and held his hand out. “Dude, I'm so sorry! Don't worry it's just water!”
“I've been looking for you two,” Executor said.
“What? Why?” Exusiai asked.
“After the mess you made yesterday, Citizen Exusiai, I've been meaning to speak to you about your conduct and how it poorly reflects on Laterano,” Executor explained in his signature monotone voice.
Exusiai crossed her arms and snarled at Executor. “Listen, Executor, we were helping out a fellow Operator with their training. Also, since I'm an Elite 2, I technically outrank you so why don't you forget about whatever you wanted to do with us and let us continue with our work? Alright?”
“My contract with Rhodes Island gives me authority over matters involving Sankta. As a representative of Laterano, I must make sure you act in conduct that reflects well on us. To achieve that, I will have to supervise your activities for the time being,” Executor said.
“Come on man, it's been awhile since I've been back in Laterano. I might as well not be a citizen anymore,” Exusiai whined.
“You are Sankta and born in Laterano, you are a citizen,” Executor said bluntly.
Eddron tugged on Exusiai's arm. “Careful, you don't wanna mess with him.”
“What is this training you're giving Citizen Eddron? Does it involve firearms?” Executor asked.
Exusiai shrugged. “I'm just looking at his reflexes; it'll help him become a better sniper.”
“You should focus on the fundamentals,” Executor said.
“Oh come on, Executor,” Eddron called. “I'm more than ready for an actual exercise; I don't need the basics.”
“Clearly not since you're not practising proper trigger discipline,” Executor said while pointing at Eddron's water gun.
Eddron reflexively looked down at his water gun to see that he had his finger in the trigger guard the entire time. He took it out and awkwardly kept his finger on the gun's side for a bit until he got used to not having his finger on the trigger.
“Citizen Exusiai, what's the first rule of firearm safety?” Executor asked.
“Huh? What? Why are you asking me all of the sudden? Eddron's the one getting the lesson here,” Exusiai argued in a panicked tone.
“Please answer the question,” Executor demanded.
“You're really putting me on the spot here, Executor. It's been a long time since I got my certification. But it's don't keep your finger on the trigger unless you intend to kill, right?” Exusiai asked.
Executor shook his head. “That's one of them, but not the first. The first is to treat every gun as if it were loaded. Clearly both of you need to go over the fundamentals. Please come with me.”
“To where?” Eddron asked.
“I will help you both go over the fundamentals,” Executor answered.
Exusiai groaned. “You gotta be kidding me! I'm the teacher here today!”
“Exusiai, I know you're tough, but I don't think you could take him,” Eddron warned.
“Ugh! Fine!” Exusiai whined.
11:58 AM
Cafeteria
Andrea eagerly picked up her sub and took the largest bite she could out of it. It was as tasty as the posters and ads from a chain that only operated in the nicer parts of Chernobog claimed it to be.
Despite the hundreds, almost thousands of mouths to feed, the cafeteria was always bringing up new meals to make sure they didn't repeat too often. Their policy gave Andrea the opportunity to try out so many things she had seen in magazines and advertisements and helped bridge the gap between her and a world she never had the privilege to experience.
As she took another bite, she remembered that her and her squad were here for important business. She put down her sub and waited as Thorax—the final member of D5 not at the table—came over with his tray and settled himself down.
“Alright everyone,” Nozomi called, “now that we're all here, we can begin discussing who's gonna be captain of this squad. Drill Instructor Dobermann gave us until the end of the week but we should figure things out right now.”
“I agree, and I think it should be me,” Thorax declared.
“Why you?” Nozomi asked.
“I'm big, I'm strong, and I'm pretty damn handsome if I do say myself. I think it's kind of an unwritten rule that the leader has to be good looking. You guys have seen captains Nearl and Siege right? Total babes if I do say so myself. Nozomi here... eh... she's kinda got the whole coconut thing going on with that haircut,” Thorax explained.
Nozomi slammed the table. “They are captains because they are skilled warriors with great leadership qualities.”
“Oh I got those too of course! We'll find a quiet place away from everyone else and I'll show you who's the best fighter in this squad,” Thorax boasted.
“No,” Nozomi said abruptly. “Drill Instructor Dobermann told us to make our choice peacefully.”
Andrea stayed silent while the two argued. She didn't like to see her squadmates fight considering how much they needed to rely on each other. Even after Gelly yelled at them for the squad's poor performance during their first training exercise, there was still yet to be any peace. She began to wonder if Gelly's squad had any trouble when they were also starting out.
“With me as the leader, this squad can go even further beyond!” Nozomi declared.
“You know, we've done so much arguing when we should just have the damn vote right here and right now,” Thorax said.
“How about a compromise? Instead of either of you becoming captain, you just let me become captain,” Gale suggested with a smug grin.
“How is that a compromise?!” Thorax and Nozomi asked in unison.
“It's been nothing but arguing between you two! If you guys make me captain, neither of you can be jealous of the other while I get to be the cool guy in this squad. I see it as an absolute win. Thanks to the great teachings, I feel as if I am one with Terra and that will make me an excellent leader,” Gale argued.
“Then we'll just be jealous of you,” Thorax said.
“Well then, I guess we're at an impasse,” Gale said.
“Like Thorax said, we'll have the vote right here and now. We'll have Coral, Lucid, and Powder decide who gets to be captain,” Nozomi explained.
Andrea began to alternate between looking at the three candidates. She was worried that casting a vote would make the other two upset at her, but what choice did she have? From what she could observe from Gelly, it seemed like she liked Nozomi the most out of the three. With her experience and the fact Andrea cared for her opinion, it seemed like the logical choice was to back the candidate that Gelly would've supported.
Thorax nodded. “Alright girls, take your pick, let's get this over with.”
“Wait,” Nozomi called while raising a hand. “Let's agree that whoever gets the majority of the votes is the captain and let it be the end of it. Even if I don't get picked, if we can end this, then let's end this.”
“Agreed,” Thorax said.
“Glad to see you two are gracious in defeat,” Gale said.
“Coral, who are you voting for?” Nozomi asked.
Everyone at the table turned to Andrea which made her pause. She looked everyone in the eyes and squirmed for a moment before opening her mouth.
“She hasn't told me who she'd support, but if I had to guess, I think Gelly would support Nozomi so I support her too,” Andrea said.
Nozomi clapped her hands together. “Yosh! I must thank Senior for her support later!”
“Alright, that's one, but don't get your hopes up too soon,” Thorax warned.
“What about you, Lucid?” Gale asked.
Lucid gasped and looked around at everyone before staring down at her lap. “Oh... I dunno... you guys all seem great. As long as we all keep each other safe, I'll be happy with whoever.”
“Nice cop out, but who you voting for?” Thorax asked.
“Oh... um... I still don't know...” Lucid said softly.
“With my big shield and strong scales, I think I can keep you all safe,” Thorax said.
Lucid nodded. “Okay. I vote for Thorax.”
Nozomi stood up and slammed the table again. “I can protect you too, Lucid!”
“Oh... then maybe I might switch my vote...” Lucid said.
“Hold on a second there, Lucid!” Thorax called. “If you can answer yes to any of these questions, you can vote for Nozomi. Does she have a shield? Does she have strong scales that can stop an arrow. And is she tall and muscular?”
Lucid reluctantly shook her head. “No... I guess I'll stick with Thorax then.”
“You bastard!” Nozomi yelled.
Andrea sighed and turned over to Powder who was busy chowing down on her sub. “It all comes down to you, Powder.”
Powder gulped down the end of her sub and patted her hands together to wipe away the crumbs. She looked at Nozomi, Thorax, and Gale for a good minute each before raising up her finger and pointing at Nozomi.
“You're voting for me?” Nozomi asked, a smile forming on her face.
Powder's finger began to move toward Thorax. “Eeenie meenie miney mo...”
“You can't seriously think voting randomly like that is gonna work out good in the end, do you?” Nozomi asked in a panicked tone.
Everyone at the table went silent as Powder went through her little rhyme. It was going a lot longer than usual as she was using verses nobody remembered at all from the times they were all children and frankly it seemed like she was making things up to draw things out. Although, her ability to come up with rhymes on the fly was quite impressive.
Andrea had hoped for a more decisive victory, or at least one that wasn't based on random chance, but for now, she could only watch with great anxiety as Powder neared the end of the rhyme.
“...goodbye my friend, I have reached the end,” Powder finished as her finger ended up pointing at Gale.
“Shit... what do we do with a three way tie?” Gale asked.
“We do another round of voting,” Nozomi suggested.
“What if nobody changes their vote?” Thorax asked.
Nozomi scratched her chin. “Hmm... we'll have to chose someone to eliminate so that no matter the outcome, someone will have more votes.”
“How do we decide that?” Coral asked.
“Not it!” Thorax blurted out.
Gale scrambled to open his mouth. “Not it!”
Nozomi also moved to speak but by then it was too late. “You're kidding me... You can't do that, that's completely arbitrary!”
“As a wise man once said: 'You snooze you lose,'” Gale said with a smug grin.
“What kind of Kjerag priest told you that?” Nozomi asked.
Powder sighed and pointed at Thorax. “Eenie meenie miney mo...”
“You can't be serious? This is totally insane! We should be discussing who should be the best captain not choosing at random!” Nozomi argued.
Another bout of silence took the table as Powder went through the rhyme which had new verses this time. Nozomi sighed and sunk her face into her hands as Powder was reaching the end once more after a much more shorter rhyme.
“... without further ado, I choose you,” Powder finished as she pointed at Nozomi.
Nozomi gasped and stood up on the table. “Yatta! I did it!”
The entire cafeteria from the many tables of diners to the staff in the kitchens went silent as all eyes turned to Nozomi who had raised her fist high up in the air. She looked at everyone staring at her before silently sitting back down and staring at her lap like Lucid did earlier. After the longest minute Andrea had ever experienced, the cafeteria went back to the usual hustle and bustle.
“Great... instead of a captain, we got a cringelord,” Thorax said while crossing his arms.
“What are you like twelve or something?” Nozomi muttered.
“We've got an image to maintain here, Nozomi, and now you just made us look like a squad of weirdos,” Thorax explained.
“And weren't you just whining about Powder choosing randomly? Kinda hypocritical of you to accept her vote,” Gale argued.
“But we also agreed that whoever gets the most votes is the captain and that's the end of it. Unless Powder wants to change her vote, that's the end of it,” Nozomi said.
“I think this is great! Now we can stop arguing and become an actual squad!” Andrea said with a cheerful tone.
The atmosphere was still quite tense despite Andrea's attempt to clear the air. She maintained her smile and kept looking at everyone which eventually assuaged everyone's anger as they all went to silently eating their lunches.
Maybe I should ask Gelly to give us some advice on how to make this squad get along.
“Right before training at 4:00, we're going to tell Dobermann we made our choice,” Nozomi declared.
Thorax tapped the table a few times before sighing. “Fine.”
12:07 PM
Classroom 13-B
Eddron remembered taking the written portion of his promotion test in the room Executor had taken him and Exusiai to.
“Take the seats closest to the front of the classroom,” Executor said as he set down his bag and shotgun at the instructor's table at the front.
Exusiai groaned as she took her seat while Eddron cautiously sat down.
He didn't know what to expect from today's lesson. With the serious demeanour Executor always walked around with, even a mundane lesson would probably instill fear in any student.
Executor picked up a marker and began to write on the whiteboard. “The first rule of any firearm safety course will tell you to treat every gun as if it were loaded. This way, you will always be cautious when handling any firearm, even if they're unloaded.”
“Got it,” Eddron said.
“You're such a stickler for the rules, Executor; you'd never fit in with us Penguin Logistics gals, we play fast and loose but always get the job done,” Exusiai said.
“He probably knows all the rules by heart, he is an Executor after all,” Eddron said.
“Heh, I bet he can't tell us what's on the two hundredth page of the Laterano Road Safety Handbook,” Exusiai joked.
“There aren't two hundred pages in the handbook,” Executor said abruptly.
You're joking... There's no way...
Exusiai laughed and shrugged. “Alright, that was a fluke. What's on page thirty-four?”
Executor stayed quiet for a moment, staring at Exusiai with an intensity that made Eddron uncomfortable by proxy. Exusiai on the other hand grinned at what looked like Executor struggling.
“'...must ensure that those that ride with them are secured safely with their seatbelt,' Executor recited.”
Exusiai almost jumped out of her seat. “No way... you're bluffing... you're bluffing!”
She swiftly drew out her phone and typed a few things. Her face grew pale as she read what was on her screen while Eddron leaned over to get a look.
“He's right... it literally starts continuing off what page thirty-three finishes on...” Exusiai said.
Was I wrong? Is this guy a robot after all?
Executor didn't respond to the two's shock and simply began writing down the second rule on the whiteboard. “Always point your muzzle away from non-targets. In most ranges, you would easily be removed from the premises the moment you muzzle sweep someone. Unless responding to a threat, try to move with only your head when looking around instead of moving your gun along with you.”
“Not gonna lie, I've muzzle sweeped Tex at least once on the job,” Exusiai sheepishly said before whistling inconspicuously.
“This is why it's important to go over the fundamentals. Onto the next, only put your finger on the trigger if you intend to kill. We Sankta are privileged to have easy access to firearms and therefore must act responsibly,” Executor explained
Eddron sighed. “I'm starting to remember all the stuff I learned during my certification course.”
“Same here, and that was ages ago...” Exusiai said.
Executor tried to write the next rule but saw that his marker was starting to get dull. He put the cap back on and replaced it with another marker on the whiteboard.
“Identify your targets and what's behind them. Do not underestimate the power of a bullet, with the power of Arts, they can penetrate things even a sword can't. If you are firing at an enemy or their cover or concealment, take note of what's behind in order to limit the collateral damage you could cause,” Executor explained.
“What if I have no idea what's behind their cover? Should I just leave them?” Eddron asked.
“It's not an absolute rule in the sense that you must refrain from firing if you are completely unsure as they still may pose a threat to you. But make sure you take into consideration the potential to cause harm to civilians or property in order to limit it happening,” Executor answered.
Eddron nodded at the explanation. While his certification course and his training at Rhodes Island briefly went over that point, Executor was able to make it so much more clear for him. In fact, Eddron was excited for the next rule, seeing as he was finally learning things instead of getting refreshers.
The door made a noise which made everyone turn to it. Eddron looked to Executor who was slowly walking back to the instructor's desk.
Suddenly, the door burst open and Croissant stormed in with her water gun drawn.
“You thought you could hide from me, Eddron?! Guess again and now you're trapped! Get ready to-” Croissant yelled before locking eyes with Executor who was in the process of grabbing of his shotgun and flipping over the instructor's desk.
Executor took cover behind the flipped over desk and aimed his shotgun at Croissant.
Holy shit that was badass!
Croissant dropped her water gun and put her hands up. “Eek! Hey, Eddron! That's cheatin'! It was supposed to be just you versus all of us!”
“Oh this was a part of your exercise? It was a good thing I kept my finger off the trigger then,” Executor said as he relaxed himself.
Exusiai sighed and covered her eyes. “I forgot to tell you guys we got picked up by Executor.”
Texas stormed into the room with her water gun drawn as well closely followed by Sora. The two looked confused at the scene of Croissant keeping her hands up while Eddron was in his seat. When they turned over to Executor who was still holding onto his shotgun, they looked like they understood what was going on.
“Sorry guys, because of the mess we made with Jay, Executor's keeping an eye on us Sankta,” Exusiai said.
Texas holstered her water gun. “We'll have to restart the exercise.”
“Before we do that,” Eddron started while looking at Executor, “can you teach me how to do that awesome table flip? It was like something out of a movie!”
12:38 PM
Corridor
Eddron advanced down the hall, carefully creeping along the wall while running across any intersecting corridors. He kept his water gun pointed downward at a forty-five degree angle from his face so that he'd be ready to respond to a sudden threat while also not obstructing his field of view by having to stare down the rudimentary sights made of plastic.
Exusiai and Executor were watching him from a distance, always trying to stay hidden so that they wouldn't stick out and expose Eddron's position. Frankly, Eddron was surprised that Executor allowed the exercise to happen and even more surprised that he stuck around to watch. Although, it did seem like he believed Exusiai would do something even if he wasn't around to supervise and therefore stuck around as insurance.
Eddron remembered to keep his finger off the trigger as he moved. The discipline paid off as he aimed his water gun at an uninvolved bystander coming out of a restroom but didn't accidentally discharge his weapon. He bowed his head at the bystander who ran away in a panic before he could explain the situation. Fortunately, the bystander ran into Exusiai and Executor who likely gave him the heads up on what was going on.
After a few more corridors of nothingness, Croissant suddenly jumped out from an intersecting hallway and fired a stream of water. Due to the distance between them, the stream of water soon curved downward and splashed onto the floor. Eddron took the chance to flee back the way he came while Croissant whined about how weak the water guns were.
“You're mine, Eddron!” Croissant yelled as she pursued.
Eddron turned his head back and pointed his water gun at Croissant while still running down the hall. He took a few running shots before ducking into a hallway and aiming down the corridor he came from. Croissant also took cover in an intersecting corridor near her and the two were in a standoff. Neither could hit the other at the distance they were at, especially with the cover.
Eddron didn't want to run as it would give Croissant a chance to close the distance. He wanted to keep her where he could see her while also keeping an eye out for Texas and Sora.
“Go ahead and stand there! It'll just give Tex and Sora plenty of time to catch up!” Croissant taunted.
“Why don't you just rush me?” Eddron asked.
“I'd love to! But then Tex'll just tell me I'm being reckless again,” Croissant answered.
Eddron soon realized standing still would be the worst move he could make. His objective was to survive five separate encounters with his opponents. By waiting, he'd give Texas and Sora more time to arrive and attack him from every direction.
He was about to prepare to move out when he suddenly heard loud footsteps. Across the hall from him and down the other corridor, Texas suddenly appeared and began rushing toward him with her water gun pointed forward.
Eddron gasped and ran away as fast as he could. He briefly looked behind him to see Texas gaining up on him with a determined look in her eyes.
S-She's fast...!
Eddron blindly aimed his water gun backward and fired a short stream of water. He looked back to see Texas immediately react and sidestep to be right along the wall before continuing with her advance.
She isn't shooting me yet? Maybe she wants an easy shot. As long as I keep moving, I should still be okay. But... there's no way I can keep this up!
Eddron immediately took the next left in the corridor. Instead of running, he suddenly turned around and waited with his water gun aimed at the corner Texas would be coming around. As soon as she did, Eddron let loose with two pulls on the trigger, sending water right at Texas.
However, Texas immediately dove to the floor and did a combat roll. During this, she tried to get a shot off but extending her arm out ended up causing her to fumble the roll.
Without wasting the opportunity, Eddron immediately ran down the corridor while Texas stood back up.
“Tex!” Croissant's voice called “You okay?!”
“I'm fine! He ran that way!” Texas yelled.
Eddron kept moving, taking turns at random in hopes of forcing Texas and Croissant to split up and to eventually lose him.
12:59 PM
Corridor
Eddron leaned against the wall and kept looking down both ends of the hallway while he took stock of his situation. As he was catching his breath, he held his water gun in front of his face and gave it a slight shake. He could hear and feel how empty it was getting which made him sigh.
Guess I gotta hit a restroom soon to fill up, but I can't risk getting cornered.
Exusiai and Executor were nowhere to be seen either which meant they wouldn't be able to see him do well. If Exusiai and Executor couldn't keep up, that probably also meant he had lost Texas and Croissant which gave him the courage to seek out a restroom to refill his water gun.
He quickly barged into the nearest restroom and looked under every stall to make sure it was empty before heading over to the sink and turning the gun over and pulling open a slot on the bottom of the grip. The slot revealed a small twisting cap that covered the reservoir where he could put in more water. Eddron kept looking at the door while running the sink over his water gun, not enjoying the peace that allowed him to listen to the faint echo in the restroom.
When he was done, he headed over to the door and waited for a moment before opening it and pointing his water gun outside. There was no one there and a quick peek to his left and right revealed nobody either. Feeling safe, he left the restroom and continued down the hall.
He moved as silently as possible. His progress was slow, but he couldn't even hear his footsteps with how careful he was.
I've made it through two encounters so far... I can't mess up now. But if I'm too slow, they could catch up again.
Eddron stuck close to the right side wall and picked up the pace. He didn't get to go far when someone came around the corner.
It was Sora. Because of how close Eddron was to the wall, he was able to see her first and get his water gun aimed at her before she could raise hers up.
Sora gasped. “Uh oh...”
Eddron had his finger on the trigger and easily could've taken the shot. However, he paused. While Sora didn't play the helpless victim act, she was just too cute for Eddron to shoot. It didn't help that he had a few of her songs in his playlist.
“Not gonna take the shot?” Sora asked.
“Well... I'm a big fan,” Eddron said, letting off a light laugh.
“You are?” Sora asked.
Eddron nodded. “Always have been.”
Sora's eyes kept looking past Eddron, before he could turn around, she opened her mouth.
“You were always behind him?” Sora asked.
“Always have been,” Texas' voice answered.
Eddron gasped and turned around to see Texas. Before he could raise his water gun, Texas took hold of his wrist with her free hand while her water gun pointed right at Eddron's gut splashed water on his shirt.
Damn she's good!
“You totally knew he was going to lower his guard with him focusing on me! You weren't gonna let him shoot me, right, Tex?” Sora asked with a great big smile on her face.
Texas nodded. “Yeah.”
“I didn't even see or hear you following me. And I was looking for you!” Eddron said.
“When you're in our line of work, discretion is very important,” Texas said.
“Not gonna lie, the way you executed me was pretty badass,” Eddron said.
“I simply made sure you wouldn't be able to shoot back while I shot you,” Texas said dismissively.
Damn, she's like, super duper badass; she even has the badass humility.
“Is it over?!” Exusiai's voice called from down the hall.
Exusiai and Executor quickly arrived to join the group, both of them looking slightly disappointed to see the wet stain on Eddron's shirt.
“Aww, it's a shame you couldn't make it to five, but two is pretty good!” Exusiai said.
Executor nodded. “You managed to exhibit some of the lessons I instilled in you. That was quite satisfactory.”
Coming from a robot, I'll say that's a great compliment.
“Wait, let's say it was three encounters. He could've taken the shot on Sora but didn't,” Texas said.
Eddron awkwardly laughed. “I gotta a little starstruck I guess.”
“That could prove fatal on the battlefield,” Executor warned.
Exusiai shrugged. “Well if you do catch a glimpse of a pop idol among Reunion, send me a pic will ya? But if Eddron made it to three, that's pretty good for the first run. We could do this again if you want.”
“Sure. But where's Croissant?” Eddron asked.
“I dunno,” Exusiai answered. “She's probably catching her breath or lost somewhere. I'll send her a text to let her know we're going for another round.”
Eddron nodded. “Alright.”
“You have another thirty minutes to get a head start on the hunters,” Exusiai said as she pulled out her phone.
3:54 PM
Training Facility
Andrea and her squad were waiting outside the training facility door. She was next to Nozomi who looked like she was on top of the world.
During the trip from the cafeteria to the training facility, Nozomi always stayed ahead of the column and asked lots of questions about everyone. It almost seemed like the leadership was starting to get to her head. Although, her questions about everyone pertained to preferences and other mundane topics which gave Andrea the impression she just wanted to get to know her squad better now that she was captain.
It had been a few minutes since the buzzer inside rang which signalled the end of a training exercise. The lack of a buzzer after the first and the time being so close to 4:00 meant that the squad training before was probably wrapping up and getting ready to make way for D5.
As expected, Dobermann stepped out of the doors and looked over to everyone waiting.
Nozomi bowed her head. “Drill Instructor Dobermann, we're here for our training.”
“At ease, Nozomi,” Dobermann called.
“Drill Instructor Dobermann, over lunch, we finally voted on who should be leader. I will be the one leading Reserve Op Team D5,” Nozomi declared.
Dobermann looked at the rest of the squad. “Is this decision unanimous?”
“In the sense that we agreed to respect the results of the vote,” Thorax said sarcastically.
Dobermann sighed. “In any other circumstance, I'd have you all go back and think really hard about it, but we're pressed for time. Command wants your squad ready to help out with the refugees immediately because of Coral's ability to speak Ursine.”
Andrea could see the rest of the her squad was actually very excited to go on their first mission. It seemed so sudden to her though. She had heard from Gelly that it took her squad weeks and months of training before they were finally sent into Chernobog while D5 wasn't even a week in. Gelly's squad was probably just as excited for their first mission back then as well which sent a shiver down Andrea's spine as she began to wonder what sobering experience they'd face out on the field.
“What will we be doing?” Nozomi asked.
“You will help distribute supplies to refugees and help them keep moving away from Chernobog. You will be attached to an elite squad to ensure your safety and any questions you have can be answered by them.”
“That sounds great, we're actually helping people instead of fighting,” Lucid said.
“You think the kids will like seeing me pop off a few rounds of my big boom gun?” Powder asked.
“You talk about your grenade launcher so much you might as well marry it,” Gale said.
“Well I tie my hair to it's stock. We're joined by the hair instead of the hip!” Powder joked.
“So who's the elite squad we're working with?” Thorax asked.
“That will be decided at a later time,” Dobermann said.
Nozomi held up her finger and pointed it as high as she could. “As captain, I will make sure this squad performs to your expectations, Drill Instructor Dobermann. Believe it!”
Andrea smiled at Nozomi's determination.
At least the one Gelly wanted is leading us.
She couldn't help but shake the feeling of going on their first mission. It didn't help that she wasn't just worrying about the baptism of reality they were going to go through on that mission, but also about what Gelly was going to think.
Yesterday she straight up told her that she didn't think Andrea should've been an Operator. It was hurtful, but she could tell that she cared deeply for her. As much as she wanted to take on a cause and fight for what she believed in, she also didn't want to hurt her by making her worry. But she couldn't stop, not after hearing they'd be helping the refugees of the city she once called home find safety. It wasn't just about her or Gelly, it was about all the people Rhodes Island could help. She needed to do this.

Well, kids, here we are. It's late November 2020, and while the pandemic continues to rage, and the Orange Man and his snot-polished goblin continue to make increasingly pathetic attempts at overturning the elections, we can say, more or less definitively, that we won. Or did we? No, I mean, we definitely won, right? Joseph R. Biden, Our Guy™, is the president-elect of the United States of America. [whispers] Oh? What's this? There were other elections going on this November? I see. And it seems, my fellow shills, that we have sadly underperformed as a party (WTF Soros????) in this department.
In spite of four years of bluster and controversy from the president, a substantial “Blue Wave” of Democratic gains and progressive referendums across the nation in 2018, and a year ravaged by protest, riots, presidential abuse of the National Guard and Army, a colossal bungling of the COVID-19 pandemic, humiliating debate performances, and massive voter registration and “Get out the vote” campaigns, the Democratic party has failed on most fronts. We expected to take the Senate, this remains up in the air and possible only by the narrowest margin feasible. We expected to hold our ground in the House, and yet we slipped, clinging on to an only narrow majority. We lost every single state legislature up for grabs, and, were it not for the tremendous outpouring of new voters and engaged citizens (particularly the African American community), we would have been defeated at the ballot box by Trump once again. So, uhhh….what the fuck went wrong, guys?
In the face of this colossal underperformance, self-evaluation is essential, but blame and self-aggrandizement are inevitable. As would be expected, the ever-factional Democratic party began splintering at the seams almost as soon as the election results began rolling in the night of November 3rd, with each faction taking aim at the others for their role in ruining what was supposed to be a 2008 style Democratic blowout. In particular, the left wing of the Democratic party, our illustrious progressives, succs, and Sandernistas, have declared boldly and proudly across social media that this election is once again proof of the ineffectual policy of the moderate Democrats, who fail to win these legislative elections because of a chronic lack of ambition or resolve to solve the issues of today with proper progressive zeal. Their most prized weapon of all, however, is the healthcare debate: the moderates, they say, have failed to put forward their support for a revolutionary overhaul of American healthcare towards a single-payer model like Medicare for All, and in doing so have alienated and disillusioned millions of potential Democrats who continue to languish under the burdensome system of today, and in the midst of a pandemic, no less.
So, is there actually any truth to this? No doubt you've seen plenty of dubious lists of congressional races by Medicare-for-All support floating around in the ether, trying to make the claim that progressive healthcare is the secret sauce to a winning Democratic ticket. But let's take a closer look, eh? I propose we look at two distinct sets of data to more fully evaluate what effect Medicare-for-All has on the success of a Democratic ticket: data from districts where Medicare-for-All was successfully endorsed, and a slice of data from various competitive congressional districts, including those districts which were flipped in the 2020 elections.
Part 1:Medicare for All Support: A Broad Look
(I)The People: The first and most important point we ought to evaluate is what people actually think about Medicare for All. Many progressives will point you to numerous polls which indicate broad support for Medicare for All, with numbers in support of this program peaking to nearly 70% amidst the pandemic. Seems pretty clear cut, no? Not exactly. As can be seen in that program, the question asked to polled persons is a quite simple and straight-forward "would you support giving Medicare to all Americans?", to which a substantial majority of Americans, including nearly half of Republicans, support. The question lacks nuance, and fails to distinguish between the moderate proposal of "Medicare for those who want it" and "Medicare for all". As Nate Silver pointed out back in the 2019 Democratic primaries, these distinctions do, in fact, make a difference. A poll conducted by 538 in July 2019 found that while 70% of Americans endorse an opt-in program, while preserving private insurance, only 41% of Americans endorse a fully single-payer system like Senator Sanders has often endorsed, which would largely replace private insurance. Additionally, the poll conducted by The Hill reveals that the "Medicare for All" generic item has maintained incredibly stable support, fluctuating only about 1% between 2018 and 2020. The fact that these results match up almost entirely with the 538 poll strongly indicate that when Americans are asked about Medicare-for-All, they interpret the question to mean "Medicare for all who want it", rather than a fully single-payer system.
(II)The Politicians: So, what about our illustrious progressive representatives then, who, you've no doubt heard it claimed, have ALL won re-election on the M4A position. Weeellll, let's take a closer look at that. First, who actually does support M4A, and whence cometh these succs?
To evaluate this, I decided to take a look at a fairly convincing source: H.R.1384-Medicae for All Act of 2019. This essentially symbolic bill was passed around the House of Representatives last year in support of progressive healthcare action, and accumulated some 118 co-sponsors, all of whom we will assume to be the sitting Representatives who can be said to endorse Medicare-for-All. Indeed, they all did win re-election, so what's the secret sauce? Easy: they're all safe-district Dems. Mostly, anyways.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/177zTIGY_st5rPL8B_Y3LA5jgO2SHuIBYYacWogqjni4/edit?usp=sharing is a table showing all of the districts of the cosponsors of the 2019 Medicare-for-All Act lined up against the lean of their district. And, hey, what do you know! Almost all of them come from incredibly blue districts, where D+30 and D+50 leanings are the norm, not the exception. In fact, only 8 representatives on the list come from districts where the Democratic lean drops below D+10, and of those, only four can be properly considered competitive: PA-8, OR-4, TX-15, and PA-7. Now that's what I call confirming your priors!
But still, you say, that still means that four representatives won re-election running on Medicare-for-All, and none of them lost! That says something about the policy's popularity, doesn't it? Well, perhaps. But perhaps not. For that, we will need to travel to a dimension of sight and sound and mind, a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are mostly ranch homes and cornfields, your next stop -- the competitive zone!
Part 2:The 2020 Competitive Districts
Here we are, ladies and gentlemen, the competitive districts. According to the New York Times, as sourced from AP and Edison Research, there were a total of 59 competitive battleground districts up for grabs in the 2020 election. Of these, 14 districts were flipped, including 3 "upset" victories in assumed safe districts. So, how did healthcare policy influence the competitive house races in 2020? Let's find out.
First and most obviously, we can take a look at the districts where the party in control was ousted. There were 14 of these districts this year, and Republicans successfully claimed 11 of them. this is a table displaying the districts, leanings, and healthcare policies of every Democratic candidate in the races where a seat was successfully flipped by either party.
In the flipped races, 11 Republicans claimed seats from Democratic opponents. All of these districts leaned at least slightly red (Between R+1 and R+ 13 with a median lean of R+3). In none of these races did any of the candidates, Democratic or Republican, endorse Medicare for All. Of the three districts where Democrats pulled off a flip, we also see no support for Medicare-for-All. By and large, these races can be seen as an extension of the urban-rural divide which continues to eat away at Democratic legislative prospects: suburban and rural districts with a traditionally slight Republican lean have increasingly shifted their support away from moderate and conservative Democrats, and towards the more staunchly conservative Republicans. In none of the flipped elections, then, does it seem that Medicare for All had much of a direct influence at all, positive OR negative; no Democratic candidate participating in these elections endorsed the idea.
That seems like a pretty convincing repudiation of the M4A success story then, doesn't it? I mean, it basically had no role to play in the flipped districts elections either way. Well, not so fast. Remember, there's 48 other competitive districts to consider, including those 4 close races where M4A candidates actually won, of which 3 the New York Times regard as proper battlegrounds (PA-8, PA-7, and OR-4). Additionally, we have to take into consideration whether Democrats not endorsing Medicare-for-All were able to succeed, and if any Democratic representative hopefuls ran on M4A, and simply never won a seat in the House to tell the tale.
According to NYT election data, only 13 Democrats won an election in a battleground district this year, all of which, with the exception of GA-7, were re-elections. Since we know from our flipped district chart that the GA-7 representative did not endorse M4A, and we know that 3 of these districts had their representatives endorse M4A in the House last year, we can conclude that the remaining 11 representatives (who were in the house in 2019 but didn't endorse the M4A bill), successfully won re-election without ever endorsing single-payer healthcare. But, butbutbut, we have to consider the fail cases to truly get a picture of how successful this policy really is in swaying voters; its no surprise that a minority of competitive races will feature progressive Democrats; the real question is what is the relative success ratio of Democratic candidates who endorse M4A compared to those who don't?
I'm getting tired. There are 48 competitive battleground districts where Democratic hopefuls tried and failed to challenge the Republican incumbent, and I'm frankly not gonna analyze all of them. To speed this up, I sampled 10 of the remaining battleground districts out of 48 by simply choosing every 3rd district off of the list provided by the NYT as to avoid deliberate selection bias (or at least minimize it) (the number is 10 rather than 16 as expected since a number of races are leaning Republican but have yet to be actually counted or called, so I've excluded them).
here is a chart containing these 10 selected districts, with healthcare policies included. Again, we see that while the majority of Democratic candidates do not endorse Medicare-for-All, a minority of them do. Specifically, in this sample, 2 out of 10 Democratic challengers lost despite campaigning in a competitive district on Medicare-for-All. The particular lean of a district does not seem to play an outsized role here, either, as losses were acquired in both very tight races, such as NE-2 and MN-1, as well as more distant races like NC-9 and TX-31. Overall, in the districts where the Democrats underperformed or failed to oust Republican incumbents, there was no noticeable correlation between support for Medicare-for-All and electoral success.
Conclusions
Well, well, well. That was a chore to get through, wasn't it? Having churned through the data, we can draw several conclusions. First of all, there seems to be a significant disconnect between what progressive politicians and activists believe Medicare for All is, and what the general populous do. While on the whole, a great many Democratic voters are supportive of ambitious healthcare overhauls like Medicare for All, even at the expense of private insurance, the data seems to suggest that there is a consistent bipartisan support for Medicare for All, but that such a proposal is most often interpreted as "Medicare for All who want it" i.e. a public option with better optics. Additionally, the results of the 2020 election seem to suggest that there is not as great a secret groundswell of support for single-payer healthcare as is sometimes imagined. While on the whole, a large number of Democratic politicians endorse the single-payer Medicare-for-All proposal, the vast majority of these representatives safely endorse this position from deeply Democratic districts, where their voter base is a near-unanimous pool of progressively inclined voters, more than comfortable with healthcare reform at the expense of private insurance plans and taxpayer dollars. Meanwhile, the data reveals that there is a noticeably less unanimous support for single-payer in more competitive districts, and that, when polled, many of these voters, particularly Republicans, show decently high support for a public option or similar mixed-model proposals, but are on the whole very unsupportive of any proposal which cuts into the private healthcare industry. And last but by no means least, the in-depth analysis of the effects of healthcare policies on Democratic success in competitive districts shows us that out of 59 competitive districts, only 3 were won by Democrats supporting Medicare for all, while nearly 11 Democratic incumbents retained their seat running on more moderate healthcare proposals. Of those who lost, a similar ratio is also apparent, with a clear majority of Democratic failures endorsing a public option, though a handful of more progressive challengers also failed to usurp their opponents, despite a more ambitious stance on healthcare. Indeed, it seems that healthcare policies played a relatively unimportant role in deciding the success of a Democratic politician in a competitive district, neither helping nor hurting them in any clear-cut manner. Instead, the decline in Democratic support occurred in competitive, traditionally red-leaning districts where the burst of Blue Dog Democrats seen in 2018 was unable to maintain itself in the face of an ever-growing urban-rural divide.
​
I need a better hobby.
​
Sources:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/medicare-for-all-isnt-that-popular-even-among-democrats/
https://www.kff.org/health-reform/poll-finding/kff-health-tracking-poll-january-2020/
https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/494602-poll-69-percent-of-voters-support-medicare-for-all
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/03/us/elections/results-house.html
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1384/cosponsors?searchResultViewType=expanded
Like, 50 or so campaign websites for Democratic candidates. I'm not listing them all.

Here is the continuation from Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.
​
Once again, this is NOT canon, Will will almost certainly write it better, and this is done only for the heck of it.
​
I don't think this part was as well written as my first two, but, meh, perfection is the enemy of good as they say. It certainly IS much longer.
​
Also, typos will exist, and I've taken the story in a way I felt like taking it. Deal with it.
If your character does not get enough screen time (Little Blue, Ziel, Dross, etc) - sorry, but I'm not Will, and not trying to actually write bloodlines.
​
***
​
The familiar purple houses filled Lindon with nostalgia as he walked through the central Wei clan settlement. Elder Whisper’s tower stood like a needle piercing the clouds, marking the very center of the Wei clan. Orthos accompanied him, which Lindon appreciated. It had not been the same since Orthos had left in the Night Wheel Valley, he had felt somehow incomplete. But now that his contracted partner was with him again, he felt whole again.
Lindon’s mother and father had wanted to join him in gathering the Wei clan, but Lindon had insisted that they go to his cloud ship with Ziel, and had opened a portal directly onboard. They were both still iron, and neither in any condition for a confrontation. Seisha was still recovering from her captivity, and Jaran both blind and lame. Lindon also did not want to have to potentially have to protect them from the Wei clan, given how easily they had given up the Shi family while Lindon was away.
Aside from stares at Orthos as they walked by, everyone lindon passed treated Lindon as if he had the plague, at least until he was in sight of the clan hall. The only people waiting outside were three members of the Mon family. Keth, the iron he had ‘dueled’ before the seven year festival, Teris, who had left him to fight a sacred tree remnant on his own, and Eri, the girl who had challenged him to fight before Teris’s punishment for leaving him. The latter was now fourteen and sporting a copper badge like her brother.
Mon Keth still looked like a mountain, though Lindon did not find him as intimidating as he had four years ago. “So, the unsouled returns with a new pet. Do you think offering up this beast will make the first forget the shame you brought on the Wei clan by becoming a traitor? I should execute you where you stand for the dishonor you have brought to my family and the Wei clan. But I will not lower myself to attack an unsouled. Though you may provide some little amount of entertainment for my children.”
Orthos’s eyes blazed black and red flame, and rumbled out “I was destroying vermin like you since before your grandparent’s grandparents were born.” Lindon held his hand out to Orthos calmingly, “Please, Orthos, this is my battle.” “Destroy him” Orthos rumbled. Teris and Eri had taken a step back when they saw the flame in Orthos’s eyes and heard him speak. They had not been expecting to see a sacred beast as advanced enough to speak. They were rare in Sacred Valley.
“Mon Keth, apologies, I mean no disrespect to your family. But I must speak to the patriarch and the first elder. Please stand aside so I may go inside” Lindon said. He knew they would not, but not giving them the chance seemed wrong. Mon Keth laughed, “The patriarch and first elder have no time for traitors. Eri, there is no loss of honor for you to fight an unsouled, and as he is a traitor, no punishment for anything you might do to him. Why not show him what you have learned.”
Eri looked just as excited as she did four years ago, when he thought she was going to duel Lindon before Teris’s punishment. She was a striker on the path of the White Fox, lindon knew the path of the White Fox intimately, she would be attempting to fire a lance of light madra at him. If she had progressed far enough in her studies, she might also attempt to confuse him by launching a dream attack at him. Neither would be any threat to Lindon. Eri did not even bother to bow to Lindon, and immediately moved into a fighting stance.
Before she could begin to launch her first attack, Lindon’s eyes bled to black and red, the burning cloak springing up around him. He carved a deep groove in the stones in front of the three Mon family members with dragon’s breath and was, one breath later, standing eye to eye with Mon Keth. Eri had screamed and jumped back at the sight of the deep groove in front of her, Teris, only a year younger than Lindon, stood stone still and gaped at him. Neither were going to attack him now.
Mon Keth, while evidently surprised at Lindon’s attack, was a warrior of the Wei clan. He had, when Lindon appeared in front of him, immediately enforced his body and swung a punch directly at Lindon’s face. Lindon caught it with his own hand, and the shock of his own punch being suddenly stopped instead of crushing Lindon’s skull and launching his body back reverberated through Keth’s arm. Keth’s eyes went wide, and he whispered “How?”
“I am not unsouled.” Lindon replied, still holding Keth’s fist. “I am also going through that door behind you, unless you would rather I show your children how pitiful the Mon family is, again.” Lindon knew the blackflame madra coursing through his channels was making him more aggressive than he otherwise would be, but he didn’t care. He had no need to make himself appear weak here. Lindon saw the color rise in Keth’s face as he angered.
Keth tried to put more power into his fist to push through Lindon, as he grunted out “I...will...not…” Lindon firmed his grip on Keth’s hand, and threw Keth 20 feet to the left. Eri watched her father fly over her head, then turned to look at Lindon again for a brief moment, her shocked expression turning to horror. She ran to her father, and Teris was not far behind her. The doorway was clear. Orthos walked up to Lindon’s side again, rumbling “A Dragon obliterated his enemies” in rebuke. Lindon didn’t reply, but instead pushed open the door in front of him, it was not locked.
The inside of the clan hall was just as Lindon had remembered it. A large gathering place, with a table, now moved to the back of the hall, with a bowl of pure madra on it used for the testing of children’s madra affinity. Lindon now knew this test to be a lie, or a trap. In front of the table stood the Wei patriarch, Wei Jin Sairus and his grandson, Wei Jin Amon. They both glared at Lindon as he entered, but did not say anything. Lindon had supplanted Amon’s position at the Heaven’s Glory school by trickery four years ago, and apparently, the Heaven’s Glory school had not wanted him after that.
Instead it was the first elder, standing in front of them, who spoke to Lindon. “Wei Shi Lindon, you have been branded a traitor by the Heaven’s Glory school. You, and the entire Shi family have been exiled from the Wei clan. Your treachery has cost the Wei clan our best soulsmith and a promising young iron. You are not welcome here, I will not hear you. You will have until sundown to leave Wei territory, or be labelled an enemy of the Wei clan” the first elder intoned. It had the tone of finality, as though no further discussion would be tolerated.
“Honored patriarch,” Lindon began, ignoring the first elder’s proclamation. “I have come to help prepare the Wei clan to evacuate Sacred Valley. A great danger is coming, one that will mean the end of the entire Wei clan.” “Silence!” the first elder bellowed, at the same time launching a dream attack on Lindon meant to confuse and disorient him. Dross spoke up in Lindon’s head, Oh please! That was just pathetic. Lindon looked at the first elder, “I will speak to the patriarch” he said firmly, wiping the first elder’s technique away with a pulse of pure madra.
The first elder’s eyes narrowed, but unlike the Mon family, he did not visibly express his shock at his technique being so ineffectual. “You are unsouled, you are honored by me even recognizing your presence, the patriarch will not lower himself to speak to traitors. Leave now, unsouled.” Lindon once again ignored him, but it was obvious the patriarch was not going to respond to him.
Lindon sighed, removed his veil and called out in a loud voice, “Elder Whisper, one of the four returns.” The first elder looked around for Elder Whisper, who was not there, before saying “Elder Whisper is securely locked in his…” A brilliant flash of white flashed in front of the first elder, and Elder Whisper stood in front of him. A large white fox as big as a man, with five tails swishing behind him. Elder Whisper turned to Lindon, “so soon? Ah, yes, I feel it from here.”
The patriarch finally spoke up at Elder Whisper’s appearance. “Elder Whisper, you honor us with your presence.” He could now feel the spiritual pressure emanating from Lindon, but true to the first elder’s word, he did not acknowledge Lindon was even in the room. Elder Whisper turned back to the Wei patriarch, nodded his head. “The young underlord speaks the truth, the Wei clan cannot survive the return of a dreadgod” Whisper replied to the patriarch. “Underlord? Dreadgod? I do not understand, honored one” the Patriarch said.
He turned to Lindon, addressing him for the first time, “You will explain.” Now that the patriarch himself was speaking to Lindon, the first elder had moved himself off to the side, joining Wei Jin Amon. Both looked on in silence as Lindon explained about the levels of gold and beyond, the existence of dread gods, and the fact the Wandering Titan was heading towards the valley as they spoke.
Elder Whisper spoke after Lindon had finished speaking, “You have come far, young Lindon. How is it you have avoided Sacred Valley’s curse?” “The ring is a construct of hunger madra, the hunger binding in my arm is enough to counteract its effect” Lindon replied. They sat in silence for several minutes. Whisper got up and walked to talk to Orthos. Sacred beast to sacred beast. Lindon could not hear what they were talking about, though he heard the low rumbling of Orthos’s voice as they spoke.
After several minutes of silence, that Wei Jin Amon and the first elder would not dare interrupt on, the Wei patriarch walked over and retrieved the table with the testing bowl upon it, placing it in front of Lindon. “Apologies, patriarch, but as I said before, this test is a lie” Lindon said. “You have given me much to think about, Shi Lindon, and if what you say is correct. But I would be a fool to just believe words spoken to me without proof, even if Elder Whisper confirms them.”
Lindon did not know how to make the bowl of madra in front of him react, so it asked inside his head, “Dross?” It seems simple enough. Simply cycle as if you were going to perform a technique and the madra in the bowl should respond to your cycling technique Dross said. “Are you sure?” Lindon asked, “it’s not like seven year old Wei children are cycling in preparation for techniques when they take the test.” I am fairly sure Dross said, though it’s possible it will simply explode when subjected to your madra.
Lindon put his left hand into the bowl and cycled his madra as if he was preparing to perform a dragon’s breath. The madra in the bowl flew away from his hand so violently he was sure it would spill from the sides of the large bowl. Lindon changed his cycling to that he would use for his burning cloak, and the madra reversed course and clung to his hand, climbing up his wrist and arm. He switched to the Void Dragon’s Dance and the madra leaped above the bowl. His forger technique, The Dragon Descends cycling pattern froze the madra solid, chunks of frozen madra falling from where they had been in mid-air making a ringing sound as they landed back in the bowl.
The first elder off to the side shook his head sadly. The patriarch sighed, and walked to the opposite side of the table to Lindon, picked up the bowl and threw it against the floor, smashing the bowl and scattering the madra. He looked up to Lindon, and said “Though I doubt I anymore have the ability to banish you as I do to fight this Wandering Titan, the Shi family is redeemed.”
The patriarch’s words angered Lindon. “You betrayed my family. You caused my father to be blinded, my mother to be a prisoner and my sister to become a hunted woman. The Shi family does not need your redemption. Your job was to protect the Wei clan, but you gave them up without any resistance.” The first elder looked like he was going to admonish Lindon for speaking such to the clan patriarch, but at one look at the fire in Lindon’s eyes, he stayed silent.
Lindon gathered himself and continued in a less heated tone of voice, “It is you, not the Shi family who needs to be redeemed. Prove yourself still worthy to be the patriarch for the Wei clan. In one week I will return to evacuate the Wei clan, you have that long to get the entire clan ready to relocate to a new home, most likely without ever being able to return to Sacred Valley.” The Wei patriarch bowed his head and pressed his fists together in a motion Lindon had never seen him do before, as he spoke, “It will be done … underlord.”
**
Jai Long had been treating Wei Shi Kelsa very differently since her brother returned. She was not quite sure what to do about it. In the time before her brother had arrived, Kelsa had formed a friendship with Jai Long’s sister, Chen. Because of this, Long had been starting to relax around her and she thought they might become friends too. However, since her brother arrived, he had been much more formal towards her, and seemed almost afraid to say anything that might offend her.
It was still jarring to Kelsa that she did not have to look out for her little brother anymore. In fact, he was so far beyond her that Kelsa felt, despite advancing to Jade, the same level as even the patriarch of her clan, like SHE was the one who was unsouled. The very term unsouled seemed a mockery now. Lindon still wore a badge with the mark of the unsouled today, though no longer made of wood. How could anyone ever consider it an unsouled unworthy again?
Kelsa and Long were approaching the first of the independent settlements in Sacred Valley. While the three clans and four schools dominated the valley, they made up less than half its population. More of the valley’s population lived in smaller settlements that were often allied with one of the clans or schools, or traded with them, but not subject to them.
This had both advantages and disadvantages. They often did not have the resources of the clans or schools, and as such their citizens advancement in the sacred arts was slower, or at least more uneven (with most resources being used on the settlement’s leaders and their friends). On the other hand, they were also usually able to avoid being drawn into the squabbles and conflicts between the clans - even profiting from such conflicts by maintaining trading relationships with both sides of such conflicts.
The biggest difference, however, was that the sacred arts were not universally followed among the non-clan settlements. Some settlements only had a few sacred artists or even none at all. Kelsa thought it strange that a people would turn their back on the sacred arts, as it was condemning yourself to a life of weakness and a shorter lifespan. Though the settlement populations tended to put more emphasis on personal and communal happiness, spending the time a clan member would on training their sacred arts on artistic and entertainment endeavors.
The settlement Kelsa and Long approached, however, was one of the largest in Sacred Valley, with almost 50,000 residents. They called themselves the Peng. They operated more like a minor clan, and like the three main clans of Sacred Valley, embraced the sacred arts heavily. They did not adopt the strict code of honor the clans had adapted, favoring instead a robust system of laws designed to prevent abuse by one higher in the sacred arts from their lessers. In fact, killing anyone, even in a duel, was illegal in this settlement. Kelsa had warned Long of such.
Nobody challenged Kelsa or Long as they entered the Peng settlement, though most eyed Long’s wrapped head curiously. Indeed, aside from hawkers along the road side in the center of the town, nobody said anything at all to them. They walked directly into the town hall, the main administrative building of the settlement. Kelsa felt a sensation in her spirit as it was scanned as she entered the room. The man behind the desk in front of them stood and asked them “What can I help you with, honored Jades?”
“We must speak to your patriarch immediately,” Jai Long said to the clerk. “I am afraid we have no such person here. Perhaps you mean to talk to the Head Councilman?” the clerk replied. Jai Long was confused, but Kelsa took over from him. She had learned that many of the settlements were run by a council of elders rather than a patriarch, though she had never been to such a place, and wondered how anything got done. “This head councilman is the most senior elder in this settlement?” Kelsa asked. The clerk nodded. “Then yes, we must speak to him.”
The clerk sat down again and opened the book in front of him, “May I have your names?” he asked. “I am Wei Shi Kelsa, and this is Jai Long” Kelsa replied. “Wei clan, hrm? I do not believe I have heard of the Jai faction” the clerk responded, flicking through pages. Jai Long started to speak up, “The Jai clan…” Kelsa put her hand on his arm shaking her head. The clerk barely noticed.
After he found a page that was mostly empty, the clerk looked up and said “I believe I can make an appointment for you to meet with the head councilman sometime mid next week. However if you want to meet the entire council, you will have to wait until the next full council meeting next month.” Kelsa looked the clerk in the eyes and said earnestly, “Next week, the head councilman, and indeed, everyone still here, will be dead.” The clerk’s eyes widened as he looked much less sure of himself, “W-What?” Kelsa continued to look directly at the clerk and said “We said it was urgent.”
The clerk bolted from the room, after uttering a hasty “Wait here!” It was only minutes later that he returned with a tall man in a blue robe with a golden crown emblem on it. “What is the meaning of this?” he demanded of Kelsa and Long. “Head Councilman I presume?” Kelsa asked. “Peng Wu Iota” he replied. “Councilman Iota,” Kelsa began, “we are here to prepare the Peng, to join the evacuation of Sacred Valley in one week.” Peng Wu Iota started laughing, as if he had been told a joke. When Kelsa and Long did not join him, but instead continued staring at him, his eyes narrowed, “I think you should follow me.”
Iota led Kelsa and Long back to his chambers, leaving the clerk to settle back behind his desk, staring after them as they retreated into the building. Once they were inside, Iota asked them to sit in the chairs in front of his desk and offered them tea, before settling behind the desk himself and saying simply “Explain.”
Kelsa and Long spend the next half hour trying to explain about the world outside Sacred Valley and the curse that kept those inside Sacred Valley weak. She explained about her brother, his leaving, his return, and his purpose. The head councilman let her speak uninterrupted until she finished her story. “That is a tale indeed, Wei Shi Kelsa, worthy of any of our story tellers here in town. However, I find it too incredible to believe. It goes against almost everything we know about the Sacred Arts, and the world.”
Kelsa was crestfallen, without her brother, or Yerin, or Eithan, or even Orthos here, people of sacred valley would not believe her. After all, SHE was not gold, and after being in the valley so long, neither was Jai Long. Her brother had asked her to do this, to collect the settlements, to save as many lives in Sacred Valley as she could, but she did not know how she could do that if they would not believe her. “What if I can prove it?” Jai Long spoke up next to her. She looked at him in surprise. Iota shifted his attention to Long, and said “by all means.”
Jai Long led them to the courtyard outside the town hall. He turned to the councilman outside and said “According to your understanding of the Sacred Arts, one is either a Striker, an Enforcer, a Ruler or a Forger, correct?” Jai Long asked. “Of course” Iota responded. “And an enforcer cannot perform a striker technique?” Long continued. “Some Jade elders can manage to master a technique that is not of their own spiritual affinity. Though never as well as someone who has that affinity naturally” Iota replied. “And all four?” Long asked. “Impossible,” said Iota.
Jai Long cleared an area around himself in the courtyard, and, finding a nearby cart full of hay bundles, set up several stacks of hay in groups around himself. It looked like he was being attacked by a cubic scarecrow army from three sides. When he was ready, Jai Long unleashed his striker technique upon each of the hay targets to one side of him. They were all scattered in less than a second. “So you are a striker” the councilman said.
Jai Long said nothing, turning to the next group of hay targets and gathered his ruler technique. It took several seconds for it to gather, but when he unleashed it, all of the hay in front of him exploded simultaneously. “Impressive” the councilman said. “That was a ruler technique,” Jai Long said back to the councilman. “I am aware, it is impressive, especially for one so young as yourself to have been able to master a technique outside your own affinity.”
Jai Long shook his head, and forced stellar spear madra into physical weapons and hurled them spinning at the third group of hay targets. They passed through easily, and embedded in the stone cobbles behind them before dissipating into motes of madra. The councilman said nothing, when Long turned back to where he and Kelsa stood. Long nodded to Kelsa, who immediately launched a foxfire striker technique at Long, despite her badge proclaiming her an enforcer. It hit Jai Long’s enforced body and washed over him, leaving him unscathed.
The councilman looked between Kelsa and Long, saying nothing. He was much less sure of himself now than when these strangers had walked into his office. Jai Long could see he was still unconvinced, and sighed. “You remember how I said before that, as part of attaining gold, you adopt a remnant, and as you move through gold gain mastery over it?” He said. The councilman nodded numbly. Jai Long began grasping at the bandages surrounding his head, “it changes your body when it does. We call it a gold sign” he said, slowly unwrapping his head.
Peng Wu Iota took an involuntary step back when the reptilian features of Jai Long’s face revealed themselves. The unnaturally elongated mouth making his mouth stretch into an unnatural and unnerving smile. Even Kelsa gasped at the sight, Jai Long had not voluntarily allowed anyone to see his face since he had begun to wrap it. “We cannot choose our goldsigns, and some are better than others” Jai Long said.
It took Iota several minutes of staring at Jai Long before he could speak again. “So you are Gold?” he breathed, his chest tightening. Golds were beings of legend, the peak of sacred arts. At least, he had always been taught as much, but these strangers had just told him that Gold, outside his home, was as common as coppers. Jai Long nodded, “I am. At least, outside this cursed valley, I am” he said as he began once again meticulously wrapping his head.
Iota ushered the two of them back into his chambers, and sat them down. He had gotten over most of his shock by then, the comfort of performing his role as the head councilman helping calm his nerves. “The Peng are not ruled by one man, but by our council of elders. This council is made up of sacred artists of each advancement stage and non-sacred artists alike. If what you say is true, the full council will have to vote on a plan of action. The next full council meeting is not scheduled until next month” Iota said.
Kelsa was just about to interrupt him when he held up his hand, “BUT, given the dire nature of what you say, I will call an emergency session.” Iota said. “The fastest I can call an assembly is in an hour, and they will not be happy about it” Iota continued, “if you really want to help, come to the assembly hall across the square in an hour. They will not believe me if I just tell them what you have told me, indeed they will likely call for my job. But I believe you might be able to convince them.”
Kelsa and Long thanked the Peng Wu Iota, and left his chambers. An hour later they were standing in the middle of a circle of 50 men and women, each in identical blue robes as the Head Councilman, though the crown emblem on them varied in color. Green for jades, Grey for iron, Light brown for copper and Black for non-sacred artists. Peng Wu Iota had explained briefly the reason for assembling them, and then immediately called upon Kelsa and Long to repeat the explanations they had made to Iota in his chambers.
Iota had arranged for a much more impressive display of Jai Long’s abilities this time, with actual wooden target dummies in armor set to be destroyed, and several sacred artists prepared at the end to launch techniques at Long to evidence his enforcer technique. The display left no doubt in anyone’s mind that Long had mastered all four types of techniques. While he hesitated, Long did repeat his display of his gold sign, causing one council member to faint. Kelsa and Long were excused then from the chamber, as they deliberated.
One further hour saw Kelsa and Long sitting once again in Iota’s chambers. “It was unanimous. While some were still skeptical of your story of a dread god coming to kill everyone in Sacred Valley, everyone agreed it was at least prudent to prepare for evacuation just in case. If nothing happens, we can pass it off as a preparedness drill.” Iota smirked.
“The Peng have trading relations with settlements all over the valley. As we are not like the clans, constantly attempting to claim other’s territory, we have reasonably good relations with most of our trading partners.” Iota said. “You said your brother, this Wei Shi Lindon, has asked you to visit all the settlements in Sacred Valley to deliver this message.” Kelsa nodded to the councilman. “Then allow us to send with you some of our ambassadors, along with a record of our council meeting, in hopes it will help you convince the next settlement faster.”
“Thank you, Councilman Iota” Kelsa replied. “Good luck” the councilman said, bidding them farewell. At the border to the town, Kelsa and Long were met by eight men and women. Two were ambassadors, and one a scribe. Along with them were five sacred artists assigned for their protection and the care of the supplies that accompanied them. “Greetings Wei Shi Kelsa. Greetings Jai Long” the lead ambassador, a woman named Peng Zhang Riva said. In short order they were on their way to the closest large settlement.
True to Iota’s prediction, the ambassadors proved their worth. In each settlement, the ambassadors got them in to see the top man or woman in the settlement quickly. The council records and assurances of their accuracy from the ambassadors often made the demonstrations required by Jai Long go much quicker, and helped convince each settlement’s leaders much more quickly than it had the Peng. Jai Long did not have to reveal his goldsign again after the visit to the Peng settlement.
Many of the larger settlements had subordinate smaller settlements, so Kelsa and Long were able to skip those, as the larger settlements dispatched messengers with proclamations to the smaller ones. As they travelled through each of the larger settlements, those settlements often had representatives of their own join Kelsa and Long’s party. By the third day, Kelsa had a sizable party of over 100 people. Jai Long grumbled about this, but those that accompanied them took care of themselves, and other than finding a large enough area to camp in, Kelsa and Long were not responsible for either the safety or feeding of the party.
In fact, as many of those accompanying the group were leaders or representatives of their own settlements, many of the members spent their time negotiating trade deals and organizing events between each of the settlements. Kelsa did not know many of these would survive the evacuation of Sacred Valley, but she left that to the administrators to figure out. All she cared about was, the sheer mass of official representatives with official declarations from their settlements made convincing each settlement she visited easier.
***
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During writing this I realized I am going to need at least two more parts

1. The schools (may end up being 6 and 7)
   
2. The exodus
   

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I don't know when I'll end up writing these.