#reconnoiter

[s8tocy3pdiw]

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#nematogone #judiciable #blackbirds #BSBH #unabnegated #dibucaine #subsemitone #intra-uterine #syncopation #nomarch #mid-body #paypigslave #beakier #lecithoprotein #Prot. #platen #母犬 #reconnoiter #Lahore #monoprotic

[end0r4]

Al Swearengen, Deadwood: Reconnoitering the Rim s01e03

#ian mcshane #al swearengen #deadwood hbo #deadwood #Reconnoitering the rim #season 1 #my screenies #myedit #stgedit #queuee #welcome to fucking deadwood #it can be combative

[lifewithaview]

Powers Boothe and Kim Dickens in Deadwood (2004–2006) Reconnoitering the Rim

S1E3

Competition arrives for Swearengen in the form of the Bella Union, a new gambling outfit from Chicago operated by savvy Cy Tolliver, Madame Joanie Stubbs and gaming guru Eddie Sawyer. Hickok puts up precious collateral in a poker game with McCall; Bullock and Sol strike a deal with Swearengen on a lot for their hardware store. Garret threatens Swearengen before investigating his gold claim.

#Deadwood #2004 #tv series #Reconnoitering the Rim #S1E3 #competition #new saloon #wild west #crime #drama #western #Powers Boothe #Kim Dickens #just watched

[joelletwo]

trying to imagine if i had to transcribe 'reconnoiter' without a script in front of me. fucked up. i would quit my job.

#RECONNOITER? fucking war shows #stsag

[aoncdpeqvqbl]

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#chequerboard #complexionless #Cardijn #centerfold #intra-mercurial #reconnoitered #Barco #winkled #Cliona #subpyramidical #packaging #Glenice #Cassella #concretization #whiplash #dextrane #birthrate #medicines #souldie #deicidal

[hedgehog-moss]

I've been worried this week about birds of prey attacking my chickens—well, one bird of prey. I heard a hen make her very characteristic INTRUDER cry the other day and ran out of the house and there was a hawk flying in circles high above. I half-heartedly threw some sticks in its direction and told my hen not to be so dramatic (the hawk looked like it was minding its own business frankly), but the next day it happened again, and I thought, I've been unfair to the hens, the hawk from yesterday was actually reconnoitering and they could tell. Then there was another alert the next day. I was starting to get a bit alarmed about the fact that I was dealing with the world's most determined hawk—though I didn't see it again past the first time, I figured I arrived too late and Pandolf had already deterred it.

I ended up setting up a pen for the hens very near my house, under the hazel tree so they'd be sheltered, and spying from the kitchen window the next day, to see if it was still the same bird or what. It tended to attack at the same time every day, which was extra baffling.

And what I saw was Pandolf returning from his daily morning patrol around the pasture, faff around looking a bit bored, circle my house looking for me, and when he didn't find me, go to the chickens' pen and pretend to pounce on them like a fox, which startled them and made them cry out. Pandolf didn't touch them, he clearly just wanted them to make their magical Make Human Appear noise. Immediately after they yelped he turned to look at the front door expectantly, waiting for me to run out. He knows that when I get distracted from what I was doing indoors I often end up being like, well, now that I'm outside I might as well go do [outdoor chore of the day] and he gets to tag along, so he concocted this devious plan...

So. I must turn this post into a callout post for Pandolf. This is the face of a problematic dog, who tried to frame a hawk and use innocent hens for his own ends after he realised their person-summoning noises work while his do not.

#crawling along #''mais quel bandit de grand chemin'' a dit ma mère quand je lui ai raconté #ça m'a rappelé des souvenirs; mon frère et moi on se faisait régulièrement traiter de bandits de grand chemin quand on était minots #c'était contre-productif parce qu'on en était très flattés #anyway i bet if pan could imitate a hawk's cry he wouldn't bother the chickens #he'd just sit under my window earnestly making bird of prey noises to make me come out

[wol6xiytan]

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#interior #corbiestep #wolf-colored #nonprosaically #nigrification #embitterment #timber-yard #AGS #GFCI #caches #communique #healed #chequerboard #complexionless #Cardijn #centerfold #intra-mercurial #reconnoitered #Barco #winkled

[jamesgalgano]

RECONNOITERS WELL (on Wattpad) https://www.wattpad.com/1233018551-reconnoiters-well?utm_source=web&utm_medium=tumblr&utm_content=share_reading&wp_uname=jamesagalgano&wp_originator=lY1o%2F8b2LM1rgFJSYw7MQsBS1GbvXl529wvSiCDQ3jRWX8JXW72YQQ9px3IHnTHyRRcw1PnQhR8WnbFD%2FnmfhstJL325PuxvGtegWHTAYgpLzzvqRQtUwdAW5BEFaATR Reconnoiters well By james a. galgano In the middle of a sad café hours spent while we while away The passing of fleeting hours remiss mulling over memories awry Drying tears we no longer cry dwelling on what might have been But now will never be such is the blight of these times we live in Odd into infinity knowing full well this too will pass like sands through hourglass As our eyes look through the emptying of one more glass into the abyss Savoring every drop as if it were true love's kiss upon our still blushing face Knowing we had made every effort possible so there is now no disgrace Of what once was but now will never again be odd infinitum or in such proximity

#reconnoiters #wellll #poetry #books #wattpad #amreading

[arcielee]

Our moonlight drive.

Summary: A night drive with your boyfriend. Paring: Modern Aemond Targaryen x Female!Reader Word Count: 700+ Warnings: Modern Aemond fluff to soothe the soul.  Author's Note: This story is dedicated to the lovely, the talented @babygirlyofthevale 💜 This is a drabble, sweet piece inspired by the masterpiece in motion Comet Donati by @inthedayswhenlandswerefew (chapter2, oh my goodness). A big thank you to my darling beta readers for your help! Tags (Tumblr kindred spirits): @aaaaaamond​ @annikin-im-panicin​ @watercolorskyy​ @schniiipsel​ @sylas-the-grim​ @aemondx​ @fan-goddess​ @httpsdoll​ @theromanticegoist​ @hb8301​ @lovelykhaleesiii​ 

Night is coming with its amber smear of burnt oranges and yellows overwhelmed with the purple hue swallowing the last of the day’s light. The route is familiar, a routine drive towards your favorite sweet spot, and the windows are down, letting the cool air knot your hair.

It isn’t far and Aemond parks further back, quickly out and moving to grab your door; you smile with the gesture as he shows that he is firstmost a gentleman, especially when it comes to you. You follow his steps and he reaches for your hand without looking back, knowing fully well that you will take his hand, enlacing your fingers with his own, a perfect fit. 

The ice cream parlor is a town antique, with a window opened for the late night crowd to come by. You order first and he leans against your backside, over your shoulder with the shimmer silver curtain of his locks spilling forward.

You feel the warm rumble when he adds, “She also would like sprinkles on top,” and reaches to take napkins from the dispenser. 

You peer up at him, a warm glow of pleasure that he remembered, that he knows your simple pleasures. 

There is a stone bench that you both straddle, facing one another with your treats in hand; he offers you a spoonful of his ice cream and leans forward to lick your waffle cone. The napkins he grabbed come in handy, helping the failing battle against the muggy night, the sweet spill of sprinkles over the cone’s edge. 

Once done, more napkins are needed to clean up and he takes your hand again, leading you back to the car. 

This is the only time you willingly place yourself in his blindspot, whenever he would drive but Aemond does not seem to mind it. He likes how you play the role of reconnoiter during daylight, but tonight the roads are empty and this allows you to sink comfortably into the passenger’s seat, enveloped in his scent of leather and his cologne, with a hint of smoke, and you enjoy the press of his large palm into the softness of your thighs, his thumb drawing small circles on the outside.

His vehicle is an imported stick shift, sleek and meticulous, allowing him the control he strives for in every aspect of his life. Aemond is careful, calculated, and you see this in the mirrors added, an extension and a reminder to his half vision; he always turns his head fully to check before a lane change, and this allows him a moment to look at you. 

And you are looking back, ever watchful, ever aware of him. In this moment, the blue lumination from the dash gives an iridescent shimmer to the sapphire stone set in his scarred socket, an ethereal glow to the sharp contours of his face.

You feel the warmth return to your cheeks when you see the curl of his lips into a smile that only belongs to you. 

“Do you trust me?” the low timbre of his voice asks. 

And you do, with everything you have to offer, with every molecule wrapped within you thrumming with a loyalty that began from the moment you met. You remember the play of his perpetual smirk, both inviting and enticing, and what you felt bloom with the first kiss shared, sparked from the touch of his soft lips against your own. It is a feeling that grows still, a sense of comfort and safety with his intimate touches, igniting something that you were not aware existed within your heart. 

You keep this to yourself though, and hum your acknowledgement, your grin gleeful. “Where you go, I go,” you remind him. 

He does not turn homewards, but instead his long fingers curl around the wheel to rotate, to follow the vacant weave of road lit by his headlights and the settling nightglow. Aemond looks forward and you can see the dimples that line his cheek; only after he settles into gear does he reach for your hand, bringing it up to his lips for a gentle kiss and nestles the hold onto his thigh. 

Your fingers curl around in response, a perfect fit. 

arcie’s masterlist

#modern aemond targaryen #is a soothing vibe #aemond targaryen x you #aemond targaryen x reader #hotd au #aemond targaryen drabble #this is just fluff #a gift for brit and for better days to come

[gallusrostromegalus]

brushturkeys are Such animals. one time I saw one carefully reconnoiter and then sneak up behind someone at the beach to open their half-zipped food bag and drag out a loaf of bread

That's DELIGHTFUL.

[tei-to-tei]

December 15 - A Cold Night

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | ...

"But his weaknesses were compensated by his ravens, Huginn (mind) and Muninn (memory) who were part of him. They perched on his shoulders and reconnoitered to the ends of the earth each day to return in the evening and tell him the news." - Heinrich (2006 [1999]: 355)

Someday i'll write a story about these two, and slip in mythical references between them and Draxum... I've just got to force my fingers to WORK WITH ME and update my two long stories first ;-; hauuurgh

#rottmnt #rise fanart #rise of the tmnt #rottmnt huginn #rottmnt muninn #huginn and muninn #being the best-est good-est boys #tw eyestrain #just in case #because i had to wear actual sunglasses while doing the background hskfjslk #also to anyone who reads these tags and is also somehow waiting for any of my stories to update (???)- i'm working on it i promise *sobs* #teidoodle #tei's dec23

[snackugaki]

more AU visdev shenanigans because I have both a problem and am trying to trick myself into doing visdev for my actual  projects

my tmnt au (where everyone made it past their 20s, splinter’s alive just old, venus is here, and they deserve some goddamn respite and shenanigans)

tmnt au part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5

tmnt au omake 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

lny visit 1 | 2

AU musings under the cut cuz truly, i have a goddamn problem and most of it is from my brain always go brr

uhhh... hm... Mirage spoilers pmuch right out the gate... probably IDW, and prrrrobably Next Mutation spoilers for the kids who haven’t started/caught up because surprise that’s where I pull from (aside from the 87 cartoon and 90s movies because who doesn’t pull mainly from their childhood turtles)

April being into punk, goth, alt, what have you just makes sense to me

...because she gravitated to the outsider nature of those subcultures since she, herself, didn’t feel like she quite belonged anywhere

which is natural when you’re a drawing made real

(it’s fine, she’s flesh and blood now)

shout out to poly styrene, april loved her

keeping them short kings just like my childhood turtles

Jennika absolutely comments to Donnie if he’s found any good cheese in any walls lately

god i hate plowing through the first couple of passes of a design

alas, the process

Venus ended up being dressed in hanfu since other clothes didn’t fit her quite right; a specific group of old women were ecstatic at breaking out hanfu patterns to use.

Chung I doted on Venus so much, the only thing that kept her from becoming spoiled was when she started taking up cultivation alongside Chung I and his sect

nothing more humbling that carrying 3 buckets of water up a steep mountain side while your sifu hurls mystic blasts at your feet

Venus progressed pretty quickly though; enough to be trusted with plans to circumvent Vam Mi’s return and reconnoiter with the sect’s allies in NYC

(it didn’t work but it’s okay they defeated Vam Mi anyway)

shit now I have to come up with a name for the sect hhhhh

Chung I’s sect is one of ?? who, like the ninja, have a responsibility (among others) to regulate the mortal plane with the less mundane ones

Venus IS training to serve in his role (give or take one of her brothers or sisters being bestowed the responsibility)

hmm... Venus likes keemun tea best if she has the choice, and for soup... oxtail soup and black sesame soup

and because it was fkkn metal in Next Mutation, Venus is primarily a pugilist who occasionally uses her cultivation techniques ; she trains a little with a fan when she gets to weapons training but she prefers the spear (link has blood and some real violent fighting but fuck Fog Hill is fucking siiiiick)

...a nickname Venus gains is ‘the spear fairy’ ‘cuz i’m indulgent :)

the supernatural side of NY was already getting antsy and unruly when Venus arrived so of course she and the boys ended up fighting upon first encounter

The fight happens after hours at a local walk-around market; Raph barges in and Venus fishes around for something that isn’t the requisite staff she was saddled with before setting out (because she knows how to deal some damage with it and she wasn’t about to do that to complete strangers she didn’t know the alignment of)

she ends up using a mannequin; one arm came off so Venus attacked with that and defended with the upper part of the mannequin; Raph was getting outmatched while Mikey and Donnie were laughing in increasing volume

at a certain point Leo tried to intervene but Venus assumed it was a double team, ripped the other arm off the mannequin and defended with both against Raph and Leo; eventually her hood was flipped and they saw she was a turtle so cue Venus using the opportunity to get them both on the ground and about to smash the now armless mannequin torso onto Leo and Raph before Donnie called for a truce

at which point, as is established, Mikey quipped up at the scene, “I call this... ‘Venus de Milo, triumph over dorkus maximuses’”

Leo DID try to address her by her actual name but his not-quite-right tone made her pity him and insisted he just use Mikey’s new nickname

Venus absolutely asked why the boys were running around half naked when she came across them; they didn’t have an answer they just shrugged and let Mikey change the subject with asking if she’s tried NY pizza yet

Venus is ambivalent in the end, she knew humans wore clothes since their bits are just ...like, out there dangling around; the yaoguai around her also dressed and thought they were just adhering to the custom out of simple consideration

Venus eventually gears up like the boys to help hide her mission from the sect trying to resurrect Vam Mi

Leo gives Venus a spare mask of his; it came from a bin of incorrectly dyed masks when he was attempting shibori dye experiments

Mikey was so enthusiastic about it, having only known April at the time he asked if he could try out braiding her mask tails since Leo didn’t bother tailoring it after he botched the dye job

Splinter helps Venus make contact with her sect’s allies ala Rescuers Down Under

NM!Venus canonically knows how to pick locks why not in this AU too

The boys take Venus to the library one night, Donnie pleads for Venus to break into the reference shelves, stoops to fibbing a little that information she might find handy could be in those shelves (they weren’t)

A hilarious exchange happens between April and Venus when Venus cycles through like 3 dialects and 2 languages before finding out April speaks Canto; Venus starts calling April Ah ze, in kind April calls Venus Ah mui

hmm hmmm... still torn between April meeting the boys once as little kids then running into them again when she’s an adult or having her meet them as little kids but connecting a little earlier, 1-2 years from graduating HS

mostly just cuz I wanna have this AU April taking them to GWAR concerts so they can enjoy being out without getting clocked 

Casey and Raph absolutely dressed as the Bash Brothers for a couple of halloweens

I like the idea of Casey thinking of himself as the fifth turtle brother because it’s sweet, thassit AU canon it is done

I feel like Jennika probably ran into April and Casey at separate music venues; befriended Casey first tho

Jennika spent two years in China with Venus, getting her handle on her new turtle body; when she came back she nearly cleaned out 3 thrift stores and basically commandeered a portion of Donnie’s lab for almost a year to tailor clothes for herself

Donnie basically made himself a mini-clothing manufacturing  factory by salvaging and rebuilding embroidery, pattern cutting, and industrial sewing machines

Jennika and Mondo have jam sessions

The brockhampton parody in this AU is northbrockton, Jennika and Mondo are rotational members

Mondo can speak hawaiian pidgin, he speak liddat when he go an talk story with Mikey ova some grinds, Mikey also starts picking it up

 Mondo sometimes refers to Mikey as Braddah Honu

One of the stolen waste/mutagen barrels from That Night rolled and got shunted conveniently to a desolate lot where it leaked for years

Mondo came across it looking for a place for his band to jam without getting interrupted, pop goes the lizard mutation

tl;dr a video of urban explorers stumbling on it got onto Mona’s feed (and I’m smudging her original start as a physicist to a biophysicist) and since she’s a can do sort of girl she goes to check it out herself before reporting it to the proper organizations-- bam, mutant lizard Mona Lisa rip

that same video came across on one of Donnie’s feeds, Raph’n Mikey go to investigate and come upon a distraught lizard Mona Lisa; Mikey uses her assumption they were also originally human to bring her back to the lair and get her calmed down

god it’s so messy, thankfully Splinter, Leo and April are far better at helping Mona come to grips with her mutation, Donnie helps out in setting her up to survive the first couple months of transitioning between her old human life to navigating her mutant one

For me, she’s now Mona Lisa Saperfeld purely for this exact reference link

Raph and Casey also get the occasional treats from the local bodegas, but for running off extortionists and other assorted dipshits with too much time an not enough supervision

Jennika, Mondo, and Mikey are constantly replacing each others’ high scores in Guitar Hero and DDR in Donnie’s arcade

When Donnie, Casey, and Raph are left in the garage for too long... they end up making the weirdest shit (link to a Handy Geng playlist, a dude who makes funky inventions)

#i was using my little AU visdev to get myself going #to do it for my own projects #but oh #how quickly i ended up doing it to relax #because motherfuckers keep trying to start shit with people I know #hhhhh #which i have to reiterate #why be rude #when you can just shut the fuck up #or do it off anon so I can fucking block you too

[noosphe-re]

*gno-

*gnō-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to know."

It forms all or part of: acknowledge; acquaint; agnostic; anagnorisis; astrognosy; can (v.1) "have power to, be able;" cognition; cognizance; con (n.2) "study;" connoisseur; could; couth; cunning; diagnosis; ennoble; gnome; (n.2) "short, pithy statement of general truth;" gnomic; gnomon; gnosis; gnostic; Gnostic; ignoble; ignorant; ignore; incognito; ken (n.1) "cognizance, intellectual view;" kenning; kith; know; knowledge; narrate; narration; nobility; noble; notice; notify; notion; notorious; physiognomy; prognosis; quaint; recognize; reconnaissance; reconnoiter; uncouth; Zend.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit jna- "know;" Avestan zainti- "knowledge," Old Persian xšnasatiy "he shall know;" Old Church Slavonic znati "recognizes," Russian znat "to know;" Latin gnoscere "get to know," nobilis "known, famous, noble;" Greek gignōskein "to know," gnōtos "known," gnōsis "knowledge, inquiry;" Old Irish gnath "known;" German kennen "to know," Gothic kannjan "to make known."

—Etymonline

#etymology #knowing #knowledge #know #language #linguistics #Proto-Indo-European #Sanskrit #Persian #Latin #Greek #Irish #German #quote #gnosis

[izhunny]

Got inspired for AO3's International Fanworks Day 2024 and the IFDrabble "10" theme, so I made a little series of 10 themed drabbles to go with my heist ficlet.

Mission Improbable series:

10-78(Request Assistance) aka The Mission Brief.

How It Went Down with The Avengers

How It Went Down with Thor

Thor's Speedy Messenger Service

Preparing the Perfect Elevator Pitch

Loki Reconnoiters the Objective

Heart-melting Bravado (heist ficlet chronologically follows this drabble)

Dishabille

Takeout, no movie, fooling around.

What's up, doc?

All drabbles are Rated G or T, and No Archive Warnings Apply.

Tony and Loki team up for a heist and get together.

Happy International Fanworks Day!

This was so much fun!

#International Fanworks Day 2024 #IFDrabble #my writing #Mission Improbable #drabbles #all links go to AO3 #tony stark #loki #heist team up #mostly pre-slash #frostron

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

Fault Tolerance

Roland POV of the end of Spartan Ops and the beginning of Halo: Escalation. Also posted on ao3

2558 had a rough start, Halsey escaping, Requiem dragged into a sun, said sun exploding. Hopefully the Infinity and her crew would have it easy for the rest of the year. Nothing bad would happen, right?

-

Earth.

Not home to him, but safe, or it was supposed to be.

Australia was directly below his orbit, half obscured by clouds. Swirls of white with deep blues uncovered by invisible winds. The landmass half covered in the sprawling grays of progress and parking lots. A maze of office buildings hid the object of his worries. It wasn't enough to block his scanners, but he'd be told to sit tight and wait.

He hated waiting. He hated the powerlessness of not knowing. His kind were supposed to know, supposed to problem solve, supposed to save the day with a wink and a smile. Back to Earth and everything seemed different now. Everything was different now. Last time he was here, Roland was brand new, eager to get started and ready to jump headfirst into a mission with his new assignment. His new home, the UNSC Infinity, was now his cage floating above Sydney, HIGHCOM Bravo-6, where his captain and commander were being debriefed after the debacle that was the Requiem campaign. 

Sit and wait, oh how it ate at him, especially when recently all he had been doing was running for their lives. Faster and faster, more and more, pouring on the engines and calculations to pull them from the fire. Spreading himself so thin to keep them alive for what was supposedly a reconnoiter mission. Less than a month ago they had arrived at the Forerunner shield world, and then it seemed like everything had gone wrong.

It was only March. Less than 72 hours ago, he and his entire crew were almost pulled into a dying star. He wasn't even 4 full months into service yet! What was going to happen? Was he going to lose his home? Lose his captain? Were they going to take the Infinity away from him or him from her? It was hard not to worry, especially since it was HIGHCOM and especially since the override code had unraveled him at a critical point of the campaign. Halsey had gotten her hooks into him, and now she was gone and he was a potential liability.  

The last time he was this worried was the trial. Iona. Her fate. The precedence she set forth, and his role as her advocate at the end of her life and the beginning of his. Black Box had tried to assuage his fears, and looking back, had been surprisingly hopeful for the future, but their roles as tools was still very much the status quo. Broken or faulty tools went into a box, or worse.

January felt like a lifetime ago, but it had stuck with him. Hard not to, what with having perfect recall and nigh infinite memory and all. What if they audited him? Black Box would be kind, maybe, if he was given the mercy of a peer review. Brand new AI, Forerunner engines grafted on to a human ship, destroyed Forerunner planet, missing evil scientist; he didn't have a lot going in his favor other than he was ready to be pulled off the shelf at the right time and that replacing him would be very, very expensive.

4 weeks ago he'd been excited to let loose and show what he could do, 6 weeks ago, with Iona's trial, he'd been worried but hopeful, 13 weeks ago he'd been ecstatic, new to this world and all of its intricacies and wonder. So much information, so much to do and see! Now with 351 potential weeks remaining, several parts of him worry at the paths that will be taken from him. There's only so much time. A week is an eon and a blink of an eye to his kind.

Fifth generation Volitional AIs were supposed to be top of the line, but what would happen because of this newly revealed weakness? Halsey had tricks that left them vulnerable during the attack. He'd lost crew and been helpless against the tempest of Forerunner influence and the debilitating override.

And now the two most important members of his Command were at the mercy of a board of Admirals baying for blood and a scapegoat.

Roland might wish he was as hopeful as Captain Lasky, but Palmer's pragmatic nature was more akin to his own logic trees. Not doubting, but realistic. You had to be when the numbers came naturally into your thoughts - especially when a thread of himself unhelpfully pulled up the track record of those who pissed off Osman. Not even Hood could protect them forever.

How had it all gone so wrong so fast?

Roland’s left with nothing to do but pace and triple-check…everything. Life support, engines, shielding, electrical, communication, and health systems, all came back green. Operating nominally, just as they were when he checked 10 nanoseconds ago. He circles the systems like a cat unhappy with how the furniture has been moved an inch to the left. He yowls at techs, at Spartans, at crew, for attention and updates. On their health and comfort as well as if they heard anything. He’s tolerated and comforted and swatted away. Roland skulks around Cmdr. Bradley and peeks at his datapad – nothing. He spies on chatty pilots who know the comings and goings. He startles neurotic mission handlers who know less than him. He listens in on conversations in the mess halls, the hangars, the science labs, the engine room, the crew quarters. The palpable relief should be contagious, but he still worries.

His crew reconnects with their loved ones via Waypoint in real time – no delay from lightyears of distance. Their joy is his, but like theirs it is also a fleeting thing. There is always another deployment on the horizon, and on the flagship, that could be tomorrow.

Hours pass.

The hive of activity winds down but never remains dormant for long. One shift ends and another begins; the constant cycle unbroken under his watch. Pelicans and Broadswords and frigates circle like remoras around a shark. They hover around the Infinity's hull and then land or depart. Roland watches them, watches their flight paths and signals strengthen and weaken as they flit around the massive ship. Her titanium hull casts a long shadow until her orbit over Australia crosses the terminator and then night comes. The ships continue on their own schedule - blips of light in the dark as they are not beholden to Earth and her gravity. They operate on military time and there is always work to be done.

Roland shifts his focus away, leaving a few winking eyes to watch the display. None of them have the signals he’s waiting for.

Hours pass.

It’s afternoon shiptime when a signal crosses his consciousness and Roland’s focus drops from unimportant matters to watch one lonely little pelican come home to him. He nearly smothers the dumb AI announcing SIGNAL DETECTED in his rush to check on the pelican’s crew. Pelican radios weren’t that different from Mjolnir when you push yourself.

He does not exaggerate his relief nor does he make any jokes; not with the mood coming off of his captain and commander. Their biosigns are a mess even as their masks are firmly in place. The bickering doesn’t start until they’re out of the hangar and making plans to talk somewhere with fewer eyes and ears. Roland would almost feel offended if he wasn’t oh so aware of the spooks onboard, and he knew there were most likely more ONI operatives that even he wasn’t aware of.

It does frustrate him that they go to the one place on the ship that he has the fewest cameras and holotanks. The atrium is an excellent place for humans to unwind, connect with dirt and plants and other stuff that calms their ape brains, and keep an eye on any unwanted parties approaching their debrief about whatever the hell happened at HIGHCOM.

Commander Palmer was upset but doing her best not to show it. Roland could tell by the clenched jaw and flared nostrils she was trying, but she was frustrated enough that it took her a second to slow her gait so Captain Lasky could catch up. The fact they changed into PT gear to keep up the charade was almost comical, if Roland hadn’t been stressing the entire time they were gone.

“You didn’t need to stretch the facts back there.” The captain says, partially out of breath and nearly too quiet for his mics to pick up. He can lipread with the best of them, but it’s still a challenge. Too many uncertainties. Though he did have plenty of practice staring at Lasky’s face.

“Uh, yes. I did.” The commander retorts. She furrows her brow and turns to make eye contact as they pretend to jog. 

Oh, she is not happy. The brief pause she gives him is punctuated with a look that lets Roland know she’s about to lay into the captain. And in his core, Roland believes that he probably needs it. After watching them work together this long, he’s been able to see how they balance each other out. His opinion might carry some weight, But the commander knew when not to pull her punches. Lasky’s bleeding heart would get him benched - or worse - without Palmer there to knock some sense into him. Didn’t mean that their arguments weren’t messy. Unstoppable force and immovable object, Roland thinks. 

“I don’t know if you noticed, but Osman was painting a target on you they could have seen from the Outer Colonies.” The commander continues.

“Sarah–” He has no chance yet the captain tries and interjects. 

“They pulled Del Rio out of the chair, Tom. And he had 20 years’ experience on you.” She continues on. Palmer is struggling to keep a slow pace, but Lasky is keeping up. “You can’t boy scout your way around those people.” 

Lasky’s frown thins into a pale line at that. Palmer slows her run as they near the end of the path and are closer to potential eavesdroppers– and Roland. 

Palmer isn’t finished either. Whatever happened down there wasn’t pretty and Palmer stretching the truth - lying - on Lasky’s behalf to a panel of Admirals was no small thing. She’s trying to drill her point into the captain’s head as if he’s a too-green IV. “Maybe when you were an XO but not anymore.”

The commander is upset; not mad, but fearful. Sarah Palmer doesn’t like to mince words and she doesn’t care for people lording their intelligence over her, but she's not stupid. She’s loyal to their captain and trying to keep him out of the crosshairs.

It’s just that Captain Lasky follows his gut more than the rules and ends up in them despite her best efforts.

They jog in silence for ten excruciating seconds, finally getting closer to a holotank where Roland doesn’t have to strain to hear or be heard. Now or never, since he’s got an Admiral asking for docking clearance. 

“Captain Lasky?”

“What is it, Roland?” Lasky asks. His voice is flat– tired, not annoyed at the intrusion – or at least not as annoyed as Roland thought he’d be. Maybe because he was using his avatar and grimacing politely when they approached.

Still, Roland’s job is not just delivering information or opening doors, he does try to take care of his captain. Soften the blow of bad news, when he could. He aims for humor despite the fact that Lord Admiral Hood is here, now, instead of back in Sydney. Something that couldn’t have been an email, Roland guesses.

“Hey, Cap. Orbital Command just alerted us to a shuttle inbound. Diplomatic transponder. Don’t suppose you’re expecting anyone for dinner?”

It doesn’t soften the news.

Twenty minutes later, Captain Lasky is meeting Lord Admiral Hood in hangar 11 and Commander Palmer is back in her armor with a snarl on her face. 

She still minds her “pleases” and “thank yous” with Roland while demanding updates every other minute.

“It’s Admiral Hood, Commander. Shouldn’t we be happy?”

“The Brass never make house visits for good reasons, Roland.” She sighs “Hood’s just as bad as Tom.”

Roland doesn’t think he should respond to that so he stays quiet, but keeps his avatar deployed in her office while he checks in with the other parts of himself.

In the hangar, he’s front and center for Captain Lasky’s talk with Hood.

“Admiral Hood. Twice in one day. I’m either very lucky or very unlucky.” Lasky smiles, but it’s a weak thing that doesn’t reach his eyes. It’s somehow sadder than his usual mopey expression when things go wrong.

“A little of both. I’ll fill you in on the way, but you should call upstairs and have your folks start spinning up for departure.” Hood returns with a tight smile of his own and then launches into the details of the plan.

Well…that might not be all bad. Not getting to deal with Halsey and ‘Mdama would be a sore spot for everyone, but at least they’re not grounded. Nothing’s going to happen to him either! No word on Roland’s performance. He feels guilty for his relief when the captain and commander went through an unofficial but really pretty official inquiry. 

But this would go well and they could prove themselves! 2558 was still young! It was only March so plenty of time left for the year to improve.

Peace talks – babysitting emissaries who hated each other's guts and wanted to put a superheated plasma sword through the other’s skull. How hard could it be? He just had to sit and wait in orbit. Roland couldn’t shake the bad feeling buzzing through him. “Jiralhanae” and “Diplomacy” weren’t words usually used in the same sentence. A UNSC Admiral, Captain, the Arbiter, and two Fireteams go down to a planet sounds like a beginning to a bad joke to him.

He was overthinking again. No one knew the location and they had a full contingent of Spartans and a fleet on standby. 

This would be a cakewalk compared to Requiem.

-

Author's note: It was not a cakewalk

#halo fanfic #my writing #Roland the AI #Halo: Escalation #Thomas Lasky #Sarah Palmer #Lord Hood

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Frances Marsalis and Louise Thaden broke the women’s endurance flight record on August 19, 1932, when they passed the 123-hour time set by Edna May Cooper and Bobbie Trout the previous year. Here, they reconnoiter above Long Island with a plane bringing them additional fuel.

Photo: Associated Press

#vintage New York #1930s #early aviation #aviation records #female aviators #aviatrix #August 19 #19 August #Aug. 19 #19 Aug. #Frances Marsalis #Louise Thaden #Long Island