But nick says he has only been drunk twice in his life, and nick is an honorable man

#ryland grace#phm#rocky the eridian#project hail mary spoilers


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But nick says he has only been drunk twice in his life, and nick is an honorable man

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What does the greek public think of the Greek Genocide and Turkey now a days? Iâm Armenian and the granddaughter of an Armenian genocide survivor, and I know that Armenians and Greeks have always felt a connection through multiple things including persecution under the Turks.
So I was just wondering if like Armenians who still hold anger and sadness about our genocide, if the Greeks feel the same.
Donât answer this if you feel uncomfortable, love! ďżź
Hello, dear â¤ď¸
First of all, I am so happy your grandfather made it. Itâs a crazy coincidence that just yesterday I finished reading a classic autobiographical Greek book, âNumber 31328â by Ilias Venezis, who was a survivor of the death marches and the slave camps in Anatolia.
The truth is that Greeks absolutely still have feelings of sadness and anger, like the Armenians.
I donât know exactly what the situation between Armenia and Turkey on a political level currently is (although I think itâs not all rosy) but Greece and Turkey have made numerous attempts at a diplomatic improvement of their relations, which however sooner or later always fall flat.
I genuinely believe that a lot of Greek people would want to leave things behind and look at the future by building good relations with the Turks. Besides, Greeks make friends with Turks, although not discussing politics and history is usually a given for this to work out. The problem is that Turkey does that extremely difficult in the long run.
Because itâs not just the genocide! (what a statement huh)
Itâs that both the state and its people completely deny it. Even their more liberal people, I âve never seen anyone explicitly admit to it.
And yet at the first opportunity you will be slapped with a proud âWhy are the Greeks so good swimmers? Because we threw their grandfathers in the seaâ. So say the genocide deniersâŚ
Turkey committed many anti-Greek pogroms long after the genocide and it has successfully eradicated the historical Greek population of its lands.
Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 and keeps occupying the north of the island, deporting thousands of Greek Cypriots and giving their properties to Turks.
Turks mock Greeks for not getting over losing Constantinople 600 years ago. Also, Turks: having an annual anniversary of Sacking Constantinople 600 years later⌠Like, who even celebrates invasion in 2025âŚâŚ.
While there is this constant abdication by putting the blame on Erdogan being a dictator, in fact most Turkish citizens seem okay with his foreign affairs policies. I know there are some who really want peace or even express love for Greece but unfortunately itâs all overshadowed by their fellow countrymen and politicians. Besides, in their Parliament too few - if any - propose a more peaceful attitude towards Greece. Most agree with Erdogan or judge him that âhe is too tolerant with Greeceâ lol
Turkey is the only coastal country in the freaking world that did not sign the International Laws of the Sea, because it knew it would want to eventually cause problems to Greece. Now Turkey forbids Greece from practicing the right of the six mile extension which is a right given to all countries. Turkey has threatened Greece with war over this. Greece is also bullied into not searching its territorial waters for mineral resources. Turkey also formed new marine borders with the illegal government of Libya that were casually swallowing a huge part of Greeceâs territorial waters including its largest island! This is an illegal agreement and even the Libyan parliament rejected it.
I havenât heard anything lately but over the course of all the previous years Turkish airforce invaded Greek airspace almost daily.
Turkey has expressed openly its will to annex at least half of Greeceâs islands and territorial waters by building the award worthy ahistorical rhetoric of the âBlue Homelandâ, according to which Turks are natives of the Greek islands??????? lol They intend or have already added this rhetoric to their schoolbooks to brainwash young Turks even more.
In their museums and archaeological sites they try to minimize or eliminate Greek presence and influence as much as possible. If an archaeological site has Greek scriptures they will just say âancient scriptureâ with no more details. A Greek tourist reported that he protested over this to his Turkish tour guide, who downright ignored him. By the way, Turkey is the Number Two country with most ancient and medieval Greek sites after Greece, so imagine the extense of this erasure.
They are defacing or converting medieval Byzantine churches to mosques.
They are revising history in Turkey to present the Byzantine Empire as the worst country to have ever been and that, after all, them coming was a blessing because âthey saved Byzantines from themselvesâ. The Greek revolution (the first in a chain of events that caused the collapse of the Ottoman Empire) is mentioned in like two sentences in their history books as a minor revolt of the ungrateful Greeks initiated by the Russians (fun fact: the Russians were against the Greek revolution until years and years after it had started).
They try to build new origin stories according to which they are descendants of the Ancient Hittites (who faded in antiquity already) mixed with the Turks in the eleventh century, meanwhile the 3000 year old Greek presence there was minimal and of no consequence and Greeks did not mix at all and apparently they hellenised the region with telepathy. At the same time they blame Greeks for the fall of the Hittite civilisation which is also untrue according to scholars. Hittites had fights with other cultures way way more.
In short their anti-Greek rhetorics are beyond belief.
In 2020, Turkey intentionally misinformed its immigrants and refugees that Europe supposedly opened its borders and was accepting them and then it unleashed within 3 days 70,000 immigrants to the Greek borders by pushing them and urging them to confront the Greek army. Were there sanctions to Turkey for this incredibly immoral deed? Nope.
Some politician or military officer in Turkey will proclaim that âwe will come one nightâ aka invade Greece at least a few times per month.
And now I ask you; is there a reason for us to forgive or forget the genocideâŚâŚ.? Like I said, they are accusing us of not leaving the past in the past but it does not really seem like it is the past, does it?
I believe this sentiment will resonate with you.
18th August 1773 saw Samuel Johnson and James Boswell set out on their three month tour of the Highlands and the Inner Hebrides.
Boswell enticed his famous English friend Samuel Johnson to accompany him on a tour through the highlands and western islands of Scotland.
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh, like many young men he longed to visit the bright lights of London and in 1760 he deserted the family home to live in the English capital for a few months. It was during his second stay in 1762-63 that he met his literary hero and model, the poet, essayist and dictionary maker Dr. Samuel Johnson. In August 1763 Boswell embarked upon a 2½ year Grand Tour of Europe, during which he met many notable men and women, including Voltaire and Rousseau. On returning to Scotland he practised law as an advocate. During this time he made occasional visits London to spend time with Dr Johnson and others of his circle, including Oliver Goldsmith, Sir Joshua Reynolds and Edmund Burke. He was also on familiar terms with David Hume, Adam Smith and other leading figures of the Scottish Enlightenment.
Johnston and Boswell set off less than 30 years after the '45 Uprising, when whisky was still distilled illegally, roads were scarce and travel was by foot, bone-jangling carriage, horseback or over very turbulent seas in a rickety boat.
Their extraordinary journey to the Highlands and the Hebrides during an autumnal season of relentless rain and storms, took Johnson - plump, partially deaf and blind and who had rarely travelled outside of London - on a grand Scottish tour which led to two of the earliest travel books and paved the way for centuries of tourists who would also explore the nationâs wild islands and highland
While for the then 32-year-old Boswell there was a chance to witness Johnson up close for nearly three months, providing a wealth of material for his admired biography, Life of Samuel Johnson. The travel journal was a massive hit and a humorous account of their journey.
Boswell was Scots to his roots and is very defensive about the Scots and Scottishness, while Johnson has this very English take on it all. These two things fuel the humour, Johnson is like this English bulldog and Boswell is like a Scottish terrier. Together they are a hoot! Add to that the facts that as you would expect from a Scotsman, Boswell was a heavy drinker and Johnson was teetotal, which leads to all kinds of escapades. Itâs like 18th century Laurel and Hardy.
Boswell, quoted their first conversation in the biography, Life of Samuel Johnson, saying: âMr Johnson, I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help itâ. To which Johnson replied: âThat, Sir, I find, is what a great many of your countrymen cannot help.â
It set the scene for a friendship driven by verbal sparring, with Johnsonâs deprecating remarks about Scots robustly foiled by Boswellâs defence of homeland.
Their travels began in mid-August at Boydâs Inn in Edinburgh, where the cleanliness dismayed Johnson. Boswell wrote: âHe asked to have his lemonade made sweeter; upon which the waiter, with his greasy fingers, lifted a lump of sugar, and put it into it. The Doctor, in indignation, threw it out of the windowâ.
The pair then travelled up the east coast, stopping at St Andrews to indulge their interest in John Knox and Mary, Queen of Scots, Following the coast towards Aberdeenshire, a bit like todayâs NC500 tourists plotting their route, they took an anti-clockwise course along the Moray Coast to Inverness and then to the Western Isles.
At times their journey resembled a lengthy pub crawl as they noted the quality of the inns and the food.
In Montrose, Johnson noted: âAt our inn we did not find a reception such as we thought proportionate to the commercial importance of the place; but Mr Boswell desired me to observe the innkeeper was an Englishman, and I then defended him as well as I could.â Dundee, it was noted, was âdirty, despicableâ. They even recorded their first taste of Arbroath smokies.
Having travelled through Glen Shiel, the pair arrived at the inn at Glenelg. Often praised today, Boswell and Johnson gave it the equivalent of a one-star TripAdvisor review. Having arrived âwearing and peevishâ, they discovered âno meat, no milk, no bread, no eggs, no wine. We did not express much satisfaction.â
The Highland terrain posed even greater stress. Dangerous and often impassable except on foot, they were often in remote spots, miles from inns or shelter or ankle deep in a peat bog. Nevertheless, they trudged on through stormy weather and with Johnson often suffering from colds, increasing deafness and seasickness on the journeys between the islands.
The trip from Coll to Skye was undertaken during a vicious storm, with Boswell fretting over whether the boat might sink or explode, and troubled that he couldnât understand the sailorsâ Gaelic! Johnson was no great fan of the language, describing it as âthe rude speech of a barbarous people, who had few thoughts to express, and were content, as they conceived grossly, to be grossly understoodâ.
But in Skye, they were delighted to meet Flora MacDonald, and slept in the same room that Bonnie Prince Charlie had slept in. âBoth were over the moon because they were besotted with the story,â he wrote.
Donât judge Johnson on his dislike of the Gaelic language though, the pair told of finding the Highlands still occupied by military garrisons, cleared by immigration and spoke of the suppression of Highland culture and oppression of the clans.
The isle of Raasay turned out to be a favourite spot, where the pair enjoyed the clan chiefâs hospitality and a raucous ceilidh, with Boswell dancing a jig on the flat summit of Dun Caan. Both felt that in Raasay they had come close to authentic old Gaelic culture and way of life.
By October 1773 they were in the Saracen Head Inn in Glasgowâs Gallowgate, revelling in a roaring coal fire and conversation with professors from Glasgow University.
The trip would come to a sorry end, however, at Boswellâs familyâs Ayrshire home at Johnson and Boswellâs father had an enormous row; they were total opposites in religious and political beliefs,
Johnson was a kind of father figure to Boswell. He knew Boswell could be a bit out of hand, but he also knew he was a real literary talent.â
Johnsonâs A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, was published in 1775, followed a exactly decade later by Boswellâs The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson. Both wrote their own versions of their tour differently. They go to the same places but see things differently.
âMy dear friends, this is your hour. This is not victory of a party or of any class. Itâs a victory of the great British nation as a whole. We were the first, in this ancient island, to draw the sword against tyranny. After a while we were left all alone against the most tremendous military power that has been seen. We were all alone for a whole year. There we stood, alone. Did anyone want to give in? [The crowd shouted âNo.â] Were we down-hearted? [âNo!â] The lights went out and the bombs came down. But every man, woman and child in the country had no thought of quitting the struggle. London can take it. So we came back after long months from the jaws of death, out of the mouth of hell, while all the world wondered. When shall the reputation and faith of this generation of English men and women fail? I say that in the long years to come not only will the people of this island but of the world, wherever the bird of freedom chirps in human hearts, look back to what weâve done and they will say âdo not despair, do not yield to violence and tyranny, march straightforward and die if need be-unconquered.â Now we have emerged from one deadly struggle-a terrible foe has been cast on the ground and awaits our judgment and our mercy. But there is another foe who occupies large portions of the British Empire, a foe stained with cruelty and greed-the Japanese. I rejoice we can all take a night off today and another day tomorrow. Tomorrow our great Russian allies will also be celebrating victory and after that we must begin the task of rebuilding our hearth and homes, doing our utmost to make this country a land in which all have a chance, in which all have a duty, and we must turn ourselves to fulfill our duty to our own countrymen, and to our gallant allies of the United States who were so foully and treacherously attacked by Japan. We will go hand and hand with them. Even if it is a hard struggle we will not be the ones who will fail.â
The marvellous words of one of Britain's greatest statesmen, Sir Winston Churchill. He spoke to the British nation on 8th May 1945, 80 years ago, announcing the victory not only of Britain, but of freedom against the tyranny and evil of Nazi Germany. The International Churchill Society has his speech here. May we never forget what we owe to Sir Churchill, his Government, the British Armed Forces, the Navy, the Airforce, and the millions of other British people that kept the faith and resisted Hitler. As Churchill said, "ADVANCE, BRITANNIA! LONG LIVE THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM. GOD SAVE THE KING."
greetings! this is astrid, sheâs 309 and having kind of a rough few centuries but you wonât see her down about it
full bio here bullet points under the cut â¤ď¸

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the devil you know
ĐĄharacters: Hange Zoe, Levi, Moblit Berner, Zeke Yeagar, Armin Arlert
Genres: Action / Drama
Summary: Can you still miss a person, if everything you knew about them was a lie?
ĐĄhapter 4/?
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Appreciating a character as a whole is not a shame. Stop being ashamed of enjoying Eren. This guy is cool. Of course, no one in their right mind can buy something like genocide, but we're talking about fiction. Don't confuse everything. What allows you to insult us of pro-Nazi?! (like whatttt???!) or insult the author of this masterpiece of pro-genocidal dude? 3/4 of you don't even live in Europe, how can you talk about something like World War II and Nazism when you have briefly gone through it at school? I assure you that AOT has nothing to do, and has nothing to do with Nazi propaganda. Eren is not a fascist, quite the opposite. Get your heads out of your asses and educate yourself. I'm going to stick you with the definition of the word "fascism" for the most uncultured among you. "The fascist regime intends to make the nation a single community united behind one man (cult of personality and importance of hierarchy), with one individual who must step aside in front of the state. Rejecting human rights, it is accompanied by a strong and secure police state." Does Eren expect to rule the world and for everyone to obey him? No. Is Eren against human rights? He is fundamentally in favor of freedom for each and every Eldian, who at the base have been imprisoned and despised for a century now. Did Eren talk about establishing a totalitarian state led by a militia? No. To make a long story short, how can one call Eren a fascist when, instead of despising and carrying out a totalitarian policy on his people, Eren just wants to offer them the one thing that he considers to be a right for all: Freedom as a human being, as a representative of the Eldian people.
I think that everybody confuses fascism and genocide. It's not necessarily linked, even though very often in a fascist political system there are genocides.
I don't consider Eren to be a racist either. His line "When I knew there was humanity behind the walls, I was disappointed" was really misinterpreted. I just consider Eren as someone who lacks the words to express himself properly. Let me explain, what Eren wanted us to understand here is not a repulsion of other people from other countries, other cultures, or whatever, but rather it is when getting the memories of Grisha, Eren understood how much the rest of the world despised and treated them. He was just disappointed to see how stupid and mean humanity can be, what had they done to deserve this inhuman treatment? He learned about Ymir Fritz, about what the Eldian people have done to others, but wasn't cutting them off on a small island surrounded by titans who are, in the end, fellow countrymen turned into monsters, eating human beings, a punishment worthy of the task? I remind you that the Eldian people are parked like cattle in concentration camps, a kind of ghetto, pushing them back to the entrenchments so as not to mix them with pure-blooded Marleyeans (perhaps one of the only comparisons to be made with Nazism and the Holocaust) and this concerns Marley, I read somewhere that in other countries, when you are Eldian, you die, you shouldn't even exist. Eren, finally understanding, that the only mistake he made, he like all the inhabitants of the island and Eldians living in other countries like Ymir (not Fritz) Reiner, Annie, Berthold, Marcel,Gaby, Falco, Porco, Pieck... even Zeke, is to be born of Eldian blood, to belong to this people, and for some of them to be subjects of Ymir.Â
This is exactly what they are accused of. They are being made to pay for what the people may have committed as an atrocity centuries before, with punishments such as confinement, bashing their own existence as a person, transformation into a horrible beast, even death penalty.Â
The Eldians are considered impure human beings, the demons of this world, horrible people, kind of atrocities, they deserve to die: this is the way the rest of humanity thinks about Eren and his people.Â
Then Eren must be the one who needs to be questioned? Eren is the madman, ready to commit genocide because he is going through his little adolescent existential crisis? Well, even if that was one of the reasons, I remind you that Eren is not an average boy, besides having suffered a strong trauma, he is the bearer of a heavy burden, and he has to do it by himself.
Do you think it's normal that a kid like Gaby is part of the Marleyeans soldiers, when she's, like, what, 11/12 years old? This kid should be in school. No, she's much better as bait for the enemy of Marley's state, since she's a little Eldian bitch, and the worst thing is that this kid is so propagandised that she considers her own origins as vermin to be exterminated since they are the demons of this earth and the reason for her confinement and mistreatment in Marley. In the end, I understand this kid, who wouldn't? Already, she had an uncontrolled hatred of the island's Eldians, now Eren comes undercover to attack Marley, she lost her friends (Sofia and Udo) in the process, so it's normal that in the end, nothing scares her anymore, and Sasha ended up with a bullet. Eleven-year-old Gaby lost her innocence a long time ago, just like her cousin Reiner. Itâs sad.. really sad, and Eren was the first person to get it. He truly forgave the man who âkilledâ his mother, because he knows that Reiner, like Berthold, like Annie, didnât have any choice. They has been raised this way. Like Mikasa loves to say âThis is world is cruel but beautifulâ.
They pushed Eldians to think about them and consider themselves like trashes. It made Zeke thought that the best plan to help Eldians was their euthanasia. Can you imagine?!
They finally acted the way they did in order to save their loved-ones.
- Grisha did it because of his sister who has been slaughtered by some Marleyean officiers, then for his first wife Dina, then for Carla and his sons.
- Reiner did it because of his mother, to finally make his marleyean father be proud of him so, him and his mother could finally live together.
- Berthold, I guess, did it for his family, to obtain the certification to live as Marleyean random person, and stop being considered as a trash because of his eldian blood.
- Annie did it because of her father, because she wants to return to him. She even stated that even she knows that what she did to Paradisâ inhabitants was really awful, she would do it again because of her father.
- Gaby did it because of her propagandised mind and in purpose to honor her family like Reiner did before her, at least, itâs what she thinks.
They deserve to be forgiven, they deserve to be at peace, even if theyâre Eldians. They deserve freedom. Freedom in a way to be freed from what people think they are, to be freed from what Eldia did centuries before, it never has been freedom like no political rules, like hippies, no way, itâs more deeper than that.
We still donât know Erenâs ORIGINAL PURPOSES to start the rumbling. Why is he actually acting this way?
 Is that for freedom? Yes, I think.
 Is that for all the people he lost and all the people he loves and still alive? Yes, I think.Â
Is that for a selfish purpose? I donât think so.
Is Eren enough psychopath to want the rest of the humanity dying? No, I donât think so.
Can someone bring him another solution - not including Islandersâ euthanasia, or genocide? Unfortunately, no.
Iâm no smarter than anyone here, but I really think the moral of this story here is all about changing things, breaking the infernal cycle of things, and forgiving others, getting back on a healthy footing.
Eren is actually changing things, he is breaking the infernal cycle of things, he forgave the ones who spoiled his childhood, he is now waiting to be understood, and being forgiven. He is doing this for his people, like the others did.
West African Hybrids
âHey⌠Hey! Wake up, weâre almost there.â
RuâYi felt a slight nudge at her side and opened her eyes. Her uniform was slightly rumpled. She managed to tie up her hair so it wouldnât be too frizzy on landing. âReally?â She whimpered in a sleepy disappointment. âThat was so fastâŚâ
âWell, the executive department doesnât like to waste time. So the gear department modifies planes for maximum speed.â Rodney gave her a shy smile, revealing a single dimple on his right cheek. âAre you okay? Can I get you anything?â
She shook her head. âIâm alright.â
It was still too dark to see much but, as people began to turn on their overhead lights, she noticed that his eyes were hazel, brown with flecks of green and gold mixed in, hidden behind his dark brown bangs. Everything from his hair cut, to his quiet voice, and hesitant demeanor spoke to his shyness, but now that she got a good look at him, she could tell that he was at least as strong as Brian. He had those same broad shoulders and muscles along his arms. He was also relatively tall, stretching his legs under the seat in front of him.
Around her all the students were always wide awake, shifting and speaking to their seatmates.
RuâYi only remembered flying once before. Back when she was fourteen when they were on the island, she had been so excited to take her first flight and she packed all her things early. She even watched videos of 757, 747 and 777 airliners to see how things would be. These massive jets with smiling Flight attendants, a friendly captain speaking over an intercom, and movies built into the seats.
But instead of a large bustling airport, her father and mother took a boat to another island where a sandy flat ribbon of land served as a runway. There were no customs, no shopping, nothing like that. Just a long silver luxury private jet in the middle of nowhere. Â
âWhy canât we just be normal?â She had lamented.
Her father answered her question in his usual succinct manner. The nearest airport was nearly a dayâs travel away and she would never be able to use it anyway because she didnât have a passport. He looked at her with a head slightly tilted, like a curious bird wondering what was wrong. The juxtaposition of his serious-eyed stare, his questioning gesture and his shirt with the bright yellow hibiscus flowers would have been funny but she wasnât laughing.
This was better anyway, her mother had chimed in. They had the whole plane to themselves. There was an onboard chef ready to fix anything they possibly would want to eat, music, movies, games, and a good pilot that her father knew. She also was dressed in a yellow sundress to match her husbandâs and together, they looked like the happy globetrotting couple.
 RuâYi had relented, but didnât smile. Deep down, he knew all the kids at school would envy her. They would question how some tour guide could afford a private flight to the United States.
She should be grateful.
Now sitting in the Beluga Aircraft, she realized that this was as close to normal as she could get. At least now, she was surrounded by other people who also didnât seem to use passports, use airports or pass through customs. They were flying a jet with a jet tucked inside it like a Russian nesting doll and still managed to go faster than the planes sheâd looked at as a child. She started to wonder if normalcy was as much as a fantasy to her as dragons were to ordinary people.
Aircraft Carrier, Aido-Hwedo, West Africa Branch.
The calm Atlantic waters broke beneath the unstoppable gun-metal bow of the moving wall of metal that towered a thousand feet high. It was topped with what appeared to be a flat road surface, as though a piece of highway had broken off a steel cliffside and set sail. On the side of this cliff was a name in large white block text a dozen feet high: Aido-Hwedo.
The original name of the vessel was the USS-Enterprise. This aircraft carrier was the one near enough to Pearl Harbor to participate in the famous World War II battle. It had scrambled several of its jets to help, but in the confusion of the sudden attack, many of them were shot down by their own countrymen. Later it saw intense battles of the South Pacific and then other missions during peacetime. But, for all its storied history, it still ended up at the shipyard to be turned into scrap at the end of its life.
According to history, it was scrap. Supposedly, all that was left of the ship was its bell, an anchor and the name plaque. Indeed, the name plaque was removed, but the ship itself moved about on the seas like a ghost of decades past, fighting battles under its new name.
The Aido-Hwedo was the great rainbow serpent that both created the world and sustained Earthâs form from falling to chaos -- A great beast that ate iron and, lacking iron, would instead eat its own tail.
Ordinarily, this floating runway would have been decorated with fighter jets, but for this occasion the landing surface was cleared to accommodate its incoming oversized cargo.
Within the control tower a tall man with skin the color of black coffee watched through his binoculars while a woman sat watching the radar screen. He was dressed in a black naval uniform, decorated with gold tassels. He was still, silent, and tense as he prepared to watch the plane land.
Landing on a flight deck is one of the most difficult things a pilot will ever do. The flight deck only had about 500 feet of runway space for landing planes, which wasnât nearly enough for the heavy, high-speed jets like the modified Beluga coming in. To land on the flight deck, it would need a tailhook, which was exactly what it sounded like â an extended hook attached to the planeâs tail. The pilotâs goal would be to snag the tailhook on one of four arresting wires, sturdy cables woven from high-tensile steel wire. It would be precision flying at low speed and a high angle of attack. It was the definitive skill that tested Navy carrier pilots. The principle on landing would be to fly the plane aboard the ship at the slowest speed at which it can be done safely, to deliberately stall and drop into the landing.
Despite his confidence in the pilot, Foli Abalo looked through his binoculars with anticipation of a close call. The wire system was checked, rechecked and placed under guard. A back up emergency wire system was installed in case it failed anyway.
âApproach speed 450. Tail hook lowered.â The woman murmured.Â
The lights of the plane were suddenly visible as it made its approaching turn. It moved incredibly slowly, stalking the ship like a massive fat shark.
âSpeed reduced 350âŚâ
It was the moment of truth. By now, the plane was so low and flying so slow, it had two options, land perfectly on the aircraft carrier or land on the ocean. There would be no recovering from this descent.
âOn final approach. Flaps full. Speed 300.â
The roar of the engines was now audible in the tower. It rattled the glass. This plane would take up every inch of the runway and its wings would span the full width of the ship. Compared to the plane, this aircraft carrier seemed more like a sheet of notebook paper.
âLanding in five⌠four, three, twoâŚâ
The plane suddenly dwarfed the runway. The weight of it rocked the carrier. A pair of reverse thrusters built into the engines ignited in front of it. The brake lines caught the tailhooks and screamed under the strain. The plane passed the tower, rumbled further and further to the edge and then stopped completely, its nose peeking over the water.
A smattering of applause echoed throughout the tower. âWe did it! We did it! That was the hard part wasnât it? Get the crew down, have medics on board just in case the force of the stop caused any injuries.â
While the crew scattered, Foli smiled, his teeth a brilliant white, his black eyes twinkling. âGrant⌠itâs been far too long. How have you been doing my friend? Will you still recognize me? I wonder.â He chuckled.
Foli was one of a set of quadruplets. His mother had two eggs fertilized that day and by luck, both of them divided into two sets of twins. They were all born on the same day and seemed to have the same spirit in them so it was impossible to tell them apart as babies even for the most experienced spiritualist. Normally, the children would be named after the day of the week until they were given their permanent names. As it turned out, they were given the names of their birth order and that was that.
The name Foli meant first son, Atsu meant the younger of twins, Do was the first child after twins, and Dofi the second child after twins. His three brothers were also on this ship, scattered throughout the crew. Those onboard had no trouble telling them apart thanks to the uniform system of the West Africa branch. The gold crown on his hat meant he was the First Officer. But without his hat, it was very difficult to tell for those who didnât know them well, and it wasnât uncommon for his brothers to disguise themselves as pranks. He wouldnât meet his friend today. His youngest brother, Dofi, would meet him instead.
He walked out of the tower where his brother was waiting and passed his his hat. Looking at them was like looking at a reflection. The same curled hair, cut short in the same buzzed syle, the same smile, and broad nose.
It was Dofiâs idea to play the prank. He was always the jokester and the one who initiated play on the ship. Atsu, the Chief Engineer was up to his ears after making the modifications to the ship for this mission. And Do had to stay on watch, keeping a careful eye on the stirring atmosphere just a few hundred miles distant. Although they were all the same age, Foli was expected to be the responsible representative and more was required of him as the oldest brother, even if he was only the oldest by a few minutes. So he wasnât allowed to be seen playing, drinking or smoking.
Dofi screwed the hat on his head. âIâll say I stole it.â He said, turning on his heel with a wink and then, pulling his face into a stoic frown, marched straight towards the bridge. When the other crew saw him they quickly pulled up in a sharp salute, thinking he was the captain.
The West Africa Branch had managed to remain under the radar for much of history. Africa had few mountains to guarantee a sufficient amount of steady rains. So great buildings and permanent settlements were mostly confined to the coasts and river valleys. The rest of Africa was forced to follow the shifting weather. The most valuable items one had had to be portable. So the hybrids of Africa were always mobile and moving. They kept their secrets with them in oral traditions, and carried their alchemical knowledge in the form of clothing, necklaces and even scars and tattoos. When the tidal wave of destructive colonization smashed to ruins the cultures of millions and the cutting knife of modern country borders separated allies and grouped them with enemies, and the explosion of civil war blew countries into eternal cycles of poverty, the hybrid life of West Africa was like a serpent, sliding under it all, with a secret network of transportation, communication and trade.
Anjou landed on the shores searching for such treasures. They were aware of him immediately and shied away. After all, those Europeans were nothing but looters and could not be trusted. They offered him fakes in hopes of luring him off their land. He saw through their counterfeits, but showed a surprising amount of restraint and tolerance for their hesitance. After a few years of negotiations, they finally trusted him enough to grant him a single piece of exquisite art that contained the alchemical formula for a special kind of dragonslaying metal. In return, he agreed to keep them secret for seven years.Â
Those seven years passed and the promise was kept and the relationship grew a bit more open. They began to send their young men and women to the college. Foli attended along with Grant. Sadly, the death of Anjou was an uncertain time for the College. They didnât know this âLu Mingfeiâ or this âVon Fringsâ. But Foli knew Grant Baldwin and he couldnât refuse a request for help from a friend. Grant said he needed people who could keep secrets and no one kept secrets like the West African Hybrids.
The crew that would welcome them rolled the tall stairway up to the planeâs door and arranged themselves in a long row spanning its length, hands folded behind their backs, looking like a row of sharply dressed dominoes.
The door finally opened and Grant exited first. He looked out over them and stepped easily down towards the âCaptainâ who gazed at him with a serious air. For a moment, the two stared at each other not saying anything.
From his perch in the tower, Foli could hear what was being said through the wire Dofi wore. He grinned as he heard his brother say, âWelcome to my ship, Director.â
Grantâs voice, at its most deadpan and dry tone said, âSince when did Foli grow a mole on his cheek? Where is he? Which brother are you?â
Within the tower, Foli tilted his head back and howled with laughter, his joy at his brotherâs prank failing was intensified by the fact that his friend still remembered him after all his time. âWhich brother are you? HahahaâŚâ He leaned forward and clicked the PA system and his voice boomed over the speakers attached to the tower. âGood morning, Mr. Baldwin! Long time no see! Hahaha!â
âWas this a test?â
âYes! And you half passed. For the second half, you will have to find out for yourself which brother is he!â
The rest of the line of crew also grinned but kept their laughter in check as Dofi gave a bow with an elegant leg. âWeâll show your students a good time. They need rest while we prepare the mission.â
The students piled off the plane in a rush, eagerly waving and looking around. Foli watched carefully, making a checklist in his mind of each face. Heâd gotten the roster from Baldwin of those approved for the mission, so when he saw a woman get off he straightened with surprise.
He didnât remember any women being on the roster. She seemed young, her skin was only the color of a latte, but her hair was long, coiled and beautiful. She carefully stepped down to the ground and took her place in line to wait for her luggage.
He turned off the PA. It seemed that Grant had his own surprises. âEnsign⌠who is the girl?â
The woman at the radar shook her head. Sheâs not on the roster. Thereâs no female name on the manifest.
He rubbed his chin. He knew he should trust Mr. Baldwin, but he also knew that he only had so much authority. The School Board would easily overrule him.Â
âFind out what you can about her.â He turned. âI will make my way down to the deck.â