(Source)

Jim Sullivan

From the Contrarian:

Headfirst Into War

The horrific attack on Venezuela overnight puts the U.S. in the same camp as Russia.

Jennifer Rubin. Jan 3

Americans probably still can be shocked and horrified. An undeclared, unprovoked, and illegal war designed to, well, we can only guess—though Donald Trump and JD Vance have seemed to concede this was a war for oil—puts the United States on the same moral and legal footing as Russia, which invaded its neighbor in a war of pure aggression. The U.S. president this weekend attacked a sovereign nation, killed its citizens, and kidnapped its leader.

Rep, Jim Himes, ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said in a statement:

Maduro is an illegitimate ruler, but I have seen no evidence that his presidency poses a threat that would justify military action without Congressional authorization, nor have I heard a strategy for the day after and how we will prevent Venezuela from descending into chaos. Secretary Rubio repeatedly denied to Congress that the Administration intended to force regime change in Venezuela. The Administration must immediately brief Congress on its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.

Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) aptly explained the constitutional outrage. “Trump rejected our Constitutionally required approval process for armed conflict because the Administration knows the American people overwhelmingly reject risks pulling our nation into another war,” he declared on social media. “This will further damage our reputation—already hurt by Trump’s policies around the world—and only isolate us in a time when we need our friends and allies more than ever.” Indeed, Mexico already denounced the action. Others are sure to follow.

Any and all regime officials who insisted in congressional briefings that the boat strikes were about drugs, not regime change, lied to Congress as Kim and others have pointed out, and participated in a wholly unconstitutional war. Even Susie Wiles condeded in a recent Vanity Fair article that attacking the mainland would require congressional assent. So much for that.

The U.S. attorney general declared that the United States had indicted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on narcotics charges and will be tried in federal court. That outlandish proposition opens the seizure to scrutiny and raises the interesting possibility that Trump claims he enjoys immunity but not other heads of state.

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), an Iraq War veteran, posted a sobering warning: “I fought in some of the hardest battles of the Iraq War. Saw my brothers die, saw civilians being caught in the crossfire all for an unjustified war. No matter the outcome we are in the wrong for starting this war in Venezuela.” He added, “Second unjustified war in my life time. This war is illegal, it’s embarrassing that we went from the world cop to the world bully in less than one year. There is no reason for us to be at war with Venezuela.”

It is hard not to conclude that the action is a “wag the dog moment” aimed at distracting the public from the Epstein files, the rotten economy, and Trump’s declining health. It very well could supercharge Trump’s lawless and violent domestic policies against migrants, civil society groups, and others on grounds that they are authorized by wartime powers. His rickety tower of constitutional rubbish will continue to build.

We should have no expectation that congressional Republicans will do anything to thwart Trump (the power of the purse, impeachment, activation of the War Powers Act). They have repeatedly caved in allowing his illegal attacks on boats and even the killing of survivors left adrift after the U.S. blew up their boat.

Democrats, however, should act to garner public support and reiterate the danger posed by MAGA. Impeachment of all concerned and future criminal prosecution where possible should be on the table. Funding for the government runs out this month, and a nonstop series of speeches to the American people during a second government shutdown would be edifying.

This mind-blowing attack is the direct result of a Supreme Court MAGA majority, and Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. specifically, who granted him broad immunity never envisioned by the Framers. He has taken that and run with it—now headfirst into war.

The dangers to Americans in Venezuela and elsewhere, the potential for chaos or the ascension of an equally bad or noxious figure, international isolation and rebukes, and magnified economic uncertainty are all possible.

“Burn

it

down!

All

of

it!”

Now we're at war.

I wonder whether US embassies in the Middle East were warned ahead of time. And US corporations based in the Middle East. And US citizens permanently or temporarily in the Middle East.

All of them are now targets.

Part 4

"Stevil is a bit alarming"

Before they really have any time to react, the helper contorts the skin on his head into a mockery of a smiling face. Avocato´s inside churn, and he reaches for a gun.

Stevil towers over them in a second, the eyes around him form a sick halo that changes shape as he does, and the pupil sucks mooncake like a black hole claiming it´s victim.

"Sleep" Comes the voice from above, bringing heaviness to take ahold of his limbs, his mind clouds over.

He fights it, but this is like trying to fightthe presence of Threxis when it appears to Avocato in a vision... or how it used to, in Ventrexia, before all this mess. Now, the Gods are silent, foresaking him for giving Ventrexia in a silver platter to the man that has him on a leash.

He feels so light for a second. His whole body goes soft, pliant. He´s rarely this relaxed.

It doesn´t last, as always.

He´s falling, and his stomach was left somewhere back with stevil. At least this time he´s not throwing up.

Somehow they end up upright.

There was no landing, or anything. He was just falling. Not even the roar of the wind on his ears.

At the next blink, he´s standing, surrounded by stairs from all directions. And the stairs themselves take you to any direction.

Some are backwards, others to the side and some upsidedown.

The only recognizable thing is the center, where they are.

The rest is just. Stairs.

As he thinks of that, a wall seems to materialize behind him. He pays little atention to Gary´s exclamation of Stevil, and watches as his friend takes two steps forward, only to end up in a completly diferent floor. He´s upsidedown, and Avocato has to look up to see him properly

"It´s a Lazarus Trap" he says, taking a breath to clear his thoughts.

Gary doesn´t seem to have the same affinity.

He´s covered in cookies trying to murder him.

Avocato knows is a bad situation, and that the danger is real. He´s just never seen death by cookies before. He´s amused.

"Gary"Avocato grabs the offered hand, and pulls Gary with all his strenght, he finds his hand curling protectively around his shoulder. which is fine, but since when does he loses control of his claws? He takes a moment to pull them in "dethink the cookies"

"That´s going to be seriously hard" He laughs, breathlesly. The tinge of fear makes Gary´s pitch a bit higher, Avocato finds it endearing "I´m a very creative person" Gary smiles like they aren´t being about to get murdered, and Avocato knows he´s about to say somthing to make it worse "Like, wouldn´t it be great if they lad la-hhhmm!"

Avocato covers Gary´s face with his hand, but the damage is already done. He pulls Gary to his feet aas the first lasers begin to reach them.

The cookies push them over a ledge, and this close to the lava, he feels like it´s over. Not a great way to end, he can´t help anyone from here. Not Gary and not... oh no.

He sees her out of the corner of his eye. And has to use all his will to close his eyes, focus on Gary´s warmth beneath his fingers

"oh, it´s you" says her voice, filling his whole body with adrenaline. Something about it is definetly wrong. The echo in her sylables is too sharp, even for her lightly cibernetic voice "It´s been so long" she insists. Gary takes a step forward, and Avocato moves in front of him, eyes still closed.

Gary´s hands are on him. Not as an anchor, as Avocato is doing. There is pressure, as if he´s being allured by something as well.

"I´ve missed you"

Avocato pulls back a growl, clenches his yaw and turns around from the hallucination.

"Selene?" The name comes out like a prayer from Gary´s lips, the pressure on his chest grows, and Avocato doesn´t even react until he´s on the floor. "get off me."

How did Gary knew that name?

His eyes are open now, and there are only three of them now. Gary looks at Selene with so much adoration and pain he almost looks away.

He doesn´t. He can´t.

"Come closer" the fake selene says, and Gary takes half a step forward.

Shooking his head, Avocato focuses on Gary.

"It´s not real" he says "It´s part of the trap"

"I can´t believe you´re here" she says, and Avocato looks away

"You need to trust me, she isn´t real"

"are we going home Dad?" his own son extends his hand towards Avocato. His arm twitches.

Avocato shuts his eyes, ignores him and looks at Gary

"Trust me, buddy. We both need to wake up"

Gary isn´t looking at him, he only has eyes for the fake selene that beckons him into the lava

"I don´t wanna wake up"

Avocato sighs.

"Then you´re really not gonna want this" Then punches him.

Everything falls apart in pieces, and Avocato sees as his family crumbles to dust.

He closes his eyes

Just a vision. Not even from the Gods, this is just a trap.

This is just a trap.

He repeats it, over and over again.

"We're out! I saved us." Gary´s shrill cry is a much beter anchor for reality. Hard to miss.

He sighs

" No, I saved you." "And I, you. "No, you didn't." "But I did." "You almost got us killed, Gary." " Then we're even."

He doesn´t even get the time to adress that statement, cause Gary is already grabbing him and pulling him forward

"We've got to find Mooncake!"

"Gary, I told you Mooncake is going to be okay. He's a super weapon."

"Wrong!"

Yet Avocato is proven right, as a gigant screen shows the tiny green ball against a monster. Seems like mooncake found Deathcropolis before they did.

"Uh, Gary?"

"Little buddy."

They keep running to the entrance of the arena, and the silence is broken by a thunderous voice.

"The final sacrifice awaits."

Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!

The crowd goes crazy, and Avocato hears a squelch that he knows all too well. It´s the souond of flesh and bone being torn apart with psychic strenght. Like it´s paper.

"Hello, Mooncake." The voice reaches them as if amplified by magic, even as they walk through the halls of the arena, still too far away. The voice it´s like a rattling whisper, an echo of the same words accompany it, as if the Lord Commander had thousands of souls underneath the thing he calls skin

" I have been looking all over for you. Don't be shy. Come in and say hello."

The clamour of the public grows stronger, and he points to an opening. Gary has been looking out for their six, plasma gun in hand. He looks at Avocato for a second, then for a second too long, then he´s off.

"Mooncake!"

"Doot, doot, doot, doot! Chocatey!" Mooncake rubs his cheek to Gary, and they all face what could be their last seconds.

Avocato wishes he could ask now, but he is definetly not giving any intel to the Lord Commander.

"It's over, The Gary."

Gary pouts with his whole body "Gary." he snarls "It's just Gary. What is your deal, dude? Why won't you just leave us alone?"

"You have no idea, do you? "Avocato is careful to keep his expression closed off. "Mooncake is the key. That being can unlock Final Space."

Avocato isn´t suposed to know what that word means. What it implies. He isn´t supposed to know anything. So he tilts his head, furrows his brow for a nanosecond, moves his eyes from gary to the Lord Commander, as if he is only now trying to conect things.

"What the mother-loving crap" Gary gesticulates with his whole body, as if maintaining form means nothing to him "is Final Space?

"That's my business. Should we play a game, Gary? I love games. I always win."

The Lord Commander hovers above them, and the glow of his eyes and the way he opens up his arms is too familiar, Avocato closes ranks with Gary and crap there they are.

Three heavy incinerators loomed over them in the sky, probably pulled down by the Lord Commander´s power, but Avocato knows those engines inside and out.

They are fucked

"Hand over what I want, and I..."

Mooncake shoots a beam at one of the incinerators, and it´s all it takes to bring it down. Avocato widens his stance and braces for impact, yet it never comes.

The Lord Commander stands there, looking at them with venom dripping from his glowy eyes.

Why aren´t they being pulled into the air for torture?

Ya!

"Oh, my gosh!" Gary grabs Mooncake and jumps around, yet the Lord Commander is still just looking at them. Avocato raises an eyebrow, looks around for the next surprise.

There is only debris falling from the sky. The Lord Commander barely looks at it

"Sweet Grandor's glove! You are a planet-destroying super weapon!"

"Chocatey!"

"Whoa! Yes! " Gary keeps jumping like they aren´t in the middle of a battle, and Avocato can´t help to share that joy. Yet he stays alret "That's so freaking tight!"

Gary´s display seems to fuel the Lord Commander´s rage, and his eyes glow stronger

"That's not how we play the game!" He says, like a petulant child.

Avocato is taken aback. By this time, he´s usually hovering in the air, his organs midly crushed.

"How about this game?" Gary points his gun, and gets the wall behind the lord Commander. Right in the control panel for what looks like a door to a cage.

The Lord Commander smiles wickedly

"Ah, you missed."

"Freak" Gary spits, his head partially turned to Avocato, as if it´s a joke they share "Shoot for the locks!"

Avocato fires, each panel blowing up. The smoke seems to be enough to confuse the lord commander. The man is heaving, then is lost behing the still falling debris of the heavy incinerators.

Most of it fell outside of the arena, which is quickly filling up with beasts.

"Gary, look out!"

They shoot the remaining guards, aided by the Galaxy one. It lands in the middle of the arena, scoops them all up and flies off before the lord commander can take his atention away from the creatures they released.

Avocato stays at the edge, looking at the Lord Commander fight the beasts one by one. He fights each one with relative ease.

Yet he fights one monster after the other.

Now that he thinks about it, the Lord Commander really is looking old, decrepit and tired?

He sits down on the Galaxy one´s bridge, asks H.U.E to analyze every prisioner transfer from Zeta Con Prime since the day they were there.

Maybe he wasn´t wrong. And it could be why he seems so desperate to get Mooncake. Enough to slip up and give such an important piece of information so easily.

Maybe the Lord Commander really is getting old.

The key to unlock Final Space.

"Final?" He mutters, face resting on his hand as he mulls the information around for a while "as in, is there a first one?"

"There is definetly more than one" Selene´s voice is calm, but Avocato sees the war in her eyes "At least ours and that one, but there could be more"

"How are you so sure?"

"The numbers don´t lie" she sighs, slumping over the table "I checked, twice. Then i ran simulations, and then-" She looks away.

His ear flicks, and he waits.

"I went back to Ventrexia" She´s looking at him now, still slumped over, and waits for his reaction. Avocato keeps a steady gaze on her until she relents "I bathed in the pools, asked for a vision , and they just pointed me to the Hollow Peak"

His tail swishes in annoyance.

"There wasn´t a trial" she whispers, and her finger beggins tapping at the table, her eyes are somewhere beyond the wall she is staring at, and Avocato waits patiently. "They just really needed me to know the coordinates, directly into the heart of a star in the Vali-21-c quadrant" She´s silent again, and the tapping is faster now

"I really cannot describe the place i was in, and... i guess some guardian took me into... another place. I don´t-" She shakes her head, as if reading sketchy malware and getting it in her system for a second "Most of my sensors weren´t working, only the ones from my biological body, it was weird. It lead me through some kind of lightfold travel, without any kind of ship, and then i saw the Titan War"

Something in her arm whirs loudly, and Selene punches the table

"The Titans are just servants, Avocato. Just like us" she sneers "Better, because at least they feed off the that thing. It´s pure chaos, evergy uncontained and raw, something that needs no vessel because it engulfs everything" Avocato finally moves to sit next to her, and she looks at him with the very first tears he´s ever seen in her

"Sorry Avocato" H.U.E´s voice pries him away from his memories, and the hollograms running code infront of his eyes banish with a soft whirr"I have found nothing on little cato"

Avocato sighs.

it was really a long shot. He´s not exactly comfortable deploying his own search algorithm into the greedy eyes of an unknown AI, but he needs to find Little Catto.

He touches some buttons on the screen of his wrist, places a hand on the nearest console and moves to the coffee pot while it does the work.

As always, Gary´s leftovers from his night coffee are still there. He washes it thoroughly, fills up the tank.

The coffee in this ship is the worst he´s had, he scrunches his nose at the grounds, and presses the button once it´s all set up.

"Interesting" says H.U.E "The code of your search worm keeps changing, mixes languages and alphabets from all over the galaxy faster than i can process, how does it work?"

"Magic" he mutters

"ah" H.U.E doesn´t seem very convinced. All Avocato does is take a sip of his coffee.

"It feels like it´s alive"

Avocato´s heard that one before. He can´t help the smile that tugs the corner of his mouth.

"Isn´t that the point of you?"

"I feel like that thing is what AI wishes to be"

"Do you?"

The silent extends, and Avocato pours himself a second cup. Selene got him hooked up on this thing a long time ago. He eventually admited it had been a great tool for nightime surveilance and surviving long back to back missions for the Lord Commander.

"My intake and processing of information is dependant on the orders from my code, what im built to do" H.U.E is silent for a few more minutes "That code looks like DNA, even interacts with itself and changes as needed, it engulfs information and sends it... somewhere, is not even using my processor unit to think"

"I said it was magic"

H.U.E humms again. Avocato isn´t willing to give anything else, H.U.E has enough information just by looking at it.

Avocato has seen it be studied by even more advanced AI. They all say roughly the same H.U.E just did.

He looks into the coffee cup, and that is how Gary finds him later.

"You ever heard of The Executioner of Sol?"

Avocato snorts

"Yeah man, why?"

"I need to find her"

Avocato freezes, all of his fur bristles and his tail coils around itself.

He swirls the coffee on the bottom of his cup, debating how much to admit. Finally, takes a deep breath.

He´s always heard Selene´s fears, of her old friend and life partner looking at the killer she´s become. Back in Ventrexia he didn´t really get it. He does know.

But he also knows Gary, and the devotion in his eyes is... well, he´s seen some of the extent it reaches, to have appeared in his last moments, her beckoning sweeter than living. And if Gary already knows about The Executioner...

Avocato doubts that Gary knows the extent of that title beyond the arena.

"She saved me, you´know. That day. The last day I saw her, she closed the door on my face, even broke my nose and everything" Gary laughs again, this time with more strenght.

Avocato turns to his side, his tail swishes as he pours Gary more coffee.

Gary is looking into his drink "She was like a warrior, back then. And we were only children, but she always was the one that took care of me." Gary sighs "I tried to take down the door, hell, find another entrance. By the time i got there, she was gone. Only some blood, the mess of a fight, and a hole in the ceiling"

"I was convinced they were aliens, by their non humany forms. But saw no marks or anything to distinguish anything about them, all with black masks. Eventually i did got something, and it lead me straight to the Infinity Guard. I tried passing off as a pilot and seduce Captain Queen to gain an in. But destroyed a few restaurants, and buildings in the process. A lot of people got hurt, and that´s the sentence i´m serving..."

"Then i saw her on TV" Gary, and has perked up more than considerably. "She´s magnificent Avocato, and i need to see her again."

"Gary..."

Gary looks away sharply

"Well, this was kind of a fear i had" he laughs, but there is no amusment, only something putrid that comes from deep within Gary´s belly "What if i found her, and she´s alright? she´s free and she just decided never to come back to me. Avocato, tell me if she despised all out time together"

Avocato shooks his head

"Is not that way, man" His tail coils around them "She never gave me your name, but she talked a lot about you. She´s just... She´s just been through a lot, Gary. Her time in the arena is not as glorious as it seems on TV, the fighters in that place are all brought there by slave traders and are experimented on."

Avocato looks away, a sour flavor in his mouth

"She was tortured?" Gary whispers, a tremble in his voice

Avocato looks away

"I´m going to be honest with you, Gary" He takes a sip of his coffee "She´s been my partner for the past decade and a half. We were a team back in Ventrexia. The King purchased her, as a weapon. For me. "He looks really uncomfortable. Avocato can still remember the sleek box she came in. Like a coffin. Limbs unnatached and she was tied to the thing, like some sort of doll. He still has nightmares about it

"But i refused to have a slave, i just" He shakes his shoulders, "I don´t do that" he spits the words, as if they burn his mouth "What i needed was a partner i could rely on, and... eventually Ventrexia became her home. Our gods took her in, she performed all of our coming of age trials, and some others." Gary looked avid, as if soaking up everything he´s saying. "She became a true member of my Clan. She did eventually told me about you, i just didn´t knew your name" Avocato clears his throath

"You realized back in the Lazarus trap"

Avocato nods

"She misses you a lot" Avocato laughs, it´s something hollow "I´m sure she was at some point working on... "He throws a hand around vaguely, looking for a word he doesn´t seem to find. "Back in Ventrexia she spoke a lot of the possibility of going back, of letting you meet the new her"

Avocato trails off, lost in his thoughts. Gary lets him be, he´s processing everything as well.

"Then the Lord Commander descended into Ventrexia´s atmosphere" His voice took an edge, and he wasn´t sure if it was anger or just grief "He is loosing power now, he looks old and weak. But back then he destroyed an entire army with a single tought" His whole fur is bristled, and Avocato´s tail whips up and down in annoyance "I already told you part of this, but Selene wasn´t there when it happened.... So the moment we encountered, Selene lounged for an attack"

Avocato leaves the mug on the counter, and has to lean on his hands, trying to steady his breath. He´s never told anyone about that day.

Gary´s hand rubs soothing circles into his back, and Avocato takes a few more breaths.

"I´m not sure what exactly was done to her" he croaks out "But... " he shakes his head and grunts "That day i saw her die. It wasn´t the last time" Gary sucks in a breath, and Avocato can´t stomach to look at him.

All he sees are pieces of her body scattered through the floor.

"The Lord Commander ripped her apart piece by piece, all scattered through the floor, and just left" he punches the counter "laughing. Just... laughing."

Avocato looks at the floor, as the sound of that cackle still rings in his memory, clear as if it had been just now.

He straightens up a bit, then takes a deep breath

"Her eyes are the first to come back online, always" he begins listing "As far as we know, she keeps coming back because of what she has instead of a heart. It never seems to run out of energy, and it´s beam is as powerful as Mooncake´s. Anyways, it´s so methodical it´s given me nightmares for the rest of my life. She picks up each piece of her body and attaches it back until she is built again."

"It´s like a game, for the Lord Commander, to see her build herself again and again. Eventually, working for him..." Avocato looks at his claws "We´ve taken too many innocent lives, destroyed civilizations. Conquered them all under his reign. Selene has more than once destroyed entire systems only using the energy beam from her core. We´ve worked for him for the past thirteen years Gary. So many we´ve killed to avoid damaging a chosen few."

Avocato feels oddly light. He´s never talked about this with anyone. Maybe a few days ago he would not have said this. Gary´s steady hand hasn´t stopped rubbing circles on his back. Avocato isn´t sure who he is trying to soothe.

"That´s awful, brother" It´s all Gary can say, and his hand moves to Avocato´s nape, nails scratching lightly "I... I guess I wouldn´t know how to go back either"

"I don´t think it matters, now" Says Avocato, a light purr raises from his chest, and he gently pushes Gary´s hands away to straighten up as he takes a deep breath. "For some reason, Gary, you´re already neck deep in the war she wanted to keep you away from, so there is that in your favor, i guess."

Gary snorts.

"I guess it is"

Their laughs are cut short by alarms blaring

"Mayday, Mayday!"

"My name is Quinn Airgone, a captain in the Infinity Guard. I've been investigating a gravitational disturbance, which I now see is a breach in space. Many people are dead, and I'm about to join them unless... [Beeping] Aah! Is there not a single idiot that can hear me?!"

"I can hear her."