Hi! My fiancé and I had our FHA offer accepted with a 45 day close (seller request). My fiancé is self employed and filed her taxes back in early February. He could have written off a few more things but it would have dipped his two year average income so he decided to opt in to paying a little more in taxes. His taxes were filed, accepted & he sent the forms to the lending officer.
The thing is that he hasn’t actually paid them yet. It’s around 12k I believe he owes. We were hoping to close on a home we were in contract with with a closing date in March so we would pay & set up a payment plan for maybe part of it if needed. That home fell through due to the inspection. We finally found a home that we love and accepted our offer. Inspection good but the closing date is early May.
My question is should my fiancé go ahead and pay the taxes or hold off and take a penalty and make the payment after closing? We don’t want the large sum payment to cause an issue with closing but also we can’t start up a payment plan with the IRS in the meantime due to FHA requiring 3 months consistent payment and you can’t prepay. Also, I heard you can’t start the payment plan until after they send you a letter usually in May saying hey you owe us blank amount. Then you call or go online and set up a plan with then but I could be wrong.
Is april 18th a “suggested” pay date before penalties start?
Will the IRS tell a lending officer as or early may they haven’t received a payment but the taxes are filed & accepted?
Do lenders overlook large transactions if it’s for tax payments?
I’m sorry if this post is a little all over the place. We have thought about reaching out to our lender but don’t want to inform them of the situation quite yet if we don’t have to because we were trying to research our options.

Alright, here is the culmination of my thoughts from the last (almost) year of this journey. I am not going to talk about my actual delivery because I already made a pretty in depth post about that you can find in my post history.
TL;DR: Pregnancy sucks - take the time to love yourself and prioritize you. Postpartum is wonderful and exhausting - advocate for yourself and make no apologies for that. Baby supplies - the industry has come far compared to a decade or two ago and a lot of things are worth money for convenience. Also, I need high chair advice.
Pregnancy:
I had a really rough pregnancy. I threw up the entire time, had awful heartburn and got gestational hypertension in the third trimester that caused so much stress for me and my husband. My advice to all those reading this - whether pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant, or supporting a pregnant person, is to take care of yourself. Don't make excuses, don't suffer for the sake of pride. Spend time at the spa if that your thing. Get the pedicure. Do the puzzle. Go on the trip. Hang out with your friends. Take all the naps. Slow down and leave the dishes in the sink for the night if you need to. After you have your child, there isn't a lot of time to love yourself and rest. So take every single opportunity now. Also, take bump pictures no matter how silly or insecure you feel. You will treasure those later. Lastly, don't listen to anyone who tells you "you just wait......". Pregnancy was a million times harder for me than the postpartum experience. I would do it all over again for my son, but pregnancy sucked and postpartum has had its tough moments, but it has been amazing.
Postpartum:
Protect your space - whether that is limiting (or inviting in) guests in the hospital, choosing to not share your feeding strategy with the whole world when they ask, putting your phone down and not worrying about any notifications, taking your baby back when you need them because your hormones are going crazy. Don't even take the time at the beginning to consider any feelings besides yours, your partners and your babies. Second, communicate your needs with your partner. If you need them to take the baby every day for an hour so you can go shower and get dressed in real clothes and do your hair so that you feel like a human separate from your baby - then tell them you need that. They are going through huge life changes and big shifts at the same time as you and likely want to help more but don't know how. So help them help you. Enjoy every second and soak up all the cuddles and take lots of photos. This season is going way too quickly - interspersed with moments of deep powerlessness while they cry bracketed by even deeper love and awe and joy. It is an ocean of feeling and you are just along for the ride.
Mom Anxiety (aka all the bougee baby supplies you somehow get convinced to buy):
SnuggleMe Lounger: I loved this purchase. My son took supervised naps in this every single day for the first 6 weeks of life. It as a safe space on our couch we could put him down for sleep while we got other stuff done around the living room and kitchen. I think it is a huge reason he is able to go down and self soothe now. Disclaimer - I am not a sleep expert and don't take my advice over proven science about safe sleep spaces. Go and read those recommendations and make your own risk assessment based on your comfort level. Pro tip: Get a couple covers and put a puppy pee pad underneath the cover to make it waterproof so it doesn't get the actual lounger wet when baby spits up.
Snoo: My son liked this a lot for the first few weeks, but lately has refused to sleep in it because he has started to roll and wants to sleep on his side or belly. We moved him into his crib and let him sleep in any position he can get himself into now. If you can find it used, it is worth it in my opinion though. I never had to rock my son to sleep in the middle of the night. If you buy one makes sure you have a couple spare Snoo sacks in each size because baby will spit up on them and they take forever to dry.
Uppababy Vista & Mesa Car Seat: I just all around love this stroller system. It is a bit bigger so it takes up more space than some, but it is such a great stroller. Handles all the bumps and is soooo smooth to handle. Zero complaints.
Nanit Baby Monitor: I overall like this. The picture is very clear and crisp. The breathing band does have more false alarms than I really like, but that may be user error? I like that each morning I get a mini movie of what my son did the night before. I am not sure how I will feel at a year when I have to start paying for the app, but for now I am a fan.
MamaRoo swing: We got this second hand from a friend and my little guy absolutely hates it. He cries as soon as we put him into it and never settles. I am planning to sell it and buy a babybjorn second hand to see if he likes that more instead.
Newton Baby Crib Mattress: I love the peace of mind this gives me - especially because as my son has started rolling it is clear he prefers to sleep on his belly and likely will be sleeping that way exclusively as soon as we let him have his way.
Lovevery Playkits: These are really high quality, I was incredibly impressed with the thought and effort that clearly goes into each kit I've gotten so far. I bought the entire first year at once to get a discount and look forward to seeing the rest of the kits as they come.
Hatch sound machine: I have one for my nursery and want to buy one for every room in my house that is how much I love these things. I like that each coloured light can be pre-set with a sound profile so that you can just quickly change to the one you want
BabyBrezza Formula Pro: We formula feed my son and love this. We did ready to feed formula the first month and then switched to powder and this thing is amazing. It saves so much time and the bottles are already warm. I stumble downstairs at 3am to make a bottle and its done in about 20 seconds. Pro tip - buy at least 2 extra funnels on amazon for this because you have to change it out every 4 bottles and sanitize it before you can use it again. If you have spares you can just change them out.
Avent Bottle Warmer: We used this extensively the first month when we were using ready to feed formula to heat it. I found it kinda touch and go because we have glass bottles so it sometimes didn't warm them enough and sometimes made them way too hot and we had to listen to him scream while we waited for the bottle to cool down. We still use it on occasion, but thankfully rarely now since we are using the babybrezza with powdered formula.
Thanks for reading my sleep deprived babble! Hope this helps someone. <3 Also if anyone has any recommendations on high chairs, let me have 'em. We need to buy one shortly since we are only a couple months away from this dude eating real person food.

First Prev Next
Date: May 3, 2235
This feels like the longest hour of my life, Tom thought.
The training went well, even better than he thought. Teresh seemed to be good at adapting on the fly. He would have them walking by Maxim and Ally chatting, then have them stop them and ask questions. Using only body language from Tom, they navigated the conversation without him having to say a word. He stayed calm, but this was a controlled environment of course. To mix things up, he began to lie about the scenario. Saying one thing would happen, and another instead. Instead of walking around them, a box would drop, and they would both walk up to him. Talking loudly and admonishing him, all acting of course. Tom could only imagine how scary it would be to have two alien creatures talking angrily to you. He let Teresh react to the situation, and then he'd sweep in to resolve it. Thankfully, it looked like the kid wasn't one to run or visibly panic. The suit did wonders to conceal his truth. He almost mistook him for Ally on an occasion or two. It wasn't much, but these small victories instilled in him a sense of stability. This insane idea was no longer one that was completely out of grasp. Something that was possible, doable.
Yet, there was something else on Tom's mind. Something that was mulling around since he and Teresh got acquainted. This was really the best candidate the so-called "empire" had to offer for a diplomatic mission? He couldn't defend himself, scared easily, and came out of the gate asking for the surrender of their entire species? Something wasn't quite adding up there. There was something off about this whole thing, and Tom wanted to get to the bottom of it.
However, with a notification from the ship's nav, Maxim and Ally both got up and left for the bridge. Leaving just the two of them sat on crates, breathing heavily.
"I'm proud of you Teresh, you did great. Just remember what I told you and you'll be just fine," Tom said, going to wipe his forehead but only hitting glass.
"Stay calm. Stay close. Stay silent," Teresh repeated.
Tom smiled, "You got it."
They sat in silence a tad longer, in contemplation. He was confident that they could get their mission done. They always found a way after all. No matter how daunting or impossible the task seemed, trust in each other always got them out in the end. It was shocking how much comradery he felt towards Teresh, even after only spending a short time together. They were more different than anyone he'd met before. Curious, clever, and with a childlike wonder about anything and everything. They were almost like...
"Tom," Teresh asked, shaking him out of his thoughts.
"Yes?" He replied.
"What was your home like? Ari-zona," they asked, sounding out the word.
Tom stifled a chuckle at how cute it sounded. It reminded him of his little cousins trying new words or sounds. So endearing and innocent.
"Well, it was hot, dry. Sunny all the time," he began, thinking back to his old home.
"Is that good for humans?" Teresh asked.
Tom shifted his head from side to side, "Some like it, some don't. Too much sun and it damages our skin, gives us cancer. So, we wear clothes and coat ourselves in substances that block ultraviolet light."
"Couldn't you live someone covered, or darker?" They continued.
"Our homes and buildings are all covered. As for living somewhere darker, we could, yes. A lot of people do," Tom explained. "It's not all bad though. Home is home after all. It's not perfect, but it's ours."
He could see the alien's posture shift. It looked like his words had a deeper effect than he intended.
"I feel the same way about my home. It wasn't extravagant or amazing, but it was ours. My marja, mother, did her best to support us. Even though it was difficult," Teresh explained, his voice becoming more distant.
Them too, huh, Tom thought to himself.
"Yeah, my old man wasn't around much either. He left one day and never came back, not that it changed much," he explained. "But we did our best. And hey, I had my dog and a bike and that was all I needed."
"Dog... bike," Teresh repeated.
Tom chuckled, "I'll have to give you a tour of home when I get back. Still think I've got that old bike in the garage. Could hit the mall, pool, catch a movie, get a whole summer vacation experience."
After a time, they replied, "I think I'd like that. Thank you, Tom."
There was a bit of static in his helmet, the private channel opening up. He heard Ally's voice relay to him, "Need you at the helm sir. We're about to make our approach."
He reached up behind his ear and hit the button for said channel, replying, "Be there in a minute."
Setting it back to the open channel so he could communicate with Teresh. He asked, "They want me at the bridge. Would you like to come with me?"
"If you'd allow," Teresh answered. Receiving a nod from Tom.
Hopping off of their crates, the man led them up to the administrative section and the large ascent to the bridge. As they walked, Tom had a random thought.
"By the way, how do you want me to refer to you? He, she, they, something else?" He asked. Tom had defaulted to “they” up till now, but it'd be good to know going forward.
He hoped that Teresh knew what he was getting at. Tom never really had trouble with gender or preferred pronouns, but some acted like it was some insurmountable task. Laziness is what he called that attitude. It's 2235, it really wasn't rocket science at this point. The small figure looked up at him, the sheen of the helmet glinting in the sterile light of the stairway.
"I'm male, and you can refer to me as he/him in conversation. I didn't realize your species had distinctions in gender," Teresh relayed.
"Ah, yeah. It's taken quite some time to get here, but it's pretty common place now. Sorry if I put you on the spot there," Tom apologized.
"Don't worry, you haven't put me in any spots. Would it be safe for me to assume the same of you?" he replied.
Clang, clang, clang. Their boots echoed through an empty ship.
"Yep, same with me and Maxim. Ally is female, and goes by she/her," Tom explained.
"Understood, thank you Tom," Teresh confirmed.
"Anytime," he concluded. Before opening the door to the bridge and stepping inside.
The bridge itself wasn't massive by any means but was good enough for their purpose. It was a tad larger than your average room and extended lengthwise to allow for more space. Centralized in the center of the ship, at the back, it let them have a wide view of the rest of the vessel. Letting them eyeball not only incoming hazards but other ships as well. Which is what they would be doing if Tom hadn't requested that they raise the outer shields on the viewports. Darkening the interior and making it nigh impossible to see outside the ship except with equipment. These were meant to block any asteroids or debris from cracking or piercing the viewport glass. Though it was industrial grade and damn near impossible to shatter, it was still possible. That wasn't the reason they were down however; it was mostly cause of Teresh. Tom didn't want to overwhelm the poor boy and cause him any extra anxiety than he already had. Keeping him from seeing the massive number of ships circling and around the moon was the least he could do. That, and... He was still an outsider from an empire that wanted their surrender. The less he saw of their defenses and ships, the better. As much as it hurt to see the young'un as a possible enemy, Tom was ever the dutiful soldier. Even if it pained him to admit it.
Maxim and Ally sat at the helm, both tapping away at monitors. Ally typically handled protocol and procedure while Maxim handled driving and navigating. Tom usually served as the captain and doled out where they needed to go and when. Even though the shipping company technically owned the Tarva, everyone knew who its captain was. Though the title still irked him somewhat, in this context it was bearable.
He walked up and crossed his arms, seeing a display of the moon on the monitor below. Maxim was pulling them around the underside to head towards the military base. If all went well, they'd be able to slide into the hangar without much issue.
"Approaching in five, strap in for land-" Maxim began, getting interrupted.
There was a sudden hail, seeing the communication going through on the screen. It was from the base and Tom felt himself scowling unconsciously. He jabbed a finger on the button, opening the channel. Here we go...
"Vessel signature: U.N.E Tarva. You've entered a restricted area. Please provide a valid authorization code or alter your flight path and leave the area," a male voice came over the intercom.
"This is the U.N.E Tarva. Requesting to land at hangar 10. Sending the authorization code now," Tom replied.
He punched Mikael's code into the computer and sent it to the base. The voice on the intercom went silent. His heart began pounding faster and faster as they approached the base. Knowing that any one of the many anti-hull laser cannons could blast the Tarva out of the sky in an instant. The four of them waited with bated breath, flinching as static appeared back over the channel.
"It's an older code, but it checks out. You're free to dock at hangar 10, welcome to Jefferson Base," the voice replied, signing off.
With a collective sigh of relief, Maxim piloted the ship into the hanger. Tom directing Teresh to sit down as they made their approach. Their ship lunged forward a bit as they hit the gravity field. Feeling it slow and then eventually settle in. A resounding boom as the heavy vessel finished docking.
"Okay, that was the easy part. Now for the real fun," Tom announced.
Though he couldn't see or hear it, he could tell that Teresh just gulped.
--------------------------
The ship's landing gear had touched down without issue. Landing themselves in a small little square of space in the corner of the base. Perfectly distanced away from everything else. Tom could thank Mikael for that one when they met back up. They all stood at the main door before the entry ramp. He looked down at Teresh, giving him the cutting motion with his hand. The three of them heard a small click as his translator was shut off. Then picking up a small box that was going to be his security blanket. He was completely in the dark now, and they needed to lead him out of the lion’s den together.
With a hiss, the door opened and they began stepping down the landing ramp. The base was just as he'd remembered. A never-ending stream of people and ships, constantly loading or unloading supplies. Many of them were cargo ships like the Tarva, though more standardized military of course. He could pick out a few fighters here and there, but they usually sit for weeks on end. Their angular wings and shape made them almost appear like birds of prey in flight, nigh impossible to see with their typical black and red paint job. He never flown one himself, but the hot shots in the air force always bragged about their hawks.
The hangar itself was spacious and massive, clear lanes cut through that led to tunnels. Which in turn would take them to several other bases on the moon. They never got too deep to threaten structural stability, but he knew they wormed their way all over the place. It was humanity's first major military installment outside of the atmosphere, and it showed. Far on the left side, there were ginormous spaces left for the larger ships. Cruisers, destroyers, dreadnoughts, and even capital ships. Though, the latter two mostly stayed on earth due to the sheer size and manpower needed to run those behemoths. From this distance he could pick out at least two to three cruisers, and what looked to be a destroyer in the far back corner.
The ships themselves had to fly through a gravity field to enter the base. It essentially operated as a forcefield that kept everything inside safe from being exposed to the space outside. Though permeable enough for ships to fly in and out without shattering it or themselves. It was like flying through a layer of jello that morphed itself around the ship. He didn't really understand how it worked, but that technology enabled both the construction of bases on the moon and larger hangars in ships. No need to constantly open and shut airtight doors when you could simply have a field that you could freely move through. Though, it was only really employed by the military since the tech was still expensive as hell and only useful for heavy traffic.
After so much time spent away from the military, it was oddly nostalgic to be back in a base. He could imagine himself heading off to the mess hall and chowing down with the rest of the bulls. Though the time for that had long passed, he had a mission to complete.
Stepping to the bottom of the ramp, he saw two individuals walk up to his ship. They were both dressed in standard black and gray military attire, with helmets that were more angular than his own. It resembled the shape of a bird of prey's head in many ways, pointed and somewhat intimidating. As for the rest, the attire of the UNEM was twofold, one uniform and one space suit. Outside of different material, the uniforms and spacesuits were purposely indistinguishable to a good extent. The chest and legs were typically cloud gray, having a soft "V" pattern. The edges outwards being a coal black. A pair of fat red stripes rounded each bicep. The uniform often came with a hat, though they were wearing helmets, so it was omitted. Over each of their left breast was a gold badge fixed with a bull posing proudly, the symbol of the UNEM. Since they didn't have the kolta of a high ranking official, neither of them were officers or above.
With their bright gold badges glinting, one gestured to him. On the local channel, they all heard: "Which one is the captain of this vessel?"
"That would be me," Tom replied nonchalantly, raising a hand.
"We did a surface scan of your ship. Nothing out of the ordinary, but we picked up a strange read in your cargo bay. Could you tell me why that is?" The figure asked, a distinctly male voice with a Spanish accent.
"I'm afraid that's classified, under Grand Admiral's orders. If you check the dossier you should see our authorization code," Tom answered without hesitation. Walk and talk like you belong.
"Hmm..." the man paused, tapping the pad a few times. "Okay, there's your code and- wait a minute. Your name here..."
The other man looked over and suddenly righted himself, his posture rigid. They held out a hand, another male voice, German this time, coming over the channel, "It is you! You lead the Phantom Legion, yes?"
There it is, Tom felt a chill in the air. The thing he'd been fearing ever since they began their approach. All he wanted to do was throw something or scream out in anger and frustration. Yet all he could manage to do was to reach out and take the man’s hand. Shaking it with a firm grip.
Exclaiming, "Tom Xavier, at your service. Though I'm guessing you know me as the Black Wolf?"

First Entry
Second Entry
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Fifth Entry
Sixth Entry
Seventh Entry
​
Journal of Camille Lambert - April 13th (Part 2)
​
The mist rolled in from the edge of town, swallowing buildings, tents, and trucks as the klaxon alarm sounded. I looked up and saw the sky beginning to fade into absolute darkness, even though it should have been hours before dusk.
“Fascinating…” I heard Dr. Di Cesare say beside me, although she was the only one who seemed to think so.
​
Milo stared into the mist with a look of dread as flashes of gunfire began to go off deep inside, briefly illuminating the moving shadows as the screams of dying men and impossible monsters filled our ears.
“Kallas, Valentine, the refugees! Get them out!” He ordered. Neither of them needed to be told twice. The words were barely out of his mouth when they took off at a sprint toward the tents, guns already drawn.
​
“Gretchen, how do we drive them off?”
“They circumvented my runes… how…” She said under her breath, sounding more annoyed than anything else.
“Gretchen!” Milo snapped, and she seemed to be pulled out of her train of thought.
“Uncertain. I need to get back to my lab. Everything I could use would be there!”
She took off like a shot, and as she ran, the mist overtook us, turning her into little more than a shadow ahead of us.
​
“Stay close!” Milo ordered, going for his pistol, although we could barely see him through the mist either. I felt Dom reaching for my hand and looked over to see his shadow, pistol drawn and trying to keep up with Milo and Gretchen. Her white RV hadn’t been parked that far away, but it might as well have been miles.
​
The chorus of gunfire and screams roared in my ears. I could hear inhuman screeches as men were torn limb from bloody limb. As Dom led me behind Milo, I couldn’t help but look over and pray that our people were managing, somehow. Through the mist, I could see a shadow racing toward us. At a glance, I almost thought that it might be a man on a horse but… no. The sigil of an eye burned onto its forehead made that very clear.
​
“LOOK OUT!” I called in the moment before the horseman raced toward us. I could see Milo diving out of the way while Dom pulled me back. He fired two shots at it, and though I did not get a good look at the creature before us, I saw enough to know that it wasn’t a horse and a rider… it was one creature. A pale, blood soaked thing with claws like scythes and eyes crowned around its head like a wreathe. It slashed at Dom who dove out of the way, before rearing up on its hind legs and unleashing a scream that sounded like a man in pain.
​
I could see Milo firing at it as well, but the bullets might as well have done nothing to it. Just like the last Sigiled Nightwalker, it barely even seemed to notice.
“You made your choice to stay here…” A raspy voice echoed from the creature, and I knew that it was Calhoun speaking to us. “Now look what you’ve made me do.”
​
The Nightwalker came for me next, and I dove to the ground, scrambling away as its claws raked against the asphalt road. The red eye sigil focused on me, and on the creature's face I could see a gaping maw underneath that eye, dripping with wet saliva and filled with long, jagged teeth.
​
It reared up again, and I could do nothing but wait to be crushed beneath its hooves when the deafening echo of a gunshot rang out. The Nightwalker screamed. Chunks of its head were ripped away from it and a new, pinkish steam rose from the mess that was left. It collapsed onto its side, still twitching in death.
I looked over to see the shadow of Dr. Di Cesare, holding that revolver of hers.
“Most interesting… assuming direct control over certain Nightwalkers.” She said. “Come There are certainly more.”
Dom helped me to my feet and we took off toward the RV again.
​
​
Through the mist, I could see the RV up ahead. Dr. Di Cesare threw the door open and quickly ushered us inside. As soon as it was closed again, I watched her take a knife from her coat and roll up her sleeve. Without so much as a wince of pain, she drew the blade across her hand, then using one finger, began to hastily draw a sigil on the door.
“Should keep them out… should…” She murmured, and once she was done she tore past us, deeper into the RV.
​
There seemed like she’d been using it as some sort of makeshift lab. I could see counters littered with old books, jars full of strange ingredients, and a small altar with scattered journal pages laying around it. I could see photos and diagrams of strange flowers that seemed to be every color at once and none of them at the same time, and crude anatomical sketches of flower-headed creatures.
​
On a small work desk pressed into one corner, I heard a walkie talkie crackle to life.
“Can you hold them back? We’re still loading the trucks!”
I recognized the voice on the other end as Kallas.
“Well move your fucking ass! We’re losing ground here!” Came the reply and it sounded like it was coming from Nina.
​
Milo ran toward the desk, grabbing the radio off of it.
“Valentine, Kallas, what’s going on out there?” He demanded.
“Everything’s gone to shit!” Valentine replied, “We’re falling back to the Church!”
“Already?” Milo asked, breathless. “Gretchen, how long before you can-”
​
“And who’s this I’m hearing now?” A new voice asked. It sounded like an older man, although I knew it wasn’t Calhoun.
I looked over at Dom, wondering if maybe he recognized it. Judging by his expression, he did.
“Who the hell is this?” Milo demanded.
“I’m the man watching you folks get your asses beat. It’s kinda funny, actually. You people come in here, throwing your weight around all high and mighty only to crumble the moment we give you anything more than a little love tap. Name’s McClellan. I suppose you could say that I’m the Sheriff around these parts.”
​
“Oh for fucks sake, are they on our goddamn channel?” Nina asked.
“Thought I’d tune in, see how things were going. Governor Calhoun was kind enough to spare me and my boys the hassle of dealing with you personally. Least we can do is enjoy the show.”
“Oh God… he’s monologuing!” Nina whined.
​
“You folks have kicked the beehive. Now you’re gonna get stung.” McClellan crooned. Everything he said ended in an upward inflection and it had already gotten annoying.
“The Governor wasn’t too happy to have to clean out the other towns, but you forced his hand. And what he’s gonna do next… you should be held accountable for that too.”
​
“Next?” Milo asked warily although before he could get his answer, something hit the RV, rocking it violently from side to side. Dr. Di Cesare almost fell over, before bracing herself against the counter and going through her books. She glanced at one of the flower diagrams before violently shaking her head and tossing it aside. Over the radio, I could hear McClellan laughing.
“Gretchen?” Milo asked, “Please tell me you’ve got something!”
“Patience…” She urged, “Extant research only addresses killing these things one at a time, not as an army.”
​
The RV rocked again and I ran to the window to look out. I could see something move past, something a hell of a lot bigger than the one the Doctor had just killed. Through the mist and the darkness, I could see the glow of a fire flare to life somewhere in the distance. Somehow, I got the feeling that Nina was behind it.
“Just tell me what we need to do to kill these goddamn things!” Milo snapped as the RV was hit again. I saw something in the opposite window, vacant black eyes and flat, chitinous mandibles that clicked together, only barely hiding the incomprehensible mouth behind them.
​
“I can’t just cast a spell and kill them all!” Gretchen replied, “I need more time! Maybe if I can open a door to another pocket we can at least get out of here, but I need time to find a safe one!” I could hear something scraping against the metal roof of the RV and saw it begin to buckle near the corner. Jagged spikes broke through it as whatever was outside began to pry open the RV like a can of soup.
“We don’t have time!” Milo warned.
​
Dom watched as the Nightwalker began to pry at the roof before looking over through the window and noticing its shiny black eye. Without a moment of hesitation, he fired at it, shattering the window and cracking it like an egg. A thick, black goo dribbled out of it and the Nightwalker shrank back, letting out a screech of pain. It briefly retreated, holding its spikey, crablike claws in front of it defensively. I could hear it making an irate clicking noise and it waited for a moment as Dom fired a few more rounds at it although this time, they just bounced uselessly off its armor.
​
“Five trucks out. Confirmed that two are at the Church!” I heard Kallas say over the radio, “Six, seven and eight almost loaded. Those are the last ones!”
“You might get these ones out… but there’ll always be more.” McClellan said, “I’ll admit that this has all been a bit of a setback, but there’s a lot of little towns just ripe for the picking out there. And once he gets the rest of the 5000 souls he needs… well, if you think this is bad, wait until you see what he’ll be able to do then.”
“Truck six is away! Three is at the church!” Kallas said, trying his damnedest to ignore McClellan.
“Double time it!” Milo snapped, “Valentine, what’s going on out there?”
​
“Fire’s keeping them at bay but they’re getting brave!” She warned, “We’re heading back toward the refugees. Milo, where are you now?”
“I’m in Di Cesare’s lab, with Dominic and Camille.”
“We’re gonna need to fall back to the church. Can you meet us there?” Nina asked.
Milo looked over at me.
“Get to the driver's seat, keys are in the ignition. Get us out of here.” He said. I just nodded and did what he asked, listening as he went back to Nina.
“We’re en route!”
​
Just like Milo had promised, I found the keys in the ignition and turned them. The engine roared to life. Through the mist, I could see the shadows of other Nightwalkers and my blood turned to ice in my veins as I saw the sigils on their foreheads. Crimson eyes, more than I could count at a glance, and each of them watching me.
​
The RV shook again and from the corner of my eye, I saw a massive claw coming for me. I threw myself to the ground as it shattered the driver's side window. The claw ripped through the cabin of the RV, before prying the roof off completely and tossing it aside.
​
I watched the Crab Thing as it approached the ruined cabin. One spiky leg came down on the hood of the RV. The Crab’s one remaining eye seemed to fixate on me as it reached for me with a claw, and I scrambled backward, only barely avoiding it. I looked back just in time to see Milo with a look of utter horror on his face. He grabbed me by the arm, pulling me deeper into the RV as the Crab Thing began trying to pry the roof off again.
​
Behind it, I could see other Nightwalkers drawing near.
There was no running from this.
​
“Gretchen, either shoot this goddamn thing or do something!” Milo cried, looking over at Gretchen. She glanced away from her research with wide eyes. I saw her reach for her revolver, only to hesistate when she noticed the other Nightwalkers watching us from behind the Crab Thing. I could see her doing the math in her head. Four shots left… not enough to kill the Crab and the Nightwalkers. The gun couldn’t save us. Her eyes settled on the flower diagram she’d cast aside earlier. I saw her grimace before running toward the back window.
​
“Shaal forgive me…” She said under her breath as she pressed a finger into the cut in her hand and began to hastily paint another sigil on the glass.
“Everybody get under something. It will go for the Crab first. As soon as it does, run. Do not stop.”
“What are you gonna do?” Dom asked.
“I’m opening another door… you’re not going to like what’s about to come through,” She replied and grabbed something off of the counter, hesitated for a moment, and dusted it carelessly on the blood she’d marked the window with. Then, as if she’d just thrown a live grenade she dove under her desk.
​
Milo scrambled behind a chair, while I pulled Dom behind one of the counters. The Crab Thing peeled the roof up, leaving us completely exposed and for a moment, I wondered if Dr. Di Cesare’s plan had failed.
​
Then I heard the sound of shattering glass. I looked to see that something had just launched itself through the window. It landed gracelessly on the ground, before stumbling around on coltish legs. It almost resembled a person, or maybe even one of the smaller Nightwalkers. But there was something very different about it. Its skin was an unusual shade of pinkish green, strange luminous flowers like the ones in the photographs Dr. Di Cesare kept in her lab, and moss seemed to bloom from its skin, and I swore that I could see pale yellow eyes in the center of those flowers. Its body seemed to ripple and change. Its hands twisted into gripping claws as it let out a raspy hiss.
​
Every single eye on it focused on the crab, which paused for a moment before reaching for the new creature. The claw closed around it, and the creature writhed and screamed, its flesh twisting and morphing into sharp tendrils that it slid between the gaps in the Crabs chitin, earning a fresh cry of pain from it. The new creature's head seemed to be split open, sort of like a flower blossoming, unleashing a shimmering payload of what looked like spores into the Crab’s face.
​
From his position behind the chair, I saw Milo’s eyes wide with terror as he watched this unfold. It was the kind of terror I’d never seen before. Something so deep in his soul that it must have took everything he had not to scream.
​
Dr. Di Cesare scrambled out from under her desk. She snatched the radio from Milo and without so much as a moment of hesitation ran for the door of the RV.
“Move!” She said, with an urgency that I knew better than to ignore. The three of us abandoned the RV and took off into the mist.
​
“Mr. Kallas, as soon as the trucks are through, kill the bonfire at the church! Cut off all access to the Calhoun Pocket!”
“What, why?” Kallas demanded.
“The situation has worsened, we need to enact full quarantine measures!” Dr. Di Cesare said, “Do it now!”
“What the hell did you just do?” Nina demanded, “Gretchen, where’s Milo?”
“We’re heading for the refugee area, on foot! Do not wait for us! I repeat, do not wait for us!”
​
I had no idea what the hell the Doctor had just done, but I didn’t think I’d ever hear fear like that in her voice. It was the first time she hadn’t sounded completely composed. The fire was growing closer, and seemed to have spread to most of the town. Buildings burned around us, as did tents. I could see the shadows of other Nightwalkers silhouetted against the inferno, bringing back memories of the last time Puriysk had burned. Up ahead, there was gunfire and I saw one of the refugee trucks skidding onto the road, and away toward the church.
​
Looking back, I could see shapes pursuing us in the mist. I couldn’t make out what they were, but the sigils on their foreheads told me enough. They were gaining on us, and I could only pray to whatever God was listening that they wouldn’t catch up.
​
Beside me, I saw the fire grow taller and almost fell over, trying to get away from it. The fire seemed to rise up into the sky before coming down on some of the Nightwalkers that pursued us. I looked over to see Dr. Di Cesare, a hand outstretched and a frantic look on her face. She moved her hands again, pulling more of the inferno onto the road to cover our tracks.
“Don’t stop!” She said, “Keep running!”
And I did exactly what she told me to do.
​
I could see another car up ahead, an SUV this time tearing onto the road, although, unlike the truck before it, it turned toward us and skidded to a stop just up ahead. Milo reached the SUV first, throwing open the passenger door and getting in. Dom and I were second, with Dr. Di Cesare being the last.
​
From the driver's seat, I could see Nina looking back at us, making sure that everyone was there before making a sharp U-turn and speeding toward the church, leaving Puriysk and the Nightwalkers behind.
​
“Are you genuinely insane?” Milo demanded, looking back at Dr. Di Cesare. “Do you have any idea how stupid that was!”
“It was the only spell I could think of that would yield immediate results,” She said. “Every time you open that door, something always comes through.”
“Yes, and there’s a very good reason you don’t open that door, Gretchen! You’re lucky we’re not all dead right now! For Gods sake, you may have just killed us all anyway!”
​
“What the fuck did she just do?” Nina asked, confused.
Her question went largely ignored.
“We were out of options!” Dr. Di Cesare replied, “We are up against an opponent who will resort to any means to dispose of us! Any means. It is therefore necessary that we do the same!”
“And that gives you carte blanche to unleash that? For Gods sake, we weren’t even equipped to deal with that! That wasn’t even part of the goddamn discussion until you pulled it in!”
“Can somebody just explain to me what the hell just happened?” Dom snapped.
​
Milo looked over at him, then back to Gretchen.
“There are countless other pocket realities in the vast expanse of the void,” She said. “Many serve as havens for various Gods and their followers… I simply opened a door to let one of them in.”
“I wouldn’t call that thing a God, I’d call it a plague!” Milo said.
“Hive mind,” Dr. Di Cesare corrected, “The Prince of Rosen Spring operates as a singular consciousness, it has more in common with fungi than a virus or pathogen.”
​
“I’m sorry, did you just summon The Fucking Rosen Prince?” Nina asked, and again she was ignored.
“Whatever it is, we have a standing order to burn any trace of that thing we come across,” Milo said. “Why the hell do you even know how to summon it?”
“I don’t work for you!” Dr. Di Cesare replied harshly, “I’m allowed to research whatever topic captures my interest!”
“Well do me a favor and warn me the next time you’re about to unleash a Class 5 Apocalyptic entity!”
“You wanted something that would get them off of us, I delivered! We were exposed and outnumbered, there were no other viable options!”
​
“Can we go back to the part where you called that thing an ‘Apocalyptic Entity?’” Dom asked. “What the hell did you just bring in?”
“It’s a sort of hive mind,” Dr. Di Cesare explained. “It infects other entities, absorbs them into its shared consciousness, and uses the bodies either as drones, or organic material to construct new bodies for itself.”
“Oh my fucking God…” Nina said under her breath, “And you just pulled that out of your ass? You didn’t try shooting your fucking magic gun?”
​
“We do not have the munitions to just mindlessly shoot everything that poses a threat! At minimum… the Rosen Prince should distract Calhoun and his Nightwalkers long enough for us to complete the evacuation!”
“Yeah, by absorbing this entire place!” Milo spat. “At this point, Calhoun’s already dead… let the Rosen Prince take care of him!”
​
“That’s not a gamble we should be willing to take,” Dr. Di Cesare said. “We are not dealing with a man who is trapped here. If this situation becomes untenable, I have zero doubt that he will simply abandon this place and begin again elsewhere, at which point it may become impossible to find him again. Even if we did, factoring in the recent sacrifices, it’s highly probable that he would be exceedingly harder to kill. If you want this man dead, then our window of opportunity is now and it is closing very rapidly!”
“Hey… this may be a stupid question but what happens if the Rosen Prince assimilates Calhoun or the Eldest?” Nina asked.
​
Both the Doctor and Milo fell silent. Milo’s head slowly turned to look at her.
“Yes, Gretchen. What happens then?” He asked.
Dr. Di Cesare was silent for a moment.
“All the more reason to kill Calhoun first,” She finally said.
​
Up ahead, I could see the ruins of the church, although the moment I saw them, it was already clear to me that something was wrong. The church was dark. There was no light from the bonfire inside and as we drove past the metal poles that marked the doorway, I noticed no change in the forest around us.
“Oh no…” Nina said under her breath, “Fuck, fuck, fuck fuck…”
She tried to steer the car through the other doorway, but nothing changed.
​
The doors were closed.
​
“Good, Mr. Kallas has ensured that nothing can escape."
“Yeah and that includes us, dumbass!” Nina snapped.
“That’s of no concern. I can open another, smaller door. We should shore up inside that church. We’ll get out the same way you did before,” Dr. Di Cesare said.
Nina swore under her breath before driving toward the ruins of the church.
​
She skidded to a stop, and Dr. Di Cesare was the first one out.
“We need to move quickly, get anything you can burn and get it now. Time is short,” She said.
Nina went around the back of the SUV and pulled the trunk open, taking out a can of spare gasoline before following Dr. Di Cesare inside the church.
“There’s one more in there,” She said to me and Dom. “Grab it!”
​
I figured that since I had the idlest hands, it might as well be me. I grabbed the gas can from the back of the SUV and took a parting look at Puriysk, which burned brightly behind us. The fire seemed to have consumed everything, and though the sky was dark, the glow from the inferno made it look like twilight. It was both the most beautiful and horrible thing I’d ever seen.
​
Even from where I stood, I could still hear the screams coming from Puriysk, only now they weren’t the screams of men being slaughtered by monsters… they were the screams of monsters slaughtering each other. I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on in that town… and realized that it might be better if I didn’t know.
​
I didn’t linger, I took the gas can into the church, following Nina. She was already beginning to dump the contents of the can on the charred ashes of the bonfire. Milo was right beside her, tossing some of the extra firewood that the others had collected to keep the fire alive onto it, to try and give it some new life.
​
“There’s headlights down the road, somebody’s coming!” Dom called from the doorway of the church.
“More refugees?” Milo asked.
“I don’t think so.”
​
Milo swore under his breath.
“Gretchen, can you finish up?”
“I need a minute,” She said. “We undid the old runes and ritual circle when we expanded it outside the church. I need to repair them.”
​
Milo growled in frustration before storming over toward the Church door. Nina tossed her empty gas can aside and went to follow, blowing past Dom and Milo and heading back out to the SUV. I watched her pull open the drivers side door and take something out. It took me a moment to recognize exactly what it was.
​
It was a rifle. She hastily checked the magazine before looking out at the oncoming headlights. I could make out three cars, most of them older and more worn than the ones Milo’s people drove although the one at the front was a clean, polished muscle car.
​
I’d seen that car before, and I knew that Dom had too.
It seemed that Sheriff McClellan was here to deal with us personally.
​
The cars slowed to a stop before us, and the four of us stood at the ready. I reached for the .22 I’d kept holstered, and felt a little guilty for the small sense of relief I felt that my gun might actually be useful for a change.
​
The doors of McClellan’s car opened, and I saw him stepping out of the driver's seat. I could see other men getting out of the cars behind him.
“Hell of a mess you’ve caused us…” McClellan said. His black boots sank into the mud beneath him. His wispy white hair seemed to flutter in the wind. I could see a chrome revolver sitting on his hip. “And yet you just refuse to die.”
​
“You must be the Sheriff,” Milo said coldly.
“And you must be the dumb motherfucker who thought he’d mess around with Governor Calhoun… how’s that working out for you.”
“Well despite everything, I’d say we’ve probably taken fewer losses than you have,” Milo replied. McClellan actually cracked a half smile at that.
​
“You’re a cocky little shit, I’ll give you that.” He said. “Not sure what the hell you assholes did back there… but I’ve never seen Nightwalkers claw each other to pieces like that before… either way, the fight’s over. And from where I’m standing it looks like you’re running outta here with your tail between your legs.”
​
“And from where I’m standing, you look like a dead man walking,” Milo replied. “If you’re smart, you’ve come here to leave with us. I don’t know if you realize what’s just been unleashed here, but mark my words in a few days time this place will be nothing but a graveyard.”
“Oh, I can promise that whatever you think you did, isn’t gonna change a damn thing,” McClellan said. “You can run if you’d like. I’ll even let you do it. Either way, once he’s got the rest of the souls he needs the Governor will hunt you down like the rats you are and-”
​
A volley of gunshots came from beside us as Nina started shooting. I saw a couple of the Sheriff’s Boys behind McClellan go down, while others dove for cover. McClellan himself moved behind his car with surprising speed, only narrowly avoiding Nina’s trigger happy rampage.
​
“These people talk too fucking much…” She said under her breath as we hid behind the stone walls of the church.
“Open fire boys, let’s clean this up!” I heard McClellan bark from behind his car.
​
I saw a couple of the Sheriff’s Boys try to peek out from behind one of their cars, and took aim at them, firing blindly. One window of the car shattered, and one of the Boys had time to pull his head back. The other wasn’t so lucky. His head jerked back and he hit the ground dead.
​
I felt my heart skip a beat, as I realized that I’d been the one who killed him… although there was hardly time to process what I’d just done. The gunfire around me saw to that.
“Reserve units, move in on the Church! We need some backup!” McClellan said, presumably speaking into a radio and not talking to himself. I saw the door of his car open as he tried to crawl back inside. Milo seemed to see it too and fired at the driver's side of the windshield. He only got off a couple of shots before McClellan’s retort blew a fresh hole through the glass.
​
I heard Milo cry out in pain and hit the ground, clutching at his shoulder. Nina’s eyes widened as she watched him fall, and I ran to his side to check on him. He pressed a hand against the wound, gritting his teeth and trying not to scream.
“I-I’m alright…” He lied, but I knew that he was out of the fight.
​
“Motherfucker…” Nina spat, before directing her fire at McClellan’s car, putting bullet after bullet through his windshield. I could hear a pained scream from inside and heard the engine turn over. McClellan’s car was launched backward, going in full reverse and slamming into one of the other Sheriff’s Boys cars. It knocked the car back against the boys hiding behind it, forcing them out of cover. A move that Dom was quick to punish. His gun spoke three times, and I saw two men fall, one dead and the other wounded.
​
McClellan hit the gas again, still in reverse and desperately trying to flee. He only succeeded in pushing the car he’d just hit over the wounded man.
​
I could see more headlights in the distance, driving through the flaming ruins of Puriysk toward us, although against the fires I could see the shadow of what used to be the Crab Thing coming to intercept them. I watched as it impaled one car on one of its sharp legs and caught another in its pincers, dutifully tearing at it to get to the meat inside. Tendrils like vines seemed to hang off of its body now, and I watched them slither inside the broken car. I consider myself lucky that I didn’t have to witness what they did to the people inside.
​
With most of McClellan’s group dead, Nina stepped out into the open, firing again at his car. I saw the driver's side door open and watched as McClellan tumbled out, his body bloody and broken.
“Motherfucker…” Nina spat, advancing on him with a bitter, determined purpose. I saw one of the last of the Sheriff’s Boys coming out of cover. Nina raised her rifle at him, but Dom shot first.
​
It was just Nina and the Sheriff now. She regarded the corpse of the last of the Sheriff’s Boys out of the corner of her eye, before making a beeline for McClellan. I watched as he tried to stand, only for his legs to give out from under him.
“Wait…” McClellan rasped, “Wait…”
​
Before he could say another word she’d taken aim at him and pulled the trigger, putting four more bullets into his chest.
“Shut up,” She said coldly, before turning away and going back to the church. McClellan lay on the ground, not quite dead but past the point of surviving. He twitched and wheezed out his final breaths before finally going still.
​
The moment Nina was through that door, she was at Milo’s side again.
“How bad is it?” She asked.
“I’ll live…” He rasped, “It’s… just a flesh wound. Help me up.”
Nina helped him stand, before looking over toward the center of the church.
“Gretchen, how’s that door looking?” She asked.
“Runes are in place… ritual circle is set, I’m almost ready!” She called back.
“Let’s go,” Nina said, dragging Milo over to the columns.
​
Gretchen set the bonfire alight and as we passed through the columns, I could see that the doors were open again. Faded figures of soldiers and refugees stood by anxiously. I could even see Kallas among them, pacing about with a worried look on his face. The moment he saw that the fire had started again, he looked up, seeming both relieved and even more anxious at the same time.
“I was never much good out in the field…” Milo grunted, “Should’ve stayed on the other side.”
“Don’t talk,” Nina said. “You’re still alive, right? That counts for something.”
​
He chuckled.
“Suppose it does,” He said.
Dom and I watched as Nina guided him toward the bonfire, then out through the right set of columns, into the version of the church where we could actually see the night sky overhead. As Nina brought Milo through, Kallas was right there to meet her.
“Take him,” She said. “He’s hurt but he’ll live so long as you patch him up right away.”
“Understood,” Kallas said, “Come on, let’s get you through and put that fire out.”
​
Nina just shook her head.
“No, we’ve still got work to do in here. I’ll hang back with Gretchen until we’ve confirmed that Calhoun’s dead.”
“No can do, Dr. Di Cesare ordered full quarantine measures. We need everyone out!"
“Not until we confirm the kill,” Dr. Di Cesare said. “I require someone with more experience in these things than I have. Take Mr. Durand and get him taken care of. We’ll connect with you later.”
Kallas grimaced and looked over at Milo.
​
“Do what she says,” He rasped, and I saw a quiet resignation cross over Kallas’ face.
“What about you two?” He asked, looking at me and Dom, “If we close this door, you’re not getting out until Valentine and the Doctor do.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “We still have unfinished business.”
Kallas just shook his head and turned to leave, letting Milo lean on him for support as he did. Milo looked back at us, or more specifically he looked back at Nina.
“Valentine…” He said, “Make me proud.”
She gave him a single nod, before letting him go.
​
Once she was past the columns, Dr. Di Cesare gave a single wave of her hand and the bonfire flickered and died.
​
The Church went dark. And we were alone again.
​
“Doctor, how much can you do to keep those things in Puriysk out of here?” Nina asked.
“Given ten or twenty minutes to modify some of the extant runes, quite a bit,” She replied. “It won’t be foolproof, but-”
“Just do it. Let’s dig in here, wait for the fires to die down, and see if we can’t scavenge anything from the ruins in the morning. The more we can get, the better cuz as soon as we’re set, we’re going to Parsons.”

Audio Visual Transcript 001 Date of Origin: Unknown
Audio Self-Translated by player for universal understanding by all sapient species with audio receptors
“Just a slight adjustment here, and it should be working.”
A Kolshian walked into view. His dark purple skin bordered on a rich red and his yellow eyes almost glowed in the backdrop of the bright light of the room.
“Hello, my name is Doctor… Well, my name doesn’t matter. What does matter is why I’m making this. We have made an astonishing discovery this day in the Commonwealth. While we have known for some time now that we are not alone in this universe, what with our contact with the now familiar herbivore species we call our friends, what we have here is something new.”
The man pulls up a datapad in view of the camera to display an avian creature with brightly colored feathers.
“The Krakotl, as they are called, have taken the scientific community by storm—at least those who are aware of their existence. As with standard protocol that was formed shortly after our first contact with another species, we are not immediately alerting the public to their existence. It’s mostly for political reasons, which are not important here.”
He flicked a tentacle finger at the end of the datapad and pulled up a video of a few sapient avians picking at both fruits and something else just slightly out of view. The Krakotl lifts its head just enough to show a chunk of flesh in its beak.
“They are the first species we have found that can ingest animal biomaterial for nourishment. The ramifications of this are… Exciting!”
The scientist makes a gleeful gesture as he sets the holopad down. “This entire situation is unique in so many ways. The situation is being handled delicately I’m sure. After all, we can’t assume this should be handled the same way it was in the past. The fact that they are not as advance as us pulls so many things into question.”
He took a moment to compose himself. “This is why I’m making this recording. It is important, I feel, more than any data we gather that this entire process be documented. There is so much to learn, to observe, to understand. I feel that even with all the technology that we have we still have more we can learn from them than they can from us. That’s why I’m expanding outside of my usual scope and making this a massive project the likes of which I would have never attempted before. Biology will be hard to understand, but I’m sure with a humanly gathered sample I can crack their genetic code just as we have done for our own species.”
He lifted the holopad again and flicked through countless different settings. The videos and images he quickly went through all showed Krakotl performing a variety of rituals, playing games, and instigating countless other different activities.
“It doesn’t stop with the DNA though. That can only tell you so much. I want to know more. Their culture, who they are, what their morals are, what they love, and what they hate. I want to learn. We just have to be cautious about how we go about this. Small scout missions sent down to the surface of the world can only do so much without breaking that thin barrier of anonymity that keeps things stable. There is no telling what would happen if they became aware of us too soon. The last thing I would want to see is that level of culture shock happening to a species before we can properly catalog how they are now.”
He once again lowered the datapad while his face turned stern. “Now, there is one thing I want to address. There are murmurs of people questioning if this species can truly be sapient if they consume animal biomass. That is a ridiculous question to even bring up.”
“Of course they are sapient. There is a rich culture here, one that we must tread around with caution. Perhaps there will be some hurdles to overcome, but I want to make one thing very clear here. What an organism consumes does not dictate its level of sapients. I believe much of the academic and political community would best be reminded that we are dealing with aliens here. The most basic principles of biology will still apply, but this world’s ecosystem is something entirely different from ours. Call me a quack if you will, but I think the best course of action in most cases is preservation.”
He stood up and moved to the other end of the camera. “I’ve said my peace on the matter here. Hopefully, oceans and skies willing, I can focus entirely on the scientific aspects of this discovery moving forwards. I simply feel it would be dishonest not to mention such large overarching ideals seeping around. The true nature of preservation and history is to make sure that even the ugliest parts are remembered.”
Audio Visual Transcript 005 Date of Origin: Unknown
Audio Self-Translated by player for universal understanding by all sapient species with audio receptors
The reddish Krakotl from the previous log is sat down. Despite several physical signs of exhaustion, he appears excited.
“I’ve, no, we’ve done it. It went smoother than I could have ever hoped for. We cracked their genetic code and have fully decoupled their DNA as we did for ours. We even managed to do it without making ourselves known to the local population. It is amazing what modern science can do. Getting the samples was honestly the hardest part, but I’ve been assured that everything obtained was done without disturbing the Krakotl.”
He swiped through a holopad in his grip with the screen facing away from the camera.
“There is so much we can do with this. I know it’s getting ahead of myself a bit, but with genetics, this cleanly displayed we might even be able to cure most of their genetic illnesses before we even make contact.”
He hugged the holopad close to himself. “We can even cure them of one of the greatest universal illnesses that plague all life it seems. Curing cancer for an alien species, can you imagine that?!”
He loosened his grip and gently sat the holopad down on a table next to him. He adjusted himself, exhaustion being kept back by pure elation.
“I must not get ahead of myself. Before we do anything of that sort we must integrate them into the larger world. Though I’ve been assured by everyone, from our political backers to the head scientists who work alongside our leaders, that curing this species will be one of our top priorities before final integration is complete. I’m sure it will be a long and slow process getting there, maybe it won’t even be finished in my lifetime, but even that has its blessings. I’ve collected so much on the Krakotl and their culture this past year. Not to mention I’ve logged their original DNA composition down to the finest detail. That way, if just for historical purposes, we will always have a pure original example of their genetic makeup.”
He rubbed the back of his head with a tentacle. “I’m told I’m being overeager doing such. That any changes made will only be for the better, but… It just feels wrong not at least doing that. Yes, no species would ever want to have genetic diseases again. The body eating away at itself is truly a horrible thing, but it still feels important to preserve. If just to show where we started.”
The doctor’s body went limp for a moment, only to snap back up straight seconds later. He gurgled a low groan and stood back up.
“That will have to be all for now. I must sleep. These last few weeks have been exciting, but bad for my personal health. There is just no end to the work that needs to be done.”
Audio Visual Transcript 007 Date of Origin: Unknown
Audio Self-Translated by player for universal understanding by all sapient species with audio receptors
The same reddish doctor as before sat himself down. He remained quiet, fiddling with his tentacles. His big yellow eyes were aimed at the floor as if the doctor didn’t dare look directly at the recording device. He opened his mouth a few times to speak but stopped short of a gasp.
“They… They started the uplift process. It’s… I…”
He sucked in a breath and finally stared at the camera. His face was one of pure exhaustion. No excitement held it back this time.
“It’s gone awful. It’s gone atrociously. It’s gone… All according to plan without a single hiccup I’m told.”
He lifted a datapad. “Their infrastructure is being ripped apart. Their culture is being erased and replaced with a more ‘clean’ variation. I’m not even privy to the full extent of everything. I don’t know if they're fighting back, I don’t know if they tried to fight back. I tried to push back against it all, and I was blacklisted from all projects related to the Krakotl. I’m being moved to different projects now. Something about a machine interfacing with a brain. It’s… A ridiculous dead-end project that I’m being sent to so I won’t have any impact on the academic world anymore.”
He swallowed. “They’re changing them. It’s not just their culture. The DNA we translated, that I helped translate, it’s being used in horrifying ways.”
He dropped the datapad and buried his face in his arms. His face being buried did little to muffle the long shout he emitted. His voice gurgled to the point it started cracking. When the loud scream ended he looked back up, his voice nearly too quiet to be picked up.
“They took everything they thought I had. Unfortunately for them, this project was never a part of my work. It means nothing compared to the amount of damage that is being done, but maybe I can keep something of their people safe.”
He reached down for the holopad and stood back up. “They don’t know what I still have. Cultural records are just the tip of the iceberg. There is still time to salvage more as well. Even the Commonwealth can’t reach every Krakotl that fast. For now, whoever may end up watching these records, if anyone, know that the Krakotl were a proud people. Know that whatever they will become, what they were won’t be forgotten forever. They will be preserved, at least here.”
Audio Visual Transcript 018 Date of Origin: Unknown
Audio Self-Translated by player for universal understanding by all sapient species with audio receptors
The red scientist sat on a chair with a panel crowded with buttons, switches, and wires behind him. The clean room with bright lighting from before was now a metal box with dim red lighting.
The Kolshian himself looked disheveled. Years had visibly aged off of him, and grease covered his arms.
“More people have been removed from this project. It seems that they’re slowly taking people who have ‘served their time’ away if they’ve been acting right. Keep your head down and nod your head, and get put back into real projects. I know I’m never leaving this place, though.”
He reached for the recorder and turned it to the side to reveal a strange machine. Two legs, two arms that ended in three vice-like grips evenly distributed in a circle to act as digits, a bulky center, and a small bump of a head with a single glowing eye-port.
“This is where science goes to die. I haven’t been able to gather much new information of the avians all the way out here, but it has been some time since I’ve documented anything. Might as well show this off since I’ve got the time to. Not like I need to work hard to keep these recordings hidden anymore. I can count on my digits the number of people still on this project.”
The doctor stood up and lifted the camera with him. A click came from the direction of the panel and the center of the machine popped open to reveal an internal compartment.
“It has just enough space for a single Kolshian. It’s big compared to us as you can plainly see. The idea behind it is to interface the brain through a few connectors at the top. It sounds as dangerous and asinine as it sounds. At this point, I’m the only one that even knows how it works on a basic level since I’ve been here so long. The trick is that it doesn’t work. Not at all.”
He slipped a tentacle into the head and clicked something. The head popped open to reveal a series of wires and a strange helmet lined with needles.
“This thing is as barbaric as it is advanced. The idea is to use these needles to puncture the skull in specific areas to not cause damage while also forming a direct connection. Basically trying to turn the machine into your new body as long as you’re inside it. I don’t think I need to explain to anyone why that’s a bad idea.”
He trails his tentacle down to the legs of the machine. The basic structure offers enough to support the rest of the body and could reasonably move forward at a walking speed.
“All the ideas in this thing that are reasonable are already in use. We have diving and space equipment best suited for our species, and mines operate at a level that something like this is too clunky to use. It can produce audio and translate it in real-time, but even that is something we already have. Even if it was perfectly functional it would be a bad idea. Don’t even get me started on mass production. Getting one to work would be a miracle. Getting more than one? I’ll believe it when primates fly.”
He huffs. “One good thing about this machine though that isn’t widely used has resulted in a lot of its bulk. Not only can it survive massive impacts, but it has backup systems to keep the user alive in case of critical failures. At least for the short term, the only part of you that needs to function to use it is the brain. Again though, if it would ever work.”
He turned the camera back to himself. “I’m sorry I don’t have more about the situations in the world. I’ve basically been cut off from that information. This place is technically a government secret so I can’t contact the outside world, and they sure as the depths aren’t trying to contact me. It’s like being sent to prison except I’m working on someone’s pipe dream. Seriously, my degree isn’t even in mechanics but I’ve been working at this place long enough to know more than some engineers.”
A loud beep echoed through the room.
“Someone’s opening the door. Signing off.”
Audio Visual Transcript 019 Date of Origin: Unknown
Audio Self-Translated by player for universal understanding by all sapient species with audio receptors
The feed cuts to the doctor in the same spot he was at during the last video. Before he can open his mouth there is a beep that echoes in the room. He quickly tossed something over the camera.
The rest of the transcript is audio only.
The sound of metal sliding across metal is heard, followed by the steps of someone else entering the room.
“Ah, sir, what are you doing here? You’re not scheduled for another check-in until next week.” The doctor spoke.
“Cut the pleasantries. You know why I’m here, defect. The fact that you get to work on a backwater nothing project like this is already too good for someone with your ideals.” another deeper voice boomed with anger from what sounded like a second Kolshian.
“Well, yes, maybe it is too good for me, but what does that have to do with anything official here?”
“Simple, this project doesn’t have enough scientists to continue. On top of that, it’s just been a waste of resources.”
“And what does that entail for the people still on the project?”
“For the rest of this facility, they will simply have to stay quiet and be put back into society.”
“The rest of this facility.”
“Right, well, how do I best put this? Your death certificate has already been signed. Got a lot of officials who think it would be best if you just weren’t around anymore. You’re considered too much of a liability with how you looked at those predators.”
Several more steps can be heard coming into the room.
“You're going to execute me?! What crime have I committed?!”
The second figure chuckled. “Crime? We don’t even need to justify a crime for this. See, a hot new buzzword has been going through the government that I think fits you to a T. You’ve got predator disease, and anyone with predator disease is a danger to themselves and others as long as they're alive. Oh, less extreme cases might be treatable especially if caught early, but your doc? Well, I’m sure the few people who know about this project will understand that a man getting on in years with a bad case of predator disease had to be dealt with. Fuck, we plan on taking most of this facility down, we can just blow it up and pin it on you! Not like a deadman can argue his case.”
“This absurd, you can’t just-”
A loud bang cut the doctor short. A second later there was a thump.
“Eh, don’t bother with the double tap. We’re going to blow this facility up. We already went and scrubbed this star system off all our maps. Red dwarf snugged between so many bright stars it's barely visible, and it’s in a section of space no one would bother to look in anyways. Remember, none of you saw anything here. We’re technically not even supposed to be here.”
“Sir!”
“Let’s get out here before he starts to stink up the place.”
“Sir!”
The sound of at least half a dozen people walking out of the room was followed by silence.
The audio picked up another sound. Something wet that sounded like it was dragged against metal. It went further and further away from the recorder until it was out of earshot.
A loud snap of metal opening was followed by multiple smaller snaps of pieces clicking back together. Several minutes went by in silence again after the last click.
Then there was a thunk. Then another, and another. The rhythmic sound of metal hitting metal came closer to the recording. There was a jostle of the camera was whatever kept it covered came off.
A bright red light flashed the camera which still made it impossible to discern anything.
The transcript ended abruptly.

Shorter post than usual, and probably a needless one, or at least out of date, but I figured it would be good to get down, “just in case”.
A (thankfully not as common now) misconception is that Spartan III Alpha Company’s destruction was avoidable, that if they had been trained better, equipped better, they might have survived PROMETHEUS. This is refutably false, and this post is intended to demonstrate that their demise was almost completely out of their control, and, primarily, to show that Kurt couldn’t have done anything better to save them.
(Admittedly, there is a bit of theory crafting coming near the end of this post, and I’m not sure if it’s warranted, I wouldn’t mind Haruspis’ comments, if you do see this post, as it seems to be something brought up initially in MJOLNIR and now with SPI. I doubt I’ll get a response though, and I admit I may be making this a bigger issue than it needs to be or is intended to be with its inclusion, but I’m adding it in as another (potential) factor. That’ll be Point III, and clearly labeled as theory crafting.)
With that said, let’s begin with a deep dive into Operation PROMETHEUS:^[1]
PART I: Sent from the sky
The Spartan III program has had more than a few threads made about it to deal with general misconceptions (I think we’re at like, 4 and counting now) so I’ll let those stand.
Alpha Company in general though hasn’t been delved into with much detail. Admittedly we know the least amount of their training, and etc, but we know it was both harder than their predecessors and an improvement of the Spartan II training, or at least, as mentioned by the Encyclopedia, it mirrored it in many ways:

Secretly based on the hidden world of Onyx, the SPARTAN-Ill program was operated and facilitated at Camp Currahee. a military site hidden deep within the planet's dense jungles. Much of the training regimen conducted at Currahee mirrored that of SPARTAN-II training, with intense physical and team-based exercises, as well as an advanced education conducted by an onsite Al.

• Halo Encyclopedia 2022 edition

We know the first night of their training was drastically different from the II’s. The first night of the II’s training is detailed in chapter 3 of The Fall of Reach, the chapter notes the date and time as 2300 hours, September 23rd 2517.
In this chapter Doctor Halsey gives the II’s a speech about why they’re at Reach, why they’ve been chosen, and etc….and then they go to bed.
Chapter 4 begins at 0530 hours, September 24th, 2517, around 6 hours later. The trainees are woken up by stun baton if they didn’t wake by voice alone:

”Wake up, trainee!”
John rolled over in his cot and went back to sleep. He was dimly aware that this wasn’t his room, and that there were other people here.
A shock jolted him—from his bare feet to the base of his spine. He yelled in surprise and fell off the cot. He shook off the disorientation from being nearly asleep and got up.
“I said up, boot! You know which way up is?”
A man in a camouflage uniform stood over John. His hair was shorn and gray at his temples. His dark eyes didn’t look human—too big and black and they didn’t blink. He held a silver baton in one hand; he flicked it toward John and it sparked.
John backed away. He wasn’t afraid of anything. Only little kids were afraid . . . but his body instinctively moved as far away from the instrument as possible.
Dozens of other men roused the rest of the children. Seventy-four boys and girls screamed and jumped out of their cots.

• The Fall of Reach, chapter 4

Comparatively, this is the first thing the III’s of Alpha Company do after their speech by Kurt:

”We cannot accept everyone, though," Kurt continued. "There are five hundred of you. We have three hundred training slots. So tonight. Senior Chief Petty Officer Mendez"—he nodded to the Chief—"has devised a way to separate those who truly want this opportunity from those who do not."
Kurt handed him a tablet reader. "Chief?" To his credit Mendez registered shock for only a split second. He scanned the tablet, frowned, but nodded.
"Yes, sir," he whispered.
Mendez yelled at the children, "You want to be Spartans? Then get back on those ships." They stood shocked, staring at him.
*"No? I guess we found a few washouts. You." He pointed to one child at random. "You. And you." The chosen kids looked at each other, at the ground, and then shook their heads. "No?" Mendez said. "Then get on those Pelicans."
They did so, and so did the others, a slow shuffling procession.
"Drill instructors," Mendez said.
Three dozen NCOs snapped to attention.*
"You will find Falcon Wing aerial descent units on the field. Load them ASAP and make sure your trainees are properly fit-led. Their safe deployment is now your responsibility."
The DIs nodded and ran toward the bundled Falcon Wing backpacks.
The Chief turned back to Kurt. "You're going to make them drop?" He raised both eyebrows in surprise. "At night?"
"The Falcons are the safest drop units," Kurt replied.
"With respect, sir, some of them are only four years old."
"Motivation, Chief. If they can do this, they'll be ready for what we have to put them through.”

• Halo Ghosts of Onyx, chapter 6

Anyone who didn’t jump was disqualified from the program immediately:

A girl with pigtails and missing her front teeth stepped forward. "I'll go first, sir," she yelled.
"Good girl," he said. "Go right to the edge; hang on to the guide line."
She took the tiniest baby steps to the edge of the Pelican, then froze. She took three deep breaths and then with a squeak, she jumped. The wind caught her.
She vanished into the dark.
"Next!" the old Navy man said.
All the kids, Shane included, slowly formed a line. He couldn't believe they were doing this. It was nuts.
The next boy got to the edge, looked down, and screamed. He fell backward, and scrambled away. "No!" he said. "No way!"
"Next!" the man called, and didn't give the kid cowering on the deck another glance.
The next boy jumped without even looking. And the next.

• Halo Ghosts of Onyx, chapter 6

Now, admittedly we don’t know what happened during their first morning, but I’d wager it would have been classroom instruction or some “light” activities. Even so, their first real activity was much more intense than their predecessors.
Their first test, in many respects, mirrored their deployment: dropped into unfamiliar terrain, forced to rely on their equipment and comrades above all else. They rely on each other, on the knowledge that they would not be alone when they reached the ground.
In later, proper, missions, sealed in armour, with the knowledge that their operations had to succeed, the knowledge that they had completed that first jump might have provided some small bit of comfort. If they could do that, maybe they could do anything.
This would be their main method of deployment, using droppods to get deep behind enemy lines, Strike targets of critical opportunity in places others couldn’t reach.
This is presumably how Operation FIREBRAND, IRON GREAVE, and the majority of their other operations were carried out. The standout and exception seems to be Operation HWACHA, which saw Alpha Company operating as boarding and counterboarding teams against Covenant fleet elements in zero-gee.
Whatever the case, the hallmark of a Spartan III deployment in future seemed to be a sudden, abrupt storm of drop pods appearing without warning to those on the ground.
PART II: Nightmares
A big element to why the Alphas seemed to be killed en-masse was, as Kurt puts it, “a loss of unit cohesion”. He notes that, as the battle continued on, Spartan III’s began to drastically deviate from standard formations and understood tactical doctrines. They would go at things alone, or neglect to cover their teammates, or be caught in a bad position that they should have seen and avoided:

The video from a helmet camera showed a dozen SPARTAN-IIIs limping and falling on a smoldering landscape of twisted metal. There was no unit cohesion. No two-man teams covering one another. In the heat-blurred background, Elites took up superior positions with good cover.
This was his fault. He had failed them. His training hadn't prepared them. He should have rectified the flaws in their Mark-I PR suits and fixed them faster.

• Halo Ghosts of Onyx chapter 8

Kurt puts this down to poor training and a lack of upgrades and rectified fixes to their armour (more on this latter point in Part III), and while this is his motivation to push Beta and Gamma harder, I’m not sure it was their training, truncated as it was, that was the cause.
Instead, Halo Oblivion, either intentionally or unintentionally, might give us a reason for why this situation happened:

Altered mental states were a symptom of combat fatigue, especially in exhausted soldiers who were using too many stim-packs in an effort to maintain alertness.
John knew from his combat psychology training back on Reach that too much combat stress could sometimes result in mindless, murderous rages. But such episodes were heat-of-the-moment events that erupted without warning—not carefully prepared actions like the commanders were suggesting now. He turned to Bah’d. “What kind of combat stimulants are you using?”
“Stimulants?” Bah’d narrowed her eyes. “Be careful what you imply, John.”
“Major, I never imply.” John was puzzled by Bah’d’s testy reaction. Stim-packs were standard issue for UNSC special operations troops—who often had to fight for days at a time without sleep—but they were easy to overuse in the heat of a long battle. “Your commanders are focus-locked on a pointless goal. That’s a classic sign of stim-pack overdose.”
The human brain needed sleep to flush out the toxins that accumulated during periods of wakeful activity, and John knew that going even twenty-four hours without rest could lead to concentration and memory problems. After forty-eight hours, the brain started to shut down for microsleeps, which lasted anywhere from half a second to half a minute—all followed by short periods of confusion and disorientation that could prove disastrous in a combat situation. By seventy-two hours, the brain’s toxin load grew so acute that severe lapses in concentration, motivation, and memory were inevitable—and hallucinatory episodes were common.
The only way to counteract the effects of sleep deprivation was to temporarily increase the signal-carrying capacity of the brain’s synapses.
That was how stim-packs worked—and why they were sometimes necessary in combat. If there were natural methods for accomplishing the same thing, John had never heard of them.

• Halo Oblivion, chapter 1

To reiterate, Operation PROMETHEUS occurred from 0700 July 27th to an unspecified hour on August 2nd, or, in short, 7 days, though it was likely much longer, as Alpha Company would have spent hours in Slipspace and free fall before the first Spartan hit the ground.
In terms of hours, that’s 168 hours minimum.
Because of the operation’s location and lack of other UNSC assets in the area, Alpha Company had no safe spaces to hide, or to rest. While it’s possible fireteams took up sentry in “secure” positions, only some of the teams could sleep, and if those members not sleeping were using stim-packs, they might not have been able to sleep once it was their turn. This would undoubtedly cause a rolling, cascading issue as teams were forced to abuse their stims in order to stay awake and functional, but it had the debilitating issue of impacting their higher brain functions.
In the end, the last ones standing were probably so hopped up on stimulants they’d have probably died from cardiac arrest even if they could be extracted.
Comparatively, Covenant forces were constantly rotating in fresh troops as reinforcements were brought in from existing ground units, and then troops stationed in orbit:

"After two days," the Admiral said, "seven rectors were rendered inoperative and a counterforce was finally organized by existing Covenant units."
”The Covenant counterresponse was neutralized," the Rear Admiral continued, "and over the next three days. Alpha Company destroyed thirteen more reactors."
”But," the Rear Admiral said, "a massive counterforce appeared in orbit and descended to the surface."

• Halo Ghosts of Onyx chapter 8

This is, also, not taking into account that the final extraction craft were destroyed by the final day,if not earlier, trapping the Spartans on the asteroid. There was no escape, nowhere to run to, nowhere to go.^[2]
Which is where part III comes in.
Part III: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should
THIS IS HIGHLY CONJECTURE AND THEORY-CRAFTING, PLEASE NOTE THAT WHEN REFERRING BACK TO THIS SECTION
I’ve been a pretty big proponent of SPI armour over the years, one of the most notable (if not the most notable) on the subreddit, I think (and I don’t make that claim lightly). Admittedly, a lot of that has been via a steady increase of information gathered piece-meal from various sources. If you search up SPI in Halostory’s search bar, a lot of posts with comments will have me in there, defending or clarifying something based off of tthe information we have.
But I might have been misinformed, or at least, misjudged some of the information.
How does this relate to Alpha Company and their deaths? Well, I’ve sort of touched on it above, but this recent canon fodder has sort of cemented the idea in my mind:
SPI has lost its purpose and become the antithesis of what it was meant to be, and in an attempt to make it more interesting, it’s actually been made worse.
That is to say, over the years, we’ve learned that SPI isn’t an individual armour, but a program, a suite, of different armours all under the same umbrella of “Semi-Power-Infiltration”.
It’s noted in a few places (Encyclopedia, Mythos, various Canon Fodders) as being a stable of armour with different variants optimized for different needs. The most recent canon fodder took a look at some of those variants…kind of.
Initially, this might seem like a good thing, giving the armour more variants broadens it’s potential as a warfighting platform, increasing individual operators capabilities and providing synergy amongst team members’ individual specialities, and allows characters who wear it to stand out from one another in visual media (which I personally find rather humorous, considering the Armour’s intended purpose.)
But while it might be a good idea from an artistic standpoint, it’s a very bad idea from a logistical/in-universe one.
The newest canon fodder describes SPI as:

Though not as robust as mainline Mjolnir suits, SPI armor has proven to be an excellent platform for testing a variety of field attachments and upgrades that would be far more costly (and at greater risk of destruction) applied to Spartan-exclusive missions.

• Canon Fodder: New Year, New Lore

It also goes into description of the different appearances we’ve seen over the years. Of particular note is this depiction from Mythos describing Operation PROMETHEUS. (I know, it’s long winded, but we’re finally back on topic).
The canon fodder goes on to say this about the image:

The top-right depiction of Operation: PROMETHEUS—the mission that saw the annihilation of Alpha Company (the first batch of three-hundred Spartan-IIIs)—seen in Halo Mythos likewise showcases two different variants. The central Spartan’s armor is notably more angular, lacking the traditional curves of the “baseline” Mark-I SPI, while the dead Spartan on the ground has a design which conforms more to baseline but has a much thinner “jaw” and lacks defogging vents.

• Canon Fodder: Nee Year, New Lore

Here’s where this is a problem, jotted out for ease of reading:
You have 300 people sent very far away from any logistics and resupply points, sent to an area surrounded by enemies on all sides.
You have limited space in the drop pods that these 300 people are deployed in. Likely this is filled with weapons, ammunition. Stuff they can carry on their person.
You can send…some number of supply pods (as seen in The Cole Protocol). Larger pods, likely carrying additional explosives, heavy weapons, and, most likely, extra armour to replace damaged ones in the field.
You have these 300 people wearing unique special armour that - to work effectively - must have the plating overlap * perfectly* to achieve proper camouflage. They may all need replacement parts and pieces.
You’ve given some of them unique variants that do not conform to baseline and require different armour plating to work effectively.
I think where I’m going with this is obvious.
Their own specializations and uniqueness (seem to have) killed them….or at least could have contributed to their deaths.
If you’ve just been fighting for a day or two, and your team (or several) makes their way to a supply pod full of armour, and you crack it open to find armour pieces for “SPI Mark I Type B” suits…what do you do if you’ve got Type A? The Type B plating won’t work with your armour. Sure, it might “connect” and have the panels activate, but the plating won’t properly fit, it will give you a bad “seal”, and your camouflage capabilities will be compromised. What does this mean? In short, you must isolate yourself from your comrades in order to not give their positions away, but it leaves you vulnerable.
This isn’t like traditional paradrops of today or the past, this armour is fully sealed, it needs to be to function. It is the only thing keeping you alive. The more variation, the harder it is to supply, the harder it is to supply, the more people die.
It’s especially egregious when the differences seem so….minor. It seems almost needless, at least with what we see in Mythos. What benefit did that one more angular variant provide over the usual baseline? What benefit does it give that a supplemental attachment didn’t? Was it worth the trade off for added logistical woes?^[3]
Additionally, though likely not intended (despite actually being noted in several points in the books) any particular variation based off specialty or designation would be a hinderance because it enables enemy commanders and intelligence teams to paint a picture of your capabilities.
If you can figure out that Squad leaders are wearing a particular type of armour, say, CENTURION, all you need to do is (generally speaking) target them, kill them, then kill their second in commands, then in the words of a damn fine soldier, “you can kill any poor bastard you like”.
Anything that makes you look like a more important target makes you a dead target - and for an armour based off stealth and invisibility, that’s a terrible idea.
You would think Kurt noticed this and immediately put a stop to it, because it’s getting his men and women killed…but we can see that it continues to happen in various forms
Admittedly, and to reiterate, this is likely just something we kind of need to accept as necessary for Halo’s visual media and how they’ve decided to design characters, but it still feels noteworthy to mention, especially because characters in universe mention it;^[4]

The second companion made a beeline for Hamm. There was no rank insignia on his armor— it was never smart to help snipers identify high-value targets —but the name stenciled on his breast was CUVIER.
The company captain.
Cuvier stopped halfway between John and Hamm. Nobody saluted, but Hamm stood slightly more erect. Had one of John’s Spartan snipers been an enemy watching through a scope, even the subtle shift of posture would have been enough to get the captain’s helmet blown off.

• Halo Silent Storm 8

.

Jones was only halfway up the side of the hill, but that was high enough to see the top of theopposite hill, and the tiny figures who stood there. Not the Grunts who were running this way and that, not the Jackals who lined the edge of the summit, but the shiny armor of the Elites. Those were the targets he wanted, and they seemed to leap forward as the Marine increased the magnification on his scope, and let the barrel drift slightly. Which life should he take? The one on the left with the blue armor? Or the one on the right, the shiny gold bastard? At that moment in time, in that particular place, Lance Corporal Jones was God.
He clicked the sniper rifle’s safety catch, and lightly rested his finger on the trigger.

• Halo The Flood, chapter 6

PART IV: THERE’ll BE ANOTHER TIME
New information that’s come to light regarding the operation comes from recent Halo Infinite Intel, about how Deep Winter had select Spartans pulled in secret ahead of PROMETHEUS.
Admittedly, this likely wouldn’t have drastically changed anything, but as John notes in Silent Storm, Spartan effectiveness is dramatically increased and heightened when at optimal team strength, and it seems Deep Winter pulled Spartans to make use of their individual skill sets, a cascading ripple occurs as teams would need to reshuffle and reorganize to fill in and make up to the gaps. The more Spartans removed, the less effective the Company will be, the less ground they can cover, and the greater chance of failure and death, noted here by John:

If the Spartans were attacking separate targets, they wouldn’t be able to support each other—and the efficiency of a Spartan team decreased exponentially each time a member was removed. Dr. Halsey estimated that a Spartan operating alone was only one-sixteenth as effective as a four-member team . . . and sixteen times as likely to get killed.

• Halo Silent Storm, chapter 5

As Kurt himself notes, Deep Winter often operated from a perspective of basic morality functions, which Kurt considered inadequate and a sort of weakness:

What could an AI possibly know what it was like on a real mission? Bullets zinging so close over your head that you didn't so much as hear them hut felt them pass. Or what it was like to get hit, but still have to keep going, bleeding, because if you didn't everyone on your team would die?

• Halo Ghosts of Onyx, chapter 9

Again, little likely changed, but the organizational hurdles and missing members might have effected how Alpha went about their mission, and how quickly they could have completed it.
Which leads us to our conclusion.
CONCLUSION
TLDR: Alpha Company faced a number of factors that led to their demise during Operation PROMETHEUS, and it wasn’t really due to a lack of training, or any sort of deficiency with the Spartans themselves, at least, not that we can see.
Instead, their deaths occurred due to stim-pack overdose, overwhelming enemy reinforcements, and difficult to maintain logistics hampered by additional, and unnecessary issues. While not technically a reason, the loss of select members saved by Deep Winter also probably had an effect on the Company’s overall performance,
In the end, the situation was doomed once the extraction craft were destroyed, and that only hastened Alpha Company’s demise. Kurt, despite his guilt, had nothing to be ashamed of, and their deaths couldn’t be placed on him or the others in the program. At the end of the day, Alpha Company died to factors outside their control and through no obvious faults of their own.
They may have died, cut off and alone, but they did what any Spartan would do, what any Spartan could do;
The impossible.
SUPPLEMENTAL/ADDITIONAL NOTES

• [1]: PROMETHEUS references the Greek God of the same name. A Titan who stole the fire of the gods and gave hope to humanity. In much the same way that Alpha Company gave hope to humanity by delaying the Covenant advance. Of course, this sacrifice went unknown by everyone. Interestingly, Alpha Company’s operations all involve fire in some way. PROMETHEUS has been explained. HWACHA refers to a Korean siege weapon from the 15th century, a cart with dozens of arrows/rockets that would be shot at a target, usually causing mass confusion and panic. Akin to a canister or grapeshot from a cannon. FIREBRAND doesn’t really need an explanation (but seeing as it was their most notable Anti-Insurrectionist operation…yikes, lol). While IRON GRAVE might seem out of place, it harkens back to Prometheus(the deity, not the operation) and his role as a smith. Iron needs to be forged into armour or tools, and based off the timeline, IRON GREAVE might have been Alpha’s first foray against the Covenant proper, hence, its akin to a baptismal experience, or a case of the Company being forged under fire.
  
• [2]: The Mythos artwork depicts a battlefield covered in smoke and ash, but from what I can see, the ground is more or less completely flat with very little deviation on terrain, this means Alpha would need to belly crawl until they arrived at one of the reactors to make best use of their PR systems, slowing them down significantly and, at the same time, meant that once combat was initiated, moving from Reactor Complex to Reactor Complex would have been both incredibly exposed and provided no cover.
  
• [3]: Mirage’s introduction to Infinte also introduces us to the AAP/K-ROC Ordinance Pack, an up-armoured cuirass noted to be cheap and easily available and intended to be worn by Mark I and II SPI. The overall shape makes it seem like it would have fit both Mythos depictions of SPI, and it’s almost certain everyone would have been wearing it, which would have mitigated some of the logistical issues. Assuming a Spartan needed only to replace this aspect of their armour, or their shoulder pauldrons were removed without compromising the rest of the suit’s stealth integrity, logistics issues might have been less of an issue. Other supplemental attachments, like RS/MOONGLOW, rather than entirely different helmets, would have also helped.
  
• [4]: I go into further detail of Spartan appearances and their differing looks (sort of) in this post
  

With that, we conclude another “essay”. Next up (timeline permitted) a character study and a look at love.
~ EternalCanadian

I'm still new to golf, started before the pandemic by buying a set off gumtree for like £50 but they were relics.
Since then I've made a few upgrades but my driver and irons are like 10 years old now. This is what I currently have in my bag.
Putter - New Wilson staff infinite putter 56 - Cleveland Reg 588, condition is OK probably about a 6 or 7/10 52 - same as above. Irons 4-pw - Taylor made RSI2s, condition is pretty good I think probably 7 or 8/10 9 Wood or some sorta Hybrid? - Some sorta Donnay club that came with the original set, has 27° loft, condition is probably like a 4 or 5/10 4 Hybrid - Callaway apex, condition is OK grip and head are fine but there's a bit of a burscratched area on the shaft probably 6 or 7/10 5 Wood - Cleveland Launcher, conditions really good like an 8 or 9/10 Driver - Ping G25, face is pretty scratched up and has a few sky marks probably 5 or 6/10
So of course replace the Donnay club but not sure if I should go with a 3w, 5h or a 60° wedge. If I got a new wedge I'd probably buy a full set i.e another 52,56,60. The 5w has a stiff shaft and I actually hit it really well, almost hit it as far as my driver (which still isn't very far but still). Unsure what shaft I have in my driver I googled it but not sure if it's the reg or stiff. Don't know if I was buying a driver if I should go with a stiff since I hit the 5w so well.
So what should my next upgrades be? Get rid of the Donnay first of course haha! But driver next or irons or wedges?
Can post pictures if you wanna see the condition to judge.
P.S wasn't expecting that to be such a long post, sorry...

Like Sky Castle, The Penthouse, Hotel Del Luna, etc. I really enjoy dramas that revolve around a set of characters living in the same spaces/neighborhoods and these events happening in said places

So I signed up to Virgin Media's £85/month Volt bundle which provides all the broadband and TV to a better spec than BT did for £60/month and it includes a £25/month everything unlimited O2 SIM card.
When I signed up they made crystal clear its two different contracts with two different direct debits and when I said i didn't want the SIM only part of the deal they said it'd still be £85/month in total but they just wouldn't deliver the SIM.
Does anyone know if I can use the cooling off period to cancel the now set up £25/month SIM only deal but keep the Virgin Media part of the deal and hence getting the £60/month deal I wanted all along?
For those that are interested, as whilst not cheap, its a good deal compared to my existing BT package:
1GB Fibre broadband, Sky Sports HD, BT Sport, Sky Movies, Netflix, extra box and subscriptions for second TV/room, landline call package plus the unlimited texts, calls and data O2 SIM.

First Entry
Second Entry
Third Entry
Fourth Entry ​
Fifth Entry
Sixth Entry
Seventh Entry
​
Journal of Camille Lambert - April 13th (Part 2)
​
The mist rolled in from the edge of town, swallowing buildings, tents, and trucks as the klaxon alarm sounded. I looked up and saw the sky beginning to fade into absolute darkness, even though it should have been hours before dusk.
“Fascinating…” I heard Dr. Di Cesare say beside me, although she was the only one who seemed to think so.
​
Milo stared into the mist with a look of dread as flashes of gunfire began to go off deep inside, briefly illuminating the moving shadows as the screams of dying men and impossible monsters filled our ears.
“Kallas, Valentine, the refugees! Get them out!” He ordered. Neither of them needed to be told twice. The words were barely out of his mouth when they took off at a sprint toward the tents, guns already drawn.
​
“Gretchen, how do we drive them off?”
“They circumvented my runes… how…” She said under her breath, sounding more annoyed than anything else.
“Gretchen!” Milo snapped, and she seemed to be pulled out of her train of thought.
“Uncertain. I need to get back to my lab. Everything I could use would be there!”
She took off like a shot, and as she ran, the mist overtook us, turning her into little more than a shadow ahead of us.
​
“Stay close!” Milo ordered, going for his pistol, although we could barely see him through the mist either. I felt Dom reaching for my hand and looked over to see his shadow, pistol drawn and trying to keep up with Milo and Gretchen. Her white RV hadn’t been parked that far away, but it might as well have been miles.
​
The chorus of gunfire and screams roared in my ears. I could hear inhuman screeches as men were torn limb from bloody limb. As Dom led me behind Milo, I couldn’t help but look over and pray that our people were managing, somehow. Through the mist, I could see a shadow racing toward us. At a glance, I almost thought that it might be a man on a horse but… no. The sigil of an eye burned onto its forehead made that very clear.
​
“LOOK OUT!” I called in the moment before the horseman raced toward us. I could see Milo diving out of the way while Dom pulled me back. He fired two shots at it, and though I did not get a good look at the creature before us, I saw enough to know that it wasn’t a horse and a rider… it was one creature. A pale, blood soaked thing with claws like scythes and eyes crowned around its head like a wreathe. It slashed at Dom who dove out of the way, before rearing up on its hind legs and unleashing a scream that sounded like a man in pain.
​
I could see Milo firing at it as well, but the bullets might as well have done nothing to it. Just like the last Sigiled Nightwalker, it barely even seemed to notice.
“You made your choice to stay here…” A raspy voice echoed from the creature, and I knew that it was Calhoun speaking to us. “Now look what you’ve made me do.”
​
The Nightwalker came for me next, and I dove to the ground, scrambling away as its claws raked against the asphalt road. The red eye sigil focused on me, and on the creature's face I could see a gaping maw underneath that eye, dripping with wet saliva and filled with long, jagged teeth.
​
It reared up again, and I could do nothing but wait to be crushed beneath its hooves when the deafening echo of a gunshot rang out. The Nightwalker screamed. Chunks of its head were ripped away from it and a new, pinkish steam rose from the mess that was left. It collapsed onto its side, still twitching in death.
I looked over to see the shadow of Dr. Di Cesare, holding that revolver of hers.
“Most interesting… assuming direct control over certain Nightwalkers.” She said. “Come There are certainly more.”
Dom helped me to my feet and we took off toward the RV again.
​
​
Through the mist, I could see the RV up ahead. Dr. Di Cesare threw the door open and quickly ushered us inside. As soon as it was closed again, I watched her take a knife from her coat and roll up her sleeve. Without so much as a wince of pain, she drew the blade across her hand, then using one finger, began to hastily draw a sigil on the door.
“Should keep them out… should…” She murmured, and once she was done she tore past us, deeper into the RV.
​
There seemed like she’d been using it as some sort of makeshift lab. I could see counters littered with old books, jars full of strange ingredients, and a small altar with scattered journal pages laying around it. I could see photos and diagrams of strange flowers that seemed to be every color at once and none of them at the same time, and crude anatomical sketches of flower-headed creatures.
​
On a small work desk pressed into one corner, I heard a walkie talkie crackle to life.
“Can you hold them back? We’re still loading the trucks!”
I recognized the voice on the other end as Kallas.
“Well move your fucking ass! We’re losing ground here!” Came the reply and it sounded like it was coming from Nina.
​
Milo ran toward the desk, grabbing the radio off of it.
“Valentine, Kallas, what’s going on out there?” He demanded.
“Everything’s gone to shit!” Valentine replied, “We’re falling back to the Church!”
“Already?” Milo asked, breathless. “Gretchen, how long before you can-”
​
“And who’s this I’m hearing now?” A new voice asked. It sounded like an older man, although I knew it wasn’t Calhoun.
I looked over at Dom, wondering if maybe he recognized it. Judging by his expression, he did.
“Who the hell is this?” Milo demanded.
“I’m the man watching you folks get your asses beat. It’s kinda funny, actually. You people come in here, throwing your weight around all high and mighty only to crumble the moment we give you anything more than a little love tap. Name’s McClellan. I suppose you could say that I’m the Sheriff around these parts.”
​
“Oh for fucks sake, are they on our goddamn channel?” Nina asked.
“Thought I’d tune in, see how things were going. Governor Calhoun was kind enough to spare me and my boys the hassle of dealing with you personally. Least we can do is enjoy the show.”
“Oh God… he’s monologuing!” Nina whined.
​
“You folks have kicked the beehive. Now you’re gonna get stung.” McClellan crooned. Everything he said ended in an upward inflection and it had already gotten annoying.
“The Governor wasn’t too happy to have to clean out the other towns, but you forced his hand. And what he’s gonna do next… you should be held accountable for that too.”
​
“Next?” Milo asked warily although before he could get his answer, something hit the RV, rocking it violently from side to side. Dr. Di Cesare almost fell over, before bracing herself against the counter and going through her books. She glanced at one of the flower diagrams before violently shaking her head and tossing it aside. Over the radio, I could hear McClellan laughing.
“Gretchen?” Milo asked, “Please tell me you’ve got something!”
“Patience…” She urged, “Extant research only addresses killing these things one at a time, not as an army.”
​
The RV rocked again and I ran to the window to look out. I could see something move past, something a hell of a lot bigger than the one the Doctor had just killed. Through the mist and the darkness, I could see the glow of a fire flare to life somewhere in the distance. Somehow, I got the feeling that Nina was behind it.
“Just tell me what we need to do to kill these goddamn things!” Milo snapped as the RV was hit again. I saw something in the opposite window, vacant black eyes and flat, chitinous mandibles that clicked together, only barely hiding the incomprehensible mouth behind them.
​
“I can’t just cast a spell and kill them all!” Gretchen replied, “I need more time! Maybe if I can open a door to another pocket we can at least get out of here, but I need time to find a safe one!” I could hear something scraping against the metal roof of the RV and saw it begin to buckle near the corner. Jagged spikes broke through it as whatever was outside began to pry open the RV like a can of soup.
“We don’t have time!” Milo warned.
​
Dom watched as the Nightwalker began to pry at the roof before looking over through the window and noticing its shiny black eye. Without a moment of hesitation, he fired at it, shattering the window and cracking it like an egg. A thick, black goo dribbled out of it and the Nightwalker shrank back, letting out a screech of pain. It briefly retreated, holding its spikey, crablike claws in front of it defensively. I could hear it making an irate clicking noise and it waited for a moment as Dom fired a few more rounds at it although this time, they just bounced uselessly off its armor.
​
“Five trucks out. Confirmed that two are at the Church!” I heard Kallas say over the radio, “Six, seven and eight almost loaded. Those are the last ones!”
“You might get these ones out… but there’ll always be more.” McClellan said, “I’ll admit that this has all been a bit of a setback, but there’s a lot of little towns just ripe for the picking out there. And once he gets the rest of the 5000 souls he needs… well, if you think this is bad, wait until you see what he’ll be able to do then.”
“Truck six is away! Three is at the church!” Kallas said, trying his damnedest to ignore McClellan.
“Double time it!” Milo snapped, “Valentine, what’s going on out there?”
​
“Fire’s keeping them at bay but they’re getting brave!” She warned, “We’re heading back toward the refugees. Milo, where are you now?”
“I’m in Di Cesare’s lab, with Dominic and Camille.”
“We’re gonna need to fall back to the church. Can you meet us there?” Nina asked.
Milo looked over at me.
“Get to the driver's seat, keys are in the ignition. Get us out of here.” He said. I just nodded and did what he asked, listening as he went back to Nina.
“We’re en route!”
​
Just like Milo had promised, I found the keys in the ignition and turned them. The engine roared to life. Through the mist, I could see the shadows of other Nightwalkers and my blood turned to ice in my veins as I saw the sigils on their foreheads. Crimson eyes, more than I could count at a glance, and each of them watching me.
​
The RV shook again and from the corner of my eye, I saw a massive claw coming for me. I threw myself to the ground as it shattered the driver's side window. The claw ripped through the cabin of the RV, before prying the roof off completely and tossing it aside.
​
I watched the Crab Thing as it approached the ruined cabin. One spiky leg came down on the hood of the RV. The Crab’s one remaining eye seemed to fixate on me as it reached for me with a claw, and I scrambled backward, only barely avoiding it. I looked back just in time to see Milo with a look of utter horror on his face. He grabbed me by the arm, pulling me deeper into the RV as the Crab Thing began trying to pry the roof off again.
​
Behind it, I could see other Nightwalkers drawing near.
There was no running from this.
​
“Gretchen, either shoot this goddamn thing or do something!” Milo cried, looking over at Gretchen. She glanced away from her research with wide eyes. I saw her reach for her revolver, only to hesistate when she noticed the other Nightwalkers watching us from behind the Crab Thing. I could see her doing the math in her head. Four shots left… not enough to kill the Crab and the Nightwalkers. The gun couldn’t save us. Her eyes settled on the flower diagram she’d cast aside earlier. I saw her grimace before running toward the back window.
​
“Shaal forgive me…” She said under her breath as she pressed a finger into the cut in her hand and began to hastily paint another sigil on the glass.
“Everybody get under something. It will go for the Crab first. As soon as it does, run. Do not stop.”
“What are you gonna do?” Dom asked.
“I’m opening another door… you’re not going to like what’s about to come through,” She replied and grabbed something off of the counter, hesitated for a moment, and dusted it carelessly on the blood she’d marked the window with. Then, as if she’d just thrown a live grenade she dove under her desk.
​
Milo scrambled behind a chair, while I pulled Dom behind one of the counters. The Crab Thing peeled the roof up, leaving us completely exposed and for a moment, I wondered if Dr. Di Cesare’s plan had failed.
​
Then I heard the sound of shattering glass. I looked to see that something had just launched itself through the window. It landed gracelessly on the ground, before stumbling around on coltish legs. It almost resembled a person, or maybe even one of the smaller Nightwalkers. But there was something very different about it. Its skin was an unusual shade of pinkish green, strange luminous flowers like the ones in the photographs Dr. Di Cesare kept in her lab, and moss seemed to bloom from its skin, and I swore that I could see pale yellow eyes in the center of those flowers. Its body seemed to ripple and change. Its hands twisted into gripping claws as it let out a raspy hiss.
​
Every single eye on it focused on the crab, which paused for a moment before reaching for the new creature. The claw closed around it, and the creature writhed and screamed, its flesh twisting and morphing into sharp tendrils that it slid between the gaps in the Crabs chitin, earning a fresh cry of pain from it. The new creature's head seemed to be split open, sort of like a flower blossoming, unleashing a shimmering payload of what looked like spores into the Crab’s face.
​
From his position behind the chair, I saw Milo’s eyes wide with terror as he watched this unfold. It was the kind of terror I’d never seen before. Something so deep in his soul that it must have took everything he had not to scream.
​
Dr. Di Cesare scrambled out from under her desk. She snatched the radio from Milo and without so much as a moment of hesitation ran for the door of the RV.
“Move!” She said, with an urgency that I knew better than to ignore. The three of us abandoned the RV and took off into the mist.
​
“Mr. Kallas, as soon as the trucks are through, kill the bonfire at the church! Cut off all access to the Calhoun Pocket!”
“What, why?” Kallas demanded.
“The situation has worsened, we need to enact full quarantine measures!” Dr. Di Cesare said, “Do it now!”
“What the hell did you just do?” Nina demanded, “Gretchen, where’s Milo?”
“We’re heading for the refugee area, on foot! Do not wait for us! I repeat, do not wait for us!”
​
I had no idea what the hell the Doctor had just done, but I didn’t think I’d ever hear fear like that in her voice. It was the first time she hadn’t sounded completely composed. The fire was growing closer, and seemed to have spread to most of the town. Buildings burned around us, as did tents. I could see the shadows of other Nightwalkers silhouetted against the inferno, bringing back memories of the last time Puriysk had burned. Up ahead, there was gunfire and I saw one of the refugee trucks skidding onto the road, and away toward the church.
​
Looking back, I could see shapes pursuing us in the mist. I couldn’t make out what they were, but the sigils on their foreheads told me enough. They were gaining on us, and I could only pray to whatever God was listening that they wouldn’t catch up.
​
Beside me, I saw the fire grow taller and almost fell over, trying to get away from it. The fire seemed to rise up into the sky before coming down on some of the Nightwalkers that pursued us. I looked over to see Dr. Di Cesare, a hand outstretched and a frantic look on her face. She moved her hands again, pulling more of the inferno onto the road to cover our tracks.
“Don’t stop!” She said, “Keep running!”
And I did exactly what she told me to do.
​
I could see another car up ahead, an SUV this time tearing onto the road, although, unlike the truck before it, it turned toward us and skidded to a stop just up ahead. Milo reached the SUV first, throwing open the passenger door and getting in. Dom and I were second, with Dr. Di Cesare being the last.
​
From the driver's seat, I could see Nina looking back at us, making sure that everyone was there before making a sharp U-turn and speeding toward the church, leaving Puriysk and the Nightwalkers behind.
​
“Are you genuinely insane?” Milo demanded, looking back at Dr. Di Cesare. “Do you have any idea how stupid that was!”
“It was the only spell I could think of that would yield immediate results,” She said. “Every time you open that door, something always comes through.”
“Yes, and there’s a very good reason you don’t open that door, Gretchen! You’re lucky we’re not all dead right now! For Gods sake, you may have just killed us all anyway!”
​
“What the fuck did she just do?” Nina asked, confused.
Her question went largely ignored.
“We were out of options!” Dr. Di Cesare replied, “We are up against an opponent who will resort to any means to dispose of us! Any means. It is therefore necessary that we do the same!”
“And that gives you carte blanche to unleash that? For Gods sake, we weren’t even equipped to deal with that! That wasn’t even part of the goddamn discussion until you pulled it in!”
“Can somebody just explain to me what the hell just happened?” Dom snapped.
​
Milo looked over at him, then back to Gretchen.
“There are countless other pocket realities in the vast expanse of the void,” She said. “Many serve as havens for various Gods and their followers… I simply opened a door to let one of them in.”
“I wouldn’t call that thing a God, I’d call it a plague!” Milo said.
“Hive mind,” Dr. Di Cesare corrected, “The Prince of Rosen Spring operates as a singular consciousness, it has more in common with fungi than a virus or pathogen.”
​
“I’m sorry, did you just summon The Fucking Rosen Prince?” Nina asked, and again she was ignored.
“Whatever it is, we have a standing order to burn any trace of that thing we come across,” Milo said. “Why the hell do you even know how to summon it?”
“I don’t work for you!” Dr. Di Cesare replied harshly, “I’m allowed to research whatever topic captures my interest!”
“Well do me a favor and warn me the next time you’re about to unleash a Class 5 Apocalyptic entity!”
“You wanted something that would get them off of us, I delivered! We were exposed and outnumbered, there were no other viable options!”
​
“Can we go back to the part where you called that thing an ‘Apocalyptic Entity?’” Dom asked. “What the hell did you just bring in?”
“It’s a sort of hive mind,” Dr. Di Cesare explained. “It infects other entities, absorbs them into its shared consciousness, and uses the bodies either as drones, or organic material to construct new bodies for itself.”
“Oh my fucking God…” Nina said under her breath, “And you just pulled that out of your ass? You didn’t try shooting your fucking magic gun?”
​
“We do not have the munitions to just mindlessly shoot everything that poses a threat! At minimum… the Rosen Prince should distract Calhoun and his Nightwalkers long enough for us to complete the evacuation!”
“Yeah, by absorbing this entire place!” Milo spat. “At this point, Calhoun’s already dead… let the Rosen Prince take care of him!”
​
“That’s not a gamble we should be willing to take,” Dr. Di Cesare said. “We are not dealing with a man who is trapped here. If this situation becomes untenable, I have zero doubt that he will simply abandon this place and begin again elsewhere, at which point it may become impossible to find him again. Even if we did, factoring in the recent sacrifices, it’s highly probable that he would be exceedingly harder to kill. If you want this man dead, then our window of opportunity is now and it is closing very rapidly!”
“Hey… this may be a stupid question but what happens if the Rosen Prince assimilates Calhoun or the Eldest?” Nina asked.
​
Both the Doctor and Milo fell silent. Milo’s head slowly turned to look at her.
“Yes, Gretchen. What happens then?” He asked.
Dr. Di Cesare was silent for a moment.
“All the more reason to kill Calhoun first,” She finally said.
​
Up ahead, I could see the ruins of the church, although the moment I saw them, it was already clear to me that something was wrong. The church was dark. There was no light from the bonfire inside and as we drove past the metal poles that marked the doorway, I noticed no change in the forest around us.
“Oh no…” Nina said under her breath, “Fuck, fuck, fuck fuck…”
She tried to steer the car through the other doorway, but nothing changed.
​
The doors were closed.
​
“Good, Mr. Kallas has ensured that nothing can escape."
“Yeah and that includes us, dumbass!” Nina snapped.
“That’s of no concern. I can open another, smaller door. We should shore up inside that church. We’ll get out the same way you did before,” Dr. Di Cesare said.
Nina swore under her breath before driving toward the ruins of the church.
​
She skidded to a stop, and Dr. Di Cesare was the first one out.
“We need to move quickly, get anything you can burn and get it now. Time is short,” She said.
Nina went around the back of the SUV and pulled the trunk open, taking out a can of spare gasoline before following Dr. Di Cesare inside the church.
“There’s one more in there,” She said to me and Dom. “Grab it!”
​
I figured that since I had the idlest hands, it might as well be me. I grabbed the gas can from the back of the SUV and took a parting look at Puriysk, which burned brightly behind us. The fire seemed to have consumed everything, and though the sky was dark, the glow from the inferno made it look like twilight. It was both the most beautiful and horrible thing I’d ever seen.
​
Even from where I stood, I could still hear the screams coming from Puriysk, only now they weren’t the screams of men being slaughtered by monsters… they were the screams of monsters slaughtering each other. I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on in that town… and realized that it might be better if I didn’t know.
​
I didn’t linger, I took the gas can into the church, following Nina. She was already beginning to dump the contents of the can on the charred ashes of the bonfire. Milo was right beside her, tossing some of the extra firewood that the others had collected to keep the fire alive onto it, to try and give it some new life.
​
“There’s headlights down the road, somebody’s coming!” Dom called from the doorway of the church.
“More refugees?” Milo asked.
“I don’t think so.”
​
Milo swore under his breath.
“Gretchen, can you finish up?”
“I need a minute,” She said. “We undid the old runes and ritual circle when we expanded it outside the church. I need to repair them.”
​
Milo growled in frustration before storming over toward the Church door. Nina tossed her empty gas can aside and went to follow, blowing past Dom and Milo and heading back out to the SUV. I watched her pull open the drivers side door and take something out. It took me a moment to recognize exactly what it was.
​
It was a rifle. She hastily checked the magazine before looking out at the oncoming headlights. I could make out three cars, most of them older and more worn than the ones Milo’s people drove although the one at the front was a clean, polished muscle car.
​
I’d seen that car before, and I knew that Dom had too.
It seemed that Sheriff McClellan was here to deal with us personally.
​
The cars slowed to a stop before us, and the four of us stood at the ready. I reached for the .22 I’d kept holstered, and felt a little guilty for the small sense of relief I felt that my gun might actually be useful for a change.
​
The doors of McClellan’s car opened, and I saw him stepping out of the driver's seat. I could see other men getting out of the cars behind him.
“Hell of a mess you’ve caused us…” McClellan said. His black boots sank into the mud beneath him. His wispy white hair seemed to flutter in the wind. I could see a chrome revolver sitting on his hip. “And yet you just refuse to die.”
​
“You must be the Sheriff,” Milo said coldly.
“And you must be the dumb motherfucker who thought he’d mess around with Governor Calhoun… how’s that working out for you.”
“Well despite everything, I’d say we’ve probably taken fewer losses than you have,” Milo replied. McClellan actually cracked a half smile at that.
​
“You’re a cocky little shit, I’ll give you that.” He said. “Not sure what the hell you assholes did back there… but I’ve never seen Nightwalkers claw each other to pieces like that before… either way, the fight’s over. And from where I’m standing it looks like you’re running outta here with your tail between your legs.”
​
“And from where I’m standing, you look like a dead man walking,” Milo replied. “If you’re smart, you’ve come here to leave with us. I don’t know if you realize what’s just been unleashed here, but mark my words in a few days time this place will be nothing but a graveyard.”
“Oh, I can promise that whatever you think you did, isn’t gonna change a damn thing,” McClellan said. “You can run if you’d like. I’ll even let you do it. Either way, once he’s got the rest of the souls he needs the Governor will hunt you down like the rats you are and-”
​
A volley of gunshots came from beside us as Nina started shooting. I saw a couple of the Sheriff’s Boys behind McClellan go down, while others dove for cover. McClellan himself moved behind his car with surprising speed, only narrowly avoiding Nina’s trigger happy rampage.
​
“These people talk too fucking much…” She said under her breath as we hid behind the stone walls of the church.
“Open fire boys, let’s clean this up!” I heard McClellan bark from behind his car.
​
I saw a couple of the Sheriff’s Boys try to peek out from behind one of their cars, and took aim at them, firing blindly. One window of the car shattered, and one of the Boys had time to pull his head back. The other wasn’t so lucky. His head jerked back and he hit the ground dead.
​
I felt my heart skip a beat, as I realized that I’d been the one who killed him… although there was hardly time to process what I’d just done. The gunfire around me saw to that.
“Reserve units, move in on the Church! We need some backup!” McClellan said, presumably speaking into a radio and not talking to himself. I saw the door of his car open as he tried to crawl back inside. Milo seemed to see it too and fired at the driver's side of the windshield. He only got off a couple of shots before McClellan’s retort blew a fresh hole through the glass.
​
I heard Milo cry out in pain and hit the ground, clutching at his shoulder. Nina’s eyes widened as she watched him fall, and I ran to his side to check on him. He pressed a hand against the wound, gritting his teeth and trying not to scream.
“I-I’m alright…” He lied, but I knew that he was out of the fight.
​
“Motherfucker…” Nina spat, before directing her fire at McClellan’s car, putting bullet after bullet through his windshield. I could hear a pained scream from inside and heard the engine turn over. McClellan’s car was launched backward, going in full reverse and slamming into one of the other Sheriff’s Boys cars. It knocked the car back against the boys hiding behind it, forcing them out of cover. A move that Dom was quick to punish. His gun spoke three times, and I saw two men fall, one dead and the other wounded.
​
McClellan hit the gas again, still in reverse and desperately trying to flee. He only succeeded in pushing the car he’d just hit over the wounded man.
​
I could see more headlights in the distance, driving through the flaming ruins of Puriysk toward us, although against the fires I could see the shadow of what used to be the Crab Thing coming to intercept them. I watched as it impaled one car on one of its sharp legs and caught another in its pincers, dutifully tearing at it to get to the meat inside. Tendrils like vines seemed to hang off of its body now, and I watched them slither inside the broken car. I consider myself lucky that I didn’t have to witness what they did to the people inside.
​
With most of McClellan’s group dead, Nina stepped out into the open, firing again at his car. I saw the driver's side door open and watched as McClellan tumbled out, his body bloody and broken.
“Motherfucker…” Nina spat, advancing on him with a bitter, determined purpose. I saw one of the last of the Sheriff’s Boys coming out of cover. Nina raised her rifle at him, but Dom shot first.
​
It was just Nina and the Sheriff now. She regarded the corpse of the last of the Sheriff’s Boys out of the corner of her eye, before making a beeline for McClellan. I watched as he tried to stand, only for his legs to give out from under him.
“Wait…” McClellan rasped, “Wait…”
​
Before he could say another word she’d taken aim at him and pulled the trigger, putting four more bullets into his chest.
“Shut up,” She said coldly, before turning away and going back to the church. McClellan lay on the ground, not quite dead but past the point of surviving. He twitched and wheezed out his final breaths before finally going still.
​
The moment Nina was through that door, she was at Milo’s side again.
“How bad is it?” She asked.
“I’ll live…” He rasped, “It’s… just a flesh wound. Help me up.”
Nina helped him stand, before looking over toward the center of the church.
“Gretchen, how’s that door looking?” She asked.
“Runes are in place… ritual circle is set, I’m almost ready!” She called back.
“Let’s go,” Nina said, dragging Milo over to the columns.
​
Gretchen set the bonfire alight and as we passed through the columns, I could see that the doors were open again. Faded figures of soldiers and refugees stood by anxiously. I could even see Kallas among them, pacing about with a worried look on his face. The moment he saw that the fire had started again, he looked up, seeming both relieved and even more anxious at the same time.
“I was never much good out in the field…” Milo grunted, “Should’ve stayed on the other side.”
“Don’t talk,” Nina said. “You’re still alive, right? That counts for something.”
​
He chuckled.
“Suppose it does,” He said.
Dom and I watched as Nina guided him toward the bonfire, then out through the right set of columns, into the version of the church where we could actually see the night sky overhead. As Nina brought Milo through, Kallas was right there to meet her.
“Take him,” She said. “He’s hurt but he’ll live so long as you patch him up right away.”
“Understood,” Kallas said, “Come on, let’s get you through and put that fire out.”
​
Nina just shook her head.
“No, we’ve still got work to do in here. I’ll hang back with Gretchen until we’ve confirmed that Calhoun’s dead.”
“No can do, Dr. Di Cesare ordered full quarantine measures. We need everyone out!"
“Not until we confirm the kill,” Dr. Di Cesare said. “I require someone with more experience in these things than I have. Take Mr. Durand and get him taken care of. We’ll connect with you later.”
Kallas grimaced and looked over at Milo.
​
“Do what she says,” He rasped, and I saw a quiet resignation cross over Kallas’ face.
“What about you two?” He asked, looking at me and Dom, “If we close this door, you’re not getting out until Valentine and the Doctor do.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “We still have unfinished business.”
Kallas just shook his head and turned to leave, letting Milo lean on him for support as he did. Milo looked back at us, or more specifically he looked back at Nina.
“Valentine…” He said, “Make me proud.”
She gave him a single nod, before letting him go.
​
Once she was past the columns, Dr. Di Cesare gave a single wave of her hand and the bonfire flickered and died.
​
The Church went dark. And we were alone again.
​
“Doctor, how much can you do to keep those things in Puriysk out of here?” Nina asked.
“Given ten or twenty minutes to modify some of the extant runes, quite a bit,” She replied. “It won’t be foolproof, but-”
“Just do it. Let’s dig in here, wait for the fires to die down, and see if we can’t scavenge anything from the ruins in the morning. The more we can get, the better cuz as soon as we’re set, we’re going to Parsons.”

Wanted List:
B/E/25 Railway
V/FF90 Pepper Shaker
Q/FF90 Pepper Shaker
B/DWA/90 Pepper Shaker
B/E/90 Gatling Gun
B/50c/25 Gauss Rifle
Uny/AP/Sent Scout Armor set
OE/AP or 1S/Cav Marine set/pieces
Red asylum dress
Forest Camo Jumpsuit
Leather jacket (not travelling)
I have:
Apparel:
BOS Jumpsuit
Fasnacht Brahmin Mask
Fasnacht Buffoon Mask
Prototype Hazmat Suit (Lvl 50 ver)
White Powder Jumpsuit
Weapons:
Jug/50c/15c Fixer
B/50c/15c Fixer
F/50c/25 Fixer
T/E/25 Fixer
Mut/E/15c Fixer
V/VHC/15c Fixer
Aa/50c/25 Railway
Ari/VHC/15c Railway
Q/E/FMSWA Railway
T/FF15c Railway
TS/50c/25 Railway
Gou/E/15c Handmade
F/E/25 Handmade
TS/50c/15c Handmade
Aa/E/DRWA Handmade
B/E/- Handmade
B/FF15c Handmade
Mut/FF25 Handmade
Mut/50c/25 Handmade
TS/E/25 Submachine Gun
TS/FF15c Combat Rifle
Jug/FF15c Combat Rifle
Aa/50c/15c Radium Rifle
Q/FF15c Radium Rifle
Sta/50c/15c Radium Rifle
Q/50c/15c Plasma Rifle (Non Enclave)
Ari/FF15c Ultracite Laser Pistol
Ari/E/15c Assault Rifle
V/FF90 .50 Cal
Aa/DWA/- Gatling Plasma
MS/DWA/90 Gatling Plasma
Q/E/- Minigun
Jug/Bash/15c Minigun
MS/Bash/90 Minigun
TS/E/25 10mm Pistol
Mut/E/25 10mm Pistol
Melee:
V/40/1E Chainsaw
B/FSS/1S Fire Axe
F/FSS/1S Guitar Sword
-/FSS/1E Slegehammer
70k Ult 5mm rounds
Armor Pieces:
Ass/AP/Cav Heavy Combat Chest
Ass/7LED/Sent Heavy Combat Chest
AS/AP/HTD Heavy Leather Right Arm
AS/AP/Cav Robot Left Leg
Bol/AP/JWR Heavy Raider Right Leg
Bol/1S/Cav Leather Left Leg
Bol/1S/Cav Sturdy Combat Left Leg
Cham/AP/HTD Robot Left Arm
Cham/AP/HTD Sturdy Robot Right Leg
LS/7LED/Cav Sturdy Combat Chest
MS/AP/Sent Raider PA Left Arm
Uny/1Int/- Heavy Metal Right Leg
Uny/1S/Sent Marine Left Leg
Uny/1S/Sent Metal Right Leg
Van/AP/Cav Sturdy Combat Chest
Van/AP/WWR T-51b Left Arm
Van/AP/HTD Trapper Left Leg
Van/AP/Cav Marine Right Leg
Van/1S/Cav Wood Right Arm
Z/AP/WWR Leather Right Leg

Hello everyone,
What was supposed to be a super nice introduction to PCVR is starting to transform into hell
My laptop brand new laptop : Gigabyte G5
RTX 4070
I5 12500H
​
Playing wired with official cable link and Oculus Quest 2.
I received it 3 days ago , And after 3 days of tweaking i still can't play PCVR . I :
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Disabled graphical chipset and made sure games were running with the correct GPU
uninstalled/reinstalled all nvidia drivers
forced High Performance Profile usage
​
It still wasnt working. Playing no man sky ultra settings Flat version give me super high FPS , everything run fine and GPU is around 100% Usage. Same game , ultra low settings DLSS high performance enabled , 5 fps and GPU around 20-30% use
Then i tried Half life Alyx. Same. GPU use is stuck around 30% and game runs 5 fps on lowest settings.
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Then Blade & Sorcery. This one is the only game i can run at stable 72 fps , but by playing on Ultra Low , 0.5 resolution , and GPU is still used at 30% max .
​
So i'm sure it's not from the quest , nor from the cable
​
I called seller , that told me if flat games were fine the computer was fine and strongly advised not to return it. And that i should better check with meta support before anything. I did , and they tell me they can't tell me anything since i'm playing trough steamVR. But that factory reseting my PC should fix the issues that could have been caused by a driver that wasn't properly installed.
I did
​
And after reinstalling everything...i still have same problem
I am actualy downloading an Oculus game , on the oculus rift platform to see if problems are the same , but considering what happened in the past i strongly think it will happen again.
​
Every forum post i come across that seems to be related to a similar issue is unanswered oand are few years old. I would be realy glad if someone could help me identifying the problem that turned my love for VR into an horrific experience
Thanks in advance

First, I love all the brainstorming on Vita Carnis; many people have been talking about this fantastic analog horror. Since people have started to watch this, I want to discuss my take on Vita Carnis, especially the "Flavour Enhancer". As my fellow theorizers have started to realize there is more to that powder than meets the eye. From what I saw the first person to mention, or at least after the latest GT Live, that the Enchancer was spores was u/Adamgaffney. Now I would like to disagree that I don't think they come directly from the creature known as the Host.
I think the spore comes from another Vita Carnis creature/different type of spore, as the long-term effects seem different as mentioned in an unlisted video, found in a link under the video titled "Vita Carnis - Flavour Enhancer Commercial". The Host spores cause the inflicted person to want to travel toward the Host, but as it stands don't look like there are any long-term effects. The unlisted video though shows two major things. First shows an ant that has been infected with the cordyceps fungi and how it slowly changes the body of the said ant. The second set of images shows a human brain as something has infected it.
Obviously, it isn't a coincidence, so my theory is that the Flavour Enhancers are spores designed to infect humans to achieve one goal. To become hosts, not necessarily turn into the Host, but maybe, and to spread more spores to infect more people just like the cordyceps fungi do to ants. This is supported by the fact in the video "Vita Carnis - Cook At Home Kitchen - Cheese Crawl Penne Cook-along" mentioned letting the food cool down to about 60 Celsius/140 Fahrenheit which would be a higher temperature than any recorded fungi, but just below the recorded temperature an endospore can survive in. Also, the unlisted video shows microscope pictures of spores that I believe are representing the Flavour Enhancer and they closely match cordyceps fungi spores. (I will provide a picture so you can compare.)
Also as a side-note, mentioned by u/RendezousTyler, in their first theory said there could possibly be cult activity and I don't think they are far off. There is some secret society/cult mentioned in the unlisted video that is either with/fighting against the Vita Carnis. This organization is known as C.A.R.C.A.S, Containment And Research Cocult Associate Society, and they seem to have conflicts with national government agencies.
I will provide links to the websites I used to research this topic, the video link, and the picture of the spores. I'm more than glad to hear some feedback and happy theorizing everyone!
Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uvzVMteqgc&t=127s
Unlisted Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6rBcBTvEcw&t=0s
Endospores Research Paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556071/#:~:text=Endospores%20can%20resist%20inactivation%20from,Gram%2Dpositive%20species%20heat%20resistant.
Cordyceps Fungi Research Paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211383511000669
Picture of Spores:
https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S2211383511000669-gr1.jpg

I bought this set after a female friend of mind suggested trying skims. They are more size inclusive and seem to have some nice products. The link is https://skims.com/products/fits-everybody-thong-pack-juniper-multi . First impressions were that the fabric is very soft. Second is that man these things look small. I had to ask my friend are they always this small, and confirmed they were. But they are super stretchy and even state they stretch to 2 times their size. That being said they fit nicely and are nice and soft, but if you are looking for lots of support these are not them. They are super comfortable for all day wear, and I loved the material, basically felt like I was wearing nothing. If you are well endowed and a shower, you may not be happy with these as they will sit a little lower than some other brands but growers should be fine, maybe order one and see how you like it. Few things to be aware of with Skims the brand over all, their types and fabrics are different so be aware of what you are buying, they have a dipped thong that sits even lower, and then they have a naked brand that hands no bands anywhere(like a leg band, something I like to help give more of a cup to hold everything in) its just like cut fabric.

Specs: I5 9600k Gtx 980ti 16gb ram Monitor 1080p 144hz
Run most areas 80 fps and swamp dips to 50-60 which is fine. Last night my gpu was running 30% ish and I was getting 20-30 fps in a swamp with no enemies around? My card usually sits 70-90%
Is there any settings or programs I can change? Or is my 980ti just getting old…
I play on medium settings. Also have some qol mods loaded but they’re pretty low key ones like angled combat fix etc
Hoping to find a fix before buying a new card lol

I usually put makeup on 7am and at 3pm I already feel my foundation has almost disappeared. I know it is probably because I have oily skin. I moisturize my skin, I use the elf Power Grip Primer- and my foundation is elf Flawless Finish and powder Elf Halo Glow Setting. I use a lot of elf because it is not expensive and I am always afraid of spending on some product that will not suit me. Do you have any tips or products recommendations? Thank you

Life is beautiful when you open up your eyes. We shine with the beauty of the stars in the sky. Transcend negativity with the power of your mind. Using inside what comes from the divine. If the sun rises in the East and sets in the West I'll chase it all day so the hours cant rest. The vibrations from my heart will echo from my chest letting the sun know I'm heading West. Please don't fall from the sky and into the sea. I can't stand to see the sky and water bleed. I need your fiery energy endlessly. I watch the sunset restlessly comfort suddenly comes over me. There appears to be little diamonds in the sky shining beautifully. Life is beautiful when you open up your eyes. We shine with the beauty of the stars in the sky.