Since I have no sense of shame, here's a plug for my latest fic: Rule of Two!

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

The Republic is dead, and from the ashes the evil Galactic Empire has risen, with the malevolent Emperor Palpatine at its throne. Across the galaxy, Lord Darth Vader hunts down the last of the Jedi, aided by the ruthlessy efficient Stormtroopers of the 501st Legion and the Star Destroyers of the dreaded Death Squadron.

The Conclave on Kessel has failed, and the Jedi have been slain. However, Darth Vader senses something deep within the abandoned mines...

The idea came to me after looking at some examples of the "Evil person finds Dashie instead of the MLD protagonist". One of them was Darth "I find your lack of faith disturbing" Vader, and one of the comments said that Vader would actually be a pretty cool dad.

Things escalated from there.

Have a look if you wish, and don't forget to upvote. With some luck, we can get this on the featured box.

As for my FoaSE readers, I'm writing chapter four as I type. Stay tuned!

To my readers, I've got bad news, more bad news, and three pieces of good news.

The bad news is that Starman Ghost has deleted Not Alone from FIMfiction, due to personal reasons. It will be missed.

The other bad news is that as of this moment Conquer the Stars is on Hiatus untill I've written at least two more chapters of Friends of a Solar Empire.

The good news is that I've got something special for you guys planned. The other good news is that Friends of a Solar Empire will be coming out of hiatus shortly starting with a round of me suffering from George Lucas Syndrome editing, and I'll be working on that along with the aforementioned proyect. Stay tuned!

The other good news is that I've uploaded a PDF of Not Alone to mediafire. Here's the link.

First of all, Conquer the Stars has nearly reached 700 favorites. This is a lot, and I'd like to thank all of you.

(Fanart will be very much appreciated with electronic cookies.)

Second, I'm currently occupied, so updates will take a lot of time. I apologize.

Third, there are some major edits to be done. Formatting fixes, removal of Wall of Texts and other things. Friends of a Solar Empire will get the same treatment.

Fourth, I've finally done something that I've never done before: I played DnD.

Holy shit it's fun.

Well, it hasn't even been twenty four hours since I've posted Conquer the Stars on this site, and I've already got 260+ favorites, and the first spot on the featured list!

(At least, until some truly depraved thing comes along and knocks me off.)

I'd like to thank all of my readers! Without you, I wouldn't be an author.

I'd also like it if you took the liberty to take a look at the trope page. I'd do it, but I don't trust myself to be objective on certain things.

The Trader Emegency Coalition Marines had landed on the planet, first on a dropship launched from the Albertine, and then on Protev frigates. Any Vasari on the ground was immediately hunted down and killed.

There were reports of unarmed Vasari on the ground. They asked her what should be done. She simply repeated the order.

There could be no survivors. She wouldn't, couldn't allow these parasites to live.

No sooner had the last monstrosity died, that the evacuation efforts started in earnest. Protevs landed on the ground, a chain of atmospheric shuttles was established between the On to the Stars and the ground. Thousands of people working as hard as they could.

Rarity herself went down with them, mud and filth be damned.

It was for nothing.

Rarity remembered looking out from the lowered ramp of the shuttle. She remembered the endless rows upon rows of tiny houses. The filthy streets, littered with the occasional corpse that no one had bothered to move from where it had fallen.

She remembered the people. The once proud citizens of the planet reduced to quivering  shells. Who looked at their saviors with fear or even worse, not at all. She remembered those who had been utterly broken, who looked on with empty eyes and blank faces and wandered aimlessly, or kept on doing whatever task their tormentors had demanded.

But what she most remembered was the atmosphere. The stink of death, and despair. The utter silence. The hopelessness in every single one of those eyes.

She had known, even then, that this was something that would never leave her. She would never forget it.

She remembered only parts of what came later. Her people trying, trying so hard to get them to safety. She remembered pleading at the terrified people to come with them, that they had to hurry. That they didn't have time before they had to leave...

Why did they stand there? Why didn't they come? Why didn't they see that they had been saved?

She remembered someone -she couldn't recall more than that- stepping forward and into the waiting transports. And then another. And then more. A trickle of people became a torrent.

She remembered the mad dash to evacuate everyone. Every ship they could spare was packed. Cargo ships, cruise liners, corvettes and cruisers, ships of any and all sizes.

They worked themselves to the bone, but it wasn't enough.

They came back.

Far above them, the fleet fought desperately to give the evacuation more time. They worked themselves and their ships to their limits and past them.

The marines on the ground decided to stay behind, so that their transports could be filled with more evacuees.

Nothing Rarity could do would change their mind. The whole bridge saluted them before communications were cut.

Their heroism, also, wasn't enough. The Vasari kept coming.

Down below, someone of authority had been found and had been given a radio. Rarity told him what had happened, that They had to leave now and save what they could, or they'd be destroyed and would have rescued no one. She asked him if there was anything, anything she could do.

The man told her.

There was no time to ask her superior officers. She told her crew and her battlegroup what had been asked of her. She told them that, should any investigation take place, she would take all the blame. No one objected, only Fluttershy said anything, her voice tiny and pained.

"Do it."

After the last ship took off from the ground, the Colonel and she took a pair of cyberkeys from the sleeves of their uniforms, inserted them into slots on opposite sides of the holotable, and turned them in unison.

At the bow, the ion cannon was switched for a magnetic launcher.

There was little ceremony. She had the computer select the target, set it to airburst, and gently pressed the button to enact the final request of the people of Kerferak.

There was a shudder as the three fifty gigaton-yield thermonuclear missiles were thrown out the main gun. Rarity was motionless, her eyes glued to the image of the ground below them.

There was a blinding flash of light. Then another, and another. The autoloader reloaded, and Rarity allowed a second wave of missiles to be set loose. When the last fireball had faded, she asked that the surface be scanned.

There was nothing. They had requested that they be allowed to die free, rather than suffer at the hands of the Vasari once more, and she had honored that.

She ordered that her battlegroup retreat with the others. When they entered phase space, she excused herself and left the bridge, and walked towards her quarters. She got in, and locked the door behind her.

Only then did she allow herself to start crying.

I may have completely missed all the previous landmarks but I'm not missing this one!

Today, Friends of a Solar Empire got its 250th follower. I honestly did not think this particular bit of insanity would be this popular (considering we haven't even gotten to the space combat bits yet). I'd like to thank all you readers, and the glorious madmen and madwomen of the Spacebattles thread.

I'm currently busy with other things, but I'll be getting back to this as soon as I can!

Dalek Ix

The following is an audio recording made during a Trade Order Marine training session, in the TOM Training facility in Karak.

Initializing audio file...

A loud, rough male voice is heard.

"Allright you swarm of bleeding snagworms(1)! Today's lesson in uplifting you from the pile of shit from which you came involves the one piece of equipment that'll be saving your sorry ass more times than anyone in their right minds would think neccesary: The Mark two Integrated Combat Suit!"

"Recuit Blue Rose! What is the purpose of the Mark two ICS!?"

Another voice is heard. Female, young and very nervous.

"Sir! To protect us from enemy fire, Sir!"

"And what other functions does the Mark two ICS posses, recuit Blue Rose!?"

There is a pause.

"Recuit Blue Rose! I asked you a fracking question!"

"Sir! I don't know, Sir!"

"Damn right you don't! That's why I'm instructing you and not the other way around, you little thief(2)! Now give Recuit Valdaya her wallet back!"

There is silence, only broken by faint swearing. It ceases immediately.

"To continue our lesson, the ICS is made up of three layers, each designed to be used in conjunction with the other two! The first layer is a full-body enviromental suit, which I'm sure you ladies will come to appreciate, as you will be sent abso-fracking-lutely everywhere, by it a goddamn paradise, or the deepest, most poisonous, radioactive shithole in the galaxy!

"The next layer is the armor component itself. It is composed of plates of multi-layer ceramic armor interweaved with a special home-made mix of the toughest shit we could afford! Note that the armor weighs one hundred and twenty eight kilograms, which is why it comes with a built-in exoskeleton with servomotor assistance!

"Do not attempt to use the armor without the servomotor assist on! You will hurt youselves, and if I hear that any of you maggots got landed in a hospital by your own damn armor, I will drop a Kodiak on your ass! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?"

The entire class responds at once.

"SIR! YES, SIR!"

"Good. The servomotor assist is operated by sensors on the first layer, which connects to the computer on the back of the armor! Miss pony here will need a weapons arm integrated into the armor, unless she plans on not shooting anything!

"The suit runs on three L-sized power cells, which are good for three months of operation!

"The third and final layer is a full-body suit of high-strength Xzylar ballistic armor, designed to soak up shrapnel, provide camuflage, lower thermal signature and keep all the shit you'll end up rolling in from fracking up the servos!

"The last piece of the ICS is the helmet! It is made of the same stuff as the armor, and interfaces with both the first and second layer through the neck ring! As you can see, it fully encloses the head, is completely hermetic, and the connection between it and the armor layer prevents something from twisting your head off! The helmet will provide you with broadcast comunications, PPS (3), general health readout, IFF, and ammunition count!

"That will be all! Now you'll be heading outside, where I have some nice, relaxing obstacle courses for you frackers to do!"

There are barely contained groans of mild despair, along with one cry of "My wallet! Fracking horse has my wallet"

Audiofile ends.

(1): Snagworms, a particularly loathsome pest native to Karak, it is a worm about a foot long, and very thick. They give a pungent smell when dead.

(2): Recuit Blue Rose's cutie mark is a hoof picking a pocket. Combined with her almost compulsive need to steal everything not nailed down and/or on fire, this has earned her some notoirety.

(3): Planetary Positioning System.

Here's a rather rough timeline of major historical events in the FoaSE universe that are actually known. Please note that anything pertaining to before the invention of the Phase Drive is sketchy knowledge at best.

200 BPD: The First Calamity. 70% of the world's major economies are destroyed.

0 APD: Creation of the phase drive.

1-506 APD: The Era of Expansion.

507-2250 APD: The Endless War.

2250-2370 APD: Federation War.

2372-2499 APD: Pax sapiens, the height of the Federation of the Stars' power.

2500 APD: Project Paradise is commenced.

2510 APD: The first New Man is born.

2517 APD: The Genophage is released. Mutant variants still persist in certain worlds close to Earth.

2531 APD: The human race within Federation territory now comprises below 9% of the total population. The Grand Senate of the Federation sends the ultimatum. The Alliance of Rouge States refuses. War is declared.

2531-2647 APD: The Final War.

2597-2647 APD: The Battle for the Solar System. Mars is left without an atmosphere. Titan is destroyed. The moon looses 26% of it's mass. Earth is dead, the Federation is destroyed.

2650 APD: The Trade Order is founded. The Solar System is declared "Off Limits".

2651 APD: Last remnants of Federation resistance are destroyed.

2669 APD: Harvaz incident. The Exile of the Unity.

2670 APD: The War of the Heavens. Nightmare Moon is exiled.

2671 APD: The Mare of the Moon disappears one night. Dream Seer prophesizes her return. All else think she's dead.

2674 APD: First Contact Day.

.

.

.

.

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05/08/3658 APD: The "Horizon incident". Largest breach of Trade Order law is detected, over two thousand individuals are involved.

21/06/3660 APD: First evidence of Vasari incursion.

15/12/3660 APD: Battle of the Alera Asteroid Belt, first major Trader victory.

01/01/3661 APD: The Trade Order Council suspends its sessions and forms the Trader Emergency Coalition to combat the Vasari threat.

08/09/3666 APD: The first Mark I Kol-class battleship is launched, the TDN Verek Kol.

18/04/3670 APD: The Siege Line is established: a defensive line made up of heavily fortified systems around 300 light years deep.

19/06/3670 APD: Present Day.

I forgot to do this on the actual date, but here goes:

Last sunday was an important date for mexican students. It is the aniversary of the Corpus Christi Massacre, El Halconazo. That day, a black-ops group known as Los Halcones (The Hawks), trained in the United States by the CIA, opened fire on a group of students protesting against the actions the governemt had taken against the University of Nuevo León. Police on site did not intervene at all, and Los Halcones took over the nearby hospital, killing any injured student who arrived there, often in the operating room.

Around 120 people died, the youngest being 14 years old. The government denies this happened to this day, and those responsible were never tried.

The political party whose members ordered this massacre and many others still exists, and would love to return the country to this state in a heartbeat.

Now for more news!

As you know, there's a bunch of errors that needs to be corrected in the three chapters I've got for FoaSE. Here's a list of what I've managed to detect:

1.- Add description of the On to the Stars' bridge in Chapter One.

2.- Add description and name of the restaurant Rarity's in in Chapter Two.

3.- Fix some things that Twilight's said.

If you people see any continuity errors, please let me know!

Also (MOAR NEWS), FoaSE has a Trope Page. So go there and waste your time some more.

And that's it for tonight.

...It's fraking huge, man.

Seriously, one of the things that is very, very difficult to portray when writing anything involving Space is the truly ridiculous distances involved in anything. Let me give you a rundown of things:

This is the moon, it is the closest celestial body we have. it is, on average 384,400 kilometers away. This is a distance equivalent to nine times the circumference of the Earth, more or less. To give you an idea of how fraking huge this distance is, it would take you eight or nine years to walk this far, and only if you were some magical automaton that didn't require eating or sleeping. On a car doing 100 Km/h, this would take 160 days (and a bit).

And keep in mind that we're talking about the fraking moon, which on cosmological terms is roughly equivalent to shuffling about in your seat slightly.

Next on our list of absurd distances is this:

This is the sun, our closest star. It is 1.392.000 kilometers wide, or three times the distance between the Earth and Moon. If the Sun were the size of a soccer ball (22 cm in diameter), then the Earth would be about two milimeters wide.

It is about 149,600,000 kilometers away. If it were the size of a soccer ball, then the Earth would be 23.57 meters away. If you were on an SR-71 Blackbird traveling at it's fastest official speed (3,529.6 Km/h), it would take you 15 years to get there. It takes light, the fastest thing known to man, eight minutes to get here from the Sun. We refer to this distance as an Astronomical Unit, or AU, since kilometers are too damned small for anything inside the solar system.

Finally, we have this thing:

That thing, that fraking thing, is Eris. It is the largest dwarf planet discovered, and currently holds the title of the farthest planetary body in our solar system. How far away is it?

At its closest? 37.77 AU, or 5,650,000,000 km. Holy fraking horseapples. If you so desired to make the journey on the previously mentioned SR-71 Blackbird, it would take you 566 FRAKING YEARS. If you wanted to get there today, you'd have to have left during the Battle of Varna.

And I'm not even going outside the solar system, which on cosmological terms is roughly equivalent to one's house. No wonder SoaSE ships go into FTL for in-system travel.