I was perusing my facebook when i saw this about an hour old (as of this Posting)  You guys from the Sutter last night might enjoy this.
http://boards.cityofheroe.../showthread.php?t=270888
*********************
In the epic rage of furious thunder
legends create their tales
when the twilight calls and the dark lord falls
our glory will prevail

When the time gets right I'm gonna pick you up

And take you far way from trouble my love

Under a big ol' sky out in a field of green

There's gotta be something left for us to believe

Oh, I await the day

Good fortune comes our way

And we ride down the kings highway

No you can't hide out in a six gun town

We wanna hold our heads up, though we gotta stay down

I don't wanna end up in a room all alone

Don't wanna end up someone that I don't even know

Lover, I await the day

Good fortune comes our way

And we ride down the kings highway

Yeah, I await the day

Good fortune comes our way

And we ride down the kings highway

Yeah, I await the day

Good fortune comes our way

And we ride down the kings highway-ay-ay

If not for the fact that Bob's already said he's had the end of the Walk planned for years, I'd suggest this be the segue between it and Vacation - this is the Gatesong that "gets him home" but it turns out to be a double gate, that only sidetrips through Warrior's World on its way to ... somewhere with sixguns, maybe even Gunsmoke to combine it with one of my favorite other ideas... but Maggie is RIGHT THERE as the two portals open, and quick thinking enough to hop on the bike as it proceeds out of one and into the other. Of course, "a field of green" mitigates against Gunsmoke unless it's that one oasis from late in the series... "far away from trouble my love" can safely be disregarded, as if Doug's going to come trouble is never far away

As matters stand, it still seems like a good gatesong specifically for having her travel with him at some point.

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

It is however, a sad commentary on just how far things have fallen that one feels this ruling IS cause for celebration:

http://gizmodo.com/5835723/federal-cour ... d-the-cops
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

It would have been his birthday today.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

We all know, most countries on Earth are neutral or don't like the Fen at all... and doing something against it is difficult for the Fen.

But today morning while talking with BlackAeronaut I had an idea. Maybe the Fen could exploit the force of the free market for themselves.

Fenspace has access to a huge amount of resources, but most of them are difficult to sell except in huge quantities. But whats about starting to look explicitly for rare-earths in asteroids to mind and sell them at market price.

Rare-earths are very important for the hightech industry, and China is the only good source in 2014... nobody will be forced to buy anything from the Fen, but some countries will do it otherwise. Because they might not like Fenspace, but at least they are not a rival as much as China.

So Fenspace would get some resources... and some countries who will find it more difficult to "condemn" the Fen... and other 1st world countries might follow just because their hightech industry is too important to not to take the opportunity just because "DO NOT LIKE FEN".

Will be of course a slow strategy, but it might be a way to apply some pressure on Earth without doing something directly hostile like breaking into radios or start large pirate TV stations...

What do you think?

Like the Kerbal Space Program, but don't like the cartoonish elements? Maybe Orbiter is for you...

(I mentioned the program over on Fenspace because it has Thunderbirds and Star Trek ship add-ons, amongst others.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

3 December 2014
Stellvia

Noah Scott's voice came over the Stellvia Ops loudspeaker. "Jake. My office. Now."

Jake Hansen, Chief of Operations for station Stellvia, started for the door to the president's office. He was stopped by the station's Chief of Aerospace Traffic Control. "Is everything okay, Jake?"

"Why would anything not be okay, Miyuri?"

"I've been working here for over a year, and that's the first time I've ever heard President Scott use anyone's name during business hours. He always calls you 'duty officer'."

Jake frowned. "Yeah. Even when The Girls showed up, Noah called me that, not 'Jake'. Keep your fingers crossed?"

She smiled at him. "Of course."

"Thanks." Jake turned back to the office door, which was already open. "Oh, dear."

"Whenever you're ready, Mister Hansen," Noah's slightly-impatient voice came through the doorway.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, sir," Jake said as he stopped in front of Noah's desk.

"Sit down, please." The office door closed on its own.

There were only two full-sized chairs in Noah Scott's office. Noah was using one of them. Jake had never known anyone other than the former and current Vice-Presidents of Stellvia Corporation to use the other one... but he had just been invited to be seated. He discovered that it wasn't a very comfortable chair.

It must have shown on his face. "Yeah, it's not the best chair in the world, but Yoriko loved it. I'm going to have to take it with me."

Jake's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Where are you going, Noah? And why?"

"I'm just going to take over the storage level immediately below the Hotel Stellvia. A corporate state needs a much larger head office than a simple corporation does."

Jake nodded. "That makes sense, but it'll make running the station a bit harder."

"Why?"

"You won't be right here to respond to any emergencies."

"That's exactly why I'm moving my personal office, Jake. I don't have the time to respond to station emergencies any more."

"You're giving up running the station? But this is your baby."

Noah smiled. "This used to be my baby, and Sora and the other 'angels' used to be my little girls. But now Helen is both my baby and my little girl, and I have to be there for her at least some of the time. Jake, the important parts of my life Up here are Leda, Helen, my 'angels', and my company. My 'angels' have all grown up..." He paused for a brief moment, then sighed. "...except for Kohran and Yuu, and I've learned to stop meddling in their lives. That leaves my business and my family at the forefront of my life, and I refuse to neglect my family. Since I can't run both Stellvia and the expanded StellviaCorp if I'm going to have any time with my family, I have to give up something. And I can't step down from StellviaCorp so soon after declaring independence - it would ruin the company."

"So who's going to be in charge of the station? You hired some good people to run the Artemis and Nikaido Foundations, but I know you too well to think you'll hire an outsider to run Stellvia."

"Well, when we turned Ring Four into Odyssey, I put Patty in charge of it, and that turned out well for both Patty and StellviaCorp. I want to draw on the Ops staff again. Do you think Miyuri's ready to be put in charge of Stellvia?"

Jake winced. "With all due respect, I don't think Miyuri will be ready to take charge of anything larger than a telescope for the foreseeable future."

"Yet she's in charge of ATC right in the middle of the busiest cluster of stations in space."

"Point taken. I suppose you could give her the job, but there may be a few people who would get upset that she was promoted over their heads."

"Are you suggesting I promote people by seniority instead of by merit, Jake?"

Acutely aware that he was the most senior employee of StellviaCorp behind Kohran and Yayoi, Jake immediately replied, "No, sir. That would lead to ruin for the company as a whole."

"Good. I've been looking through the personnel files, and in my opinion there are only two people who are better qualified to run Stellvia than Miyuri is."

"Then you should offer the job to one of them first."

"You're right. Unfortunately, one of those two people is me."

"And you're leaving the job. Who is the other person?"

Noah smiled.

"No way."

"Jake Hansen, I am offering you the position of Commander of Station Stellvia. It is a hard job with long hours, and you won't make very many friends while you're working in this office. And you won't get a pay raise. Do you want the job?"

"Can I get back to you, sir?"

"Let me know by the end of the day." Noah pushed a button on his desk, and his office door opened. Jake took the hint.

7 December 2014
Stellvia

Jake Hansen's voice came over the Stellvia Ops loudspeaker. "Miyuri, would you come to my office, please?"
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

You know, sometimes you just get fed up with a story? I'm there now. And it's giving me that most cruel of conditions, Writer's Block. So screw it.

I hereby present:

The Undying Fic

I've mentioned it a few times here and there, when frustration hits hard enough on an unrelated reply. Right now, I can't seem to either complete it (due to writer's block) or kill it (it's been hanging around on my HD for 3 years at this point). So I'm hoping one of these things will happen by posting this.

One reason I hadn't posted it earlier is the fact that I felt the fic had to be finished before I did so, because of the concept I ended up going for. I'll explain after the first segment below.

Notes:
- Radio communications

Since there is a station belonging to them already, I thought that I could write down a wiki entry for them... :p
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{{Infobox Country
|conventional_long_name      = United Stars Organisation
|national_motto              = ''Per Aspera ad Astra''
|capital                     = [[Stardust], [[L5]
|largest_settlement          = [[Stardust], [[L5]
|largest_settlement_type     = Space Station
|nicknames                   = USO
Rhodanites
|membership                  = [[Fenspace Convention]
|government_type             = democracy
|leader_title1               = Lord Admiral
|leader_name1                = Ronald Teckener
|established_event1          = GarchingCon 8
|established_date1           = 2009
|allies                      = [[United Federation of Planets], [[Crystal Millennium], [[Pulpers], [[Galactic Republic]
|population_estimate         = 950
|population_estimate_year    = 2015
|influence                   = Minor
|achievements                =  Since 2015 they brew some of the best beer in Fenspace
|stereotype                  = GERMANS! IN! SPACE!
}}
Officially founded at GarchingCon 8 by several smaller groups of Fen who had already moved into Space, but wanted to make sure that they were known to the Perry Rhodan fandom on Earth, the USO aimed to get themselves known.
Immediately after GarchingCon 8 they began to work on their home station [[Stardust] at [[L5].
When asked they will grumpily admit that they may technically be [[Pulpers] since Perry Rhodan was first published in 1961. But then they will note that it is continuously published every week since 1961, making it the longest running printed Science Fiction series in the world and that the series has grown into a large and very well populated universe few series can rival.
{{factions}}
[[Category:Factions]
[[Category:Minor Factions]

Chapter 336 is up.

That is all.

Spoiler

Page 17.  Just... page 17.