Dear Mother,

Five years...since I heard your voice, saw your face...I like to think you're proud of me...of how I grew up. Tomorrow is the day. The day I begin my
Pilgrimage in order to finally become an adult. Father is quietly confident in my success, but at the same time....everyone knows whose daughter I am. The
concept of coming back with what might even be a "passable" gift for anyone else is probably far from anyone's mind. Everyone has expectations,
even Father....but I can hardly say anything about it to anyone. You were the only one I could talk to and be sure that if it didn't need to be known by
anyone else, it wouldn't be. And so here I am. Writing you letters, even now.

I am not afraid of what's coming. I know it is necessary. But I am...worried. Something in the air....the way you told me you and Grandmother could often
"hear" something in the old air recyclers before momentous events happened... I do not know if I have your old intuition, but it feels as if I am not
the only one holding my breath. It's as if the entire Flotilla is as well, and perhaps beyond. Something is about to happen.

Watch over me, Mother. As I undergo this rite as you have all this time. And...I miss you.

Your daughter,

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya

***

Dear Mother,

So many things have happened since I last wrote you. You always said my curiousity got me out of trouble as often as it got me into it, and you were right
again, it seems. The Geth memory core almost got me killed, but it also gave me the chance to fly aboard this ship....it's incredible, Mother. Like some
sort of dream. The Normandy is like nothing the Flotilla has ever seen....the ideas that went into it...the
combinations of turian and human technology....even stranger and more incredible are the crew. Most of them are human, but the Commander's squad is
different. Turian, krogan, human, asari...even me.

I know that you always said my place was in an engine room where my talents were best used, but I also know that you made sure I could take care of myself, and
I've gone on several missions with Commander Sheppard now...I have to. Remember when I said it felt like everything was holding its breath? This
must've been why. We're after a rogue Spectre. One I helped convict of treason. And one who's somehow learned to control the geth. I know what
you'd probably say. That the geth are best left behind us. And I agree....that's why I have not sent word of this back to Father yet. Even if he
believes as I do, the other Admirals could possibly override him. So, for now, I will keep it quiet.

Truthfully, I have heard little to nothing from the Flotilla. This is normal, I guess, given our situation, but it seems strange at the same time. At the same
time, I feel foolish for starting to feel homesick, but I can't deny I miss some things....nevertheless, I will carry on. Watch over me...and the rest of
the crew as well, if you can, Mother. Not just for my sake, but for the people we're fighting to protect.

Your daughter,

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya

***

Dear Mother,

I'm writing you at this late hour because this ship is too quiet. The silence was relaxing at first. Nothing to distract me when I slept....until it began
to sink in.

I have not mentioned it to anyone, because I know there's nothing they could do about it. There's nothing they should have to do about it. Really, that'd be rather silly. 'Oh, by the way Commander, could you have someone break the
air filtering system in my room so it's louder? I can't sleep because the silence reminds me of when the one in the Flotilla broke down and my mother
died of a virus that got through the nonfuctional scrubber.' Really. That would just be such a lovely way to
endear myself to the rest of the crew. The twitchy quarian who can't sleep when it's quiet.

I am sorry, Mother. I don't mean to be so cross. I haven't been sleeping well, and.....well, you know why. Perhaps...perhaps I could tell someone.
Maybe the Commander. She actually listens. I'll try next time we talk. Wish me luck, Mother.

Your daughter,

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya

***

Dear Mother,

I found it! I can't believe I found it!

The Commander was leading us on some missions to suppress geth incursions into human space when we came across something. The geth still held onto some data
from the homeworld, even after all this time. It's a copy of the pre-exodus epic Tal'Nar ni Shirinnah, by
Yen'Ceed. Technically, it's classified Alliance data since the Commander found it on one of her missions, but still....I asked her if I could have a
copy, and she agreed. I did not even have to barter or beg or anything! She gave it to me because it was important to me....to my Pilgrimage, I mean.

Between this and her helping me with my other problems....Shepard is different from other humans. Even the other Council races. She cares about her crew
and....and she sees me as part of that. You remember when Sirl left on her Pilgrimage. How I worried so when she failed to return. You told me that one way or
another, she'd found where she was meant to be. I thought you were telling me such things in order to evade the fact that Sirl had died....but were you
maybe telling the truth? Did you know that she'd found...some place like this? Some place that accepted her away from the Flotilla? I know you can't
answer me, but....I still wonder.

Nonetheless, thank you, Mother. Without your watching out for me, I may never have found my way onto the Normandy.
Never have found this. When I return from my Pilgrimage, I won't have to worry about anyone accepting this gift.

Your daughter,

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya

***

Dear Mother,

I don't know what to do. Or perhaps more specifically, I don't know what I'm feeling. Since the last mission (which I mentioned in an earlier
letter), Commander Shepard has been....distracted. Well, no, that's not the right word. She's been interested.
In one of our crewmembers. The asari scientist I mentioned to you. Liara T'soni.

Seeing this...or rather, hearing about it through the crew...I found myself...annoyed. Irritatable, even. I don't know why. I like to think that Commander
Shepard and I are friends, but I can hardly begrudge her for having other feelings for someone else. Right? And really, even if there were something between
us, the concept is laughable. I can't take off this mask at all, except in my cabin, which is even more rigorously cleaned than anything else on the
Normandy. It's not like she'd find me attractive. I'm a blank mask with a glowing translator instead of a
mouth. And Dr. T'soni is...well, for a species that doesn't claim to have any sort of gender, she certainly makes some of us who do have gender feel a
little inadequate. And that's before you factor in her biotics.

Of course, there's also the fact of that old superstition of the asari as siren singers out to snatch away crewmembers to their doom away from the
Flotilla. Which is entirely too bizarre in general, let alone the fact that for someone who's 106, Dr. T'soni is so naive I almost feel the need to
smack her over the head with the obvious sometimes. And then there was the rumored confrontation between her and Lieutenant Alenko after Noveria....

I don't know, Mother. Maybe I'm just having an odd time of the month. Some sleep will probably help, especially since Shepard got ahold of some audio
files to simulate the old clunky feel of home. Perhaps this will all settle down at our next stop. I hear Virmire is a very beautiful world, even if we're
going in expecting trouble.

Your daughter,

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya

***

Dear Mother,

If ever I wished you were here to advise me, it's now. So much has changed, and....

Lieutenant Alenko....Kaiden....is dead. He stayed behind to make sure that the bomb destroying Saren's base, and the secrets to curing the krogan of the
genophage, would go off. There was nothing we could do. Chief Williams was trapped in the AA tower, and the salarians were with her, and....keelah, he's dead. He's really dead. We talked from time to time, and even though we weren't especially close, he
always treated me nicely and fairly. He was a soldier, but he was also such a gentle, friendly man.

Chief Williams is taking his death especially hard. Even though no one could possibly blame her for what happened, she blames herself. I've heard from
Chief Engineer Adams about the reputation her family has. I can see now how it drove Chief Williams to excel in order to clear her family's name. To lose a
member of the crew, especially a superior officer, must be crushing to her. Especially since, despite their differences, I know the two were friends.

Moreso than Chief Williams, however, the Commander is taking Lieutenant Alenko's death badly. They were close friends, possibly more according to ship
rumors before the "confrontation" which I discovered to be more a clarification about the fact that the Commander, while very close to Kaiden, was
not...interested in him in that way. While Chief Williams blames herself for not doing more so she didn't need to be rescued, Commander Shepard knew that
the person she chose to go after would be the one who lived. She made the choice to rescue Williams, and I heard the conversation that was the last time we
heard Kaiden speak. He and the commander both knew that he wasn't going to make it.

As if this were not enough, the revelation of the Reaper, Sovereign, and the true causes behind Saren's actions....have been conveniently ignored by the
Council. Ambassador Udina has locked down the Normandy and grounded our crew. All life...the entire galaxy....is at
stake, and the politicians won't listen to Shepard at all.

And despite it, I can't help but be shaken the most by what I saw by the lockers. The commander has always been a stalwart woman. Determined. But...she
seemed so...fragile. The drive had gone out of her. Between the Lieutenant's death and the Council and her own government's withdrawal of support for
her, it was like for a moment, she considered giving up....until Dr. T'soni....Liara...came to talk to her. I don't remember much of what they said,
but....it's clear that they almost....

I shouldn't be feeling this. I shouldn't be doing this, spying on the commander and Dr. T'soni. It's
none of my business. And yet....and yet....she was kind to me. She cared. And...I care for her in return, but I can't say anything. I can't make it plain. It wouldn't be fair to her or to me. We
could never be together. Not the way things are. I couldn't ask her to give away everything for my sake. Especially not the love of another.

I've heard from Liara that, occasionally, asari bondings are brief. That they...move on, eventually.

Am I wrong....am I selfish, mother...to hope for that? Is it so petty of me to not want to see someone else enjoy what I never can? Oh, mother....I wish you
were here. I wish you could tell me what to do.

Your daughter,

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya

***

Dear Mother,

It's done.

We've broken the cycle. The Reapers won't be signalled....not this time. Sovereign is dead. And...we're heroes.

And I saw it all. I was with Shepard when we met the Prothean AI on Ilos. I was with her when we scaled the Council tower itself to confront Saren. I saw her
convince Saren that he himself was a puppet, and helped destroy the avatar that Sovereign created out of the turian's dead body. And....and I must be
honest with myself. I saw, for a brief moment, something that nearly stopped my heart in my chest.

The debris from Sovereign's destruction hit the tower directly. Wrex and I were unharmed, but trapped until we were dug out...but Shepard....for a moment,
we thought she was...gone. That she'd saved the galaxy, but lost her life to nothing more than random chance....but she wasn't. She survived! It was
then that I realized that I would have grieved for her like no other since your own death.

Now, humanity has joined the Council. Councilor Anderson is a man I trust will make his species proud. And when I think of what we averted, it seems like some
kind of story. Like something that can't be real. But it was....and I've decided, for now, to remain on the Normandy. Shepard believes that the Reapers are still out there. Still a threat. And if she believes it, so do I. So I will stay
by her.

I don't know what happened between her and Dr. T'soni. I don't know if they took the final step, or if they stepped away from the edge. But I do
know that it doesn't matter. Regardless of that, I will stay with Shepard. Even if I can't tell her why. Even if she's found someone else. The
Pilgrimage shows we're willing to give of ourselves for the greater good. And so I will give of myself as well. For her greater good. It will be good
enough.

But...perhaps...maybe. Maybe something might change in the future. You always told me our actions determined our destinies, not the other way around. After all
I've seen, I believe that more than ever....and I hope that my....our...destiny isn't quite finished yet.

Your daughter,

Tali
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

I've heard the latest "Wishful thinking" from the CoH boards and it says Wednesday.. Which means I gotta get cracking on finishing the Lady
Nogitsune arc....
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

So yeah, hiya. I've been doing other stuff for quite some time but... I'm getting the bug again, a bit. I'm far from caught up; anything
world-shattering in the last... gosh. Year or something? =P

Have the urge to actually explore Okkane-chan a bit... will see what bits of text fall out of my head.

Exactly what it says on the tin.

----------------

Epsilon

I wonder what Danny Choo would think of Fenspace. I doubt he'd actually bother with getting involved, seeing as he's busy with his own stuff, but I
bet he'd find it interesting just the same.

Blades, 01 

Kings Row

 

The girl fled along the alley way, she had no idea where she was one minute she was walking home, the next she was on a lab table in some sort of armor with some guys shooting at her and she was now being chased by….. something, every now and again she’d see a pair of red eyes glaring from the darkness, as she stumbled around the corner, she spotted a dumpster, with out pausing she leaped in.

Carful she crawled into the corner of the dumpster and curled into a ball. Slowly she removed her helmet to wipe the tears from her eyes, she waited for what seemed like an eternity before poking her head out, right into the path of an oncoming boot.

 

***

 

Dib looked at the Crey representative, a miss Lana Natllen, she seamed less than impressed by their location, a ratty old warehouse in the Hollows, but he didn’t really have the time to arrange anything better at such short notice. He received a call form MiMi a couple of minutes ago to say that she was successful in her mission. He watched as the rep strode back and forward, like some caged animal, A small read out in his glasses showed that she had a large amount of cyber gear, meaning she was either a infiltration model, or he was getting his first look at one of Crey’s Scimitar units.

She turned to Dib. “Look, mister Membrain, my employers do not enjoy having their time wasted-” she was cut off as a figure dropped from the roof. The lights shined off it’s dull metallic armor, the faceplate bare except for two red optics. A armored figure was slung across her back

Dib spread his arms “just in time, Miss Natllen, allow me to introduce MiMi”

MiMi dumped the figure at Lana’s feet

“As you can see” Dib continued “MiMi has succeeded on the… errand I sent her on.” He held up a hand “and before you ask, yes, I sent MiMi to… acquire a rouge scimitar unit, which it appears she has.”

Lana knelt down next to the unit and pulled a device from her pocket and ran it over the prone figures neck.

“Interesting” Lana exclaimed as she examined the readout.

“What is it?” dib asked.

“This is a rouge unit, but according to this, there was a security breach ten seconds before it went rouge.”

“I did that” MiMi sid.Lana and Dib turned to her, they had almost forgotten she was their, she was that quite.

“Explain” Lana braked at her

“Of course” MiMi replied in a calm tone. “My master told me to capture a rouge unit, instead of waiting for the off chance that one of your unit’s went rouge, I tracked down one of your labs, and activated the unit before triggering the alarm, then I waited till she was several block away before hunting her down and bringing her here.”

Lana glared at Dib. “I could have you killed for half of what your droid did.” She hissed.

“But you won’t” dib replied calmly

“What makes you say that?”

“Simple, I believe your employer will be quite interested in my units, my prototype was able to infiltrate your facility, she activated, let lose and captured one of your units and finally brought it here without alerting a single hero…. Now, if my prototype, built on a shoe string budget, could do that, imagine what I could do if I had Crey backing me?”

Lana glared at Dib for several seconds before speaking.

“I will have to contact my employers, if we chose to back you, you will hear back from us.”

“And if I don’t?”

“I doubt you’d be in a position to care about that, good day mister Membrain.”

“May I keep the rouge unit then?” Dib asked

Lana stoped, turning back to Dib. “Why should I hand over such an expensive unit?”

“How about I give you forty five percent of my research, as a trade, I believe your employers would find it a worthy trade” Dib handed over a data drive.

Lana paused to think about it, on the one hand, she would probably get torn a new one for handing over a Scimitar, but on the other, she lacked the equipment to transport the unit and if what Dib had said about his A.I. research was true….

“You may keep her. In her current stat I doubt she’d be good for anything.”

Dib gave Lana a grin that chilled her blood.

“We shall see, good day ma’am.” Dib motioned to MiMi to pick up the girl and leave.

After they had left Lana took you her phone and punched in a number. “Yes sir, I made contact, yes sir, no sir, the unit….. it was destroyed, no sir, yes sir.” With the conversation finished she hung up, smiling to herself she held up the data drive, what the bosses didn’t know couldn’t hurt them.

 

***

 

One week later

 

Dib smiled as Lana entered the lab, he couldn’t help but be amused by the fact that Crey had made her the liaison between him and the mysterious “chairman”. She obviously hated him, but that was a trivial thing.

“Hello Lana.” He smirked as her lip twitched slightly in disgust.

“What is it you want too see me about Dib?” she barked

“Oh I was just wondering if you would like to see the work I did on the Scimitar you left me.”

“It’s finished?”

Dib nodded and led Lana down to a training room where two women were sparing, one Dib cleared his throat. “Girls, we have a visitor.”

The two stoped and turned to face them, this was Lana’s frits look of them with out their armor, they both stood in simple fatigues, one was rather plain looking, a face that could easily be lost in a crowd, the only feature that stood out was her dark red hair and a slightly clunky cybernetic right arm. The other woman was more impressive, well toned with a mane of orange hair, but what made her stand out was the almost predatory look on her face.

Dib indicated to one then the other. “Miss Lana, allow me to introduce unit zero and one, or as I call them MiMi and Teyla.”

Lana turned to Dib. “You named them?”

“Yes, I found the A.I. respond much better when treated like people.”

“And they are loyal?”

Dib flashed Lana a smile devoid of warmth. “Allow me to show you, Teyla, break your right index finger.”

The orange haired woman stepped forward. “But Sir, if I do that my combat efficacy will be severely dropped.” She replied

“Don’t worry, MiMi will take you to the medbay afterwards.” Dib replied

Teyla nodded and grabbed her finger, with a swift twist and a horrid crack she snapped the digit.

Lana looked on in slight disgust. Dib turned to her and flashed that same inhuman smile. “Is that loyal enough for you?” he asked

“Yes I believe it is, when shall you have the next unit ready?”

“Oh, in a week or so, depending on how long the neural download and editing takes.”

Lana nodded. “I shall see you then, Dr Membrain.” With that she nodded and left.

Dib motioned for MiMi to take Teyla down to the medbay before heading to his lab, after a while MiMi returned to find Dib checking the holding cells.

“Why did you lie to her?” MiMi asked.

Dib slowly turned. “And what did I lie about MiMi?” his replied icily

“You told her that Teyla was unit one, but she is unit four, why?”

“It is something we humans call keeping an “ace in the hole”. And before you ask what that means it’s simple, one day Crey will no longer find me useful and on that day I plan to use whatever’s at my disposal to save myself, so having a few units off the roster will help.”

MiMi nodded. “I understand sir”

“Good, now I need you to collect more samples, here’s a list”

MiMi took the file Dib handed over and left.

Turning dib continued down the corridor to a heavily armoured door.

“Ahh, dear Gaz” he spoke to it “If only you could see how it’s all coming together, at the rate I’m going, we should be able to return home within months… and then I can show them all, I was right.”

On the other side of the door, a figure stirred slightly the chains that pined her to the ground ratted as she turned to the door.

“unfortunately, I’m not sure if you would be able to help me anymore, but don’t worry, the unit I made using your mind is more than willing to help me. Good day Gaz.” Dib turned and left, smiling at the scream of incoherent rage echoed from the cell behind him.

They added Buttcapes to Widows (female model only) in Arachnos Costume generation
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

What are everyone's thoughts on Windows 7?

There's a lot of hype going on out there about the beta that was released a little bit back, but there's been grumbles from beta testers that sounds
rather disconcerting, as well as Microsoft's history regarding how their beta releases reflect on the 'finished' product.

Here's a list of my own misgivings on the matter.

For one thing, I've always been a big believer in a streamlined product. Graphical niftiness, while nice to look at (and I certainly will not deny that it
is nice to look at), simply doesn't matter when it comes to getting the job done. For certain, you can bet that no amount of shininess is going to
convince the higher-ups in the DoD to buy into Windows 7. They'll only care about two things: 1) Is it secure? and 2) Will it get the job done?

Another qualm that I have is the stupidity of the general public at large. I honestly think that a person needs to attain a certain degree of intelligence
before they're allowed near a computer. If Microsoft's mission really is to make an operating system that is usable by anyone, then I fear for the
computing world at large. I will, however, grudgingly admit that most people don't really know how a television operates and yet they use them all the
time. But to this I would use the counter-point that computers do not simply read data like a TV does - it manages it, and it is the person behind the
keyboard that dictates how that data is managed, whether they realize what they are doing or not.

One other thing, and this is the one that I think bugs me the most: do we honestly need such a radical departure? I mean, I'm going to have to get used to
an entirely new operating system here eventually and it's not going to be entirely by choice. It is going to be because the people at Microsoft have
mandated it to be so. Do you have any idea how much that goes against my grain? What Microsoft could do is that, with all this wonderful UI niftiness, they
should make a GUI that is COMPLETELY modular. You prefer the older task bar? No problem. You want something with a Mac OS-X flavor? Done. How about
getting rid of that windows logo on the start-button? Easy as pie. And all with a fair minimum of screwing around, too, through the use of a module-manager.
Mozilla does a nice job of this with their plug-ins for Firefox and you don't catch too many people bitching about it, except to say, "Man, I wish
someone would make a plugin that did z instead of just x and y."

So, in conclusion, what I really want to know is this: Should I abandon all hope in Microsoft? Should I prepare myself for the possibility of having to rely
solely on a Linux-based system? Or am I just being my paranoid self again?

When it's released by the company that licenced the anime.

http://funimation.com/f_index.cfm?page=news&id=553]FUNimation licences new FMA anime, promises to release subs the same week they're on Japanese TV

(I'm told Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a retelling, not a sequel.)
--
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

From Popcap:

http://popcap.com/games/pvz

My word, that's a catchy tune.