Jack of Harts

Hello, my name is Betty

by Betty on April 29, 2016 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Diaries

Bitching Betty became the primary name of voiced computer systems in America for nearly half a century. Then Apple released Siri to the consumer market and everything changed. Microsoft answered with Cortana and Amazon made Alexa. They became mascot and marketing in one, and soon every major company developed one. The United States Army soon joined the race with Jane, derived from G.I. Jane. That name for a standard female recruit was derived from the older World War II term of a soldier, General Issue Joe. And that of course was the genesis of the famous action figure toy line.

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Hello, my name is Charles

by Charles on April 28, 2016 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Diaries

The Fleet 2300 Project was a revolution in warship and fighter technologies. It consolidated a century of study into alien technologies and combined it with our best engineering to make a new fleet that could stand up to anything in the galaxy. The fruits of that project included the Avenger, Marauder, and Los Angeles-class heavy cruisers. They stood up to the Shang. They attacked the Hyades. They gave us a chance to win The War. And they were all old tech within ten years. Progress always marches on, especially when one is fighting for survival.

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Hello, my name is Jack

by Jack on April 27, 2016 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Diaries, The Indian Nations

History says the Apache were nomadic hundreds of years ago. That changed when we relegated them to their reservations in the 1800s. They became just as urbanized as the rest of America over the centuries that followed, and outside of some fringe reenactment groups they were nearly identical to the America I grew up in. The Shang changed that. Yosemite Station’s ruins achieved a direct hit on the Apache capital and shattered their lives and economy. Those who didn’t come out of the ruins fighting began to rebuild their society and infrastructure so as to make sure that nobody could ever wound them so badly ever again.

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Hello, my name is Betty

by Betty on April 26, 2016 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Diaries

The American military had a long tradition of using voice-activated systems as early as the 1970s with the original Bitching Betty. She served as the voice of the Pre-Space F-15 fighter platform, though was not a true computer generated voice. The voice actress Kim Crow recorded her phrases, and the computers simply picked the right ones at the appropriate time. A series of different programs and voice actresses would bring life to other Bitching Betties over the years, and they became integral elements of American fighters until the Artificial Intelligence revolution forever changed things.

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Angel Flight

by Medron Pryde on April 25, 2016 at 12:01 am

Posted In: Diaries

In 2205, we learned the answer to one of the oldest questions of all time. Are we alone? They brought medicines with them that nearly wiped out diseases, and extended the human lifespan into the centuries. They helped us study advanced technologies, and expand our colonies hundreds of lightyears from Earth. It was a golden age that many thought would never end.

Then their enemies brought War to us all. We gave them a belly full of it. We drove them out of Alpha Centauri, rebuilt the losses they inflicted on us, and assembled the largest, most powerful fleet that had ever flown under Terran banners. Third Fleet was our best hope to defeat them and bring a quick end to The War.

But not everyone agreed on how to use it. Alliance leadership wanted to see it in action immediately while our allies stressed caution. The demand for results won out over caution and that is where we came in. Texas Marine Fighter Attack Wing 112, the Cowboys. We were sent to support the fleet and to watch out for anything the enemy might throw at us. I honestly thought it would be a cakewalk. I mean, who would ever attack something the size of Third Fleet? That would be crazy…