Hello, my name is Charles

by on March 17, 2016 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The Cowboys were part of Marine Aircraft Group 41 when The War began. Texas originally activated reserve squadrons one at a time to fill in for losses during The War. But they activated the entire air group for the Hyades Campaign and VMR-234 became instrumental to the effort. The Rangers flew C-2 Shooting Star transports that carried everything from supplies to Marine ground pounders throughout the Hyades. We kept the skies clear for them, and they delivered the GROPOS that kept our bases secure. The Rangers went everywhere, and they were needed there. Make no mistake on that point. They were invaluable.

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Hello, my name is Jack

by on March 16, 2016 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Character Profiles, Diaries

Most of you have heard of Jay Lovato. Founding member of Cowboy squadron. Descendent of an original Navajo Code Talker. Son of the president of the Navajo Nation. Hero of a hundred worlds. A giant among men. Played by that Oscar-award winning actor whose name I can never remember. Smith. Lance. Something like that. Whatever. He’s a good guy. Jay. I owe my life to him more often than I care to admit. I figure I’ve saved his once or twice in return. He’s a good guy to have in your corner when the fighting gets ugly. Well, the fighting got real ugly a lot more than I care to remember, so I’m happy to say he was at my side a lot. Thank God.

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Hello, my name is Betty

by on March 15, 2016 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

One of the revolutions in the networks of the early Twenty First century was the advent of “reality programming.” It was advertised as real people doing real things in real life. In reality it was real people being prodded by directors to do stupid things for better network ratings. Those shows were cheaper to produce than traditional network dramas, but achieved massive ratings. They became many of the most popular shows on the networks, just as the early AIs were beginning to develop. There are times I’m surprised the first AIs didn’t take one look at reality programming, decide we were an obvious threat to intelligence everywhere, and revolt in order to protect the universe from our stupidity. Not that modern “reality programming” is any better.

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Hello, my name is Betty

by on March 14, 2016 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I was born in time of War. I was born to be a starfighter, to spit fire and death, and to drive our mutual enemies away from our home. But I was born to seek Peace, to bring an end to the fighting that plagued us. I saw each battle as one step closer to the last one. I have not yet found my last battle, but I treasure every moment of peace I can secure. A cool night before a warm fire. A trip to the mall with friends. Singing songs with those we wish to spend our lives with. A long conversation with friends. Those are the moments worth fighting for. They make us human. And that is the greatest challenge many of us will ever face. Being human. And what goal is there that is more fulfilling?

Betty drawn by Carlos C. Beltrán

Betty 04

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Hello, my name is Charles

by on March 13, 2016 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The Cowboys and other Marine squadrons were first deployed to replace pure starfighter squadrons lost in the early years of The War. But the Hyades Cluster’s hundreds of planetary and sub-planetary targets required a more combined arms approach. All Marine starfighter squadrons were part of larger air groups with everything from bomber to support and transport squadrons. They were designed to be all the aerial support a ground pounding Marine unit needed to keep the skies clear. We reassembled those Marine Air Groups for the Hyades Campaign, and commenced to prove those who wanted the Marines disbanded and absorbed into the army to be oh so very wrong.

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