Praxians- Sexual Predators, Or Just Horny Bitches? |
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To say that Praxians were wonton would be unfair- But pity the poor male of any species that fell under the gaze of one. Once she had her eye on one, little, if anything, could protect him from her "affections."Indeed, it got so bad that there was one hellatious row on UES DESTINY (IKAZUCHI-Class SFCC-2122); 7 T'sentraedi and 5 Human women ganged up on 14 Paraxians on the Messdeck after one of the T'sentraedi thought one of the Paraxians was "edging in" on her man (a Human). The generally acknowledged "Queen Bitch" was LT(jg) Cynthia MCMILTON, because, as they said, she was a "Santa Cruz girl"- That is, along with the normal female fighting tricks (hair pulling, groin kicking, ect.), she'd PUNCH other women man-style. And no "love taps" either, no, these were cranked up jaw-breakers and elbows to the face when someone came up behind her. Indeed, she was made an honorary T'sen the next day (in the brig); They even forgave her the fact that she did break T'sen BM2 Mihkanha FREININ'S jaw when Petty Officer FREININ came up to crack a Paraxian who was trying to sneak up on Mz. MCMILTON.The riot was broken up when REF Marines stormed the Messdeck- The women wanted to keep fighting EACH OTHER, but seemed to have no interest in beating on the Marines. It was later discovered the combatants thought the Marines were all men (due to the ultra-heavy body armor they were wearing), and this exposed an unusual psychological effect; Psychologists had long known that two parties, when fighting over a given commodity or territory, would rather not destroy the object of mutual desire as a general rule if it is at all avoidable. Beating on the Marines, whom the combatants all thought were males, would only harm the object of desire- A needless destruction of the "resource." The women were all-for beating each other senseless, but hitting the boys wasn't called for, as it were.The women involved in the fight were all masted, restricted to ship for 45 days and placed on 45 days extra duty ("45 and 45"), docked 45 days pay (an unusual twist), and two were demoted one rank (Mz MCMILTON and BMCM HORNER)- Which they promptly reclaimed a few years later (right on schedule).But this isn't a full and fair reflection of the matter; The simple fact is that for over 2,000 years, the Paraxians had suffered a society devoid of men. Attempting to adjust to a universe where a primal FACT of the universe had been utterly sundered and undone is shocking to say the least; Overwhelming. Whole societies have died off for FAR less than this. The simple fact is...They didn't know how to act. The social norms that Terrans took for granted the Paraxians couldn't fathom. In fairness, the T'sentraedi by and large had this catastrophe befall them, too, though most adapted within a few years; Equally in fairness, while the Paraxians struggled to adapt to this new world where males were relatively common (Terran males were outnumbered 2.5 to 1, T'sentraedi males 1.2 to 1, vs. Paraxians who had 1 male to every 100,000 females), they did so within only a few years- Despite having ZERO experience with the issue. In some ways, the Atorian Campagin would prove a great benefit to the Paraxians, as generations of abuse by the Atorian led many of their males to find Paraxian mates- Thus emptying the society of most of it's males. Paraxians treated the males they could get much differently than Atorians; They had been one of the rarest things in the universe until now, and therefore precious.Section Index; Page Index. |
Life Aboard Ship. |
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Many people, not familiar with naval life, make certain CRITICAL assumptions about shipboard life that simply aren't true; For example, you hear "land lubbers" say that "All doors on ships are called hatches." Wrong; A hatch is a SPECIFIC device ("fitting") on a ship, a "door" through a deck. Even at this, not "all" hatches are hatches; A hatch is SQUARE (though it may have rounded corners for safety reasons); A circular hatch is a scuttle. Not all hatches can be closed, either- My old ship had a hatch to the bow thruster which was nothing more than a 2.5 square foot section of deck that had been cut out, a pair of hinges welded to the deck and sheet, and called good. (BTW, it was a good hatch; my only complaint is engineers would sometimes leave them open when they walked away, letting the noise of the bow thruster through, which was HIGHLY annoying.)"Wait, I thought 'scuttle' meant to sink a ship deliberately?" you say? Well, you're right. In the old days, scuttling a ship meant pulling scuttlebutts, pegs in the huge drinking water casks, out, allowing the water in them to spill out and swamp the ship, which would sink them. (Actually, the wooden ships of that era didn't always sink right away; Often the wood would keep them afloat for a few days.) The holes in the drinking water casks were also called scuttles- This also gave us the term "scuttlebutt," meaning idle rumors and gossip ("water cooler talk"). Also, if time allowed, the ships carpenters would cut holes in the hull, allowing MORE water in and scuttling them faster. Though I have no evidence to support this, I would suspect that the holes would usually be cut out with drills, as this would be the quickest and simplest way to do so. (A large-diameter hole or a bunch of small ones lets in just as much water a straight cut, would take less time, and you'd have to cut the drill hole ANYWAYS to let the saw trough.)A door through a bulkhead IS a door, and in fact there are three major types: Non-Tight Doors (NTD's), which are essentially EXACTLY like the ones in your home, except they have what's called a "kick out plate" at the bottom. In the event of an incident which jams the door shut (fire, flooding, or striking an object it the water which shoves the door off-center), you kick out the pannel at the bottom to escape. (A former shipmate of mine once tied the door to the head shut on me, so I kicked the pannel out. Joke was on him, in the end.) | Water Tight Door, non-quick acting type. |
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The next two varieties are Water Tight Doors, and these have two varieties; Quick Acting (QAWTD's) and Water Tight (WTD's). A QAWTD has single object to close it; Old WWII movies show a wheel, which is used on some ships, such as CGC MAN-O-WAR. Another version is a single, long lever, which is more common. Either way, the mechanism swings 6 to 8 (sometimes more rarely less) latches, called "dogs," into place (thus, "Doging the door/hatch/scuttle/etc"). The other main variety is WTD, which have 4 to 6 dogs that have to be individually closed; The one's I've seen are all arranged so that they can be closed with one dog, without having to close them all, and are usually used to allow access to areas where water-tight intergity is not always needed; An example from my first ship, a WTD was located on the fantail, where a single compartment, without any other access and well above the waterline, was used for fantail storage (mooring, towing, small boat launching, some man overboard, etc). Access to this compartment was necessary QUICKLY, and since you could literally flood the compartment and STILL not affect the rest of the ship (too small a compartment to allow enough water in there to affect the list), the need for the more difficult to open QAWTD's was virtually non-existent. WTD's and QAWTD's don't have kick out panels, because these allow fire and water to pass through, and the doors, because of the way they're designed, can't be jammed shut anyways (less placing heavy objects on them and/or tying the latches shut). In short, they don't need kick out panels, and a kick out panel there defeats the purpose of HAVING such a door.There are also two types of "walls," Bulkheads, which are fire and flooding boundaries (and therefore reach through the entire ship to the next bulkhead), and partitions, which are not INTENDED as boundaries; They mostly serve to show where one compartment ends and the next begins. The CAN, however, be used as boundaries during fires, by spraying the partition with water (preventing heat from reaching through the partition to set object on the other side ablaze, and, if there's enough openings, letting steam in, which displaces air, smothering the fire). The best example I can readily give is an office building; Large bulkheads (walls) separate individual compartments (rooms) which are then sub-divided by partitions (cubicles).Ships don't have bathrooms, latrines, or restrooms- They have heads. This term comes, purportedly, from the ancient sailing ships, were the place to take a shit was at the bow, or "head," of the ship (the ship's figurehead being located here). This placed it as far from the ships officers as possible (no comments from the peanut gallery!), and even separated it from the ships company, reducing the smell they had to endure. Indeed, Marines aboard ship had the PRIMARY job of ensuring that ships crew didn't go down into the bilge to shit; Though this would happen anyways (as the bow of a ship is where the worst of the rocking would occur), the presence of men with guns reduced this tendency. (This would also occur aboard prison hulks, unfortunately, making the places that much MORE vile while flooding would occur below decks, not to mention the wanton murders and rapes that occur when males and females are incarcerated together.)The actual object used to remove bodily wastes (shit and urine) are still called toilets, and use pressurized water in something very akin to a venturi effect; Highly pressurized water (grey water, as it is called, which has been used for cleaning) is forced through at high speeds, sucking the wastes away.Section Index; Page Index. |
Invid- The Holocaust. |
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| Were the Invid the victimizer, or the victims? Col REDDSON argues the latter. |
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Much has been written of the Invid's multiple crimes against Humanity, yet little actual 'action' has ever been taken against them, notwithstanding the Robotech Wars; Why is it that such an 'evil empire' would go unpunished, even rewarded, for all their many crimes?One must first review the bare facts of the Invid's history; They were a herbivorious species of evolved insectoid, genetically very similar to Terra's bees. They existed in relative calm ('relative' referring to the occasional wild storms, known to destroy whole Hive Clusters) on their world, one generally devoid of the types of materials that would otherwise have caused exploitation of any value, when the Prime arrived from whatever territory they came from. The Haydonites were, of course, an evil empire by our relatively limited scope of understanding of their culture. It was the Haydonite's decision to transfer the Flower of Life from Terra to Optera that placed the Invid on a crash course with the rest of the galaxy; See Protoculture- The Power Of Pain for more details. With their absolute dependence on the Flower for their very survival, the cowardly defoliation of Optera by the Tiresian Robotech dictatorship, an utterly avoidable war crime, left the Invid with their backs to the wall; The disingenuous claims of the terrorist organization "DOLL" notwithstanding, the Terrans of the Second Robotech War had nothing resembling the desperation of the Invid after the Holocaust. As a species, the Invid WOULD have died out had the Regent not launched his war to recover the Flower of Life. Indeed, some would argue that Zor's decision to seed the Sentinel Worlds was, at least at some level, intended to give the Invid some Flower to access, and to eventually destroy the corrupt and criminal regime he had unwittingly and unwillingly created. Certainly, the seeding of Peryton supports this case; Too far away to effectively serve the Elders, nor their lackeys the Masters, it also had a slightly purified Protoculture- Enough to sustain the Invid, if barely. It was also close enough to Optera to ensure an easy invasion to the Invid. The sending of the Matrix to Terra also supports that argument; The loss of the Matrix, and the Protoculture it manufactured, certainly dealt an irrecoverable blow to the Tiresian Dictatorship.It has often been speculated what the Invid WOULD have been had they not been forced to become invaders; I offer my opinion; The Invid would have continued their limited Mecha program, for the purpose of developing export Protoculture crops. This would have enriched their planet infinitely, perhaps even making them more powerful than the Tiresian Dictatorship.Section Index; Page Index. |
Columbia- The Case For The SSTOS. |
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When the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry, all the major factions realized that, like it or not, a Single Stage To Orbit Shuttle system was necessary for future operations. The compromise intermediate solution, the dual-stage design, was scrapped outright when Robotechnology-related research overcame the underpowered engine designs, and the SSTOS program proceeded forward, until the final design was so safe that paying passenger traffic could begin, and McAuliffe (OV-201) began regular, and on-time, flights shortly before the launch of MACROSS (SDF-01). (NOTE: Shuttle McAuliffe was named for Christa McAuliffe, the New Hampshire school teacher who died in the Shuttle Challenger (OV-099) disaster.)Section Index; Page Index. |
Sports Equipment- The Soldier's Savior. |
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| An Example Is This Set Of Hockey Armor. |
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During the Global Civil War, someone discovered quite by accident that "some" (but by no means all) sports equipment provided protection from some weapons, especially when constructed in ensembles. One of the best combinations was hockey armor with football pieces attached in certain strategic areas, and the over all best stand alone system was bull rider torso protection (which could stop most rifle rounds, and reduce the capability of even the heavies unmounted weaps to survivable levels). When I was assigne to VPB-6, for example, I received the hockey/football armor; At 1138TH MP, I got the bullrider suit (for those rare times I was required to go in the field).Though far from perfect, this equipment provided us with the protection we desperately needed when supplies of "real" armor virtually evaporated during the war. However, these armors were, generally, not as fit for extended combat as properly engineered body armor; When I was at T'sentraedi Patrol, for example, I rarely wore the armor outside of the cockpit for any reason- Even the time I got shot down, I ditched the heavy armor and used a light, Level I (aka "plainclothes") body armor.Section Index; Page Index. |
Drunken Sailors. |
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Ok, so my squad went out on libbo, we're drinking the house DRY. I mean bone fucking DRY. Me, I'd had like five, six Long Islands. So one of the bartenders gets a little fresh with Matty (Cadet Mathew O'TELLEY), he tells her he's not interested. Then she starts saying a few things she probably shouldn't have, hauls off and smacks him. He pushed her way, she thows him out (bitch was on duty, and she's about as drunk as he was). So I agree to walk him home, 'cause he's in no shape to walk in general.Ok, so me and Matty, we're heading back to barracks. Ya, we were toasted. It happens, right? Besides, we're both of age. Well, Matty was a little tipsier than he thought he was, and was carrying a beer RIGHT DOWN Second Street (if you ever look at the maps of Downtown Macross, it was the first cross street built, mostly residentials upstairs, service and retail down). Cop grabs him, saying, "Come here stupid."Most cops in Macross, they had a "Hit first before they hit you" attitude towards militry personnel. But this one was kinda cool. Just tossed Matty against a wall, not really toss-toss, but Matty's backside got introduced to the pseudo-brick façade. Cops castizing him, but Matty plays it smart, just "Yes sir, sorry sir, just tryen to get home sir." Cop took the beer and poured it out, that's fine. Tells ME to help my shipmate home. Ok, sure, fine. Finally, Matty passed out.Annie, another one of our squad, she comes up to the rescue. She called a cab, threw his ass in it. I staggered the rest of the way home, that was about a mile, thank God for small miracles. Annie, she'd end up a Lt. Commander in the REF when I lost touch with her (I was a Lt (jg) at that point, hadn't switched over to the REF yet).Section Index; Page Index. |
Bigotry In The UGC. |
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Bigotry has existed in every society throughout history; The UGC is not special or separated from the norm in this.In a perhaps strange twist, Garudans form the largest bigotry; All Garudans are slightly bigoted towards non-Garudans. This is a reflection of the Hin; All non-Garudans can not access the Hin to the degree they have, and those few who survive the process of tapping the Hin is far inferior to their contact. However, there has NEVER been a recorded instance of a Garudan resorting to violence as an option against a non-Garudan over this bigotry.The least overall bigoted groups are Terrans and Fantomans; This, inversely, is a relfection on their LACK of extra-special contact before their contact with one another. Since the marriage of Max STERLING and Miriya PIRANO (later a Chairmen of the UGC), these two species have gotten along so well, that even the more extreme groups of these two species are hard-pressed to declare war on the other. This healthy respect leaves these two species all but married in fact as one species. This leads to the strange inversion that Terrans and Fantoms, at least those that ARE bigoted towards those of other species, are the most volatile and violent of extremists, are the most likely to use violence not as a last resort but as the FIRST one; That is, while the majority of Terrans and Fantomans are the least bigoted of species, those who are are the most violent to make up for it.All groups have bigots, and the degree of bigotry vary widely. Spherians, for example, have the Greetaire, a quasi-religious philosophy that preaches hatred against all non-Spherians (which includes violence) for "segregationist" policies against their people (the logic is that Spherians traditionally have been denied colonies due to lack of solar energies the Spherians need to survive; This was twisted into a racist policy against Spherians by the founders of Greetaire, back in the days BEFORE they even had a name).The Fehrans have the best-known bigotry element, the Atorian Malconts, one tested, and found wanting, in the realities of an on-going insurgency. The Tiresians have the technologically most ADVANCED bigots, and also one found wanting in the face of the on-going insurgency. Indeed, all malcontent groups have had their bigotry found wanting in the face of adversity, with the sole exception of certain Human and T'sentraedi bigots; Among Humans, these groups hate even fellow Terrans of a race other than their own. T'sentraedi bigots aren't quite as extreme, but make up for this with greater violence (the most extreme example was the BOMBING of Garuda by "Greater T'sentraedi Empire," a malconts group that dropped a Reflex Bomb on Garuda itself).Section Index; Page Index. |
Hardware Of The T'sentraedi; A Primer. |
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So many Terrans have reviewed T'sentraedi militry equipment so extensively, that many unfortunately assume they "know" everything there is to know. This is far from the truth, and tragically so.In truth, the hardware of the T'sentraedi is very much worthy of more study than any Micronne has ever given it. But a small example, the T'sentraedi LIEWNEUATZS-Class (Shuttle Pod), has always been described as merely a shuttle, almost a civilian craft; It was, in fact, very much a combat platform.First developed by the Tiresians for use by the proto- T'sentraedi Fantoman miners, the Shuttle Pod was intended for the delivery mostly of miners to worksites in small numbers, specifically the delivery of the Nousjaedul-Ger powered armored teams of about 4 to 6, for the purpose of rotating work crews out.This may sound like the purpose of the FRANDLAR TILUVO-Class reentry pod, but that isn't so by any means (as will be discussed later). In the post-Ci'Van Era militrization of the T'sentraedi, the shuttle pod was considered insufficient for primary combat operations. With this in mind, the FRANDLAR TILUVO-Class took over as the primary combat insertation platform, but the LIEWNEUATZS-Class remained as a secondary combat platform; Used in a fashion not unlike the Human Bell UH-1 Huey Gunship, the shuttle pod was used to insert small unit, again 4 to 8, sometimes even 10, but more so for light duty observation and, more critically, for medical evacuation duties. This might surprise some readers, especially those who studied ZIETGEIST or SEIMBADA, but the Invid understood AND RESPECTED the rules of engagement prohibiting attacking medical transports as a general rule, though neither as an absolute nor even as a commonly enforced- If a depredation occurred, it would simply be retaliated against by the T'sentraedi tit-for-tat and that was all.The FRANDLAR TILUVO-Class reentry pod started life as a local mining platform; When a potential worksite was located, one of these would move over and remain as what a mi'cronne might call a "mining camp," complete with sleeping quarters, latrines, and even proto-smelting equipment (just sufficient enough to get crude monopole and other minerals separated from complete impurities). No female T'sentraedi would be present, but duty at a worksite would last only about 6 to 8 months, and most of that era looked forward to the opportunity to escape the stuffy confines of city ships (and, one might suspect, nagging companion females). With the post-Ci'Van militrization, the FRANDLAR TILUVO-Class was retasked as the primary combat insertation platforms for their greater Mecha capacity.The Nousjaedul-Ger (Terran mis-designation "Male Power Armor") started as a heavy-lifting platform for the purposes of mining, to carry away large amounts of refuse at the FRANDLAR TILUVO-Class mining platforms. Rarely were they actually taken OFF these platforms, though a few sites had such extensive veins that it was necessary to carry away the ore. Additionally, they were used at the massive city-ships, latter retasked as battle wagons, for the purpose of working the main foundries there (the monopole ore was converted to monopole proper on planet). The Nousjaedul-Ger was also equipped, in that era, with a basic flight pack, latter un-installed for the Nousjaedul-Ger and installed on the slightly post-Ci'Van era Quaedluun-Rau (Terran misdesignation Female Power Armor).The Regult was purely a mining platform; What use is an autocannon in mining? you may well ask, and in fact, the auto-cannon and the laser were later added, though the laser was a later mining addition. The original platform was merely equipped with the particle beam cannon, which was used in a fashion similar to drills in the more familiar mining of humans, though the drills, in this case, were used in the fashion of the 20 to 30 foot tunnel drills, such as those used in building the trans-Channel Anglo/Frank Chunnel, rather than to drill a small hole for the insertation of an explosive charge. Later, after slides and similar calamities, the laser was added to give the miners the (admittedly limited) ability to stave off the slide and cave-ins. With the post-Ci'Van militrization, the Regult was originally deployed as-was- After the first few engagements, however, it was realized this design would never do, and for a few years there was no engagements using the Regult. During the Black Years, only Nousjaedul-Gers were deployed. Once the Tiresian Robotech Masters finally re-engineered the Regult, the T'sentraedi were once again sent out as the primary militry force against the now early stage Invid threat (this was when they'd only barely started probing the Tiresians resolve in holding Peryton). After this the Regult, as you might recognize it, took form and from that the Gluuhaug Regult (Light Artillery Pod), Serauhaug Regult (Heavy Artillery Pod), and Del Regult (Recon Scout Pod), and other variants.The Gnerl aerospace Fighter/Attack Plane was used as long-range spotter, looking for deposits that might be of value. In the post-Ci'Van era, they of course became the feared Mecha- and ship-destroying platforms that the remained until even the Macross Era (roughly 2010 AD).The Recovery Pod, generally referred to as the Kalidar (emergency) Regult, did exist as a repair vehicle, used for minor to moderate repairs of the city-ships damaged by this-and-that damage. Major repairs would require evacuation of the damaged sections and embarking for a proper shipyard (a proto-Rᴏʙᴏᴛᴇᴄʜ Fᴀᴄᴛᴏʀʏ). These were as often as not planetside, regardless the opinions of the great historians.Then, of course, the betrayal at Ci'Va occurred, and with the primary purpose for the T'sentraedi (the mining of monopole) gone, our people were converted from the Fantoman miners to the T'sentraedi Forces.Section Index; Page Index. |
T'sentraedi On Sports. |
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The T'sentraedi on Terra took to human style sports with remarkable ease- because most of them, if one form or another, we'd already played for some time. Much has already been written of some sports, but two that we picked up strictly from Terra were Soccer and BASEBALL.The playing of soccer, when you at minimum 40' tall, is a REAL trick. A standard ball would be the size of your nut, and IF you actually kicked it, it would either sail away in the next state or disintegrate instantly.Because of this, full-sized T'sentraedi's would play with an oversized beach ball (those big plastic ones you could climb into if it had an opening) filled with wool, then LIGHTLY varnished for solidity. It made the game Hell on their feet, though, and many a broken toe- Or cracked skull- Could be traced to the defect of design. Even when a properly-made ball came out three years after the Rain of Death, it was still too large for ease of SAFE play, though not as bad as the originals.Baseball, however, was another matter. Most full-sized T'sentraedi's did not play "baseball" per se, because the "baseball" would have to be the size of a small two-story HOUSE, but rather stick ball, or a version of- A rock would be thrown, a small tree trunk or wreckage pipe swung, and if it connected you ran. In all other aspects of the game, the T'sentraedi's played it perfectly normal, with one noteworthy exception- They had to have a SLIGHTLY bigger field to play, since the distance between the bases at mi'cronne scale was less than the length of most T'sentraedi's feet.Section Index; Page Index. |
T'sentraedi Life In The REF; The TRUE Story. |
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T'sentraedi's in the REF were BLATANTLY the victims out outright discrimination; Though their Mecha has often been sited as proof of this, that's actually not true.The REF under-designed the T'sen Z1, Z2, and Z3 pods as a cover story; By calling them "mining implements" (which, in fact, the Masters-era design had started as), the Fantoma Command was able to secretly build up a force of Mecha, right under Hojoka Edwards nose. When the time came, and Edwards showed his TRUE colors, the Fantoma Command was ready with overwhelming fire power.The real reason that the Z1 and 2 were not armed with missiles has nothing to do with the race issue; It was to ensure Edwards never learned the truth about Dr. Langs' private army.However, latent, though blatant, discrimination of T'sentraedi's WAS an issue throughout the REF. Few and far between were the forces that didn't have a few T'sentraedi's squads in them; But always, the squad was "all T'sentreadi"; This was to isolate them from each other, to prevent large-scale uprisings. The idea was that if you split them up, then surrounded them by Humans (and, on occasion, other species), they couldn't organize a resistance. There was, in fact, no legitimate fear of this. Even those few firebrands with enough charisma, mettle, and strength to TRY such a thing would have failed- And, to my knowledge, there were no such characters in the REF, and only KHYRON before tried with any significant success.This isolationism was reinforced by the issuance to T'sentraedi's in the REF of inferior Mecha, usually RDF-era Destroids or the rare Guardian they 'MIGHT' be allowed to pilot.This left the T'sentraedi's in the REF with inferior equipment, facing the Invid (mostly), while the Humans in the REF had access to the best hardware. Often it is claimed that T'sentraedi's were unable to learn the new Mecha; This is patently untrue. Those few who tried were systemically undermined by their instructors by receiving insufficient simulator time, poor instruction on systems and system management, and, most glaringly, text in English, which it was realized they could not read.However, out of this deliberate sabotaging of T'sentreadi members, a slight glimmer appeared; Though many washed out (and many more were forced out through selective interpretation of Policy), those who did complete the training, and received either their Destroider's Badge or Guardian Pilots Wings were the best of the best; Humanity, it seems, had not learned from their previous mistake: Raise the bar for one group selectively, and all you will accomplish is to make those who DO succeed that much better. (Reference the United States' "Tuskegee Airmen.")It is mentioned that Policy was selectively interpreted by training programs; Specifically, that Policy was interpreted to sabotage T'sentaedi members. This was accomplished in simplistic ways: Policy stated that a candidate, if they failed either 05 tests for Destroider or 02 tests for Guardian Pilots Programs would be transferred back to their home units.Typically, this policy was interpreted (for Humans, at least) as 02 or 05 CONSECUTIVE tests- Furthermore, each was allowed ONE makeup, and if the candidate passed that, then the failure was not counted.When dealing with T'sentraedi's, however, the rule was kept strict and hard; If you failed the prescribed number of tests, you failed. It did not matter if they were consecutive or not, nor did it matter if they were successfully passed on the makeup test (usually a week later). Policy also held the Liberty/Rights could be stripped from a candidate who failed a test. Against Humans, this matter of Policy was rarely applied (only against those who had both failed a test AND failed a qualification or had other disciplinary issues was it applied). When dealing with a T'sen, however, it was routinely applied. It was then, and is still now, my belief this was meant to add extra stress the T'sentraedi's members in these training battalions. However, this had the wholly unwanted side effect of encouraging study; As those on Academic/Non-Disciplinary Restriction were restricted to Barracks (less watch and academic activities, including sports/PT), but not restricted to quarters/berthing (as disciplinary restrictions were), this gave them extra time to meet in study groups and STUDY LIKE HELL. It's also an little acknowledged fact that Humans on Academic/Non-Disciplinary Restriction were allowed liberty/rights after 1600 (less duty days) and on Holiday Routine; T'sen candidates were denied this. This, in turn, fostered even MORE study, and therefore greater likely hood of success.In a further "interpretation" of Policy, T'sentreadi members who washed out of a program were denied re-entry into the program for a years, as was STRICTLY written; They were not even allowed to APPLY until one calendar years had expired. Any who violated this Policy had their application summarily rejected (and without it being returned marked same, to delay the process even further). Humans, on the other hand, would re-apply almost before they'd packed their bags (and some, in fact, did). Their applications would, typically, be approved, and their class slot assigned. Often, their new class started BEFORE the year had expired, putting them in the program WHEN their year expired, not after. This had the effect of increasing their likely hood of acceptance to a program 100% more likely than a T'sentraedi's.It didn't end there; Once the Sentinel Alliance members had proven themselves in Battle with the REF, they were anti-restricted; Not only were they "allowed" to apply to ANY schools the REF offered, but they were ENCOURAGED to do so; T'sentraedi were restricted against application to Veritech Pilots Training School (less Cycloner School) and Bio-Maintenance Engineer School (less REF Command approval). Ironically enough, most Sentinel Races preferred NOT to attend these schools (less the occasional applicants to an OCS Program), despite MANY incentives to do so (including pay and signing bonuses).Despite this, most T'sen in the REF remained HIGHLY loyal and dedicated (for a variety of reasons). We willingly laid down our lives, and fought as the last stand. During many an evacuation, it was T'sen who were last to abandon their posts, and when they had done so, many would ensure that the Invid (or colabs) rued that day for whatever was left of their lives. Never was a T'sentraedi covered evacuation/retreat complete, so it seemed, if the last squad thereof successfully evacuated themselves; Rarely more than half would escape, and usually none thereof. In truth, though many a retreat turned into an advance, due to the covering force's actions, retaking initiative and fighting through the enemy force; Where once, so recently, defeat seemed inevitable, victory now became unavoidable. Adding insult to injury, often a Human-dominated command would seal the victory by "relieving" the T'sen force once said victory loomed, always on the cover that the T'sen force had sustained an "unacceptably high degrees of losses." Yet those "unacceptable" losses turned to "acceptable" losses when whole PLATOONS (and larger commands) were sacrificed to save Human lives.Human Policy towards the T'sentraedi was fundamentally unjust, and un-right. And history, one day, will forget this- As HUMANS will write the history.Section Index; Page Index. |
T'sentraedi Medicine. |
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It is often mistakenly assumed that the T'sentraedi had "no" medical abilities. This is simply not true, though when compared to Terran medical standands only debatably so. Negronta Zugara T'sen, or as Humans call them hospital ships, were critical elements | T'sentraedi Medicine; Not Such A Contraction In Terms. |
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of any T'sentraedi fleet. They had what was, for T'sentraedi, a proper hospital; Of course, to a Human's eye, these were little more than advanced battle aid stations, where bandages could be changed, wounds properly cleansed, and illnesses treated (we DID have extensive disease-treatment capabilities; Even a small virus, if given the chance to take root in the fleet, could utterly decimate the entire service, leaving the Tiresians with nothing). We would NEVER simply kill off a fellow T'sen, but allow them to die, if they did, and their bodies would serve to keep their fellows fighting. I myself was as a patient on these ships at times.During the Hssshah Valley Ambush, Garudan rebels had been stripping Regults of autocannons and ammo and where they'd been amassing them along the western wall. When the full division was solidly trapped, they opened fire. My own battle pod was hit SEVERAL times and I spent several days unconscious. My commanders thought I would not recover at first, and were about to allow me to die, my body serving to keep my fellows fighting. However, I did recover in time.Shortly afterward, my unit was sent to Carbonara to quell an insurrection there. During the Assault on Brackohr, my Regult had been hit by at least 3 missiles and multiple near-hits and a chunk of armor must have fallen on my head, as I suffered a cranial fracture- My skull was broken, and I was transferred again to a Negronta Zugara T'sen to recover. A concussion left me incapacitated for several months. Again I was expected to die, but T'sentraedi medicine resuscitated me.In the year 1945 (Terran Calander), my ship was ambushed by Inspection Forces. My ship was not outright destroyed, but the force was badly mauled. My ship had to be abandoned. I was again wounded, and transferred to a Negronta Zugara T'sen (where a strange thing happened, but that's another story).Our abilities were limited, but those assigned to Negronta Zugara attended to their tasks well. Our abilities, even with the limitations, generally resulted in a 50% recovery rate. Thought FAR outclassed by Human medicines, when one keeps in mind that the Tiresians did not ALLOW us to know much about even our OWN biology and medicine, this rate is PHENOMENAL, and should NEVER be snubbed at. Trati Keppa Breetia and Trati Keppa Dolza BOTH saw time inside a Negronta Zugara T'sen ship. Trati Keppa Exedore, due to his misshapen body, routinely went to such ships.Section Index; Page Index. |
Quenno And The T'sentraedi Diet. |
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Most people think the T'sentraedi ate our own dead; This is only PARTIALLY true.Quenno, lit retrieval, was process of breaking down negronta (worthless) inventory; Inventory that included sewage, broken equipment... And T'sentraedi. These were rent down, that is broken down to the most complete possible level, for recycling.But this would also include anything recovered; Our dead enemies would also be processed, as was their equipment, becoming our food and new weapons. In fact, most classes of T'sentraedi ships had on board assault rifle, body armor, and munitions "factories" that we would be able to see, but never understand- They were automated, and as such we were not allowed to understand this. It may seem counter-intuitive, but the larger the ship, the smaller these facilities; On the NUPETIET VERGNITZS-Class Flagship, there were NO such facilities, and the FULBTZS BERRENTZS-Class not only had no such equipment, but only the most BASIC quenno equipment; Specifically, to break down dead warriors and sewage. Much of their supplies had to be imported from the fleet, though this was a much smaller concern, since the massive space stations were rarely supposed to leave a Robotech Factory; Trati Kemma DOLZA'S deployment was the first in over 200 years of such an event.In the quenno vats could be found anything; Bits of T'sentraedi, Garudan, Karbonarran, whatever was there, mixed with biohazardous mush and raw sewage. This was boiled and processed into a puck, about 12 feet across and 4 feet thick (by Terran measurements), with a kind of gelatinous appearance but a solid bite. Terrans would have called it "chewy" if they'd ever tried it (I'm not aware any ever did, though I can not say it didn't happen). It was somewhat transparent but with a sickly green color; One such pack per day met any warrior's dietary needs for a full day and a half, and our warriors were issued two per day if inventory allowed. They would be issued 10 if they were being sent to a planet to fight.To a human and many others, this may seem disgusting. To a T'sentraedi, it is life itself.Section Index; Page Index. |