ೀ ﹒﹒ favorite names compilation !
ur fav musings girly again here with the first of my christmas goodies . my favorite thing to do is these name compilations so i decided to create another masterlist of my absolute favorite ones ( some old , mostly new ) anyways all i ask is that if u found this useful , u like or reblog to show ur support . i hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season ♡
- a : abella, ardella, ares, aire, arden, ayla, arie, alder, august, aymes, atlas, alina, alora, aryn.
- b : beau, babette, belle, blake, briar, bronte, banks, boston, bishop.
- c : cassiel, clara, celeste, camden, chandler, collins, clay, cartier, chanel, cosima.
- d : dove, dream, danica, delaney, drue, denver, dacey, delcy, darcy, dahlia.
- e : elodie, emory, emrys, elio, elowynne, emerson, evie, edie, estoria, esme, effy, evans.
- f : flora, faye, fallon, ford, forbes, finnick.
- g : gaia, geles, greer, gensen.
- h : hera, hudson, hampton, heath, harlowe.
- i : isla, inara, ilia.
- j : juniper, josefine, jane, jovie, joey.
- k : kiersten, kairo, kaia, kian, kouvr, keanu.
- l : lysander, lanie, lorena, lawson, lux, ludo, lourdes.
- m : marla, marigold, maren, maeve, marlowe, miller, monet.
- n : neah, north, nola, nell, noel, nariah, niamh, nami.
- o : ozzy, orion.
- p : presley, posy, pearl, porter, pacey, paxon.
- r : reed, ruelle, raya, romey, ryker, rhode, reign, rafe, rohan, raiden, remi, rion, rhiannon, reece, river, raine, rumer, reem, rhys.
- s : selah, soraya, sarifya, savion, sloane, sol, soren, scout, saint, striker, serafina, sabina, sutter.
- t : teal, twila, tristan, tobie, tripp, teague, tate.
- v : vienna, vega, vera, vincenzo.
- w : wren, winter, winona, winnie, wilder, weston.
- x : xaverie, xylah, xiomara, xander.
- y : yves, yara.
- z : zephyr.
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The Miys, Ch. 233
It is with heavy heart that I announce: This it. The actual journey of the Ark ends here. There will be 1 more chapter after this to wrap up what everyone will be screaming and cursing at me for after you read this.
And then we will be done.
This is where you want to scroll down to the Read More if you don’t want to read the sappy stuff.
I started this story in, wildly, 2016. I had no intention of it being this long - it was initially meant to be a one shot response to a writing prompt. I was doing that a lot at first, but this stuck with me. And as a result, I have made incredible friends that I never could have imagined, developed a ton as a writer, and found something to hang on to when my life got crazy. Through too many deaths, losing family and gaining family, and through learning what I really believe when the chips are down.
I have accidentally predicted a pandemic, my future job, a national schism, and the billionaire space race.
And I have not, even once, accidentally saved the world.
To you. To me. To us. If you found even a little solace, or space, or saw a part of yourself in this story: To you, most specifically. Always and forever, to you.
“Hannah has everyone on Level Eighteen, Alistair is bringing up the rear,” Xiomara announced. “Everyone is carrying as much as they can. The comic books didn’t make it.”
I swore softly and shook my head the best I could. “We can manage without those,” I admitted begrudgingly.
“Sophia, you just signed up to teach Comics as Literature,” Eino announced.
“I - “
“Try to stop her,” Tyche cut me off. “Ignore the protests, she’ll do it.”
“Seven Eko-mari troopers left,” Charly sounded off. “But I wouldn’t suggest getting a craving for wings.”
“How much longer do we have before we have to give up and evacuate Level Seventeen?” Arthur demanded.
“Ten minutes.”
Charly’s laugh at Huynh’s response shot ice down my spine. “More than enough. Give us three to finish up, plus four to get everyone to Sixteen.”
The Ark rocked and Maverick growled. “You have five, total. Push the fight to relative port. Hannah, have everyone seal up and cross on the starboard side.”
“Maverick,” Hannah responded, clearly at the end of her impressive patience. “The ship is a spiral. Skipping levels isn’t an option.”
Conor took over. “BioLab 6 is along the relative starboard side of Seventeen. You can cross through there.”
“That’s breached,” Arthur shouted.
“The whole damned level is leaking like a sieve and barely hanging on. It’s cross there, or risk losing almost half our people.” Conor’s tone was apparently familiar to Arthur, because he just nodded and started rattling off updates and directions again.
“Four minutes,” Maverick counted off. “Charly, Hannah, as soon as you are clear of the freighters, tell us. The same second, you got it? This is going to be… fun.”
“Mister Okima,” Alistair huffed through the comms. “I am not preferable to your idea of ‘fun’.”
“And I don’t like your idea of living,” Maverick snapped. “Get off the comms, dude. Yell at me later. I’ll even sedate Sophie so you can.”
“Hey!”
“I love you, but people with a triple digit count of near death experiences don’t get a vote right now…” His tone was sing-song, despite how tensely he was clenching both his jaw and the controls. Several people on Level One had to stifle laughs, situation be damned. “Ix’al, Brol. Status updates.”
“We’ve lost ten cargo vessels, prayers to their souls,” Brol answered. “We can recoup the credits, but lives lost are lost forever.”
A very quiet amen crossed the deck, and I was sure I wasn’t the only one hoping that it translated as something conciliatory and appropriate.
“Where are we on the data bomb?” Arthur forged ahead.
“Xale informs that most of their fleet has been infected, but the dreadnought has too many firewalls.”
“Pranav, you still have that dead man switch ready to go?”
“If my heart stops, Alice has thirty seconds to give the override command,” came the grim confirmation. “I have sent the command to her phonetically.”
“Dark but precise,” Evan added. “I like it. Two minutes thirty and counting. Charly!”
“They’re as clear as they’re going to get, and it won’t get better if you don’t leave me alone!”
“Michael!”
“I second that!” he shouted against the background of the wailing damned. “How the fuck are they screaming in vacuum?”
By this point, Grey had to be numb. It was the only explanation for their calm tone. “Bioacoustics reverberating through the hull once they are in contact, then coming up through your feet.”
“Zip fighters converging!” Arthur interrupted. “Targeting the drive!”
“Hannah!”
“Ten more…. Move your asses and the one behind you!” she shouted.
My eyes nearly popped out of my head as I turned to Alice. I had never heard Hannah raise her voice.
Apparently, Alice hadn’t heard her angry, because she was just as pale.
“Seven!” she continued. “Alistair, get our ass over here or I will come get you! Five! We have one tenth gee, through the fucking box!”
“Ha - “
“Get your ass through this door right now, or so help me I will let you die!”
My mouth snapped shut, and I slammed the mute to her so that no one could speak to her. There was a tone, there at the end, that I did know, and it wasn’t anger.
Again, I was second to that conclusion, because Alice was halfway across the deck and screaming to get out. “Hannah, no….”
“Hannah is through!” Charly confirmed.
Alice whirled, face flushed and tears streaking down her face. “Hannah is not through until that level is sealed. She will go back to get people.”
That was all Charly needed. She snapped a nod. “Michael! Abandon combat, evacuate your team to starboard. Take Hannah Bodenheimer with you, by force if necessary.”
“Two minutes!” Evan counted off.
“We can do it,” Michael confirmed. “GK can run this under one point five, we can do it in point one.”
“I’m covering from behind,” Jokul’s voice cut in. When someone started to object, he forged ahead. “I suffer the least from gravity sickness, and I am the largest. I can push everyone if need be.”
“You’ll get shot - “
“They don’t have kinetics and he’s wearing fur if they use electrics,” Charly snapped. “He’s a big boy, he can take a punch. Go!”
“Where is engineering?” I asked, panicked.
“Fourteen,” came several voices. The majority conceded to Huynh. “It won’t hold everyone, but your man is protected.”
That worked. “When everyone is clear of Level Seventeen, don’t even bother finding a shelter, just strap yourself to the nearest solid object with whatever you have handy,” I demanded.
“Thirty seconds!”
As much as I adored Evania Josue, right now I was cursing her with everything from crotch fleas to moist dermatitis.
“Twenty seconds!”
“CLEAR!” Hannah’s voice shouted. “I have Alistair, but lost a religious text. Mona has a spare, he’ll live.”
“Ten seconds! Brace for - something. Just brace!”
One deep inhale later, I was being pushed against my ersatz-seatback with the force of an invisible hand, and it wasn’t gentle. Those not secured were swept up by the walls, and then across the floor.
“Braking maneuver completed! Conor, status!” Mav panted, shaking out his hands and flexing his fingers.
“Drives are getting hot from the backwash, hull integrity at Level Seventeen is below forty percent,” he rattled off before his tone became stern. “If you do that again, we won’t have any drives.”
“There may be no choice,” Xiomara muttered. “Pranav, where are we at?”
“We are as close to ready as we will ever be.”
“Ix’al, Brol. Do we know if what that databomb does will take out their dreadnought?”
Ix’al responded this time. “There is only thirty percent chance that it will stop their vessel, and less than one percent that it will force it to jump.”
“That is beneficial to the Ark,” Odvub added, confusing the hell out of me and apparently several other people, judging by the noises I heard.
“Clarify?” Xiomara asked, as a member of the Confused Contingent.
“If the Eko-mari dreadnought were to be forced into a jump at this distance, it would force the core of the Ark to breach, killing everyone on the vessel.” The clarification was the opposite of comforting, and - joy of joys - it continued. “Additionally, there are still two infected Eko-mari vessels embedded in the hull of the Ark. They are small, but will still cause an estimated additional five percent loss in hull integrity. Due to evacuation status of that level, no loss of life is anticipated.”
Arthur rubbed his face forcefully with both hands. “Maverick, Alice, is this the best we can expect?”
“Unless you are getting out to push, pretty much,” Alice confirmed after a brief glance at Mav.
It was only because I had swiveled my head over to the person speaking that I caught the frantic smacks Tyche administered to both our pilots, followed by the looks Maverick and Evan shared.
Oblivious, Xiomara started to speak. “Pranav - “
“BELAY!” Maverick shouted, more forceful than I had ever heard him. “S’crirs fleet, evacuate the field of combat, by any means necessary. Do not - I repeat - do not allow any Eko-mari ship close enough to sweep you in their well when this goes off! Do not respond, three minute delay.”
“Maverick - “
“Xiomara, respectfully, those are your allies, and you have given battlefield command over to me.” He glanced at Alice, who nodded, before he continued. “That virus is in their ships, and it will go off no matter what once triggered. There is no reason for them to walk through a minefield for us when they can get out of the blast range without changing the outcome.”
“The dreadnought.”
“Is my responsibility,” he doubled-down. “As is this ship, her integrity, and every life out there. With all due respect, I refuse your command as unlawful under Pan American Uniform Code of Conduct.”
She blinked, shook her head, and blinked again. Finally, she slowly raised her hands in surrender. “I am relieved of duty,” she rasped hoarsely before lowering herself to a seat and hooking her ankles beneath it.
“What the fuck just happened?” Parvati hissed to me, shaking my arm.
I squeezed my eyes shut tightly for a moment, trying to recall. “Pan American Uniform Code of Conduct… Oh. Oh.” When I remembered what it was, I swallowed heavily. “Maverick just relieved her of duty due to… I think commanding a course of action that is illegal under Global Parliament rules of engagement?”
“A war crime!?” she hissed again.
“To keep her from committing one,” I clarified. “He refused an unlawful order, and then relieved her of duty to remove… her from chain of command? Technically on medical grounds, I think? Basically, he formally declared she isn’t in the right frame of mind to be giving commands during combat, and she agreed.”
“And if she hadn’t…?”
“Not a lawyer, but I can guess it wouldn’t be great.”
“Not insurrection, I’ll take it.”
“S’crirs!” Maverick called out, oblivious to our hurried debate. “One minute! Please confirm!”
“We still have ships in range.” Brol was as close to despondent as the translation software could get.
Arthur started switching feet impatiently. “How close can you get to dreadnought without getting shot?”
“With absolute certainty? Further is preferable.”
“With fifty percent certainty,” he insisted. “With your craziest pilots and a lot of hope, how close?”
Brol burbled for a moment. “If we maintain shields, we would still be out of the dreadnought’s gravity well.”
“Drop the shields. Let’s be really crazy.”
“We would be vulnerable to enemy fire.”
Arthur sighed. “Ask Xale, please? Because without that, you’ll be vulnerable to the fact that the enemy sucks, in the worst possible literal sense.”
Ix’al’s voice was next. “Xale insists that if we evacuate the cargo vessels and place them on programming without shields, they may survive, and we would avoid the most casualties.”
“Do it!” I screamed, realising what Maverick was suggesting. “Fewest lives at risk, lossable targets, and it will give a distraction while everyone else gets the hell out of dodge.”
“Thirty seconds,” Maverick counted off. “And I can’t delay that. The Ark will come apart if I don’t do something soon, and right now I can’t change her trajectory.”
Tyche’s head twitched like she was following a particularly close fly. “Maverick. Maintain course for one additional minute.”
“The Ark - “
“Ninety seconds. That’s what we need. Sending plan now.”
It took all of five seconds - the heaviest, longest five seconds I could recall - for him to scan her idea. “S’crirs fleet. You have ninety seconds from mark. And…. mark!”
Odvub’s voice shimmered across us. “Pirate vessels drawing in proximity to Eko-mari dreadnought, closer than safety protocols. Eko-mari fleet is diverting to those vessels. Communications suspect mass retaliatory detonation of cores - “
“We really should have thought of that,” Arthur muttered.
“Programming now,” Brol apparently agreed. “Our populated vessels are beyond all Eko-mari gravity wells.”
“Pranav!” Maverick turned his attention. “Activate data bomb in five.”
“Four.”
“Three.”
“Two.”
“Brace!”
The Ark rocked and klaxons blared violently, yanking the ship side to side like a car fishtailing on a flat road. “Embedded vessels micro-jumped before detonation,” Huynh confirmed. “Hull integrity at thirty-three percent.”
“Drive cores detonated,” Brol added. “Increased damage to Eko-mari dreadnought due to proximity.”
“No Eko-mari ships detected beyond dreadnought,” Arthur huffed, fighting to keep his balance. “No loss of S’crirs fleet detected beyond intended. Fleet confirm.”
“Confirmed.”
“I am thrilled to know everyone is okay.” Conor’s voice was entirely genuine. “But at this speed, when we hit the gravity well of the star, the Ark is going to come apart and we’ll be face planting into a nuclear bomb.”
“If that dreadnought doesn’t take us out first,” Arthur agreed. “We’re basically in a race for who kills us faster, Maverick: them or us, and they have the lead.”
“Thought you grew up in Pan Am, Farro.” Maverick ground out. When I focused on them, it was clear that both he and Evan were holding the ship on course with force of will, a firm grip, and determination.
“Former California region…” Arthur said hesitantly. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“All hands, brace for maneuver.”
I scrabbled for purchase with not only my hands, but in a vain attempt to brace my feet against structures just too far to apply any force to. It was nothing compared to the efforts of some, who were nowhere near a solid surface despite nearly forty hours of Maverick’s piloting.
“Okima, what does that have to do with anything?” Arthur asked again.
“Batter up,” Mav grunted.
Evan shouted, “Acceleration maneuver, mark!”
As I watched, it looked like the force of the maneuver was pulling Tyche’s body into a sitting position. I honestly thought nothing of it, at first, because I was so focused on the pilots and listening for any sounds of damage - like the Ark falling apart.
It was when her arm drifted into Evan’s field of vision, only to be swatted away to drift, that I started freaking out. “Tyche!” I shouted. “TYCHE!”
Almost reluctantly, one of her arms pulled in, and her hand clenched to put one finger across her lips. “Shh,” she admonished quietly. “It’s all or nothing now. Just watch.”
“Watch wh-”
Klaxons. Again. “Hull integrity below ten percent. Full breach beginning at Level Seventeen.”
“EVAN!” Maverick shouted suddenly. “CRANK IT!”
All at once, the Ark wrenched to the side and lurched forward. What I could only describe as a full body - full ship? - shudder sent tremors through everyone and everything.
“We’ve lost the drives!” Conor shouted. “Repeat - we’ve lost the drives! They are on a direct collision course for - Mav you son of a bitch!”
“It. Was. Tyche’s. Idea,” Maverick ground out as he forced the Ark on course with Evan’s assistance. “It. Was going. To tear. Loose. Anyway.”
“Pilot Okima,” Noah buzzed in a hideous tone that sounded like flat out panic. “The Ark is not on trajectory for a gravity brake.”
“We’re aware!” Evan forced out. “We should be on course to hit the steam on the hot side!”
“Drives to strike Eko-mari dreadnought in ninety seconds,” Odvub advised.
Evan nodded. “And that should make us fast enough to keep from being yanked into the atmosphere!”
“There is no data to support your conclusions,” Noah insisted angrily.
“Sure there is,” Maverick gasped. “We do this all the time.”
“There is no record of any human using planetary gravity to safely land a vessel,” came the retort.
Arthur started laughing insanely, only to be joined by Charly and Huynh, sparking concerns for everyone’s mental health.
Even our co-pilot was grinning maniacally. “Stop looking for safe landings, and start looking for controlled crashes.”
“Drive collision with Eko-mari dreadnought in three… two… one.”
The closest I could come to describing what happened next was a lurch. Except, we never stopped lurching - it was like riding a slingshot, waiting to see how long the shot lasted. Everyone who wasn’t secured was plastered against the same wall of Level One, grimacing against the pressure.
“Eko-mari dreadnought destroyed.”
I would have cheered if I could draw a breath to do it. They were gone.
“Hitting Kepler Four Four Two gravity well in four.”
Wait, what?
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One.”
A jolt, and the pressure gave up slightly. “Trajectory on course for Von,” Evan gasped. “It won’t be pretty, but we’re on course. No bodies in system to divert course.”
“Please tell me we are on course for the cold side?” I begged miserably.
“Not enough atmo,” Evan argued. “We need the cushion on the hot side. Tropical steam is thick.”
“And no mosquitos,” Tyche added dreamily. “It will be nice, right?”
I cut her a glare, knowing she wouldn’t see it. “Gotta live to enjoy it. That whole thing.”
“On track for Von atmosphere in ten minutes,” Odvub advised.
Charly rallied herself to come over and physically shake me into action - at least until Antoine swatted at her and said something about puncturing a lung. To be fair, he was irritated enough that he could have meant hers.
“All hands,” I gasped over comms. “Ten minutes under current acceleration to brace for impact with atmosphere.” Taking another breath, I groaned a bit. “We trained for years under more pressure than this,” I assured the ship as much as myself. “We can at least get to safe locations to brace. The safe rooms are open on Levels Three through Ten. Full of smooshy shit. All the water and hard things have been taken out.”
As much as I wanted to get up and help, Antoine only double checked my bandages and pulled a few knots tighter to make sure I didn’t, in fact, get up. One conciliation was stuffing something soft between my spine and bench I was braced against. “Pillow from bunk room,” he added shortly. “We can’t heal spine fractures if this goes right.”
I didn’t even bother trying to ask what would happen if this went wrong.
“Life pods have made impact,” Odvub provided. “Locations centered on the pole designated From, beacons are being tracked by the S’crirs fleet.”
“Noted,” Arthur muttered as he moved to sit against the wall being indicated by slowly flashing lights.
The entrance to Level One irised open, startling everyone. When several people moved toward the door in defensive postures, three hands reached through - two with short stubby fingers, one spidery with too many joints. “I am coming to assist in securing everyone against impact,” Noah buzzed, this time coming from the door rather than the ceiling.
“Five minutes,” Maverick updated us around the time that most people were in secure grips and thick, mushroom feet were vanishing into the deck.
Eino, of all people, struggled the most, insisting that everyone else be secured before he was. Finally, he briskly walked over to Arthur and shoved him to deck, using only the element of surprise. “You are no use dead,” Eino admonished. “Secure your own mask before assisting others.”
“Three minutes.”
Arthur opened his mouth to argue, but Eino shook his head in a - motherly? - disapproval. “No. We are controlling the crash. There are no tactics. There is only surviving.”
More bewildered than I had every seen him, Arthur slowly stood and made his way to where everyone else was being secured against impact. Eino followed closely, waited until he seemed satisfied that his mentee was safe, then surrendered to Noah’s insistence.
“Two.”
“Mav,” I shouted. “You’ve gotta be secured.”
“Noah can secure me here,” he argued. “We still have minor attitude thrust, and I’ll need them to the last minute.”
“Evan, talk some sense into him!”
She shook her head determinedly. “Same here. We go down, I go down.”
“One.”
“Noah!” I screamed. “Do something! Sedate them!”
“I regret that we have very little control of the Ark at this time,” Noah admitted as two of their bodies went to the pilots, both basically sitting on Tyche to secure her to the deck before wrapping all limbs around the pilots as carefully as possible without restricting their arms. “If they state they can improve our chances of survival, I have no choice but to acquiesce.”
“MAVERICK!” I begged. “Please, please…. I know we need you now, but I need you after this. Conor needs you after this. We need you to live…”
“Brace for impact in thirty seconds.”
“NO!” I kept screaming, shouting for Maverick and Tyche until my voice until the last second.
“Impact in ten.”
“Tyche!”
“Nine.”
“GODS DAMMIT, LET ME GO!”
“Eight.”
“NO! NOOO! GODS DAMMIT, I’LL KILL YOU!”
“Seven.”
“Please,” I sobbed. “Please… one of you, both of you…”
“Six.”
“Mav, please.” I could barely breathe, and the last thing I was thinking about was impact.
“Five.”
“TYCHE!” I tried shouting. “This isn’t funny.”
“Four.”
“Sophia, stop!” Arthur shouted. “You’ll kill them if they get up.”
“Three.”
“FUCK YOU!” I spat at my best friend, the taste of metal sharp in my mouth.
“Two.”
I tried to draw a breath, but choked on the blood in my throat.
“One.”
Everything in me shook with pain, and then it was all black.
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