The Mysteries of Rutilus Excerticus

Below is the colony project I had to do for my history class, scored 100 out of 100. Not my best work, but nevertheless, I am posting it here. There is a map of the colony (fictional obviously) and the flag at the end of the post, in that order.

Founded in 1752 by Captain Validus Didelis, the colony of Rutilus Excerticus is something of a conundrum, and holds many a mystery. A terrible place for farming and a leisurely life, it is almost entirely swamp, minor rivers, and high plateaus. Settlement was very hard for the first colonists, led by Didelis.

If Rutilus Excerticus is such a terrible place, then why do people come? Why do people live there? A mystery indeed. Perhaps the answer lies within the history of Didelis, whom grew up an orphan, abandoned by all civilization. He was near the point of starvation when an old man in his fifties who called himself Agnostos found him and took him in. Agnostos cared for Didelis, and raised him as his own. Both were outcasts, and they never stayed in one place for long. After traveling all of Europe, they two decided to stay for a while in London, England. What led them to stay here, of all places, after traveling Europe? There were so many other places they could’ve stayed. Why here?

The answer is that Agnostos had a fascination with the New World, especially the New England colonies, where he heard rumors of gold, and lots of it. Since it was called New England, it stood to reason that they were colonies of England, and thus for two years, Agnostos and Didelis stayed in London.

Over those two years, Didelis found many ragtag criminals, whom challenged him, what with his being new to the streets of London. In every case, Didelis won the challenge, and inspired something of loyalty and respect amongst the criminals. Before too long, Didelis had won a name for himself amongst the people of London. Those whom he defeated subsequently became a follower of him, and joined the good side of the law.

Agnostos and Didelis very much enjoyed being in London, and most likely would have stayed there, had a tragedy not occurred. Didelis, having won every challenge he came by, had made enemies, just like every man like himself. One of his enemies held a grudge, and rallied to his side everyone else with who had decided themselves enemies of Didelis. Whether or not the men intended to harm Didelis or not is still uncertain, as the details are sketchy. It is known, however, that the men came to where Didelis and Agnostos were staying. Didelis was not home, but Agnostos was. The men, seeing Didelis was not home, made up their mind that they had not come for anything, and attacked Agnostos, attack a helpless old man. Yet, they didn’t know he was helpless. Agnostos, being Didelis’s teacher, still had some fight in him, and gave them a good run for their money. But his ultimate downfall was his age. He couldn’t keep up.

Before much damage could be done, Didelis returned with his men, whom now affectionately called him Captain, and fought his enemies, driving them back. Many injuries were sustained on both sides of the fray, but Didelis’s men won. Yet, the leader would not give up. Before he went, he managed to get to Agnostos, and force down his throat a fatal poison with no cure. However, sources say Didelis got to Agnostos before the leader could completely drain the bottle of poison.

Agnostos dying and his enemies sure to attack again, Didelis decided he’d do the only thing he could; travel to the New World. Didelis rounded up his men and their families, bought a ship, and within two weeks, he was on his way to the New World.

The trip was three months, but the ship was somewhat roomy, holding a mere two hundred people, instead of the intended five hundred. Didelis and his men’s families encountered some strong winds and storms crossing the sea, especially since they did it in winter, but they made it through. On Christmas Eve of 1752, they sighted land. The next day they disembarked on the island which later would known as Port Christmas by the locals. They stayed there for some time before moving on, and even then, some of Didelis’s men decided to stay.

In mid January, Didelis and his men set off through the Jigsaw Islands, named after the myth that all of the islands fit together like a jigsaw puzzle if placed correctly. A week following their leave, they sailed through the Sea Gate. The Sea Gate is, like most things in Rutilus Excerticus, a mystery. No one had ever heard of or seen these lands before, and yet, here was a giant arch spanning two hundred feet of sea, as if it were some sort of gate. It had an odd writing on it, one whom no one could define. The arch itself was made of stone, inlaid with so many precious metals, gems, and jewels, that it was difficult to tell if the pieces really were inlaid. Either way, the Sea Gate was a spectacular sight, and hard to fathom that anyone could construct such a structure that wouldn’t fall.

After sailing through the Sea Gate, the fog parted, and provided a view of an ancient town on an island in the middle of a giant lake, in mint condition, as if people were living there. There wasn’t so much as a scratch on the buildings. Didelis decided that they would also land here. Agnostos was very close to dead. This city was where Agnostos would die. He hadn’t seen much of the New World, but this he would. This was where he would be buried. On February 1st, Agnostos died in the city, which was named Agnosis after him.

For the next several months, Didelis traveled the land with his men, exploring and naming, and finding that there were multiple cities built in the few patches where there was no swamp land. The only major city or town that made its way on to the map of Rutilus Excerticus that wasn’t already standing was Port Christmas. At the time that this is being written, Rutilus Excerticus holds three main cities, five small towns, and many outposts.

Didelis and the majority of his men eventually settled in the city they named Amon, which lay at the center of a natural land and water spiral, which, obviously, was named the Spiral. Amon became the capitol of Rutilus Excerticus within a few months, due to its natural security and defenses: the swamp fog, the deep swamp water, and high plateaus.

The year was 1755, and rumors were spreading to the Old World of the discovery of Rutilus Excerticus. Old men and professors began to chat about it. Didelis eventually went to London and confirmed the myth, bringing a map with him. Over the next year, Rutilus Excerticus became a popular tourist destination. The problem was, back in those days, if you went to the New World, you stayed. This is how Rutilus Excerticus saw a boom in population.

What with more people coming, new questions were arising. What was the currency to be? How would people get around? How would we communicate? What about trade? What sort of things would we trade?

Communications were easily solved, for in the area of the Golden Plateaus, there was a complex messaging system set up between the outposts. It seemed as though there were two poles, one at each destination, and at each end were tied two strings. On these strings there was a bottle of sorts, which was capable of holding a piece of rolled paper and some small objects. Then a cap was placed on the bottle, the bottles were pushed down the line, and within hours, the bottle reached another outpost. An ingenious idea, the citizens of Rutilus Excerticus immediately accepted the idea, and began placing longer lines between places. Within three years, the system was finished.

Yet, all wondered, why was the communication system just in the area of the Golden Plateaus? In answer, Didelis led a group of men down to the area, and investigated. When they came back six months following their departure, they told that the land was rich in gold. The plateaus were almost solid gold and that in the long summers, the swamp level receded, and giant deposits of gold were found. Gold mining soon became the main export for Rutilus Excerticus.

With the discovery and mining of gold, less people tried to farm the clay soil. The weather was perfect for long mining seasons, what with little rain and long summers. Every year, much of the population traveled to a nearby mine and contributed their part to the Rutilus Excerticus economy. With a strong and growing economy, the citizens of Rutilus Excerticus designed a currency, which was jokingly named the loon at first, and if you were rich, you were loony. A place where money was kept was called the loony bin. The name stuck, and thus one troy ounce became the standard of the loon. Why someone called it a loon is yet another mystery of Rutilus Excerticus. However, the loon was not accepted outside Rutilus Excerticus, and so we had a second currency used for international affairs, the British pound.

Our French neighbors soon got jealous of our gold. Here they were so close, and yet, they didn’t find any of the gold which we had found. Being French, what did they do? Declare war upon us of course. Yet, they did not fully know our powers. Didelis and his men had kept up their training, and the general population had also deigned to learn of the arts of war. So when the French declared war, Rutilus Excerticus was ready.

The French attacked first. They marched from their city just north of the Spiral to Trade’s Mouth. Rutilus Excerticus gave ground to the French, but when they reached the river west of Trade’s Mouth, we sprung our trap. From out of the fog, we flanked the French army. Being occupied with the front and considering us inferior, they did not expect such an attack. On that day, they fled. Rutilus Excerticus followed, led by Didelis and his men.

Before long, they reached the prairies north of the Spiral, where the French had come from. For two weeks, they laid siege to the French city in the middle of the prairie. It was on the last day of this siege that the French came out and attacked us. Didelis’s army fought valiantly, and we took the city, but at a price. Didelis died, and the city was named Validus in honor of him. The prairies became known as the Didelis prairies. The day was ours. A week after the victory, Didelis was buried in the center of the city, with a single black rose on his grave, symbolizing the deaths of thousands, both past and future, who died in defense of Rutilus Excerticus. In honor of Didelis, the black rose became the colony’s flower.

The war changed much of the lifestyle, and rowboats came into use as the main form of transportation. Very little was solid land, and most of the swamp was deep, so rowboats worked well. The little that was land was walking distance. The war also saw the rise of our flag, the Golden Sword.

The military became the second main industry of Rutilus Excerticus. More than five thousand composed their military force, complete with hundreds upon hundreds of ships. Before long, our colony became a military dictatorship. Unlike most such places controlled by that form of government, Rutilus Excerticus was perfectly suited for it, and the citizens themselves chose it. Not once in their history has Rutilus Excerticus had a problem with their government.

As for the effect of international relations because of the war, nations weren’t quite so hasty to declare war on us. Leaders suddenly treated the dictator or Rutilus Excerticus with far more respect, and generally, the colony has been treated more equal since. Seeing how military has become a major part of the life in Rutilus Excerticus, an odd trade system arose. First there was gold trading for other commodities that the colony could not make themselves, which was not odd at all, and then a loaning of military support. Rutilus Excerticus had a massive army, but few wars. So what was the use of paying the military to do nothing?

That is how the loaning began. The dictator noticed that a certain country was losing a war with another country, and offered to lend support. The losing country accepted, and won the war due to the skill of the superb army of Rutilus Excerticus. Yet, what was in it for Rutilus Excerticus? The payment of the country that was being aided was not money, for that was essential to the war itself, but rather that in the future, the country must answer any one favor that was called in, despite their condition, or else war would be declared, and all knew who would win.

As with every place, minorities rose. Rutilus Excerticus had their fair share, but they all belonged to one group with one goal: pacifism, the belief in non violence, which was completely against the creed of the dictator and the majority of Rutilus Excerticus. The pacifists were lucky, for if they did not believe in war, they could mine the gold for the war.

Just before the Revolutionary War of the English colonies, Rutilus Excerticus experienced another major war, after almost fifteen years of peacetimes and aiding other countries. No major power declared war upon us, but rather a small group of American Indians. Yet, what Rutilus Excerticus did not know, was that this small band was but one of a large confederacy. As it would turn out, this was the confederacy that had been in Rutilus Excerticus before Didelis had come, returned to reclaim what was theirs.

Knowing how the Indians had conquered the problems of the colony, Rutilus Excerticus prepared for war. They called upon all the countries they had aided, asking them to fight by their side. All of the countries sent troops to aid, giving Rutilus Excerticus a fighting force of more than three thousand ships and twenty thousand men. Much artillery was brought across the seas, muskets and bayonets were loaded, and everyone was trained for the coming onslaught.

The two armies marched for months, and stopped near Validus. For one week, both armies camped just outside the city. Then, on Friday the thirteenth, one foreigner fighting for Rutilus Excerticus was leaning on his musket, and accidentally shot one of the Indians. Naturally, battle commenced after that. Little did the belligerents of the battle know that other battles were taking place everywhere else in the colony at the same time. Just how the Indians all knew when to attack is still a mystery, another mystery of Rutilus Excerticus.

The battles raged for three days, but eventually, the Indians won most of the battles. The only battles of which they did not win were Validus and Agnosis. Every other city, town, and outpost was taken, save for Amon, where an army was quickly advancing. The survivors of Validus quickly tried to reach Amon, and reached it through great perseverance and ingenuity. How they managed to get to Amon is yet another mystery of Rutilus Excerticus.

As the year came to an end, the Indians came upon Amon. In the city were more than ten thousand men, women, and children. Everyone was fighting. Surrounding the cities extensive coastline was our entire navy, including some of the navy of other countries whom were serving us in our war. Rutilus Excerticus had thought they would greatly outnumber the enemy, but that was not so. The enemy had picked up reinforcements, and lot of them. The numbers were equal.

The Indians waited five miles outside Amon for one week, waiting for us to make the first move. Eventually, the defenders would have to. Amon just didn’t have enough food for that many, and was unable to make enough in such a little time. Amon would starve if they didn’t fight. So what did they do? On Christmas day, everyone marched out of the city. Not one person was left behind.

No one knows exactly what happened in that battle. There are few facts, and most is shrouded in myth. What is known is that the battle raged day and night until the last day of the year. The Indians pushed the colonists back towards the city, and made their move there. With giant ladders and siege weapons, they scaled and destroyed the walls surrounding Amon on New Year’s Eve. For the entire day, both sides fought within the city, gaining ground, losing ground, gaining it again. Both armies were rapidly declining in fighting men. It was only a matter of time.

Months passed following the Battle for Amon, which has become known as the five day war. There was no word from Rutilus Excerticus. Several countries sent out ships and explorers to search for the colony and retrieve their lost men, but the colony was never found again. Just like that, Rutilus Excerticus had disappeared. No one knew where, no one knew why, no one knew how.

People began to wonder whether Rutilus Excerticus had ever existed at all. There was no lasting mark left by their people, so doesn’t it make sense that it was all in their heads? And so, here we are today, the greatest colony of them all, forgotten. The mysteries have never been solved, and never will, from the smallest things like why everyone tripped over the pothole in Main Street, to where did the Indians come from and why did they leave in the first place? Though one may long to know the answers, perhaps it shall be best if it is left as it is.

Impact Events - Extra Credit for Science

This post is the extra credit report I wrote for science on Impact Events. Enjoy!

0.0001pt;"> Earth has a long history of impact events. A common theory amongst historians and astronomers alike is that all of the major extinctions before man may have been caused by an impact event. The most common criticism of this theory is that the asteroid would have to be huge to avoid being burned in the atmosphere, which is true, and that it would have to be even bigger to cast up enough dust and debris to cause mass extinction. Yet, the chances of an asteroid hitting land are only 29.2%, comparably to a 70.8% of hitting water. Not to mention hitting water would be far more catastrophic than hitting land, as the impact would undoubtedly causing megatsunamis, worldwide earthquakes if it hit between the plates, and possibly volcanic eruptions if it landed closely to a volcano or the chain reaction of events caused an eruption.

We do know that had the dinosaurs never ceased to exist, then mammals never would have become the dominant life on Earth, just as every mass extinction inevitably leads to another type of life becoming dominant. So do we love asteroids or hate them? They gave us the chance to rise above the rest, but they may someday kill us in the same way as our predecessors.

Yet, the extinction of the dinosaurs was not the last time that an asteroid of such magnitude struck Earth. Thousands of years ago, ancient astronomers observed the skies, and hypothesized the imminent collision of Earth and a giant meteorite. As can be observed today, such an impact did occur, and has since become the stories of legends. This impact was the Burckle Crater, located just off the coast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, estimated to be eighteen miles in diameter, most likely impacting about five-thousand years ago, most likely on the morning of May 10, 2807 BC.

The Burckle Crater has become of many legends. Historians say that the legend of Noah and his ark may be based off of the megatsunamis created by the impact, as may have many great flood legends. The impact also ushered in the First Dynasty of Kish in China, “After the flood had swept over, and the kingship had descended from heaven, the kingship was in Kish.”, as Chinese legend tells it.

There have not been many major impacts since that have been dated or proven, though there are theories. Perhaps one of the most significant were the extreme weather events of 535-536. Civilizations around the world have recorded the weather events; “During this year a most dread portent took place. For the sun gave forth its light without brightness… and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not clear.”, in 536 by Byzantine historian Procopius; “A failure of bread from the years 536–539 AD” as recorded by the Gaelic Irish Annals. Temperatures were low around the world, even in the Middle East, which experienced a dry, dense fog. Even China got snow; in August. It can also be noted that 536 is the death of King Arthur in the Celtic legends, leading the Celts to believe the temperature was to forewarn of King Arthur’s death. The most likely scenario, however, is an impact event or the eruption of the supervolcano, Tambora.

In 1972, there was almost a catastrophic impact, called the ‘Great Daylight Fireball’, which entered the atmosphere in daylight over Utah at 14:30 local time, and continued throughout the day north, leaving the atmosphere in Alberta Canada. This meteoroid was filmed by countless people throughout the day. Surprisingly small, a mere three to twelve meters in diameter, the meteoroid’s impact would have caused anywhere between 0.4 to two kilotons of energy upon impact.

Near-Earth-Objects (NEOs) are graded on the Torino scale, which is a method of categorizing impact hazard of NEOs. The scale is 0-10, and color coded. The scale is as is below:

NO HAZARD (white)
0.	The likelihood of a collision is zero, or is so low as to be effectively zero. Also applies to small objects such as meteors and bodies that burn up in the atmosphere as well as infrequent meteorite falls that rarely cause damage.
NORMAL (green)
1.	A routine discovery in which a pass near the Earth is predicted that poses no unusual level of danger. Current calculations show the chance of collision is extremely unlikely with no cause for public attention or public concern. New telescopic observations very likely will lead to re-assignment to Level 0.
MERITING ATTENTION BY ASTRONOMERS (yellow)
2.	A discovery, which may become routine with expanded searches, of an object making a somewhat close but not highly unusual pass near the Earth. While meriting attention by astronomers, there is no cause for public attention or public concern as an actual collision is very unlikely. New telescopic observations very likely will lead to re-assignment to Level 0.
3.	A close encounter, meriting attention by astronomers. Current calculations give a 1% or greater chance of collision capable of localized destruction. Most likely, new telescopic observations will lead to re-assignment to Level 0. Attention by public and by public officials is merited if the encounter is less than a decade away.
4.	A close encounter, meriting attention by astronomers. Current calculations give a 1% or greater chance of collision capable of regional devastation. Most likely, new telescopic observations will lead to re-assignment to Level 0. Attention by public and by public officials is merited if the encounter is less than a decade away.
THREATENING (orange)
5.	A close encounter posing a serious, but still uncertain threat of regional devastation. Critical attention by astronomers is needed to determine conclusively whether a collision will occur. If the encounter is less than a decade away, governmental contingency planning may be warranted.
6.	A close encounter by a large object posing a serious but still uncertain threat of a global catastrophe. Critical attention by astronomers is needed to determine conclusively whether a collision will occur. If the encounter is less than three decades away, governmental contingency planning may be warranted.
7.	A very close encounter by a large object, which if occurring this century, poses an unprecedented but still uncertain threat of a global catastrophe. For such a threat in this century, international contingency planning is warranted, especially to determine urgently and conclusively whether a collision will occur.
CERTAIN COLLISIONS (red)
8.	A collision is certain, capable of causing localized destruction for an impact over land or possibly a tsunami if close offshore. Such events occur on average between once per 50 years and once per several 1,000 years.
9.	A collision is certain, capable of causing unprecedented regional devastation for a land impact or the threat of a major tsunami for an ocean impact. Such events occur on average between once per 10,000 years and once per 100,000 years.
10.	A collision is certain, capable of causing global climatic catastrophe that may threaten the future of civilization as we know it, whether impacting land or ocean. Such events occur on average once per 100,000 years, or less often.

The majority of NEOs are rated 0, with less than ten rated a 1, and none currently rated higher. There have been very few NEOs rated higher than a 1, the first of which was 99942 Apophis. Discovered by Roy A. Tucker, David J. Tholen, and Fabrizio Bernardi on June 19, 2004. Initial observations showed a 2.7%, or 1 in 37, chance of impact in 2029, which led to Apophis being a rated a 1. It was then discovered that chances of 2029 were almost nothing, which normally would have Apophis degraded to a 0. However, Apophis’s close encounter will lead it close to the gravitational keyhole.

A gravitational keyhole is minute section of space, minute in terms of space’s vast continuity, that if an NEO were to pass through, then impact is certain the next time the NEO passes Earth. This is due to the gravitational field of Earth.

In 2029, the keyhole will be about two-thousand feet wide. Apophis in comparison, is about one-thousand three-hundred feet wide. Estimates have been made for this situation, the first of which put the chances of Apophis passing through the gravitational keyhole at 1 in 17. Later estimates put it at 1 in 27. Either way, Apophis’s rating was raised to 4, the current record. If Apophis passes through the keyhole, impact is certain on Friday, April 13, 2036 just off the coast of California. To prevent this, NASA would send a probe to Apophis if it got to close to nudge it off its course slightly, at thirty-one inches a day maximum for three years, which would set it off course by about a mile, more than enough to miss the keyhole. However, Apophis still presents a threat, thus the Planetary Society awarded $50,000 in prize money to students and companies for designs for space probes that would place a tracking device on or near the asteroid. 37 entries were received from 20 countries across 6 continents.

Currently, Apophis is rated 0, being degraded on August 5, 2006, with the reasoning that with a 1 in 45,000 chance of passing through the gravitational keyhole, there’s no need to worry. However, last year, a German thirteen-year-old name Nico Marquardt revealed his statistics of a 1 in 450 chance, stating that NASA had forgotten to calculate in what would happen if Apophis impacted with one or more of the satellites in orbit around Earth. The statement was then confirmed by the ESA and NASA, but in a press conference, NASA denied having any contact with Marquardt, and have not changed their statistics.

While rated a 0, Apophis is still the most studied NEO, what with the fact that it passes Earth every seven years, occasionally less, and comes closer to Earth every following set. Last year was the most recent pass of Apophis, and the next will be 2013. However, the 2029 and 2036 passings are the most studied and scrutinized.

If Apophis stuck Earth, it would make a long journey across the continents, entering the atmosphere in Kazakhstan, go north into Russia, then head south across Central America, and back north to the most western tip of Africa, impacting somewhere along the path, most likely in the Atlantic. Apophis would be traveling so fast it would be violet-hot, going roughly the equivalent of Mach 11. If you see Apophis, the mere sight would burn you. The impact impact be catastrophic, because it would be near or on the coast, causing tsunamis, the debris of the impact will fly up in the air, and come down across the United States and China, fog up the skies, cause major earthquakes, and possibly activate volcanoes and eruptions. The tsunamis would drastically increase water level, so only those on high ground would live, if they weren’t being rained upon by the flaming pieces of Apophis or suffering from an earthquake. The few survivors would more than likely be knocked unconscious, and would awake to see a pitch black world, due to the debris floating in the air. This scenario is ‘Snowball Earth’.
An interesting fact about asteroid impacts is that if the deflection scenario failed, then the people of Earth would know exactly when they would die, to the very last second. One day you would wake up and know that you were going to die that day. Something very interesting about this is one little question: how would society change in the eve of certain destruction? Would we all come together, not as nations, but as a species? Or would the world become a world of pure and utter chaos? Naturally, you will have some of the groups you’ve always had in times of turmoil, such as the ones who look for survival, the ones who accept what they can’t change, the ones who pray, the ones who don’t believe the tales are true, and so forth. Yet, one must hope that it is the first scenario that becomes of man.

Dark Origins

I have again been to the space center, and have done a mission on the Phoenix called 'Dark Origins'. It is perhaps the best mission I've done yet, new to the center this summer. On this mission, I was the Captain.

Mission Briefing: A black hole is found entering Dinaali space. Usually, a black hole is nothing new, the Federation has explored them before. But like usual, the Federation sent a probe to investigate this black hole because it did not orbit like most things, but rather up, then down, then back up again in a vertical loop, whereas most planets and other celestial bodies orbit in the opposite way, what would be the horizontal plane.

Nothing new was expected. Everyone was wrong. What the probe found was amazing; a planet suspended just above the black hole. According to all the laws of physics, this was impossible, the planet would be sucked in eventually. But it wasn't. No, rather scans showed that the planet was uninhabited and had been so for at least ten thousand years. It was presumed that the black hole was the reason of the civilization's death, but why didn't the planet disappear? Furthermore, was there any treasure on this planet?

There were several other things that were picked up by the probe, including that the planet was a major power source. There were also several similarities between the traces of the civilization and the modern Borg, so we were warned to be careful.

Several weeks later, the Phoenix was charged with the responsibility of heading to the planet. The problem was, how were we not to be sucked in by the black hole?

As it happened, the planet cast an eclipse out from the black hole, an eclipse of radiation and anything that may harm us. This eclipse was not going to last forever, and was out only hope of getting to the planet within the next ten thousand years. We decided to take it.

Mission: Undocking was disastrous. A permanent blotch on my record.

I'm getting ahead of myself. I am the newly appointed captain of the USS Phoenix. After the Phoenix was charged with the duty of exploring the unknown planet, I was personally picked by Starfleet to be on this ship, to help out if things got rough. The first thing I noticed was that bridge positions were filled by fresh graduates from the academy except for captain. I was the only senior among them, and thus captain. I would have filled the seat of first officer or tactical officer, for I have served as both, first officer for two years on the USS Voyager and one year on the USS Magellan, and as tactical officer on the USS Odyssey for one year.

Now, about the undocking I mentioned earlier; I was going through formal undocking procedures, and as I'm requesting permission to undock, I hear a scraping sound. I look on screens and see a sight that should not have been; the Phoenix had taken off without undocking, and was tearing the space station to shreds. My crew and I were hospitalized for a week (in actuality, we died and had death time, but for the purpose of the story, go along with it).

Several weeks later, we took off. I took the precaution of taking power out of all engines. My engineer was a step ahead and had already done so.

Nothing really happened for some time. We got several messages from other civilizations asking about the black hole. It was no secret that we were going to the black hole. It was that we were going to the planet.

Unfortunately, information on the planet got out and we got several calls. The first was from the Dinaari. Being a peace loving and crazy, psychotic people, they valued human life higher than their own. Needless to say, that is a great honor, but extremely annoying. That would be because the black hole was in their space, and through logic, they determined that by letting us through, it would be their fault if we died. I tried to reason with them, telling them that if they let us through, it wouldn't be their fault, but Starfleet's because they ordered us to go to the black hole.

They didn't listen, and hung up on us, but not before they declared war on our ship. Now, pause for a moment. If they value human life above their own, why attack us? There is a good possibility that we could die in a fire fight with a larger ship, where as flying through a wide eclipse is a piece of cake when you've been trained to fly through the narrowest of asteroid fields and nebulas. Does it really make sense? No, of course not. My crew and I still wonder how the Dinaari achieved the status of a warp civilization with their backwards thinking.

So now on to the fight. The Dinaari were not kind. The Dinaari being who they were, I had expected no fighting, so I flew in without shields. My mistake. I had just given the order to raise shields when the first shot was fired. It hit us good and thoroughly, and caused much damage. Luckily, no more shots came as we raised shields. But once they were raised, the Dinaari had no mercy. None whatsoever. They fired until our weapons, our shields, and our engines were offline. They hailed us. They asked if we had had enough. I said yes, and we would not again enter Dinaari space. The Dinaari activated their tractor beams and took us to the border. Then we were hailed by the Ferengi, an annoying race of backstabbers and extortionists.

There is something you should know before I tell you about the negotiations that occured between the Ferengi and the Phoenix. That something is that at the time, I was stunned, and my first officer, according to the rest of the crew, handled things awfully.The reason I was stunned you ask? Simple: my first officer is treasonous. He shot me, by accident is what he claims, though I don't believe him, and I was down. What kind of behavior is that for a first officer? I hand pick him from the crew and he backstabs me? What's up with that?

Alright, now on to the Ferengi. They knew our position. They offered us parts for our ship. Knowing the Ferengi, I refused their kind offer, and then they told us theirs. We either give them half of all the treasure to be found on the planet, or they would kill us here and now. It was an offer we couldn't refuse if we valued our lives. We accepted. Later we would find a way to get rid of the Ferengi and not have to pay up, for everyone knew they would turn around and stab us deep in the heart.

While engineering continued fixing our engines, we got several more calls, the first of which was from the Klingons. Naturally, they wondered what we were doing. They knew we were headed to the black hole, and assumed it was a suicide mission. They told us of how we must die a warrior's death, not the death of cowardly dogs. To which I replied, "Please don't fire on us." Again, another mistake, as I had given the Klingons to much intellectual credit. They asked us why they would fire. I had told them that they wanted us to die a warrior's death and they had weapons...Apparently that gave them the idea of firing on us, and having the honor of giving us the warrior's death they wished us to die. I quickly told them I hadn't meant it that way, and that we would be sure to find ourselves a warrior's death. Then we hung up on the Klingons before they could protest. Not the best idea, but our engines came up soon after, so it wasn't much of a problem. We hoped at least.

The final call was from Starfleet, which instructed us to try again with the Dinaari. We did so, and the result was we had to sign a legal document saying that the Dinaari would not be held responsible for our deaths.

Now that we had the okay to pass through Dinaari space, we continued on to the planet. We were there in roughly ten minutes. In the mean time, engineering worked on fixing the ship after our one-sided fight with the Dinaari, them being the one side. Several times operations, after being overworked by me and engineering, accidentally hailed someone. This happened thrice. The first it was Starfleet, I told them wrong number, and everything was peaceful. Starfleet wasn't angry. They second hail was to the Dinaari, who were slightly annoyed with us having accidentally hailed them. The third was the Klingons, who accused me of insulting their honor. I don't know how they came to that conclusion, but then they're Klingons. Of course they would find some thing or other wrong with the Federation. They always do.

It was during the time of travel to the planet that my helms officer managed to get Doctor James to give himself a numbing shot. It was really quite funny, I'll admit that. That incident may also explain why it took so long for helms to recover from a disease he got later. We also met Lieutenant Luna, who apparently graduated the same year as my tactical officer. Lieutenant Luna pretended not to know tactical. I can see why.

As it would turn out, Luna and James had some sort of a disagreement on something and were constantly bickering. From what I overheard, it was something about the last captain and helms officer of the ship. Something like the captain left to go to sickbay because Lieutenant Luna, celebrating his recent graduation from the academy, had accidentally shot him along with operations and the first officer. Luckily his phaser was on stun, so they didn't die. Then helms crashed into an asteroid. Not sure why, I didn't pick up on that part.

So we got to the planet, and stopped just outside of the black hole, where we switched to manual steering on the part of the helms officer. It was a rather bumpy ride, and we came close to being sucked in to the black hole many times, only to swiftly move into the safe zone, only to go past it into the gravitational pull of the other side of the eclipse. Nevertheless, we made it out alive. I was impressed with helms, especially since helms was the one who had crashed the space station a while back.

We landed on the surface of the planet smoothly. The xenoarchaeologist, Bruce, came up to the bridge to make sure that we would be alright. Not that he needed to. After all, we were from Starfleet, and he was from who-knows-where.Anyhow, he showed us the way towards the major energy source the probe detected. Then we came to a halt, for a force field would not let certain people pass, those being those with weapons or electronics. Therefore, we were forced to lay down our weapons. My gut told me this was very bad.

We soon came to an electronically controlled sarcophagus. This sarcophagus would not open, by the normal means, but rather by much simpler means, the kind that those in the early twenty-first century used: pressing a button. People of the twenty-first century were such barbarians.

Bruce was the one to find the button. It was pressed, and the sarcophagus opened. Inside was every Starfleet officer's worst nightmare: a Borg drone.

Naturally, we all ran for our lives. But then the drone spoke out, and we all dropped down to the floor, unable to get up. Then the drone spoke to us. I was expecting the usual "Resistance is futile, surrender your ships," stuff, been there, done that, moved on. Yet, not for the first time, my expectations were not fulfilled.

The drone asked questions about the Federation. In the state we were in, we had no choice but to answer. Thus we did. But why did the Borg ask about the Federation? The Borg already knows all about the Federation from the assimilation of Captain Jean-Luc Picard several years ago. So why ask?

The answer was found when Bruce spoke up and asked who the drone was. This plunged the drone into a tale of times long past, times that were the beginning of the Borg. The drone told us how there he was once the king of the Borg. That he had created his race into people that were half synthetic and half biological creatures, that he made the Borg who they were to day to avoid their destruction at the hands of the black hole. He told us of how his queen had stabbed him in the back and enslaved the Borg, forming them into a collective. Her collective.

The Borg queen put the king into the sarcophagus and left the planet, embarking on quests to assimilate the known universe. Thus the king has been sleeping since, and now wants to free his people with the code that will undo the one that enslaved them. The king asks us if we can help.

The Borg are the most powerful beings in the known universe; they are immortal, are immune to disease, adapt to any weapon in minutes, and have only one leader, who is very well protected. To free the Borg would make them are allies, and the Federation is not without enemies. With the Borg at our side, no one would threaten us. No one would threaten anyone. There would be no more war for the Borg are the most powerful life forms known next to Species 8472 and the Q. Freeing the Borg would mean peace until a more powerful race declares war.

What answer could we give the king? We said yes.

The king alerted us that the Borg may already know he's awake, for they rigged his sarcophagus with many alerts and traps. Sure enough, two Borg were waiting for us down the hall. While everyone without a phaser took cover, tactical, Lieutenant Luna, and engineering shot at the Borg. Just to answer your question, I gave engineering a phaser after my first officer shot me.

Then the king walked forth. He took one glance at the Borg and they fell dead. No one knew why, and the king himself couldn't explain. When this was all over, he was to be the topic of scientific study. After all, he was the one who turned his people into the Borg at the time humans were still swinging clubs.

We quickly hurried to the ship with no more incidents from there out. We launched the ship, only to set off one of the many traps set. Two ancient Borg fighters were activated, as old as the king himself. Needless to say, these didn't have the firepower of a Borg cube, and were easily destroyed.

Excellent. Everything was going well, we were exiting the planet and navigated out of the eclipse. Mission accomplished, and we even picked up the Borg king while we were at it. A promotion was sure to be in there somewhere.

Then things took a dark turn as we came out of the eclipse. People were waiting for us. Many, many ships. Every known major species was among them, from the Klingons to the Romulans, from the Cardassians to the Ferengi. And we were in the center of them all. Quickly, we sent out an alert message to Starfleet, fearing the worst.

The Dinaari were the first to call, and explained why everyone was here: they wanted to see the treasure. We told them we had none, and it was perfectly fine with them.... But the others may not be so happy.

The Ferengi called next, the collect their side of the bargain. As it turned out, they wanted their treasure. Fortunately, my crew didn't come across any treasure, and thus our side of the bargain was fulfilled. The Ferengi didn't think we were being honest, but we hung up on them to answer the far more threatening Klingons.

Of course, we were in a world of trouble with the Klingons. We had lied to them about the treasure, as they found out, hung up on them twice, and had insulted their honor. Luckily they said we didn't deserve a warrior's death. But of course, something always goes wrong. One of my crew members breathed a sigh of relief, and the Klingons found we were most happy without a warrior's death. They hung up and moments later fired. Most unfortunate for them, the shot hit a different ship, and the result was pure chaos. Everyone started firing at everyone else.

We would have died that day, save for the coming of a Borg cube, which saved us in the most unlikely of ways. You see, when a Borg cube comes, you want no part of it. So everyone ran except us, whose engines were once more offline, along with most weapons and shields. As we prepared ourselves for death, our alert call to Starfleet was answered. A full fleet was assembled, and they all began to fire on the cube. Within minutes, it was destroyed. The USS Magellan was the ship that shot the killing blow.

Following the after math of the battle, the Phoenix was docked with the Magellan. My crew and I got a good night's sleep, not knowing what the next day had in store for us.

The morning following the destruction of the Borg cube and freeing of the king, I was told of the overnight improvements that had been made to the Phoenix thanks to the knowledge of the Borg king. Our shields and weapons were now the standard of the Borg cubes, and we had the kind and gracious king to thank.

Doctor James also found that while the king had been sleeping, he had been aging, slowly, but still aging. Now that he was alive and well again, he was aging at the rate he normally should be, and thus had maybe two hours and most to live. Two hours to free the Borg.

Once aboard the ship, I was given the charge of helping the king to free the Borg. This normally wasn't a problem, but we found the Borg cube had come from a transwarp conduit just past the planet, now known as the Borg home world. It was presumed that past the conduit was the Borg nexus, the Borg fortification, were the queen resided.

Soon after leaving the station, it was found that there were two stowaways on board. Usually not much of a problem, but they carried a highly infectious disease that kills half of all victims in less than twenty-four hours of being diagnosed. The stowaways were found quickly and the disease was held. My helms officer was diagnosed, so the doctor instructed the crew not to go near him or touch him.

Before we reached the conduit, the usual people called, the Ferengi, the Klingons, and the Dinaari. The Dinaari were first again, demanding to know why we were passing through their space again. Of course, a Borg invasion was doubtlessly coming now that the king was living, and thus the Dinaari let us through without problems. Smart people for the first time.Next were the Klingons and Ferengi, both demanding to have half the treasure. They didn't believe me when I told them there was none, and thus I invited them to come aboard and search the ship. Moments later, we were in the transwarp conduit and leaving them behind. They weren't too happy.

As it would turn out, the conduit was radioactive. Duh. Why didn't I think of that? And guess what; the shields weren't up, and we had most power in the cloaking device so we wouldn't be detected by the Borg in the nexus. Then there was the thirty second warning that we would be kicked out of the conduit and most likely killed. Wow. What an exciting few minutes.

My resolution was to divert power from weapons into shields while simultaneously raising them, and put a little bit of power into the warp engines from the cloaking device to get a little farther before we were kicked out. These decisions had unforeseen repercussions.

With the luck of the Phoenix, we were kicked out of the conduit in an uncharted system in the middle of the Delta quadrant, and as it happens, a system belonging to the Borg.We were scanned by the Borg, and were soon attacked by a cube. This was the most desperate battle of our lives. We should've died that day. But we came out alive.

At first it was the normal battle, the Borg jamming our systems, blah, blah, blah. Then they did somthing different by boarding our ship to exterminate their king. Now the Borg weren't doing that of their will, but their queen's. They had no choice.The Borg slowly worked their way up to the bridge slowly, but there was a surprise waiting when they arrived. It was called the Borg king. Two of the Borg got to the bridge. One died and one was freed. From there on, the free Borg spread to everyone freedom. But the queen unfortunately noticed and killed the rest.

Now the cube commenced firing on us. This was when we used some of the new torpedoes installed at the Magellan. One shot, one kill. True for life forms and some star ships, but no one would ever have dreamed of the day it came true for fighting the Borg. On that day, the Phoenix became the first ship to ever destroy a Borg cube single handedly. Technically, though, we didn't actually kill the Borg, but rather rendered them helpless, transmitted the freedom code, and the queen killed them to prevent them from being freed. I still count it as a record though.

The Borg being destroyed and unable to challenge us further, we hailed the planet and relayed the king's code. Within minutes, the planet was free, asking the king what to do. As it turned out, the king didn't know, and thus his people suggested passing on the code and freeing others. All ended well in that system, and if we were to die in the Borg nexus, then there would at least be a system of Borg who were free and would pass on the code.

We reentered the conduit with shields and cloaking device raised. Within five minutes, we were in the Borg nexus. None of the Borg knew we were there. Five cubes flew right past us. Then operations accidentally hailed the Borg sphere where the queen was. We were detected. All systems were taken over. We were sitting ducks, and to make matters worse, the Borg queen wanted to kill her king along with the rest of us.

I was handling the first ever recorded negotiations with the Borg queen quite well. That is, until the king decided to talk. He wanted to become immortal, wanted to become part of the collective. At the time, he had maybe five minutes left to live. He offered the Phoenix in return for his immortality. It was a win-win situation for the Borg. The king was under the control of the queen. The Phoenix was gone. And best of all, the Borg would know Federation security codes. I couldn't let this happen, and was about to shoot the Borg king when my first officer shot me again. He had somehow been reassigned his phaser.

Once I got back from sick bay, the king explained to me this was the only way to free his people, get close enough to relay the code. I was still angry, but only because I hadn't thought of that.

When we were close enough, the Borg king put his hand on the main view screen. The code was automatically relayed, and the queen was infuriated. The king began to walk away after relaying the code and fell down on the floor. His life support was failing and he was dying. Yet, now was not the time. We had Borg on our tails. If I remember correctly, it was about seven cubes and a sphere versus a small vessel like ours. We were outnumbered. We were outgunned. We were outstrategized. We were dead.

As Doctor James attended to the king, we fought the Borg while simultaneously flying back to the conduit through a maze of unattended Borg cubes. The Borg followed us. We took heavy damage, and were eventually surrounded. If we had to die, we would go down fighting. We fired everything we could, which included small, self destruct probes which actually proved quite useful.

But it was no use. The Borg were adapting to our weapons. We had taken out five cubes, but two were still left, including the sphere. I heard the Borg queen telling us resistance is futile. But no. Not yet.We locked on to the Borg queen's vessel, the sphere. All fire was held until I gave the order. I gave the order.

Every weapon we had was being fired, every last one. All power was diverted into the weapons for one last stand. If we were doomed to die, we would take the queen down with us.

In that final, desperate hour, we should've died. We had single handedly taken out five cubes, a feat that had never, ever happened. The king was pronounced dead. Resistance truly was futile in that last moment. The crew braced themselves for impact.

We heard one last boom, and then it was quiet. It wasn't us that had exploded, no; it was the queeen. Then we were hailed by the Borg, who thanked us. It had taken a while for the code to work its way through, but it got there, and saved us all. The Borg asked of their king. We told them the bad news, that he died. The Borg asked permission to come aboard and take their king with them.

In the battle, everything was damaged. Nothing worked, and so the Borg offered to take us to the nearest space station in Federation space. We graciously accepted.

Mission Success: Our mission was a success, and we were the first crew to get a perfect ten out of ten, despite our beginning death

Into the Unknown

As of February 25, 2006, the world population stands at 6.5 billion. Currently, this not a problem. However, it may become a quite serious one in the near future.

In 1950, the world population stood at 2.5 billion. Since then, the world population has increased by a billion almost every decade. Experts are predicting that in a mere forty years, world population will be just above 9 billion. Clearly, the population growth rate will become a problem by the end of the century.

We have several ways to address this situation. China is already passing one of them: population restriction. Thanks to the law, nobody can have anymore than two children. Population restriction is a very sensible method of addressing our problem, for it will cut population growth rate drastically. But it won't work forever; eventually, the population would rise again.

Our next method is to finish colonizing our world. We have so much unused space! There's Antarctica, the sky, the seas! We haven't even taken advantage of more than an eighth of our world. We still have some ways to go before we can begin colonizing the sea and making cities in the sky, but it's not too far off.

The most obvious method is colonizing the stars. We send colony ships to new worlds, explore them, make them our own. Once again, there a multiple ways of going about colonizing extrasolar planets.

Our first is habitat building. We go to planets that cannot naturally sustain life and build giant enclosed spaces for us to live in. NASA has recently launched a similar project. What NASA plans to do is send a small population to the moon and establish a small base there, which will expand over time. Then they will launch a mission from the moon to Mars and start the process over. Unfortunately, this will be a very painstaking process, as NASA plans to have their lunar base started in twenty years.

Our second option is to terraform planets that cannot sustain life so it becomes more earth-like. This is a little further in the future, for it requires that we create a breathable atmosphere, which is currently outside of our reach on a planet-wide scale.

Our final option is to select planets that can sustain life and build there like we would any colony here on Earth. This method seems to have the best likelihood of succeeding, for just last year, Gliese 581 c was found. Gliese 581 c is a planet orbiting just inside its parent star's habitable zone. Gliese 581 c is the most earth-like planet ever found out of the current 333 that are cataloged. Gliese 581 c is 1.5 time larger than Earth and may have water on its surface. Gliese 581 c is also only 20.3 light years away, which is relatively close in terms of space.

Gliese 581 c, however, has an interesting aspect that may pose a problem to colonizing it: it is tidally locked. When a planet is tidally locked, it means that it is in very much the same situation to its star as the moon is to Earth: one side is always facing towards the star and the other facing away. Gravity there is also 2.3 times stronger than on Earth, and one year equals 13 Earth days.

The main problem with this last method is travel: space is so big and our lives so short. We can always create a massive city-sized ship which holds all the necessities a colony will need when they arrive and hope that the original colonists' children or other descendants have retained some knowledge on how to go about living on the surface of the planet, and even that poses problems such as bone deterioration in space. However, space holds the most promise for humanity and we would be fools not to explore it.

Ten Greatest Military Leaders

Below are the names of who I consider to be the ten greatest military leaders of all time, along with their birth date, death date, position in government or military, nationality, and a short biography.

10. Suleiman the Magnificent

Born: April 27, 1494

Died: September 5/6, 1566

Position: Tenth and Longest Reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire

Nationality: Turkish

Bio: Suleiman is not very well known to us Americans because at the time of Suleiman's rule, America was being discovered. Under the rule of Suleiman, the Ottoman Empire expanded to twice its former size, taking much of Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. At its height, the Ottoman Empire was thought unstoppable. They had massive Great Bombards, which had taken the City of Constantinople, and brought the Byzantine Empire, the remnants of the Roman Empire down with it. Unfortunately, Suleiman had expanded too fast, and was facing economic problems.

9. Owain Glyndwr

Born: 1354 (Possibly 1359)

Died: Uncertain, but was last seen in 1412

Position: Last Welsh Prince of Wales; Leader of the Welsh Revolt

Nationality: Welsh

Bio: Once again, Glyndwr is not very well known to Americans. Or at least, that's what it is at first glance. Glyndwr penetrated far into both Welsh and English culture. Shakespeare even made Glyndwr a character in his play Henry IV as Owen Glendower.

Glyndwr was a great strategist. Before his coronation, Glyndwr served in the English military, which would become very useful when he led the revolt against England in 1400. Come 1400, Glyndwr revolted against English rule, using their tactics against them. Glyndwr won every one of the battles against the English. That is, until the English adopted a new strategy.

The new strategy was economic blockade. It worked very well and turned the tables on the Welsh. Slowly, the rebellion faded. Glyndwr was last seen in 1412. Since then, the Welsh have revered him as the only man willing to stand up to foreign occupation of Wales, and say that when Wales is threatened again, he will rise from his unknown grave and lead the Welsh opposition. Glyndwr was voted 23rd in a list of the 100 greatest Britons. The Welsh are petitioning to make September 16th a national holiday, the day that Glyndwr declared revolution. Just this year, Glyndwr University was established in honor of him. Glyndwr truly was a great leader, and holds a special place in the hearts of both English and Welsh alike.

8. Constantine I

Born: February 27, 272

Died: May 22, 337

Position: Emperor of Rome; First Emperor of Byzantine Empire

Nationality: Roman

Bio: Unlike the last two people, Constantine is fairly well known, as both an idiot and a genius. Despite what Constantine did, his accomplishments, whether they be smart ones or not, set the stage for future conquerors.

Constantine’s first notable achievement is making Christianity an official religion of the declining Roman Empire. An excellent idea at first sight, but a painfully obvious one too. To adopt Christianity after opposing it was stupid and foolish. Ironically, Rome is now home to the Vatican City, the center of Catholic religion.

A few years later Constantine proved his stupidity. He relocated the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium, and renamed the city Constantinople. Moving the capital of the Roman Empire after centuries was the stupidest possible thing he could have done socially. Strategically, Byzantium was a great decision. Although relocating the capital sped up the steady decline of the Romans, it helped to preserve the Roman Empire for another good millennium. By relocating the capital, Constantine had created the Byzantine Empire, who would later reacquire almost everything the Romans had lost, only to be destroyed by Suleiman.

7. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Born: October 14, 1890

Died: March 28, 1969

Position: Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces

Nationality: American

Bio: Although Eisenhower is known for many accomplishments, he is announced here solely for his military career.

As Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, one can already tell Eisenhower was great general. He was five star-general, and worked directly with three of the great leaders of the Allied Forces: Churchill, Montgomery, and Stalin.

Eisenhower is probably most well-known for Operation Overlord, the Allied taking of northwest Europe. All in all, Eisenhower truly was a great leader, and rightly deserves to be on this list.

6. Joseph Stalin

Born: December 18, 1878

Died: March 5, 1953

Position: General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR

Nationality: Russian

Bio: Another World War II leader, Stalin has also proved himself to be a great leader, whether it come to military, politics, or social relations. Stalin was a very powerful man, becoming dictator of the then small Soviet Union and making some of the largest and most decisive decisions in World War II.

Stalin’s rise to power was not immediate as others, for he was exiled to Siberia as an adult, returning to Russia to work his way slowly up the political tree of the Soviet Union.
Stalin, in a way, was responsible for starting the war, for the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the nonaggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, cleared the way for Hitler’s invasion of Poland, which in many ways started the war. This was an excellent strategic decision, for Stalin later claimed that war with Hitler would be inevitable, and that the pact would buy him the time needed to reinforce the Soviet military. The pact did give Stalin what he and the world needed.

Come 1940, Hitler broke the pact, seeing the Soviet troops on the Finnish border. Once again, Stalin had proved himself to be a strategic genius. By provoking Hitler into war, he had hurt the morale of the Nazis and forced Hitler into a two-fronted war. If Hitler had broken a pact with the Soviets, who was to say his people wouldn’t receive the same treatment?

Hitler, however, prolonged his invasion of Russia too long, and attacked Moscow in winter, one of the events that led to the end of World War II. From there, Stalin led the Soviets to victory against the Nazis, establishing the Soviets as one of three superpowers.

5. Napoleon Bonaparte

Born: August 15, 1769

Died: May 5, 1821

Position: Emperor of France

Nationality: French

Bio: Unlike other leaders, Napoleon did not receive his position as Emperor of France through hard work and dedication, nut through cunning and deceit.

Napoleon first signed into the military, becoming so good of a strategist, that he was a general a mere thirteen years after becoming ensign, and led the French in an invasion of Egypt shortly after forcing the Italian surrender by taking Venice. Receiving word of French defeats in the War of the Second Coalition, Napoleon fled to France, and seized control. From there, Napoleon led the French to many victories and defeats, and was eventually exiled to Saint Helena.

4. Julius Caesar

Born: July 12, 100 BC

Died: March 15, 44 BC

Position: Dictator of the Roman Republic

Nationality: Roman

Bio: Born to a patrician family who was believed to be descended from Venus, Caesar laid the foundation for the Roman Empire, and is ranked by historians as one of the best strategic leaders in history.

Perhaps what made Caesar so deadly was his ability to maneuver strategically on almost any form of land and in any weather and the invention of the Caesar Cipher. Without him, it is unlikely Rome would ever have won independence and become a great empire.

3. Alexander the Great

Born: July 20, 356 BC

Died: June 10, 323 BC

Position: General of Macedonia

Nationality: Macedonian

Bio: The oldest leader on this list, Alexander saw to the fall of many empires, most of which were his doing or his allies.

Taught by Aristotle, who had been taught by Plato, and in turn Socrates, Alexander’s past was vital to his future as a conqueror. When he realized that a horse, previously deemed to wild to be ridden, was afraid of its shadow, Alexander turned him to the sun and rode the horse effortlessly. His father, Philips II, told him “My boy, you must find a kingdom big enough for your ambitions. Macedonia is too small for you.”

In later years, Alexander began to regret his father’s victories, saying that the more he inherited, the less he could take for himself. Then one year, after his father’s marriage to his fifth wife, Alexander blew his top when his new stepmother’s uncle said that the marriage would hopefully result in a worthy heir to the throne, when in fact, Alexander was the only current heir. Alexander, furious, left Macedonia

Years later, Alexander returned to Macedonia. His father, planning an assault on the Greeks, gave Alexander control of half of his army for the attack on Athens. Not long after victory, Philips was assassinated, some say with the planning on Alexander’s part. The army proclaimed Alexander king and finished the Greek campaign under his rule.

From there, Alexander went on to take the entire world known to the Greeks, never losing a single battle in the twelve years he expanded his empire. When he died, his empire fell into chaos, and the Romans rose to claim the throne.

2. Adolf Hitler

Born: April 20, 1889

Died: April 30, 1945

Position: Dictator of Germany

Nationality: Austrian

Bio: The Nazi party leader of Germany in World War II, Hitler is still remembered today as one of the greatest generals of all time.

Most of us don’t think of Hitler’s family when we referenced him. Most of us think of him as a monster, never thinking he actually cared for anything or anyone. Hitler was the fourth child of six. His father was an illegitimate child and had born his mother’s surname, Schicklgruber for 39 years. Come 1876, he took his stepfather’s name and called himself Hitler. He then fathered Hitler, who was born in Austria and lived there most of his childhood.

During World War I, Hitler served in France and Belgium in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment. During this war, he developed an admiration of the Germans, and became a German patriot. It wasn’t until 1932 that he became a German citizen.

After being inducted as a citizen, Hitler pursued the creation of the Nazi party, and landed himself in jail for it. After his jailing, Hitler continued to form the Nazi party, and eventually succeeded. Then came the Holocaust, bringing with it World War.

Hitler unwaveringly led his troops to war, winning many battles, but losing many more after his unsuccessful invasion of Russia. Seeing defeat was inevitable, Hitler committed suicide, his plan failed.

1. Temujin

Born: 1162

Died: 1227

Position: Khan of the Mongols

Nationality: Mongolian

Bio: Almost everyone has heard of the great Temujin. They are simply more familiar with the name he earned for himself: Genghis Khan.

Genghis was by far the best leader mankind has ever known. Though it took nearly forty years, Genghis united the nomadic tribes of Mongolia, and led to victory after victory for his short reign of twenty-one years.

In the year 1206, Genghis had been crowned Khan of the Mongols, and begun his military conquest, which would eventually lead to the creation of the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous empire ever established and the second largest empire ever, second only to the British Empire. By the end of his life, Genghis had expanded Mongolian territory to hold all that is now called Mongolia, Kazakstan, Krygyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kashmir, Tajikistan, the northeast tip of Iran, the north half of Afghanistan, the north half of Pakistan, the north half of China, and finally the southeast fourth of Russia. The Mongols continued to conquer even long after Genghis was dead; at their height of power, the Mongols held Mongolia, Kazakstan, Krygyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kashmir, Tajikistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Iraq, Armenia, Baku, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, the east half of Romania and finally the south half of Russia.

As can clearly be seen, all of these leaders were astonishing, setting the stage for the future, and are still remembered today as some of the greatest warriors of all time.

Election Day

Tommorow is election day, the day we chose our new president for the traditional four-year term. Whether it be McCain or Obama can't be currently told. But is it worth it to go through the election process, or even elect a president at all?

Our government, as many of you know, is based off of the government of the Roman Empire. It is from there that we took the idea of the two party system, from the Patricians and the Plebians. The form of government Rome adopted worked fabulously, along with the many other governments who later adopted the government. For centuries this government has risen above others, proving it was the best. And yet, is it?

There are three main types of governments: Democracy, Socialist, andCommunist. Currently, the Democracy is by far the most popular form of government, giving much power to the people, but also reserving some for the actual governing body. In the U.S., we have a Republican Democracy, which has two different parties, each with their bonuses and penalties. When looking into America's history, we can see that although a Democracy is efficient, it may not be the most efficient form of governing, as it has caused many problems in our past. Normally, this would mean that the government isn't perfect, just like its people. Nothing to get upset about. But since there is a government that would have allowed us to bypass the problems we've faced ease, this is certainly something to consider.

Before we move on to the nearly-perfect government, let's look into the Socialists. Socialism is the form of government when the government assigns the people jobs based on their talents and abilities for the greater good of the people. does this sound familiar? It should; the Socialist government is commonly confused with the Communist government.

Now what are Communists? Well, Communism is very much alike Socialism, except for one key aspect: the government doesn't exist. In a true Communist government, people chose the job that would best aid the people, bypassing their own dreams for the common good. They do it without complaint, and enjoy helping their people in any way they can. In all honesty, the government doesn't really exist. Unlike Socialism, Communism doesn't assign people jobs, and also unlike Socialism, Communism treats everyone the same. Everyone has the same things. If one person has something, everyone else must have it. This is truly an ingenious idea, because when we look back, what has caused a vast majority of all wars to occur? The answer: because one country had something another didn't. By giving evreyone all the same things, Communism has solved the problem tha occurs everywhere, and not just with governments. The problem that Communism solved was the very same problem individuals are constantly faced with. Although Communism isn't perfect, it is by far the closest we can get to a Utopian government.

If Communism is so great then why don't we become Communists? The answer lies in sheer numbers. Communism worked great for the Asians, but only because they didn't have such large populations. Over time, most Communist countries became Socialist because giving the people all the same things was getting expensive. There are very few true Communist governments left, and at a world population of 6.5 billion, not surprisingly. Numbers was Communism's flaw. Everyone had to have the same things, and because of that, the government didn't get internal income. The only money they saw came from other countries. When there became more people, supporting their needs be came increasingly expensive, forcing the Communists to become Socialists. For some time, socialism was efficient. Yet, the government became to powerful, and with power came the greed for more. Many Socialist countries became corrupted, going to war with the weaker countries. Then came the Democracy.

After being ruled by a government who was too powerful, people embraced the Democracy with open arms. To this very day, the Democracy is the most popular form of government. However, if Communism's flaw of not being able to support numbers was solved, Communism would be the most efficient government ever thought of.

The Future . . . Is it Really Here?

From my point of view, yes, the future has come. Recently, I have thought of many ways that many of the things we see in Star Trek and Star Wars and many other beloved science fiction franchises could possibly become a reality. Below is what I have come up with.

Universal Translator

As nice of an idea as a Universal Translator is, it just doesn't seem that such a thing could work, because there is no universal standard for a certain sound. Some languages have sounds that have no equivalent in any other language. Theoretically, a Universal Translator is an impossibility.

Transporters

Transporters really aren't too far in the future. We already have many less powerful versions invented, and almost everyone had at least on of these inventions. You may be surprised to hear that this technology is not recent. In fact it was created in the late 1800s. The technology is the phone, the television, and later, the computer.

All of these inventions use a form of transmitting, whether it be sounds, or whether it be electrons. From these technologies, we can possibly create transporters, taking it one step up from a computer, which transmits electrons and sound, so that it could also transmit protons and neutrons. From here, the transporter should be relatively easy.

Light-Speed Travel

Light-speed travel appears in almost every science fiction franchise. It is deemed the ultimate form of travel. You may be surprised to know that light-speed travel may already exist.

Let's look at the Big Bang theory. According to the theory, there was a sudden burst of light, causing the small universe to rapidly expand. If we assume that the Big Bang is fact, than we have the secrets to light-speed travel.

To travel at light-speed, we merely have to install particle colliders on to starships. But not just any; ones like the one at CERN, a massive scientific facility in Switzerland, which are home to many scientific breakthroughs daily. There is a problem though; CERN's particle collider spans all the way to France and then back again. How do we fit something this large on a tiny starship?

For this answer, we turn to the body. The large intestines are incredibly long, yet, because they are coiled, they take up relatively little space. If we do this with a particle collider, it would consume considerably less space.

Now how can a particle collider cause light-speed travel? When we take the Big Bang into mind, that's all a particle collider is for; to ram particles into one another at velocities faster than most space shuttles in an effort to recreate the Big Bang. This has never happened, but a very interesting substance was found in a particle collider on recent years: antimatter.

I am not going to delve in to the properties of antimatter currently, but I shall later. Antimatter is highly unstable. Anything matter it comes in contact with is automatically destroyed, leaving behind photons, highly concentrated rays of intense light. By creating antimatter in a particle collider, and then letting it come in contact with matter may cause the sort of light that caused the Big Bang, pushing to, and perhaps beyond, the speed of light. These photons may also help to create Genesis.

Genesis

Genesis, for those who may not know, is the creation of matter from nothing. According to Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, to create Genesis, you must reorganize the particles in space to become a habitable form. With photons, assuming the Big Bang theory is true, the particles would move, and hopefully create life.

Mass Energy

Many might say we already have mass energy, and indeed, we may. But do we have the energy needed for powering a full-sized starship? I think not.

Once again, our answer lies with antimatter. Although unstable, antimatter is the most efficient power source in the world, with 100% efficiency. Just one microscopic droplet would be enough to power the city of New York for a full twenty-four hours. The main problem with antimatter as power is its instabilty. If antimatter comes in contact with any form of matter, even air, it autmatically destroys the matter, leaving photons behind. If this problem can be solved, then our need for power is resolved, leaving an abundance behind.

The Death Star

Many scientists have conducted studies on whether or not something such as the Death Star can ever be recreated. They all came to the same conclusion: it's impossible. And indeed it is. But even if it wasn't, why build the Death Star, when we have a planet-destroying weapon that is much more portable, weighing a mere twelve pounds?

The weapon is antimatter. Antimatter is highly destructive, one-fourth of a gram having a blast radius of half of a mile. According to research and math I have done, twelve pounds would be enough to obliterate Earth. Considering the Death Star was the size of a planet, antimatter is the ultimate weapon.

Yet the problem remains; how do you move antimatter? Well, you could put the twelve pounds in a container with magnets which would keep the antimatter exactly centered. That allows the antimatter to leave the particle collider. Then you merely place a rechargeable battery on the container which will take over if the container happens to be taken from its energy source. Eventually, the battery would go dead, releasing the antimatter, causing the end of a planet. Or else you could fire the animatter through space like a torpedoe. Space is a void, so you wouldn't have to worry about an unpredicted explosion. As soon as the antimatter touched the atmosphere, it would explode, destroying that side of Earth. The other side would be left untouched, but because one half was destroyed, the other half would not survive.

So is the future really here? With these technologies, that is for certain a yes. Science-fiction is fiction no longer.