Page 140 Discussion - "WRRAMMM!!!"

[CrimsonFALKE]

Well its not like the station didn't have shields they could probably survive the hit.

[RedDwarfIV]

IIRC EMPs are only an effect of nuclear weapons because of their interaction with the atmosphere. In vacuum, it wouldn't happen.

[Arioch]

IIRC EMPs are only an effect of nuclear weapons because of their interaction with the atmosphere. In vacuum, it wouldn't happen.

High-altitude nuclear nuclear blasts create a large secondary electrical pulse due to interaction with the upper atmosphere (gamma rays knock electrons off air molecules), but the detonation will still create a primary pulse, even in vacuum.

[Jericho]

From what angle is Jardin looking at Bery? Straight up? Slightly to the side? And how is her hair standing almost straight out? Electrostatic tension? Please tell me its electrostatic tension

[admiralkit]

From what angle is Jardin looking at Bery? Straight up? Slightly to the side? And how is her hair standing almost straight out? Electrostatic tension? Please tell me its electrostatic tension

He's probably a foot or two off of the floor. The perspective of the shot shows the grate seen in page 117 on the floor, and that it is notably larger than in that page. For a first person perspective, it means that he's probably floating. Also why her hair is off - there's no artificial gravity on the ship at the moment, for whatever reason knocked out the rest of the lights in the shuttle. My bet is that it was the shockwave from the torpedoes - not sure what they use for warheads in those considering the tech level, but the illustration shows that the distance between the shuttle and the station could best be measured in meters or possibly single digit kilometers. Open vacuum doesn't carry shockwaves particularly well, but at that range it could still beat the shuttle around. I'd wager that we find that the cause of the power outage was breakers tripping from the shockwave and shutting off the engine's reactors to prevent them from going critical.

[icekatze]

hi hi

Wow, that is an incredible view.

If Tiamat is like a positron-electron annihilation, explosion is going to be mostly gamma rays, which like lasers, defensive screens won't be very effective against. If it's like a proton-antiproton annihilation, then it's going to be more of a complicated mess of gamma rays, pions and other subatomic particles. Their screens still probably won't provide a good defense, and judging by the amount of visible damage to the station, their armor plating wasn't quite up to the task, at least not in all locations.

I imagine if the inertial dampening got knocked out a split second before the engines did, that could cause a pretty jarring experience, on top of whatever super heated and/or ionized gas the explosion produced. The station's mass acting as a shield aside, they were practically right on top of the explosion, as far as space combat distances are concerned.

Alex is beginning to pick up a bad habit of being too close to giant explosions. But it's a good thing he wasn't looking at that one, or I imagine he'd have the image forever burned into his retina.

...Likely life support is gone, too. So the clock is ticking on them - what would happen first? Suffocating or freezing?

I would think suffocation first. Freezing isn't really that pressing a problem in space, unless you've got an operational radiator you can't close the coolant valve on.

[Zarya]

Alex is beginning to pick up a bad habit of being too close to giant explosions. But it's a good thing he wasn't looking at that one, or I imagine he'd have the image forever burned into his retina.

It’s a good thing the EMP didn’t knock out the electro or photochromic glass that instantly darkened.
On the other hand, if it is currently permanently stuck in blackout mode...

[orion1836]

And thus stops the Lap Counter™

12... 12 pages of Beryl sitting on Alex's lap.

[RedDwarfIV]

Alex is beginning to pick up a bad habit of being too close to giant explosions. But it's a good thing he wasn't looking at that one, or I imagine he'd have the image forever burned into his retina.

It’s a good thing the EMP didn’t knock out the electro or photochromic glass that instantly darkened.
On the other hand, if it is currently permanently stuck in blackout mode...

The cockpit windows are shadowed by the rest of the shuttle. In vacuum, nothing's reflecting the light back at them. At most there might be a wave of very hot, glowing debris flying past them from the Relay, so being blinded probably isn't an issue.

[wedgekree]

And I wonder if leading the missiles into the defense station was the best option. It's still a defense station protecting a region of the sector. was it a great tactical tradeoff to destroy the station/inflict heavy damage on it to use it as cover from the torpedos? That just seems like not a great maneuer to do as far as an exchange goes. A shuttle with 5-6 passengers on it survives by leading the torpedo strike to at least the still operational message/defense station.

[boldilocks]

Were they actually leading the torpedoes to the station? I know a some had started to lock on to them, but I assume the defensive station was a more likely target than a single (presumably unarmed) shuttle.

[entity2636]

Were they actually leading the torpedoes to the station? I know a some had started to lock on to them, but I assume the defensive station was a more likely target than a single (presumably unarmed) shuttle.

Talon pretty much did exactly that, but it's not like she had many options. She was following orders - in essence, to get her passengers to safety, one way or another, and "safety" in their current situation means "alive" for the time being and not taking a torpedo (or sixteen) up her exhaust port.

While I do frown upon how high loroi value lives and assets, I do not believe it was Talon's intention to having the station blown up. She was aware of the station's point defense capabilities and appeared to be certain that the station could a) shoot down most of the missiles and b) be able to tank the ones that made it through. Unfortunately, due to lack of communication, the station's commander apparently held back on their PD fire with the results that we see now.

[CF2]

Unfortunately, due to lack of communication, the station's commander apparently held back on their PD fire with the results that we see now.

That might be a fortunate lack of communication. If the station's commander is/was as ruthlessly objective as Talon and Spiral, they might have decided that protecting their station and holding out against the Umiak forces in system for as long as possible would warrant crippling or destroying the transport. At the very least they might have been a little more carefree with their point-defense line of fire, to the detriment of Alex & Co.

[wedgekree]

while we don't see a great deal from the perspective of the station, the shuttle is going past it at high speed, possibly with the intent of having had the station be used as cover and the PD take care of the torpedos. But no real coordination made with the pilot of the shuttle and the station crew as far as plans went. Just the station saying they were coming in too fast/at a bad angle for docking and the shuttle continuing at high speed/accelerating (?).

As was said, lack of communication kills. The lack of coordination here or planning seems to have ended in the worst possible result - the station apparently destroyed and the shuttle disabled and floating dead in space.

[Siber]

With the forces present in the system, and Umiak ships able to attack it with no Loroi warships in position to defend it, that station was almost certainly dead no matter what, the only question is when. This maneuver didn't end with the worst possible outcome(yet, though we can assume that it won't because that would end the comic), as that would be both the station and shuttle dead(or captured). With a little luck the Umiak will now ignore the shuttle until someone can come save it, or they'll try to recover it themselves and get mulched by Fireblade. In either case I don't see much chance that better communication could have built a better outcome than this given the circumstance.

[Mr.Tucker]

Wait...how can there be a "WRRAMMM!!!" sound in space?....

[boldilocks]

Wait...how can there be a "WRRAMMM!!!" sound in space?....

It's the sound of the shuttle shuddering, heard by the people inside it.

[Arioch]

The shuttle is being physically hit by the expanding cloud of gas and debris created by the explosions. This causes sound, even in space.

[Dorfington]

Wait...how can there be a "WRRAMMM!!!" sound in space?....

It's the sound we make out loud when we read that page.

...no? Just me then?

[Werra]

Eat less beans, mate.