Page 141 Discussion - "I think that was MY head"

[Gorbash]

I'm betting the Barsam are fine. In fact, they seem like the type to enjoy combat, and I bet courier ships don't see action often. They're probably having a blast.

Meanwhile, Jardin is once again prepared for the great Humaniti ritual of "bleeding-like red and making gurgle-gurgle sounds".

[cacambo43]

Aaaand... Beryl almost fully switched to the "protect/care for the male" mode, giving the Loroi in the passenger section only a passing thought in favour of his small head wound...

They may have all checked in with each other via sanzai - in fact, Beryl knows the others in the "back" are fine and about to cycle the pressure door, so that's confirmation of it. She probably knew their conditions within seconds of the incident.

CJSF

[Werra]

So who's going to be the unlucky one that has to crank those two doors open? One of the guards because the armors have magnetic boots or Cloud because lowest rank?

[Mr.Tucker]

"Crank" the door? When you have at least person able to telekinetically exert several tons of force? That's not military thinking .

[Werra]

Do something quick and easy when litres of sweat make sure you can seal up the cockpit again if necessary? What kind of military have you served in?

[Arioch]

The Loroi in the cockpit have been in constant telepathic contact with the Loroi in the rear of the shuttle during the entire encounter.

Gora Relay was (and still is at the moment) under attack by two Umiak divisions (~150 vessels); there was never much chance of it surviving against those odds. Even if it had been able to defeat the initial torpedo salvo (which consisted of several hundred torpedoes, only 16 of which retargeted the shuttle), it still had to face the direct fire of the 150 Umiak warships. Talon's maneuver certainly didn't help the station, but there's nothing she could have done to save it.

[entity2636]

So who's going to be the unlucky one that has to crank those two doors open? One of the guards because the armors have magnetic boots or Cloud because lowest rank?

I'd say Cloud because she's the lowest rank greenshirt on board, or maybe the other soroin guard who's obviously older and stronger would be ordered to assist.

Fireblade herself certainly doesn't strike me as someone who'd do something so pedestrian as manually opening an airlock, much less so using her telekinesis. She'd consider such tasks "beneath" a Teidar and even asking her for help would be a grave insult calling for a duel to the death of the one having the balls or stupidity to ask her. Why should you ask the marines to do it when you already have a person who's specifically trained and is being paid for doing shitwork?

[Mr.Tucker]

Do something quick and easy when litres of sweat make sure you can seal up the cockpit again if necessary? What kind of military have you served in?

Hey now, I never said she'd rip it off her hinges. Just open it. How much could a door like that weight? 200kg? 300kg? Easy. Since telekinesis does not require an anchor point, the lack of an obvious handle also would be no impediment. Simply slide the thing to the right/left.

Also, cranking it back to seal the room in case of a decompression or something similar sounds rather slow...

[Arioch]

The whole point of a pressure door is to resist a rather substantial force. If you could just force it open without disengaging whatever mechanism is holding it closed, it wouldn't work in the first place; the pressure differential would just blow it open.

[sunphoenix]

Yeah... the door even if electrically powered is moved on a mechanical geared track to hold it closed in loss of pressure. Yes, likely its possible Tiedar Fireblade could rip it off its track and part of the wall with it as she can juggle MBT's when she is in a 'righteous fury'... but she may.. just be able to turn the mechanical securing crank to open the door somewhat more rapidly ~ though with a skill of 9- [GURPS], considering a 10 is base for humans she's more likely to deform the manual crank than open the door unless she's really careful. However, there really seems no need for her to do that... the loroi onboard know everyone in the forward compartment is ok... and the only injury a surface abrasion to the head of the ambassador Cptn Jardin.

[GeoModder]

The Loroi in the cockpit have been in constant telepathic contact with the Loroi in the rear of the shuttle during the entire encounter.

I wonder, is a Loroi versed in speech capable of performing sanzai and a holding a conversation with an alien (or another Loroi for that matter) at the same time?

Like telepathically transmitting the spoken conversation verbatim to (an)other Loroi?

[Krulle]

Simultaneous translation?

I presume, if the sanzai speakers are willing to make long pauses to allow the complexer sending to be translated into words....

[CrimsonFALKE]

The whole point of a pressure door is to resist a rather substantial force. If you could just force it open without disengaging whatever mechanism is holding it closed, it wouldn't work in the first place; the pressure differential would just blow it open.

Wait till Beryl hits it with her head!

[Arioch]

The Loroi in the cockpit have been in constant telepathic contact with the Loroi in the rear of the shuttle during the entire encounter.

I wonder, is a Loroi versed in speech capable of performing sanzai and a holding a conversation with an alien (or another Loroi for that matter) at the same time?

Like telepathically transmitting the spoken conversation verbatim to (an)other Loroi?

Sure.

[Sweforce]

So who's going to be the unlucky one that has to crank those two doors open? One of the guards because the armors have magnetic boots or Cloud because lowest rank?

I'd say Cloud because she's the lowest rank greenshirt on board, or maybe the other soroin guard who's obviously older and stronger would be ordered to assist.

Fireblade herself certainly doesn't strike me as someone who'd do something so pedestrian as manually opening an airlock, much less so using her telekinesis. She'd consider such tasks "beneath" a Teidar and even asking her for help would be a grave insult calling for a duel to the death of the one having the balls or stupidity to ask her. Why should you ask the marines to do it when you already have a person who's specifically trained and is being paid for doing shitwork?

Perhaps but is Alex is an even more ancient type of relic then me, he be a gentleman and help her. That could give an opportunity for a Cloud/Alex interaction. One thing thou, isn't Cloud a Mizol in training? Maybe she do not even know how to crank up the door but, then again even the Loroi should know to give everyone, regardless of cast some basic training in ship operations. It would look bad if only the Gallens knew how to operate a fire extinguisher.

Came to think of it. Alex, as a human used to worse technology may be more used to work in zero g environments. Compare to Star Trek where the characters seem to just have the most basic understanding of what a spacesuit is and and so used to working gravity plating everywhere that they may just be in trouble if gravity goes of. Yes, that's TV and zero g is expensive to simulate on a TV series budget but you get the idea.

[entity2636]

No, Cloud is a Soroin Passet (midshipman) according to the Insider, as indicated by her grass-green service uniform. A mizol at her rank would wear dark green and grey on parade or civilian clothing otherwise. That said, she could very well be an undercover mizol pretending to be a soroin, but that's a long stretch

[Sweforce]

No, Cloud is a Soroin Passet (midshipman) according to the Insider, as indicated by her grass-green service uniform. A mizol at her rank would wear dark green and grey on parade or civilian clothing otherwise. That said, she could very well be an undercover mizol pretending to be a soroin, but that's a long stretch

OK, I misremembered so badly that I didn't even look it up, probably fueld with her acting as an aide for Tempo. Still most points are still there. Regardless of Clouds cast she should know some basics for other casts. If not we could end up having a situation as in an episode of Westworld where a group of "camping" hosts (androids) where sitting around an unlit fire because the only one of them authorized to use the axe had gone missing.

[folti]

Yeah... the door even if electrically powered is moved on a mechanical geared track to hold it closed in loss of pressure. Yes, likely its possible Tiedar Fireblade could rip it off its track and part of the wall with it as she can juggle MBT's when she is in a 'righteous fury'... but she may.. just be able to turn the mechanical securing crank to open the door somewhat more rapidly ~ though with a skill of 9- [GURPS], considering a 10 is base for humans she's more likely to deform the manual crank than open the door unless she's really careful. However, there really seems no need for her to do that... the loroi onboard know everyone in the forward compartment is ok... and the only injury a surface abrasion to the head of the ambassador Cptn Jardin.

She might be able to rip it out, but it's simply unadvised for the simple reason that there is no need to hurry that much (they are not doing any hostile boarding), and the ripping out will certainly damage the shuttle's parts the whole door mechanism attached to, which would weaken the shuttle's frame or hull unnecessarily.

Came to think of it. Alex, as a human used to worse technology may be more used to work in zero g environments. Compare to Star Trek where the characters seem to just have the most basic understanding of what a spacesuit is and and so used to working gravity plating everywhere that they may just be in trouble if gravity goes of. Yes, that's TV and zero g is expensive to simulate on a TV series budget but you get the idea.

Star Trek is both inconsistent, and full of dumb plot elements. On the contrary, the Loroi who have been a spacefaring for ~1500 years, and spent the last 25 fighting a huge war, will have both better adaptation, more refined technology, and more importantly continuous training, at least for the lower ranks, about working in zero-G. At least for the marines, and the pilots.

[novius]

Alex won't be able to do anything in the next scene, much less opening a bulkhead.

Twice, or about three times (if you include pg. 140) she commented/asked him about his physical condition, and in the last panel she does have an expression on her face clearly stating "now stop making a fuss and let me have a look at your forehead, you stubborn male!"

She said so out loud, and Alex by-the-gods better heeds the warning signs else the next time it happens she might even enlist Fireblade's aid to restrain him with her telekinetics.

[Corpsman_of_Krieg]

Awesome new page Arioch. Had to disappear for a while; joys of work and whatnot. Glad to see a largely unexpected outcome to the whole "immediate rendezvous" scenario with the relay station, all the way up to the current page. Very pragmatic, if grim, decision by Talon.

Out of curiosity, how much time passed during Jardin's blackout? A few seconds? Minutes? Maybe more? I eagerly await the next installment in the series!