Official "Discuss the latest page" thread

[charles]

Yeah, despite his need for an attitude adjustment they got a brilliant deal with Hal. He's obviously a very good engineer, a great starship gunner, a sniper and a hell of a brawler (read Grey Station).

Sarah is not without her virtues though. She was Niobe's engineer for sometime and while she MIGHT not stand up to Hal's capability, she still obviously had skill to do what she was doing before he came along. She's also at least another good hacker as well and maybe having some gunnery skills (We can probably presume she controlled Espenson's guns against the Ophelia).

Problem: If she's not a good gunner then their only good starship gunner will also be their fighter pilot and they loose the man who is probably the best in face-to-face combat (yes, I'd rate him higher than Whisper after reading Grey Station).

[Vile]

Yes, Hal was the "Gavin"* of the crew. Whisper's martial successes seem to come mainly from surprise: her ability to get in first with a blow, and others always underestimating her capabilities. As a pirate crew, they may feel the loss of Hal quite keenly.

*Check out the archives of the Travellers.

[Captain_Relish]

What a noob I am! I meant, Hal! I mean, when Larissa said "We'll be needing an engineer of course". What happened to Hal? (aside loosing his leg...)

[Vile]

What happened to Hal? (aside loosing his leg...)

What losing his leg wasn't enough?

[Arv]

Daniel "Dan" Qian
Last action: Coerced into a relationship with Whisper while under the influence of drugs.

Hmm. Maybe this has come up already, but I've had a thought regarding Daniel and Whisper's relationship having to be chaste because of her cyber bodywork. Dan's a big evangelical Christian, right? What if he's into the whole "chastity before marriage" schtick? I don't recall anything being said about it. This relationship might actually be pretty well suited to those two!

Personally, in 600 years from now I would have thought that religion, along with the fear/distrust/cultural aversions/medical risks/unwanted pregnancy risks of sex, would have gone the way of bride price and witch burning (in vogue 600 years before now). But Daniel remains an evangelical and is not regarded as a crackpot, so obviously some holdover remains, possibly alive and well. A depressing thought.

[macnut]

Religion will never die-there are too many humans who gain some measure of comfort from it, and I doubt that will change as time goes by, especially as the focus of human fears change from natural forces they can't understand or control to increasingly advanced technology they can barely understand or control (observe how the Niobids couldn't get their ship to jump to riftspace until Sarah figured out the adjustable fins. What if she hadn't figured it out?).

Religions will merely change with the times, as they usually do. I suspect there will be aspects of Daniel's religious observances that will seem very different, even strange to evangelical Christians today.

[cbhacking]

To get back on track...

How much *do* we know about Sarah's past? It sounds like there were some serious personality conflicts, but I feel like we barely know her at all. Whether she becomes (stays?) a main character or not, I think there's a lot to know about her.

Also, I'm glad to see Dan and Whisper finally getting together (to whatever degree this is possible). As Kari said, it's about bloody time! I suspect this will be an interesting plot line...

[charles]

The "Grey Station" story in the Supporter's Club tells much more about Sarah. You learn what she did on Niobe before she left and a small amount of her history before Niobe... Plus you get a bit more of her personality displayed.

I wonder what Vaegyr's been doing in Prison. Possibly having some visits from his sister? Surely they'd reward her with that much.

[Vile]

The "Grey Station" story in the Supporter's Club tells much more about Sarah.

You can take that as a hint. It's worth it.

[charles]

Hmmm... I don't see Niobe docked anywhere at Fontana Station in the Latest Page.

Not a good sign considering the comments that it went into Cirin custody and Novosi didn't think it would fly again... Could the Scarborough really be replacing Niobe after all?

Heh, I'd laugh if they were using the Niobe to lure another Republic ship into a trap. With the Niobid's wanted status it'd probably attract a small fleet.