Schlock Mercenary III: One million years of crowdsourced kitten videos

[Squark]

Hmm... So, it looks like Para may be trying to expose this plan, or at least give the toughs advance warning.

[factotum]

Or this is the moment when she says, "And I'm trying to keep you all alive, you idiots!" and reveals that she's working against the people who put the nannies in the Gavs.

[Shadow of the Sun]

Considering that she's Internal Affairs office, probably.

She's probably looking for signs of foul play.

[Spamotron]

Well Para probably suspects a Battleplate or two is on the way and that the only way any of them are getting out of this alive is getting Tagii back online yesterday and figures the truth will be faster than an elaborate deception.

[Fjolnir]

Considering that the toughs have single handedly screwed over the UNS and their secretive plots numerous times. Honestly after the Xinchub fiasco, they would have been stupid NOT to plant an investigator on the ship. Especially when this merc group includes the scientist who invented the terraport AND was the originator of the entity now known as the Fleetmind.

[HandofShadows]

Considering Para is in Internal Affairs, it seems to me that she might have been put there to get dirt on other parts of the UNS intel apperatus, not so much to spy on the the Toughs themselves. And she has really tired to help the Toughs out.

[ChowGuy]

Especially when this merc group includes the scientist who invented the terraport AND was the originator of the entity now known as the Fleetmind.

Nitpick: Kevyn invented the teraport, and then released it to everyone including sides hostile to the UNS, but he did not create a Fleetmind. Petey did that all by himself without Kevyn's knowledge, first at the Battle of the Buuthundi, then when he multiply cloned himself, and eventually to counter the DAMEs at the Galactic Core.


Other then that, yes I agree Kevyn is a dangerously loose cannon who deserves watching, which is probably why a roboticist who would likely end up working with him was a good choice when the chance to plant an undercover agent came up.

[BRC]

OR, the Toughs have had their minds wiped with experimental technology, so the UNS sends in Para to keep an eye on things and make sure they don't get their memories back.
Plus, you know, the Tough's are a very dangerous mercenary company that spawned multiple, very powerful, Rogue AI's (Petey and Lunnesby). So they sent in a Roboticist to make sure they don't make any more.

And then the Roboticist goes ahead and makes LOTA...

[Spamotron]

So NSB is about to jack into the Touch and Go thinking Tagii is offline when she's actually half-mad from sensory deprivation. This will not end well.

[Fjolnir]

I know Kevyn did not create the Fleetmind, it was more the toughs were responsible for the mad scientist AND the entity that became the Fleetmind. Two mutally exclusive things, though I can see where the confusion came from.

[factotum]

So NSB is about to jack into the Touch and Go thinking Tagii is offline when she's actually half-mad from sensory deprivation. This will not end well.

Tagii is suffering sensory deprivation because she's no longer attached to the Touch-and-Go's systems, so this isn't going to cause Ennesby any problems whatsoever.

[BRC]

Am I the only one who thinks that, for an old guy who is basically a bureaucrat, Thurl is rather muscular.

[Ravens_cry]

Am I the only one who thinks that, for an old guy who is basically a bureaucrat, Thurl is rather muscular.

Thank the magic cryokit.

[Rockphed]

Yeah, Thurl used to have a gut. Brad was once a twig. Then the magic cryokit happened and they switched sizes.

[Landis963]

Is anyone else struck by the thought that maybe Para will be saved only because her UNS handlers are arguing over terminology?

[Bulldog Psion]

Is anyone else struck by the thought that maybe Para will be saved only because her UNS handlers are arguing over terminology?

It did occur to me, but it's starting to look like it might be a very long argument if that's the case.

[hajo]

Looks like it is time to re-read the strips from the time where Para first appeared

[Spamotron]

A poison tooth no matter how high tech would seem to me to be too easy to detect and remove with 31st century medicine. What I would do is tell my agents that its in their tooth but actually have a nano-charge of boomex right in the brainstem instead.

[NEO|Phyte]

A poison tooth no matter how high tech would seem to me to be too easy to detect and remove with 31st century medicine.

Apparently not, since I'm assuming Para got a physical when she joined up and her later mysteriously missing tooth didn't get flagged as suspicious back then.

[Thalnawr]

It's possible that their equipment DID detect it. However, all of their equipment is part of the Touch and Go, and it doesn't look like Para checked in for her physical until AFTER she'd fixed Tag. She could have very well done something to him before she did so. It could also be that the UNS memory mod techniques were more insidious on Dr Bunnigus, making her ignore the tell-tales of UNS Intelligence-specific nano-mods.

[ChowGuy]

Ah, they're not using McCoy's magic saltshakers here. No matter how good Bunni's medical scanners are, it's like the the people how implanted the tooth have equally good (and probably better) ones available to them, know exactly how they work, and can design something th replicvaat would not be detected by them unless you knew precisely what to look for. And had reason to look for it.

Remember, that same equipment was use to scan Hugo's chubby corpse, in sufficient detail to make a replica, and utterly missed the Lazurus nannies and their back-up brain work.

[NEO|Phyte]

So, I am half-expecting tonight's strip to include Kevyn pointing out that while dangerous, his epaulets cannot be triggered remotely.

[Bulldog Psion]

Why does Schlock's waldo remind me of Binnie's?

[Landis963]

Scene-ending punchline plz? We really need to get back to the real plotlines of the zombie Gavmogres, or Parexposition, or whether Oisri is going to blow up like we know it will.

[hajo]

get back to the real plotlines .. whether Oisri is going to blow up like we know it will.

For that, Schlock needs his armor.
So now it needs to be introduced

[Landis963]

For that, Schlock needs his armor.
So now it needs to be introduced

But leave it to foreshadowing. A single comic of Tailor and Schlock testing the roll-up bag here, Schlock's mistimed request there. Heck, this scene of Tailor and Schlock could have been condensed down to a single panel, and left in the background at that: Bunni or someone walks past, and Schlock has Tailor tied up with the waldo. Bam! Same amount of plot has been advanced (Schlock now has a control scheme for his armor)and it's funnier than any dialogue would make it. That way, the completed armor set will be that much more impressive once Schlock gets his inevitable glory shot with it.

[Fjolnir]

I don't get how this armor will prevent him from going splat in the spacefall scene or any of the other scenes in this particular segment where schlock wanted armor of some sort. I understand he is highly resilient but the armor is supposed to protect him from things that take time to regenerate from completely...

[Bulldog Psion]

I don't get how this armor will prevent him from going splat in the spacefall scene or any of the other scenes in this particular segment where schlock wanted armor of some sort. I understand he is highly resilient but the armor is supposed to protect him from things that take time to regenerate from completely...

If it's got built in flight capability, it'll keep him from going splat.

[tyckspoon]

I don't get how this armor will prevent him from going splat in the spacefall scene or any of the other scenes in this particular segment where schlock wanted armor of some sort. I understand he is highly resilient but the armor is supposed to protect him from things that take time to regenerate from completely...

I can think of two incidents armor would have been helpful and one general case off the top of my head- the Tough's armor includes personal flight, which is why Tagon's dive down the shaft was impressive and Schlock's was suicidally stupid. Armor would also allow Schlock to participate normally in certain terrain conditions, such as the raid they conducted on the Kreely slavers/breeders a long time ago, in which Schlock had to be outfitted with a specialized sled and have another member of the team tasked with dragging him around. And the general case is that armor will protect Schlock's eyes, removing a weak point that has resulted in him being incapacitated or threatened several times before.

[Landis963]

I can think of two incidents armor would have been helpful and one general case off the top of my head- the Tough's armor includes personal flight, which is why Tagon's dive down the shaft was impressive and Schlock's was suicidally stupid. Armor would also allow Schlock to participate normally in certain terrain conditions, such as the raid they conducted on the Kreely slavers/breeders a long time ago, in which Schlock had to be outfitted with a specialized sled and have another member of the team tasked with dragging him around. And the general case is that armor will protect Schlock's eyes, removing a weak point that has resulted in him being incapacitated or threatened several times before.

One more situation where armor would have been useful:

I'll just stand out here and wish I had nice, fireproof armor.