Schlock Mercenary IV: Chrome and Punishment

[factotum]

Speaking of Bala-Amin, her favor in my eyes continues to grow.

Today's strip has actually lessened her somewhat in my eyes, because she's pretty much saying to Em, "Kill someone in a fracas that involves the diplomats and they'll be arrested for you"--that's pretty darned cold.

[Discus-Spinner]

She's not exactly cuddly, no. She's another apparatchik. But Em, or someone on her staff, would likely have worked that trick out anyway, sooner or later - and so, for that matter, should the Toughs. And it's not like she owes the Toughs anything; she knows that they're a bunch of hired guns who apparently do black ops for the intelligence mob, and who've been pretty insufferably smart-arsed at herself and her people. This just gets everyone off her neck a bit sooner, and lets you and them fight, may be the best goon win.

[Marnath]

Today's strip has actually lessened her somewhat in my eyes, because she's pretty much saying to Em, "Kill someone in a fracas that involves the diplomats and they'll be arrested for you"--that's pretty darned cold.

How many people do you suppose get to a high rank in a field like that without learning how to be cold? My guess is "none, ever." It just goes with the territory.

[sum1won]

Today's strip has actually lessened her somewhat in my eyes, because she's pretty much saying to Em, "Kill someone in a fracas that involves the diplomats and they'll be arrested for you"--that's pretty darned cold.

Well, it remains to be seen if the Toughs will go anywhere near the Fracas. Did anyone see if they were visiting any sort of mountain at all?

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

Today's strip has actually lessened her somewhat in my eyes, because she's pretty much saying to Em, "Kill someone in a fracas that involves the diplomats and they'll be arrested for you"--that's pretty darned cold.

I read it more as, "if they're lethal criminals (which is the only thing I care about), then they're going to be arrested sooner or later." Oh, if only she knew...

[Mobius Twist]

I read it more as, "if they're lethal criminals (which is the only thing I care about), then they're going to be arrested sooner or later." Oh, if only she knew...

I'm reminded of the discussion on the finer points of context versus subtext in a seemingly straightforward conversation.

[memnarch]

I read it more as, "if they're lethal criminals (which is the only thing I care about), then they're going to be arrested sooner or later." Oh, if only she knew...

While they are both lethal and criminals, the toughs aren't so much lethal criminals are they?

[Mobius Twist]

You know, I wonder if the danger of civil war being referred to recently is the same one being discussed by TAG back in the day. If so, Howard's been planning this arc for a long time.

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

You know, I wonder if the danger of civil war being referred to recently is the same one being discussed by TAG back in the day. If so, Howard's been planning this arc for a long time.

There's a knowing glance at the end there between the two reps (one of whom is, I believe, a very intelligent admiral). Of course, Petey later admits that he gave them the idea in the first place. If we do see a civil war we're likely to see lots of characters from earlier in the comic, and we probably won't know how the factions are divided until the very end.

Also, that trial is the perfect example of why the UNS is afraid of Petey. He has enough dirt on the UNS's top brass to start a civil war, and he's not afraid to use it for the sake of his war with Andromeda. Public knowledge of Redhack alone could bring the UNS to its knees, and I'm sure Petey has plenty more besides that which the readers aren't aware of.

[Cikomyr]

I am wondering what sort of civil war we are talking about. Would it be systems vs. systems (Region-based), central vs. regions (a la Serenityverse), or services vs. services (Intelligence vs. Navy?)

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

I am wondering what sort of civil war we are talking about. Would it be systems vs. systems (Region-based), central vs. regions (a la Serenityverse), or services vs. services (Intelligence vs. Navy?)

Judging from the current few comics, it would likely start out as services versus service. Of course, after a few years each surviving faction will have used TAD to claim certain regions of space, at which point the UNS will be fragmented into several regional governments which all hate each other. It's likely that Sol system, due to its rich infrastructure, will be its own region, and the exterior regions will likely be so fragmented that their only hope of protecting themselves is banding together against Sol.

It's mentioned in the Ob'enn chapters that the Ob'enn's mortal enemies used the teraport technology to evacuate their entire planet. It's highly likely that smart governments and polities will try this in order to escape the civil war. A space station that maintains a large Very Dangerous Array and random-walk teraports between stars would be nigh-impossible to find, but would also be host to numerous problems that a larger government would normally not have to deal with. Maybe that kind of disapora could be the focus of later chapters after the civil war ends.

[tyckspoon]

You know, I wonder if the danger of civil war being referred to recently is the same one being discussed by TAG back in the day. If so, Howard's been planning this arc for a long time.

Wouldn't surprise me, we've been seeing a lot of small indications that the UNS has several factions that are probably working at cross purposes or just pragmatic-but-reasonably-pleasant people getting fed up with the unabashedly-evil people who seem to keep forcing their way to the top.

[Gnoman]

It isn't clear if the situation's one involving "several factions" as it is "one body politic that has an extremely virulent tumor that's liable to explode any day now." The latter tends to produce exceptionally nasty civil wars compared to the former, at least in fiction.

[Landis963]

New Comic. Looks like everything depends on Schlock not causing a fracas.

I'll be over here. Behind the lead pillar.

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

I'll be over here. Behind the lead pillar.

You do know the melting and vaporization temperatures of lead, right?

[Wayson]

Aaaaand now I don't like the general at all anymore. She's like Emm, but even more cunning and effective.

[memnarch]

Aaaaand now I don't like the general at all anymore. She's like Emm, but even more cunning and effective.

I dunno, she hasn't planned out or ordered the murder of a bunch of people yet. She's just assuming/letting a problem naturally happen while smoothing things over with the nastier side of the UNS.


At least, that's how I see it.

[factotum]

Doesn't stop her being slimy as all heck. If she cared one jot about the lives of the people she's supposedly trying to protect, wouldn't she be warning the local authorities about Schlock rather than sitting back and waiting for the fireworks?

[Shadow of the Sun]

Doesn't stop her being slimy as all heck. If she cared one jot about the lives of the people she's supposedly trying to protect, wouldn't she be warning the local authorities about Schlock rather than sitting back and waiting for the fireworks?

Given Howard's political sensibilities, I think it is very unlikely that you will ever find someone who has to deal with politics at a high level who isn't self-serving and slimy.

[tyckspoon]

Given Howard's political sensibilities, I think it is very unlikely that you will ever find someone who has to deal with politics at a high level who isn't self-serving and slimy.

I dunno, Petey is rather straightforward and reasonably moral. Still self-serving, of course, but he's quite honest about it.

[Discus-Spinner]

(a) If the Sol System police have any kind of computer network at all, the presence of Schlock on the same planet will put up large red flags automatically by now. They won't need any prompting from the military.

(b) The General is stuck in a political-diplomatic post. Her job isn't playing cops, it's protecting the population of Sol System by not getting them into interstellar wars. When someone turns up with solid diplomatic credentials, implicitly backed by the Fleetmind, she's got to let them through. Okay, so she's got Schlock's number - but if she goes round explicitly alerting local cops to the presence of a sociopath with a fusion gun, word of that warning may very possibly get back to the people they're being warned against. That in itself is a diplomatic incident waiting to happen - precisely the sort of thing she's supposed to prevent.

In that sense, she could feel stuck between a rock and a hard place - but the slimeballs in the intelligence section may just have solved her problem for her. If they are watching Schlock while looking for an excuse to sweep him up, at least somebody who's accustomed to operating secretly will be on alert with appropriate resources to resolve the problem reasonably quickly and efficiently, and with little risk of things being traced back to the diplomatic corps if it all goes pear-shaped.

It's not a perfect solution, but it may be the best she's got.

[HandofShadows]

I wonder though. What is Schlock's mission? What if it's not what everyone is assuming it is?

[Kornaki]

Knowing Petey, Schlock's mission is to be a distraction for all the intelligence agencies while everyone else does the real legwork.

[Landis963]

Knowing Petey, Schlock's mission is to be a distraction for all the intelligence agencies while everyone else does the real legwork.

That does sound like something Petey would think up.

[ChowGuy]

That does sound like something Petey would think up.

"His Thing" is one of those "the less you know about it, the happier you'll be" kind of things.

That goes double for Petey. Once because it's true to begin with, and once because it makes him happy too.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

That does sound like something Petey would think up.

If it's Petey we're talking abbout, it the first layer of deception in a plan six layers deep and four wide.

[Feddlefew]

Spoiler: Huh.

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But what is he stuck on/to in there?

[ChowGuy]

Spoiler: Huh.

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But what is he stuck on/to in there?

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It's a weapon designed to contain a focus fusing plasma. He's a carbo-siicate amorph, evolved for a memory storage system that had to be contained by something. I expect there's all kinds of gravitic fields even in idle mode (if only to keep it from frying the user) that could intefere with his shape-shifting.

Plus one of his "specialized organs" is hanging out the side, and he's been known before to go to some lengths to protect those.

ETA: Also, "That's gotta hurt!"

[NEO|Phyte]

Spoiler: Huh.

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But what is he stuck on/to in there?

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Presumably, he managed to push his eye through a tight squeeze, and can't manage the needed force to pull it back out. Though if he was a clever monkey he could just push it back through the hole where it's power supply would be sitting.

[ChowGuy]

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Presumably, he managed to push his eye through a tight squeeze, and can't manage the needed force to pull it back out. Though if he was a clever monkey he could just push it back through the hole where it's power supply would be sitting.

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"Try not to blink"

Obviously you've never had a child, kitten, or other dumb animal get his head stuck in someting he can't get it back out of without injury. Schlock's eyes, unlike the rest of him, are not made of silly putty. They're neither indestructible nor so far as we've seen particularly malleable. He's not going to want to risk puncturing or tearing one.