Schlock Mercenary IV: Chrome and Punishment

[ChowGuy]

A Commodore is a special case, though--certainly in the Royal Navy (other navies may work differently) "Commodore" was a courtesy title given to a captain who was in command of multiple vessels, rather than a rank in its own right. Thus the Commodore would still be expected to give orders to his own ship as well as command his flotilla.

It has varied in the US Navy/Coast Guard, from being an official flag rank (O=7, equivalent to a 1-star general) to being an honorary designation, with "Rear Admiral, Lower)" being the current O-7 rank.

Hard to say how it's officially used in the Schlockiverse of course. But Tagon.Karl's admonition to Tagon.Kaff to "Promote himself" though at least implies a rank.

It's very confusing, since "Captain" Tagon wears the same insignia as (marine?) Captain Kerchak, who reported to Colonel Jacksmouth, as does "Captain" Murtaugh, and as previously noted by his malevolence Captain was his highest official rank in the CDF infantry. That's what you get when you have combined forces.

ETA: oops. wrong link

[Discus-Spinner]

I think we may have a flashback-ish story coming up, if Murtaugh's latest statement is true. And I assume it is.

[Cikomyr]

I love Ennesby's expression in the first planel

"Oh god don't say that. Don't say that. Don't say that... You said it"

[Cikomyr]

At least, she seems to get Schlock.

That poor woman

[Rockphed]

Remember when he killed and ate a couple union goons? I think that was the most excessive use of force ever.

[Cikomyr]

Remember when he killed and ate a couple union goons? I think that was the most excessive use of force ever.

It was.

but I am sure we can find an instance that can top it off

[SlyGuyMcFly]

This immediately comes to mind. And I'm sure it's far from the most outrageous.

[NEO|Phyte]

Well that is terrifying.

[HandofShadows]

Well that is terrifying.

Agree 100%

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

Well that is terrifying.

Is it Schlocktoberfest again already?

[Cikomyr]

THE WORLD GALAXY IS NOT READY

[memnarch]

To summarize my thoughts from the past couple weeks; neat trick by ennesby, poor elf being stuck with a captain she doesn't seem to care for, I finally figured out that it's Attaché, and this ship analyst seems pretty cool so far.

[factotum]

I'm still trying to figure out why there appeared to be a pool of water on the floor when Murtaugh was reporting to the Oafa, myself...

[ChowGuy]

Possibly for the same reason there appeared to be a rather substantial one on the "floor" of Mialhoua-ua after the core containment field went down. The Oafa apparently replenish their "lift breath" by hovering over and extracting it from water. Sure, they can get it artificially from a tank but why bother when they've evolved to do something else? That's like dragging a portable heart/lung machine around with you rather then breathe air.

And no, strapping an oxygen tank on your back is not the same thing, because you're still using your lungs when you do it.

[factotum]

Still seems odd they'd have a communal pool to do that, but it's a reasonable idea.

[EnragedFilia]

While it seems reasonable to theorize that Oafa continuously synthesize their lift-breath from atmospheric elements, there's no particular reason why hovering over standing water would be more effective than simply being in the same enclosed space as a reasonable volume of standing water. I don't breathe any easier while standing next to a houseplant than I do on the other side of the room, after all.

edit: all this use of analogy to mammalian respiration does raise the question of just how much hydrogen Oafa metabolism has to actually synthesize. Do they have to continuously replenish their internal volume to counteract continuous leakage (which would require only a slow and constant 'respiration')? Or do they regularly lose substantial hydrogen volume, perhaps intentionally to modify density (which would require quite a bit more ambient water vapor or other semi-accessibly source of hydrogen)?

[factotum]

edit: all this use of analogy to mammalian respiration does raise the question of just how much hydrogen Oafa metabolism has to actually synthesize. Do they have to continuously replenish their internal volume to counteract continuous leakage (which would require only a slow and constant 'respiration')?

Well, we know they have that aluminium foil interior to their "lift-breath" bladder, which is presumably there to minimise leakage. There'll still be some due to osmosis through the foil and skin, of course, but that'll be absolutely tiny.

(Note that any sort of heavy leakage rate would make every Oafan a flying bomb waiting to explode, so you'd assume evolutionary pressures would have weeded out any that had such an issue ).

[ChowGuy]

While it seems reasonable to theorize that Oafa continuously synthesize their lift-breath from atmospheric elements

I disagree. You're assumption I think puts too much emphasis on the word breath. Remember this is a culture to whom the term wind can also be translated as god. Compare with cultures such as the Greek, where the wind was "the gods' breath" and air was a basic element, and extend that forward to "breath" being any body of gas needed for life.

Your house-plant analogy fails to take into account that you are already living in an ocean of easily obtained oxygen, which you inhale but do not store in large quantities. Rather think which will better satisfy your hunger: Looking at a wheat field, or eating it? My theory is that the [metal-rich] hanging tentacles [to catch tasty jellyfish] act like the electrodes of a battery, releasing H2 as a byproduct of chemical action, which the Oafa evolved to utilize. Thus, they would need to hang down into the water. NOT a mammalian analog at all.

[teratorn]

Human metabolism produces about 50g of hydrogen per day, we «burn it» to produce energy. Oafa just need to divert some of the h2 they get from processing the tasty jellyfish.

[NEO|Phyte]

Human metabolism produces about 50g of hydrogen per day, we «burn it» to produce energy. Oafa just need to divert some of the h2 they get from processing the tasty jellyfish.

Human metabolism produces and burns hydrogen. What makes you so sure Oafans are the same?

[EnragedFilia]

I disagree. You're assumption I think puts too much emphasis on the word breath. Remember this is a culture to whom the term wind can also be translated as god. Compare with cultures such as the Greek, where the wind was "the gods' breath" and air was a basic element, and extend that forward to "breath" being any body of gas needed for life.

Your house-plant analogy fails to take into account that you are already living in an ocean of easily obtained oxygen, which you inhale but do not store in large quantities. Rather think which will better satisfy your hunger: Looking at a wheat field, or eating it? My theory is that the [metal-rich] hanging tentacles [to catch tasty jellyfish] act like the electrodes of a battery, releasing H2 as a byproduct of chemical action, which the Oafa evolved to utilize. Thus, they would need to hang down into the water. NOT a mammalian analog at all.

I don't understand what you're disagreeing with, because I thought I was agreeing with your assertion that Oafa "replenish lift-breath by extracting it from water", which is another way of saying that they "synthesize hydrogen". Now if you're drawing a significant distinction between synthesizing hydrogen from liquid water and from water vapor, I'm afraid I can't agree with placing a major emphasis on that distinction, as it's the same chemical process whether it utilizes an ocean of liquid water or an ocean of water vapor (which I should point out is necessarily at least as easily accessible as the ocean of oxygen in the atmosphere which Oafa are repeatedly depicted as comfortably inhabiting alongside actual Humans). Are you working under the assumption that Oafa somehow live in the vicinity of standing water but not in the vicinity of water vapor? Or are you under the impression that water vapor would somehow be harder to utilize in this way than liquid water?

And in any case, you're the one who first made a mammalian analogy by mentioning a heart-lung bypass.

[tonberrian]

Lieutenant Sorlie is freaky tall.

[Cikomyr]

Is it just me who thinks this room's design is silly?

I mean.. the entire point of retractable furniture/room stuff into the walls is if you don't have enough room to deploy all of them at the same time; since it's supposed to be cramped and space is at a premium.

This room is as big as a regular room, and would seem to fit everything.

[memnarch]

Is it just me who thinks this room's design is silly?

I mean.. the entire point of retractable furniture/room stuff into the walls is if you don't have enough room to deploy all of them at the same time; since it's supposed to be cramped and space is at a premium.

This room is as big as a regular room, and would seem to fit everything.

They probably can't all deploy at once and only some of them pop out for use in that case. Schlock, not caring about low speed impacts like that (i assume), probably thinks its fun to play dodging games with the room equipment.

[ChowGuy]

Is it just me who thinks this room's design is silly?

I mean.. the entire point of retractable furniture/room stuff into the walls is if you don't have enough room to deploy all of them at the same time; since it's supposed to be cramped and space is at a premium.

This room is as big as a regular room, and would seem to fit everything.

Even if it all fits at once, you'll still want open space to move around it. And besides, do you really want to have your bedroom, bathroom, mini-gym, and sitting room all crammed into the same space, at the same time? A typical efficiency/studio apartment will run about 325-550 sq ft (30-50 sq meters) and that room is nowhere near that size.

[factotum]

Even if it all fits at once, you'll still want open space to move around it. And besides, do you really want to have your bedroom, bathroom, mini-gym, and sitting room all crammed into the same space, at the same time? A typical efficiency/studio apartment will run about 325-550 sq ft (30-50 sq meters) and that room is nowhere near that size.

There must be an awful lot of space occupied behind those walls with the pop-out furniture and the machinery to make the popping out happen, so you could just make the room bigger and put some partitions in if you removed all that. Also, the various items of furniture must all fit in the room at the same time, or else Schlock's suggestion to press all the buttons at once either wouldn't work or would cause a lot of breakages!

[Marnath]

There must be an awful lot of space occupied behind those walls with the pop-out furniture and the machinery to make the popping out happen, so you could just make the room bigger and put some partitions in if you removed all that. Also, the various items of furniture must all fit in the room at the same time, or else Schlock's suggestion to press all the buttons at once either wouldn't work or would cause a lot of breakages!

That doesn't mean he didn't try it, it just means he would have had an excuse to use his plasma cannon in his room(to torch away the broken stuff.)

[ChowGuy]

There must be an awful lot of space occupied behind those walls with the pop-out furniture and the machinery to make the popping out happen, so you could just make the room bigger and put some partitions in if you removed all that.

You're kidding, right? You've never heard of a Murphey bed, Fold Out Table, Collapsible Shower (and other fixtures) or Nautilus Folding Treadmill and other good stuff? That's about as many links as I can manage, but that's just using 20th century technology, not that of a universe where Gauss gunfoam handguns can be collapsed and hidden in your belt.

Also, the various items of furniture must all fit in the room at the same time

OK, here's test for you. Load up your favorite architectural planner, or The Sims™ or whatever, and layout a 12x15 foot room. Now put in all furniture you need for living space, office space, bathroom, and fitness areas. Don't forget to put in chairs and leave enough room to receive visitors, because you're a diplomat/attache and that's part of your job. Now put in partitions, being sure you can get to and use all that stuff. Yeah, not so easy is it?

[Fjolnir]

Up next on schlock mercenary, camera eyes and other quasi-legal nanite enhancements!

[Gez]

Up next on schlock mercenary, camera eyes and other quasi-legal nanite enhancements!

Your interpretation is a lot less "body horror" than what I inferred from the mention of "surgical gel" in the goggles.