tribulation (spoilers) chapter 3

[dellstart]

wow , just wow fel, what an intense amazing and pretty moving chapter as well.

[nicolai]

Why do I get the feeling that Jason has yet another untapped power? Not that he needs another one.

[Cougar2k2]

I was glad to read that the Parri made another appearance. So far they haven't really contributed much but now it seems the Shaman is helping in her own way to help the head of House Karinne through a difficult time.

[Mizriath]

Live in interesting time.... interesting and shocking twist and turns.

Treachery abound... expected Twillane to be twaitor but ended up as only mercs. I think it is more than that, I will be very shocked if it is the Suralles.. Doubt the Makati is invoilved... not much intro and story... unlike the way was Parri has been introduced and and leftsided by it.

But I have to ask, when this inter-galactic systems trade... betwen different system, how they find a balance of what credits would mean to each other. Say between Alllaince and the Impwrieums... imperial credits? Because how does the consortium pays off the Mercs, or how the copnsortium pays for the thousands of missiles or is it consortium missiles which means there is a backdoor somewhere not detected by the Kimdori or Imperium themselves which should have even been known by Yila. The How and not the What. :

[SYED]

so jason has an unknown psionic power, possibly feel, see or experience previous events, or augment plants.

WAnt o really mess with the consortiun, create a fleet of ships that look like alliance and skaa merchant and military vessels, but pack them with missiles, make it so they will consider any ship a potential threat.

If they lose the queens, they still have the nebula as a base of operations.

WHen they plan to seize systems for future operation, send out a fleet and let them chase you, find where assets are and capabilities while the gatres are activated.

WIth the number of ships they have, when repaired theyu will attampt to force their way to earth.

WIth all the confederation manufacturation capabilities, how many long distance missles could be produced, any type, as if they could make enough to burry them in numbers, so say thousands of missiles per ship that is stranded, all at once. CYbi auto bays could contiually create small stuff right, they could out source missiles to foreign groups, just increase bombarding. do the ships have good point defense. Say the enemy has 20000 ships, they have over 50 worlds and bases, so an average of 500 ship per area, varying due to security, lauch close to a million missiles in an attack, enough will get through to grevious harm.

Due to better fighters, intro duction of carriers that launch many, dealing with ship after ship. also heavy and light versions to deal with enemy fighters and ships. while fighters are easy to produce, the consortium has manpower issues, soon they wont have anyone.

[expedient]

It seems to me that there a lot of things we don't know about the Generations yet. In the story Jason hasn't really spent all that much time exploring what his limits are when linked to Cybi. We don't know if touch makes a big difference for any abilities derived from Kimdori DNA. We don't know if human DNA has any surprises. We don't know what all the aims were for the Generations breeding program.

So far all the Karinne responses have been based on clever applications of their technology, Jason's meeting with the Parri shaman may signal a shift of emphasis into exploring his personal limits. Jason may soon start to look more closely at his heritage and see how much Cybi is willing to reveal.

[dellstart]

mmm so we want to say that the karrines might have some precognitive capabilities as well.

woah , does that open a whole another can of worms!!!!! mmm Better dig out my old Dune books for this one.

[kd7mvs]

How are the Kimdori infiltrators communicating with Denmother Zaa? Do the Kimdori have a tech base so advanced that handheld devices can communicate across half the galaxy in real-time? Ten disguised as eggs, two as insectoids, they snuck in by imitating a race that can exist in vacuum, doesn't sound like they could bring anything sizable with them.

And the whole problem of imitating the insectoids, they haven't had contact with living insectoids, and don't have the implants, how well will they do imitating and blending in with no solid knowledge of insectoid behaviour, they only salvaged 20-some percent of the ship's database, how much of that would be background information on insectoid society?

[Fel]

How are the Kimdori infiltrators communicating with Denmother Zaa? Do the Kimdori have a tech base so advanced that handheld devices can communicate across half the galaxy in real-time? Ten disguised as eggs, two as insectoids, they snuck in by imitating a race that can exist in vacuum, doesn't sound like they could bring anything sizable with them.

And the whole problem of imitating the insectoids, they haven't had contact with living insectoids, and don't have the implants, how well will they do imitating and blending in with no solid knowledge of insectoid behaviour, they only salvaged 20-some percent of the ship's database, how much of that would be background information on insectoid society?

Kimdori aren't like any other organism in the universe in that they only LOOK like what they're imitating. They can adopt some aspects of a being by imitating its biology, but they can conveniently omit whatever organs or internal volume they don't need to live, like digestive systems, etc, in order to create voids inside themselves to carry other things.

Go go gadget virus-based organism.

The common Kimdori tactic is to carry their equipment inside their bodies, and it's typical James Bond stuff. Tiny, versatile, hard to detect, and powerful. That's how they're in communication with the other Kimdori. They literally carry their spy equipment inside themselves, and since it's biogenic, they can control/access it without having to do anything.

And yes, they're also carrying those brain implants with them. They WORK inside a Consortium base, so now they've got an inside view of how they work and what they do.

As to being able to blend in, let's just say that that's only an issue until they waylay just about anything they can touch, access its nervous system, then "download" whatever information they need in order to not stand out. Granted, it's gonna be a bit trickier than usual since they're dealing with carapace-toting insectoids, but Kimdori are clever. They'll find a way.

Go go gadget virus-based organism.

[dellstart]

How are the Kimdori infiltrators communicating with Denmother Zaa? Do the Kimdori have a tech base so advanced that handheld devices can communicate across half the galaxy in real-time? Ten disguised as eggs, two as insectoids, they snuck in by imitating a race that can exist in vacuum, doesn't sound like they could bring anything sizable with them.

And the whole problem of imitating the insectoids, they haven't had contact with living insectoids, and don't have the implants, how well will they do imitating and blending in with no solid knowledge of insectoid behaviour, they only salvaged 20-some percent of the ship's database, how much of that would be background information on insectoid society?

Kimdori aren't like any other organism in the universe in that they only LOOK like what they're imitating. They can adopt some aspects of a being by imitating its biology, but they can conveniently omit whatever organs or internal volume they don't need to live, like digestive systems, etc, in order to create voids inside themselves to carry other things.

Go go gadget virus-based organism.

The common Kimdori tactic is to carry their equipment inside their bodies, and it's typical James Bond stuff. Tiny, versatile, hard to detect, and powerful. That's how they're in communication with the other Kimdori. They literally carry their spy equipment inside themselves, and since it's biogenic, they can control/access it without having to do anything.

And yes, they're also carrying those brain implants with them. They WORK inside a Consortium base, so now they've got an inside view of how they work and what they do.

As to being able to blend in, let's just say that that's only an issue until they waylay just about anything they can touch, access its nervous system, then "download" whatever information they need in order to not stand out. Granted, it's gonna be a bit trickier than usual since they're dealing with carapace-toting insectoids, but Kimdori are clever. They'll find a way.

Go go gadget virus-based organism.

Holy shit.
I knew that the Kimdori were bad ass but never knew they were this bad ass

[SYED]

with kimdori assuming their form and linking with them, they can give all the bio data needed, also insect queens or hives teach their young all they need know, via genetics or something.

If the queens die, then they will always remain under manned, so no new insect forces, so races of this galaxcy convinced or forced into service. If nebula is no longer a nursery what would they use it for, a place where they can see you coming.

The indictor sends out pulses to knock ship out of hyper and block them right. What if the puse is altered, so it affects other hyper tech, what about instead of knock out, ships are slowed down, so that it takes days for the ship to reach the location due to time issues, or force them in hyper for longer so the radiation kills them. block or corrupt communications or sensors, cause the destruction of hyper tech if activated in range.

are fighters powered by beamed enegy, if so then the jamming device wil mean a lot of tech has to be refited. Torsion weapons are spatial manipulation while their energy weapons are hyperdimensional, so is there a way to in hib or block these weapons. This would remove their offensive armanent, leaving the MPAc faey weapons capable of dealing a great harm.

[Wolfee]

If the insectoids are educated with everything they know at birth the Kimdori could replace the queens and start laying eggs for Trojan horse warriors that would turn and attack the rest of the forces at the location when the time is right. Provided that the "Go go gadget virus-based organism" are adaptable to that extream.

If the hyperspace catapult can be built (basically a tweeked interdictor) I think Jason should start dropping kinetic and anti-matter warheads on the home cities/planets of the Consortium. Too bad the Karrines didn't have gravitonic warheads that could be used to cause supernovas - just exterminate the Consortium in they're own galaxy without evern having to go there to fight. Failing that - launch bio-genic attacks against the cities or planets, epidemics sap resoruces, or now that Jason can produce nano-bots even smaller than before use them to simply "shutdown" whole populations.

Just a couple evil thoughts... Looking forward to more!

The death of one is a tragedy, a million a statistic and a billion is a trend.

[miraborn]

Am I the only one who is concerned about the new Broadcast Power System (new acronym: BPS)? I understand the appeal of not having to take up space with power cells, or batteries, but what happens when the device you are using goes out of range of the BPS?

For example, let's say someone is wearing a gestalt or interface that is powered through the BPS, and is piloting a Wolf in space. This person is flying away from Karis, on the far side of Karis from Kosigi, and no capital ships with BPS generators are nearby ... pretty quickly, this pilot will be outside of the range of any BPS and will have no control of the fighter, unless you equip the Wolf with a mini-BPS.

Conversely, if you want to use BPS for your gestalt/interface, but want to have an alternate power source, you must compromise on space/power/capacity of the gestalt. The BPS receiver will take up some of the space previously taken up by the PPG, then you must decide if you will use the remaining space for a smaller PPG, or a battery pack, or to sacrifice the ability to function outside of the range of a BPS. If you do go outside the range of a BPS, you will be presented with a conundrum - do without your gestalt, or deal with lower power capacity.

Is there a plan to power the armor with broadcast power? If so, this could present a HUGE problem when it comes to battlefield logistics when away from Karis. You would need to keep a capital ship close enough to power all the soldiers, as well as ensure that the ship was not taken out by the enemy.

My opinion is that Broadcast Power is a great idea, and will be wonderful for planet-based systems, and for the micro- and nano-scale machinery being dreamed up, but there will be some logistical issues to consider when you start implementing it for "mission critical" devices, such as gestalts, interfaces, armor, panels, and other items of the like. Consider what it is like around here on Earth when the power goes off for a while, such as after a natural disaster - - - now consider that effect, but also include loss of power for all devices that we are used to having batteries in - your laptop, cell phone, watch, iPod, and so on are just as dead as your blender, stove, air conditioner, and TV. These are the implications that I'm concerned Jason and his 3D people are not fully considering. How would Myleena react when all her toys suddenly go dark... and all her reference material is no longer attached to her brain through the gestalt?

My $0.02

-M

[expedient]

My opinion is that Broadcast Power is a great idea, and will be wonderful for planet-based systems, and for the micro- and nano-scale machinery being dreamed up, but there will be some logistical issues to consider when you start implementing it for "mission critical" devices, such as gestalts, interfaces, armor, panels, and other items of the like. Consider what it is like around here on Earth when the power goes off for a while, such as after a natural disaster - - - now consider that effect, but also include loss of power for all devices that we are used to having batteries in - your laptop, cell phone, watch, iPod, and so on are just as dead as your blender, stove, air conditioner, and TV. These are the implications that I'm concerned Jason and his 3D people are not fully considering. How would Myleena react when all her toys suddenly go dark... and all her reference material is no longer attached to her brain through the gestalt?

I don't think that they'll be replacing the power supplies in independent military equipment such as the gladiators, wolfs and crusader armour. For civilian use there is a huge safety benefit as well as potential miniaturisation as very occasionally the PPGs overload and the core has to be jettisoned. The military will have to make judgement calls on when it is safe or advantageous to utilise broadcast power and when not to. The planetary system will have multiple redundancies (as mentioned in the story) and key facilities will still be able to use or revert to the existing power conduits. It doesn't make sense to remove conduit from existing ships but there may be instances when new ships can take advantage of the system. One example might be the spinners the wolfs use, they could be smaller, faster, stealthier using broadcast power from the fighter's main power system but the trade off would be their independent ability to work if those systems were damaged. The choice may depend on something as simple as quicker and cheaper to manufacture with only a 2 percent loss in functionality.

[DigitalMaestro]

The implementations of BPS will have to take into account the purpose of the devices involved. Obviously a capital ship needs the ability to maneuver freely throughout the galaxy (possibly beyond) and needs it's own power sources.

Wolf fighter? probably a similar need, although the StarWars had some smaller ships powered by larger ships through a similar system.
Camera drones? I doubt they have any good reason to go farther from the fighter than the BPS can reach.
Gestalt? These have no fixed range from another piece of hardware other than a body, so they would obviously need internal power.
Armor? Same as Gestalt.
Cleaning robot working in Kosiningi? BPS would be perfect because the bot will always be working within range of a well established BPS and has no need to continue functioning during any emergency power losses.

I think Myleena and any other competent engineer would be able to run these scenarios during the consideration of a power system for a device.

-DigitalMaestro