Page 211: Grand Theft Umiak Cruiser

[QuakeIV]

They will notice the ship has gone rogue as soon as the ship departs from its orders (honestly probably before that) but its not like they are in formation with a bunch of not-captured ships. They would have a much higher chance of escape due to the likely solo nature of the mission their target ship is on.

Notably, if they are able to mind control some bugs rather than outright killing all of them immediately, they might be able to keep up the facade a lot longer than that. Perhaps they could claim to have detected an interesting piece of debris they want to go investigate in the direction they want to flee in, for instance.

[ESP]

They will notice the ship has gone rogue as soon as the ship departs from its orders (honestly probably before that) but its not like they are in formation with a bunch of not-captured ships. They would have a much higher chance of escape due to the likely solo nature of the mission their target ship is on.

Notably, if they are able to mind control some bugs rather than outright killing all of them immediately, they might be able to keep up the facade a lot longer than that. Perhaps they could claim to have detected an interesting piece of debris they want to go investigate in the direction they want to flee in, for instance.

Take a look at the last panel of page 199. There are at least 14 other ships visible. That doesn't look like a solo mission to me.

SpoilerShow

Are there any ships off-camera? There's no way to know, but it seems reasonable to assume some sort of standard unit. This suggests the presence of either a group or a division.

SpoilerShow

To clarify the unit nomenclature used by the Loroi (and which is also applied to the Umiak to some degree):

• Squadron: 4-8 vessels. A typical Loroi squadron is 3-4 cruisers and 3-4 destroyers; a typical Umiak squadron is one heavy and 3-5 medium vessels + 2-4 towed escorts.
• Group: 3-6 squadrons
• Division: 3-6 groups (typically ~75 vessels)
• Fleet: a sector fleet or task force, usually of 2 or more divisions

[chanman]

Regarding the whole gun sights thing, I remember there being some playing around with projecting the point of aim onto someones vision (allowing them to for instance, reasonably accurately fire from the hip) and this producing really promising results. Could be doing something like that.

Point/instinctive shooting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_shooting) is an old technique that leans on gross physiological reflexes and would be amply applicable in a boarding action. As to whether Alex would have trained on it and how well it translates to zero-G, those are slightly different questions, but shooting techniques that don't utilize the sights definitely do exist.

[QuakeIV]

They will notice the ship has gone rogue as soon as the ship departs from its orders (honestly probably before that) but its not like they are in formation with a bunch of not-captured ships. They would have a much higher chance of escape due to the likely solo nature of the mission their target ship is on.

Notably, if they are able to mind control some bugs rather than outright killing all of them immediately, they might be able to keep up the facade a lot longer than that. Perhaps they could claim to have detected an interesting piece of debris they want to go investigate in the direction they want to flee in, for instance.

Take a look at the last panel of page 199. There are at least 14 other ships visible. That doesn't look like a solo mission to me.

SpoilerShow

Are there any ships off-camera? There's no way to know, but it seems reasonable to assume some sort of standard unit. This suggests the presence of either a group or a division.

SpoilerShow

To clarify the unit nomenclature used by the Loroi (and which is also applied to the Umiak to some degree):

• Squadron: 4-8 vessels. A typical Loroi squadron is 3-4 cruisers and 3-4 destroyers; a typical Umiak squadron is one heavy and 3-5 medium vessels + 2-4 towed escorts.
• Group: 3-6 squadrons
• Division: 3-6 groups (typically ~75 vessels)
• Fleet: a sector fleet or task force, usually of 2 or more divisions

Eh fair point I forgot it was depicted with accompanying ships. Probably partly didnt register just because I think its silly to chase down debris with whole formations.

Perhaps they are used to this kind of trick happening so they are sending larger groups out to make it harder to pull off.

[jan]

Hello friends my thoughts of the most deadly weapons they have besides their brains are the four things Alex have in his pocket hehe.

[icekatze]

hi hi

...Eh fair point I forgot it was depicted with accompanying ships. Probably partly didnt register just because I think its silly to chase down debris with whole formations.

I imagine the squadron is there not for a single piece of debris, but to sweep the entire debris field. They blew up an entire space station as well. Don't know if they're interested in scrounging for additional resources, or they're looking for something specific, but they'd need to be worried about little surprises left behind.

The Umiak seem pretty methodical and prone to brute force solutions. If a squadron is the smallest unit above a single ship that their organizational hierarchy tracks, perhaps they merely don't bother creating new groups and designations on the fly?

[ESP]

hi hi

...Eh fair point I forgot it was depicted with accompanying ships. Probably partly didnt register just because I think its silly to chase down debris with whole formations.

I imagine the squadron is there not for a single piece of debris, but to sweep the entire debris field. They blew up an entire space station as well. Don't know if they're interested in scrounging for additional resources, or they're looking for something specific, but they'd need to be worried about little surprises left behind.

The Umiak seem pretty methodical and prone to brute force solutions. If a squadron is the smallest unit above a single ship that their organizational hierarchy tracks, perhaps they merely don't bother creating new groups and designations on the fly?

There's a good chance that any and all of the Umiak ships have the war-winning Farsense-defeating technology aboard. The Loroi appear to have a pretty impressive track record at infiltration, e.g. disabling the Great Lift at Seren. I can see why the Umiak wouldn't be interested in sending out lone salvage ships.

[inxsi]

hi hi

...Eh fair point I forgot it was depicted with accompanying ships. Probably partly didnt register just because I think its silly to chase down debris with whole formations.

I imagine the squadron is there not for a single piece of debris, but to sweep the entire debris field. They blew up an entire space station as well. Don't know if they're interested in scrounging for additional resources, or they're looking for something specific, but they'd need to be worried about little surprises left behind.

The Umiak seem pretty methodical and prone to brute force solutions. If a squadron is the smallest unit above a single ship that their organizational hierarchy tracks, perhaps they merely don't bother creating new groups and designations on the fly?

There's a good chance that any and all of the Umiak ships have the war-winning Farsense-defeating technology aboard. The Loroi appear to have a pretty impressive track record at infiltration, e.g. disabling the Great Lift at Seren. I can see why the Umiak wouldn't be interested in sending out lone salvage ships.

The Umiak clearly just don't like being alone

I wonder - if they are worried about infiltration and have whatever it is that is defeating Farsense on board, what in their mental calculations makes salvaging seem worthwhile? Are they that interested in seeing what was on the shuttle? Is it just that unusual to run into teidar and mizol - but then why the large amount of ships? Is the debris field fairly concentrated so they are all checking over debris that is nearby? I did consider that checking for the debris might not be a big difference in their objective - the debris might be close enough to the jump lane that they are still doing their job of suppressing the jump lane.

[Cthulhu]

The Umiak clearly just don't like being alone

I wonder - if they are worried about infiltration and have whatever it is that is defeating Farsense on board, what in their mental calculations makes salvaging seem worthwhile? Are they that interested in seeing what was on the shuttle? Is it just that unusual to run into teidar and mizol - but then why the large amount of ships? Is the debris field fairly concentrated so they are all checking over debris that is nearby? I did consider that checking for the debris might not be a big difference in their objective - the debris might be close enough to the jump lane that they are still doing their job of suppressing the jump lane.

The Umiak are combing the debris field because they were ordered to search for a plot device.
Seriously, though, this ship may be a part of the division that was left there to guard the jump point. But being the monomaniacal bugs that they are, they can't sit still (can they even sit?) and therefore, why not have a look at the wreckage?

[inxsi]

I'm hoping there is a better reason from the Umiak point of view - especially if they do have some obvious "anti-farsense" device on board. On the other hand, we might never learn why the Umiak were here - it would be interesting if any of the Loroi with Alex knows if this is normal or abnormal behavior for the Umiak. And the Umiak might be wondering the same thing about why the Loroi sent the shuttle, so maybe the Umiak are just here to confirm their worry about the Loroi shuttle?

I suppose the Umiak could believe it does not matter if the Loroi determine how to overcome their lotai at this point. They might believe that the current offensive is decisive and maybe they are monomaniacal in a way that makes them focus on the little details and miss the big picture. I'm not even sure what they would think to gain from the wreckage (other than the shuttle). Maybe I'm just not thinking of what all could be learned or obtained from wreckage.

[Cthulhu]

The Stray might be slightly curious about the contents of the VIP shuttle. It is easily deducible that it belonged to the 51st that found something interesting before, so why not check it out? It costs them nothing.

[inxsi]

I'm not sure if the Stray is aware of this - he should still be one system away. I'm not sure he'd have been able to send a courier to the force in Leido system, but maybe. Or the Umiak have some better way to coordinate than anything we know of?

They probably figured that it cost them nothing, not figuring in Tempo and Fireblade

It seems likely that Tempo and Fireblade are sensing the Umiak with sanzai, so either the Far-sensing block is different from Alex's lotai or the Far-sensing block is not active on this group of Umiak. Or Tempo and Fireblade are not worried about not being able to sense the Umiak, which would make his "sensing" (or whatever it is) that much more weird.

[gaerzi]

They may not have the blocker on-board these ships. We have no idea how it works. Perhaps a single device is sufficient to screen an entire solar system. Perhaps the device remained one jump back because the main strategic use was to hide that they were massing ships; but when jumping in-system the Loroi can detect them normally anyway.

[SVlad]

I'm not sure if the Stray is aware of this - he should still be one system away.

Talon on 195 said that it's (his?) fleet possibly jump from Sala 101

[inxsi]

I'm not sure if the Stray is aware of this - he should still be one system away.

Talon on 195 said that it's (his?) fleet possibly jump from Sala 101

Thank you for that - I had completely forgotten it. So it could be the Stray being curious - I wonder how the Umiak divide their commands, if he had to use his own forces or could co-opt other forces...

[GeoModder]

The Stray, with his tendency to retreat from an unfavorable tactical situation, must have accrued quite a bit of seniority in the Umiak chain of command.
If that is a thing in the Umiak fleet, and if the commander of the Khalkha divisions went with the main force to Enedd, he might be the top brass in Leido.

[Jagged]

I'm hoping there is a better reason from the Umiak point of view

In my opinion the boss bug previously hinted he/she knew there might be something worth defending in their encounter. I am inclined to think they are also very well aware of "humans" and might not want any alive that they don't control.

[Cthulhu]

In my opinion the boss pug previously hinted he/she knew there might be something worth defending in their encounter. I am inclined to think they are also very well aware of "humans" and might not want any alive that they don't control.

Why not the other way around, maybe a human "lost colony", settled by the Soia, is now an important member of the Hierarchy?
The Umiak are merely trying to rescue one of their allies from the clutches of the "murdering witches". Imagine the surprise of our "cousins" if they realize that Alex is from their long-lost homeworld.

[boldilocks]

Or there's no lost colony, and humanity and the umiak have already struck an alliance.

[Keklas Rekobah]

OR...

This whole war has been manipulated by the Historians as the final phase of a multi-million-year experiment, to see if it is the bugs (rapid reproduction) or the elves (telekinetics & telepathy) win out, so that they can better decide which way to guide their own future evolution.