Highland-7 definitely features longer in the comic then I expected, and its run seems far from over.
What's next? Are we going to see Gora Relay make a jump at some point? Would be quite the escape...

And her "telekinetic "shove""...


Then I'd expect the station to already be on acceleration towards jump speed and distance. That does not seem to be the case. And since the station is situated rather close to the jump point, it may well be that the station would ahve to move solar system inward, and then outward again to be able to make the jump, since the station cannot accelerate at 20g, but about 5g max.

This is common practice in modern science used to demonstrate different directions. Arioch will be familiar with the gesture and I'm sure it is employed here purely as a demonstration of galactic spin.


A.

Re: Pointing.

It's worth pointing out that Talon, in that very same page, uses her index finger. Berly might be influenced by the manly pink alien to point with her index finger, but I suspect Talon would not be, therefor it's likely that the Loroi use their index fingers just like us.



I doubt it will be soon. My suspicion is that the station has orders to hold the jump point if possible, or die trying. After all the fleets don't want to be trapped in a system that is under attack. If the Loroi fleets can win then great, if they can't they are better off retreating and consolidating their forces than dying in place.

Beryl wasn't pointing with her thumb, she was indicating the direction of spin relative to galactic north, a.k.a. "left hand rule."

hi hi

Well, the Gora Relay is a Battle Station, not a Give-up-and-surrender-to-the-inevitable Station.

Although I must admit, the statement about flushing couriers, plural, is a strike against my hypothesis about the Umiak diversion trying to disrupt the Loroi courier network. Maybe the number 14 on the map next to the courier means there were 14 couriers on station, instead of that being courier number 14?

I wonder, do warriors who distinguish themselves, but are killed in the process, get any kind of posthumous benefits? Like, I dunno, better status for children or something. Not that I think that is a necessary motivation for heroic last stands, if human beings are any example, but still a little curious.

No, that's a group designation. A relay station pair at a moderately well-trafficked jump link like Leido-Gora would typically have two couriers at each end. The first one would have been sent through to report the initial incursion, and the second one evacuated the support staff (some of whom were civilians and aliens) after Stillstorm declared the system in contest. But Gora Relay as a weapons platform is still fully manned and ready to fight.


She will be remembered and her story retold, which is a chief ambition of the warrior class. But there are no material benefits for the family (who are assumed to be themselves warriors).

At least they've gotten some warning across! Presuming they launched thier own courier, andevacuated non-combat staff, we know they've at least got some messages through the jump point - of course, depending on how long transit takes and how long it takes to get a message off, reinforcements might be a bit.. But they seem to have gotten some through before the Umiak got the blockade setup.

I suspected that as well. And I'm sure Alex has enough of a technical/engineering/physics background to recognize the memory aid as it is.

And the next thought might be that Loroi actually use similar memory aids or aids for explanation.

Or, another possible explanation, when Alex relayed to her how humans measured fundamental constants (length of a second, speed of light, and so on) he himself used the "left hand rule" to explain the relation of electromagnetic forces and Beryl, true to form, remembered the way how humans visualized things and mirrored that gesture.

That thought still has merit. They got the ships away now, these two divisions headed to Gora Relay are still on their inbound vector. Meaning, just because they got the ships out now doesn't mean that ships could take off or arrive later on.

I don't know the outcome of one armed Loroi relay station vs. two Umiak divisions. If the Umiak think two divisions are not enough to blast that station out of the sky or - better - take it over, they could still wait and blockade any incoming or outgoing traffic on the Gora vector and to and from the station itself, at least until additional help arrives.

On an unrelated note. The 4chan thread has turned into a Holocaust denial thread.

Don't they all?

/pol/, /b/ or even maybe /k/? Sure. But not usually on /tg/.

Nah, /tg/ gets that too these days. Its officially summer now, so it might just be that the teenage /pol/kid numbers are up, but I don't think they're the sole source of it.

Frankly, it makes me miss that guy who drew beards on every Loroi he saw. At least he was doing something interesting that actually involved the comic.

Anyway, with two divisions coming its way, I kind of think the station is going to delay the Umiak forces *at best*. Loroi defensive tactics seem to function off of being able to predict enemy movements (like all other Loroi tactics, really -- if you can psychically project hammers, everything looks like nails), and as such I doubt they rely heavily on large, expensive defensive courier stations when they can respond more efficiently with fast fleets. And the Umiak already "decided" that two divisions was enough; after all, since the couriers have already launched, there's no real need for them to "rush" divisions over to the courier stations unless they feel like they can take the stations with a small unit and handle the in-system fleets at the same time.

Someone made the mistake of mentioning Hitler? Aka Godwined...?

Don't worry Icekatze, you will be remembered, just like the crew on the Bellarmine. Apparently our host have a track record of killing of his guest starring buddies...

Btw, contemplating upgrading your avatar with the picture in the comic?

For some reason i think next page topic will be named "Page 133: Hold my beer..."
edit: or maybe page 134

I wonder if we'll ever get to see Loroi alcohol.

Loroi ultra-concentrated-activated-mega-blaster coffe. I wonder what will happen when Beryl or Talon drink it...

hi hi

Looking forward to it. I expect catching a shuttle while under attack will be quite a dance.

After seeing the stats on the battle station, I'm willing to wager that the Gora Relay is in a dire situation. But they've got to know that every Umiak ship they destroy here will be one less that someone else will have to deal with later. Maybe reinforcements will show up from Gora at the last second, thanks to the alert, but the battle station seems well suited to a defensive role. It has a lot of point defense, so it ought to at least do okay at shooting down a torpedo barrage, but once the Umiak get into plasma focus range, I think they're going to have a hard time.

Still, performing crazy maneuvers to catch a shuttle might just confuse the Umiak enough to reconsider their tactics.

I'll light a lamp.

(I am contemplating updating my avatar, but I'll probably make something new.)

I don't think a "dancing" station will be something new for the Umiak. The Umiak are very familiar with the Loroi tactical assets, and surely know what such a station can do. If not having had first hand experience already.
They will just wonder why the station is expending their fuel for something like catching a courier shuttle, while the system is under attack.



Well, the comic is about to end. The shuttle crash lands hard on the station, and "Ambassador" Enzin Jardin gets caught unaware and lands unluckily with his head against a bulkhead or similar, and consequently dies. End of story for us observers.

hi hi

You are literally just explaining what I said back to me.

And then Klik-27 (?) will ask to be handed over the shuttle and its content...
And make a siege of the station, and possibly bordering the station, a priority.

I think we're going to get a more extended interaction (perhaps in person) with the Umiak and Klicky 27, and I think we're going to find out they are quite different in many regards as we (and the Loroi) have made them out to be. Not that they're going to roll over and surrender, but we're all going to get a different perspective on things soon. IMO.

CJSF

That's right. It won't matter how hard they fight, it won't matter how far they run. The loroi have been stealing Umiak cable for years, and now Klicky 27 is here to collect, dammit!