I think the better question is : can he recover from that before the drangalex can put their hands on him
John
5 months ago
Dang was he too slow on the draw to blast those bombs away? I imagine the ship would be in even worse condition if he does laser them in that direction. Hopefully he can form some kind of shield. Creating a static wall of energy that destroys things that contact it, such as head and compressed air waves, is prob possible in this world and should work.
From what I’ve seen, there is no low power setting on the Starcaster that wouldn’t immediately punch a hole through the side of the ship. Firearms, maybe, but I’d assume that they keep their firearms in lockers.
Cort did punch through that 3 foot deep rock, no indication what it blew up behind it. I don’t the ship would like it, but then again its not going to like two bombs either.
It really depends on the substance. Somethings explode when they reach a certain temperature, some when they’re exposed to an electrical current or charge, some when they react with a particular chemical.
You can light RDX (Semtex/C4) on fire and it’ll burn but not explode. You can even shoot it with bullets and the shock won’t detonate it. Modern high explosives require an actual preexisting explosion shockwave to detonate, necessitating blasting caps which bridge the gap from electromechanical to explosive force. Who the hell knows what the explosive charge the suicide bomber is carrying and how it works or what a starcaster beam actually is, but in real life a beam of directed energy could either burn away the explosive and assailant without detonation but also I believe a sufficiently focused beam… Read more »
In fairness, he was hardly expecting a threat inside his ship and would be focused on the best way to deal with the fleet to ensure his ship’s survival. It takes time to respond to a sudden change. Also, the suicide bomber probably only got to “creators” before the bombs went off – the rest of the speech was just for the audience’s enlightenment. If he actually had time to say that whole speech, then not only would he have been hit by the starcaster, odds are good one of the other crew would have at least tackled him.
evilleet
5 months ago
oh … oh damn o_O
GeorgeV
5 months ago
I assume he simply used a manual detonator. Still, I want to believe he used a timer and had to spend so, so many hours practicing the exact walk distance and having his little speech line up perfectly with the moment of detonation.
Even then, a button push for a manual detonator would be a minor action (at worst; more likely to be at-will).
That said, I feel like a StarCaster should have some buffs to initiative as well as constitution — though I don’t know what Con bonus would be required to survive a pair of demo charges and “reach out and hug him” range.
Probably, but if it’s someone you know (even if in passing), they haven’t shown any sign of betrayal or Insanity in the past, and are currently distracted with something else, you may not realize someone is about to do something bad until it’s too late. I think this fits.
Deadman switch might backfire if the Starcaster can throw a shield around the bomber. Then the jokes on him.
kaladorn
5 months ago
When you are at battle stations, your bridge should probably not be unlocked. If a larger group of ships come out of nowhere out in some fringe location, maneuvering or jumping should be your first response, especially if you have a) a starcaster onboard, b) you are scouting for a hostile force and c) presumably you will immediately recognize an unknown ship or hostile ship visually and can tell a cargo hauler from something that could be a warship. Also surprised that the military ships don’t have jump-capable message torpedoes. Getting out information immediately is any scouts responsibility *and immediately… Read more »
Who are you locking out of the bridge? Everyone on the ship is Federation personnel. If the bridge takes a hit, do you want the door locked to medical staff or replacements trying to man stations? You’d give certain people keycards… at which point the lock isn’t preventing one of them from getting in to do harm if they’d chosen to do so. For all you know this soldier had access to the bridge. Maybe he worked navigation, and was off-shift at the moment. And I don’t know what you mean about the message- the first thing the captain did… Read more »
While it’s true that everyone on board is Federation personnel, not everyone might be cleared for bridge access. This is something I have seen come up in military sci-fi before, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there are actual measures like this in real militaries. Typically this is a preemptive measure against things such as enemy boarders or hull breaches (this is also why a bridge near the exterior hull is also not a great idea). That being said, these enemy actions happened in quick succession, so a proper lockdown may not have even been finished, even if it is… Read more »
This seems like a small fighter or carrier/transporter that’s not meant to hold that many people and not really a real battleship where a lot of people are stationed on. So the bridge might not really be like on a large cruiser
A large ship will have a lot of crew who qualifies for trust by “they are willing to serve” or “do the cleaning”. Yes they are federation but the basis for trust is very thin. OTOH proper access control management is burdening and it’s likely skipped.
The message torpedoes are a thing assuming that classic radio waves would take too long or radio can easily be scrambled. I assume secure subspace communication though, space scifi does have these by default.
Barmem
5 months ago
Well, tbh he deserved it, his reaction time is real slow if that guy managed to finish his speach before it exploded
ecause the reader needs to hear that there is a bomb
Gonfrask
5 months ago
Well, now…are these individuals that are part of a cult? Is the whole race of this guy “compromised”? If the while picture is able to reach to the Federation could cause some kind of fissures in the organization? Who the hell do the recruitment that a zealot is not noticed during the process?
Casper
5 months ago
You have to be pretty thoroughly brainwashed to support a genocidal race (when you’re not that race) bent on destroying every other living thing. So suicide bombs fit. But how does such a person not get caught beforehand?
Tim unfortunately painted himself in a corner with the story so he had to take a painful-to-watch shortcut to get the score back to 2v2 and the story still going. GOT-season-8-Daenerys-going-crazy-for-no-reason level shortcut. It’s very understandable, It’s not like he planned out the whole story when he drew the first page years ago. That said, the crew of a ship hosting a starcaster bearer should have nuke-handling security clearance and access to the bridge of a starcaster ship should literally have white-house-office security clearance. All be personal friends of the bearer and even the same race. The galaxy is at… Read more »
Yeah, there being an agent to begin with, on this ship, with access to secret, undetectable comms and to the Starcaster AND the bridge is all pretty far fetched.
It seems to me that for any of this to be feasible, there would have to be some pretty extreme factors at play. Like another sleeper agent in quite a high position indeed which arranged for this debacle. Possibly one that’s been heavily surgically altered or mind controlled somehow, or even the other Starcaster gone rogue..
The Federation is such an expansive operation, there could easily be hundreds of soldiers, across any number of ships and outposts, whose loyalty is compromised/questionable enough to help the Dranglaex, be it from self-interest/preservation or religious zealotry/brainwashing. All it takes is an intersection of willingness and opportunity. The Dranglaex didn’t put this agent on this ship. XD This is the ship he worked on, and has probably worked on for ages while secretly harboring/germinating his fanatical views. In the course of the scouting efforts, Major Danton happened to end up on this ship at this moment in time (he was… Read more »
Okay, that all tracks. But what about the “asset” getting a message out to the Dranglaex fleet undetected? Using the comms array would have attracted attention. How would they even know which direction to send the message?
Undetected? Why would every message be “detectable”? I can text anyone I want, and it’s “undetectable” for all intents and purposes up until some government agency decides it needs to know if/when/what I was texting.
I can’t imagine a situation where the Federation has the resources to monitor every crew member’s personal correspondences in real-time.
To be fair, if you have an intergalactic society with spacecraft, world-ending lasers, medicine robots, etc, unless devices communicate by some sort of magic, it’s likely they would go through communication arrays on said spacecraft. It would be feasible to have a rudimentary AI monitoring messages going through the array, flagging potentially questionable messages for review by an intelligence officer or something. Maybe not for society as a whole, but definitely for sensitive areas like spacecraft carrying strategic weapons. Heck, my grandfather, as an officer during WW2, had to help censor letters sent by soldiers. Not real-time, true, but we’ve… Read more »
If there is a special messenger who hides a text in a cat pic, that can totally be done. But even without that: Nowadays Russian soldiers send geo-tagged selfies.
Agreed. Tim’s reply seems to suggest he thinks the “internet” as we know it in this century exists everywhere in the universe, which is a bit ludicrous. It still has to go through communication equipment, which in this case would be controlled by the military, which as you (RblDiver) stated, was closely monitored even in times of lesser technology. I mean, where even is this ship? I doubt they have access to public WiFi. Not to poop on what you’re doing here, Tim. I love the Starcaster series! It’s just that your answer seems to point to a potential hole… Read more »
There’s quite a big difference between a handwritten letter (which could only be transferred from point A to point B by humans, putting humans as a middle-man in every correspondence), and raw data being sent through an onboard communication tower. And the point isn’t that the data isn’t going through Federation equipment (at least initially), or that it isn’t logged and reviewable; it’s that there could be so much data flowing back and forth, both official communications and personal correspondences for the thousands of crew aboard this ship, it would be unlikely to be reviewed in real-time. Perhaps you’d have… Read more »
Thank you for your reply! It’s been a fair few months, but skimming back a good deal, his roving presence makes a bit more sense if he’s tasked with hunting down the fleet. Still seems like they’d have tighter security on a planet killer- comms blackouts included, as someone else mentioned. Had them sometimes in the service when deployed, and we were just a medical support company- but people would die, or some VIP would be in the AO, so no news going out. Space fiction often has “comm relays” needed for ships which would screen traffic but maybe this… Read more »
I never understand why such things are far fetched. It is unlikely that this exact chain of events have happened, but this sort chain of events had a great likelihood of happening. How many ‘assets’ are on board each ship? Could be none to a dozen. It is then only a matter of time that one of them pulls off a big stunt. In this case all the stars align for this crewmember to do it against a Starcaster. It could’ve been Quel, or one of the Trivium using a single Dreadstorm to take him home safe or something. In… Read more »
Tim has had a turn of events like this waiting in the wings since issue 2-3, including a choice-not-made that would have gotten them Cort’s Starcaster before now. Tim has shown multiple times that the Dranglaex have people within the Federation space (and foreshadowed this exact event two issues ago https://cad-comic.com/comic/the-starcaster-chronicles-10-24/). Tim has had Nyrah express concerns about betrayal from within the Federation many times. Tim watched while people suggested she’s “just being paranoid” despite telegraphing this very possibility for this exact reason. Tim isn’t sure why Olivier is making declarations about Tim’s plans or thought process, because Tim is… Read more »
I appreciate that you took the time to clear up some elements. I also apologize if my comment appeared a second-guessing your writing process.
However, I do maintain my initial statement that only a massive, pure, untainted, brainfart of epic proportions on the Federation’s part could keep the story “on it’s toes” while hurting the overall credibility of the story that was flawless up to now.
I let people vote on the outcome of the story. Voting on options I give them. If there isn’t a direction I’m excited about/prepared for the story to go, I don’t give them an vote. The Dranglaex getting the drop on a Starcaster here is the culmination of a series of events that started a hundred years ago after their assault on Odrossia, the failed earlier attempt to tip the scales of power. The resulting withdrawal to the emptiness of space to let the Federation grow complacent/comfortable after putting them on alert. Spending that time building their forces, both within… Read more »
Leaving one of your two “nukes” unguarded requires more than simple betrayal for personal profit like the captain on the planet of the showdown with “The Grin” or betrayal of illuminated people like that kamikaze purple man. It requires betrayal at the highest level, Triumvir of War level (as the other two seems to not have the ability to command troops), or at the bare minimum, the generals that decide which ship goes where right under the Triumvir. Maybe the explaination will come out in the next chapters, but it was obvious that the Dranglaex were an illuminated cult, but… Read more »
He’s not unguarded though, he has an entire Dreadstorm with him. Against most threats that should be more than sufficient to either win or get away before things get too bad. Something like an entire battle-ready fleet jumping in at your specific location isn’t something you can plan for. And it’s not like this is a normal nuke that indeed has no business being anywhere in the open. There is an actual reason to have Danton out here searching, namely trying using his Starcaster to try and sense the Dranglaex Starcaster’s general location (and by extension, their missing fleet). The… Read more »
It requires betrayal at the highest level, Triumvir of War level
No it doesn’t XD It just requires one disgruntled/radicalized soldier with some extreme ideologies to notice that a Major Danton had rendezvoused with his ship as part of the search efforts, and drop a dime to someone. In this case, drop a dime and believe so hard/blindly in some religious idea of the only way to universal peace and harmony is some Aug-intended “perfect race/society” that he saw his chance to be a martyr for the cause.
I don’t think this is a bad idea, or a clumsy shortcut/solution, like you suggest. It’s just realistic. The Dranglaex probably planted that sleeper agent long ago, and then bid their time. Waiting for the best possible moment to use him, since that’s a one-shot weapon. My guess is, they were waiting until the power balance shifted. That is, whenever a Starcaster changed hands. Ideally for them, that should’ve been when they finally obtained the Odrossian Starcaster. But, since it ended up pretty much under federation jurisdiction… They had to play this ace in the hole now. Remember. This was… Read more »
Well there have always been cults where someone who would be unfit to join would still be told as long as they sacrifice everything they will be allowed in.
Or for example situations like being an orphan living on the streets, cold and going hungry and someone walks along and holds out their hand… if you’re desperate enough to take it and they care for you, you’ll start doing anything they want because you feel obligated to repay their kindness or because you love them.
Rolando
5 months ago
Here’s to hoping that Starcaster dude knows how to create an effective personal energy shield fast enough. That should be well within the device’s capabilities.
I had been thinking about how the federation seems more vulnerable to infiltration than the Dranglaex, because the latter are more strict and zealous overall and the former seem to have their fair share of corruption.
But this looks more like a Manchurian candidate type of agent, the kind that is quite hard to avoid having even if your structure is a tighter one. Maybe he’s been a sleeper for years, who knows.
I wouldn’t count on a shield; he’s been established as less practiced with his Starcaster than the Lance Major
Though as I recall she’s here too, so all the Federation’s Starcasters are in one place, and the Drangalex just brought a fleet there; could be real bad for either side.
Did I miss anything? What makes you think the situation showing in the last two strips, is happening in the same area as where Lance Major and Cort are located. Also, even when he’s less skilled, “personal energy shield” sounds like one of the very first things someone using a Starcaster as a military resource should focus on. Was it established that he can’t fly through space using the Starcaster? Because if he can, that means he can shield himself from the rigors of space. Getting from there, to a shield that can withstand a couple bombs sounds likely. Lastly,… Read more »
Last edited 5 months ago by Rolando
anonymouse
5 months ago
to those who say the starcaster guy should have been able to blast the bomber or shield the explosion, i should point out 4 things 1: unlike a animated sequence we dont know exactly WHEN in the speech the bombs were whipped out, and how long it took before they went off. if they got yoinked out on the word unspoiled and then boomed, starcaster dude wouldnt have had a chance. 2: it takes concentration to focus a starcaster to do anything. the guy was thinking about how to beat the enemy fleet to give the ship time to escape.… Read more »
ears
5 months ago
Being able to just walk to the command room with two giant bombs under both arms (from where did he have them ready, personal quarters?) is some very questionable inner security practices on that ship
El_
5 months ago
Prediction time: I don’t think this will kill him at all. Starcaster will keep him alive and repair any physical damage. Drangalex will capture him though and do unpleasant things ultimately gaining the Starcaster for themselves.
Starcaster-less brother with new Starcaster challenges other brother for superiority, wins, and suddenly things in general get a lot more chaotic and bloody. Maybe he even dual-wields both their Starcasters, which would be cool to see.
TalonKane
5 months ago
“Roll for initiative.”
“1….cra…..”
TimeViewer
5 months ago
Now the question this begs:
Was that the flash of the bomb, or the Starcaster
Scarsdale
5 months ago
Judging the size of the bombs and the enclosed space, I kinda doubt it was the bombs. There’s going to be damage, but from heat and any excess energy that didn’t get used up frying the bomber and his “presents”. The flash outside wasn’t big enough and there’s no external damage so it makes me wonder if the ‘caster didn’t do a low-power zap.
D00d
5 months ago
I would be more curious how this guy managed to walk from his berthing or stash spot for explosives and not get spotted. Life on a ship is cramped, there are always people in the passageways at any time of day or night. He should have been spotted carrying to mysterious beeping packages through the ship way before making it to the Bridge.
He made an important face while carrying the package so nobody paid attention.
Del Cox
5 months ago
Hopefully that death rattle gave Blueberry time to get a shield up instead of just standing there in denial.
Solokov
5 months ago
NGL, I kinda expected this starcaster guy getting caught by the drangalex and there possibly a traitor on this ship, that said I did not expect someone onboard the ship to go full fanatic.
Looking at that guy’s lack of pupils, I don’t think this is a mundane level of brainwashing. I don’t know if Starcasters can mess with people’s heads or the Drangalex have something else, but it sure doesn’t look like a natural result
Not sure if you will see this, but any chance we might get something like a encyclopedia entry for the various races with facts like this? Because this is the kind of stuff I live and breath in Sci-Fi ^^ Cool or special little traits each race has that make them stand out as unique, like in Star Trek how Klingon’s lack tear ducts, or Vulcan’s having a second eyelid etc
I do race-profiles and world-building stuff at the back of the Starcaster books. The Tunonians have a page in Vol 1 explaining their racial traits, etc. I don’t have a place elsewhere for it, currently.
LadenSwallow
5 months ago
To the people mentioning the ability to transmit a message from this ship being a security implausibility – I would suggest reading the epilogue of Earthlight by Arthur C Clarke, who while being a fiction author had incredible contributions to science throughout his works. TLDR: An optical telescope can also conceivably act as a focal transmitter of optical light (aka laser), which travelling away from the source would be invisible unless it reflected off intermediary dust. Conceivably any astrocartography science officer could determine a sweep pattern of such a device and direct an intercept stealth-ship/probe to be in to pick… Read more »
Rolando
5 months ago
I don’t think this is a bad idea, or a clumsy shortcut/solution, like some people suggest. It’s just realistic. The Dranglaex probably planted that sleeper agent long ago, and then bid their time. Waiting for the best possible moment to use him, since that’s a one-shot weapon. My guess is, they were waiting until the power balance shifted. That is, whenever a Starcaster changed hands. Ideally for them, that should’ve been when they finally obtained the Odrossian Starcaster. But, since it ended up pretty much under federation jurisdiction… They had to play this ace in the hole now. Remember. This… Read more »
Last edited 5 months ago by Rolando
Crestlinger
5 months ago
Time to find out if he can Cast barriers now.
Logic
5 months ago
Talk about weak ship security. Surely sensitive and important areas of the ship like the Bridge, Engineering, CIC would require a high level of security clearance to gain access. That
Alex
5 months ago
Huh. I wasn’t expecting it to be a random character. I was sure it would be the woman who keeps bringing people everywhere.
Sujad
5 months ago
Wait… They have someone with a starcaster on a single ship with no escort fleet? What? That’s like having a random tank equipped with a nuclear bomb traveling around and expecting no one to go for it because it has a nuclear bomb.
Not quite the same situation. A nuke has no real reason to be traveling around in the open, and no real reason to be without a big army around it. There are two main differences here: -There is a purpose to having Danton go out in the field like this; They’re trying to use him (and La’Ni) to sense the enemy Starcasters victinity. -There is a reason for not having a big army, as this was (presumably) supposed to be a stealth operation. More ships = More attention, more risk for the Dranglaex to detect something and warp away again.… Read more »
Shecky
5 months ago
That starcaster has no hustle. That is not the gait of “I’ll buy you some tecks” unless tecks are nanoseconds.
San Fran Sam
1 month ago
Not to seem ungrateful but where is issue 13? No comments less than 3 months old. Patreon only?
24
Well, we now know that asset was indeed willing and aware.
I guess we’ll find out whether the starcaster can repair a bomb blast.
I think the better question is : can he recover from that before the drangalex can put their hands on him
Dang was he too slow on the draw to blast those bombs away? I imagine the ship would be in even worse condition if he does laser them in that direction. Hopefully he can form some kind of shield. Creating a static wall of energy that destroys things that contact it, such as head and compressed air waves, is prob possible in this world and should work.
From what I’ve seen, there is no low power setting on the Starcaster that wouldn’t immediately punch a hole through the side of the ship. Firearms, maybe, but I’d assume that they keep their firearms in lockers.
You’ve missed a few pages. Even Cort was already at the level where he can draw graffiti without punching through his canvas.
Cort did punch through that 3 foot deep rock, no indication what it blew up behind it. I don’t the ship would like it, but then again its not going to like two bombs either.
Many episodes ago, when they finally found the thing, they found words etched in the wall with the starcaster.
It’s clear that a user who can control it can do a lot of more nuanced things.
Right, that’s what I was thinking of.
if you blast an explosive substance… won’t it…still explode?
It really depends on the substance. Somethings explode when they reach a certain temperature, some when they’re exposed to an electrical current or charge, some when they react with a particular chemical.
You can light RDX (Semtex/C4) on fire and it’ll burn but not explode. You can even shoot it with bullets and the shock won’t detonate it. Modern high explosives require an actual preexisting explosion shockwave to detonate, necessitating blasting caps which bridge the gap from electromechanical to explosive force. Who the hell knows what the explosive charge the suicide bomber is carrying and how it works or what a starcaster beam actually is, but in real life a beam of directed energy could either burn away the explosive and assailant without detonation but also I believe a sufficiently focused beam… Read more »
Depends. You can cook with C4.
Judging by the explosion in the last panel…
Eh, it didn’t blow the ship apart, so it must’ve been somewhat contained I think…
In fairness, he was hardly expecting a threat inside his ship and would be focused on the best way to deal with the fleet to ensure his ship’s survival. It takes time to respond to a sudden change. Also, the suicide bomber probably only got to “creators” before the bombs went off – the rest of the speech was just for the audience’s enlightenment. If he actually had time to say that whole speech, then not only would he have been hit by the starcaster, odds are good one of the other crew would have at least tackled him.
oh … oh damn o_O
I assume he simply used a manual detonator. Still, I want to believe he used a timer and had to spend so, so many hours practicing the exact walk distance and having his little speech line up perfectly with the moment of detonation.
Could also have been voice activated for “unspoiled”
Probably could’ve blown him away in the time it took to shout his spiel.
Talking is a free action.
As long as the dialogue is six seconds long! ?
Even then, a button push for a manual detonator would be a minor action (at worst; more likely to be at-will).
That said, I feel like a StarCaster should have some buffs to initiative as well as constitution — though I don’t know what Con bonus would be required to survive a pair of demo charges and “reach out and hug him” range.
Probably, but if it’s someone you know (even if in passing), they haven’t shown any sign of betrayal or Insanity in the past, and are currently distracted with something else, you may not realize someone is about to do something bad until it’s too late. I think this fits.
Dead man switch: if you RELEASE the button, the bomb goes off.
That one I could definitely buy.
Deadman switch might backfire if the Starcaster can throw a shield around the bomber. Then the jokes on him.
When you are at battle stations, your bridge should probably not be unlocked. If a larger group of ships come out of nowhere out in some fringe location, maneuvering or jumping should be your first response, especially if you have a) a starcaster onboard, b) you are scouting for a hostile force and c) presumably you will immediately recognize an unknown ship or hostile ship visually and can tell a cargo hauler from something that could be a warship. Also surprised that the military ships don’t have jump-capable message torpedoes. Getting out information immediately is any scouts responsibility *and immediately… Read more »
Who are you locking out of the bridge? Everyone on the ship is Federation personnel. If the bridge takes a hit, do you want the door locked to medical staff or replacements trying to man stations? You’d give certain people keycards… at which point the lock isn’t preventing one of them from getting in to do harm if they’d chosen to do so. For all you know this soldier had access to the bridge. Maybe he worked navigation, and was off-shift at the moment. And I don’t know what you mean about the message- the first thing the captain did… Read more »
While it’s true that everyone on board is Federation personnel, not everyone might be cleared for bridge access. This is something I have seen come up in military sci-fi before, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there are actual measures like this in real militaries. Typically this is a preemptive measure against things such as enemy boarders or hull breaches (this is also why a bridge near the exterior hull is also not a great idea). That being said, these enemy actions happened in quick succession, so a proper lockdown may not have even been finished, even if it is… Read more »
This seems like a small fighter or carrier/transporter that’s not meant to hold that many people and not really a real battleship where a lot of people are stationed on. So the bridge might not really be like on a large cruiser
A large ship will have a lot of crew who qualifies for trust by “they are willing to serve” or “do the cleaning”. Yes they are federation but the basis for trust is very thin. OTOH proper access control management is burdening and it’s likely skipped.
The message torpedoes are a thing assuming that classic radio waves would take too long or radio can easily be scrambled. I assume secure subspace communication though, space scifi does have these by default.
Well, tbh he deserved it, his reaction time is real slow if that guy managed to finish his speach before it exploded
Could have been a dead man’s switch
Why would it beep then 😉
ecause the reader needs to hear that there is a bomb
Well, now…are these individuals that are part of a cult? Is the whole race of this guy “compromised”? If the while picture is able to reach to the Federation could cause some kind of fissures in the organization? Who the hell do the recruitment that a zealot is not noticed during the process?
You have to be pretty thoroughly brainwashed to support a genocidal race (when you’re not that race) bent on destroying every other living thing. So suicide bombs fit. But how does such a person not get caught beforehand?
Sleeper agent most likely. Look at his eyes, I´d say he doesn´t look like this normally. Some advanced tech or mind scrubbing stuff.
Tim unfortunately painted himself in a corner with the story so he had to take a painful-to-watch shortcut to get the score back to 2v2 and the story still going. GOT-season-8-Daenerys-going-crazy-for-no-reason level shortcut. It’s very understandable, It’s not like he planned out the whole story when he drew the first page years ago. That said, the crew of a ship hosting a starcaster bearer should have nuke-handling security clearance and access to the bridge of a starcaster ship should literally have white-house-office security clearance. All be personal friends of the bearer and even the same race. The galaxy is at… Read more »
Yeah, there being an agent to begin with, on this ship, with access to secret, undetectable comms and to the Starcaster AND the bridge is all pretty far fetched.
It seems to me that for any of this to be feasible, there would have to be some pretty extreme factors at play. Like another sleeper agent in quite a high position indeed which arranged for this debacle. Possibly one that’s been heavily surgically altered or mind controlled somehow, or even the other Starcaster gone rogue..
The Federation is such an expansive operation, there could easily be hundreds of soldiers, across any number of ships and outposts, whose loyalty is compromised/questionable enough to help the Dranglaex, be it from self-interest/preservation or religious zealotry/brainwashing. All it takes is an intersection of willingness and opportunity. The Dranglaex didn’t put this agent on this ship. XD This is the ship he worked on, and has probably worked on for ages while secretly harboring/germinating his fanatical views. In the course of the scouting efforts, Major Danton happened to end up on this ship at this moment in time (he was… Read more »
Okay, that all tracks. But what about the “asset” getting a message out to the Dranglaex fleet undetected? Using the comms array would have attracted attention. How would they even know which direction to send the message?
Undetected? Why would every message be “detectable”? I can text anyone I want, and it’s “undetectable” for all intents and purposes up until some government agency decides it needs to know if/when/what I was texting.
I can’t imagine a situation where the Federation has the resources to monitor every crew member’s personal correspondences in real-time.
To be fair, if you have an intergalactic society with spacecraft, world-ending lasers, medicine robots, etc, unless devices communicate by some sort of magic, it’s likely they would go through communication arrays on said spacecraft. It would be feasible to have a rudimentary AI monitoring messages going through the array, flagging potentially questionable messages for review by an intelligence officer or something. Maybe not for society as a whole, but definitely for sensitive areas like spacecraft carrying strategic weapons. Heck, my grandfather, as an officer during WW2, had to help censor letters sent by soldiers. Not real-time, true, but we’ve… Read more »
If there is a special messenger who hides a text in a cat pic, that can totally be done. But even without that: Nowadays Russian soldiers send geo-tagged selfies.
Agreed. Tim’s reply seems to suggest he thinks the “internet” as we know it in this century exists everywhere in the universe, which is a bit ludicrous. It still has to go through communication equipment, which in this case would be controlled by the military, which as you (RblDiver) stated, was closely monitored even in times of lesser technology. I mean, where even is this ship? I doubt they have access to public WiFi. Not to poop on what you’re doing here, Tim. I love the Starcaster series! It’s just that your answer seems to point to a potential hole… Read more »
There’s quite a big difference between a handwritten letter (which could only be transferred from point A to point B by humans, putting humans as a middle-man in every correspondence), and raw data being sent through an onboard communication tower. And the point isn’t that the data isn’t going through Federation equipment (at least initially), or that it isn’t logged and reviewable; it’s that there could be so much data flowing back and forth, both official communications and personal correspondences for the thousands of crew aboard this ship, it would be unlikely to be reviewed in real-time. Perhaps you’d have… Read more »
He could have been calling his wife and she might be a fanatic too. Maybe outgoing calls are getting checked after that…
Thank you for your reply! It’s been a fair few months, but skimming back a good deal, his roving presence makes a bit more sense if he’s tasked with hunting down the fleet. Still seems like they’d have tighter security on a planet killer- comms blackouts included, as someone else mentioned. Had them sometimes in the service when deployed, and we were just a medical support company- but people would die, or some VIP would be in the AO, so no news going out. Space fiction often has “comm relays” needed for ships which would screen traffic but maybe this… Read more »
I never understand why such things are far fetched. It is unlikely that this exact chain of events have happened, but this sort chain of events had a great likelihood of happening. How many ‘assets’ are on board each ship? Could be none to a dozen. It is then only a matter of time that one of them pulls off a big stunt. In this case all the stars align for this crewmember to do it against a Starcaster. It could’ve been Quel, or one of the Trivium using a single Dreadstorm to take him home safe or something. In… Read more »
Tim has had a turn of events like this waiting in the wings since issue 2-3, including a choice-not-made that would have gotten them Cort’s Starcaster before now. Tim has shown multiple times that the Dranglaex have people within the Federation space (and foreshadowed this exact event two issues ago https://cad-comic.com/comic/the-starcaster-chronicles-10-24/). Tim has had Nyrah express concerns about betrayal from within the Federation many times. Tim watched while people suggested she’s “just being paranoid” despite telegraphing this very possibility for this exact reason. Tim isn’t sure why Olivier is making declarations about Tim’s plans or thought process, because Tim is… Read more »
I appreciate that you took the time to clear up some elements. I also apologize if my comment appeared a second-guessing your writing process.
However, I do maintain my initial statement that only a massive, pure, untainted, brainfart of epic proportions on the Federation’s part could keep the story “on it’s toes” while hurting the overall credibility of the story that was flawless up to now.
I let people vote on the outcome of the story. Voting on options I give them. If there isn’t a direction I’m excited about/prepared for the story to go, I don’t give them an vote. The Dranglaex getting the drop on a Starcaster here is the culmination of a series of events that started a hundred years ago after their assault on Odrossia, the failed earlier attempt to tip the scales of power. The resulting withdrawal to the emptiness of space to let the Federation grow complacent/comfortable after putting them on alert. Spending that time building their forces, both within… Read more »
Leaving one of your two “nukes” unguarded requires more than simple betrayal for personal profit like the captain on the planet of the showdown with “The Grin” or betrayal of illuminated people like that kamikaze purple man. It requires betrayal at the highest level, Triumvir of War level (as the other two seems to not have the ability to command troops), or at the bare minimum, the generals that decide which ship goes where right under the Triumvir. Maybe the explaination will come out in the next chapters, but it was obvious that the Dranglaex were an illuminated cult, but… Read more »
He’s not unguarded though, he has an entire Dreadstorm with him. Against most threats that should be more than sufficient to either win or get away before things get too bad. Something like an entire battle-ready fleet jumping in at your specific location isn’t something you can plan for. And it’s not like this is a normal nuke that indeed has no business being anywhere in the open. There is an actual reason to have Danton out here searching, namely trying using his Starcaster to try and sense the Dranglaex Starcaster’s general location (and by extension, their missing fleet). The… Read more »
No it doesn’t XD It just requires one disgruntled/radicalized soldier with some extreme ideologies to notice that a Major Danton had rendezvoused with his ship as part of the search efforts, and drop a dime to someone. In this case, drop a dime and believe so hard/blindly in some religious idea of the only way to universal peace and harmony is some Aug-intended “perfect race/society” that he saw his chance to be a martyr for the cause.
The nuke isn’t a passive object but a fighter by itself. Even with this pearl harbor plus the timed sabotage the federation might still have a chance.
I don’t think this is a bad idea, or a clumsy shortcut/solution, like you suggest. It’s just realistic. The Dranglaex probably planted that sleeper agent long ago, and then bid their time. Waiting for the best possible moment to use him, since that’s a one-shot weapon. My guess is, they were waiting until the power balance shifted. That is, whenever a Starcaster changed hands. Ideally for them, that should’ve been when they finally obtained the Odrossian Starcaster. But, since it ended up pretty much under federation jurisdiction… They had to play this ace in the hole now. Remember. This was… Read more »
Well there have always been cults where someone who would be unfit to join would still be told as long as they sacrifice everything they will be allowed in.
Or for example situations like being an orphan living on the streets, cold and going hungry and someone walks along and holds out their hand… if you’re desperate enough to take it and they care for you, you’ll start doing anything they want because you feel obligated to repay their kindness or because you love them.
Here’s to hoping that Starcaster dude knows how to create an effective personal energy shield fast enough. That should be well within the device’s capabilities.
I had been thinking about how the federation seems more vulnerable to infiltration than the Dranglaex, because the latter are more strict and zealous overall and the former seem to have their fair share of corruption.
But this looks more like a Manchurian candidate type of agent, the kind that is quite hard to avoid having even if your structure is a tighter one. Maybe he’s been a sleeper for years, who knows.
I wouldn’t count on a shield; he’s been established as less practiced with his Starcaster than the Lance Major
Though as I recall she’s here too, so all the Federation’s Starcasters are in one place, and the Drangalex just brought a fleet there; could be real bad for either side.
Did I miss anything? What makes you think the situation showing in the last two strips, is happening in the same area as where Lance Major and Cort are located. Also, even when he’s less skilled, “personal energy shield” sounds like one of the very first things someone using a Starcaster as a military resource should focus on. Was it established that he can’t fly through space using the Starcaster? Because if he can, that means he can shield himself from the rigors of space. Getting from there, to a shield that can withstand a couple bombs sounds likely. Lastly,… Read more »
to those who say the starcaster guy should have been able to blast the bomber or shield the explosion, i should point out 4 things 1: unlike a animated sequence we dont know exactly WHEN in the speech the bombs were whipped out, and how long it took before they went off. if they got yoinked out on the word unspoiled and then boomed, starcaster dude wouldnt have had a chance. 2: it takes concentration to focus a starcaster to do anything. the guy was thinking about how to beat the enemy fleet to give the ship time to escape.… Read more »
Being able to just walk to the command room with two giant bombs under both arms (from where did he have them ready, personal quarters?) is some very questionable inner security practices on that ship
Prediction time: I don’t think this will kill him at all. Starcaster will keep him alive and repair any physical damage. Drangalex will capture him though and do unpleasant things ultimately gaining the Starcaster for themselves.
Starcaster-less brother with new Starcaster challenges other brother for superiority, wins, and suddenly things in general get a lot more chaotic and bloody. Maybe he even dual-wields both their Starcasters, which would be cool to see.
“Roll for initiative.”
“1….cra…..”
Now the question this begs:
Was that the flash of the bomb, or the Starcaster
Judging the size of the bombs and the enclosed space, I kinda doubt it was the bombs. There’s going to be damage, but from heat and any excess energy that didn’t get used up frying the bomber and his “presents”. The flash outside wasn’t big enough and there’s no external damage so it makes me wonder if the ‘caster didn’t do a low-power zap.
I would be more curious how this guy managed to walk from his berthing or stash spot for explosives and not get spotted. Life on a ship is cramped, there are always people in the passageways at any time of day or night. He should have been spotted carrying to mysterious beeping packages through the ship way before making it to the Bridge.
He made an important face while carrying the package so nobody paid attention.
Hopefully that death rattle gave Blueberry time to get a shield up instead of just standing there in denial.
NGL, I kinda expected this starcaster guy getting caught by the drangalex and there possibly a traitor on this ship, that said I did not expect someone onboard the ship to go full fanatic.
Looking at that guy’s lack of pupils, I don’t think this is a mundane level of brainwashing. I don’t know if Starcasters can mess with people’s heads or the Drangalex have something else, but it sure doesn’t look like a natural result
Tunonians do not have visible pupils. They have a protective membrane over their eyes. https://cad-comic.com/comic/the-starcaster-chronicles-01-07/
Not sure if you will see this, but any chance we might get something like a encyclopedia entry for the various races with facts like this? Because this is the kind of stuff I live and breath in Sci-Fi ^^ Cool or special little traits each race has that make them stand out as unique, like in Star Trek how Klingon’s lack tear ducts, or Vulcan’s having a second eyelid etc
I do race-profiles and world-building stuff at the back of the Starcaster books. The Tunonians have a page in Vol 1 explaining their racial traits, etc. I don’t have a place elsewhere for it, currently.
To the people mentioning the ability to transmit a message from this ship being a security implausibility – I would suggest reading the epilogue of Earthlight by Arthur C Clarke, who while being a fiction author had incredible contributions to science throughout his works. TLDR: An optical telescope can also conceivably act as a focal transmitter of optical light (aka laser), which travelling away from the source would be invisible unless it reflected off intermediary dust. Conceivably any astrocartography science officer could determine a sweep pattern of such a device and direct an intercept stealth-ship/probe to be in to pick… Read more »
I don’t think this is a bad idea, or a clumsy shortcut/solution, like some people suggest. It’s just realistic. The Dranglaex probably planted that sleeper agent long ago, and then bid their time. Waiting for the best possible moment to use him, since that’s a one-shot weapon. My guess is, they were waiting until the power balance shifted. That is, whenever a Starcaster changed hands. Ideally for them, that should’ve been when they finally obtained the Odrossian Starcaster. But, since it ended up pretty much under federation jurisdiction… They had to play this ace in the hole now. Remember. This… Read more »
Time to find out if he can Cast barriers now.
Talk about weak ship security. Surely sensitive and important areas of the ship like the Bridge, Engineering, CIC would require a high level of security clearance to gain access. That
Huh. I wasn’t expecting it to be a random character. I was sure it would be the woman who keeps bringing people everywhere.
Wait… They have someone with a starcaster on a single ship with no escort fleet? What? That’s like having a random tank equipped with a nuclear bomb traveling around and expecting no one to go for it because it has a nuclear bomb.
Not quite the same situation. A nuke has no real reason to be traveling around in the open, and no real reason to be without a big army around it. There are two main differences here: -There is a purpose to having Danton go out in the field like this; They’re trying to use him (and La’Ni) to sense the enemy Starcasters victinity. -There is a reason for not having a big army, as this was (presumably) supposed to be a stealth operation. More ships = More attention, more risk for the Dranglaex to detect something and warp away again.… Read more »
That starcaster has no hustle. That is not the gait of “I’ll buy you some tecks” unless tecks are nanoseconds.
Not to seem ungrateful but where is issue 13? No comments less than 3 months old. Patreon only?
Yes.