On this page, Starcaster Patrons were given a choice… Sign or refuse.
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On this page, Starcaster Patrons were given a choice… Sign or refuse.
I don’t see either choice working out for him…
Either he signs and loses leverage, or he doesn’t and a much more experienced starcaster bearer is forced to treat him as hostile.
Best choice for him is probably signing and using rank and his shiny new covert status, but he if this were a DnD session this is where I’d be forced to separate “player knowledge” from “character knowledge”.
They are literally calling him “Staff Major” however, so he knows he’d immediately be an officer.
I’m confused about ranks. What is Staff Major and Lance Major? They’re both majors and I actually mistook Lance for a given name.
I think it’s a kind of privilege separation, like in Petty Officer, Chief Petty Officer, Senior Chief Petty Officer and so on. I’m unsure about the relation between these to, though, since in real military ranks “Lance” is more or less something low (Like in Lance Corporal being the lowest rank in the Corporal area). So It _could_ be possible that a Staff Major is a higher rank than a Lance Major, but who knows, how their military names its staff 🙂
Even real world Military forces have multiple ranks that share parts of the names with each other. In the USMC for example, you have the Enlisted Ranks of Private, Private First Class, Corporal, Lance Corporal, Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, Gunnery Sergeant, Master Sergeant, First Sergeant, and Master Gunnery Sergeant (there’s also Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps as its own rank, at the top of the Enlisted foodchain, and is personally promoted by the Commandant of the Marines There is only 1 SGTMAGMC). And the Officer ranks of Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier General, Major General,… Read more »
I don’t believe there’s a direct comparison to any real world ranks of any major militaries, but it sounds like it’s similar to the prefixes you put before General sometimes. Brigadier General, Major-General. Similarly, Staff Sergeant, Master Sergeant, and so on. Also it has always made me think of the Battletech rank structure for some reason. There’s no “Lance Major” in Battletech, but there are “Lance Corporals” and “Lance Sergeants” in some of the Inner Sphere militaries, where Lances are some of the smallest combat units. From context it’s basically certain that Lance Major outranks Staff Major, but beyond that… Read more »
Ranks in the absolute makes no sens at all. Their meanings are all different depending on the country and era. If we take the rank of major as the US’ majors, then they’re people who oversee a group of soldiers (battalion, 300-1000 men) within an army. Basically middle managers.
Assuming that the list of ranks in the back of Vol 1 is in order of seniority (which it seems to be), then Staff Major is 10th out of 15 ranks (with #15 being “best”) and Lance Major is 12th.
I suspect that while the Lance major is a by-the-book follow orders type, even she would have issues with what is happening
“Are those four men with a gun, or are you just happy to see me?”
Heh 🙂
remember, scammers will try to give you no room for thinking when pulling it off
Oh damn, you’re right – and those guys have guns, so this is more of “using whatever way by force” situation.
I mean they *are* on a military ship that may end up in a battle again quite soon. It would be stranger if they didn’t have their weapons. That doesn’t mean they’re not also going to influence decisions in some regard, but it’s probably not just an intimidation tactic.
I’m guessing Lance Major is still a step or two above Staff Major.
Lance (rank) is usually a lower rank, as in Lance Corporal
I don’t see how Ryder gets credit as an ex-Marshall since he was probably thrown out of an airlock during his discharge for being corrupt
But calling him Staff Major technically means he outranks his commanding officer?
Granted she’s an immigrant to this galaxy, but that’s not how any military works?
If I was in his shoes (or in a Patron shoes), I would pick neither of options in this binary choice. I would instead play the surprise card and then ask for a friend. This is not how he was supposed to sign, but I guess as a civilian he can’t really ask for more information about what changed suddenly, so he need to ask someone else that he can trust with an active military rank. I don’t know if Cort trusts Major La’ni enough, but it would be a good start since they are much closer than QuelOran (can’t… Read more »
I’ve seen this trap theory several times now, but I still don’t understand why what we’re seeing would not simply be the immediate result of the vicent’s executive order to move them to spec-ops jurisdiction. Same as the ‘classification’ of his file, and requests regarding his persona, and movements. That was the literal justification for the vicent to do it, get him off the books for anyone besides a select few.
We the reader know that, because we got to witness that conversation, so from our point of view it seems safe.
But Cort doesn’t know anything about that, and in his shoes, I wouldn’t feel safe there.
I find it curious how the Lance Major was able to get a nice deal for the survivors of her people when they showed up with a Starcaster, and here the Federation is refusing to help fix a ship and provide safe passage for two people, one of whom knows a hell of a lot more about Starcaster’s than the entire Federation.
Just saying.
Cort would be well within his rights to ask La’ni if this is how they handled her situation when she showed up.
You don’t know how La’ni navigated the Federation bureaucracy. Might not have been all flower and rainbows, and more like a long diplomatic exchange. Cort would likely have had his demands met, if it weren’t for the specops thing.
Well well well… this will escalate quickly, I fear…
Usually, a simple “accompany us to a briefing” doesn’t (or shouldn’t?) usually require bringing 4 soldiers with rifles.
I would choose to ask about why the 4 armed guards
Those bioprint readers are expensive.
Now I’m picturing 4 armed guards at each of their Paneras’ registers.
It’s probably just the “please don’t consider refusing the request to sign this right now” suggestion committee 🙂
Was thinking about Russell Crowe in Gladiator: “Why are you armed, Quintus?”
He can’t sign yet because there is nothing in regards to his friends, he’d lose all leverage he has to ensure his friends has a place near him. So I can see this going the “not signing” way next page given how close the last “shot” or “not shot” vote was.
is it really a good idea to threaten someone with a device that could obliterate a small planetoid with a single twitch?
A bunch of people with weapons showing up to “request” you sign something before coming with them. Yep, sounds legit.
While my view doesn’t count…
…a group of armed individuals “requesting” your signature to sign immediately, tells me that there is no choice and failure to sign will mean you and yours are in the proverbial dog house with your pants down around your ankles.
It also indicates to me, that if you do sign on, you will be on a short leash (your friends will pay the price)
So…that’s where I see the pay of the land.
I see those armed, in this case, as added security, due to what happened on U.F.S Xelghos, to their Starcaster bearer.
I somehow doubt those guns can do much, if the bomb was strong and/Or close enough
Definitely don’t sign that!
Wow, I suspected something was brewing after the previous episode but not like this, well played Sir!
To all those rank talk, I think it is custom to adress the higher rank first. therefore, La’ni is still in higher rank thatn Cort.
but yeah, those ecort guys are bad news on multiple levels
If he signs that, he’s never seeing Speck or Nyrah again. If he doesn’t, we get back to the format of being on the run.
Knowing what I want to see and what I assume Cort feels about a fast one being pulled, there’s no way signing is happening in this scene.
Feels like one of those “Damned if you do” “Damned if you don’t” moments.
I know he has reasons not to sign, but he really can’t have expected to beginning away with this for much longer. There’s only so far he could go being under military protection without being in the military itself. Saying that he’s not officially signed up only works for the first day or so.
This is the point in our story when our hero leaves on a new journey…
Edit: Tim beat me to it.
Yeah, I’d go with the “No Sign”…….although (given the limits of “player knowledge”) he would also have to be aware that, with La’ni also having a clear shot, he’s boxed in. Still, depending on whether the Federation is about to go Lawful Stupid, this could probably be easily wrapped up with a quick convo of “My crew gets a berth.” “We’re not authorized to negotiate.” “Not signing….” *quick space-phone call* “Done” Plus, given her background, “Refuse” could give both Cort and us a clear view of La’Ni’s character. One would think that loyalty would rate highly with her but she… Read more »
is he eyeing the Iphone or the gun behind the Iphone XD
“Oh. I’ll register a bioprint alright. Excuse me while I whip this out.”