>
>>Wow. All I can say is "Holy hell, man. Vent much?" :)
>
>When I sit down to review a story, I do NOT mess around. I go
>line-by-line. :)
>
>It actually probably should have been it's own separate thread,
>really, but there was one already extant and I didn't want to double
>up.
>
No, you did exactly right IMO Merc. In depth ones like yours are a lot rarer around here than they used to be; but back when they were they all went in the general commentary thread for the story. I was working one up myself, but you covered just about all the points I wanted to except one...

I'd argue that Souske probably doesn't have Kanami chipped; let us not forget that he's a soldier who's also a bodyguard rather than the other way around. Which seems to me that it just wouldn't have occurred to him and or he felt that he couldn't manage to do it without otherwise violating their protocols.

Also, I disagree with the theorem of Kanami saying don't go as being some sort of delayed stress reaction. Rather, I would submit that it was a subconcious realization via "the whispering" (and I also agree that I LOVE G's take on how to work that in) that maybe, just maybe there was more to it what happened in brown 21 than what it seemed. And or that between that incident and something 'whispered' and forgotten consciously she's realized that being away from DSM without Souske is leaving her exposed to whoever it is that is out to get her. Either way, its like later in the source material where she realizes that for all Souske's faults she's safer with him than without.

Now, as to the WHO it might be... I suspect someone high up in Psi Corps, or possibly even Clarke himself wanting to try and snap up one of the "whispered" who seemly is outside the normal 'safety' cordon that Mars Division provides. And that is why Souske was 'hired'.

My theory? that the 'company' Souske works for is actually owned by deniably by one of Gryphon's "Weapon 0" contacts; someone like Emma Frost, for example. Alternately, it could be directly owned in some way by Mars Division themselves. Which would give them very deniable assets that could be used for exactly something like this; which was part of the point of the weapon 0 project IIRC; assets that were seemly unconnected to the IPO or WDF in any way.

Ergo, when Kanami goes to DSM, Miranda and Thade go to G to say "she needs to be outside the 'net' but we need her safe too"; G talks to whoever, and BAM, insta contract with Tech, and Souske suddenly gets a new assignment. However, I do find it interesting that the remainder of "Mithril" are part of Mars Division; however, given Maia and MIranda's long standing association with names from Tolkien it makes sense in that regard. Only thing that feels different (not WRONG per sey; just different) here is that its Kanami who knows the rest of "Mithril" vs Souske