>This is the one Corwin was talking about when he gave Utena the nickel
>summary of FTL drives in Christmas Rose, right? The
>fold-capable bomber the WDF used to run until it got way to expensive
>even for them?

Yes, yes it is.

>>"Thank you," Tarquini replied. "As you no doubt know, damage control
>>is among the Patrol Fleet's primary tasks when rendering aid to a
>>starship casualty."
>>
>>"Of course."
>
>This is a bit to "As you know, Bob," I think.

That is at least partially deliberate; it's meant to emphasize how stiff Tarquini is being at first. She's in a strange position; part of her is intimidated by the fact that one of the WDF's founders drew this case, and another part is cringing slightly inside and waiting for him to do or say something unprofessional. The convergence of the two is why she's so rigidly numerical when giving her initial précis, for instance.

Ironically, I decided not to explicate that inner experience in so many words in an effort to be less expositional and keep the story clipping along. :)

>"Thank you, sir. The Chasseur took last year's Fleet
>Engineering Excellence Award in her class."

Not a bad notion, although she's very carefully not calling him sir. They're nominally equivalent in rank, and although he's very much senior to her, he's also a member of a different service, so she's not obligated to do so. At first she's sticking very close to the formal niceties for reasons aforesaid, and once she warms to him a little it just wouldn't have crossed her mind.

>... I was not expecting Azula in this context. Not one bit. Well now!

No one expects Azula; her chief weapon is surprise. Surprise and fear - her two chief weapons are surprise, fear, and ruthless efficiency. Amongst her chief weapons are such diverse elements as fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the Fire Nation and nice red uniforms, oh damn.

>This is a roundabout way of saying I really liked what you did with
>Vandal. There's very clearly a history between him and Gryphon, and in
>fact between Vandal and the majesty of the law in general.

Thank you. That was more or less exactly the effect I was going for - the idea that Vandal, now a grizzled old space criminal, had been tangling with the WDF a/o 3WA, with Gryphon often finding himself involved, since he was a rakish young striver looking to carve out his niche in the underworld. Gryphon cannot be said to have been fond of him by any stretch, but there was a certain pleasure to be had from crossing metaphorical swords with him. He was far from the worst foe they had back in the day.

It's a little like that scene in whichever Superman/Batman story arc that is where Superman and Batman, both wounded, are trudging through the Gotham City sewers to the Batcave, talking about villains who have died.

"What about Magpie?"

"She's dead."

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure."

"Damn. Why do the good villains always die?"

"Clark, what in the hell is a good villain?"

>Oh my god, Makra's entire letter. Her ENTIRE letter. "Sorry, I
>digress, pretty drunk." That was nothing but pure gold all the way
>through.

Heh, yeah, I enjoyed that. Corinna is one of those characters who just sort of drop out of the sky. Sort of a spiritual precursor of Rina Dragonaar, I should think.

>She might
>have worked better kept as a villain (I mean, lets face it, she would
>be motherfucking running Muspelheim within about ten minutes of
>arriving there. We're talking a rise to power that makes Akio look
>like he took his time)

"Heaven doesn't want me and Hell is afraid I'll take over"? :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.