I've been listening to the audio version at work (Which is very nicely done, btw), and the wipeout of the Blue Suns on Omega got one of my co-workers attention as I worked out just who the human woman was in the 'two hours' summary and winced in a reflexive 'oh shit' response as I realized how much messier things were going to get. Although Kei at least seems to be trying to quit the combat stims at this point, which has the nice benefit of getting her badass banter back in shape.

Vido and Relkan, sadly, have good odds of not surviving what's coming now that Zaeed's gotten involved, which is sort of a shame, as while they're evil, they're great fun to listen to. Also, is it me, or does Zaeeds injuries in the cafe scene remind anyone else of his loyalty mission?

I'm really worried about Tali now, even with Mordins genius science being involved. (Speaking of Mordin, Bioware's said on their forums that his listed age of 50 is 'relative to human lifespans' and he's actually about 30. Seriously Bioware, stop trying to cut back on the good Doctors natural awesomeness!). The fact that, regardless of the coming chapters, Goodyear seems to be doomed, is rather depressing.

And then you pulled out Miranda. It's probably a good thing I was at traffic lights while listening, or there may have been an accident. Her temper seems to have gotten a little frayed since the days she worked for Evil!Martin Sheen, but it DID give G a chance for a much needed 'Fuck this noise' moment.

Nice ending scene, with Zaeed doing a nice Chandlers Law moment, getting the plot moving again and hurting the idiot mole. Now I'm really eager for the next part.

Oh, speaking of the audio versions, your Elcor clerk in part 5 was brilliant.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

>Although Kei
>at least seems to be trying to quit the combat stims at this point

I don't think she is, actually; I think she's more like a nic fiend who's so into it he's wearing the patch and smoking.

>Oh, speaking of the audio versions, your Elcor clerk in part 5 was
>brilliant.

Thank you. I had a great time doing that part. I was almost tempted to give Rando more lines just so I could deliver them. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

I just stumbled out of bed at like 6:30 in the morning and I'm still feeling kind of... meta, I guess.

The Miranda reveal was kind of surprising, but made everything else make a lot more sense in retrospective. Nicely done.

> "You assholes
>assassinated a Salusian admiral, experimented on children, tried to
>poison a whole goddamn turian colony... do I need to go on?"

Kind of automatically trying to match up the plot points from the source here. That'll be Admiral Kahoku, stuff from the second game, and... that poisoning attempt done by Earthborn Shepards's old gang?

Also, Gryph and Zoner took out TIM? Wow.

> "Now shut up. The adults are talking."

"We're the important characters, you didn't even have a name until one scene ago."

(I tend to do many fourth-wall breaking comments like that while playing Mass Effect. Just my last playthrough, on Virmire when Shepard said "Stay sharp and do your best work and we'll all get through this alive", I felt compelled to add, "Except you, Kaiden.")

>Kind of automatically trying to match up the plot points from the
>source here. That'll be Admiral Kahoku, stuff from the second game,
>and... that poisoning attempt done by Earthborn Shepards's old gang?

The fun thing about Cerberus is that you can just insert asshole behavior, and it fits so well :)

>Also, Gryph and Zoner took out TIM? Wow.

My mental image has Ginny Shepard being the one that kicked down his door. Probably because I want to do that so badly in ME3.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

>I just stumbled out of bed at like 6:30 in the morning and I'm still
>feeling kind of... meta, I guess.
>
>The Miranda reveal was kind of surprising, but made everything else
>make a lot more sense in retrospective. Nicely done.
>
>> "You assholes
>>assassinated a Salusian admiral, experimented on children, tried to
>>poison a whole goddamn turian colony... do I need to go on?"
>
>Kind of automatically trying to match up the plot points from the
>source here. That'll be Admiral Kahoku, stuff from the second game,
>and... that poisoning attempt done by Earthborn Shepards's old gang?
>
>Also, Gryph and Zoner took out TIM? Wow.

Going back to Mass Effect 2 for a bit, I can't do the final leg of the suicide mission without Miranda in my squad, simply because at the end, she lays a burn upon TIM so epic that it should've been written in purple type.

>> "Now shut up. The adults are talking."
>
>"We're the important characters, you didn't even have a name until one
>scene ago."
>
>(I tend to do many fourth-wall breaking comments like that while
>playing Mass Effect. Just my last playthrough, on Virmire when Shepard
>said "Stay sharp and do your best work and we'll all get through this
>alive", I felt compelled to add, "Except you, Kaiden.")

"Yeah, one of you is pretty much fucked."

I keep flashing back to that one scene in Hot Shots! where the writer practically clubs the audience over the head with the fact that one of the pilots (callsign "Dead Meat", and it goes downhill from there) is about to die.

-- Slider Da Feral

You know Matrix, I don't think Goodyear is doomed, so much as it's not meant for humans to occupy.

>"I told you to shut up and let the grown-ups talk," Zaeed growled. "I don't like to repeat myself."

Heee. I can totally hear that in his voice.
----
Now Playing:
Daft Punk-- Robot Rock(Human After All, 2005)

< THIS SPACE FOR RENT >

>You know Matrix, I don't think Goodyear is doomed, so much as it's not
>meant for humans to occupy.

This. I suspect that Tali will be returning to her fleet with the location of the Halo as her prize, and the Quarians will have a home again... one that they might have built in the first place, given the mysterious biocompatibility.

I like the quarians as residents for the Halo construct a lot more than the flood. I remember how disappointed I first became when I learned that such a beautiful place was meant as a prison for gribblies.

----
Now Playing:
Queensryche-- Disconnected(Promised Land, 1994)

< THIS SPACE FOR RENT >

We don't know enough about the history of the quarian people, or the Halo, to say about its origin.

But, yes, I can imagine a significant faction of quarians would be interested in occupying and colonizing it. There's still the attendant troubles with settlement that can only be remedied with their home planet to consider however, the faction of society that wants to retake Rannoch from the Geth, and the faction that feels it is appropriate to wander as a fleet of nomads for e'er more. But those lot can, I dunno, join up with the freespacers.

I like to imagine there's a reasonably sized freespacer expat community of quarians, even if they get tired of explaining how the Migrant Fleet is different.

>Nice ending scene, with Zaeed doing a nice Chandlers Law moment,
>getting the plot moving again and hurting the idiot mole. Now I'm
>really eager for the next part.

Somebody took the Renegade cut scene interrupt!

And now that I think about it;

Headbutt is to Krogan as Leg Snipe is to ____?

------
Jon Helscher

That thing you burned up isn't important to me. It's the fluid catalytic cracking unit. It made shoes for orphans. Nice job breaking it, hero.

GLaDOS- Portal

The whole time I've been reading, I've been thinking to myself, "Man, Millandra reminds me of Miranda. Accent, necessarily ruthless, suspicious name similarity, it fits."

I was gratified to discover I'd not-quite seen that particular reveal coming.

Also pleased that I'd guessed before the reveal that it was Kei wrecking the Blue Sun's shit on Omega. Looking forward to seeing how she makes a bad day worse for Gryph and co.

Aria's line about crossing the Wallace Line made me giggle out loud, to see the phrase jump from forum coinage to written canon.

And don't think I haven't seen Tali preparing to toe it herself. But that was almost a forgone conclusion; you've been borrowing dialogue lines from the game. Not that I'm minding--it's hard *not* to be at least a little sweet on Tali. But mirror-imaging your biochemistry, if that's what she's doing? *whistles* hoo boy, that's quite the step for love, girl. That'll be...interesting, when you return to the Fleet.

Apparently Chris can't handle roman numerals. My Moral High Ground thoughts are in another thread :)
-------------------------------------
Chris can't handle chemicals

>Apparently Chris can't handle roman numerals. My Moral High Ground
>thoughts are in another thread :)
>-------------------------------------
>Chris can't handle chemicals

LoL. I'll respond to the other post here. Yeaaap, Kei showing up was pretty intense. In a way, Exile is like the old Incredible Hulk TV show; Only this time, the Hulk is chasing Bruce banner between farming jobs.

----
Now Playing:
2 Skinnee J's -- Pluto(SUPERmercado, 1998)

< THIS SPACE FOR RENT >

>In a way, Exile is like the old Incredible Hulk TV
>show...
>

It really has a lot more in common with The Incredible Hulk's spiritual ancestor, The Fugitive.

Peter Eng
--
The name: Benjamin Hutchins.
The destination: Brig, SDF-17.
The irony: Ben Hutchins is innocent.

>It really has a lot more in common with The Incredible Hulk's
>spiritual ancestor, The Fugitive.

Except that Lt. Gerrard didn't make a point of destroying anything(...Including completely gutting crime syndicates!)he tripped over in pursuit of the good doctor.

*Arches Eyebrow* I stand by my joke, Sir.

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Now Playing:
GZA ft. Inspectah Deck -- Sparring Minds(Legend of the Liquid Sword, 2002)

< THIS SPACE FOR RENT >

i must say, gryph, that out of all the authors i read. out of all the fanfics and retail fiction. you, good sir, have got to be the single biggest bastard when it comes to cliffhangers, that i have ever had the privilege to to curse the existence of.

a tip of the hat to you, sir.

that being said, wheres the rest? ;P

wonder if some vogon poetry would get this ball rolling faster >.> hmmm, best not to tempt fate. wouldn't want to kill the golden goose.

cheers.

>wonder if some vogon poetry would get this ball rolling faster >.>
>hmmm, best not to tempt fate. wouldn't want to kill the golden goose.

What, an episode every 12-14 hours is too slow for you? I made people wait two or three days for some parts of Manhunt, and they've been waiting several years for the end of Rogue Squadron: Project Supernova. (Yeah, by the way, guys, really sorry about that. I completely lost the thread midway through the big dogfight scene and just... yeah. I'll get back to it, I swear.)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

I for one welcome our new rapid-release-cycle overlords.

But seriously, I didn't expect a pace this fast, and so far it's been right in the sweet spot where I am hungry for more, yet it is a pleasant surprise when more suddenly appears. I was dubious at first as I normally like to read stories in one monolithic chunk, but this seems to be working pretty well.

Thanks for all your hard work, and that of the Suspects.

>I for one welcome our new rapid-release-cycle overlords.
>
>But seriously, I didn't expect a pace this fast, and so far it's been
>right in the sweet spot where I am hungry for more, yet it is a
>pleasant surprise when more suddenly appears. I was dubious at first
>as I normally like to read stories in one monolithic chunk, but this
>seems to be working pretty well.
>
>Thanks for all your hard work, and that of the Suspects.

I think of it as two dining experiences:

The monolithic sculptures of narrative that we've previously had remind me of those fine, long Indian/Nepalese dinners where a large thali is placed in front of me, replete with a balanced assortment of meats, grains, lentils, sauces and other tasty morsels. I can leisurely enjoy each gastronomic combination without having to get up to the buffet table or even reach across the table for another plate. It's all there in front of me, and I can enjoy it all at once, or a bit at a time.

On the other hand, the release rate of these Star-Crossed installments brings to mind the traditional celebratory Chinese banquet, where the first course of soup arrives after 20 minutes, followed by a platter of sliced salumi (15 minutes later), then a casserole of stewed sea cucumber and abalone with shiitake (10 minutes later), followed by crispy walnut prawns and broiled quail (5 minutes apart), which are both a precursor to roast Peking duck with mantou buns (10 minutes later), then braised pork spareribs (7 minutes) and twice-fried velveted beef (10 minutes) -- and finally, whole steamed fish with golden-fried rice (there is no room on the table). Even before the prior offering gets a complete revolution on the lazy Susan, the servers return to tip the scales with another heaping platter. But amidst the precariously stacked platters and the chaotic mixed reach of diners (trying to clear the prior dish to make room for the next one), everyone is thoroughly enjoying themselves and are loving it every step of the way.

So, yeah. Keep it coming.

And now I'm hungry again,
-T.Z.
==================================================
"I believe that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
Then find someone whose life gives them vodka and have a party."
--Ron White, stand-up comedian.
==================================================

>What, an episode every 12-14 hours is too slow for you?

I'm getting one as I start work, one when I finish. It's perfect! :)

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter