It's always fun seeing how stories do the 'Shepard's back from the dead and meeting old friends' routine, and this might be one of the best. Gin just wandering up to Gryph and Derek at B6's bowling alley and joining their game got me giggling instantly.

Having Amanda and Rina show up again was nice. I see Amanda's been doing the occasional bit of work to keep the diplomatic stuff from driving her batty.

I wasn't that surprised to see Collectors behind the EAs troubles. It was already clear that this is starting out as the UF version of ME2, although I suspect it will go in some rather unique directions rather quickly. Having Kaidens great-granddaughter appear cracked me up, as it's really the sort of scenario that can only happen in a handful of settings.

And then Harbinger showed up, or whoever you've got pulling the Collectors strings here... and then we saw that Gin has much the same response to him as I do. "Oh I'm sorry, were you talking?" remains one of my favorite Mass Effect moments. The Collecter ship launching, and that launch actually being a threat to Shepards team, pleased me far more then I would have expected. I think it might have been the simple fact that most sci-fi seems to have a ship launch be entirely harmless that averting that was a welcome sight.

>While you were getting your Return paperwork done, I had to go rob my own -grave- to get this one."

Well, that's a mental image it took a while to work my mind around.

The briefing scene was another ME2 moment converted over to UF I quite liked. I think a part of me prefers this one, but that's probably my admitted TIM-dislike at work there.

And then we had Liara giving Indy's lecture. This was just plain awesome. Not the information broker that can be kind of unnerving, but the confident, accomplished young (relatively speaking) woman. The past hundred and a bit years have been pretty good to her. The reunion was quite nice, and Shepard-Liara is perhaps my favorite pairing, even over the Wallace Line Crossing, so that definitely worked for me.

I think Arna's worldview might be getting challenged a bit. Makes me wonder what the EA has been telling its people about places like New Avalon.

Overall, a good start, and I'm looking forward to part 2.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

Just finished. Don't know if anyone cares, but I know nearly nothing about Mass Effect, and was able to follow things fine (so far). I only made one dip into the annotation thread to get straightened out, because I thought either I was misreading things or else there was a massive typo about who's granddaughter Arna was (I somehow got it in my head that Jeffrey and Kaidan were brothers, and after consulting the annotations, there was no typo).

Hurray for the return of Amanda, and a bigger Hurray for the Return of Rina, Stealer of Scenes (but not really in this story)

Are the Collectors the same guys from The Vastru Encounter? I note the credits "introduce" them, yet Vastru was the previous story in the FI list (also noted the author's comment that he knows the chronology isn't updated yet)

Jeanne

	Jeanne Hedge http://www.jhedge.com
"Never give up, never surrender!"

>Are the Collectors the same guys from The Vastru Encounter? I note the
>credits "introduce" them, yet Vastru was the previous story in the FI
>list (also noted the author's comment that he knows the chronology
>isn't updated yet)

Nope, that was the Pfhor (taken from the Marathon games). As of The Vastru Encounter, they'd never been seen bepfhor (sorry), whereas the Collectors are (so to speak) a known unknown in 2406. (Also, the Pfhor seem to be operating out on the Rim, whereas the Collectors are active in the Coreward Frontier.)

--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.

LAST EDITED ON Apr-15-13 AT 10:23 AM (EDT)
 
Nice, I look forward to future installments. I love the "getting the band back together" vibe, though the surprise won't truly be complete until Joker's at the helm, Dr. Solus is singing Gilbert and Sullivan in the lab, and a quarian is in the engine room. (How long until Garrus starts calibrating something? :)

When I read the beginning about the Zocabowl and the Klingon-Romulan fracas, this came to mind:

Derek: Zargh, ya know, it's Nanclus, so his toe slipped over the line a little, big deal. It's just a game, man.

Zargh: Captain Bacon, this is a matter of honor. Am I wrong? Am I wrong?

Nanclus: No, but I wasn't over. I'm marking it 8.

Zargh: (pulls out a Bat'leth) Nanclus, my friend, you are entering a world of pain.

>When I read the beginning about the Zocabowl and the Klingon-Romulan
>fracas, this came to mind:

First thing that came to my mind was the golf game in Mike Ford's HOW MUCH FOR JUST THE PLANET?

>First thing that came to my mind was the golf game in Mike Ford's HOW
>MUCH FOR JUST THE PLANET?

"Minefield left, dogleg right."

"... Mind repeating that, laddie?"

"Minefield left, dogleg right."

	Philip J. Moyer Contributing Writer, Editor and Artist (and Moderator) -- Eyrie Productions, Unlimited CEO of MTS, High Poobah Of Artwork, and High Priest Of the Church Of Aerianne -- Magnetic Terrapin Studios "Insert Pithy Comment Here"

>Zargh: Captain Bacon, this is a matter of honor. Am I wrong? Am I
>wrong?

DEREK
No, you're not wrong, you're just an asshole.

--G.
"And that's when I shot him, your honor."
-><-
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.

>>Zargh: Captain Bacon, this is a matter of honor. Am I wrong? Am I
>>wrong?
>
>DEREK
>No, you're not wrong, you're just an asshole.
>

Londo: Let me tell you something, Zargh. You pull any of your crazy shit with us, you flash a PPG out on the lanes, I'll take it away from you, stick it up your ass and pull the fucking trigger 'til it goes "click."

Derek: LONDO!

Londo: You said it, man. Nobody fucks with the Londo.

Ebony the Black Dragon

"Life is like an anole. Sometimes it's green. Sometimes it's brown. But it's always a small Caribbean lizard."

It was a slow day at the office this morning, the phone was quiet. So I opened up Wounded Rose, as I figured a slow read through of SotS would tide me over till Act 2.

I had the two following disconnected thoughts.
1. I truly pity the poor Reaper neural architecture that runs into Ein
and
2. Huh. Collectors. So that's who stole the Stanley Cup.

Brian

I like it! Shepard is noticeably Shepard. I can hear the Jennifer Hale. "Long story short, I punched a god." Garrus is still on his first life, Liara is Indiana Jones, and Kaidan came back with Shepard. Got it.

Nice to hear the full Eight-Ball credo. It has that particulat Gweep/Golden Age WDF feel to it. Especially the disclaimer.

Needs less rehashing scenes from Mass Effect and more rehashing scenes from Ocean's 11. Looking forward to future parts.

>Needs less rehashing scenes from Mass Effect and more rehashing scenes
>from Ocean's 11. Looking forward to future parts.

Personally, I'm looking forward to Shepard explaining to Joker how she traded the Normandy for a microphone...

-Z

---
Remember kids: guns make you stupid, duct tape makes you smart.

Is it not possible that in some parts of the galaxy... because of his narrow escapes and remaining at large for the Exile years... some news sites have dubbed Gryphon as The Illusive Man. :P

Although now that I think about it, wasn't there mention a while back of there being a Cerberus in UF too?

>Is it not possible that in some parts of the galaxy... because of his
>narrow escapes and remaining at large for the Exile years... some news
>sites have dubbed Gryphon as The Illusive Man. :P

No, that'd be the "Elusive Man". It's like the "Running Man", but not really.

>Although now that I think about it, wasn't there mention a while back
>of there being a Cerberus in UF too?

In Starcrossed, primarily, when Miranda's history came up. Cerberus as an organization is long-dead, and so is "The Illusive Man", ever since 2285.

--- Philip

	Philip J. Moyer Contributing Writer, Editor and Artist (and Moderator) -- Eyrie Productions, Unlimited CEO of MTS, High Poobah Of Artwork, and High Priest Of the Church Of Aerianne -- Magnetic Terrapin Studios "Insert Pithy Comment Here"

>Is it not possible that in some parts of the galaxy... because of his
>narrow escapes and remaining at large for the Exile years... some news
>sites have dubbed Gryphon as The Illusive Man. :P

It'd only be in consciously snide reference to the 23rd-century original, although, ironically, most of FI-era Gryphon's most vehement detractors (well, apart from Vincent Hayg'n, but even other crazies think he's crazy) despise him as the exact opposite of the Illusive Man. Rather than a human supremacist, they demonize him as an alien apologist.

--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.