No; that was a gentleman by the name of Hiram Kimball. Like his four predecessors in the role, he came highly recommended with excellent credentials and experience from another well-established organization (in his case, Starfleet), but failed utterly to adapt his experience to the unique demands of the International Police CINCSF position. In his case, as we've seen, his chief problem was his inability to grasp, or possibly just to act upon, the Space Force's need for quick command action in an immediate crisis.

(Of the other four, one was determined to impose a stricter chain of command no matter how many toes got stepped on and noses put out of joint, one resigned after reading the brief on the Irregular Projects Division, one turned out to be a closet member of the Church of Man, and one was simply incompetent in all respects. And no, none of them was anyone you know.)

Filling the position with a satisfactory candidate who would actually be happy doing the job has proven much more difficult than the Chief thought it would be when he relinquished his Space Force rank back in the fall of 2409. He's been averaging a replacement about every five weeks. You'd think that wouldn't even be enough time to determine that someone wasn't going to work out, but the Space Force is, as Commodore Tenjou could tell you, a crucible even in peacetime. You either get it immediately or have a psychotic episode.

For the historically curious, Kimball's name is derived from that of Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, commander of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet at the outbreak of World War II. Kimmel had the unenviable distinction of watching the Pearl Harbor attack unfold on his watch, and although the subsequent ruin of his career was probably uncalled-for, given that there were plenty of pooches to go around on Hawaii that day, he (and the Army's General Walter Short) took the administrative fall for the failures that day. In my judgment, he was a competent man in a situation that could only have been salvaged by a brilliant one. The same could be said of Admiral Kimball (who will, I'm sure, get a nice recommendation to a position for which he's better-suited once the dust settles).

--G.
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And how in the world did they manage to hide the fleet and manpower buildup they would have needed to take the planet?

Not inside Earthdome, no. Deep cover infiltration of the central government is a very difficult thing to achieve in a telepath police state.

>And how in the world did they manage to hide the fleet and manpower
>buildup they would have needed to take the planet?

Space is very, very large and mostly empty. It's not difficult to hide quite large things in it.

--G.
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Oh yeah... forgot about that part. :/

It doesn't help that the people who ARE qualified for the job are most likely happily holding positions in allied fleets (except Picard). Also, I'd think it would be somewhat unsporting to headhunt fleet commanders from your buddies navies.

------
Jon Helscher

I'm here to slow you down, cost you money, and generally retard the process.

-Mike Rowe: Dirty Jobs

Indeed, Jean-Luc is more grimly holding a position in an allied(?) fleet at this point.

>Also, I'd think it would be somewhat unsporting to headhunt fleet
>commanders from your buddies navies.

Oh, certainly. If G were going to do a real full-court press to find someone and pry them out of an existing fleet, he'd have either Picard from Starfleet, Jim Kirk from the WDF, or Kanæ Kirk from the Royal Salusian Navy by now, but he's confined himself to candidates who actually applied for the job. :)

--G.
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I swear, EPU in general is going to get me fired yet

--
Mr. Fnord, who has way too good a memory for trivia. :P

Frey and Corwin came to something of an understanding in an incident that was shown in flashback back in S5M1 (an incident which also leaves me faintly puzzled at your assertion that Freyja's problem came out of nowhere).

>And why in the names of the gods would she
>risk the wrath of the Norns?

Well... why would a group of smart, capable teenagers spend a school year diligently trying to kill each other for the sake of a reward that no one ever specified to them? Why would an intelligent woman like Kanae Ohtori sit passively by and watch some guy screw around on her with cheerful abandon and destroy a legacy her forebears spent centuries building? Why would Touga Kiryuu be willing to die - repeatedly - for the sake of a man he loathes with his entire being?

Akio's rowing against a very strong current these days, and it may be having a deleterious effect on even his phenomenal patience (see below), but he still has a talent for identifying and exploiting psychological vulnerabilities, especially in women. Freyja has some ugly history with svartelves (covered in S5M1) and a track record of, shall we say, emotional brittleness. Compared to someone like Utena, or Corwin, or even Raven, she was an easy mark.

>Akio was strangely
>out of character. Since when does he show his emotions on his face?

An Æsir curse isn't an easy thing to live with. Perhaps he's simply indulging in a fit of childishness over this latest frustration. In a way, he can afford to do that, because this particular confrontation isn't actually important. This trip was primarily recreational. He saw an opportunity to put the cat among the pigeons with impunity - a way to exploit certain diplomatic niceties and a goddess's psychological flaws in order to remind his archest enemies as baldly as possible that, despite their best efforts, they still aren't rid of him. In that sense, his mission was still accomplished. Raven's reaction alone was worth the trip.

Besides, in all his many years, he'd never been coolly dismissed by Susan Ivanova before. That parting remark stung. :)

>Um, she was nice, but such a deus ex machina <grin>. Nice quest item
>btw. Doesn't the girl have enough toys?

The exchange of swords - a new-made one from bride to groom, a family heirloom from groom to bride - is a tradition that goes back a long, long time among the �sir, and their mortal worshippers who came closest to being right, the Vikings, practiced it as well. Technically, the heirloom one is supposed to be held in trust by the wife for the couple's firstborn son, but in the modern day that's a bit like those laws that say horseless carriages have to be preceded up the street by a man with a red flag. :)

Anyway, Utena has a number of swords, and they're all very good ones, but - and I take nothing away from the care Corwin put into constructing the Thorn of the Rose, nor the fine qualities of Utena's own Heart - she's never had one like that. Ivaldi the Ancient was the greatest smith in the history of the Heavens, and we've seen one of the three swords he made for the sons of Borr before. The one he made for Odin was eventually used as the Master Key of the World-Engine, and appeared as such in Twilight.

--G.
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First, the jerk cousin no one likes shows up, invited no less, thanks to the crazy aunt with a grudge, intergalactic war breaks out (all things considered, probably the least dangerous of the possible outcomes that day), and it doesn't even seem like Corwin got a decent bachelor party out of the whole thing! Not one lap dance! ;)

Ah, we've all been there. Except you know, for the whole...intergalatic war-thing....and stuff...

And because of all the Norse-ness, I had "What's Opera, Doc?" stuck in my head the entire time :)

But, in all seriousness for a minute, very, very good show all the way around, and truth be told I actually couldn't help but (mentally) hear the Tannhauser Overture (minus Elmer Fudd) as background music at various points, especially the bit with Frigg....

"Well whaddaya expect from an opera? A happy ending?" - Bugs Bunny

....

Actually...knowing what little I do know of the Eddas, the Volsunga and other bits and pieces of Norse myth does make me a bit worried for our cast of players, and their descendants in the long run, though UF is about nothing if it's not about beating long odds :)

He didn't want one, but it's funny you should mention that...

--G.
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Uh-oh, sounds like there's a story there.

Scene: Akio Ohtori and his his henches standing with their backs to one of those giant Death Star reactor shaft-things that go down a ridiculous ways and have zero safety accommodations, they have swords pointed at them, and they are being slowly backed towards the edge...

Akio: "This is blasphemy! This is madness!

Utena: This....is....ASGARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And you know how this turns out...

Only in vague terms, and then by way of Robot Chicken. I escaped direct exposure to Frank Miller's Don't Know Much About® the Greco-Persian Wars.

--G.
(seriously, Don't Know Much About® is a registered trademark. Held by Kenneth C. Davis, who originated the series with Don't Know Much About History.)
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That's because we really, really haven't shown you what Sivar's doing. Patience! ;)

Ard

Polychrome

Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!

Mass panic! Cats and dogs living together!

-- Bob
(I had to. Sorry.)
-------------------
I intend to be a freak for the rest of my life, and I shall baffle you with cabbages and rhinoceroses in the kitchen and incessant quotations from Now We Are Six through the mouthpiece of Lord Snooty's giant poisoned electric head. So theeeeeere...

Well, if you wanted a deus ex machina, all you have to do is look at Corwin piloting Big O.

What? It had to be said.

Well done, Ben, Janice, et al. I like the "rug pulled out from under you" feeling near the end. As long as Akio doesn't become the Villain Who Would Not Get Out of the Limelight (e.g., many BGC fanfics simply do not leave Largo alone), I foresee a very bright future for the next few stories.

You know, somewhere out there, there had to be more than a few people sighing in resignation over the postponement of the ceremony.

--DocMui

Well, be fair: Akio is of significantly greater importance to the protagonists' story than Largo ever was. Largo was just some dude the Knight Sabers made an enemy of in the course of doing their thing. Akio is... rather more.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
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Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Two, actually. Of seven.

>We were expecting a wedding (like Corwin and Utena's guests), and we
>didn't get one (also like said guests).

Well, to be fair, you got more of one than the guests did. :)

>We also don't get the major action sequence.

True. The original plan for this movement involved both the call to action and the action, but I realized partway into the process that if I did that, it'd probably end up being about 300K. I made the "two sequential events that should've been two sequential movements" mistake with The Revolution Will Be Televised and didn't want to repeat it. Besides, I suspect what comes next will be different enough in tone that it'd be a bit jarring to have it all as one movement.

>I -liked- this one, don't get me wrong, but I sincerely hope the next
>installment comes out soon. I think it will lose a lot of impact
>otherwise.

Welp, guess I better get to work, then.

--G.
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Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Oh good. I always enjoy those. We used to get them a lot more.

(And no, I'm not being sarcastic. I always like knowing what particular bits worked for people - and didn't, come to that. A lot of the work I do is done scenelet by scenelet, and so I often find myself wondering about people's reactions to particular ones.)

>That last little phrase threw me off for a bit; I was thinking Cassidy
>was some sort of covert threat at first. But no, he's actually just
>the FNG. (I hope.)

Heh, it's not so much that G doesn't recognize him as that only a new guy would salute like that. More experienced TD officers (like, say, Ayla Ranzz) would just go, "Hey, Chief. 'Sup." :)

>Corwin speaks Artoo-language. Why am I not surprised?

Kinda, yeah. What Corwin's doing there is kind of a more sophisticated version of whistling at a fax machine. :)

>Beg pardon? Demons? Anyone we know, besides Svanhvit Icebinder and
>Hellboy?

There are a few present, but no one besides those two of any particular significance. Nobody else from Muspelheim showed up, but the Niflings (not to be confused with "nithlings" - they hate that) sent an ambassador.

>About time we got to meet Aeryn. I'd always thought she was a dwarf.

Nope, that's Herlod Thunderfall, the Valkyrie demolitionist.

>If anything, I was surprised at how
>little overt hostility there was.

That's the kind of thing you get when Cold War-style diplomatic niceties (which is more or less what exists between Asgard and Muspelheim at this point) are involved. The menace has to be subtle and cordial.

>This would seem to support the Akio's messing with her head
>theory.

Well, he is an incubus...

>X and the beagles staring Akio down? Very cool.

I'm a little surprised that nobody's mentioned Kosh at all. This is, I think the first time we've ever seen Kosh being properly Koshy in UF, and in what I thought was a thought-provoking context, and nothin'.

>Out of curiosity, how does Ragnhildr translate?

Ragnhildr is an Old Norse name combining the words for "advice" (or "decision") and "battle". It doesn't translate exactly, but in this context the basic implication is that the sword represents wisdom (rather than blind aggression) in war.

>And does the ancient sword have any particular name?

She does, and we'll be finding out what it is next time.

--G.
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Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Think of it as "battle-counsel;" tactical advisorship.

(The Old English version of the Old Norse "ragn-" is "-raed," leading to names like "Alfred," or "elf counsel," which may or may not play into amusing parallels for those of us who are both Batman geeks and British mythology nerds.)

Ard Collier
that Janice chick
Usual Suspect and general menace

A sword like that has been called a hundred names, and will be called a thousand more before the world goes dim and cold.

Polychrome

Heh. "Koshy" may be my new favorite adjective.

Just for the record, I came this close to mentioning this in my comment earlier, but thought I'd already been long-winded enough. I found it interesting (and amusing), especially since we haven't really been told what role the Vorlons play in the UF setting. I mean, in B5 they were among the major clandestine movers and shakers of galactic politics. Demon or no, I wouldn't go out of my way to piss them off.

(By the way, I'm sorry about generating that extra thread. Didn't think before posting.)

>Welp, guess I better get to work, then.

Please? I'll be good. (Relatively good, anyway.)

To hear, one must be silent.

That makes me wonder if anybody in the UF-universe knows what role the Vorlons really play.

Peter Eng
--
I'm only a Charter Member because of the DCForum upgrade, and because there's no rank below "Clueless F!wit."

I'd bet not even the VORLONS know what role they really play... you see, maybe they knew once upon a time, but they didnt tell their kids, cause... well, its a SECRET!!!

Gryphon does, or at least thinks he does. He's been to their homeworld.

--G.
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Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Fair enough, it was cool, but it's also more or less expected, from what I understand of Kosh. I never watched B5, so I didn't get that thrill of recognition a lot of others here got. I was more impressed by the Badass Normals telling off a Duke of Hell, whether they knew it or not.

- Chad

That was so Kosh I could hear the "voice" of the character out loud. I found myself wondering if there was a Vorlon Fleet just outside the station, just in case you know.....

Makes me wonder what the Shadows have been up to. A Shadown/Demon alliance is just too damn scary to think about right now.

Michael

	Michael C. Fortner RCW #2n+1 "I smoke in moderation. Only one cigar at a time." -- Mark Twain

I certainly noted it, and found it quite cool. Kosh's perception was quite surprising. Shows that they're more than just super advanced in scientifically.

Let's be honest, everyone here has already mentally added a bullet point in that page that reads, "Eyrie Productions. Just.. Eyrie Productions." ;)

Why settle for merely mental?

-- Bob
-------------------
I intend to be a freak for the rest of my life, and I shall baffle you with cabbages and rhinoceroses in the kitchen and incessant quotations from Now We Are Six through the mouthpiece of Lord Snooty's giant poisoned electric head. So theeeeeere...

Grrrr. Of course as soon as I post that someone reorganizes and renames all the Crowning Moment of Awesome subpages.

Try here instead.

-- Bob
-------------------
I intend to be a freak for the rest of my life, and I shall baffle you with cabbages and rhinoceroses in the kitchen and incessant quotations from Now We Are Six through the mouthpiece of Lord Snooty's giant poisoned electric head. So theeeeeere...

I would think having someone like Ohtori show up would most definately qualify.

Besides, would _you_ want to be the one who didn't tell them... especially if something happened?

Polychrome

1) Akio Ohtori is pretty much _the_ arch-enemy of Corwin, Utena and Anthy. Given that, it _is_ urgently necessary to warn them whenever he appears on the scene, wedding or no.

2) Can't shove him into the closet; it Simply Isn't Done with a person bearing diplomatic immunity. Can't ask him to leave, either, I don't think, not when he's carrying an official invitation. Cutting him, in the old sense, would have been the best solution, had Earthforce not intervened with their little snatch-and-grab on Tau Ceti; it would have been fun to see Akio fume as he were politely but definitively shunned by the wedding guests.

-Joe-

*bang* *bang* "You'll never take me alive, coppers!"
*shoot* *bamf*
"Fuck, Sergeant, that was anticlimactic. Now there's nothing left but collecting evidence and doing the paperwork."

--rR

... Yes, clearly it would've been much better to let them come out, all buoyant and chipper, and just see him without any advance warning at all.

--G.
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Akio shows up.
Grab him, stuff him in a closet/airlock/get rid of him somehow.
Don't tell Corwin and Utena until five years later.

Polychrome

Welcome to politics.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

You don't think they might have noticed the war of the gods that would've sparked? Or are you taking the line that Freyja would've just stood for that?

--G.
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Or talking shop with a certain Cardassian tailor. While getting fitted for something absolutely fabulous on Akio's credit card, naturally.

I think the conversation I'd rather see there is Akio and that certain tailor, if only for the chance to see Akio turning down a pile of useful advice simply because of the source.

(Or, given her infernal nature, whom?)

>I take it that without an
>invitation she was simply lurking somewhere, having a coffee on the
>Zocala or something.

Pretty much, yeah. Nothin' much to do but kill time. Or commit sabotage. We'll probably never know now.

--G.
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*raises an eyebrow*

..and here I thought you didn't write those kinds of stories, Mr Hutchins...

--
-Pasha
What was this feeling again?
Oh yes.
-Rage-

Now, now� it's not like he said anything about leaving the camera on.

Now that I think of it, this event, coming right after the exchange of swords, might present an interesting dilemma for Corwin -- break his vow, or alienate someone who might need him. I have no doubt which he'd decide, but still, this could turn ugly.

- Chad

I was (mostly) joking. :)

>Now that I think of it, this event, coming right after the exchange of
>swords, might present an interesting dilemma for Corwin -- break his
>vow, or alienate someone who might need him. I have no doubt which
>he'd decide, but still, this could turn ugly.

See..my vote is that he offers terms of defection. "Your boss went round the bend, he's used up all his allies, I've got a good chance of getting backing to go kill him, join us now, tell us what you know, you get spared."

--
-Pasha
What was that feeling again?
Oh yes.
-Rage-

"Come with me if you want to live."

--G.
"Your move. Creep."
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Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Probably true; I was talking about the hypothetical Nanami comes on to Corwin event, not the actual Nanami shows up on the Wonder event. My bet is, she's not going to accept just yet, since Akio hasn't used up all his allies/minions, and Corwin probably won't get the chance to kill him given the political situation.

Either that, or she's planning to defect already, and the whole Nall-at-swordpoint thing was a misunderstanding. (Or an act to cover her ass; who knows what kind of scrying's been put on her?)

- Chad

Corwin: "Nanami, I just got married. I know it might surprise your brother and your boss, but you know I'm not going to screw that up."
Nanami: "I thought that that just got called off."
Corwin: "Marriage is a relationship, not a ceremony. Utena and I are married, we'll do the song and dance routine later. If you want to tag along on the honeymoon cruise then you're going to have to have a seperate bedroom and bring your own toothbrush."
Nanami: "Well if I'm going to get the chance to hear you sing..."
Nall: "You really don't want to. Kate got all the musical talent in the family..."
Corwin: "Nall..."

>Corwin: "Nanami, I just got married. I know it might surprise your
>brother and your boss, but you know I'm not going to screw that up."

Um I hate to say this, but there is no chance that Corwin is going to screw this up. He gave his oath at the Monolith, and he's kept it throughout the madness. If Nanami needed help or comfort, then Corwin would do what ever Corwin would do and Utena would not be hurt.

Man, I can't even believe some people actually thought sex between Nanami and Corwin would be an issue...

t.
returns to radio silence.

Trigger Argee
trigger_argee@hotmail.com
Manon, Maccadon, Orado, etc.
Denton, never leave home without it.

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." - HST

No.

1) Issue 12 went live nearly a month after that BPGD file appeared;

2) None of my characters has ever been there.

--G.
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