The Nightstar Zoo

Makes a nice change to see Tagon demonstrating his command skills in a way other than telling the troops how much money they could make. And, to be honest, he has a really good point.

If he plays it right, the next step is to give the troops a printout of the major memories known to be false, like the wedding, and give them a day to drink up and talk to schlock and petey in private about what to expect.

Some time to steel themselves before the procedure makes sense. Time to make the decision would prompt consideration about how much they really trust their superiors.

Here's something I'd like to know - how are Chisulo, Aardman, and the rest of the recruits from the Morokweng reacting to this? Ventura seems to be okay with it, but then again she also seems to know more than she lets on.

Another question: When will they be embarking on a mission to rescue Der Trihs? The UNS got a full read of everybody's memories, including the knowledge that Der Trihs' mind has been putting itself back together. While it's possible that UNS Intelligence will be content with him living a quiet civilian retirement helping the local constabulary, they have not exactly shown themselves to be the "hands off" types...

Der Trihs's status was addressed in the bonus story in the print version of Emperor Pius Dei. Short form is he was again made officially part of the Celeschul Defense Service, and is the CO of their Mahuitalotu command after the events of that story.

(Had to look it up to refresh my memory, please pardon my running edits on this post if you've seen them.)

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Proud owner of the The Mad M.A.D. Bomber. Nails not included.

Also: Whee, new maxim!

Though I don't know... "Leading from in the front" sounds strange - shouldn't it be just "lead from the front" or is that some local variant?

Ah, excellent - I can't wait to find a paying job so I can afford to buy the full Schlock library, both for the bonus content and to throw money at the creator of a work I enjoy.

Another good question: how many moles are there in the new recruits? Regardless of what Ventura is, you've got to figure the UNS left a few in there. Maybe who don't even know they're moles.

First, you're misquoting both Bunni and the Maxim: It's "leading from in front," not "leading from in the front."

"The front" has different meaning in the military than in business, which is why "leading from in front" means "being in front of the troops and leading the charge," while "leading from the front" means "the commander's tent is in the trenches on the front lines of the war."

It's a subtle distinction. But whether you're on the front or standing in front of everybody, those who suspect you to have a high level of selfishness will in turn suspect that the spot you're standing on is, in fact, the safest place to be right now.

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Creator and Cartoonist, Schlock Mercenary

Interestingly, it often CAN be safer to be the first in. The enemy doesn't expect you at that point. Your arrival has the advantage of surprise. It's the SECOND guy who gets it, because at that point the enemy has been alerted by the first guy, and being second can get you hit by reaction fire aimed at the first guy.

Yeah, but the first guy gets the first landmine.

Like the old saying goes: The early bird catches the worm... But the second mouse gets the cheese.

Okay, so they know some stuff the UNS would prefer they didn't. . . but I don't think "covert mole" is as much their style as "Seek out and crush into neutronium."

@Howard
Most interesting. And yes, that misquote just crept in.

Well, it's war, not daycare. If there was a foolproof strategy to survival, we'd have a lot more fools.

Actually, there is a foolproof strategy to survival, and mankind has invented it. It's called Civilization.

Since most people, especially in the Western World, have not been personally involved in war or otherwise had to struggle to get the basic necessities of life, it means there are a lot more people surviving to adulthood and breeding who in earlier, harsher times would have killed by predators or hostile raiding tribesmen or some war somewhere, or simply would have starved to death or died of disease or exposure to the elements. In fact, people born outside the West, in many so-called "third-world" countries still die by many of the aforementioned causes quite often.

Since most of us no longer have to learn to fight or hunt or grow our own food to survive, there are a lot more people thriving now who, if civilization were to collapse, would die in droves, by the millions most likely. Civilization and it's advancement prevents that.

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The MacNut
Artist and writer of The Vanguard, a space opera superhero comic.

Aaand, then mankind invented bigger fools. www.darwinawards.com

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After 3 long, weaponless years, I became the wielder of the Doobie/Dobie gun!