The Salvation War: Pantheocide. Part Forty One Up

[consequences]

Oh My God, You Killed Nigel?! You Bastard!

[Lonestar]

And they happen to be a hell of a lot better qualified to decide on proper responses to circumstances that you are

And what does this have to do with the price of beer? The general officer is neither Ridgeway or Patton. And we know as much about the Burmese invasion that the general officer does, maybe more.

That's why its called a hypothetical. And it no mroe stretched than your attempts to compare a peacetime Navy with a wartime Army.

Yeah, except a peacetime navy is very much like a wartime navy. Seriously, the biggest freakin' difference between being on an exercise off Southern California and, oh, sitting off the coast of Iraq getting ready to send 20 TLAMs downrange is you're carrying your gasmask on your person at all times.

Even during wartime instances on land of folks getting relieved on the spot usually have preamble to getting the boot. It doesn't come out of East Nowhere where undersupplied army units with poor morale get their bosses removed because Big Army dropped the ball on realizing a invasion was being prepped...

Once again, you are completely failing to read the context (or, more likely trying to defend a hopeless position.) Say it again, very patiently. We have a fired officer trying to play a political card, that card gets trumped by a more potent one. That is not firing somebody for political ends, that is simply using politics to reinforce a decision taken for other reasons. Also reflect on the fact that the Gneeral was under orders to sort the defective command structure out and sort it out fast. That means rough-and-ready tactics. And, as I've pointed out before, ones that have a long history of highly use by some of the most famous military commanders around. Frankly, I don't see your position as being supportable.

We have a fired officer who is bitter that he just got summarily dismissed. And she responds with a "well he pissed on the army's turf so oh well" (We got him and now we're getting you.).


I know who you're trying to base this person off of, and you're trying to make her look "Tough", but really it's came across as a insecure person just trying to show that "she's the boss" right out of the gate.

[Peptuck]

Fuck yeah, Leapord Beast! I was hoping for the Beasts to show up.

Now I'm waiting to see the Dragon....

[tim31]

Heaven ups the stakes once more! I was wondering when we'd see that beast

[Simon_Jester]

Let's be honest Stuart, the scenario as you just presented would not have happened. Nimitz would have known the Enterprise was still pierside within the first day, not 3 days later, and he would have heard a lot more about why it was just sitting there rather than "I dunno, she's just sitting there". Either the CO would have told him, or if the CO was a scumbag he would have caught waterfront RUMINT. Or something would come up when none of the tugs cast off to prep for the evolution.

What made you think Asanee doesn't have RUMINT on the situation? There aren't all that many senior officers in the Thai army in the first place; Asanee probably already knows quite a bit about the colonel of the regiment in question. And it's clear that she has at least preliminary information on the problems Third Army is having. She knows that Third Army HQ has screwed up on a scale comparable to having Enterprise still pierside as the Battle of Midway approaches, but she had no authority to do anything about it until just now.

So she already knows the situation is a disaster going in, and she has a pretty good idea of why, because she knows a lot of the officers involved.
_______

"That's easy, I just relax and let my mind search. When I get an echo, I hold it and the equipment pumps energy into the link. That's the bit that hurts, when the power goes right up, it feels like my brain is being torn apart. Like the worst migraine you ever had. It's not nearly so bad here in Hell though."

I hope I'll be forgiven for finding this bit hilarious.
_______

Yeah, except a peacetime navy is very much like a wartime navy. Seriously, the biggest freakin' difference between being on an exercise off Southern California and, oh, sitting off the coast of Iraq getting ready to send 20 TLAMs downrange is you're carrying your gasmask on your person at all times.

Yes. But there's a difference between a wartime navy that's sitting off the coast of a nation with no significant antiship weapons and a wartime army that's already getting shot at and is steadily losing ground to an advancing enemy.

That's the difference that really matters here. The correct metaphor is not the wartime USNof 2009, where the ships are not in imminent danger of being destroyed at any moment by a powerful enemy. It is the wartime USN of, say, 1942.
________

I know who you're trying to base this person off of, and you're trying to make her look "Tough", but really it's came across as a insecure person just trying to show that "she's the boss" right out of the gate.

I don't know; she didn't come across as insecure to me. Grandstanding, yes, but there have been some damn good commanders who did their bit of grandstanding.

Do not assume that your impression is a universal one.

[ZGundam]

So one of the Great Beasts was killed.

Makes you wonder how Yah-Yah, Michael-Lan, and the rest will be affected by that announcement, if at all.

also makes you wonder is there anything we CAN'T kill?

[Jamesfirecat]

Yay another chapter!

Okay one thing I don't quite fully get, there's more than one of the beasts right, one that was attacking the outpost in Hell and one that was attacking us on earth right? I get that Heaven probably has some nasty monsters up its sleves but how did one of them get from Heaven to Hell? Unless of course Micheal has managed to use his captive/co war planner as a way of linking up with some group of deamons in hell that don't want to stop fighting against humans yet?

[Samuel]

So one of the Great Beasts was killed.

Makes you wonder how Yah-Yah, Michael-Lan, and the rest will be affected by that announcement, if at all.

also makes you wonder is there anything we CAN'T kill?

No- we have nukes.

[Darth Ruinus]

So one of the Great Beasts was killed.

Makes you wonder how Yah-Yah, Michael-Lan, and the rest will be affected by that announcement, if at all.

also makes you wonder is there anything we CAN'T kill?

Why would there be something we can't kill? It wouldn't make sense with the entire story, it being a big No-Limits-Fallacy. Even Satan was killed.

[Darth Wong]

Yes! Another chapter!

BTW, I think you're all forgetting the important thing here, which is that this Great Beast just happened to show up right on top of a critical DIMON research facility. Either that's a really interesting coincidence, or the generals of Heaven have better intel than we gave them credit for.

PS. Nice to see some more illumination about the nature of portals.

[Darth Wong]

I know who you're trying to base this person off of, and you're trying to make her look "Tough", but really it's came across as a insecure person just trying to show that "she's the boss" right out of the gate.

Is that such a bad thing in this context? In these smaller countries where the military and politics are so intermingled, it only makes sense that you'd have a lot of posturing.

[tim31]

So one of the Great Beasts was killed.

Makes you wonder how Yah-Yah, Michael-Lan, and the rest will be affected by that announcement, if at all.

also makes you wonder is there anything we CAN'T kill?

Why would there be something we can't kill? It wouldn't make sense with the entire story, it being a big No-Limits-Fallacy. Even Satan was killed.

We couldn't kill lava. Only the means by which is was transmitted.

[Darth Wong]

We couldn't kill lava. Only the means by which is was transmitted.

What the hell kind of a statement is that? Lava is not alive in the first place.

[dragon]

So one of the Great Beasts was killed.

Makes you wonder how Yah-Yah, Michael-Lan, and the rest will be affected by that announcement, if at all.

also makes you wonder is there anything we CAN'T kill?

No- we have nukes.

Ahh but rember nukes made that one creature grow by providing it energy.

[Darth Wong]

Ahh but rember nukes made that one creature grow by providing it energy.

Don't go introducing bullshit from other fiction franchises here. In any realistic or even pseudo-realistic setting, nukes vapourize organic material. They do not invigorate it.

[tim31]

I was simply pointing out that it hasn't been an unconditional steam-roll of the bad guys, Mike. I'm not so retarded as to think that superheated molten rock is alive.

[Darth Wong]

I was simply pointing out that it hasn't been an unconditional steam-roll of the bad guys, Mike. I'm not so retarded as to think that superheated molten rock is alive.

Nobody here was saying it was an unconditional steam-roll in the first place. They were just pointing out that anything can be killed with enough firepower, and that any contrary opinion is a no-limit fallacy.

[Peptuck]

Okay one thing I don't quite fully get, there's more than one of the beasts right, one that was attacking the outpost in Hell and one that was attacking us on earth right? I get that Heaven probably has some nasty monsters up its sleves but how did one of them get from Heaven to Hell? Unless of course Micheal has managed to use his captive/co war planner as a way of linking up with some group of deamons in hell that don't want to stop fighting against humans yet?

There was no Beast attacking the outpost in Hell.

[White Haven]

The other big question that this chapter brings up, one that should be settled in short order, is 'were the instruments left running during the attack?' If they were, they might be able to pick up some very interesting things from the Beast's attempt to open a portal to Heaven. A portal that size, I'd expect, would have a hellacious emissions signature, so even the attempt to open one might have registered.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Revelation 13
1And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 5And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

Not... a very pleasant guy. The beasts get progressively worse from here.

[Baughn]

An honest-to-god kaiju, eh?
The chapter was quite.. intriguing, but next time, make sure it pops up in Tokyo. ^_^

[Buritot]

A great beast, a battle, and portals. A nice chapter.

Albeit I have to very much doubt the biological feasibility of an organism 200 feet (60 metre) high. Even if we take dinosaurs into account, there is no way any bone structure would be able to hold the weight of such a mass. If the beast would have been able to fly it would have weighed magnitudes less but it wasn't if its resilience (=presumed thick hide) was any indication.
I am of course assuming something organic to withstand such a barrage to be very dense (in matter-volume-ratio).

I'm curious what the experiments on the portal horizon will yield. Furthermore the point on altitude and energy levels was nice to read. The forever falling stone setup of portals was discredited, kind of (the stone would fall but it wouldn't accelerate to relativistic velocities since there seems to be an energy gradient to overcome for crossing the portal).
I assume the energy barrier works both ways since since that would explain the lacking drift of soot from hell to earth at portal proximity. That would however also entail the need for energy to be expended to move down the energy level.

Is Dani the boyfriend / owner of kitten? I can't place his name and don't remember the boyfriend ever talking of any length.

[Darth Wong]

A great beast, a battle, and portals. A nice chapter.

Albeit I have to very much doubt the biological feasibility of an organism 200 feet (60 metre) high. Even if we take dinosaurs into account, there is no way any bone structure would be able to hold the weight of such a mass. If the beast would have been able to fly it would have weighed magnitudes less but it wasn't if its resilience (=presumed thick hide) was any indication.
I am of course assuming something organic to withstand such a barrage to be very dense (in matter-volume-ratio).

Actually, it would be better if it were not very dense. This would allow it to withstand its own weight more easily. In any case, creatures from Heaven and Hell seem to retain certain otherworldly characteristics when they come here. The baldrick tridents could still shoot their Maxwell-defying bolts in Iraq, for example.

[Buritot]

A great beast, a battle, and portals. A nice chapter.

Albeit I have to very much doubt the biological feasibility of an organism 200 feet (60 metre) high. Even if we take dinosaurs into account, there is no way any bone structure would be able to hold the weight of such a mass. If the beast would have been able to fly it would have weighed magnitudes less but it wasn't if its resilience (=presumed thick hide) was any indication.
I am of course assuming something organic to withstand such a barrage to be very dense (in matter-volume-ratio).

Actually, it would be better if it were not very dense. This would allow it to withstand its own weight more easily. In any case, creatures from Heaven and Hell seem to retain certain otherworldly characteristics when they come here. The baldrick tridents could still shoot their Maxwell-defying bolts in Iraq, for example.

Which is also something I'd like to see explained in-story.
I just can't wrap my head around the obvious organic requirements to both stand such an arsenal of attack as well as the limits to sustain its own weight on the scale we see here.

[Gil Hamilton]

I like that the portals have an activation energy in order to make a transition. It seems to me that the obvious source of it is on of potential energy, with altitude being the symptom. They can confirm that by sending something through Hell Portal Alpha with instruments on its drive, then turn around, and head back through. If transitioning from one side to the other is "uphill" in terms of potential energy, then going the opposite direction should turn the higher potential energy into kinetic and the vehicle should experience an unaccounted for boost of speed.

This actually strikes me as an interesting way to make a weapon. If you can put someone in orbit who can open a portal, say, for a large rock. Then you find a way to have someone center a portal over something you don't like. Push the rock through the portal and the difference in PE between orbit and the ground should make your rock into an instant orbital strike.