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[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack
- Thread starter lamythefirst
- Start date
- blowjob harem
- sci-fi
- Status
Artist's note:
"When I started work on this project, the first problem I faced was the pirates themselves. Piracy is basically armed robbery, and often leads to murder. How would I make a bunch of thieves and murderers sympathetic? I didnât want to take the approach taken in movies like Pirates of the Caribbean where no actual piracy is ever shown. I had to justify their crimes.
By now, hopefully, Iâve done so. The crew of the Phoenix has no where to go, and no one to rely on to but themselves. The universe is arrayed against them. So finally, reluctantly, they turn pirate. For the next few issues, weâll see them figure out how, exactly, to do that.
About the B-plot with Sister VictoriaâSynthph, this is for you. It gave me a inspiration to better develop several of the crew members; Iâll keep trying to do that as things progress. This isnât just Hardingâs story, itâs the Phoenix crewâs story. (And yes, Dialup, Athena will get her closeup.)"
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 8:
To download use the Download button at the bottom right. I am always happy about a Like.
"When I started work on this project, the first problem I faced was the pirates themselves. Piracy is basically armed robbery, and often leads to murder. How would I make a bunch of thieves and murderers sympathetic? I didnât want to take the approach taken in movies like Pirates of the Caribbean where no actual piracy is ever shown. I had to justify their crimes.
By now, hopefully, Iâve done so. The crew of the Phoenix has no where to go, and no one to rely on to but themselves. The universe is arrayed against them. So finally, reluctantly, they turn pirate. For the next few issues, weâll see them figure out how, exactly, to do that.
About the B-plot with Sister VictoriaâSynthph, this is for you. It gave me a inspiration to better develop several of the crew members; Iâll keep trying to do that as things progress. This isnât just Hardingâs story, itâs the Phoenix crewâs story. (And yes, Dialup, Athena will get her closeup.)"
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 8:
To download use the Download button at the bottom right. I am always happy about a Like.
It's a picture from the comic Pirates of the Coal Sack.
[DangerousLines] More green boobies:
To download use the Download button at the bottom right. I am always happy about a Like.
To download use the Download button at the bottom right. I am always happy about a Like.
Artist's note:
"If this issue seems a little disjointed, thatâs because, well, it is. It was originally going to be more along the lines of âHouse of the Phoenixâ, but there was so much that needed to happen between last issue and this one, it turned into a full issue on its own. Itâs a lot of back story, things that could have just happened in the background without foreground explanation, but then people wouldâve asked and I wouldâve explained and there wouldnât have been any sex scenes to go with the explanations. So here we are. As usual, my characters snuck in some bits about themselves I didnât know.
MaxKreig pointed out that last issue felt like the end of season one. While I donât see it quite that way, there is some retooling going on that would typically happen between seasons. Thatâs going to slow down next issue (and it slowed this one down) a bit."
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 9:
To download use the Download button at the bottom right. I am always happy about a Like.
"If this issue seems a little disjointed, thatâs because, well, it is. It was originally going to be more along the lines of âHouse of the Phoenixâ, but there was so much that needed to happen between last issue and this one, it turned into a full issue on its own. Itâs a lot of back story, things that could have just happened in the background without foreground explanation, but then people wouldâve asked and I wouldâve explained and there wouldnât have been any sex scenes to go with the explanations. So here we are. As usual, my characters snuck in some bits about themselves I didnât know.
MaxKreig pointed out that last issue felt like the end of season one. While I donât see it quite that way, there is some retooling going on that would typically happen between seasons. Thatâs going to slow down next issue (and it slowed this one down) a bit."
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 9:
To download use the Download button at the bottom right. I am always happy about a Like.
[DangerousLines] Pirates Logbook:
To download use the Download button at the bottom right. I am always happy about a Like.
To download use the Download button at the bottom right. I am always happy about a Like.
Artist's note:
"I almost titled this one âPage 23.â I have five versions of page 23, two of which made it into the actual issue. For some reason, the story stalled there. Obviously, it eventually went through. Hope it works.
The logic of attacking Yangtze 451 may not be extremely clear. I think I got all the salient points in, but theyâre kind of spread out; nobody ever really puts them together. So if it still doesnât make sense:
Subspace radio isnât infinitely fast and it doesnât have infinite range. Signals travel about twenty-five times as fast as the fastest starships (something between two and six hundred times faster than a freighter; sensor and pulser beams travel at the same speed). Starships have an effective communications range of about a light year, though, and planets not much more than that.
Originally, Star Fleet built automated relay buoys and dropped them about one per cubic light year. That method gave way to the current network of manned communications relay stations. Situated one per subsector and located in deep space, their long-range subspace arrays can talk to starships within about 15 light years, and communicate with one another at up to 40 light years. These comm stations formed the backbone of Federation long-range communications.
Eventually, the Ministry of Information (MINFO) decided that the communications network should belong to them. Star Fleet made a pretty good case that the network was strategically critical and should not be left unguarded. MINFOâs response was to get the Senate to authorize the Deep Space Communications Service as a branch of the armed forces. Star Fleet managed to hold on to its prerogative of being the only people in the Federation allowed to arm ships and stations, thinking this would compel MINFO to at least let Star Fleet put personnel aboard the comm stations. MINFO instead decided theyâd be unarmed, and removed the weapons from the stations Star Fleet had already built.
With Yangtze 451 off line, ships in the subsector wonât be able to communicate with each other, or with higher command. Neither can planets. That means that Phoenix can strike and be gone before anyone can coordinate a response. And, since it sits at the hub of all long-range communication, the stationâs message logs will reveal what ships are in the area, their courses, and their orders and cargos. So, for the moment, the crew has a complete menu of targets and a good chance of attacking them entirely on their own terms."
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 10:
To download use the Download button at the bottom right. I am always happy about a Like.
"I almost titled this one âPage 23.â I have five versions of page 23, two of which made it into the actual issue. For some reason, the story stalled there. Obviously, it eventually went through. Hope it works.
The logic of attacking Yangtze 451 may not be extremely clear. I think I got all the salient points in, but theyâre kind of spread out; nobody ever really puts them together. So if it still doesnât make sense:
Subspace radio isnât infinitely fast and it doesnât have infinite range. Signals travel about twenty-five times as fast as the fastest starships (something between two and six hundred times faster than a freighter; sensor and pulser beams travel at the same speed). Starships have an effective communications range of about a light year, though, and planets not much more than that.
Originally, Star Fleet built automated relay buoys and dropped them about one per cubic light year. That method gave way to the current network of manned communications relay stations. Situated one per subsector and located in deep space, their long-range subspace arrays can talk to starships within about 15 light years, and communicate with one another at up to 40 light years. These comm stations formed the backbone of Federation long-range communications.
Eventually, the Ministry of Information (MINFO) decided that the communications network should belong to them. Star Fleet made a pretty good case that the network was strategically critical and should not be left unguarded. MINFOâs response was to get the Senate to authorize the Deep Space Communications Service as a branch of the armed forces. Star Fleet managed to hold on to its prerogative of being the only people in the Federation allowed to arm ships and stations, thinking this would compel MINFO to at least let Star Fleet put personnel aboard the comm stations. MINFO instead decided theyâd be unarmed, and removed the weapons from the stations Star Fleet had already built.
With Yangtze 451 off line, ships in the subsector wonât be able to communicate with each other, or with higher command. Neither can planets. That means that Phoenix can strike and be gone before anyone can coordinate a response. And, since it sits at the hub of all long-range communication, the stationâs message logs will reveal what ships are in the area, their courses, and their orders and cargos. So, for the moment, the crew has a complete menu of targets and a good chance of attacking them entirely on their own terms."
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 10:
To download use the Download button at the bottom right. I am always happy about a Like.
Artist's note:
"Iâve come to appreciate the value of styrofoam rocks in set design. The surface of Iota Crucis III went through several drafts, and I kept running into the problem of needing high ground for Athena to spot from and a desert environment to match the conditions I had in mind for the planet. Where it kept failing was the middle distance, between the mesas and the characters. Finally I remembered the Star Trek staple of styrofoam rocks for planet sets, and things came together.
While we donât get up close with them, we do get an example of what Terran ground forces are like. The signature of the Legionnaires and the Star Fleet commandos is their power armor, which really is just a support system for a personal deflector shield. The only thing that will really stop a pulser is mass (density isnât relevant) or a force field. The armor carries the smallest deflector shield Terran technology knows how to make, and itâs still over a hundred pounds and has a diameter of almost seven feet. And when activated, the soldier is locked to the ground. But itâs the difference between acting more like a tank than an infantryman; theyâre no longer a one-hit kill. That effect is augmented by their Autonomous Strike Probe (ASP) drones, which function like an infantry screen. Terran policy treats fully autonomous weapons systems as weapons of mass destruction, so ASPs require a Legionnaire in the loop to approve targets. With two ASPs per Legionnaire, a Legion company has as many eyeballs and guns as an infantry battalion.
The other bit of world building I had to sort out behind the scenes was the actual yield of starship weapons. The main pulse cannon are around 5 terajoules each, which if they hit a planet results in a kiloton-level explosion. (Thatâs not the main way they do damage in ship to ship combat.) The plasma torpedoes are much more powerful in terms of explosive yield; in ship to ship combat, they arenât expected to actually transfer more than a thousandth or so of their energy to the target, but in an atmosphere theyâre a bigger boom than any weapon deployed in the Cold War. All this is ultimately based on the Phoenix having a pair of 1.4 terawatt reactors (and about 400 gigawatts of auxiliary power). To conduct the planetary bombardment, Chief Fukao had to modify a weapon designed to fire a 5 terajoule pulse every minute to fire pulse one one thousandth as powerful somewhat more rapidly. That still hits like a ton of TNT, with a lethal diameter close to 100m, and drills a kilometer deep into the planet. Not an indoor toy. It raises the question of why Phoenix doesnât have a weapon system better suited to ground supportâfor which I have an answer Iâm not sharing yet.
So there you go, lore geeks. Styrofoam rocks, sulfurous air, and planetary attack weaponry. And also, you know, tension and drama between the civilian and military derived factions of Phoenixâs crew, plus some racial tension. Howâs Song doing as captain? Is Harding a total asshole? Do I need to give Athena more camera time, and what do you want to see her doing?"
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 11:
"Iâve come to appreciate the value of styrofoam rocks in set design. The surface of Iota Crucis III went through several drafts, and I kept running into the problem of needing high ground for Athena to spot from and a desert environment to match the conditions I had in mind for the planet. Where it kept failing was the middle distance, between the mesas and the characters. Finally I remembered the Star Trek staple of styrofoam rocks for planet sets, and things came together.
While we donât get up close with them, we do get an example of what Terran ground forces are like. The signature of the Legionnaires and the Star Fleet commandos is their power armor, which really is just a support system for a personal deflector shield. The only thing that will really stop a pulser is mass (density isnât relevant) or a force field. The armor carries the smallest deflector shield Terran technology knows how to make, and itâs still over a hundred pounds and has a diameter of almost seven feet. And when activated, the soldier is locked to the ground. But itâs the difference between acting more like a tank than an infantryman; theyâre no longer a one-hit kill. That effect is augmented by their Autonomous Strike Probe (ASP) drones, which function like an infantry screen. Terran policy treats fully autonomous weapons systems as weapons of mass destruction, so ASPs require a Legionnaire in the loop to approve targets. With two ASPs per Legionnaire, a Legion company has as many eyeballs and guns as an infantry battalion.
The other bit of world building I had to sort out behind the scenes was the actual yield of starship weapons. The main pulse cannon are around 5 terajoules each, which if they hit a planet results in a kiloton-level explosion. (Thatâs not the main way they do damage in ship to ship combat.) The plasma torpedoes are much more powerful in terms of explosive yield; in ship to ship combat, they arenât expected to actually transfer more than a thousandth or so of their energy to the target, but in an atmosphere theyâre a bigger boom than any weapon deployed in the Cold War. All this is ultimately based on the Phoenix having a pair of 1.4 terawatt reactors (and about 400 gigawatts of auxiliary power). To conduct the planetary bombardment, Chief Fukao had to modify a weapon designed to fire a 5 terajoule pulse every minute to fire pulse one one thousandth as powerful somewhat more rapidly. That still hits like a ton of TNT, with a lethal diameter close to 100m, and drills a kilometer deep into the planet. Not an indoor toy. It raises the question of why Phoenix doesnât have a weapon system better suited to ground supportâfor which I have an answer Iâm not sharing yet.
So there you go, lore geeks. Styrofoam rocks, sulfurous air, and planetary attack weaponry. And also, you know, tension and drama between the civilian and military derived factions of Phoenixâs crew, plus some racial tension. Howâs Song doing as captain? Is Harding a total asshole? Do I need to give Athena more camera time, and what do you want to see her doing?"
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 11:
Attachments
[DangerousLines] Spa Time:
Artist's note:
"This has been a rough month for me in real life. Thanks for your patience and encouragement.
I feel like I failed on at least one of my goals for this issue, to swing the spotlight off of Harding and onto some of the rest of the cast. The first draft of the plot had him spending the whole issue in sick bay, but that didnât work for several reasons, so he got a bigger role than Iâd intended. I still feel like I got across the tension between Captain Song and the Harding loyalist elements of the crew, and Songâs struggles with being captain.
I have been waiting for months for that shot of of the Sisters of St. Barbara conjuring the black gas. With Sister Lamarrâs group joining the crew, that story can start unfolding. Also, the Phoenix gets its first new recruits. Fuel is Phoenixâs most immediate need, but the crew has to expand; crewing a ship meant for over 300 with just 140, and most of them untrained recruits, isnât sustainable.
Not a lot of sex this issue. It just didnât make sense, even with the perpetually horny Phoenix crew, given what else was going on. Hopefully I can get more in next issue. I hope the first few pages and the pin-up shots are enough to tide you over."
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 12:
"This has been a rough month for me in real life. Thanks for your patience and encouragement.
I feel like I failed on at least one of my goals for this issue, to swing the spotlight off of Harding and onto some of the rest of the cast. The first draft of the plot had him spending the whole issue in sick bay, but that didnât work for several reasons, so he got a bigger role than Iâd intended. I still feel like I got across the tension between Captain Song and the Harding loyalist elements of the crew, and Songâs struggles with being captain.
I have been waiting for months for that shot of of the Sisters of St. Barbara conjuring the black gas. With Sister Lamarrâs group joining the crew, that story can start unfolding. Also, the Phoenix gets its first new recruits. Fuel is Phoenixâs most immediate need, but the crew has to expand; crewing a ship meant for over 300 with just 140, and most of them untrained recruits, isnât sustainable.
Not a lot of sex this issue. It just didnât make sense, even with the perpetually horny Phoenix crew, given what else was going on. Hopefully I can get more in next issue. I hope the first few pages and the pin-up shots are enough to tide you over."
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 12:
Attachments
Artist's note:
"Phoenix vs. Spiteful! Lots of explosions! This is the big finish! Well, until we pick up the pieces next issue.
Did I mention lots of explosions? There are three different techniques used for explosions this issue. Iâm more or less happy with all of them, but Iâm curious if you can spot them.
This time around I made some notes on things I wanted to mention as I went, so page by page:
p00: Our cover girl is Captain Claudia, played by the same actress as the Rose from Alexander II.
p06: I really love engineering, but I donât get to set too many scenes there. And I donât think weâve seen the inside of the boat bay for some time.
pp10-15: For me, this was the climax of the âA Pirateâs Life for Me.â Itâs a rare case where I wrote the script before doing layouts or renders, which let me do a better job, I think, on the expressions and body language. Thereâs more subtext in general this issue than I have previously attempted. I hope it comes through.
p18: In âBalance of Terrorâ, Enterprise tracks the Romulan Bird of Prey using âmotion sensors.â This was my attempt to make sense of that bit of Treknobabble and avoid introducing new babble. It also takes a step toward something I want for the cloaking device in this settingâit comes with drawbacks, gaps, and tradeoffs. The balance between cloak and sensors isnât just one of technology, but also how you use it.
p26: As a general rule, I donât like showing two ships underway in the same shot. This isnât Star Wars; these ships are hundreds of thousands to millions kilometers apart and maneuvering over periods of minutes, not seconds. Two ships were never together in original Star Trek for production reasons, but it helped contribute to the capital ship feeling. This time, I just couldnât manage to get the spatial arrangement clear without showing both ships, and given the circumstances of this battle, if itâs ever appropriate, this will be it."
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 13:
"Phoenix vs. Spiteful! Lots of explosions! This is the big finish! Well, until we pick up the pieces next issue.
Did I mention lots of explosions? There are three different techniques used for explosions this issue. Iâm more or less happy with all of them, but Iâm curious if you can spot them.
This time around I made some notes on things I wanted to mention as I went, so page by page:
p00: Our cover girl is Captain Claudia, played by the same actress as the Rose from Alexander II.
p06: I really love engineering, but I donât get to set too many scenes there. And I donât think weâve seen the inside of the boat bay for some time.
pp10-15: For me, this was the climax of the âA Pirateâs Life for Me.â Itâs a rare case where I wrote the script before doing layouts or renders, which let me do a better job, I think, on the expressions and body language. Thereâs more subtext in general this issue than I have previously attempted. I hope it comes through.
p18: In âBalance of Terrorâ, Enterprise tracks the Romulan Bird of Prey using âmotion sensors.â This was my attempt to make sense of that bit of Treknobabble and avoid introducing new babble. It also takes a step toward something I want for the cloaking device in this settingâit comes with drawbacks, gaps, and tradeoffs. The balance between cloak and sensors isnât just one of technology, but also how you use it.
p26: As a general rule, I donât like showing two ships underway in the same shot. This isnât Star Wars; these ships are hundreds of thousands to millions kilometers apart and maneuvering over periods of minutes, not seconds. Two ships were never together in original Star Trek for production reasons, but it helped contribute to the capital ship feeling. This time, I just couldnât manage to get the spatial arrangement clear without showing both ships, and given the circumstances of this battle, if itâs ever appropriate, this will be it."
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 13:
Attachments
Artist's note:
"It seems like after every story arc I have an issue or two like this, just cleaning up loose ends. Theyâre actually harder to do, because the story is less structured, but it does leave room for some gratuitous sex scenes in between the non-gratuitous sex scenes.
So after four issues on Iota Crucis III (I never realized weâd be there that long!), Phoenix is underway to her next destination. Which means I get to do set building, and world building. Which leads to me asking for help. Iâm trying to keep a coherent star chart in three dimensions. Right now, itâs in Blender, but there are some shortcomingsânotably, itâs hard to get labels on things in a format that looks good, without lots of modeling of text objects. Does anyone know of a good tool for this?
Crew politics get stirred up again. Harding is back in command, with Song taking over as Chief Mate. Even though it took three months to tell, she was only in command for four days. I continue to be surprised at how far sheâs come, considering I introduced her in #7 basically just to give Riley someone to fuck.
The new recruits will change the dynamics a bit. And the Sisters start to show their hand a bit more. They want more from Phoenix than just a ride."
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 14:
"It seems like after every story arc I have an issue or two like this, just cleaning up loose ends. Theyâre actually harder to do, because the story is less structured, but it does leave room for some gratuitous sex scenes in between the non-gratuitous sex scenes.
So after four issues on Iota Crucis III (I never realized weâd be there that long!), Phoenix is underway to her next destination. Which means I get to do set building, and world building. Which leads to me asking for help. Iâm trying to keep a coherent star chart in three dimensions. Right now, itâs in Blender, but there are some shortcomingsânotably, itâs hard to get labels on things in a format that looks good, without lots of modeling of text objects. Does anyone know of a good tool for this?
Crew politics get stirred up again. Harding is back in command, with Song taking over as Chief Mate. Even though it took three months to tell, she was only in command for four days. I continue to be surprised at how far sheâs come, considering I introduced her in #7 basically just to give Riley someone to fuck.
The new recruits will change the dynamics a bit. And the Sisters start to show their hand a bit more. They want more from Phoenix than just a ride."
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 14:
Attachments
Artist's note:
"Itâs another slice of life issue. I wanted to touch on what the regular crew do all day when underway. That required creating some more regular crew; we get the dorsal gun crew (a new swabbie, Crewman Markova, along with Leigh and Wan) and the Redshirts (Glau and Katty) join Bowlin, Bynyr, and Robbins in the Greek chorus of our series. And what do you know, I did have plans for the cute Shipfitterâs Mate Wald.
I also felt like it was time for Karol to get over some of her isolation. She wouldnât have expected to make friends with an alien, though. For the humans whoâve never left Earth before, aliens are a distant exotic class that are some of the only people they can look down on from their place at the bottom of Earthâs social hierarchy. The junior Star Fleet crewmen, though, have been indoctrinated even more fully into the philosophy of Terran supremacy. For them the idea of aliens as peers is even harder. Do you think Grimes gets it now?
I tried a few experiments in writing and art this issue. If you spot the craft without looking for it, it failed, so I wonât say what. But Iâm especially interested in criticism on this one."
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 15:
"Itâs another slice of life issue. I wanted to touch on what the regular crew do all day when underway. That required creating some more regular crew; we get the dorsal gun crew (a new swabbie, Crewman Markova, along with Leigh and Wan) and the Redshirts (Glau and Katty) join Bowlin, Bynyr, and Robbins in the Greek chorus of our series. And what do you know, I did have plans for the cute Shipfitterâs Mate Wald.
I also felt like it was time for Karol to get over some of her isolation. She wouldnât have expected to make friends with an alien, though. For the humans whoâve never left Earth before, aliens are a distant exotic class that are some of the only people they can look down on from their place at the bottom of Earthâs social hierarchy. The junior Star Fleet crewmen, though, have been indoctrinated even more fully into the philosophy of Terran supremacy. For them the idea of aliens as peers is even harder. Do you think Grimes gets it now?
I tried a few experiments in writing and art this issue. If you spot the craft without looking for it, it failed, so I wonât say what. But Iâm especially interested in criticism on this one."
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 15:
Attachments
Artist's note:
"Iâve been looking forward to this episode for a while. Itâs about time Athena got to step out of Hardingâs shadow a little. I enjoyed focusing on the smaller cast for this issue.
Athenaâs recon skills came up this time. Star Fleetâs recon qualification prepares the crewman or officer to conduct planetary intelligence gathering. This includes camouflage, sensor operation, surveillance & intelligence gathering, and spycraft. A recon-qualified Star Fleet commando is the equivalent of a U.S recon Marine or an Army Ranger, but the recon qualification (like all Star Fleet qualifications) isnât limited to commandos. Recon personnel are also expected to be able to blend with native populations when necessary, as Athena and Jarre did on Beta Caeli III. Of Phoenixâs officers, Athena, Pualani, and Ali are recon-qualified. Expect to see them leading landing parties.
This issue is the first time weâve seen the other two Rigellian genders. In addition to breeders (Zahra and the shodar), we got a brooder (serving tea during the negotions), two bull males (Dorn and Harrat), and two beta males (Davida and the smaller dancer).
Itâs also the first time weâve seen the palm pulser, the Terran Federationâs version of Star Trekâs phaser I. Now that Iâve worked with it, I understand why it fell out of fashion; itâs kind of hard to look threatening with a TV remote, and itâs also hard to see that someone is armed. While thatâs a benefit to the user, from a narrative standpoint itâs a problem.
I also decided to do this issue in portrait format. Iâve been doing Pirates in landscape (with the exception of âSailing from Sevilleâ) to evoke TV and movie screens, but Iâve been finding landscape layouts harder to keep interesting. Let me know what you think. Should I stick with portrait, or go back to landscape?
Our song for this story is "The Ballad of Anne Bonny," by Janie Meneely."
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 16:
"Iâve been looking forward to this episode for a while. Itâs about time Athena got to step out of Hardingâs shadow a little. I enjoyed focusing on the smaller cast for this issue.
Athenaâs recon skills came up this time. Star Fleetâs recon qualification prepares the crewman or officer to conduct planetary intelligence gathering. This includes camouflage, sensor operation, surveillance & intelligence gathering, and spycraft. A recon-qualified Star Fleet commando is the equivalent of a U.S recon Marine or an Army Ranger, but the recon qualification (like all Star Fleet qualifications) isnât limited to commandos. Recon personnel are also expected to be able to blend with native populations when necessary, as Athena and Jarre did on Beta Caeli III. Of Phoenixâs officers, Athena, Pualani, and Ali are recon-qualified. Expect to see them leading landing parties.
This issue is the first time weâve seen the other two Rigellian genders. In addition to breeders (Zahra and the shodar), we got a brooder (serving tea during the negotions), two bull males (Dorn and Harrat), and two beta males (Davida and the smaller dancer).
Itâs also the first time weâve seen the palm pulser, the Terran Federationâs version of Star Trekâs phaser I. Now that Iâve worked with it, I understand why it fell out of fashion; itâs kind of hard to look threatening with a TV remote, and itâs also hard to see that someone is armed. While thatâs a benefit to the user, from a narrative standpoint itâs a problem.
I also decided to do this issue in portrait format. Iâve been doing Pirates in landscape (with the exception of âSailing from Sevilleâ) to evoke TV and movie screens, but Iâve been finding landscape layouts harder to keep interesting. Let me know what you think. Should I stick with portrait, or go back to landscape?
Our song for this story is "The Ballad of Anne Bonny," by Janie Meneely."
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 16:
Attachments
Artist's note:
"So this one took a while. I keep trying to give it a single plot, but really what needed to happen now was a series of unconnected events as the crew settles in for the part of a shipâs career we seldom see, the time in port refitting and preparing for the next voyage. A few revelations, a few seeds of things to come, but no real narrative.
Some personal things (good things!) are going to be forcing me to slow down the rate at which new issues come out. Iâm targeting bi-monthly, but as always, itâll be ready when its ready. Thanks for sticking with me."
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 17:
"So this one took a while. I keep trying to give it a single plot, but really what needed to happen now was a series of unconnected events as the crew settles in for the part of a shipâs career we seldom see, the time in port refitting and preparing for the next voyage. A few revelations, a few seeds of things to come, but no real narrative.
Some personal things (good things!) are going to be forcing me to slow down the rate at which new issues come out. Iâm targeting bi-monthly, but as always, itâll be ready when its ready. Thanks for sticking with me."
[DangerousLines] Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 17:
Attachments
- Status
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