Blakes7 September 2001

blakes7@lists.lysator.liu.se

56 participants
222 discussions

Second in Command
by Dana Shilling 20 Sep '01

20 Sep '01

A six-carbon-based-entity crew is probably too small to actually need a second in command, but Cally would have been the logical choice. Not only does she have experience in a guerilla band (however ill-fated) but she's the only one who actually shares Blake's objectives. That she didn't take on this role probably says more about TPTB's attitudes than Blake's, though. -(Y)

1 0

Re: Fwd: Re: [B7L] Chenga
by Ellynne G. 20 Sep '01

20 Sep '01

On Wed, 19 Sep 2001 21:22:59 +0000 "Sally Manton" <smanton(a)hotmail.com> writes: > Marian wrote: > > I doubt they'd have taken time out at that stage to do it - Zen > would still > be on his search and rescue for Blake (and presumably Jenna, even if > her > crewmates *were* already going "Jenna who?"), and I can't see either > Avon or > Vila wanting to put the welfare of a whole lot of strangers before > that. > But later, after they'd run out of options and before Avon thought > up his > little revenge plan, Cally *might* have wanted to (might, because at > this > stage Cally doesn't seem to have many ideas on what she wants to do > with > their lives either). I hadn't really seen it as a welfare of strangers issue, although that would motivate Cally. Avon can get awfully protective sometimes towards the crew members he claims not to care about and he may be in a very foul temper after the past few days (war, outmanuevered by Servalan, his ship taken over by strangers he accidentally let onboard, outsmarted [for the first and last time, wasn't it?] by Tarrant, multiple head wounds). But pulling it off might be difficult. If there's shielding, the Liberator might not be able to shoot directly, meaning they'd have to take all the risks involved in a bombing run. Even if it's not, Cally might reasonably insist on giving them a few minutes warning to evacuate (under the assumption several of the people otherwise intended for organ donation might have a chance to get out) which would have them sitting around, twiddling their thumbs while Chenga's space fleet moves towards them. Still, they could tell Lindor, Destiny, Albion, most rebel groups, and any of Jenna's Free Trader contacts she left the e-mail addresses for and expect to at least be listened to. Even if they just tipped off those worlds privately, it could be publicized as from 'reliable sources.' And it wouldn't be a huge problem to get Orac to dig out any information from Chengan computers (layouts of the facilities, numbers of people 'processed,' names and planets or origin). Cally and Vila might include some of what happened to them as coming from first person accounts who have asked that their real names not be used, etc. Ellynne ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.

1 0

Re: [B7L] Chenga
by Marian de Haan 20 Sep '01

20 Sep '01

Ellynne wrote: >After Liberator rescued Vila and Cally from Chenga, has anyone ever wondered what happened next? I've always wondered if, after they were revived and the situation was explained, if the crew took any further steps.< Would Avon and Vila have felt that public spirited? After all, one day they might become in need of a "spare part" themselves and then it's nice to know where to acquire one without questions being asked :-) Marian

2 1

Ensor's fish
by jacquispeel＠netscape.net 19 Sep '01

19 Sep '01

Were actually Phibian 'tadpoles' Jacqui __________________________________________________________________ Your favorite stores, helpful shopping tools and great gift ideas. Experience the convenience of buying online with Shop@Netscape! http://shopnow.netscape.com/ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape Mail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com/

1 0

Fwd: Re: [B7L] Chenga
by Sally Manton 19 Sep '01

19 Sep '01

Marian wrote: <Would Avon and Vila have felt that public spirited? After all, one day they might become in need of a "spare part" themselves and then it's nice to know where to acquire one without questions being asked :-)> Now I think of it, I read a story where Avon *needed* a transplant just about then ... I doubt they'd have taken time out at that stage to do it - Zen would still be on his search and rescue for Blake (and presumably Jenna, even if her crewmates *were* already going "Jenna who?"), and I can't see either Avon or Vila wanting to put the welfare of a whole lot of strangers before that. But later, after they'd run out of options and before Avon thought up his little revenge plan, Cally *might* have wanted to (might, because at this stage Cally doesn't seem to have many ideas on what she wants to do with their lives either). _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

1 0

Domes and religion
by Sally Manton 19 Sep '01

19 Sep '01

Jacqui wrote: <Also - if leaving the domes was a 'Category Four' offence, and the outsiders were to be shunned, how come Servalan as President had a mansion outside in 'Rumours'?> I doubt such mundane things as laws apply to her Supremeness and her like. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

1 0

Second in command
by Sally Manton 19 Sep '01

19 Sep '01

Ellynne wrote<but why did they turn to Avon? His first shot at command nearly killed everyone.> Well, it does appear to me to have been (as usual) Blake's decision at the start (perhaps he was trying them all out for the role ... would have loved to see Vila's shot at it). And Blake may not be the galaxy's most reasonable man, but I don't think he'd had the cheek to hold it against Avon that one of the crew got accidently misplaced on mission ;-) Also, by Redemption (by which time of course the role *was* being raised in profile) everyone else was clearly deferring to Avon's superior wisdom, knowledge etc etc (both Jenna *and* Cally do the Doctor's Assitant bit in this one, I'm afraid, though it's rather funny when Jenna plays Assistant - "what's going on?" - to both Blake and Avon at the same time). Which sort of made it inevitable - it's a little hard to hold authority over someone like My Darling when you keep having to ask him for the answers. <Maybe worshipping Avon was a side effect of the radiation and even mild doses could be incurable?> Oh dear ... and what excuse do the rest of us have? _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

1 0

Re: [B7L] Chenga
by Sally Manton 19 Sep '01

19 Sep '01

Mistral wrote; <We're specifically told in Harvest that Liberator is equipped for planetary assault.> Yep, I was wrong :-) and James: <And in Shadow, they "burn the President's garden".> Okay, okay, I was definitely wrong (of course, they did go down first to line up the area to burn first). _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

1 0

Chenga
by Sally Manton 19 Sep '01

19 Sep '01

Ellynne wrote: <After Liberator rescued Vila and Cally from Chenga, has anyone ever wondered what happened next? I've always wondered if, after they were revived and the situation was explained, if the crew took any further steps. They could have tipped off planets with a free press about what the Chengans did with war refugees.> <grin> one has to wonder if they would have expected anyone to believe a message from the Liberator - possibly. For a mob of largely crooked-to-the-bone career criminals (and even now, they swapped a smuggler for a smuggler/mercenary, and one who's soon to show a taste for piracy), they seem to have developed a reputation for integrity that Avon probably finds alternately mystifying and amusing. <That's assuming they didn't take some kind of more direct action to stop it> But could they? I don't recall if there's any evidence in the series that the Liberator actually could destroy targets on a planetary surface, which - unless I'm wrong* - means they'd have to go down and do it the hard way. After Star One, I think Avon, Vila and yes even Cally, might be a bit too battle-fatigued to be willing to face that. *Stop sniggering - I'll admit it's happened once or twice - last millenium, maybe. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

3 2

World Trade Centre
by Helen Atkins 19 Sep '01

19 Sep '01

I received this today. I think it makes interesting reading. ........................................................................ An Afghan-American speaks >You can't bomb us back into the Stone Age. We're already there. But you can >start a new world war, and that's exactly what Osama bin Laden wants. > >- - - - - - - - - - - - >By Tamim Ansary > >Sept. 14, 2001: I've been hearing a lot of talk about "bombing Afghanistan back to the Stone Age." Ronn Owens, on San Francisco's KGO Talk Radio, >conceded >today that this would mean killing innocent people, people who had nothing to do with this atrocity, but "we're at war, we have to accept collateral >damage. What else >can we do?" Minutes later I heard some TV pundit discussing whether we "have the belly to do what must be done." > >And I thought about the issues being raised especially hard because I am from Afghanistan, and even though I've lived in the United States for 35 >years I've never >lost track of what's going on there. So I want to tell anyone who will listen how it all looks from where I'm standing. > >I speak as one who hates the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. There is no doubt in my mind that these people were responsible for the atrocity in New >York. I agree >that something must be done about those monsters. > >But the Taliban and bin Laden are not Afghanistan. They're not even the government of Afghanistan. The Taliban are a cult of ignorant psychotics who >took over >Afghanistan in 1997. Bin Laden is a political criminal with a plan. When you think Taliban, think Nazis. When you think bin Laden, think Hitler. And >when you think "the >people of Afghanistan" think "the Jews in the concentration camps." It's not only that the Afghan people had nothing to do with this atrocity. They >were the first victims >of the perpetrators. They would exult if someone would come in there, take out the Taliban and clear out the rats' nest of international thugs holed >up in their country. > >Some say, why don't the Afghans rise up and overthrow the Taliban? The answer is, they're starved, exhausted, hurt, incapacitated, suffering. A few >years ago, the >United Nations estimated that there are 500,000 disabled orphans in Afghanistan -- a country with no economy, no food. There are millions of widows. >And the Taliban >has been burying these widows alive in mass graves. The soil is littered with land mines, the farms were all destroyed by the Soviets. These are a few > of the reasons >why the Afghan people have not overthrown the Taliban. > >We come now to the question of bombing Afghanistan back to the Stone Age. Trouble is, that's been done. The Soviets took care of it already. Make the >Afghans >suffer? They're already suffering. Level their houses? Done. Turn their schools into piles of rubble? Done. Eradicate their hospitals? Done. Destroy >their infrastructure? >Cut them off from medicine and healthcare? Too late. Someone already did all that. New bombs would only stir the rubble of earlier bombs. Would they >at least get >the Taliban? Not likely. In today's Afghanistan, only the Taliban eat, only they have the means to move around. They'd slip away and hide. Maybe the >bombs would >get some of those disabled orphans; they don't move too fast, they don't even have wheelchairs. But flying over Kabul and dropping bombs wouldn't >really be a strike >against the criminals who did this horrific thing. Actually it would only be making common cause with the Taliban -- by raping once again the people >they've been >raping all this time. > >So what else is there? What can be done, then? Let me now speak with true fear and trembling. The only way to get Bin Laden is to go in there with >ground troops. >When people speak of "having the belly to do what needs to be done" they're thinking in terms of having the belly to kill as many as needed. Having >the belly to >overcome any moral qualms about killing innocent people. Let's pull our heads out of the sand. What's actually on the table is Americans dying. And >not just because >some Americans would die fighting their way through Afghanistan to Bin Laden's hideout. It's much bigger than that, folks. Because to get any troops >to Afghanistan, >we'd have to go through Pakistan. Would they let us? Not likely. The conquest of Pakistan would have to be first. Will other Muslim nations just stand > by? You see >where I'm going. We're flirting with a world war between Islam and the West. > >And guess what: That's bin Laden's program. That's exactly what he wants. That's why he did this. Read his speeches and statements. It's all right >there. He really >believes Islam would beat the West. It might seem ridiculous, but he figures if he can polarize the world into Islam and the West, he's got a billion >soldiers. If the West >wreaks a holocaust in those lands, that's a billion people with nothing left to lose; that's even better from Bin Laden's point of view. He's probably > wrong -- in the end >the West would win, whatever that would mean -- but the war would last for years and millions would die, not just theirs but ours. > >Who has the belly for that? Bin Laden does. Anyone else? > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

2 1

← Newer
1
...
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
...
23
Older →

Jump to page:

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2001

Blakes7 September 2001