Tribulation (spoilers) chapter 7

[zedd]

Great chapter Fel, but if you don't stop making him faint he's going to look like a sissy Where his inner strength?

[dellstart]

what a bloody roller coaster of a chapter, talk about conflicting emotions .Don't know even where to start. I will comment more , i guess after my second or third reread.

I dunno mate , i find something kind of honest in the way ,he reacts to tragedies.feeling someones pain and all that

[Fel]

Great chapter Fel, but if you don't stop making him faint he's going to look like a sissy Where his inner strength?

Could YOU honestly say that you could watch four billion people die and not faint, or have some kind of extreme reaction?

[Mistra]

not exactly proud to say it, but yeah, i could.

and this isn't exactly the best person to quote, but, as stalin once said, 1 death is a tragedy, 1.000.000 deaths is a statistic

[expedient]

It turned my stomach some and I know it's not real. (I did finish my last bite of food though.)

Maybe you don't feel invested in the situation but Jason feels that he is at least a little responsible for the Consortium being there doing what they can to capture Karinne technology. It is his assumed responsibility to stop this kind of thing happening. That's a weighty mantle. I imagine he will go through the seven stages of grief (or something similar).

[zedd]

Great chapter Fel, but if you don't stop making him faint he's going to look like a sissy Where his inner strength?

Could YOU honestly say that you could watch four billion people die and not faint, or have some kind of extreme reaction?

Honestly, I don't even want to try to imagine something like that.

My comment was half jest, half thinking that there's need to someone in command that can take decisions, the very hard decisions ahead. When reading about his fainting I keep wondering if he has what is needed to lead his people in these trying times.

I also believe that we have the capacity to adapt to very hard, inhuman situations. When watching the movies "saving private Ryan" I was shocked by the D-day scenes. Men dying everywhere, but still the others kept going on, kept fighting and kept going to the objectives. In subjugation they will all have to adapt, or give up. When he fainted again in this chapter I was left wondering if he will be able to adapt.

I know this is a story, and YOUR story, so you make him do what you want I am just trying to explain my comment, the emotions/thoughts that motivated me. I do tend to "live" your stories.

another great chapter

Edit: My hang-up is just with the act of fainting. it's probably because I see people fainting as not being able to cope with something or a situation, so if he can't cope he can't analyze, react, make decisions.

[Wolfee]

not exactly proud to say it, but yeah, i could.

and this isn't exactly the best person to quote, but, as stalin once said, 1 death is a tragedy, 1.000.000 deaths is a statistic

Actually, Yes I could... quiet evident you'll never be Emperor of the galaxy. One would expect (hell one would be REQUIRED) to make a few examples in the process of bringing the galaxy under Ones domination.

As a Chinese general once said "So they drop nukes and kill a few million. There are many more where those paltry few million came from." Or something like that.

And to provide the full quote that works nicely with the one Mistra gave. "Kill one man and your a murderer, kill a million a king, kill'm all, a god."

To me what is so wrong with Jason fainting is one that its not every manly at all. Two what the FUCK did he think they where going to do? Build them and show them off "Oh look at our pretty planet killer?" Seriously you don't build something like that unless your going to use it. Jason should have damn well been mentally prepared by now for the fact that if one got completed it was gonna be used. At the time he's fainting or out of action for the next couple day recovering from the "shock", the big wimp - is when he should be standing up in front of his House, his people, his family, the entire Confederation and giving a such a speech as to make Winston Churchill's corpse green with envy! I'm talking something along the lines of "We will fight them...."

Personally I think Jason is a tad bit to sensitive it needs to be toned down a tad - he needs to be able to put that sensitivity in box and leave it there until he's won. He doesn't have time for falling down on the job. The very fact that Jason is even surprised by this is not a good sign for the Confederation. He should have known, prepared and steeled himself for what was to come. A quote that places this all into context is this... "Surprise exists only in the mind of the commander." IF Jason as the commander didn't see this coming... no ones fault but his.

And since I've had a piss poor week I'm gonna say this... been wanting too... Please Fel, please improve your writing and remove this phrase from your vocabulary "...was just that good" or "...was that good." Not trying to nit pick here but that phrase has got to go. I think your stories with some professional editing and management could be professionally published. That said however...some issues do need to be resolved.

Thanks for your very entertaining efforts Fel, Keep up the great work. I have spent many a happy hour lost in your stories. Keep putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard as the case may be.

[Fel]

I understand a lot of what you're talking about, Wolfee, and I'm not making Jason look like a sap just to irritate you guys.

There are reasons for it, and IMO, for Jason NOT to have a reaction to something this drastic would be out of character for him. Yes, he fainted. But he's not going to suffer another near-psychotic break like he did when the millions died at Raxxad. He IS developing his "put it in the box" attitude, it's just taking him longer than you might want to see it happen. Soldiers don't develop their detached attitudes after just one day or one battle. Those things develop over time...though the ones that develop them faster have a better chance of surviving than those that don't.

Perhaps a couple of lines from the next chapter explains Jason's mental attitude, and why it's so important for him to not turn into what you guys think he needs to be:

People instead of numbers, he sighed. Sometimes I envy Zaa and Dahnai.
You say it yourself, love. The day you see the numbers instead of the people, you’re not worthy of the title of Grand Duke. I agree. Your compassion is one of your most admirable traits, and if you lost it, you wouldn’t be the man I fell in love with. Every member of this house knows you care about them, Jason. Each and every one. If you lost that, if you turned into just another house ruler, it might undermine the very foundation upon which this house has been built. It can work against you, but in the bigger picture, it is far more your greatest strength than your greatest liability.

Does that mean he turns all goth moody like Tarrin would? Hell no.

What it does mean is that Jason is going to come out swinging. Because of Jason's powerful moral compass, it means it takes a hell of a lot to push him off his perceived path, and one of the tenets of that path is not to become what he sees in the other rulers. He does love Dahnai, but he sees her flaws, and one of them is her cold nonchalance concerning the people under her rule. She sees the numbers, he sees the people. Well, slaughtering four billion people right before his eyes produced a blow strong enough to make him respond.

Now Jason is going to start throwing his own punches, and do it on THEIR level. He'll worry about the moral implications of it later, for when he's alive to face the music. He'll do it the way he does it best, and that's with some wicked little gadget that does the killing for him.

Yes, he's becoming a soldier, but it's taking him longer to take on that survivalist mindset, because it's warring with his compassionate foundation.

[J-Man5]

Yay!!!! Bring us more of these please!!

some wicked little gadget that does the killing for him.

J-Man5

[dellstart]

I understand a lot of what you're talking about, Wolfee, and I'm not making Jason look like a sap just to irritate you guys.

There are reasons for it, and IMO, for Jason NOT to have a reaction to something this drastic would be out of character for him. Yes, he fainted. But he's not going to suffer another near-psychotic break like he did when the millions died at Raxxad. He IS developing his "put it in the box" attitude, it's just taking him longer than you might want to see it happen. Soldiers don't develop their detached attitudes after just one day or one battle. Those things develop over time...though the ones that develop them faster have a better chance of surviving than those that don't.

Perhaps a couple of lines from the next chapter explains Jason's mental attitude, and why it's so important for him to not turn into what you guys think he needs to be:

People instead of numbers, he sighed. Sometimes I envy Zaa and Dahnai.
You say it yourself, love. The day you see the numbers instead of the people, you’re not worthy of the title of Grand Duke. I agree. Your compassion is one of your most admirable traits, and if you lost it, you wouldn’t be the man I fell in love with. Every member of this house knows you care about them, Jason. Each and every one. If you lost that, if you turned into just another house ruler, it might undermine the very foundation upon which this house has been built. It can work against you, but in the bigger picture, it is far more your greatest strength than your greatest liability.

Does that mean he turns all goth moody like Tarrin would? Hell no.

What it does mean is that Jason is going to come out swinging. Because of Jason's powerful moral compass, it means it takes a hell of a lot to push him off his perceived path, and one of the tenets of that path is not to become what he sees in the other rulers. He does love Dahnai, but he sees her flaws, and one of them is her cold nonchalance concerning the people under her rule. She sees the numbers, he sees the people. Well, slaughtering four billion people right before his eyes produced a blow strong enough to make him respond.

Now Jason is going to start throwing his own punches, and do it on THEIR level. He'll worry about the moral implications of it later, for when he's alive to face the music. He'll do it the way he does it best, and that's with some wicked little gadget that does the killing for him.

Yes, he's becoming a soldier, but it's taking him longer to take on that survivalist mindset, because it's warring with his compassionate foundation.

woah ,I was thinking along those lines , glad i got it right. Thanks fel.
--now on with the reading ....

[Wolfee]

What it does mean is that Jason is going to come out swinging. Because of Jason's powerful moral compass, it means it takes a hell of a lot to push him off his perceived path, and one of the tenets of that path is not to become what he sees in the other rulers. He does love Dahnai, but he sees her flaws, and one of them is her cold nonchalance concerning the people under her rule. She sees the numbers, he sees the people. Well, slaughtering four billion people right before his eyes produced a blow strong enough to make him respond.

Now Jason is going to start throwing his own punches, and do it on THEIR level. He'll worry about the moral implications of it later, for when he's alive to face the music. He'll do it the way he does it best, and that's with some wicked little gadget that does the killing for him.

Yes, he's becoming a soldier, but it's taking him longer to take on that survivalist mindset, because it's warring with his compassionate foundation.

Alright, I can accept that. I'm looking forward to the next chapter!

[expedient]

Some of these points have probably been mostly answered by Fel, but I wrote them whilst (im)patiently queuing at the market yesterday so I'll ask anyway:

Whilst I feel witnessing such events is an adequate explanation for Jason fainting I was going to ask if there was a "Parri-effect". Jason has shown a sensitivity to way the Parri's abilities work. In thinking about the Consortium’s reasons for acting in this callous way I was considering if this was an attack against the Parri and their "shielding" in any way?

I think that this emotion upheaval is the key to Jason realising his Generation abilities. Maybe forcing his hand in trying more radical solutions to the crisis.

I wonder what the consequences of Cybi riding around in Jason's head all the time are? Is this causing her to become more "human/alive" and therefore a key to allow the CBIMs to commune better?

[DigitalMaestro]

Whilst I feel witnessing such events is an adequate explanation for Jason fainting I was going to ask if there was a "Parri-effect". Jason has shown a sensitivity to way the Parri's abilities work. In thinking about the Consortium’s reasons for acting in this callous way I was considering if this was an attack against the Parri and their "shielding" in any way?

Interesting point. I look forward to seeing this develop.

-DM

[lapland]

Since Jason is directly connected to Cybi in many ways, could his emotions be amplified by her without knowing it. He is extreamly sinsitive anyway as we saw in his early days when there was loss of life. But now that he is responsible and he thinks in terms of individuals he takes it even more personal. Now the war has become personal and his own are dying. God will be the only one that will be able to stand in the way of Jason turning the consortium to mush, both here and the other galaxy. Even the Denmother better be prepared to step aside and let Jason through. And the other guys.....He has time, but by then they won't even breath the fresh air of real time space before obliteration strikes.

[NSC]

Seems to me that Jason would ask Denmother to have the Kimdori report on the completion status of every planetkiller, and go after any that are near functional to prevent another one being used. It wouldn't even have to be a big military attack, a few hundred missiles loaded with Satan's Marbles and other toys targeted at the planetkiller could slow down its completion.

I doubt he'd go to the xtreme of nuking the planetkillers, that is killing a few million in order to save the rest of the planet, but it's a thought.