Episode 620: Hammerfall, Special Features
Contents
GALLERY OF GUEST STARS[edit]
Anna is the officially appointed Alliance Regional Governor of the Russian Cultural Preservation Enclave, based in St. Petersburg Kremlin. She has quite a cult of personality campaign going but she also runs the city with the proverbial iron fist in the velvet glove, doling out political rewards and creature comforts as a means to maintain control over the populace. She is not, however, averse to using harsher methods when deemed necessary.
The Tigranovs
Rina's mother and Prima Donna of Traditional Russian Opera. Now a political hostage—euphemistically termed 'guest'—of Anna inside the Kremlin walls.
Rina's father and Master Luthier. He and Rina's mother have spent their lives in the Enclave, training for and achieving Artist Guild status, with successful careers in their respective fields. He is also a political prisoner of Anna.
'Grisha' Rina's first oldest brother and accomplished painter and portraitist. He was taken in as a 'guest' of Anna along with his mother and father when Nikolai was imprisoned.
'Sasha', Rina's second oldest brother, once a lacquer artist, now a fish cannery worker in the Russian Cultural Preservation Enclave.
'Mitya', Rina's third oldest brother, once a painter and a steampunk sculptor but now a factory worker in the Enclave. He is married with a wife, Svetlana, and three children.
- Also mentioned but not seen...
'Kolya', Rina's fourth oldest brother. Once a popular folk singer, he was arrested for sedition and thrown in the Kremlin's notorious Black Tower. It has been three years and more since his incarceration and there has been no news of him since.
HOW TO SPEAK CHINESE[edit]
shi or shii = 屎 = shih = feces, shit Sound clip
HOW TO SPEAK RUSSIAN[edit]
Chernaya bashnya = черная башня = chor-neh-yah bahsh-n'yah = black tower Sound clip
Da = да = Dah = Yes
Sound clip
Komandir = командир = Koh-man-deer = Commander Sound clip
Kto eta devushka? = Кто эта девушка? = K-toh eh-tah deh-voo-shka? = Who is this girl? Sound clip
Da svidanya = до свидания = dah svee-dahn-yah = Goodbye Sound clip
shliushka = шлюшка = shlee-oo-shka = slut Sound clip (Click on the backtranslate button to see the word in English)
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS[edit]
- Where are the prisoners from the Black Tower going?
- Is there a regular schedule for pick-up?
- Is there a facility on Sihnon where they are either held for transport or where they are altered/modified?
- Anna mentioned Potemkin had ties in the Russian Enclave.
- Does this mean he was involved somehow providing people for the Elect?
- Was his associate, Dr. Gordon, involved with the Elect program as well?
- What is Anna's connection to Potemkin?
- Or was she lying about a connection as part of a psych ploy?
- Anna spoke of having a fondness for Natalia.
- Was it a fondness born of friendship? Or was she fond of Natalia for the leverage she provided as a hostage? Or something in between?
- Natalia mentioned people asked questions about Rina after her body was shipped home. What kind of questions?
- When Natalia hears she and her family are going to the Rim, she is appalled at the prospect. As an artist who toured during her career, surely the conditions on the Rim are not unknown to her. Why such a reaction?
- When Joshua and Arden run into the Creepy Guys, he senses something incredibly wrong about them. It makes his skin crawl and it is hard to concentrate when he's near them. Why?
- Joshua has a similar feeling when he is near Readers like Johannes Volker, Roskov, and Kappa. Are these more of the same?
- If not, then what about their make-up is causing Joshua's reaction?
- Is this something we can use to advantage, as a means of detecting more of the Elect?
- Creepy Guy #2 is especially creepifying. He has a taste for knives and blood and has a sociopathic air about him.
- Is this a result of his Elect modifications?
- Or is this something he has always had that was intensified by the modifications?
- Creepy Guy #2 reliquishes his knife and surrenders when Anna's life is threatened. Why?
- Did he surrender because he didn't want Anna to be hurt?
- Did he surrender because he could see no favorable outcome for his side in the standoff?
- Did he surrender because he knows he will be told to hunt the crew down and bring them in later?
- Anna's guards have weapons that shoot not unlike a Taser and cause incapacitating pain.
- Where did these weapons come from?
- Are they part of the Elect arsenal or where these made for Anna's own use?
- How long is the range and how long do the pain effects last?
- Why didn't Anna call ahead to the Port Authorities as soon as we let her go and have them issue a BOLO on us? Or have us detained leaving Sihnon airspace?
- How far does Anna's jurisdiction go outside the Russian Enclave?
- Kiera inquires of Arden how Head-Valerie is faring with all the family drama. Arden says he's fine.
- It appears Valerie has gone silent. Why?
- Christian called ahead to the Companion Temple and had them smooth the way for us. ##How did Christian know to call? Did Nika tell him where we were going?
- How much pull does he have inside the Guild? Or is this something any Companion of his level can do as a professional courtesy?
- Sasha announces he is going back to the Enclave to expose Anna's activities with the Black Tower.
- How does he mean to do this? Does he have friends able to help him?
- Sasha hints that he might be able to beg the Companions to help him.
- Does this mean he's already made some inquiries?
- If he's caught before he can accomplish his goal, it's pretty sure he'll get sent into the Elect by Anna.
- How does he plan to evade capture?
- Exposing Anna will put him on her most-wanted list but Sasha implies that once she is exposed, the guards may not obey her once everyone knows the truth.
- Does he have information of what the guards really think of Anna and her tactics?
- Are the guards dissatisfied with her?
- Does this also include the Elect who are working for her? If so, what would it take to convince them to turn on her?
- If they cannot be turned, what can be done to neutralize them?
- The worlds of the Border and the Rim nail their Declaration of Independence to the Parliament door on the 1st of May, 2523
- Who did the actual nailing of the document to the door?
- Was this person arrested? If so, what happens now to him or her?
- Independence Forces stage dramatic daylight raid on the Alliance Military Academy. The poorly defended institute suffered dramatic damage and numerous casualties but Alliance Marines were eventually able to quell the attack and round up or kill the attackers.
- How were the students able to defend themselves?
- How many of those killed were teens and children enrolled in the Academy?
- En route to Paquin, we catch the journalist report on Reavers attacking Alliance vessels and leaving Independent vessels unharmed.
- Is this proof that Reavers are actually not real but only humans using the guise of Reavers to attack with impunity?
- Or is this proof of some sort of hoax being spun by the Alliance Psych-Ops Department?
- Or could it be possible that Reavers are more coherent than originally thought?
- How great is the Reaver threat to the Verse?
- When we get to Paquin, we find the entire 2nd Fleet waiting there. Why were they there?
- Did they get wind of something big was going to happen?
- Omar had warned us that something was coming, something big. Was this the same thing the Fleet was anticipating?
- If so, how did they know?
- If not, what were they expecting?
- The 2nd Fleet had a new addition, a very large battle ship of the Shin Long (Storm Dragon) class.
- Do all the Fleets have a Shin Long? Or was this the only one built?
- Regardless, where was this ship built?
- Does it have any Iskellian tech on it?
- We see a corvette vessel with the Parliamentary Operative markings on it. Does this mean that an Operative was involved in massing the Fleet to Paquin?
- Or was an Operative present for other reasons?
- If so, what were those reasons? Disciplinary? Observational? Procedural? What?
- The Alliance Naval 2nd Fleet was attacked, and severely damaged, forced to tactically retreat. Over 7800 casualties. Independents take control of the airspace over Paquin and Silverhold. Ground forces begin a war of attrition on the ground. Over 16,000 Alliance troops held effectively "captive" on Silverhold via blockade.
- What will happen to the ground troops captured on Silverhold?
- Will they be held as POWs and used as bargaining chips to negotiate release of Independent prisoners?
- Or will they be incarcerated for the duration of the war?
- Or executed?
- During the Battle over Paquin, the Independent forces unleash an EMP array weapon on the Fleet.
- Is this weapon made from the EMP components we delivered to Paquin in Dec 2523?
- Beglan admits that he's been looking for and tracking a large body far off the Verse ecliptic, first glimpsed during our cargo run to Aesir of Dec 2522. He says it's a slow moving object, on approach to the 'Verse, and it's likely a vessel of some kind.
- Where did this vessel come from?
- Who is flying it?
- Is it a lost Ark ship?
- Is it aliens?
- After the Battle of Paquin, Nika announces it is up to the crew to decide individually if they wish to get involved in the war and/or follow her into the conflict.
- Why did Nika put it to a vote?
- Everyone agreed to follow her into the war. Why?
- We still have the Tigranovs aboard and they need to be taken somewhere safe.
- Where will they go?
- How will they live?
- Will we ever see them again?
- With the declaration of Independence and the Battle of Paquin, how difficult/dangerous will it be to travel between planets and systems?
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