Life. Love. Hyperspace.
Galaxion
is a science fiction comic book and webcomic series written and drawn by Tara Tallan.
Galaxion, an unique starship belonging to the Terran Space Administration (TerSA), a civilian space survey organisation, is being loaned to the Interplanetary Patrol (IP) for the purposes of testing an experimental new drive. The two previous tests, on Pathfinder and Hiawatha have ended... explosively, so the tensions are high. Especially that Scavina Nelson, whose engineer husband died in the previous attempt, is now on board, personally overseeing the proceedings. But the problems with the new drive have been straightened out, so the engineers say.
Tropes:
- Actual Pacifist: TerSA (but not IP!) rule one - no weapons on alien planets. Under no circumstances.
- Admiring the Abomination: Zan has a tendency.
- Aerith and Bob: Much more Aerith with names such as Fusella, Scavinia, Zandarin, but there are Bobs as well - Alex, Anna, Patty.
- After the End: Planet designated 76432-69-GM, by means of a nuclear war and an Alien Invasion on top of it.
- Alien Invasion: Of the Orehu planet, or 76432-69-GM, the Infiltration flavour, because the invaders are tiny Puppeteer Parasites.
- Alternate Universe/Alternate History: After the jump, the cosmos at large seems to be the same, including the species - but histories and languages appear completely different.
- And now turns out it's the same universe, just 21 (and a half!) parsecs from inhabited space.
- Ascended Fangirl: Aria, of the renowned geologist Jax Augustus.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Zan, unless he's building something. Although, he has been known to end up building something else than intended.
- Better as Friends: Fusella and Darvin. She tries to set him up with her Best Friend Aria.
- Body Snatcher: Rautani are the Orehu snatched by Miesti.
- Brainwash Residue: Seems the Miesti leave some telepathic ability, though we don't yet know its extent.
- The Brigadier: Scavina Nelson, an actual Brigadier General and much less of a stiff Jerkass than she initially appears.
- The Bridge: Played very, very straight, except for the aversion of No Seat Belts (you can see them being fastened).
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Zan is an utter genius in all matters technical and very much forgetful in all matters interpersonal. Darvin tends to act as his Cloudcuckoolander's Minder.
- The Captain: Fusella Miertier. Although she has quite a sanguine nature, she's very competent and generally liked as a leader and as a person.
- Casual Interstellar Travel: Yes and no - the amount of space the experimental drive covered in a blink of an eye would take about seven months to travel normally.
- The Charmer: Darvin, lovable, charming and aware of it. But he's a decent guy, thank goodness.
- Chased by Angry Natives: With rakes.
- Cool Starship: The Galaxion used to be a private yacht of an "insanely wealthy" (Fusella's words!) eccentric. That's why it's nautilus-shaped, spacious and wonderfully decorative.
- Corrupted Data: Hiawatha logs are encrypted with obsolete IP keys, which TerSA does not have. So they can't read them.
- Cunning Linguist: Vessa Khavis can speak many languages, including Myradi which is supposedly insanely difficult.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: You can tell it was foreshadowed extensively, now that it happened, but the funeral service for Patty starts chapter 11.
- The Engineer: Anna Ito, the chief engineer of Galaxion. Friendly, easy-going, Gadgeteer Genius.
- Everything Sensor: Yes, they have lifeforms sensor. Used for maximum Drama.
- Flashback Effects: Rounded panels.
- First Contact: What all the members of TerSA Survey Teams dream of doing (as opposed to their usual surveying and geology work). What Jax Augustus actually did. Thoroughly botched by our protagonists, although later Aria and Zan decide it had no way of going well in the first place. The Hiawatha crew was first contacted by the friendly Orehu.
- Foreshadowing: Or is it? Why does Aria - and only Aria - get a flashback during the jump? Also, Patty feeling under the weather.
- FTL Test Blunder: The third prototype of the experimental drive actually seems to work without exploding. Once.
- Goggles Do Nothing: See rant.
- Happily Married: Scavina and Jeff Nelson.
- The Hilarity of Hats: Patty has a large collection of the most
Cloudcuckoolandish hats in the universe. Turned into a Tear Jerker at her funeral. - Impairment Shot: A long sequence, starting here.
- Inappropriately Close Comrades: Fusella believes that regulations of this sort are silly, and actively plays The Matchmaker to her crew.
- In-Series Nickname: Malodorous, the chief scientist of the research team. How he got it? Noodle Incident.
- Insistent Terminology: Justified, because this isn't Earth. It's 76432-69-GM, which looks identical, except for the After the End, and they didn't land on New Zealand, but on a Suspiciously Similar Substitute of an island.
- Interdimensional Travel Device: The new drive, turns out, jumps (briefly) through another dimension.
- It Seemed Trivial: Pretty butterfly... turns out a Puppeteer Parasite Insectoid Alien seeking hosts.
- Jurisdiction Friction: IP versus TerSA. Constantly.
- Language Barrier: English and Orehu are ''not'' mutually understandable. But Vessa tries.
- Mad Scientist: The research team consists of people lovably crazy For Science!, although Zan has moments of being even crazier and more single-minded.Their motto: If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be research!
- The Main Characters Do Everything: Scavina channels cpt. Kirk a bit to understandable reactions of Fusella and Vessa. But gets her way, because they found the Hiawatha. There's a hint of Screw the Rules, I Make Them! here.
- Master Race: Miesti, with humans/humanoids as Slave Race. But humanoids are not their usual symbiotes - they've crashed as well and are making do with what they found.
- The Matchmaker: Fusella. She thinks those rules against fraternization are stupid, anyway.
- Mildly Military: TerSA, so mildly that Fusella plays matchmaker to her crew. Don't think they're any less competent for that, though.
- The Medic: Patty is one for the Survey Team. She diagnoses her own broken forearm, using the proper Latin name.
- My Greatest Failure: For Scavina, the Hiawatha disaster.
- Noodle Incident: Whatever it was Zan did that got him into trouble with TerSA.
- No Sense of Humor: "The Machine" Anderson.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: The IP is infamous for it, to Fusella's eternal annoyance.
- Old Friend: Darvin and Zan to Fusella.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Zan Wilder has a wide range of expertise, which may have something to do with both his curiosity and tendency to get fired.
- Painting the Medium: The Orehu's language is done in a florid, almost unreadable script. Also, there's some use of Speech Bubbles in that way (Fusella's sprout flowers when she smells hot chocolate).
- Puppeteer Parasite: Miesti.
- Rebus Bubble: What's a common phrase meaning you just said something embarrassing?
- Refuge in Audacity: Hey, it is her ship!
- The Scrounger: Zan functions as one, in that he can build anything.
- The Snark Knight: Vessa. As we learn from a side story, Fusella is one of the very few commanders she's willing to work under.
- The Social Expert: Darvin's job - he's an executive officer. And great at it.
- The Stoic: Alex "The Machine" Anderson. He doesn't even care about what seems to be a dislocated arm (his own).
- Space Cadet Academy: Fusella, Zan and Darvin were together in one.
- Space People: Aria was born on an asteroid.
- Starting a New Life: Elly and Trev. Together. It's been ten years...
- Sudden Lack of Signal: The first sign they're not even close to Kansas anymore.
- Team Mom: Fusella has been called "mama captain".
- Telepathy: Between the Rautani, at least. Temporarily given to Zan and Aria by a trenat injection.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Fusella loves chocolate, both the hot drink and the solid kind.
- True Companions: Fusella regards the crew as her family.
- Wasteland Elder: Vanguarthe for the Orehu.
- Wham Episode: Aria coming to tell general Nelson what she suddenly remembered of her captivity, namely, that she met Jeff Nelson who gave her some messages.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Except Hilena has a strained relationship with her mom. Her father was a Reasonable Authority Figure through and through, and she adored him.
- Underground City: Of the surviving Orehu.
- The Unseen: Even though our heroes are visiting the Myradi space now, and Fusella has had a (videophone) conversation with one of them, we still have no idea what they look like and precisely how starfish the Myradi are.
