Grrl Power

From the context of the rant, I think the author is saying that most sentient species in this story are affected by capsaicin in some fashion, not that most species in general are. I somewhat question that, but we can Hand Wave that.

Sydney has been found. But by whom?

I think that arm belongs to Dabblers space sextoy...

That would be the natural conclusion, but it wouldn't be the first time we've been surprised...

The copper-coloured armoured gauntlet matches. So it’d be a pretty perverse bit of misdirection if it was anyone else.

Definitely Dabbler's friend.

And indeed, fair points on the difficulty of authentication.

I feel the attitude is more than enough ID.

Welp, everything checks out enough. Welcome to Arstotzka, Comrade.

Legendary Loot

(And a gross surfeit of guest background appearances.)

When you discover your previously admitted as fairly awesome thingamijigs actually reside in the Tier 9 Legendary Artefact range of effing sweet. Also, probably in the "of doom" category, too.

Be afraid, universe. Be afraid.

I feel Sydney meeting Schlock (Or any of the Toughs) would deeply, *deeply* horrify Maxima.

Role Models they are not.

And the 70 Maxim's would go memetic within Archon at Lightspeed.

I'd argue the main danger in that scenario is Schlock. Because if he finds out about the Pew-Pew Orb... let's say, no edifice is safe if he gets his charm on for a demo.

Or Sydney bringing a Strohl 209 home...

Given that Schlock Mercenary is supposed to take place about a millennium or so in the future, there's probably also some causality issue that we shouldn't let Sydney near.

Okay, Freefall also is a few centuries in the future, but their presence is odd due to the lack of FTL travel in that universe.

Freefall does have FTL travel of a sort. The catches are that the DAVE drive (Dangerous And Very Expensive) lives up to its name, and the ship itself experiences the full amount of time, thus necessitating coldsleep and ship refits. To perhaps badly sum up the effect, it takes decades for the ship to travel the distance, but only for the ship itself. To everyone else, it takes a much shorter time.

Right, fair, Freefall lacks safe and extremely rapid FTL travel. They'd probably count on the low-end of the FTL scale and thus as suggested still hobbled regarding levels of access/cooperation (plus, Sam Starfall is a refugee from a civilization roughly Renaissance-level, so he's an even bigger issue).

That causality issue is still present regardless.

For Schlock the explaination is easy: GODDDAMMIT KEVYN!

New strip. Sydney systematizes. And one feels that Dabbler should have given her The Talk before this.

Sydney, accidentally start an intergalactic war?

Yes, I find this completely plausible.

Dabbler gave her a basic talk, but mostly to explain why Dabbler wasn't sharing her tech. Presumably it didn't occur to her that the orbs might be nth tech. Most of what they could do, while certainly impressive, was outstripped by one member of the team or the other. It's the "pocket-sized FTL drive" part that is blatantly and impossibly beyond all known civilizations.

Souvenirs and accessories.

Sydney works hard and plays hard.

I read all of this in a week. It's hilarious, isn't it? That last episode where Sydney rugby tackles the space captain lady for a pair of holographic wings in particular.

New strip. Cora gets affirmation.