B5 Rewatch: The War Prayer

Hello! Welcome to the Monday installment of the Babylon 5 rewatch! Today I'll be looking at the seventh episode of the first season, "The War Prayer."

Spoilers for everything, of course.

What Happened

Delenn is spending an evening with another Minbari and they are discussing poetry, which Delenn's friend writes. The other woman, Mayan, is a friend of hers from childhood. They discuss how much simpler things were when they were younger and her friend asks if she regrets the choices she made, like being on the station. Delenn says only sometimes. Mayan decides to call it a night, saying she has another performance the next day and then must prepare for her journey to Earth. Delenn says she hopes the Earthers appreciate her spirit. Mayan says if they don't she will be fine and Delenn remarks that it is good to have her there on the station. They say their goodbyes and Mayan leaves. As she makes her way back to her quarters she hears a sound behind her and turns. We see a switchblade flash in the shadows and Mayan is stabbed in the gut. Her attacker burns a brand into her forehead and exclaims, "Stay away from Earth, freak!" before running off.

Delenn is furious when she finds out and berates Sinclair on behalf of her friend. She is not reassured by his promises to catch the perpetrator. Garibaldi laments that she declined protection and Delenn snaps it shouldn't have been necessary and storms out. Garibaldi tells Sinclair that this is the sixth such attack on a prominent alien within the last few weeks, all with the same MO. He also says similar attacks have occurred on Mars and Earth. It is apparently a group calling themselves "Home Guard," part of a "pro-Earth" movement. Sinclair says he will not have such hate groups on his station. He tells Garibaldi to take care of it.

G'Kar sees them and confronts him about the attack, saying Sinclair's people were responsible. Sinclair reminds him this is the work of a fringe group but G'Kar says he doesn't care. If any Narn is attacked in such a manner, he promises there will be bloody retribution. Sinclair warns him in turn, any disruption will be dealt with, even if it means throwing all of the Narn on board into the brig. He leaves and G'Kar watches him go, torn between outrage and amusement at the threat.

Garibaldi heads down to the medlab to question Mayan, under Franklin's supervision. She says all she saw of her attacker was a shadow. Garibaldi tries to get an idea of shape and size at least but she can't give him anything more than "a shadow." The mark on her head looks like the joined symbols for male and female. Garibaldi asks if she can think of anyone who would want to hurt her and she says no. Franklin says he could remove the mark for her but she declines, saying it is a lesson, and one that should not be forgotten.

Garibaldi heads to the bridge, where Ivanova is clearing a Centauri ship to dock with the station. It is apparently carrying detainees of some sort, though the reason for this is unclear. The pilot only wants to hand them over to someone with command rank. She asks Garibaldi if he can deal with it, but he says he is too busy with the attacks to deal with it. She promises it will be a quick matter and he gives in. On his way out the door he says there is just one stop he has to make first. Apparently someone has been trying to grow coffee in the hydroponic garden, which is a big no-no, so he's going to go rip out the planter. Ivanova makes a face of horror, and it is clear the coffee is hers. She says she will go deal with the detainees and grumbles that he plays dirty. He just smirks at her as she leaves.

Ivanova meets the detainees, they are fighting their treatment, demanding to see Ambassador Cotto. She has them taken to the detention sector and the Centauri representative alerted to their presence. Before she can leave the customs area, a man notices her and calls out her name. She turns to see who has hailed her and she greets him as Malcolm, asking what he's doing there. They apparently go way back, but it's been eight years since they last saw each other. He says he's looking for something he never stopped wanting, making googly eyes at her, and she makes a quick exit, claiming she has work to do. He says same old Susan, duty first. She says that's right and leaves. He watches after her.

The two Centauri detainees have been brought before Sinclair and Vir has come to meet them. Apparently one of them is his cousin and they were under the impression that he was the Centauri ambassador on the station. Londo arrives wanting to know why he has been disturbed and Sinclair suggests he ask Vir. Vir introduces them as Aria and his cousin Kiron. Londo asks why they were taken into custody and Sinclair said they stole some credit chips. Sinclair releases them into Londo's custody until the matter can be sorted out. Londo's not terribly happy about this.

Malcolm walks through a busy part of the station and finds Ivanova taking a break. She tells him her shift just ended and he hopes they can talk. We quickly learn they used to be an item. She says that was a long time ago, a different place, a different her. He says that's all the more reason to start over and she excuses herself, pleading tiredness. He tries to stop her but she implores him to just take it slow and let her go.

Vir tries to explain his cousin's situation to Londo. Apparently Kiron and Aria are in love, but their families arranged marriages to other people for each of them. So they fled to Babylon 5. Londo doesn't understand their objections to the marriages, thinking love has very little to do with marriage. He says that their respective betrothed must be both rich and powerful, and he commends their families on their fine choices in partners for their children. He asks the pair to consider what they are doing, reminding them that marriages among their people have been arranged for thousands of years. These alliances meld the noble houses together and keep the fabric of the Republic strong. He says sometimes this is a sacrifice, but they do it anyway because that is what it means to be Centauri. The young couple still doesn't think it's fair. Londo shakes his head and throws his hands in the air, at a loss with how to deal with them.

Garibaldi has a suspect in custody who was caught with illegal weapons. (Holy crap, it's a super young Lieutenant Tao!!!) The suspect, who seems drunk, claims he has a right to defend himself and that the station is dangerous. He clearly isn't a fan of aliens. Garibaldi leads the discussion to the attack on Mayan. Not!Tao's knife had fresh blood on it, but he claims he cut himself. Garibaldi asks if he's ever heard of the Home Guard and he says yeah, they've got the right idea. It's about time humans stood up for themselves, he says, and those damn aliens are ruining everything. Garibaldi has him booked for possession of the weapon and orders a DNA check on the blood from the knife. Not!Tao calls Garibaldi a traitor for "sucking up" to the aliens.

Sinclair dons a breather mask and goes to visit Ambassador Kosh in his quarters. He wants to keep him informed about the attacks and assure him that they are doing everything in their power to catch the perpetrators. He also thinks it would be helpful if Kosh spoke with the other ambassadors. Kosh says he takes no interest in the affairs of others. Sinclair starts to ask him to reconsider but then says he'll respect their wishes. He notices that Kosh is watching a series of images from Earth and asks what he's doing. Kosh say's he is studying and does not elaborate further.

In her quarters, Ivanova opens the door to find a present has been left for her. It is a rose. She smells it and smiles fondly.

Later, she is on the bridge and Sinclair joins her. She asks if they've had any word from Earth Central and he says no. He seems distracted and asks her if she was briefed on what happened when Ambassador Kosh first arrived on the station. Ivanova says all she knows is that a radical Minbari group tried to kill him. Apparently he was poisoned through his hand. Sinclair tells her that earlier he was visiting with Kosh and was reminded of something he had never been able to figure out about the incident. Kosh wears a suit to protect him from the primary atmosphere of the station, so how were the Minbari able to poison him? His hand should have been completely covered.

Ivanova says Vorlon are very secretive, there's really no way to know how much of the suit is functional and how much is just camouflage to hide what they really look like. Sinclair says there is one person who knows. The Doctor who saved Kosh's life, Ben Kyle, saw him without his suit. But he has never told anyone because he was sworn to patient confidentiality. Right after the incident he was transferred back to Earth to work with the President. In addition, the station's first telepath, Lyta Alexander, who is the only member of the Psi Corps known to have scanned a Vorlon, was transferred back to Earth as well. He wonders if there is some sort of connection.

Londo gripes at Vir about the "lovebirds" and the trouble they have caused for him from their families. Vir asks what he is going to do about the situation and Londo replies the only thing he can: send them home. Vir protests, reminding Londo that the two are in love. Londo doesn't think much of that. He shows Vir pictures of his three wives, calling them "Pestilence," "Famine," and "Death." He did not marry them for their personalities, they were arranged. But they worked out. Vir says the pair will just run away again and Londo says that is not his problem. There is a transport leaving for Centauri Prime tonight and he wants them on it.

Sinclair is informed that the Abbai delegation is arriving and he has a liaison officer tasked to meet them at customs. Garibaldi comes in and Sinclair says he hears they have a suspect in custody. Garibaldi says unfortunately they had to let him go, the blood on his knife was his own. They kept him under surveillance though, thinking maybe running loose he'll be of use. He's ripe for recruitment by the Home Guard. The situation on the station is rapidly deteriorating, fights are breaking out everywhere. Sinclair says that is exactly what Home Guard wants. They need to wrap this up quickly. Garibaldi agrees and leaves to get back to work.

Ivanova, meanwhile, has some down time and is having dinner with Malcolm. He asks if she ever regrets leaving him and she says no. It was a great career move for her. He says he never wanted to let her go and still feels the same. She warns him that she is still very dedicated to her career. He says he can accept that now. In fact, he's made plans to set up business on the station. Ivanova greets this news with shock and he tells her he's already secured and office and quarters. He does need some clients and  hopes she can help him with that. But the important thing, he tells her, is that they'll be together again. She seems a bit overwhelmed by the news.

Kiron and Aria have managed to sneak out for bit of a romantic rendezvous before being sent home. As they move to kiss each other, the sound of a knife is heard and a group of shadowy figures attacks them. Kiron tries to fight back and manages to unmask one of his attackers. He and Aria are both knocked out. The attackers scatter when they hear someone approaching. It is Vir, looking for his charges. He gets them to the medlab.

Kiron is in bad shape, in a coma in intensive care. Aria was only stunned and is physically fine. She doesn't really remember much of the attack, however. Franklin thinks Kiron might be able to identify his attacker if he comes out of his coma. Garibaldi gets a call on his link that there is a disturbance in the Central Corridor of the Brown Sector. He and Sinclair leave to check it out and find G'Kar giving a rousing speech to a rapidly angering mob of non-humans.

Sinclair asks him what's wrong. G'Kar cites the attacks and that there has yet to be a single arrest. Sinclair tries to tell them they have a promising lead but G'Kar claims they all know the real reason no arrests have been made: the attackers are human. Garibaldi sees the mob growing ugly and orders his men to get Sinclair out of there. Sinclair wants to stay and make the mob listen to him, but Garibaldi isn't having any of it. He's seen how these situations escalate and he needs to keep the Commander safe. Of course, G'Kar takes offense at Sinclair's retreat, demanding justice. Garibaldi tells G'Kar he can either arrest him for inciting a riot or G'Kar can go back to his quarters now and they can call it a misunderstanding. Seeing the security forces on either side of him, G'Kar grudgingly leaves.

Not!Tao is walking through the station when a pair of aliens, hearing of his disdain for other races, confront and attack him. He fights back for a bit, but there are two of them and they do a number on him before leaving.

Malcolm returns Ivanova to her quarters and she thanks him for a lovely evening. He tells her he was hoping it wasn't over and kisses her. Of course, her comm beeps right about then. She pulls away to answer it, reminding him that this is her duty. Sinclair pops up on the screen and tells her there's been a new riot, she's needed. She tells him she's on her way. She shoos Malcolm out, promising to find him on her next break.

Garibaldi updates Sinclair on the situation throughout the station. He tells him about the attack on Roberts (Not!Tao). Luckily he was under surveillance, Garibaldi says, and they were able to nab the attackers before they killed the man. He's in the medlab recovering. Sinclair tells him to keep a lid on that since it would likely just provoke more trouble. He expresses his frustration with G'Kar. Ivanova comes in, freshly changed but hair still down, and Garibaldi comments on her new look. She chastises him and then they sit down to bring her up to speed.

Aria goes to visit Kiron in the medlab and Vir and Londo both try to comfort her. Londo tells her there is nothing she can do here but she doesn't want to leave his side. Mayan advises Londo to let Aria stay, saying that the Minbari consider love a powerful healing force. Londo scoffs, what if he dies, despite the love. Mayan interrupts him, saying then Aria will suffer enormous grief, but every moment she spends with him will lessen that grief. Londo says he expects nothing less from a poet. She tells him that the capacity and need for love is a defining trait of all sentient beings. Londo says that Aria will learn to live without it. "As you did?" asks Mayan, and he has no answer for her.

Garibaldi calls Sinclair and tells him about an interesting visitor Roberts just had. He plays the video and we see Malcolm approach Roberts on his gurney. Sinclair recognizes him from Ivanova's quarters when he called her the night before. Malcolm tells Roberts that what has happened to him is a disgrace and proceeds to spew the anti-alien propaganda. It is clear he is part of Home Guard. They show the recording to Ivanova. She is surprised, saying she never would have thought it of Malcolm. Garibaldi says eight years is a long time, there was no reason for her to do so.

Ivanova says she is unsure what they want her to do about it though. Sinclair wants her to introduce him to Malcolm, saying he doesn't like all of these alien races pushing themselves on Earth. He says groups like Home Guard are always looking to recruit highly placed friends. If he can get his foot in the door, he may be able to shut them down before they do any more damage. Ivanova agrees, on one condition. She wants to be there when they take Malcolm down. Sinclair agrees. They think the diplomatic reception that evening will be a good place to get the ball rolling. After they leave, Ivanova looks at the rose from Malcolm and tosses it in her trash can.

Vir finds Londo in a garden, saying he has been looking everywhere for him. He wants to tell him something. He says that Londo was wrong about Aria and Kiron. How would their love have destroyed the Republic? Londo says they must respect tradition and Vir goes on a tear about how ridiculous adhering to tradition can be. Londo replies with the non-sequitur, "My shoes are too tight." That throws Vir for a loop and Londo explains it is something his father said when he was very old. He found his father alone in his room crying because his shoes were too tight. He said it didn't matter though because he had forgotten how to dance. Londo says he never understood that until now, but he now feels the same. Vir says he doesn't understand and Londo says, "nor should you," and leaves.

At the reception Delenn brings a member of the Abbai delegation, Mila Shar, to Sinclair and introduces her. She discusses learning about their agricultural techniques. He gives a kind of haughty answer about it being human tech and so state of the art. She then asks about their security and he says it's fine. She says, but wasn't there an attack on a Centauri just last night? He quips, "he'll recover" and leaves the conversation, Delenn watching him go with a look of surprise on her face.

Malcolm, there with Ivanova, approaches Sinclair. Sinclair says the aliens are nervous and puts on a front about not enjoying his role as a diplomat to the aliens. Malcolm chews on this attitude. Later, Sinclair joins Malcolm and Ivanova for drinks and he expands on the theme. He says how much it sucks that the only reason Earth won the war with the Minbari was because the Minbari let them win. Malcolm, sensing a sympathetic ear, begins to tell them about a group, a growing movement, from Earth that wants to put Earth back at the "center of the universe," and get rid of alien influences, hell, aliens themselves. He says it is about getting back to their roots and letting "humans be humans." Ivanova watches this speech with concern, unseen by Malcolm. Sinclair bites and Malcolm says he wants wants them to meet his friends, both of them. Sinclair and Ivanova agree. Of course, it's not that easy. Malcolm would like them to make a "small" gesture to ensure his group that the two of are of the right mindset. Sinclair asks what sort of gesture and Malcolm says in a fervor, "something to put every alien on this station in their place!"

At a council meeting  Sinclair tells them he knows they have been concerned about the recent attacks but there is no longer any cause for concern. G'Kar exclaims his approval that they have finally caught the criminals, then asks why they weren't informed. Sinclair turns to Garibaldi, who briefs them that they have reason to believe the perpetrators have fled back to Earth. Delenn asks if that means they have been identified and Garibaldi says that information is classified.  This is met with outrage by the council in general, but most vocally by G'Kar. He wants to know why they are just supposed to take the Earthers' word that the criminals are actually gone. Sinclair says believe what you like, the investigation is over, and he leaves amid a cacophony of displeasure.

In the medlab Aria calls for Franklin. Kiron has woken up. Franklin is glad to see him awake and says that when he is feeling up for it, Garibaldi has some questions for him. He also says that Londo has been asking after Kiron and would like to have a long talk with him and with Aria.

Ivanova calls Garibaldi and Sinclair to let them know that Malcolm has set up their meeting with Home Guard. He won't give them the place, Sinclair and Ivanova are to meet him in the Zocalo and he will take them there. They are to be unarmed. Garibaldi grumbles about it but Sinclair says it wasn't unexpected. He heads out to meet Ivanova, saying they will keep their links open so that Garibaldi can monitor them in case it is a trap. He says he'll be ready.

Vir and Londo visit Kiron, and Londo informs them that they will return to Centauri Prime, as is their duty. They start to object but he interrupts and says however, when they arrive they will be met by his cousin and escorted to his estate in the capital where they will be fostered until they come of age. They are confused but Vir explains it is an old custom, out of fashion but still allowed. They will live with Andilo and his wives and will be instructed in proper decorum for Centauri of their rank. Aria worries that their parents will object but Londo says Andilo is a powerful man and being fostered by him is a great honor. Then, when they are old enough, Andilo will allow them to marry whoever they wish to marry. Even if it is only for love, he assures Kiron. Realizing the gift they have been given the two thank Londo gratefully. Kiron asks why. Londo tells them they are still children, and children should be allowed to dance.

Garibaldi tracks Sinclair and Ivanova as they enter Cargo Bay 5. They enter with Malcolm and the room appears to be empty but then several figures in ninja clothes seem to appear out of nowhere. Malcolm explains it is black-light camouflage, developed by Earthforce. It's technically still in R&D, but they have friends who got them some prototypes. Malcolm has one of his men activate a jammer and Garibaldi loses their signals. He assembles a team and they move out.

Malcolm tells Ivanova and Sinclair that the attacks on the station, Earth, and Mars have only been a warm up. In two day's time there will be a mass assassination of many prominent alien figures in those locations, including the four primary ambassadors on the station: Londo, Delenn, G'Kar, and Kosh. Ivanova is floored by the scale of such an undertaking and Malcolm shrugs they have friends everywhere. Sinclair asks what he wants of them, Malcolm answers that he expects them to get his people into the ambassadorial wing and then off the station undetected after the deaths. Sinclair says no problem.

Malcolm is pleased and says there is just one more thing, a loyalty test. One of his men pulls Mila Shar out into the room and Malcolm hands Sinclair a gun, telling him to kill her. She begs for mercy and before Sinclair can take the gun, one of the men says the scanner shows a whole lot of people headed their way. Sinclair grabs Malcolm's gun and punches him, Ivanova joins the fight and Garibaldi and his men arrive. Malcolm tries to get a sneak attack in on Sinclair but Ivanova gets the drop on him, telling him to give her an excuse and he's dead. Garibaldi arrests him and Sinclair asks if she is alright. She says she's fine.

Malcolm and his people are taken into custody and escorted off the station as Delenn, Mayan, and G'Kar watch. Malcolm of course throws a fit, saying Ivanova isn't much of a human, siding with the aliens. She says she finds many of the aliens to be more human than he is. He says he doesn't know her any more and she replies that she never knew him.

Commentary

Ergh. There is an all too common cliche in science fiction where humans finally make substantial progress with space exploration, meet alien life, and quickly become heavy hitters in the galactic scene. It's just such an unrealistic concept (beyond even the fictional aspect of the story). Seriously, going up against any established space-faring race, humanity is going to be at the bottom of the totem pole for a long time. (I think that's why I love Mass Effect so much, actually. Throughout the games humanity is scrabbling to prove itself and is often treated dismissively by pretty much every other race out there. Your protagonist has to work to get recognized and even valid claims of imminent threat are ignored for far too long simply because you're human. It's awesome. But I digress.)

Babylon 5 walks a pretty delicate line on the edge of this cliche. When they got to space they got thrown into a war based on a misunderstanding and were only saved by the mysterious surrender of the much more powerful Minbari right as Earth was on the cusp of being destroyed. And quite frankly, relations between many of the other races in the galaxy were a hot mess as well. The station was created by humans to serve as a neutral territory for all of the races. It is run by the humans because it is their brain child, so humans tend to have the upper hand there and maybe seem, on the surface of the show, to be more powerful/influential than they actually are. But. As the series goes on, we learn how precarious their position is and how they are still scrabbling for the respect of the other races.

So, when we hear people like Roberts say things like "damn aliens ruining it for everyone," it really really gets under my skin. Because humanity, in this story, (thankfully) did not arrive on the scene to colonize virgin planets devoid of other life. No, they entered in the middle of a big ol' heap of mess of other races with long-established alliances, feuds, prejudices, and claims. Humanity came late to the game, and they are just trying to squeeze out their own little corner of the galaxy to lay claim to while trying to get along with everyone else and just see what the heck is out there. So what, exactly, are the aliens ruining? I'll tell you. They are ruining that asinine desire of humans to believe that they are the epitome of existence, to spread out and conquer every square inch of any planet or rock they step foot on and to be the dominant force everywhere they go. How are the aliens ruining this for "everyone," you may ask? Why, simply by existing. By getting there first. Sigh. See also: Malcolm's whole "put Earth back at the center of the universe" speech. (Pro tip: If you want Earth to stay at the center of the universe, you probably should just give up on the whole idea of space exploration in the first place. Only way that's gonna stay the status quo, whether we find sentient life out there or not.)

All of which is to say, that while concepts like Home Guard and the pro-Earth movement in general (which if I remember correctly end up being pretty crucial to the series' overarching story) make complete and total sense in this story, the very ideas still disgust me. I want Garibaldi to find them all and stomp them into the ground and hand them to Sinclair so he can toss them out of the airlock. Because really, humanity didn't ask for representatives like them, thank you very much, and they have no place on a station like Babylon 5. So, kudos to the writing team, really, because man did they ever manage to evoke all kinds of emotion and investment in the story in this viewer.

That exchange with Mayan, Delenn, and G'Kar at the end? That pretty much summed up exactly how I feel about the whole thing. Mostly this episode just made me annoyed at the human race, but glad that there are people like Sinclair and Ivanova and Garibaldi fighting to let everyone just, you know, be.

Random note: When G'Kar says, "Do you think we are pouchlings?" I was struck by sudden images of Narn hopping about with babies in pouches like kangaroos. Seriously. What does this expression mean about Narn reproduction/gestation/infancy? I am intrigued. What a wonderful random little detail to just throw in there and never acknowledge at all!

Also, oh hey, the Centauri are all about the multiple wives. Yay? I mean, that's awesome if it goes both ways. If not, well, grumble. The love story was a nice enough distraction from the main plot, I guess. I think mostly it just served to give us more background on the (randomly medieval in structure) Centauri culture. It also did establish a bit more firmly that while he is for the most part a very practical man, Londo does have a bit of a romantic streak in him.

I should probably also acknowledge that very small exchange between Sinclair and Kosh, and then Sinclair's subsequent conversation with Ivanova. Those are very quick scenes, easily dismissed because they don't really play into any of the other plots. But damn if they are not extremely important. What do the Vorlons really look like? Why are they so secretive? Why were Dr. Kyle and Lyta Alexander sent back to Earth after finding out some of these things? Yeah, we're definitely going to be seeing more about all of that later down the road.

Favorite Quotes

"You're a vicious man." (Ivanova)
"Head of security. It's in the job description." (Garibaldi)

"But they love each other!" (Vir)
"Love, pah, overrated!" (Londo)

"Arranged marriages, every one! But they worked out. They inspired me! Knowing that they were waiting at home for me is what keeps me here. Seventy-five light years away!" (Londo)

"Ambassador I have traveled far and seen much, and what I have seen tells me that all sentient beings are best defined by their capacity and their need for love." (Mayan)

"Such great hatred for so little real reason. It seems incomprehensible to me." (Mayan)
"Human ways are often unfathomable. But in time, one learns to live with them." (Delenn)
"If one has an exceedingly strong constitution." (G'Kar)

--

And so we wrap up another day of rewatch fabulousness. I hope to see you back here again on Wednesday for "And the Sky Full of Stars."

The Challenge Helps

With all of the time I have been spending on Tumblr lately, I have found myself getting deeper and deeper into the Dragon Age fandom (and to a lesser extent the Mass Effect fandom). That has included finding and reading a lot of really fun fan fiction.

This in turn has led to me wanting to write more fan fiction.

I have been kind of dithering over this, mulling over ideas and trying to decide where (or if) to start. Earlier this week I finally got the kick in the pants that I guess I have been waiting for. A group on LiveJournal has decided to host a "big bang" for Mass Effect. Basically it is a drive to inspire new fiction and art within the fandom. Intrigued by the concept, I looked up the information on it.

For fic writers the minimum story length is 8,000 words, and we will have until September 25 to write it (with a few checkpoints and hopefully a beta-read along the way). I saw that word count and actually scoffed. Two months for 8,000 words? Dude.

Meanwhile, about two weeks after sign-ups end, authors are required to submit a short summary of their story for the artists. The artists will then choose one that sounds interesting to draw an illustration or companion piece for.

Then, at the end of all of that, all of the stories will be posted along with their companion art for all of the fans to share and enjoy.

I had never heard of a big bang before this, but oh my goodness it just sounds fun. While telling my husband about it I even came up with a story idea, yay! So I went ahead and signed up to do this and I am really kind of excited. As crazy as I get in November doing Nanowrimo, that challenge to hit a certain word count every day was an amazing motivator, and I love the sense of accomplishment I get from hitting my numbers. Also, I think this will be a good warm up for November as well.

As you can imagine, there is a lot of crossover with Mass Effect and Dragon Age fans, and after hearing about the Mass Effect big bang, there is now one in the works for Dragon Age too for later in the summer. This is excellent news to me.

I need to write more, and this is a good way to do that while adding a little bit of fun.

To sign up for the big bang I had to create a LiveJournal account of course (I actually had one until earlier this year that I signed up for ages ago and never ever did anything with so it got deleted--but this is okay because it gives me a fresh start this way). So I did that.

I figure no use letting it go to waste. I'll be rounding up all of my old written fan fiction (mostly Stargate Atlantis) and posting it on my LJ account, and that will be the home to anything new I write, which will most likely be Dragon Age and Mass Effect. I've put the link up over there on the right in case anyone ever has any interest in checking it out, though I know it's not everyone's cup of tea.

So, there you go. Challenge issued, challenge accepted. Let the plotting begin!

Play ALL The Games!

You might have noticed from the little list of my activities on the sidebar that I have suddenly started playing three different video games at once. I think my husband has been rubbing off on me. At any time he's got at least two different games going and he'll play a bit here and there when the mood strikes him, switching between games according to his whims (or depending on which one of us has dibs on using Steam, since we share an account). Normally, I start up a game and I play it through to the end, then I start a new game.

Lately I have been trying to hold off on getting too invested in anything because I am getting underway with writing the second draft of my novel. This is my first attempt at writing a second draft, however, and I am finding that it is a different animal entirely from the first draft. This time around, it is not the full-out writing frenzy that I go through in November. Most of the words and ideas are there already. It is just a matter of rearranging them, cleaning them up, adding a bit here and there, and so on. At least, that is how it is going for this specific project. I can think about other stories I've written and imagine how those would be their own beasts as well.

Anyhoo. My point is, abstaining from video games while working on my second draft has turned out to be not nearly as necessary as it was for the first. But at the same time, I also don't want to get so deep into a game that I get too wrapped up in the story and start slacking on what I am supposed to be doing. Keeping up that detachment has turned out to be pretty easy, as it happens, because I've been feeling the pull to replay a few different games of late. So I figured why not just get them all going at once. That way I can do a few missions here in one game and a few missions there in another, whatever feels like the best distraction/break for the moment.

Here's a glimpse of what I've got going on.

Dragon Age II:

My Ebon Hawke (yes, I went there) arrives in Kirkwall with her mother, brother Carter, and Aveline.

Her most current appearance. I figured she needed a new hairdo after a year in Kirkwall.

Dragon Age: Origins:

Finally decided to try the Dalish origin. Here's my Warden Farris Mahariel (on the right) with the oft-mentioned in DAII Tamlen.

Farris giving us a lovely example of the lack of expressions shown by PCs in DA:O while being lectured at by Marethari.

Mass Effect 3:

My Jordana Shepard import from my first play-through of ME and ME2. I tweaked her hair color and makeup a bit.

Here's a shot of her in game, looking pale as all get out. Gotta love how different they look from the character creator to the screen, don't you?

I'm pretty early in all three games still, Hawke is about halfway through Act I doing recruitment missions, my Warden just got to Ostagar and is about to start preparation for the joining ritual, and my Shepard is getting ready to go to Palaven. That gives me three pretty different flavors to choose from when I am in the mood to play. It's kind of nice, although I wonder how long I will be able to keep up juggling them. We'll see, I guess. I feel like it's actually kind of appropriate that I am playing all three of these games while I work on the rewrite, since I found a lot of inspiration from them in regards to secondary characters and place names and such.

As far as progress on the second draft goes, I have read through it and made my notes. Now I am doing a little bit of logistical world-building that likely won't actually appear on the pages but will make the things I need to add in a bit easier for me. After that I just need to outline the major changes for the draft by chapter and then it is time to jump in. My plan/goal is to get the world-building and outline done this week and then two chapters a week after that. Once I've got three or four chapters stockpiled, I'll start posting the new versions here, a chapter a week, on Thursdays.

Yay! I am excited to share this with you guys! After reading it again, I am really proud of what I've got. I still don't know where this story came from, but man, I am happy it dropped in. Hopefully you will enjoy it as well!

My Mass Effect 3 Ending [SPOILERS]

Alrighty. I finished up Mass Effect 3 yesterday. I am honestly still not entirely sure how I feel about the "super controversial" ending. I mean, from one standpoint, I understand why a lot of people are so dang pissed about it to the point where they are claiming to feel betrayed based on what the previous games (and the third until the ending) gave them. From another, I see what the good folks over at Bioware were trying to do, story-wise, and I think it was a really cool concept. I am not sure if it played out exactly right, but I do kind of get it. From a third perspective, there was plenty about the ending that annoyed the crap out of me that had more to do with the gameplay itself than with the story. So, yeah.

Super duper ginormous spoilers after the picture. Seriously, do NOT keep reading if you haven't finished the game yet and do not wish to be spoiled. Okay? Okay.

Let's just look at Shepard's pretty spaceship collection for a moment, shall we?

Okay.

To put things in perspective, here are a few of my game choices leading up to the ending that I feel are relevant:

• I played all three games through as a straight up Paragon (nice guy). I avoided any and all Renegade choices/actions like the plague. My Shepard was an ethical and empathetic leader.
• I did indeed cure the genophage and did not submit to the Salarian Dalatress' suggestion of sabotage.
• I resolved the conflict between the Quarians and Geth and brought them both onto my side. 
• I allowed Legion to transmit the Reaper upgrades to the other Geth (bro hymn for Legion, yo).
• I fully supported EDI getting a body and running around with me. She was one of my favorite companions in this game.
• I fully supported EDI's relationship with Joker (though I did take the conversation options to point out that Shepard wouldn't have been opposed to being with him, alas, his heart belonged to another).
• At the end of the second game, I did not let the damn Illusive Man have the proto-reaper we found at the Collector base--I bombed that thing to hell. (I was, in fact, pissed when I found out in this game that he managed to recover some of the bits.)

So. I think those are the highlights of how I played the games leading up to the trilogy's conclusion. In my opinion, the actual "ending" began when Shepard and crew made their final mad dash for the beam to get up to the Citadel. I ran like hell for that beam and did my best to dodge the Reaper ray of death, though eventually I got hit. I suspect that this was inevitable, one of those "you can't win" scenarios games try to write in, where they put you in a situation and no matter how well you do, just as you are about to beat it, the story takes over and your character falters. Anyway, got hit by a beam, somehow survived, though my armor was just about burnt to a crisp, much of it missing. But I got up, I found a gun, and I limped my ass to that beam regardless.

And it is right there that, for me, the game went off the rails a little bit. Because when I say I limped, I am not joking. The "run" option was no longer available, and Shepard moved at a dragging pace that was absolutely painful for me the player to experience. Look, I get it. She took a massive hit. She is, by all evidence, running on her very last fumes--suffering from a fatal wound and only moving forward through sheer tenacity and determination to see this thing through. But give me a break, okay. It's a video game, it comes with a little bit of suspension of disbelief. I don't need my Shepard to move as if the air has turned to molasses for the rest of the damn game, especially since all she seems to be doing at this point is walking. Either cut scene her crawling where she needs to get, or slow her down a much smaller fraction of her normal movement than you did. It just...gah. I don't like sitting there staring at the screen feeling like I am not getting anywhere, especially when I know I am so damn close to the end. Come on.

So, yeah. I go through the beam and I make it to the Citadel. The only other person to make it from our task force is Anderson. We get to the controls to open up the arms, but before we can do anything, the Illusive Man is there, and he is clearly indoctrinated, and he tries to put the mojo on us too. We banter back and forth about the ethics of the situation--he doesn't want to destroy the Reapers, he wants to control them. But he can't because they are already controlling him (even though he refuses to admit it). Whee. 

Here's the next thing that really annoys me. To proceed further in the game, you must kill the Illusive Man. For the record, I have no problem with this. I don't understand why Shepard didn't just put a bullet in him the second he appeared behind her. Okay, I mean, I do, he had put the Reaper whammy on her. But still. Killing him is not a problem. You have two opportunities to do this. You can do it when he's about to shoot Anderson, or if you don't stop that, when he's about to shoot you. It's not a fight or anything. It is, in both instances, a Renegade action click. Um, if you've played the game, you'll know what I mean by that. If you haven't, why are you reading this? Back to my point. I actually had to play that whole damn molasses slow dialogue heavy scene through twice because I didn't take either of the options to kill him the first time around. Not because I didn't want to, but because the game was calling it a Renegade option, and my Shepard was a Paragon.

Killing the damn Illusive Man should not have been Renegade points. 

I realize to the vast majority of the players, that bit doesn't really matter at all. But it matters to me. To me the most annoying part of the ending of that game was that in order to actually finish her quest, Shepard had to earn Renegade points to kill the Illusive Man--the known bad guy and all around general scum (and a huge war criminal). At the very least, there should have been a Paragon option to incapacitate rather than kill him, damn it. There have been plenty of Paragon choices that I would think morally questionable without extenuating circumstances, and this would certainly fit that category. Because the message that they are sending by doing it the way they did? Nice guys don't even get to finish the fight. What. The. Fuck. Not cool at all. Not when you've given us three games of letting us choose to be the nice guy.

So after that, things start to wrap up. Shepard gets the Citadel to open up for the Crucible and she gets to meet the Catalyst, who as it turns out is the actual creator of the Reapers. A lot of people were mad or let down by the reveal of the why behind the Reapers but I don't know why. It's basically what Soverign told us back in game one, this time we're just finally meeting the brains behind it all. The Catalyst gives Shepard three choices:

• Wipe out all synthetic life in the galaxy, destroying the Reapers for good, but also destroying the Geth and (presumably) EDI.
• Take control of the Reapers and call off their attack, sacrificing Shepard to do so.
• Join Shepard's essence to the Catalyst's to merge all synthetic and organic life, creating a new era and ensuring peace.

I believe (but am not one hundred percent sure) that in each of these choices all of the mass relays in the galaxy are destroyed, and that Shepard dies no matter which choice you make (as I said, fatally wounded). The Catalyst gives you your choice and then three paths open up in front of Shepard and you get to molasses-walk to your choice. I will point out another fault in the gameplay here because there is no map or indicator as to which path is which choice. When the Catalyst is giving you the options, you get a brief visual, and the location for each choice is shown, but I didn't realize that when he was explaining it. If, say, you've got an impatient two-year old trying to get your attention when all of this is going on (not that I am speaking from personal experience or anything *cough*), that is a real "blink and you'll miss it" moment. I mean, you could molasses-walk to each station and probably figure it out from the label once you get close enough, but, dude, molasses-walk. Just, no. I was kind of just crossing my fingers that the one I got to was the one I wanted to choose. Thankfully it was.

Also annoying to me: I chose to take control of the Reapers, which is what the damned Illusive Man wanted to do all along. I am not saying he was right, because his motives were sure as hell not mine. But to me it seemed like the only option. After everything I did to get the Geth and Quarians working together again (not to mention how much the Quarians were relying on the Geth to help them rebuild on their homeworld), not to mention how much I love EDI, I could not bring myself to destroy all synthetic life just because some ancient life form believes that synthetic life will destroy organic if given the chance.

Nor could I bring myself to merge the two types of beings. If I was understanding that correctly, and it's entirely possible I might not have been, then that would wipe out the existing identity of everyone in the freaking galaxy which is what I just spent the last three games trying to prevent from happening. Sure, new life, new stage, new evolution, fine, whatever. But not without consent, not after everything everyone had sacrificed, not when what we were fighting for was to save the races in existence in the (game's) here and now. No. Just. No.

So, yeah, I see why people are pissed off about those three choices. Because either way you go, you have to compromise at least part of what your Shepard has been standing for during the course of the entire story. But a choice must be made, and make one I did. Shepard steps up to the machine, takes the controls, and burns to a crisp as her essence or whatever goes into the Reapers. They leave Earth and the ground troops begin to celebrate. A burst of energy flows through the galaxy from relay to relay as they (presumably) all blow up. Joker flies the crap out of the Normandy trying to avoid the energy blast. He manages to crash land and then he, Kaidan, and Garrus step out  to look at their surroundings: a lush planet full of life, and I suppose, hope. Credits roll and at the end is an old man telling a child the story of the legend of "the Shepard" several generations later.

That's it. No epilogue to tell us what happened to everyone else after the Reapers pulled back and all of the mass relays were destroyed. I mean, did anyone else on the Normandy even survive the crash? I have no idea, and that bugs me. How did civilization proceed with everyone pretty much stranded wherever they were in the galaxy when the relays were destroyed? Did they get to work on upgrading their ships to fly faster so they could get home to their loved ones? Did they all start new multi-species societies? There's not a lot of closure here, and that's the other thing that has really pissed people off, and it's something I agree with. 

I never expected Shepard to live through the last game, even before I started catching wind of the griping about the ending. I mean, there is a lot at stake here, an entire galactic civilization, an entire cycle of evolution. There were always going to be casualties along the way, and even more at the end. Hell, if Shepard is the only member of my crew who did die, I would be ecstatic to know that, though I wouldn't have been unhappy had she managed to live, mind you. But she and her crew and everyone else sacrificed so much and I as a player put so much work into seeing this thing through. It would be nice to see what came of it other than "the main character made a hard choice and died and a few of these people at least lived through that, but we're not telling you what happened the next day or anything." 

Overall, story-wise, I am not outraged by how this ended. I do wish there had been a fourth choice for Shepard--the chance to talk the Catalyst into stopping the "cycle" and calling off the Reapers and just letting the galaxy play out as it will. I would have liked that option, yes. But I do get what the writers were trying to do, I think. It would have been a great twist for a book or a movie, certainly. I'm not so sure it fits for the final game in a video game trilogy, though. I could accept the given endings with more of an epilogue, I think. That would go a long way towards making me feel better about it. I'm not chomping at the bit feeling betrayed. Overall, it's just a general sense of annoyance because I feel like they aimed at a few things and just kind of missed.The gameplay mechanic at the end just totally took me out of the whole thing, so the cinematic feel of the experience was lost on me and it just felt a bit unfinished. 

I will wait a while, to be sure, but I will probably play the game again. I do have a different Shepard to put through the gauntlet, after all. And I really want to see how the Garrus romance plays out in game three. I suspect that it is spectacular. The game itself, overall, was pretty spectacular. It's just that last bit...

I suspect that is the part that is annoying people the most.

I have to say, I will be very curious to see what kind of DLC we get for this. Very curious indeed.

Here, Have A Cat On a T-Rex

Yeah, he's judging you. Try not to take it too personally, he does that to everyone.

Because it's Friday, and because my brain checked out for the weekend yesterday. Maybe it's a lame excuse, but it really seems like Daylight Savings Time hit our house pretty hard this year--it has certainly wreaked all sorts of havoc on Baby Girl's sleeping schedule.

Also, my mind has kind of been crazy consumed with Mass Effect 3 of late (and trying to avoid spoilers for the apparent emotional roller coaster that is the ending). Hell, even Baby Girl is into it, because instead of sleeping, she wants to sit in my lap at night and watch me play. Whenever she hears me fire it up she cries "Mommy's game!" and comes running to be hoisted up to sit with me. I didn't even think that my character looked that much like me but whenever Baby Girl sees her on the screen she points and exclaims "Mommy!" with delight.

I think we have successfully managed to raise a nerd.

Anyhoo, so, have a fantastic weekend folks. I am going to have lunch with a friend this afternoon and then see if maybe I can't make the time to check out a few episodes of Game of Thrones this weekend (yeah, I totally caved and picked up the set when it came out last week). Also, I think I'll start up the next blanket that needs to be made.

Whoo! What a wild and crazy life I do lead.

Mass Effect 3 So Far

Well, it's finally arrived, huzzah! And even though my delivery guy stealth-dropped it off at my door on Tuesday morning, I still happened to be at the front of the house and heard his truck drive off, so I got my hot little hands on it without delay.

My upfront verdict so far? LOVE it.

No, seriously, this is amazing, it truly is. It is the culmination of story of the two prior games and Bioware approached it as such. Right from the very first scene there is the sense that the stakes have risen and that even though the tag for the game is "Take Earth back," Shepard and crew's actions quite clearly have a truly galactic effect right from the beginning. This game hits the ground running folks.

I mean, I can see where a newbie to the franchise might be able to pick it up with game three and enjoy themselves, but I don't know why they would want to. There is so much story in the first two games, and if you've played them, then everything that happens in the third is just that much more meaningful, from reunions with old friends (and adversaries) to experiences new party members have had as a result of Shepard's previous actions to Shepard's own evident frustration that she's been warning the Alliance and the Council about the big bad for years and they just kept brushing her off, and now the enemy is here and it is too late to prevent them from just rolling over humanity like a boulder. It's nuts and tense and emotionally wrought and ohmygod so freaking fun.

I'll try to keep this mostly spoiler free for you. I am not that far into the game yet, so there's not a whole lot I can give away at this point anyway (and wow, do I wish I had a job I could actually take a day or two off from so that I could just lock myself up with the game for two days straight). I can say that the game picks up just a month or two after the second one left off, with Shepard having turned herself into the Alliance after taking out the Collector homeworld and telling the Illusive Man to shove it. When all hell breaks loose, Anderson reinstates her into the Alliance and shoves her on the Normandy, sending her to get help for whatever remains of Earth. Off the bat your first two crew members are one familiar face (either Ashley or Kaidan, depending on which survived Virmire in game one) and one new face, James Vega, an Alliance grunt who has kind of been Shepard's minder while she's been under house arrest.

The Normandy is the same ship from game two (thank goodness), but since Shepard turned it over to the Alliance it now has a military crew again and they have been working to retrofit it a bit to bring it up to Alliance regulations. So, it is mostly familiar but with a few tweaks here and there. It's strange to wander around it and see the spaces where your former companions camped out and find them empty. So far, I like the replacement for Kelly Chambers a lot more than her predecessor, but as nice as the new engineer seems, I kind of miss Donnelly and Daniels. Still, early days, so who knows, right? On the plus side, EDI and Joker are still firmly ensconced on the ship, which is how it should be. Oh, man, EDI...like I said, trying to avoid spoilers, but wow, I am vastly amused by where they are going with her in this outing.

I wanted to get oodles of screenshots for you, but Mass Effect is so freaking annoying about screenshots that it is kind of a pain in the butt to do so. Still, I grabbed a few for you to enjoy.

My Shepard, Kara, in her N7 armor. I love that you can customize the armor colors and shading so fully, it is super awesome!

Kara Shepard's casual appearance (for when aboard the Normandy). Hoodie!!!! (Collector's Edition bonus goody.)

Another CE bonus, you get a mech puppy on the ship! Better than a space hamster? Well, we'll see, won't we?

Just exploring the ship yields a few ship models for Shepard to put up on display in her quarters.

James Vega, the newbie. Seems okay so far.

Also, now that I've got the full game, I can see if my concerns from playing the demo were warranted or not.

Animation: Not really a concern, per se, but it threw me. I have to say though, that whatever irked me about the animation in the demo is completely gone in the full game. The graphics and animation in this game are freaking amazing and beautiful! Wow. (The lag that a lot of people are experiencing, and that attacked me last night, on the other hand, is crazy annoying. But my awesome husband seems to have gotten that resolved for me, so it was quickly back to "yay!")

Maps: Okay, well, so far the maps are still about as useless as they always are in the franchise. But I kind of expected that to be the case. I will say that I am offering reserved approval for the "points of interest" concept that they have added. If you have a plot/quest point in an area, the map will tell you which point of interest holds that point. Also, my little enemy radar did not actually disappear entirely. The in-game pause (which is holding down on the left "Shift" key) brings it up. I just totally forgot about that dang key during my first playthrough of the demo.

Camera: Yeah, it's still annoying, and pretty much exactly what it was in the demo. But I am getting used to it. It's not enough to take me out of the game anymore, which is I suppose the most I can really expect on that front.

Combat Moves: Okay, that left "Shift" key I mentioned before? Yeah, that is all I needed to do in order to find my familiar combat screen. It was in the demo (as I discovered when my husband played it, and used in my second go-around). I just had a total brain-freeze and forgot how to bring it up. It's pretty much exactly like game two's combat engine in that respect, which I am 100% okay with.

So, most of my fears proved mostly groundless (and some just due to my own faulty memory). I mean, yeah, there are a few things *cough*chasesequence*cough*and*cough*dreamsequence*cough* that were mildly annoying, but I can live with those here and there because the rest of this is just so much fun! I cannot wait to see how this story unfolds. I really can't.

I am also really looking forward to how the romances progress. I have two characters from the previous games and I am doing my first playthrough on my character that romanced Kaidan in game one and stayed single in game two. (My other Shepard, pissed at Kaidan's reaction to her temporary alliance with Cerberus, hooked up with Garrus in game two.) I am sure that the multiple love interests background will provide more drama, but I figure my poor second Shep waited long enough to be reunited with Kaidan, so she gets the first shot out of the gate. The other one can snuggle with Garrus until it's her turn at the new story. Already there have been some interesting conversations on the topic in the game, so I am glad they don't seem to be wanting to push that aspect totally to the background.

Speaking of conversations. Holy wow, the banter! ME3 adds actual conversations between the characters as they are going about their missions. Not dialog option conversations, just, discussions of the situation or of what's going on between the characters. It is fantastic! I love this. There was some small banter presence in previous games but it has been completely taken up several levels this time around and feels a thousand times more natural. I look forward to much entertainment as a result.

For those who played the demo and are expecting to be bored playing through those two scenes again in the full game, by the way, don't be. I was delighted to find that the opening scene in the game was expanded from what we saw in the demo. Quite a few more conversations and interactions with various characters.

One interesting note: If you import a saved game, you aren't given the option between Action, Role-play, or Story for your game, it just defaults to Role-play. I mean, I have no problem with that, but I thought it was interesting. I looked around in the options and menus and didn't see anywhere to change it either. I am not sure what to make of that. It seems like a weird thing to throw in there solely for people who are only going to play the third game in a trilogy.

Anyhoo, I think that's about all I have to say on the matter thus far. Now, if you'll excuse me, those Reapers aren't going to defeat themselves...

SGA Rewatch: Travelers

Why hello there! Welcome back to the Stargate Atlantis Rewatch. Today we're continuing on our journey through season four with "Travelers." Join me as I mock John while he gets his Kirk on. Spoilers for the episode and all that came before, as always.

What Happened


John is heading towards a space gate in a puddle jumper. He is talking with Rodney over the radio and we learn that he is heading back from one of Atlantis' research outposts, where he had been dropping off supplies. Before he can get to the gate, however, something starts shooting at his jumper. He manages to tell Rodney that he's under fire and that he doesn't think it is wraith before his systems short out and then his power goes out completely. A large space ship comes up behind the jumper and maneuvers the smaller ship into its hangar before opening a hyperspace window and jumping away.

A group of armed humans meet John at the jumper and escort him through the ship. He notes that it seems to be in a rather ragtag state of repair as they lead him to a small room. One of the men forcefully takes a blood sample from John and then another begins to interrogate John, punching him when he refuses to cooperate.

In Atlantis, Rodney has notified Ronon and Teyla of the situation with John. Their first assumption is also that it was the wraith who attacked him, but Rodney says John didn't think so. They then ponder who they could be up against, since they know of no other culture with hyperdrive capability.

John is getting pretty bloody in the interrogation room, since he is refusing to provide his captors with any sort of information beyond his name (and he tried to give them a fake one). The door opens to reveal Larrin, a rather attractive woman who is clearly in charge of the others. Her second, Silas, explains that John isn't being very helpful and so she decides to try a different tactic. She has him cleaned up and brought to a more comfortable room, sitting down at a table with him and offering him a (very unappealing) meal. She explains that her people are travelers. They live all of their lives aboard spaceships, only going down to planets when they need supplies. This has allowed them to keep fairly technologically advanced without drawing the ire of the wraith. Larrin admits that it might have started out as a preservation tactic, but it has become their way of life now.

After the small talk, she gets down to business, promising to airlock him if he doesn't start talking. She says she knows more about him than he thinks. Her people have heard quite a bit over the last few years about a group of people fighting back against the wraith with the capability to operate Lantean technology. After taking John's blood sample, she also knows that he has the gene to operate this tech. He tries to play dumb but she's not buying it. She has him taken to the hangar and locks him in, opening the hangar doors beneath John's feet. The only thing between him and being spaced is a shield, and she promises to turn it off if he doesn't agree to help. They fly over another ship and he sees that it is an Ancient warship. The travelers want John's help getting it operational again.

John agrees to help and he, Larrin, Silas, and a scientist named Nevik head over to the Ancient ship. Larrin explains that the Ancients abandoned it after an attack by the wraith left the ship's main drive damaged and giving off deadly radiation. They meant to come back and repair it, but were never able to (probably because of the evacuation to Earth), and so it remained where it was until the travelers managed to find it. The drive still hasn't been repaired, but Larrin reassures John that they have set up shields in key areas of the ship to protect them from the radiation, and she and her men have radiation detectors as well (though she doesn't give one to John).

Silas and Nevik take John to the bridge and have him sit in the pilot chair. He wakes the ship up and begins initializing systems. Nevik is excited, all of his work has never gotten any sort of similar reaction from the ship. He orders John to check the ships systems, starting by just moving it forward a little bit. John says that's probably not the best idea but Silas threatens him to do as he is told. John shrugs and smirks and says okay and pulls the ship forward, commenting just before he does so that they probably should have told him to start by turning on the inertial dampeners. Silas, Nevik, and Larrin (elsewhere in the ship) are all thrown off their feet by the momentum. John takes advantage of the disruption to disarm Silas and stuns him and Nevik. He then gets back in the chair and (after turning on the dampeners) opens up a hyperspace window, intending to take the ship back for Atlantis.

Lorne and the rest of John's team, meanwhile, have taken a jumper to the planet John was originally visiting. They do a flyby in case John crashed after being attacked but they don't find any sign of  him. Rodney concludes that whoever attacked John must have taken him with them before jumping into hyperspace. The team wants to know what the next move is and Rodney says there is nothing else they can do at this point. They have no way to track John down.

Larrin, after recovering from John's little stunt, tries to radio her people to find out what happened. John answers, telling her that her men are unavailable, and we see that he's tied them up to keep them out of his way. Realizing that John has hijacked her ship, Larrin turns off the protective shields in his part of the ship and tells John that she won't turn them back on unless he drops out of hyperspace and surrenders. John thinks she is bluffing, and that she wouldn't risk her own mens' lives, but a glance at their radiation detectors shows that she is telling the truth. He agrees to stand down and Larrin makes her way to the bridge to resume control. Before surrendering, John does turn off the propulsion and navigation systems. They put John back in a cell and inform Larrin that they are stranded until they can get those systems back online. They say that it will go quicker with John's help but Larrin doesn't want him anywhere near the ship's controls again. They point out that his life is as much at risk as theirs and he should be willing to help, but Larrin's not so sure. She thinks that John looks way too confident considering his situation and orders Silas to check the ship's subspace communications array.

On Atlantis, Rodney has called Ronon and Teyla down to his lab. He excitedly tells them that he managed to pick up a signal on the city's subspace sensors. It is just static, but he believes that it is a signal from John, because mixed in with the static is a series of short bursts that are the Morse code for S.O.S. They should be able to use that communication to track him down, provided he doesn't go anywhere.

John is in his cell, smirking, when Larrin arrives and starts punching the bejeezus out of him. She asks if he used the subspace communications to send a signal and he admits that he did. She then hits him again and informs him that his message got a response. A wraith ship has just dropped out of hyperspace to check it out. It starts firing at the Ancient ship pretty much immediately. On the bridge, Silas and Nevik are able to get the shields up, but they are only at minimum power and will not last long. Larrin agrees to let John help defend the ship and he heads to the control chair to return fire. He manages to get a few shots off before the system shorts out. The wraith fire depletes the Ancient ship's shields and they shoot once more, hitting the front of the vessel.

Feeling the impact, Larrin tries to raise her men on the radio but gets no answer. John manages to get the control chair working again and opens up a volley of fire on the wraith ship, destroying it. He activates the ship's intercom system and contacts Larrin, telling her of his success. She tells him that the forward section is sealed off and she can't get an answer from Silas or Nevik on the radio. She heads for the chair room but when she gets there, John is gone. He has moved on to the nearby auxiliary control room. From there, he locks Larrin into the chair room.

A fleet of jumpers exits a space gate with Lorne and the rest of John's team in the lead jumper. Rodney does a scan of the system and finds a signal that he believes is a ship, and probably the origin of John's distress call. It is five hours away by jumper. Lorne radios the the other ships and they all head out, making for the coordinates Rodney has provided.

Larrin gets to work trying to get out of the chair room and John shuts off the power to that room so she can't bypass the doors. He says the hyperdrive is down but it looks like it is just a short and easily fixed. Larrin tries to get him to let her help fix it but he says nothing doing. Once his people arrive and get it back online, he promises they will drop her off at the nearest stargate. She says that deal isn't good enough, she needs this ship. She explains that her people no longer have the resources to build more ships when one is damaged or destroyed and despite strict population control, they are still growing too rapidly to fit in the ships they have. She laments that they've already had to leave people behind in a permanent planet-side colony. John is not very sympathetic, telling her that those people are no worse off than anyone else in the galaxy.

Realizing that there is no way John will let her keep the ship if she stays locked up, Larrin pulls out her gun and fires repeatedly at the wall of the room until she has blown a hole in it large enough to leave through. She tries once more to raise Silas and Nevik on the radio, but no joy. Monitoring her from the control room, John tells her there is no way her people survived that last hit. He even does a scan and sadly tells her that there are no life signs in the forward section of the ship, Silas and Nevik are dead. Larrin continues to move through the ship and, watching her, John notices another life sign near her position. He tells her to stop, alarmed, but she runs forward thinking it might be one of her people. She is sorely disappointed when she opens the door to find a wraith behind it. She tries to fight the wraith but it quickly gains the upper hand. It has her cornered and is about to feed when John shows up and kills it, draining his gun in the process. He pulls out a life signs detector and tells Larrin there are three more wraith aboard. They must have escaped their ship in darts before it was destroyed and flown right into the hangar of the Ancient ship. Larrin's gun was damaged in the fight against the wraith, so they grab for the wraith's stunner, but it too was damaged.

Weaponless, John and Larrin make their way through the ship, hiding when they see that the wraith are approaching their position. While they are hiding, she tries to convince him to let her keep the ship for her people. He responds that they could have just asked for his help, rather than kidnapping him. She tells him that they couldn't take the risk he would say no, and that gives him pause. The wraith move on but John realizes that they are now between him and Larrin and the control room. Even worse, in his hurry to save Larrin from the first wraith, he didn't lock out the systems. If the wraith find that control room, not only will they be able to fly the ship, they will be able to track John and Larrin on the ship's internal sensors. Without weapons, John doesn't know how they will stop the wraith, but Larrin gets an idea.

They split up, John going to the chair room and Larrin going to bait the wraith. Two of the three follow after her but the third pauses and then goes another way. Larrin gets the first two into a corridor and seals them in, allowing John to shoot at it with the ship's drones and kill the wraith. The third, however, circled around and when she turns from the doors, he is right behind her. He slams his hand into her chest and begins to feed. Of course, in true supervillain fashion, he stops to gloat (and question her) before he kills her completely, buying John enough time to arrive on the scene. He sneaks up behind the wraith and jams his powerless gun against its head. He disarms the wraith and then tells it to give back what it took from Larrin, then go back to its dart and leave the ship. The wraith is suspicious that John won't keep his word but not knowing that the gun pressed against its head is harmless, it complies with John's demands.

Once Larrin is restored and the wraith is gone, John helps her up off the ground. They flirt for a few moments and then kiss. Larrin takes advantage of John's distraction to snag the wraith's stunner and shoots him with it. She then makes for the control room and starts reclaiming control of the ship. John wakes up in the corridor, cranky at her duplicity. She tells him that her ships arrived first and we see her open up communications with one of her people. Apparently when the ship was hijacked, they realized that John would try to make contact with his own people and were monitoring subspace, so were able to track down the Ancient ship. Larrin has them send over a new science team as well as a security team. John, trying to make his way to Larrin, opens a door to find several armed travelers aiming their guns at him. They escort him back to a cell.

Lorne and the team arrive with the rescue jumpers to find four spaceships. They are cloaked and so remain undetected as they try to decide what to do. Rodney has no way of knowing which ship sent the distress signal or which ship John is on. Teyla suggests opening up communications rather than just attacking, on the off chance that these people they know nothing about might actually be open to negotiations. Lorne is torn, acknowledging the wisdom in diplomacy but also pointing out that their only advantage at the moment is their cloaks. As soon as he sends a communication, he gives away their position, allowing the other ships to attack, or even worse, jump away again, taking John with them and leaving no chance for them to follow.

Larrin's people manage to get the hyperdrive back online and they are preparing to leave. She goes to see John and says she thinks they will take him with them, since his presence will allow them to get the rest of the ship in working order that much more quickly. John argues for his release. He tells her that the wraith are under attack and soon enough they will be ripe for defeat. With the travelers' technology and Atlantis' combined, they could make powerful allies when the time comes for them to move against the wraith for once and for all. But any chance at an alliance is shot if they keep John prisoner.

In the jumper, Rodney thinks that their best option is to target the engines on the Ancient ship. He can't get good enough readings on the other ships to know how to disable them, and with one ship disabled, even if the others jump away, they will have a chance at finding John still. Lorne is just about to give the order when all four ships jump away. The team stares at the empty space in front of them in dismay but then Rodney gets a reading, a puddle jumper with one life sign, dead ahead. Lorne opens up radio communications and they are all relieved when John answers.

Back in Atlantis, John and his team are eating and John recounts the tale of his captivity. Teyla and Ronon discuss how strange it would be to live one's entire life on a spaceship while Rodney laments that he never gets kidnapped by the hot aliens. They all laugh off another adventure in the Pegasus galaxy.

Commentary


This is such a fun episode, largely because of the banter between John and Larrin. I like that while yes, she does fit the cliche of "bombshell baddie," she is at least a very relatable character. While her methods are questionable, it is quite clear that they are the result of extreme desperation and a desire to protect her people. Her motives are certainly not evil at all. I very much enjoy that this episode accepts and plays with the shades of grey involved in the situation. I also like that John was willing to see past the whole being kidnapped thing to the bigger picture (all while flirting his ass off). Larrin is a good match for him too, recognizing his value but perfectly capable of calling him on his more, er, rebellious attitude.

Indeed, I like the whole idea of the travelers because it makes a lot of sense to me. We've already been shown that many civilizations in the Pegasus galaxy at one point in time were fairly advanced, so it stands to reason that some of that technology (and the knowledge to use it) would still be around for the travelers to find and exploit. It also seems reasonable that at least one culture would get advanced enough for the wraith to want to bomb them back to the stone age would realize that fact and would take steps to preserve their advanced culture while minimizing the chances of destruction by the wraith. I mean, we've seen similar attempts to hide a culture's true level of advancement (like the Genii and other underground cultures), so this isn't too far out of the realm of possibility. Also, it reminds me a lot of the Quarian migrant fleet from Mass Effect, and that makes me happy.

All in all, I am wholeheartedly behind the introduction of the travelers to the series. I think they make a good possible (if slightly dubious) ally for Atlantis without tipping the scales too much on the balance of power in the galaxy.

Worth noting: As John points out early in the episode, the travelers' guns are the same as Ronon's really awesome gun. I like that because it is a random little detail that addresses the fact that in the Pegasus galaxy, there really is a limited amount of technology available due to the wraith. Although learning that the guns can run out of power makes me wonder how Ronon keeps his maintained so well. But still. It was a neat little addition for me.

Finally, I'll just say how happy it made me that John was able to get the control chair on the Ancient ship fixed so fast. I mean, it is no surprise that he was able to get the thing turned on, he's flown them before and he is familiar enough with Ancient tech. But the fact that he was able to actually make repairs--and know exactly where to look and what to do--tells me that he is paying attention to Rodney and his environment during his (mis)adventures. It was a small character moment, but a nice one.

Favorite Quotes


"Who are you, where are you from, and where'd you get your ship?" (Silas)
"See, that's a funny coincidence, 'cause I was gonna ask you the same exact questions." (John)

"We had a deal! I was prepared to let you go in exchange for your help." (Larrin)
"Sorry, I've never been able to trust anyone who kidnaps me, tortures me, and threatens to blow me into space." (John)

"If you're gonna get out of this alive, you're gonna need my help. Now I realize you and I don't exactly trust each other...but it's not going to make much difference if the wraith blow up the ship, is it?" (John)

"Why would they be so far out on the edge of the solar system?" (Teyla)
"I don't think it's a coincidence that this system has a space gate. They were probably headed for it when they dropped out of hyperspace too early." (Rodney)
"Well, why would they do that?" (Lorne)
"How should I know? We don't even know who 'they' are, remember?" (Rodney)
"Does it make a difference? Even if it was a fleet of hive ships, would it stop us from trying to get him back?" (Ronon)
"No." (Lorne)

"Sure you wanna go through with this? If you don't make it, I'll feel responsible, and well, I really don't need the guilt." (John)
"I'll be fine as long as you don't shoot too early. I'm sure that's not the first time you've heard that from a woman." (Larrin)
"On the other hand, I might be able to live with it." (John)

"No. There's something you're not telling us. She was hot, wasn't she?" (Rodney)
"I don't know what you're talking about." (John)
"Oh I knew it! That is so typical!" (Rodney)
"She had me beat Rodney. She threatened to kill me several times. It wasn't like we were hanging out in the spa together." (John)
"Whatever! All I know is that every time I get taken captive, it's the wraith. Just once I would like to be taken prisoner by the sexy alien." (Rodney)

~*~

There you have it folks. See you back here on Wednesday for another really fun episode, "Tabula Rasa."

Take Earth Back

Well, the Mass Effect 3 demo dropped this week, and I have to say, I had a pretty darn good time playing it!

Spoilers ahead for the first two games and anything seen in the demo.

Up front, let's get the few things I didn't like out of the way first: 

I always forget how different the animation style for Mass Effect is from my other Bioware games. It's not bad mind you, it's just different. It feels choppier somehow, rougher around the edges. It completely fits in with the feel of the franchise, but it always takes me a bit of time to get used to it. 

Where is my map????? Okay, this might (fingers crossed) just be a demo issue. Maybe. There was no map at all my screen, not even the semi-annoying little circle at the bottom that at least let me know the position of nearby enemies. Now, the menu screen has a "Map" option, but it wasn't functional for the demo. Granted, maps always annoy me in the ME games. I am not going to lie and pretend that they don't. But not having some sort of directional guide and not being able to pull up a full screen map to figure out where the heck I am or where the heck I am going was a tad frustrating. Now, you can use the "V" key to get a brief little indicator to point you towards your objective, and thankfully that was one of the first little (very quick) hints to pop up on the screen. I utilized that key quite a lot, let me tell you. Still, it would have been nice to have that little enemy indicator as well, especially since....

The camera just felt all out of whack to me. I am trying to remember if it is always like this in ME games, and I think it might be. I hope so, because that means it is something I got used to and got over pretty quickly. Still. Wow. Basically, you are just looking over Shepard's shoulder the whole time. It's not first person (thank goodness), but you can't really look around too much. Very limited perspective and no zoom that I could tell. 

Lastly, they have way pared down the way to access combat moves. It's always been a little minimal, but in the past when you scroll down your mouse (which is your camera control and your targeting control) over one of the UI parts of the screen, you get a pointer back and can click on your various skills/moves or change weapons, use medpacs and whatnot. As far as I could tell, that wasn't there at all. Your mouse looks you around, and you use it to point and shoot. You've got your spacebar to interact with objects that can be interacted with once you get close enough, and to use a special shot or biotic ability you have to use the number key that it is assigned to in the bar at the top of the screen. Now, that ability bar has always been there, with shortcut keys in place, but it was optional before and I never really used it much, preferring to use my mouse to select an ability from the area with my health and party status. If that option is gone for good, it is going to take some serious adjusting for me when the game rolls around (and some quick memorization, because of course many of the keys are different from previous games). 

Also, in previous games there was a way to pause in combat and order your companions to do certain things and line up a set of moves to perform a more controlled coordinated attack. I am pretty sure that we will have that ability once the game drops, because I recall the "giving your squad orders" feature being quite heavily advertised every time the game was presented at conventions and whatnot. But I will be darned if I could figure out how to do that in the demo.

Still, a lot of this is just more of the same for how ME plays, which I think stems from its creators trying to walk the line between a first-person shooter experience and a full-out role-playing game. It will either go away in the full version of the game (the demo is always going to be a stripped down version), or I will get used to it. I am not really worried about any of that. Seriously, if those are the only problems I end up having with the game, well, that would be nice. 

Now, with all of that out of the way, on to the good!

Squee!

The demo takes you through the opening sequence of the game, which is mostly cut-scenes with a few quick starter movement and combat sequences. After that, you get a second mission from later in the game that is a bit harder, but your character has leveled up and you can allocate points to the abilities you prefer for yourself and your two squad mates (Liara and Garrus, in this case). Then you get a chance to get really down and dirty and see how the combat works and how to best use your newly obtained skills. 

There are a few new faces right off the bat and a bunch of old friends. Not gonna lie, my heart melted a little when Kaidan popped up. Now, if you've played the first game, you know it's an either/or situation on whether you get Ashley or Kaidan, but the demo set-up gives you a chance to pick which one of them died at Virmire, so that was nice. From what I saw in the demo, I actually have to say they have done a good job at making this game accessible to people who haven't played the first two without sacrificing the wonderful story experience for those of us who have.

You still get the character customization option (along with a few presets to choose from if that's not your cup of tea). It's still not to the level of some of Bioware's other games *cough*DragonAge*cough* but at least they have added in a few more decent hairstyles/colors. Of course, that is countered with the option of having a freaking bouffant available as a hairstyle option for FemShep. I almost fell out of my chair, ya'll. What the heck is up with that? What military officer in the twenty-second century would wear a bouffant? I mean, really, what? Sigh. Also, FemShep's eyelashes are still just...too much. And there's no way to alter them. But in the grand scheme of things, not really a big deal. Like I said, there are some fun new options. I mean, I'll be playing with a pre-created character when the full game hits, but they do give you the option to tweak (or heck, totally change) your character's appearance even when starting from a saved game. So I am glad to know I can at least update her hairstyle and makeup. Hey, I have my girly moments.

Issues with figuring out how to use my skills and abilities aside, actually getting to see them in action was a lot of fun. I also really enjoyed getting to see some of my old (and older) teammates interacting with each other and with me. Story-wise I am really intrigued to see where this chapter will take us. From the demo we learn two interesting factors. The Alliance (Earth's space force) has reinstated Shepard in the wake of her being absolutely right about the Reapers, and Cerberus (with whom Shepard was loosely, if unwillingly, allied during the second game) is back on the side of the bad guys once more. Also, they have no compunction about getting in Shepard's way or attacking her and her crew. I will be very curious to see which of the companions from game two are back to actively help (or even hinder) Shepard this go-around. Especially after my husband pointed out how there is a large likelihood that in many people's playthroughs, most or all of their crew got killed during the second installment's endgame. That's got to be a bear for the writers to sort out and balance to make sure that no one misses out on too much content just because they couldn't keep a particular crew member alive. Still, it would suck immensely for all of those wonderful characters to just be gone. We shall have to see.

One other really cool bit from the demo? Female Krogan. Yup. The second mission you play in the demo is to rescue/escort one from the Salarian homeworld (while under attack from Cerberus). I mean, mostly she's stuck in a life-support pod while you are trying to get her off the planet, but we did get to meet her briefly once the day was saved, and she was awesome. I really really hope she has a goodly part to play in the plot, because I love her already.

One interesting new bit I noticed was the option for type of gameplay between action, role play, and story. I chose role play because that was the "traditional" Mass Effect experience. But from the descriptions it sounds like action focuses more on the actual combat and just kind of runs you through the story on rails without you needing to worry about trying to influence the outcome with your choices, no dialog options, for example. Story, on the other hand is all about that part of the experience, minimizing the combat, with battles not so much affecting how the story unfolds. Role play seems to be the middle of the road between these two paths. I think it is a definite example of how the fan base of this game is a bit wider because it does draw in the fans of shooters and the fans of RPGs but doesn't really fit squarely in either category. After I've done a playthrough in the role play style, it might be fun to try one out in story. 

I do wish that we could have gotten a glimpse inside the Normandy during the demo, mostly to reassure myself they didn't mess with it too much from game two. Normandy 2.0 is my favorite spaceship pretty much in the history of ever, even edging out Serenity, which is pretty spiffy. I will be heartbroken if they've gone and screwed it up.

I didn't mess with the new multi-player feature at all, so I can't really speak to that. But as I have no intention of utilizing it in the full game either, well, yeah. I mean, bully for you if you've been looking forward to that. Some of the comments I've seen online seem to suggest it is pretty well done. Not my cup of tea though.

All in all though, playing the demo just made me super jazzed for Mass Effect 3. I will probably play it through a couple more times, try out the different classes and whatnot, as well as to get a feel for the playing style once more. If you have any interest in checking out the game come March 6, I highly urge you to give the demo a try. It is available for XBox 360, Playstation 3, and PC for free (though I know with PC you will need to have or set up a (free) account with Origin, I would guess there might be similar requirements for the other platforms as well). You can download it by clicking right here. Even with all of the time I spent messing around in the character generator, it only took me about an hour to play, and I think it gives you a good feel for the franchise and the forthcoming game whether you've got any history with Mass Effect or not.