This is all sorts of funny, especially that open hatch and Tesskan corpses falling out. But also scary, as the Tesskans are apparently starting to figure out how to control the ship.

@macsnafu
I says Continuum corpses floating out, so less funny and more creepy I think.

The part I found interesting was the engineers' analysis. With their understanding of ring technology, the spark of thought should be horribly warped every time it makes a jump, but it's clearly not . . .

...yeah, since the Spark supposedly only launched a few months ago, but the human's rings are based off centuries old technology, the continuum must have come up with some "neat" new stuff for the big ol' Spark.

Also veeeeery interesting:
-30 minutes of microwave fire from another continuum ship (No damage to the Spark?) -the other ship was destroyed from the Spark's ramming (No damage to the Spark?).
And with that, the Tesskans are now halfway to destroying as many Continuum ships as humans have [2]!

Well, Continuum pre-Makers must be one of the most quickly renewable resources in the galaxy. (Granted you need one to start with)

I really appreciated the touch at the bottom of the entry, attributing it to "Jane's Fighting Ships".

Interesting too that the Continuum must know the Spark's weaknesses, and still attempted weapons fire. Smacks of a lot of desperation.

So what hidden details can we determine from this latest installment?

First, the Earth Empire still exists after 2456, while the comic is set in 2401. That more-than-50-year gap implies pretty strongly that the Continuum will utterly fail in their holy war.

Second, since the source of the intelligence packet was an interception by Los Tres Primos, this implies pretty strongly that someone friendly to them eventually came to power. Otherwise, it would never have been made public in the "Jane's Fighting Ships" book. So perhaps 'Nando has a destiny beyond merely being a ship's on-board mechanic?

Hmmmm...

Sounds like the Tesskans are zipping around near Neuava Sevilla - which is waaayyyy over in the Outer Colonies - and not too near Tesskil. They are getting around - and pretty far away from the heroes currently at Slaughter. I wonder when they'll cross paths with the Spark next...

I love the image of the Spark just running through the Joining Presence - kinda captures the essence of the Tesskan Way. Now that the Tesskans have Continuum small arms, they will be tough to dislodge.

I wonder how Imperial Intelligence knows that the Tesskans are running things on the Spark. The disposed corpses are a hint, but it's a pretty big leap to conclude that the Tesskans are running things from that one observation (though maybe Dave decided they know something and just didn't tell us that they know it)

Is it me, or is it a bit late to be upgrading the Spark to "threat" status after what happened at Tesskil?

@ShadeTail - Good catch on the dates - I had noticed that too.
Intercepting Imperial Intelligence transmissions is a pretty neat trick - though this does help explain how they've avoided capture over the years.

Dave, Dave, COME BACK TO US! Please let us know what's happening, I'm beginning to suffer Drive withdrawal!

Agreed. It's almost been a month... :o(

*waits impatiently for next fix*

*fidgets uncontrollably*

~8|

CII Interbranch Copy : DO NOT COPY

I get a kick out of this.