Grrl Power #1008 – Yarr har fiddle dee dee…
Option 1:
“Do you have anything to declare?”
“I do declare, it’s powerful hot, suh. I may have the vapors! And not just because of the all-bean-and-Mexican-tapwater diet!”
“Seriously, miss…”
“I as serious as a German school marm! I’m at DefCon 1 over here! Where’s the restroom!”
“>sigh< Out the door to the right, past the next terminal. NEXT!”
Option 2:
“What are these?”
“Glass… things?”
“Glass things?”
“Knickknacks. That’s the word. Colorful glass knickknacks. Non-suspicious, colorful glass knickknacks. >cough<”
“>Long Pause< I’m barely cracking minimum wage here, just go.”
I’m not sure what else to say about this page because most of what I want to say is on the next page.
Tamer: Enhancer 2 – Progress Update: Getting Proofed!
Still getting proofed. About halfway through the book now. This is from the first proofer who got back to me, and once I edit in all those corrections, I’ll run through it again with notes from the others. That tends to go faster, because some errors will be noticed by most, though different readers catch different things.
This month’s vote incentive guest stars Lana of Spying with Lana. One of my own secret agents, Pixel, is trying to assist, with various levels of success and… nudity. Well, in the Patreon versions. The Vote Incentive will give you a pretty good idea of what might go down. Here’s a dedicated post in case you want to comment.
Check out Spying with Lana. Their current vote incentive features a certain gold-plated glamazon. Also it’s a funny comic with tons of skin.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
SuperheroThey're super, thanks for asking!
Meatspace ComicSeriously these are awesome. Check 'em out!
Not UpdatingNo longer updating or only updates sporadically, but definitely worth reading.
SeriouslySeriously you guys. If you like Grrl Power the check these out.
"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
What Mexico dont know wont hurt them
That’s what the cartels keep telling them anyway
Much like Republicans in the US keep telling their voter base shit that doesn’t exist CAN hurt them.
Easy, just declare that Sydney is a museum.
Pretty sure she can only do that if she is British.
alcohol is to adhd.. well picture an extremely hyperactive bouncy ball with zero ability to stay in a straight line. I’m sure by the time she sobered up, britain would be too confused to disagree
It’s not like she could detach them
Only because they didn’t try enough: I’m sure a highly motivated group would find a way to separate Sidney from the orbs. Or just remove Sidney from the equation altogether: remember the Concretia affair just a few months ago?
“ remember the Concretia affair just a few months ago?”
Ummmm their solution was to shoot sydney in the head.
Yea.
I’m pretty sure doing that to Sydney, murdering an active soldier in a branch of the US armed forces as part of a coordinated political strategy, would be an act of war against the United States.
Soooo pretty sure Mexico wouldn’t do that.
She was a civilian when she crossed borders with them the first time.
Irrelevant. She’s a soldier now. And now would be when they’d be trying anything against Sydney, if they did. Which they won’t.
Not irrelevant. Her being a soldier at this point is relevant to the discussion in the comic because they’re having to move forward with the potential diplomatic incident, but the discussion at play here in the comments is revolving around the circumstances of the smuggling, which happened well before her enlistment. It’s hypothesizing how she could have dealt with customs in the circumstances of that moment and what the likely responses would have been THEN, not NOW.
How she’s going to deal with it NOW is obvious; she’s going to be a problem for Arianna and Max and will likely be quite contrite, but possibly fumble things in a sensitive situation. Regardless it will be her superiors that will largely determine their course of action and set the plan she will at least attempt to follow. We don’t HAVE to run hypotheticals about how that situation would’ve gone because it’s still going. We just need patience. Scenarios about how she could have avoided the misdeed in the first place are the lion’s share of the discussion.
“Not irrelevant. Her being a soldier at this point is relevant to the discussion in the comic because they’re having to move forward with the potential diplomatic incident,”
No. It literally is NOT relevant. If Mexico was to try to murder Sydney or give Sydney the death penalty as a few people have suggested, it is most definitely NOT relevant that she took the orbs before she was a soldier. She’s a soldier now. They’d be killing her NOW. Not in the past before she was a soldier. That would be, politically speaking, a LOT worse than killing a civilian, because it’s a direct attack on the government of the United States, which Sydney is representing as a member of ARCHON, and would NOT have been representing as a civilian.
I’m trying to understand the thought process here on why you think that her status when she crossed the borders with the orbs, rather than what she is NOW, is relevant to Mexico’s reaction of killing a person? Explain? Mexico does not have a time machine – Mexican authorities cannot go back in time to kill Sydney before she was a member of ARCHON.
PS – I didn’t mean that last paragraph as rude as it sounds when I read it back to myself.
What I mean is this:
Could you please explain the reasoning by which you think that Sydney’s status as a civilian when she found the orbs is relevant to the idea that it would be a REALLY BAD IDEA to try to kill her, now that she is essentially a soldier of one of the newest military branches of the United States?
I think you’re misinterpreting the scenario that ImagineDragonflies is trying to suggest. Their scenario is specifically not set around a decision taken in the ‘present’ (with or without time travel to carry it out), but around one that might have been taken at whatever point in the past that Sydney returned from her diving trip. In the ‘present’ she is a member of the military; at that time she was a civilian.
A civilian shot in unidentified scenario, or lost at sea while travelling.
No one but Sydney knew about the orbs then
Wait, who is having the affair with Cree?
Didn’t they suggest that there were other passive abilities like the soft landing function that she acquired? It’s not something you’d be able to test, but maybe lethal force would be nullified to a certain level by a passive ability.
My own thoughts is that once she awakens enough passive ability many of her current low level abilities will become passive, negating the need to hold the orbs in her hands. Like being able to turn the forcefield on and off, or tune it.
Yeah, one could even make the argument that because the artifacts attached to her immediately, it’s more like she was abducted by them than stole them. As a citizen of the United States, she was also (justifiably) concerned for her safety after this happened, and promptly retreated to her home nation, where she was later more or less impressed into ARCHON for her and everyone else’s safety. The US State Department could stamp “public safety” and “duress” all over this one.
I mean that Mexico could demand her execution for her theft. And seriously, the US is likely to grant it, avoiding war is more likely than risking it.
Mexico doesn’t have a death penalty and certainly wouldn’t have one for theft. Nor would Mexico start a war over something this petty. I’m sure it would strain relations, but besides failing to report them to the authorities, what exactly would Mexico’s grievance be? Sydney could not have reasonably predicted that the glass balls she found in a reef would turn out to be incredibly powerful alien artifacts that would bind themselves to her. And she can’t give them back. So… what can Mexico reasonably demand of her?
Presumably her services.
Well there are those reports of locals acting kinda weird in that area the cartel controlled… (Sciona)
Maybe Sydney could do Mexico a favor now & then?
Execution? What the Hell for? A tourist had an accident and got entangled with an artifact. At most they would say “Give it back” or “Can she work for us at least part time?” or “We want something valuable in trade.” They aren’t going this go to war over this least of all with the US.
And if they did say “Kill her! Honor demands it! the State Department would find a diplomatic way of telling them to pound sand.
Yes, something valuable in trade, like… Maxi?
… Are you just willfully being dense? America has regular soldiers who commit genuine war crimes that we ardently refuse to allow to go to trial. A super powered soldier, whose biggest crime is accidentally picking up a fancy rock while scuba diving?
“We apologize for their actions and will be reprimanding them internally”.
Like all those Navy Yanks who rape Japanese Girls in Okinawa. Been happening for decades.
Mexico hasn’t had the death penalty in over 60 years. I don’t know what sort of racist kooky aid you have been drinking, but you need to change your brand
What does race have to do with it?
Some countries take theft of sovereign property very seriously
Instead of saying “some” as a wishy washy way to defend an entirely wrong aspersion of another country, be correct.
Is mexico one of those, or not? Does Mexico have the death penalty?
Not a damn clue, but probably not, which is why didn’t name them!
Jon is making all kinds of aspersions about Mexico and Mexicans and the caricature is crude, dishonest, and insulting. It’s in line with all the other traditional races its caricatures if Mexico and Mexicans that white America has delighted in for over a century.
Your self pitying outrage fools nobody
Aoso, you jump feet first into “Those savage Mexicans just want to murder innocent white Merkins.” Then a moment later you say you have no idea if they even have the death penalty. [they don’t]
Many nations absolutely do, certainly Mexico does. They would be well within their rights to demand the return of valuable artifacts to their nation. However, this is a really complicated case that is wrapped up in personal and public safety issues. The State Department in a case like this would probably be happy to softly smother the Mexican government in money, maybe offer them some mutual assistance of the US superhero team, throw in some other minor concessions. Mexico is a major trade partner with the US, and a strategic ally. There’s no way they’re going to want to start a war over something like this. They are, however, going to want to make it clear they’re not happy and want to feel like their concerns are being taken seriously, which.. you know, fair.
The biggest problem to all of this is assuming that these are Mexican national treasures. They’re not. They’re alien flotsam. Mexico would have to PROVE that one of their cultures in the past created the orbs, and they will never be able to do that. The salvage of non-native-Mexican flotsam/jetsam is a legitimate standpoint.
Assuming Mexico would want her executed,why would US grant that?. Firstly, your killing one of your superhero/millitary assets to avoid a war you most definitely can stomp in (cause they have Max). Second, why would Mexico even try to start a war (cause Max is OP). Third, assuming US would be down to kill Sydney, you make it sound like that is easier to fight a war seeing how she can A) make a forcefield that is pretty much indestructible, B) make portals, C) shoot lasers.
TLDR: Your conclusions that US would follow the unreasonable demands of Mexico doesn’t make sense.
And then Halo went berserk and whiped both USA and Mexico off the planet. All hail Sydney queen of Earth.
Also salt.
It occurs to me that while destroying Earth has traditionally been a bad idea because that’s where we keep all our stuff and get all our food, someone with a personal FTL portal to other worlds doesn’t have the same limitation.
I’m sorry, can you please point to a single instance of the US government actually executing its own citizens at the request of a foreign nation?
At the absolute most, Mexico could claim Sydney had committed a crime within their territory, and request her EXTRADITION from the US, to face trial in Mexico. The US State Department and courts would then have to decide whether to honor that extradition request.
And most likely, they’d say “no” because Sydney is functionally a national resource and WMD. But if they didn’t want to say that outright, they’d still be able to throw enough judicial/diplomatic road blocks into the process that it would be decades before the process of transferring Sydney to Mexico ever began.
“I’m a human. I was swimming in the Single Ocean, which covers 71% of Earth, the planet on which humans live.”
“You were swimming in OUR waters, which we have clearly claimed for decades, if not centuries. you removed priceless artifacts, that, by all right, should have been placed in our custody, and kept away from people who would try to USE them. You cannot claim any human rights, they don’t apply to terrorists.”
What the actual bright green fuck are you blathering on about? Nothing she did fits any definition of terrorism outside if the fevered ravings of the MAGATS. At most “She walked off with something she should not have.” I don’t know where you get your ideas about how Mexico operates, but they have no basis in reality
“Bright green fuck”. SIR! Respectfully request permission to steal that expression, SIR! ;-)
+1 Much lol ensued from that comment.
Granted!
for some reason ‘bright green fuck’ brings to mind a femboy-ish version of The Hulk (and yes I know that’s a borderline derogatory term but I don’t know the proper one)
Actually, Terrorists DO have human rights, including:
The Right to a trial, and the right to be executed for any CAPITAL crimes they have committed and are duly convicted of.
Sydney’s only crime was not going to the mexican government (or at least writing them a letter after going home) and saying something like “Hey, I was scuba diving in your beautiful national park at Scorpion Reef, and I found these glowy sphere things on the sea floor that have apparently bonded to me and are following me around, floating around my head. I have no idea where they came from, and I can’t leave them behind. I wanted to be completely honest with you, and I promise I’ll keep you in mind if they turn out to be useful. I owe you a big favor since I found them in your territory.”
She didn’t “Steal” the orbs, the orbs followed her on their own. As far as I know, Mexico has no laws against artifacts following you out of the country.
They’re not artifacts, they’re alien trash. Alien lost computer. If someone found some discarded TimeX watch in the ocean, they wouldn’t be crying over them taking it.
What would have to happen after this is “Please, if you see someone’s discarded trash, leave it there, it could be to awesome for us.”
What she found was glass balls that aren’t Mexican artifacts.
This argument has come up several times and I can’t fathom any legal system supporting it, particularly in a high-visibility international suit. Even if she did a) go through customs and b) declare “7 colored glass balls”, she’d have been lying about their nature – she got levitated when she picked them up, so obviously she knew they were unique and probably very valuable. Otherwise she’d have been doing party tricks with them, not hiding them from those closest to her.
Further, retroactively declaring them as mere “glass balls” or “alien trash” to Mexico now, after she (and the world) has seen the orbs’ power? Would also be lying, and frankly insulting to anyone being sold a “sorry I didn’t know”. And ignorance of Mexican salvage law wouldn’t exempt her from following it either.
She knowingly and secretly removed something valuable from foreign waters, there’s no way around that. Archon (primarily Arianna, poor lass) can either try to hide that forever, or deal with it head-on now before they are also accused of knowing collusion and cover-up. Undoubtedly it will be handled behind closed doors if at all possible, but once Mexico has any presentable evidence of their origin that gives them a lot of leverage, and more than a little incentive to take it public and pump the US for everything they can wring out of the situation.
Except she wouldn’t have known they were valuable until she touched them, and started experimenting with them. She didn’t know what any of them did, how they functioned, or what they were. That took time and experimentation. They could have been alien bombs waiting to detonate when enough people were close, or parasites waiting for her to reach a population center to spread, for all she knew. There was effectively no way for her to make an informed decision about what to do with them. Setting aside the challenge of finding enough evidence to prove that they were ever in Mexico in the first place beyond a reasonable doubt (there’s literally only Sydney’s word for it, so far as we known, and the Orbs seem unlikely to have left more compelling forensic evidence that “ball shaped holes”), Sydney literally had no idea what the fuck the Orbs were at that time. Still kinda doesn’t, bar “potentially alien super tech that could get Earth turned to cinders if anyone figures that out”. And Mexico wouldn’t have had a clue either. Honestly, until she figured out what they could do and that they likely weren’t going to spontaneously kill everything in a kilometer radius, Sydney probably would have been incarcerated and quarantined if she went to the authorities, for public safety reasons.
“There was effectively no way for her to make an informed decision about what to do with them.”
You mean, other than declare them to the proper authorities?
“They could have been alien bombs waiting to detonate when enough people were close, or parasites waiting for her to reach a population center to spread, for all she knew.”
So, of course, she heads to a major metropolitan center and then proceed to play with them outdoors!!!!
It doesn’t matter what they are, she still took them from another countries territorial waters, and then proceeded to lie to the government (or her representatives) when finally caught
nerv weasels, fear of being whisked away and experimented on, supers were still partially covered by the veil (until the press conference) so treated as rumors by the public at this point. As far as she knew she was alone, no support system, and after SOOO many movies and tv shows painting the government as the lock them up, secret police, experimentation, black site them, types….fears she expressed to Archon, what reason would she have to feel safe reporting *hey I found magica baubles off the coast of mexico that I can’t separate from that give me super powers*
let alone do so to a foreign government.
Now add that even after she had joined Archon she has still had enough fear/genre savvy to try and keep some of her powers secret *Maxima had to chide her for this when she found out*
so yeah, she either forgot after some trust, was trying to keep this secret (knowing what she knows NOW, the chance of other Nth tech being there could actually paint a bigger target on Earth by alien governments, or a conflict between Earth governments *namely the US knowing and trying to hide what they are searching for while convincing Mexico to grant access to the area*, ect…
along with the *hid for so long, might be worse now to reveal the truth*
so many cans of worms she has had to wrestle with being possibilities. None of which had likely positive scenarios in her head.
and to add Sidney has had two more reasons to have limited trust in the government.
1: The Twilight Council: there is a wide network of individuals operating within the US, extra-legally, many of which consider humans *lesser beings* and as *food*, and Sidney has no information on how regulated this is, if the government along with the veil aspect has covered up murders (or even does so regularly) to keep this peace. With this uncertainty there also comes the discovery of “The Vault” where dangerous and powerful artifacts are stored away. So if the government decided they couldn’t trust Sidney she could have the fear of them killing her in her sleep, giving a cover story about an accident or mission gone bad, and then hand over the orbs to be locked away in the vault. So yeah, after this sort of fear pops in her head she could very well second guess revealing she wasn’t entirely truthful before.
2: The situation with the Fel ship and Cora, she walked into a conversation where someone threatened to try and take Cora’s ship by force…so while her friends she may trust, her trust in the extended government likely took a massive hit right there.
so combine 1 and 2 there and the result is *don’t reveal you lied, keep something in reserve, be on alert*
Honestly I’d be second guessing continuing as a super hero with them after those kinds of reveals, but without being a bullet proof *24/7* type of super, and other baggage keeping her on Earth (family, friends, where she keeps all her stuff*, she would have to play it off and try to stay on their good sides afraid revealing anything problematic could have some agent deep in Arc Dark or CIA territory deciding she is too risky and utilizes the above scenarios.
-hey vampires hidden by the veil, take her out and stick the orbs in your vault and in return we’ll reduce your *donation amount* needed to cover up the murders at your clubs.
Still goes back to, not from Earth, therefore not taking artifacts from Mexico. It was taking alien trash from Mexico. No one has to declare that watch they found buried in the dirt when they cross the border.
Now, if the orbs are thought to actually be something man made from an ancient Mexican civilization, that would be different. However, we go back to alien left it.
“Alien trash”, especially any with obvious working functionality, would be even more valued by a country than its human artifacts. Any given country has thousands or millions of those laying about. Human creations have cultural significance, which is great, but a one-of-kind piece of alien tech is as far from ‘trash’ as you can get. Heck, even meteorite fragments – literal inert rocks – are extremely valued and are considered government property in many countries even if they landed on private land.
Most relevantly to the comic, in Mexico specifically meteorites and “aerolites, minerals, and objects of mixed nature with origin in outer space” are the property of the country. If Halo’s orbs are extra-terrestrial (which probably is unproveable either way), that definitely falls under this definition.
“You wanna see TERRORISM….?”
““You were swimming in OUR waters,”
That’s not actually clear, depending on how many miles from the coast it was. But I have more to say on this later.
“which we have clearly claimed for decades, if not centuries.”
It couldn’t have been for more than 2 centuries, since Mexico did not exist before 197 years ago. They didnt gain independence until 1821, and did not have a Constitution and recognized republic until 1824 (from 1821 to 1824, they were ‘The First Mexican Empires’ under Agustin de Iturbide. Before that, they were ruled in part or in whole by the Spanish Empire since roughly 1521.
Also, for most of that time they did not actually have control over their own ‘territorial waters.’ Territorial Waters of 12 miles wasn’t even a thing until 1982, with the 1982 United Nations Law of Sea Convention. Before that, it was a LOT less, like under 3 miles. And that’s only when there weren’t American-based privateers in those waters during much of Mexico’s growth period. There are also a few treaties between the US and Mexico that allow US salvage ships in Mexican waters (and vice versa). Same for Canada. Admittedly they probably wouldnt apply to Sydney since she didnt file anything as a recognized salvage company.
“you removed priceless artifacts,”
They are not artifacts. The legal definition of an artifact, as far as salvage law is concerned, is “any object related to, derived from, or contained in a cultural and historic property that is important in the study, interpretation or public appreciation of such property.”
The orbs have no mexican cultural or historic significance whatsoever. Plus they were never owned by Mexico. They do not even have the same significance as a common rock that would be found in Mexico, since that at least might have some relevant historical significance TO Mexico.
“that, by all right, should have been placed in our custody,”
Under what right, specifically?
Moreso, even if I assume there is such a right, which there is not as far as I can tell, how would you keep it in your custody when it was bonded to an American citizen, through no fault of her own. You are suggesting that you have the right to illegally detain the citizen of another nation. Worse, you’re suggesting you can detain a current United States Soldier on active duty because of this.
“and kept away from people who would try to USE them.”
Considering the US already provides the overwhelming bulk of military security for North and Central America, at no cost to you (not to mention the billions in economic aid provided to your nation yearly, which it is under no legal obligation to do), who are you keeping it away from – the US? And under what authority do you have to do so?
“You cannot claim any human rights,”
Sydney is human and we have numerous treaties with Mexico which say otherwise about if American citizens have human rights.
“they don’t apply to terrorists.”
Then it’s fortunate that Sydney is not a terrorist.
Also terrorists do, actually, have human rights as well. But that’s irrelevant, since Sydney is, I repeat, not a terrorist.
Assuming Mexico would want her executed,why would US grant that?. Firstly, your killing one of your superhero/millitary assets to avoid a war you most definitely can stomp in (cause they have Max). Second, why would Mexico even try to start a war (cause Max is OP). Third, assuming US would be down to kill Sydney, you make it sound like that is easier to fight a war seeing how she can A) make a forcefield that is pretty much indestructible, B) make portals, C) shoot lasers.
TLDR: Your conclusions that US would follow the unreasonable demands of Mexico doesn’t make sense.
Wrong comment to reply to oops, just ignore this please. Commenting with mobile is wierd.
At the very least, Sid’s about to lose her rank. You can’t be in the army with a criminal record. And likely, removed from ARCHON entirely, they can’t be connected to something like this. They need to be seen as righteous and right, so someone who literally STOLE their power from another country, will NOT be tolerated. This is going to take some SERIOUS media backlash.
Ummm. In the first pages of this comic we see Syddles as a Corporal. In good standing. Take it from there Rasputin!
she picked up and against her will was bonded to alien artifacts that happened to be sitting in but were not part of a national park of another country, however again the artifacts are not from said country, are not from its heritage, and legally speaking could be argued to be litter some alien tourist may have just left in the reef, so her taking them (putting aside being bonded by force too them) is no different than taking a quarter, plastic bottle, or any other litter left in the reef).
Yeah, nah, that bit about ‘not from said country’? Don’t mean squat on an icy vegetable patch when it comes to maritime salvage
If it is found within the territorial waters, it belongs to that country, not the origin country (specially with regards to something like gold, which was stolen by the country that ‘lost’ it in the first place)
Well its been stated in other comments by other people with more legal knowledge than I have but yes, it does matter.
legally speaking the orbs aren’t even “artifacts” they aren’t legally recognized firearms or ordinance and Mexico had no idea they even existed, they have no ties to any Meso American cultures that we know of or can currently be identified.
legally this is the same as finding a spoon someone dropped in the ocean, what the orbs can do is not even really a factor legally, even though it would be a cause for any interested parties to try and fight for them *in court or otherwise*,
honestly this goes back to when this discussion first surfaced when we all believed they were in Florida and examples of if the government can make any claim of finding items of unknown origin that someone just finds.
even without the *bonded to a citizen factor*
Or they are just gonna ignore it, since is so much more convenient for them. Wouldn’t be the first time, nor the last…
Actually you can it use to be somewhat common for judges to give criminals a choice jail time or join the army. Its not like they would be guilty of serious crimes but it was an option and the army/marines would do waivers for crimes as well. Pre 07 08 econ fuckup the us army has NEVER (since going volunteer only) came close to hit its manning goals while the USAF has never NOT hit its goals numbers wise. So the army and marines to some extent were always looking for people
> You can’t be in the army with a criminal record.
Counterpoint: Jazza (and the French Foriegn Legion)
The power obviously didn’t belong to that country, it belonged to am Nth level civilization
You get a criminal RECORD for being convicted of something. Not for having done something you could be convicted for. Also they would be happy to bend all kinds of rules to keep the ultra powerful supers.
“At the very least, Sid’s about to lose her rank.”
No she won’t lose her rank.
Aside from that we know what happens in the future already, Sydney did not actually commit any crimes here. There is no theft for reasons I’ve already explained multiple times, and multiple defenses for any claims as such that Arianna can use. I’m not even a maritime law expert (my entire experience with maritime law comes from one semester of electives in my second year of law school) and I thought of two on the spot.
“You can’t be in the army with a criminal record.”
1) She did not commit a crime here.
2) ARCHON has at least 4 former criminals, who were actually charged WITH crimes, working for them and getting paid to do so – Jabberwokky, Mr Amorphous, Achilles, and Heatwave.
3) Sydney already did have a record for criminal assault, although it was dismissed for reasons of self-defense. So if you mean you can’t be enlisted when you’ve been charged, but have a legal defense, you’re wrong. And if you mean you can’t be enlisted when you’ve already been convicted, you’re still wrong because (a) she has not been convicted, and (b) people who have been convicted already work for ARCHON – see #2.
“removed from ARCHON entirely,”
Seriously, did you forget the first several pages of this comic?
“so someone who literally STOLE their power from another country,”
Guesticules: “If it is found within the territorial waters, it belongs to that country”
This is not how possession works in maritime law. If you lose your bag while on a trip in Mexico, and another person finds it and takes it back to the US, Mexico does not have a right to that bag. It does not belong to Mexico. It never belonged to Mexico. The original owner has a right to the bag. This is also how salvage law works. Mexico never found the orbs. Mexico never knew of the orbs’ existence. Mexico has no connection to the orbs aside from it happened to be lost by another person/being in the vicinity of their waters, then bonded to another person who touched them. Under any sort of salvage rules in maritime law, Mexico does not have a claim to them. It’s not a naturally occurring Mexican resource. It’s not something which Mexico created. It’s not relevant to Mexico’s cultural or historical significance.
“This is going to take some SERIOUS media backlash.”
Only until they do some media spin to point out how Mexico has no real claim to the orbs in the first place, assuming that:
1) they bother to tell the media about this HIGHLY CLASSIFIED BIT OF INFORMATION;
2) the media cares that their American superhero who they LOVE as a celebrity got their powers while in another country. Sydney’s take on salvage law might be a little flawed (although it still does come to a similar conclusion as actual law with the types of defenses Arianna could come up to), but so will the average American’s understanding of rights of salvage.
What Criminal Record!?
There is a very old Military saying:
“Don’t ask the question if you can’t stand the answer.”
This is something that they SHOULDN’T have been asking about.
“What? It’s all around the periphery of the same large, crater-shaped bay that almost certainly wasn’t created by my predecessor’s body crashing into the primordial Earth at near-light speeds.”
That was my first thought too. Nothing about foreign nation etc, more that we now have more information on what wiped out the dinosaurs!
Was hoping I wasn’t the only one to jump to this conclusion.
Scorpia was probably born there on a pirate ship, and bitten by a radioactive spider-parasite of the original owner of the orbs during a crossover with the webcomic maker of kill six billion demons.
…not that it will come up ever again in the plot, riiight??
Yes please!!!!
Um, whay are we talking about Scorpia? I mean, seriously, what IS her clame to faim? Apart from pissing off a much more ruthless criminal who then shot her DEAD?
The fact that after being shot dead, her body was then reanimated by Sciona as a host. Who then proceeded to kill the two goons who had been interrogating Scorpia, allowing two of her incorporeal Alari entourage to take them as hosts. What they’ve done since we don’t know, as that’s the point that DaveB cut to another scene.
Your honor, I refer you to the case of Finders v Weepers…
Ok, sorry for my earlier comments. Just thinking of worst case scenarios. Didn;t mean to offend people
Welcome to a life leason about pausing and thinking.
https://youtu.be/6ERXfZTFbFQ
Is the world represented in your comments one that you believe in, fear, or desire? It’s kind of ambiguous, so some people will interpret it in the worst possible way. Though regardless of which, you’re going to get responses refuting each angle: that you’re wrong, that your fears are unrealistic, and that the world you describe is horrific, and we should ensure that it does not work that way.
So she dives in the reefs, finds orbs that latch onto her, and feared that she would be experimented on or killed when she realized she couldn’t get rid of them.
Really, all they could of done was hold her for awhile. Cause remember they at the time she hadn’t known they could do…anything beside float around her. Eventually she would of been shipped back with some pressure, likely by Deus making deals…
I’ll just drop this comment here.
The Fracture was bookmarked so the Orbs haven’t been there for 65 million years.
Offer the Mexican government sale or lease money.
$38 million or $1 million a month.
unless the Fracture is an artifact site,
ancient structure that younger species found and built ontop of.
that said, the age of the Fracture doesn’t mean the orbs are ancient or new, they could be ancient, or they could have been left on Earth two seconds before Sidney found them for all we know (bored/experimenting Q theory *leave shiny item directly in front of comic book nerd who loves superhero stuff and see what they do with it in a world of real superheroes*
Ummmm. I’m surprised Pander isn’t already here.
* What EVIDENCE do we have that the Orbs are coetaneous with The Asteroid? I’ve seen a lot of chatter, with much speculation, but where’s the Evidence?
* What EVIDENCE do we have that the Orbs were NOT placed/dropped/abandoned on Scorpion Reef prior to C18 or C19?
* In fact, how do we account for (a) Scorpion Reef has been recognised since 1847 and (b) the Orbs were not detected there until Syddles found them?
I just cannot pander to mere wishful thinking.
Oops. Q2, delete the “NOT”. (It crept in there as a SpecOps foray as I attended to a hungry 13-yo canid.)
* What EVIDENCE do we have that the Orbs were placed/dropped/abandoned on Scorpion Reef prior to C18 or C19?
I entertained the idea but also provided two what if they’re not, honesty I am more on board them coming later. Still hedging the alien tourist dropped them by accident and they are either their equivalent of a swiss army knife of a child’s toy.
the crater location has this red herring feel.
I’ve been doing work sorry. :) I don’t celebrate X-mas so I get to do a lot of overtime work (mostly discovery-based work) this time of year for larger companies that hire me.
Jayessell:
“The Fracture was bookmarked so the Orbs haven’t been there for 65 million years.”
We don’t know how long the Fracture has been there, but yeah probably not 65 million years. But Mexico’s only been a sovereign nation since September 16, 1810, and the Fracture HAS probably been there longer than that, so the orbs could have been there that long or longer. Dabbler alone has been alive longer than Mexico has been a nation. It could have just as well have been there for only a few years though.
I’m not sure what the age has to do with this btw.
I think most of this is about maritime law – specifically offshore salvage law (assuming the orbs were found within 12 nautical miles of Mexico, since that would be Mexican territorial waters, rather than being in the contiguous zone under UNCLOS Article 33)
That does not, however, mean the orbs belong to Mexico necessarily. At least according to 19 CFR 4.97 of the salvage law agreements between the US, Mexico, and Canada.
According to 19 CFR 4.97(e):
“A Mexican vessel may engage in a salvage operation on a Mexican vessel in any territorial waters of the United States in which Mexican vessels are permitted to conduct such operations by the treaty between the United States and Mexico signed on June 13, 1935.”
I’m not familiar with Mexican laws on this (Mexican law is not really my particular area of expertise, although I do know Mexican immigration laws, which have nothing to do with this), but if there’s a reciprocal law for Mexico on this Mexico/US Treaty, then that might be a loophole for Ariana to exploit.
As for in fiction, in Stargate SG-1, the DHD was found in Russia (although originally apparently found in Nazi Germany and taken to Russia) and the ‘Alpha’ gate was found by the Russians as well after the Russians raised it from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean (see season 3, episodes 22 and 23 of Stargate SG-1). The US eventually just leased Alpha Gate and the DHD from the Russians rather than argue about who has the rights to it (then outright bought it entirely in exchange for a Daedelus class BC-304 starship for the Russians, the Korolev which later was destroyed by the Ori, I believe).
If the Orbs in the Grrlpower universe are treated like the Stargates in the SG-1 universe, then neither of the US or Mexico have an airtight claim to the orbs. In the end, it comes down to the fact that Sydney was bonded to them as soon as she first touched them. It’s arguable that she CAN’T separate from them (based on what we saw when the Squidward probe scanned her and the orbs) unless dead, which makes the whole point moot.
The fact that they seem to have ‘bonded’ with Sydney is a problem for Mexico if they were to find out and make a claim. Ariana could argue that it would be like Sydney eating a fish she caught in Mexican waters, then Mexico trying to claim Sydney. It doesn’t work. Mexico can not claim a citizen of another nation as their property under the idea that Sydney ‘salvaged’ a fish and ate it.
In the end, the choices seem to be:
1) Not let anyone know where Sydney found the orbs in the first place.
2) Let Mexico know, tell them they cannot have them since they are bonded to Sydney, but they will be compensated financially. Or play carrot AND stick, since the US gives Mexico a LOT of financial aid already that might have to stop otherwise if Mexico tried playing hardball with ARCHON about this.
3) Argue that the orbs are like the ‘eating a fish in Mexico’ argument, now that they’re bonded with Sydney.
4) Argue that the orbs never belonged to Mexico in the first place. They belong to some alien race that dropped them there. Just like if a French tourist loses their luggage in Mexico while on vacation there, the luggage does not become the property of Mexico. I’d have to look up some stuff about maritime salvage law for that though to see how well it sticks, but in general, the country in which the salvage is located does not automatically own lost property there. It might not be an airtight legal argument, but it’s not like there’s precedent on this sort of thing anyway.
I am inclined towards scenario 4, although if argued a Galactus in the court room solution with the original owners showing up may be in order to clear it up (granted that would require various theories with potentially disturbing or strange plot twists), that said this sort of solution has come up in other sci fi Stargate SG 1 for example during a clip episode with different nation’s discussion global defense and cooperation along with access to alien tech and if to keep it secret ended up needing an Asgard to show up and voice their opinion.
“during a clip episode with different nation’s discussion global defense and cooperation along with access to alien tech and if to keep it secret ended up needing an Asgard to show up and voice their opinion.”
Yep. To be fair though, that episode was more about the IOA and was political, rather than legal. Legally the IOA did not actually have any real say in what the United States was doing. It just created a political problem, because the United States needed each of those other nations in the IOA to NOT disclose the information to the public. The only nation in the IOA who had any sort of legal standing was Russia, since there was a contractual agreement at the time with regards to the stargate being leased, and allowing the US to keep possession of the DHD in order to prevent another incident like what happened in Siberia. Later on, the US just bought the stargate and DHD outright, in exchange for money plus a Daedelus Class BC-304 Starship, the Korolev.
I think the Chinese eventually got bribed to keep their mouth shut as well with the Sun Tzu, but I’m not sure why, since they did NOT have any legal standing. The only nation that was siding with the US against full disclosure at that point was the USSR (who already had a deal with the SGC, involving a Russian Stargate team and a future BC-304). It probably also helped China that one of the leaders of the IOA was from the Chinese government. But there was not much political will to try to remove the Stargate from US hands, or even disclose its existence to the public, after Commander Thor intervened during that show about how ‘displeased’ the Asgard would be if the SGC, and General Hammond in PARTICULAR, was not in possession of the Stargate. They also explained how being good friends with the Asgard could reap technological benefits, like the Asgardian shield generators they were installing on the Prometheus as “thanks” to SG-1 and General Hammond.
Sorry, one correction to my post. Not Commander Thor. SUPREME Commander Thor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4QCB4S9SSA
Pander, your comments really are the absolute best. Thank you for them
Aw thanks. :)
The Great Barrier Reef has been known for a very long time, just not much of it was explored until the last fifty or so years
Just because the Scorpion Reef has been recognized since 1847 (what? they didn’t know what it was in 1846?) doesn’t mean it’s been thoroughly explored let alone mapped
Also: The Orbs cannot be scanned. While more detailed scans can show a distinct “absence” of results, odds are good that unless someone actually LOOKED at them the older/less through equipment would have missed them entirely. Add the expense of bringing in and using the “good” equipment, and it’s entirely possible that nothing sufficiently capable ever passed over them, much less passed over them while set up and running.
Okay, couple of things:
First: Are we to believe that Archon has NOT tried to locate the exact position where Sydney found the orbs? Their own resident alien specialist (Dabbler) has told them they are tech of a level that even the highest galactic civs don’t have – are we seriously to belive that Archon and its higer-ups have NOT considered the possibility that there might be more Nth tech lying around? Or at least clues to the identity of the original owners and whether they might come back looking for the orbs? That seems extremely out of character for the US government.
Second: I don’t by the ‘Harem interruption’ as an explanation why. If Archon can be that easily distracted they shouldn’t be in charge of people armed with BB guns, let alone Supers!
Third: Speaking of which, Archon’s discipline is shockingly lax. Harem barging into secret meetings, Sydney ignoring rules and regulations as she likes, Dabbler deliberately trying to provoke people… you get the feeling the only reason there is any order is because Max will punish them if they get too far out of order, but considering this is a military organisation that has immense destructive potential it’s actually pretty scary. and none more so than Sydney. her reaction in the last panels is pretty typical, and the thought that she has an ever-growing set of powers that will ultimately dwarf anything else… Sydney is potentially Armageddon waiting to happen. Sure, she tries to control herself, but if she fails even once, the consequences are devastating.
I can only say that I’m happy I’m not one of the powerless normals who live in this world.
“Mildly military” would be the applicable trope here. Remember that basically the only reason ARCHON exists is because the supers are better off under some form of authority, no matter how lax it may be. Clearly they do follow orders (some of the ladies were once made to run the obstacle course in their lingerie as punishment for pranking Math if you recall) but they’re also very strong-willed adults with super powers, not 18-year-old recruits. There’s a line they won’t cross, like outright defying orders, but ARCHON seems to run on the principle of giving as few orders as possible. What would fall under the UCMJ in the real world, in ARCHON is waved off as high spirits. Clamping down too hard would only result in many of the supers rebelling and quitting, where they would no longer be under any form of control (or monitoring).
Remember that the warp destination for Earth was glitchy enough that even Halo wouldn’t use it. Something bad happened to send the orbs here; the chances of anything else being down under the sea are slim, and the chance that they’re safe to touch is even slimmer. But of course that wouldn’t stop the U.S. government from trying…
We don’t know where the glitchy bookmark was for, although it most likely was the last warp destination. Could’ve been Earth, could’ve been the Chicxulub impactor (my current favorite theory), could’ve been someplace parsecs away prior to the orbs banished to a backwater galaxy for eternal abandonment.
chances are that glitch was caused by the time distortion of the magical blood portal she had stepped through messing with the last known address of the orbs.
even if being Nth tech you’d think they’d correct for that, but hey DaveB only said Nth, and listed this above 3 (3 being ascended beings, galaxy life seeders, cryptic message types) so if the orbs are just a toy or something to a 4th tier civilization they may not have taken chrono-travel messing with the return address into account as they were never meant to be used that way.
but yeah, general consensus is the jumping ahead several months while also across space using a portal other than the one that comes with the orbs may have caused a minor glitch, that was reset when she came back to Earth.
“chances are that glitch was caused by the time distortion of the magical blood portal she had stepped through messing with the last known address of the orbs.”
I doubt that the glitch was caused by the time distortion. Mainly because it was alluded to that it was related to why she found them without an owner in the first place based on ‘something bad happening.’ Sydney also considered that she might know this only because of becoming more ‘attuned’ to the Orbs because of the center triangles.
Who’s to say they hadn’t investigated and found that “all evidence has been washed away by the ocean”? Y’know, if you want a classic Marvel Comics “No Prize” answer…
Also the whole *magic can’t detect them, and no regular means of detection aside from sight can even see them), heck the human eye and cameras can see the orbs yet the skill tree can only be seen by the eye but not by camera.
so for all they know they could be looking for stuff with various degrees of invisible of different types like…maybe this rock which looks like a rock, and feels like a rock, if we expose it to magic will not be seen by magic and expose that it is…something like a Nth level being’s guitar pick…and other examples of *we don’t even know what we are looking for, people have been already over these areas for years including tourists (regardless of location claimed or the real location this part still stands), and it wasn’t till this particular individual happened to touch this one shiny thing that was uncovered or sitting there for reasons unknown..so no telling of other hidden things are buried there or this came later, and either way would be really hard to tell as there would be no reliable way to detect them especially if other Nth tech is pulling some other form of camo.
same sort of situation with Maxima’s geode actually, as Deus said, how many people handled it before it “chose” Maxima, heck it was dug out of the ground, detected as a geode, and put for sale if a gift shop without anyone having clue one there was *symbiote/bioi-armor/alien guardian bio-tech whatever…* in this rock.
they could comb a reef forever and never find out that one piece of coral was a dimensional “hologram” projection hiding a lock box with the equivalent of a green lantern ring inside until one day it just shut off and bam…someone like Sidney came along and saw it, there could be others but they’d never be able to detect or locate them if they are hypothetically hidden like this.
I like the idea that the orbs are effectively a higher-dimensional equivalent of a home chemistry set, and Halo just found it after the batteries on the holo-lock finally ran out.
From the Zyantrix corporation, owner’s manuals.
-All products are equipped with an auto-invisibility function should they become lost in lower dimensions. Warning projector is on a limited timer due to safety concerns and will disengage after a set time *see product list for specific item*, at which point any life form with photoreceptors will be able to detect the item and risk interaction with it.
It’s kind of a moot point where she got them. She has them now, and it’s physically impossible to remove them from her person.
These were laying in that reef for who knows how long and could you imagine what could of happened if a criminal type found them instead? Especially if it was before Max became a hero herself? Bad juju lol. no this is just another example of Sydney causing an issue without meaning to. I don’t understand the one major plot hole though: she told Max she flew around in the ocean a little after finding them but if this was a tourist trap thing there was of been someone with her the whole time and the boat would of been close by…
How did Sydney get her bangs to stay down?
she has enough hair pins in her hair to create an electromagnet if she walked past a transformer lol
Maybe she wore her nerdiest clothing and declared the 7 balls as magical/alien devices in a cardboard tube that were immensely powerful but the customs guy was a geek with a sense of humor and thought she was just “cosplaying” on vacation and just said LOL right.. please move on
Honestly, this is less an issue than it seems. It’s not going to court. Aside from the way that would be an absolute nightmare from top to bottom: extraditing an American superhero to Mexico, trying to arrest a person who can teleport, fly at jet-speeds, and casually travel to other planets, and Mexico even finding the cojones to try and demand the US turn over what’s effectively a living WMD who would object to this state of affairs, there’s one simple problem: Mexico would have to prove Sydney took them from the Reef in the first place. So long as everyone involved sings the same tune on the record, there’s likely absolute no case. Even if they found the site she took them from (good fucking luck without her help), the Orbs would likely leave no forensic evidence. Unless she got caught on camera with them somewhere along the line, while in Mexican territory, there’s not a shred of evidence beyond her testimony, and hearsay. If she doesn’t admit it on video or audio, she’s totally clear.
Setting that aside, the Orbs are an alien device that has, so far as is known never been seen by any human prior to Sydney, leaving no trace of a record, and the actions of which, namely bonding with Sydney, no human could foresee or control. That’s a textbook Act of God. She couldn’t have known what touching them would do, and she literally could not have left them where she found them and called the authorities once she did: she was underwater, and they can only be so far away from her. She’d have drowned. Her actions afterwards in taking them home, while potentially problematic legally, would also have been driven by fear and uncertainty over what the entirely unpredictable, potentially uncontrollable objects could or would do. Until she grasped what the Orbs were and how they worked, anything she did with them could have been dangerous. There was literally no way for her to make an informed decision in how to handle this: for all she knew, they’d have exploded if x-rayed, or otherwise studied, or if they were brought into a population center. Any unbiased jury would clear her of wrongdoing, at least with regards to handling the Orbs themselves. The legality of her diving where she was could be another story.
Being in the Mexico (or diving) illegally could potentially void all the other arguments – your right to be somewhere greatly affects the acceptability of your actions there. Perfectly reasonable to pick up a lost gold coin in an abandoned parking lot, much less so in a foreign archeological dig or a bank vault.
This is a minor issue outside the fact that now they need permission to investigate the area they were found in. The legal issue is she was in national waters but not being aware of the nature of these artifacts she couldn’t just tell the nationals what they were in fear of her being captive and experimented on which was why she never came forward until the bank issue happened. Granted it wasn’t the case but she would of spent years in courts just trying to go home!
“I dont see this being an issue, I mean I literally put ‘ancient orbs of power’ when they asked me if I had anything to declare”
Sounds as though Sydney is on the wrong end of the UCMJ here. She WAS asked where she got them and replied “Florida”. Florida Keys to Scorpion Reef is at least 1000 miles, across an international border and even a spaz like Sydney would know that. She has knowingly enlisted under false pretences, which invalidates her enlistment?
Keep in mind she was afraid of her OWN government’s reactions to the orbs much less a another one’s reaction. Sure it might be wrong but at the same time she is a superhero legally obtained or not like spider man’s back story he entered a lab and was bitten by a spider that the lab was developing so he stole his powers by the same reasoning. There was no way he could give them back and coming clean would of prevented him from ever being able to do the good he had done with them at the very least.
Sydney was content with staying out of the public eye until she was forced out by the very same people that are over-reacting now because she wasn’t open about the entire events. Name one super hero’s backstory that was common knowledge to the public in comic books and don’t give me the movies that’s a completely different genre.
” She has knowingly enlisted under false pretences, which invalidates her enlistment?”
She did not enlist under false pretenses, unless you are assuming that the employment contract stated anything about the origin of the orbs. Which seems like a very odd thing to put in an employment contract.
So she took the Orbs from a reef in Mexico. Who cares? What’s Mexico going to do, demand them back? Even if she could detach them from herself, Mexico doesn’t actually have much leverage over her. And that’s if they find out at all. The area needs to be investigated, sure, but there’s little reason to tell the Mexican Government WHY. Just say they found potential evidence of alien artifacts or something in the area.
wouldn’t be the first time *no where near the first time* the US government told someone a BS story so they could survey and area for entirely different military reasons.
Lots of questions here. How old are the orbs? When did they end up at Yutacan? Why did they end up at Yutacan? Possible crash? Are there anyting more down there? Will they have to go to Scorpion reef to find out? Will the Mexicans be more than slightly annoyed of the removal of artifacts without permit? What are the rules on extraterrestial artifacts? And on a side note. Is that spot close to where our old “buddy” Siconia is at the present moment?
“What are the rules on extraterrestial artifacts?”
They’re mine!
Other than Sydney’s of course.
You can’t have mine either, Yorpie. No offense but I don’t think you’re responsible enough for this death laser.
Or the unlimited cookie replicator.
We will have to confiscate and destroy the von Neumann paperclip maximizer though, no matter who owns it.
Yes, there are some technologies to dangerous for any civilization to possess. Wise words, my friend. We would drown in a sea of poorly made boredom-infused necklaces.
Too late!
*nom nom X infinity*
This is the exact sort of thing you just shut up about and never mention again.
I’ve worked with several people who had experience doing construction work on sites with cultural artifacts and endangered species on major civil works projects. Many of them had lost jobs and relocated their families when said projects were canned (and the local economies crushed) after decades of planning, all because some semi-rare invasive species happened to take up residence nearby during the final stretch of paperwork and get noticed by the EPA liaison.
The unwritten official policy for the veterans of such projects was the “3S mitigation plan” – shoot, shovel, and shut up.
Did Sydney’s balls wipe out the dinosaurs?
That is the same general area where it is said the meteorite landed after all.
I had the same thought, what if the impact crater was the site of a large advanced space craft and the orbs were the captains’ the survivors put them into the chest and sank them knowing they would be abused by the by anyone that went looking for them.
The legal discussion stuff we are seeing in the comments has been discussed before regarding unprecedented items that bonded to a person and her fears regarding the government finding out. Only now adding another country to the mix. This doesn’t really change much as neither had any knowledge or connection to them and no prior precedent in the legal system (maybe Twilight council but not human legal system) regarding origin unknown items. It’s not like she found an Uzi wrapped in a water tight bag wedged in a reef crevice, these items aren’t/weren’t known about so have no legal definition to them.
Im not sure about Mexico but there’s not anything like a “salvage” law in a national park/reserve/wilderness area.
I mean your not even allowed to pick up eagle/condor feathers in some places, not allowed to take pieces of petrified wood in Petrified Forest National Park etc, your not supposed to take anything out of them but your own trash. People diving for sunken galleons usually have permission from the part services with agreements in place to distribute whatever is found when the origin of the contents are known.
that being said she still could have easily passed them off as cheap glass trinkets at customs.
I am I was under the impression Sidney’s family lived in Texas, sure they could have flown down there, Yucatan is a bit far, but a drive , even a bus tour isn’t impossible. So as someone who used to live in southern California and Arizona, what customs? If they drove , there was very little they’d have had to go through, especially as US citizens returning across the boarder.
Excellent point about the Scovilles living in Texas (the canonical location of Archon headquarters) – it’s a similar distance by boat (or plane) from Texas coast to either the Keys or the Yucatan peninsula, and the logistics and supplies are identical if you’re not (officially) visiting Mexico.
Transponders are now required on all planes and boats with any range, but a) I’m not sure that was true back when the trip occurred in 2010 or so, and b) for a fee there are still plenty of captains willing to risk turning off the transponder for a day or two, or to simply transfer someone to an untracked vessel for a few days while they park in international waters.
Well I know where I will be taking my holiday. When circumstances permit.
At least we know why Covid started now. To stop international travel and tourism, whilst additional orb hunting ensues. After all anything targeted at just preventing such around the Yucatan peninsular would only encourage the conspiracy theorists and suspicious foreign powers to investigate.
Oh, and Sydney, please stop the orbs from trying to add the avian dinosaurs to it’s dinosaur trophy room!
I just realized that Lucas is in the room. Standing next to Max, everyone tends to blend into the background.
I hope we get more Lucas, I always liked him as a side character.
I’m just thinking back to when Max said, “She’ll be a special project for both of us,” to Ariana, and I’m feeling this delightful tingly-sparkly feeling.
A toe-curling, knee-bending cackle-gasm.
I realize that narratively, this is Not Much, as the only correct way to handle it will be to bury it under so many layers of Need To Know clearance that it will never see the light of day again after this. But I still just *shiver* thinking about the truckloads of paperwork Ariana & Max are going to be filling out.
Also, we are clearly going to be catching up with Sciona again, now.
So, this could be fun.
True she did surface in that area god help the county side if there’s more of those orbs are in the area.
As Several have pointed out,
Sydney had no effective choice about retaining the Artifacts
Right Now the Biggest Worry that should be Occupying the Military Mind
Is Mexico can Seal the Region
And Look For Other Artifacts of the Same Origin
Keeping all Others Out….
I mostly said this as a response to someone else but feel it deserves a stand alone post.
people ask why would Sidney not reveal? or at least not since joining the team reveal it sooner?
The simple answer would seem to be (trust issues).
When Sidney was first *brought in* it wasn’t entirely her will but felt she basically had to thanks to being convinced by Maxima, who essentiially said she doesn’t have to but she CAN make it a public safety concern if she feels what was in the tube might be a public safety issue. Sidney gave in.
Sidney was still concerned about being whisked away, so despite a little showing off chose to not give them an excuse to lock her up like *I took them within another country’s boarders and smuggled them into the US*…not just the act its self, but at that stage they may have concluded her clean criminal record was just because she hadn’t been caught yet *See Zephan’s concerns as proof her fear was validated*.
So then why not later?
Well not long after she becomes privy to the existence of an extra legal group that works with the government but in a *stay out of each other’s way* manner, many of whose members having low regard for humans, possibly even viewing them as *prey* their rules alone prevent them from acting on.
-so conspiracy concern: what if some groups of predatory supernaturals make deals with locals governors, law enforcement, donate to wealthy senators to look the other way for human trafficking and/or murder.
but even if that fear could be abated the next thing she learns about is The Vault, something even Archon didn’t know about, where supernaturals would lock away dangerous and powerful artifacts. Take note Sidney at this time was still under the impression her orbs were some kind of powerful magic…and she just learned of a place where powerful magic was locked away, so possibly conclusion had the Twilight council found her first they might have chosen to kill her and lock away her orbs without the government ever knowing about it, or worse the above conspiracy scenario where humans on the take turn the other cheek and help cover it up.
and the latest trust issue,
after finding out her Orbs are ultra advanced alien tech, happens to walk by a conference room where her own government’s agents were threatening to impound her new friends’ spaceship (who had brought her back home, and one she got frisky with), and these same friends had helped out when the Fel attacked, yet still this one douche was still making such a threat.
So here we have two possible threats to her freedom and safety right under her nose, and the possibility someone might be standing around doing a risk vs gain assessment on her to decide if maybe they should do the same thing as the robe guys (who knew her weakness and had abducted and forced another super to work for them exploiting her weakness as well) whose origin she does not know.
So a *just shut up and look forward and maybe they’ll forget about* approach is understandable.
-this is not a legal out as far as a I know, but are legitimate fears she might have had.
to expand on the kind of paranoia trust issues like this can lend.
what if Sidney feels there is a possibility an Arc-Dark agent might be ghosting her *like X with Dabbler* doing a risk vs gain assessment on her. Add what if she believes there was even a remote possibility one of these guys followed her in New York and may have been standing there the whole time, invisible, and not helping as she was restrainged and beaten by the hood guys; possibly with instructions to *retrieve the orbs should something happen to Halo, however do not prevent anything*….after all wouldn’t these powerful artifacts be better off in the hands of a handpicked by the military soldier rather than some nerdy hero worshipping spaz? . Just don’t try and take them…if something happens on its own its just *proof* they need to find someone better suited or else lock away the dangerous items.
these are the kinds of thoughts that may worm their way in given the above her pay grade circumstances she has been privy to.
Well depending on how far out to sea she was she could have been in international waters so it would be a moot point as to country ownership. international waters start 12 miles of of the coast, and while Scorpion Reef is Mexican National park and claimed by said government it is technically in international waters or is considered a sort of bubble of Mexican territory in the Gulf of Mexico, much like the Hawaiian Islands would be a bubble of US territory in the Pacific. Now the question is how far off shore did she find them? It’s mentioned in an earlier page that when she first touched the orbs she flew into the sky, now depending on how far she was from the boat that no one saw her she may have swam a good distance from the boat she was on so it’s not impossible to have been more than 12 miles out from an island and therefore in international waters and like she said “Legitimate Salvage”. Only time and the author can tell.
You’ve forgotten the 200mi Maritime Economic Zone. It matters. Well, it would if what Syddles picked up was anything more than shiny trinkets.
That tends to be more for fishing rights and maritime trade routes.
Still legally Mexican waters period, Pander.
“International waters” period is only outside that 200 mile zone. Legally and otherwise.
Youse are both right. Just sitting in different chairs.
If we were talking about fish or the US drilling for oil there, then yes. Not for salvage though. Or even for scientific research, no. :)
““International waters” period is only outside that 200 mile zone. Legally and otherwise.”
I think you’re missing the point of what I said. The contiguous zone is only Mexican waters for fishing rights and maritime trade routes, NOT for salvage operations. For that, it’s international and salvage teams can come in. And have come in. Including without Mexico’s permission, as long as it does not mess with fishing or economic trade routes. In fact, recently Mexico tried to stop a salvage team in the contiguous zone under the argument that it was going to affect the environment in that area. They lost.
And that doesnt even get into the fact that the US has mulitple treaties on maritime law in that area, just like Mexico does with the US in our contiguous zone. A lot of the waterways between Mexico and the US overlap if you’re going to extend it to 200 miles instead of 12 miles.
Simply put, despite the name, Mexico does not own the Gulf of Mexico.
So no, it’s not ‘still legally Mexican waters period.’ There’s no period there. There’s a WHOLE bunch of reason why it’s not as far as salvage is concerned.
Slow your roll, Major, it’s not like she had a choice, they bonded to her. If she’d turned herself into the local government, they probably would’ve dissected her.
For someone that high in the officer corps, she’s kind of stupid sometimes.
add something Maxima may relate to, the Excalibur factor.
How long were those orbs on the sea floor? How many people swam right by them without ever seeing them? How many people may tried to pick one up only to find it lodged to the sea floor, until Sidney came along; ever thing why it chose her?
-to paraphrase Deus to talking to Maxima about the geode.
Maxima’s a Colonel, Sig.
I think the most important thing is that investigating where she actually found them instead of the the keys (where they have probably already been looking) might turn up more artifacts.
another thought, did Archon ever find out where the geode originated that Maxima got her *symbiote, possibly alien bio-fusion armor?* from. She picked it up at a gift shop, but those geodes aren’t always local.
geodes are found all over the world granted, and gift shops can have them shipped in from a ton of sites *they form under several conditions so aren’t that rare*
that said, I couldn’t find anything about geodes being exported from Yucatan peninsula *Mexican geode mining is much further north it seems*, lots of cool underwater caves and diver killing deep pits though.
As I said before, if Deus doesn’t know where it is, then I doubt either Archon or the American government knows either.
Do you know how Maxima was all hush-hush about the existence of aliens and supernatural creatures? well, she needs to be the same about where Sydney got the orbs. Talk about an international incident!
Welp, guess what’s going to be the next Arc? It’s dealing with old enemies wearing the skin of dead Mexican Cartel Members! AKA That one Alien Vampire Lady whose specie now work for the definitely not a bad guy with a crush on Max and a truckload of Alien Tech and Magic Knowhow and Supers a galore.
Considering that Sydney eventually makes Corporal in less than a year in-story, I doubt too much happens to her because she was not being forthright about where she found them in the first place, which could possibly lead to the Archon version of “Non-Judiciary Punishment”, (Article 15 or Captain’s Mast) which could lead to forfeiture of pay for a pay period, reduction in rank (she’d lose her chevron) and up to 45 days “Extra-Duty” (whole lotta scutt-work just because) as Max is a field-grade officer.
And to be fair to Sydney, she was pretty leery about Archon at the time Max brought her in and it possible she panicked and kept it secret. Sydney then got so busy, she didn’t think about it until her dad spilled the beans.
Calling it. Scorpion Reef is in the chicxulub crater. That’s the number 1 suspect for the dinosaur killer. The Orbs have been on Earth for 65 million years, and the chicxulub impactor was a weapon.
How does it have Fracture Station in the list of places the last owner visited if it’s been there 65 million years?
This is only an assumption I admit, but I’m making a guess that Fracture Station has not been in operation for 65 million+ years.
while I am not on board the *x time caused dinosaur extinction event*
the Fracture thought could still be that old, it isn’t unprecedented in sci-fi for a much older civilization to build something and then much younger ones find it and use it, or even build ontop of it.
Stargate, Halo, Mass Effect, Jak and Daxter, Phantasy Star, Marvel comics, DC comics,
ect…
its a fairly common enough trope. Some ancient civilization builds the fracture station, much younger civilizations come upon it after its stopped being used by the older one *or no signs of the older one* eventually research stations turn to colonies turn to cities and commerce stop off point, cities built right over top of ancient structures *fairly common practice in real world Earth in fact to just build over closed off tunnels, old structures, forgotten vaults, ect…*, why you get so many Urban legends about old cities, even those not as old by world city standards.
“the Fracture thought could still be that old, it isn’t unprecedented in sci-fi for a much older civilization to build something and then much younger ones find it and use it, or even build ontop of it.”
That’s true. It wouldnt exactly be unheard of in scifi for a later alien civilization to build on existing precursor technology. That’s pretty much the staple of Stargate, Master of Orion, and Star Wars (the Ratakan Empire).
And yeah Halo and Mass Effect and all those other IP’s you mentioned as well, so it’s a very fair point you made. :)