That's because you know story tropes and focus on them so you see classic patterns.
Living in it, they would see it differently. Unless you expect someone in the prison to know that an officer on the Flagship was gonna spring Sela on her way to court?
Well first like Bluegeek said, everyone... everyone... knows she's a master manipulator. They also admitted in the last blog that she had traitors on the inside of the Republic. And even today in the real word you don't let prisoners carry anything... the staff does it. Basically agree or disagree look how they move prisoners at Gitmo, and that's how you move high security prisoners.
You mean the Republic that just got a new planet fall of last year? No they don't have a top secret asteroid facility in the middle of nowhere staffed by holograms, they just got their city built.
Yeah that one.... which should have clued the Romulans to say "hey we don't have the resources or the facilities to handle a prisoner of this magnitude. Maybe we should ask our allies for help. I guess this is the infamous pride of the Romulans... I can buy that. But then you don't keep her in a standard jail... knowing that she's a master manipulator.
They actually didn't know they had traitors in their midst until this incident, that's why they're so freaked out. Almost everyone on New Romulus knows someone who was an Imperial citizen at some point, and ALL of them have a parent that was an imperial citizen. So cutting out people who don't have imperial ties isn't an option.
First they did know. They pretty much said it in the last blog... where they said they needed to move a guard because he just talked to Sela. And they'd be incrediablly niave to think that while they are at war with the Empire they wouldn't have spies and traitors in their midst. They may be morons but they still are Romulans. Niativiy isn't usually their thing.
Moving someone is always the weakest point no matter how you do it.
Transporter- You have to deactivate transport inhibitors for them to work.
Shuttle- Can be shot down disabled, or the whole shuttle can be beamed up.
Of the three the transporter is the one with the fewest moving parts. The error was that she got a communications device at all.
I agree that it is the weakest point. Therefor knowing that... you place extra security to prevent exactly what happened. First it requires a ship. Having this high profile of a prisoner... I'm putting up the tighest damn tachyon grid known to man to make sure no cloaked ship gets in. No in fact I'm putting up multiple tachyon grids... and I'm only opening the transport inhibitors at the exact moment I'm transporting her. Also roving patrols... and possibly asking the federation for help with ships since they tend to have better sensors.
And again... you don't let the prisoner... especially one of this magnitude... carry anything.. ANYTHING at all. There was no reason that a mirror pad with the exact same material couldn't have been provided at the Hall... allowing this one to be left behind.
So yeah... personally I would have talked to professional prison guards and asked a few questions before writting this. I guess you needed her to escape so they came up with a story trope. But the fact that I think no one at all is surprised should say something to Cryptic.
Hell I would have been more surprised if she actually made it to the Hall. At least that would have been a twist I didn't see coming.
We should have left her in the care of the Iconians. Until we intervened, Sela was marginalized and out of the way. Bringing her to Mol'Rihan was exactly what she wanted us to do. Now she is loose and can cause unimaginable amounts of damage and chaos all throughout the Quadrants.
And it is our fault. In our haste to prove how much better than the Empire the Republic is, we earnestly and admirably fulfilled the role Sela intended for us.
Bottom line - We got played. Expertly so. By a master manipulator. Being played hurts far worse than anything else.
So now what? Does the Republic have the stuff to clean up its own mess? Or do we rely once again upon the Empire or the Federation to tidy up after us? How does the Republic expect to stand as an equal when it cannot even keep one very dangerous half breed locked up?
A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
And, seriously... set Sela's iPad on Airplane Mode, or activate the Parental Controls! No wonder there's no Apple Store on New Romulus, yet...
Apple is the problem :P
Wouldn't have happened if it was using Android 224.4 Jumja Stick os
(on side note I won't shed a tear that Sela escaped. Glad to see Gaius and Seken characters fleshed out more. Hopefully they won't be retconned into the generic copy paste Cryptic villains from the 60's with handlebar mustaches, upturned collars and screeching voices. )
From: Jiana t'Charvon,
aka G'essatra ir'Virinat t'Prell,
Praetor and Fleet Admiral, Tal Diann
Chief of New Romulan Military Intelligence
To:
Proconsul D'Tan
Jolan'tru, Ehkifv Temjahaere.
When the logs of the "interrogations" of the Pretender were sent to me, I informed you that, in my professional opinion, the civilian government was poorly equipped to deal with her, that the people who were conducting the "interrogations" were not following proper intelligence interrogation procedures and methodology, and that she should be turned over to the JAG Corps of the Tal Diann.
To repeat what I said at that time: the very locations of the so-called "interrogations" were inappropriate. The setting should have been a featureless room completely darkened except for a light over the prisoner casting a small circular light on her and around her. The interrogator should have remained in the darkness. She should have had no reading materials, no technology, no contact with the outside world, no amenities which might offer a trace of solace beyond what any sentient being should be afforded, that her counsel should be a trained and experienced Tal Diann JAG barrister.
Now we see the results of allowing inexperienced civilian personnel to deal with so treacherous and dangerous a prisoner of war. I trust that you will listen to my counsel more closely in the future when dealing with war criminals. We have already conducted courts-martial of such criminals successfully, and I was wrong to concede to the request of Riov t'Jarok that the Pretender be turned over to the civilian government. At the time, however, it seemed like a good idea (although my initial impulse was to shoot the Pretender where she stood, as noted in my report of the incident).
Tal Diann Security forces are now on full alert. Our Special Operations Wing is engaged in a dragnet operation in hopes of locating and recapturing the Pretender. However, they have all been ordered to take her "dead or alive." It matters little to me whether she survive to stand trial or no. In fact, as I have already told you, if I locate her myself, I will not hesitate to execute her on the spot. No matter what information she may or may not have about the Ikonnsu, it cannot be worth allowing her to go unpunished for her crimes against peace, her crimes against Romulanity, and her crimes against Remanity. Since you gave ear to what I said, but offered no reply, I will assume that you do not wish to officially approve my plan, but privately have no objection to it. As such, I will proceed as I advised at that time.
In response to an inquiry from one of your staff, let me clarify my position: by no means would I desire for martial law to be imposed; the civilian government is proper. Your leadership is the leadership our peoples need. My support for your government has not wavered. However, it is my contention that war criminals should be judged, not by the civilian justice system, but by the Military Internal Affairs Wing of the Tal Diann (specifically, our JAG Corps), and that interrogations of such prisoners should be left to the Military Intelligence Wing of the Tal Diann. These are, after all, two of the primary functions of the Tal Diann.
I trust you are well, and I hope to personally deliver news of the Pretender's death to you shortly.
If they are dumb enough to make SELA dumb enough to use her contact's real name in from of witnesses... then they're pretty dumb.
Legitimately she could've been calling Julius Caesar. But seriously considering Selan's style he likely had a thousand escape routes. They would know who he is as soon as the shuttle was missing and he missed muster.
Sure they do. The Romulan Empire would have had dozens of not hundreds of such facilities. ONE of them would have survived in Republic hands... and knowing Romulans they would have made constructing such a facility a priority over a mere "city".
Nobody prioritizes housing prisoners over housing themselves. Except America, but that's a different story. I expect Romulans to be smarter than us.
This. I actually worked as jailer until a few weeks ago. An inmate would never be given a device like a PADD to begin with, would not take anything to court with them and their defense attorney certainly would not be the one making decisions about what the inmate does, goes or takes with them.
An amusing example of the latter occurs in You Only Live Twice: a carful of mooks pursuing Bond have their entire vehicle picked up by a helicopter and dropped into the ocean... and yes, the scene has very fittingly-named music.
This would be an interesting basis for the type of scenario discussed here.
Well, there's this bit from the novel 'Dark of the Moon' (reference)...
this shameful display would never happen in the mighty Negh'var nor Bortas'qu (A.K.A. flagships of the klingon empire) KLINGONS FTW!!!!!
Didn't one of the finest Klingons Captain Kruge get his Bird of Prey straight hijacked by James....TIBERIUS...Kirk? To his credit his crew (except poor Maltz) were all dead by then.
Well first like Bluegeek said, everyone... everyone... knows she's a master manipulator. They also admitted in the last blog that she had traitors on the inside of the Republic. And even today in the real word you don't let prisoners carry anything... the staff does it. Basically agree or disagree look how they move prisoners at Gitmo, and that's how you move high security prisoners.
It stands to reason they knew this as they initially refused to give her anything. But she had something they wanted, so they had to play ball.
Yeah that one.... which should have clued the Romulans to say "hey we don't have the resources or the facilities to handle a prisoner of this magnitude. Maybe we should ask our allies for help. I guess this is the infamous pride of the Romulans... I can buy that. But then you don't keep her in a standard jail... knowing that she's a master manipulator.
Now that's true. In this instance the Republic's need to project power and maintain that it can stand on its own two feet backfired.
First they did know. They pretty much said it in the last blog... where they said they needed to move a guard because he just talked to Sela. And they'd be incrediablly niave to think that while they are at war with the Empire they wouldn't have spies and traitors in their midst. They may be morons but they still are Romulans. Niativiy isn't usually their thing.
As I recall they said that the guard was behaving inappropriately and to have him removed. I would verify but there's a bad gateway on the main page right now.
Like I said, you can't just sweep people like that. Anyone older than what? 40? Adult at the time of the big boom is basically a possible loyalist.
The Republic would not be able to function under that kind of security sweep, not when Romulans live to two hundred.
I agree that it is the weakest point. Therefor knowing that... you place extra security to prevent exactly what happened. First it requires a ship. Having this high profile of a prisoner... I'm putting up the tighest damn tachyon grid known to man to make sure no cloaked ship gets in. No in fact I'm putting up multiple tachyon grids... and I'm only opening the transport inhibitors at the exact moment I'm transporting her. Also roving patrols... and possibly asking the federation for help with ships since they tend to have better sensors.
All of which would fail, because the ship that beamed her up was supposed to be there.
Selan stole a shuttle from the Lleiset. And Selan can do that because he's the intelligence officer, on the Romulan Flagship. The perfect guy to have the codes to the tachyon net, the location of the prison, and the ability to falsify records on his whereabouts and to knock sensors on ships offline so he has a window, and then to have the codes to get by pickets. Once he's out of the system engage cloaking device and jump to warp and wherever you're going.
Personnel can beat technology.
And again... you don't let the prisoner... especially one of this magnitude... carry anything.. ANYTHING at all. There was no reason that a mirror pad with the exact same materia
l couldn't have been provided at the Hall... allowing this one to be left behind.
Agreed. But worse than the lawyer the guards should've canex'd that.
So yeah... personally I would have talked to professional prison guards and asked a few questions before writting this. I guess you needed her to escape so they came up with a story trope. But the fact that I think no one at all is surprised should say something to Cryptic.
Hell I would have been more surprised if she actually made it to the Hall. At least that would have been a twist I didn't see coming.
Well seeing as how many people were expecting us to be forced to work with her under some kind of damned work release program I'm sure there's some relief that the next time we see her she'll be an enemy by default. Add fugitive to her rap sheet.
We should have left her in the care of the Iconians. Until we intervened, Sela was marginalized and out of the way. Bringing her to Mol'Rihan was exactly what she wanted us to do. Now she is loose and can cause unimaginable amounts of damage and chaos all throughout the Quadrants.
And it is our fault. In our haste to prove how much better than the Empire the Republic is, we earnestly and admirably fulfilled the role Sela intended for us.
You're being too hard on us. We didn't even go to that base looking for her. It was...an unfortunate miracle.
Bottom line - We got played. Expertly so. By a master manipulator. Being played hurts far worse than anything else.
So now what? Does the Republic have the stuff to clean up its own mess? Or do we rely once again upon the Empire or the Federation to tidy up after us? How does the Republic expect to stand as an equal when it cannot even keep one very dangerous half breed locked up?
Cleaning up after ourselves is immaterial. Nothing has changed. We still have Iconians to fight.
Sela is a problem that will resolve itself when we run into her again. Either she makes herself useful....or I watch her turn to burning ember and then smoke from the inside out.
"Rise like Lions after slumber, In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew, Which in sleep had fallen on you-Ye are many they are few"
Well seeing as how many people were expecting us to be forced to work with her under some kind of damned work release program I'm sure there's some relief that the next time we see her she'll be an enemy by default. Add fugitive to her rap sheet.
Small miracles, right there. I'd said in the previous interrogation report that I'd have trouble being ok working side-by-side with Sela. I'm very glad the writers decided that it would be just too out of place to have that happen.
Mind you, I'm sure we'll meet up with her and have another "we should probably shoot the guys trying to kill us both, then yell at each other when that's dealt with" scenario. But that's to be expected, given the circumstances of A) we're likely trying to find and recapture her, and the Herald.
^
Well seeing as how many people were expecting us to be forced to work with her under some kind of damned work release program I'm sure there's some relief that the next time we see her she'll be an enemy by default. Add fugitive to her rap sheet.
Sela is a problem that will resolve itself when we run into her again. Either she makes herself useful....or I watch her turn to burning ember and then smoke from the inside out.
And here is kind of the problem. By definition she is now an armed and dangerous war criminal... possibly once again working for the Iconians (or even against) and when we see her again I almost guarentee that the choices Cryptic will give us will be something like "capture her... kill her... let her go" and any of them that leads to any choice other then capture her... will default to some bridge officer telling us we can't do that... and capturing her.
Hell if I had a choice my Klingon wouldn't have captured her in the first place. She's a Romulan... a dirty Romulan... from the Empire no less so no worries about alliances with the Republic... and I'm a Klingon so I'm expected to be brutal and kill her off. I certainly never would have turned her over to the Romulans.
Okay maybe not... killing her would have given her a warriors death and she doesn't deserve that. But nothing would have said I couldn't chop off all her limbs with my Bat'leth.
But of course Cryptic writing wouldn't let me be a Klingon... what are the chances Cryptic will suddenly and magically change it..
well until the unions complain about Denise Crosby doing voice work... then magically Sela will be killed.
At this point, I'm curious if Gaius actions were voluntary or if it was some kind of Tal Shiar Borg-controlling voodoo-magic.
Well we know from the Romulan storyline that the Tal Shiar has technology that allows them to control people.... so it wouldn't be surprising if it was.
But then it's the perfect cover too... and the mind zombies seemed to need constant care and orders to do much. My guess is... he was super deep cover and only broke cover for Sela.
The bigger question is... is he working for the Empire... or has the Empire already moved on from a half-human failure and Sela is still working on her own... much how Taris was.
Well seeing as how many people were expecting us to be forced to work with her under some kind of damned work release program I'm sure there's some relief that the next time we see her she'll be an enemy by default. Add fugitive to her rap sheet.
And now I'm imagining a cutscene with the Republic's version of Sam Gerard dropping an adaptation of this quote; bonus points if the actor actually does a good job of sounding like TLJ...
Alright, listen up, people. Our fugitive has been on the run for ninety minutes. Average foot speed over uneven ground barring injuries is 4 miles-per-hour. That gives us a radius of six miles. What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area. Checkpoints go up at fifteen miles. Your fugitive's name is Dr. Richard Kimble. Go get him.
What's amusing is that I had Gaius pegged as a Sela-loyalist from the start. He seemed too eager to prove Taris guilty.
Not only that, but as soon as we capture Taris in Iconia Sela shows upp demanding her. Only our crew and Gaius know we got her, unless Sela has noting better to do than following random federation ships around.
Not only that, but as soon as we capture Taris in Iconia Sela shows upp demanding her. Only our crew and Gaius know we got her, unless Sela has noting better to do than following random federation ships around.
Oh Sela knows. I'm pretty sure they have Romulan spies on Vulcan... which then translate to spies in the Federation. She may not know WHERE she is... but it's not hard to guess.
But then again, so did Jarok, and nobody's saying she's working for Sela.
Not exactly what I mean. Some of his dialogue is strange where it seems tailored to point out Taris' guilt, such as gleefully stating, "The evidence is all here." Thank you, Captain Obvious... I could see that already. There was also the choice bit where he outright tells you to check for further evidence in Taris' control room in a strangely, encouragingly jovial way:
"Before we leave, [your rank here], may I suggest we look for evidence of the materials we discovered at Hobus? They will undoubtedly prove vital at Taris' trial."
Not only is it directed prodding, but it's weird at how he phrases it like he already knows the goods are there. I knew something didn't seem quite right with that.
Jarok simply acts more like a cop who wants to see some punishment; she has her suspect, wants her detained, etc. Nothing peculiarly weaselly like Gaius with his "Before we leeeeave...." prodding.
Not only that, but as soon as we capture Taris in Iconia Sela shows upp demanding her. Only our crew and Gaius know we got her, unless Sela has noting better to do than following random federation ships around.
Exactly. I was like... "Huh? Who told her we were here?" It's all too convenient for her to show up at that point. Seriously, the clues that Gaius was a plant were all there.
so the panto villain(ess) has escaped from the cardboard prison, twirling her metaphorical mustache as she goes. what a shock. no one could have seen this coming. :rolleyes:
To whoever said this should have been a feature episode: I'm glad it wasn't, as that would have required our captains to be complicit in this case of incompetence and terrible judgment. And so soon after they finally took Divide et Impera out of the game, too.
Maybe the next time our paths cross, we'll be able to deal with this threat in a way that doesn't insult our intelligence, deny our agency, or damage our suspension of disbelief... but again, not counting on it.
so the panto villain(ess) has escaped from the cardboard prison, twirling her metaphorical mustache as she goes. what a shock. no one could have seen this coming. :rolleyes:
To whoever said this should have been a feature episode: I'm glad it wasn't, as that would have required our captains to be complicit in this case of incompetence and terrible judgment. And so soon after they finally took Divide et Impera out of the game, too.
Maybe the next time our paths cross, we'll be able to deal with this threat in a way that doesn't insult our intelligence, deny our agency, or damage our suspension of disbelief... but again, not counting on it.
Now how would you like to be a Romulan Captain... expecting your loyalty to this Republic isn't a complete waste of time... only to learn that your leaders can't keep the most dangerous person to the Republic as a captive... after you spent all that time and blood getting her.
Would probably be a huge blow to your loyalty and make you wonder if the Empire was really all that bad.
Oh no, I'm quite convinced the Empire is that bad.
That the Joker is somehow, in defiance of all common sense, able to escape from Arkham over and over again does not diminish the monstrousness of his deeds in the slightest. It simply means he's being enabled by hack writers who can't come up with anything better and don't want to give up one of their favorite toys.
Kind of like people still using holodecks despite over a decade of them being shown, on screen, as deathtraps waiting to happen. Or the Captain ignoring the advice of their bridge officers and getting themselves and/or the ship in trouble that could have been avoided if the rest of the episode didn't depend on them being stupidly negligent. It's bad, cheap and/or lazy genre writing, nothing more.
Oh no, I'm quite convinced the Empire is that bad.
That the Joker is somehow, in defiance of all common sense, able to escape from Arkham over and over again does not diminish the monstrousness of his deeds in the slightest. It simply means he's being enabled by hack writers who can't come up with anything better and don't want to give up one of their favorite toys.
Kind of like people still using holodecks despite over a decade of them being shown, on screen, as deathtraps waiting to happen. Or the Captain ignoring the advice of their bridge officers and getting themselves and/or the ship in trouble that could have been avoided if the rest of the episode didn't depend on them being stupidly negligent. It's bad, cheap and/or lazy genre writing, nothing more.
Well I agree with hack writing.. and personally as in real world me I believe the Empire is that bad.
Now assume you're a Romulan Captain who decided that the Empire was that bad... and turned on it to join the Republic with the hope that the Republic doesn't loose and you're branded a traitor.... with all that entails within the Empire.
But then you discover that your leaders are so incompetant that they're not even playing the same sport as Sela... let alone in the same league. Now you go to worry... she's gotten away... she's free to continue her reign of terror... and really is my leadership capable of stopping her... because right now all the evidence says no... sure the Federation and the Klingons maybe... but when left to their own devices... my choice of loyalties is really looking like I'm going to end up as a fugative myself if I'm lucky... else I'm going to end up as a prisoner of the Empire... and they're generally better at handling their prisoners... (unless you're an iconian lacky dealing with PC Captains who magically are TRIBBLE written into being magically capable of resisting every tool that I have that's worked on EVERYONE except you.)
In the image at the bottom of the article Sela looks like Angela Merkel.
Only if you happen to be a greek national.
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
Oke, I can understand that there might be a need for her to escape. However there are problems with they way they have done it.
First, how does her lawyer have any authority about what she can and can not take with her.
Second, considering the nature of the accusations against her, should she not be in a maximum security prison. With very extensive background checks for any personal stationed there. Yes, it can be argued that the fast majority of Romulans also where subjects of the Romulan empire. But it would have been better if it was a bit more subtle, then one of the guards has a nephew who at the present serves in the RSE-navy. Basically just makes me wonder why this was not found out during the back ground check.
Third, like some else has stated. That with her allowing anything that can be used to send a signal is just sloppy.
Four, someone is not qualified to build a high security prison, just because he did not draw a line in the sand and called it a cell door.;)
Fifth, the writers of STO should realise that the representatives of Republic's allies should have very serious questions about this incident. They should come up with a real could reason why the Federation president and Klingon first councillor would trust them with her again if they manage to recapture her.
And last, war? While there are two major galactic powers who have a vested interest in RR space and maintaining free access to the Dyson Spheres? Unless Sela has some strong allies herself I do not see that happening. And considering how her former Icconian backers had treated her. Most likely there could be some splits in the Republic with people who have thrown in their lot with D'Tan after Sela's disappearance switching sides again.
And last, war? While there are two major galactic powers who have a vested interest in RR space and maintaining free access to the Dyson Spheres? Unless Sela has some strong allies herself I do not see that happening. And considering how her former Icconian backers had treated her. Most likely there could be some splits in the Republic with people who have thrown in their lot with D'Tan after Sela's disappearance switching sides again.
I agree I thought war was stretching it a bit, unless they're talking about Sela taking up her position again with the Empire and starting a war... which honestly I didn't know was ever actually done...
Otherwise I could see the Feds and the Klinks throwing up their collective hands and pulling their support from D'Tan and his Republic and deciding that they can do better without them... and that they're tired of carrying their incompetant behinds.
It's almost like the Republic is the 2k dpser in a Advanced Queue
It does make sense that Sela had to escape for storyline reasons. It's a seemingly typical plot trajectory, but yeah I can see why they did it.
I am, however, very glad they gave a legitimizing reason for it. Gaius being involved basically throws any and all security measures out the window. He's the security chief on the Llleiset, so he would've theoretically had a decent level of access to Sela. In all likelihood, he's the one that either reconfigured the PADD, or brought her a new one.
I'm interested to see what the next blog is, and when we start seeing Gaius brought in for some serious questioning...
Comments
Well first like Bluegeek said, everyone... everyone... knows she's a master manipulator. They also admitted in the last blog that she had traitors on the inside of the Republic. And even today in the real word you don't let prisoners carry anything... the staff does it. Basically agree or disagree look how they move prisoners at Gitmo, and that's how you move high security prisoners.
Yeah that one.... which should have clued the Romulans to say "hey we don't have the resources or the facilities to handle a prisoner of this magnitude. Maybe we should ask our allies for help. I guess this is the infamous pride of the Romulans... I can buy that. But then you don't keep her in a standard jail... knowing that she's a master manipulator.
First they did know. They pretty much said it in the last blog... where they said they needed to move a guard because he just talked to Sela. And they'd be incrediablly niave to think that while they are at war with the Empire they wouldn't have spies and traitors in their midst. They may be morons but they still are Romulans. Niativiy isn't usually their thing.
I agree that it is the weakest point. Therefor knowing that... you place extra security to prevent exactly what happened. First it requires a ship. Having this high profile of a prisoner... I'm putting up the tighest damn tachyon grid known to man to make sure no cloaked ship gets in. No in fact I'm putting up multiple tachyon grids... and I'm only opening the transport inhibitors at the exact moment I'm transporting her. Also roving patrols... and possibly asking the federation for help with ships since they tend to have better sensors.
And again... you don't let the prisoner... especially one of this magnitude... carry anything.. ANYTHING at all. There was no reason that a mirror pad with the exact same material couldn't have been provided at the Hall... allowing this one to be left behind.
So yeah... personally I would have talked to professional prison guards and asked a few questions before writting this. I guess you needed her to escape so they came up with a story trope. But the fact that I think no one at all is surprised should say something to Cryptic.
Hell I would have been more surprised if she actually made it to the Hall. At least that would have been a twist I didn't see coming.
And it is our fault. In our haste to prove how much better than the Empire the Republic is, we earnestly and admirably fulfilled the role Sela intended for us.
Bottom line - We got played. Expertly so. By a master manipulator. Being played hurts far worse than anything else.
So now what? Does the Republic have the stuff to clean up its own mess? Or do we rely once again upon the Empire or the Federation to tidy up after us? How does the Republic expect to stand as an equal when it cannot even keep one very dangerous half breed locked up?
Apple is the problem :P
Wouldn't have happened if it was using Android 224.4 Jumja Stick os
(on side note I won't shed a tear that Sela escaped. Glad to see Gaius and Seken characters fleshed out more. Hopefully they won't be retconned into the generic copy paste Cryptic villains from the 60's with handlebar mustaches, upturned collars and screeching voices.
[/SIGPIC]
Jiana t'Charvon,
aka G'essatra ir'Virinat t'Prell,
Praetor and Fleet Admiral,
Tal Diann
Chief of New Romulan Military Intelligence
To:
Proconsul D'Tan
Jolan'tru, Ehkifv Temjahaere.
When the logs of the "interrogations" of the Pretender were sent to me, I informed you that, in my professional opinion, the civilian government was poorly equipped to deal with her, that the people who were conducting the "interrogations" were not following proper intelligence interrogation procedures and methodology, and that she should be turned over to the JAG Corps of the Tal Diann.
To repeat what I said at that time: the very locations of the so-called "interrogations" were inappropriate. The setting should have been a featureless room completely darkened except for a light over the prisoner casting a small circular light on her and around her. The interrogator should have remained in the darkness. She should have had no reading materials, no technology, no contact with the outside world, no amenities which might offer a trace of solace beyond what any sentient being should be afforded, that her counsel should be a trained and experienced Tal Diann JAG barrister.
Now we see the results of allowing inexperienced civilian personnel to deal with so treacherous and dangerous a prisoner of war. I trust that you will listen to my counsel more closely in the future when dealing with war criminals. We have already conducted courts-martial of such criminals successfully, and I was wrong to concede to the request of Riov t'Jarok that the Pretender be turned over to the civilian government. At the time, however, it seemed like a good idea (although my initial impulse was to shoot the Pretender where she stood, as noted in my report of the incident).
Tal Diann Security forces are now on full alert. Our Special Operations Wing is engaged in a dragnet operation in hopes of locating and recapturing the Pretender. However, they have all been ordered to take her "dead or alive." It matters little to me whether she survive to stand trial or no. In fact, as I have already told you, if I locate her myself, I will not hesitate to execute her on the spot. No matter what information she may or may not have about the Ikonnsu, it cannot be worth allowing her to go unpunished for her crimes against peace, her crimes against Romulanity, and her crimes against Remanity. Since you gave ear to what I said, but offered no reply, I will assume that you do not wish to officially approve my plan, but privately have no objection to it. As such, I will proceed as I advised at that time.
In response to an inquiry from one of your staff, let me clarify my position: by no means would I desire for martial law to be imposed; the civilian government is proper. Your leadership is the leadership our peoples need. My support for your government has not wavered. However, it is my contention that war criminals should be judged, not by the civilian justice system, but by the Military Internal Affairs Wing of the Tal Diann (specifically, our JAG Corps), and that interrogations of such prisoners should be left to the Military Intelligence Wing of the Tal Diann. These are, after all, two of the primary functions of the Tal Diann.
I trust you are well, and I hope to personally deliver news of the Pretender's death to you shortly.
Ahr'Lleiset mnhei'sahe mnei.
Legitimately she could've been calling Julius Caesar. But seriously considering Selan's style he likely had a thousand escape routes. They would know who he is as soon as the shuttle was missing and he missed muster.
Nobody prioritizes housing prisoners over housing themselves. Except America, but that's a different story. I expect Romulans to be smarter than us.
Indeed.
At the very least cell phones are contraband.
Ok, Ok, OK.
Didn't one of the finest Klingons Captain Kruge get his Bird of Prey straight hijacked by James....TIBERIUS...Kirk? To his credit his crew (except poor Maltz) were all dead by then.
It stands to reason they knew this as they initially refused to give her anything. But she had something they wanted, so they had to play ball.
Now that's true. In this instance the Republic's need to project power and maintain that it can stand on its own two feet backfired.
As I recall they said that the guard was behaving inappropriately and to have him removed. I would verify but there's a bad gateway on the main page right now.
Like I said, you can't just sweep people like that. Anyone older than what? 40? Adult at the time of the big boom is basically a possible loyalist.
The Republic would not be able to function under that kind of security sweep, not when Romulans live to two hundred.
All of which would fail, because the ship that beamed her up was supposed to be there.
Selan stole a shuttle from the Lleiset. And Selan can do that because he's the intelligence officer, on the Romulan Flagship. The perfect guy to have the codes to the tachyon net, the location of the prison, and the ability to falsify records on his whereabouts and to knock sensors on ships offline so he has a window, and then to have the codes to get by pickets. Once he's out of the system engage cloaking device and jump to warp and wherever you're going.
Personnel can beat technology.
l couldn't have been provided at the Hall... allowing this one to be left behind.
Agreed. But worse than the lawyer the guards should've canex'd that.
Well seeing as how many people were expecting us to be forced to work with her under some kind of damned work release program I'm sure there's some relief that the next time we see her she'll be an enemy by default. Add fugitive to her rap sheet.
You're being too hard on us. We didn't even go to that base looking for her. It was...an unfortunate miracle.
Cleaning up after ourselves is immaterial. Nothing has changed. We still have Iconians to fight.
Sela is a problem that will resolve itself when we run into her again. Either she makes herself useful....or I watch her turn to burning ember and then smoke from the inside out.
Small miracles, right there. I'd said in the previous interrogation report that I'd have trouble being ok working side-by-side with Sela. I'm very glad the writers decided that it would be just too out of place to have that happen.
Mind you, I'm sure we'll meet up with her and have another "we should probably shoot the guys trying to kill us both, then yell at each other when that's dealt with" scenario. But that's to be expected, given the circumstances of A) we're likely trying to find and recapture her, and
But then again, so did Jarok, and nobody's saying she's working for Sela.
Your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved 800 lives, including your mother's, and yours.
I dare you to do better.
And here is kind of the problem. By definition she is now an armed and dangerous war criminal... possibly once again working for the Iconians (or even against) and when we see her again I almost guarentee that the choices Cryptic will give us will be something like "capture her... kill her... let her go" and any of them that leads to any choice other then capture her... will default to some bridge officer telling us we can't do that... and capturing her.
Hell if I had a choice my Klingon wouldn't have captured her in the first place. She's a Romulan... a dirty Romulan... from the Empire no less so no worries about alliances with the Republic... and I'm a Klingon so I'm expected to be brutal and kill her off. I certainly never would have turned her over to the Romulans.
Okay maybe not... killing her would have given her a warriors death and she doesn't deserve that. But nothing would have said I couldn't chop off all her limbs with my Bat'leth.
But of course Cryptic writing wouldn't let me be a Klingon... what are the chances Cryptic will suddenly and magically change it..
well until the unions complain about Denise Crosby doing voice work... then magically Sela will be killed.
Well we know from the Romulan storyline that the Tal Shiar has technology that allows them to control people.... so it wouldn't be surprising if it was.
But then it's the perfect cover too... and the mind zombies seemed to need constant care and orders to do much. My guess is... he was super deep cover and only broke cover for Sela.
The bigger question is... is he working for the Empire... or has the Empire already moved on from a half-human failure and Sela is still working on her own... much how Taris was.
Not only that, but as soon as we capture Taris in Iconia Sela shows upp demanding her. Only our crew and Gaius know we got her, unless Sela has noting better to do than following random federation ships around.
Where is your Rihannsu pride? Such is the mannerisms of the klivam.
Sela's ship would have a tragic 'unexpected' core breach.
Tragic accidents happen.
Oh Sela knows. I'm pretty sure they have Romulan spies on Vulcan... which then translate to spies in the Federation. She may not know WHERE she is... but it's not hard to guess.
what a. surprise.
surely. no one. saw that. coming.
Your avatar is quite fitting for that comment.
Not exactly what I mean. Some of his dialogue is strange where it seems tailored to point out Taris' guilt, such as gleefully stating, "The evidence is all here." Thank you, Captain Obvious... I could see that already. There was also the choice bit where he outright tells you to check for further evidence in Taris' control room in a strangely, encouragingly jovial way:
"Before we leave, [your rank here], may I suggest we look for evidence of the materials we discovered at Hobus? They will undoubtedly prove vital at Taris' trial."
Not only is it directed prodding, but it's weird at how he phrases it like he already knows the goods are there. I knew something didn't seem quite right with that.
Jarok simply acts more like a cop who wants to see some punishment; she has her suspect, wants her detained, etc. Nothing peculiarly weaselly like Gaius with his "Before we leeeeave...." prodding.
Which brings us to:
Exactly. I was like... "Huh? Who told her we were here?" It's all too convenient for her to show up at that point. Seriously, the clues that Gaius was a plant were all there.
so the panto villain(ess) has escaped from the cardboard prison, twirling her metaphorical mustache as she goes. what a shock. no one could have seen this coming. :rolleyes:
To whoever said this should have been a feature episode: I'm glad it wasn't, as that would have required our captains to be complicit in this case of incompetence and terrible judgment. And so soon after they finally took Divide et Impera out of the game, too.
Maybe the next time our paths cross, we'll be able to deal with this threat in a way that doesn't insult our intelligence, deny our agency, or damage our suspension of disbelief... but again, not counting on it.
Now how would you like to be a Romulan Captain... expecting your loyalty to this Republic isn't a complete waste of time... only to learn that your leaders can't keep the most dangerous person to the Republic as a captive... after you spent all that time and blood getting her.
Would probably be a huge blow to your loyalty and make you wonder if the Empire was really all that bad.
That the Joker is somehow, in defiance of all common sense, able to escape from Arkham over and over again does not diminish the monstrousness of his deeds in the slightest. It simply means he's being enabled by hack writers who can't come up with anything better and don't want to give up one of their favorite toys.
Kind of like people still using holodecks despite over a decade of them being shown, on screen, as deathtraps waiting to happen. Or the Captain ignoring the advice of their bridge officers and getting themselves and/or the ship in trouble that could have been avoided if the rest of the episode didn't depend on them being stupidly negligent. It's bad, cheap and/or lazy genre writing, nothing more.
Well I agree with hack writing.. and personally as in real world me I believe the Empire is that bad.
Now assume you're a Romulan Captain who decided that the Empire was that bad... and turned on it to join the Republic with the hope that the Republic doesn't loose and you're branded a traitor.... with all that entails within the Empire.
But then you discover that your leaders are so incompetant that they're not even playing the same sport as Sela... let alone in the same league. Now you go to worry... she's gotten away... she's free to continue her reign of terror... and really is my leadership capable of stopping her... because right now all the evidence says no... sure the Federation and the Klingons maybe... but when left to their own devices... my choice of loyalties is really looking like I'm going to end up as a fugative myself if I'm lucky... else I'm going to end up as a prisoner of the Empire... and they're generally better at handling their prisoners... (unless you're an iconian lacky dealing with PC Captains who magically are TRIBBLE written into being magically capable of resisting every tool that I have that's worked on EVERYONE except you.)
Only if you happen to be a greek national.
First, how does her lawyer have any authority about what she can and can not take with her.
Second, considering the nature of the accusations against her, should she not be in a maximum security prison. With very extensive background checks for any personal stationed there. Yes, it can be argued that the fast majority of Romulans also where subjects of the Romulan empire. But it would have been better if it was a bit more subtle, then one of the guards has a nephew who at the present serves in the RSE-navy. Basically just makes me wonder why this was not found out during the back ground check.
Third, like some else has stated. That with her allowing anything that can be used to send a signal is just sloppy.
Four, someone is not qualified to build a high security prison, just because he did not draw a line in the sand and called it a cell door.;)
Fifth, the writers of STO should realise that the representatives of Republic's allies should have very serious questions about this incident. They should come up with a real could reason why the Federation president and Klingon first councillor would trust them with her again if they manage to recapture her.
And last, war? While there are two major galactic powers who have a vested interest in RR space and maintaining free access to the Dyson Spheres? Unless Sela has some strong allies herself I do not see that happening. And considering how her former Icconian backers had treated her. Most likely there could be some splits in the Republic with people who have thrown in their lot with D'Tan after Sela's disappearance switching sides again.
I agree I thought war was stretching it a bit, unless they're talking about Sela taking up her position again with the Empire and starting a war... which honestly I didn't know was ever actually done...
Otherwise I could see the Feds and the Klinks throwing up their collective hands and pulling their support from D'Tan and his Republic and deciding that they can do better without them... and that they're tired of carrying their incompetant behinds.
It's almost like the Republic is the 2k dpser in a Advanced Queue
Sorry I couldn't resist.
I am, however, very glad they gave a legitimizing reason for it. Gaius being involved basically throws any and all security measures out the window. He's the security chief on the Llleiset, so he would've theoretically had a decent level of access to Sela. In all likelihood, he's the one that either reconfigured the PADD, or brought her a new one.
I'm interested to see what the next blog is, and when we start seeing Gaius brought in for some serious questioning...