By the time anyone notices her dress they probably will notice Dolly first
Also Ceci is already known to be a android so her being cold won't concern them :)
Amalthea isn't expected to keep it secret if she is asked directly, torture is way too good at getting the answer out of servants anyways, so it wouldn't work.
As long as she doesn't run her mouth off prematurely, Dolly won't loose her edge.
Besides, security probably already knows something is up, and would have Dolly marked for extra surveilance anyways.
That is, if they are any competent.
Which, they might not be, they did after all let Kyle in with a weapon.
There is also a distinct problem with things going to shit all over the place at the moment, they may not be watching this section all to carefully.
Then again she may walk out the door to an entire force of Nova Roma Legionaries waiting for her.
I'm still a big fan of "set up some cameras in the ficus and hide some plastic explosives under the floorboards and wait for a hostile to come along" but I doubt any of the opposition is already prepared to make a last ditch stand for the palace, so that's probably not a concern. Yet.
Please tell me the comic isn't going to have David Bowie's crotch as a guest star lol (not that I'd consider it a problem if it were to happen ;) )
Note: any of the following are acceptable guest stars to me: David Bowie's crotch (did such an excellent job in Labyrinth, you know), Robert Downey Jr.'s ego (without it, Iron Man would have flopped), Vin Diesel (between Riddick, Fast and Furious, being a huge D&D nerd, and "I am Groot", well...crush central for me *blush*), Q...I mean Discord...I mean John DeLancie, Scarlet Johannsen, Kelly Hu, Allison Hannigan, or Felicia Day.
Even if Dolly succeeds, Almalthea may die, DLK. If Dolly gets Lynn and runs, Douchimus is still in charge. The Caasians would torture and killed her to find out what she knew. So unless Acantha is FIRMLY on the throne, Amalthea's days may be numbered.
Why would it go hard for Amalthea? She's a slave, and a transhuman slave at that. She's nothing and no one. The powers that be have no reason whatsoever to even look at her, much less waste time and effort torturing her for information. Who would give important information to a mere chamber slave?
. . . this particular Nova Roman attitude is why Miraiko has gotten away with an awful lot of shit under everybody's nose, by the way.
If Dolly's part of Lynn's escape becomes known then ANYONE that had contact with her, Rose. Amalthea would immediately be pulled in, the Cassians are smart enough to know servants (and slaves) see and hear things. The second they got her, it would be obvious she knows something (judging by her demeanor). They would take her apart to get it.
Never said it would be in time to do any good, Sheela. Just knowing the kind of person the Prince is, I would expect torture and death for anyone left behind.
The Cassians are extremely familiar with a concept I'll call "willful obedience":
"Oh, you want me to be completely obedient and do exactly as I'm told? Okay, I'll do that. AND NOTHING ELSE."
So, hypothetically, we have the following.
Noctis: What did you see?
Amalthea: Nothing.
Noctis: You may go.
(later)
Prince: WHAT DID SHE SEE?!
Noctis: Nothing.
Prince: I WANT THE USELESS BITCH KILLED!
Noctis: It will be done with all due expedience, my lord.
(later)
Noctis: Malati, go kill that bounty hunter we have in the cells.
Malati: ?
Noctis: His Highness wants "the useless bitch" killed.
Malati: I'm pretty sure he meant the slave.
Noctis: The slave is serving a useful purpose. Dari McCarthy is most certainly serving no purpose whatsoever.
Malati: Yay!
(Noctis has Amalthea moved elsewhere in the palace well out of sight until the Prince forgets about her--so, like, 15 minutes--while Malati shivs Dari.)
". . . this particular Nova Roman attitude is why Miraiko has gotten away with an awful lot of shit under everybody's nose, by the way. "
And because they tend to go unnoticed is why you always pay such close attention to them.
One person should be tasked to pay attention to the slaves in the palace.
Also, if Dari somehow lives and escapes during the ensuing clusterfuck, I fully expect her to show up later to make a pain of herself, since I doubt she's smart enough to follow the "repent sins, live honestly and entirely out of the public eye" method of not dying.
Prince : HAS THE USELESS BITCH BEEN KILLED?
Noctis : Yes.
Prince : GOOD, GOOD, THAT SLAVE NEEDED KILLING.
Noctis : ...
Prince : ...
Noctis : ...
Prince : YOU *DID* KILL THE SLAVE, RIGHT?
Noctis : I had Malati kill the Useless Bitch.
Prince : ... AND WAS THAT THE SLAVE?
Noctis : No.
Prince : THEN WHO WAS IT ?
Noctis : The bountyhunter named Dari, she was very useless.
Prince : ARRGH, TELL MALATI TO KILL THE SLAVE!
Noctis : Very well, contacting Malati ... she says she cannot do that.
Prince : WHY NOT?!
Noctis : She does not know where the slave is.
Prince : AARGH, DOES ANY OF THE OTHER CASSIANS KNOW WHERE SHE IS?
Noctis : Querying the Cassians .... no, they do not know.
Prince : AAARRRGHHH - WELL DO *SOMETHING* !!
Noctis : As you wish, I shall put Malati to work.
Prince : GOOD, good ... *whew* ... I don't know what I should do without you Cassians.
Noctis : Thank you prince, you are too kind to us.
(later )
Noctis : Malati, I need to put you to work.
Malati : Oh man, now what do I have to do ?
Noctis : The gladiatoral changing rooms are in dire need of surveilance, you will do it.
Malati : YAY! And, can I "survey" the gladiators in the bath too?
Noctis : Yes, that would be acceptable.
Malati : You're the best Noctis. :D
No wonder Malati likes hanging out with Noctis!
Noctis gives her such satisfying jobs. :)
She might be able to hear that the bursts are happening, but she couldn't understand them. Remember that burst transmission is binary code sent in a fraction of a second. Someone who doesn't have the right hardware installed can't comprehend it.
Rereading this again, CeCi's "MOMMY!" leads me to think that if Dolly and CeCi survive all of this, CeCi will have a genuine emotional attachment to Dolly and once everything calms down, Dolly might actually take CeCi under her wings as her foster daughter.
Ahhh.... The subtle whine of the compressors spinning up the turbines in the background just before the fuel nozzles load the combustion chambers and ignite....
As for CeCi and Dolly: more than Master and Apprentice; family.
I like it that Ceci's ethical code moves her away from scorched earth type ROEs and she trys to restrain Dolly from too much collateral damage amongst the populace.
I doubt there are too many 'Good Germans' in the general society except for the echelons of the Empire's bureaucracy and номенклату́ра.
I think I hear a story coming from all of this that will be passed down in many a drinking hall! The story would tell of The Lost Girl, The Mad Prince, The Zealous Protector, and The Boy who Died. Hopefully not twice though....
I can just imagine the surprise on the faces of Prince Douchebag's personal guards when a pretty little girl in hotpants rears back and leaves a smoking crater in their chests. "Peekaboo, I see through you."
I remember Malati's assessment of Ceci very clearly... "she's either overbuilt, or VERY good". We do have at least one Cassian who is not going to underestimate Ceci... even is she's no match for her.
Malati, Noctis, Kali, Nox and the rest of the Cassian's if they knew Dolly's mission, MIGHT suddenly find reasons to be elsewhere and to order any human troops OTHER than the Prince's picked Psycho's out of the palace.
Fuck no, if they knew that CeCi was on the war-path, they would bring themselves to stand in the way of CeCi, just so they could have a chance of duking it out with her.
No better bragging rights, than beating up a brandnew, totally modern, top-of-the-line black angel 'droid, with an older model body.
That's the kind of stuff that bragging rights are made of!
A Sopwith might have a better chance vs a modern jet than you'd think. Low heat sig so IR missiles would have a hard time getting a lock, low radar return so the same with radar guided, most modern fighters use a radar gun director for air-to-air so the same there and the speed difference plus the within it's own length turning radius of the biplane, not to mention it's ability to hold high angles of attack, would make in close 'dogfighting' heavily favour the older plane, if they get within a hundred yards of each other I'd put even money on the Sopwith, outside of the engine or pilot there isn't much besides empty space and 20mm HEI goes right through cloth without going off while a modern fighter is packed pretty full of hardware, turbines don't tolerate extra bits in the blades very well, and a .303 or .30-06 bullet is almost guaranteed to hit something important. Of course a good close pass by any fighter, F14-Tomcat, F15-Eagle, F18-Hornet or anything else would strip the fabric from the struts pretty fast and that would be the best bet...As for modern fighters vs somewhat older ones, one of our F5 drivers took down three F-15's in DACT, verified by gun camera footage and range data, and it didn't even have radar, just a personally owned 'fuzzbuster' a pilot had tweaked by the commradar lab ;)
I don't think so. Notice I said if they knew DOLLY, was there and what her mission is, they would most likely stay out of the way and pull all of the real troops, the good troops back. As long as Dolly didn't go directly after Decimus, but just after Lynn and whoever between her, Lynn and the way out, I highly doubt the Cassians would do a single thing to stop her as long as she limited her targets to the "Legitimate" idiots and not the good troops they would want to protect.
I'm going off of what Malati, Noctis, and Kali have said, and remember Nox wants to listen to Decimus's heartbeat to count down to his demise.
I really think, if they knew Dolly was there to Get Lynn and get out, they'd clear the way for her.
Saying all that, I think Noctis does have a clue, especially with her talk of following "Precise" instructions.
Just wondering CentComm and Tokyo Rose, will we get to see Dolly's new view with and without her glasses?
Earlier she was "Expecting" her combat HUD to pop up, and yet when she first awoke she did have a "Flag" to not exceed human parameters. Since she doesn't have a combat HUD like TeeDee, or Ada, just what does she have?
Also Ceci is already known to be a android so her being cold won't concern them :)
Also, is that a We Were Soldiers reference from Cici? I didn't know she was a Plumley fan :)
As long as she doesn't run her mouth off prematurely, Dolly won't loose her edge.
Besides, security probably already knows something is up, and would have Dolly marked for extra surveilance anyways.
That is, if they are any competent.
Which, they might not be, they did after all let Kyle in with a weapon.
Then again she may walk out the door to an entire force of Nova Roma Legionaries waiting for her.
I'm still a big fan of "set up some cameras in the ficus and hide some plastic explosives under the floorboards and wait for a hostile to come along" but I doubt any of the opposition is already prepared to make a last ditch stand for the palace, so that's probably not a concern. Yet.
Note: any of the following are acceptable guest stars to me: David Bowie's crotch (did such an excellent job in Labyrinth, you know), Robert Downey Jr.'s ego (without it, Iron Man would have flopped), Vin Diesel (between Riddick, Fast and Furious, being a huge D&D nerd, and "I am Groot", well...crush central for me *blush*), Q...I mean Discord...I mean John DeLancie, Scarlet Johannsen, Kelly Hu, Allison Hannigan, or Felicia Day.
Including the stuff you would not like anyone to know.
. . . this particular Nova Roman attitude is why Miraiko has gotten away with an awful lot of shit under everybody's nose, by the way.
Basically, she doesn't know anything worth knowing, that's why Dolly is kicking her out, in order to keep it that way.
Safer for both herself and everyone else.
"Oh, you want me to be completely obedient and do exactly as I'm told? Okay, I'll do that. AND NOTHING ELSE."
So, hypothetically, we have the following.
Noctis: What did you see?
Amalthea: Nothing.
Noctis: You may go.
(later)
Prince: WHAT DID SHE SEE?!
Noctis: Nothing.
Prince: I WANT THE USELESS BITCH KILLED!
Noctis: It will be done with all due expedience, my lord.
(later)
Noctis: Malati, go kill that bounty hunter we have in the cells.
Malati: ?
Noctis: His Highness wants "the useless bitch" killed.
Malati: I'm pretty sure he meant the slave.
Noctis: The slave is serving a useful purpose. Dari McCarthy is most certainly serving no purpose whatsoever.
Malati: Yay!
(Noctis has Amalthea moved elsewhere in the palace well out of sight until the Prince forgets about her--so, like, 15 minutes--while Malati shivs Dari.)
Also anyone else noticing the webpage here and comments taking like...ages to open ?
And because they tend to go unnoticed is why you always pay such close attention to them.
One person should be tasked to pay attention to the slaves in the palace.
Also, if Dari somehow lives and escapes during the ensuing clusterfuck, I fully expect her to show up later to make a pain of herself, since I doubt she's smart enough to follow the "repent sins, live honestly and entirely out of the public eye" method of not dying.
Prince : HAS THE USELESS BITCH BEEN KILLED?
Noctis : Yes.
Prince : GOOD, GOOD, THAT SLAVE NEEDED KILLING.
Noctis : ...
Prince : ...
Noctis : ...
Prince : YOU *DID* KILL THE SLAVE, RIGHT?
Noctis : I had Malati kill the Useless Bitch.
Prince : ... AND WAS THAT THE SLAVE?
Noctis : No.
Prince : THEN WHO WAS IT ?
Noctis : The bountyhunter named Dari, she was very useless.
Prince : ARRGH, TELL MALATI TO KILL THE SLAVE!
Noctis : Very well, contacting Malati ... she says she cannot do that.
Prince : WHY NOT?!
Noctis : She does not know where the slave is.
Prince : AARGH, DOES ANY OF THE OTHER CASSIANS KNOW WHERE SHE IS?
Noctis : Querying the Cassians .... no, they do not know.
Prince : AAARRRGHHH - WELL DO *SOMETHING* !!
Noctis : As you wish, I shall put Malati to work.
Prince : GOOD, good ... *whew* ... I don't know what I should do without you Cassians.
Noctis : Thank you prince, you are too kind to us.
(later )
Noctis : Malati, I need to put you to work.
Malati : Oh man, now what do I have to do ?
Noctis : The gladiatoral changing rooms are in dire need of surveilance, you will do it.
Malati : YAY! And, can I "survey" the gladiators in the bath too?
Noctis : Yes, that would be acceptable.
Malati : You're the best Noctis. :D
No wonder Malati likes hanging out with Noctis!
Noctis gives her such satisfying jobs. :)
You just made my day.
...and where is the shooting? XD
...and would Amalthea not hear the bursts?
(it is suggested so in current comic 1181)
Is Amalthea a spy? Even if she's not knowingly a spy, has her master (or someone else) bugged her?
I'd say they sent her in to make it seem like there wasn't a platoon of guards with readied weapons.
While I like many of the characters in the comic a lot, Dolly is one of my favorites. As may be noted by my chants in previous comic pages!
Dolly! Dolly! Dolly!
Or at least "shootier" !
Just thinking.
In addition to all her Taylor daughters... :)
She probably already knows that Dolly saves ALL the lost kittens!
Every.. last.. one of them!
This must happen!
As for CeCi and Dolly: more than Master and Apprentice; family.
I doubt there are too many 'Good Germans' in the general society except for the echelons of the Empire's bureaucracy and номенклату́ра.
No better bragging rights, than beating up a brandnew, totally modern, top-of-the-line black angel 'droid, with an older model body.
That's the kind of stuff that bragging rights are made of!
WW1 Sopwith Camel trying to dogfight an F-15 Tomcat level outclassed
Out of them all, Malati and Nox might be willing to give it a try. They're both death-seekers.
I'm going off of what Malati, Noctis, and Kali have said, and remember Nox wants to listen to Decimus's heartbeat to count down to his demise.
I really think, if they knew Dolly was there to Get Lynn and get out, they'd clear the way for her.
Saying all that, I think Noctis does have a clue, especially with her talk of following "Precise" instructions.
Hence the way she worded that.
Earlier she was "Expecting" her combat HUD to pop up, and yet when she first awoke she did have a "Flag" to not exceed human parameters. Since she doesn't have a combat HUD like TeeDee, or Ada, just what does she have?