As for the problem part; "bad for business". And Cella tweaked his 'damsel in distress' reflex.
As for the DNA part*; Mr. Lambert has spent a long and 'eventful' life making a successful living in a very harsh world!
I have to agree with Cat. He wouldn't be still doing what he is doing if he wasn't GOOD at it. Whether it is his DNA or his personality, Mr. Lambert is GOING to make deals. :-D
And apparently he does have a conscience, or he wouldn't have responded to the comment on the girl in trouble that way. If he didn't care he would have said something more like too bad, so sad. Instead he asked what makes her important to me. He was willing to find out what the problem was, and probably get INVOLVED in it instead of just ignoring it.
Of course, he wouldn't have defended Connie either in all likelihood if he didn't have a conscience. I think I like Mr. Black. Don't want to EVER get on his bad side, but he would make a good person to know, I think. :-)
A background issue perhaps: With the plot gravitating back towards Nova Roma; Wouldn't a militarily strong government under sane leadership go a long way towards reclaiming it's surrounding Wastelands. A Pax Nova Romana perhaps?
I just did a re-read of one of my favourites among his books, Path of the Fury (which is vastly superior to the "expanded" later version, In Fury Born, BTW).
It features an alien race who get along quite well with humanity, who reserve their aggressiveness and ferocity for business. They aren't interested in fighting for territory, they'd rather buy it. OTOH, their trading ships are armed, and they do hunt down pirates.
As Dave puts it, to them, "Pirates were not just murderous criminals ... but murderous criminals who were bad for business."
As for the DNA part*; Mr. Lambert has spent a long and 'eventful' life making a successful living in a very harsh world!
*(Probably not literally!)
And apparently he does have a conscience, or he wouldn't have responded to the comment on the girl in trouble that way. If he didn't care he would have said something more like too bad, so sad. Instead he asked what makes her important to me. He was willing to find out what the problem was, and probably get INVOLVED in it instead of just ignoring it.
Of course, he wouldn't have defended Connie either in all likelihood if he didn't have a conscience. I think I like Mr. Black. Don't want to EVER get on his bad side, but he would make a good person to know, I think. :-)
His name is David Weber.
I just did a re-read of one of my favourites among his books, Path of the Fury (which is vastly superior to the "expanded" later version, In Fury Born, BTW).
It features an alien race who get along quite well with humanity, who reserve their aggressiveness and ferocity for business. They aren't interested in fighting for territory, they'd rather buy it. OTOH, their trading ships are armed, and they do hunt down pirates.
As Dave puts it, to them, "Pirates were not just murderous criminals ... but murderous criminals who were bad for business."
But it's a Rooster Cogburn eyepatch.
"panel 3": ...also end or civilization... => of => ...end of civilization...