[James Rye]

You know what would be cool? If Ariel could use her hair-power to strengthen her arms and shoulders like an exo-skelett to throw incredible strong swings and jabs with her halberd, crushing weapons, armor and bones in one hit as nobody saw it coming that she had "stronger arms than Quain". But for that she would probably need lots of concentration or enough training to pull such a move constantly or at least when it really matters during battles. That way she could have better chances to win her battles and maybe even duels against Sang and co, showing the Sargs who is really their boss, Ariel, Daughter of Quain'tana, future ruler of all below and above the underworld! Hah, too bad Ariel is too timid for such power-play, but it sure would be awesome if the hair can be used that way~

[FireWalker]

Yay my Baby's back But that doesn't matter, wtf Kern?? I can't process whether or not this was a good idea or not, and also while I applaud Ash for actually doing something besides staying on the sideline all the time,
its still kind of messed up that she would order such a thing, there were hostages, and we don't know who those hostages were, and UGH!

['Lement]

Yeah I was unsure why Kel went "No!" and came to check.

Still unsure. I'd think he wanted to negotiate, but he just tried to do a heroic last stand to let others get away, plus he should expect the guys hunting the airship to have ways to deal with a ship in air.

Maybe he thinks this will cause bad blood and further schism in Sarghs that becomes hard to mend with troops' lives lost instead of just running away and sacrificing stragglers, downplaying the value of morale penalty of losing his life? Or....Maybe he expected to be captured, and planned to work a deal from the inside?

Whatever his idea was, he clearly didn't convince either Ariel or Ash'waren. Heck, I'm not sure he even informed them, with the hectic pace.

Though, from certain outside perspective, the rebel faction of Sarghs containing the supposed-to-be Ill'haress leads an airship to colonies before the legion descends upon them. To an uninformed or paranoid observer, this might appear just copying Snadhya's tactics of wrecking colonies with plausible deniability; and it is easy to stay uninformed when we've yet to see a newspaper in comic that I can recall.

[sunhawk]

You know what would be cool? If Ariel could use her hair-power to strengthen her arms and shoulders like an exo-skelett to throw incredible strong swings and jabs with her halberd, crushing weapons, armor and bones in one hit as nobody saw it coming that she had "stronger arms than Quain". But for that she would probably need lots of concentration or enough training to pull such a move constantly or at least when it really matters during battles. That way she could have better chances to win her battles and maybe even duels against Sang and co, showing the Sargs who is really their boss, Ariel, Daughter of Quain'tana, future ruler of all below and above the underworld! Hah, too bad Ariel is too timid for such power-play, but it sure would be awesome if the hair can be used that way~

Bayonetta Ariel.

Kern must get right on this.

[Junglefowl26]

As for Ash being right...I think it is important to note that Kel is screaming No, not Ariel. He isn't exactly opposed to doing horrible things if he thinks it necessary (I mean, his talk with Kyo earlier this chapter was basically "Don't murder someone behind Ariel's back without my permission"), so if he is reacting like this, he has some reason to think this is a really bad idea.

:(

I bet the Ssu on the airship are going to be pissed about that.

Really shouldn't have attacked before the cannons got into position. Really, that is kind of a rookiee mistake for such an experienced general

Hmmm...

If Sang had waited, Ariel &co could have completed negotiations with the Ssu before the attack began, so either (1, and more likely) the airship would have escaped without damage or (2) they would be facing prepared defenses.

As it is, the legion has sacrificed a significant portion of its cannon fodder in return for merely momentarily mauling their enemy and is in a poor tactical position due to having underestimated the resourcefulness of the colonists. So Sang has traded the humiliation of failure for the humiliation of a probable Pyrrhic minor victory.

As for Ash, I'll wait to see if she managed to hit anything.

That is a good point. Good to strike when the iron is hot I suppose, and in any case the best chance to get the airship is hit it when it is on the ground. Still, if they could have hid their presence a bit longer and opened with a salvo...

Remember the guys they left behind at Mach? -Yeah Im thinking thats who Sang dragged here with her -the wounded and the kids and such from Ariel's actual people.

Interesting possibility.

Still, Machtike would be rather out of the way, and I doubt it was totally unguarded.

Perhaps Sang captured some of Ariel's supporters and allies in Ys? The legion was just right there and I doubt there was much time to raise a defense force for it.

[Smokehammer]

Well they just evacuated the town right? Therefore I dont think anybody could assume they had hostages and Ash didnt wait to see if they did. Not that it would matter either way.

As for Ash being right...I think it is important to note that Kel is screaming No, not Ariel. He isn't exactly opposed to doing horrible things if he thinks it necessary (I mean, his talk with Kyo earlier this chapter was basically "Don't murder someone behind Ariel's back without my permission"), so if he is reacting like this, he has some reason to think this is a really bad idea.

Assuming he couldnt know they had hostages I would go with the whole "they're shitting on their reputation with the Clan" thing. Basically its possible that some in the Clan might see Ariel as their rightful leader, but they wont after this maybe? I cant think of a decent explanation otherwise -unless they didnt pick up all the colonists and Ash is leveling the Ssu Colony with Ssu in it. That doesnt make even sense either though since most of the Legion was on the outskirts of town still. The wolf pack is in the air, and Ash didnt say where to fire, so I would assume the gunners would have enough grey matter not to aim at the colony itself but at the Legion and their artillery.

Perhaps Sang captured some of Ariel's supporters and allies in Ys? The legion was just right there and I doubt there was much time to raise a defense force for it.

That's possible too.

[evilmike]

Hiding behind neutral civilians... Classy, Sang. Your Nid master would be proud.

No such thing in Romulan....er....Drow warfare.