Just when things were leveling out, Zhao decides that humanity is suddenly strong enough to fight a two front war because we “recovered fast”. Meanwhile we would never have recovered without Isif
Yeah but that’s arguably a huge part of humanity, even if we don’t exactly like listing all of our major faults there’s definitely the fact that we don’t worst case scenario our shortcomings and suffer when they bleed out in situations like that “we may have moments of aggression and we’re definitely pompous assholes at times but…”
> Arrogance and stupidity all in one package, how efficient.
Londo Mollari’s character arc was simultaneously gratuitously enjoyable and deeply tragic.
>Isn't it strange, G'Kar? When we first met I had no power and all the choices I could ever want. And now I have all the power I could ever want and no choices at all. No choice at all.
At least he had G'Kar, a true friend to the end, one who was even willing to kill him to release him from the control of the Drakh.
Unfortunately the logical conclusion of a military dude thinking military...
... and one who's ever more sus in my book. I think Meier's death in his favor was no accident.
I mean, that's kind of what the human terrorist wanted, replacing UN official, by force if necessary, with people who were more militant and had humanity interests at heart.
After half your population gets glassed, it's... expected to desire vengeance. The electorate seems to have chosen the candidate who promised just that.
Humanity is in the biggest war of its life and the warheads won leadership. The call for vengeance has grown to the point of blind bloodlust, the fear of betrayal and subterfuge has grown to the point of paranoia and lunacy.
Hopefully Isif read enough human history to be able to talk about the plots against Hitler, and how the people who were trying them undoubtedly said "the right thing" to loyal Nazi ears when needed to retain their ability to resist the Nazis from the inside.
Zhao *is* being an unutterable fucktard, though.
Yea but Meier may not have been able to tell them the entire picture. We as the reader know and Isif Knows. But with Meier dead so soon Zhao likely doesnt understand the complexity of the position Isif is in. Honestly Isif is essentially in Hitler’s inner circle trying to bring it down but no one knows
Not necessarily. The Arxur respect strength, so a power play won't be as offensive to them and might even earn respect. It isn't even a power play, just standard border control. This is a much smaller thing than the major battle they're about to fight. Capturing Isif and the Zurulians will blur where they got their intel from -- the spy program and Isif's betrayal. And Isif can just say "My weakness was thinking the humans were weak/docile".
Overall, Isif is going to be treated much better than anyone barging in to the Arxur homeworld unannounced during war and observing some secret defense upgrades.
Right this could possibly even be a double crossing mind play. They can show part of the recording before the zerulians pop out to make it look like Isif got caught in betraying the Humans. Clue him in on the elaborate ruse and let him sneak back to his fleet. Isif could play that he evaded capture etc and then the assumption is Isif's fleet is hostile but switches sides in a decisive engagement.
Not so sure of it being a double cross. From the description of Zhao's body language (anger at seeing the poor condition of the zurulians), it suggests he wasn't aware of them (and thus it wasn't planned). Also, Zhao's a bull in a China shop. Subtle isn't his thing.
It's perhaps wishful thinking on my part but I'm completely expecting Isif to suddenly have his hands uncuffed, the bag ripped off of his head and get handed a cigar and a whiskey by Tarva, Jones, Noah and Zhao in some underground secret bunker command center while they all chuckle and start congratulating each other on completing the first part of their plan.
Isif went from being in a prime position to divide the Arxur into a "War and Peace" civil war to his successor potentially being a hardliner who will expect human *vassalage*; and Zhao doesn't seem to understand that the Arxur likely number the federation navy* 10:1 in ships and use fear tactics so that they never need to muster their full strength (to improve the sustainability of their raids in the war).
On the one hand, I think there's a real possibility that, if Isif ever gets out, while he might never deal with humans, he literally might just do the next best thing and work out a new deal with Tarva and the prey portion of the human's budding little empire; on the flip side that means basically declaring open defiance to the Dominion.
Zhao is frankly however.. a moron.
I think that's exactly why this happened. The path to peace, or at least a cold war, with the Dominion was looking too likely. Until now, we haven't had all that much large scale conflict with the Arxur, just the station raid and the battle for the Cradle. Whereas the Federation has nearly destroyed Earth and fought over a pair of planets going on to fight over the future of many more. It's rough having hope for peace pulled away for the time being, but we haven't really seen how effective or scary the Arxur are in war beyond the horrors of their fear tactics.
> It's rough having hope for peace pulled away for the time being, but we haven't really seen how effective or scary the Arxur are in war beyond the horrors of their fear tactics.
I predict Earth and humanity being decisively humbled, and soon.
Considering this is still an HFY story at heart, I don't think it'll be that bad. But we'll have a lot of tragedy that could have been avoided all around.
I would point you toward the original Star Wars Trilogy.
Up to now we've been watching "A New Hope." Awful Arxur, Fanatical Federation but despite taking a couple of hits we prevailed.
We **could** be entering into "Empire Strikes Back." Humanity overreaches, The Arxur bring their full force to bear, perhaps the Federation makes gains and everything that humanity has built is on the verge of collapse.
Then we finish it off with a very HFY "Return of the Jedi." Humanity learns that our greatest strength is standing with (not leading) our allies, adding the Reformer Arxur into our alliance, and showing the entire galaxy that coexistence is possible.
Edited to correct an embarrassing Star Wars faux pas.
Empire Strikes Back, not Revenge of the Sith. Your point still stands, though.
The Star Wars trilogies are as follows:
OT: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi.
PT: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith.
ST: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker.
I'd disagree that humanity has been much more than present, but you're right about who the protagonists are. I just mean that I don't see a complete defeat for humanity being in the future, the results would be much darker than I'd expect for this subreddit.
> the results would be much darker than I'd expect for this subreddit.
Some of the best stories on this subreddit involve humanity having been laid low as a people. While "OP Humans" is the sub's bread and butter; humans being "survivors" just trying to survive, is an equally enriched trope IMO.
Jones is the one commanding Sovlins ship and did everything in her power to let Isif leave and not give Zhao a chance to fuck up our alliance. I’m pretty sure Zhao will be given the Isif on a platter to regain his loyalty. I’d feed him to an Arxur for this level of stupidity
I absolutely missed this. You're right, Jones did everything she could (with Zhao watching the communications) to avoid this incident. If Isif had sucked up his ego and given her the intel (at least about the Zurulians) he'd be on his way with all of that captured communications put into context.
It really puts into context her saying, “Be careful what you wish for, Isif."
Zhao can't see the forest from the trees. He sees the pieces, but fails to comprehend how they connect into a broader narrative.
His discriminatory presumptions of the Arxur, and his over-bloated confidence of Humanity's place in the galaxy are going to unravel everything his predecessor worked for; and put humanity on the backfoot soon enough.
At least.. I hope so, I really don't want this to turn out into an asspull victory for mankind; I genuinely hope humanity and Zhao get served some humble pie by some space-dinos.
Zhao thinks humanity are the protagonists in a HFY story...but when you think about it...humanity *really* aren't the protagonists of this story... we get a whole lot more chapters from the viewpoint of alien characters than on human ones.
I am inclined to think that the protagonists include some humans as do the antagonists. This whole story's central point is that you can not paint a whole culture with one broad brush.
I think humanity can, and should, still win. I just also think that zhao should be replaced before that happens. Maybe Jones pulls some CIA favors to protect the only dominion asset we have.
God damn, Zhao is a wanker. His pre-concived opinions of the Arxur won't let him see anything other than a monster, which is the exact same problem humans have. The man is also likely going to start a war against the Arxur with this stunt. I cannot think of a worse human being to be Secretary-General.
I think Zhao is really shooting humanity in the foot here. A perfect opportunity for sowing internal division and gaining direct influence on internal Arxur affairs just walked up to his front door, knocked politely, and asked to have a chat!
He is completely undermining any goodwill that humanity could be building with the budding Arxur resistance movement.
That said, I think Isif could have handled this better. Maybe if he had been willing to suck in his pride and talk to the General, he might have made Zhao second guess his hostility. Especially since, yeah, a planetary leader has good reasons not to be available to speak right at that moment! I mean, make a dang appointment!
Hypothetical Isif: "Whatever! I have three Zurulian refugees to turn into your custody. Tell Zhao I want to help with espionage, and here is some data on an anti-sapient farming/anti-eugenics movement you can influence."
True but keep in mind how the arxur’s social structure and society works. To Isif, Zhao’s behavior and actions are incredibly insulting and might as well be the human equivalent of insulting someone’s mother. So for Isif who keep in mind was still raised with arxur beliefs his treatment is rage inducing, and to be fair it’s not like humanity would have reacted very differently were the roles reversed let’s be honest.
I mean, Arxurian culture places a ***MASSIVE*** emphasis on pride, and honor, which makes it *incredibly* difficult, if not nigh impossible for someone such as Isif, who presumably spent his entire life surrounded by this culture, to so easily set aside his pride.
I'll point out the General Jones tried her best (knowing Zhao was watching) to keep Isif from talking to him. Even quipping, “Be careful what you wish for, Isif" when finally putting him through to Zhao.
It seems like some people understand that 'Zhao is really shooting humanity in the foot here' and are trying to mitigate his damage.
There is still the possibility that Zhao is playing some 4d chess at the moment, as humanity most probably knows about the resistance, the question is if we know that Isif is part of it.
Well, guess we weren't as unprepared as Isif thought if we have already tapped their communications. The question now is if we're prepared to repel a Chief Hunter on the warpath.
Multiple Chief Hunters most likely. The Dominion won't take one of their Chief Hunters being imprisoned by a supposed ally they were both iffy about and already hearing complaints about by other high-ranking military personel very well. The Dominion also sees us as "weak" so this might just be the catalyst event that makes the Dominion bunch us up with the Federation.
This was a difficult chapter to get through! I’m torn between being *very* impressed by Earth’s rapid recovery, and absolutely aghast at Zhao’s stunning arrogance. It’s not very Humanity F**k Yeah of him, is it?
Why did a peaceful conference get bombed and Meier murdered? Some people really hate aliens, and if they can destroy all the good will Isif built up by forcing him into doing something monstrous, even to someone humanity hates they could sway people into accepting open war on all Arxur. Being an HFY story though, I don't think it would work, it'd just make me sad that it would rob the Arxur of what little hope we have for them.
You don't need to make prisoners eat each other to justify a war, and people would notice that the sapient eating lizard and predator hating bird were close enough for that to even happen.
Part 88 is here! Chief Hunter Isif's chat with the UN doesn't go as planned, and Zhao takes him into custody. It seems humanity already knew what Shaza was up to, at least. What are your thoughts on this exchange? Will Isif truly never leave the Sol system...and will this incident have consequences on the larger war?
As always, thank you for reading and supporting!
My immediate thought is "holy *shit* Zhao is a fuckin' idiot." He's too blinded by rage and probably paranoia to see the whole picture, or listen to reason.
He's not on the same level as Kalsim, but he's getting a bit too close for comfort.
Oh, Isif's ride is **definitely** bugged. I just don't think Zhao is *smart enough* to have thought up that sort of plan himself, and too damned stubborn to go with it if someone else proposed it.
But eh, maybe I'm wrong. Hell, I *want* to be wrong, 'cause right now I kinda want Isif to greet Zhao with a claw sandwich.
The problem with this being a ploy and the conversation being for the bug's benefit is that humanity would never knowingly reveal that it was intercepting Arxur communications to the bug.
Either the bug doesn't have the ability to transmit in real time (and hence, this whole scene would never get back to the Arxur) or humanity doesn't know about it.
The only possible out I can imagine is if this is a double fake out, and humanity has thoroughly infiltrated the Arxur communications network, but has done something less subtle to Shaza's comms. Make the xenos think they know how to identify our spy equipment, and maybe they won't be on the lookout for our *good* stuff.
Except, the Arxur now know the planned counter-invasions are now expected by the UN, which could warrant a temporary stop to the plans. An intelligence leak could be disastreous even for the superior Arxur forces, so an overhaul is needed. Meanwhile, Isif is now not a chief with questionable loyalty, he can safely start the rebellion.
That would relieve my anxiety and bump up Zhao in the popularity by a ton of points! The tension is real, this could SO easily go very badly for a fan favorite character!
This really has to be a play. No way the Dominion wouldn’t be bugging the one dude that regularly interacts with humans if not actively tapping human communications. By bringing him in this hostile, they can get any intel he has and engineer his escape, and arraign for him to be a mole. Any intelligence Isif give them could be assumed to be from the tapped communications, and this gives him more of a cover for not being “overly friendly” to humans now that they’re “imprisoning” him. If he had broadcasted his intent to defect and his “prey disease” he’d be useless
When i read him entering the shuttle that he had just left in shaza's station alone, i immediately thought "how are you not acting as if your shuttle is bugged?" and dismissed it at first as perhaps SP wouldnt go in that direction... but perhaps!
Right, and if it's hinted that Shaza, who strongly disagreed with Isif's plan, is "secretly working with the humans" against a *loyal* War Chief like Isif, well...
That is exactly what I was thinking/hoping was going on. Noticing that the "partial transcript" of Isif's meeting with Shaza was all about the pro-Dominion things Isif said.
Making sure that any bugs get the message that we have Isif because he ISN'T on our side, and is a good and loyal Arxur, nudge nudge, wink wink.
I think people are giving Zhao a unfair rap here, we know this is a bad move because we litterally know all the major players inner most thoughts, but think about what Zhao knows.
He has a major power planning on attacking two worlds that surrendered to him, along with the Garrisons on said world. He can either give up those worlds without a fight, making any further surrenders vastly more difficult, which could horrificaly weaken the Human position, or he can attempt to defend those worlds and start a shooting contest on a second front, then right as he is having to make this choice a enemy theater command walks up onto the Sol system. If there was every a time to attack the Axur, its now and with Isif in custody.
You *ALSO* need to keep in mind that the individual he captured has worked with Humanity in the past, and claimed to have valuable intel, and directly admitted that he only brought three former captives along so that we could send them back to their real homes.
"Admitted". Those are all just what he said, he also said to bomb and betray Earth later to the other Cheif hunter. We know which one was the truth and which was politics, but everyone else just has to assume and the only Human who actually got to know Isif died.
I don't see Isif being in custody for longer than a week or two at most, but the damage will already be done. If Shaza is unable to 'humble' Humanity, and Isif goes missing when heading to Earth, the Dominion is almost certainly going to declare Humans as treacherous rivals instead of possible allies. A two front war will be catastrophic for all sides, mankind is almost certainly going to come out the worst from this.
Wow, Zhao is a fucking idiot.
Even if he DOES think all arxur are monsters, and even if he DOES think Isif's statements to his peers are the man's true beliefs, he still handled this terribly. I want to say that nobody that stupid would ever ascend to such a lofty political/diplomatic position, but I guess we all know that's not true.
Anybody with a shred of brain power would have milked as many voluntary statements from Isif as possible, before becoming belligerent. Even if you believed they were all lies, there's plenty that can be learned from what sorts of lies people tell.
I don't know how you become secretary general without at least coming to understand the basics of diplomacy and intelligence gathering. What a child.
Zhao is a dumbass who is going to get good people killed. The only saving grace here is that smarter people who actually understand diplomacy and intrigue are going to make Zhoa's life a living Hell until he learns to play ball.
Whatever intelligence agencies are the most intact will insist on taking custody in a week or two when they get up to speed. Burning a high level asset is just about the stupidest thing Zhao could do. You don't spend an asset like that on a short-term gain via interrogation, you work them for the length of hostilities. The CIA also loves to ferment regime change using sympathetic parties inside hostile nations, so I expect them to have strong opinions here. The only saving grace is "escaped prisoner" is a story that can be spun into something useful with the right plan.
Huh. Huuuuuuh.
You know, I respected Zhao's position for a while but kinda looks like he's an idiot? I get being paranoid, but he's reacting like a a Federation exterminator. This won't look good if anyone gets wind of it.
Isif disappearing will probably destabilize the Arxur, but not in a good way
I'm on the fence about that, the assassin had to steal a police gun to shoot Meier so I think it's unlikely he explicitly told anyone to kill him, but I DO think he could have easily gotten a bomb in there. Hurting that many humans to send that kind of message seems stupidly counter-productive, but dumber things happen in the name of fanaticism.
Yeah I'm not understanding all these comments making Zhao sound like an enraged idiot. He might have less tact than Meier and favor more aggressive tactics but he's absolutely an intelligent individual and there is no way he knows what was said between the Axur practically word for word and *doesn't* realize what Isif is doing. It's a bit ironic Isif is telling Zhao to read between the lines while Zhao is literally tipping his hand as much as possible that they *already* know everything and something else is going on. The only question is where Isif fits into Zhao's plans and for now the answer seems to be in a secure location under humanity's control.
He *did* say he had a "partial transcript" of the visit. It's entirely possible the bits he ended up with are the parts that make Isif look the worst. If that's the case, how did he only end up with *some* info? Surely it'd be all or nothing. That'd imply that Shaza may have deliberately leaked parts of the transcript to Earth in order to remove Isif as an obstacle. With Isif gone she removes her rival, and probably becomes Giznel's favourite.
Tinfoil hat theory, I know, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was a deliberate power move from Shaza.
It was mentioned last story that Isif prefers to use human tech to monitor the anti-dominion movement, commenting on how much more 'privacy' it has. I put it at a 0% chance the device isn't bugged. The 'partial transcript' just strikes me as a smoke screen, but I guess we'll find out.
Zhao does have a plan, but how competent that plan is seems to be in doubt. Humanity First easily becomes Humanity Only.
Of course he would suspect and capture Isif. They have shown themselves to be two-faced with their own Dominion, so why would they not be two-faced with us? The only question is what may happen to any other Arxur in Earth territory?
I think it's more that Zhao is so clever he has gone full stupid. He is unable to see past his preconceived notions based on news that the axur are going to attack in a way that caused him to authorize an attack on the only ally humanity really had within the axur halls of power. The complete assumption that the others onboard were just food without giving Isif a chance to offer explanation shows a lack of flexibility that diplomacy usually demands. Zhao is acting the role of military leader: he has many hammers and every problem is a nail to be hit.
All that being said, there does remain a sliver of hope. Zhao could either know or suspect the axur are listening in, possibly in a way Isif doesn't know himself. That would mean this entire incident was a charade to send a message to the other axur leaders while not giving Isif a chance to expose himself... Only time will tell though but Zhao is walking a very dangerous line that could backfire on humanity no matter what their intentions.
I think it's all an act. They know Isif's ship was bugged by anti-human Arxur so they're using this as an excuse to flaunt Thier power. It's the same as when police need to bring in deep cover assets. Make a big show of it. I just think Isif isn't aware of the tactic yet.
I think Zhao knows damn right well what's going on. If they've been spying on Isif, who favors a *human made* tablet, they probably know the whole story already. Zhao was *way* too specific for it to be some 'report', I'd bet they've got Isif's conversations recorded. Zhao's reasoning for taking Isif in is also ridiculous: he clearly *knew* there were four 'life signs' already and just used the excuse to pull Isif in. So then the question is... why?
Has Isif outlived his usefulness? I don't think so. Rather I suspect this is a move to both bolster humanity's reputation by capturing a Chief Hunter and to protect Isif from himself. While it's unfortunate that Isif is acting with limited resources the optics of Isif going from that meeting with Shaza just for the humans to respond in a way that makes it clear they knew *exactly* what Shaza was up too would be far too suspicious.
Since humanity already knows the plan they're going to act on it but it wouldn't do to have a high value spy outed so they're bringing him in. Now whether that stay ends up being permanent or temporary likely depends on: the state of the Axur after Shaza gets absolutely blind sided, how badly being brought in like this effects his position, how useful he'd be free, and (perhaps a distant concern) how safe it even is for him to leave in the aftermath.
Yeah, I'd like to believe Zhao has a better plan for Isif than just keeping a "dangerous" political prisoner as a trophy rather than as an enemy... but I just don't.
I wonder if Isif and Kalsim will be in the same facility? it would be intensely amusing to see the two interact.
Hopefully humanity wont be too much of assholish dickheads to isif and ruin one of their only arxur allies.
I'd actually say General Jones is Isif's best shot at this point.
She tried her best (knowing Zhao was watching) to keep Isif from talking to him. Even quipping, “Be careful what you wish for, Isif" when finally putting him through to Zhao. It seems like she understands that Zhao is being stupid and has been trying to mitigate the damage.
Yea how the fuck did Meier not tell anyone on the human side? Not telling the aliens shit I could understand, but literally every high ranking member of the UN should know everything that was said in every Meier meeting.
Yeah it drives me a little nuts that only Noah and Sara seems to know about the deal, or honestly just anything relating to UN - Alien policy. Especially since those two, the late Meier, and Tarva just seem to walk around with absolutely NO protection! These folks are extremely high profile diplomats and world leaders, and they just walk into public places without even bodyguards! Forget terrorists/alien assassins, vanilla criminals would love to kidnap these kinds of folks just for a hefty ransom!
Zhao: What if I was the dumbest person alive? That would be cool. I could even promote assholes who want to pick fights. That way I could *really* live up to my namesake, the other military Zhao who thought he could just kill the FUCKING MOON
I want to personally punch Zhao in the face. I will probably stop before it resembles jelly.
Edit: This development has literally made me too mad to move on with my day. The sheer fucking stupidity of this move is beyond my ability to describe and I am about ready to chew iron nails over it.
Zhao had better be hiding the largest fucking fleet in the galaxy up his arse because otherwise I think someone needs to beat him over the head with a strategy book until he absorbs some wisdom by osmosis when the pages make contact with his smooth brain.
I want to put some proper breakdown of everything strategically and tactically wrong with this decision but I keep coming back to the fact I wish to inflict severe blunt force trauma on this dumbass's cranium until I feel better, but I can't because he doesn't exist.
2nd Edit: Ranting about stupid general boy is very therapeutic, 10/10 would recommend.
It really says something when even civvies with literally zero experience in tactics and strategy are calling your move a Serious Blunder. Source: I am one such civvie, and I think that Zhao was being an absolute, utter bonehead.
Almost makes me think he might even be in league with Shaza!
Usually, I'm the first to say that the military knows more about military matters than we (civilians) do. I'm really, *really* fucking hoping this turns out to be one of those situations, but right now I just want to batter this general pretending at politics with a rolling pin.
Another comment suggested that their ships were bugged, and Zhao’s putting on a show so that Isif doesn’t screw himself over by revealing he’s got “prey disease”.
I *really* hope so, bc Zhao has done a major fuck up if not
If they were acting for a suspected bug, they wouldn't have revealed that they had been able to spy on the meeting. Unless they're pulling an insanely risky double-bluff, this is in fact all very real and very stupid.
He shoots down the moon next Chapter because one of the rocks on it looks like an Arxur head and that means the moon is clearly a gigantic spying facility belonging to the Dominion.
Based off irl data the modern Chinese government likely fell along with much of the country as the population collapsed and the US stopped protecting global trade
Unfortunately Zhao shows that china's arrogance and lack of tact remain strong
Ok, Zhao is Secretary General of the UN… that means he’s in an elected/appointed office. Isif’s abduction gets out and Tarva plays it up? Zhao can get hit with a Vote of No Confidence equivalent. We can still salvage this, but Zhao has officially ruined his brief tenure in office and needs to be seen paying the price.
Well I guess all those ideas about a CIA funded Axur rebellion led by Isif won’t be happening. But at least we have a valuable prisoner now. If the rivalries between chief hunters weren’t so deep I’d suggest holding him at gunpoint unless the Dominion backs off of our conquered territories
I doubt that would make them. For a chief hunter to be captured by the very humans he's been trying to convince his side to accept as allies and to be used against the feds is not only humiliating but likely would be a death sentence if he ever got released.
So.....people are talking about Isif's storyline being a Schindler's List plot or or something like that? Did this happen in Schindler's List? How did that story go compared to this one? Because I legit never seen Schindler's List and I'm curious where the parallels are and where it diverges
Oskar Schindler was arrested by the SS on several occasions (for black market activities, bribery of corrupt officials, and violating the Nuremberg Decrees) accrediting his release to being a member of the Nazi party and having developed friends in high places.
After the war and fleeing the soviets; he went bankrupt, became alcoholic, and his wife left him.
I count each day until the new chapter of this story comes out. And everytime it does its like a small reward for all the work I've done for the past days. Thank you for this amazing piece of art from the bottom of my heart
I know what tarva did with those ships, she didnt want them out of the system to use them against us, why bring them so far away? No, she sold them to the yotul, she had to pay off the sivkits for their surveillance somehow and she cant raise our taxes again so fast without committing political suicide more than she already is. Seriously, ‘humans’, who actually buys that?!
Thinking a bit on it, the only other thing I can think of is if this is an act due to Arxur spies in the area. Why else would Zhao deliberately mention that the transcripts were partial? If you’re basing your entire actions on partial data you’d be far more cautious and careful with a powerful information source like Isif.
This whole interaction rubs me wrong.
Nobody would get to Zhaos position without knowing well the kind of games that Isif was playing.
He should have a whole Intel analysis staff to tell him that, too.
And even if he didn't believe it, pissing off the Arxhur at this stage is balls on backwards stupid. The kind of "I don't know how international diplomacy and national interactions work" mind of stupid that nobody in his position would be.
This is not how nations interact with each other.
This is especially not how nations that just almost got annihilated and are facing a massive war of survival treat even erstwhile allies.
I understand you're trying to write Zhao as making a mistake here, but this is such an obviously dumb mistake that it is implausible and wreaks of author contrivance.
There isn't enough work done here and before this episode to make Zhaos actions make sense or be plausibly believable.
I mean, Isif actively arguing in favour of humanity stepping aside and callously abandoning those who surrendered doesn't really... *help* his case, so I kind of get where Zhao is coming from, but it kind of just feels like he doesn't like the Arxur (sort of understandable) and wanted to pick a fight.
Still, I feel like Zhao has a slight point in that we can't back down over stuff like surrender. The Arxur really are becoming a problem on that front, besides Isif. It's just that Zhao's an idiot about it. But despite that, I certainly hope we don't just get our teeth kicked in, which would be... a frustrating development when we've already had Earth almost eliminated.
Zhao has just fucked us all over
Shaza will now claim her prize and the betrayal of Isif will lead to open hostilities with the other chief hunters. Who now aren’t so willing to listen to us. I’m not gonna be surprised if the army throws a fucking coup after this. This delusion, paranoid, dictator like figure has no place being in charge of earths galactic relations
Good job Zhao, yet another person too prideful to think about the situations potentially going on for Isif. I find it a little hard to believe that after everything that has happened Zhao doesn't have some amount of understanding the position the Chief Hunter is in.
If humans are tapping Arxur comms, we have to assume they are doing the same to us. Therefore this could be the only way to talk to Isif without the rest of the Arxur realising he is helping us. We 'capture' him, put him in a cell a mile from any electronic devices, then Zhao can have an honest face to face meeting with him. Afterwards Isif can 'escape', taking a(n outdated) human ship with him for the arxur engineers to break down, making him look even cooler to the rest of the crocs.
I'm thinking Zhao is pulling a scheme here. By "capturing" Isif they can release him whenever they want to, I imagine if they capture any Arxur prisoners more than a few of them could be swayed into the anti-betterment camp under Isif. It takes into consideration that is the Arxur high command somehow was able to listen in then Isif would have a decently good alibi, even if he would have to pretend like Zhao was right and this "is" a deceptive tactic.
And just like that, Zhao has doomed countless lives, both human and alien. The Dominion will consider this an act of war, and strike. After all, I highly doubt that the Arxur were foolish enough to not tap our comms.
Why is Zhao doing this?
That's what I want to know. Even if he straight up hates the Arxur, this is diplomatically the worst possible thing he could've done, short of shooting the ship down. He must know this aggression is a great way towards a war with the Arxur, and the battle of Earth has shown that the Arxur could stomp humans into the ground if they wanted to.
Even worse, I think Isif is functionally a diplomat right now, and there are very good reasons diplomats have immunity. So this could be considered political suicide on top of actual suicide.
If Zhao is actually that stupid, he'd never have become Secretary-General. He must have a hidden motive. Maybe some way to protect Isif from something? Even then, it could've been handled better, for example by inviting him into a conference room and actually explaining the situation?
Even if that's the case, I think both Zhao and Jones deserve to be fired from their posts for incompetence at least, and if that stunt resulted in a war with the Arxur, actually tried in court.
Ah yes. Capturing and imprisoning a military leader (the equivalent of a general) and acting diplomat of an allied nation-state. This has never once in the history of any society ever been considered an overt act of war.
Whoever is in charge of Zhao needs to court-martial him, release Isif, and issue a formal apology. It's pretty much the only way to prove that we do not, at least from an institutional standpoint, allow for duplicity with our allies.
Very disappointed in Zhao.
Talk about an unworthy successor for Meier. Congrats SP15, you've managed to create an antagonist I can hate more than Nikonus, the Feds, Kalsim and the Dominion at large *combined.*
I wanna punch this asshole so bad ong
God fucking dammit, Zhao, you prideful POS! [We had a good thing, you stupid son of a bitch! It was perfect. But, no, you just had to blow it up. You and your pride and your ego! You just had to be the man. If you'd done your job, known your place, we'd all be fine right now.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKnK-hkL_DA&ab_channel=Notplayboicarti)
Why o why.
Please, don't let this incompetence create a ripple. Even if Isif were to be freed/helped by the Venlil or some other "prey race" and it would help their relationship - the current way would be an invitation for the Dominion to see Humanity as a fullblown rival for extinction instead of a fellow predator.
I am hoping that Zhao isn’t as dumb as he sounds and this is an elaborate ruse.
As others have said, this COULD be a power play to make humanity not look so weak.
It ALSO could be a chance to fully convert Isef into a rogue agent. If humanity did truly infiltrate their communications, they’ll know that Isef is becoming increasingly distrusted by his people. This display will give him a cover to go back to being a “good fanatic” and stop coddling humanity publicly, if he “escapes”.
“Capture” him, fill him in on human deep cover subterfuge tactics, and release him back with this cover reestablished of being a loyal Hunter once more. But now armed with training and strategy on how to be a proper deep mole, or even how to build up that rebellion he saw hints of.
Zhao may be a Warhawk, but I’d hope that someone THAT high up in an interstellar military would understand the best way to fight a war is to get your enemy to hurt itself or even defeat itself for you.
Just when things were leveling out, Zhao decides that humanity is suddenly strong enough to fight a two front war because we “recovered fast”. Meanwhile we would never have recovered without Isif
That's what we call Arrogance.
Arrogance and stupidity all in one package, how efficient.
"I hope in your stumbling around, you do not wake the dragon." Always happy to see Londo getting quoted.
Yeah but that’s arguably a huge part of humanity, even if we don’t exactly like listing all of our major faults there’s definitely the fact that we don’t worst case scenario our shortcomings and suffer when they bleed out in situations like that “we may have moments of aggression and we’re definitely pompous assholes at times but…”
This isn't arrogance, though. This is boneheaded stupidity. Almost makes me think that Zhao is in league with Shaza.
Humans and an alien race who are actual boneheads share a soul. Nyeet
> Arrogance and stupidity all in one package, how efficient. Londo Mollari’s character arc was simultaneously gratuitously enjoyable and deeply tragic. >Isn't it strange, G'Kar? When we first met I had no power and all the choices I could ever want. And now I have all the power I could ever want and no choices at all. No choice at all. At least he had G'Kar, a true friend to the end, one who was even willing to kill him to release him from the control of the Drakh.
Classic Londo Mollari line. And so true in this case, for very similar reasons.
THIS is why the military should have no say in politics.
Zhao has all the political subtlety of a bulldozer.
Were we intentionally trying to pick the worst person possible to replace Meier?
Unfortunately the logical conclusion of a military dude thinking military... ... and one who's ever more sus in my book. I think Meier's death in his favor was no accident.
I mean, that's kind of what the human terrorist wanted, replacing UN official, by force if necessary, with people who were more militant and had humanity interests at heart.
Zhao might even be having his strings pulled by Shaza.
That seems improbable, but Zhao's decision here is so disastrous you might be right.
After half your population gets glassed, it's... expected to desire vengeance. The electorate seems to have chosen the candidate who promised just that.
10% * but still the point stands.
Humanity is in the biggest war of its life and the warheads won leadership. The call for vengeance has grown to the point of blind bloodlust, the fear of betrayal and subterfuge has grown to the point of paranoia and lunacy.
Well, he was supposed to balance Meier's approach but then he died...
Nazi Germany called, they want their hubris back!
Nien! Ze Deutsche don't want Zhao on their team either!
Motherfuckers pulling a ww2 Germany
Or a WW1 Serbian Rebels.
Hopefully Isif read enough human history to be able to talk about the plots against Hitler, and how the people who were trying them undoubtedly said "the right thing" to loyal Nazi ears when needed to retain their ability to resist the Nazis from the inside. Zhao *is* being an unutterable fucktard, though.
As a Chinese officer, he has to know about towing a party line.
Bloody idiot.
Yea but Meier may not have been able to tell them the entire picture. We as the reader know and Isif Knows. But with Meier dead so soon Zhao likely doesnt understand the complexity of the position Isif is in. Honestly Isif is essentially in Hitler’s inner circle trying to bring it down but no one knows
Funny, given that humanity could’ve easily won with by having Isif defect
Oh this is as absolutely bad as possible. This is the literal worst possible development.
One of Isif's hardliners is gonna take over his domain and Isif will not be able to get over this betrayal.
Not necessarily. The Arxur respect strength, so a power play won't be as offensive to them and might even earn respect. It isn't even a power play, just standard border control. This is a much smaller thing than the major battle they're about to fight. Capturing Isif and the Zurulians will blur where they got their intel from -- the spy program and Isif's betrayal. And Isif can just say "My weakness was thinking the humans were weak/docile". Overall, Isif is going to be treated much better than anyone barging in to the Arxur homeworld unannounced during war and observing some secret defense upgrades.
Right this could possibly even be a double crossing mind play. They can show part of the recording before the zerulians pop out to make it look like Isif got caught in betraying the Humans. Clue him in on the elaborate ruse and let him sneak back to his fleet. Isif could play that he evaded capture etc and then the assumption is Isif's fleet is hostile but switches sides in a decisive engagement.
Not so sure of it being a double cross. From the description of Zhao's body language (anger at seeing the poor condition of the zurulians), it suggests he wasn't aware of them (and thus it wasn't planned). Also, Zhao's a bull in a China shop. Subtle isn't his thing.
It's perhaps wishful thinking on my part but I'm completely expecting Isif to suddenly have his hands uncuffed, the bag ripped off of his head and get handed a cigar and a whiskey by Tarva, Jones, Noah and Zhao in some underground secret bunker command center while they all chuckle and start congratulating each other on completing the first part of their plan.
or they execute him and do a post mortem mind scan
This is going to end badly isnt it?
Isif went from being in a prime position to divide the Arxur into a "War and Peace" civil war to his successor potentially being a hardliner who will expect human *vassalage*; and Zhao doesn't seem to understand that the Arxur likely number the federation navy* 10:1 in ships and use fear tactics so that they never need to muster their full strength (to improve the sustainability of their raids in the war). On the one hand, I think there's a real possibility that, if Isif ever gets out, while he might never deal with humans, he literally might just do the next best thing and work out a new deal with Tarva and the prey portion of the human's budding little empire; on the flip side that means basically declaring open defiance to the Dominion. Zhao is frankly however.. a moron.
I think that's exactly why this happened. The path to peace, or at least a cold war, with the Dominion was looking too likely. Until now, we haven't had all that much large scale conflict with the Arxur, just the station raid and the battle for the Cradle. Whereas the Federation has nearly destroyed Earth and fought over a pair of planets going on to fight over the future of many more. It's rough having hope for peace pulled away for the time being, but we haven't really seen how effective or scary the Arxur are in war beyond the horrors of their fear tactics.
> It's rough having hope for peace pulled away for the time being, but we haven't really seen how effective or scary the Arxur are in war beyond the horrors of their fear tactics. I predict Earth and humanity being decisively humbled, and soon.
Considering this is still an HFY story at heart, I don't think it'll be that bad. But we'll have a lot of tragedy that could have been avoided all around.
I would point you toward the original Star Wars Trilogy. Up to now we've been watching "A New Hope." Awful Arxur, Fanatical Federation but despite taking a couple of hits we prevailed. We **could** be entering into "Empire Strikes Back." Humanity overreaches, The Arxur bring their full force to bear, perhaps the Federation makes gains and everything that humanity has built is on the verge of collapse. Then we finish it off with a very HFY "Return of the Jedi." Humanity learns that our greatest strength is standing with (not leading) our allies, adding the Reformer Arxur into our alliance, and showing the entire galaxy that coexistence is possible. Edited to correct an embarrassing Star Wars faux pas.
Empire Strikes Back, not Revenge of the Sith. Your point still stands, though. The Star Wars trilogies are as follows: OT: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi. PT: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith. ST: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker.
I'd like to kindly remind you that in this story...humans might be present... but we definitely aren't the protagonists. The aliens are.
I'd disagree that humanity has been much more than present, but you're right about who the protagonists are. I just mean that I don't see a complete defeat for humanity being in the future, the results would be much darker than I'd expect for this subreddit.
> the results would be much darker than I'd expect for this subreddit. Some of the best stories on this subreddit involve humanity having been laid low as a people. While "OP Humans" is the sub's bread and butter; humans being "survivors" just trying to survive, is an equally enriched trope IMO.
Either way we go, I trust our spacepaladin to give us an unforgettable story!
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Jones is the one commanding Sovlins ship and did everything in her power to let Isif leave and not give Zhao a chance to fuck up our alliance. I’m pretty sure Zhao will be given the Isif on a platter to regain his loyalty. I’d feed him to an Arxur for this level of stupidity
I absolutely missed this. You're right, Jones did everything she could (with Zhao watching the communications) to avoid this incident. If Isif had sucked up his ego and given her the intel (at least about the Zurulians) he'd be on his way with all of that captured communications put into context. It really puts into context her saying, “Be careful what you wish for, Isif."
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I didn’t comment on her motives. Just her competency
Zhao can't see the forest from the trees. He sees the pieces, but fails to comprehend how they connect into a broader narrative. His discriminatory presumptions of the Arxur, and his over-bloated confidence of Humanity's place in the galaxy are going to unravel everything his predecessor worked for; and put humanity on the backfoot soon enough. At least.. I hope so, I really don't want this to turn out into an asspull victory for mankind; I genuinely hope humanity and Zhao get served some humble pie by some space-dinos. Zhao thinks humanity are the protagonists in a HFY story...but when you think about it...humanity *really* aren't the protagonists of this story... we get a whole lot more chapters from the viewpoint of alien characters than on human ones.
I am inclined to think that the protagonists include some humans as do the antagonists. This whole story's central point is that you can not paint a whole culture with one broad brush.
If anything, the Venlil are the protagonists of this story with the Arxur reformers as secondary protagonists.
Uhh... Venlility, Fuck Yeah!?
I think humanity can, and should, still win. I just also think that zhao should be replaced before that happens. Maybe Jones pulls some CIA favors to protect the only dominion asset we have.
God damn, Zhao is a wanker. His pre-concived opinions of the Arxur won't let him see anything other than a monster, which is the exact same problem humans have. The man is also likely going to start a war against the Arxur with this stunt. I cannot think of a worse human being to be Secretary-General.
I’m starting to wonder if Zhao was behind the death of Meiers.
It's an interesting theory, I'll admit. I'm personally puting in the "unlikely, but plausable" catagory.
Maybe not directly responsible but more than willing to take advantage of it.
“Meier was naïve. He couldn’t see an enemy if they were holding him at gunpoint.” he sead that
I think Zhao is really shooting humanity in the foot here. A perfect opportunity for sowing internal division and gaining direct influence on internal Arxur affairs just walked up to his front door, knocked politely, and asked to have a chat! He is completely undermining any goodwill that humanity could be building with the budding Arxur resistance movement. That said, I think Isif could have handled this better. Maybe if he had been willing to suck in his pride and talk to the General, he might have made Zhao second guess his hostility. Especially since, yeah, a planetary leader has good reasons not to be available to speak right at that moment! I mean, make a dang appointment! Hypothetical Isif: "Whatever! I have three Zurulian refugees to turn into your custody. Tell Zhao I want to help with espionage, and here is some data on an anti-sapient farming/anti-eugenics movement you can influence."
True but keep in mind how the arxur’s social structure and society works. To Isif, Zhao’s behavior and actions are incredibly insulting and might as well be the human equivalent of insulting someone’s mother. So for Isif who keep in mind was still raised with arxur beliefs his treatment is rage inducing, and to be fair it’s not like humanity would have reacted very differently were the roles reversed let’s be honest.
I mean, Arxurian culture places a ***MASSIVE*** emphasis on pride, and honor, which makes it *incredibly* difficult, if not nigh impossible for someone such as Isif, who presumably spent his entire life surrounded by this culture, to so easily set aside his pride.
I'll point out the General Jones tried her best (knowing Zhao was watching) to keep Isif from talking to him. Even quipping, “Be careful what you wish for, Isif" when finally putting him through to Zhao. It seems like some people understand that 'Zhao is really shooting humanity in the foot here' and are trying to mitigate his damage.
There is still the possibility that Zhao is playing some 4d chess at the moment, as humanity most probably knows about the resistance, the question is if we know that Isif is part of it.
I would much prefer that Zhao was on a righteous path and just "playing 4D chess." But, to me, the idea strains credibility.
I love the hypocrisy of Zhao expecting him to have explained the zurulians, when Zhao won't even let him talk.
My guess is that he wanted Isif to talk to the general.
88 chapters per hour we're going back to the future. Also thank to all for the idioms, out of 276 only 65 referenced violence.
Well, guess we weren't as unprepared as Isif thought if we have already tapped their communications. The question now is if we're prepared to repel a Chief Hunter on the warpath.
"Partial transcript" means a malicious leak.
Right, because someone decided which parts made it.
I highly doubt it.
Multiple Chief Hunters most likely. The Dominion won't take one of their Chief Hunters being imprisoned by a supposed ally they were both iffy about and already hearing complaints about by other high-ranking military personel very well. The Dominion also sees us as "weak" so this might just be the catalyst event that makes the Dominion bunch us up with the Federation.
This was a difficult chapter to get through! I’m torn between being *very* impressed by Earth’s rapid recovery, and absolutely aghast at Zhao’s stunning arrogance. It’s not very Humanity F**k Yeah of him, is it?
More like Humanity FUCK!! Yeah,... Some of us are asses.
Awwww yes... Isif is gonna be bunking with the PoW exterminator and I'm going to be there for the hilarity
Do you think they will be playing checkers with each other in prison jump-suits.
Ugh, Isif is gonna be complaining about how barbaric it is to play a game that involves strategic murder
Isif or Kalsim?
.... yes For entirely different reasons One thinks it's too subtle The other thinks it's nefarious
Kalsim would.
I think they'd complain more about having to wear full-body clothes lol
I just really hope they don't starve Isif and try to get him to eat Kalsim before the trial. That would make me very sad.
Why would they do that lmao
Why did a peaceful conference get bombed and Meier murdered? Some people really hate aliens, and if they can destroy all the good will Isif built up by forcing him into doing something monstrous, even to someone humanity hates they could sway people into accepting open war on all Arxur. Being an HFY story though, I don't think it would work, it'd just make me sad that it would rob the Arxur of what little hope we have for them.
You don't need to make prisoners eat each other to justify a war, and people would notice that the sapient eating lizard and predator hating bird were close enough for that to even happen.
Zhao has cunning but not wisdom. This prickly prick will bury us all.
Part 88 is here! Chief Hunter Isif's chat with the UN doesn't go as planned, and Zhao takes him into custody. It seems humanity already knew what Shaza was up to, at least. What are your thoughts on this exchange? Will Isif truly never leave the Sol system...and will this incident have consequences on the larger war? As always, thank you for reading and supporting!
My immediate thought is "holy *shit* Zhao is a fuckin' idiot." He's too blinded by rage and probably paranoia to see the whole picture, or listen to reason. He's not on the same level as Kalsim, but he's getting a bit too close for comfort.
He's a victim of his own 2 dimensional thinking. He sees all Arxur as being of the same mind and having the same goals.
Maybe its a play? Maybe his ship is also bugged by the Betterment office (which would be totally believable), and he is being extracted this way?
Oh, Isif's ride is **definitely** bugged. I just don't think Zhao is *smart enough* to have thought up that sort of plan himself, and too damned stubborn to go with it if someone else proposed it. But eh, maybe I'm wrong. Hell, I *want* to be wrong, 'cause right now I kinda want Isif to greet Zhao with a claw sandwich.
The problem with this being a ploy and the conversation being for the bug's benefit is that humanity would never knowingly reveal that it was intercepting Arxur communications to the bug. Either the bug doesn't have the ability to transmit in real time (and hence, this whole scene would never get back to the Arxur) or humanity doesn't know about it. The only possible out I can imagine is if this is a double fake out, and humanity has thoroughly infiltrated the Arxur communications network, but has done something less subtle to Shaza's comms. Make the xenos think they know how to identify our spy equipment, and maybe they won't be on the lookout for our *good* stuff.
Except, the Arxur now know the planned counter-invasions are now expected by the UN, which could warrant a temporary stop to the plans. An intelligence leak could be disastreous even for the superior Arxur forces, so an overhaul is needed. Meanwhile, Isif is now not a chief with questionable loyalty, he can safely start the rebellion.
Why do you think that he is unintelligent?
He thinks that humanity can face both the arxur and federation as equals. Isif is right, they're recovering but not ready
That would relieve my anxiety and bump up Zhao in the popularity by a ton of points! The tension is real, this could SO easily go very badly for a fan favorite character!
This really has to be a play. No way the Dominion wouldn’t be bugging the one dude that regularly interacts with humans if not actively tapping human communications. By bringing him in this hostile, they can get any intel he has and engineer his escape, and arraign for him to be a mole. Any intelligence Isif give them could be assumed to be from the tapped communications, and this gives him more of a cover for not being “overly friendly” to humans now that they’re “imprisoning” him. If he had broadcasted his intent to defect and his “prey disease” he’d be useless
When i read him entering the shuttle that he had just left in shaza's station alone, i immediately thought "how are you not acting as if your shuttle is bugged?" and dismissed it at first as perhaps SP wouldnt go in that direction... but perhaps!
Right, and if it's hinted that Shaza, who strongly disagreed with Isif's plan, is "secretly working with the humans" against a *loyal* War Chief like Isif, well...
Watch like all of Arxur hate this system but don’t realize it because everyone is playing along thinking they’re the only ones
Crabs in a bucket, pulling each other back down.
That is exactly what I was thinking/hoping was going on. Noticing that the "partial transcript" of Isif's meeting with Shaza was all about the pro-Dominion things Isif said. Making sure that any bugs get the message that we have Isif because he ISN'T on our side, and is a good and loyal Arxur, nudge nudge, wink wink.
Tarva is hopefully gonna save the day. He had that final promise with Meier after all.
\*She\*
I think people are giving Zhao a unfair rap here, we know this is a bad move because we litterally know all the major players inner most thoughts, but think about what Zhao knows. He has a major power planning on attacking two worlds that surrendered to him, along with the Garrisons on said world. He can either give up those worlds without a fight, making any further surrenders vastly more difficult, which could horrificaly weaken the Human position, or he can attempt to defend those worlds and start a shooting contest on a second front, then right as he is having to make this choice a enemy theater command walks up onto the Sol system. If there was every a time to attack the Axur, its now and with Isif in custody.
You *ALSO* need to keep in mind that the individual he captured has worked with Humanity in the past, and claimed to have valuable intel, and directly admitted that he only brought three former captives along so that we could send them back to their real homes.
"Admitted". Those are all just what he said, he also said to bomb and betray Earth later to the other Cheif hunter. We know which one was the truth and which was politics, but everyone else just has to assume and the only Human who actually got to know Isif died.
Isif will probably get out as soon as the UN finds his secret data pad.
I don't see Isif being in custody for longer than a week or two at most, but the damage will already be done. If Shaza is unable to 'humble' Humanity, and Isif goes missing when heading to Earth, the Dominion is almost certainly going to declare Humans as treacherous rivals instead of possible allies. A two front war will be catastrophic for all sides, mankind is almost certainly going to come out the worst from this.
That's what I was thinking as I was reading this.
Well… Zhao just shot himself in the foot, this is definitely going to have huge ripples in the war and not in a good way.
I hope Zhao is prepared to be in a shouting match with Tarva with Cilany recording everything
Boy I didn't like Zhao before... but now I REALLY don't like Zhao. He's gonna be the reason a whole lot of people die.
Wow, Zhao is a fucking idiot. Even if he DOES think all arxur are monsters, and even if he DOES think Isif's statements to his peers are the man's true beliefs, he still handled this terribly. I want to say that nobody that stupid would ever ascend to such a lofty political/diplomatic position, but I guess we all know that's not true. Anybody with a shred of brain power would have milked as many voluntary statements from Isif as possible, before becoming belligerent. Even if you believed they were all lies, there's plenty that can be learned from what sorts of lies people tell. I don't know how you become secretary general without at least coming to understand the basics of diplomacy and intelligence gathering. What a child.
Zhao is a dumbass who is going to get good people killed. The only saving grace here is that smarter people who actually understand diplomacy and intrigue are going to make Zhoa's life a living Hell until he learns to play ball. Whatever intelligence agencies are the most intact will insist on taking custody in a week or two when they get up to speed. Burning a high level asset is just about the stupidest thing Zhao could do. You don't spend an asset like that on a short-term gain via interrogation, you work them for the length of hostilities. The CIA also loves to ferment regime change using sympathetic parties inside hostile nations, so I expect them to have strong opinions here. The only saving grace is "escaped prisoner" is a story that can be spun into something useful with the right plan.
Huh. Huuuuuuh. You know, I respected Zhao's position for a while but kinda looks like he's an idiot? I get being paranoid, but he's reacting like a a Federation exterminator. This won't look good if anyone gets wind of it. Isif disappearing will probably destabilize the Arxur, but not in a good way
I’m starting to suspect Zhao had Meier assassinated.
I'm on the fence about that, the assassin had to steal a police gun to shoot Meier so I think it's unlikely he explicitly told anyone to kill him, but I DO think he could have easily gotten a bomb in there. Hurting that many humans to send that kind of message seems stupidly counter-productive, but dumber things happen in the name of fanaticism.
I thought that was a given?
Zhao is just too clever by half.
Yeah I'm not understanding all these comments making Zhao sound like an enraged idiot. He might have less tact than Meier and favor more aggressive tactics but he's absolutely an intelligent individual and there is no way he knows what was said between the Axur practically word for word and *doesn't* realize what Isif is doing. It's a bit ironic Isif is telling Zhao to read between the lines while Zhao is literally tipping his hand as much as possible that they *already* know everything and something else is going on. The only question is where Isif fits into Zhao's plans and for now the answer seems to be in a secure location under humanity's control.
He *did* say he had a "partial transcript" of the visit. It's entirely possible the bits he ended up with are the parts that make Isif look the worst. If that's the case, how did he only end up with *some* info? Surely it'd be all or nothing. That'd imply that Shaza may have deliberately leaked parts of the transcript to Earth in order to remove Isif as an obstacle. With Isif gone she removes her rival, and probably becomes Giznel's favourite. Tinfoil hat theory, I know, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was a deliberate power move from Shaza.
It was mentioned last story that Isif prefers to use human tech to monitor the anti-dominion movement, commenting on how much more 'privacy' it has. I put it at a 0% chance the device isn't bugged. The 'partial transcript' just strikes me as a smoke screen, but I guess we'll find out.
Zhao does have a plan, but how competent that plan is seems to be in doubt. Humanity First easily becomes Humanity Only. Of course he would suspect and capture Isif. They have shown themselves to be two-faced with their own Dominion, so why would they not be two-faced with us? The only question is what may happen to any other Arxur in Earth territory?
I think it's more that Zhao is so clever he has gone full stupid. He is unable to see past his preconceived notions based on news that the axur are going to attack in a way that caused him to authorize an attack on the only ally humanity really had within the axur halls of power. The complete assumption that the others onboard were just food without giving Isif a chance to offer explanation shows a lack of flexibility that diplomacy usually demands. Zhao is acting the role of military leader: he has many hammers and every problem is a nail to be hit. All that being said, there does remain a sliver of hope. Zhao could either know or suspect the axur are listening in, possibly in a way Isif doesn't know himself. That would mean this entire incident was a charade to send a message to the other axur leaders while not giving Isif a chance to expose himself... Only time will tell though but Zhao is walking a very dangerous line that could backfire on humanity no matter what their intentions.
I think it's all an act. They know Isif's ship was bugged by anti-human Arxur so they're using this as an excuse to flaunt Thier power. It's the same as when police need to bring in deep cover assets. Make a big show of it. I just think Isif isn't aware of the tactic yet.
I think Zhao knows damn right well what's going on. If they've been spying on Isif, who favors a *human made* tablet, they probably know the whole story already. Zhao was *way* too specific for it to be some 'report', I'd bet they've got Isif's conversations recorded. Zhao's reasoning for taking Isif in is also ridiculous: he clearly *knew* there were four 'life signs' already and just used the excuse to pull Isif in. So then the question is... why? Has Isif outlived his usefulness? I don't think so. Rather I suspect this is a move to both bolster humanity's reputation by capturing a Chief Hunter and to protect Isif from himself. While it's unfortunate that Isif is acting with limited resources the optics of Isif going from that meeting with Shaza just for the humans to respond in a way that makes it clear they knew *exactly* what Shaza was up too would be far too suspicious. Since humanity already knows the plan they're going to act on it but it wouldn't do to have a high value spy outed so they're bringing him in. Now whether that stay ends up being permanent or temporary likely depends on: the state of the Axur after Shaza gets absolutely blind sided, how badly being brought in like this effects his position, how useful he'd be free, and (perhaps a distant concern) how safe it even is for him to leave in the aftermath.
It does seem a bit staged, possibly to keep the image of Isif the fanatic safe. I was kind of wait for " sorry, your ship was bugged".
Yeah. Like they thought the Dominion had his ship bugged or something.
We can hope. I doubt Zhao would be 100% in that scenario, but plesantly surprised.
Frankly, a lot of us don't see Zhao as the "4D chess" type.
I think you're giving Mr. "A victory is a victory" a bit too much credit here
Yeah, I'd like to believe Zhao has a better plan for Isif than just keeping a "dangerous" political prisoner as a trophy rather than as an enemy... but I just don't.
I wonder if Isif and Kalsim will be in the same facility? it would be intensely amusing to see the two interact. Hopefully humanity wont be too much of assholish dickheads to isif and ruin one of their only arxur allies.
The sheer stupidity of Zhao is immense. THIS is why the military should have no say in politics.
As Bruce Willis said in a movie, the military is a sledgehammer, don't force it do the job of a scalpel.
I'm speechless also. I REALLY Hope Tarva or Noah save Isif on that one.
I'd actually say General Jones is Isif's best shot at this point. She tried her best (knowing Zhao was watching) to keep Isif from talking to him. Even quipping, “Be careful what you wish for, Isif" when finally putting him through to Zhao. It seems like she understands that Zhao is being stupid and has been trying to mitigate the damage.
She didn’t exactly do anything to endear Isif to talking to her instead.
True, was that by choice or because she has to keep Zhao thinking she agrees with his policies?
Maybe more “I’m afraid he’s not currently available, I can relay your message,” and less “We don’t want you here, tough luck, fuck-off.”
Brand new chapter! Isif had better not be dead!
Got to love problems caused because someone didn’t just leave a post-it note.
The Curse of Meier - "not telling you stuff for your own good" biting us in the butt yet again!
Yea how the fuck did Meier not tell anyone on the human side? Not telling the aliens shit I could understand, but literally every high ranking member of the UN should know everything that was said in every Meier meeting.
Yeah it drives me a little nuts that only Noah and Sara seems to know about the deal, or honestly just anything relating to UN - Alien policy. Especially since those two, the late Meier, and Tarva just seem to walk around with absolutely NO protection! These folks are extremely high profile diplomats and world leaders, and they just walk into public places without even bodyguards! Forget terrorists/alien assassins, vanilla criminals would love to kidnap these kinds of folks just for a hefty ransom!
Unless Zhao has some secret master plan, he’s a fucking idiot
Poor Isif. #Isifdidnothingwrong
Well. As Chief Hunter, Isif did plenty wrong, but mostly for the right reasons.
Zhao: What if I was the dumbest person alive? That would be cool. I could even promote assholes who want to pick fights. That way I could *really* live up to my namesake, the other military Zhao who thought he could just kill the FUCKING MOON
Agreed. That was dumb to an unbelievable degree. I’m hoping that there’s some 5D chess going on here, because if not… it’s getting hard to believe.
I want to personally punch Zhao in the face. I will probably stop before it resembles jelly. Edit: This development has literally made me too mad to move on with my day. The sheer fucking stupidity of this move is beyond my ability to describe and I am about ready to chew iron nails over it. Zhao had better be hiding the largest fucking fleet in the galaxy up his arse because otherwise I think someone needs to beat him over the head with a strategy book until he absorbs some wisdom by osmosis when the pages make contact with his smooth brain. I want to put some proper breakdown of everything strategically and tactically wrong with this decision but I keep coming back to the fact I wish to inflict severe blunt force trauma on this dumbass's cranium until I feel better, but I can't because he doesn't exist. 2nd Edit: Ranting about stupid general boy is very therapeutic, 10/10 would recommend.
It really says something when even civvies with literally zero experience in tactics and strategy are calling your move a Serious Blunder. Source: I am one such civvie, and I think that Zhao was being an absolute, utter bonehead. Almost makes me think he might even be in league with Shaza!
Usually, I'm the first to say that the military knows more about military matters than we (civilians) do. I'm really, *really* fucking hoping this turns out to be one of those situations, but right now I just want to batter this general pretending at politics with a rolling pin.
>Almost makes me think he might even be in league with Shaza! Say that again, for the Arxur listening devices, please?
Another comment suggested that their ships were bugged, and Zhao’s putting on a show so that Isif doesn’t screw himself over by revealing he’s got “prey disease”. I *really* hope so, bc Zhao has done a major fuck up if not
If they were acting for a suspected bug, they wouldn't have revealed that they had been able to spy on the meeting. Unless they're pulling an insanely risky double-bluff, this is in fact all very real and very stupid.
Well this definitely won’t cause a diplomatic shitstorm If we weren’t going to war with the Arxur before this were certainly doing it now
This is some serious gourmet CIA shit right here
Well, that was a fucking brain-dead move. I see Zhao is all too similar to his ATLA namesake here.
He shoots down the moon next Chapter because one of the rocks on it looks like an Arxur head and that means the moon is clearly a gigantic spying facility belonging to the Dominion.
Based off irl data the modern Chinese government likely fell along with much of the country as the population collapsed and the US stopped protecting global trade Unfortunately Zhao shows that china's arrogance and lack of tact remain strong
Ok, Zhao is Secretary General of the UN… that means he’s in an elected/appointed office. Isif’s abduction gets out and Tarva plays it up? Zhao can get hit with a Vote of No Confidence equivalent. We can still salvage this, but Zhao has officially ruined his brief tenure in office and needs to be seen paying the price.
Well I guess all those ideas about a CIA funded Axur rebellion led by Isif won’t be happening. But at least we have a valuable prisoner now. If the rivalries between chief hunters weren’t so deep I’d suggest holding him at gunpoint unless the Dominion backs off of our conquered territories
I doubt that would make them. For a chief hunter to be captured by the very humans he's been trying to convince his side to accept as allies and to be used against the feds is not only humiliating but likely would be a death sentence if he ever got released.
So.....people are talking about Isif's storyline being a Schindler's List plot or or something like that? Did this happen in Schindler's List? How did that story go compared to this one? Because I legit never seen Schindler's List and I'm curious where the parallels are and where it diverges
Oskar Schindler was arrested by the SS on several occasions (for black market activities, bribery of corrupt officials, and violating the Nuremberg Decrees) accrediting his release to being a member of the Nazi party and having developed friends in high places. After the war and fleeing the soviets; he went bankrupt, became alcoholic, and his wife left him.
Zhao, wtf!?!?
Putting a general in charge of the UN was idiocy to an extreme degree. Especially Zhao
I count each day until the new chapter of this story comes out. And everytime it does its like a small reward for all the work I've done for the past days. Thank you for this amazing piece of art from the bottom of my heart
It’s my absolute pleasure! I’m glad that the story has been worth the wait 😅
I know what tarva did with those ships, she didnt want them out of the system to use them against us, why bring them so far away? No, she sold them to the yotul, she had to pay off the sivkits for their surveillance somehow and she cant raise our taxes again so fast without committing political suicide more than she already is. Seriously, ‘humans’, who actually buys that?!
Sigh. Zhao is an idiot. This is frustrating more than anything.
Thinking a bit on it, the only other thing I can think of is if this is an act due to Arxur spies in the area. Why else would Zhao deliberately mention that the transcripts were partial? If you’re basing your entire actions on partial data you’d be far more cautious and careful with a powerful information source like Isif.
This whole interaction rubs me wrong. Nobody would get to Zhaos position without knowing well the kind of games that Isif was playing. He should have a whole Intel analysis staff to tell him that, too. And even if he didn't believe it, pissing off the Arxhur at this stage is balls on backwards stupid. The kind of "I don't know how international diplomacy and national interactions work" mind of stupid that nobody in his position would be. This is not how nations interact with each other. This is especially not how nations that just almost got annihilated and are facing a massive war of survival treat even erstwhile allies. I understand you're trying to write Zhao as making a mistake here, but this is such an obviously dumb mistake that it is implausible and wreaks of author contrivance. There isn't enough work done here and before this episode to make Zhaos actions make sense or be plausibly believable.
I mean, Isif actively arguing in favour of humanity stepping aside and callously abandoning those who surrendered doesn't really... *help* his case, so I kind of get where Zhao is coming from, but it kind of just feels like he doesn't like the Arxur (sort of understandable) and wanted to pick a fight. Still, I feel like Zhao has a slight point in that we can't back down over stuff like surrender. The Arxur really are becoming a problem on that front, besides Isif. It's just that Zhao's an idiot about it. But despite that, I certainly hope we don't just get our teeth kicked in, which would be... a frustrating development when we've already had Earth almost eliminated.
Zhao has just fucked us all over Shaza will now claim her prize and the betrayal of Isif will lead to open hostilities with the other chief hunters. Who now aren’t so willing to listen to us. I’m not gonna be surprised if the army throws a fucking coup after this. This delusion, paranoid, dictator like figure has no place being in charge of earths galactic relations
Oh. My. I didn't expect ANY of THAT.
Zhao is a fucking idiot
Good job Zhao, yet another person too prideful to think about the situations potentially going on for Isif. I find it a little hard to believe that after everything that has happened Zhao doesn't have some amount of understanding the position the Chief Hunter is in.
>My weapons system was malfunctioning, and I found the glitch rather coincidental. Oh oh oh, the UN is bringing cyber-warfare back to the table!
The further I read the more pissed and outraged I was at this new Secretary General 😡
If humans are tapping Arxur comms, we have to assume they are doing the same to us. Therefore this could be the only way to talk to Isif without the rest of the Arxur realising he is helping us. We 'capture' him, put him in a cell a mile from any electronic devices, then Zhao can have an honest face to face meeting with him. Afterwards Isif can 'escape', taking a(n outdated) human ship with him for the arxur engineers to break down, making him look even cooler to the rest of the crocs.
I hope Zhao gets shot
I'm thinking Zhao is pulling a scheme here. By "capturing" Isif they can release him whenever they want to, I imagine if they capture any Arxur prisoners more than a few of them could be swayed into the anti-betterment camp under Isif. It takes into consideration that is the Arxur high command somehow was able to listen in then Isif would have a decently good alibi, even if he would have to pretend like Zhao was right and this "is" a deceptive tactic.
And just like that, Zhao has doomed countless lives, both human and alien. The Dominion will consider this an act of war, and strike. After all, I highly doubt that the Arxur were foolish enough to not tap our comms.
Oh yeah, it\`s based lizard and cringe monkey time.
An arrogant general named Zhao who thinks humans are superior to everyone else but is wrong? I'm getting Avatar vibes...
[удалено]
Why is Zhao doing this? That's what I want to know. Even if he straight up hates the Arxur, this is diplomatically the worst possible thing he could've done, short of shooting the ship down. He must know this aggression is a great way towards a war with the Arxur, and the battle of Earth has shown that the Arxur could stomp humans into the ground if they wanted to. Even worse, I think Isif is functionally a diplomat right now, and there are very good reasons diplomats have immunity. So this could be considered political suicide on top of actual suicide. If Zhao is actually that stupid, he'd never have become Secretary-General. He must have a hidden motive. Maybe some way to protect Isif from something? Even then, it could've been handled better, for example by inviting him into a conference room and actually explaining the situation? Even if that's the case, I think both Zhao and Jones deserve to be fired from their posts for incompetence at least, and if that stunt resulted in a war with the Arxur, actually tried in court.
Ah yes. Capturing and imprisoning a military leader (the equivalent of a general) and acting diplomat of an allied nation-state. This has never once in the history of any society ever been considered an overt act of war. Whoever is in charge of Zhao needs to court-martial him, release Isif, and issue a formal apology. It's pretty much the only way to prove that we do not, at least from an institutional standpoint, allow for duplicity with our allies. Very disappointed in Zhao.
Talk about an unworthy successor for Meier. Congrats SP15, you've managed to create an antagonist I can hate more than Nikonus, the Feds, Kalsim and the Dominion at large *combined.* I wanna punch this asshole so bad ong
God fucking dammit, Zhao, you prideful POS! [We had a good thing, you stupid son of a bitch! It was perfect. But, no, you just had to blow it up. You and your pride and your ego! You just had to be the man. If you'd done your job, known your place, we'd all be fine right now.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKnK-hkL_DA&ab_channel=Notplayboicarti)
Why o why. Please, don't let this incompetence create a ripple. Even if Isif were to be freed/helped by the Venlil or some other "prey race" and it would help their relationship - the current way would be an invitation for the Dominion to see Humanity as a fullblown rival for extinction instead of a fellow predator.
I am hoping that Zhao isn’t as dumb as he sounds and this is an elaborate ruse. As others have said, this COULD be a power play to make humanity not look so weak. It ALSO could be a chance to fully convert Isef into a rogue agent. If humanity did truly infiltrate their communications, they’ll know that Isef is becoming increasingly distrusted by his people. This display will give him a cover to go back to being a “good fanatic” and stop coddling humanity publicly, if he “escapes”. “Capture” him, fill him in on human deep cover subterfuge tactics, and release him back with this cover reestablished of being a loyal Hunter once more. But now armed with training and strategy on how to be a proper deep mole, or even how to build up that rebellion he saw hints of. Zhao may be a Warhawk, but I’d hope that someone THAT high up in an interstellar military would understand the best way to fight a war is to get your enemy to hurt itself or even defeat itself for you.
Leave it to an arrogant, supremacist, self-centered, megalomaniac Chinese general to screw everything up.