She would appreciate that it works, but she doesn't believe it's the only way to do things. In short, she's kind of a rule breaker; so if the Legion tells her this is the way we do stuff, she'll still do it her own way when it suits her.




Lara has always done that through her career - she's willing to help anyone, good or bad, as long as it aligns with her own beliefs. In her case, though, it's partly because she knows how resilient she is, so she doesn't have to be as careful.

The Psychic Samurai, though, she's much more careful because she knows she can be vulnerable. Sometimes just because you can see possible futures doesn't mean you can avoid it.





It will be eventually, I'm writing a very long story about her so-called "origin". It's been in progress for a few months now, that's how long it is.

Yes, I'm not slow producing stuff because I'm lazy, it's because I'm doing three almost novel-sized stories at once.





That's not a bad idea. I'll see if I can make anything stick.








This is why I've said before that Lara wouldn't be afraid to visit the Hooded Hood and have a chat with him if she knew he was involved in something she didn't like. Not to confront and threaten him as Hatman or Mumphrey might, but to try and figure out what his ultimate purpose is, and see if she can help him achieve it another way.

That's the kind of thing that would upset Hatman or Mumph, but she believes it's the simplest way. You can only whack him on the head with a pocket watch or punch him so many times before he realizes it makes no difference to his plans.








I thought of what a space-faring society might look like if it's governed by pure capitalism. The odd conclusion I came up with is this:

Commerce (trade) would be protected by penalty of death. Corruption, if caught, falls into that category. Why? Because in a pure capitalist society, letting one company have an extremely unfair advantage stifles competition, and with heavily armed companies, can cause the fight to come to blows. So the government does that for them, as a proxy, because it's fair and equal.

Contrary to popular belief, the downtrodden are protected and funded. They're a source of cheap and eager labor, and loyalty doesn't come easy in a galaxy with so many companies about.

For example, if Caph was taken over by a hostile force, a large company might destroy the occupying force and pay for materials to rebuild Caph's cities; but the locals would be the labor. And as part of the deal, Caph would agree to an exclusive trade agreement, and maybe manufacture goods for the company as well. In exchange, they would get not only protection, but access to advanced technology. Quite a lot of the planets and cultures to join the Trade Alliance have found that to be a beneficial arrangement.

The reason it doesn't spread that far is because the Alliance corporations have no interest in getting involved in a lengthy war over trade territory. It's costly, and can't be justified to its shareholders as a long-term benefit. So they stay well clear of the more powerful regimes, like the Dead Galaxy. Just in case, though, they usually try to form a cooperation agreement with those regimes so they don't get bitten later.

Only thing that might make them go after the Apostate forces is if they observe that the Dead Galaxy is losing badly to them, because the Dead Galaxy might see that as a violation of the cooperation agreement and cut off all ties. The Galactic Government (read: militant SEC) can use interference of trade as an excuse and begin to track down and eradicate the Apostate forces.

The reason corporations like to sort out problems themselves, though, is the Galactic Military is by no means surgical. Each one of their heavily armored and shielded fighter-carriers is a doomsday weapon loaded with hundreds of tiny robotic laser-carrying fighters, rapid fire plasma cannons, and a full complement of nuclear fusion and trans-nuclear weapons. They have a strict scorched-earth policy toward any planet-based stations, space stations, and hostile forces they encounter.

Corporations, on the other hand, don't like fighting battles because then they have to repair damage and replenish weaponry. So if they expect a fight, they will send a dozen starships (about the size of the Enterprise-D) with a dozen fighters apiece, and use the sheer numbers to discourage any fighting. If it doesn't work, they have the overwhelming force to put an end to it quickly, before it costs too much.