Who do you think has the right of it here, Darvin or Fusella? I spent a lot of time mulling this over. I’d be interested in hearing your opinions. 
If you’re in the area, please come find me at Can-Con this weekend in Ottawa! Come listen to me try to fill up an hour of panel discussions with webcomic topics (actually, I don’t think this will be a problem, but I’d still be thrilled if you bring your questions)! Guest of Honor is the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Robert Sawyer, very cool!
Look below for another new sketch blog post.
I wasn’t going to say so last week, but I totally called Fu sending Darvin to talk to Aria.
Erk, they are going to jump with Zan and Aria in this condition. That could be interesting given what happened to Aria last time.
Fusella is in the right. She needs everyone working at their best, and Aria needs to talk to someone, if not for her own mental peace, then to gather intelligence. However — Aria just went through the ringer… give the poor girl some space and time to process it for pity’s sake!
I’m surprised she took so long to pull the “I’m the Captain” card… she should be marching right in and demanding a conference – Captain Kirk style
Actually, they’re both right. It is rather manipulative to send Darvin to go “innocently” check in on Aria. However, Fusella’s reasoning is also quite sound from where the responsibilities of command and the responsibilities of friendship intersect. She does need to debrief Aria, and she trusts Darvin to be able to do that both gently and thoroughly. Besides, the indirect approach is very much Fusella’s command style when she doesn’t need to give direct orders in an emergency. All you have to do to see it is reread the chapter where she was wandering the ship after the jump getting a feel for things.
Word!
Fu is right that it is better that Darvin debrief Aria before the General wades in…
Whats wrong with the General wading in? So far, the general’s shown herself as one highly competent woman. And she’s likely debriefed people before.
But her relationship with Hilena indicates that she’s impatient and would not cope well with Aria’s prevarication.
I think Fu is right in this case, too. While it would be good to let her have space, they really need information and soon so that space isn’t likely to happen in this scenario. It’s (probably) also good for her own mental health to talk to someone about it, and I think she would be more comfortable talking to Darvin than just about anyone else on the ship at the moment.
(How much do you want to bet Aria is going to end up using inadvertent telepathy on Darvin during his visit, leading to awkward….?)