Penguin said:
Shane: I don't agree with the hibernation hypothesis. Why would you hibernate for 4000yrs? Why would you travel for 4000yrs? None of that makes sense. I mean honestly suppose that scientists today somehow found definite proof that life exists on a planet thousands of light years away. That fact wouldn't really be applicable because even though we would then know that we weren't alone, that race is so far away we wouldn't have any impact on each other. We wouldn't go & try to find some way to bridge the enormous gap. We'd concentrate on exploring our more immediate environs & build up to that.
As for the small force. I said reconnaissance. Their job is not to fight but rather to gain information covertly about the circumstances of the destruction of Kilrah. Sending an invasion force is an over-reaction. What if what they encountered on the other side of the wormhole not only destroyed their fleet (which happened) but captured the wormhole & sent their planet killing weapons through to finish off the bugs. The bugs would've brought about their own destruction, which defeats the purpose of coming to Kilrah in the first place.
The Stand - sounds cool. I get the plague bit but forces of good versus evil? Sounds definitely like Stephen King.
If LOAF found evidence that the bugs are the star gods then fine. LOAF is usually above question when it comes to wC.
I think we're talking past each other on the hibernation issue. I agree with you. I do not think some kind of natural hibernation that lasts 4000 it is very likely. A suspended animation might be possible, but for that long is also problematic. I think you got one of my posts confused with someone elses. I did say awakening from hibernation and getting things on order could explain the amount of time that passed between the destruction of Kilrah and the Nephilim appearance. And that it could explain the lack of development of bug technology over 4000 years. However, once again, I don't think the Hibernation Theory is viable. Even in hibernation bodily activity continues, just at a slower rate. 4000 years is too long for some kind of natural biological hibernation.
Sci-Fi is full of long term suspended animation, planets become unihabitable and the inhabitants placing themsleves in suspended animation until the crisis passes or a rescuer arrives. However, even this is a stretch. The equipment would have to run without maintainence for 4000 years, more or less. Their ships and/or factories would have to be preserved as well. You'd have to have a reliable, redundant power source. It could be possible, but I'd have to think it out better. Why go in to suspended animation for starters.
As for the recon force, to hear Quarto tell it, they've been poking around for a while, we just failed to notice
I don't really buy that one, but I'll pitch it up there. Second, to get their ships in they needed to have a gateway, which is an expensive (possibly in material, design time, building time, etc) undertaking. Why guard that with a tiny force? Also, why send a small set of ships into harm's way, when you can send a bigger force and negotiate from a position of strength? Finally they seem interested not in recon, not in negottiations, but in conquest. They sent a force they thought could obtain a beach head, likely sent other smaller groups out to recon and were preparing to bring more ship in through the gateway at Kilrah when it was closed. The Allies in WWII did not send a small force to Normandy hoping to avoid the germans on the beach while they built docks for their ships. They sent an invasion force becasue they knew the Germans would want to prevent the Allies from getting a beachead in Western Europe. Granted the Allies had more Intel than the bugs did (unless Quarto is right), but the Bugs didn't have the luxury of trying to fly across Cat and Confed space without tipping off their hand that they were there. I think the bugs sent a force large enough to hold the Kilrah system and then began shipping in reinforcements and larger recon units, looking for other places to build gateways.
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