Somethign cool I read (LONG)

Hey everyone,

I was reading through an old favorite of mine, a comic called Albedo
Anthropomorphics.  It came out back in the 80's during the whole talkign
animal craze, but it was slightly different than most.	It had great
art, and even more important, deep, detailed stories.  It also had a
really cool attention to technical detail within the setting.

The setting is in a far away grouping of systems where humanoid animals
live in a society that they just sort of seem dropped into.  They have
technology that they themselves didn't develope but know how to use (the
reasons for this are revealed later in the series).  There are two major
factions, the EDF (Extraplanetary Defense Force) the military arm of the
socialist good guys and the ILR (Interstellar Lepine Republic) an 'evil'
Republic comprised mostly of rabbits, thus the name.

Now silly as this seems, the animals are only a tool for telling a
rivetting story of a young female flight officer named Erma Felna (a
cat).  The stories include terrorism, combat, government plots and ploys
(especially in a society where they still have all male military bases.

The reson I bring this up is because in Issue Vol. 1 #1, they have a
great breakdown of how a reactionary force is deployed when a sudden
hotspot flares up on a frontier world.

The following is a breakdown of the narrative from the panels in that
comic.	It reads pretty much as it was written except where it was
necisary to alter text to read without pictures:

     In orbit waits a huge Command Support Vessel (VLCSV).  It serves
not only as a carrier and command and control center, but as an orbital
factory as well, providing total support for any foreseeable action. 
The large ship breaks out of orbit.  It will take more than a week of
heavy acceleration to get to a favorable jump point.

     The twelve light-year jump to Derzon, is an instant flash. 
Immediately, a swarm of fighters and defense weapons form an expanding
protective screen for tens of thousands of kilometers around the command
ship.  Momentarily unopposed, the elements of the task force disengage
and begin independant rates of deceleration, spreading the formation
across millions of kilometers of space.

     While Republican Forces are quick to note the main force, they do
not see the swarms of various small robots undecelerated.  They streak
toward their targets at thousands of kilometers per second.  It takes	
only a few days to span the billions of kilimeters.  There, some serve
as reconnaissance probes.  Others are merely guided masses of metal.  At
their enormous velocity the kinetic energy makes warheads superfluous as
they seek out defenses and impact them.

     It takes many more days of ever varying deceleration before the
various strike and landing forces are released for the final assault. 
Approaching the planet.  Erma's craft seems almost alone.  The
Republican defenses include nuclear weapons and each ship keeps
seperated, least a single blast endanger several vessels at once.

     As the formation nears, the few point defense units open fire, only
to be pin-pointed and destroyed by orbitting supressive fire ships.  So
supported, the gunships and assault craft come in virtually unopposed.

     The objective - the city of Andis.  The gunship begin to circle,
drawing fire away from the assault craft, and at the same time returnign
fire, destroying each defending position as it reveals itself.	Each
assault craft finds its landing point as directed by orbital
controllers, adjusting exact placement to match the immediate needs of
the battlefield.  

     From each craft, assault teams advance to neutralize and control
their areas.  Accurate, concentrated fire quickly eliminates the
opposition.  The squads move on, cautiously searching every building for
possible pockets of resistence.  If they find more than they can handle,
they again call in air support.

>From there it falls back into a traditional image and dialog driven
comic.	I like this example of the nature of trans-stellar battle.  I
hope you all can appreciate this as much as myself.  I'd suggest anyone
who has Albedo
to reread it thinking of how it could apply to SG/DS2 and even to FT in
a way.	Anyone who hasn't read it, see if you can borrow it.

Thanks,

Eli

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