Originally posted by Quarto:
As far as I can remember, Nemesis, nobody made any comments about the Steltek gun in RF . . . The Drone and the Steltek, as far as I remember, were not mentioned at all in RF.
Originally posted by Roach:
[N]ow that I think about it, no, no one's made any OFFICIAL comments.
Here are two comments the bartenders make:
1. “I sure am glad that Steltek drone was destroyed. A lot of folks thought it was a new Kilrathi super-weapon. We figured the Kilrathi were about to overrun Gemini. Of course, now there’s a lot of anxiety about the Retros. . . .”
2. “I know you! You’re the guy who nailed the Steltek drone! I’m pleased to meet you in person. We haven’t heard any more from the Stelteks. Too bad. They seem like pretty smart guys to me. I wonder just where they went, and whether they’ll ever be back.”
At Oxford, Masterson says to our hero: “I heard news [about your gun being stolen]. I thought that gun was dangerous in your hands . . . .”
And at Perry, our hero tells Goodin: “Someone ripped off my Steltek gun.” To this, Goodin eventually replies that she can’t really help him because she has no information about “stolen guns”. (Yeah, she’s
real concerned.)
I think it’s hard to account for Goodin’s “who cares” attitude to both the fact that our hero has a Steltek gun and the fact that it’s been stolen (let alone the public airing that the Steltek, the Drone, our hero, and “the gun” have been getting, albeit in varying degrees) unless it’s true that Confed has at some point prior to RF examined the gun and is familiar with at least its non-boosted capabilities–for example, how well they compare to those of the new (or soon-to-be) commercially available Fusion Cannon. (So yes, Goodin wouldn’t hesitate then to view the Steltek gun as just one more stolen gun.)
On the other hand, it’s a good question why Goodin isn’t concerned about the gun’s power booster, which renders the gun nearly twice as powerful as the Fusion. Well,
maybe Confed removed the booster in the aftermath of “Privateer”. (Of course, the booster’s charge may also have run out as the Steltek promised, but I can’t quite see Goodin being as unconcerned as she is if the booster, even though depleted, is still a part of the gun.) Or
maybe Confed knows absolutely nothing about the booster because the gun was evaluated before our hero went off to destroy the Drone and encountered the Steltek.
But at this point we’re already knee-deep in “what-ifs” and you can craft as good a story as I can.