Saw someone post a link to this in a discord server, and I'm really liking it so far.

You did a great job writing the characters. They have believable flaws and it can be gutwrenching when this leads them to make mistakes that will haunt them for the rest of their lives, even if I find it less believable that certain aliens with more serious flaws wouldn't have been sent for a meeting with the psychiatrist at some point (Gharr, cough, cough).

The art is very nice, and though you still seem to struggle with portraying—shall we say aesthetically pleasing?—human faces, I do think you have improved a lot over the years that this comic has been posted.

It is also refreshing to for once see human leadership being portrayed as fallible, rather than stupid or overly aggressive.

I am seriously unimpressed with the level of competence displayed by some of the raharri crew as the plot progresses however. If in the future Earth needs to be defended from the 'ghosts', then I would not feel particularly assured if these same officers were the ones who have to defend it.

I also hope we get to see the different species in the alliance play bigger roles in the future, because the raharri really are running the show right now.

As for my opinion on the shootdown of the shuttle, I feel bold enough to say that humanity bears absolutely no blame for that. As it is currently written to have happened, shooting it down was the only sane decision available to the air defenders.

I am glad that Zane stated something to that effect, but it gets undermined by how...cold and businesslike he sometimes acts towards humanity, particularly in that first message he sent back to us. Given how important the directives supposedly are, and given that he is ultimately responsible for this whole shitshow, I was actually expecting him to be kinda apologetic about it.

An even bolder opinion of mine is that humanity should demand reparations for the satellite that the alliance hijacked. Ain't no way we're gonna keep using that thing even if they offer to remove all the spyware. It needs to be scrapped and replaced to make anyone at all feel safe that there isn't a massive security breach in our network.

Speaking of security breaches, assuming humanity finds out about the data scraping that a certain comms officer and engineer got up to, and what sites were visited, well...it would be incredibly funny if someone went up to a raharri official with the receipts in tow and went: "You know, it would appear that before official first contact, some mysterious data traffic which we tracked to that satellite you hijacked spent an awful lot of time looking at human pornography, among other things. Now, it *is* very good pornography, and since it is clearly of great interest to you, we feel that it is only fair that humanity gets access to all of your porn as well. >:)" (F**k you Ahshu! Your actions have consequences too!)

As I was reading, I realized I was seeing some familiar elements. I wonder if you have read The Nature of Predators on Royal Road? The way you treat flawed characters as well as the overall vibe feels very similar to me, even if humanity finds itself in very different circumstances in that story.

Lastly, I want to say that I'm really looking forward to the continuation of this story, and if you have any questions about my feedback, feel free to ask!

i kinda want a 3D model of the Dawn, maybe for 3D printing? or just looking at online or in blender?

Well done! Looking forward to the concluding chapter when you are ready, and to future masterworks of sequential art.

Jupiter: [comes a-knockin' after the fleet to demand its Hephrene back]

It'll be interesting to see how Earth handles this. Will they let the Raharr just show up in orbit and transmit a message to all Earth or fly down to the UN assembly and give a speech to all members and the world there as the first introduction? Or will leaders announce it all in advance so people can get accustomed to it but also speculate wildly as the Dawn approaches?

With luck they recorded the meeting at the UN Security council and will be able to transmit that around.

I don't doubt that humanity as a whole can tolerate the impact of first contact. But I expect there's a good chance some people, groups and maybe even small nations, will panic.

On a side note, I wonder where all the support ships are. I guess its possible they've already departed ahead of the Dawn. I didn't think they could all dock with the dawn at once but maybe I underestimated the Dawn't docking capacity.

*A* final one??

So, a couple months before we'll find out how good human in-story radars and telescopes really are (read: Whether people on Earth will go "OMG their main vessels are that much larger than their shuttles and that lone cruiser in Earth-Moon L4?!? "), gotcha.

Congrats on the stoned mile, and wishing you a good recharge, with someone other than cpt. Kas controlling the supply on the other end of the cable.

It's been a great ride so far!