Yes, you are right. did not think of that. Nea has her device plugged in as far as I can see.

Light is off though. Maybe Base has jammed the signal or possible "plothole" ?

In worse case , write it of as "Artistic freedom"...Works for me.

I think Bahin would lock down comms after the search. Too much of a risk the unknown alien tech would connect to civillian networks. If I were Nea I would let the implant be on full blast at all times, maximising my peoples chances of finding me.

I was also looking at the upper left arm of Nea, the sleeve should be torn, but I think it's just out of shot.

And a bit of a strange perspective in panel three, makes the Rharr guards look like way taller.

Hm. There's not much of a chance of having Iskra interfered with right now without Nea knowing that something's way off, no way to keep Nea away from the Alliance delegation without them going all suspicious, and I'd rather not think about what the four armed Raharr guards might do when they hear gunshots fired in the building. And a plan to cause a "misunderstanding" that gets Iskra shot by the Raharrs would be extremely desperate and prone to going awry ...

Yeah, I gotta admit, if their ONE goal is to make sure Iskra and the agency doesn't notice I imagine they would have done better to make sure Iskra was distracted elsewhere by a phonecall or meeting or just have a few guys watching the corridors and giving the all clear.

As it is, The Major is now in the awkward position of likely having to bluntly refute her authority to get Nea to the delegation and give up the illusion that Protagistan is agreeing to the UN Agency's authority.

Think he will let her join under the disguise of "plausible deniabilty" as in "I am sorry, could not stop her" . It did not seem like he agreed with Bahins "Pro-Protagistan" rant at page 204 to 205

"Major? Why is she handcuffed to ... erm ... Nea?"

"She insisted on staying within sight of her, and I chose to instead prepare for her eventually trying to run away and inform the UN. Or to stick with our other visitors instead."

"Is ... is that red plush?"

"Had to make do with what I had at hand, Sir."

I think she could use some bunny-ears (only that might be out of uniform.)

I don't think that Iskra is even aware that there are more Raharrs present on the base right now. One topic she did previously discuss with the major was that Nea had been taken off the site without her knowledge (to scan for Gharr).

if the timeframe is short, since we last saw her with Nea (page 195) she would not know whats happened in between then and now. Possible having been kept in the dark by Bahin by proxy through the Major.

Would be quite a nasty shock to walk into the meeting room with Nea not knowing who and how many is there.

Those sharp suit-pants better be leak proof!

You mean that com stuck in her ear is just filled with static? She's got to be more aware than that.

She arrived on the base with one colleague and is notably a UN emissary and not affiliated with the military Bahin and the major hail from, or any other domestic authority. If I weren't as well-informed on radio technology as I am, I'd probably be convinced that she has "connection test" muzak straight from the UN headquarters in NYC on that earpiece.

Maybe its just "white noise" in the earpiece , makes her brain eavesdropping proof

I get your point though, there was more agents around and they have certainly not been sitting idle. So yes, that earpiece must serve a purpose. We can only speculate what is going on outside the small bubble we see.

Expanding on the theory that Iskra does not speak the local language, chances could be that the earpiece is playing a Protagonistani-only Learning Course in her ear. It would be easily ignored babbledigook to her, but feed a massive masking noise to any Protagonistan-made AIs trying to translate her brain waves back into her actual perceptions and thoughts. And if the assignment takes longer than expected ... it'll fix the "does not understand the local language" problem.

She's there to insure they get a fair deal, so as an agent of the rest of the World you'd think there are "eyes on" her location to inform her of any relevant activity. They wouldn't have missed the shuttle coming down, or the 5 Raharr coming to visit.

She probably wants the Major to adhere to what his own govenment has agreed to with the UN group on this.

Protagistan apparently agreed to the formation of a special UN agency which would manage everything to do with Nea and the aliens/Raharr. Protagistan (or at least the Major and General) have gone back on it and have been absconding with Nea and talking with the Raharr outside the agency's knowledge.

Iskra is in charge of the agency and she's asserting the authority that the Protagistan government has agreed she has.

The Major tried to warn the General that these actions would undermine Protagistan's international relations. The General insisted they were superfulous and the more important relationship was with the Raharr and trying to make it exclusive or get ahead because the Raharr would be like colonialists.

Now Zane has made it clear they are there to pickup Nea and talk with the world as a whole, not give Protagistan some kind of exclusive or preferential access. So here is Iskra to uncover it. She might not stop it but it'll be damaging enough that she can report Protagistan tried to go behind the backs of the UN agency it agreed to give authority to.

Would Protagistan have somewhat damaged its international relations by not informing the UN or simply refusing to work with the UN agency? Probably, but not nearly as much as it'll damage their relations by agreeing and now breaking trust.

I don't necessarily understand how they thought they'd get ahead with the Raharr anyway. "Hey we shot down your vessel, killed 5 crew and lost one but we've detained Nea and are handing her back to you so you should totally view this as us doing you a favour"

On the other hand, the Raharr didn't think to warn anyone on the Earth who might have been alarmed at a spacecraft/missile in their sky. It was supposed to have been a covert mission with minimum exposure, but they made a mistake in thinking they could just "slip in and slip out." They know better now and they both have regrets about their actions, which isn't too bad for negotiations to begin in earnest, but NOT, I think with these guys, except by including them with the rest of the Earth's people.