Love that bird’s-eye.

“Claude Ferncais” does sound like the kind of name you’d come up with if you were trying to think of something French-sounding and didn’t push yourself too hard. Sadly, his role in the story won’t really justify much exploration of it. Wonder if it had a cedilla.

It’s somewhat accidental that Byron and Bandit are trading angry looks here: their anger has the same basic target. If there’s any difference between their attitudes, it’s that Byron is a little more grimly ready to accept a casualty here and there in the war against those who’d destroy all life, but Bandit, her sense of justice for the oppressed going hand in hand with her need to prove herself, will not.