eSOANEM wrote:I assumed it was the Rey-beacon. IIRC the scenes introducing both were cut pretty close together,
It was described as "binary" (which I interpreted as paired in a Quantum way that brooked no additional pair(/triple+)-locking) and packaged small enough (with presumed bells-and-whistles limited-bandwidth messaging interface that might have been the bulk of the overt device, but unnecessary in the context of the link itself) that a small implant (cranial, abdominal cavity, etc; your choice
1) could have been Finn's end of the link.
Rather squished as a theory when it turns out that a giant Flux Capacitor was the opoosite end of the equation
2, and all that 'promises'… Confirmed when Finn actually separated off on the cul-de-sac mission and nobody on the enemy bridge bothered to note that the players had Split The Party
3. Which, given the Hidden Plan by the disposable Vice Admiral
6, would have been awkward. If anybody had the gumption to report such discrepencies up the chain of command, and risk the wrath of Phasma or Hux (especially of toadying Hux who likely trickles-down the exasperation he gets laid upon him by his current boss) for entirely the opposite reason to what the end result often reveals.
Re: Ship-shapes. I don't always agree with the design choices (noting the simianesque 'knuckles' on the front legs of the FO AT-ATs, which I didn't see a purpose for - maybe better purchase outside of perfectly flat terrain and or a measure against speeder-grapple-cable-tripping, but we never saw them have to do any of that, which was a lost opportunity!) but I do admire the interweaving and continuation/back-formation aspects of the ship/vehicle designs that the extrapolated forward (and, for the prequels, backwards) from the OT. And I thought X-Wing configuration changes (referencing something read earlier, maybe in this thread) was something to do with altering shield/hyperspace-field configuration according to wing geometry (minimally changed as it actually is), much like the NCC-74656 does (for 'environmental' reasons) over in that other universe, rather than to allow atmospheric flight, as per the Thunderbolt version of the Starfury in that
other other universe.
1 But handily (yet still initially overlooked) subdermal that, once detected, allowed it to be painfully removed with a hot knife 'in the field' would have been useful (if predictable) to the plot. The removed grain or sliver thence quickly slipped onto Phasma's own armour/transport-ship just in time to ensure that some sort of inexorable homing-torpedo-mega-destructo-ship-thing released by the Order does a Marco Ramius on whatever FO mothership Phasma is currently stationed on. Obvious, so maybe I would have complained, but who knows…?
2 A
second newly-revealed technology, seemingly something like a phased-array radar-lockon device that has look-through-hyperspace abilities, capable of maintaining the lock. But
conveniently has an external polling cycle to wherever it reports its fndings that only demands a low bandwidth comms line with no intermediate possibility of communicating "signal lost" mid-cycle, etc. Ready for another ship to suddenly realise that it can turn on
its Giant Flux Capacitor, when it hasn't done so already.
3 Though the assigned console operator probably would have just used Repair Manoeuvre Number One
4+5, if trained in the same class as the Shield Console Operator.)
4 Hit the console! People who aren't IT professionals tend to hit screens. People who
are IT professionals often know exactly where on the computer
case (a.k.a. 'CPU', to the first group of people) one should actually slap your hand to correct the annoying fan resonance noise/whatever, and thus earn themselves the same sort of respect as Scotty does of Kirk, from that first lot. Temporarily. All-too-fleetingly. Forgotten again by lunch.
5 Not to be confused with Repair Manoeuvre Number Two (by one
standard, anyway), which can be more easily initiated remotely through symbolic instruction to the localised error-reporting bio-interface unit (tell the user to do it for you!). RM#2 is power-cycling the equipment in the vague hope that this deals with the issue. But it buys time while you head for the stairwell/book the flight to actually visit the user and find that there's actually nothing wrong except for the eternal PEBCAK issue.
6 A tragically missed opportunity for Fisher to have gotten her character's CMOA. General Organa could have done
everything that
Hodor Holdo did (using her experiences just before the hypothetical change of command
and her attitude in demoting Po to further justify her standoffish attitude) and done the job. Which would also have worked (better?) if the handwavey-tracking Giant Flux Capacitor was keyed into
her, somehow, , rather than the (still presumed!) ship. And Finn's infiltration had discovered this rather disturbing fact in the very act of not-quite-disabling the device.
((Do you think Disney needs scriptwriters? Sorry, that's a stupid question. Of course they do. But do they
want them? I reckon I could help them out. A lot! And I'd welcome many of you as colleagues, too, of course. So long as I'm in charge.))