So this is the last comic for the year and the last comic for quite some time. Hopefully I can come back to this, but for now thanks for reading what I had so far. I hope you enjoy it, even if it turns out to be the end of the comic. I'm sure one of y'all could fanfic the way out of this. 

I also hope y'all will have a happy new year and maybe I'll see you around same time. 

This is the second to last page of this chapter. I'll post the final page some time before the new year. Yes you were right in that Lore's leg did not survive this trip. Izzy thought the same thing would happen to her. Which would be much worse since her constructs are replacing multiple internal organs. This was unlikely to happen though because she had her constructs stabilized even without the power of the gedutu. But she was really worried they might not hold. 

What will happen next? Tune in whenever you feel like after the new year. 

I took a week off. But we should still finish by the end of this year. I also have to say I have a very deep burnout and I don't know when I'll come back after uploading this chapter. I'm sorry about that. But I have a lot of challenges and unmet needs that I don't see resolving quickly. It just didn't seem fair to not finish something that has been done for nearly 2 years. So this seemed like something I had to do.

And to be honest, I kinda think I may have already missed my shot to actually finish this comic. And I'm dreadfully worried that I'm gonna let you all down. My writing isn't really where it needs to be and hasn't been for a long time now. Disappointing people is one of my worst fears. And actually trying and still disappointing feels worse to me than just giving up. 

You will definitely get some kind of real ending. I just cannot guarantee it will be any good. But it will exist. Hopefully someday soon. I will not leave you hanging. But just apologies in advance if none of this turns out the way you wanted or hoped. 

Sorry for how fricking late this one happened to be. I kept meaning to update and by the end of the night I had forgotten about. Please don't worry. There's 3 pages left. And that'll be it for the year. And finally people will be able to read the entire chapter and see if it works for them or not. I think it's neat. 

Right now I'm up in Duluth and doing Duluth things. And there's still a bunch of Duluth things to do later. I will be back home before the weekend is fully over. 

Tell me some Duluth things to do. Provided you've ever been there before. 

I feel like I might be close to writing again. But it very much depends on if this mood persists or escalates. I can't make any promises though. Things have been very difficult. I would very much like to finish this comic. Or at least write another chapter. 

I'm not 39. And the new year ain't off to a great start. The con was a bust. I didn't sell a single thing. I don't think I had any interactions with anyone, let alone positive ones. And people attempted to or successfully stole from me. And i think people just want me to get over it. But I also don't think they've been stolen from. And I can't easily replace what's been lost.

Oh well. At least the per diem was generous. 

Not much to talk about today. I'm gonna be at Twin Cities Con at booth 666 from Friday to Sunday this week. The first day of the con will coincide with my 39th birthday. I'm on my last thirty. Middle age looms large in my future. A lot changed in my life since I've turned 30. But I'm actually living pretty much the exact same life I was living 17 years ago. Broke, paying too much and rent, and living with a very lovable cat. 

I'm not joking about the booth number. Twin Cities Con will take place at the Minneapolis Convention Center. If you're around, come see me. I might be wearing my Prime Evil costume. Yes, Prime Evil from Ghostbusters. But definitely not the Ghostbusters you're thinking of. 

This was supposed to be up a day ago. But it didn't because I'm going through some stuff right now. So sorry about that. Still have several pages left to upload. Should be done in December. I don't have a lot to say this week. So apologies again. 

I didn't realize I was a guest at a comic convention in about 3 weeks. But apparently I'm a guest at Twin Cities Con which takes place on Nov 7-9.

The 7th is my 39th birthday. So it'll be  my last 30. I used to be worried about not accomplishing much before I turned 40. But I'm starting to appreciate being what they call "an Old". And now I just see people younger than me as like superbabies or something and me being normal age. 

I think these are the last few pages we see some of these folks. Unless I end up writing them into later chapters. Which I might. I'm not completely sure. I'll figure things out once my ability to write returns to me. 

Anyway, 8 more pages til things dry up for a while. So hopefully you can enjoy it while you can.

It was on this day, 10 years ago, that the first StarHammer was posted. It's been a fairly wild ride. And I want to thank you all for sticking with us. As hard as that may have been, especially in the past couple years or so. I love this comic. I love these characters. I love collaborating with Harry Bogosian. 

This was actually the day I wanted the comic to be finished. But things didn't turn out that way because of many things outside of my control. So thank you for being patient. 

Sorry for not being around for a long time. I've been having a fairly rough time. Various emotional, financial, and housing troubles. They're still not over yet. I'm still in debt and have to pay for things I can't afford. And my disability is getting worse. So the most I can promise right now is to finish posting Chapter 8, which has been completed the whole time. It'll be awhile before I can promise something like Chapter 9. But me and Harry are still committed to completing this comic. 

I will be posting a new page of chapter 8 for the next nine weeks. You'll have an actual end to this part of the storyline. I hope that'll be enough for now. 

Using tones to crack safes doesn't always work. But it works here. Which goes along with their minimal security culture. A lot of other places in the Orion Arm have much stronger locks. But any lock can be broken or fooled with the right know how and amount of time. This one is broken fast enough before more trouble arrives. If nothing else, our team was luckier than they initially seemed. 

Also, my old computer is having a lot of trouble. I want to replace my Surface with a new Surface so I can keep doing everything I do for StarHammer. If you could donate it would be super appreciated. Thank you. 

Sorry for not posting anything sooner. It's something that completely slipped my mind. But yes. The crew will definitely have criminal records now. They'll lose their standings in their jobs and will be retained in a diminished capacity. There's so few Aimeetaf left that they won't be outright fired. But they won't be able to choose assignments or be allowed to do things without strict supervision. And they will no longer have the privilege of their  current positions. They will be disciplined. 

They can't exactly quit either. They're bonded to their gedutu for life. But they might be able to find other things to do with their lives when not on missions to help people. Remember that all have special skills of their own. 

Backup plans are always needed. And this one's probably gonna be messier than most. But sometimes anything that might work will do. But hey, at least no one's died. Yet. 

Also Lore doesn't always use American expressions, but when she does she thinks they're just the best. Her favorite is probably "cool beans". She finds it funny and very charming. Also "I don't truck with that". Things of that nature. But she doesn't say them often. She wants them to be special. 

They didn't really time the food delivery. So it got there a bit ahead of when it should've. It's an easy thing to overlook really. This is a rush job of a heist. There wasn't a real casing of the joint. Heists usually require way more time than this. But they wanted to get things over as soon as possible.

And now the food is all over the floor. Vasddoo put a lot into cooking it. She really wanted the guards to enjoy the meal. But that's just not happening. Not even with the invocation of the 5 second rule. That's really too bad. Hopefully the rest of the heist goes well. 

Plarge is the closest planet. And has the easiest security. Certain planets have different approaches to security. On Plarge security is more for safety than the keep people from stealing stuff. It's generally believed that anything stolen can easily be replaced. But the theft of things that can put lives at risk is super important. So while things are much easier here, they're about as hard as they'll ever be on this planet. 

The crew has done a lot of things. A heist isn't one of them. It's like asking the fire department to steal a bunch of jewels. Which would be a great movie by the way, but not something these guys are used to. 

To be fair, lots of heists are attempted by first timers. Otherwise you wouldn't have heists by old pros. So there's a chance the crew could pull this off. After all they have many of the skills necessary to pull a heist. They've just never put them all together and applied them to this particular context. But there could be a lot of success in these guys' future. 

Teleportation is something that exists here but isn't a universal thing. Much like FTL travel, not every civilization can figure it out, or has interest in it at all even. Not only that, everyone who has figured it out does it differently. There's also not a support network to aid teleportation over extremely long distances. There's not even any that could escape the gravity of a planet.  Meanwhile there are support networks for FTL, such as the StellaPort network. However none of those go close to Earth. 

Slip discing could be revolutionary. Though yeah, super dangerous. 

Izzy's improved at a lot of languages. She's not exactly fluent in any of them, but between Fiilonof translating and being immersed in so many languages for 6 years she was bound to pick up something. Although French is the only other human language she's conversational in. If she ever does get back to Earth, her family will no longer have a "secret" language to converse in. 

It's funny though. She won't be able to impress anybody with any of the other languages she's picked up. Since almost no one on Earth knows extraterrestrial languages. Well, there is one person who specializes in it. But I'm not sure how Izzy feels about her. 

Izzy hasn't really let herself cry while living out here. And it's not that Izzy is against crying. Crying is possibly the only display of emotion she's okay with outside of being visibly happy. But she became less comfortable while being out in space. She didn't want to seem like a hassle that's more trouble than she's worth. So okay to cry once in private. But can't make a habit of it because then she starts to look like an issue. And nobody wants to be constantly dealing with an issue. At least in Izzy's eyes. 

So now is time to really let her tears flow. 

Izzy understands that people don't need permission to exist. But she thinks that doesn't apply to her. It's a judgment she wouldn't pass on anyone else but she can't stop from doing it to herself. It's not because she thinks she's special somehow. It's just that she thinks she hasn't earned the right to keep existing. It kinda colors her whole life. And until she got lost in space she was mostly able to keep it hidden. But because of that she's never actually talked it through or tried to process it. So here we are now. At the beginning of the end of a very long road.