Tag Archives: Casey Vitale

Ghost Ship – Chapter 9

Runcible System
Daglyte Seam

In which the Department of the Interior prepares to attack Korval and her allies.

I like the structure of this chapter. Three scenes that have no obvious connection, but implicitly the latter two scenes concern people who are going to be affected by the events of the first.

It occurs to me to wonder what would have happened if Commander of Agents had chosen to leave Korval alone for the time being. Her concern is obviously that Korval will continue to be a threat, but Korval has accepted Liad’s decision that guarding Liad is no longer its business, which means that the Department is no longer its business – but the Department will quickly become its business again if the Department attacks it directly. I suppose if the Department did leave Korval alone and concentrate on subverting Liad, Korval would eventually become involved because it does still have allies on Liad who would sooner or later be affected by the Department’s actions – but think how much the Department could get done in the mean time!

Saltation – Chapter 38

Conference Room Able
Pilots Guildhall
Volmer

In which the bad news keeps on coming.

Caratunk is a planet we’ve heard of before: it’s where Jethri’s father met Iza Gobelyn.

And we heard about that in the same chapter which first informed us that “there are secrets in all families”, a phrase that’s associated with a particular family, and a particular person who is likely to be the same person Win Ton is on his way to meet. It amuses me that he’s implicitly included in Win Ton’s reference last chapter to unspecified people “even less reputable” than Scouts or Juntavas.

The fact that Win Ton was at Nev’lorn when the fighting broke out is interesting, and offers an additional reason for the Department to have decided the time was right for overt action. (And prompts one to wonder what might have happened if he and Daav had encountered each other there.)

And now the bad news from home has caught up with Theo, having been somewhat delayed by Kamele’s lack of familiarity with the options for sending an urgent message long-distance to a person in motion. There’s an irony here: Theo does know where to find her father – or would, if she had the means to link together several things she’s learned recently – but, lacking those means, she doesn’t know that she knows.

Saltation – Chapter 36

Primadonna
Volmer

In which Theo meets Win Ton again.

Now it’s definitely after the Battle of Solcintra; not long after, because the news has arrived at Volmer within the last few hours, while Theo was resting.

It took me a moment to get why Theo gets the more friendly greeting the second time she visits the Guild, but of course it’s because this time she’s wearing her jacket.

More foreshadowing of the news from home that’s awaiting Theo: although she doesn’t know it, she does have a personal interest in news of Ride the Luck and its pilot. But that’s still not the news of the moment… yet.

(It’s an amusing bit of outsider viewpoint that Pilot Vitale considers Korval “the most Liaden you can get”, especially considering the opinion Liad itself has recently expressed on that point.)