Six of Us
Jenarian Station
In which Rys makes a gamble.
I suppose it was too much to hope that the official procedure for disbanding the Department merely meant calling the whole thing off and letting everyone go home.
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Six of Us
Daiellen System
In which news of the decision spreads.
So, it looks like Sye Mon and Bon Vit will have something to do after all.
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Five Light-Hours out from Surebleak Libration Point Five
In which some spacefaring devices have things to say.
And now we know where the Department of the Interior sent its fleet of Old Tech war machines, though I think we’d all been assuming the answer anyway.
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In which two negotiate.
The Six are going for a multi-pronged effort: one remaining in sight as a decoy, two making the preparations described in this chapter, and the final three preparing to attack from a different direction that will presumbly be described in the next chapter.
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Runcible System
Daglyte Seam
In which the Commander of Agents decides to stay on target.
That’s an interesting moment there, where the Commander starts to consider giving the whole thing up and disbanding the Department, and then is suddenly confident success is within grasp if they hold the course. Given what we already know about how the Department messes about with the insides of its assets’ heads, I suspect the Commander has something within hers devoted to heading off that train of thought. Something to keep an eye on, going forward.
Another thing to keep an eye on is the situation with the Old Tech having gone missing, including “the eldest and most destructive of the Department’s accumulated machines”. Not enough information yet to say who might be behind that, or with what purpose.
On the other hand, I suspect that I know who is behind the affliction of the Department’s dramliz: that would most likely be the lady from Alliance of Equals who set out to achieve her own Balance against the Department.
The Commander considers that it would be a crushing defeat for Korval if the clan were forced to disband and be absorbed by the Terran hordes; I suspect Korval would be less bothered by it, except if it meant they couldn’t protect the people they owed duty to. Even having the Luck diffused might not be something they mourned too much — and frankly, I’m not as confident as the Commander that it would be diffused in such a case. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that just meant it got spread around more, without losing any of its potency.
Jelaza Kazone
Surebleak
In which a team comes together.
I was wrong about why Val Con found Tocohl’s voice familiar, but at least I was inside the ball park.
It occurs to me that Val Con thinking about his plans for his daughter’s future actually fits in well in the midst of Rys and the free agents planning, because the potential for Talizea to have a future is one of the things they’re fighting for.
Whatever plan they decide on, there’s no chance now they’ll get it done before the end of the book, but that’s no surprise; The Decisive Attack on the Department was always the kind of thing that was going take a whole book to tell.
It’s interesting that the free agents apparently don’t know about Val Con. The Department knows, of course, but it makes sense that a particular agent wouldn’t have been told unless there was some reason they needed to know. After the attack on Solcintra Headquarters, it would have become general knowledge that Korval was acting in opposition to the Department, but perhaps not the details of how that came about.
I wonder if Claidyne, the former director, knows.
Runcible System
Daglyte Seam
In which preparations are made for departure.
This is the first time in a while we’ve had a viewpoint looking at Theo with a fresh eye, and possibly the clearest description we’ve had of the appearance that had people warning her about her “attitude” back at the Academy. It’s interesting how some things are far more apparent to an outside viewpoint than from behind her eyes. (Like when her viewpoint says she “felt a flicker of irritation” and his says she “looked black death”.)
It’s also intriguing to have Clarence imply that her father has a similar attitude, since we’ve pretty much always seen him through his own eyes or the eyes of others who are familiar with him or at least with his family. Now I think of it, though, I can think of a few moments which support the point.
Blair Road
Surebleak
In which Theo and Bechimo start getting to know one another.
Theo’s question to herself – “Who would have given you aid just now?” – isn’t exactly a strong counterargument to the idea that Win Ton would have done better to let sleeping Bechimos lie. If Win Ton hadn’t gotten himself and her tangled up with Bechimo and thus with the Uncle, Theo wouldn’t have been on Tokeo being shot at in the first place.
The Department’s analysts once again misjudge Korval by assuming it has similar motivations to the Department, and underestimating the degree to which Val Con has been making it up as he goes along. I also think she’s overestimating the importance of Natesa’s marriage in the Juntavas’ motivation; it was a personal decision, not a formal alliance, Terrans don’t necessarily put as much weight on marriage ties as Liadens do, and frankly the Juntavas have perfectly good reasons for considering the Department a threat entirely on their own account.
I don’t know if it means anything except that the authors want to keep the text flowing, but I’m pretty sure this is the first time anyone in the Department has accorded Vandar’s population the dignity of referring to their world by its local name instead of by its catalogue number.
Moonstruck was reported in Plan B as the location of Tactical Defense Pod 78. We haven’t yet been told anything else about it.
Arin’s Toss
In Transit
In which the Uncle has a job for Theo and the Colonel has a job for Clarence.
I’m still suspicious about what the Uncle is up to. Giving Theo a course change while she’s en route means that anybody who might have been paying attention to the flight plan she filed won’t know about her side trip, and might suggest that he has reason to suspect that somebody is paying such attention. The amendment won’t do anything to help Theo evade pursuit, though, since it still ends with her arriving at Ploster in the time frame that the Department is expecting her to arrive. More likely is that the Uncle is only interested in helping himself, and hiding his interest in whatever might be waiting at Tokeo.
We were told in the first chapter of this book how long Bechimo has been on the lam, so the mention of the tales being “older than the Plan” might give us a limit on how old the Department is. Or it might just mean that there have always been ghost ship tales, and in Bechimo‘s case they just happen to be true. In any case, it’s not much of a limit, since it’s far enough back to comfortably include every mention in the prequels of what might be the Department. (Although, since we’re doing comparisons, it still makes Bechimo a couple of centuries younger than Jeeves, and a couple more centuries younger than Edger.)
I’m a mite puzzled by Max, the tug pilot with the colourful hair. Pat Rin’s round-up of pilots in I Dare included Surebleak Port’s tug pilot with colourful hair, but her name was Dostie Welsin.
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!