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Plan B – Chapter 25

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Erob’s Hold
Practice Grounds

In which Val Con, Miri, and Nelirikk go into harm’s way.

Jase presenting Commander Rialto’s pistol to Nelirikk has a message to it, beyond “you’re going into action, you’ll need a gun”. Nelirikk already has a gun; Miri cleared him to carry one days ago. But that was Miri showing that she trusted Nelirikk; this is Commander Carmody showing that he trusts Nelirikk, and by extension committing all the mercs under his command to work with him. Also, between this and his farewell to Val Con, making people promise to bring their equipment back seems to be Jase’s favoured way of asking them to come back safe.

I see that Emrith Tiazan is still clinging to the idea of Yxtrang as inhuman monsters, and I’m not going to say that’s not understandable in the circumstances, although one might hope she’d rein it in a bit when Nelirikk is standing right there. (I guess, though, that if she’s convinced he’s an animal, she wouldn’t see the point in that; who worries about sparing an animal’s feelings?) I can’t remember if she ever does acknowledge Nelirikk as a person later on; if she does, it’ll be interesting to see what the tipping point is.

Plan B – Chapter 20

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Erob’s Hold
Practice Grounds

In which Val Con and Nelirikk speak of Jela.

The news that the entire 14th Conquest Corps is acting out of turn suggests the possibility that the Yxtrang we’ve encountered so far, who value prestige over effective action, are atypical, and most Yxtrang are more sensible. On the other hand, there’s still the decision High Command made about Nelirikk, and if Yxtrang High Command doesn’t behave typically of Yxtrang, who does? Perhaps these Yxtrang are atypical not in the sense that they behave unlike Yxtrang, but only in taking typical Yxtrang qualities to an unusual extreme.

The bit about what “the Troop did not know — or did not tell” is interesting, in light of the prequels. The Troop does know how Jela died, or at least did at the time, since Cantra told them; indeed, Jela’s Troop was named in his honour only after he died. Perhaps the story was lost to memory because it contained too many things that the Yxtrang would not wish to remember: Cantra herself, for one.

Plan B – Chapter 17

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Erob’s Hold
Practice Grounds

In which Nelirikk is introduced to his new compatriots.

It occurs to me I’d never given much thought to how old Nelirikk is. If he’s been shaving for 25 years, that would put him… about 40 years old? A few years older than Val Con and Miri, anyway. (Miri’s just turned 28 Standards, and Val Con’s in his early thirties. Nelirikk’s precise age remains uncertain, given lack of information regarding Yxtrang physical development and the exchange rate between Standards and Cycles.)

I don’t think I’d noticed quite so clearly in earlier readings how much leeway Nelirikk’s given in this chapter, what with being unlocked, unguarded, unescorted, and entrusted with weapons he could do a lot of damage with if he chose to. It makes sense, though; if Val Con’s right about him, he can be trusted to behave, and the only way to make progress with him is to show him that he is trusted. And if Val Con’s wrong, I suppose, better to find out as soon as possible.

The business with jin’Bardi is one of my favourite scenes in the novel.

Plan B – Chapter 13

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Lytaxin
Erob’s Combat Practice Grounds

In which Jason has somebody Val Con needs to talk to.

There are some interesting resonances in the various reactions to the captured Yxtrang. The Yxtrang collectively have done some undeniably unpleasant things, but the way Emrith Tiazan dehumanizes the captive, calling him “it” and “that thing”, has unpleasant echoes of several instances when less sympathetic Liadens have applied the same attitude to Terrans. I’m also reminded of Val Con’s remark to Miri, way back near the beginning of Agent of Change, that it’s more useful to think and speak of particulars — “Val Con”, “Miri”, “Edger” — than groups like “‘the Liadens’, ‘the Clutch’, ‘the humans’, or even ‘the Yxtrang’.” Of course, in this case, Val Con has a head start in that he’s already met and spoken with an individual Yxtrang — but then again, the fact that he even attempted such a conversation is a sign he already held that attitude.

I also note that all the way through, Jase is referring to the prisoner as a person as if that’s an entirely uncontroversial thing. As a merc, I expect he’s had experience at distinguishing individual soldiers from the armies they serve, and remembering that the former are people no matter what inhuman things the latter do. But from from what we’ve seen of him, I kind of think he might in any case have been the kind of person who assumes people are people until they prove otherwise.