Liad

In which Tyl Von sig’Alda gets his orders.

After the earlier chapters about Tyl Von sig’Alda being set explicitly in Envolima City, it’s worth noting that this chapter declines to be specific about where on Liad the control center of the Department is located. Except that it’s underground.

And that it is intended to “one day be the command post for a galaxy”, which doesn’t help locate it physically, but does a great deal to reveal the Department’s intentions. They’re not only interested in limited actions for the preservation of Liad; they’re out for conquest. All according to The Plan. (It’s always a bad sign when an organization is dedicated to something called “The Plan”, don’t you find?)

The other thing this chapter doesn’t say, in the midst of all this preparation for sending sig’Alda after Val Con, is how they know where to send him. Did his analysis of Val Con’s options produce that precise a result? Or maybe they don’t actually know yet, and are just putting the wheels in motion so that he’ll be ready to go at a moment’s notice when they do know where he’s going.