Tag Archives: flight tape

Plan B – Chapter 33

War Zone

In which there is a battle for Lytaxin.

Of course the Tree is at the centre of the protected area. But I don’t think that means that Erob is not important to Korval, or that its inclusion in the protection is only incidental, only that the Tree is the most valuable of all the valuable things Korval sought to protect. Considered rightly, I think, it says how much honor Korval did Erob by giving them a Tree; it shows that a Tree is no mere ornament, but a thing which Korval is obliged to protect for as long as it stands, and there are many clans that Korval would not choose to allow to benefit from such protection, even incidentally.

This chapter sees the flowering of seeds planted near the beginning of this novel, or even earlier. The development of the Val Con and Miri’s lifemate bond is one of the more obvious. Another is Pod 77’s attack on the Yxtrang battleship, which uses a chain of events Nelirikk tried to point out, and was ignored, back when he was still Nelirikk No-Troop.

Saltation – Chapter 20

Piloting Praxis
Anlingdin Piloting Academy

In which Theo is not going home for the holidays.

There is a saying: If you can’t be a good example, perhaps you can be a horrible warning. The price of fame is that Theo’s teachers seem inclined to use her as one or the other.

Being of a mind to look for connections with other stories, I idly wonder if any of the master-adjudicated piloting errors the students are set to study is the one that was at the centre of “Changeling”. The odds are not necessarily good, though, even if the timing does work out right (which at this point I’m not sure it does); in the wide universe, there are surely more than enough piloting errors to choose from.

Changeling

In which a pilot lives and dies in a family of shopkeepers.

Given the way Liaden clans tend to specialise each in a profession, the question of what happens when a child is born whose aptitudes do not suit the family business is one that appears a few times in the series. Clan Obrelt, it has to be said, handles the arrival of a pilot child with considerable grace (more, for instance, than Clan Korval has sometimes shown when handling the arrival of a non-pilot child, if I’m remembering correctly a particular flashback we won’t be getting to for some time yet).

There is no specific date given in the story itself, but the Partial Time Line places it in Standard Year 1390, a few years after Conflict of Honors. This invites speculation about whether Shan would have so readily come to the aid of a Clanless and cast-out person if he hadn’t already had the experience of getting to know the comparably-situated Priscilla. On the whole, I’m inclined to think he would have; Nova remarks in Conflict of Honors that his championing of Priscilla is only the most recent example of an established tendency to pick up stray puppies, and the fact that he’s immediately aware that Ren Zel’s casting-out was no reflection of Ren Zel himself (“politics, not balance”, as Mr dea’Gauss said of Priscilla) would tend to make his attitude toward it less respectful. (And while there are some Liadens who might comfortably treat with an outcast Terran and still feel obliged to shun an outcast Liaden, I don’t think Shan is one who privileges Liaden custom that way.)

On the other hand, the fact that Shan is carrying a single-button-press “crewmember down” emergency signal just might be a result of how many times Priscilla could have used such a thing during her first tour on the Passage.

I like the detail of the medic’s reaction to Shan finding a way through the Code to allow Ren Zel to be treated. Even though he was being Liaden-stoic about it a moment earlier, it can’t have been easy for him to have a man bleeding to death at his feet and not be able to do anything about it.

It only occurred to me on this most recent re-reading that when Delm Obrelt argues for Ren Zel keeping his license on the grounds that it balances Elsu being permitted to keep hers, he’s not just using a technicality in Ren Zel’s favour: he’s taking a veiled poke at Jabun, by alluding to the fact that Ren Zel faces death only because Jabun shielded his daughter from being convicted of misconduct that would have resulted in her losing her license if she’d lived.

Conflict of Honors – Chapter 29

Shipyear 65
Tripday 155
Third Shift
12.30 hours

In which there are consequences of the encounter at the jump point.

When Kayzin Ne’Zame suggests to Shan that Priscilla should be promoted to second mate, I suspect that’s Shan being a trader and allowing himself to be reluctantly persuaded into the course of action he already wanted to take.

This chapter contains a hint that there’s an actual practical reason for Shan to carry that glass of wine with him everywhere. As he told Priscilla, he does drink from it sometimes. The rest of the time is perhaps so that the times when he needs it don’t stand out, to give away something that might produce a disadvantage.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 35

In which the first duty of the co-pilot is the well-being of the pilot.

This chapter is another with a quote that later got expanded into a story of its own with more to it than the quote implies. Like the Tinsori Light quote from a few chapters back, it seems to be being used here only for its obvious meaning (in this case, a reminder of the nature of co-pilot’s duty).

I like that Sinit knows about what Aelliana’s been up to, and understands its significance, simply because unlike her other siblings she pays attention to the world outside — and the detail that, thanks to the extra context from the news reports, she knows at least one thing about Aelliana that Aelliana herself doesn’t know.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 30

In which there is dinner, dancing, distinction, and a difficult decision.

Aelliana’s speculation about Daav’s ringless finger reminds me that this is a parallel to Local Custom, where Er Thom also spent a significant portion going about without his ring of rank. Or perhaps not so much a parallel as a reflection, because in a way the situation here is a reverse: Er Thom’s lack of ring was a punishment, but Daav’s is more in the way of a much-needed vacation.

And when Aelliana asks him what he has around his neck, and he replies, “A chain”, it’s an obvious dodge into literal-mindedness — but it also works as an honest (perhaps more honest than he intended?) description of how he regards the delm’s ring.

I think I was a bit uncharitable toward Olwen sel’Iprith back in Local Custom. If Frad is any indication, all the members of Daav’s former team are very close, just not the kind of close that, say, Er Thom and Anne are. (Or, as we can confidently say after the happenings of this chapter, Daav and Aelliana.)

And here’s a fun thing I noticed for the first time on this re-read: the authors are ingeniously uninformative as regards the genders of Trilla’s and Frad’s chosen table partners. We learn that Frad’s companion is a redheaded Scout, and Trilla’s companions are both described as dancers, but do we get a single gendered pronoun between the three of them? We do not.

Scout’s Progress – Chapter 14

In which Hedrede calls upon Korval.

I am suspicious of Delm Hedrede’s attempt to discredit Anne’s scholarship. Certainly, prejudice may be found in all walks of life, but the description of Hedrede as a clan that usually keeps to itself and doesn’t start anything in Council makes me wonder if somebody put her up to it. (If it was the same people who were behind Fil Tor Kinrae and the earlier, more direct attack on Anne and Scholar yo’Kera, one would expect them to know that Daav could invoke Scholar yo’Kera to defeat the implication of Terran duplicity. Perhaps they did, but felt it was worth a try anyhow, as long as they had Hedrede to absorb the consequences if it didn’t work out.)

While Daav is busy defusing ticking social bombs of various kinds, Aelliana is having a much better day. Being around people who give her honest respect for her achievements — and are able to bring her to accept the respect she’s earned, which the Scouts are able to do in a way her students have never had the status for, however much they respected her — has been doing her some lasting good.