In which Vepal and Sanchez go for a walk.
Commander Sanchez’s “easy security job on Panore” rings a bell; in “Quiet Knives”, Panore is the holiday planet for rich people that the protagonists were always saying they’d go visit some day.
Continue reading
In which Commander Vepal finds an ally.
The drinking establishment named “The Headless Yxtrang” echoes an established pattern on Earth — there have been, for example, several taverns that commemorated some soldier’s deeds in the Crusades by being named “The Saracen’s Head”. Vepal sees a more metaphorical resonance with his own situation: the problem he is trying to solve is that the Yxtrang are collectively headless, in the sense of lacking the leadership they need.
Continue reading