Welcome back to my reread of K.B. Wagers' "A Pale Light in the Black!" You can find the other posts in this reread here. We're just about finishing our introduction to our main cast of this book, a space opera featuring a SF space version of the Coast Guard in an optimistic future universe. It's not too late to pick up this book yourself and read along, as we're just about done getting to know our fun cast.
When we left off, we met Max Carmichael, nervous new Lieutenant, who has broken all of the expectations of her overbearing family and is desperate for acceptance.....and is joining the crew of Zuma's Ghost in Nika's place as their new Lieutenant. Oh and Nika thinks she's got pretty eyes. I'm sure that won't lead to anything.....(spoiler: yeah, it will).
This time, Max meets the rest of the crew, and therefore, so do we! Needless to say, not everyone will have the best reaction to having a surprise replacement officer dropped on them, nevertheless an utter newbie......
Chapter 6: Still Fifteen Weeks Until Prelim Boarding Games
Summary: Max meets the rest of the crew: there's Petty Officer First Class Altandai "Jenks" Khan, who we met earlier; Petty Officer Uchida "Tamago" Tamashini - who is our first non-binary character with they/them pronouns but not the last and more importantly, ship medic, negotiator, and gossip; Master Chief Ma Lei, ship's pilot and an old family friend of Max; and Ensign Nell "Sapphi" Zika, computer expert and hacker. Oh and then there's Doge, the AI Robot Dog (ROVER) who Jenks keeps as a pet!
Unfortunately, Jenks doesn't take the news that Max is replacing Nika well, and Nika makes Jenks promise to have Max's back, noting that Max is lonely. Meanwhile, Rosa deals with the Vice Admiral who lets on that Ma probably knows more about why Max joined the interceptors, since Ma is the one who inspired Max to join NeoG....which doesn't make Rosa feel any better about Carmichael politics suddenly becoming her problem.
Chapter 7:
Summary: Max learns that her joining the team has serious implications for their team's hopes for the Games, something she never cared about before (really, Max? What were you living under a rock?). Max's suitcases arrive without getting lost, prompting Sapphi to make a Carmichael joke....which only makes Max more uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Nika hits up Tamago for gossip on Max's background and gets caught out for being a bit too interested.
Finally, Rosa asks Max what Max is most worried about and Max admits: it's fear of failing and letting the team down. Rosa assures Max that Max is definitely going to fail at some point, but it's what she does in response that matters......
Thoughts: Okay we're done with our intros! Sadly, Sapphi and Tamago will remain background characters throughout this book, and we don't get to see enough of them. I hope that changes in the future, but they're a lot of fun when we do see them. Note again like we discussed before, that Tamago's preferred pronouns and non-binary gender are completely unremarked upon - it's just normal in this world! But Doge! Who doesn't love a robot dog? He's the unintentionally snarky best and I want one. Now. Stupid 25th century tech.
Oh and I guess we get more development for Jenks - reliant upon Nika, who's leaving - and learn more about the relationship between Ma and Max - Ma is a friend of Max's father, but also inspired Max to disappoint them by joining NeoG. As a result, Max already cares more about failing her team than her family, who she's basically given up on.
Good thing Max has found a new family......and Doge damnit.
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