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. For those somehow seeing this post first instead of the others, A Pale Light in the Black is 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, and I highly recommend doing so - we're just about to start the Prelim Boarding Games, so we're into the 2nd third of the novel now! But it's not that long a book so catching up won't take that long.....
Last week we saw the crew pulling off a harrowing rescue, with Jenks and Max managing to figure out how to defuse the near-critical reactor of a tanker filled with highly volatile fuel near enough to Jupiter Station to cause some serious damage to both people and property. It was an exciting sequence - more so to read than talk about but still!
This time around, we've reached a calm before the storm, as the crew finally reaches the prelim Boarding Games! Other than some practice swordfighting, we're all lovey-dovey! Well, not romantically (yet) but more in a familial way. Oh and Rosa gets a few pep talks. She needs a lot of those for a commander - when it comes to Sword fighting at least.
NOTE: As I noted earlier in this reread, I'm reading this on an e-ARC, and not every chapter has a "Chapter #" at on it. I actually managed to take the book out from my elibrary for a few minutes (and then returned it), and confirmed this seems to be the case in the final book also. This would not be a problem, except the next time the book lists a Chapter #, it seems to be counting the 1-2 page letters as their own chapters, so the book's own count doesn't match mine. We'll get to that when we get to it, but uh....you should still be able to follow along easily enough.
Chapter 14: T-Minus One Week Until Prelim Boarding Games:
Quick Summary: Rosa and D'Arcy spar in preparation for the prelims, one week away. As they do, D'Arcy notes that Max really impressed people with her staying with Jenks during the Tanker incident, including the higher ups. Rosa, a bit distracted, gets disarmed by D'Arcy and expresses her lack of confidence and fear that she will be forced to quit if they don't win the Boarding Games this year. D'Arcy consoles her with a hug.
Letters: Nika to Max, Max to Nika, & Nika to Max: Nik wishes Max luck at the prelims and notes it was "nice to see her face." Max responds that she wishes Nik was with them in typically awkward fashion and that she feels like putting her head in an airlock in embarrassment. Nik tells her not to.
Thoughts: A short quiet chapter and letter column as we basically see D'Arcy trying to give Rosa a pep talk as to Rosa's worth in NeoG (and as a swordfighter) and Max trying to awkwardly express her own insecurities about the coming Boarding Game Prelims....while not saying something too awkward to Nika. Nika and Max are too awkward about this that it's cute (not that I'd be less awkward mind you, cough).
Chapter 15: T-Minus Forty Six Hours Until Prelim Boarding Games:
Quick Summary: The Crew get to the site of the Prelim Boarding Games and are all met by family: Rosa by her wife and two daughters, Ma by a bunch of grandchildren (and by Rosa's daughter Gloria, who also loves him), Sapphi by her siblings, and Tamago by their parents. Only Jenks and Max have no family there - although Jenks' heart skips a beat at seeing Luis and Max at least finds an old NeoG friend - a statuesque trans woman named Rachel. Rosa meanwhile gets another pep talk, this time from the head of NeoG herself, Admiral Rokyo Chen.
Thoughts: Seriously Rosa, two pep talks in two chapters (taking place less than a week apart!)? And this time by her superior officer no less - her poker face must not be holding solid right now. Still, aside from that, it's nice to see how almost everyone on the crew has someone who cares for them enough to show up at the Prelims: even Max has a friend (who we've never heard of before mind you and never will again) and Jenks has doge! Okay Jenks is still a bit lonely and on edge without Nika, which causes her to bark out at poor insecure Max. You're not helping, Jenks! Still as they all note, this is the calm before the storm.
Next time, the Boarding Games begin and Rosa gets thrown her toughest possible matchup right off the bat!
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