Yuletide Reveals
Jan. 1st, 2019 09:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sprocketFor Yuletide 2018, I wrote:
Rise and Go (1440 words) by sprocket
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Elene Quen, Joshua Talley
Summary:
One of the questions that I circled around when I started writing this was: in what universe is "hey Damon, I'm kiting off to join Norway and Mallory's barely legitimized pirates" a character-congruent decision for Josh? It wasn't so many chapters back that he was plotting to kill Mallory in cold blood.
The extremely compressed answer is that out of context, Peregrin Took got it right for once: the closer to danger, the farther from harm. Mallory deliberately chooses victims who are not crew, so logically, by moving into the "crew" category, Josh also puts himself off-limits. It's a pretty cold-blooded assessment and takes a lot of trust in the analysis to pull off, but in context it might fly.
So why that choice instead of just drawing an imaginary line in space with Josh on the Pell side and Mallory on the "everything not Pell" side? Well, what are the other options? Let's take a look:
If Josh sticks around on Pell, it's a good guess Damon would continue to help Josh secure an on-station future: decent job, decent housing, introduction to Damon's social circle.
But there's that small, almost insignificant problem of history. As a recent survivor of the Battle of Pell, Josh might have some trepidation about stuff done to survive coming back to haunt him. We know he and Damon killed at least two of Jon Lukas' flunkies; and participated in the black market; got swept up in that last messy situation with Gabriel and oh yes, there's always going to be that Adjustment mark and Union history on Josh's record.
As part of the team involved in the Mariner disaster, not a "mere" fighter on the lines, Josh just might be worried about a knife in the back from a distraught Mariner survivor, or some merchanter who believes in avoiding future problems by getting rid of known past problems. Also, Josh was tangled up in the Union military's special ops: some of their high command might have a vested interest in recapturing or getting rid of a potentially leaky intel source.
How better to protect yourself against physical reprisal than to surround yourself with a tight-knit band of well-armed ex-Mazianni?
Also, there's the matter of FRIENDSHIP.
WHAT IS FRIENDSHIP? WHAT IS SOMEONE WHO IS NEITHER AN ALLY OR AN ENEMY?
While dithering about Yuletide, I got sidetracked by a fondly remembered author popping up in my library hold queue, which lead to a two-novel Star Wars binge.
And I stuck that bit from the end of Thrawn in the "how do I write this YT fic" folder.
(BTW, if anyone ever wanted to write the meeting of Ari Emory and Thawn, that would be a great holiday gift. Or birthday present. Or "hey I heard you're still bitter Mara Jade isn't in the new SW canon" day present, which is pretty much every day I run across some fragment of old canon that was carried over. Cough. #authorfavoritecharacters #specials #art #valeryschwartz)
Anyway! FRIENDSHIP. Would Damon help Josh out? Absolutely. Would this put a strain on their friendship? It's already been through a lot: Adjustment, Mallory and the Mazianni, fugitives from the Lukas administration, more Mallory, Union and Azov... what could possibly dent Damon and Josh's implicit mutual regard?
Well, there's Estelle. "Hi Damon, I don't know if you put it together, but I was on the Union team that made Mariner the greatest space disaster of a generation, and by the way killed your wife's entire family." Now imagine the same conversation with Elene. Even to imagine opening the conversation might be stressful. Damon or Elene putting the pieces together independently might be even worse. Finity's End says post-War Pell was "grim" so I doubt that anyone was in good shape to have any more surprises sprung on them in early 2353.
Speaking of being in good - or bad - shape, there's Pell's behavioral rider that Josh is specifically adjured not to harm the station. Which may conflict rather messily with memories of having done just that in the past, and with running into Gabriel. Maybe a station-time out would be, ah, equilibriating? I'm speculating madly here.
There's a few good reasons to go, some of them even pro-Mazianni. After all, what civilian ship would take him? (See also: Bet Yeager.)
So there's Josh's arguments.
And what about Damon's?
Well, Damon's pretty much boil down to "dude. Mallory. Really?" And also, when you get down to brass tacks, Damon's kind of adorably naive sometimes. He doesn't want to share the specifics of Josh's adjustment transcripts with Elene, not because of confidentiality, but because there's "things that won't bear the light." Because Elene, spacer-born, is innocent to sexual harassment and people behaving badly in a war zone. Ah, no, Elene told Damon she got aggressively hit on by a stationer as a teen. And the first time we see her she is winning a shouting fight with unnamed merchanters.
And once you bring Elene in, well: why go with a frontal assault when one can recruit some help, then flank and demolish Damon's objections from either side?
And bam, fic.
Rise and Go (1440 words) by sprocket
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Elene Quen, Joshua Talley
Summary:
He went to Elene first.
One of the questions that I circled around when I started writing this was: in what universe is "hey Damon, I'm kiting off to join Norway and Mallory's barely legitimized pirates" a character-congruent decision for Josh? It wasn't so many chapters back that he was plotting to kill Mallory in cold blood.
The extremely compressed answer is that out of context, Peregrin Took got it right for once: the closer to danger, the farther from harm. Mallory deliberately chooses victims who are not crew, so logically, by moving into the "crew" category, Josh also puts himself off-limits. It's a pretty cold-blooded assessment and takes a lot of trust in the analysis to pull off, but in context it might fly.
So why that choice instead of just drawing an imaginary line in space with Josh on the Pell side and Mallory on the "everything not Pell" side? Well, what are the other options? Let's take a look:
If Josh sticks around on Pell, it's a good guess Damon would continue to help Josh secure an on-station future: decent job, decent housing, introduction to Damon's social circle.
But there's that small, almost insignificant problem of history. As a recent survivor of the Battle of Pell, Josh might have some trepidation about stuff done to survive coming back to haunt him. We know he and Damon killed at least two of Jon Lukas' flunkies; and participated in the black market; got swept up in that last messy situation with Gabriel and oh yes, there's always going to be that Adjustment mark and Union history on Josh's record.
As part of the team involved in the Mariner disaster, not a "mere" fighter on the lines, Josh just might be worried about a knife in the back from a distraught Mariner survivor, or some merchanter who believes in avoiding future problems by getting rid of known past problems. Also, Josh was tangled up in the Union military's special ops: some of their high command might have a vested interest in recapturing or getting rid of a potentially leaky intel source.
How better to protect yourself against physical reprisal than to surround yourself with a tight-knit band of well-armed ex-Mazianni?
Also, there's the matter of FRIENDSHIP.
WHAT IS FRIENDSHIP? WHAT IS SOMEONE WHO IS NEITHER AN ALLY OR AN ENEMY?
While dithering about Yuletide, I got sidetracked by a fondly remembered author popping up in my library hold queue, which lead to a two-novel Star Wars binge.
It is said that one should keep one's allies within view, and one's enemies within reach. . . but what of friends?
There is no accepted answer, perhaps because true friendship is so exceedingly rare. But I have formulated my own.
A friend need not be kept either within sight or within reach. A friend must be allowed the freedom to find and follow his own path.
If one is fortunate, those paths will for a time join. But if the paths separate, it is comforting to know that a friend still graces the universe with his skills, and his viewpoint, and his presence.
For if one is remembered by a friend, one is never truly gone.
And I stuck that bit from the end of Thrawn in the "how do I write this YT fic" folder.
(BTW, if anyone ever wanted to write the meeting of Ari Emory and Thawn, that would be a great holiday gift. Or birthday present. Or "hey I heard you're still bitter Mara Jade isn't in the new SW canon" day present, which is pretty much every day I run across some fragment of old canon that was carried over. Cough. #authorfavoritecharacters #specials #art #valeryschwartz)
Anyway! FRIENDSHIP. Would Damon help Josh out? Absolutely. Would this put a strain on their friendship? It's already been through a lot: Adjustment, Mallory and the Mazianni, fugitives from the Lukas administration, more Mallory, Union and Azov... what could possibly dent Damon and Josh's implicit mutual regard?
Well, there's Estelle. "Hi Damon, I don't know if you put it together, but I was on the Union team that made Mariner the greatest space disaster of a generation, and by the way killed your wife's entire family." Now imagine the same conversation with Elene. Even to imagine opening the conversation might be stressful. Damon or Elene putting the pieces together independently might be even worse. Finity's End says post-War Pell was "grim" so I doubt that anyone was in good shape to have any more surprises sprung on them in early 2353.
Speaking of being in good - or bad - shape, there's Pell's behavioral rider that Josh is specifically adjured not to harm the station. Which may conflict rather messily with memories of having done just that in the past, and with running into Gabriel. Maybe a station-time out would be, ah, equilibriating? I'm speculating madly here.
There's a few good reasons to go, some of them even pro-Mazianni. After all, what civilian ship would take him? (See also: Bet Yeager.)
So there's Josh's arguments.
And what about Damon's?
Well, Damon's pretty much boil down to "dude. Mallory. Really?" And also, when you get down to brass tacks, Damon's kind of adorably naive sometimes. He doesn't want to share the specifics of Josh's adjustment transcripts with Elene, not because of confidentiality, but because there's "things that won't bear the light." Because Elene, spacer-born, is innocent to sexual harassment and people behaving badly in a war zone. Ah, no, Elene told Damon she got aggressively hit on by a stationer as a teen. And the first time we see her she is winning a shouting fight with unnamed merchanters.
And once you bring Elene in, well: why go with a frontal assault when one can recruit some help, then flank and demolish Damon's objections from either side?
And bam, fic.