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Petals of Carbon Steel -- You're a Pilot, Not an Ace. Try your best.

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[X] On the ship

Because the last issue in space ended with us blowing ourselves up.
 
[X] In space

We got 2 J-Pilots on our side, along with every pilot of note in the rebellion. I'm sure we can fight back whatever it is that's gonna try to blow the station up.
 
So either it hurts Jay, or detonates the A(gnieszka)-bomb...
[x] In space
because I want to append IN SPAAAAAAAACE! to things, but never get the chance.
 
[X] In space
Pretty sure this is gonna be what's her name in the prototype popping off and I wanna see that.
 
Gazetteer said:
"She was at Titan. She died fighting," Jay says. The tenuous happiness from shortly before has curdled away entirely — you can tell that he's grieving all over again, watching Agnieszka's blank expression as she takes this news.

"Which side?" Agnieszka presses.

"USE Imperial Guard," Jay says.
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You can't just file away a major character death like this, man. You've kept us in suspense since the end of the first one, and confirmation comes as an off-handed comment that's almost instantly moved on from?

Sorry, I was being melodramatic. My point still stands.
 
Kell of Snow said:
You can't just file away a major character death like this, man. You've kept us in suspense since the end of the first one, and confirmation comes as an off-handed comment that's almost instantly moved on from?

Sorry, I was being melodramatic. My point still stands.
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I mean, we already had the scene where Jay got told. Maybe the author just didn't want to retread old ground?
 
Kell of Snow said:
Sorry, I was being melodramatic. My point still stands.
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Not sure what are you talking about.

J6 death was confirmed in the Petals of Titanium:
Gazetteer said:
With a sense of dread preceding the actual discovery, you scroll down, until you find the one you're searching for. Her name, such as it is, jumps out amongst the others, beside a characteristically unsmiling ID photo.

Grd 1st Class J6, KIA
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That's also not the first time it was mentioned in this story:
Gazetteer said:
North's smile becomes a little strained. "No," she says. "I knew Guardswoman Second-Class J6. Of Her Imperial Majesty's Guard."

"Imperial Guard? It would suit her." Jay allows. "She was always the gold-star, windup toy-soldier." It's like with the mention of J32 — there's love in that phrasing, but you have the benefit of having heard him talk about J6 before.

You realise several things at one: Jay is thrilled to the point of distraction. Lieutenant North is offended. And most troubling, she's using past-tense. "She died," North says, stiffly.

That stops Jay short. "... what?"

"At the Battle of Titan. She helped shore up the rear-guard position. She was... overwhelmed."

Jay stares.

North seems to regret the abruptness of her explanation already, but it's not the sort of thing you can take back. "I'm sorry," North says. "She was brave until the end."

"'Brave.'" Jay's eyes flick pointedly to the SRI emblem on her uniform. Then he drags his gaze away, closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath, staying that way for a long moment.

"I only meant—"

"How?" he asks again, cutting her off.

"She was cut off and overwhelmed by enemy mecha," North repeats.

Jay shakes his head, a frustrated gesture. He's too worked up to express himself well. "No. How? Shot, spaced, blown up, cut in two, what was it?" There's a slight tremor going through his body, barely visible.

North averts her gaze. "Her mecha's interface was damaged, and it... overloaded her nervous system."

Whatever he was expecting, that was apparently worse. He gives a tiny flinch. Then, without a word, he turns and leaves: You watch him go.

"Delicately done, Lieutenant," you tell her.

"... It's been a very long day," she says, looking frustrated and abashed in equal measure. "She was a friend. I didn't like hearing her spoken about like that."
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Gazetteer said:
"Oh, well, I'm just seeing if you're alright," Lucinda says. "This does all seem like an awful lot of excitement for you. Quite a difference from that desk job on Titan."

Amani gives her a frosty look. She's far too pretty a woman to be able to pull that off as well as she does, Lucinda thinks. "I'm managing," she says. "I served during the Battles of Iapetus and Titan. This has not quite approached that level of excitement yet."

"Oh, did you?" Lucinda asks, feigning surprise.

"Yes. You'll forgive me if I didn't bring the medals. Is there something you want, Guard-Lieutenant?"
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Even in the distant, feudal future, you can't stop interservice rivalry.

Gazetteer said:
Lucinda had been languishing as a guardswoman first-class for, seemingly, her entire career. After the hideous losses among the Guard during the Battle of Titan, and Daystar subsequently assuming the position of Lady-High-Commander, things had changed, Opportunities had opened up for a woman whose parents had both been born around Saturn rather than the inner Planets. "Mind you, I'm a lot less taken with your prince."

"Prince Corona is hardly 'mine'," North says, shortly.

"Your higher ups certainly seem enamoured with him," Vasquez says.

"I am unable to speak to the political situation on Titan," Amani says.

"Especially not to our Jovian friends, I imagine," Lucinda says. "How much does the AIJ know about the SRI's long term plans here?"

"As much as they need to," Amani says. "But they're not stupid, Guard-Lieutenant. This is a mutually beneficial partnership, not an ideological alignment."
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Called it!

Princess Daystar is promoting commoners and Saturn natives, and they're developing personal loyalties to their patron. It seems that the SRI leadership favors Prince Corona, which creates a somewhat uncomfortable situation. If things go wrong, we could be looking at Imperial Civil War: The Sequel.

The whole Jovian alliance is held together by mutual hatred of the Holy Empire, and there's no real trust to be lost; if the AIJ found hard evidence that the SRI has long-term plans to politically destabilize their alliance as part of an attempt to bring Jupiter back to their empire, it would only be confirmation of what they already suspect.
 
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