Group Reading: Freedom Flight 2022

[EmuMusicFan]

Going by earlier dates, Thrakhath had only become the crown prince at the most a year prior to Firekka, due to his father's execution; his elevation was brand new.

I do not think that Thrakhath was ever shown as being respected by anyone, and by referring to him as 'young' prince or 'young' crown prince is factually correct, in comparison to Gilkarg, and would immediately bring to mind his predecessor who was much more accomplished than Thrakhath, as well as the over-reaction of the emperor. Ralgha could not have been the only Kilrathi who could see the way the Kirankas were mismanaging the empire and the use of 'young' to describe Thrakhath is the perfect way to show social disrespect without reprisal because the statement is technically correct. If we saw other nobility in the novel, they would probably use the same term, as the breakdown of social decorum among the highest levels of the imperial court started years before with the lack of discipline of the Kirankas in Action Stations.

The same could be seen in the present day any time someone is introduced as the 'new' manager; they will still be the 'new' manager until another is hired, but the tone in which they are referred to is where the insult would come in.

I believe it is only appropriate when the speaker is an elder or at least about the same age as Thrakhath. The new manager is "new" because this person was not a manager when birth, but has recently assumed this position. But Thrakhath had been a Prince since birth.

Well... if Thrakhath can be objectively described as young at this time, the side note could be that Kilrathi's twenties is not considered old. Combining the multiple depictions of the book, Ralgha did not look like a youth, so it's not like he would be much younger than Thrakhath， thus he was not likely to be 15 years old.

In short, I think it is the following.

1. if Ralgha subjectively evaluated Thrakhath as young, then it was appropriate only if Thrakhath was not obviously elder than him.

2. If Thrakhath was objectively evaluated as young for the age, then Ralgha didn't look like a younger Kilrathi.

 

[EmuMusicFan]

ASSIGNMENT for Freedom Flight, Chapter 9

DISCUSSION POINTS:

* Where do you think Paladin's confidence came from when he entered alone a cell that held a Kilrathi warrior who had been starving for two days?
* What mistake did Sol Station make?
* What is the difference between liege lord and over lord?
* What is the full name rule of Kilrathi here?
* What did the Confederation's subtle attitude toward K'Kai tell us?
* Where did K'Kai's negotiating style begin?
* “Quite the—opposite,” he replied. “I wondered why the Prince had chosen your world for the Sivar-Eshrad. Now I know. Once he had Firekka in his claws, he could bring in his house agents and proceed to accrue a private fortune from this—” he raised the cup a little “—and all without the Emperor ever knowing he was doing so!” What could we know from this?
* “I begin to see why my lord Ralgha brought us to this pass,” he said, as he followed her example. “The Prince should not have done that. It is dishonorable; it violates the Warrior’s Code to hide behind hostages! He will cause the fury of Sivar to follow him and his blood to the eighth generation!” What could we know from this?

EXTENDED DISCUSSION:

*

[Under construction]

 

[EmuMusicFan]

* “Quite the—opposite,” he replied. “I wondered why the Prince had chosen your world for the Sivar-Eshrad. Now I know. Once he had Firekka in his claws, he could bring in his house agents and proceed to accrue a private fortune from this—” he raised the cup a little “—and all without the Emperor ever knowing he was doing so!” What could we know from this?
* “I begin to see why my lord Ralgha brought us to this pass,” he said, as he followed her example. “The Prince should not have done that. It is dishonorable; it violates the Warrior’s Code to hide behind hostages! He will cause the fury of Sivar to follow him and his blood to the eighth generation!” What could we know from this?

My opinion is that from these two points we know, Thrakhath, and maybe his entire family's factual reputation has some problems even in the empire.

The fact that Kirha trusted so directly what K'Kai the stranger and a Firekkan said probably indicates that he was not surprised that Thrakhath did such things.

Do you think this was common among clans that were not directly loyal to the imperial family?


[Under construction]

 

[Kelly_]

From Chapter 9...

* Where do you think Paladin's confidence came from when he entered alone a cell that held a Kilrathi warrior who had been starving for two days?

Paladin would have been part of the intelligence group studying Kilrathi, and would have been coached on their body language to know whether a threat was imminent, in addition to the armed guards monitoring the situation just outside the door.

* What mistake did Sol Station make?

We do not really know whether a mistake was made; looking at Kirha's internment as part of an intelligence operation instead of merely shipping him off to a prison camp, neglecting to instruct him on the use of human facilities and testing his willingness to eat non-preferred foods could have been setting Kirha up to be more favorably disposed to working with Paladin when he arrived... a good cop, indifferent cop situation.

* What is the difference between liege lord and over lord?

From Kirha's point of view, a liege lord has unlimited control over your life, and an overlord has only control that has been ceded by the liege lord, but then again, Kirha is the idealized Kilrathi. We do not see others with the same high view of honor and absolute devotion to one's superiors in the rest of their society, see the majority of the Ras Nik'hra's crew at the start of the novel, as well as the rebellion being fostered on Ghorah Khar.

 

[EmuMusicFan]

a good cop, indifferent cop situation.

A fantastic interpretation!

 

[EmuMusicFan]

ASSIGNMENT for Freedom Flight, Chapter 10

DISCUSSION POINTS:

* About K’Tithrak Mang, what other episodes did this place appear in?
* Approximately what year did Paladin retire from the pilot sequence?
* Was Paladin deliberately giving Hunter a surprise for fun?
* After the #### mark, the view point of the narrative shifts. What is this technique called in literature?
* Hunter didn't think much of the importance of the Ras Nik'hra incident, right?
* As a Kilrathi who can speak human language, Kirha showed certian problem in the conversation. What is it?
* “Ah, now I understand. You wish her to be your . . .” Kirha paused, apparently searching for a word. “You wish to create offspring with her?” What is that phrase as we know? Also, what do we learn from his curiosity?
* “I come for help, but the Confeds do nothing! We sign a treaty with them, and they do nothing!” What do we learn from this?
* “Milady K’Kai,” Kirha said respectfully, his tail twitching. What do we find here?
* What did the Pheromones topic reveal?
* Kirha spoke up from where he was curled on the floor. “The taking of hostages is dishonorable, not the act of a true warrior. My people—no, Prince Thrakhath—must have done this for political reasons, for there is no honor in it.” What do we learn from this?



EXTENDED DISCUSSION:

* What is the resident population of Ghorah Khar?

 

[EmuMusicFan]

* “I come for help, but the Confeds do nothing! We sign a treaty with them, and they do nothing!” What do we learn from this?

We know that in the battle on Firekka to force back Thrakhath, the Confederation had personnel sacrificed. The relatively less-than-positive official response K'Kai received when she asked for further help here is not incomprehensible.

However, the officials' response to Firekkan of suggesting then to elect a new "leader bird" as soon as possible seems to be a bit less than thoughtful.

Confederation's support for Firekkan was certainly humanitarian as well as military, but it also had political significance. This also swore to the rest of humanity's allies that the Confederation is determined and humans are trustable.

However, the above proposal might implicitly signal that Confederation's military support was limited to the realm of cultural elements adopted by humanity. It could even be over-extended to mean that humans needed to directly transform and assimilate their allies. So I guess that was not professional enough in diplomatic terms.

Of course, considering Firekkan's super-fast speech and shrill tone, maybe the officer was just a little driven mad.

 

[EmuMusicFan]

ASSIGNMENT for Freedom Flight, Chapter 11

DISCUSSION POINTS:

* How did K'Kai and Kirha see each other at this period?
* How do you think Paladin assessed this reckless private action?
* What was Paladin's level of Kilrathi language?
* What was the characteristic of the behavioral within the imperial fleet, as seen in Kirha's disguise proposal?
* What did Paladin's accent issue tell us?
* What happened when the team were searching the system for the map? Why there were scramble-commands for ground troops?
* What do you see from Kirha's calm when he was evaluating the coming Imperial squadrons and facing one of them?
* What was Hunter like in Kirha's eyes this time?
* What was the duel of honor like this time?

 

[EmuMusicFan]

* How did K'Kai and Kirha see each other at this period?

In the first half of the book, we learn that K'Kai was one of the few people willing to initiate friendly contact with Kirha, and she did it well.

And, unlike Paladin, who was clearly utilitarian at the time of contact, K'Kai and Kirha hitted it off. It is important to note that K'Kai has a clearer trait in that she was able to clearly distinguish between foe and friend, rather than dividing you and me based on each other's species.

And Kirha, because of these experiences, he was just in a period of detachment from innocence. Suddenly one day, lots of what he once believed in went with the wind and many things suddenly changed... At this point, once someone appeared who can empathize with him, even if reason told himself that the Firekkan was asking for something, the young warrior could easily choose to approach that female, especially if that female was very much in line with his value aesthetics. There is a bright spot here as well, namely, that Kirha also knew K'Kai based on her words and actions, not her species.

Note that from Kirha's previous statements, he did not have a positive impression of Thrakhath. ”Once he had Firekka in his claws, he could bring in his house agents and proceed to accrue a private fortune from this—” he raised the cup a little “—and all without the Emperor ever knowing he was doing so!” This likely indicates that this was a judgment reached under the influence of Ralgha. Or, Kirha came to this conclusion on his own, and it looks like he was already intelligent for his age.

There is also the possibility that Thrakhath did not have a good reputation in the Empire back then.

Off topic, I think it's unlikely that the emperor was unaware of this, even if Thrakhath was indeed hiding it. Silence about some of the violations of the subjects can be used to coerce when necessary.

On the subject of sneaking, K'Kai, as a Firekkan, may not be particularly good at walking technique.

 

[EmuMusicFan]

* How do you think Paladin assessed this reckless private action?

This operation by Hunter reminds me of Seven of Nine's decision in Picard S3. This is a more typical dramatic design.

Here it is clear that Hunter is a character who ignores the "bureaucratic" cliche. It can be seen that the Confederation made some compromises regarding the aftermath of the Firekka incident. It cannot be said that the decision was wrong, but the possible consequences of these compromises must be examined.

Another question is how much autonomy, or say, Operational privileges Paladin had.

The Special Operations division.

From later descriptions, it appears that this department had high authority and was very independent. It can be presumed that Hunter and Paladin would have be subject to some secret investigation afterwards, but probably not the usual procedures.