Date: 19 Jul 2013 01:15 Title: Chapter 4
Uh, oh. This is not good.
Whatever Malik is hiding, it's big. And he is awfully testy. Maren is right to be cautious and then, eek, her fears seem to be founded.
As for Adele - the emotionless admiral is a puzzle, and is more than a tad creepy. He is clearly disciplined in some way, effectively shutting her off from reading him, but at the same time, he is also more than eager and willing to exploit her gifts in order to essentially spy on Icheb.
[Report This]Date: 10 Aug 2010 22:58 Title: Chapter 4
And the plot thickens. These resistance Borg may not be part of the Collective, but they sure do know how interface with their own technology.
The admiral now certainly has his own agenda. I wouldn't be surprise if he did turn out to be Section 31.
[Report This]Date: 09 Aug 2010 19:53 Title: Chapter 4
The admiral, usually so very subtle in his maneuverings, really started blatantly trying to manipulate Adele here. I've got to say, having the advisory board in an after-action review capacity might be helpful, but having their membership present to try and sway the captain's judgment prior to her making a decision is far from beneficial.
Somebody needs to put a cortex bomb in Malik's head for the next time he pulls a stunt like this. I'd love to see Icheb pull out the key-chain fob of death, press the button, elicit a double honking sound from Malik's mouth as his eyes flash... and then *BOOM*! 
And yes, Icheb should have seen that coming. Malik didn't have to do anything overt in order to commune effectively with his vessel. He made Icheb, Maren and the others look like a cadet review.
If you're going to play with the Borg, even the Borg Resistance, on their own turf... you'd best bring your A-game. Otherwise, stay home. Here's hoping Malik's just trying to make point with all this rather than anything more nefarious.
Date: 08 Aug 2010 18:26 Title: Chapter 4
My, what a chapter. Of course, any chapter that features the Admiral is of course a winner. But throw him in o a meeting with Adele and being so bold as to try and manipulate her! He really will try anything. That strikes me as an out and out calculated move to try and see how much he can push it will Adele. He hits upon a really sensitive area but doesn't get his own way thanks to the awesomeness that is Adele.
But it serves to show that he is willing to go to some lengths to meet his agenda. And it seems he would only be too happy to go experimenting on Icheb. Yipes! Scary. Little does Icheb realise that Adele is the only one standing between Icheb and a test lab - if ever the Admiral took over!!!
We now we have Adele keeping track of the away team empathically. Brilliant way to use her abilities in such a nuanced and tactical manner. Of course, it stands to reason that Maren is the easiest to track empathically! Ha, ha! So funny and so obvious really when you think about it. But boys did she have cause to end up feeling in a worse way!
It starts off with a lot of tense standing off between them all, with sparks flying almost between Malik, Icheb and Maren, with Maren getting in his face. Then Malik pulls what he does. He really hasn't assimilated any social guidelines books has he! Wow. What's next? And when?
Author's Response:
Yeah, I think Beckley is definitely testing Adele's limits with his open attempt at manipulating her. He wants to see what he can get away with. As for whether he'll get his way ... we'll see. Just because she's not a pushover doesn't mean she can't be swayed.
Beckley's said (thought) before, back in book one, that he would happily hand Icheb over to the Borg himself if he thought it would be advantageous. So yeah, Icheb does not have a friend in Beckley, despite Beckley's previously noted minor soft spot for the ex-drone. He may like the kid, but not enough to keep his best interests at heart or anything like that.
Adele's just lucky they're close by. She can track Maren easily enough since the girl is such a mess -- like a flashing beacon of angst and internal conflict. She won't always be able to pull that trick, but she did this time. Glad you liked that bit.
And yeah, Malik is horrible with people. Maren's not in the mood for his crap, but she gets put in her place pretty quickly. So we'll see what he wants to show them, and why he feels they need to be confined for him to do it.
Thanks for the awesome review . :)