Re: Chapter Fourteen - Return to Crucible Cove

Spoiler warning! This post dives into details revealed through chapter thirteen, so if you haven’t read to this point in the book and don’t want to have any surprises revealed early, turn back now!

Here we are. The big confrontation. Everything comes to a head at the end of this chapter. Let’s see how Kennedy fares.

But first, a note about the chapter title. Technically, it’s a lie. The cove is actually called Cloister Cove, but again, my weirdness compels me to do something strange. In this case, I liked deliberately misnaming the cove in the chapter heading for a little bit of flavor and just a sort of confusion – a sort of Mandela Effect, you could say. The symbolism, of course, is obvious.

And yes, this is indeed the same cove as in his dreams. This is his final challenge, and I like the feeling of things coming full circle. Reincorporation is a favorite technique of mine, with the beats of a waltz being another example in this chapter. Not quite reincorporation, but rather a reveal to an earlier moment was the crows with the guard’s post. I like the irony of Kennedy in the last chapter mentally imploring Sophia to understand his subtle message while missing the fact that she was giving him one as well.

That disabled alarm at the guard’s outpost is also emblematic of my approach to the conflict this chapter. Namely, though the participants here are competent, mistakes are made. All the time. In this case, the disabling of what had become a nuisance alarm to the Anarakians. A real problem, to my understanding, in safety situations. I was inspired in this case by some episode of Air Crash Investigations in which an alarm was switched off precisely because it tended to send false alerts. Same principle here.

Although Kennedy, it should be obvious, has many more of these instances. If it’s not already obvious, Kennedy has no plan going in to this situation, and that becomes a serious problem. He got lucky getting into the facility, but after that, his lack of planning comes back to bite him hard. As soon as he is confronted with a challenge – the approaching guard – he makes a mistake that puts a time limit on his actions. Luck, and even skill, aren’t enough to overcome an entire facility of enemy forces. From that first mistake, the net just starts to tighten around him. Sure, he stuns the returning guard, but that just extends the timer briefly. The guard is going to wake up eventually, and then it’s over.

It should also be clear that Kennedy is skilled. He does overcome some temporary obstacles, so he’s not a total bumbling idiot. It’s just you can’t pull off a rescue mission like this without a plan.

Here’s where another stroke of luck comes into play. Well, luck to Kennedy. From a story perspective, I made sure to lay the groundwork for this. Pierce and Nergüi come to relocate Sophia. Why? Because they know their partner, Bailey, well enough to figure she’d do… well, exactly what she tried in Chapter Twelve. Ruin the deal. But Pierce and Nergüi aren’t as sentimental as she is towards PF9. They want her back in one piece. It’s also been established that Anarakia doesn’t often play nice with itself, so this sort of infighting shouldn’t be a shock. Doubly so with a group called “the Traitorous Trinity.” And I mean, not believing Sainne has your best interests at heart is just healthy for you.

So just to hammer it in – while Avery/Bailey was initially drafted as a red herring, she’s vital to the plot in one last regard: she’s the reason Sophia is moved to the Sea Skimmer, giving Kennedy just a glimmer of hope at rescuing her.

But just a glimmer. He has to move fast before reinforcements arrive on the skimmer to aid Pierce and Nergüi. So once more, he has to dive in recklessly. And finally, it doesn’t pay off.

Once again, the fight scene here has the location and circumstances play into it. Kennedy’s goal is to rescue Sophia, whereas the two members of the Trinity just want to kill him, or at least to secure their prisoner. The two-to-one odds also greatly shape this conflict. Kennedy constantly has to try different tricks to even stay in the game. And again, the nature of resets are crucial to giving this a unique flavor. Between Sophia always biting off Nergüi’s finger, Kennedy playing on their starting positions, and even Nergüi’s ability to “kill” Sophia over and over all make this encounter decidedly distinct compared to other encounters in the book (and hopefully the series as a whole!)

But finally, Kennedy’s luck runs out and his skill just can’t overcome this obstacle. He’s run into a situation that he can’t get out of. He can’t defeat Pierce and Nergüi while getting Sophia out alive. He just can’t. I mean, he’s lucky they didn’t succeed at killing him before. So he has to try something stupid instead. And that’s going to be very, very, interesting.

It was an interesting writing challenge to get Kennedy to this point. I had three goals for the climax of the book. First, Kennedy has to be faced with a difficult choice and make the wrong one. Second, there has to be an action-filled climax. And third, he both has to suffer for making the wrong choice, but without Sophia suffering as a result. The first two were a little tricky to make feel natural, but relatively straightforward. But the third? Walking a tightrope of Kennedy suffering for his mistake while simultaneously “saving the day”? Boy, that’s a tough one.

So let’s talk about how I tried to thread that needle in the next chapter. As well as dealing with just about all the other reveals in the book. Be ready for a long one when we check out Chapter Fifteen: One in a Million.

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