Nice early story of Alysha. I actually started with the prequel, so some of the discoveries here (claws) are familiar to me. Alysha as an ensign, sent on a team-building exercise that goes wrong. The POV is entirely from another ensign, Taylitha Basil, who is clearly going to be part of Alysha's life and career (if Tay has anything to say about it!). Excellent story, excellent intro to Alysha and the Fleet and even the Peltedverse. ( )

This novella is where the author's abilities really shine, with the story unfolding at a good pace, the characters showing their complexities, and the necessary worldbuilding details laid out in interesting ways (while unnecessary ones, from other stories in this universe, are *not* infodumped inappropriately). There are also some extremely good lines, including one (about aliens and aunts; you'll know it when you see it) that I may yet copy so I can wave it at my friends.

"Second" is set up as a "man against nature" story, which quickly *also* becomes "man against man," with a dash of "man against himself." (Okay, Pelted aren't technically human, but I'm an English Major. Work with me here.) The primary antagonist has hints of depth -- which remain hints. There is no easy redemption here. There is no easy demonizing. The ways of dealing with the antagonist... can be right *and* wrong at the same time. I want to talk more about this, and about other parallels, but I don't want to spoil this, either. Suffice it to say that there is a lot of stuff that could be talked about -- it's layered.

All this *and* an uplifting ending? *Well* worth the price. My only quibble is that some of the various aliens and bioengineered Pelted could use internal art, but I'm just greedy for more of the author/artist's work. ( )