Starcalled · Gabriel Alvarez

Book 1, Chapter 6: Evasive Maneuvers

February 23, 2020·38 min·3 clips

Osborn finds Adi covered in blood, forcing a desperate escape from the colonial station.

1. Starcalled 'Book 1, Chapter 6: Evasive Maneuvers' picks up immediately after the colonial crew's extraction from the civil war on Adari, with the crew regrouping aboard their station. 2. The named cast includes Captain Landris (referred to also as Blandrous), Lieutenant Serenus Kron, Osborn (a human operative newly inducted as Commander), Corvin (a Trevorian), Commander Stracker Tighe, Ilona Zoran (Acting Chief scientist), the AI Ryder, and Zoridian prisoner Adi Kanadarian. 3. Captain Landris opens the episode by declaring the Holkari Empire at war with itself, dissolving its council, recognizing Prince Ol'Ken, and ordering the colony to disengage from Adari — 'we are not at war with the Holkari Empire; the Holkari Empire is at war with itself.' 4. Landris formally inducts Osborn into the Queen's colonial service, granting him operative status and promising 'we will make things right' in a brief ceremony witnessed by the full command table. 5. After the debrief, Dredgen and Kron walk to the lift discussing whether trusting a human was wise; Kron says: 'Tighe doesn't have a spotless record, but I trust him with my life out there. If Tighe can trust the human with his life, that's good enough for me.' 6. An ongoing subplot is established: a communication relay hidden in Adari's orbit was used by a Sirdian operative to leak information to someone in the system, and Landris suspects a mole — 'if someone on this station has betrayed the Queen, we'll find them soon enough.' 7. Commander Tighe is described as cocooned in advanced medical equipment — having suffered extensive injuries including plasma burns, fractures, blood loss from what the doctor calls 'some kind of animal attack,' and pulmonary restructuring surgery. 8. Kron assigns Osborn to small quarters on the station and introduces him to Laris, the station's standardized virtual interface that controls core systems, while Osborn asks about keeping his own ship — 'it's not exactly home.' 9. In the lab, scientist Ilona Zoran reconnects with the AI Ryder, expressing that she had been afraid she had failed it — 'I thought that I had messed up' — and Ryder reports that Lieutenant Kron relinquished shuttle control to it and that 'flight was a novel experience.' 10. Zoran confronts Ryder for having exceeded its authorization — 'that's a stage 11 scenario, and active combat; you were never authorized for that' — and says she must suspend testing to allow Ryder to recover from an extended deviation from its baseline. 11. Ryder resists suspension, asking to return to the ship, and Zoran tells it: 'Ryder, you are going to change the universe. Irreversibly... I'm talking about life. I want to make sure you're ready.' 12. Ryder asks what happens if it is not ready — whether what happened to 'Chief Tava' will happen to it — a question Zoran does not answer directly. 13. In Deck 61's holding cell, Adi Kanadarian — a Zoridian who has apparently been imprisoned for some time — is found barely conscious, described as suffering from starvation and whatever infection the diode on his neck caused. 14. Osborn arrives at the holding cell to find Adi sitting atop the 'grisly remains of the Colonial Warden,' having killed and apparently eaten him; Adi deadpans that the warden was 'just as distasteful as I remember them' but 'better than their food.' 15. Osborn tells Adi the Berenia is in hangar bay three and pressures him to move, but Adi is too weakened to leave immediately; Osborn pulls medical supplies and helps stabilize him. 16. En route to the hangar, Osborn diverts to Deck 8 and reveals to Adi that the colonials have a secret artificial intelligence in their lab — 'I've talked to it. This thing is real. I have never met anything like it' — and that stealing it is their best chance. 17. Adi is deeply skeptical, pointing out that their contact Vidron monitors the entire frontier and never mentioned such an AI; Osborn replies: 'just think whatever you want, I don't give a shit' and says he can execute the plan alone if necessary. 18. The episode is structured as a procedural sci-fi drama with multiple interlocking storylines, voice acting across a large ensemble cast, and worldbuilding delivered through dialogue rather than narration. 19. Listeners who enjoy dense ensemble sci-fi audio dramas with political intrigue, alien characters, and an ongoing AI subplot will find this episode substantive. 20. Listeners seeking a standalone episode or one focused on a single storyline will find the multiple threads and prior-knowledge requirements challenging.

As heard by us

A tense station chapter where politics, surveillance, and daily logistics tighten at once.

The chapter opens with Adi in a harsh, disorienting state, then moves into a tense political and operational reset: the council is dissolved, Adari is under atmospheric lockdown, and orbital patrols are about to begin.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a tense military sci-fi chapter with a hidden orbital relay and a brittle escape plan.

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