Tales from the Clarke

[sawyl]

This week, via Tales from the Clarke, we get to reacquaint ourselves with Captain Sophia Coloma, a minor from the first episode of The Human Division, and to rejoice in yet more sneakiness on the part of the CDF.

With her previous command, the Clarke written off by the events of The B-Team, Coloma finds herself bounced into accepting the command of a 50 year-old relic for a short diplomatic mission intended to help make reparations with Earth. But instead of the cakewalk she expects, Coloma finds herself caught up in a bit of a storm when her chief engineer uncovers a nasty glitch in one of the replacement power conduits and her liaison officer, Lt Harry Wilson, uses the power of baseball trivia to confirm that not everything is as it seems.

Tales provides yet more evidence of the impressively sneaky lengths the Colonial Defence Force are willing to go to get information — as if the diplomatic crisis in We Only Need the Heads wasn't proof enough. Coloma has an uncompromising and direct charm to her, admitting to her affection for her ruined former command and candidly confirming Wilson's supposition that he is on her shit list in a way that does nothing to dent Wilson's respect — he insists on saluting, even when Coloma tells him it isn't necessary on the grounds that anyone who was willing to sacrifice themselves for a bunch of alien diplomats deserves his respect.

As if that wasn't enough, the dialogue is snappy, there are baseball jokes — including one where Coloma attempts to equate cricket with baseball — and the story delivers a whole load of juicy plot points. Plus I like the episode's title...