Kip Eastcott

Military career and command

Eastcott is a veteran of the six-year war with Mars and has served alongside Sarah Dimple for more than ten years. Steve Thomas is a close friend and wartime comrade. After the sphere-drive accident, Eastcott briefs the passengers on their displacement and asserts the command authority retained under the expedition's regulations.[1][2][4]

Emotional changes

Eastcott experiences unusually intense grief, anger, and compassion after leaving stasis. A medical scan finds increased serotonin and neural connectivity in the anterior insular cortex. Sarah Dimple defends his continued command while agreeing to monitor him; the cause of the changes remains unexplained at this stage.[3][8][9]

Return to Earth

Eastcott leads the exploration of Cylli, obtains sanctuary for civilian passengers, and recruits a volunteer force of former Earth and Martian servicemen and women. From behind the Moon, he opens negotiations with Cyrus Eppleston and hosts President Julius Forrender's delegation aboard Echo. He agrees in principle to extract a gifted hybrid prisoner in return for manufactured supplies, especially railgun slugs.[5][6][7][8][9]

Extraction and reprisals

Eastcott ordered Colonel Hastings to extract Serilda Corazon. He supervised from a second shuttle near Earth, approved treatment of the other prisoners in hut seven, and agreed to rescue Megan. After the retaliatory bombing of York and the killings at Camp Skadi, he destroyed thirty-four death chambers across the Americas while Lucinda struck an African military base.[10][11][12]

Serilda's influence

Serilda revealed that she had introduced suggestions and memories into Eastcott's dreams to bring him to Earth and strengthen his understanding of Flaxen atrocities. He forgave her. She later lent him mental strength during the crisis caused by Brookes, at the cost of extreme fatigue. Eastcott urged her to stop and ultimately continued without her support.[11][13][14][15][16]

Return to war

After Brookes crippled Echo, Eastcott fled at spherical speed and returned to Cylli for repairs. He later attacked a rare mineral processing facility near the Flaxus's headquarters on Venus and threatened retaliation for further killings on Earth. During the ensuing battle between Earth and Venus, his scorpion survived a combined attack by three hawks with assistance from Sarah and Echo.[13][14][15][17]

Campaign for Earth

Eastcott rejected the extermination of Venus and the assassination of the Flaxus as lasting solutions. He authorized Katie Silver's destruction of an orbiting hawk and the subsequent strikes against the Flaxens' remaining extermination chambers.[18][19]

Operation in Iceland

Drawing on the changed attitudes of Serilda's father, Megan's protectors, and Florus, Eastcott proposed targeting senior military commanders through a combined mental operation. He concealed Serilda's deployment even from Sarah Dimple and Echo. During the attack on Iceland, he ordered a dangerous sphere-drive micro-jump and had Dimple removed from the bridge after she challenged his secrecy.[20][21][22]

Captivity and return

Brookes captured Echo and destroyed Eastcott's right arm with an advanced pistol. Serilda broke his cell's diamond enclosure; Eastcott then persuaded Vidar to reject Brookes, recovered Cylli and Echo from the asteroid base, and helped defeat Brookes. Cylli's intervention kept the confrontation's weapons at their minimum power.[22][23][24][25][26]

Peace and renewed danger

Eastcott used Cylli's control of the Venusian nano mirrors to force a crisis in Claudius' rule. Nearly a year later, he lived with Sarah and their twins aboard Cylli and attended Brookes' trial as a witness. Evidence of the horde led him to seek Brookes' help and announce preparations for another war.[27][28]

Related records

Sources

Simon Evans, The Flaxen Tyranny, first edition (2023). Page numbers refer to the printed pagination of the source edition.

1. Chapter 2 · pp. 8–11
2. Chapter 3 · pp. 15–23
3. Chapter 4 · pp. 24–31
4. Chapter 5 · pp. 33
5. Chapter 6 · pp. 36–47
6. Chapter 7 · pp. 48–57
7. Chapter 8 · pp. 58–62
8. Chapter 9 · pp. 63–72
9. Chapter 12 · pp. 83–92
10. Chapter 14 · pp. 101–107
11. Chapter 15 · pp. 108–121
12. Chapter 16 · pp. 126–130
13. Chapter 18 · pp. 146–156
14. Chapter 20 · pp. 163–168
15. Chapter 21 · pp. 169–179
16. Chapter 23 · pp. 186–193
17. Chapter 25 · pp. 206–214
18. Chapter 27 · pp. 219–226
19. Chapter 28 · pp. 227–234
20. Chapter 31 · pp. 247–251
21. Chapter 32 · pp. 252–264
22. Chapter 33 · pp. 265–276
23. Chapter 34 · pp. 277–282
24. Chapter 35 · pp. 283–289
25. Chapter 36 · pp. 290–303
26. Chapter 37 · pp. 304–315
27. Chapter 38 · pp. 316–324
28. Chapter 39 · pp. 325–338