While pondering new ways of irritating my readers by inserting another Nova Whiteside story into the middle of the series, someone asked me about other characters in these stories. Sethran Kada who annoys Nova in The Catalyst and shows up later in Rebel Alliances, seems to have some fans of his own.

And so here is Quantum Tangle, a story just for Seth, which fills in a little of his background and dumps him into the middle of an alien invasion. Waging his private rebellion against both the rebel opposition and Air Command, he's on the run from both to save the day.

Seth is not the super-spy, unbeatable secret agent type. Things don't always go his way. He has no clever insights into the Big Bad. His missions are beset with emotional entanglements that a proper operative should avoid at all costs. But he's quick and resourceful and he knows all the right people to get the job done. In some way or another.

Also making a re-appearance is Caelyn, the Delphian navigator that helped out in The Catalyst

The title Quantum Tangle is a fleeting nod to String Theory and the suggestion that the primary mod of deep space travel in this series is accomplished by finding entangled particles in subspace. But for the most part, it's about Sethran's brain getting all tangled up with a compound quantum particle setting up shop in his head. I liked the idea that a sufficient set of entangled particles could, without actually physically touching, combine to create a sentient, conscious being.

But this is space opera, so let's not get too technical! There are rebels to vanquish and officers to elude. The story, like the others, is primarily about the people living in Trans-Targon. In the absence of genetic material, is it possible to shape a personality purely through experience and exposure to information? Through interaction to others? Does someone else's personality affect your response to them?

And why would anyone take a Delphian civilian to a rebel planet?