Motif · Book 5, The Butcher's Masquerade

The Valtay Corporation

A name Carl finds in his inventory's history tab attached to a pulse pistol, a personal shield and an illegal communications relay that passed through his hands inside Agatha's shopping cart. Odette says they are a parasitic corporate government with a fleet parked outside the Borant system, and the next season will be theirs.

Segment appearances

Chapter 1 — The vice principal's office
Chapter 3 — Quasar
Chapter 19 — Miss Beatrice
Chapter 20 — Viva la revolución
Chapter 21 — CrawlCon
Chapter 24 — The rock chucker
Chapter 30 — A Valtay landing vessel
Chapter 32 — The Ultimate Training Room
Chapter 33 — Crawling Through the Ages
Chapter 34 — How to kill a mantis
Chapter 41 — The Society for the Eradication of Cocker Spaniels
Chapter 56 — Zerzura
Chapter 59 — The sheriffs of the wild west
Chapter 60 — The raids
Chapter 77 — The mask

Progression

A worm in the liaison's fishbowl (ch. 1); 'the naked ones are the worst' (ch. 3); fifty-one per cent of Borant by court order, and dropped as Carl's sponsor for conflict of interest (ch. 19); a new stepdad that will want its own top ten (ch. 20); a ship on the sea floor with its own security (ch. 30); a captain's regards and zero zones (ch. 32); a moon elf under contract with a worm in him (ch. 33). The seventh floor was built with their money (ch. 56).