Dongfang Yanxu
Names: Dongfang YanxuDongfang
First appears in Book 2: The Dark Forest, chapter 7 (Year 205, Crisis Era)
Appearances
What you know
Book 2: The Dark Forest
- Ch 7Young captain of Natural Selection, tall and spacer-born; she greets Zhang Beihai as her forbear and offers him a pistol to kill her if she proves defeatist.
- Ch 7She is captain of Natural Selection, currently under review, and plans to resign from the space fleet.
- Ch 7She is teaching Zhang Beihai how to launch the ship and showing how an Imprinted person could hijack it, urging him to refuse and report such a request.
- Ch 7Dongfang Yanxu is Natural Selection's captain; she ordered the whole ship into deep-sea state to save the crew when Zhang Beihai launched.
- Ch 7Her passphrase, 'Men always remember love because of romance only,' was one Zhang Beihai recognized as an old, once-obscure password.
- Ch 7She kept the whole ship in deep-sea sleep to prevent attacks on Zhang Beihai's cabin and urges him to surrender.
- Ch 8Captain of Natural Selection after receiving control; she promised not to decelerate the ship and feels a fatherly attachment to Zhang Beihai.
- Ch 8A colonel and captain of Natural Selection who proposes the name Starship Earth and looks to Zhang Beihai as a father figure.
- Ch 8As captain of Natural Selection, she realizes the shared dark knowledge: the fleet lacks resources for all to survive, so some must die.
- Ch 8She tells Zhang Beihai not to ask about what is happening, to protect him, treating him as an ordinary person.
- Ch 8She tells Lan Xi that without Earth, people will become 'non-people'.
- Ch 8Dongfang Yanxu begged to go to hell with Zhang Beihai but was shut out by a transparent bulkhead.
Connections
- leadsNatural Selectioncaptain
- ally ofZhang Beihai
- member ofNatural Selection
- related toZhang Beihaitransferred captain's privileges to her
- has memberLevinvice-captain under her
- has memberAkira Inouevice-captain under her
Key moments
- Book 2 · Ch 7Zhang Beihai arrives on Natural Selection
Learning of fleet rivalry over the probe interception, Zhang Beihai boards Natural Selection and is met by captain Dongfang Yanxu, who offers him a pistol as a challenge.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Zhang Beihai's first onboard lesson
Dongfang Yanxu shows Zhang Beihai in simulation how to put Natural Selection into navigation mode and how an Imprinted hijacker might flee, then they talk of family and he warns he may have to kill her.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Zhang Beihai hijacks Natural Selection
After the permissions handover, Zhang Beihai locks out the captain, cuts communications and orders deep-sea state. Dongfang Yanxu complies, and he launches the ship at Ahead Four from Jupiter.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Standoff aboard Natural Selection
Dongfang Yanxu urges Zhang Beihai to surrender, but he keeps writing his account while pursuers close in.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Zhang Beihai hands over Natural Selection
Zhang Beihai transfers captain's privileges to Dongfang Yanxu on condition that the ship not decelerate; she agrees and asks him to stay in his cabin.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Zhang Beihai takes command
Zhang Beihai wakes and finds Natural Selection's crew and the four pursuing ships' officers assembled. They present him with command of the five remaining stellar-class warships rather than treating him as a defector.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Founding of Starship Earth
Zhang Beihai tells the crews they cannot return to Earth. They name themselves Starship Earth, and the Citizens' Assembly sets course for NH558J2 and declares independence. The UN and SFJC give tacit blessing.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Zhang Beihai declines supreme command
Elected chair of the Authority Committee unanimously, Zhang Beihai refuses and instead asks Dongfang Yanxu to restore his acting-captain permissions on Natural Selection.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Psychological crisis spreads
Senior officers become withdrawn and gloomy, violence erupts on Natural Selection, Scott hints at the 'fruit of knowledge', Lan Xi succumbs, and the captain of Ultimate Law kills himself.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Silent meeting of the captain and vice-captains
In the fighter hangar, Dongfang Yanxu, Levine and Akira Inoue communicate through their eyes, concluding fuel and parts are insufficient, some must die, and considering infrasonic H-bombs.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Zhang Beihai's attack on the four ships
Zhang Beihai locks targets and arms infrasonic H-bombs against four pursuing ships, but hesitates; Ultimate Law strikes first and wipes out all aboard Natural Selection, including Zhang Beihai.