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The Strange Case of Starship Iris · Jessica Best (Procyon Podcast Network)

3.08 Rejoice

October 23, 2025·37 min·3 clips
A crew member struggles with grief over killing enemy soldiers who had families and favorite foods, and another pushes back on calling them monsters.
Nobody knows what year it is. The episode opens in a daze, with someone trying to imagine what happily ever after even means after a military coup and a war. Then the ship pulls everyone back into work. The acting captain has the crew sweeping for hidden listening devices, shutting them down, and hoping San Ramos ground forces do not fire first. Nobody knows yet whether the mission worked. That uncertainty sits under every joke, even when the crew starts to think the regime's drones may actually be down. The celebration is small and scrappy. Someone wants a toast, and the best they can do is half a pot of cold coffee from the kitchen. Honestly, that fits. The victory is real, but it comes through plastic mugs, tired bodies, awkward pauses, and people ducking the feelings right in front of them. Arkady dodges. Sanaa tries to make space anyway, softly enough that it stings, until another call gives everyone a reason to stop talking. Then Thazia comes through. Radio Free Telemachus has already spread the news, and the break in the drones gives their side something to move with. But grief is right there in the room. Thazia can barely hold private loss next to planets still turning, stars still burning, and a war still asking for decisions. McCabe says the part nobody can ignore: sympathy matters, but everyone on the crew has lost someone, and waiting could cost more lives while the advantage holds. That is where the episode lives. Rejoicing is allowed. It may even be necessary. But nobody gets to treat victory like it fixed the damage or made them whole.

As heard by us

A victory that still tastes like cold coffee, smoke, and unfinished grief.

The Strange Case of Starship Iris finds a hard-won pause after the mission, with the crew hauling a stolen warship back to San Ramos while the outcome still hangs in the air.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Play this if you want a victory that still tastes like cold coffee, grief, and unfinished business.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
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