Honor vs. Manticore

Has anyone of you considered such a scenario? It's by far one of my favourite drama scenarios when a captain/admiral has to go against their own chain of command. TV series, books, you name it.

Consider the Earth Alliance Civil War in Babylon 5 when Sheridan was forced to fight his own government after the latter gradually became a dictatorship.

Could something like that happen to Honor and the Star Empire of Manticore? A Janacek type usurping power, but actually being competent in doing it, fabricating whatever "truths" he needs to sway public opinion, cornering political rivals until they stay silent or outright join him, etc. Imagine Honor on a long deployment (long term goodwill mission in the League, whatever), our Big Bad Guy does his thing at home and takes over... Honor and her fleet are left the only "free" part of Manticore and out of nowhere Honor receives a recall order from the Admiralty, some outrageous orders (stand down? demotion?) and finally she is forced to fight her own people. Would she? Would they?

Far fetched? Probably. The Empress would stop it? Possibly. We have seen the sovereign has limits on his power (was it King Edward in A Call to Duty that said something along those lines to his son? Even the King has limits to his power when it comes to political struggles with parliament?), so yes, it's a highly unlikely train of thought, but what if...

How many millions of your people's deaths are worth your political prerogatives? 10 million? 100 million? a billion?

orelsi wrote:Could something like that happen to Honor and the Star Empire of Manticore? A Janacek type usurping power, but actually being competent in doing it, fabricating whatever "truths" he needs to sway public opinion, cornering political rivals until they stay silent or outright join him, etc. Imagine Honor on a long deployment (long term goodwill mission in the League, whatever), our Big Bad Guy does his thing at home and takes over... Honor and her fleet are left the only "free" part of Manticore and out of nowhere Honor receives a recall order from the Admiralty, some outrageous orders (stand down? demotion?) and finally she is forced to fight her own people. Would she? Would they?

Far fetched? Probably. The Empress would stop it? Possibly. We have seen the sovereign has limits on his power (was it King Edward in A Call to Duty that said something along those lines to his son? Even the King has limits to his power when it comes to political struggles with parliament?), so yes, it's a highly unlikely train of thought, but what if...

In Manticore it's unlikely, at least while Elizabeth is the Queen/Empress. Longer term, it could happen.

It did happen in Haven. The government there became oligarchic / plutocratic, expansionist and with little regard for the life of the common citizen. The "good guys" took up arms against their government and ended up toppling it, with the Theisman Coup.

And Haven was far more enlightened and cosmopolitan than Manticore in the 16th century, so if it could happen to Haven, it can happen to Manticore too. I just don't think RFC will be telling us that story.

It wouldn't be Honor against Manticore. It would be Honor and Grayson against Manticore.

If the MA uses the LDs to drop leaflets all over Manticore like the British did to Germany, (LOL) detailing how the treecat's bonding mechanism with humans is nothing short of a brainwashing type of a union, it just might seed enough paranoia into the population to cause a crisis. A crisis which could lead to civil unrest. A civil unrest which could lead to war.

However, I think Honor's resistance would be dependent on the Queen's stance. If Beth asked Honor to surrender, she would. If Honor knew Beth asked under duress, she'd find out. Under duress or with Beth's blessings, Honor would fight for Manticore's freedom. It would be a short fight, however, Honor would enjoy the whole of the RMN's allegiance and loyalty as Theisman could only have dreamed of from the RHN.

At any rate, the cause of the war would be important. Perhaps if you can give us a scenario. If it has anything to do with the future of treecats, however, the war is on. And Grayson allies on the side of Honor. Who would definitely fight for every last Cat. As would Beth.

But that stance would fuel the paranoia. Because, obviously, they're brainwashed.