n7axw wrote:kzt wrote:What's the worse that could happen to Erehwon after they arranged for the Queen's granddaughter to get killed on a state visit? And this after selling critical military technology to someone at war with Manticore. I'm sure the the woman who is renowned for her grudges, and runs the most powerful military in the region would be understanding and not at all inclined to have a BatRon obliterate everything in orbit as an object lesson. Really, what could possibly go wrong for Erehwon?
Manticore runs the most powerful military in the region in great part because they can repeatedly pull multiple tech leaps out of their asses while everyone else plays catch up. It isn't just the MDMs but they've got better compensators, smaller FTL communicators, stronger missiles and get Apollo at a critical juncture leaving not just Heaven and the SLN but also pretty much every other power (like the Andermani) in the dust.
Erewhon is tight with both the League and Haven both of which have greater fleets ton for ton - they obviously can't expect Manticore to consistently outdistance everyone in terms of technology - nobody can. The only ones that come anywhere close to matching Manticore in naval tech development is MAlign.
Wonder if Eloise thinks she is in Heaven...
sorry, I couldn't resist! 
Don
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The real problem was how quick things changed. There was a quiet treaty and within what sounds like a few weeks Haven went to war against Manticore.
It used a lot of the tech it received from Erewhon, meaning a lot more Manties died.
I remember back when people cursed out New York for selling steel from elevated subway lines to the Japanese before World War II which, according to the stories, became materials for ships. (This was just popular history for me, right after the war. I was born near the end of it).
And, of course, the Russians and the Chinese got a lot of our weaponry at around the same time.
By the way, there was just about nothing to warn the leaders of Erewhon about the Masadans planning damage. Victor and Thandi knew but not the leaders. And, yes, it would have been very bad for Erewhon had Ruth been killed.