Of Mike and Mesa

Brigade XO wrote:I suspect that General Drescher got an update on that massive hyper footprint, probably some conversation about probably needing the Peaceforce in a new mission and is now trying to get her troops disengaged from the tower with no more losses.

One rebel city town- in very bad condition- is no longer a primarly concern. Preserving her troops is. Of the possibilities for that hyper footprint, the best guess is 1) someone has shown up with a massive force and is going to change the government of Mesa. The rebels are not really a concern any more. 2) someone has shonwn up with a massive force to help the Mesa government and the general is perfectly willing to let someone else bleed for that dam tower.

Number 2 is highly unlikely

Just a random thought (the only ones I seem to get these days): Given the General Drescher knows that these are 'hostiles' that will soon be occupying the Mesa orbitals, I think she'd want to keep her troops somewhere close to the seccie population (but in defensive positions only), at least until she recieves formal surrender orders from the Government and is directed to return to base by the Manties....after all, moving a military force to a nice base where a KEW can be dropped without much collateral damage is probably not a good idea.

And yes, Mike would never do such a thing and I'm being paranoid and all that--but I still wouldn't move my troops to a more vunerable location until I received orders one way or another...

My own assumption at the end of COG is that Mesa has surrendered to whoever came over the hyper wall, presumably Mike and that disengaging from the tower was part of the terms of surrender.

Don

n7axw wrote:My own assumption at the end of COG is that Mesa has surrendered to whoever came over the hyper wall, presumably Mike and that disengaging from the tower was part of the terms of surrender.

Don

I think we can regard the surrender of the overwhelmed, abandoned, and orphaned government of Mesa - a puppet with no comforting hand up its butt anymore, rattled by civil war, and kicked into a corner by angry OMG out of hyper - as pretty much a given.

With even a bit of that information, Drescher could too. Getting anyone killed when that process is already visible would be too stupid and too bloody-minded for her - she's among the sanest, smartest and most decent people (momentarily) in power on the planet. A less-damaged Peaceforce is a factor in the surrender terms and afterward (even if not much of one); as noted, they are where they are still benefiting from being too close to the angry OMG fleet's presumed-friendlies on the ground to be ideal KEW targets; politically, she and Peaceforce are on better terms with their new overlords if they cut the killing off now; and there's no more dying this way, and being sane and responsible, Drescher can appreciate that.

Hutch wrote:Just a random thought (the only ones I seem to get these days): Given the General Drescher knows that these are 'hostiles' that will soon be occupying the Mesa orbitals, I think she'd want to keep her troops somewhere close to the seccie population (but in defensive positions only), at least until she recieves formal surrender orders from the Government and is directed to return to base by the Manties....after all, moving a military force to a nice base where a KEW can be dropped without much collateral damage is probably not a good idea.

And yes, Mike would never do such a thing and I'm being paranoid and all that--but I still wouldn't move my troops to a more vunerable location until I received orders one way or another...

I am confident that Drescher did not contact Cachat on his own, without orders from his government. So whatever he was about to say to the seccie rebels, it was with the approval of the government.

SWM wrote:I am confident that Drescher did not contact Cachat on his own, without orders from his government. So whatever he was about to say to the seccie rebels, it was with the approval of the government.

Except that the government in question has been taking it's marching orders from the now vanished MA for years, and even to the Mesans in Neu Rostok, that process seemed arthritic, so I'd assume that the beast is now a chicken with no head.

So I picture it sort of as Drescher getting ready to KEW the tower, and then over her earbug she hears "o.m.n.e.G" (oh my non-existent Gawd!)", hyper footprint, 12 ships and they ain't ours.

Any general worth her salt knows what that means and stops the assault. A bit later when she finds out WHO they are, she calls Cachat and says "them people in those starships are yours. Please tell them we military types were following our last legal orders from our departed evil overlords and notice, we're not trying to kill you anymore..."

SharkHunter wrote:

SWM wrote:I am confident that Drescher did not contact Cachat on his own, without orders from his government. So whatever he was about to say to the seccie rebels, it was with the approval of the government.

Except that the government in question has been taking it's marching orders from the now vanished MA for years, and even to the Mesans in Neu Rostok, that process seemed arthritic, so I'd assume that the beast is now a chicken with no head.

So I picture it sort of as Drescher getting ready to KEW the tower, and then over her earbug she hears "o.m.n.e.G" (oh my non-existent Gawd!)", hyper footprint, 12 ships and they ain't ours.

Any general worth her salt knows what that means and stops the assault. A bit later when she finds out WHO they are, she calls Cachat and says "them people in those starships are yours. Please tell them we military types were following our last legal orders from our departed evil overlords and notice, we're not trying to kill you anymore..."

The government didn't know they were taking orders from the Mesan Alignment. The entire government is still in place. We even saw them in conference when the news of the hyper-footprint came in.

The government still exists. They didn't even notice the disappearance of the Alignment.

SWM wrote: I am confident that Drescher did not contact Cachat on his own, without orders from his government. So whatever he was about to say to the seccie rebels, it was with the approval of the government.

SharkHunter wrote:Except that the government in question has been taking it's marching orders from the now vanished MA for years, and even to the Mesans in Neu Rostok, that process seemed arthritic, so I'd assume that the beast is now a chicken with no head.

So I picture it sort of as Drescher getting ready to KEW the tower, and then over her earbug she hears "o.m.n.e.G" (oh my non-existent Gawd!)", hyper footprint, 12 ships and they ain't ours.

Any general worth her salt knows what that means and stops the assault. A bit later when she finds out WHO they are, she calls Cachat and says "them people in those starships are yours. Please tell them we military types were following our last legal orders from our departed evil overlords and notice, we're not trying to kill you anymore..."

SWM wrote:The government didn't know they were taking orders from the Mesan Alignment. The entire government is still in place. We even saw them in conference when the news of the hyper-footprint came in.

The government still exists. They didn't even notice the disappearance of the Alignment.

Ummmm.....yes, the Government was 'intact', but as had been noted, it wasn't functioning all that well because the 'powers behind the throne' which were alluded to earlier in the book had all left via Houdini, leaving their minions at a bit of a loss.

So I could see that General Drescher would be told about the incoming force, ask for instructions, getting only 'sound and fury', and deciding on her own that she damn well wasn't going to get anymore of her people killed with unfriendly SD's on the way to orbit.

Afraid that's one we'll never resolve to everyone's satisfaction...which is why this Forum is so much fun...

I think that the government in question has already thrown in the towel and surrendered by the time Drescher talks to Thandi...

Minor nit: IIRC, the general in question was a "she," not a "he"

Don

Actually, given the damage done to the upper levels of Mesa society by Houdini's weapons, its a little surprising that none of the members of the Board of Directors were not killed, perhaps even deliberately, since it should eventually occur to someone that if the Ballroom was behind the attacks, high ranking government officials would ave to be on their hit list.

fallsfromtrees wrote:Actually, given the damage done to the upper levels of Mesa society by Houdini's weapons, its a little surprising that none of the members of the Board of Directors were not killed, perhaps even deliberately, since it should eventually occur to someone that if the Ballroom was behind the attacks, high ranking government officials would ave to be on their hit list.

But the attacks weren't (to all appearances) targeted at specific people. They appeared to be simply acts of terror rather than assassinations. It was not as devastating as you seem to think on the upper levels of Mesan society. Only a tiny fraction of upper society died, and it wasn't only targeted at upper society.