Firebrand's agenda...

Given that Damian Harahap AKA Firebrand has now appeared in a couple different books, and Henke's master minions (Oversteegen, Terekhov, Zavala, etc.) are totally screwing his plans up, know his name, and are obviously closing in, we'll see him again.

Meanwhile... what was he thinking? He's has already shown that he's not loyal to the SLN/Gendarmarie but that he's been out there in the verge including Talbott, we have to ask.... why? So I'll open the microphone and this particular Gordian knot with my surmise:

I think he/his Mesan masters have been looking to entangle OFS and more importantly Frontier Fleet in an across the board shooting matches by declaring war on Manticore's interests in the Verge irrespective of Old Chicago, so that FF and the RMN are bleeding each other -- even without Kingsford's pet commerce raiding strategy.

Yes/no, thoughts?

SharkHunter wrote:On a hoot, and while waiting for helpdesk to call back, I scrolled through all the ePubs I had and about 20 of 47 pages of "Firebrand " references. Given that he's now appeared in a couple different books, and Henke's master minions (Oversteegen, Terekhov, Zavala, etc.) are totally screwing his plans up, know his name, and are obviously closing in, we'll see him again.

Meanwhile... what was he thinking? Given that Firebrand [Damian Harahap] has already shown that he's not loyal to the SLN/Gendarmarie but that he's been out there in the verge including Talbott, we have to ask.... why? So I'll open the microphone and this particular Gordian knot with my surmise:

I think he/his Mesan masters have been looking to entangle OFS and more importantly Frontier Fleet in an across the board shooting match by declaring war on Manticore's interests in the Verge irrespective of Old Chicago, so that FF and the RMN are bleeding each other -- even without Kingsford's pet commerce raiding strategy.

Yes/no, thoughts?

I'm not sure what mystery you are trying to solve. Are you asking why Mesa has Firebrand working systems around that area? If so, we have plenty of evidence to answer that. Are you asking why Firebrand is interested in doing it? I would say because he is a mercenary. He may also have some lingering issues with OFS.

It is clear that Mesa has been setting up these little revolutionary groups for years if not decades. The intent is to spark widespread conflagration across the Verge that OFS can't stop. The trick with leaving hints of Manticoran involvement is just a little flourish, diverting attention from the people really behind it. It's not intended to start a war between OFS and the RMN--by the time it gets to that point, the entire Verge would be up in arms and OFS would have its hands full just keeping a lid on the Protectorates.

This is all pretty clear from my reading of the text. What makes you think there's anything more? Is there something in the text that you are wondering about that I've missed?

SharkHunter wrote:On a hoot, and while waiting for helpdesk to call back, I scrolled through all the ePubs I had and also about 35 of 47 pages of "Firebrand " references here. Given that he's now appeared in a couple different books, and Henke's master minions (Oversteegen, Terekhov, Zavala, etc.) are totally screwing his plans up, know his name, and are obviously closing in, we'll see him again.

Meanwhile... what was he thinking? Given that Firebrand [Damian Harahap] has already shown that he's not loyal to the SLN/Gendarmarie but that he's been out there in the verge including Talbott, we have to ask.... why? So I'll open the microphone and this particular Gordian knot with my surmise:

I think he/his Mesan masters have been looking to entangle OFS and more importantly Frontier Fleet in an across the board shooting matches by declaring war on Manticore's interests in the Verge irrespective of Old Chicago, so that FF and the RMN are bleeding each other -- even without Kingsford's pet commerce raiding strategy.

Yes/no, thoughts?

Yes. There's also smearing Manticore's name by indicating to all the Verge dissident movements that Manticore will encourage them then leave them out to hang - that last has just run into the problem of Manticore showing up anyway.

Even here though, it gets Manticore running around a whole lot and the League more effectively undone. So while it's not the easy win the Alignment had in mind, it's still furthering some of their objectives.

Personally, he's a professional, mercenary agent provacateur. Sticking it to the League surely gives him a warm and amused feeling, but that's a distant third behind the money and the thrill of it.

SharkHunter wrote:...Henke's master minions (Oversteegen, Terekhov, Zavala, etc.) are totally screwing his plans up, know his name, and are obviously closing in, we'll see him again....

How are they screwing up his plans? He doesn't really care if Manticore diverts resources to support insurgents or they get blamed for inciting insurgencies. Either result leads to the demise of OFS and FF, and Manticore can only redeem his fraudulent promises when they find out about them; they will still get smeared for inciting insurgents and then abandoning them.

Also, "Firebrand" is not the only MAlign agent inciting insurgencies unless he's using multiple names.

SWM wrote:

SharkHunter wrote:On a hoot, and while waiting for helpdesk to call back, I scrolled through all the ePubs I had and about 20 of 47 pages of "Firebrand " references. Given that he's now appeared in a couple different books, and Henke's master minions (Oversteegen, Terekhov, Zavala, etc.) are totally screwing his plans up, know his name, and are obviously closing in, we'll see him again.

Meanwhile... what was he thinking? Given that Firebrand [Damian Harahap] has already shown that he's not loyal to the SLN/Gendarmarie but that he's been out there in the verge including Talbott, we have to ask.... why? So I'll open the microphone and this particular Gordian knot with my surmise:

I think he/his Mesan masters have been looking to entangle OFS and more importantly Frontier Fleet in an across the board shooting match by declaring war on Manticore's interests in the Verge irrespective of Old Chicago, so that FF and the RMN are bleeding each other -- even without Kingsford's pet commerce raiding strategy.

Yes/no, thoughts?

[snip] I'm not sure what mystery you are trying to solve...

I'm not sure I'm trying to solve "any mystery" here, just enjoying the ride. One thing that RFC has been very good at is keeping his cards (and character's motivations) fairly close to the vest until the time comes for their part of the plot to flower up. He's just one of those interesting people floating out there in the galaxy outside of Houdini that it's fun to look at. Namely because we know his main job is to stir up trouble. Given that he's one of those characters who thinks he's just smarter enough than everyone else to pull it off, and is well connected, that's likely to be his downfall.

Anyway, as to stuff not in the textev:

At Monica he's likely a corrupted Gendarmarie about ready to switch horses to his new masters. By SoF he's no longer Gendarmarie but is doing the same kind of thing, using the same name, so we know he's in the same business and folks can sorta check his credentials as a middleman, so we're surmising covert Mesan agent from now on, but his bosses are on the run or captured, yes?

But the master strategy? given how many OFS governors Manpower had already suborned, there's no reason for them to stir up trouble in two-bit systems on the edge of nowhere. Which is where my surmise is that the master goal has to be higher level than twisting the tail of either dragons, it has to be getting the dragons to fight each other.

With an off topic to my topic "by the way": reading through the various topics and threads where his name has come up, it's been suggested that maybe he eventually gets captured and switches alliances to the GA.

I think if he gets captured, he's in for a long drop or pulsar dart because of the civilian casualties if just on Kornati and his latest fiasco. The only question is how much useful intel do they get out of him before the long drop, or at best his intel buys himself a a deep dark prison cell with only an old Nintendo game boy and no 'Net access to keep him company for a couple centuries till death do him into parts.

SharkHunter wrote:I'm not sure I'm trying to solve "any mystery" here, just enjoying the ride. One thing that RFC has been very good at is keeping his cards (and character's motivations) fairly close to the vest until the time comes for their part of the plot to flower up. He's just one of those interesting people floating out there in the galaxy outside of Houdini that it's fun to look at. Namely because we know his main job is to stir up trouble. Given that he's one of those characters who thinks he's just smarter enough than everyone else to pull it off, and is well connected, that's likely to be his downfall.

Anyway, as to stuff not in the textev:

At Monica he's likely a corrupted Gendarmarie about ready to switch horses to his new masters. By SoF he's no longer Gendarmarie but is doing the same kind of thing, using the same name, so we know he's in the same business and folks can sorta check his credentials as a middleman, so we're surmising covert Mesan agent from now on, but his bosses are on the run or captured, yes?

But the master strategy? given how many OFS governors Manpower had already suborned, there's no reason for them to stir up trouble in two-bit systems on the edge of nowhere. Which is where my surmise is that the master goal has to be higher level than twisting the tail of either dragons, it has to be getting the dragons to fight each other.

I thought he had already left the Gendarmerie before Shadow of Saganami, but it looks like you're right, he was still a Gendarme then. But we know for certain that he's been a Alignment agent from the first time we saw him. He's a mercenary, and they've been paying him for a long time.

No, his bosses are not on the run or captured. Not everyone working for the Alignment is being evacuated by Houdini. Houdini was only moving people who lived and worked on Mesa and needed to be kept alive and in Alignment hands. The Alignment has plenty of agents scattered all over the galaxy, still active. For instance, I believe that Aldona Anisimovna is not being evacuated by Houdini. She is still loose out there, and she had worked closely with Firebrand. She might still be the person he reports to.

Sure, the Alignment has suborned lots of OFS governors. But that doesn't help them break up the League. Those governors are out to make life comfortable for themselves. The Alignment needs to have the Verge planets rebel against the OFS. That's what Firebrand has been trying to set up. They don't have to be successful rebellions; they just need to cause so much commotion that the FF is overwhelmed. This wave of violence will be the excuse that causes systems (in particular the Renaissance Factor) to declare independence on the grounds that the League is incapable of protecting them.

--snipped bits--

SWM wrote:...
No, his bosses are not on the run or captured.... The Alignment has plenty of agents scattered all over the galaxy, still active. For instance, I believe that Aldona Anisimovna is not being evacuated by Houdini. She is still loose out there, and she had worked closely with Firebrand. She might still be the person he reports to....

...The Alignment needs to have the Verge planets rebel against the OFS. That's what Firebrand has been trying to set up. They don't have to be successful rebellions; they just need to cause so much commotion that the FF is overwhelmed. This wave of violence will be the excuse that causes systems (in particular the Renaissance Factor) to declare independence on the grounds that the League is incapable of protecting them.

I think you're exactly right on most points, plus making sure that the SEM doesn't become their new protectors. Likely the bit about tying in Manticore came about because of the Monican flop and the SKM becoming the SEM.

Bosses on the run wise, I was thinking higher up. The Detweilers were DEFINITELY on Mesa, but l likely he's in a luxury appointed streak ship or something similar, though so he's not really Houdini'd anyway. Just out of com-range for a few weeks, likely, and then he sends word to a few spots to correlate from his new parts unknown headquarters.

Aldona, now there's an interesting question, because she's now inside the onion, and I am presuming, still on the loose aka not on a ship to places unknown. Her bodyguard might double as a Gaul, but I sorta doubt it. So yes, she can still give Damien Harahap instructions and updates, so he might get news about Mobius quicker than we expect. Wouldn't it be a hoot to be a fly on the wall reading RFC's capture chapter, then put her in a room with Alfredo or any other 'cat, with Thandi Palane and her *cough* boyfriend Victor asking the questions?

[By the way, new folks like me it took me a bit to work those abbreviations out. SKM = Star Kingdom, aka Manticore A + Basilisk and then Trevor's Star, SEM = Star Empire, the prior three systems plus the addition of the Talbott systems and the Star Kingdom's chunk of the Silesian Confederacy].

It is worth bringing up your thoughts on this, Sharkhunter. It's true that we don't know the entire Alignment plan. There has been a lot of speculation here on the forums, which has probably shaped a lot of my own thoughts. I don't think the Alignment is trying to get the FF fighting the RMN over these attempted rebellions. But it is possible that there are aspects of the Alignment plan regarding Firebrand's efforts that we haven't figured out.

I believe Damian is going to be in for a rude awakening very soon, especially if Indiana manages to get send his "messenger" off to Montana or Spindle with Damian's "Code Words" for Mike. Damian has hypothesized that Mike will figure the guy is a nut and ignore him, but as we know Mike is doing the exact opposite.

Imagine his surprise when he pops into Seraphim to meet up with Indie and Mackenzie and a Mantie squadron of cruisers or destroyers suddenly ride in over the alpha wall and realizes he is trapped once Indie gleefully informs the commander that their "man" Firebrand is here.