MPCatchup wrote:This was kind of my orginal purpose for posting this topic. No one in Operation ARK went back to Earth to check. We don't know if in searching for the escaped ships of Operation ARK the Gbaba had to pull enough forces from the siege of Earth to give Earth a brief reprieve. We don't know what technologies were being developed that could have allowed Earth to defeat the Gbaba. We don't know that when the Gbaba finally defeated Earth that there wasn't a shotgun effect with any and all ships that weren't initially destroyed.
Not saying that any of these could have happened, just that no one on Safehold could possible know either way. Just thought it would make for a good discussion. it could also be an interesting storyline if when Safehold does get really to go after the Gbaba they find another empire of humans, or even other human colonies trying to become strong enough to go after the Gbaba.
There is unfortunately one error in your hypothesis - the Gbaba clearly
didn't see through the sleight of hand that substituted the 46 ships of Operation Ark with 46 ships of the TFN. If they had, the ships of Operation Ark would have been hunted down and destroyed rather quickly. So there were no Gbaba actively searching for the fleet of Operation Ark, and the Earth wasn't given any sort of reprieve. The Gbaba kept on attacking, and according to the textev, they eventually "murdered Terra."
I've quoted what RFC has said on this subject elsewhere in this thread, but it's clear that OA was the last colony fleet to successfully escape the Gbaba, and the only one that managed to remain hidden. The time for hiding is long past, but thanks to Langhorne's paranoia and megalomania, our heroes are having a tough time convincing Safehold that the rabbit can come out of his hole.
Fear not, it will happen... eventually, although given the depth of the planet's faith in the teachings of the Writ, the CoGA, and even the CoC, unless whatever is under the Temple or the Return of the Archangels changes things dramatically, it's going to take generations to convince a significant amount of the population that their eternal souls won't be in grave peril if they refuse to believe in Langhorne and the archangels - or that
not believing in them is even an option!
