Mesa--Seven Headed Serpent

It would seem to me that Mesa has become everybody's mess.

1. Manticore and Haven have both come to believe that MAlign was directly responsible for instigating second round of their war.
2. On basis of Cachet/Zilwicke intelligence, Haven believes that MA is at least in part responsible for collapse of first republic and the rise of the legislaturists.
3. MA is directly responsible for confrontation between Monica and Manticore, along with sponsoring terrorist activity in Talbot Quadrant.
4. Although League doesn't want to admit it, MA has taken advantage of League corruption to engineer SLN's confrontations with Manticore.
5. MA carried out the Yawata Strike.

Given that laundary list, it is apparent that the GA is facing a determined and resourceful enemy in the MA. Garisoning Mesa temporaily for an indefinite time might be necessary. Unlayering the onion and locating MA's bolt hole at Darius are imperatives. So also is identifying and dealing with other members of the factor. By way of contrast to this, dealing with the League is a side show. The League probably won't be around much longer. It would be my guess that dealing with this greater threat will be ever more dominate as a theme in MWW's books.

Don

1. Manticore and Haven have both come to believe that MAlign was directly responsible for instigating second round of their war.

It goes way beyond that. Not just the second round...

Unlayering the onion and locating MA's bolt hole at Darius are imperatives.

Problem is that GA doesn´t really know much about this. They know there are things to be found out, not what, where or how.

So also is identifying and dealing with other members of the factor.

Which they have no clue about.

By way of contrast to this, dealing with the League is a side show. The League probably won't be around much longer.

A sideshow that will squash the GA like a very small and insignificant bug if they get careless about the situation.

The MA definitely has influence in the SL, they may very well be able to postpone the collapse until the GA is dead and buried.

Don´t expect any free lunch.

Also, recall how RFC not all that long ago commented that he was around halfway through the Honorverse mainstory. That leaves a lot.

RE: Tenshinai

No disagreement with your post. I would point out that the fact that the League is near collapse is something that MAlign deliberately engineered. In ART Detweiler does express regret over how one sided it has turned out with the League being even more impotent than he expected. But it looks to me like the genie is out of the bottle now with the League playing the role of Humpty-Dumpty. I doubt that any amount of influence that the MA has can change that.

That being said, I agree that GA can't be careless. They have to keep up the pressure with the goal of fragmenting the League using military, political, and diplomatic resources.

But still MA is the more serious threat for exactly the reasons you posted. What that means is that the primary emphasis on this front for the near term future will be on intelligence, ferreting out the answers GA doesn't have. It will be interesting to see how Cauldron of Ghosts works out. I doubt that Cachet/Zilwicke find all they need. But I would be profoundly surprised if they find nothing at all. Even with all the Alignment's skill and thoroughness, Houdini is going to leave behind some clues, or perhaps someone at least partially inside the onion who doesn't get lifted out or caught up in the explosions those nasty Ballroom types orchestrate and who also is disgruntled at being left behind.

And it will be interesting to see how Herlander Simoes fares out at Bolthole helping GA get the streak drive and if he has enough info to point R&D in the right direction to get started on Spider.

Only our MWW knows!

Don