Mending fences

Positroll wrote:OTOH, it's likely they already know about Imbesi ...

Princess Ruth's face went from anger to keen interest in a split second. "A plan?" she repeated in an entirely different tone. "Hmph." She thought again for a moment, then nodded sharply. "So you're working with Erewhon, are you? Well, of course. You'd have to be to be standing around hip-deep in bodies without being arrested. So that means . . ." She grimaced. "If you're talking about hurting Manpower, then you've got to be thinking about Congo. I can see a couple of angles, I think. But if you want my opinion—
Which she proceeded to give, at some length, despite knowing virtually nothing about the situation. The worst of it, from Victor's point of view, was how uncannily close she often came and how genuinely expert her opinion often was. Anton Zilwicki's influence and training there, Victor was sure of it.
Great. A Manticoran enemy princess with aspirations "

Positroll wrote:So, Erewhon seems to want to mend fences with the Manties. All well and good - except that I wonder whether using Imbesi for that purpose is a good idea.
After all, the Manties still probably don't know that Imbesi was informed of the pending attack on Princess Ruth beforehand - at a time when Erewhon still was formally allied to Manticore. A deal's a deal and all that ...

So what happens when they kiss and make up, and then a treecat or HH discover that oops, Imbesi was happy to let the niece of Elisabeth get shot, raped or abducted ... ?

After all, Victor Cachat was a formal enemy of the SKM at the time, so he can be "pardoned" for not caring about Manticoran royalty, but what Imbesi did to his still - allies was beyond the pale - especially since Elisabeth was opposed to High Ridges stupid treatment of Erewhon ...

Northstar wrote:I suspect pragmatic diplomatic considerations are going to trump any personal considerations, though they will not give Elizabeth, or any other Manticoran, amnesia about this and other Erewonese ...urm... situational ethics lapses. Liz & Co have a bead on those folks just fine. But reality then, as in here and now, is nations cannot afford to get too Victorian vapors about this stuff. That is just diplomatic reality.

Reader Bob wrote:The Empress has excellent advisers who all put aside their personal feelings and face realpolitik realities. The Erewhonese will be welcomed back into the fold with a private talk with one or two of the triumvirate to let them know that, while nothing will be said publicly, they will be watched a bit more closely than they had been. Well, they won't actually be told that but they will get the message no matter how veiled it is given.

Reader Bob wrote:The Erewhonese will be welcomed back into the fold with a private talk with one or two of the triumpherate to let them know that, while nothing will be said publically, they will be watched a bit more closely than they had been. Well, they won't actually be told that but they will get the message no matter how veiled it is given.

Brigade XO wrote:Elizabeth has been taking more than a pound of flesh out of them.You will recall that in the books, since Erewhon was "only" in a DEFENSIVE treaty with Haven, they were not reqired to go to way with Manticore, so they "just" stayed out of the second part of the war.
What happened at the same time is that while Erewhon flagged ships were allowed to continue using the Junction their rates went through the roof. Massive rate increased and I would suspect, though I don't remember at this point, that there was all sorts of other costs and conditions. Taking away Most Favored status isn't even close. Erewhon had their cost of doing business rise in a very pointed and massive way. That the understand quite well