Audrey O’Hanrahan

Tenshinai wrote:Anyway, i didn´t say that is how it WILL be, just that it is an interesting scenario.

She knows about treecats. She is smart enough and skilled enough to keep topics to things she can handle. She's been doing this a long time, and she is clearly an actor of skill even more extraordinary than people realize.

But skill at ACTING isn´t going to have ANY relevance to treecats. And trying to control topics like that could be enough to cause suspicion just by itself(to a treecat that is).

Maybe, but she's a journalist and we're discussing an interview that she's conducting, not an interrogation she's being subjected to. So she'd be the one asking questions, not answering them.

That should make it pretty easy to keep away the interview of Mike away from any territory that would red flag Audrey to the treecats.

Remember the treecats can't tell why someone is feeling what they feel, and you'd expect an investigative journalist to hold some secrets (if for no other reason than to trap their interviewee in a falsehood so they can be confronted with it) A certain degree of duplicitousness and nervousness is expected.


That's not to say that she could beat a treecat interrogation if real suspicion (preferably backed by some evidence) turned on her; just that conduction an interview is very different from that.

Tenshinai wrote:

Why should she have been a part of Houdini? The purpose of Houdini was to hide people living on Mesa who would be vulnerable when Manticore inevitably came to call. All of the people in Houdini knew things about Mesa's operations which they did not want to fall into enemy hands when Mesa came under Manticoran control, or had special skills which Mesa did not want to lose.

Yes, so what will she think if finding out that "The Truth" has been withheld from her?

Also, the op was to get all the important people to the real MA base, i doubt a high profile, big ego journalist is going to like how she was not considered part of those important people.

Anyway, i didn´t say that is how it WILL be, just that it is an interesting scenario.

I suppose it would be interesting. And I do expect the interview (which is not unlikely to happen) will be interesting.

But she has known for a long time that she doesn't know everything. And no covert operative is ever a member of "the important people" who have to be shuffled away into hiding at the approach of the enemy. Their entire role is to go out amongst the enemy. Foreign assets that you might get more use out of, yes, those you might spirit away into hiding. But your own covert operatives that you send into enemy territory are by definition not people you want to protect in the same way you protect your own researchers and decision-makers.

Now, Audrey might possibly have interesting reactions to learning or figuring out the Alignment secrets she didn't know before. But that is a completely different problem. There is no reason she should have expected to be extracted during Houdini, which is clearly intended to protect assets living on Mesa just before Manticore takes over Mesa. Not everyone inside the Onion has been disappeared--just those who were vulnerable because they lived on a planet about to fall to the enemy. Though Audrey happens to be on Mesa at this time, she is not an automatic suspect like those who live there.

Tenshinai wrote:

She knows about treecats. She is smart enough and skilled enough to keep topics to things she can handle. She's been doing this a long time, and she is clearly an actor of skill even more extraordinary than people realize.

But skill at ACTING isn´t going to have ANY relevance to treecats. And trying to control topics like that could be enough to cause suspicion just by itself(to a treecat that is).

Attempting to control the tone and direction of an interview would be considered normal for a newsie. It doesn't matter if it's a Manticoran, Haven, Solarian or Silesian reporter (Andermani probably does have a controlled press, so who knows there), any good reporter, and Ms. O'Hanarahan is reported to be one of the best in the SL, would be expected to ask hard questions and attempt to get the news story she wants


As for her actually getting an interview with Mike? I'd put that at a very low chance. I do expect the RMN to release a press statement by an officer. Or officers that have training and the job of dealing with the public, to grant interviews, answering a limited number of questions and answering the unanswerable ones with; 'We're unable to respond/say right now.'

In regards to treecats, any SL journalist, is going to come off as somewhat hostile, especially a top ranked one like Ms. O'Hanaharan, but a treecat that attacked a journalist of any ranking, let alone a top ranked one, would be very VERY bad PR for the SEM. What reason could the treecat give? 'She felt bad'? NO one outside of SEM would accept that as an excuse. I hesitate to believe that even RH or the Andermani would accept that as a good excuse because it is so vague.

Attempting to control the tone and direction of an interview would be considered normal for a newsie.

Yes, but a ´cat would be fairly likely to pick up that it´s not for the "usual reasons".

In regards to treecats, any SL journalist, is going to come off as somewhat hostile, especially a top ranked one like Ms. O'Hanaharan

If she´s any good at all, she absolutely and most certainly will NOT come across as hostile.

but a treecat that attacked a journalist of any ranking

Eh, who said ANYTHING about something as stupid like THAT?
Unless she tried to attack them, a ´cat would OBVIOUSLY not attack her.

Most likely it would wait until afterwards and then tell about her feeling weird, contradicting or some such.

Tenshinai wrote:

Attempting to control the tone and direction of an interview would be considered normal for a newsie.

Yes, but a ´cat would be fairly likely to pick up that it´s not for the "usual reasons".

In regards to treecats, any SL journalist, is going to come off as somewhat hostile, especially a top ranked one like Ms. O'Hanaharan

If she´s any good at all, she absolutely and most certainly will NOT come across as hostile.

but a treecat that attacked a journalist of any ranking

Eh, who said ANYTHING about something as stupid like THAT?
Unless she tried to attack them, a ´cat would OBVIOUSLY not attack her.

Most likely it would wait until afterwards and then tell about her feeling weird, contradicting or some such.

1; how would a treecat know what normal reasons are for a SL reporter? The culture is different and the SEM is being seen as the enemy. How would the treecat know enough about the SL culture O'Hanaharan came from to have enough clues to know what thoughts are not for usual reasons?

2; I was speaking about mentally. A good reporter will hide any obvious animosity and smile, but they might still hate/dislike the person they are interviewing even if they don't show it. The treecats would likely pick up the hidden animosity.

3; treecats seem to have one reaction to what they regard as a threat to their people. Attack and kill it. A treecat can detect emotions, that's about it, as far as I understand. If the treecat didn't attack (I agree it's very unlikely not to happen since it would be just an interview and not an assassination attempt), what could the treecat say to their person? 'This reporter feels bad. S/he had bad thoughts and had some dislike/hatred for you.' That's not enough to base a strategy on.

Zakharra wrote:'This reporter feels bad. S/he had bad thoughts and had some dislike/hatred for you.' That's not enough to base a strategy on.

IOW "She's just like every other SL citizen I've ever met." Obviously the entire SL are Mesa Alignment agents.

Zakharra wrote:
1; how would a treecat know what normal reasons are for a SL reporter? The culture is different and the SEM is being seen as the enemy. How would the treecat know enough about the SL culture O'Hanaharan came from to have enough clues to know what thoughts are not for usual reasons?

The same comment applies to any culture.

Zakharra wrote: 2; I was speaking about mentally. A good reporter will hide any obvious animosity and smile, but they might still hate/dislike the person they are interviewing even if they don't show it. The treecats would likely pick up the hidden animosity.

3; treecats seem to have one reaction to what they regard as a threat to their people. Attack and kill it. A treecat can detect emotions, that's about it, as far as I understand. If the treecat didn't attack (I agree it's very unlikely not to happen since it would be just an interview and not an assassination attempt), what could the treecat say to their person? 'This reporter feels bad. S/he had bad thoughts and had some dislike/hatred for you.' That's not enough to base a strategy on.

You seem to have a very odd view of what a treecat can do. Treecats have a very fine-grained appreciation of what someone's emotional state is. Also, if you look at the scene where Admiral Henke is planning to interrogate Hongbo at the end of Shadow of Freedom and then the scene where she does, you'll see she's getting immediate feedback from her intelligence team and equally immediate feedback from Alfredo. All she really has to do is slant her answers in the right direction, push the right buttons, and the answers will come.

As far as Alfredo attacking Audrey? Alfredo has his person right there --- Master Sargant Cognasso, weapons in hand and ready.

JohnRoth wrote:

Zakharra wrote: 2; I was speaking about mentally. A good reporter will hide any obvious animosity and smile, but they might still hate/dislike the person they are interviewing even if they don't show it. The treecats would likely pick up the hidden animosity.

3; treecats seem to have one reaction to what they regard as a threat to their people. Attack and kill it. A treecat can detect emotions, that's about it, as far as I understand. If the treecat didn't attack (I agree it's very unlikely not to happen since it would be just an interview and not an assassination attempt), what could the treecat say to their person? 'This reporter feels bad. S/he had bad thoughts and had some dislike/hatred for you.' That's not enough to base a strategy on.

You seem to have a very odd view of what a treecat can do. Treecats have a very fine-grained appreciation of what someone's emotional state is. Also, if you look at the scene where Admiral Henke is planning to interrogate Hongbo at the end of Shadow of Freedom and then the scene where she does, you'll see she's getting immediate feedback from her intelligence team and equally immediate feedback from Alfredo. All she really has to do is slant her answers in the right direction, push the right buttons, and the answers will come.

As far as Alfredo attacking Audrey? Alfredo has his person right there --- Master Sargant Cognasso, weapons in hand and ready.

There is a difference in Adm Gold Peak conducting an interrogation on a prisoner and having an interview with one of the galaxy's best known journalists. Due to Audrey's stature in the SL media, I can see Adm Gold Peak giving her an interview. But it would be an interview, not an interrogation. So if Alfredo was present and if he picked up on something, I would expect it to be no different than what Honor was picking up during the peace negotiations on Haven.

Kizarvexis wrote:

JohnRoth wrote:
You seem to have a very odd view of what a treecat can do. Treecats have a very fine-grained appreciation of what someone's emotional state is. Also, if you look at the scene where Admiral Henke is planning to interrogate Hongbo at the end of Shadow of Freedom and then the scene where she does, you'll see she's getting immediate feedback from her intelligence team and equally immediate feedback from Alfredo. All she really has to do is slant her answers in the right direction, push the right buttons, and the answers will come.

As far as Alfredo attacking Audrey? Alfredo has his person right there --- Master Sargant Cognasso, weapons in hand and ready.

There is a difference in Adm Gold Peak conducting an interrogation on a prisoner and having an interview with one of the galaxy's best known journalists. Due to Audrey's stature in the SL media, I can see Adm Gold Peak giving her an interview. But it would be an interview, not an interrogation. So if Alfredo was present and if he picked up on something, I would expect it to be no different than what Honor was picking up during the peace negotiations on Haven.

Pretty much this. If it's granted, I expect the interview to be fairly calm and sedate. I also expect any treecat to miss some cues because of cultural differences (the only human cultures treecats should know with any sense of familiarity are the Manticoran ones. The SL ones, while similar, will have noticeable differences). Other than the basic emotions, I don't expect anyone to pick up much and by now, everyone who is good at the news should have heard some of the stories about treecats, so any anxiety could be because a treecat was there (if the cat is visible and not in another room). Any anxiety could also be the fact the reporter is talking to an admiral who is in the navy of the nation the SL is in a state of war against.

I honestly don't expect anyone in the RMN to get/expect anything other than what a regular top rated reporter would do for in an interview with someone who is the enemy. Treecats or not.

Two quick responses to a couple comments out there.

1) In the case of her involvement in Houdini. Keep in mind that the secondary element of Houdini was to brand the Ball room with responsibility for the "deaths" used to cover up Houdini. Her presence on Mesa was intended to get the story of the atrocities committed by the Ballroom and their allies into the League media and increase the pressure on the GA. Instead Mike showed up while she's still on the planet and the Ballroom successfully resisted atrocities by the Mesan Government and are nice and handy for Mike to put a lid on any further violence by either side.

2) Dishonesty or uncertainty seems to come through quite clear to treecats regardless of cultural bias or predilection. Emotion is a back brain thing. What might cause those emotions to flare may be different between cultures but the emotion is the same at root. A tree cat would pickup on Audry's reaction to Mike, Thandie or Victor telling her in an interview that they are here looking into the previous evidence of the Mesan Alignment they had discovered during their initial trip. Her reaction (inside her head) to those statements should be as clear as a bell to a 'cat. If nothing else her emotions would be ambiguous enough to raise questions. consider Ariel and Nimitz discussing Meulkler in AoV.