Audrey O’Hanrahan

I wonder at some point, will she be used to sell alignment lies to the league? which will be bought due to her reputation.
the alignment does not believe the league will ever believe that their conspiracy exists, but what about those involved or aiding it. people aiding in the their plans, they might not believe in the conspiracy, but they know that some one is up to no good.
She does hate hypocrites, if given the whole of the alliance argument about why and how the alignment are wrong, and that they were better off attempting to use education and teching to convince the galaxy of their argument than death and destruction.

if convinved to aid the aliance, the fact she may think they have someone out there pushing for the league to crack could be useful.

SYED wrote:I wonder at some point, will she be used to sell alignment lies to the league? which will be bought due to her reputation.
the alignment does not believe the league will ever believe that their conspiracy exists, but what about those involved or aiding it. people aiding in the their plans, they might not believe in the conspiracy, but they know that some one is up to no good.
She does hate hypocrites, if given the whole of the alliance argument about why and how the alignment are wrong, and that they were better off attempting to use education and teching to convince the galaxy of their argument than death and destruction.

if convinved to aid the aliance, the fact she may think they have someone out there pushing for the league to crack could be useful.

She has already been used to sell Alignment lies. They used a cutout, to make it apparent that she was only reporting the information that was given to her from a trustworthy source.

And if she already knows the true purpose of the Alignment, she had the chance to avoid working for the Alignment long before she became an agent of theirs. She is clearly a believer in the cause, or she wouldn't be doing what she is doing.

BrightSoul wrote:

Amaroq wrote:Was O'Hanrahan's visit to Mesa known prior to 10th Fleet moving on the system? Would they think it suspicious that she's on-planet or would they assume that she was there trying to dig up something about the Alignment to see if the Many's "preposterous" claims had any truth to them?

I suspect the latter rather than the former. Once they find her there they are likely to look at her with some mistrust. 1)She's a Sollie reporter and 2) she filed the false story on New Tuscany. I wonder if that might not be the reason for an interview with Mike in person, with of course her personal guard. You know, the guy with a treecat?

I concur with Bright Soul on the Mantie perception of her reasons. O'Hanranan is fairly well-known, but for word to get out to Mike before she started her campaign (Montana to Tillerman to Meyers to Mesa) would have been luck and happenstance, IMHO. I mean, knowing where SD's are are important to a Fleet Admiral; knowing a Solarian reporter's future plans is somewhat less important. (And note, my reading of SoF indicates that Mike didn't originally plan to go for Mesa; that developed based on what she learned at Meyers, IIRC--so information on who is going to Mesa would not have been critical intelligence early on).

As for their reactions to her, while her report on New Tuscany is likely to prejudice some folks in Tenth Fleet, by and large the textev tends to show the Ms. O'Hanranan was even-handed in her reporting and not afraid to queestion both the Mandarins (I think she coined the phrase) and Mesa (commenting on the atrocities post-Green Pines).

So I think Mike Henke may grant that even the best reporters can be misled, perhaps even provide her more information from New Tuscany (and Audrey, being no fool, will admit she might have been tricked), and have the interview with her.

And I guess I'm having a Weird Harold 'against all comers' moment , but I still don't see Alfredo being there--you've only got one cat and he will have more than enough to do with planet-side interrogations than being Mike's lie detector with a routine interview with a well-known and respected reporter, who has already been scanned for any possible weapons and with Marines present and ready.

And bumping off Mike probably leaves Michael Oversteengen in charge...and this is an improvement how for Mesa/MAlign?

We shall see, I suppose. But probably not for at least a year....

For anyone who is interested, there is a fascinating info dump on Audrey in COG. I have the nook edition and it is in chapter 41 starting on pg. 348. What it all amounts to is that she knows a lot and is smart enough to deduce a startling percentage of the rest.

Will Mike grant her an interview? Maybe, especially given her reputation for impartiality and fairness.

Will she be used as a tool to assasinate Mike? No way. As dearly as we all love Mike Henke, she is only one admiral who could be replaced by someone equally capable. Audrey, on the other hand is from the Alignment's perspective a pearl beyond price who has spent years burnishing her credentials at what she does. The Alignment will use her only very carefully and will be cautious about using up her reputation. No way will they use her as a throw-away asset to get rid of an admiral who has become a bother.

Don

For anyone who believes that Mike will not be warded by a treecat recall two simple items:

1) She's 5th in line to the throne.

and 2) the Meyers campaign was launched well after 2nd Manticore by which time the treecats were already being supplied to GA leadership.

I cannot believe that their policy wasn't outlined in the same dispatch that informed Mike and Matsuko of the actual attack by Filareta. The idea of letting anyone in reach of someone so high up in the command structure and in the line of succession without treecat inspection is borderline lunacy.

BrightSoul wrote:For anyone who believes that Mike will not be warded by a treecat recall two simple items:

1) She's 5th in line to the throne.

and 2) the Meyers campaign was launched well after 2nd Manticore by which time the treecats were already being supplied to GA leadership.

I cannot believe that their policy wasn't outlined in the same dispatch that informed Mike and Matsuko of the actual attack by Filareta. The idea of letting anyone in reach of someone so high up in the command structure and in the line of succession without treecat inspection is borderline lunacy.

Brignt Soul, I see where you're coming from, but I would note that the one attempt on a Manticore target (Honor, Admiral Webster was in Sol System) came from one of her insiders.

A Fleet Admiral simply has to deal with large numbers of people, often away from their ships and in person, and while I am in agreement that a treecat will be assigned to Mike in the near future, keeping Alfredo cooped up as her personnel detector when there is so much that needs to be found out on Mesa (working with Cachat and Zilwicki when he gets back) that I just can't see it. Mike's been meeting with people (including newsies) for decades now sans treecats, and I just can't see it.

You may end up being right, of course. Guess this is one we'll have to agree to disagree on ...but I'm right, of course... )

Take care, Hutch

Hutch wrote:

BrightSoul wrote:For anyone who believes that Mike will not be warded by a treecat recall two simple items:

1) She's 5th in line to the throne.

and 2) the Meyers campaign was launched well after 2nd Manticore by which time the treecats were already being supplied to GA leadership.

I cannot believe that their policy wasn't outlined in the same dispatch that informed Mike and Matsuko of the actual attack by Filareta. The idea of letting anyone in reach of someone so high up in the command structure and in the line of succession without treecat inspection is borderline lunacy.

Brignt Soul, I see where you're coming from, but I would note that the one attempt on a Manticore target (Honor, Admiral Webster was in Sol System) came from one of her insiders.

A Fleet Admiral simply has to deal with large numbers of people, often away from their ships and in person, and while I am in agreement that a treecat will be assigned to Mike in the near future, keeping Alfredo cooped up as her personnel detector when there is so much that needs to be found out on Mesa (working with Cachat and Zilwicki when he gets back) that I just can't see it. Mike's been meeting with people (including newsies) for decades now sans treecats, and I just can't see it.

You may end up being right, of course. Guess this is one we'll have to agree to disagree on ...but I'm right, of course... )

Take care, Hutch

We're not talking about taking Alfredo away from his Marine, we're talking about assigning him and his adoptee (remember a Marine) to permanent personal guard duties on Mike. It certainly shouldn't be a stretch considering that Mike is always guarded by Marines even aboard ship, ie they stand guard at the hatch of her day cabin. We tend to forget that Honor was guarded by Marines prior to her discovering that Grayson requires a Steadholder to be accompanied by at least 2 armsmen at all times. They didn't guard her on Manticore per se but hostile territory she was guarded.

Now we're talking about a Marine who has been adopted being assigned to guard the 5th in the line of succession. Alfredo should be assigned until the 'Cats can send a group out to 10th fleet and the Quadrant.

Amaroq wrote:Was O'Hanrahan's visit to Mesa known prior to 10th Fleet moving on the system? Would they think it suspicious that she's on-planet or would they assume that she was there trying to dig up something about the Alignment to see if the Many's "preposterous" claims had any truth to them?

Her presence is a little suspicious. She was on Earth at the end of Rising Thunder, when the dispute about Beowulf was boiling over. What story did she think she was chasing out on Mesa, that promised to be more interesting than further developments in the SL core? But that question probably won't arise until/unless somebody has reason to look at her skeptically.

Bill Woods wrote:

Amaroq wrote:Was O'Hanrahan's visit to Mesa known prior to 10th Fleet moving on the system? Would they think it suspicious that she's on-planet or would they assume that she was there trying to dig up something about the Alignment to see if the Many's "preposterous" claims had any truth to them?

Her presence is a little suspicious. She was on Earth at the end of Rising Thunder, when the dispute about Beowulf was boiling over. What story did she think she was chasing out on Mesa, that promised to be more interesting than further developments in the SL core? But that question probably won't arise until/unless somebody has reason to look at her skeptically.

There's a perfectly good story that she is here covering. In fact, she is interviewing a representative of the Directorate of Culture and Information in Chapter 41, the first time we see her in the book. She is skeptically investigating Mesa's claims that the Audubon Ballroom is responsible for the bombs going off around Mesa. The text notes that her reports on the Green Pines explosions were also skeptical about Ballroom involvement. She had actually gone out to Mesa in the aftermath of Green Pines. It is natural that she would follow up with another visit after these new explosions.

Amaroq wrote:Was O'Hanrahan's visit to Mesa known prior to 10th Fleet moving on the system? Would they think it suspicious that she's on-planet or would they assume that she was there trying to dig up something about the Alignment to see if the Many's "preposterous" claims had any truth to them?

Bill Woods wrote: Her presence is a little suspicious. She was on Earth at the end of Rising Thunder, when the dispute about Beowulf was boiling over. What story did she think she was chasing out on Mesa, that promised to be more interesting than further developments in the SL core? But that question probably won't arise until/unless somebody has reason to look at her skeptically.

SWM wrote: There's a perfectly good story that she is here covering. In fact, she is interviewing a representative of the Directorate of Culture and Information in Chapter 41, the first time we see her in the book. She is skeptically investigating Mesa's claims that the Audubon Ballroom is responsible for the bombs going off around Mesa. The text notes that her reports on the Green Pines explosions were also skeptical about Ballroom involvement. She had actually gone out to Mesa in the aftermath of Green Pines. It is natural that she would follow up with another visit after these new explosions.

But she's on Mesa before the new wave of explosions. Having left a major on-going story back on Earth and/or Beowulf. Obviously she got tipped off by someone that something big was about to happen on Mesa.