Audrey O’Hanrahan

SWM wrote:

Tenshinai wrote:My thoughts are rather going in a different direction, i wonder what O'Hanrahan will think when she realises Houdini was performed, and she wasn´t part of it.

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.

O'Hanrahan is not part of Houdini because
(1) she is not potentially "trapped" on Mesa -- she has her own transport
(2) she is not a perceived threat to either the SL, Mesa or the GA (other than a newsie's power of the pen)
(3) few on (or off) Mesa know she is a starline
(4) officially she is an independent Solaran journalist and commentator

although I think Alfredo might detect many inconsistencies by listening to any conversation with her

I had the impression that Audrey was on Mesa as an Alignment agent. She did have her instructions about how she was to focus her reporting on the ineptness and brutality of the Mesan government as well as explicit instructions about where she was to stay, apparently for the purpose of keeping her out of harm's way.

It will be interesting to see how she reports the arrival of Mike's fleet and the events that happen as a consequnce of that.

Don

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.

I don´t think that is correct. The plan is apparently part of the LONGterm planning, which means current events are not what was expected.

The plan is meant to get MA personnel to disappear without seeming to disappear.

This part of the planning is repeatedly emphasized in the books. If the goal was merely to make sure that invading manties couldn´t catch them right in the here and now, there would be no need for all the elaborate scheeming to make it seem that all those people died natural deaths.

O'Hanrahan is not part of Houdini because
(1) she is not potentially "trapped" on Mesa -- she has her own transport

Irrelevant, the same is true for others that are part of Houdini .

(2) she is not a perceived threat to either the SL, Mesa or the GA (other than a newsie's power of the pen)

And you expect that to remain so if she comes in contact with treecats why exactly?

(3) few on (or off) Mesa know she is a starline

Completely irrelevant. Genetic lines are merely assets to the MA, individuals of a line are as valuable as they make themselves.

(4) officially she is an independent Solaran journalist and commentator

And? That makes any difference because?

although I think Alfredo might detect many inconsistencies by listening to any conversation with her

Exactly, and she is one of few that DO know much.
Plenty enough to cause at least minor troubles for the MA if she gets caught.


Which is why it would make perfect sense that she is there to be "a dreadfully tragic victim of the nasty ballroom barbarians with their blatant ties to imperialist Manticore"...

If she gets killed before her reputation is killed, she could definitely be the perfect powderkeg trigger a la Franz Ferdinand style, and since RFC likes to take inspiration from history it would even be inline with normal for him.

Which would make her instructions of what hotel to stay at and where to go a lot more sinister.

Houdini is supposed to extract essential Alignment personnel in order to make sure they can continue their work in secret after Mesa is occupied. As I understand it, that mostly covers leadership and R&D. O'Hanrahan has no function that would be needed on Darius, plus, her work is not really hindered by Mesa being occupied (that's different for the people they actually extracted). So, I doubt she was ever supposed to get evacuated.

If the Alignment leadership sees a danger that she might be uncovered, they might as well actually blow her up rather than go through the effort to save her - they did that with lots of people that they didn't consider to be essential, after all. But as far as I remember, there's no sign that the Alignment is really aware of the danger that treecats pose to their plots, so I think they'll leave O'Hanrahan where she is.

Cirdan wrote:Houdini is supposed to extract essential Alignment personnel in order to make sure they can continue their work in secret after Mesa is occupied. As I understand it, that mostly covers leadership and R&D. O'Hanrahan has no function that would be needed on Darius, plus, her work is not really hindered by Mesa being occupied (that's different for the people they actually extracted). So, I doubt she was ever supposed to get evacuated.

If the Alignment leadership sees a danger that she might be uncovered, they might as well actually blow her up rather than go through the effort to save her - they did that with lots of people that they didn't consider to be essential, after all. But as far as I remember, there's no sign that the Alignment is really aware of the danger that treecats pose to their plots, so I think they'll leave O'Hanrahan where she is.

I beg to differ, you might want to go back to chapter 47 of AAC and read it again.

AAC Chapter 47 wrote:“Under normal circumstances, I might think along the same lines," Detweiler said. "But Winton's been adopted by one of those frigging treecats, and “you can bet she won't attend a conference without the little monster."
"Oh." Anisimovna grimaced.
"Yes, we can't afford to overlook the little bastards any longer, can we?" Detweiler growled.”

They know exactly what the 'cats are and they aren't ignoring them.

BrightSoul wrote:

Cirdan wrote:Houdini is supposed to extract essential Alignment personnel in order to make sure they can continue their work in secret after Mesa is occupied. As I understand it, that mostly covers leadership and R&D. O'Hanrahan has no function that would be needed on Darius, plus, her work is not really hindered by Mesa being occupied (that's different for the people they actually extracted). So, I doubt she was ever supposed to get evacuated.

If the Alignment leadership sees a danger that she might be uncovered, they might as well actually blow her up rather than go through the effort to save her - they did that with lots of people that they didn't consider to be essential, after all. But as far as I remember, there's no sign that the Alignment is really aware of the danger that treecats pose to their plots, so I think they'll leave O'Hanrahan where she is.

I beg to differ, you might want to go back to chapter 47 of AAC and read it again.

OK, I forgot that. Makes a strong reason for Audrey not to interview any Manticoran bigwigs. I still doubt she's slated for extraction, though. As I said, she's not needed on Darius.

I can't quite see why O'Hanrahan should need to be extracted at all. She's a Solarian journalist, so her employer has primary responsibility for putting her into any kind of danger. She's fairly well known as not being a Mesan so shouldn't be a target for seccie or slave reprisals, and with her journalistic hat on will be protected by any GA forces she appeals to if she senses any danger. Why should she need extraction to Darius?
Cheers
John

BrightSoul wrote:

Cirdan wrote:Houdini is supposed to extract essential Alignment personnel in order to make sure they can continue their work in secret after Mesa is occupied. As I understand it, that mostly covers leadership and R&D. O'Hanrahan has no function that would be needed on Darius, plus, her work is not really hindered by Mesa being occupied (that's different for the people they actually extracted). So, I doubt she was ever supposed to get evacuated.

If the Alignment leadership sees a danger that she might be uncovered, they might as well actually blow her up rather than go through the effort to save her - they did that with lots of people that they didn't consider to be essential, after all. But as far as I remember, there's no sign that the Alignment is really aware of the danger that treecats pose to their plots, so I think they'll leave O'Hanrahan where she is.

I beg to differ, you might want to go back to chapter 47 of AAC and read it again.

AAC Chapter 47 wrote:“Under normal circumstances, I might think along the same lines," Detweiler said. "But Winton's been adopted by one of those frigging treecats, and “you can bet she won't attend a conference without the little monster."
"Oh." Anisimovna grimaced.
"Yes, we can't afford to overlook the little bastards any longer, can we?" Detweiler growled.”

They know exactly what the 'cats are and they aren't ignoring them.

The MAlign knows what the cats are. There's no indication that they've shared that knowledge with Audry. Or, for that matter, that they haven't. We'll just have to wait to see what RFC does with this. If anything.

SHe is an adrenalin junkie, so how far will she push her stories and her self?
Do we think she will only ever stick to the know facts, or will she at some point start telling bold face lies? Stuff that clearly marks her as an alignment asset to the alliance. If she sticks to the truth then the alliance simply sees that all she has found so far is the alignment cover story.
The alliance, the alignment, the shutting down of the terminii, the actual conflict out in talbott and manticore. How far will she dig, investigate and repot? How far is she willing to push the alliance and the alignment, she must know the general idea of what the alignment wants her to report, but generally she has creative control.
SO how far will she push her employers with her stories jus to get that thrill from messing with the big dogs.

She will not be very useful if she tells lies. However, if the lie is useful enough and needed to support "the cause", then sure. The MA agents appear to not be into this for the money, they are committed true believers.

And she might get away with it anyhow. One wonders how many time Dan Rather got away with just making stuff up before he got caught on the Bush NG story.