fallsfromtrees wrote:Duckk wrote:Pei's final message specifically called out "Langhorne and the Administrative Council" as the target of his suicide run. Turning your supposed potential ally into radioactive ash is pretty indicative of what Pei's actual feelings towards Langhorne were.
OTOH, we don't know what transpired at the meeting. If Langhorne opens with "Chihiro gone crazy - he ordered a strike on Alexandria" might well have caused Kau Yung to have reconsidered, and then Chihiro nukes them both. It's the kind of plot twist RFC likes.
The only problem is that allegedly Chihiro survived to eventually take over. Even if one supposes he had a nuke hidden somewhere near the meeting site, he couldn't have actually attended, or he'd have been toast along with Langhorne.
Langhorne may have been many things, but stupid wasn't one of them. If Chihiro had whacked Alexandria on his own, against Langhorne's wishes, I doubt Langhorne would have gotten anywhere *near* him until he was apprehended and searched; just in case he *did* have something like that in mind. Langhorne liked followers, rather than equals.
Remember, Commodore Pei never let himself stand out from more than minor disagreement, if that. If he had, I doubt the opportunity for *him* to nuke an administrative meeting would have presented itself.
In any case, it's pretty much useless speculation at this point. There were probably no firsthand accounts of what happened at that meeting that could possibly surface *now*. If RFC had covered that portion of Safehold history in a more detailed manner, rather than skipping most of it, things might be different. But even if there are surviving Archangels in stasis that might revive in a few years, none of them probably know for sure exactly what happened.
I doubt Pei himself left any obvious tracks, but I also wouldn't be surprised if he had ordered the remaining military forces under his command to stay away from the meeting site - after all, I doubt he'd have wanted them killed needlessly, and possibly even had the hopes that they might join a resistance movement. But their "non presence" alone could have easily pointed to him as the likely "guilty party"; even if no proof were actually found.