n7axw wrote:
I think we can do a bit better than sheer speculation here. I am not sure about this, but I think we can do some guessing here based on the timing. So let's try. The first thing we know is that Crandall's and Filereta's fleets were assembled prior to the Battle of Monica. In Crandalls case, she had, IIRC, 72 SDs out in the Verge --MacIntosh, I think --- with purported purpose of demonstrating her fleet's ability to manage it's logistics. Crandall's fleet may well not have needed assembling. Given an active on duty number of 2000 SDs, it is not unthinkable to visualize her fleet as a permanent taskforce.
Filereta's fleet is a different matter. That fleet was obviously assembled for the occasion. 400 plus SDs is a different ball of wax than 72. In fact we have textev for the fact that it was being assembled right up to the moment Filereta took off for Manticore.
The point is that these two fleets were positioned as a part of a plan that the Alignment was executing through its proxies among whom we now know was Rajampet.
Tsang's situation is a lot more vague. I don't think that she was part of the original plan. My own notion is that Tsang's orders to Beowulf were born out of the Mandrains need to put Beowulf on the defensive in the Assembly in Chicago. Beowulf's refusal to allow Tsang passage through the junction accomplished that.
If I'm right about this, Tsang's inclusion happened late in the game. That means that there wouldn't have been near as much time to get her force together and on its way.
I see this as meaning two things. First, I suspect that Tsang's ships were already together as part of a permanet task force and thus did not need to be assembled. 100 SDs would not be an unreasonable number, using the same logic we used with Crandall's fleet.
The second thing it would have to mean is that Tsang and her fleet were immediately available to be dispatched. That means in the Sol system, presumably at the SLN fleet base at Mars.
Obviously I am speculating here, but I think it fits with how the story is lsid out in ART.
Don
The problem here is that we're really operating in a vacuum here. There's never been a star map of the SL published showing all the BF and FF bases. The only ones we know of are the ones so far explicitly mentioned, though we *do* know that they aren't the only ones. But we have no idea just where those other ones are located.
We know BF has a base orbiting Mars. We know FF has a base at Tasmania, since from various textual sources it would appear the FF model is to have ships permanently based in sector capital systems with roving task forces patrolling the rest of the sector systems. We don't know whether each sector main base is similar, but I would guess not, since I doubt the Meyers system could have accommodated 400+ wallers for the length of time Tasmania apparently did.
The point I've been trying to make all along is that we can't read into the story things that haven't been said. Or, at least, can't take them as facts, not theories. Tsang certainly *could* have come from the base off Mars; but she equally could have come from some other base, possibly even closer to Beowulf. We just don't know. Simply saying "Tsang came from Mars" doesn't make it so.
As for numbers of ships, again, you may or may not be correct. True, with count of active SD's in service of 2000+; it would seem like 100 isn't a huge percentage; but there's actually some question as to whether the SLN really *has* a "fleet mentality" to begin with. It's documented that the SLN has never fought an actual war. So, at most, it's "fleet" has only really clashed in war games and simulations. A few actual pirates or maybe an occasional single star system out on the verge. It would appear, from textual evidence, that the *usual* SLN structure are "task groups"; with smaller numbers of ships. Eg the 6 battlecruisers in Pyun's "fleet". Crandall's fleet had at least 3 task groups, and Byng's had 3 as well, I believe it said. So it would appear the "normal" structure for battlecruisers is around 6 together, and, for SD's, somewhere on the order of 20-25. Given SLN history to date, and the sheer number of systems within SL territory (and the protectorates) that should conceivably be patrolled, that seems a more reasonable breakdown than 100 or so at a pop.
While I would agree that the idea of including Tsang in the offensive against Mantecore probably occurred *after* the initial positioning of Filereta, I'm not sure exactly how much we can conclude from that. To the rest of the SLN, the location of Filereta's ships was merely coincidence. Only Rajani knew *why* he was really there. I don't think Filereta did until he received his attack orders. I suppose he *could* have done something similar with Tsang, and just only "tied the two together" after the decision to attack Manticore was agreed upon.
Again, how all this plays against where Tsang actually started from is speculation. Obviously, the "secret" part of her orders had to be issued *after* Kingsford's representative got back from the talks with Beowulf, since Beowulf's official position wasn't known prior to the talks. However, any travel time between systems in the core was much less than the travel time for Filereta from Tasmania to Manticore. Also, while the Alliance was implementing Lancoon II, I would suspect that most wormholes within the core were, at this point, unreachable by the Alliance, so it's likely Tsang could - and would - have utilized any that might have shortened her travel time. Since her flight prior to arrival at the Beowulf system isn't documented, we don't know.
So there's really little about Tsang, her origin, or her ships that we really definitely know.
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