The Manpower Files

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THE MANPOWER FILES
- an exhaustive search for the MAlign
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This shall be an exercise of connecting the dots to Manpower and tracing the path of the crumbs. Let's call it the Sherlock Holmes' method of a fine-toothed comb. Will some tidbit lead us back to the MAlign hidey hole? This is how three letter intelligence operations have been doing it for eons - sifting thru an enormous collection of archived data in hopes of finding a dangling hair exposed by fine-toothed combing because the DNA of hair can be tested. Technology and the Information Age supplies us with many Watsons. If evidence of the MAlign's whereabouts is being overlooked - we'll find it. How close can we get to the upcoming book?

Manpower Incorporated was a genetic engineering company based on the planet Mesa. Its manufacturing of genetic slaves, though outlawed by many star nations, was one of the backbones of the Mesan economy.

I don't know how many backbones Mesa had but are we to assume that they are getting on financially without the revenue of the slave-trade business now? Or is the business still operating clandestinely? If the latter, who are the clients?

History
Manpower was originally founded by Leonard Detweiler of Beowulf under the name Detweiler Consortium. In the 15th Century PD, after Detweiler and his followers had migrated to the Mesa System through the Visigoth Wormhole, he renamed the consortium Manpower, Incorporated, mostly to put a thumb in the eye to the anti-human engineering establishment on Beowulf.

Business operations
Manpower's products were distributed to various destinations throughout the Galaxy, largely to criminal enterprises as slavery was officially outlawed almost everywhere. In fact, a number of pleasure resorts were avid customers of Manpower's pleasure slave lines, remote mining and manufacturing stations of the technical and heavy labor lines, and so on. Manpower maintained depots in various places with the connivance of the local authorities, which served as transshipment points for the product. Slaves were distributed via slave ships with distinctive arrangements for handling that cargo, including ways to force all slaves on board out large airlocks to quickly remove at least some evidence of the cargo in case of interception by naval forces from a star nation which enforced the near universal prohibition against slavery. It was because of this tendency that the "equipment clause" of the Cherwell Convention came to be. Mesan shipping companies, notably the Jessyk Combine (secretly owned and controlled by Manpower) were typically used for larger shipments, up to thousands at a time. Local distribution was often handled by independent slavers who handled smaller numbers.

What is the final resolution of Manpower? Manpower should still be a rather powerful entity, with 30 % holdings in Cybercom Inc., a Mesan technology company and Noroguchi Nanotech. Pyramid Shipping Service was a Mesan company involved in trade with "seccies."

Voyages Unlimited was a Mesan shipping company that operated the floating ocean liner Magellan until the vessel's destruction in 1922 PD

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A peripheral concern is this. It seems that Manpower owes a lot of people some payback. They still owe the Manticoran and Republic governments. Anyone else Manpower owes?

Manpower employees were the targets of the Audubon Ballroom - an organization of escaped slaves. So, Manpower owes them too.

Manpower also owes the ASL.
The Anti-Slavery League, or ASL, was a Beowulf-based non-governmental organization that fought slavery in all its forms, especially the infamous genetic slavery of Mesa.

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No matter how small the detail or piece of the puzzle do submit it to this thread as it just might turn out to be the missing piece. Ensign Scotty Tremaine taught us way back at Basilisk Station that we must not overlook even the most seemingly smallest of morsels...

"Captain?" The voice was hesitant and very young, and Honor gave the speaker a reassuring smile as she turned to him.

"Yes, Mr. Tremaine?"

"Uh, I just wanted to mention something, Ma'am. I noticed it a couple of days ago, but it didn't seem very important then. Now, though—" The ensign shrugged uncomfortably.

"Mention what, Mr. Tremaine?"

"Well, it's just that I've been sort of keeping an eye on the space-to-surface traffic patterns since you called me back aboard, Ma'am. Habit, I guess. And I noticed there doesn't seem to be any Havenite traffic at all, anymore."

"Ah?" Honor looked at McKeon and twitched an eyebrow. The exec looked startled for a second, then grinned wryly.

"Out of the mouths of ensigns," he said, and Tremaine blushed at the chuckle that ran around the table. Then he grinned back at the exec.

We're on to you MAlign. With your cowardly acts in the Haven System, we got a sniff of you. And we're on your scent like the Bloodhounds of the Baskervilles.

Bring out the sieves and let the sifting and combing begin...

.

Main file on Manpower Inc.

Security Clearance. LOW.

Manpower Inc.
http://honorverse.wikia.com/wiki/Manpower_Incorporated

The MAlign pulled up stake and fled Mesa. Perhaps 'fled' is too strong a sentiment, seeing as though the entire ordeal was painstakingly orchestrated and is exactly what they intended to do. However, I am convinced that there are plenty of loose ends left on Mesa and even scattered about other systems, as discarded waste tends to show up anywhere. The operation was just too large to dot all i's and cross all t's. Typos are too easy to commit. I think the right sleuth on Mesa could turn up some vital information that should have been shredded or shot.

Manpower was controlled by the Board of Directors under a Chairman who pulled most of the strings. Who was this Chairman? Detweiler himself?

good thread idea.

genetic slavery was actually always a so-so business (as discussed by Anton, Vitcor, Berry et al in torch of freedom), they sold lots of product because they offered it dirt cheap. my understanding is that they were pumping money in from other firms like technodyne or others and it would have folded long since witout that extra but because it was the trojan horse that kept people from looking at what they really did it was kept around.

given that and the fact that if they try selling slaves again it will likely draw attention when what they want to do is slip back into the shadows, I think they will move to other funding streams.

Dauntless wrote:good thread idea.

genetic slavery was actually always a so-so business (as discussed by Anton, Vitcor, Berry et al in torch of freedom), they sold lots of product because they offered it dirt cheap. my understanding is that they were pumping money in from other firms like technodyne or others and it would have folded long since witout that extra but because it was the trojan horse that kept people from looking at what they really did it was kept around.

given that and the fact that if they try selling slaves again it will likely draw attention when what they want to do is slip back into the shadows, I think they will move to other funding streams.

Thanks Dauntless, albeit I'm not so sure I can take credit for it. I've got an emotional hardon for those murderous bastards and necessity is the mother of invention.

As Tester is my witness, I'm going to try and help find those morally malignant SOB's!

cthia wrote:Manpower was controlled by the Board of Directors under a Chairman who pulled most of the strings. Who was this Chairman? Detweiler himself?

Detweiler was not the Chairman of Manpower, nor even a member of the Board of Directors. Detweiler worked from behind the scenes; he did not exert visible control on Mesa. There were very few people outside of the inner Onion who had even heard of Detweiler.

SWM wrote:

cthia wrote:Manpower was controlled by the Board of Directors under a Chairman who pulled most of the strings. Who was this Chairman? Detweiler himself?

Detweiler was not the Chairman of Manpower, nor even a member of the Board of Directors. Detweiler worked from behind the scenes; he did not exert visible control on Mesa. There were very few people outside of the inner Onion who had even heard of Detweiler.

Well, they all know of Leonard Detweiler...

Most believe the Detweiler line died several generations back. Only a small, small handful knew it still exists, until the Onion was activated.

Tracking what Manpower is doing now will not lead to the Alignment. The Mesan Alignment has severed all ties to Manpower, and to Mesa, so anything the planet or corporation do from here on is their own doing. They have served their purposes for the Alignment, and the Alignment has set them loose. Their only purposes now are to provide distraction from what the Alignment is really doing.

Investigating the records and history of Manpower might be fruitful, but their current activities are just noise that investigators should tune out.

Theemile wrote:

SWM wrote:Detweiler was not the Chairman of Manpower, nor even a member of the Board of Directors. Detweiler worked from behind the scenes; he did not exert visible control on Mesa. There were very few people outside of the inner Onion who had even heard of Detweiler.

Well, they all know of Leonard Detweiler...

Most believe the Detweiler line died several generations back. Only a small, small handful knew it still exists, until the Onion was activated.

Yes, sorry, I was talking about the current Detweiler, not the original Founder.

Dauntless wrote:good thread idea.

genetic slavery was actually always a so-so business (as discussed by Anton, Vitcor, Berry et al in torch of freedom), they sold lots of product because they offered it dirt cheap. my understanding is that they were pumping money in from other firms like technodyne or others and it would have folded long since witout that extra but because it was the trojan horse that kept people from looking at what they really did it was kept around.

given that and the fact that if they try selling slaves again it will likely draw attention when what they want to do is slip back into the shadows, I think they will move to other funding streams.

Yes, this has been thrown around a lot on the board. Really when you get down to it - "Someone" will do any job at almost any price as long as it doesn't kill them quickly. Even "Adult Entertainment" models are a joke in a way - we all know Women "selling their body" is known as the oldest profession - and it still exists in every society today, no matter how wealthy or prosperous. So even that horrible "service" isn't going away in the working sector.

AS for most other jobs, if West Virginians won't work a mine because it's hazardous - get some (Enter people from a poor country here). If (the prior group) won't do it - find someone else. Over the years, those jobs were taken by Irish, Chinese, Africans, and more recently Mexicans and central Americans (I recently heard 1/5 of the population of El Salavador lives in the US currently.) Someone will always WILLINGLY take any job that isn't guaranteed to kill them (now).

And given the costs for slavery - you still need to house the slaves, feed them, give them medical care, as well as pay overseers and have security systems to control them, AFTER you pay the basic costs of raising them for 18 years, educating them in their field (There are Technical models after all), then shipping them 1/2 way across civilized space with a double digit loss rate (of the ship, crew and cargo) - a normal worker can't not be competitive on some scale.

Unless they won't take the job, that is...