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The Manpower Files

Join us in talking discussing all things Honor, including (but not limited to) tactics, favorite characters, and book discussions.
Re: The Manpower Files - an exhaustive search for the MAlign
Post by cthia   » Wed Aug 05, 2015 3:32 pm

cthia
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SWM wrote:
cthia wrote:Question. The little data that Herlander was able to supply, in what form was it? All from memory or a smuggled chip? I can imagine data chips to be insanely small in the Honorverse. Thumb drives are smaller than thumb nail size now.

As I recall, Herlander himself had only his own skills and memory to supply. But while that was important, Herlander did not know all that much about the Alignment. His main contribution was technical knowledge and general information about how the Alignment works from the view of someone halfway inside the Onion.

The most important information came from McBryde, and was contained (as I recall) on a single data chip. It was intended to be just a teaser to convince Zilwicki and Cachat that he had good intel, but he never had time to give them anything further. But even so, that single data chip contained more information on the Alignment than anyone outside had ever seen in all the centuries that the organization has existed.

Thanks SWM. I was beating myself up. I knew I had read somewhere about loads of data on a chip.

****** *

My investigation has turned up this file (Service of the Sword -- by way of our wiki informant) that I don't think I'm familiar with. Must read.

The Service of the Sword
The heavy cruiser HMS Gauntlet, Captain Michael Oversteegen commanding, is sent to the Tiberian System to investigate the disappearance of a Havenite freighter and an Erewhonese destroyer. Unknown to them, the Mesan slave-trading company, Manpower Inc., has established a stronghold in the system. While Midshipwoman Abigail Hearns, the first Grayson-born female officer in the Grayson Space Navy, finds herself leading a team of Marines against attackers on the planet Refuge, Captain Oversteegen and his crew fight – and win – the decisive Battle of Tiberian.

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
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Re: The Manpower Files - an exhaustive search for the MAlign
Post by Dauntless   » Wed Aug 05, 2015 4:17 pm

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You have not read the crew of the Gauntlet's debrief of actions undertaken before the events that brought forth a planet of liberated slaves?

shame on you!
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Re: The Manpower Files - an exhaustive search for the MAlign
Post by Weird Harold   » Wed Aug 05, 2015 10:40 pm

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cthia wrote:My investigation has turned up this file (Service of the Sword -- by way of our wiki informant) that I don't think I'm familiar with. Must read.

The Service of the Sword
...Unknown to them, the Mesan slave-trading company, Manpower Inc., has established a stronghold in the system. ...


An example of why relying on the Wiki isn't a good idea.

The "stronghold" consisted of a single repair/depot ship supporting four ex-SLN cruisers. The repair ship was hidden in the outer system and had zero contact with the inhabited planet until the search for Ms Hearn's mission was mounted.
.
.
.
Answers! I got lots of answers!

(Now if I could just find the right questions.)
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Re: The Manpower Files - an exhaustive search for the MAlign
Post by Armed Neo-Bob   » Fri Aug 07, 2015 2:58 pm

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cthia wrote:
****** *

My investigation has turned up this file (Service of the Sword -- by way of our wiki informant) that I don't think I'm familiar with. Must read.

The Service of the Sword
The heavy cruiser HMS Gauntlet, Captain Michael Oversteegen commanding, is sent to the Tiberian System to investigate the disappearance of a Havenite freighter and an Erewhonese destroyer. Unknown to them, the Mesan slave-trading company, Manpower Inc., has established a stronghold in the system. While Midshipwoman Abigail Hearns, the first Grayson-born female officer in the Grayson Space Navy, finds herself leading a team of Marines against attackers on the planet Refuge, Captain Oversteegen and his crew fight – and win – the decisive Battle of Tiberian.


Weird Harold is right about the wiki--you might be better off without it. I am surprised you missed the anthology, though.

After you read tSotS, read the post in the Pearls regarding HMS Gauntlet's weapons fit. The story wasn't quite edited enough, and himself clears a few things up.

Rob
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Re: The Manpower Files - an exhaustive search for the MAlign
Post by n7axw   » Fri Aug 07, 2015 9:20 pm

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Unless I missed a trick somehow, the actual mission of that repair ship and those cruisers was never clarified. Just what the MAlign was up to remains a mystery since Gauntless blew it out of space.

Don
When any group seeks political power in God's name, both religion and politics are instantly corrupted.
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Re: The Manpower Files - an exhaustive search for the MAlign
Post by Kytheros   » Sat Aug 08, 2015 12:05 am

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n7axw wrote:Unless I missed a trick somehow, the actual mission of that repair ship and those cruisers was never clarified. Just what the MAlign was up to remains a mystery since Gauntless blew it out of space.

Don

I believe the MAlign was trying to put pressure on the Erewhonese - to push them away from Manticore and towards the League, where the MAlign could get its hands on the Erewhonese/Manty-lite technology.
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Re: The Manpower Files - an exhaustive search for the MAlign
Post by n7axw   » Sat Aug 08, 2015 7:11 am

n7axw
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Kytheros wrote:
n7axw wrote:Unless I missed a trick somehow, the actual mission of that repair ship and those cruisers was never clarified. Just what the MAlign was up to remains a mystery since Gauntless blew it out of space.

Don

I believe the MAlign was trying to put pressure on the Erewhonese - to push them away from Manticore and towards the League, where the MAlign could get its hands on the Erewhonese/Manty-lite technology.


Thanks for the thought. That does make sense.

Don
When any group seeks political power in God's name, both religion and politics are instantly corrupted.
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Re: The Manpower Files - an exhaustive search for the MAlign
Post by munroburton   » Sat Aug 08, 2015 7:41 am

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Armed Neo-Bob wrote:Weird Harold is right about the wiki--you might be better off without it. I am surprised you missed the anthology, though.

After you read tSotS, read the post in the Pearls regarding HMS Gauntlet's weapons fit. The story wasn't quite edited enough, and himself clears a few things up.

Rob


Hm, I missed that pearl. If Gauntlet was originally intended to be the first BC(L), it certainly explains why the four ex-SLN pirate CAs went down so hard, as well as why the Four Yahoos appeared to be so nervous about attacking it.

At that time, there had already been a duel between heavy cruisers of the RMN and the IAN during War of Honor and they drew. I was quite startled to find out that Solarian equipment had fallen behind so badly.
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Re: The Manpower Files - an exhaustive search for the MAlign
Post by cthia   » Sat Aug 08, 2015 9:04 am

cthia
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cthia wrote:****** *

My investigation has turned up this file (Service of the Sword -- by way of our wiki informant) that I don't think I'm familiar with. Must read.

The Service of the Sword
The heavy cruiser HMS Gauntlet, Captain Michael Oversteegen commanding, is sent to the Tiberian System to investigate the disappearance of a Havenite freighter and an Erewhonese destroyer. Unknown to them, the Mesan slave-trading company, Manpower Inc., has established a stronghold in the system. While Midshipwoman Abigail Hearns, the first Grayson-born female officer in the Grayson Space Navy, finds herself leading a team of Marines against attackers on the planet Refuge, Captain Oversteegen and his crew fight – and win – the decisive Battle of Tiberian.

Armed Neo-Bob wrote:
Weird Harold is right about the wiki--you might be better off without it. I am surprised you missed the anthology, though.

After you read tSotS, read the post in the Pearls regarding HMS Gauntlet's weapons fit. The story wasn't quite edited enough, and himself clears a few things up.

Rob

I am sure that you both are undoubtedly right. Certainly, I had a preconceived notion which involved a few grains of salt. It's just that, needing every clue regarding the MAlign, I can't afford not to waste time with unreliable wiki informants when they are a significant percentage of our leads.

Thing is, will RFC ever divulge the actual location of Darius in a more than general fashion to us readers? Has the location of Bolthole been imparted to the readers?

Bob, I had only joined the forum in January 2014 and had only just been exposed to the author and completed reading the main novels just several months prior. I think it was around Christmas that a few kind forum members made me privy to many peripheral novels of which I was unaware). I had picked up On Basilisk Station as a curiosity because of the cover image, which included an ugly Nimitz on that first hardback edition. I was about to leave for vacation to Romania to visit friends and we all know how much it rains in Europe so I decided I had better take along reading material. I think I acquired OBS for like a dollar. In other words, I stole it. Still can't believe that!

In summation, I'm still a wet behind the ears newcomer, wanting to reread the many mainline stories at least once!

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
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Re: The Manpower Files - an exhaustive search for the MAlign
Post by JeffEngel   » Sat Aug 08, 2015 9:14 am

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SWM wrote:
cthia wrote:Question. The little data that Herlander was able to supply, in what form was it? All from memory or a smuggled chip? I can imagine data chips to be insanely small in the Honorverse. Thumb drives are smaller than thumb nail size now.

As I recall, Herlander himself had only his own skills and memory to supply. But while that was important, Herlander did not know all that much about the Alignment. His main contribution was technical knowledge and general information about how the Alignment works from the view of someone halfway inside the Onion.

Working inside the Gamma Center, there's a lot more information that Simoes could theoretically picked up, and the Alignment is working on a worst-case estimate that way. In fact, operational security within the Center was just fine, so that theoretical access would be much, much reduced in practice. On top of that, Simoes was an intensely focused geek and family man before Francesca's termination turned him intensely focused in an entirely different direction, so plenty of things even he could have picked up there he would not.

He is, on the other hand, very, very intensely motivated, able to provide that background information SWM mentions, and a very good resource for the streak drive (and possibly some of the hyperphysics relevant to the spider, but that's much more speculative). I hope they can keep him busy and able to reconstruct a life with more in it than vengeance.
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