Path to Darius (Spoilers)

Eagleeye wrote:
Ok, but follow me for a thought experiment, please. Assuming you find some asteroids, big (and stable) enough to hole them out and put a ship into each of them - and then you put some alpha-impellers on the surface of the asteroids and (with the help of some big-assed traktors) put them exactly into the entry-lane of a terminus. Say, the asteroids in question have around 20 million tons, that makes for - what? 2 or 3 minutes, before the lane is open again after a transit? - Ok, say 5 minutes, to be on the safe side. And put a vessel into only one of the first 3 or 4 asteroids you send through - after all, you wont risk more people than necessary, but you will - if there is a chance - begin exploring as early as possible, 1st. And 2nd, in case there is a host, you have to make sure, your host is adequately distracted.

And your host will be distracted, because he knows for sure, that no asteroid is able to come through a terminus or junction without some heavy tinkering with it, first, so he'll attack as soon as the asteroids come calling. But he has to go through some meters of rock first to get to the ships he assumes have to be on the inside - and the rock itself could be fitted with additional armor around the hole where you put the ship, so the host has some real work to do first. And 5 minutes after the first asteroid comes the second; and 5 minutes after the second comes the third and so on.

We know, that only relatively small forces cover the exit of the Torch-Bridge. (1 or 2 BC-Squadrons, if memory serves). Manticore can only guess. But they can assume, that the defenses (if there are some defenses at all) are on the small side. Simply because of the secrecy of the thing. And a cruiser- or battlecruiser-squadron is made for long-time absences from home (on showing the flag missions, for example) - a squadron or two of wallers on the other side are most probably part of the homefleet, if it's nation is not engaged in a war. Additionally, chances are good, too, that the exit point is not near an inhabited system - else it would be most probably a known exit ...

So, if you put 20 or 30 prepared asteroids into the terminus, one after the other ... don't you think, at least some of them could go through mostly unharmed and put - say, some Rolands into places there the host does not want them to be? And go back to friendly territory, afterwards?

Maldorian wrote:Searching with Telescopes for Darius!

Maybe it has no habitable planet in System, but you don´t have to search for habitable planets! What is with all the emissions of our civilisation? All the Radio waves? Search for them and you find a settled System with a high tech civilisation!

Eagleeye wrote:

SWM wrote:Read David's infodump in the last URL I posted. It contains David's explanation. Yes, there are traffic lanes, and those are merely for traffic control. But the actual entrance and exit of a wormhole has to be made from a very narrow aspect angle, with your Warshawski sail engaging the grav shear of the wormhole. If you deviate from that narrow lane, you get torn apart.

Ok, but follow me for a thought experiment, please. Assuming you find some asteroids, big (and stable) enough to hole them out and put a ship into each of them - and then you put some alpha-impellers on the surface of the asteroids and (with the help of some big-assed traktors) put them exactly into the entry-lane of a terminus. Say, the asteroids in question have around 20 million tons, that makes for - what? 2 or 3 minutes, before the lane is open again after a transit? - Ok, say 5 minutes, to be on the safe side. And put a vessel into only one of the first 3 or 4 asteroids you send through - after all, you wont risk more people than necessary, but you will - if there is a chance - begin exploring as early as possible, 1st. And 2nd, in case there is a host, you have to make sure, your host is adequately distracted.

And your host will be distracted, because he knows for sure, that no asteroid is able to come through a terminus or junction without some heavy tinkering with it, first, so he'll attack as soon as the asteroids come calling. But he has to go through some meters of rock first to get to the ships he assumes have to be on the inside - and the rock itself could be fitted with additional armor around the hole where you put the ship, so the host has some real work to do first. And 5 minutes after the first asteroid comes the second; and 5 minutes after the second comes the third and so on.

We know, that only relatively small forces cover the exit of the Torch-Bridge. (1 or 2 BC-Squadrons, if memory serves). Manticore can only guess. But they can assume, that the defenses (if there are some defenses at all) are on the small side. Simply because of the secrecy of the thing. And a cruiser- or battlecruiser-squadron is made for long-time absences from home (on showing the flag missions, for example) - a squadron or two of wallers on the other side are most probably part of the homefleet, if it's nation is not engaged in a war. Additionally, chances are good, too, that the exit point is not near an inhabited system - else it would be most probably a known exit ...

So, if you put 20 or 30 prepared asteroids into the terminus, one after the other ... don't you think, at least some of them could go through mostly unharmed and put - say, some Rolands into places there the host does not want them to be? And go back to friendly territory, afterwards?

Brigade XO wrote:If Darius isn't in a "known" volume of space, it is going to take a really long time to find it even if you start from "within" that area of the galaxy which contains any known habitable planet or any published exploration report.
So the Alignment has been around for several hundred years. IF they discovered the system that contains Darius withing 50 years of setting up on Mesa you are going to have to be VERY lucky to have somebody happen across electromagnetic radiation from Darius in a sphere 200 LY from Darius. Why? Because that is probably the maximum distance the wave from of broadcast radio will have gotten from the planet. Give that they are trying to hide the place, they are going to be using the lowest power communications possible and avoiding sending much of anything -on purpose- in radio and other communications in the direction of the human inhabited portion of the Galaxy.
We are talking something that is THREE wormhole jumps from wherever the entry points of the shadow network is located. It is possible that two legs of that trip go from very unintersting systems-which have not been explored with automated probes or with ships (with nothing but closely held Alignment presence with very restricted and focused communications) to a system that is hundreds of lightyears outside of anyplace a hyperspace ship has ever been before.

I think we are going find that the only way Darius gets located is from captured equipment or a defector.
Its going to be a long war.

SYED wrote:THE thing is they had to find a way to ensure the other terminii are not found. That means either guarding or surveillance them both, that however increases the humber of those aware of them.the thing is if they use the terminus then those Mannheim ships become aware of it.

SYED wrote:For some reason, they named the habitable planet Gamma.

I wonde what the chances are that the unknown terminii lead to systems with habitable planets. No planet to colonise would keep most away. if there is a planet they can colonise there, i wonder if they have made other alignment colonies, or estaablish something like congo to hide the terminii.