The Temple—How might it be taken?

shaeun wrote:Getting into the room below the temple is not a job for an army, it is the work of special forces.

Whatever is down there represents a potential resource that should not be destroyed if it can be compromised.

So the question is... were the builders so paranoid that they would drop a rock on it if someone entered the wrong password?
If the likelihood is too great then the platform has to be neutralized. EMP or maybe a handful of commandos set to drift to it and attempt to gain access and control or, failing that... place the EMP bombs and drift away to be recovered before the thing short circuits.

Just my 2 ₵

Actually, it would be the job of a specially trained infiltration team which in the current era(modern earth) would be best filled by some soft of specialized operational force. the EoC has very few missions of this sort and would spin up a force for this 'to order' based on the efficiency hit that would be taken by not being able to transport the force as a Rapid Response Unit. This is shown by how they rescued Irys and Daviyn from the Go4.

However, my analysis of the situation is that the best way to handle this long term is to 'let the genie out of the bottle' so to speak and force the Go4 to go so far down the technology path that there is no way to bring invention and innovation back under control.

There is a risk that is posed by the return - however it is not known who or what it returning. For all we know it could be Kody...[/quote]

My point is that it is a small team that has to enter the control room. If Special Forces is not the correct term... educate me/us.
Perhaps the team that was conducting assassinations of vicars can be given a supply of snarcs and enter the area disguised as cleaning crew. Drop the snarcs off one five day have them run a week on passive settings and pick the up the next. Then Green Valley and Merlin work out the operation and supply the cleaning crew goes in and cleans up.

Just my two cents

Actually, on your team you would need at least one person capable of hacking a computer or perhaps infiltrating a computer with a specially designed virus or worm.

Merlin and Nimue can't do it because of their PICA power packs.

That would mean taking the brightest, most qualified person you can come up with to the cave for extensive training.

Everybody else on the ops team would be there for the purpose of tending to the security of that individual...

Don

C. O. Thompson wrote:
My point is that it is a small team that has to enter the control room. If Special Forces is not the correct term... educate me/us.
Perhaps the team that was conducting assassinations of vicars can be given a supply of snarcs and enter the area disguised as cleaning crew. Drop the snarcs off one five day have them run a week on passive settings and pick the up the next. Then Green Valley and Merlin work out the operation and supply the cleaning crew goes in and cleans up.

Just my two cents

Special Forces is a loaded term and has a lot of Ideological Baggage... What is being described would qualify as an Elite Force, which is what we would consider 'Special Forces' to be.

The problem is that the Term 'Special Forces' implies a long term structure and training in covert operations. Most of the soldiers involved in an operation like this on Safehold would be involved because they were 'in the right place'.

The key to an organized and officially sanctioned 'Special Forces Group' is mobility, which Merlin does have, which is not as readily available as would be required to make the entire strategy work.

Remember, we have Uniformed Covert Operatives because that makes them legal combatants. on Safehold, the Inquisition does not give one whit about the legality of the combatant. Like the Queen of Hearts they have only one answer.

This means that Elite Irregular forces are just as useful and Elite Regular forces. We just call them different things (Spies, Assassins... etc)

As far as hacking into the temple... Maybe Khody will know something when he wakes up... I'll bet he isn't really 'Dead'

shaeun wrote:

C. O. Thompson wrote:
My point is that it is a small team that has to enter the control room. If Special Forces is not the correct term... educate me/us.
Perhaps the team that was conducting assassinations of vicars can be given a supply of snarcs and enter the area disguised as cleaning crew. Drop the snarcs off one five day have them run a week on passive settings and pick the up the next. Then Green Valley and Merlin work out the operation and supply the cleaning crew goes in and cleans up.

Just my two cents

Special Forces is a loaded term and has a lot of Ideological Baggage... What is being described would qualify as an Elite Force, which is what we would consider 'Special Forces' to be.

The problem is that the Term 'Special Forces' implies a long term structure and training in covert operations. Most of the soldiers involved in an operation like this on Safehold would be involved because they were 'in the right place'.

The key to an organized and officially sanctioned 'Special Forces Group' is mobility, which Merlin does have, which is not as readily available as would be required to make the entire strategy work.

Remember, we have Uniformed Covert Operatives because that makes them legal combatants. on Safehold, the Inquisition does not give one whit about the legality of the combatant. Like the Queen of Hearts they have only one answer.

This means that Elite Irregular forces are just as useful and Elite Regular forces. We just call them different things (Spies, Assassins... etc)

As far as hacking into the temple... Maybe Khody will know something when he wakes up... I'll bet he isn't really 'Dead'

Spoiler....












Seijin Kohdy has been dead sinse the War of the Fallen. Given the circumstances in which he died, you can safely wager that his personality wasn't given the benefit of further existance as an AI.

Don

Spoiler**************************************

n7axw wrote:
Seijin Kohdy has been dead sinse the War of the Fallen. Given the circumstances in which he died, you can safely wager that his personality wasn't given the benefit of further existance as an AI.

Don

Technically that would be assuming facts that are not in evidence.

We know he was an Adam.. we know he went away and came back no longer animate..

We have no idea what happened after he left, and his body still being intact after all these years raises a couple of questions and implies some interesting possibilities.

So - even odds say that he is dead - but there is a possibility that the body that was recovered is a PICA that is shut down...

It is questions like these that keep the books interesting!

n7axw wrote:Actually, on your team you would need at least one person capable of hacking a computer or perhaps infiltrating a computer with a specially designed virus or worm.

Merlin and Nimue can't do it because of their PICA power packs.

That would mean taking the brightest, most qualified person you can come up with to the cave for extensive training.

Everybody else on the ops team would be there for the purpose of tending to the security of that individual...

Don

OK Don, I agree that there needs to be someone with the abilities to "hack' into the system.

Maybe a variation of the VR suit that Owl made after s/he and Narmhan did some research into the old files would provide a basic model NEAT to train up a member of the team.

Only God and David Weber know and they ain't telling me.
I think we all agree that this tough nut must be cracked... it may be easier said than done but, if you can state your problem in logical terms, you can solve the problem. We don't always get the results we expected and the cost is sometimes higher than we wanted it to be but--

I will be surprised if we see it done in this book or if it is, it will be in the last chapter.

13 days and the odd number of hours and counting down.

Just my two cents

shaeun wrote:Spoiler**************************************

n7axw wrote:
Seijin Kohdy has been dead sinse the War of the Fallen. Given the circumstances in which he died, you can safely wager that his personality wasn't given the benefit of further existance as an AI.

Don

Technically that would be assuming facts that are not in evidence.

We know he was an Adam.. we know he went away and came back no longer animate..

We have no idea what happened after he left, and his body still being intact after all these years raises a couple of questions and implies some interesting possibilities.

So - even odds say that he is dead - but there is a possibility that the body that was recovered is a PICA that is shut down...

It is questions like these that keep the books interesting!

Well, we do know the following. The good seijin was struggling, apparently with memory issues according to that last snippet in the cave.

Aparently he went to Zion to raise questions of Schueler about questions that came up as a consequence of a combination of the memory issues and his encounter with an opponent who defeated him and spared his life.

He dies in Zion and his body is returned to those who cherish his memory and set up a memorial to preserve his memory along with founding the sisters of St. Kohdy.

Later he is removed from the list of seijins and the sisters are banned. The sisters refuse, move the tomb into hiding along with a portion of the sisters. The sisters who remain behind are destroyed along with their house by a strke of the OBS.

Now, do you really believe that that gang in Zion who were apparently responsible for Kohdy's death and who tried hard to destroy his memory would have would have been willing to see his personality preserved in a PICA? I'm sorry, but I don't find that creditable speculation.

Don

C. O. Thompson wrote:

n7axw wrote:Actually, on your team you would need at least one person capable of hacking a computer or perhaps infiltrating a computer with a specially designed virus or worm.

Merlin and Nimue can't do it because of their PICA power packs.

That would mean taking the brightest, most qualified person you can come up with to the cave for extensive training.

Everybody else on the ops team would be there for the purpose of tending to the security of that individual...

Don

OK Don, I agree that there needs to be someone with the abilities to "hack' into the system.

Maybe a variation of the VR suit that Owl made after s/he and Narmhan did some research into the old files would provide a basic model NEAT to train up a member of the team.

Only God and David Weber know and they ain't telling me.
I think we all agree that this tough nut must be cracked... it may be easier said than done but, if you can state your problem in logical terms, you can solve the problem. We don't always get the results we expected and the cost is sometimes higher than we wanted it to be but--

I will be surprised if we see it done in this book or if it is, it will be in the last chapter.

13 days and the odd number of hours and counting down.

Just my two cents

One further thought... We don't know that the computer in question is even in the basement of the Temple. It could be that all that's there is a terminal accessing another computer squirreled away in a cave like Owl is. Wouldn't that be fun?

Don

n7axw wrote:
One further thought... We don't know that the computer in question is even in the basement of the Temple. It could be that all that's there is a terminal accessing another computer squirreled away in a cave like Owl is. Wouldn't that be fun?

Don

Absolutely fun.

Don... fun? Remind me not to put you on the committee that is planing my next party




Actually, on your team you would need at least one person capable of hacking a computer or perhaps infiltrating a computer with a specially designed virus or worm.

Merlin and Nimue can't do it because of their PICA power packs.

That would mean taking the brightest, most qualified person you can come up with to the cave for extensive training.

Everybody else on the ops team would be there for the purpose of tending to the security of that individual...

Don


OK Don, I agree that there needs to be someone with the abilities to "hack' into the system.

Maybe a variation of the VR suit that Owl made after s/he and Narmhan did some research into the old files would provide a basic model NEAT to train up a member of the team.

Only God and David Weber know and they ain't telling me.
I think we all agree that this tough nut must be cracked... it may be easier said than done but, if you can state your problem in logical terms, you can solve the problem. We don't always get the results we expected and the cost is sometimes higher than we wanted it to be but--

I will be surprised if we see it done in this book or if it is, it will be in the last chapter.

13 days and the odd number of hours and counting down.

Just my two cents

One further thought... We don't know that the computer in question is even in the basement of the Temple. It could be that all that's there is a terminal accessing another computer squirreled away in a cave like Owl is. Wouldn't that be fun?

Don[/quote][/quote]