All the News that is fit to spin...

The real question about O'Hanrahan, IMHO, is what you do once Alfredo realizes that she's hiding something. Does Mike have NavInt quietly start watching her to try to back track her connection to the Alignment? Do they get enough to realize that she's a plant and dig or do they just begin to suspect she's not all she seems?

BrightSoul wrote:The real question about O'Hanrahan, IMHO, is what you do once Alfredo realizes that she's hiding something.

Treecats aren't mind-readers and Audrey O'Hanrahan is a Newsy -- of course she's hiding something, probably several somethings, and that's just a characteristic of Newsies. Alfredo is NOT going to detect anything actionable in connection with the MAlign unless RFC suddenly decides to indulge in Deux Ex Machina.

Hutch wrote:I would think that depends how far into the Onion she is. I would think she's about as deep as Jack McBride was, meaning lots of detail but not at the core (doesn't know about Darius). So she's probably been briefed that a Manty (or maybe Andy) fleet may be coming, but when and what it would do is still not known. As for her instructions...I guess we'll have to buy the book.

Cauldron of Ghosts wrote:O’Hanrahan had never been part of the plans for Operation Houdini. In fact, she’d never heard of Houdini, other than as the name of an obscure ancient magician and trickster. But she was one of the tiny handful of human beings who knew not only of the Mesan Alignment’s existence, but of its actual purpose, as well, and she’d realized T-months ago that the Alignment’s master plan was entering a critical phase. She strongly suspected that it was happening sooner than anyone inside the Onion had anticipated, and she was an astute and expert analyst of interstellar political affairs. And of military affairs, as well, since the two subjects overlapped more and more these days. It had become obvious to her that Mesa—more precisely, the political setup on Mesa that had existed for the past several centuries—was doomed. Doomed in the near future, not in some misty, far off temporal Neverland. Given that, and what she knew about the Alignment’s ultimate objectives, even someone far less gifted than an alpha-line could have figured out that something like Houdini had to be in the offing.

O'Hanrahan is fairly deep in the Onion but not all the way to the core.

I doubt that she knew a fleet was coming to conquer Mesa, since nobody knew the fleet was coming. Her instructions have to be in relation to the "ballroom atrocities" part of Houdini. I'm sure she knows Thandi and Victor are involved -- or will soon know they were involved. That suggests the spin she's supposed to apply will be directed at Torch, or Torch and Manticore.

She doesn't seem to be upset about how ruthless Houdini was in covering its tracks, so I doubt that she's going to turn against the MAlign like McBride.

Weird Harold wrote:O'Hanrahan is fairly deep in the Onion but not all the way to the core.

I doubt that she knew a fleet was coming to conquer Mesa, since nobody knew the fleet was coming. Her instructions have to be in relation to the "ballroom atrocities" part of Houdini. I'm sure she knows Thandi and Victor are involved -- or will soon know they were involved. That suggests the spin she's supposed to apply will be directed at Torch, or Torch and Manticore.

She doesn't seem to be upset about how ruthless Houdini was in covering its tracks, so I doubt that she's going to turn against the MAlign like McBride.

Well, not exactly. Granted, nobody KNEW a fleet was on its way, but Detweiller certainly discussed what Admiral Henke could be doing in his decision to trigger Houdini and use the Ballroom Option.

Whether that was part of O'Hanrahan's background briefing and instructions is another question.

JohnRoth wrote:Well, not exactly. Granted, nobody KNEW a fleet was on its way, but Detweiller certainly discussed what Admiral Henke could be doing in his decision to trigger Houdini and use the Ballroom Option.

IIRC, the Detweiler discussion posited that there would be a lot more time for Mesa to self-destruct after Houdini before any fleet arrived. Adm Gold Peak (her proper title) acted much faster than projected.

Whatever O'Hanrahan was supposed to report should have been reported and O'hanrahan should have been on her way back to Earth before any fleet should have been able to arrive.

Weird Harold wrote:

BrightSoul wrote:The real question about O'Hanrahan, IMHO, is what you do once Alfredo realizes that she's hiding something.

Treecats aren't mind-readers and Audrey O'Hanrahan is a Newsy -- of course she's hiding something, probably several somethings, and that's just a characteristic of Newsies. Alfredo is NOT going to detect anything actionable in connection with the MAlign unless RFC suddenly decides to indulge in Deux Ex Machina.

True. OTOH there are things she might have unexpected emotional reactions to that would cause greater scrutiny to fall upon her.

After all we know she was given specific instructions about her movements while on planet that she believed were intended to keep her from accidentally getting caught in one of the 'terrorist' attacks that were part of Houdini. It's not impossible that that's a dangling thread that might get snagged by a treecat monitoring her emotions during an interview or pre-interview discussion.

Even a fairly casual comment about whether she felt at risk, or commiserating about the danger of being on planet during the 'terrorist attacks' and fighting might trigger an anomalous reaction. (Or not)

Harold, I never expected a "smoking gun" revelation from Alfredo, merely a "something ain't right" type of vibe. Recall she's supposed to be the Anti-Mesa champion yet was the reporter who posted the story about the false data on New Tuscany. Even Beth wondered how the Mandarins and Mesa had pulled off getting her to play the patsy.

Could her interview lead to Mike suspecting not all is as it seems with this reporter? As it stands she (Audrey) may find herself in the position of shoring up Manticore's claims or exposing herself as an agent provocateur depending on the story she publishes.

Of course she could already have left mesa when the fleet arrives but I highly doubt it. No correspondent is going to leave before the combat actions against the "insurgents" or "Ballroom Rebels" has been finished.

So what will the reaction be when she wants to interview the two people behind the Green Pines atrocity, now that it is known they are on Mesa and presumably in contact with Mike?

BrightSoul wrote:Could her interview lead to Mike suspecting not all is as it seems with this reporter?

Audrey O'Hanrahan is an investigative reporter; nothing is ever what it seems with an investigative reporter. There is always something to hide, some bit of information they're after, some source they want to protect, etc. I'll be very surprised if there is anything detectable by a Treecat to distinguish her from any other investigative reporter.

kzt wrote:So what will the reaction be when she wants to interview the two people behind the Green Pines atrocity, now that it is known they are on Mesa and presumably in contact with Mike?

All she's going to get from Victor is an icy stare that cuts off all desire to dig further.

From Anton, an intimidating glower and a hearty "No Comment."

From Thandi, a fairly concise summary of events and a referral to the Gang Boss they were working with.

From Michelle, a disclaimer of any official association so, "go talk to them." She might pass on a request for interview, but that's about as far as she'd go.

Weaseling out of her own interview is going to be a different story. (Important distinction: it will be Audrey interviewing and Michelle being interviewed. There's not going to be a lot of Michelle asking questions involved.)

Weird Harold wrote:

BrightSoul wrote:Could her interview lead to Mike suspecting not all is as it seems with this reporter?

Audrey O'Hanrahan is an investigative reporter; nothing is ever what it seems with an investigative reporter. There is always something to hide, some bit of information they're after, some source they want to protect, etc. I'll be very surprised if there is anything detectable by a Treecat to distinguish her from any other investigative reporter.

kzt wrote:So what will the reaction be when she wants to interview the two people behind the Green Pines atrocity, now that it is known they are on Mesa and presumably in contact with Mike?

All she's going to get from Victor is an icy stare that cuts off all desire to dig further.

From Anton, an intimidating glower and a hearty "No Comment."

From Thandi, a fairly concise summary of events and a referral to the Gang Boss they were working with.

From Michelle, a disclaimer of any official association so, "go talk to them." She might pass on a request for interview, but that's about as far as she'd go.

Weaseling out of her own interview is going to be a different story. (Important distinction: it will be Audrey interviewing and Michelle being interviewed. There's not going to be a lot of Michelle asking questions involved.)

Anton is not on Mesa. Victor will tell her that everything's that not classified is publicly available.

kzt wrote:So what will the reaction be when she wants to interview the two people behind the Green Pines atrocity, now that it is known they are on Mesa and presumably in contact with Mike?

Actually, only one is on Mesa. The other is currently in the Manti core system talking to Honor.