cthia wrote:____________W a r R o o m_______________FIRST SPACE LORD: Admiral Thomas Caparelli
FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY: Hamish Alexander
WEAPONS DEVELOPMENT BOARD: Sonja Hemphill
CO HOME FLEET: Fleet Admiral Honor Harrington
Don't we wish we were privy to the various levels of classified discussions going on in the War Room on either planet? What may be or should be some of the suggestions or concerns brought up there?
Why is Michelle Henke in the Talbot Sector and are there or...
Should there be any strategic or tactical concerns regarding? Should there be any contingencies in case something goes awry? Should Manticore take any other precautions regarding Michelle? Should there be any supporting force(s) stationed in a system(s) nearby?
Should the GA make any other strategic deployments in firepower or a show of force for some reason? Is there a problem of strategic depth anywhere?
Please submit any and all other concerns that may come across your mind or your desk to the table even if in the form of a handwritten note in lipstick. Even if out of the mouth of babes.
Gentlemen. You can't fight in here. This is the War Room!
https://youtu.be/UAeqVGP-GPM
1) Michelle is in Talbot because she's a fleet commander and Talbot is/was under threat due to its' relative closeness to the Sollies. Simply put, that's where the threat is and she's paid to take care of threats. With her parole from Haven, she had to go someplace. Using her there freed up someone that could fight the Havenites.
2) Strategic concerns abound for the SEM right now.
First and foremost, they are vastly out numbered.
They face the potential of threats from multiple vectors, attacking in multiple places and those attacks timed too closely together for them to be able to move the forces they have around in time to deal with those threats.
Strategically, they the advantage of what was called 'interior lines' in old school linear warfare. Traditionally, the defender has that advantage already (they are moving shorter distances due to being inside their defenses rather than outside) but the SEM's advantage is magnified by their control over the MWJ and the rest of the wormhole network. The wormhole network can be used to cut down on transit time dramatically. For example, moving forces from Trevor's Star to Lynx would be many, many months in normal travel. Using the wormholes, it's down to days or weeks.
Next, they are facing a vast star nation that has material, research and manufacturing resources that are a at least couple orders of magnitude greater.
While the research and manufacturing resources are not equal in quality, the imbalance in sheer quantity gives the Sollies a clear advantage. If the Sollies came up with a new SD design and built just 1 of them in every member (just member, not controlled) system, they'd outnumber the GA fleet upon their completion.
It could work the same way for manufacturing more consumables- ammunition. Remember the way the US industrial complex swapped over to a total war footing during WW2? The Rockola JukeBox Company made M1 Carbines and Singer Sewing Machine and US Switch and Signal (made railroad switching equipment) made 1911's. Even GM's Guide Lamp Division (which normally stamped out headlights and such for the automotive lines) made guns.
Imagine 1000 systems worth of industry doing the same thing.
The same could be said for the tech disadvantage they are facing. If they used the 'shotgun' approach to their tech disadvantages by taking a problem and having each one of the various research labs assigned to that problem work on a different approach at the same time, they'd close the gap with a frightening speed.
If it took the Manties 20 years trying 10 different ways to make one piece of their tech how long would it take the Sollies using 20 different research labs trying 20 different approaches to the problem to duplicate their basic results?
Now imagine that they are doing that with every disadvantage they have. They may not be able to duplicate the Grayson powerplants for the LAC's or the improved compensators that fast but the SEM's advantage in MDM, pods and ships' guns could go the way of the dodo in pretty short order.
The SEM is also faced with the fact that both their manufacturing and research abilities are basically nonexistent at the moment after Oyster Bay. They have better ships and better weapons, they just can't build any more and won't be able to for what could be a decisive and crucial amount of time. With the advantages they have in ships and weaponry, the crucial part of the equation is ammunition. What they've got is what they've got until they can get the lines back up and running somewhere.
3) Tactical issues? The biggest one that SEM faces is that they have a very finite supply of ammunition and they can't waste any. They must have a fairly large percentage of what they have held back for defensive purposes.
If the Sollies could stomach it, they could fall back on the 'human wave' attack- they have the quantity available- to make the SEM shoot themselves dry and let the survivors of their attack force deal with the mopping up. The end result would make Ghengis Khan's body count look like a school yard fight between a couple 5 year olds in comparison but it would work.
4)Contingency planning is a wonderful thing. I don't know exactly how much real planning can be done as thinly spread as the SEM's forces are right now. The logical thing is what has been done in previous books- hunker down in a defensive stance with the majority of the forces and use only a small percentage of what you have on the offensive to keep the other side reacting to you rather than preparing for an attack at their leisure. Once the other allies get rolling in the next book, that will make a huge difference.
5) The idea of having some backup available for Michelle makes plenty of sense but where is it gonna come from?
It's not likely to be SEM forces because they are spread thin already. Currently, the closest formations worth mentioning to her is the force at the Lynx terminus and whatever force was left to cover the Talbot sector in case of someone sneaking in behind her. It I remember correctly, she pretty much stripped the cupboard bare on the way out. Neither one can really be moved very far- you can't really leave either one uncovered- but they are at least partially in mutual support range.
EDIT
There are the Andies but they have made it plain that they don't want to go to war with the Sollies. They are more than happy to help against the Mesans (and, by association, the RF or the MA once they are known to the universe) but the Sollies are the major known threat at the moment and they won't back Michelle up against them.
That's one thing that the reader has to remember when dealing with the Mesan threat. The reader knows much, much more about what's going on than the protagonists. They know it exists but they just don't know what it is while we, the readers, know much more about the threat.
END EDIT
6) Show of force would be a waste of precious resources right now. Besides, the Solly navy already of two minds on the subject. Either they believe that the Manties are 10 foot tall and bulletproof or think it's all propaganda and exaggeration. The former will either run or surrender as fast as they can and the latter is going to continue being the prototypical arrogant Solly until they are blasted to atoms.
The only exception would be support missions for the rebellions fomented by 'Firebrand'. They expect Manty support and it has been decided on high to support them. The good news it that it won't take major formations for any one of the locations. A few cruisers or half a squadron destroyers should be able to handle anything the FF will have on hand. The problem is, Firebrand was a busy boy and there's a lot of places that expect the Manties to ride to the rescue and light forces are stretched even worse than the heavies.
7) Strategic depth is useless in the days of the deep strike. Witness Fillaretta's attack on the Manticore System or most of the last Havenite War.
That also means that there's no 'behind the lines' systems that you can leave lightly covered or guard with 2nd or 3rd tier forces so the front line stuff can be used elsewhere because everywhere is a potential target. If it's important enough to guard even a little, it's potentially important enough to be attacked at any time.
