Hope & Aspirations for the Finale

cnrd22 wrote:- since Damien is one of DW's favorite characters (as he put it, the Fringe's version of Victor in a way) and DW confirmed he will be around for a while after the last volume, this means the good guys will find and disable his kill switch and in the process learn a lot about the Alignment capabilities there; also they should learn from him about the fast ships the Alignment has and probably develop their own as once something like that is known to be doable, it usually is done

I doubt Damien "Firebrand" Harahap knows anything about the fast Streak Drive ships used by MAlign Covert Operations and Intelligence operatives that the Grand Alliance hasn't already learnt from the Mesan defector Herlander Simoes. Since Simoes was part of the design team for the Streak Drive, he also knows exactly how they work and can certainly tell the Alliance how to build their own.
What Damien offers instead is an inside view of how MAlign Covert Ops works, who the key players are, and which systems were targeted by Operation Janus.

Andy33 wrote:...

I doubt Damien "Firebrand" Harahap knows anything about the fast Streak Drive ships used by MAlign Covert Operations and Intelligence operatives that the Grand Alliance hasn't already learnt from the Mesan defector Herlander Simoes. Since Simoes was part of the design team for the Streak Drive, he also knows exactly how they work and can certainly tell the Alliance how to build their own.
What Damien offers instead is an inside view of how MAlign Covert Ops works, who the key players are, and which systems were targeted by Operation Janus.

Agreed.

That said, unlike DW apparently, I find him rather boring. Contrived even, compared to many other characters DW has created.

Andy33 wrote:
I doubt Damien "Firebrand" Harahap knows anything about the fast Streak Drive ships used by MAlign Covert Operations and Intelligence operatives that the Grand Alliance hasn't already learnt from the Mesan defector Herlander Simoes. Since Simoes was part of the design team for the Streak Drive, he also knows exactly how they work and can certainly tell the Alliance how to build their own.
What Damien offers instead is an inside view of how MAlign Covert Ops works, who the key players are, and which systems were targeted by Operation Janus.

What Damien offers is the exact location and contact information/recognition codes to get GA hands on an actual streak-drive dispatch boat.
.

jgnfld wrote:

Andy33 wrote:...

I doubt Damien "Firebrand" Harahap knows anything about the fast Streak Drive ships used by MAlign Covert Operations and Intelligence operatives that the Grand Alliance hasn't already learnt from the Mesan defector Herlander Simoes. Since Simoes was part of the design team for the Streak Drive, he also knows exactly how they work and can certainly tell the Alliance how to build their own.
What Damien offers instead is an inside view of how MAlign Covert Ops works, who the key players are, and which systems were targeted by Operation Janus.

Agreed.

That said, unlike DW apparently, I find him rather boring. Contrived even, compared to many other characters DW has created.

I think he's a solution to a very specific meta-problem: Victor Cachet is Eric Flint's character; Damien is RFC's solution to Victor not being available any more.

He's also similar to Thandi Palain in one important respect: he comes from a Protectorate planet and joined the Gendarme as a way of getting off the planet, so while he has no believable reason to love Manticore or the GA, he's got every reason to want to see the Protectorate system eliminated and the exploitative transstellars destroyed.

He's got a great deal of information on Operation Janus, but only the parts that he's been personally involved with. He's got more information on how the Solarian Gendarme works.

DJMacdonald wrote:

Andy33 wrote:
I doubt Damien "Firebrand" Harahap knows anything about the fast Streak Drive ships used by MAlign Covert Operations and Intelligence operatives that the Grand Alliance hasn't already learnt from the Mesan defector Herlander Simoes. Since Simoes was part of the design team for the Streak Drive, he also knows exactly how they work and can certainly tell the Alliance how to build their own.
What Damien offers instead is an inside view of how MAlign Covert Ops works, who the key players are, and which systems were targeted by Operation Janus.

What Damien offers is the exact location and contact information/recognition codes to get GA hands on an actual streak-drive dispatch boat.
.

I've been thinking about that. He certainly knows where there's a covert ops courier, but whether he can give anyone the ability to capture it in a useful fashion remains to be seen.

Granted, the GA would love to get its hands on actual working hardware: Simöes is a theoretician, not a hardware guy. I'm not seeing how it would work out, but RFC is a clever guy, he can undoubtedly wave the authorial wand and make it happen if he wants.

Andy33 wrote:
I doubt Damien "Firebrand" Harahap knows anything about the fast Streak Drive ships used by MAlign Covert Operations and Intelligence operatives that the Grand Alliance hasn't already learnt from the Mesan defector Herlander Simoes. Since Simoes was part of the design team for the Streak Drive, he also knows exactly how they work and can certainly tell the Alliance how to build their own.
What Damien offers instead is an inside view of how MAlign Covert Ops works, who the key players are, and which systems were targeted by Operation Janus.

JohnRoth wrote:

DJMacdonald wrote:What Damien offers is the exact location and contact information/recognition codes to get GA hands on an actual streak-drive dispatch boat.
.

I've been thinking about that. He certainly knows where there's a covert ops courier, but whether he can give anyone the ability to capture it in a useful fashion remains to be seen.

Granted, the GA would love to get its hands on actual working hardware: Simöes is a theoretician, not a hardware guy. I'm not seeing how it would work out, but RFC is a clever guy, he can undoubtedly wave the authorial wand and make it happen if he wants.

SoV p741 An excruciatingly slow alpha translation by a squadron of Rolands could pretty well box in one unarmed ship. Streak drive gives no N-space advantage. And even for its diminutive size vis-a-vvis a Destroyer that would boost its acel, it would probably not have enough.

And then the crew will blow it up. The end.

kzt wrote:And then the crew will blow it up. The end.

Wow more battle porn. Gotta love it
OMG this is just too easy.

As I am not that young, my primary hope is to live long enough to read the next Honor book.

My second hope is that the series will advance beyond the conquest of Mesa.

If there is a battle between the Detweilers or any spider drive ships and GA ships, the outcome will depend on the GA's ability to detect the spider drive. Forraker, Hempill and Simoes have more than enough brainpower to develop a spider drive detector. Perhaps a sensor that is better at detecting small variations in the NS/HS interface or the GA could just use a brute force approach and saturate the location of any sensor ghost with enough drones to make a visual observation.

WeirdlyWired wrote:

kzt wrote:And then the crew will blow it up. The end.

Wow more battle porn. Gotta love it
OMG this is just too easy.

Clearly, Harahap will board and kill the unsuspecting crew.