New Uncompromising snippet #2

runsforcelery wrote:I promised the Earc is coming. In the meantime, though —

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(SNIP)
“And he’s upping the ante if he’s handing over genuine photos of Manticoran naval officers,” Weng agreed. “Especially if they turn out to be genuine Manticoran officers. And I’m assuming from Ukhtomskoy’s reaction that they did?”

“Of course they did,” Blanton said. “Frankly, though, that worries me less than some other aspects of it. Imagery — especially bad imagery that has to be digitally enhanced as much as this did — is easy enough to fake. And there’s no telling who may have slipped file imagery of completely nonexistent Manticorans into Frontier Security’s databases for it to be compared to. I doubt Rajmund did it, because there’d be too much risk of that blowing up in his face if anyone starts fact-checking his reports. He’s been around the block way too many times to leave a trail of breadcrumbs that might lead back to him. But do either of us really think he’s the only mole someone like the Other Guys have in place? Assuming they exist, that is,” she added piously.

Here is what I think is going on. Remember that "Ellingsen" visited Barregos twice. The 2nd time, he was accompanied by a "Captain Vitorino Abernathy". I suspect that both were bioscupted ("Ellingsen" to look like Prince Michael and "Abernathy" to look like the naval officer in the picture that Rajmund Nyhus claimed was the match for Barregos visitor.

Robert_A_Woodward wrote:

runsforcelery wrote:I promised the Earc is coming. In the meantime, though —

___________________________________________________



(SNIP)
“And he’s upping the ante if he’s handing over genuine photos of Manticoran naval officers,” Weng agreed. “Especially if they turn out to be genuine Manticoran officers. And I’m assuming from Ukhtomskoy’s reaction that they did?”

“Of course they did,” Blanton said. “Frankly, though, that worries me less than some other aspects of it. Imagery — especially bad imagery that has to be digitally enhanced as much as this did — is easy enough to fake. And there’s no telling who may have slipped file imagery of completely nonexistent Manticorans into Frontier Security’s databases for it to be compared to. I doubt Rajmund did it, because there’d be too much risk of that blowing up in his face if anyone starts fact-checking his reports. He’s been around the block way too many times to leave a trail of breadcrumbs that might lead back to him. But do either of us really think he’s the only mole someone like the Other Guys have in place? Assuming they exist, that is,” she added piously.

Here is what I think is going on. Remember that "Ellingsen" visited Barregos twice. The 2nd time, he was accompanied by a "Captain Vitorino Abernathy". I suspect that both were bioscupted ("Ellingsen" to look like Prince Michael and "Abernathy" to look like the naval officer in the picture that Rajmund Nyhus claimed was the match for Barregos visitor.

I concur, same theory I suggested elsewhere. Highly plausible anyway.


Why is the League referring to the Alignment as the "Other Guys?" Aren't they privy to the term used by the Manties?

“That’s probably true,” she said now. “And given how long it took us to reverse-engineer the splitter technology even after we ‘acquired’ a few specimens to work from,

What is this splitter technology? Does it have to do with the gravity lensing in the warheads?

cthia wrote:What is this splitter technology? Does it have to do with the gravity lensing in the warheads?

Could it be something to do with the baffle that splits the various drive nodes?

cthia wrote:What is this splitter technology? Does it have to do with the gravity lensing in the warheads?

George J. Smith wrote:
Could it be something to do with the baffle that splits the various drive nodes?

it could but i'm guessing that is has more to do with separating messages from the gravity pules used to send them FTL, as they were talking just talking about grav comm

Dauntless wrote:

cthia wrote:What is this splitter technology? Does it have to do with the gravity lensing in the warheads?

George J. Smith wrote:
Could it be something to do with the baffle that splits the various drive nodes?

it could but i'm guessing that is has more to do with separating messages from the gravity pules used to send them FTL, as they were talking just talking about grav comm

Why would they need to reverse engineer RMN tech for their drive node technology? They weren't lacking there, were they?

Henry Brown wrote:

Lunan wrote:5 min. Hopefully

I doubt the author is upset that we want to spend money on his product

No to the 5 min part. The E-ARC did not drop at Midnight.

Baen.com's been down for the last hour or so

cthia wrote:

Robert_A_Woodward wrote:I concur, same theory I suggested elsewhere. Highly plausible anyway.

Why is the League referring to the Alignment as the "Other Guys?" Aren't they privy to the term used by the Manties?

Uncompromising Honor wrote:]“That’s probably true,” she said now. “And given how long it took us to reverse-engineer the splitter technology even after we ‘acquired’ a few specimens to work from,

What is this splitter technology? Does it have to do with the gravity lensing in the warheads?

If you were the League --- or, rather, competent intelligence officers working for the League --- would you unquestioningly accept that just because the Manties say Mesa is behind verything Mesa really is behind everything? They don't know if someone is playing the Manties and selling them a bill of goods which depends on the fact that Manticore and Haven both hate Mesa so much that they'll even but the notion of a conspiracy that's been around totally undetected for 5-600 years if they're told its coming from Mesa.

Daud and the others have come far enough to accept (unlike anyone else in the League's so-called intelligence agencies) that there really is a conspiracy out there which is manipulating the League's policy towards the SEM (and now the GA). Until they know for sure who it is, though, they aren't about to invest in the notion that it has to be Mesa . . . and don the intellectual blinders that come with "knowing" who the enemy is.

The truth is, these are probably a group of the most effective Honorverse in-universe analysts you guys have ever seen. These people are smart and they're dedicated. Which makes them dangerous.


As for the splitter technology, I know this has been explained somewhere in the books. A missile's impeller nodes generate such concentrated gravity "waves" hat, without the splitter technology Manticore developed to insert a baffle between them, impeller nodes would have to be at least fifty or sixty meters apart to prevent the first set of nodes from "eating" the second set before it can come on line. That's why you couldn't build a launcher-sized MDM until Roger's boffins came up with the splitter.

cthia wrote:

Robert_A_Woodward wrote:I concur, same theory I suggested elsewhere. Highly plausible anyway.

Why is the League referring to the Alignment as the "Other Guys?" Aren't they privy to the term used by the Manties?

Uncompromising Honor wrote:]“That’s probably true,” she said now. “And given how long it took us to reverse-engineer the splitter technology even after we ‘acquired’ a few specimens to work from,

What is this splitter technology? Does it have to do with the gravity lensing in the warheads?

runsforcelery wrote:If you were the League --- or, rather, competent intelligence officers working for the League --- would you unquestioningly accept that just because the Manties say Mesa is behind verything Mesa really is behind everything? They don't know if someone is playing the Manties and selling them a bill of goods which depends on the fact that Manticore and Haven both hate Mesa so much that they'll even but the notion of a conspiracy that's been around totally undetected for 5-600 years if they're told its coming from Mesa.

Daud and the others have come far enough to accept (unlike anyone else in the League's so-called intelligence agencies) that there really is a conspiracy out there which is manipulating the League's policy towards the SEM (and now the GA). Until they know for sure who it is, though, they aren't about to invest in the notion that it has to be Mesa . . . and don the intellectual blinders that come with "knowing" who the enemy is.

The truth is, these are probably a group of the most effective Honorverse in-universe analysts you guys have ever seen. These people are smart and they're dedicated. Which makes them dangerous.


As for the splitter technology, I know this has been explained somewhere in the books. A missile's impeller nodes generate such concentrated gravity "waves" hat, without the splitter technology Manticore developed to insert a baffle between them, impeller nodes would have to be at least fifty or sixty meters apart to prevent the first set of nodes from "eating" the second set before it can come on line. That's why you couldn't build a launcher-sized MDM until Roger's boffins came up with the splitter.

I understand that part, RFC. But my internalizing is that if the Manties are correct that there is a hidden player in the works, then they're probably also most likely correct about the name on the hidden face? If a=b and b=c then a=c.

Except that neobarbs can't possibly be batting a thousand?

Appears George rang the bell regarding the splitter tech.

Uncompromising Honor wrote:]“That’s probably true,” she said now. “And given how long it took us to reverse-engineer the splitter technology even after we ‘acquired’ a few specimens to work from,

cthia wrote:What is this splitter technology? Does it have to do with the gravity lensing in the warheads?

runsforcelery wrote:If you were the League --- or, rather, competent intelligence officers working for the League --- would you unquestioningly accept that just because the Manties say Mesa is behind verything Mesa really is behind everything? They don't know if someone is playing the Manties and selling them a bill of goods which depends on the fact that Manticore and Haven both hate Mesa so much that they'll even but the notion of a conspiracy that's been around totally undetected for 5-600 years if they're told its coming from Mesa.

Daud and the others have come far enough to accept (unlike anyone else in the League's so-called intelligence agencies) that there really is a conspiracy out there which is manipulating the League's policy towards the SEM (and now the GA). Until they know for sure who it is, though, they aren't about to invest in the notion that it has to be Mesa . . . and don the intellectual blinders that come with "knowing" who the enemy is.

The truth is, these are probably a group of the most effective Honorverse in-universe analysts you guys have ever seen. These people are smart and they're dedicated. Which makes them dangerous.


As for the splitter technology, I know this has been explained somewhere in the books. A missile's impeller nodes generate such concentrated gravity "waves" hat, without the splitter technology Manticore developed to insert a baffle between them, impeller nodes would have to be at least fifty or sixty meters apart to prevent the first set of nodes from "eating" the second set before it can come on line. That's why you couldn't build a launcher-sized MDM until Roger's boffins came up with the splitter.

cthia wrote:I understand that part, RFC. But my internalizing is that if the Manties are correct that there is a hidden player in the works, then they're probably also most likely correct about the name on the hidden face? If a=b and b=c then a=c.

Except that neobarbs can't possibly be batting a thousand?

Appears George rang the bell regarding the splitter tech.

Nope. It's their job to always remember that b may not equal c. Suppose that I can convince the League to go after the Manties. Suppose that the last thing I want is for the Manties to actually appear reasonable and rational in the eyes of the Solly public. And then suppose that I say to myself, "You know, the Manties are fanatics about Mesa and the slave trade, but most of the League could give a damn. So how's about I find a way to suggest to the Manties that a batch of evil genetic supermen from Mesa have been trying to overthrow the galaxy for six hundred years and then get them to actually say that for the public record? Genetic supermen? Conspiracies that have been hidden for six hundred years and are able to play the most powerful nation in human history as a violin?! Oh, come on, here! Nobody's going to buy that, so the default assumption will be that the Manties are either lunatics or lying."

Daud and company aren't saying that is what's happening. They're saying it's what may be happening and that it is their job and overriding responsibility to accept nothing at face value until they can prove it one way or the other. As such, they avoid doing that even in their own minds, because they can't afford to cultivate a habit of thought which may turn out to be inaccurate, since it will affect how they interpret new data as it becomes available.

cthia wrote:
I understand that part, RFC. But my internalizing is that if the Manties are correct that there is a hidden player in the works, then they're probably also most likely correct about the name on the hidden face? If a=b and b=c then a=c.

Except that neobarbs can't possibly be batting a thousand?

Appears George rang the bell regarding the splitter tech.

What the Manties have is A=B. What our little gang of trouble makers have is D, probably. What they will probably also find on their own is yes D = Mesan transtellars; A = Mesan transtellars, B = MAlign. Going to take something to convince them that C even exists. because their read will be Manties see Mesan transstellars stirring the poop, jump to massive centuries long conspiracy theory, they SL crew0 see Mesan transtellars paying bribes (SOP) for troop movements, etc.

Yes they can be as perplexed as Cachat and Zilwicki were over the why. Unfortunately they can't send a sub rosa intel unit to Mesa to gather evidence.