Spoiler(s) dangling threads

pappilon wrote:

feyhunde wrote:The streak drive also makes it interesting in the political changes it allows. Its a ~150% increase in speed, taking a trip from example, Grayson, to Manticore from a bit over 4 days to about 2 and a half. Meaning a message from the Queen sent Friday at tea can reach the protector by breakfast Monday.

pappilon wrote:The streak is perhaps the best technological innovation to come from the MAlign vis-a-vis general applications and benefit. IFF it can be built and operated cheaply enough, otherwise its a military necessity and a toy for te obscenely rich and famous. So, of course, Uncle Jacques will absolutely have to have it.

n7axw wrote:Uncle Jacques is an interesting fellow. It will be interesting to see how his role is redefined with the major shift in reality as Mesa is now in allied hands, Manpower about to go belly up and the Alignment exposed but still hidden. I bet that it gets really interesting.

Don

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How is Manpower going to go belly-up? All they gotta do is head out to their outpost on the other side of Torch's WHJ and set up shop there under the protection of a detachment of Mannerheim's finest.

IIRC Mannerheim's public face is vehemently opposed to the genetic slave trade as are the other members of the RF. With the League getting its act squared up (at least somewhat), I doubt that Manpower is going to find many places of refuge. Then too, where are they going to come up with the slaves. Manpower's whole business model depended on Mesa's protection. Now that's gone...

Don

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Weird Harold wrote:

pappilon wrote:How is Manpower going to go belly-up? All they gotta do is head out to their outpost on the other side of Torch's WHJ and set up shop there under the protection of a detachment of Mannerheim's finest.

How does the disposal, fall-guy cutout know about the Felix Wormhole Junction or have an "outpost" in an uninhabited (uninhabitable?) system?

A lot of Manpower's genetic research was guided by the MAlign Onion, but Manpower was never more than the dirty, outer-most, layer of the MAlign onion.

Manpower was never part of the Onion. As you said in the first paragraph, it was an essentially disposable distraction, and it has served its purpose.

n7axw wrote:

pappilon wrote:How is Manpower going to go belly-up? All they gotta do is head out to their outpost on the other side of Torch's WHJ and set up shop there under the protection of a detachment of Mannerheim's finest.

IIRC Mannerheim's public face is vehemently opposed to the genetic slave trade as are the other members of the RF. With the League getting its act squared up (at least somewhat), I doubt that Manpower is going to find many places of refuge. Then too, where are they going to come up with the slaves. Manpower's whole business model depended on Mesa's protection. Now that's gone...

Don

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Manpower has several slave breeding depots that are not on Mesa.

pappilon wrote:How is Manpower going to go belly-up? All they gotta do is head out to their outpost on the other side of Torch's WHJ and set up shop there under the protection of a detachment of Mannerheim's finest.

There is nothing on the other side of Torch's wormhole except for another wormhole - SGC-902-36-G doesn't have any planets.

JohnRoth wrote:

n7axw wrote:[uote="pappilon"]
How is Manpower going to go belly-up? All they gotta do is head out to their outpost on the other side of Torch's WHJ and set up shop there under the protection of a detachment of Mannerheim's finest.

IIRC Mannerheim's public face is vehemently opposed to the genetic slave trade as are the other members of the RF. With the League getting its act squared up (at least somewhat), I doubt that Manpower is going to find many places of refuge. Then too, where are they going to come up with the slaves. Manpower's whole business model depended on Mesa's protection. Now that's gone...

Don

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Manpower has several slave breeding depots that are not on Mesa.[/quote]

The problem is the bribes and blackmail used to protect those centers is going to melt away. The local breeders might be able to carry on for a short time but with the GA getting access to the locations of breeding centers and transfer stations etc. How long will it before a few cruisers show up with a company or a battalion of somebody's Marines. My guess would be sooner rather than later.

n7axw wrote:
Uncle Jacques is an interesting fellow. It will be interesting to see how his role is redefined with the major shift in reality as Mesa is now in allied hands, Manpower about to go belly up and the Alignment exposed but still hidden. I bet that it gets really interesting.

Don

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A point here. The Onion used the channels of genetic slavery an awful lot for some of their work. Especially during Houdini where important members of outer layers were being moved via slave traffic.

With Mesa as such gone, and no one protecting these depots, the folks running the depots are going to get caught. And being slavers, they won't hesitate to try and trade anything useful they know for their lives. They may not know much individually, but it may be enough to see where about people were being moved until a dead end is reached with MAlignment shipping picking them up.

How many Jessyk Combine workers on ships carrying Houdini evacuees will be willing to spill their guts when a GA cruiser gets them?

feyhunde wrote:

n7axw wrote:
Uncle Jacques is an interesting fellow. It will be interesting to see how his role is redefined with the major shift in reality as Mesa is now in allied hands, Manpower about to go belly up and the Alignment exposed but still hidden. I bet that it gets really interesting.

Don

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A point here. The Onion used the channels of genetic slavery an awful lot for some of their work. Especially during Houdini where important members of outer layers were being moved via slave traffic.

With Mesa as such gone, and no one protecting these depots, the folks running the depots are going to get caught. And being slavers, they won't hesitate to try and trade anything useful they know for their lives. They may not know much individually, but it may be enough to see where about people were being moved until a dead end is reached with MAlignment shipping picking them up.

How many Jessyk Combine workers on ships carrying Houdini evacuees will be willing to spill their guts when a GA cruiser gets them?

The trouble here is that those workers won't have much to spill. They will be able to say that they had unidentified people on board. Then where they dropped them off... after which the trail goes cold.

Don

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feyhunde wrote:A point here. The Onion used the channels of genetic slavery an awful lot for some of their work. Especially during Houdini where important members of outer layers were being moved via slave traffic.

With Mesa as such gone, and no one protecting these depots, the folks running the depots are going to get caught. And being slavers, they won't hesitate to try and trade anything useful they know for their lives. They may not know much individually, but it may be enough to see where about people were being moved until a dead end is reached with MAlignment shipping picking them up.

How many Jessyk Combine workers on ships carrying Houdini evacuees will be willing to spill their guts when a GA cruiser gets them?

If the slave trade is still profitable it will find a way. Even the SLN was publicly opposed to the genetic slave trade. We know how hard they enforced the Cherwell conventions. And the SL may get a new constitution and a new government. It will not [necessarily] get a beaurocracy immune to bribery.

All the crew knows is "orders is orders" and orders was no contact with the "special passengers." All those on the orbital stations know is "we're owned by the corporations; that part of the station is absolutely off limits. We don't go there. we don't see there". "yes those ships came in, but you know the drill, they come from over there [points to her right]with this transponder code. they filed a flight plan and took off to over there [pints to her left." Was the transponder the legitimate one? did they cross the hyper limit in the general direction of their "destination" only to change course and head soemwhere totally different. "yeah, I asked, got an instant trip to the manager's office for a good butt chewing and a reprimand on my record."

n7axw wrote:The trouble here is that those workers won't have much to spill. They will be able to say that they had unidentified people on board. Then where they dropped them off... after which the trail goes cold.

Don

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Yeah that. Bunch of red herrings being chased by wild geese.

pappilon wrote:

feyhunde wrote:The streak drive also makes it interesting in the political changes it allows. Its a ~150% increase in speed, taking a trip from example, Grayson, to Manticore from a bit over 4 days to about 2 and a half. Meaning a message from the Queen sent Friday at tea can reach the protector by breakfast Monday.

The streak is perhaps the best technological innovation to come from the MAlign vis-a-vis general applications and benefit. IFF it can be built and operated cheaply enough, otherwise its a military necessity and a toy for te obscenely rich and famous. So, of course, Uncle Jacques will absolutely have to have it.

Given any reasonable cost courier ships will switch to the streak drive.

feyhunde wrote:A point here. The Onion used the channels of genetic slavery an awful lot for some of their work. Especially during Houdini where important members of outer layers were being moved via slave traffic.

With Mesa as such gone, and no one protecting these depots, the folks running the depots are going to get caught. And being slavers, they won't hesitate to try and trade anything useful they know for their lives. They may not know much individually, but it may be enough to see where about people were being moved until a dead end is reached with MAlignment shipping picking them up.

How many Jessyk Combine workers on ships carrying Houdini evacuees will be willing to spill their guts when a GA cruiser gets them?

Once Houdini was over wouldn't those stations go boom?