UC Snippet 15

Does anyone else recognize the striking similarity of this scenario with the Battle of Hancock when Van Slyke was killed and Honor failed to pass command? She retained command so as not to confuse the squadron at a very inoportune time. Couldn't Haskell do the same, in the spirit of her COs wishes? After all, he did tell her his wishes. She simply misunderstood. And in the face of destruction from a savvier foe, she cannot risk passing command when communication is hampered and the situation is desperate. Could she not also have divulged the fact that Gog lives and she's carrying out his wishes?

Instead of murdering him, she could have pushed the button to his emergency suit meds. . .

"Nighty night - sleep tight. I don't give aratsass if the bed bugs bite. See you in the morn after we're all alright!"

problem is she seems to respect the waste of oxygen and was only trying to "protect" him from his own demons.

killing either via meds or some handy bit of debris is not anywhere in her brain.

Dauntless wrote:problem is she seems to respect the waste of oxygen and was only trying to "protect" him from his own demons.

killing either via meds or some handy bit of debris is not anywhere in her brain.

There is some truth to that. This is a man she's respected and admired for years; it's only in the last 15-20 minutes that he's turned into a homicidal maniac. More than that, she's pretty sure she understands what's driven him over the edge, So, yeah, she respects the man he always was before, and even though she seesthe need to stop him from committing mass murder, she can't just turn off all that respect like turning a switch. Perhaps some people could; she can't. For that matter, this could well be regarded as an act of temporary insanity, in which case one might plausibly hope (especially if one is looking as hopefully as possible at a beloved mentor who's just gone totally off the rails) that it's recoverable and she may get the original back someday.

In fact, if you read her final comment to him in the book, at least a part of what she's saying is that she couldn't let him do that to the man (or to the memory of the man, at least) she's admired and respected for so long.

runsforcelery wrote:

Dauntless wrote:problem is she seems to respect the waste of oxygen and was only trying to "protect" him from his own demons.

killing either via meds or some handy bit of debris is not anywhere in her brain.

There is some truth to that. This is a man she's respected and admired for years; it's only in the last 15-20 minutes that he's turned into a homicidal maniac. More than that, she's pretty sure she understands what's driven him over the edge, So, yeah, she respects the man he always was before, and even though she seesthe need to stop him from committing mass murder, she can't just turn off all that respect like turning a switch. Perhaps some people could; she can't. For that matter, this could well be regarded as an act of temporary insanity, in which case one might plausibly hope (especially if one is looking as hopefully as possible at a beloved mentor who's just gone totally off the rails) that it's recoverable and she may get the original back someday.

In fact, if you read her final comment to him in the book, at least a part of what she's saying is that she couldn't let him do that to the man (or to the memory of the man, at least) she's admired and respected for so long.

Nailed that Honor/Courvosier like relationship (close) upstream. She sounded almost heartbroken. But he didn't seem to reciprocate the fondness at all.

Btw, I wasn't thinking kill him with the meds, just put him to sleep.

cthia wrote:I don't think it is acceptable, but why isn't it prudent for the RMN to kill everything in-system to prevent that knowledge from escaping -- should the cavalry come soon enough? Why wouldn't destruction to protect military secrets be acceptable under the spoils of war? Sort of like. . .

[bold added.]

runsforcelery wrote:No. It is neither legal nor morally acceptable and would be considered a war crime by anyone with a functioning brain.

[snip]

Now, if Megan had enough firepower to compel them to surrender or face destruction --- that is, if she physically had the power to destroy them if they didn't surrender as opposed to having enough firepower to compel them to abort the operation and withdraw --- then she could demand they do just that and be justified in continuing to fire until they did surrender or they were all destroyed. That is rather different from what you seem to be suggesting here, however.

In fairness, cthia was assuming the arrival of reinforcements. I don't know if a hundred LACs spread around the hyperlimit would be enough to bag all the Sollies, but before Petersen offered terms of disengagement it wouldn't have been wrong to try.
Also, the fact that the Manties can delay initiation of the second stage of their missiles is the least of the tactical data the Sollies are taking away; even they can do that.

This time, the Dazzlers didn’t come as a surprise. Nor did the Dragon’s Teeth. The Solarian missile-defense officers had seen them before, knew what they were.

runsforcelery wrote:
Of course, I'm only the author, so they might have surprised me.

Well, that's why you understand them so much better than I do!

Randomiser wrote:

runsforcelery wrote:
Of course, I'm only the author, so they might have surprised me.

Well, that's why you understand them so much better than I do!

My characters did that to me, at least once, first novel I wrote. And then I understood why she did that, and it made perfect sense.

Do forgive this question. Try to remember that Pavel Young consistently copied from my paper at Sag Isle. LOL

I can't seem to find what I'm looking for in this series of snippets, but any who, when MDMs are launched from ballistic ranges and there comes a point when they are going to be on their own, why can't they receive updated targeting info from the platforms that are so close they could attach themselves to the enemy fleet?

mk 23s with apollo control missiles probably could, but the apollo missile is key as it has the super smart AI, compared to the others.