Next Manticore Ascendant book

Brigade XO wrote:If Manticore begins to suspect there is a wormhole related to the system and then, after trying some research using it's own military, it probably would contract with an exploration/research company to take over the project. That could be the entry for Axelrod to get back into the game. Prudent planning would have them monitoring companies or ships who do that kind of work and probably already place people inside the orgainzations.
Heck, they could even be operating one of their own at this point and drag their coats under Manticore's nose to improve the chances. Industrial espionage could give them the information if RMN starts buying equipment that would be used to search for wormholes and the front company (Axelrod subsidiary owned through various shell corporations and cut-outs) could be subtly spreading service advertising Manticore's way. What a nice payoff scheme that could be presented to Breakwater and friends to grab that potential major asset while "supporting" the Crown & Navy.
Don't forget we have examples of Trans-StellarsAlignment fermenting revolutions or at least takeovers of planets and using various military forces to do it with naval support. Frontier Fleet isn't the 1st to use this, certainly the attempt by Axelrod using the forces of that Dutchy would count though in that case they would probably have ended up claiming that they had Proof of Manticor's invovement in piracy and attacks against them as justification of their attach against the Manticore home system- and forget to mention the Volsungs as their primary source of ships.

Can you expand a little on your thinking about bribing Breakwater (who's no longer Chancellor of the Exchequer) and part of the government? I don't see how selling Manticore equipment gets Axelrod closer to their objective of controlling the wormhole.

Maybe they sell substandard equipment to force subcontracting, then force the subcontractor not to do the right work or to withhold details so that Axelrod alone knows where the junction is. But that only delays the inevitable. How do they get to control it?

I have seen NOTHING that implied the next book is finished, or for that matter even started?

richardinor wrote:Over a year ago I read that the next Manticore Ascendant book was almost done. I haven't seen anything since. What happened?

Lunan wrote:I have seen NOTHING that implied the next book is finished, or for that matter even started?

See my post on page 1 of this thread.

Only hearsay, no direct link or for that matter no mention from RFC about it

Theemile wrote:

Lunan wrote:I have seen NOTHING that implied the next book is finished, or for that matter even started?

See my post on page 1 of this thread.

Lunan wrote:Only hearsay, no direct link or for that matter no mention from RFC about it

Well, My Friend claims he hard that directly from DW and Zahn at Dragon Con - YMMV

[quote=]
Can you expand a little on your thinking about bribing Breakwater (who's no longer Chancellor of the Exchequer) and part of the government? I don't see how selling Manticore equipment gets Axelrod closer to their objective of controlling the wormhole.

Maybe they sell substandard equipment to force subcontracting, then force the subcontractor not to do the right work or to withhold details so that Axelrod alone knows where the junction is. But that only delays the inevitable. How do they get to control it?[/quote]

Breakwater my be out (and been warned by the Queen to stay out of the stuff he had been up to under pain of the information surfacing) but he is likely looking for revenge and a new angle.

So, he could be a conduit to information and a way of getting the name of Alexrod's proxy into postion to be hired by Manticore to conduct a survey for possible wormhole. That Manticore doesn't presently (in the Assendent series) have the local expertise to use somebody in the RMN to do the searching. IF- and it's a big IF- Breakwater feels ill used enough to start thinking that the monarchy should go and be replaced with something like a government that he controls, then he might also be open to accepting help to do that from an outside source.
Having a research ship crawling around the Binary System would certainly make a plausable way to get a read on what the ongoing statis of the RMN (and the S&R people's) ships are and where they are. That would also be a 1st step in setting up the kind of bomb placements that the Alignment later uses.

The title Insurrection would seem to portend that some disatisfied group in Manticore is willing to go to armed rebellion to change the government. They will need money and weapons and may have to looke outside the system for help.

What do we know at this point? Based solely on my memory (which may be wrong), I believe we know that:

1- The Volsong attack is the only military assault on the Manticore system that occurs in this time period.
2- The Volsong ships that were destroyed in this assault are unlikely to have information in their databases that explicitly say why they attacked.
3- It is canon that Manticore discovered the existence of the Wormhole through the inspection of captured databases following an attack on their home system.
4- Manticore already has "captured databases" that they got "following an attack on their home system."
5- The Volsongs (at least the commander) knew about the Axelrod link.

To me the sequence is clear.

The information captured by Long (with the Andermani's) will provide Manticore with the knowledge that Axelrod was behind the Volsong attack on their home system. It will likely take a few years to shift through everything and really nail this down - but when coupled with information gained from Haven and parts tracing there is likely enough threads to tie together. Thus, Manticore will find out who was behind the attack - Axelrod.

From there, Manticore will start wondering why. And here, intelligence will do what intelligence does, and come up with all sorts of theories as to why a major corporation like Axelrod is interested. Has to be something unique to the system. Wormhole probably won't be the first thing that comes to mind, or even one of the top 3 or 5 or 10. But it will be thought of, and once it is so much more will be explained. Such as the otherwise un-explainable behavior of certain merchant freighters.

Thus, Manticore will likely start a quiet, stealth survey of their system. Any sensor ghost or other weird reading will be cataloged and triangulated to try and see if there is a connection. And, Manticore will want to believe that it is a Wormhole that Axelrod was after. Both for the economic impact but also because it explains why they were attacked and what/how to stop/defend against future attacked: Find the Wormhole and make the announcement as quick as possible while building closer relations with Haven and other neighbors.

Finally, one last thought. Which could be way off.. Does MPARs become the Junction Control Organization? Pseudo-military structure, space oriented, but focused more on economics than war? With the current mission of patrolling the asteroid belts and system to provide search and rescue support. The perfect cover for ships flying around the system (training cruises, investigating sensor ghosts, etc) without burning out the navy. And without Breakwater in control. It seems like a perfect compromise that allows MPARs (and all of its supporters who, even without Breakwater, still have power) to gain more prestige while allowing the Navy to take over what it does.

Erls wrote:From there, Manticore will start wondering why. And here, intelligence will do what intelligence does, and come up with all sorts of theories as to why a major corporation like Axelrod is interested. Has to be something unique to the system. Wormhole probably won't be the first thing that comes to mind, or even one of the top 3 or 5 or 10. But it will be thought of, and once it is so much more will be explained. Such as the otherwise un-explainable behavior of certain merchant freighters.

Thus, Manticore will likely start a quiet, stealth survey of their system. Any sensor ghost or other weird reading will be cataloged and triangulated to try and see if there is a connection. And, Manticore will want to believe that it is a Wormhole that Axelrod was after. Both for the economic impact but also because it explains why they were attacked and what/how to stop/defend against future attacked: Find the Wormhole and make the announcement as quick as possible while building closer relations with Haven and other neighbors.

My guess is that Manticore won't entirely figure it out but will keep an eagle eye on what Axelrod is doing for a few years to look for any patterns. Some other hapless system will be less successful at defending themselves and Axelrod will more in on a "newly discovered" wormhole in that system. The RMN admiralty will go to Brown Alert and kick off the intensive search for a wormhole at that point.

Galactic Sapper wrote:My guess is that Manticore won't entirely figure it out but will keep an eagle eye on what Axelrod is doing for a few years to look for any patterns. Some other hapless system will be less successful at defending themselves and Axelrod will more in on a "newly discovered" wormhole in that system. The RMN admiralty will go to Brown Alert and kick off the intensive search for a wormhole at that point.

Makes sense. Manticore will know that it was Axelrod behind it and Axelrod can't afford not to act on information about another wormhole in another system. So when they do, Manticore will know why.

Axelrod's only choice of having a second bite at Manticore's apple would be to keep operational security of the WH survey after they take over the system and not announce the discovery until they're ready to take over Manticore.

This may very well be the plot of the next book: the insurrection is in another system.