SharkHunter wrote: Remember that Hemphill is related to a very corrupt senior admiral, namely Janacek, who is up to his eyebrows in the "Conservative Association", and who got Honor posted to Basilisk, where Young tried to ruin her career. So her initial impressions of HH's abilities aren't accurate, and then Honor really lays into the shortcomings inflicted on Fearless CL-56 before the Weapon's Development Board. Probably didn't make any "bosum buddy/BFF" points there, right?
Later on (after Young is dead), Sonya's development of the "super LAC(s), MDM missiles, HMMC Wayfarer and her siblings, etc. lead to the strategic edge the RMN needs... and equally important to the Harringtons, she and Honor essentially apologized to each other.
And IIRC Sonya's loyalty to the Conservatives Association was more a mater of family and habit that a deeply analyzed political belief. But she was at least initially willing to follow the approach they were pushing; that Young was innocent on a technicality. I don't think Dimitri had anything on her specifically in his files; or at least not anything truthful.
And ultimately, she
was will to deviate from the party line far enough to get Young drummed out of the service in humiliation, even if she wasn't willing to vote for the capital punishment's his actions self-evidently demanded.
And that compromise she brokered to keep Young alive
did sidestep the very real possibility that Dimitri might have driven the Conservatives Coalition (and other politicos he had, or invented, dirt on) to go through with their threats to prevent Manticore from reacting militarily to Haven's surprise attack on them. That would have almost assuredly triggered a really nasty constitutional crisis as Beth tried to safeguard Manticore over the obstruction of the House of Lords.
So I suspect, even given Young's later actions, that being willing to be the one to break ranks enough to cashier him helped her remain trusted later into the series.
Plus as a major tech nerd who focused on that to pretty much the exclusion of politics, and wouldn't play games with weapons development just to suit party politics, there'd be no reason to distrust her running weapons research and development. Sometimes her doctrinal desires for the navy seem, with the benefit of hindsight, to have been less than entirely correct. But she was honest about them, and didn't seem unwilling to have good faith discussions over doctrine and weapons.
