Why did Naytash stay at Diyu? SPOILER

Than had been at Diyu for 4 weeks when Xing and Murphy show up.
No record, but presumably Naytash got a report on the disaster at New Dublin. She's had time to make plans and take action, but doesn't appear to have done anything.
One thought was that the replacement manifolds may be on their way. But if so, I'd think she would hover at the expected delivery point in order to keep them away from the Federation.
It's been nagging at me. Does anyone have a plausible reason?

Lego2Gpa wrote:Than had been at Diyu for 4 weeks when Xing and Murphy show up.
No record, but presumably Naytash got a report on the disaster at New Dublin. She's had time to make plans and take action, but doesn't appear to have done anything.
One thought was that the replacement manifolds may be on their way. But if so, I'd think she would hover at the expected delivery point in order to keep them away from the Federation.
It's been nagging at me. Does anyone have a plausible reason?

And why didn't she bolt when the FTLCs arrived? But indeed she stayed intentionally, so she must have had a reason. Aliens have alien thinking patterns, but they must still be somewhat logical. What could it be?

ThinksMarkedly wrote:

Lego2Gpa wrote:Than had been at Diyu for 4 weeks when Xing and Murphy show up.
No record, but presumably Naytash got a report on the disaster at New Dublin. She's had time to make plans and take action, but doesn't appear to have done anything.
One thought was that the replacement manifolds may be on their way. But if so, I'd think she would hover at the expected delivery point in order to keep them away from the Federation.
It's been nagging at me. Does anyone have a plausible reason?

And why didn't she bolt when the FTLCs arrived? But indeed she stayed intentionally, so she must have had a reason. Aliens have alien thinking patterns, but they must still be somewhat logical. What could it be?

She was operating under orders? As I see it, she didn't have to send a message anywhere; her disappearance was a message (which I suspect would result in the Sphere to both drop their subsidy of the League and prepare for the conquest of the League).

Naytash thought it would take at least five months for the Rish to be able to replace the lost manifolds. By the time that Murphy, Than, and Xing, all converge on Diyu, 27 weeks have elapsed, almost seven months from the time Dragon Fleet departed to attack New Dublin. She could very well be waiting on information about the impending delivery of the replacement manifolds. Diyu is the only place that the Rish would know to find her, and tell her the route the shipment would be taking.

Naytash probably does not know the ratline that would be activated to facilitate the new shipment, since she stated that she would have to destroy the network used for the prior shipments. Than had ordered the system sensor network to be deactivated once his tripwire ship had been detected, so Naytash may not know that Murphy is approaching the system. Until he appears on her ship's sensors. She may have wanted to debrief Xing before taking any action other than watchful waiting.

Robert_A_Woodward wrote:She was operating under orders? As I see it, she didn't have to send a message anywhere; her disappearance was a message (which I suspect would result in the Sphere to both drop their subsidy of the League and prepare for the conquest of the League).

Sure, but what orders? Stay there at all costs, even if it unmasks the Rish participation?

If the Rish wanted their participation to become known (for example, for an excuse to attack and conquer the League), they would have leaked the info sooner. They'd have controlled the timing of such a release. Being discovered at Murphy's timing does not support a well-thought plan to unmask.

But maybe her orders were to stay and simply didn't take the contingency of Diyu falling into consideration. If the Rish are strict at following orders, she'd have stayed no matter what. It just seems stupid to me...

Fox2! wrote:Naytash thought it would take at least five months for the Rish to be able to replace the lost manifolds. By the time that Murphy, Than, and Xing, all converge on Diyu, 27 weeks have elapsed, almost seven months from the time Dragon Fleet departed to attack New Dublin. She could very well be waiting on information about the impending delivery of the replacement manifolds. Diyu is the only place that the Rish would know to find her, and tell her the route the shipment would be taking.

Naytash probably does not know the ratline that would be activated to facilitate the new shipment, since she stated that she would have to destroy the network used for the prior shipments. Than had ordered the system sensor network to be deactivated once his tripwire ship had been detected, so Naytash may not know that Murphy is approaching the system. Until he appears on her ship's sensors. She may have wanted to debrief Xing before taking any action other than watchful waiting.

But she did know that Murphy was coming because the League knew. She had more than enough time to leave before Murphy's FTLCs even dropped from FTL.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:But she did know that Murphy was coming because the League knew. She had more than enough time to leave before Murphy's FTLCs even dropped from FTL.

Agreed, Naytash could have left anytime in the four weeks after Than returned to Diyu. Something must have anchored her to the system, even after Li Shiji returned from picketing Hefei. Orders, waiting for information on the routing of the replacement manifolds, stubbornness? Assuming that Than had told her why he had sent Li Shiji to Hefei, and that Murphy would be less than twelve hours behind her, the rational (in Human terms) thing to have done would have been to at least start heading out-system, on a course that would take her as far away as possible from Murphy.

Fox2! wrote:Agreed, Naytash could have left anytime in the four weeks after Than returned to Diyu. Something must have anchored her to the system, even after Li Shiji returned from picketing Hefei. Orders, waiting for information on the routing of the replacement manifolds, stubbornness? Assuming that Than had told her why he had sent Li Shiji to Hefei, and that Murphy would be less than twelve hours behind her, the rational (in Human terms) thing to have done would have been to at least start heading out-system, on a course that would take her as far away as possible from Murphy.

Exactly, though we're assuming that either Than would have told her or that the Rish had infiltrated the League's comm network. Neither is a given, but I consider both very likely. The League doesn't want the Rish's involvement to become known, even if the Rish may want that to come out eventually, so Than would have explained the situation.

It may not have translated very well, explaining a potential danger that had not yet materialised. Do the Rish run from enemies that haven't arrived yet?

The obvious reason to stay is the expected delivery of the second batch of manifolds.
BUT it appears safer to wait outside the Powell Limit, where her communication with the arrival has a shorter time lag, and she has some ability to escape.
A wait outside the Powell Limit, however, would hint that this location might be important. So I'd expect Naytash to wait, but not too close.
If the delivery ship is cautious, they will recognize something is wrong and never slow down enough to be captured. That argues that staying is not for the delivery.
Maybe just that mission failure forfeits Naytash life, but she thought she could take a few Federation with her.

Lego2Gpa wrote:The obvious reason to stay is the expected delivery of the second batch of manifolds.
BUT it appears safer to wait outside the Powell Limit, where her communication with the arrival has a shorter time lag, and she has some ability to escape.
A wait outside the Powell Limit, however, would hint that this location might be important. So I'd expect Naytash to wait, but not too close.
If the delivery ship is cautious, they will recognize something is wrong and never slow down enough to be captured. That argues that staying is not for the delivery.

That the location was important was not in doubt the moment anyone dropped from FTL. The sensors on any FTLC would be able to tell that the system was a beehive of activity, with a major shipyard. And all of this was in secret, since the system wasn't known in the star charts to be this populated.

So unless alien thoughts made her logic faulty, I don't see why waiting outside the Powell limit would compromise the secrecy of the location. On the other hand, waiting ready to bolt away, without fighting, may simply be inconceivable in Rish thinking.

Maybe just that mission failure forfeits Naytash life, but she thought she could take a few Federation with her.

Or that, yes. At that point, she may not care if the master plan got blown out of the water in the process.