How does Honor know so much?

ThinksMarkedly wrote:And still wouldn't be able to read information classified above his clearance level, such as "Captain's Eyes Only." He'd be able to see the meta-data (envelope information) on the message and determine that it had such classification, but not open and read the contents.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:And still wouldn't be able to read information classified above his clearance level, such as "Captain's Eyes Only." He'd be able to see the meta-data (envelope information) on the message and determine that it had such classification, but not open and read the contents.

kzt wrote:Well, based on a recent video about Michael Walker, who did not have a security clearance when stole dozens of highly classified documents - for which he got $1,000 and 25 years, he can probably do more than that

Walker cooperated somewhat with authorities, enough to form a plea bargain that reduced the sentence for his son. He agreed to submit to an unchallenged conviction and life sentence, to provide a full disclosure of the details of his spying and to testify against Whitworth in exchange for a pledge from the prosecutors that the maximum sentence requested for Michael was 25 years imprisonment

cthia wrote:I know Manticorans are well trained, but a Captain having that much engineering knowledge seems incredible to me.

cthia wrote:She's an Alpha.

cthia wrote:I know Manticorans are well trained, but a Captain having that much engineering knowledge seems incredible to me.

cthia wrote:She's an Alpha.

The face belonged to the old man, the one he had tried to disable with a kick.
The man spoke. His voice was soft and low. "I used to be a biologist, Kennesaw, before I decided to concentrate on my art. What you're seeing here is an illustration of the fallacy of Platonic thinking applied to evolutionary principles."
The words were pure gibberish. Something of Kennesaw's confusion must have shown, because the face emitted a slight chuckle.
"It's sometimes called 'population thinking,' Kennesaw. A pity you never learned to apply those methods. Instead, you made the classic mistake of categorizing people into abstract types instead of recognizing their concrete variations."
Gibberish. Another chuckle.
"You're only a 'superman,' Kennesaw, if you compare the average of the Sacred Band to the average of the rest of humanity. Unfortunately, you're now in the hands of two men who, in different ways, vary quite widely from the norm. Partly because of our own genetic background, and partly due to training and habit."
The almond-shaped eyes moved slightly, looking past Kennesaw's own head. "I'm not sure how well this is going to work. I'm sure he's got an absolutely phenomenal pain threshold."
Finally, Kennesaw heard the monster speak. "Don't care," came a hoarse grunt. "I'm sure he was one of the men who took her, which means there'll be traces of where they went somewhere in the apartment."
The Oriental face frowned. "Then why—"
Even as dazed as he was, the brief exchange made clear to Kennesaw the identity of his assailants. He managed some grunting words of his own. "You crazy, Z'wicki? Anyt'in' happen t'me, 'ey'll kill 'er."
The clasp tightened, and Kennesaw couldn't prevent a low groan.
"I don't think so. As sloppy as you people are, they'll just assume you're goofing off somewhere. How would I know you were involved?"
Despite the crushing pain, some part of Kennesaw's brain was still functioning objectively. So he understood the incredible strength which lay behind those words. Precious few, if any, of the Select themselves would have been able to so completely immobilize Kennesaw. Much less, at the same time, manage to speak in what was almost a normal tone of voice!
"And you've already told me the only thing I really needed to know from you," continued the hoarse voice from behind. "I'm not cold-blooded enough to kill a man I'm not sure is guilty."
It took a moment for the meaning to register on Kennesaw. He tried to grunt another warning, but the hoarse voice overrode his words.
"This is called a full nelson, Scrag. It's an illegal maneuver in tournament wrestling. Here's why."
* * *
In the brief time that followed, Kennesaw understood some of what the little Oriental had been trying to explain to him. Variation. He never would have believed that any subhuman would have been strong enough to—

• Warner Caslet had a surprisingly high knowledge not just of medical but psychology (when he picked up the Bonaventure crew he KNEW exactly what Chris Hurlman was doing and why).
• Aivars Terekhov has a large functional knowledge of his ships, both the Hexapuma and as the flag officer on Quentin (neither class he had prior experience with), how else could he know just where/how to try to keep Helen properly occupied, not to mention his prior service in the Foreign Service
• Scotty Tremaine (with the modest assistance from Harkness ofc) knows more than a fair bit about 'his' ship. He's barely out of the rank he would gleefully strip off his tunic and dug into the work himself to help out. (much like the McKeon his ship is named for, from OBS prior to Honor taking command was getting HIS hands dirty, repeatedly)

Somtaaw wrote:*As a child would occupy a seat on any shuttle that an adult could have occupied. Manticore desired people but people who could work RIGHT THEN, not in ~20-30 T-years time, and so the cost of bringing a kid with you would up the cost. Since the Harringtons were Yeomen, they'd paid their full cost of seat, with perhaps a little left over to pay for that huge chunk of land on Sphinx they've lived on since.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:

Somtaaw wrote:*As a child would occupy a seat on any shuttle that an adult could have occupied. Manticore desired people but people who could work RIGHT THEN, not in ~20-30 T-years time, and so the cost of bringing a kid with you would up the cost. Since the Harringtons were Yeomen, they'd paid their full cost of seat, with perhaps a little left over to pay for that huge chunk of land on Sphinx they've lived on since.

Stephanie Harrington wasn't even conceived on the way. She was born on Meyerdahl and lived there for some 10 T-years before the move. She was anticipating joining the Meyerdahl Forestry Service, which means she'd begun to have opinions, and she had friends she remembered and even corresponded with after the move. She compared the weather on Sphinx with the one on Meyerdahl, and she had to be reminded that the woods on Sphinx weren't like the preserves she'd been used to on Meyedahl.

It does make sense the MAlign would test on Meyerdahl, though. Because it was a heavy-gravity planet, a lot of the residents were genies themselves, so the populace would be used to maybe a few different traits. The laws of the system may have even allowed some limited modification to correct for drift or so.

We're not even sure it was Richard or Marjorie Harrington this purported member of the Alignment. We're told that sometimes the Alignment would skip a generation in keeping contact, so it's possible it was one or more of Richard or Marjorie's parents. If it was one of the parents, then neither Richard or Marjorie would know that there was a conspiracy. I've read the SK books with an eye to this detail and, so far, nowhere in any of the 4 books do the parents even hint at it.

Somtaaw wrote:The only thing Honor's Alpha line history seems to be in connection with the Meyerdahl mods, because that old Harrington member suddenly decided to move himself, his wife and let's assume they were childless at the time of move*.

We have Henke's thoughts from I believe it was either Shadows of Freedom or Storm from Shadows, where she muses about Honor being a fitness fanatic (even for a heavy-grav worlder) while Henke had to watch what she ate. But several times in earlier books, we also had Honor's thoughts about the same, that she wasn't close to a fanatic but she did MAKE the time to workout whether weight-lifting (which she hated), swimming or gymnastics were her preference. So we have clear history Honor MADE time to fulfill her duty, of which there's probably something in the Manticoran Officer training about "a healthy body is a healthy mind".


As we were told, through Alison Harringtons lecture, the Meyerdahl's have a touch higher IQ , but they also had to pay a price elsewhere in intelligence. So anywhere in IQ that Honor gained higher positives (her tactical and kinesthetic senses?) she also gained higher negatives, her abysmal Math on demand skills perhaps?

But Honor is also not massively above/ahead of the curve on knowledge, many other captains have proved to be just as insightful in similar ways that are outside the Tactical field.

• Warner Caslet had a surprisingly high knowledge not just of medical but psychology (when he picked up the Bonaventure crew he KNEW exactly what Chris Hurlman was doing and why).
• Aivars Terekhov has a large functional knowledge of his ships, both the Hexapuma and as the flag officer on Quentin (neither class he had prior experience with), how else could he know just where/how to try to keep Helen properly occupied, not to mention his prior service in the Foreign Service
• Scotty Tremaine (with the modest assistance from Harkness ofc) knows more than a fair bit about 'his' ship. He's barely out of the rank he would gleefully strip off his tunic and dug into the work himself to help out. (much like the McKeon his ship is named for, from OBS prior to Honor taking command was getting HIS hands dirty, repeatedly)

So Honor having a few ideas about combining Tactical and Engineering, while out of the box and wild, are clearly not something exclusive to her, and therefore not just an Alpha thing. But it DOES seem to be something exclusive to only Captains who take their duties seriously, not those who are just in it for the perks. List of whom includes Elvis Santino, Pavel Young, various other Janacek Cronies, various People's Navy lazy captains & admirals, etc.

*As a child would occupy a seat on any shuttle that an adult could have occupied. Manticore desired people but people who could work RIGHT THEN, not in ~20-30 T-years time, and so the cost of bringing a kid with you would up the cost. Since the Harringtons were Yeomen, they'd paid their full cost of seat, with perhaps a little left over to pay for that huge chunk of land on Sphinx they've lived on since.

cthia wrote:But now that textev let Honor's status of being an Alpha out of the box, its out there.