why does zilwicki know about bolthole?

In to end with fire he's chatting with a couple sollies and cuts himself off from mentioning it's name. Why does he know about it in the first place? I figure everything about bolthole is classified above "burn before reading". Considering how his former career in manticore's service ended, his clearance is almost certainty revoked. An anal intelligence officer/bureaucrat would certainly not grant him permission for this. And i bet even a lot of reasonable officer become anal about bolthole. Even a officer who knows the full story and is sympathetic might not do it. After all what if he chooses his daughter again? He's also as i understand it the head of intelligence for a foreign government. And again for your anal officer/bureaucrat that's another strike against him. Even if that government is friendly they don't have the need to know.

This could be an explanation as to how the MA is going blow the crap out if, as everyone seems to know where it is. But I think not. It’s just to show he’s a well informed guy, who, in he weekly tea with the Queen, was told about this.

Captain Zilwicki was is and was highly connected with a lot of points in the Manticore services. Like Pat McGivens, now deceased former head of ONI for whom he was a source.
Yes, he is deeply connected with the Torch intelligence service, and then there is that interesting relationship (which no doubt gives all sorts of anal-retentive security classification officer in all three ONI operations ulcers) with Victor Cachat, Intelligence officer/agent with Republic of Haven.
Recently had has been also playing (along with Victor etc) with the new SLN-ONI in hunting the Alignment.

Some people end up in a very gray bucket of -Need to Know- because sometimes you can't do your job without that info or you are involved in planning that bridges area you would't otherwise have access too.

Bolthole is first mentioned on the Manticore side in War of Honor, so it is possible that Zilwicki was still on active duty when it was first uncovered. Somewhere about the time of the mention (which is an unknown amount of time after the discovery) he was on the beach and about to be sent to the funeral that starts Crown of Slaves.

But the biggest, baddest secret about Bolthole is not its existence nor its codename; instead it is its location. I would be slightly surprised if he knew that.

tlb wrote:But the biggest, baddest secret about Bolthole is not its existence nor its codename; instead it is its location. I would be slightly surprised if he knew that.

I wonder if he even knows it's accessed through a wormhole. I don't know if the Alliance knew that either. They knew about Bolthole because it had leaked from the Havenites, even as much as knowing that Foraker was in command there, but also mostly because it leaked during the Pierre regime.

But it might be useful if he and the Ghost Hunters knew it was accessed via a wormhole. It might give them ideas of who else may be doing that.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:
I wonder if he even knows it's accessed through a wormhole. I don't know if the Alliance knew that either. They knew about Bolthole because it had leaked from the Havenites, even as much as knowing that Foraker was in command there, but also mostly because it leaked during the Pierre regime.

Far too many people know where it is. For example, Honor. Is there a real need to know there or I want to know?

kzt wrote:Far too many people know where it is. For example, Honor. Is there a real need to know there or I want to know?

How do we know she knows exactly where it is, instead of knowing generalities, like how secure it is, how long transits to it take, etc? Those would be useful for her, in her role as Grand Fleet commanding Fleet Admiral. If she does know, maybe she does because she went there and she's not stupid and there's no way to put blindfolds over admirals.

There's another point to consider, which is the political and the rights of the people of Sanctuary. The cabinet members of the GA polities would need to know that Bolthole's history and that the government of the planet will eventually petition to join the Republic of Haven.x Those polities also need assurances that their ships at Bolthole aren't being built on slave labour.

Bolthole's secret has a built-in expiration date and they know it too. The people of the planet deserve to be allowed to travel and soon. Pritchart promised the Shirkahna that the situation was temporary.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:There's another point to consider, which is the political and the rights of the people of Sanctuary. The cabinet members of the GA polities would need to know that Bolthole's history and that the government of the planet will eventually petition to join the Republic of Haven.x Those polities also need assurances that their ships at Bolthole aren't being built on slave labour.

Bolthole's secret has a built-in expiration date and they know it too. The people of the planet deserve to be allowed to travel and soon. Pritchart promised the Shirkahna that the situation was temporary.

The cabinet members do not "need" to know anything about Bolthole's history nor its eventual alignment. As for whether the people are well treated, they just need to need that Manticore has good officers out wherever it is and everything is fine.

The problem with the expiration date is that it is for the duration of the emergency and the question is whether Haven's leadership will be premature, thinking that the Malign is finished.

tlb wrote:The cabinet members do not "need" to know anything about Bolthole's history nor its eventual alignment. As for whether the people are well treated, they just need to need that Manticore has good officers out wherever it is and everything is fine.

Maybe they don't strictly need to know anything, but I don't see how it would go without saying something to the Andermani and Beowulf governments.

"It's at the remote end of a wormhole"
"Really, so has Haven been shipping millions of people through it to work on the shipyard? How do you keep them from saying where it is?"
"No, only a few thousand go through the wormhole at most; they're all security-vetted. The workforce is local."
"Oh, so the planet was already colonised and it was a Peep conquest? Did they get the plebiscite like all the other Republic members?"
"Well..."

The Emperor and his closest advisors, and the Board of Directors will need to know something. Queen Berry and the Sultan of Zanzibar not so much.

And I repeat that the fact that it was at the end of a wormhole was probably known or suspected prior to the GA. The pre-GA Alliance was searching for Bolthole but couldn't find it. The Alliance needed to protect its search of Bolthole from tipping off the Havenites, but the secrecy procedures would have been different. Imperial Intelligence, ONI, and others probably all had agents running around the Republic trying to find information on it.

The problem with the expiration date is that it is for the duration of the emergency and the question is whether Haven's leadership will be premature, thinking that the Malign is finished.

That may not be the deciding factor. The people of Sanctuary have rights and they can't be denied indefinitely.

Once the five major navies are rebuilt, the stations in the MBS and Yieltsin are back online, the IAN shipyards are also brought up to spec, will Bolthole still be that strategically important? Haven had must have had at least three more shipyards, but let's say they decommission one. Then add to that the Blackbird one, one more in the MBS and another RMN unit elsewhere (like Grendelsbane), and probably two IAN more, we're talking about 8 major shipyards with the same capabilities. Even if Bolthole is equal to 3 of the others, it would represent 30% of the GA's production capacity. It's considerable, but not a deathblow to lose it.

The MAlign would need to attack 8 systems simultaneously with a repeat of Oyster Bay (where's cthia, BTW?).

The Refuge system has an extra defence: the dust cloud that surrounds it. That makes long-range attacks impossible because you can't see through it clearly enough to attack moving targets. You can't sneak in at moderately high speed because your tracks will be visible. You'd have to go in very slowly. And since it has no other ship traffic, any blip is an alert.

kzt wrote:This could be an explanation as to how the MA is going blow the crap out if, as everyone seems to know where it is. But I think not. It’s just to show he’s a well informed guy, who, in he weekly tea with the Queen, was told about this.

I am not sure whether Zilwicki actually knows where bolthole is. Knowing about its existence, purpose and maybe even capacity does not imply knowing about its location.