Cauldron of Ghosts – Snippet 20Â
Jacques looked puzzled. “I’m not sure — Oh.” His face cleared up. “I see what you’re getting at. Even if Mesa doesn’t have your DNA records — as individuals, that is — they do know your personal history. Enough of it, anyway.”
“Which means,” said Anton, “that they’d be on high alert for any routine samples that showed the individuals were from either Haven — more specifically, Nouveau Paris — or Gryphon’s highlands. Neither of those genetic strains is as distinct as something like” — he nodded toward Princess Ruth — “Masadan origin or” — now he glanced at Thandi — “Mfecane origin. But it’s distinctive enough that they’d probably be able to spot it even from routine sampling.”
“There’s no ‘probably’ about it,” said Benton-Ramirez y Chou. “The Alignment’s biological skills are as good as those of us Beowulfers, for the most part, and better in some areas. They’d spot someone from Haven or Gryphon, you can be sure of it. Especially someone from Nouveau Paris or the highlands, because their methods are more than good enough for that sort of detail.”
Victor’s smile had little humor in it. “Precisely. So we go in sheathed as” — he looked at Zilwicki — “what strikes your fancy, Anton?”
“I’ve always had a yen to be a filthy-rich oligarch from one of the Verge territories, unrestrained by any code or scruple.”
Jeremy grinned. “Perhaps from Hakim?”
“Just the thing.” The Hakim System was notorious even by Verge standards for the behavior of its upper classes. And it was very far away from either Manticore or Haven. “And how about you, Victor? An effete snot from one of the Core planets, do you think?”
Across the table, Thandi Palane smiled — with no more humor than Victor had. “A dilettante news reporter, too rich to actually have to work at it but with delusions of journalistic grandeur. From the Hirochi system, perhaps. That was mostly settled by people from east Asia, so you’d be fairly removed from the usual Havenite genome.”
Berry stared at her, aghast. “You’re encouraging them!”
Palane’s smile became gentler. “It’s a good idea, Berry. We do need tofind out more about the Alignment — and it’s a simple fact that Victor and Anton are the best people to do the job.”
Victor’s gaze seemed slightly out of focus. “We could… use some help, though.”
Anton understood what he meant immediately. Well… within a second, anyway. It was a little disturbing, the way his mind seemed able to track Cachat’s so well.
But it was a great idea. “That’d be just about perfect!” He smiled broadly at Thandi. “Our very own one-person wrecking crew.”
“You have got to be kidding,” said Thandi.
“No, actually, I’m not,” said Anton. He nodded toward Cachat. “And for sure and certain he isn’t.”
Honor Alexander-Harrington spoke up for the first time since the Torch delegation entered the room. “If I’m not mistaken, they’re proposing that General Palane accompany the mission to Mesa. Special Officer Cachat and Mr. Zilwicki are proposing it, at least. The general herself seems to have some reservations, of course.”
Berry stared at her, mouth open. Then, stared at her father. Her mouth still open.
“I can see several advantages to the idea myself,” Alexander-Harrington went on. “On the other hand, I also see one big drawback — the fact that General Palane is in command of Torch’s armed forces. It’d be like sending Admiral Caparelli here on an intelligence mission.”
“That analogy is a bit forced, Duchess Harrington,” said Jeremy X. “For two reasons. The first is that the so-called ‘armed forces’ of Torch bear a lot more resemblance to a work-in-progress — small work in progress — than they do to anything either you or the Republic of Haven would call a real military. General Palane has set underway a training program for ground troops that’s going quite well, I think, but she has good subordinates and they could do without her for a time. That’s especially true for the navy, for which her background and experience really aren’t of much use.”
He gave Thandi an apologetic little smile. “Meaning no offense.”
She shrugged. “None taken. The truth is, Duchess Harrington, I let Captain Petersen do pretty much what he wants. He knows far more than I do about how to put together a navy from what amounts to scratch.”
Harrington nodded. “Yes, I know Anton. He’s a superb officer. It depends mostly on how long you’d be gone. A few months wouldn’t be any particular problem. Your armed forces need that much time for training before you’d be able to launch any major operations anyway. But once you do start to engage the enemy…”
“For that, you need a real commander-in-chief,” said Thandi. “On the spot and taking responsibility. Yes, I understand.”
She now looked at Victor and Anton. “So, what’s your estimate?”
“Three months,” said Victor. “Maybe four. No more than five.”
Anton pursed his lips. “Always the cheerful optimist. I agree we’ll need at least three months. But I’d extend the outer limit to six.”
“No longer?” asked Theisman.
“The situation is too fluid, and moving rapidly,” said Anton.
“If we can’t find what we need within half a year,” added Victor, “it’ll most likely be a moot point anyway. Which is part of the reason we’d like General Palane to come on the mission. Things are likely to get… ah, hectic.”
Theisman now looked at Palane. “And exactly how would you make such a big difference, if I might ask?”
Palane looked uncomfortable. “This is a little awkward. Ah…”
“What the general is having a hard time coming right out with,” said Victor, “is that there are no more than a few dozen people in the universe who are her equal when it comes to hands-on personal violence, and no more than a handful who surpass her.” His tone was flat, almost harsh. “I can testify to that personally. Having her come along would be roughly equivalent to bringing a squad of Marines with us. Anybody’s Marines, take your pick.”
“Half a platoon, more like,” said Anton. “There’s a reason that Luis Roszak — who is nobody’s fool, believe me — personally selected her for his staff despite her total lack of the usual connections. The same reason that lots of people on Torch call her Great Kaja. That nickname originated with former Scrags and it translates more-or-less as ‘the Galaxy’s scariest she-wolf.”
He glanced at Caparelli. “Meaning no offense, but however capable your CNO is at his normal line of work, I wouldn’t trade a hundred of him for Palane where we’ll be going.”
Caparelli chuckled. “No offense taken.” He gave Thandi a look that was a lot more interested than the casual one he’d given her when she first came in. “Are they right, General Palane? And to hell with false modesty.”
“Yes,” she said tersely. “They are.”
While this exchange had been going on, Alexander-Harrington had been studying Palane. There was something very intense about that scrutiny, Anton thought. He wasn’t sure what it was, exactly, but he suspected the duchess was beginning to shape some sort of plan.
For what? He could only guess — and his first guess was that Harrington had been struck by the same notion that had already come to him and Victor.
A war with the Mesan Alignment was now inevitable — in fact, it had already started. Sooner or later, Mesa was going to have to be conquered and occupied. Who, then, should be the occupying troops? Of a planet shaped by centuries of harsh slavery, and with a population more than two-thirds of which was made up of slaves or their disenfranchised descendants?
Torch didn’t begin to have the military force needed for such an occupation, of course. But most of the occupation troops could be provided by other star nations. What Torch could provide would be a cadre of specialists, in essence — people who would understand the attitudes of the majority of Mesa’s population and could serve as trusted liaisons between them and the occupying forces.
Having a Torch commander-in-chief who was familiar with the situation on the ground in Mesa due to a personal reconnaissance might prove to be invaluable, in that event. And if the Seccies and slaves of a liberated Torch later learned that that same commander-in-chief had personally risked her life scouting their homeworld in preparation for its liberation . . . .
Anton’s own scrutiny of Harrington must have been intense also. Intense enough that she turned to look at him directly, almost as if she possessed some sort of telepathic ability.
Which was absurd. She wasn’t a treecat, after all.
“I can think of some other reasons it would be a good idea for General Palane to go along on the expedition,” Alexander-Harrington said. “Especially… Let’s just say I’d like to have an assessment of Mesa — from being there on the ground herself, not from reports — coming from someone with her experience and abilities. That could prove very useful, down the road a bit.”
She couldn’t be telepathic, damnation. It just wasn’t in the human genome.
Was it?
The personal com on Harrington’s wrist must have given her a vibration, because she suddenly looked at it.
“A reminder from my staff,” she said. The slight smile on her face indicated that she hadn’t really needed the reminder but was appreciative of having attentive subordinates.
Turning to the Empress of Manticore, she said: “It’s time Admiral Theisman and I were getting out to Imperator. It’s always remotely possible Admiral Filareta will actually get here on schedule, after all.”
Â
This is definitely before ART 20, which is Filaretta’s Fiasco, formally known as the Second Battle of Manticore. (ART 20 says he’s late, but it doesn’t say how late.)
So Mesa is going to become toast. Well buttered. What kind of jam?
By the timing of this meeting, immediately prior to 2nd Battle of Manticore, most of those senior staff present have been “catted” so the comments from the previous Snippet are being a little unkind to the security personnel, maybe?
I agree. Also the comments about Elizabeth and staff.
Thandi as well. Now that does seem to be a bit OTT
You now have 2 very distinctive body types in the group. And they can’t mess with Thandi’s basic body shape very much since she’s being taken along for her muscle memory.
2 lovers + A N Other in a penetration team is a built in conflict of interest
If it comes down to spectacular head-breaking isn’t the mission likely to be already blown anyway?
Come to that neither Zilwicki nor Cachat’s suggested covers looks particularly discreet nor hard to run background checks on.
It’s a big galaxy without fast communications between star systems. It’s not like a Mesan security type could pick up a phone and talk with somebody light-years away.
Plus, Mesa could have plenty of those types visiting so what’s two more as long as there’s nothing to show that they’re different.
If they can assume the identity of someone who REALLY is from those places, the background check becomes moot. The bio-sculpting would be trivial compared to the skin replacing. And that adds the fun of the real person arriving to mess things up. Tho, the chaos when Henke arrives with her fleet should be fun.
Oh, and the dramatic irony about Honor’s abilities is amusing …. but easily overdone.
I think the idea is to hide in plain sight! Unobtrusive is out. Andrew is the only one out of step really, but as already proved does have his uses and in a poorly maintained environment, the fewer outside workmen required? Surely a plus. Steph can manage him quite well!
Erm, unobtrusive is hiding in plain sight, by definition.
My question is how long after this motley tri arrives will Henke drop in? It cannot be that long as the results of Filaretta’s slaughter by Mesan agents was fairly fresh news to Henke when she left. And they have to go by commercial flights…
It can’t be long, unless my timing is all shot to hel.
My money for the time on planet before 10th fleet shows up is down to weeks 3 maybe?
Its a bit iffy. Depends how much of August Gold Peak spent in Meyers interrogating people and arranging the clearing of the rest of the sector plus how long it takes her to go from Meyers to Mesa on the one hand, and how long it takes the 3 musketeers to sort their disguises/covers and transit to Mesa, with at least the last stage by commercial flights, on the other.
Mike got the news of Filareta’s debacle after she arrived in Tillerman – spent a couple of days etc., on maneuvers and then went to Meyers and spent about 1 month sorting that out – so it would be about 6 weeks or more before she gets the idea of arriving on Mesa’s doorstep and then leaves – and Mesa is over 100 ly by hyperspace from the other end of the Talbott Quadrant – I haven’t looked up the exact reference – and obviously isn’t planning on wormholes, even though Manticore has a great deal of control of the various hyperbridges, but there has been no mention of their taking over the Visigoth Junction, so she has to take the ‘long’ way round.
According to the Illegible Map, there’s no “long way around.” There are no hyperbridge termini that would allow shortcuts on the Meyers-Mesa route, and it would be substantially longer to backtrack from Meyers to Lynx to try to use the Manticore-Beowulf-Visigoth path and then attempt an invasion of Mesa via the Visigoth-Mesa bridge. If Mesa has any kind of defenses on their end of the hyper bridge, attempting an invasion through that bridge is a good way to get your fleet slaughtered.
I’ve forgotten where you can find a copy of the “Illegible Map.” Sorry. Maybe someone else can post a link to the maps site.
In SoF the August 1922 timestamp comes just before Chap 33 which starts with 10th Fleet 1 day out of the Meyers system. How long Gold Peak spends there is not clear, but there is no September timestamp before she leaves at the end of the book.
Here it is. Have fun.
http://honorverseglossary.wikispaces.com/file/view/Talbot_Cluster_and_surroundings_25.05.2011_original.jpg
Rumor has it that this is an extract from Weber’s super-secret official map. The reality is that it doesn’t match the other maps in some significant ways.
Why do people keep making two-dimensional maps of three-dimensional space?
That’s what Weber started out with in the early 90s. I understand someone from BuNine spent several years trying to turn it into a 3D map, and managed to get something that came within about 10% on the actual distances and transit times in the books. Whether we’ll ever see a 3d map is questionable – I don’t think DW wants to retcon all the distances and transit times, some of which are highly significant for the plot, and I also don’t think Baen’s printing budget allows for holographic 3D printing.
Thanks for the map, John. I did mean “long” as in no nice wormhole shortcuts, although there is mention in ART about one Manty taskgroup, that no one knows until they arrive, and Mesa doesn’t have fortresses? And re my comment earlier about hiding in plain sight – they definitely are planning on being highly visible! Well, Victor is, anyway.
Mesa’s naval presence is pretty generally regarded as poor, although they do seem to have one division (headed by a Commodore) with a battle-cruiser, several cruisers and destroyers that turns up around Congo in time to confront Admirals Roszak and Oversteegen. Exactly why they’re there at that time is something that only Weber, Flint and the gods of Plot know.
Beyond that, there’s a note somewhere that an Alignment officer considers the entire Mesan Navy to be not quite up to their august standards.
I presume there are forts at the terminus; whether there are any at the planet is something no one has mentioned.
Forts at a planet don’t make any sense. They can be taken out at long distance with no risk to the attackers. This has been mentioned many times before.
Forts at a wormhole are different, because they are there to control whoever comes out of the wormhole (usually 1-by-1) at short distance. Besides, IIRC, the legal precedent is that if you don’t have a fort at a wormhole then you don’t have sovereignty over it.