I feel the need, the need for speed. -Top Gun
The Alpha lines were the most superior genetic lines produced by the Mesan Alignment, destined to serve as the ruling class once the Renaissance Factor had taken over control of humanity.
The Beta lines were supreme genetic lines produced by the Mesan Alignment, destined to serve the Renaissance Factor once it had taken over control of humanity.
The Gamma lines were high genetic lines produced by the Mesan Alignment, destined to serve the Renaissance Factor once it had taken over control of humanity.
Genetic slavery, sometimes euphomized as genetic indentured servitude, was a form of slavery common on certain human-settled worlds, but outlawed by most star nations. Its basis was the genetic engineering and trade of subservient human beings designed for specific purposes.
It has been simmering in my mind for quite some time, but could not quite place a taste bud on the tasty tidbit. It seems that Mesa may have missed an opportunity. Why is there not a S-line, bred for Naval Strategy and Tactics? Spoon fed Sun Tzu's Art of War in pre-school. Can they not conceive of the possible advantage of people bred to become superior officers? Imagine a Navy devoid of a single Elvis Santino. Effectively all of your officers are potential Salamanders. And all are well trained in Old Earth's Top Gun tactics as a teether. After all, it's apparently not being taught anywhere by any Navy.
Perhaps it wasn't really Dunecki's fault. The range was insanely short for modern warships, dropping towards one which could be measured in hundreds of kilometers and not thousands, and no sane naval officer would even have contemplated engaging at such close quarters. Nor had either Dunecki or Bachfisch planned on doing any such thing, for each had expected to begin and end the battle with a single broadside which would take his enemy completely by surprise. But whatever they'd planned, their ships were here now, and no one in any navy trained its officers for combat maneuvers in such close proximity to an enemy warship. And because of that, Anders Dunecki, for all of his experience, was completely unprepared for what War Maiden actually did.
It wasn't as if Dobrescu or the astrogator of any other starship did his calculations by hand. The entire idea was ridiculous! That was what computers were for in the first place, and if a ship suffered such a massive computer failure as to take Astrogation off-line, figuring out where it was was going to be the least of its problems. She'd just love to see anyone try to manage a hyper generator, an inertial compensator, or the grav pinch of a fusion plant without computer support! But the Powers That Were weren't particularly interested in the opinions of one Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington, and so she sweated her way through the entire old-fashioned, labor-intensive, frustrating, stupid quill-pen-and-parchment business like the obedient little snotty she was.
Mesan bred astrogator genies would be able to astrogate without computers, in a pinch.
This whole concept is similar to what Kirk faced in The Wrath of Khan. The possibility is very real, and the threat exists. Who knows if Mesa hasn't a strategic and tactical line bred.
In conjures up perceptions of a new type warfare. Attrition Warfare with an applied emphasis on intellectual superiority.
Attrition warfare is a military strategy in which a belligerent side attempts to win a war by wearing down its enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and materiel. The war will usually be won by the side with greater such resources.[1] The word attrition comes from the Latin root atterere to rub against, similar to the "grinding down" of the opponent's forces in attrition warfare.[2] -wiki
Sun Tzu argued against attrition warfare...
Military theorists and strategists like Sun Tzu have viewed attrition warfare as something to be avoided. In the sense that attrition warfare represents an attempt to grind down an opponent through superior numbers, it represents the opposite of the usual principles of war, where one attempts to achieve decisive victories by using minimal necessary resources and in minimal amount of time, through maneuver, concentration of force, surprise, and the like.
On the other hand, a side which perceives itself to be at a marked disadvantage in maneuver warfare or unit tactics may deliberately seek out attrition warfare to neutralize its opponent's advantages. If the sides are nearly evenly matched, the outcome of a war of attrition is likely to be a Pyrrhic victory. -wiki
however, in the Honorverse, with genies being let out of the bottle, perhaps a new slant on this tactic may make it feasible. A sort of Mental Attrition Warfare. MAW.
If Mesa was going to let the genies out of the bottle, why not rub the bottle the right way?
Which brings me to a final point. With RFC announcing that there will be only two more mainline Honorverse novels featuring Honor as the main character, why can't Honor resume her teaching position? It seems she is just as valuable there. Then perhaps she can teach those close-in maneuvers in which she employed on at least two occasions and survived where survival wasn't expected.
But unlike whoever was in command over there, Honor could not afford a weapon-to-weapon battering match. Not against someone that big who had already demonstrated her capabilities so convincingly. And so she had no choice but to oppose overwhelming firepower with cunning.
Honor watched the other ship roll. Like War Maiden, the bigger ship was rotating her crippled broadside away from her opponent's fire. But she wasn't stopping there, and Honor let herself feel a tiny spark of hope as the raider continued to roll, and then the weapons of her undamaged broadside lashed out afresh and poured a hurricane of fire upon War Maiden. The belly of the Manticoran ship's impeller wedge absorbed that fire harmlessly, but that wasn't the point, and Honor knew it. The enemy was sequencing her fire carefully, so that something pounded the wedge continuously. If War Maiden rolled back for a broadside duel, that constant pounding was almost certain to catch her as she rolled, inflicting damage and destroying at least some of her remaining weapons before they ever got a chance to bear upon their foe. It was a smart, merciless tactic, one which eschewed finesse in favor of brutal practicality. But unlike whoever was in command over there, Honor could not afford a weapon-to-weapon battering match. Not against someone that big who had already demonstrated her capabilities so convincingly. And so she had no choice but to oppose overwhelming firepower with cunning.
S-ATC. Salamander Advanced Tactical Course.
The SCrusher. The Salamander Crusher.
My two cents anyway. With today's inflation, is it worth a plum nickel?
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