Sonja Hemphill

crewdude48 wrote:

cthia wrote:Was it Sonja's jeune ecole that conceived and advocated pod warfare, effectively rewriting the threat environment? She kept the Havenites off balance, and prevented that Juggernaut of an 800 lb gorilla from pouncing.

Actually Hemphill was against pods. She designed the new launchers in them to make LACs more dangerous, and thought of them being wasted in pods as "retrograde," which is about as big an insult as the jeune ecole can give to a piece of tech. The fact that the LACs were still totally unsurvivable at that point didn't seem to phase her. Of course, we only hear about this through Honor's thoughts in SVW, and she would be rather justified in still holding an internal grudge at that point against Horrible Hemphill, regardless of who the fault for Fearless actually belonged to.

Did you ever actually see Sonja being "against the pods," or did you get that through the filters of another character (like, oh, Honor Harrington, who was still really, really pissed at her over Basilisk Station at that point)? I ask merely because there was this little thing called security for King Roger's top secret research program, you understand.

I believe the word I might be searching for here is "disinformation."

cthia wrote:I plum forgot about her input in the Young court martial. I must reread that. Does anyone readily recall the book that was in?

The Field of Dishonor. It was the first part of the book, whihc of course, led to the Earl North Hallow hiring Summervale.

cthia wrote:Thanks dude. Who was responsible for the conception of pod-based warfare?

Honor started the fad in "The Short Victorious War" but I think it was Hemphill that pushed it. I seem to remember in "Honor Among Eneimes" that the Qship design was Hemphills baby, which included pods and LACs.

crewdude48 wrote:Actually Hemphill was against pods. She designed the new launchers in them to make LACs more dangerous, and thought of them being wasted in pods as "retrograde," which is about as big an insult as the jeune ecole can give to a piece of tech. The fact that the LACs were still totally unsurvivable at that point didn't seem to phase her. Of course, we only hear about this through Honor's thoughts in SVW, and she would be rather justified in still holding an internal grudge at that point against Horrible Hemphill, regardless of who the fault for Fearless actually belonged to.

I think Janacheck disliked the pods once the LAC took off in its later versions, after Honor had returned, and only because it was the LACs beign the "new main system defense".
In "In Enemey Hands" Honor talks with Whitehaven about both the pods and the LACs during her time on the WDB. He thought they were, and i think I have this right, "pie in the sky" ideas not fully tested, and he attributed both to Hemphill... until she told him she wrote the recommandtion for the LACs for the WDB.

However, if someone has a textev that I am wrong please do share.

cthia wrote:[
Did textev ever give evidence of it finally coming to the attention of Honor that it was not Sonja who banished Fearless to Basilisk Station? I seem to recall Honor really being upset with Sonja since she had made 'Voldemoort' work once.

I don't think so, I think she got over being deployed with the gravlance in between books, before her own time on the WDB, but before her apprciation of the Wayfarer Qship she took to Sileasa.
At least in my humble opinion and memory.

As I am typing this, vindication of my post was placed...

runsforcelery wrote:Did you ever actually see Sonja being "against the pods," or did you get that through the filters of another character (like, oh, Honor Harrington, who was still really, really pissed at her over Basilisk Station at that point)? I ask merely because there was this little thing called security for King Roger's top secret research program, you understand.

I believe the word I might be searching for here is "disinformation."

Remember, Sonja wasn't (and never claimed to be) a lone wolf--she had been part of the weapons development projects for many years, and learned from the best, including a couple of smart guys named D'Orivile and Winton....

And I expect that while the WDB might have it's flakes, like the Commander that approached Honor at the end of On Basalisk Station, it also has its' share on very bright, very creative people whom look to Sonya for approval and input and deeply care about their work.

And it is Soyna's job not just to think of things to keep them busy, but get those genius-level folks working together and on target--not the easiest job in the universe, I'm sure.

All that said, for all that Soyna Hemphill has and will do, quiet, unassumming, and incredibly capable Admiral Jonas Adcock will always be my hero, after House of Steel.

cthia wrote:An aside:
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" is the second-most popular song in the English language, following "Happy Birthday to You" and followed by "Auld Lang Syne". It is frequently used instead of "Happy Birthday to You" in films and television to avoid possible copyright issues.

Just a correction, Scots is generally considered (by linguists at least) to be a sister language of English, or maybe a daughter language. But definitely a distinct language. So 'Auld Lang Syne' wouldn't be an English song ;-p

hanuman wrote:

cthia wrote:An aside:
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" is the second-most popular song in the English language, following "Happy Birthday to You" and followed by "Auld Lang Syne". It is frequently used instead of "Happy Birthday to You" in films and television to avoid possible copyright issues.

Just a correction, Scots is generally considered (by linguists at least) to be a sister language of English, or maybe a daughter language. But definitely a distinct language. So 'Auld Lang Syne' wouldn't be an English song ;-p

To quote the title of one of the Bonus Features on my Brave Blu-Ray:

"It *is* English - sort of."

It's in Field of Dishonor. Yound was up for court martial due to his actions at the end of Short Victorious War. The panel was split right down the middle on whether to convict Young due to politics. Hemphill was the deciding vote. Due to her connections to the Young family, voting to convict Pavel Young of cowardice and sentencing him to death would have killed her career and earned her the enmity of her family and political alliance. However, voting to dismiss all charges would have been a betrayal of the military she loved which she couldn't bring herself to do. She broke the deadlock by suggesting the panel convict Young of all charges but the most serious one, which carried the death penalty, and kick Young out of the military. She hoped this would have been enough to appease her ties to the Conservatives and keep the military intact. She had no idea what Young was going to do next.

cthia wrote:I plum forgot about her input in the Young court martial. I must reread that. Does anyone readily recall the book that was in?

RFC, you had me at "Horrible Hemphill". If I could have met RFC at a convention or messaged him in a forum when On Basilisk Station originally published, "Who is Sonja?" not Honor would have been my first question. I always wondered about her. What was she really like. What else did she do to become an Admiral. I thought then "Wow, a female starship captain that kicks ass but wait! Who is this female Admiral?" If RFC had written it all from her point of view I know I would have followed the series still. Sonja's appearances both in person and through others discussions of her such as the one between Hamish and Honor absolutely enthralled me. I wanted more. Alas she was cloaked in secrecy From the beginning I felt for her and thought of her as perhaps a misunderstood and much maligned Agent Q. I am glad for the recent developments of her character. More Sonja Please.

Yow wrote:SNIP

More Sonja Please.

I CANNOT SECOND THIS STATEMENT LOUDLY ENOUGH.

A modern day Sonja Hemphill that might have slipped your radar.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper

Yow wrote:A modern day Sonja Hemphill that might have slipped your radar.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper

"Amazing Grace" has always been one of my heroes. Heroines?