Honorverse ramblings and musings

JeffEngel wrote:He's not surprised by the speed, at least under the assumption that Fearless and Harrington had suspected Sirius was armed. He's surprised - if at all, it's just something he's noting, really - not about the speed of decoys and ECM but the quality of them. So he's got the preparedness question answered by the speed, and he's got his official briefing about the Manties' ECM corrected by personal witness now. Two questions answered at once, not one combined puzzler. [Largely covered by SWM already, it seems - posting anyway because the overlap isn't quite total.]

You're right--I neglected to address Coglin's thought about "they were better than Navint had projected." As you say, that comment was referring to the quality of the ECM itself, which is noted another place as being at least 25% better than Haven had expected.

cthia wrote:On Basilisk Station

Johan Coglin snorted through his nose as his light-speed sensors reported what had happened twenty-five lightseconds behind him. The speed with which Fearless's decoys and ECM had sprung into action certainly answered the question of whether or not Harrington had suspected Sirius was armed! And they were better than NavInt had projected, he noted. Fleet HQ had been unable to provide him with solid data on Manticoran system capabilities, and it seemed their estimates had been low.

This seems a little odd. The time it would take for the differences in tech of navies certainly would affect bringing up the decoys and ECM, without previous warning. However, Coglin admits that it is obvious that Honor, therefore Fearless, was ready. So the only thing that had to be done was to throw a switch or push a button. So I don't rightly understand Coglin's sentiment. The difference in time of even several different navies activating decoys and ECM from a ready state should have been negligible. It seems.

The only bottleneck I can see is the time the Captain would give the order and it relayed and carried out. Which even that should be inconsequential, especially for a premier navy with a rep like the RMN. And one thing textev supplies us with, is the positive/professional rep the RMN enjoys in the Haven sector.

SWM wrote:I think you're missing the point. The point is that someone was ready to push the button or throw the switch.

Coglin was thinking that this proved Harrington suspected the Sirius was armed. If Harrington did not suspect Sirius was armed, no one would have been ready to push that button to activate ECM. The fact that ECM was activated promptly proved that the Fearless was at combat stations and expecting attack.

Coglin wasn't comparing the speed of Fearless to the speed of any other ship. Coglin had been wondering whether Harrington suspected the Sirius was a Q-ship; Coglin got his answer when the Fearless launched ECM immediately.

I don't know SWM. Coglin admits that it is obvious that she knew the Sirius was armed. But then he specifically discusses Manticoran systems.

And they were better than NavInt had projected, he noted. Fleet HQ had been unable to provide him with solid data on Manticoran system capabilities, and it seemed their estimates had been low.

SWM wrote:

JeffEngel wrote:He's not surprised by the speed, at least under the assumption that Fearless and Harrington had suspected Sirius was armed. He's surprised - if at all, it's just something he's noting, really - not about the speed of decoys and ECM but the quality of them. So he's got the preparedness question answered by the speed, and he's got his official briefing about the Manties' ECM corrected by personal witness now. Two questions answered at once, not one combined puzzler. [Largely covered by SWM already, it seems - posting anyway because the overlap isn't quite total.]

You're right--I neglected to address Coglin's thought about "they were better than Navint had projected." As you say, that comment was referring to the quality of the ECM itself, which is noted another place as being at least 25% better than Haven had expected.

Ah! Thank you gentlemen. I've read that many times and never got it. Pearls Smearls!

How do you want the series to conclude? What strings would you want sewn or strewn?

What characters do you absolutely need to survive?

How do you want the Verge to be decided?

How do you want things settled between the GA and the League and what final disposition of the League? And do you want another major battle between the GA and the League?

What do you want to ultimately happen to the MAlign?

If MWW would make you Joe Buckley Jr., what character role would you play?

cthia wrote:How do you want the series to conclude? What strings would you want sewn or strewn?

What characters do you absolutely need to survive?

How do you want the Verge to be decided?

How do you want things settled between the GA and the League and what final disposition of the League? And do you want another major battle between the GA and the League?

What do you want to ultimately happen to the MAlign?

If MWW would make you Joe Buckley Jr., what character role would you play?

Honor in her dotage telling stories to her great-great-great-whatever-grandchildren.
Who is this Charles guy of which you speak?
Does Francis Mueller ever make a good showing of itself.
I want to see the whole Solarian league to stand in awe of Grayson and oh the GA too.
That battles coming.
Tremaine and Horace must survive till the very end. I've voiced this fantasy before, but Tremaine for Third Lord of Admirality and Horace for Fifth Space Lord.
The League should survive as if the the Eridini edict was applied to them. Get rid of I it's corrupt bureaucracy, hold idiots accountable, and punish the transtellars and oligarchs for crimes committed. Undead and undicker its constitution. Haven did it. No excuse Sollies.
Verge encouraged to develop its own path separate of League with league stopping at worlds that legaly joined of its own choosing and letting go those that don't want to anymore.
I would like to be the XO on the Francis Mueller as its gets off the stray improbable shot that breaks the MAlign's back.
Beowulf get MAlign research and with Honors parents undo all their horrible genitic coding in it slaves genes to give them a better life. BSC with Treecats go on a safari with trained Hexapumas.

My mum had an interesting observation I just had to share (it left me with a definite image in my head.)

Albrecht Detweiler speaking to his wife, Evelina. Mum asked "Why is she named Javelina?"

Detweiller married a South American pig?

cthia wrote:

Wiki wrote:
The Doctrine of the Second Fall was a religious doctrine of the Faithful of the Church of Humanity Unchained.
It dealt with the fact that in the Masadans' eyes Barbara Bancroft's betrayal of her husband, which caused their defeat and exile, marked the second time a woman caused a fatal defeat to those loyal to God after Eve's "fall" in the Old Testament.

The doctrine was used as a legitimation of the Masadans' surpression of their women. (HH2)

Coincidence that a woman makes the biggest mistakes in two planet's religious history?

Well - saved the planet in Grayson's history. And really, anything that Masada counts as a mistake or a sin is probably a right fine idea for the rest of us.

And no, it's not a mistake or a coincidence. There's a deep strain of misogyny in Christianity (among other sects) that the Church of Humanity Unchained inherited, albeit in a way that's not quite simply purely hateful. The Faithful purified that strain back to purely and simply hateful, and saw Bancroft through that lens.

There is always the flip side of a coin. It is interesting, because of Barbara Bancroft and her deeds, that Masada didn't think that they were unworthy of Tester.

I'm sure any excuse they could work up would be acceptable. They had a ready-made villain for their identity narrative with her. Bless her.

Can anyone point me in the direction of the Grayson Letters from Home shorts that I seem to remember (apart from which publication it was)

George J. Smith wrote:Can anyone point me in the direction of the Grayson Letters from Home shorts that I seem to remember (apart from which publication it was)

Pretty sure those were web only; never part of any publication.

Here's a link: http://www.baen.com/presby-grayson-letters.html

Jonathan_S wrote:

George J. Smith wrote:Can anyone point me in the direction of the Grayson Letters from Home shorts that I seem to remember (apart from which publication it was)

Pretty sure those were web only; never part of any publication.

Here's a link: http://www.baen.com/presby-grayson-letters.html

Thanks, now my Honorverse collection is complete again.