PeterZ wrote:I have to revisit that. I had thought that controlling the information getting out for the other side was part of the initial plan. I could more than likely be mistaken.
Howard T. Map-addict wrote:So far, Jonathan, Peter, Don, Howard, and Stephen have all
posted to this discussion. I note that we are all pretty much
making the same argument, and only quibbling over some small
details and their possible consequences.
Now I seem to recall that Arcana's Plan called for "controlling
the contact" *only* in the event of shooting, or any violence.
If there had been no violence in the first contact,
then the Plan called for peaceful discussions, with both groups
sending messages back home.
In Other Words, what ought to happen.
If I Recall Correctly.
It was the shootings at the very beginning that sent the
Arcanans into Plan B.
HTM
Chapter 6 "[The Union] Accords had governed the use of portals and new universes for two hundred years. And they also laid out the rules and contingency plans for contact with another human civilization in the clearest possible terms. Every soldier in the Union's military forces was put through training on how to conduct such a first contact, which aimed above all else to be peaceful." Gadrial's thoughts
Six pages later after investigating the Sharonan camp and some discussion...
"Your tactical concerns are noted, Fifty Garlath. [However] It's imperative that we stop these people before they reach the portal. I don't want a damned battle, Garlath. I want
answers. And I want to control the situation. Until we get those answers, until we get to the bottom of what happened out here, we don't know anything. But if these people are as confused as we are, and if they get back to their superiors and tell them
we started it, it's going to change for a disaster to a godsdamned catastrophe. [...] So the only option
I see is to find them, stop them, and try to make some sort of controlled contact with them , just like the first contact protocols require. And, failing that, we at least need to take them into custody and return them to base where [higher/diplomatic authority can take over]."
Chapter 33 Jasak talking to Jathmar and Shaylar
"Yes, you
turned out to be civilians, but how was I supposed to know that
then? I knew
nothing about you—except that you'd already killed one of my people—and every member of the Arcanan military forces has standing orders where contact with another human civilization is concerned. We're to make it a
peaceful contact if we possibly can.
But, if there's already been blood shed, especially by what appears to be an organized military force, then those same standing orders
required me to
control the contact."