How much orbital traffic does Mesa have? (ToF TextEv)

Loren Pechtel wrote:Manticore doesn't shoot at the press. There's nothing else there for them to shoot at. I would expect the dispatch boats to take up a high orbit (don't want to be nearby in case something gets blown to space debris) but there's no big reason to run away.

They believe th propaganda.

kzt wrote:

Loren Pechtel wrote:Manticore doesn't shoot at the press. There's nothing else there for them to shoot at. I would expect the dispatch boats to take up a high orbit (don't want to be nearby in case something gets blown to space debris) but there's no big reason to run away.

They believe th propaganda.

What propaganda? When have Manties been believably accused before this of murdering civilians for no reason?

This is a freaking hot story: GA conquers Mesa!

There's no way any press member is going to leave, except under direct orders. And maybe not even then!

GregD wrote:There's no way any press member is going to leave, except under direct orders. And maybe not even then!

The ship captain who is personally responsible for his $500 million dispatch boat is not a reporter or a press member. He's a guy who needs to bring his incredibly expensive ship home in operating condition with no more holes in it than it had when he left.

kzt wrote:The reporters can stay if they want. But the Manties normal thing has been to shut down all traffic for some time. Like many weeks at best. This assumes there isn't an actual battle. In any case, dispatch boats are very damn expensive and extremely fragile.

Probably better to run and file the story about the Mantie invasion than wait for more details and risk getting impounded for a prolonged period.
The news agency can always send the dispatch boat back to pick up the news reports that happened while it was away filing the initial invasion story.

This isn't a satellite TV truck - the dispatch boats have to physically carry the news to other systems and I suspect they're rarely allowed to delay their scheduled rounds. They pick up the backlog of stories since the last pass-by through and then head almost immediately back out to their next stop where they dump their reports and pick up that system's outgoing news.

Almost no matter how juicy a developing story, there's got to be a limit to how long a dispatch boat's captain can delay their departure to the next scheduled delivery. And any news boats that are waiting around have to make a very quick decision because if they stay and do get impounded, temporarily or permanently, they can't file all the riveting coverage they've already recorded, nor break the news that Manticore has invaded the Mesa system.
(And I have to figure that nobody wants to get scooped on that, so once the first new corps ship runs for it it'll probably start a stampede of their competitors)

Jonathan_S wrote:

kzt wrote:The reporters can stay if they want. But the Manties normal thing has been to shut down all traffic for some time. Like many weeks at best. This assumes there isn't an actual battle. In any case, dispatch boats are very damn expensive and extremely fragile.

Probably better to run and file the story about the Mantie invasion than wait for more details and risk getting impounded for a prolonged period.
The news agency can always send the dispatch boat back to pick up the news reports that happened while it was away filing the initial invasion story.

This isn't a satellite TV truck - the dispatch boats have to physically carry the news to other systems and I suspect they're rarely allowed to delay their scheduled rounds. They pick up the backlog of stories since the last pass-by through and then head almost immediately back out to their next stop where they dump their reports and pick up that system's outgoing news.

Almost no matter how juicy a developing story, there's got to be a limit to how long a dispatch boat's captain can delay their departure to the next scheduled delivery. And any news boats that are waiting around have to make a very quick decision because if they stay and do get impounded, temporarily or permanently, they can't file all the riveting coverage they've already recorded, nor break the news that Manticore has invaded the Mesa system.
(And I have to figure that nobody wants to get scooped on that, so once the first new corps ship runs for it it'll probably start a stampede of their competitors)

Memory evades me. Even under Lacoon 2 weren't news service dispath boats exempted?

pappilon wrote:Memory evades me. Even under Lacoon 2 weren't news service dispath boats exempted?

Sure. This is Mesa. Do you think they might want to know something about who really owns that DB. Might take a while. Assuming they don’t just confiscate them. Additionally the RMN has gone to great deal of trouble to keep any ships from leaving in systems they have attacked to prevent anyone from knowing they were there. If there was a news boat do you think it would be ok for them to carry the news they don’t want carried? And the captain is the guy who signed for the several hundred million worth of DB.

kzt wrote:

pappilon wrote:Memory evades me. Even under Lacoon 2 weren't news service dispath boats exempted?

Sure. This is Mesa. Do you think they might want to know something about who really owns that DB. Might take a while. Assuming they don’t just confiscate them. Additionally the RMN has gone to great deal of trouble to keep any ships from leaving in systems they have attacked to prevent anyone from knowing they were there. If there was a news boat do you think it would be ok for them to carry the news they don’t want carried? And the captain is the guy who signed for the several hundred million worth of DB.

At worst they end up held for a while. They're not in danger.

Loren Pechtel wrote:At worst they end up held for a while. They're not in danger.

Do they know that?

Solarian Newsies are used to the way the SLN and OFS operate when away from the Core Worlds. Being "Held For A While" by the SLN or OFS could wind up being a life sentence even with prolong. Accidents do happen, you know.

We know that Manticore is serious about free transit by diplomats and newsies, but do Sollies believe them any more than they would believe the SLN (or pre-republic Haven)?

Weird Harold wrote:
Do they know that?

Solarian Newsies are used to the way the SLN and OFS operate when away from the Core Worlds. Being "Held For A While" by the SLN or OFS could wind up being a life sentence even with prolong. Accidents do happen, you know.

We know that Manticore is serious about free transit by diplomats and newsies, but do Sollies believe them any more than they would believe the SLN (or pre-republic Haven)?

The ones in the Manticore system when Filareta finally deigned to attack were certainly NOT refused transit, nor were any commercial ships. Any organizations trying yto go through worm holes held by the RMN were allowed transit. Do you realy think they kept this information to themselves even if they did not make it publicly available. Besides Manticore announced its policy before 2nd BoM, That SLN dispatch boat pretending to be a news courier surely made it through much to the surprise of some junior officer.

pappilon wrote:...That SLN dispatch boat pretending to be a news courier surely made it through much to the surprise of some junior officer.

Which is precisely my point.

That dispatch boat sat around waiting for Filareta to show up and had ample opportunity to observe any supposed censorship by Manticore. They had undoubtedly watched several other Newscorp DBs transit, yet they were surprised (and if IIRC, scornful) that the SEM would allow them to transit without restriction or inspection.