cthia wrote:Because your Queen is in Check!
Uh... you do realise there is no such chess move, right? In fact, it's very topical: the Queen can be sacrificed, if it wins you the game. It's the King that can't be and can be in Check. In this case, the King wouldn't be a person, but likely the MBS as a whole: if the MAN puts the MBS in Check, then the Manticore Government must do anything it needs to save itself.
You have no choice but to trust them, unless you are as cold as everyone else who wishes to solve the problem by tossing Beth's ass under the bus. And Justin. And Monroe...
Of course you have a choice! You can choose to
not trust them to keep their word and therefore do everything in your power to come up with contingencies in case they fail to live up to their word. In fact, that's what you should do. Because they won't live up to their word.
BTW, there's no scenario in which the Queen is kidnapped and Monroe is not already dead.
If coldly tossing the queen under the bus is one extreme, then emotionally giving in to anything because she is who she is is the other. There's a lot of grey area in the middle and this is what we're arguing.
No, nobody will actually think that the MA can be trusted. There are those who are still against the alliance with Haven -- partly, I believe -- because of trust. But, just like with the question of whether to accept the offer made by Eloise, your nuts are in a vise between a rock and a hard place. There is no choice.
But again, whether you can trust the MA in the long run is secondary and counter-productive to getting the Queen back. That is the more pressing issue on the board right now.
No, it's not secondary, because it depends on what they're asking for you to do in order to get the Queen back. If their demands are what you've said, toothless and naïve as they are, then sure, agree to them because the short- and long-term effects of having agreed to them are minimal.
I seriously, seriously doubt anyone would make those demands. They'd ask for more, which would make the Government have to decide whether those short- and long-term effects are worse than losing the Queen.
And! I do understand everyone's reluctance in doing what you must to get the Queen back, even short of surrender. Oftentimes on the chessboard, a weaker player will give up most of his firepower, and position, trying to save his Queen. You must learn to play without her.
And sometimes they'll offer up the queen to gain an advantage that will lead to victory. It's mighty risky, but it's possible.
But, considering this particular Queen. Is it a good idea considering the amount of time she ruled her kingdom, and the wheeling and dealing she did with the factions of the government? And her importance to the entire Galaxy at large? Are we absolutely sure the successive ruler and associated government won't end up being worse than High Ridge? For a very long time? A totally new government could result in ending the Grand Alliance by alienating Haven and leading to war. It could alienate Grayson. It could alienate the Andermani.
War is always just one misunderstanding away. Politics is more dangerourous than war.
No, we can't be absolutely sure which one would be worse, depending on what the demands are.
Again, kidnapping the Queen could be a mission saved for a specific set of conditions, like if the MA was alerted that the GA was gearing up to attack.
It's already highly unlikely that the Queen could be kidnapped. It's even less likely that she could be kidnapped at will, at a time of the kidnappers' choosing, without depending on factors out of their control. A successful kidnapping likely depends on the Queen putting herself in a risky situation that the Queen's Own regiment has not realised is such. Operation Hassan could only be launched because the Queen was going to visit the Steadholders; if she were to meet only with the Protector, the operation could never happen.
And the chance of such a condition being present while the GA is preparing to assault Darius is effectively indistinguishable from zero. At such a time, the GA is likely going to be at high alert and the Queen would be elbows-deep into the strategic considerations of such a thing.