One of the things I keep thinking of is the fact that humanity in general is very willing to help out when a disaster happens. Earth being attacked like that qualifies. A cruise liner made into a jump ship would be great for ferrying medical, technical, and engineering types to help rebuild Earth. How would Terran's respond to this help?
I also think we might see a nanite war soon. How to detect and neutralize nanites without killing the host? If they succeed, how will the Jung respond? Like China, I think the Jung policies are built strictly for the leadership to remain in control so killing people doesn't bother then in any way. Jump ship and nanite tech response will be built on how to keep leaders in charge.
It all depends on what the current status of the relationship is.
Many systems still think Earth is in bio-digital quarantine. Before sending any solidarity aid, they need to be sure that Earth has fully recovered.
Also, some systems may think that they are better under Jung rule, that wouldn't help either.
Takara and Darvano did send such aid, at least before the civil war that just started.
But I agree that we most likely will see more nanite war soon.
It was said in the earlier books that the Jung want to relocate their base of power to Earth. Right now their homeworld is a secret. To achieve a similar result you have to label Earth as still in bio-digital quarantine as read in Book 13 (Tau Ceti). Additionally it sows distrust against people from Earth.
I do not expect a nanite war. At least not as a major plot in the books. Ryk marvels best at describing space fights ... and honestly I like his books because of that. 🙂
The next books are a race against time. The Alliance has to destroy the Jung or will be destroyed. I use destroy because the mindset and their society will accept no surrender or truce. Only victory counts! It will be not enough to kill the Jung leadership when the whole Jung think and act in this way. The war can only end in a Ghatazhak way ... victory by absolute eradicating the whole Jung problem (Ships, Homeworld, Society).
Maybe Nathan will do this decision or the Ghatazhak. Either way both parties will exceed the moral justification (even if their is no real alternative) and have to be banned -> nice Story hook for the next 15 books. ^^
I admit - I am a fan of the Ghatazhak and would like to read more of them. Ryk planted already a few hooks in the books. Mainly when Nathan asked Telles why cannot the Ghatazhak be programmed to serve the Ghatazhak and have a kind of free will? An own life?
The alliance lost a damaged scout with jump tech but the Jung lost a lot of their advantage in intelligence gathering because knowing how its done is a big deal. The alliance still has Zpeds and better shields so my thought is they still came out of book 13 ahead even if the jump tech is troubling.
Its worth mentioning that the Power requirement of the Jump tech will mean that Jung Battleships and Battle Platforms would have difficulty using the tech. Also with the size of the BP's they would be on pretty obvious jump vectors.
The real danger is in the Jung war machine. If all the gunboats and frigates get jump tech and converge and attack the alliance then that is a lot of jump ships.
If, indeed, masses of jump-enabled Jung ships converge on Sol to fight the Alliance, the Alliance's best bet would be to jump clear and let the Jung ship shoot and ram each other. 😉
Kidding aside, I think that there are some points that desperately need to happen in the next few books in order for the Jung to be defeated:
* Dr. Galloway (or some other Corinairan doctors/scientists) needs to develop a counter to the Jung nanites. These anti-Jung nanites would need to be administered on a huge scale, as everybody who lives on one of the worlds liberated by the Alliance will need to be cured from the Jung nanites. Otherwise, the Jung will have billions of spies in every system.
* The Alliance needs more ships, preferably ones with proper shields. The Campaglia would be a welcome addition to their fleet.
* The Jung homeworld needs to be found. From what little we know about the Jung and their background, their homeworld is probably not a very hospitable one: The first settlers were desperate, and the Jung settlers raided other failing settlements, according to the books. There's also mention of the Jung being genetically engineered to grow quite tall in order to better survive on their world. Theirs is probably a high-gravity environment, which would point towards a (smaller) gas giant. The Jung's implied lanky built also hints at a warm climate, for it gives them a higher ratio of skin to body volume and allows for better heat exchange (cooling).
Personally, I think that Captain Dubnyk, the guy who the Aurora picked up in that thousand-year-old ship, knows more than he should. He once makes a comment on the vastness of the Jung Empire that seems awfully well-informed. How does he know just how vast it is, much less that it is, indeed, an empire? (Which it actually isn't, according to the Tannans...)
When it comes to the civil war in the Pentaurus Cluster, I think that it will take place mostly in part two, for the situation seems way too complex to be dealt with in just two more episodes.
First of all, there's some new noble - probably the heir of the late Lord Dahra - trying to set himself up as a new Emperor of Takara. He's backed by most of the great Noble Houses, with the exception of House Ta'akar, which is now destroyed, and House Navarro, which has control over the Avendahl. This new Emperor will have to try and eliminate Deliza, the sole surviving member of House Ta'akar. (Heck, her escape to Tanna might fill an entire episode!)
Now, the new Takaran Emperor will try to re-establish the Empire once held by Caius. However, he has made one grave mistake: He has allied himself with the Ybarans, who not only hate every member of House Ta'akar, but also every Takaran. Eventually, this alliance will blow up in the Takaran's face, as the Ybarans will revolt against him, spreading further chaos. Before that happens, though, he will run into trouble with the Alliance, as they will most likely try to subjugate Corinair and that other planet that the Aurora liberated. Both of them are members of the Alliance. However, technically, Takara under a new Emperor is not - with the exception of House Ta'akar and (probably) House Navarro. Since everyone will be after the content of the Data Cores, this will spark a number of fights between the Alliance and Takara until, well, the Ybarans start their rebellion.
Anyway, I think that this whole arc, with all its sub-plots, will be able to fill a whole 15 episodes.
Dr. Galloway needs to come up with a way to interface with the Jung Nantes. if only to determine where the data is being sent too. It would also be great if the team can come up with a way of determining what was recorded. Of course, they need a way to remove them from a global population like Tau Ceti.
-Eric
That won't work because the Jung use monitoring devices in everyday places - like train/subway stations and the like. However, these devices might send their information somewhere.
That won’t work because the Jung use monitoring devices in everyday places – like train/subway stations and the like. However, these devices might send their information somewhere.
You figure out the protocol they use and build your own reader. Then do something REALLY sneaky. Replace the data with your fake data. That way, you give the Jung false data that you want them to believe.
Easier to feed false info to peepers then to try to fake the readers, I think.
I'm late to the game, because of vacation plans and a leisurely re-read of 1-12.
I agree with many of the critiques of book 13 so far. I found myself dreading the parts where battles claimed characters I had started feeling for. I undertand the costs of war and all that, but still...
The one overarching plot trend I have noticed is the destruction of any previous government structures. It seems that, more than any other over-arching plot trend I can see, is a power vacuum at the top of all human-inhabited worlds. It kind of seems that SOMEONE is being lined up to be pulled into the top slot of all humans.
The Ghatazak seem destined to report to one senior guy, who gets killed, thus releasing them.
The PC except for T'Akara will need a strong leader to rally around against the T'Akar, and then afterwards they'll need a leader from outside the PC so that local rivalries won't get I the way.
The Sol sector will want a strong leader to help against any remaining Jung raiders. They are also going to look to a strong leader, preferably from outside the area. The mythos of Earth and Na-Tan seem the logical choice, but it could go to someone else. Either way it seems setup to anoint one guy.
On the other hand, never forget the wisdom of Star Trek III - "Admiral, it was a mistake for you to accept promotion. You want to be out there hopping galaxies." (Slightly paraphrased there)
"If I may be so bold, it was a mistake for you to accept promotion. Commanding a starship is your first, best destiny; anything else is a waste of material."
Ok, I have been mulling over episode 13. Like several of you, the loss of the scout ship with an intact jump drive rubbed me the wrong way. Even if Jessica's brother is still alive on board, yeah, it just seemed wrong to me. After much pondering, I have two theories to offer.
1) Ryk felt that the Jung we're going to get the jump drive at some point, and was bored of writing, so he just got it over as soon as he could.
2) this is an elaborate plot to get the Jung to reveal their HQ. Only the prize of a jump drive would cause the Jung to loosen their security protocols enough to reveal a hint as to where Jungland might be. The jump drive still has a hardware fail safe, so Admiral Dumar felt the risk was sufficient.
Of these, of course choice number one is the clear truth. 😉
And if you really want to get fancy, the clone of Tug and his little girl are in the cargo hold of the scout ship #3, and their consciousness will be re-integrated with their new bodies once the Jung threat has been neutralized.
Hi Erich,
About your theory #1, I suppose that Mr. Brown just wanted to add more spice on the plot and make us sweat because we bug him about EP 13. 🙂
IMO, Nathan or Admiral Dumar will send some falcons to locate the Jung battleship and once it’s done the Aurora will jump, disrupt the battleship FTL, blow it to pieces, and maybe in the meantime, recover Jessica’s brother.
I don’t think that the battleship will head to the Jung Homeworld, it’s more probable that it's heading to the closest shipyard capable to build battleships so they can reverse engineering the jump drive and install on their ships.
If my memory serves me well, it seems that the Jung Homeworld is too far away (one year or more to get there) and that’s why the Jung governors have some autonomy.
If I recall correctly, the majority of the Jung commanders and their ships do not know where the Jung home world is. That is part of the security system they have in place. The scout is not going to the Jung home world because no one on the ship knows where it is.
