The Avendahl put up a good fight, but to be fair the Takaran's were hit harder then the Corinairan's were. I have to re-read the first book again, I only read it twice and both times before book 2. so maybe I'm being nostalgic, but the Avendahl took a lot more to destroy then the Takaran fleet... I guess the Takaran's were caught completely flat footed, but that doesnt explain how the Avendahl was able to bring themselves to full combat effectiveness before being caught in the claws of the Dusahn attack.
The Avendahl was better prepared, probably more manœuvres, more drills and better discipline. The threat of a takaran invasion would have made this necessary.
But while we are discussing the Avendahl:
Is Lord Navarro dead? I can't remember to have read anything about him, just his first officer giving orders.
Lord Navarro was on vacation, there was a delay in his shuttle returning from some resort world he was at, we hear that just before the Avendahl is attacked by the Dusahn.
I recon that he and his family are alive, and possibly setting up a second rebel cell, not knowing of the first one... as to why he did not jump to the Ghatazack world day one I have no idea. Maybe he is heading to Sol?
I think he needs a new battleship.
Yeah having Navarro on a real Warship would be nice, but is the Alliance Council willing to turn one over to him?
"That or Put him in the Recently Vacated Admiral Position" Telles says as he stands over the steaming corps of Gillardi, his face locked in a stunned expression from when Telles shot him
ROFL
Now that you said it, having Navarro take over for Dumar in the PC and plan and coordinate what to do would probably be best.
I just wish I could be there to see Gilliardis face when this is all over and he is waiting to arrest Cameron and Nathan walks off the shuttle.
I'm pretty sure that word would get back to the Alliance that Nathan is alive long before that... but if it doesn't, hell yes!!!
I'd try to keep it a secret .... sure got ahead and tell everyone Na-Tan is leading the fight, but keep his picture out of it .... or even better Just don't send any messages to any official place in the sol sector..
Gilliardis can't have any information that is not sent by Jump drone, so just don't send any.
You don't need to keep it a secret in the PC because everyone already knows Nathan is DEAD!, that's the fun part, even if you tell the truth and show messages and pictures, they will think is was computer generated or copied from file.
True that. But I would pass on the intelligence to Sol anyway because thats just good policy for people from Earth who like and want to keep Earth in one piece.
But not for people who are interpreting their standing orders to keep the Alliance safe.
If you send updates to sol, Alliance Command on Earth will know where you are and how to send answer your way (because sending Information only benefits you if you also receive answers). Having a means to send messages to you will enable Alliance Command to order you to come back, hence forcing you to make a decision between going back and being deserters.
As a captain, I would not want to make that decision for my crew, as a crew member, I would hesitate and probably vote for going back.
If you want Earth safe and do not want to be a deserter, you'll only send a message if and only if your ship is about to be destroyed. At that point you have nothing to loose, you just send everything you have and attache the goodbyes of your crew.
All this talk of the Takaran fleet & nobles makes me think back to the earlier books. Just who was the man in the cloak who sat down with Navarro after his meeting with the nobles?
I still think Tug isn't really dead. But maybe I'm totally off base.
I like to think that the Karazari didn't all come home when Tug and Nathan took down the Takaran empire. I think that there were elements of, or possibly Allies of the Karazari who were up to other things in the background. Maybe they were aware of the Dushan or of other threats and were moving to neutralize these outside threats by techniques. By being on/beyond the border they could have been the missing link between the Dushan and the Jump drive and the PC and Sol sector attacks. They could have been Dushan!
I like to think that Navarro had been given access to records on Tug's Death. Records of Karazari sleeper cells that could prove useful against the Takaran nobles or other threats to the PC/Sol Alliance.
I'm now thinking that it could have been really cool if one of these sleeper cells were populated by Dushan sleeper agents who had infiltrated the Karazari as a means of learning the weaknesses of the Takaran empire. That the Dushan learned of the Alliance as soon after it was formed as possible to communicate it to them and that the forward elements had been moving to grab the Jump tech since then. That at the end of the Jung war the loss of a jump ship to "Pirates" in the PC may have been a Dushan attack to grab the Jump drive. That being say 5 light years outside of the PC would be more then enough for the timeline to work.
The Dushan are obviously well motivated and capable of maintaining and fielding a fleet of warships, the ability to retrofit this fleet with jump drives shouldn't have taken them more then 2 years. the first few ships retrofitted beginning training the other crews on Jump tactics and take it from there.
Navarro could be gathering the old Karazari, Forming a small but powerful fleet of attack ships with a separate small, but growing power outside of the PC or in the hands of Dushan sleeper agents and being ferried to Dushan High command for interrogation...
I love this speculation!!!
To answer some earlier posts about the Dushan not using jump drives during the battle it may be you missed the bit about the battle cruiser's jump emitters being offline. We only found out about it toward the end of the battle but the troubled emitters could have been an issue much earlier on in the engagement than we discover.
But what is it that happened to the Dushan Battle Cruiser's jump emitters? I can think of a couple possible explanations:
1. The Dushan haven't perfected the tech and it was faulty, or something went wrong. The Dushan want jump capable ships, I can't recall them making an investment into claiming other ships that they can install jump drives on to later. Not enough is known about how they acquired the jump drive tech or what scientific or industrial capabilities the Dushan caste have.
2. The Aurora's Shield Bursters (busters?) damaged the emitters. The new rail gun slugs were introduced in to the story at the same point so there is a possible connection. Also we know that jump emitters were a divergent technology when Sol scientists were researching shields, so it's possible the emitters are vulnerable. If this is the case then they could be a game changer against the Dushan.
3. The battle cruiser was damaged by the Avendahl and it's been parked there ever since without the damaged emitters being repaired (maybe due to point #1)
4. I'm just reading in to it too much and the Aurora got off a lucky shot.
Looks like the the audiobook is coming out next week.
Hi. New to the forum. I'm halfway through this audible book.(Love this series. Makes my car rides and my ultrarunning bearable.) Something has been driving me crazy since book 13, "A Show Of Force". Did Jessica ever find who was the saboteur of the jump sub that led to the death of Sgt Weatherly? She promised him she would find the person responsible and kill him. Did I miss something since then (up to this book)?
