[dkstories] DoH Chapter 20

[Philistine]

oh my, it's up.

Edited October 13, 2006 by Philistine

[Demetz]

Yikes.. I'm liking Masako less and less. How dare Garret's wife decide who Garret gets to sleep with and how often

[C James]

I'll comment more later, but I just wanted to comment on the fatality of the recurring character:

That is the way combat (and for that matter, life) is: Sometimes, people get killed, and in this case it was a recurring character.

 

I was amazed by the nukes plan: if the accelerators are fairly immobile, they could be hit by masses accelerated to 50% C, thus giving each pound of impacting material more energy than a medium-sized nuke.

 

Hmmm, however, that's what WE think of as a medium sized nuke: by that era, it's likely in the hundreds of megatons.

 

Thank you for another great chapter, DK and Emoe!

Edited October 14, 2006 by C James

[EMoe57]

Yikes.. I'm liking Masako less and less. How dare Garret's wife decide who Garret gets to sleep with and how often

Why do you see it that way?

Isn't she just trying to look out for Garret's best interest?

[Demetz]

Maybe I think she's taken over house Atrix and turned Garret into her unwitting pawn? I can see it now... Garret attempts to divorce his uber-controlling wife and ends up in a civil war for the house assets. The clones and hottie true borns follow Garret... the handful of women and the uglier men go with the witch who tried to steal Garret's house and company. Masako holds the two already born children as assets to use against Garret, until one day the older child figures out she's a two timing.... and takes his little sister and tries to escape. But! The little sister too young to understand what's going on cries out for her mommy and Garret's son is subjected to various forms of torture until Garret can come to the rescue in his full badassitude....

 

Um... or maybe I just like Aaron and think she's being a bit too presumptuous... Garret's not telling HER who to sleep with...

 

[EMoe57]

From your post on DK's blog:

Either way, I'm predicting Aaron is the character to watch in upcoming chapters

 

Aaron brings to mind that in my youth, I got myself into several rather unhealthy situations because I felt the call to "come to the rescue and protect" the person. I'm hoping I've out-grown that but time will tell...

 

As for me, I'm really loving Masako. This line from chapter 19 speaks to skills that have gone unmentioned:

[C James]

From your post on DK's blog:

Aaron brings to mind that in my youth, I got myself into several rather unhealthy situations because I felt the call to "come to the rescue and protect" the person. I'm hoping I've out-grown that but time will tell...

 

As for me, I'm really loving Masako. This line from chapter 19 speaks to skills that have gone unmentioned:

 

I like her too! She's no wallflower, that's for sure! She also doesn't shrink from using her, ahem, unmentioned skills to extract information from prisoners when needed. I wonder if we will find out where she acquired that particular skill-set? I have a feeling that those skills will come in quite handy if they capture a senior member of the rebellion.

[EMoe57]

From DK's blog post, he was sure there would be some posting about the passing of Gary but so far, no comment. How do you feel about Gary's passing and what effect do you think it will have on Garret?

[Philistine]

From DK's blog post, he was sure there would be some posting about the passing of Gary but so far, no comment. How do you feel about Gary's passing and what effect do you think it will have on Garret?

 

i wasn't really a gary fan, so i guess no comment. he never struck me as all that interesting, and he hadn't gotten much focus at all for a while.

[Demetz]

Yeah, it has been a while since we've seen much of a focus on Gary... I'm sad to see him go though.

[C James]

From DK's blog post, he was sure there would be some posting about the passing of Gary but so far, no comment. How do you feel about Gary's passing and what effect do you think it will have on Garret?

 

No comment? Humph!! I was a bit vague because it was so early after the chapter release, but it's a comment.

I'll comment more later, but I just wanted to comment on the fatality of the recurring character:

That is the way combat (and for that matter, life) is: Sometimes, people get killed, and in this case it was a recurring character.

 

I liked Gary, including his cute jealous streak and his temper. He wasn't my guess for who would be killed (Deci was) and I'll miss him in the story, but in combat, people die, and sometimes they die incidentally, even ironically.

 

In the words of General John Sedgewick: "What! What men! This will never do, dodging from single bullets!They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist...."

 

As to how I think this will affect Garret, my guess is that with all the death and destruction around him, Garret won't be affected all that much by Gary's death.

Edited October 15, 2006 by C James

[NaperVic]

From DK's blog post, he was sure there would be some posting about the passing of Gary but so far, no comment. How do you feel about Gary's passing and what effect do you think it will have on Garret?

 

Gary's passing didn't bother me as Garrett's harem is large enough as it is. When Dan posted in his blog that a character would die, I was actually worried that Aaron was the one who would be killed.

 

Now it seems like Aaron will be the character who Garrett falls the most for and will eventually be his downfall. Kinda like the character from Vampire Jared...I forgot his name. While there is no question on the loyalty of Garrett's other 'familiars', Aaron's loyalty isn't as assured. Which is probably why Garrett is so attracted to him. Masako also sees the potential of Aaron's unhealthy grip on Garrett.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

Vic

[EMoe57]

No comment? Humph!! I was a bit vague because it was so early after the chapter release, but it's a comment.

My apologies. I did a text search for "Gary" on the page and a quick visual scan as well for any discussion on him I may have overlooked but completely missed your oblique reference. I should

[C James]

No comment? Humph!! I was a bit vague because it was so early after the chapter release, but it's a comment.

My apologies. I did a text search for "Gary" on the page and a quick visual scan as well for any discussion on him I may have overlooked but completely missed your oblique reference. I should

[EMoe57]

There was something else I meant to mention: I note that Garret is now facing a dilemma regarding the Sol empire, and the temptation to strike that this civil war surely presents. As I've been predicting that for a while, I'll stick with that prediction. Any opinions, anyone?

Just so I

[Demetz]

There was something else I meant to mention: I note that Garret is now facing a dilemma regarding the Sol empire, and the temptation to strike that this civil war surely presents. As I've been predicting that for a while, I'll stick with that prediction. Any opinions, anyone?

 

Hehe... I've been aware of this one for quite some time. Play any of the total war games, particularly Shogun, for an illustration of just how much of a prblem it can be to safely move your forces from your borders... How difficult it is to attack...the sheer overwhelming force that is required before you can do it without losing everything as the enemy slips through your thinned lines and makes a plundering rush through your territory. Not to mention you find out just how little you can trust your allies when you leave them an nearly undefended border while you're busy dealing with other people.

 

And nothing is more frustrating than finally securing your territory only to face a civil war that puts both sides at risk of defeat by outside forces assuming they don't eliminate each other first.

 

Oh how I love the total war games...

 

I'd say Garret's got about the right strategy, if a very difficult one. A blockade will force the rebel planets to build ships on their own without any more supplies than their own individual planets are capable of providing. Consider the effect this had on Germany in both world wars... critical materials were inaccessable and this resulted in far more damage to their industrial capability than strategic bombing ever did. Its already been established that not all planets in the DoH universe have every resource, however, this does not in any way assure Garret the victory. Leonev ran off with 40% of the fleet, he has that whole fleet at his disposal. A blockade is no small feat and to have simultaneously maintain reserve enough to fight off or at least deter a sol invasion will leave Garret either on even terms or slightly behind Leonev in numbers. Combined with the fact that Leonev has the newer vessels...

 

1) Garret will NOT be able to begin the blockade until his shipyards have been pumping out new ships for quite some time.

2) Garret has MORE shipyards to produce with than Leonev does

3) Leonev knows that too.

 

Which means, Leonev can not afford to sit back and wait for garret to build up his fleet. Whatever blockade the Republic can come up with immediately will NOT be sufficient to hold. A blockade can not hold against an equivalently sized fleet and is doomed to failure because the enemy will choose where in the blockade they will strike... this puts Garret at a severe disadvantage. Since his forces will not be able to engage Leonev all together - they would be too spread out, trying to hold the blockade. In fact, if Garret began the blockade immediately and Leonev decided to attack it.. Garret would be forced to end the blockade to engage Leonev's forces, which would mean Garret would be highly disadvantaged from the outset and because he would not be able to access but a fraction of his forces to counter Leonev's break through, would probably lose.

 

Leonev has to go on the offensive. He can't just sit back and wait for Garret to out produce him. Garret has more territory to defend, his forces will be spread all over hell trying to fend off Leonev if Leonev has any sense of survival. Garret... needs an ally.

 

Now, to whom can Garret turn for help? There's the federation, and there's still the mysterious clone faction.

 

There are also the bolt holes to consider... Hmm... perhaps that is the key... have those manning the boltholes put on high alert but keep them in place, commit everything else to the siege of Leonev, that would put Leonev back on the defensive. Sol might attack, but there would be the bolt holes to hold them off, and something tells me the federation would not be overly thrilled at the idea of the Sol empire conquering its one time ally, leaving it to stand alone against Sol at a later date. That should bring the federation in against Sol by general principle. As long as the Bolt hole forces can hold off Sol long enough to get the federation involved... it would be risky, but hell, risks are what Garret excels at.

 

 

<3 Mahciavelli/Sun Tzu

[C James]

Just so I

[EMoe57]

Hmmm... In my opinion, I agree that Garret needs an ally, but in my opinion Leoneev is in greater need of one. So, which one (garret or Leonev) would be most predisposed to cut some kind of a deal with the SOL empire? My guess: Leonev.

I cant see that Garret would ever make a deal with Sol. I would think that Leonev would be smart enough to realize that if he did side with Sol, he'd win the battle only to lose the Republic to Sol. Of course, Leonev wouldn't be the first person in history to think they can strike a deal and then weasel out of it when it suits them.

[NaperVic]

Hmmm... In my opinion, I agree that Garret needs an ally, but in my opinion Leoneev is in greater need of one. So, which one (garret or Leonev) would be most predisposed to cut some kind of a deal with the SOL empire? My guess: Leonev.

 

 

I cant see that Garret would ever make a deal with Sol. I would think that Leonev would be smart enough to realize that if he did side with Sol, he'd win the battle only to lose the Republic to Sol. Of course, Leonev wouldn't be the first person in history to think they can strike a deal and then weasel out of it when it suits them.

 

Politically, it would make sense for Leonev to ally himself with the Democratic Sol Empire. Wasn't Leonev the one who was stoking the flames of that crazy democracy movement against the great houses? As well, the blockade is being put in place to stop the rebels from sending out ships to try to start insurrections with the Democracy movements on the other Republic worlds.

 

But I think as others have pointed out, the renegade clones are still an unknown and Bolt ships could still come into play .

 

Vic

Edited October 18, 2006 by naper_vic