I thought your previous argument was more convincing.
Amanda and Vega getting in a melee fight with a Shiplord commando team in no way highlights Amanda's generalship, her logistical or strategic planning abilities. If anything, it shows a marked failure in that regard: she was on the flagship, with the command staff and the secondary command-and-control coordinator (Vega) when it was hit by a breakthrough assault and subjected to what should have been a decapitation strike by the enemy fleet. All of that happened while we were winning, after the 223 and the Ulfberhts had taken out almost half of the Collectors. Further, and I say this as one of the people who was there every step of the way during that fight and actually proposed the Power Word:Bind choice, the choices we made during that fight were motivated primarily by emotion, not by logic or shrewd generalship; we won, not because we outmaneuvered the commando team, but because we flat-out overpowered them.
Frankly, the Calypso should have been destroyed in that moment, long before the Shiplords ever got into melee range of Amanda. We already know that even Tribute Fleet ships are nano-biological, and can reform themselves freely; the Collector that engulfed the Calypso could have easily reformed itself and surrounded the shield-less ship with capital-grade weaponry. They did not, not because Amanda was some sort of brilliant strategist who forced them from doing the sensible thing, but because the Shiplords themselves were so blinded by semi-articulate rage, something we had no way of knowing beforehand and didn't plan for at all, that they had to confront our people and tear into us with their fists.
We're not covering ourselves in glory by revealing that Amanda decided to use herself, the political and morale head of the species, as a meatshield to protect a crew who was supposed to be protecting her; we'd be doing the exact opposite. The reason we want to bring up Sins of Rage isn't to highlight Amanda's generalship; it's to poke a hole in the belief that the Shiplords are untouchable demigods, haughtily enforcing their rules on a beaten, demoralized population. It's proof that we can make their souls bleed, just as A Promise of Adamant proves that we can make their War Fleets bleed. It's proof that they are not gods, that they are mortal beings, just like humanity, just like the G6.
I feel you miss the point.
For one thing, I was here during that fight; I just didn't participate much. Nothing then is strange to me.
And that wasn't a commando team, it was the command element of the Tribute Fleet according to our Insight-focused. Yes, the Shiplords boarding party was led by their Fleet Admiral equivalent.
Furthermore, when the Shiplords pulled two radical changes in Tribute Fleet tactics, first with the Medicament, and then with the surprise boarding, we were still able to adapt and overcome despite the limitations of a largely inferior techbase. That demonstrates mental and organizational resilience, not failure, an ability to roll with the punches that is critical for a successful military.
Something those military-inclined envoys will recognize and respect, more than a claim of flawless performance.
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No it did not demonstrate logistics or strategy; that's what we have staff for. And tactical acumen is Lina's job.
It did demonstrate Amanda, and the FSN's adaptability in the face of rapidly changing circumstances, and their toughness. Her commitment. It also demonstrated the sheer bullshit Humanity was capable of, which lends further credence to the claim they would work out a War Fleet defense, or improve their military rapidly.
Furthermore, do recall that if Amanda and Vega weren't in the Calypso, they'd have been out in space with the 223.
They KNOW she's Unisonbound, and have some idea what that means for systems defense.
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Honestly, we don't KNOW that the Shiplords could have destroyed the Calypso once they swallowed it. In a white room? Sure. Probably. But this was an ongoing battle, with capital ships and Unisonbound throwing dakka around.
Much ship power was probably diverted to keeping the Calypso inert and their own shields up while they tried to carve out the Speaking nugget at it's core; they were in a war zone after all, and had to look to their own defenses as well.
How much could they spare for offense?
We don't even know if they tried and failed to destroy it from the outside, before deciding to board; all that Practice energy floating around wasn't necessarily idle, and neither was Vega.Furthermore, Amanda explicitly layered further protections on it before combat, enough that we know Lina expected the Calypso to survive the focused attentions of the surviving Collectors after Purify; I'll provide the citations tomorrow if you want.
Consider this: the Shiplord Admiral went for a solo duel with Amanda, and two Shiplords went for Lina and the rest of the bridge crew.
But
three Shiplords converged on Vega, the lynchpin of the harmonic Practice web connecting the entire fleet. Half the number that attacked the bridge picked her as a target.
Probably a reason for that.
I would caution against assuming the Shiplords were blinded by anger.
Outraged sure. But not stupid.
Even the Admiral's actions during our duel showed calculation, not unthinking rage.
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Ultimately, we're not selling capability; we're selling faith in our species and in SolGov.
There are no verifiable figures or data we can give the G6 that will prove that we will be able to create a War Fleet countermeasure in time before the Shiplords move. OR be willing to share it when we for.
No numbers that will demonstrate that we'll keep our word about deploying fleets.
They have to believe in the people; both that it's in our interests to do this, and that we keep faith and not lose interest.
Or expend them as meatshields and abandon them once our species is secure.
That's a person thing, not a numbers thing.
All the capability in the world doesn't matter if they don't brlieve they can rely on us using it; that's part of the problem with the Sarthee and their Uninvolved movement, after all, which neutered a lot of their military might.
That's why Amanda's credibility here, as ex-president, and arguably the most powerful woman in the system matters.
She has demonstrable cred in other things; being a known combat veteran gives her credibility to speak on military matters vis a vis the Shiplords, as one of a handful of people who have personal experience of what they speak.
Besides, what might be good military strategy in the abstract, is not good politics. Or good for morale.
War is not a game of chess; it's men and blood and spirit as much as resources and technology.
Or indeed, what makes sense in this universe where soulfuckery is a thing may be quite different ftom RL.
The Telas Luminary apparently lead from the front. So did the Shiplords in our only encounter. I hesitate to assume they're stupid, or too blinded by outrage to make good military decisions.
Hell, even we do it; Gentry was on the frontlines on Mars, and Minister of War Lina was on the Calypso.
Consider the politics and morale implications.
Do you think any of the G6 will be more likely to agree with us if they think we will retreat from one of their planets because it's good military strategy? Or will they be more appreciative of allies they think will stand their ground?
Also this quest has a pretty good history when it comes to write-ins. The "Infinite Parallel Processing" tech tree for example was a write-in, and look what came of that. And that's only one example.
