message 0008

• Mazian's Fleet during and after the Company Wars

>From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin>
>Subject: CherryhList
>Date: Wed, 7 Oct 92 9:42:00 BST

> >From: ott@ansoft.com (nancy ott)
> I think attrition takes care of the Fleet by the time of _Cyteen_.
> Remember, they have limited resources to start with, and they can't
> easily get more.  First of all, destroyed riders and carriers can't be
> replaced.  
	We get a good view of just how complicated and high-tech the
riderships on an EC carrier are in _Hellburners_. It seems difficult
to me to consider Pell being able to produce one, let alone Viking
or Mariner. They are *ferociously* expensive as well. Fair enough for
Cyteen, with state supported yards and money not really any question
but on the other side of the line with the EC stations run as more
or less commercial enterprises with little central authority, particularly
where the war comes into it. 
	This leads me to beleive that the riderships weren't quite as
"disposable" as I would have thought previously (particularly from
playing the boardgame :-). It seems logical now that they just didn't
lose riders any more often than they lost carriers since they were
effectively irreplacable under the circumstances. In _Hellburners_ we
see that the survival of the carrier is dependant on the riders and
vice versa.

> Union has the resources to keep throwing ships at Mazian until it
> wears him down to nothing.  
	But not necessarily the motive. After _Downbelow_ Mazian is
virutally zero threat to Union. He *can't* effictively strike at them.
Any military operation by Union could really only be for diplomatic
reasons. In Merchanter's Luck it is a Merchanter force (Norway & Dublin)
which forces Mazian out (Am I right? Or was there a Union ship there?
Better re-read the books... again...)
	In any event those military ships are *ferociously* expensive.
Since Mazian is not, and is unlikely to be, a significant threat to
Union I'm sure they would divert their resources into their colonial
efforts. "The war is over, grab as much space as you can."

> One carrier (India?) appears to be
> destroyed by Alliance at the end of _Rimrunners_.
> 
	I don't think it was destroyed, just pushed out.

> but the Fleet has no reliable way to get spare parts.
	OK. You make this point clearly. But remember in _Rimrunners_:
recycling was an important job. You recover your raw materials and
reprocess them. Remember the STL ships would be gone for years. They
had to have the capability to create most servicable components from
stored raw materials. Where storage is a premium requirement it is
more cost-effective to maintain the construction facility rather than
a stock of possibly-needed parts.
	True, there are certainly components that could not be created
and when they start to go they will have problems. But I would assume
that most military ships would have triple redundency on critical systems.
It will be some time before they break down enough to become unusable.
	As inidcated in _Rimrunners_ fuel seems to be a big concern of
theirs. This seems reasonable. You can't recycle fuel :-). But just
*what* do they use as fuel? It is never really clear. We get a good
view of compact ship servicing. Whatever it is it seems to be liquid.
Also under small arms fire the servicing gantries leak "volotiles".
	I'd put my money on "fusion" of some sort. Thus the fuel they
need is hydrogen. In the Traveler RPG most ships run on fusion plants
and their fuel is traditionally stored as liquid hydrogen. There was
a big discussion on their mailing list about fuel storage. Their physical
chemists were coming out saying it was more efficient to store a higher
density of hydrogen as liquid amonia or even water.
	Personally I'm in favour of Cherryh's ships "burning" water.
When split for the power plant the residual oxygen would come in handy
for life support. The pump on Thule leaks and a large icicle forms. 
There are reference to Thules's skimmers collecting fuel. Is this 
collecting ice from ice-ball satelites? It could be the Traveller-popular 
idea of skimming the upper surface of gas giants.
	In any event all those would be difficult for carriers to do.
However, if in extremis, all the materials I have mentiond could be
rendered by hijacking an ice-ball from the cometary nebula
Long and laborious true but I think within a Mazian carrier's capabilities.
Maybe the India in _Rimrunners_ short-jumps to the Oort cloud, having
failed to get the fuel from Thule?

> If I were Mazian, I'd be out for serious vengeance.  I would consider
> giving Cyteen and Pell the proverbial c-speed rock that was referred
> to in _Heavy Time_ and _Hellburner_.  This would eliminate Alliance
> and cripple Union.  Obviously, though, he didn't do it.
	I would be suicide. I can see Mazian commiting a suicidal attack
strategy in a battle situation (e.g. when the Tibet rams) but I don't
really see it in his character to commit pre-meditated suicide for
vengence. He is a survivor. And from our view of him in _Hellburners_ a
really sneaky one :-)

				Jo