message 0009

• Mazian's Fleet during and after the Company Wars

>From: Lesley Grant <lgrant>
>Subject: Re: C. J. Cherryh List
>Date: Tue, 13 Oct 92 10:13:53 BST

> >From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin>
> > >From: ott@ansoft.com (nancy ott)
	[Nancy says Union has the capability to hunt down and
destroy the Mazianni]
> 	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...)

	The books set right at the end of the War (Merchanter's Luck,
and Rimrunners) do in fact show the Mazianni being hunted. Certainly in
the time of _Merchanter's Luck_ they are still a force -- Edgars, Porey,
Keu and Mazian are still around, and are the best/worst of the captains.
If they weren't worth destroying, why would an operation involving the 
_Norway_, the _Dublin Again_ (financed by the State, don't forget) and
Union military go after *just* the _Australia_?

> 	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."

	They seem to have done much of it during the War. As for the
military,like the military of today, it wants more money (see _Cyteen_).

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

	Ditto, but the end result was likely the same. Without fuel to
jump, where's the _India_ going to go?

> > 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 :-)

	I think neither Nancy nor myself would see ol' Conrad unable to
face himself in the bathroom mirror and slitting his wrists, so to speak.
However, *if all was lost* I could see him manoeuvering the remnants of
the Fleet into a suicide attack on Union (and Alliance for that matter).
It needn't even be suicide -- jump in, launch your missiles/rocks at C
and (short)jump out again before defences know you're there -- Union
doesn't have riders, so it can't blast your missiles before they hit.

			Lesley