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Tully's Mission - Humans/Compact contact

>Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 10:33:07 -0700
>From: seth@cie.uoregon.edu (Seth Scott)
>Subject:  C. J. Cherryh List

(...)

I have read the _Chanur_ books, _Hestia_ (bleah!), and the first three chapters of _Downbelow Station_; that leaves me with little basis for comment, I'm afraid-- though I plan to do some more reading, when I get the time. I guess that I do have a question, though, that ties in to the current discussion:

Tully names himself an 'Earth-man,' and I do remember that there were 'three human Compacts,' which would be Earth, the Belt, and the farther colonies, yes? So, Tully's original ship and mission was (pick one)

a) exploration
b) prospecting
c) a search for allies

?

I understand that once Tully told Earth about the Compact, Earth wanted help in defending its own space from the knnnn (and kif?), but beyond that the politics escape me. Would someone with a more integrated knowledge of human space please speculate?

(...)

					Seth E. Scott

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>From: Lesley Grant <lgrant>
>Subject: cherryhlist 
>Date: Fri, 16 Oct 92 9:59:27 BST

(...)

> >From: seth@cie.uoregon.edu (Seth Scott)
> 
> 
>I have read the _Chanur_ books, _Hestia_ (bleah!), and the first three chapters
> of _Downbelow Station_; that leaves me with little basis for comment, I'm afraid-- though I plan to>  do some more reading, when I get the time.  I guess that
> I do have a question, though, that ties in to the current discussion:
> 
> Tully names himself an 'Earth-man,' and I do remember that there were 'three
> human Compacts,' which would be Earth, the Belt, and the farther colonies, yes? So, Tully's origina> l ship and mission was (pick one)
> 
> 	a)  exploration
> 	b)  prospecting
> 	c)  a search for allies

By the time of _Downbelow Station_, there is a considerably different political scene, and the 3 "human Compacts" would more likely be Earth, Union and Alliance. Tully's original mission (I think) would be exploration, to try and expand Earth's influence in the opposite direction from Union. I really don't think they expected to find spacefaring aliens -- the only thing that had been discovered by this time were the Downers (hisa) on Pell.

> I understand that once Tully told Earth about the Compact, Earth wanted help
> in defending its own space from the knnnn (and kif?), but beyond that the 
> politics escape me.  Would someone with a more integrated knowledge of human
> space please speculate?

Earth was definetly worried about the Knnn, but I think they may have been more worried about the Kif, who at first sight, seem more understandable to Earth mentality. They're an expansionistic military lot (like Union), evil cold hearted rotten aliens. Or so I'm sure the EC saw them. Earth seemed quite content to go in with Goldtooth's plan of squeezing the Kif between the humans and the Mahendo'sat. I'll bet Goldtooth promised Mahendo'sat aid in winning back influence from Union and Alliance...:-)
The fascinating thing is that Earth has *50* warships in Compact space by the end of _Chanur's Homecoming_. These have to be the 'new Fleet' referred to in _Downbelow Station_ (quick summary: The EC Fleet has been almost destroyed by the Union rebels, Earth negotiates for peace while building a new force to win back hegemony). Where do they go? Why doesn't Earth use them to expand in another direction? Why doesn't Earth snaffle back some of its lost territory? They could have dragged a lot of merchanters back to their side, Union might even have cooperated, as it detested Alliance. What *did* Earth do with all those spanking new hideously expensive ships!

					Lesley

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>From: Jo Jaquinta <jaymin>
>Subject: CherryhList
>Date: Mon, 19 Oct 92 9:37:13 BST

(...)

> >From: seth@cie.uoregon.edu (Seth Scott)
>Tully names himself an 'Earth-man,' and I do remember that there were 'three
>human Compacts,' which would be Earth, the Belt, and the farther colonies, 
>yes?

No. Union, Alliance and Earth. Even in Heavy Time the Belt is no longer really a seperate entity. Seperate culture, yes, but wholy dominated by the EC.
At Tully's time Earth had just finished building a huge new fleet (one of the snippets in the Boardgame mentions that Mazian has to hold back Union for "just a few years" until their new fleet is finished). Unfortunately peace breaks out leaving EC with the brand new, powerful, and expensive fleet to justify. I think they send it out ostensibly to seek out and eliminate the last of Mazian's pirates before they run into the Knnn. Then then, more or less, discover the Compact.
From their contact with Compact ships they would get indications that they have military superiority but with incidents like the Knnn they can't be sure they know exactly what the capacity of the Compact is. The Mahendosat certainly wouldn't tell the same story twice. Of course they desire trade with the Compact but more importantly: it gives their fleet something to do.
As we see in the trilogy, the fleet is more or less frustrated and sent back empty handed and purpose bereft. I wonder what they will do next?
Back to Tully's mission: I beleive he was definately on a military vessell. Probably on a spook mission. Then they met what they weren't expecting. That's not to say that the people who sent them weren't expecting them to meet the aliens. Remember Cooko's Egg?

Jo

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>From: Lesley Grant <lgrant>
>Subject: Re: C. J. Cherryh List
>Date: Mon, 19 Oct 92 10:04:19 BST

(...)

From Jo Jaquinta:



> 	Back to Tully's mission: I beleive he was definately on a military
> vessell. Probably on a spook mission. Then they met what they weren't 
> expecting. That's not to say that the people who sent them weren't expecting
> them to meet the aliens. Remember Cooko's Egg?

There is a reference to Earth exploring on the other side of Sol system and "getting their fingers burned". I really don't think Earth expected to find aliends in their back yard -- remember the nearest aliens were found 10? 20? light years away. The Compact seems to be literally breathing down Earth's neck!
I wonder where the ship in Cookoo's Egg came from -- there aren't really any clues to saay if Thorn was EC, Union or Alliance (I suppose I should say Thorn1).

				Lesley