Subjugation chap 15 spoilers..

[Hearly]

I just finished reading it for the 2nd time, somethings that got me

Why would the Emperess Not at least take What Jason says seriously? I mean she knows he's a telepath, so shouldn't she at least consider what he's saying seriously? Or does she know the truth of his heritiage?

[Fiferguy]

I don't think ANYONE knows the truth of Jason's origins yet. Some time ago, Fel told us about it. He said that Tim and Tamika and the other human telepaths was from a group of Faey that landed on Earth some time ago. That's the common ancestor that Tim and Tamika share. But he said--either in the story or in the forum--that Jason had a DIFFERENT ancestor, and it was different than Tim and Tamika's. I think we assumed it was his ability to detect Kimdori, but I don't know if that's been proven yet.

As for why the Empress didn't do anything, she may not know. There are things that are kept from leaders for "Plausible deniability," or basically covering the Empress just in case some black op goes bad, or they don't want her to know about. The Faey revolve around power and money, so if you can get a little bit money under the Empress's nose, why not? But the point is this: We really don't know much about the Empress. Typically, monarchies are passed down, I would assume in this case from Mother to Daughter. There aren't really any other specific requirements of it. She doesn't have to be particularly powerful with her talent, she doesn't have to be particularly smart, martially gifted, or even beautiful. She can hire people to do that, using her station to protect and serve herself. So while she may have heard of Jason Fox, she may or may not know a lot about him.

But sometimes, I think that Fel reads these things, and just writes his story to prove us wrong...

[Spec8472]

Classic, absolute classic. I say we give Jason a callsign: "Marbles"

Hehehe.

[Spec8472]

This was posted in the IRC channel (converted to Forums quotation format, to save any confusion):

if they encrypt the telemetry, then why not just aim for encrypted telemetry?

It's pretty much the same idea I had when they decided to use (basicly) a white noise generator for the ground units -- simply aim for the source of the white noise. Surely it can get some sort of directional bearing for it - might be slower, but it should still work.

[Hearly]

As for why the Empress didn't do anything, she may not know. There are things that are kept from leaders for "Plausible deniability," or basically covering the Empress just in case some black op goes bad, or they don't want her to know about. The Faey revolve around power and money, so if you can get a little bit money under the Empress's nose, why not? But the point is this: We really don't know much about the Empress. Typically, monarchies are passed down, I would assume in this case from Mother to Daughter. There aren't really any other specific requirements of it. She doesn't have to be particularly powerful with her talent, she doesn't have to be particularly smart, martially gifted, or even beautiful. She can hire people to do that, using her station to protect and serve herself. So while she may have heard of Jason Fox, she may or may not know a lot about him.

Not saying she may not Know much about him personally, BUT, if someone made an accusation against a Noble House, Unless she was aware of it already and getting a cut, Why wouldn't she take it seriously, especally a serious accusation like slavery, I mean if She can find proof, it pulls there Noble charter, and I wonder who would end up with there Assets... Maybe the Emperess..?

[Fiferguy]

Not saying she may not Know much about him personally, BUT, if someone made an accusation against a Noble House, Unless she was aware of it already and getting a cut, Why wouldn't she take it seriously, especally a serious accusation like slavery, I mean if She can find proof, it pulls there Noble charter, and I wonder who would end up with there Assets... Maybe the Emperess..?

Let me put it this way, who are you going to trust more: a crazy human male making outlandish accusations with no proof and publicly saying he's going to do something against the law, or a noble house that has at least half-way supported you and your family for years? It's called the "Good Ole' Boy Syndrome." So without proof, there's really nothing that the Empress can do. And for the most part, the Empress is blind to a lot of things going on on Earth, because Trillane controls Earth utterly. There's only one stargate, remember, so they know who's going in and out.

Fel said it through Kiaari earlier, where better a place to hide secrets than a far-removed world that the Trillane utterly control? And what better secret to hide than the true extent of Jason Fox's reasonings and the truth of what he's saying?

I think that Jason and Earth would be well of to self-govern. Either under a new Noble house or two, or as some sort of representative government.

[Hallmist]

if they encrypt the telemetry, then why not just aim for encrypted telemetry?

It's pretty much the same idea I had when they decided to use (basicly) a white noise generator for the ground units -- simply aim for the source of the white noise. Surely it can get some sort of directional bearing for it - might be slower, but it should still work.

The problem with that is that Jason wants to minimize civilian casualties. So if the Faey encrypt all vessels' telemetry (or produce white noise from all of them), the mine would be able to tell that some kind of ship was passing overhead, but not what kind. Hitting a skimmer would be counterproductive, and hitting a military ship would be innefective due to the shielding.

I'm assuming that it would be fairly easy to upload a software patch to encrypt all ships' telemetry, since a Stick is about the equivelent of a cargobay with an engine, and if they were able to update it, they would have no problem with other craft as well. Also, remember that Jason has to avoid pissing off the Empress, so he needs to make sure not to attack any Royal ship.

[Texfire]

The mine's safety systems will engage unless GPS shows it to be inside Crystal Mountain. Is that a weakness that can be used to backtrack the rebels to their hideout?

As an aside, it's nice to see that his reunion with Jyslin hasn't muted Jason's ability to drive Faey women absolutely batty. I do worry that his taunting will elicit a brutal response from Trilllaine or Black Ops. Wiping out the Preserve or loading humans into the sticks as a human shield is one tactic that comes to mind. Of course it could backfire on them, but hubris is definately one Trillaine's faults.

Tex

[Fiferguy]

I think that since all his devices have triple or quadruple redundant systems that erase any programming, and since the GPS identification stuff is all software, I don't think they can use that...but this Black Ops lady seems extremely smart. She just might be able to crack it... one can only wait for Fel to write the next chapter... COUGHCOUGHHINTCOUGHCOUGH...

[Phantom]

I think that since all his devices have triple or quadruple redundant systems that erase any programming, and since the GPS identification stuff is all software, I don't think they can use that...but this Black Ops lady seems extremely smart. She just might be able to crack it... one can only wait for Fel to write the next chapter... COUGHCOUGHHINTCOUGHCOUGH...

Nope if you reread the chapter he has really only one safe guard ....and it's a good one RAM ......all instructions are Written in RAM .....pull the plug and Pooof no more program and to counter the Self destruct operating they have to pull the plug on them ...and poof

Truly a Viscous Cycle that one is


Phantom

[Fiferguy]

But there are several different ways that he has programmed it to erase the RAM. Yes, there is ram, but there is quadruple redundant systems to detect tampering, and hence, quadruple redundant systems to cause the RAM to go bye-bye.

[ANTIcarrot]

Not saying she may not Know much about him personally, BUT, if someone made an accusation against a Noble House, Unless she was aware of it already and getting a cut, Why wouldn't she take it seriously

It would require an admission that she let it happen. Slavery is only the most serious of the accusations leveled against the Noble house, and all the others (theft for example) are all happening right under the noses of the Empress' Marines. If they're NOT following SOP to prevent abuse of imperial citizens, then it raises serious questions about who is actually in charge of the Empire. If they ARE following SOP which allows abuse of imperial citizens, then it becomes publicly obvious that she's not taking her duties seriously.

It has been known to happen that human emperors who don't take their duties seriously can suddenly find themselves committing suicide by stabbing themselves in the back multiple times. Presumably the same applies to the Fae.

Hence it's in her own best interests to pretend the situation doesn't exist. Officially at least. Unofficially she might be well advised to quietly send in her own black-ops team to figure out what is going on; preferably disguised as something else. Say, a gesture of assistance to the suspect House in question...

[Fel]

omg, carrot, you have a Jack avatar!

It's small, but it looks like Central to me. She was ever fond of dresses.

Brownie point!

[ANTIcarrot]

Yep. The icon version of my orrigonal joke picture:

She just so much looked the part in that panel

<Puts brownie point in safe place>

[Fel]

Yah, I like Central. As you can see, I have Jack as my avatar, but he's chibi-fied.