BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
BattleTech Game Universe => The Inner Sphere => Topic started by: AeroJock on 18 April 2011, 13:16:10
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I apologise in advance for this, as it's probably been asked eleventy billion times before, but search function found nothing. I've just returned after a long hiatus and probably have missed TONS of fluff. So, without further ado....
Did we ever find out who killed Morgan Hasek-Davion, and if so who?
Sorry!
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Dont quote me but I thought he died during the wiping out of Smoke Jaguar.
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Dont quote me but I thought he died during the wiping out of Smoke Jaguar.
He actually died en route, assassinated, but during the novel arc his killers were never revealed.
I was wondering if it ever got explained later?
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Nope. A couple of theories abound, but ultimately, neither the perpetrator nor the motive behind his assassination were revealed.
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Not certain what the theories are, as it has been a long time since I read the novels or the sourcebooks, but my money is on either Katherine Steiner-Davion or the Word of Blake. Katherine would of had it done to kick out support from under Victor. WoB would of done it, well, because it fulfilled "The Master's Plan".
Just my two cents.
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Not certain what the theories are, as it has been a long time since I read the novels or the sourcebooks, but my money is on either Katherine Steiner-Davion or the Word of Blake. Katherine would of had it done to kick out support from under Victor. WoB would of done it, well, because it fulfilled "The Master's Plan".
Just my two cents.
If Katherine was going to do it, after its mission is complete. She does have a vested interest in getting the Clans off her back, and taking out the unit leader in the middle of a mission is not helping that. The motive is there but the timing is all wrong.
WoB, on the other hand? They want to see Bulldog fail because they, not anyone else, are the ones who are the chosen saviors of the Inner Sphere. Actively trying to undermine the unit's cohesion and introducing instability is going to help that.
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WoB would be more inclined to put suicide commandoes on board several ships with orders to blow them up. They seemed to like doing nasty things in a large way.
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Fair enough, it'll remain "one of those" mysteries then. I lean towards WoB myself, although it seems a bit more subtle and surgical then they normally went for (see aforementioned suicide bombs). But if they wanted Bulldog to fail without it being obviously sabotaged, so that they could sweep in and save the IS...yeah, that fits for me.
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A Maskirovka agent informs Guardsman that "They do not suspect House Liao."
Guardsman steeples his fingers, "Excellent."
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Why would Liao want him dead? Sun Tsu was First Lord at the time, if the mission failed it reflected on him.
Victor ruled out Kathrine primarily because "she wouldn't be that stupid" but we already knew that she was even stupider than that when it came to getting back at her brother for perceived slights.
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True...with Katherine it generally was "spite first, long term planning...well, never", so it's impossible to rule her out.
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I would go with George Hasek. Why ? Nobody wins more than George. 8)
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I won't speak for Guardsmen, but SunTzu wouldn't have had any trouble putting it on those on who were or should have been on the mission, the SL was a means to an end for him anyway, preserving the enemies of his enemies while getting a less exp march lord, and potentially fueling a rival's civil war with the added benefit that up against the clans is one of the few places a Hasek could drop dead without the name Liao coming up seems like a bargain. In fact the more I think about it if Sun-Tzu didn't do it he was probably just pressed for time ;)
I'd have to go with the woblies, prehaps in more of a old school C* way, for most of the reasons above, however I think the writers were more concerned with an interesting plot hook then an overarching setting storyline.
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I would go with George Hasek. Why ? Nobody wins more than George. 8)
How about Morgan's wife, and the butler? George is kinda a mama's boy.
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How about Morgan's wife, and the butler? George is kinda a mama's boy.
Kym wouldn't kill Morgan, at least not in 3058. But she was prepared to do so in '28, I bet.
And it's very possible that she's the one that had George killed, although I like to think it was Yvonne.
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You're only saying that because you're not aware of her steamy affair with the butler, Chili Rodriguez. Once she had him out of the way she planned on playing the dowager duchess through her son. It's all so obvious! If only it wasn't for those meddling toaster worshippers.
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What didn't you all know? Morgan had some outstanding gambling debts and the poisoning was the way of the 31st century Mob. :D
My money is on Katy S-D, if Morgan had survived Serpent and returned home, her plans for her control of the FedSuns would have run into a huge problem. Morgan was exceedingly respected by the FedSuns military and without his support her bid for power was doomed.
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Not to mention he supported Victor. And if two men with the name Davion kicked the Clans all the way to Strana-Mechty saving the Lyran Alliance, Katherine's going to look really stupid for saying that Victor never did anything for "her" people. Hell with Victor running the Smoke Jaguars out of town he had the Combine ready to eat out of his hand, most of the MRBC units loved him, Kai dedicated quite a few matches to him Solaris 7, and he was on relatively good terms with the heirs of most of the nations in the Sphere. Katherine had to do whatever she could to stop him.
P.S. If you trust a nekakami as a source they say that the assasin was the bomb threat guy, and that he was Loki.
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I won't speak for Guardsmen, but SunTzu wouldn't have had any trouble putting it on those on who were or should have been on the mission, the SL was a means to an end for him anyway, preserving the enemies of his enemies while getting a less exp march lord, and potentially fueling a rival's civil war with the added benefit that up against the clans is one of the few places a Hasek could drop dead without the name Liao coming up seems like a bargain. In fact the more I think about it if Sun-Tzu didn't do it he was probably just pressed for time ;)
I didn't mean to imply that Sun Tsu wouldn't have Morgan whacked, just that poisoning him before the mission actually started doesn't seem quite like Sun Tsu's style. He stood to gain plenty of prestige from being the reigning First Lord when the Jaguars died, so it seems more like he'd have had any assassins he sent wait to take down Morgan after the Jaguars had been crushed, not before.
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One possibility I see overlooked whenever this discussion has come up - the assassin could have been working (knowingly or unknowingly) for the Black Dragons. While they stood to gain from the Jaguars being pushed out, they were also notorious for wanting things done their way, and such a machiavellian scheme of having an agent come in with obvious evidence that would point directly at YOU while alternative evidence provided by the background of the agent himself pointed elsewhere is a plot worthy of Ruby and the other gemstones.
We have seen on multiple occasions that they were willing to put the whole realm at risk for the sake of ruining the image of Theodore within the Combine, as well as an inherent need to do things themselves without permission and without accepting help from outsiders. What better way to hurt Theodore for approving such a mission without sending any real DC troops along than to ensure its failure? And to have it also take out someone who had shamed their military during '39? Icing on the cake.
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I thought that it was stated in the book that the killer was Loki or at least I thought that one of the Kuritan officers recognized him as a Loki operative. That would point to Katherine if true.
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WoB would be more inclined to put suicide commandoes on board several ships with orders to blow them up. They seemed to like doing nasty things in a large way.
This is usually the option that appeals to me the least. The WoB seems like a cheap alternative... especially with respect to the other major players and power-groups actively interested in causing general mayhem for the factions involved in Operation Bulldog and Task Force Serpent.
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No one ever suspects the Knights of the Inner Sphere }:)
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True...with Katherine it generally was "spite first, long term planning...well, never", so it's impossible to rule her out.
True, at that time. It wasn't until after she went to the Clans that she changed.
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Qui prodest? Ariana Winston.
The killer tried to take her in hostages on public (why?), but she has killed him. She became next commander. She never been suspected.
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Since a large portion of the book was written based off of her perspective, that would require a whole lot of schizophrenia.
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I thought that it was stated in the book that the killer was Loki or at least I thought that one of the Kuritan officers recognized him as a Loki operative. That would point to Katherine if true.
I don't recall for sure (I do recall him using some special poison only available to Combine assassins, though), but even if that was true, WoB ROM has thoroughly infiltrated every other intelligence agency. If you're going to assassinate someone, you should probably disguise yourself in as many ways as possible.
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Why would Liao want him dead? Sun Tsu was First Lord at the time, if the mission failed it reflected on him.
Victor ruled out Kathrine primarily because "she wouldn't be that stupid" but we already knew that she was even stupider than that when it came to getting back at her brother for perceived slights.
I won't speak for Guardsmen, but SunTzu wouldn't have had any trouble putting it on those on who were or should have been on the mission, the SL was a means to an end for him anyway, preserving the enemies of his enemies while getting a less exp march lord, and potentially fueling a rival's civil war with the added benefit that up against the clans is one of the few places a Hasek could drop dead without the name Liao coming up seems like a bargain. In fact the more I think about it if Sun-Tzu didn't do it he was probably just pressed for time ;)
I'd have to go with the woblies, prehaps in more of a old school C* way, for most of the reasons above, however I think the writers were more concerned with an interesting plot hook then an overarching setting storyline.
Morgan Hasek-Davion was a competent AFFS General, he was personally loyal to Hanse Davion, and the rightful leader of the Capellan March. All three are ample reasons empigj for a Chancellor to arrange his assassination. What you seem to forget though, is how little chance Task Force Serpent was given. The First Lord assigned Kingston’s Rangers, late of the Chesterton Reserves, to the mission. They were expendable and this was viewed as a suicide mission. If anyone survived, and actually returned, it would be viewed as a bonus. The Great Refusal wasn’t part of the planning stages, it was pretty much off the cuff when Victor and others joined up and sensed an opportunity.
So any failure on the part of Morgan Hasek-Davion would not be a reflection on Sun-Tzu’s leadership. In fact, by sending a Davion Commander, he deprived his greatest enemy of a strength, and showed himself to be above historical conflicts. There were other capable leaders in the Task Force, and while I do not think Sun-Tzu was behind it, I wouldn’t put it past him. He had the means, he had the motive, and he had the opportunity.
George Hasek was young and inexperienced. He also was a pale imitation of his father. With Morgan’s death, the effect on the mission was negligible, but a powerful enemy would not be returning, and his replacement was a lesser man. By killing him before the Task Force made contact with the Clans, it also robbed House Davion of any glory associated with it should they prove successful. Killing him afterwards might have created a martyr. Killing him before created only intrigue.
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I'm still not convinced. The assassination seems too hamfisted for Sun Tsu.
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I'm still not convinced. The assassination seems too hamfisted for Sun Tsu.
What aspects of the operation lack precision in your view?
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They were caught, and involved themselves in a shoot out.
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Precisely.
If Sun Tsu has someone whacked it's either going to be completely obvious because he's sending a message or it's going to be completely unidentifiable as a murder. This was neither.
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They were caught, and involved themselves in a shoot out.
Oh, it’s been a long time since I read the Twilight of the Clans. I thought the assassins were killed, without being identified?
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At least one of them has a pretty silly gunfight/witty banter session with Ariana.
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Yeah, the only way I'd believe an assassin that incompetent was working for Sun Tsu was if he'd left behind some info that did a good job of implicating someone else.
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Misdirection is an old staple of this particular game, and I’d imagine that Sun-Tzu would not want his team to survive, given the situation (on a DropShip, attached to a JumpShip, in the middle of nowhere).
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He has a banter session with the protagonist. That doesn't sound like misdirection to me. That sounds like not so strong writing. :)
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It's really, really hard for a skilled person to pull off a believable job of looking unskilled with out actually messing up. It's not just in character stuff that doesn't fit, the facts learned by being third-person omniscient don't finger Sun Tsu either.
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The Mask has been known to fail, even spectacularly, before.
The only evidence they had against Lucas Penrose was that he was a "Blank" someone who didn't exist before joining the Order. And that he bolted when he was being brought in to have that little detail discussed. He doesn't actually ever admit to it either, though he does suggest that bombs are "crude."
There's no evidence that it was the WoB, and the only reason they're blamed in Prince of Havoc is because they're the only group that people think could slip an agent into ComStar.
Mind you, just a page or two earlier, Victor and all are discussing a group of Nekakami who managed to not only slip 1 agent into ComStar, but *4*. So much for the Word of Blake being the only group able to infiltrate ComStar.
So pretty much the only IC "proof" that the WoB was behind it can be ignored because the extended Superfriends are idiots.
The only OOC Proof is that in the ComStar Field Manual, the Precentor Martial of the WoB says "Not the Glengarry Black Label" with a small smile. Which is pretty much stretching it.
On the other hand, we know that pretty soon Sun Tzu would be retaking the St.Ives Compact. Having the Morgan as the head of the Capellan March would be alot worse than having his son or wife. We know that Sun Tzu's view of the Star League was "How much can I get out of this," meaning I can believe he was perfectly willing to get rid of Morgan, risking Serpent. After all, if Serpent fails, or takes longer, what has he lost? A regiment? On the other hand, he forces his opponents to dedicate more to the eradication of the Smoke Jaguars. And if the eradication fails, its not like it really affects him much. His realm isn't under attack by them.
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I've since chalked it up to one of those things that will never be answered, as there was never a determination to pursue that thread any further. There's a lot that doesn't make sense about it...for anybody at all to do it.
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To throw in a really crazy suggestion: Clan Smoke Jaguar Watch. :D
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Interesting theory's. I'd put my money on Katie Steiner but wouldn't be surprised on the Wobbies. I can see why the Chancellor would do it, but I just don't see him ordering the hit though.
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I don't recall for sure (I do recall him using some special poison only available to Combine assassins, though), but even if that was true, WoB ROM has thoroughly infiltrated every other intelligence agency. If you're going to assassinate someone, you should probably disguise yourself in as many ways as possible.
I actually just finished reading the book myself. The toxin used was a tetraodontoxin (or tetrodotoxin) available from different fish species on three worlds in both the Lyran Alliance and Draconis Combine.
When Gressman wrote the passages, I think he was trying to pull a slight of hand with mixed results of success. We never really saw Penrose until Sword and Fire, but in The Hunters we meet the nekekami quite early, of which there is a team member very skilled with poisons. Regardless, they don't seem to do much, but we do see Penrose agitating the other crew and goading them into talk of conspiracy theories.
I personally feel as there should have been more to this subplot and would have certainly made the books better. Gressman isn't a bad writer, but he could have been more refined when it came to this point since there is a lot of downtime where it seems nothing happens. A game of cat & mouse amongst the decks of The Invisible Truth involving DEST, Fox team, nekekami, and Penrose would have been a lot of fun.
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What about the mysterious JumpShip that was trailing the Serpent fleet? While I can buy into the idea that Sun Tzu would want Morgan gone and might have slipped an agent into the Task Force, I can't see him sending a JumpShip to follow.
The Word of Blake, however, would be very interested in following a fleet headed to Huntress - especially since they weren't attendees at the Whitting Conference and might not have been able to acquire the route yet.
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What about the mysterious JumpShip that was trailing the Serpent fleet? While I can buy into the idea that Sun Tzu would want Morgan gone and might have slipped an agent into the Task Force, I can't see him sending a JumpShip to follow.
The Word of Blake, however, would be very interested in following a fleet headed to Huntress - especially since they weren't attendees at the Whitting Conference and might not have been able to acquire the route yet.
That may well be a reason for them *not* to be able to follow the fleet. After all, how does a jumpship follow another, one week behind, without knowing the exact route planned for a year long trip? Can't very well see the ships at their destinations via telescope from the previous jump location (light years, how do they work?), while they have made clear it's possible to guess the size/origin point of a jump coming into the system you are sitting at, the information on outbound jumps is far less clear, especially if you do manage to guess their target system and jump into the the opposite nadir/zenith point at the next system to have nothing to track before it fades, assuming we can even determine how long such a radiation burst from the jump itself would last (minutes? hours? days?). Even then, what little info we have regarding "reading" jump fields implies it only suggests the ship sizes and approximate distance in light years of the other end - hit a system where you have more than one possible jump location by guessing wrong on the ship size and you can suddenly throw your tracking off by several weeks as you recharge, jump back, then find no more field remaining on the correct path.
While the Word would gain some benefit from attempting to follow or impede Serpent, without already knowing the planned route it would end up nearly impossible for them to follow the task force blindly. So it very likely had to be someone at the conference or able to plant agents to gain that information early enough to get a ship or so free to trail it along the expected route.
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The Word of Blake, however, would be very interested in following a fleet headed to Huntress - especially since they weren't attendees at the Whitting Conference and might not have been able to acquire the route yet.
Considering that the Word of Blake was heavily invested in factionalism at the time, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for us to speculate that, perhaps, two or more sub-sects were involved in the entire plot. For example, the Toyamas being responsible for Morgan's assassination, while the True Believers were the sect shadowing the fleet.
Perhaps neither sub-sect knew the other was involved -- each being intent on advancing their own agendas. Or it was simply a circumstance of cross-purposes between sects.
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Interesting theory's. I'd put my money on Katie Steiner but wouldn't be surprised on the Wobbies. I can see why the Chancellor would do it, but I just don't see him ordering the hit though.
Why not? He benefits heavily from it. A quite effective military leader is no longer going to be in control along of one of his borders, and it avenges the Capellan Confederation against a person that humiliated the CapCon during the 4th Succession War, and lead an attack against Sian itself.
Another point against it being the WoB. They had ComStar so heavily infiltrate at this point that setting up a fake background for the assassin would have been no problem. Heck, they could've used an assassin/ROM agent that wouldn't need a fake background, since they have people inside ComStar that are completely legit.
On the other hand, Penrose's background is exactly like the background of the Nekakami. A Blank. Able to be slipped into the fleet, but unable to be backstopped with a background. Which indicates a similar infiltration ability as the Nekekami, pointing to a Successor State.
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Why not? He benefits heavily from it. A quite effective military leader is no longer going to be in control along of one of his borders, and it avenges the Capellan Confederation against a person that humiliated the CapCon during the 4th Succession War, and lead an attack against Sian itself.
Which is why I think it's still probably unlikely. There's just too many fingers pointing the Chancellor's way.
I won't dismiss the likelihood, however, that Sun-Tzu wished a grisly fate for Morgan to occur sometime during the conflict.
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Which is why I think it's still probably unlikely. There's just too many fingers pointing the Chancellor's way.
I won't dismiss the likelihood, however, that Sun-Tzu wished a grisly fate for Morgan to occur sometime during the conflict.
Agreed. I think he'd have someone whack Kai or Victor before Morgan, and if STL had anything to do with it it would not be such a nice quiet death as posion. I mean he is Romano's son afterall...
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Kai and Victor are too high profile. Morgan's high pofile, but not to the same extent as Archon Prince Victor Steiner-Davion or Prime Minister to be Kai Allard-Liao.
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With Kai fighting on Solaris he wouldn't be that hard to take out. Pay off one tech to rig a knee to go out in the mountain arena and bam, one less heir to the Compact. And if Victor was a high vaule target, what does that make Melissa? Nobody is beyond the reach of assasination, but it doesn't seem quite Sun-Tzu's style to kill someone when he can discredit them or leave them helpless.
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I don't buy the Sun-Tzu theory either. There was no good reason for him to kill Morgan, relatively speaking. I personally think Kali did the deed, if only because her style is so erratic.
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I don't buy the Sun-Tzu theory either. There was no good reason for him to kill Morgan, relatively speaking. I personally think Kali did the deed, if only because her style is so erratic.
That's a pretty interesting one. Not sure that's quite how I'd imagine the Thugees operating though, and I don't know that I see Kali hiring an outside team to do it.
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That's a pretty interesting one. Not sure that's quite how I'd imagine the Thugees operating though, and I don't know that I see Kali hiring an outside team to do it.
Kali has acted independently "for the best interests of her brother/and the Confederation" before. And all without Sun-Tzu's knowledge/approval.
Perhaps she thought this was another of those times, and sought to remove Morgan... seeing it as a "gift" for her brother.
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Acting on her own to strengthen the CapCon and as a gift to Sunny Boy. I can really see Kali doing this. But, I think more likely that she'd have had some whackjob Thugee blow up whatever jump/dropship Morgan was on. And of course she'd take credit for it.
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Unless Sun-Tzu discovered she had Morgan killed and covered it up before it became widely known.
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If that were the case, you'd think he'd have been a little more aware of her tendencies prior to the gas attack.
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Unless Sun-Tzu discovered she had Morgan killed and covered it up before it became widely known.
I suppose that would depend on whether Sun-Tzu wanted to still continue to play nice with the Star League II and House Hasek.
To keep things civil, I suppose he could turn Kali over to the SLDF for punishment... much like he did for her eventual Tribunal after the Black May attacks. This allows him to distance both himself and the Confederation from Morgan's murder, and "claim" that Kali was acting on her own and without his approval.
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But that's hardly a satisfying alternative, as we've seen too much of that already. An unexpected twist would be for Sun-Tzu to accept what Kali had done, put his official stamp on it, and deal with the consequences, if any.
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Perhaps she thought this was another of those times, and sought to remove Morgan... seeing it as a "gift" for her brother.
Did she leave the dead body on the front step? That's how she usually shows something is a gift.
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There's a rumour floating around that says Kali wanted to leave it in a flaming bag on the front doorstep...
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Kali....I had not thought of. The poison was a neurotoxin, as well. While it was only found on worlds in the LC/DC,
I could see Thuggees knowing of it.
Of course, another possibility could be: the individual was a Mask sleeper agent, who got activated due to atomated
triggers. We know Romano had done that sort of thing.
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Kali as an option seems really questionable. We know she only shows subtlety and discretion leading up to any kills she arranges, then very proudly proclaims credit in the act itself as well as afterward. To top that off, any of her Thuggee agents would know exactly who they were working for - and we have some insight from the novels from Penrose's perspective that seems not to indicate any kind of fanatical religious devotion behind the attack (while the idea he was WoB is borderline on being religious motivation, there is no question Thuggees serving Kali view her as the living avatar of a goddess, and any murders they commit in her name earn a better afterlife).
From a technical standpoint, Kali would be possible, but looking at the means/method and what little we know from a meta-perspective, it seems much less likely.
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What about the idea of a deep and forgotten sleeper?
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Someone who wasn't even activated on purpose? That actually makes a great deal of sense, given the big swirl of confusion around the whole event.
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Someone who wasn't even activated on purpose? That actually makes a great deal of sense, given the big swirl of confusion around the whole event.
Hmmm, like a "here is a list of targets, if you ever get withing x KM of them, kill 'em?" type thing?
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Hmmm, like a "here is a list of targets, if you ever get withing x KM of them, kill 'em?" type thing?
Alternatively, maybe a simple transmission error. Given Mike Stackpole's established fondness for convoluted code-and-secret-message schemes, somebody could have finally simply slipped and sent the wrong order by mistake... ;)
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The most straightforward solution to the whole mess is that someone in the Katherine Stiener camp ordered the hit. Makes sense with her dislike of Victor and his supporters, she had her own high ranking officer around to try and take charge (we've seen that Katherine doesn't really care about chains of command), and she has a personal deal with Vlad in case things go south. And she may not have even given the order, it may have been one of the lesser psychos the followed her around.
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I still think Katherine had something to do with the hit. She was after power, and had her sights set on her father's realm with Victor out of the way.
Killing Morgan would have been one less asset for her brother to use against her. It was part of an overall scheme to neuter Victor.
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What do people make of the intro story to FM: Comstar? Trent Arian and Suzanne Mulvanery make a joke about Glengarry scotch (a poisoned bottle killed Morgan) right before their assasination.
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I could see it as Nondi Steiner, helping Katherine prepare for her the inevitable conflict with Victor, remove one of V's big supporters and assets (and with XP) then there isn't that many big folks left in the AFFC with major XP.
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What do people make of the intro story to FM: Comstar? Trent Arian and Suzanne Mulvanery make a joke about Glengarry scotch (a poisoned bottle killed Morgan) right before their assasination.
Glengarry Reserve was a label that enjoyed widespread popularity across both halves of the FedCom. It would have been more noteworthy if it was a more obscure drink.
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What about the idea of a deep and forgotten sleeper?
Hmm... In the aftermath of the Fourth Succession War, ComStar seeks to limit Hanse Davion's ambition. With that in mind, they activate an agent to assassinate Morgan Hasek-Davion, one of his best military minds and still close to the throne of the Federated Commonwealth.
However, with the assassination occurring thirty years later, one can only imagine that the athletic and therefore youthful assassin Penrose was born in 3029 and the sole intent to kill Morgan was implanted into his brain at birth!
Prove me wrong, folks. Prove me wrong.
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Hmm... In the aftermath of the Fourth Succession War, ComStar seeks to limit Hanse Davion's ambition. With that in mind, they activate an agent to assassinate Morgan Hasek-Davion, one of his best military minds and still close to the throne of the Federated Commonwealth.
However, with the assassination occurring thirty years later, one can only imagine that the athletic and therefore youthful assassin Penrose was born in 3029 and the sole intent to kill Morgan was implanted into his brain at birth!
Prove me wrong, folks. Prove me wrong.
It was actually Dan Allard. He was getting revenge on Morgan for taking the last basket of onion rings.
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Glengarry Reserve was a label that enjoyed widespread popularity across both halves of the FedCom. It would have been more noteworthy if it was a more obscure drink.
However, it's the drink that Victor had his MI5 agents steal from Katherine during the Star League conference as a going-away present, and the full details of Morgan's death were never made common knowledge.
The link is significant, but not definitive.
Sun-Tzu makes more sense than Word of Blake as a suspect, but then again the Word of Blake is not exactly known for rational behaviour, either.
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What do people make of the intro story to FM: Comstar? Trent Arian and Suzanne Mulvanery make a joke about Glengarry scotch (a poisoned bottle killed Morgan) right before their assasination.
However, it's the drink that Victor had his MI5 agents steal from Katherine during the Star League conference as a going-away present, and the full details of Morgan's death were never made common knowledge.
The link is significant, but not definitive.
Sun-Tzu makes more sense than Word of Blake as a suspect, but then again the Word of Blake is not exactly known for rational behaviour, either.
I dunno. Its a popular drink, and IIRC, it was known to be Morgan's favorite and only stolen by Victor's spies as a exercise.
The joke is also blown out of proportion.
As the vehicle sped down the tree-lined boulevard, Mulvanery leaned forward. "Drink?"
"You're a bad influence, but you twisted my arm," Arian said. "Not the Glengarry Black Label though." The edge of a smile twisted his lips.
Hardly conclusive, and barely sinister.
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However, it's the drink that Victor had his MI5 agents steal from Katherine during the Star League conference as a going-away present, and the full details of Morgan's death were never made common knowledge.
Wait a minute...Do we know if the bottle that morgan drank from, on the eve of the actual commencement of operations,
was that bottle? Is it possible that Penrose was a red herring, and the bottle was actually planted to kill Katherine?
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The Trent Arian quote is definitely suggestive...I like that as a possibility. Definitely not any sort of evidence mind you, but it does fit somewhat.
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I think the bottle or the pressurized transfer system were poisoned, but it happened on board the ship, since the bottle was 3/4ths full when Morgan took the poisoned drink, so it couldn't have been poisoned ahead of time.
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I think the bottle or the pressurized transfer system were poisoned, but it happened on board the ship, since the bottle was 3/4ths full when Morgan took the poisoned drink, so it couldn't have been poisoned ahead of time.
That, in fact, was one of the clues that tipped of the other commanders that it was poison and not simply a heart attack or other medical condition, because a new bottle had been left in his office.
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I think the bottle or the pressurized transfer system were poisoned, but it happened on board the ship, since the bottle was 3/4ths full when Morgan took the poisoned drink, so it couldn't have been poisoned ahead of time.
I'm pretty sure it was the transfer system. I don't think they found any in the bottle, but the system did have it. Which makes sense if it happened in space. Poisoning the bottle would mean that some of it would float out into the room, but the system could be hit just by pumping in from one container to another.
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What do people make of the intro story to FM: Comstar? Trent Arian and Suzanne Mulvanery make a joke about Glengarry scotch (a poisoned bottle killed Morgan) right before their assasination.
I always found that puzzling. Arian wasn't a Sixth of Juner, and while he was a part of Blake's Wrath prior to the schism all the accounts of him seemed to describe him as a forthright type of guy. Joking around about the Glengarry seemed out of character.
I also liked to think that Arian going boom was because Victor had convinced himself that WoB was responsible for Morgan's death, and he was flexing his newly acquired Precentor Martial muscles. I'm sure Victoria Pardeau would have been happy to help him out...
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I always found that puzzling. Arian wasn't a Sixth of Juner, and while he was a part of Blake's Wrath prior to the schism all the accounts of him seemed to describe him as a forthright type of guy. Joking around about the Glengarry seemed out of character.
He also wasn't in control of ROM at the time. I've always taken that statement to just be either "I don't like the drink," or "I'm making a (possibly) tasteless joke about a bad thing happening." I mean, there are real life examples of people making jokes about something without being involved. Its entirely possible that just the day before ROM let everyone know that they just found out how Morgan actually died so its fresh.
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An important consideration is that the event was written during the run up for the Fed-Com Civil war arc, and long before Wizkids enlarged the WoB Jihad arc into an all consuming bloodbath to set the stage for their Dark Age storyline.
Also remember that the WoB Jihad was set off by the collapse of the second star league. I don't think sabotaging the first campaign of the new SLDF would be high on their priority list.
The kuritans had the opportunity, but I can't see the kuritans sabotaging their own revenge against the smoke jaguars, especially when they have a vested interest in NOT pissing off VSD who is a political dream come true of a first prince.
While the capcon had the motive, their opportunity is questionable. Sure they would love to weaken the capellan march, but even with their enemies weakened by the clans and fresh imports from the FWL, they had no hope of taking back their worlds from a united commonwealth. Sun-Tsu had no way of knowing before bulldog left for huntress that katherine was about to cause a civil war.
From what I remember, the book seemed to pretty heavily hint that this was a botched attempt by katherine to implicate the kuritans.
Victor was shaping up to be the most pro-kurita archon/prince in many generations. If the frame had been successful, it would have the triple effect of removing one of Victor's strongest supporters and advisers, further alienating him from the kuritan border marches as well as many elements of AFFC, and putting the loyalty of the capellan march into question. Even a lack of confirmation that it wasn't the kuritans would work nearly as well.
Remember that Katherine was in the midst of seizing power while bulldog was en-route. The timing with the assassination seems a bit to good for it to be anyone but her orders IMO. No one else would have been in position to exploit his death for some time afterward, while katherine's plan was already in motion before his body was cold.
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The kuritans had the opportunity, but I can't see the kuritans sabotaging their own revenge against the smoke jaguars, especially when they have a vested interest in NOT pissing off VSD who is a political dream come true of a first prince.
Except for, you know, the Black Dragons who were willing to not only piss VSD off, but piss off the Coordinator himself by attempting to kill Omi and Victor on Luthien.
From what I remember, the book seemed to pretty heavily hint that this was a botched attempt by katherine to implicate the kuritans.
Victor was shaping up to be the most pro-kurita archon/prince in many generations. If the frame had been successful, it would have the triple effect of removing one of Victor's strongest supporters and advisers, further alienating him from the kuritan border marches as well as many elements of AFFC, and putting the loyalty of the capellan march into question. Even a lack of confirmation that it wasn't the kuritans would work nearly as well.
Remember that Katherine was in the midst of seizing power while bulldog was en-route. The timing with the assassination seems a bit to good for it to be anyone but her orders IMO. No one else would have been in position to exploit his death for some time afterward, while katherine's plan was already in motion before his body was cold.
Not discounting Katherine as a possiblity, but whoever was responsible would have had to give the order and insert their agent before Serpent left its rallying point to gather all the units before heading out toward the periphery border.
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Not discounting Katherine as a possiblity, but whoever was responsible would have had to give the order and insert their agent before Serpent left its rallying point to gather all the units before heading out toward the periphery border.
Well, Katherine did call for the conference that started the whole thing, and did push for the Smoke Jaguars to be the Clan they moved against. And if Task Force Serpent failed without Morgan, she still had the advantage of Vlad being in her corner. Really from her (quite possibly psychopathic) perspective things looked quite good.
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Fake Thomas Marik: He doesn't trust Hasek Davion to run the op honorably, and the next in line is someone who has to look much better for the job, Ariana. He even could tell Arian, explaining the quote.
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Well, Katherine did call for the conference that started the whole thing, and did push for the Smoke Jaguars to be the Clan they moved against.
Actually, Katherine tried for the Jade Falcons. Rather half-heartedly because of her alliance with Vlad; had the Falcons been hit by the SLDF she would have been left with the Wolves on her border and precious few reasons to not attack her secret lover/ally Vlad immediately thereafter. If she could have wrangled a way to get rid of the Falcons without risking that she may have taken it; as it was, the Jaguars were the perfect distraction.
Fake Thomas Marik: He doesn't trust Hasek Davion to run the op honorably, and the next in line is someone who has to look much better for the job, Ariana. He even could tell Arian, explaining the quote.
Wholly unsupported by the text, especially with Morgan's reputation for honourable conduct and respect throughout the Inner sphere; also by this stage Thomas Halas is not exactly dancing to the Word's tune in perfect step.
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I can't help but wonder if there's a missing piece of the puzzle that would make the assassination make perfect sense, like Morgan being involved in a plot to murder Katrina or something else that would put a giant target on his back.
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I killed Morgan, okay?!? He had it coming! He took the last Oreo, and didn't even offer to buy more!
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Sorry for Necro.
Reading through Twilight of the Clans myself and took to the internet to see if there was ever an answer to who pinched Morgan. This specific thread was all that came up, maybe there is a newer one on this subject I've missed?
My gut tells me Morgan did it himself. All sorts of allusion and foreshadowing in Exodus Road and Grave Covenant of Morgan acting oddly from Andrew's perspective, and thinking fatalistically (from his own). Still reading Sword and Fire to see what comes of it and for a reason since he doesn't seem to be suicidal. One thought is that he saw it as the last catalyst needed to fire up the task force to take the fight to the clans. He also didn't have much respect from the various task force subcommanders, all who were debating orders like a "quilting club" as he put it. Perhaps he saw them more likely to completely obey/respect Ariana, the leader of the group most associated with the original star league, and that his death would benefit the campaign more than his continued leadership.
He also had not just a letter ready in case he should die, he had all of his operational orders, along with a personal message to Ariana, and an actual package for his family. I understand foreseeing the possibility of not making it and preparing your second in command, but to go out and purchase or find something emotionally meaningful to give to your wife and soulmate as a gift is something done more when you have some knowledge of your imminent death, rather than the standard battlefield risk every soldier faces.
Here are a few more of my thoughts as to why it was Morgan:
First off, the existence and presence of this Nekekami squad was known to only Theodore Kurita, Morgan, and the squads themselves. The ciphers and codes to activate them only known to Nekekami leadership, Morgan, and the squad.
The Nekekami acted on orders received far into the course of the journey. I doubt even HPG could have gotten such a coded pulse to the exact system where the spirit cat got his orders. Even if the speed was there to get it on time, delays like the stopover for water, the reverse jump after kicking the Ghost Bears around, and the drop off to maroon the Ghost Bears who would not become bondsmen; would have meant such a pulse had came and went by the time the ship reached that system. They could theoretically have continued sending the same message for weeks or months, but that would have represented a tremendous operational risk, so the orders had to come from within the fleet.
I have to reject outright that the Nekekami would double cross their employer. They view themselves as the foremost elite intrigue unit of the inner sphere, probably justifiably, and to even claim an association with them when there isn't one can likely get you killed. (See the books of the early days when Theodore hinted that he employed the Nekekami and they left a mask that could easily have killed him, needles laced with neuro-poison) They view themselves with the same sort of honor and pride that all the elite merc units of the IS do like the Eridani Light Horse, the Highlanders, the Dragoons, etc. Professional pride and courtesy dictate that you don't turn on your employer, even for a better offer.
If they were working for their employer when they murdered Morgan, than they could only be serving either Theodore or Morgan. Considering Theodore was making great strides in bringing his realm into cooperation, and that he was as focused on the clans as the greatest threat as Victor and Morgan, I can't see him doing this. It wouldn't serve him, even if he would stoop to the level of ordering hits, and as there are no shortage of competent generals in the Fedcom, any hit would have been done at higher echelons, victor would have been the most probable target.
If it had to be someone employing the nekekami, and it wasn't Theodore, than it had to be Morgan. I am just waiting/hoping for "the why" as I read further.
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The problem with that is that there's still no evidence that the Nekekami had any connection to him.
Also, the whole idea that offing himself would somehow help the task force instead of making things that much harder for it to accomplish without his leadership and with the added paranoia his assassination would cause.
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The most compelling evidence I've seen suggests Word of Blake.
He was poisoned when he had his nightly drink of a specific brand of whiskey.
In the opening fiction of Field Manual: ComStar, two high level Word of Blake officials (going off memory here - Precentor Martial and aide) get into a hover limo and crow about success in pacifying Terra. One offers the other a drink, and the response is "as long as it isn't [brand of whiskey that killed Morgan]." Both laugh, then open the liquor cabinet in the limo, see a note there that gives them a brown-robe moment, and then blow sky high.
The main context of the scene is to dramatize the Master's work to rub out members of rival Word of Blake factions and consolidate his faction's control once Terra is back in Blakist hands. However, the in-joke between the Precentor Martial and his aide suggest that they knew the details of how Morgan was poisoned, implying that either they orchestrated the plan, or knew who did to a sufficient extent that they knew all the details.
Motivation - the Word of Blake wanted to amass a giant secret army, present it to the Star League after the Third Peaceful Transfer of Power, and then lead the charge to annihilate the Clans, becoming heroes of the Inner Sphere, and positioning themselves to lead Humanity to a glorious future under Blake. The last thing they want would be for Morgan to lead TASK FORCE SERPENT to successfully remove the Clan threat before the secret army is ready and the Third Transfer has come to pass - that steals their thunder. They figured Morgan was the only thing holding the multi-national task force together, and his murder has the greatest potential to make it end in failure.
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The problem with that is that there's still no evidence that the Nekekami had any connection to him.
Also, the whole idea that offing himself would somehow help the task force instead of making things that much harder for it to accomplish without his leadership and with the added paranoia his assassination would cause.
As I said, still haven't found a why, but why do you say no connection to the nekekami? Shortly before he dies, the mission leader gets the activation memo on the invisible truth, though we aren't given mission details.
There are 5 crewman in the task force with no record of existence, including Julia Davis, or as I call her, miss poison pants :P
Don't forget the shuriken that was thrown in Penrose's back coated in one of the most potent natural poisons known in all the Inner Sphere
The most compelling evidence I've seen suggests Word of Blake.
He was poisoned when he had his nightly drink of a specific brand of whiskey.
In the opening fiction of Field Manual: ComStar, two high level Word of Blake officials (going off memory here - Precentor Martial and aide) get into a hover limo and crow about success in pacifying Terra. One offers the other a drink, and the response is "as long as it isn't [brand of whiskey that killed Morgan]." Both laugh, then open the liquor cabinet in the limo, see a note there that gives them a brown-robe moment, and then blow sky high.
The main context of the scene is to dramatize the Master's work to rub out members of rival Word of Blake factions and consolidate his faction's control once Terra is back in Blakist hands. However, the in-joke between the Precentor Martial and his aide suggest that they knew the details of how Morgan was poisoned, implying that either they orchestrated the plan, or knew who did to a sufficient extent that they knew all the details.
Motivation - the Word of Blake wanted to amass a giant secret army, present it to the Star League after the Third Peaceful Transfer of Power, and then lead the charge to annihilate the Clans, becoming heroes of the Inner Sphere, and positioning themselves to lead Humanity to a glorious future under Blake. The last thing they want would be for Morgan to lead TASK FORCE SERPENT to successfully remove the Clan threat before the secret army is ready and the Third Transfer has come to pass - that steals their thunder. They figured Morgan was the only thing holding the multi-national task force together, and his murder has the greatest potential to make it end in failure.
can't really see it being the wobbies either. At least not from the scene you present. Both comstar and WOB both have very good intel ops so knowing how Morgan died, even not having been privy to the actual attempt is not at all surprising, especially after whoever was left of the 55K people on task force serpent got back to IS, word would spread pretty quick, and the steward at least knew cause of death.
As you point out, him doing so believing it would serve the task force better than to continue living is hard to believe, but it did have that affect. As well the foreshadowing of Morgan's impending death, even when the story is being told from his perspective, is hard to discount. I have the how, just need the why.
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As I said, still haven't found a why, but why do you say no connection to the nekekami? Shortly before he dies, the mission leader gets the activation memo on the invisible truth, though we aren't given mission details.
There are 5 crewman in the task force with no record of existence, including Julia Davis, or as I call her, miss poison pants :P
Don't forget the shuriken that was thrown in Penrose's back coated in one of the most potent natural poisons known in all the Inner Sphere
None of which actually demonstrates evidence that they were responsible for his death. And it especially fails to demonstrate that it was all some sort of elaborate suicide scheme by Morgan.
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The notion of Morgan Hasek-Davion offing himself is interesting. How do we know he wasn't killed earlier and replaced with a double, who was then killed?
I've been a proponent of the Word of Blake plot, since not only does it attempt to derail the Comstar-led efforts against the Clans, but also creates factionalism in the former FedSuns. George Hasek was not as blindly loyal as his father, and had his own agendas and goals.
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I just read through this thread and I realize it's been almost 20 years since I read Twilight of the Clans. Holy crap.
I'm going to go out on a limb, just to be different, and say that the assassin was a loyalist to Ryan Steiner. Just as a big middle finger to Victor. Because why not.
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It's also been 25 years since Ground Hog Day was released... for what it's worth.
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Do this Sherlock style . . .
Motive
Opportunity
Means
Motive . . . well, lots of folks have motive as has been discussed here but IMO the big ones in order would be Katherine, followed closely (or maybe surpassed) by Sun Tzu and finally Blakist. The Blakists I think have the weakest motive since its just 'chaos' but this is a point where the Blakists are working to get into the Star League and see it as a sign of their divine plan.
Opportunity- ComStar, covert Blakists in ComStar, AFFS staffers of his command, LIC/Loki
The poisoned drink was in his cabin. IIRC the zero-G bulb also showed the traces, I do not think they could point to it being either the bottle or the bulb where the poison was introduced. So, it would have had to be someone who had or could fabricate legitimate business on Truth and to be in the flag quarters section. I do not think he had guards posted at his door (which would be why old sailing captains & admirals had marines posted at their doors) so anyone who could find themselves in the area could make a run at the door locks. And if they got that far they would have the tools to enter the cabin. This gives us the first three in order.
LIC/Loki . . . if the poison some how made it from IIRC Glengarry all the way to the battlecruiser without being tested it COULD have been poisoned at the distillery or enroute to Morgan. IMO this is extremely unlikely (hello, food tasters!) as there is a reason nobility has been testing their food since poisons entered political discourse. But its BT where practical actions do not always happen . . .
Means- Who has the ability to pull off such a murder?
Word of Blake, ComStar, Sun-Tzu, Katherine
As the super-able bad guys of the time, the Word of Blake had all the high tech toys- ability to falsify credentials, electronic door picks, ROM's old databases with perhaps security overrides for ComStar ships, and methods of defeating seals on containers without leaving a trace. ComStar ROM could likely lay claim to the same things but they were shown to be a tad inept after the best left for Word of Blake. Also, both Word of Blake & ComStar would have the easiest time of putting together a action cell in Serpent or even on Truth unlike other possible actors- multiple agents attempting the assassination presents its own complications compared to a individual effort but it comes down to the plan.
Sun-Tzu would have the chops for a single agent effort IMO. In fact, being the Sun Tzu and having access to the communication and planning of the expedition would also give any assassin he sent a slight advantage over Katherine or anyone else outside of ComStar/WoB. And while we do not get a lot of looks at how Sun-Tzu has used his covert operations, we do have two glaring examples . . . Loren Jaffray was sent to disrupt the Highlanders' place in the AFFC and the 2nd Blackwind Lancers CO who was a deep cover operative. If you consider his motive strong enough to be playing the long game of weakening the AFFC, then it DOES follow those operational patterns.
Katherine has relied (or over-relied) on covert operations to allow her the public face of the peacemaker. Her propensity for assassins to solve problems is also well known so it fits her behavioral pattern. A enemy (by her definition) was out from behind much of his security in a different environment with a lot of 3rd party individuals present . . . which is a opportunity with a higher chance of success than trying to kill someone on their home grounds (Hello George). In fact, I think that she had a Ops Plan in place to end George on New Syrtis is a good indicator that she had Morgan on her 'to die' list.
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I feel like I should point out that the Word of Blake was never a monolith, so what makes sense to one faction might be unthinkable to another. Particularly, Cameron St Jaimas and his Sixth of June faction were serious loose cannons before their elevation to major players, and openly called for taking out every house leader to cause chaos.
Amusingly, the Master's tutelage actually seemed to calm Cameron and his supporters down quite a bit, but we don't know when they came under his sway. I think the idea that the Sixth of June did it just because is very possible.
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One of the reasons given for blaming the WoB in the novel (IIRC) is that only the WoB would have the means to infiltrate the Task Force, and thus it must be them!
Of course, this conveniently lets out the fact that the Task Force had been infiltrated by 4-5 other assassins. So if the Nekekami are able to do it, then certainly OTHER assassins are able to do it, without it having to be the WoB with their familiarity of ComStar operations.
I'd add another possibility. The Black Dragon Society. They've certainly shown themselves to be willing to do crazy things in order to lead the Combine in the direction that they want. Oh and gee. Look at that. They tried to assassinate the OTHER Davion commander of the Star League forces as well.
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On the thought that Sun Tzu might have arranged it, I'm going to have to say no, he didn't. His goal would have been preventing a great war leader from setting up shop in the Capallean March. Now killing Morgan does accomplish that, Sun Tzu would prefer a way that is less likely to cause problems down the line, so I figure that Sun Tzu would have arranged for Morgan to die in combat, right as the fight was won, so as to divert any outrage at his death towards the Clans.
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Only one other person on this thread has posted what I believe may be the progenitor of Morgan's death. Thomas Marik.
Why? Because his son Joshua died while in the care of Davion doctors and Victor attempted to plant a replacement... Victor has no kids of his own at this time, His father Hanse is dead so the only logical means at striking back at Victor would be the man he most recognizes as a mentor and confidant.
Marik SAFE agents would be very competent in assassinations considering their nation's history of civil wars...
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I thought SAFE was universally regarded as a joke organization and wholey incompetent?
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SAFE was listed as the least competent and effective intelligence service in the Inner Sphere, by both in and out-of-universe sources.
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Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a blue moon?
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By Thomas Marik, I am assuming the real Thomas and not Thomas Halas. Although it could have been a team-up using resources of WoB ROM and FWL SAFE.
Regardless, based on the story at the start of FM: ComStar, I have no doubt the Word was behind it -- at least its more fanatical elements.
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Halas would never have gone for something like that, he was too much of a white hat.
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Agreed. Although, I don't remember off hand how much of SAFE was compromised by the WoB.
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SAFE was listed as the least competent and effective intelligence service in the Inner Sphere, by both in and out-of-universe sources.
The CCAF was also a punch line until the Capellan Civil War. Granted it wasn't exactly an even matchup, but ensuring an unfair fight is a hallmark of good strategy, suggesting that not only were the Capellans competent at the tactical level, but their military now had proper leadership.
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I go with Katherine Steiner-Davion. She is the embodiment of everything that is evil in the Battletech universe.
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I have to agree with others .... Kali planned it and had it done.
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I have to agree with others .... Kali planned it and had it done.
I dunno. If Kali had been directing it, there would have been more Morgan-giblets floating around in the microgravity... Poisoned whiskey is too clean.
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Also, she'd have bragged about it.
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Maybe it was Hanse. If Morgan HD helped Hanse faked his death in 3052 and then became a liability...
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Maybe it was Hanse. If Morgan HD helped Hanse faked his death in 3052 and then became a liability...
uh... have we seen anything to suggest that Hanse pulled a switcheroo?
I dunno. If Kali had been directing it, there would have been more Morgan-giblets floating around in the microgravity... Poisoned whiskey is too clean.
I agree. Even if she was smart to enough to kill him clean, she couldn't keep her mouth shut.
The biggest sticking point is the timing. Why kill the task force commander BEFORE he has a chance to do his thing?
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The biggest sticking point is the timing. Why kill the task force commander BEFORE he has a chance to do his thing?
That's why I still feel the Word of Blake makes the most sense. They wanted Task Force SERPENT to fail miserably, so that they could ride in to the rescue with their secret fleet and army, earning the gratitude of the entire Inner Sphere and seizing an unassailable leadership role from which to reshape human civilization in Blake's image.
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That's why I still feel the Word of Blake makes the most sense. They wanted Task Force SERPENT to fail miserably, so that they could ride in to the rescue with their secret fleet and army, earning the gratitude of the entire Inner Sphere and seizing an unassailable leadership role from which to reshape human civilization in Blake's image.
I know WoB had retaken Terra by that point, but were the MD and the Shadow Divisions percolating in the Dev's minds by that point?
Honestly, I don't think there is an answer to this one. I think that the devs had a couple ideas about which way to take it if they wanted to follow up, but at the end of the day, i think they just did it to give players a story hook.
Speaking of... i remember a passage during TF Serpent's trip. There was a sensor operator who thinks he saw an odd EM signature when the Invisible Truth made a jump. I remember that his internal monologue remarks that in the course of the journey, he'd seen the Truth's jump signature from just about every angle. When was this in relation to Morgan's death?
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Speaking of... i remember a passage during TF Serpent's trip. There was a sensor operator who thinks he saw an odd EM signature when the Invisible Truth made a jump. I remember that his internal monologue remarks that in the course of the journey, he'd seen the Truth's jump signature from just about every angle. When was this in relation to Morgan's death?
The Jihad had been proposed very early, but the first draft was just a throwdown between ComStar and the WoB, without the massive upheaval the Jihad eventually became.
The odd EM signature, I believe, was a reference to a close call as the Ghost Bears were migrating their entire population to the Inner Sphere. The Bears were jumping in just as SERPENT jumped out.
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Hmm . . . a ComStar vs Blakist & Blakist vs AMC war . . .
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The odd EM signature, I believe, was a reference to a close call as the Ghost Bears were migrating their entire population to the Inner Sphere. The Bears were jumping in just as SERPENT jumped out.
SERPENT went down a path that followed Exodus Road, didn't it? While the Ghost Bear migration would have followed a different path.
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I'm going off vague memories. Perhaps it was the Snow Ravens en route to the Outworlds Alliance, which would have been more likely to overlap the Exodus Road.
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Serpent encountered a Ghost Bear convoy that was en route to the Inner Sphere.
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SERPENT went down a path that followed Exodus Road, didn't it? While the Ghost Bear migration would have followed a different path.
I thought they took a parallel path, specifically to avoid exactly what happened at Trafalgar. Too bad the Ghost Bears had the same idea...
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I think Katherine Steiner-Davion was responsible for Morgan's death. She was trying to take over the Federated Commonwealth and getting rid of Morgan would have prevented him from coming back solidly on Victor's side and it would make TF Serpent less effective increasing the chances that Victor would die in battle. She wouldn't really care if the destruction of the Smoke Jaguars succeeded because it wasn't on her side of the border and any failure would probably increase her chances at getting elected First Lord and discredit Victor.
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I think Katherine Steiner-Davion was responsible for Morgan's death. She was trying to take over the Federated Commonwealth and getting rid of Morgan would have prevented him from coming back solidly on Victor's side and it would make TF Serpent less effective increasing the chances that Victor would die in battle. She wouldn't really care if the destruction of the Smoke Jaguars succeeded because it wasn't on her side of the border and any failure would probably increase her chances at getting elected First Lord and discredit Victor.
Killing Morgan so he can't return as the conquering hero makes sense. Preventing him from bringing all that political mojo into Victor's camp is just plain smart. But this is the first idea I've seen that answers the question of why kill Morgan BEFORE he finished handing the Jag's their butts. As I recall, Katherine already had an alliance with Vlad Ward by the time of the Whitting Conference.
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Killing Morgan so he can't return as the conquering hero makes sense. Preventing him from bringing all that political mojo into Victor's camp is just plain smart. But this is the first idea I've seen that answers the question of why kill Morgan BEFORE he finished handing the Jag's their butts. As I recall, Katherine already had an alliance with Vlad Ward by the time of the Whitting Conference.
She formed her alliance with Vlad while the Falcons were camped on Coventry, which was the incident that led to the Whitting Conference.
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and it would make TF Serpent less effective increasing the chances that Victor would die in battle.
How so? Victor was not a part of Serpent and the original plan did not involve him going to the Clan Homeworlds at all; that only happened because the Jaguars collapsed so rapidly and a significant force fled back to the Homeworlds. I don’t see how Katherine could have expected Morgan’s death to increase Victor’s chances of dying in battle.
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Presumably because if Serpent failed (and the Jaguars hadn't turned out to be such a paper tiger), it would have led to a renewed offensive by the Jaguars that Victor would feel obligated to fight in.
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Seems like an awful big stretch.
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Kitty was not exactly the most logical or rational person in the Inner Sphere. She did have a tendency to assume that situations would be resolved with specific outcomes regardless of how likely said outcomes were simply because they were the outcomes she wanted.
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Seems like an awful big stretch.
Not that big. In Katherine's mind, Victor is a little more than a reasonably clever monkey, albiet one who is a dang good war captain. There is no doubt in Katherine's mind that Victor will fight the Jaguars until either he's dead or they are.