It says the Horses trialed DI back in the 3080s. The Wolves had 50 years to notice and aquire it themselves.
Eh... The Parash 3 text indicates that getting video of the Parash 3 or DI salvage has been a very rare thing for those 50 (actually 44 if I did the math right) years. And when it did happen, the implications went unnoticed, even by other Clans and the Inner Sphere's best post-Jihad intel orgs in the Republic. Maybe through the fiat of Kerensky, the Wolves got lucky with some video/isorla, and their Watch was also actually on the ball in recognizing the technology's potential. But given the Parash 3 text and the lack of a follow-through DI design by the Horses, it seems somewhat more likely that the Horses made the Wolves aware of the DI technology, probably through their various design/development/manufacturing agreements with the Exiles (Cygnus, Hellstar) and probably after the Wolves abandoned their OZ, and struck a deal.
It's also possible that there is no link between the Parash 3 and Skinwalker. At the end of the Skinwalker text, it states that Stone wants to know where the _Wolves_ got the DI technology, and that the Parash 3 is an unsatisfactory answer. (Or maybe Stone is just getting post-freeze crazier and seeing Blakie conspiracies where there are none.)
The Foxes are mentioned because they aquire everything.
Yeah, the Foxes certainly could have been an intermediary instead of or in addition to the Exiles.
The Ravens are mentioned because they used to build Storm Crows and the Wolves didn't
So did the Horses. (They originated the Stormcrow design.) It doesn't make sense to single out the Ravens over the Horses on Stormcrows if the Ravens are not actually connected to the Skinwalker.
It's also interesting that both of the two remaining Clan users of protomechs in the Inner Sphere get implicated in the Skinwalker's development, which makes sense given the DI technology.
It is specifically said later that the Ravens aren't rich enough to exploit DI.
That motive may also be indicative of deals being struck, i.e., Ravens provide Stormcrow blueprints, parts, caches, or production in exchange for some of the upgraded Skinwalkers because the Ravens lack the resources to integrate the technology on a modified/new design themselves.
It's interesting to compare the spread of DI technology among the Council of Six to the spread of omnimech technology among the original Clans. Some of that diffusion was done via trials of possession or isorla from other trials, but some diffusion was also done in the absence of trials (political or economic deals and outright sharing through alliances).
It is a leap to connect this to the Wolves.
I didn't connect the Lev III to the Wolves. I just said it's like the Council of Six is finally getting its act together. As allies from before they left the Homeworlds and now with a common enemy in the Combine, the Bears and Ravens arguably should have been doing more than joint warship production a long time ago.
Um. It barely says any of that.
I dunno. Like most BT sources, and especially since the Jihad kicked off, XTRO:RIII is written ambiguously. Your perspective depends heavily on what "hints" you want to take as actual foreshadowing versus what "hints" you think are merely red herrings. Time will tell.
