FedSuns Asteroid Bombardment - Believable?

[Isanova]

So we all know the Asteroid Bombardments have been attributed to the WoB, I believe it was in the Touring The Stars articles (but hey, even those were written in-character, no?) but that, at the time, the Concordat believed that the genocide on Samantha (Taurus' capital) was lain at the hands of the Fed Suns. A lot of players decry this as proof of the IC-Taurian mentality of Davion -man syndrome, but is that really fair? Consider what we know:

1: The first example of such a strike was on a Combine world, traditionally an enemy of the AFFS. Granted it was attributed to a natural disaster, but after Taurus I am sure many a folk were looking at it with suspicion. SASF forces in the Taurus eight-fold binary system just happened to intercept the asteroid sooner and notice the dropship engines attached to the asteroids, something the lesser defenses on Al Nair (I think?) wouldn't have.

2: Wreckage retrieved from said asteroid engines (presumably battle damage/debris from TDN/SASF attempts to shoot them down) provided proof that the engines were constructed in the Federated Suns, at least according to the TC's specialist. There is no reason to suspect they are lying, though it is a fairly simple matter for the WoB (or whomever) to buy engines from Panpour/Kallon/Wherever.

3: The TC were at war with the AFFS, with the only other players in the region (WoB, CC, MoC) their nominal allies. Two of those allies stood to lose significantly in the destruction (and loss of access) to the industrial complexes near Samantha. No other power save the Federated Suns, and Capellan March in particular, stood to benefit (from an in-character perspective)

4: With the inexplicable attack of the Fighting Urakhai, who were under AFFS contract and admittedly gained JS coordinate intel on the system from the FS, it would make sense to the average person in hindsight to see said attack as a possible cover for inserting the Asteroid WMDs into the system.

5: No other nation, perhaps even including the allied WoB, CC and MoC, were known to have JS coordinates for safe access to the system. This given the old-book knowledge that the Concordat had their own pilots control all traffic into-and-out-of system... presumably even for old C* personnel and cargo transfers. It would make sense not to abandon this precaution even when it comes to their allies. To my knowledge, no high-level dignitary (Sun-Tzu Liao, Naomi Centrella, etc) have ever taken a trip to the Taurus system, with the possible exception of Emma Centrella to sign the Treaty of Taurus... and we aren't even sure that she signed it there. Rationale being that no Head of State would put himself/herself at risk of being at another nation's JS crew, except Emma did have a strong relationship with Jeffrey.


Given all of the above, would it not be reasonable, even rational to lay the blame for the Samantha Tragedy squarely on the head of the Davions? Would it also not be reasonable to go rather feral in your ongoing war with them? Nuking a city is a bit much IMO, but I could see no qualms as a TDF officer with launching Santa Anna's or orbital bombardment at enemy troops, military bases and the like.

[Stormfury]

3066: Taurian Concordat assualts the Pleiades Cluster
3067: Jihad begins; Word of Blake known to be conducting false-flag operations across all borders
   The Fighting Urukhai arrive over Taurus and are destroyed
3068: Taurian Concordat deploys additional WMDs to Pleaides
3070: By now, the Word of Blake has assualted virtually every capital, House or regional, world with WMDs, including assaulting Sian with orbital strikes and attempting to frame the Federated Suns.
   In March, the Calderon Protectorate attacks Concordat worlds to protect them, citing Shraplen's monomania while the Word of Blake strike at everyone.
   Taurian anti-Davion hysteria begins to peak (see Taurus Next?, p. 107 JHS: 3070)
3071: In March, the Word of Blake razes Crimson, capitol of the Magistracy.
   In June, the Taurian Concordat claims the unprovoked assualt on the Pleiades Cluster is a "liberation" and that the Bromhead Massacre was falsified (See Tooth and Nail, p. 32 JHS: 3072)
3074: On the first of May, asteroids with DropShip engines attached strike Taurus (seven years after the Urukhai arrived... p. 55, TBD)
   On the 19th of May, TCS Vendetta is named and dispatched to begin its campaign of terror against civilians (same page).
3075: On the 18th of July, an asteroid strikes Shinonoi (p. 56, JHS: 3076)

If I had been watching the Word of Blake make repeated WMD attacks against everyone for the seven years since the Jihad began, including and especially those who were allied closely with the Word of Blake, I would conclude that the attack on Taurus was the work of the Word of Blake.

It's the same thing they've been doing for the better part of a decade, including making such attacks appear to be the work of traditional enemies.

The length of time between the Urukhai's arrival and the asteroid strike rules that one out. If it had happened within a few months, maybe it might make sense to accuse the Suns.

Like I say, the key thing here is that the Concordat has been sitting on the sidelines watching this exact same thing happen to everyone at the hands of the Word of Blake... and when even their countrymen are saying "Dude, calm down- leave the Suns alone, it's the Word of Blake who are doing this!" they still blame the Suns and dispatch a mission only tangentially aimed at striking military targets. IE, playing into the Word's hands, which they were also warned about.

So, frankly, yes. Knee-jerk IC anti-Davion fanaticism at its finest.

[Deadborder]

Bearing in mind that, at the time, the Taurians considered the Word their allies. After all, the Taurians were more then happy to accept a Word-refitted Warship to lalow them to visit atrocities on FedSuns worlds. They've got no reaosn to think that their earstwile supporters would do such a thing to them.

After all, the Word hasn't yet acted openly in any way shape or form against the Concordat, and has been opely at war with the FedSuns for the better part of seven years now. In fact, the Jihad has prevented the AFFS from simply crushing the TDF and driving them out of the Peladies by keeping the bulk of their resources elsewhere.

Added to this, Word is likely running/controlling the HPG network in the Concordat, giving them ample opportunity to manipulate the flow of information coming from the rest of the IS.

From the Taurian perspective, it's entirely reasonable to make that leap. The Taurians have had a paranoid fear of the FedSuns for centuries. The TDF finally moves to reclaim their lost worlds, and then abruptly there's a targeted attack aginst the Taurian capitol. Frankly I don't see how they could have reached any other conclusion

[beachhead1985]

if you're paranoid enough, anything is believeable

[Maelwys]

Just a few small things...

3066: Taurian Concordat assualts the Pleiades Cluster
3067: Jihad begins; Word of Blake known to be conducting false-flag operations across all borders
   The Fighting Urukhai arrive over Taurus and are destroyed

This probably needs to be clarified/rearranged. According to FM:U, the Urukhai attacked (possibly twice) the TC before the TC attacked the FedSuns in what were supposed to be punitive raids, but due to the ease of combat a couple of units pushed on to the Pleides Cluster. All this happened well before the start of the Jihad, by nearly a year in some cases.

3070: By now, the Word of Blake has assualted virtually every capital, House or regional, world with WMDs, including assaulting Sian with orbital strikes and attempting to frame the Federated Suns.

Eh, I dunno about this. Are we counting orbital bombardment? Then maybe I can see it. But in terms of NBC, the only House capital that got hit was Atreus. Sian was just orbital bombardment, the perpetrator being whoever the Chancellor needed his troops fighting against at that moment (I've never seen any proof one way or another, heck, there's just as much evidence that Sun Tzu did it as the Blakists). Tharkad's "nuke" wasn't a nuke, the nukes on Luthien were Black Dragon Society, and there's an IC passage in a story that states that WMDs were expressly prohibited on New Avalon. Regional capitals, maybe. I'm not versed well enough with them.

And lets face it. If the WoB had been known to be using giant rocks to hit planets, then suspecting them might be worthwhile, but they weren't known for it.

"So could it have been the WoB? They've been using Nukes and bioweapons." "We got hit by a rock, not exactly the same, is it?"

[Saul]

No absolutely wrong it was the TC's government. They just needed an excuse to toss nukes around.  :P

[nckestrel]

That's it, we need a Jihad Sourcebook, from the Taurians pespective!

Fed Suns nukes Tharkad for serving cold beer! (or warm beer, exact details unclear)
Fed Suns subverts DCMS, civil war in Luthien!
Fed Suns gets revenge on Northwind Highlanders and Wolf's Dragoons for taking land holdings and then completely ignoring their region of the FedSuns dissolving in to Chaos March.  Bombards Outreach to the Stone Age!  Northwind disappears from maps!
Fed Suns invades Terra! (Well, VSD does, and not so well...)

[cray]

3066: Taurian Concordat assualts the Pleiades Cluster
3067: Jihad begins; Word of Blake known to be conducting false-flag operations across all borders
   The Fighting Urukhai arrive over Taurus and are destroyed
3068: Taurian Concordat deploys additional WMDs to Pleaides
3070: By now, the Word of Blake has assualted virtually every capital, House or regional, world with WMDs, including assaulting Sian with orbital strikes and attempting to frame the Federated Suns.
   In March, the Calderon Protectorate attacks Concordat worlds to protect them, citing Shraplen's monomania while the Word of Blake strike at everyone.
   Taurian anti-Davion hysteria begins to peak (see Taurus Next?, p. 107 JHS: 3070)
3071: In March, the Word of Blake razes Crimson, capitol of the Magistracy.
   In June, the Taurian Concordat claims the unprovoked assualt on the Pleiades Cluster is a "liberation" and that the Bromhead Massacre was falsified (See Tooth and Nail, p. 32 JHS: 3072)
3074: On the first of May, asteroids with DropShip engines attached strike Taurus (seven years after the Urukhai arrived... p. 55, TBD)
   On the 19th of May, TCS Vendetta is named and dispatched to begin its campaign of terror against civilians (same page).
3075: On the 18th of July, an asteroid strikes Shinonoi (p. 56, JHS: 3076)

Good summary, but some of its references are from an out-of-character perspective and it is incomplete.

It is incomplete in that it doesn't address the rest of the picture that the Taurians are seeing: the dirty works all other factions were conducting during (before, and after) the Jihad - WoB got in the news, but it wasn't alone. MIIO, ISF, Loki, etc. didn't sit on their hands. While the JHS publications understandably focus on WoB, they're only snippets of all the news and intelligence reports flying around. With so few conventional forces in the Pleides, you can bet the FS was using MIIO to bedevil the Taurians, and the Taurians would be acutely sensitive to those incidents, moreso than WoB stunts that didn't involve the Concordat.

The out-of-character issue it isn't so clear in-character which incidents were WoBbies in disguise. I mean, that's kind of the point of false flagging: sometimes it works and no one's the wiser until years after the war. Yes, WoB was caught redhanded a few times. Others, it wasn't, and is mostly clear to fans who get the out-of-character perspective unavailable to the Taurians.

And sometimes the target nation wants to believe what it hears. WoB didn't even run a false flag operation when it bombarded Tharkad, but some confused news reports about Capellan involvement led the Capellan March to invade the Confederation. The Taurians, meanwhile, probably had an institutional issue where they didn't want to admit that they'd started a nuclear war with the Federated Suns over a mistake. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident is another example.

So I wouldn't say it was "super-rabid Taurian anti-Davionism," but somewhat more restrained institutional blinders and the complicated situation before the bombardment.

That's it, we need a Jihad Sourcebook, from the Taurians pespective!

Heh. I'm reminded of the townhall meeting in "Super 8": "It was the Soviets!"

[Stormfury]

After all, the Taurians were more then happy to accept a Word-refitted Warship to lalow them to visit atrocities on FedSuns worlds. They've got no reaosn to think that their earstwile supporters would do such a thing to them.

As did the Circinian Federation, Marian Hegemony, Magistracy of Canopus, Free Worlds League and Capellan Confederation.

This probably needs to be clarified/rearranged. According to FM:U, the Urukhai attacked (possibly twice) the TC before the TC attacked the FedSuns in what were supposed to be punitive raids, but due to the ease of combat a couple of units pushed on to the Pleides Cluster. All this happened well before the start of the Jihad, by nearly a year in some cases.

Originally I had years beside everything, but it looked cumbersome so I re-organised it. Messed up the order a bit. Both Urukhai "incursions" were in '66.

However, elements of the Urukhai left their posts and travelled to Taurus, planning to offer their services. The Taurians over-reacted, claimed it was a Davion ploy to destroy them, and then killed the Urukhai. The remainder of the unit then went rogue, abandoned their posts, and attempted to punish the Taurian Concordat for killing their comrades (p. 186, FM: U).

Shraplen was convinced that the Davions were going to attack the Concordat in force (despite, you know, being embroiled in a civil war and uninterested in adding more woes to what already existed) and launched the Pleiades campaign as a first strike when no Davion invasion presented itself.

So, basically, anti-Suns paranoia right from the outset. The Concordat actively looks for things to blame on the Federated Suns, and when nothing real presents itself, they start something by themselves.

Eh, I dunno about this. Are we counting orbital bombardment? Then maybe I can see it.

WMD hasn't always been a term used to describe nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons. Although that's what the word might invoke, it does mean something else; to avoid a RL politics lock-down, we shall simply describe it as a weapon used to inflict wanton and needless loss of life and/or destruction of property. The term was coined after carpet-bombing, after all.

I would say that orbital strikes with WarShip weaponry, particularly against civillian targets (which occurred on Sian, Tharkad and New Avalon) does count. Not only that, but you've got the nuclear attacks on Kathil, the plague on Alarion, neutron bombs on Alphard, and many other Blakist atrocities to contend with.

And lets face it. If the WoB had been known to be using giant rocks to hit planets, then suspecting them might be worthwhile, but they weren't known for it.

"So could it have been the WoB? They've been using Nukes and bioweapons." "We got hit by a rock, not exactly the same, is it?"

But the Federated Suns is famed for its preferred "rocks fall, everyone dies" strategy?

That it was the Word of Blake's doing was, and is, pretty blatantly obvious.

[Maelwys]

WMD hasn't always been a term used to describe nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons. Although that's what the word might invoke, it does mean something else; to avoid a RL politics lock-down, we shall simply describe it as a weapon used to inflict wanton and needless loss of life and/or destruction of property. The term was coined after carpet-bombing, after all.

I would say that orbital strikes with WarShip weaponry, particularly against civillian targets (which occurred on Sian, Tharkad and New Avalon) does count. Not only that, but you've got the nuclear attacks on Kathil, the plague on Alarion, neutron bombs on Alphard, and many other Blakist atrocities to contend with.

I was just curious, since you seemed to count the orbital bombardment of Sian as different than the other WMD attacks. "By now, the Word of Blake has assualted virtually every capital, House or regional, world with WMDs, including assaulting Sian with orbital strikes and attempting to frame the Federated Suns."

But the Federated Suns is famed for its preferred "rocks fall, everyone dies" strategy?

That it was the Word of Blake's doing was, and is, pretty blatantly obvious.

Nope, the FedSuns isn't known for it, but when ICly none of the factions are known for it, you go to where the evidence points. And in this case, ICly it was to the Davions.

It would be like in MWDA if someone managed to actually blow up a planet, and the only clue was a "Stone was here!" message scrawled on the floating remains. Sure, ICly we may know its the Chicken aliens from Far Country, but to people without that universal view, they're going to go with the evidence they know about.

ICly, What faction was known for dropping rocks on people? No one.
ICly, Who does the evidence point to? The FedSuns.
ICly, Who is known to have purchased the route into the Cluster? The FedSuns.
ICly, Who is the TC currently at war with? The FedSuns.

It doesn't sound like its that far of a leap.

[Stormfury]

I was just curious, since you seemed to count the orbital bombardment of Sian as different than the other WMD attacks. "By now, the Word of Blake has assualted virtually every capital, House or regional, world with WMDs, including assaulting Sian with orbital strikes and attempting to frame the Federated Suns."

Nah. Not differentiation; just re-iterating that the Word of Blake had already struck capitol worlds and attempted to shift the blame elsewhere by the time Taurus was hit.

It doesn't sound like its that far of a leap.

If any other nation that had thus far been spared the ravages of the Jihad were so targeted, the reaction would have been different. The Word of Blake put in greater effort to fool others and their hand was still detected, even by the Clans. Taurian paranoia runs deep and is long established; the timeline does not match up for it to be the work of the Suns, and it's known that the Word of Blake is trying to convince everyone to fight everyone else. By now, the Taurians have been sitting around for seven years to figure that one out. One would expect the fact they even had the Vendetta lying around ready to go to be a bit convenient, but there you go.

If they didn't have such a rabid focus on the Federated Suns (which frankly only notices the Concordat when the Taurians attack it), they'd not have been such easy marks. And they certainly would have been able to figure out where the blame really lay.

Which makes more sense? That a nation incapable of freeing its own capitol or preventing the seccession of large swathes of its own territory somehow managed to make a massive endevour deep into enemy territory to employ a tactic they are known for hating, or that the mysterious, fanatical organisation that for seven years has been engaging in such attacks and trying to convince the targets it was someone else doing it?

I know where I put my money when the attacks on Taurus were first discussed, and I was entirely unsurprised when that was vindicated.

Ultimately, it didn't matter what evidence the Word planted. The Taurian Concordat was only ever going to identify one culprit- the same one they have always blamed every imagined slight on.

[Minemech]

 It is not a big leap for a state to invade another state in the middle of a civil war. Pancho Villa is famous for it. Later on it happened during the Vietnam War big time (See Laos and Cambodia).

EDIT: Formerly made it sound like Pancho Villa invaded Cambodia andLaos, minor correction needed.

[Gracus]

Real life is rife with examples of people believing the unbelievable.  Why should the Taurians be any different?

[Crunch]

Tharkad's "nuke" wasn't a nuke

If you use orbital bombardent on a nuclear reactor and it blows up you don't get to claim that it was an "accident".

[monbvol]

Thinking about it I have a far more sinister and twisted explanation.

The Blakists told the Inheritors they were going to try and get everyone to fight each other.  The Inheritors decided they'd be willing patsies in this conspiracy.  Combined with the fact that the WoB does run the Taurian HPGs and the lack of other outside information the Inheritors use their subtle influence to push the TDF into a war that even though it cannot win it does accelerate the goals of both the Inheritors and the Word of Blake, ostensibly that being the removal of the war mongerors and a new age of peace and prosperity for mankind.

[Maelwys]

If you use orbital bombardent on a nuclear reactor and it blows up you don't get to claim that it was an "accident".

I don't think they did. Masters and Minions doesn't state that they fired on the reactor. It states that tremors caused by the bombardment caused the "snow-burdened" roof to collapse, which caused fires, which caused an explosion.

It wasn't intentional. If it was, there'd be a statement like "And the WoB targeted the nuclear reactor." When heavily biased (against) sources don't even state that they targeted the reactor, they probably didn't target the reactor.

[monty]

The Taurians were at war with the FedSuns and had evidence that the asteroid drives were made in the FedSuns so yes it was a reasonable assumption for them to make that the FedSuns did it. If they hadn't recovered the drive parts would they still have blamed the FedSuns and gone on a rampage against them? Probably yes, and that would have been a little less reasonable but even without the drive parts the FedSuns would still be their number 1 suspect. A possible reason for the FedSuns to launch the attack while at war with WOB and unable to retake New Avalon could have been to inflict a devestating, but deniable blow against the Taurians, weakening their economy and war effort, distracting them with humanitarian & rebuilding efforts and damaging their morale, weakening them until the FedSuns was in a better position to deal with them. Likely no, but at least as plausible to the Taurians as their allies in WOB did it to make them fight harder against the people they've hated centuries, where extra motivation really wasn't needed.

[Stormfury]

It's also worth pointing out that the only evidence linking the Suns to the attack on Taurus was the origin of the parts; the Word of Blake, aside from their shell games, attacked and occupied a number of Suns-held worlds with major Drop ports (including New Avalon) and struck at both Galax and Kathil, making off with a number of JumpShips in one of those cases.

It's not exactly as though the case was water-tight. If a weapon purchased from nation number one is used to kill someone from nation number two, it does not demonstrate or even suggest that someone from nation number one was the killer.

I don't think they did. Masters and Minions doesn't state that they fired on the reactor. It states that tremors caused by the bombardment caused the "snow-burdened" roof to collapse, which caused fires, which caused an explosion.

Still immaterial. The Word of Blake deliberately opened fire on a civilian target, against whom there was not even a state of war declared upon.

The Word wanted to kill people (a lot of people, in fact); the methodology was entirely irrelevant.

[monty]

I don't think they did. Masters and Minions doesn't state that they fired on the reactor. It states that tremors caused by the bombardment caused the "snow-burdened" roof to collapse, which caused fires, which caused an explosion.

It wasn't intentional. If it was, there'd be a statement like "And the WoB targeted the nuclear reactor." When heavily biased (against) sources don't even state that they targeted the reactor, they probably didn't target the reactor.

Still immaterial. The Word of Blake deliberately opened fire on a civilian target, against whom there was not even a state of war declared upon.

The Word wanted to kill people (a lot of people, in fact); the methodology was entirely irrelevant.

Yeah, we just wanted to blow them up, we didn't mean to irradiate the corpses really isn't the best excuse in the world.

[Warclaw]

Speaking as a Taurian Fan: 

Am I surprised that the TC blamed the Davions?  No.  They were the traditional "bogeyman" after all, and the average Taurian was predisposed to blame the Davions for all sorts of ills with little proof, if any, needed.

That being said, as others have pointed out, the "Evidence" is circumstantial at best, and SHOULD have been looked at with a much more jaundiced eye.  That it was not, is a reflection I think, on the prejudices of the TC and that the evidence they had strongly agreed with what they were already inclined to believe. People tend not to question things that AGREE with them after all.

I don't know that I would have made the jump to "The WoB did it", but at very least the evidence SHOULD have been analyzed with a much more dispassionate view than was apparently done.

 

I don't think they did. Masters and Minions doesn't state that they fired on the reactor. It states that tremors caused by the bombardment caused the "snow-burdened" roof to collapse, which caused fires, which caused an explosion.

It wasn't intentional. If it was, there'd be a statement like "And the WoB targeted the nuclear reactor." When heavily biased (against) sources don't even state that they targeted the reactor, they probably didn't target the reactor.

Doesn't matter if it was intentional.  It was a direct result of their actions which WERE intentional.  Put another way:  If I set a fire with the INTENT of clearing land, but it gets away from me and burns down a school, killing a dozen kids, do you really think I wouldn't be held accountable?

[Maelwys]

Still immaterial. The Word of Blake deliberately opened fire on a civilian target, against whom there was not even a state of war declared upon.

The Word wanted to kill people (a lot of people, in fact); the methodology was entirely irrelevant.

Of course its material when pointing the error of someone suggesting that the the WoB deliberately targeted the reactor to make it, or the radioactive materials stored there to explode. The Jihad is filled with enough confusion without allowing such statements to pass. Might as well not correct someone if they say the WoB were the ones that nuked Luthien/LAW.

Doesn't matter if it was intentional.  It was a direct result of their actions which WERE intentional.  Put another way:  If I set a fire with the INTENT of clearing land, but it gets away from me and burns down a school, killing a dozen kids, do you really think I wouldn't be held accountable?

I never said anything about not being held accountable. I said they didn't deliberately target the reactor, and since it took a chain of events for the explosion to occur, the act wasn't intentional. And in your example, even you have to admit there's the difference between a man who has a fire get away from him and kill someone, and a man who deliberately sets the fire to kill the schoolchildren.

[Warclaw]

I never said anything about not being held accountable. I said they didn't deliberately target the reactor, and since it took a chain of events for the explosion to occur, the act wasn't intentional. And in your example, even you have to admit there's the difference between a man who has a fire get away from him and kill someone, and a man who deliberately sets the fire to kill the schoolchildren.

true, but irrelevant.  I agree that they did not deliberately target, nor fire directly on, the reactors.  This does not matter for the purposes of responsibility.  It is enough that they DID fire on the planet with a significant bombardment, which led directly to the collapse of the reactor roof.  That it was collateral, rather than direct damage is immaterial to their responsibility for it.  But for their actions, the collapse would not have occurred.

Intentional or not, it's still on them.  The only thing intent does is turn SOME of the eventual War Crimes charges from "Intentional/1st Degree" murder, to "Reckless disregard/Manslaughter/3rd Degree" murder.  Albeit on a rather massive scale.

[Dread Moores]

true, but irrelevant.  I agree that they did not deliberately target, nor fire directly on, the reactors.  This does not matter for the purposes of responsibility.

I never said anything about not being held accountable.

Certainly looks like Maelwys covered that already. His point wasn't about responsibility, simply that they didn't fire on the reactor, as Crunch initially said. A number of posters assumed that was some kind of defense or excuse of responsibility (no clue why). But that's not what was actually posted. Responsibility wasn't brought in until factional axes wanted to be ground. It was simply a note that the reactor was not fired upon.

[Stormfury]

I never said anything about the reactor, merely that by the time Taurus was hit, every other faction's capitol world had copped it at the hands of the Word of Blake.

[Dread Moores]

My mistake. I misread the quoted post as yours when it was Crunch who mentioned that. Post above corrected.

[Saul]

"Sorry that we had to bombard you but we did not want that poorly maintained reactor complex to blow up. We even didn't know of its poor state or even of its existence. Any Questions?"
A lone person raises his hand.
"Yes?"
"You really want us to believe the word didn't know about it!?"
The Precentor nods toward two guards. They grab the person and bring him outdoor. A few seconds later a muffled salvo of shots could be heard.
After the guards returned the precentor continues.
"More questions? No? some cookies then?"

 }:)

[FedSunsBorn]

Anyone else read the part in TRO: Prototypes about the Foxhound that quotes "regardless of the evidence
vindicating the Suns for the asteroid attack on Taurus."

[Dread Moores]

What's more telling (and depressing) was the implication that the Taurians worked with the Word after they knew the Blakists were behind the attack.

[Peacemaker]

Possibility 1: The Junta is so blindly anti-Davion they persist in believing the FedSuns asteroided Taurus. People have believed much crazier things.

Possibility 2: The Blakists has completely subverted the Taurian government and are basically running it as a franchise of the Word of Blake Protectorate.

Possibility 3: The Junta knew full well that the Word asteroided Taurus, because they approved the operation. Think about it: the attack basically cleared out most of the government, allowing the Junta to fill the power vacuum and it revitalized the Taurian patriotic spirit when the failing Pleiades War and Calderon Protectorate were causing unrest. It certainly seems like Matthias Commager, Boris Tharn and Victor Sharpe have mostly benefited from the destruction of Samantha. Is it really that hard to believe a cabal of die hard patriots would kill five million of their own countrymen if they thought it was for the greater good?

[Maelwys]

Or the Junta didn't know at the time of the Foxhound, and the "playing stooge," was a remark made with hindsight.