munroburton wrote:In the end, Pierre went with his third best military option because of political and seniority reasons.
I think that Theisman was only in contention because he had kept his political views absolutely neutral. He was too junior to otherwise assume command of the entire PN.
Giscard being an option is a good reminder. I didn't remember this. Another factor in their choosing McQueen was possibly also to keep an eye on her, not only because of how good she was.
What this shows though is that the PN had a dearth of competent officers and the passage shows that the trio recognised some of it. They are reluctant to kill Giscard because he's too good. It doesn't say that they'd become reluctant to kill the ones that aren't that good yet but who are just learning.
I don't understand the admiration some people seem to have of McQueen, which sometimes elevates her to approximately Honor's level. C'est absurde.
No way she's as good as Honor. Even compared to White Haven I'd say she'd fall short, especially after Honor knocked sense into him. In his pre-eye-opening, "Sonja is mad" persona, she was probably much closer.
But she was good. She was probably better than Kuzak or the current RMN Home Fleet Admiral at the time, James Webster, who was also once First Space Lord, but soon went to become ambassador.
This was a tyrant-in-waiting. A warmonger who doesn't give a crap about the civilians they're otensibly protecting, more concerned about producing military victories to fuel personal advancement. An user and abuser. Her coup, had it been successful, would have simply unleashed the same counter-purge of StateSec which Theisman carried out without restoring the Republic(or doing so in name only).
I guess her character's charisma is so strong it breaks through the fourth wall.
No doubt about that. She had too much ambition and too little care for the people she was supposed to be protecting, or those who were serving with her. And she did have propaganda on her side.
But no amount of propaganda would have worked if she hadn't had some victories, especially among the PN personnel. Unlike the massed population who only got information from PubIn, they were getting some direct information.
Compare that to the old Legislaturalist corps. Parnell managed to lose over a dozen SDs in mostly intact conditions during Third Yeltsin.