(Also, I'm not quite dead, unfortunately. Sorry to disappoint.)
So the ending mission/cutscene in Tenebra has a line in it--"anything it takes to stop him" IIRC, though I haven't played that mission in a while--and I never quite understood what the 'he' was referring to.
I assumed it was Steele, but that is sort of confused by the fact that Noemi just says that he was one of the people she learned from--along with some others. But what really confuses the matter is that I'm not really certain about the general state of affairs after Tenebra with regards to protagonists and antagonists.
So, we've got Laporte, the Fedayeen, and 3rd Fleet. That's clear. However, the Fedayeen cooperate with and to an extent answer to the Council of Elders--but the Elders are apparently compromised by the Vishnans. But their mysterious endgame contingency plan is considered by the Fedayeen to be the right way forward despite not knowing what it is. The Elders were told that Laporte died in the Nagari operation because they're compromised by the Vishnans, and the Vishnans would inflict a horrible fate on Laporte if they found out who/what she was. And yet, Sam Bei already knows exactly who/what she is, the fact that she's in Nagari contact with a non-Vishnan entity, and that she's the one the Vishnans were trying to catch in UT2...and Sam is quite possibly the *most* compromised by Vishnans of the major Ubuntu leadership players. On top of that, the Elders already know that Laporte is the source (or receiver) of the massive Nagari activity in Sol, through Vicmouth's report.
So why lie to the Elders? Why trust in the Elders' unknown endgame contingency when you know nothing about it, you believe the Elders to be compromised, and one Elder already betrayed the UEF partly because of that contingency? Why are the Elders seemingly after Laporte after UT2?
What's stopping Laporte (and/or the Fedayeen) from striking some kind of truce or cooperation with Steele by explaining the reality of the situation with the wealth of evidence they've accumulated (evidence that, importantly, comes from a source outside the Shivans or Vishnans and fully acknowledges the Vishnan manipulation of Federation society)? Not to mention that Steele and the Security Council have to know that the GTVA being even significantly stronger as a result of successfully preventing the projected outcome of Federation influence on the Tevs will be totally irrelevant with regards to preparedness against Shivan invasions if it comes at the cost of invoking the Shivans' ire.
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Laporte leaves behind her name at the end of Tenebra when she transfers to the Toutatis. I find this a little odd, as I'm wondering how that would actually keep her identity secret without severely restricting her command capacity. Her voice would need to sound different, she would either need to look very different or never really be seen by almost anyone, and you'd have to prevent anyone from making the connection of 'Brevetted pilot given very high authority over the remains of Third Fleet' with Laporte, hero of Neptune and bane of the Carthage.
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Laporte building a power base, starting with the Fedayeen. Okay, that makes sense, but where exactly can she go from there? Beyond Third Fleet, is the best she can get Second Fleet and some Gef support? Can she--not to mention *should* she--try to get aid from the Tevs, and if so, how can she actually accomplish that without rendering the war itself nonsensical? Even getting Vasudan help would be equivocal to breaking the Alliance and rendering the war nonsensical. And how will she build such a power base when she doesn't even know what it's for?
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How is buying the Federation about a week or so of time enough to make a significant difference with regards to Shambhala (sp?), especially if the progress for it is supposed to be slow-going even with the Agincourt? And between the four additional destroyer battlegroups the Tevs are bringing to bear and the possibility of Anemoi and GVL logistic support, what's stopping the Tevs from just bringing a totally insurmountable level of force into Sol to decisively conclude the war if they're willing to pull said force from their Shivan watch?
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And are the Vasudan lines appearing by the name of the HoL entity in the Dreamscape meant to be deciphered by us at all? Do they actually have a determined meaning? Will we ever find out that meaning, if it exists?
