[Singh]

Ok, time to re-do the previous research, for hte sake of formatting and because I missed quite a few things in the first few missions.

Let's start with Mission 01:

Mission name: Surrender Belisarius![/u]

Brief Description:[/u]
You are deployed to assist a wing of Satis class transports as they come under assault by several NTF forces. We have to hold out till the GVD Psamtik arrives on the scene. AFter it does, we are faced with a hostile confrontation with the Belisarius, a NTF corvette.

Ships in Mission/Class:[/u]
NTCv Belisarius/GTCv Deimos
GVD Psamtik/GVD Hasheput (i cant spell it for nuts)
Iota Wing/GVFr Satis
Alpha Wing

Special Characters involved (if any):[/u]
NA

Mission Name Analysis and links:[/u]
Belisarius was an actual General in history, and one of the best, from what it seems.


Article

Article 2

Excerpt from the 1st article:
He had many wars during his reign, but he himself did not take part in them. He was not experienced as a soldier, for he had spent most of his time in study. He was fortunate enough, however, to have two great generals to lead his armies. One of them was named Belisarius and the other Narses.
Belisarius was one of the greatest soldiers that ever lived. He gained wonderful victories for Justinian, and conquered some of the old Roman provinces that had been lost for many years.

While it explains the mission name quite well, the more interesting relation is with the ship names.

Mission Ships/Class Analysis and links:[/u]
Belisarius....from the wikipedia, I managed to get quite a few interesting tidbits regarding the name and the general - he not only features in history, but in several science fiction novels as well.

(from wikipedia)
Belisarius appears in the famous alternate history novel Lest Darkness Fall (1939) by L. Sprague de Camp. There he was first the Byzantine opponent of the time traveler Martin Padway who tried to spread modern science and inventions in Gothic Italy. Eventually Belisarius became general in Padway's army and secured Italy for him.

Belisarius is also the main character of the Belisarius series of science fiction novels by Eric Flint and David Drake, an alternate history exploring what might have happened if Belisarius (and a rival) were granted knowledge of future events and technologies.

In the General series of military science fiction novels by S.M. Stirling and David Drake, the plot draws much from the life and campaigns of Belisarius; the main character, Raj Whitehall, sets out to reunite the planet of Bellevue after the fall of galactic civilization.

Isaac Asimov, who was very familiar with Roman history, seems to have loosely based the character and name of General Bel Riose, "The Last Great General" of the late Galactic Empire in the Foundation Series, on Belisarius.

This is...quite interesting, but there doesn't seem to be any connection to the other major name in this mission: Psamtik.

Article

Psamtik appears to have been a major Egyptian king. Although there appears to be little connection with Belisarius, other than the fact that both were instrumental in the foundation of their empires. This is probably true - as we have Witnessed, the GVD Psamtik was a major destroyer that won many campiagns for the GTVA, and could be directly connected with many other victories. Although we have no way to find evidence for the same with the NTCv Belisarius. However, one has to realize - it probably WAS succesfull. The Belisarius might have managed to distract and draw off GTVA forces long enough (perhaps that is the reason it was damaged? Maybe it came in directly from another fight?) for Admiral Bosch to follow through with this plan? After all, a Terran Corvette can be a hell of a distraction - and apperantly was so, as the GTVA had lost two cruisers and nearly 15 wings of fighters prior to the mission. So, yes, in a sense it had succeeded, but where history diverges is the cause of death in this case.

Another interesting connection is between Psamtik and the Satis class freighters.

From the article on Psamtik 1
During the remaining four decades of Psammetikhos I's rule, he continued to consolidate his power and bring the country under complete unity, something Egypt had really not seen in a number of years.  He undertook a number of building projects, including fortresses in the Delta at Naukratis and Daphnae, as well as at Elephantine.  He also greatly expanded the  Serapeum at Saqqara.  

And this is from the Pantheon.org entry for Satis:
"Queen of Elephantine", who was worshipped by the ancient Egyptians on that island in the Nile. Her primary role was that of a guardian of Egypt's southern (Nubian) frontier, killing enemies of the pharaoh with her arrows. Satis was also associated with the annual inundation of the Nile. With the god Chnum and the goddess Anuket she forms, what is occasinally referred to as, the 'Elephantine triad'. On her head she wears the crown of Upper Egypt, flanked by the gazelle horns, and in her hands she holds a sceptre and the ankh.

Rather interesting connection, don't you think?

Mission events/description analysis and links:[/u]

The mission events and description here aren't much. BUT, there is yet another connection - this time between Deneb and Cygnus prime.

Deneb
DENEB (Alpha Cygni). One of the truly great stars of our Galaxy, Deneb serves a three-fold role among the constellations. Its very name tells the first. "Deneb" is from an Arabic word meaning "tail," as this first magnitude (1.25) star, the 19th brightest as it appears in our sky, represents the tail of Cygnus the Swan, a classical figure seen flying perpetually to the south along the route of the Milky Way. As the constellation's luminary, the star is also Alpha Cygni. The

Not much of a connection, right? But then I ran a search of Cygnus Prime, and got this:

From Watch

According to the ruins at Altair the Shivans were a species built by the Ancients using brain data of their dead rulers to manifest the shells they created. The Ancients built space faring vessels four hundred and fifty thousand years ago. They expanded to the far reaches of space. Similar ruins have been found on Cygnus Prime, Vasuda Prime and in the system of Capella. These systems have small ruins as if they were outposts.

Its still not a connection, but yes, it is relevant to the discussion at hand.

Any misc. notes as well as possible connections between the a/m three analysis.[/u]

[Singh]

Hold on a second!

That article on freespacewatch.....it's...odd....I've never actually seen it before.

Has anyone else read the article earlier? Its rather interesting, to say the least. Gives suggestions as to what looked the true nature of the shivans, as told by the Vasudan scientist.

[Nuclear1]

Holy crap.

If you can do research this detailed for each mission, then you, sir, are my new idol. Excellent work!

[Flipside]

Odd.. I'd never seen that before either. The problem is, I think [V] staff has also said things which contradict this. Still does answer one of the bigger FS2 questions.

[CP5670]

Some great information here. I always thought those mission names carried more significance than I could see.

That FSW article is definitely not canon. I don't think it's intended to be either.

[Singh]

Mission name: The Place of Chariots[/u]

Brief Description:[/u]
We are deployed to raid an NTF cargo depot and destroy all the containers and ships present. The depot appears to be heavily protected, and this is later justified by the presence of an unknown asteroid. Within this asteroid lies the rebel leader himself; Admiral Bosch. He attempts to negotiate with Command, saying he will withdraw from Deneb if he is allowed to leave to Sirius. Command orders the installation destroyed, but is stopped when it actually turns out to be the NTF flagship - the Iceni.

Ships in Mission/Class:[/u]
NTF Iceni/Iceni Class
Unknown NTF/Boadecia Class
Capricorn 1,2 & 3/ Poseidon&Triton

Special Characters involved (if any):[/u]
Admiral Bosch

Mission Name Analysis and links:[/u]
The Place of Chariots was an actual place in history, and one where a major encounter between roman forces and that of rebels. The rebels vastly outnumbered the Roman forces, much like how Alpha and delta wing are outnumbered here.

Mission Ships/Class Analysis and links:[/u]
NTF Iceni/NTF Boadecia:
Surprisingly, these two are not only related to each other, but to the mission name as well. Boadecia was The Queen of Iceni and attempted to lead a massive uprising against the Romans, much like Bosch's own charge against the GTVA. She nearly succeeded....but guess what? She was defeated...none other in the place of chariots. An exceprt from the previous article on the Place of Chariots:

In her speech to her followers, Boudica echoed Paulinus's reference to women, but in a far different way:

    It is not as a woman descended from noble ancestry, but as one of the people that I am avenging lost freedom, my scourged body, the outraged chastity of my daughters. Roman lust has gone so far that not our very person, nor even age or virginity, are left unpolluted. But heaven is on the side of a righteous vengeance; a legion that dared to fight has perished; the rest are hiding themselves in their camp, or are thinking anxiously of flight. They will not sustain even the din and the shout of so many thousands, much less our charge and our blows. If you weigh well the strength of the armies, and the causes of the war, you will see that, in this battle, you must conquer or die. This is a woman's resolve; as for men, they may live and be slaves.

Then the Britons charged. Some historians believe that they would have advanced to the west of the river Anker, which runs through the middle of the plain, following the path of the modern-day railway line.

The Romans unleashed their javelins down the slope. Then their infantry, moving as one unit, charged. This broke the British advance and forced them back towards the wagons. The Roman cavalry joined the battle, coming in from each side and encircling the British. At the rear of the battlefield, the British families sat by the wagons, helplessly watching the slaughter. When the legionnaires reached the makeshift camp, they killed every man, woman and child they could reach. At the end of the day, some 80,000 Britons had been slaughtered, and only 400 Romans had died.

It is said that Boudica herself survived the last battle and fled back to Iceni territory. There she poisoned herself. Not for her the prospect of being paraded through the streets of Rome in chains as Suetonius Paulinus enjoyed his triumph.

The Romans would never face another serious rebellion in Britain.

Now that is indeed a connection, to say the least.

Capricorn 1, 3 & 2.

Ok, these are the two Posiedons and a Triton respectively. They do indeed have a connection with each other, if not the mission.


In Greek mythology, Triton is a god of the sea, the son of Poseidon (Neptune); usually portrayed as having the head and trunk of a man and the tail of a fish.]


Mission events/description analysis and links:[/u]
The events of the mission seem to follow the description of the place itself - right upto the destruction of Boadecia and the retreat of the Iceni. Its too uncanny a connection, and is fascinating to say the least.


Any misc. notes as well as possible connections between the a/m three analysis.[/u]

NA

[psycho_fergo]

u got waaaaaaaaay to much time on your hands dude. but still, thats pretty damn interesting. do you think someone in [V] knew about this and decided to just throw it in, because it seems too much of a coincidence.

anyway, if this makes u happy, keep it up. interesting stuff

[karajorma]

I think it is beyond doubt that someone in [V] was a big history/mythology buff and did this all deliberately.

[WMCoolmon]

I found something related to Bosch.

[Carl]

Originally posted by WMCoolmon

WTF?

[Singh]

Originally posted by WMCoolmon
I found something related to Bosch.

Yes, I know. I found that earlier and posted it over in the previous thread. Aken Bosch appeared to be a painter a long time ago, and a rather strange one at that.

I'll be posting more info in the next analysis, which should come in the following few days.

[Mongoose]

Damn...looks like Bosch threw some crazy parties

[aldo_14]

Most people should recognise this quote;
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free; send these, the homeless tempest-tossed, to me; I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

Full text;

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The point?  It's (apparently) from The New Colossus, by Emma Lazarus.  

Tempest tossed; from the nebula?
The golden door; Knosso?  Or Capella?

Unlikely, but you never know.......

[Flipside]

'Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning'

That is either intentional, or an incredible coincidence

[Singh]

Mission name: The Romans Blunder[/u]

Brief Description:[/u]
We are deployed to intercept Admiral Bosch once more. However, the intercept plot fails, leading us to intercept several other classes of ships as well/

Ships in Mission/Class:[/u]
NTF Iceni/ Iceni Class frigate
GVD Psamtik/GVD Hasheput (i cant spell it for nuts)
Capricorn 1/GTFr Triton
Capricorn 2/GTFr Poseidon
NTF Glorious/GTC Fenris
NTF Impervious/GTC Leviathan
Alpha Wing

Special Characters involved (if any):[/u]
Admiral Bosch

Mission Name Analysis and links:[/u]
The Roman's Blunder was quite real it seems, and has a definite connection here, of sorts.

Go under the section 'The King of Kings' and look for the defeat of the roman legions

Excerpt:

Tigran knew that he had the support of the Army, especially the Armenian Cavalry, that was fiercely loyal to Tigran. It is interesting to note here that Plutarch considered the entry of the Roman general into Greater Armenia a military blunder, since the highlanders were prepared to fight to the death, shoulder to shoulder -- with the regular Imperial Army -- from their impregnable highlands . He wrote "He [Lucullus] seemed to be making a reckless attack, and one admitted on no saving calculation, upon warlike nations, countless thousands of horsemen, and a boundless region surrounded by deep rivers and mountains covered with perpetual snow."

Now, the roman's blunder can easily be tied in with the mission events, especially command's actions and the position we started in. Bosch escape into Sirius can be linked to the NTF control in that system, which would have brought massive casualties for the GTVA. That one blunder cost them the war, since eliminating Bosch would have essentially won it for them. The GTVA, in essence, had made Sirius an even greater beehive now that Bosch had escaped into it. NTF special forces (at least, the ones that normally accompanied Bosch) would be there, fighting to the death, shoulder-to-shoulder (or in this fighter-to-fighter) alongside what forces were already there.

Mission Ships/Class Analysis and links:[/u]
I've brought forward some of the details from the previous mission analysis, and have included it for lesser confusion.

Psamtik:

Article

Psamtik appears to have been a major Egyptian king. Although there appears to be little connection with Belisarius, other than the fact that both were instrumental in the foundation of their empires. This is probably true - as we have Witnessed, the GVD Psamtik was a major destroyer that won many campiagns for the GTVA, and could be directly connected with many other victories. Although we have no way to find evidence for the same with the NTCv Belisarius. However, one has to realize - it probably WAS succesfull. The Belisarius might have managed to distract and draw off GTVA forces long enough (perhaps that is the reason it was damaged? Maybe it came in directly from another fight?) for Admiral Bosch to follow through with this plan? After all, a Terran Corvette can be a hell of a distraction - and apperantly was so, as the GTVA had lost two cruisers and nearly 15 wings of fighters prior to the mission. So, yes, in a sense it had succeeded, but where history diverges is the cause of death in this case.

Iceni:

NTF Iceni/NTF Boadecia:
Surprisingly, these two are not only related to each other, but to the mission name as well. Boadecia was The Queen of Iceni and attempted to lead a massive uprising against the Romans, much like Bosch's own charge against the GTVA. She nearly succeeded....but guess what? She was defeated...none other in the place of chariots. An exceprt from the previous article on the Place of Chariots:

In her speech to her followers, Boudica echoed Paulinus's reference to women, but in a far different way:

    It is not as a woman descended from noble ancestry, but as one of the people that I am avenging lost freedom, my scourged body, the outraged chastity of my daughters. Roman lust has gone so far that not our very person, nor even age or virginity, are left unpolluted. But heaven is on the side of a righteous vengeance; a legion that dared to fight has perished; the rest are hiding themselves in their camp, or are thinking anxiously of flight. They will not sustain even the din and the shout of so many thousands, much less our charge and our blows. If you weigh well the strength of the armies, and the causes of the war, you will see that, in this battle, you must conquer or die. This is a woman's resolve; as for men, they may live and be slaves.

Then the Britons charged. Some historians believe that they would have advanced to the west of the river Anker, which runs through the middle of the plain, following the path of the modern-day railway line.

The Romans unleashed their javelins down the slope. Then their infantry, moving as one unit, charged. This broke the British advance and forced them back towards the wagons. The Roman cavalry joined the battle, coming in from each side and encircling the British. At the rear of the battlefield, the British families sat by the wagons, helplessly watching the slaughter. When the legionnaires reached the makeshift camp, they killed every man, woman and child they could reach. At the end of the day, some 80,000 Britons had been slaughtered, and only 400 Romans had died.

It is said that Boudica herself survived the last battle and fled back to Iceni territory. There she poisoned herself. Not for her the prospect of being paraded through the streets of Rome in chains as Suetonius Paulinus enjoyed his triumph.

The Romans would never face another serious rebellion in Britain.

The Iceni has been on the run in this case, and hence probably continuing the a/m description in this case?

NTC Impervious/Leviathan Class

The Impervious is the first Leviathan class cruiser we encounter in the game. I ran two searches, one on the ship's name, and one on the ship's class name.

The ship itself has a precedent in history. Surprisingly, it's based on US naval fleet records, as opposed to British ones.

The USS Impervious

Some of the more interesting quotes on the hisory. These are just snippets, and not the entire thing. She has quite a proud history, to say the least.

The IMPERVIOUS was under construction by Tampa Shipbuilding Company in Tampa for service as (AM-449) during WWII, but was cancelled on June 6, 1944.  With the outbreak of the Korean War her keel was laid down on November 18 1951 at the Martinolich Shipbuilding Company in San Diego, and she was launched  on August 29th the following year.  She was commissioned on July 15th, 1954 and following shakedown and mine warfare training off the California coast, IMPERVIOUS was reclassified MSO-449 on 7 February 1955 and assigned to MINDIV 92. She sailed 1 July with her division for duty in the Far East with the 7th Fleet, arriving Sasebo via Pearl Harbor 5 August. During this deployment, she operated with ships of the Republic of Korea and Nationalist Chinese navies. Following visits to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea, IMPERVIOUS departed Yokosuka, Japan in January 1956 and arrived at her homeport of Long Beach via Midway Island and Pearl Harbor on 15 February 1956. During the next two years she operated out of Long Beach.

In January of 1966 the Impervious left Long Beach headed for Viet Nam via Hawaii, Guam and Japan.  During the time off the coast of Viet Nam the ship's company conducted searches of over 1000 junks and were involved in  several firefights with no casualties.  Hundreds of suspected Viet Cong were detained as a result of these efforts.  During that period the ship was also caught in a severe typhoon.  Communications with the Seventh Fleet were lost for approximately four days.  After the seas had calmed IMPERVIOUS found herself in the midst about 15 ships that were searching for her.   At the the completion of her successful deployment IMPERVIOUS returned to homeport in November 1966.

In 1989 IMPERVIOUS deployed several times to the Caribbean as part of drug interdiction effort with the Coast Guard.  The ship underwent a Supply Management Inspection, for which they were awarded the blue Supply " E" for supply excellence, rarely seen in a minesweeper.  IMPERVIOUS also successfully completed an INSURV,  MCM/MTT basic and advanced inspections and an ORE given by Mine Warfare Inspection Group.  The culmination of the year's effort was the awarding of the Battle "E" for battle efficiency.  In mid-1989 IMPERVIOUS entered an extensive drydock and overhaul period in Charleston.  During this time she was forced to ride out Hurricane Hugo tied up to a pier unable to get underway.  Following the hurricane many IMPERVIOUS crewmen donated their time to relief and clean-up efforts in the Charleston area.

In the first week of July 1990 IMPERVIOUS sailed up the Potomac River to Washington D.C. for a liberty call before being deployed to the Persian Gulf for participation in Desert Shield/Desert Storm.  After the port visit in Washington, she sailed to Norfolk where she was loaded on the Dutch heavy-lift ship Super Servant 4 along with the ADROIT (MSO-506), LEADER (MSO-490) and AVENGER (MCM-1) for transit to the Persian Gulf.  At that time the crew was separated from the ship except a small detachment made up of selected crewmen from the four minesweepers to maintain the ships while transiting the Atlantic.   During the ship's transit,  the crew was sent to Charleston for firefighting training along with medical training for all hands.   The crew met the ship in Bahrain on 1 October for a short shake-down before commencing operations.   While deployed during Desert Storm IMPERVIOUS continually conducted mine exercises in conjunction with the other American sweeps as well as the British and Saudi Arabian Navies.

IMPERVIOUS was decommissioned 12 December 1991 and was stricken 18 March 1992. Sold for scrapping 15 April 1995, the purchaser defaulted and the contract for sale was cancelled 8 October 1996. We received confirmation in February 2002 that she was scrapped along with ENGAGE (MSO-433), EXULTANT (MSO-441), FORTIFY (MSO-446), AFFRAY (MSO-511) and  EXPLOIT (MSO-440)s.  The last of the U.S. MSOs are now gone.

None of it matches with the history we saw in FS2. However, her purpose was as an MSO, primarily, so I figured, there had to be another connection - perhaps to the ship class? There is a precedent in history. one of course, you know, is the mythological one. The Mythological Leviathan bears extreme similarities to the cruiser's nature and role, not to mention the mythological defeat was at the hand of one of the gods. The URL is here. the articles that follow are too long to post here, so you may want to got here and read up on it.

Leviathan

However, I did run a search for the HMS Leviathan and the USS Leviathan, and I got matches.

The HMS Leviathan was the aircraft carrier that never was, while the USS Leviathan (scroll down to the bottom) was first a German ship, which was redesignated by american forces and converted into a passenger liner later on. She was the largest ship of her kind afloat from 1914-1921, so there is something there. Draw from these what you will.

NTC Glorious/Fenris

Like the Impervious, I ran a search on the name and hte class name.

The HMS Glorious was a carrier that sank in WWII to the German ships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Here is the article:

HMS Glorious

Courageous-class aircraft carrier (1f/1m). L/B/D: 786 × 90.5 × 24 (239.7m × 27.6m × 7.3m). Tons: 22,500 disp. Hull: steel. Comp.: 1,245. Arm.: 16 × 4.7; 48 aircraft. Armor: 3 belt. Mach.: geared turbines, 90,000 shp, 4 shafts; 30.5 kts. Built: Harland & Wolff, Belfast, Ireland; 1917.

Originally commissioned as a light cruiser with four 15-inch guns, HMS Glorious was converted to an aircraft carrier between 1924 and 1930. Stationed first in the Mediterranean and then with the Home Fleet during World War II, she made five patrols to Norway during and after the German invasion in April 1940. In early June she aided in the evacuation of northern Norway, sailing from Scapa Flow to carry RAF Hurricanes and Gladiators to Britain; it was one of the first times that high-performance monoplane fighters ever landed on an aircraft carrier, without arrester hooks. At about 0300 on June 8, she sailed for Scapa Flow with the destroyers HMS Acasta (Commander Charles Glasfurd) and Ardent (Lieutenant Commander J. F. Barker). At about 1600 that afternoon, the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau appeared on the horizon. At 1632, Scharnhorst opened fire at 28,600 yards, and scored a hit on Glorious's flight deck with her third salvo; 24 minutes later another shell killed Captain Guy D'Oyly-Hughes and many on the bridge. A smoke screen forced a lull in the fighting between 1658 and 1720, when Glorious was hit again in the engine room. She sank half an hour later (in 68°38N, 4°11E), with the loss of all but 37 of her crew. Ardent had sunk at 1725 (68°56N, 3°51E), and Acasta went down at 1820 (68°40N, 4°19E), though not before she landed a torpedo under Scharnhorst's main after turret. There was only one survivor from each of the destroyers.

Howland, "Loss of HMS Glorious." Winton, Carrier "Glorious."

Rather interesting, I think. The Glorious in FS2 was lost to the Vasudans - the Psamtik in particular. From Psamtik's history, the king was regularly known to employ slaves, and the upper hierarchy was very well known to be cruel and not unlike the Nazis in some manner or the other. Could this, somehow, be a subtle hint as to the true nature of the Vasudans? Perhaps not, but it is good to think about it a bit.

There is no USS Glorious in the american navy, sadly.

As to the ship class itself; it is fairly straightforward and simple enough.

Fenris

Fenrir (or Fenris) is a gigantic and terrible monster in the shape of a wolf. He is the eldest child of Loki and the giantess Angrboda. The gods learned of a prophecy which stated that the wolf and his family would one day be responsible for the destruction of the world. They caught the wolf and locked him in a cage. Only the god of war, Tyr, dared to feed and take care of the wolf.

When he was still a pup they had nothing to fear, but when the gods saw one day how he had grown, they decided to render him harmless. However, none of the gods had enough courage to face the gigantic wolf. Instead, they tried to trick him. They said the wolf was weak and could never break free when he was chained. Fenrir accepted the challenge and let the gods chain him. Unfortunately, he was so immensely strong that he managed to break the strongest fetters as if they were cobwebs.

After that, the gods saw only one alternative left: a magic chain. They ordered the dwarves to make something so strong that it could hold the wolf. The result was a soft, thin ribbon: Gleipnir. It was incredibly strong, despite what its size and appearance might suggest. The ribbon was fashioned of six strange elements: the footstep of a cat; the roots of a mountain; a woman's beard; the breath of fishes; the sinews of a bear; and a bird's spittle.

The gods tried to trick the wolf again, only this time Fenrir was less eager to show his strength. He saw how thin the chain was, and said that was no pride in breaking such a weak chain. Eventually, though, he agreed, thinking that otherwise his strength and courage would be doubted. Suspecting treachery however, he in turn asked the gods for a token of good will: one of them had to put a hand between his jaws. The gods were not overly eager to do this, knowing what they could expect. Finally, only Tyr agreed, and the gods chained the wolf with Gleipnir. No matter how hard Fenrir struggled, he could not break free from this thin ribbon. In revenge, he bit off Tyr's hand.

Being very pleased with themselves, the gods carried Fenrir off and chained him to a rock (called Gioll) a mile down into the earth. They put a sword between his jaws to prevent him from biting. On the day of Ragnarok, Fenrir will break his chains and join the giants in their battle against the gods. He will seek out Odin and devour him. Vidar, Odin's son, will avenge his father by killing the wolf.

Fairly straightforward, and perhaps, nothing special here.....

[Singh]

(continued - lol, my posts are getting too long!)


Mission events/description analysis and links:[/u]

Ok, mission events here are straightforward and match with the title and the b/m analysis. Alpha 2 can be seen as the main force behind the assumption that Command blundered, allowing bosch to escape. What is more interesting is the question, was it a blunder, or was it deliberate? There is no clue in the mission for such a thing, however, it can be rest assured that it is definately a mystery that would be made clear in FS3.

Bosch, like Queen Boadecia, succesfully managed to get away into Sirius.

Sirius, itself, is an actual system. Source: http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/sirius.html

SIRIUS (Alpha Canis Majoris). From Orion, look south and to the east to find brilliant Sirius, as if one really needs directions to find the brightest star in the sky. Its name comes from the Greek word for "searing" or "scorching," certainly appropriate for a star that shines at the bright end of the "minus-second" (-1.47) magnitude. Sirius is the luminary of the constellation Canis Major, the Greater Dog, which represents Orion's larger hunting dog, and as such is commonly referred to as the "Dog Star." So great is its prominence that it has two "announcer stars" that from the mid- northern hemisphere rise before it, Procyon and Mirzam. Famed from times long past, the first glimpse of Sirius in dawn announced the rising of the Nile in ancient Egypt. (It no longer does because of precession, the 26,000-year wobble of the Earth's axis.) Sirius is also part of a large asterism, the Winter Triangle, the other two stars of which are Betelgeuse in Orion and Procyon in the smaller dog, Canis Minor. Because of its brilliance, Sirius is the champion of all "twinklers," the effect caused by variable refraction in the Earth's atmosphere. The star, a white class A (A1) hydrogen-fusing dwarf with a temperature of 9880 Kelvin, is bright in part because it is indeed rather luminous, 26 times more so than the Sun. But it is also bright to us because it is nearby, a mere 8.6 light years away, just double that of the closest star to the Earth, Alpha Centauri. The star is "metal rich," its iron content triple that of the Sun, most likely from some sort of elemental diffusion. Sirius's greatest claim to fame may be its dim eighth magnitude (8.44) companion, Sirius B, which is visually nearly 10,000 times fainter than the bright star, Sirius A. Sirius B, however, is actually the hotter of the two, a blue-white 24,800 Kelvin. Though typically separated from each other by a few seconds of arc, Sirius B is terribly difficult to see in the glare of Sirius A. The only way the companion star can be both hot and dim is to be small, only about nine-tenths the size of Earth. The two orbit each other with a 50.1 year period at an average distance of 19.8 Astronomical Units, about Uranus's distance from the Sun, a large orbital eccentricity carrying them from 31.5 AU apart to 8.1 AU and back again. The two were closest in 1994 and will be again in 2044, while they will be farthest apart in 2019. From the orbit, we find that Sirius A and B have respective masses of 2.1 and 1.0 times that of the Sun (the radius of Sirius A coming in at 1.7 solar, in agreement with the measured angular diameter). Sirius B is a classic "white dwarf" that packs an average of a metric ton into a cubic centimeter, roughly a sugar cube. White dwarfs are the end products of ordinary stars like the Sun, tiny remnants that have run out of nuclear fuel. Most are balls of carbon and oxygen whose fates are merely to cool forever. To have evolved first, Sirius B must once have been more massive and luminous than Sirius A. That its mass is now lower is proof that stars lose considerable mass as they die, Sirius B clearly cutting itself at least in half. Given the 250 million year age of the system, Sirius B was once a hot class B star that lost at least two-thirds of itself back into interstellar space. Studies of other white dwarfs show that Sirius B in fact should have contained as much as 6 or 7 solar masses to be as massive as it is now, suggesting a class B3 star at birth. (Thanks to Steve Ash for prompting a rewrite.)

Draw what conclusions from it as you may.

Any misc. notes as well as possible connections between the a/m three analysis.[/u]
Nothing that hasn't been explained already.

[Taristin]

Stickied... for now. >..>;

[Polpolion]

I found something related to Bosch.

ACK! PORNOGRAHPY!!

[pecenipicek]

hmm... interesting to say at least. carry on

[Pnakotus]

I remember being quite disappointed that the odd behaviour of Bosch and Command during the NTF arc of FS2 was  never addressed.  Bosch openly tried to negotiate with Command, and Command ignored it until it became obvious Bosch WAS in fact there - and Command let him escape.  Just how much did they know, and where did the orders/coordinates come from?  FS2 sure as **** doesn't tell you.