[Luis Dias]

Anyway, I haven't seen anything about why Steele would be pissed at Zods. If anything, THEY would be pissed at HIM for lying to them during Deals in Shadow. Not that they have to find about that in the first place.

Not yet, no.

But considering the differences in how both species deal with crisis like this, I am placing a bet contingent on future unseen events.

[crizza]

So? Space ships are usually Navy, a fleet, so an Admiral is in charge, plus, the Zods had Admirals in FS2.
And don't bring the marines in^^

[headdie]

Here is an interesting spin, what happens if the Vasudan Admiral is Medjai, which personally I think is very likely given how events seem to be playing out.  I ask because if they are Medjai I would expect the Emperor demand the Vasudan Admiral have access to everything which would make future manipulations and covering up existing acts a lot harder for Steele.  Even if the Tevs manage to deny the Vasudans total access I would have thought it would raise the Emperor's suspicions a little, probably enough to ask the Admiral to try and find out what is being hidden.  Might make for an interesting plot dynamic if any of that is the case.

[Aesaar]

Recamai is Medjai.  He says so.

"This is Admiral Recamai of the Medjai.  I see Admiral Steele's warnings were well founded."

Khonsu's been painted as a pragmatist in the fiction.  He seems to be aware that the UEF is more culturally compatible with the Vasudans, but he also knows that the GTVA Terran are better allies if/when the Shivans come back, which is why he's reluctant to commit to a side.  It does seem as though he's gone with the historical allies, which does make sense.

[headdie]

Recamai is Medjai.  He says so.

"This is Admiral Recamai of the Medjai.  I see Admiral Steele's warnings were well founded."

That was the admiral dispatched to investigate the possibilities of UEF contact, possibly was in region anyway to watch over the Logistics effort, there has been nothing to say that this will be the Admiral leading the combat force for WiH pt2.

[Aesaar]

Well, he's already there.  Wouldn't make much sense to send one battlegroup/destroyer, only to replace it a week or two later.  I'd expect the Vasudans would have the foresight to fully arm a battlegroup headed into a warzone, even if it's on a diplomatic mission.

[redsniper]

I too believe the exact same military ranking structure we have today will be used 300 years from now, just as our current ranking structure is unchanged from that of 300 years ago.

[headdie]

Well, he's already there.  Wouldn't make much sense to send one battlegroup/destroyer, only to replace it a week or two later.  I'd expect the Vasudans would have the foresight to fully arm a battlegroup headed into a warzone, even if it's on a diplomatic mission.

possibly, but as I say the admiral was dispatched for a specific reason, In a group like the Medjai you are in because:
1) you excel at what you do
2) you are utterly loyal to the Emperor
3) you bring a certain skill, to the group.

Good Battle Group commanders are as common as destroyers, military officers who can excel at interspecies relationships on the other hand is probably pretty rare, also I find it hard to believe the Emperor will have completely fallen for Steele's play, to save a logistics ship on the off chance of luring out a Vasudan official/officer to kill/kidnap them is a bit far fetched even by Terrans standards, especially as even a Terran can work out that acts that would likely start a war with a second group when you are already losing one is a bad idea, so the fact that the Admiral that was dispatched seems to have fallen hook line and sinker for the party line would suggest they are not the right person for the job.

[MatthTheGeek]

Recamai is Medjai.  He says so.

"This is Admiral Recamai of the Medjai.  I see Admiral Steele's warnings were well founded."

That was the admiral dispatched to investigate the possibilities of UEF contact, possibly was in region anyway to watch over the Logistics effort, there has been nothing to say that this will be the Admiral leading the combat force for WiH pt2.

What combat force ? The only force the Zods are willing to deploy so far is the logistics escort. The Imperium still wasn't at war with the UEF as of the end of WiH1.

[headdie]

Recamai is Medjai.  He says so.

"This is Admiral Recamai of the Medjai.  I see Admiral Steele's warnings were well founded."

That was the admiral dispatched to investigate the possibilities of UEF contact, possibly was in region anyway to watch over the Logistics effort, there has been nothing to say that this will be the Admiral leading the combat force for WiH pt2.

What combat force ? The only force the Zods are willing to deploy so far is the logistics escort. The Imperium still wasn't at war with the UEF as of the end of WiH1.

My understanding was that the Vasudans are stepping up their activity in Sol to include frontline combat.

[The E]

So? Space ships are usually Navy, a fleet, so an Admiral is in charge, plus, the Zods had Admirals in FS2.
And don't bring the marines in^^

Someone hasn't been watching Stargate.

[Scotty]

So? Space ships are usually Navy, a fleet, so an Admiral is in charge, plus, the Zods had Admirals in FS2.
And don't bring the marines in^^

Someone hasn't been watching Stargate.

Good thing, too.  Stargate is terrible with regards to military parlance.

[SaltyWaffles]

Recamai is Medjai.  He says so.

"This is Admiral Recamai of the Medjai.  I see Admiral Steele's warnings were well founded."

That was the admiral dispatched to investigate the possibilities of UEF contact, possibly was in region anyway to watch over the Logistics effort, there has been nothing to say that this will be the Admiral leading the combat force for WiH pt2.

What combat force ? The only force the Zods are willing to deploy so far is the logistics escort. The Imperium still wasn't at war with the UEF as of the end of WiH1.

My understanding was that the Vasudans are stepping up their activity in Sol to include frontline combat.

Are they? I got the impression that they were going to be more active, but not in that kind of manner. It seemed like an open possibility in the future, but in the mean time I felt like the likely outcome was merely a more decisive--but defensive--role (like keeping guard over the node with the Shepsakaf and his battlegroup, freeing up a Tev destroyer, or maybe keeping guard over Artemis station or something). Possibly increased logistics support (with a modest escort to guard them), too.

Well, he's already there.  Wouldn't make much sense to send one battlegroup/destroyer, only to replace it a week or two later.  I'd expect the Vasudans would have the foresight to fully arm a battlegroup headed into a warzone, even if it's on a diplomatic mission.

possibly, but as I say the admiral was dispatched for a specific reason, In a group like the Medjai you are in because:
1) you excel at what you do
2) you are utterly loyal to the Emperor
3) you bring a certain skill, to the group.

Good Battle Group commanders are as common as destroyers, military officers who can excel at interspecies relationships on the other hand is probably pretty rare, also I find it hard to believe the Emperor will have completely fallen for Steele's play, to save a logistics ship on the off chance of luring out a Vasudan official/officer to kill/kidnap them is a bit far fetched even by Terrans standards, especially as even a Terran can work out that acts that would likely start a war with a second group when you are already losing one is a bad idea, so the fact that the Admiral that was dispatched seems to have fallen hook line and sinker for the party line would suggest they are not the right person for the job.

I don't think that was the intended ploy; the ploy was to make the Vasudans believe that the UEF delegation was trying to frame the Tevs for assassinating a nonviolent, peaceful diplomat on a diplomatic mission to the Vasudans. The implication being that the UEF was trying to subvert and destabilize the alliance between the Zods and the Tevs to help their side in the war.

With the Gef raiding party, IIRC they showed up after the Zod admiral rejected the UEF's protest that the Tevs had assassinated the Elder/diplomatic delegation and believed the UEF to be the guilty party, which would mean that a quick follow-up attempt (or a deniable one) to disable, board, and capture the Shepsakaf might not seem too out of place. Still wouldn't make a whole lot of sense, though; really makes me wonder why Steele did it when all it served to do was add a very suspicious element to an otherwise convincing story.

[headdie]

even if that's the case there will in all likelihood be a Vasudan Admiral in charge and given the situation in Sol, even from what the Terrans are passing on it is turbulent enough that you want a highly capable one in charge, probably one prepared to look beyond what information the Terran's are feeding them.

[crizza]

So? Space ships are usually Navy, a fleet, so an Admiral is in charge, plus, the Zods had Admirals in FS2.
And don't bring the marines in^^

Someone hasn't been watching Stargate.

Lol, Stargate...it is contradicting itself more than once and yes, I know that their X-whatever cruisers are under command of the airforce.

[Luis Dias]

Still wouldn't make a whole lot of sense, though; really makes me wonder why Steele did it when all it served to do was add a very suspicious element to an otherwise convincing story.

Perhaps Steele is someone who understands Vasudans very well? As far as I've been able to understand, the Zods are not the kinds of people who are willing to bet too much in single bluffs like the Tevs are. If that's the case, then it is conceivable that despite understanding the human techniques of bluffing and cheating, they are not that good at the game. They will understand if you try to bluff them (a pathetic race if they couldn't), however when you enter a zone of double bluffs, triple negatives and so on, their BS detector maybe just isn't able to cope very well.

The kind of reasoning I'm using here is like one of RTS balancing races and so on, as if we could fine tune every "race" characteristic in order for them to have differentiations but still balancing themselves out. In this kind of reasoning, the Zods would have the advantage over Terrans of belonging in a different "time frame", being able to cope better with long-term crisis and so on, but the Tevs would be much better at very short term bursts of crisis, being able to foresee, plan and act much better these kinds of bluffs, double bluffs, all kinds of tricks and so on.

Note however, I don't like this "kind of reasoning". RTSes are fun but utterly unreal and ridiculous. I never bought this kind of perfect equilibrium of tribes. Some will be superior to others and that's just life.

[General Battuta]

There's some insight into this in Conversations

[Aesaar]

Vasudans are glaciers.  Terrans are wildfires (but more focused).

[Luis Dias]

There's some insight into this in Conversations

Right.

It was an expert on lies who said that any lie requires cooperation from the lied to. I guess this was just an example of the same thing.

edit: http://blog.ted.com/2011/10/13/how-to-spot-a-liar-pamela-meyer/

It makes the Zods too human though.

[SaltyWaffles]

There's some insight into this in Conversations

Indeed, the whole 'they want to believe us' bit is important. However, it doesn't really explain why it was even done in the first place--it just makes it much less convincing without much gain, and isn't even a necessary element to the gambit.