Oct 8, 2000 Note: This was posted in April 1998. It was, of course, invalidated by the actual book.

While waiting for Echoes of Honor, I have tried to plot out a reasonable storyline for Honor's escape from Hell by starting with the situation at the end of In Enemy Hands. What I have come up with should take less than 100000 words. Since Weber has stated that Echoes of Honor is over twice that length, it appears that either I have greatly underestimated Honor's escape or that EoH has a lot of plot having little to do with Honor's escape (before and after). The comments about the Shrikes suggests that the latter is true. Oct 8, 2000 Note: And both turned out to be true.

My assumption is that Commander Foraker and Rear Admiral Tourville do not leak to the Manticore Alliance the location of Hades (or anything else). After all, Horatio Hornblower stole a ship when he escaped from France in Flying Colors; Honor should be allowed to do the same. I also believe that Cordelia Ransom is dead. My outline has three basic parts; Reactions to the destruction of the Tepes, Actions by Honor and company, Consequences to the escape. Oct 8, 2000 Note: So far so good.

Reactions

The reaction of Pierre and St. Just would shape the rest of this section. McQueen would certainly argue for an admission that the Tepes was lost with all hands. In her position, I would suggest, as a compromise, the release of an announcement that the Tepes was overdue. Subsequently, (after a suitable interval, long enough for a courier to go to the furthest Haven outpost and return) it would be announced that the Tepes could not be found and must be presumed to be lost with all hands. However, it appears (from posts with quotes attributed to Weber) that Pierre and St. Just are so fearful of admitting to Ransom's death, that they will order the release of phony video of Ransom announcing Honor's execution or even showing that execution. The echoes of this go from Haven to the limits of human space. Oct 8, 2000 Note: The video was the prologue to EoH; no hint in either it or Ashes of Victory that McQueen had suggested that an announcement should made that the "Tepes" had disappeared in hyperspace.

On Manticore, any number of things could happen. For example, Queen Elizabeth could press for Ransom to be declared in violation of the Deneb Accords for the death of Nimitz (and the phony grounds for killing Honor). The government could suggest that Honor be given a posthumous promotion (if Manticore has such things) - to Rear Admiral of the Red is most likely in my mind (though Vice-Admiral of the Red is also possible). On Grayson, the inheritance of the Harrington Steading must be settled. Dr. A. Harrington appears to be it, but there could be a compromise. After all, who inherits after Dr. Harrington? Since Allison should still be able to have children, I am expecting the Drs. A. Harrington will propose that another child of theirs inherit. Weber has previous mentioned that Grayson will name a ship after Honor; will it be a superdreadnought or will it be a battlecruiser? In the Solarian League, perhaps the Beowulf representative on the League Council will press for an investigation of Haven's faithfulness to the Deneb Accords (after all, Captain McKeon as well as members of his crew and Honor's staff are missing - that is if this is known). Beyond there, the echoes die down to the noise level (an Andermann Admiral would notice it as would the population of the planet Sidemore just outside Silesia Confederation). Oct 8, 2000 Note: Other than events on Grayson (which did occur), no implications that any of this had happened.

Actions

I have thought of two basic approaches to the escape, which I call sneak and coup. In my mind, sneak is more elegant but has requirements so difficult that it is quite likely impossible. Coup is messier and would require more text (and some battle scenes). Thus, I expect that David Weber will use something very much like coup in EoH.

Sneak requires an extensive penetration of the Hades station computer net (at least as extensive as Harkness's penetration of the Tepes systems). It is not easy to see how this could be done (a second, unused and unguarded, control station in the hemisphere they went to ground in? Sounds unlikely). Given this, sneak is simple. Honor waits for a ship to come (either a courier or a freighter), then goes up and captures it. Hades station sees and hears whatever Harkness wants them to see and hear - nothing. Honor and all surviving ex-prisoners from the Tepes leave the Cerebus system on their captured ship, leaving Hades Control fat, dumb, and happy. That is until the followup mission arrives.

Coup requires secretly recruiting several hundred prisoners and attacking Hades control itself with the two assault shuttles. While they would be greatly outnumbered by the garrison, there are several mitigating factors. One, not all of the grarrison will be on duty (in fact at best 1/3 would be). Two, they won't be suited up in battle gear. Three, Honor and company have the two most potent victory indicators in the Manticore-Haven universe, surprise and Honor Harrington . Once in control of the planet, Honor waits for the next ship, captures it, and sends it for help (the followup mission). Oct 8, 2000 Note: Coup it was, but they didn't capture the courier on station. The first ship to arrive was months later and, by then, the war situation had changed.

However captured, that ship will arrive at an Alliance base and the commanding Admiral (after recovering from the surprise) organizes a task force to go to Hades and pick up everybody (perhaps not the SS personel, being left behind in their own prison has some appeal). If sneak was used, the defenses around Hades would have to be reduced, but that shouldn't be a major problem especially if a battle squadron is included. If coup, the defenses would be eliminated from the ground. No matter which (and some complications should be expected), there will be a big propaganda blitz on the Hades rescue when the task force returns to Alliance space. Oct 8, 2000 Note: The complications caused a rather massive rewrite of Honor's Ops plan - but lots of transport dropped into her lap eventually.

Consequences

On Haven, this news might trigger McQueen's coup against Pierre and St. Just (I have heard that she will fail, perhaps she will pop off prematurely). On Manticore, there just might be screams of outrage (probably in private, but still there) from the Opposition (especially if a "posthumous" promotion went through); I would not be surprised if there was some attempt to have Honor court-martialed for the loss of the Prince Aidrian. When Honor meets her parents, I can see the following scene: "Mother, you are WHAT?" "Honor, you are being silly. You are acting as if I have never done this before." Honor is also going to be on medical leave until she is fitted with a prothestic arm (and her eye and face "nerves" are replaced). Note that during this time, she is NOT under White Haven's command and thus an affair between them might not be a court-martial offense. Oct 8, 2000 Note: Honor's scene with her mother came a bit later than I had originally expected - Allison's real line was "Really, Honor, you'd think you'd never seen a baby before ..."