unforum

[thebruce]

FYI, all the transcripts for the tuesday update are done in the Axon Plot (see below)... including the Ronnie thread.

[devolver]

[Ceantari]

[kalamazoo]

1. The purpose of the Cranky Old Man call was to put an anomalous report of Troy's evacuation into the mix.
a. Higher knows, somehow, that there was a partial evac of Troy but that the rest of planet (and its population) were deliberately allowed to die (to prevent the Covies from realizing we had broken their codes).
b. He knew that ONI would have to follow up on the Cranky Old Man call, and hoped that someone else would discover the partial evac of Troy (by trying to find someone in Janet Adams' unit).
c. Who knew that Ronnie -- whom Higher himself had a hand in recruiting -- would be the one to find it?

2. We can presume that Harmony was also attacked;
a. it may have been glassed with no evacuation or with a full evacuation, but
b. the fact that Higher draws a distinction between Troy and Harmony suggests that Harmony was not partially evacuated as Troy has been.

3.
a. Higher doesn't know what was on Troy that was so damn important that it was evacuated..
b. ...and he can't find out himself because someone else has decided to cut him off from high-level strategic planning. He's frustrated (I'm stuck in a dusty old office and nobody tells me anything!!!)...
c. ...and is resorting to sneaky bureaucratic tactics to surreptitiously discover what's going on.

4. I [SPEC] that Forerunner artifacts and research were evac'd from Troy to prevent their capture by the Covenant. While this is nice in the short run, it guarantees a ground invasion of Earth since the Covies want their artifacts...

5. Ronnie now has two leads:
a. Cranky Old Man, which will lead her back to Higher if she follows up, and
b. the Marine who really was on Troy.
She'll have to move more carefully, however, because
c. Ronnie's boss is in on the cover-up of Troy, and now knows she's sniffing around.

I hope Ronnie's as much of a Steel Magnolia Belle as she sounds, because she's going to need it... though Higher will probably help her if she makes contact with him. I rather imagine she will.