OBT Forum

Quote from: Takiro on March 30, 2009, 03:20:36 AM
Per TRO3057 Revised page 182;

- Gabriel, was constructed after Kerensky's conquest of the Rim Worlds (2768) and prior to the start of the Hegemony Campaign (2772). That is a window of just under four years. This is confirmed in the first sentence of paragraph 3. "the complex apparently built in secrecy between 2769 and 2772"

- The yards themselves are referred to as "the remains of a complex of space stations" which were "apparently stripped in secrecy during the mobilization leading up to the Exodus". This us two things. One, the site is not currently operational not in the least. While there is clearly stuff left major repairs would have to be made. Two, the site whatever the SLDF called it was extremely sensitive and unknown to most. Presumably the Lyrans didn't have a clue and it is something I will leave to you to debate if the Terrans did. If so to what extent?


According to Takiro's above post the SLDF both built Gabriel and stripped it in secrecy so the Lyrans don't know anything about it.
So the Terran Republic might use Gabriel if they know about it.
Since the SLDF managed to build and strip Gabriel in secrecy, without the Lyrans ever finding out, I seriously doubt that that many SLDF personnel knew about Gabriel.
Certainly not the rank and file(I really cannot imagine that every crewmember on every SLDF ship knew about Gabriel and its location). Otherwise it is in my opinion nigh impossible for the SLDF to keep this a secret.
Rather I believe that knowledge about Gabriel was restricted to the higher ups.
And even amongst them not all of them necessarily had to know its location.
Thats what navigators and their maps and charts are for(After all the SLDF began the Hegemony campaign at that time and the possibility that a captured member of the SLDF might reveal information on Gabriel to Amaris troops while being tortured had to be considered).
Perhaps only relatively few chosen navigators knew the location of Gabriel and were used akin to modern pilots bringing a ship into a harbor, or in this case to Gabriel. And perhaps the data pertaining to the location of Gabriel was deleted after a vessel left Gabriel.
This might explain why the SLDF managed to keep Gabriel a secret(a secret that per page 182 of TRO 3057R even the Clans, aka the SLDF-in-Exile, do not know about. That even they apparently do not know about the former SLDF base Gabriel speaks volumes about how tight the secrecy about Gabriel seems to have been).

So I think that it depends on whether all those in the know that survived the Hegemony campaign left on the Exodus with Kerensky or if some of them stayed in the Terran Republic.
Certainly possible but not guaranteed(After all Gabriel was an SLDF base and the majority of the surviving SLDF left the Inner Sphere with Kerensky).

So the Terran Republic might know about Gabriel.
But what would they do with this knowledge?
Gabriel is as stated on page 182 of TRO 3057R as "at least two jumps or more beyond the borders of the [Terran] Hegemony".
Assuming the Terran Republic spends god knows how many resources into repairing Gabriel(resources also needed within the Terran Republic) I guess it will be a bit complicated to transfer JumpShips to and from Gabriel for the Terran Republic without alerting the Lyrans that there is something going on. And transferring WarShips to and from Gabriel even more so.
But the SLDF managed to accomplish this feat so the Terran Republic might be able to do so likewise.

But would the Regent of the Terran Republic risk angering the Lyran Commonwealth by doing so?
In my opinion the answer is simple: No.
Spending god knows how many resources repairing (per page 182 of TRO 3057R) "the remains of a complex of space stations" "including several large pressurized and un-pressurized repair facilities, along with at least one extremely large habitat" "at least two jumps or more beyond the borders of the Hegemony" is (in my view) just unrealistic considering that the Terran Republic needs those resources to revitalize infrastructure and industries on the planets within its borders. Especially given the risk of alienating one more of the great houses and opening another front to fight on. A prospect the Terran Republic can ill afford.

So if I were Regent of the Terran Republic and knew about Gabriel I would grant Gabriel to the Lyrans(perhaps after taking anything in mothballs for the Terran Republic). After all it cannot hurt to have at least one grateful neighbor that is not shooting at you.


Ciao
Hessian

P.S.: Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to make my standpoint clear

The secrecy of this installation seems paramount to the SLDF. I doubt many know about its existence outside the Exiles and the Terrans. Likely only Royal personnel would know the location.

Besides navigators, captains, and select high commanders what other archetypes might know?

I'm not sure if any derelict ships would remain at the facility. On second thought, there may be a few. The facilities themselves are likely stripped of any useful to the Exodus.

Question for the gang here? What do you think Kerensky would have called this place?

Or Kerensky had them spaced.

Then why do the clans not know about the it?

Quote from: Hessian on March 30, 2009, 06:41:43 PM
But wouldn't the Lyrans then inspect it? Or woudn't it attract civilian JumpShip traffic?

Ciao
Hessian


Do you think this would really be a problem?

Quote from: Rainbow 6 on April 01, 2009, 07:56:48 PM
Annoyingly i thought of most of this about 10 minutes ago, but even though the clans lost the knowledge of Gabriel there's no reason for the SLDF in exile too.


True.

Quote from: Ice Hellion on April 01, 2009, 07:41:02 PM
Do you think this would really be a problem?


Well, I guess it depends on how Gabriel would be used by the Terran Republic.
If used as nothing more than a supply point I think it wouldn't be problematic.
But I doubt the Lyrans would appreciate it if the Terran Republic would activate the yards that are part of Gabriel.

Furthermore it would, at least in my view, damage the proclaimed neutrality of the Terran Republic.

Ciao
Hessian