What if Tankersley Lived? [Honorverse]

[TOSDOC]

SPOILER ALERT FOR HONOR HARRINGTON BOOKS!

I just finished reading Ashes of Victory, and realized how sorry I was feeling for Honor Harrington for all that Weber puts her through. She really has been through the ringer in this series, and I wondered if she would ever get a break, even with Alexander.

So I started to wonder a What If scenario (one life, or death, can make a difference!): what if Paul Tankersley had not been killed? What if Paul had not been incited to anger by Summervale to strike him or otherwise provoke a duel declaration, or if Colonel Ramirez had a few of his marines put Summervale in the hospital before Paul’s duel? Or even (however unlikely) if Paul had won the duel over Summervale?

The nearest I can figure, is that Honor keeps HMS Nike and joins Home Fleet under Alexander’s command, and marries Tankersley. Grayson is successfully invaded by the Peeps without Honor’s superior tactics present to defeat them, and the Masadans wage a bloodbath at Endicott as a result, but Honor is never disgraced and is probably called out with Home Fleet to take Yeltsen and Endicott back. The Silesian piracy continues, and the Peeps might gain a greater foothold there without Honor’s interference, shifting the balance of power opposite the Kingdom to Haven and maybe giving them an edge in taking the Basilisk terminus. From there I’m not sure what would happen, since Honor is likely never captured by the Peeps (it was the discomfort with Alexander that made her leave on that jaunt in the first place), and therefore never in a position to rescue all those prisoners from Hell.

[The Romulan Republic]

I think that's probably mostly right, though its been a long time since I've read it. She'd keep her command, be promoted faster, and not get captured. This would help the Manticoran war effort overall, I think, but it would suck for the prisoners she now won't rescue. And you're right, it'll probably suck for Grayson too when it gets captured.

I wonder if she'd still fall in love with Alexander?

[Mr Bean]

I think that's probably mostly right, though its been a long time since I've read it. She'd keep her command, be promoted faster, and not get captured. This would help the Manticoran war effort overall, I think, but it would suck for the prisoners she now won't rescue. And you're right, it'll probably suck for Grayson too when it gets captured.

I wonder if she'd still fall in love with Alexander?

Who can say, with such a massive change and the promo coming down the line there's not question she'd be back into the firing line when shit was starting to hit the fan for Manticore, one lucky bombed pumped laser and the series would have ended that much quicker. The change is drastic enough as if saying "What would happen if Hitler slips and dies in the shower in Summer 1940 would the Battle of Sealow Heights happen the same?" Who knows! Your chosen affect is so massive as to make most predicting near useless due to the amount of ripple affect it will have.

[Coalition]

One of the prisoners she freed from Hades was Admiral Parnell. The People's Republic has publicly admitted to him being dead, and that the military killed the old leadership. Admiral Parnell has evidence that this is false.

Without Admiral Parnell's testimony on Earth, there will be more support in the People's Republic for the Committee. So the war could last longer. Of course, once the Ghost Rider tech goodies start coming out, the People's Republic Navy is nothing more than target practice for the Manticoran fleet.

I am having fun thinking about in book 6 (Honor Among Enemies) where Honor manages to deal with Warnecke. Now imagine the Peep fleet finding out about Warnecke instead. In the book Honor manages to take out the defending fleet using a missile pod equipped Q-ship. Without her being in the region, I'd see Admiral Giscard (the Peep commander) deciding to drop several battlecruisers into Warnecke's little kingdom, losing a few cities on the planet due to self-destruct nukes, and hopefully killing Warnecke away from the planet.

That gives the Peeps a nice little base, a local population that likes them, and political leverage in the Silesian Confederacy. He can then use that political leverage in the Silesian government by threatening to reveal that Warnecke was not dead when the Confederate broadcast the video. Either the Confederacy allows Peep forces free transit, or everyone in government loses their job. One way would be to allow the Peeps to extort fees from Manticoran shipping.

If the Peep forces cut down the pirate activity (which they likely can, using battlecruisers to conduct sweeps), the Manticoran commercial interests will be paying the Peeps instead of their own government. I'm sure the Manty government would just love that choice; kick out the Peeps and watch piracy rates rise again, or let the merchant companies pay the Peeps.