fandomhigh | The Art of War, Week #14 [Period 3, Monday]

"Last week we gained first-hand knowledge of Tzu's favorite weapon - fire," Ghanima said as the students settled down. "The events you saw happened on my homeworld about thirty years ago. Five troop carriers alighted in the deep desert, intent on raiding the sietch and picking up Fremen for questioning." She smiled at them, a slightly vicious edge to her eyes. "One carrier escaped, with only three prisoners. One of whom some of you met," she said with a nod to Ella and Agnes, "who allowed herself to be captured. Fremen casualties were mild, compared to the fate that befell the Emperor's troops."

"Before we continue with the last section of Tzu's manifesto, I'd like to take a few moments to discuss what you learned last week. Is fire a weapon you would use? Why or why not? Remember; a desperate enemy is the most dangerous."

"Afterwards, we will move on to one of my favorite sections, and the last chapter of the book." Ghanima held up her copy of the book and smiled. "Spies."

"Spies. A resource that is often sadly overlooked," Ghanima remarked after the first discussion. "Industrial espionage, eavesdropping on a friend, employing reconnaissance behind enemy lines, all of these count as spying. However, it is not as straight forward as you would think."

"There are five types of spies," she stated, turning to write on the board:

(1) Local spies (2) inward spies (3) converted spies
(4) doomed spies (5) surviving spies.

"When you have these working together properly, it is your greatest resource, greater than munitions or soldiers or generals. Information, as always, is the most powerful weapon of all."

"Each type of spy has a specific purpose," she continued. "Having local spies means employing the services of the inhabitants of a district, usually to help you detect localized troop movements and to be aware of changes in terrain. Having inward spies means you are making use of officials of the enemy."

"My personal favorite are the converted spies, getting hold of the enemy's spies and using them for our own purposes." Ghanima beamed at the class. "Subversion of a loyalist is always so entertaining."

"Then there's the 'doomed spies'. Some squeamish generals try to avoid this grouping, but they are indispensable to a solid victory. Having doomed spies, doing certain things openly for purposes of deception, and allows our spies to know of them and report them to the enemy."

"Surviving spies, finally, are those who bring back news from inside the enemy's camp." Ghanima said briskly. "There is no part of war more delicate, more intimate, or harder to balance than with spies. As Tzu says, 'None should be more liberally rewarded. In no other business should greater secrecy be preserved.'"

"Your assignment for next week is to ferret out some tidbit of information to which you would not normally be privy," Ghanima informed them. "Either via another spy, or by uncovering it yourself. You will not need to share exactly what you learned, merely the method used to discover the information."

[OOC: You know the rules, ~~wait for~~ the purty OCD awaits! Have fun!]

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Alice regarded the other girl for a long moment.

"Those who survive will be dangerous, and they will have no mercy."

"Only two types of people can afford to have mercy for others, in times of war," Ino said, tilting her head. "The very strongest, and the very weakest. All those in the middle must make use of any weapon at their disposal. Would the enemy be less dangerous if we used ice instead of fire? Or sand to rip them to shreds? Lightning to electrify them, or water to drown them? All modes of attack render the other side dangerous."

Edited 2008-12-08 21:09 (UTC)

Alice raised an eyebrow. "You said yourself that fire creates a primal reaction," she noted. "More so than ice or sand. You hope to create panic and fear, to subdue your enemies. Those that you do not subdue will become stronger, and hardened, and they will fear nothing, and they will hate you. They will have nothing left to lose."

"And little to gain but revenge," she said, a bit of a smile crossing her face. "And I said that fire creates a primal reaction, but I don't recall saying that it's the only thing that does. All of the things I named are natural elements--and the natural world, the elements of it, are the best for creating primal reactions. Someone's reaction to a tidal wave hurtling towards them, implacable, unstoppable, would not be much different than a fire flaring through their village, don't you think? Let them hate me. Let them fear it. If that's the path chosen for the battle, then let it go that way."

Alice gave the other girl a long look before shaking her head and returning to her own notes.

"Be very careful, what it is you wish for."

"As the saying goes," she mused, leaning back in her chair. "The rage, the hate, of others does not bother me."

"While I can commend your desire to use all the tools at your disposal, Miss Yamanaka, perhaps you missed the point earlier when I said that of five troop carriers that went in, barely one made it out," Ghanima broke in. "These were not novice soldiers, either. The best trained warrior of the Empire, who had subdued entire planets, lost to the knives of the women, children, and the infirm of our sietch."

"The Fremen have a saying; 'Put aside all tears and nurture your rage.' Those with nothing to lose are those that are most dangerous and the most cunning. Never, ever, underestimate them."

"I'm not," she said flatly, tucking a pen behind one ear. "People want to hate me, go ahead. People hate people for many reasons, the fact that in this scenario, they've got good reasons doesn't make the emotion different. Hate is hate, Ghanima-sensei. And hate can be fought. I'll fight back with everything at my disposal."

Edited 2008-12-09 03:12 (UTC)

"It doesn't make the emotion any different," she agreed instantly. "The danger lies is assuming any person will react in the way you expect them to."

"Tzu counsels us time and again not to push an enemy into too tight of a corner, because desperate men fight harder than those with something to lose. Why put your victory in doubt by creating a fighting force that won't rest until you're destroyed?"

"Because they won't rest," Ino said simply. "Because people pushed into a corner can be terrifying, and dangerous, and cunning--but they are also stressed, under extreme pressure, and lack options. The more options you take away from them, the chances of them breaking under pressure and doing something stupid go up."

"They'll fight with everything they've got," Ino said. "But what they've got, that depends on the other side. If we're stupid enough to allow them enough options, then we deserve to be defeated."

"And the chances of your generals, being pushed, harried, placed under stressful conditions by these desperate fighters, doesn't that increase their chance of breaking under pressure as well?" Ghanima asked.

"Of course," she admitted. "There is that. But war is a gamble in that sense, and if that was the path chosen, then those stresses would be expected and better prepared for. It's a game of endurance on all fronts, no matter the battlefield."

The Art of War, Week #14 [Period 3, Monday]

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