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| Map of the planet Safehold (as of <em>By Schism Rent Asunder</em>) | May 2008 |
| The Cherwell Convention's Equipment Clause | May 2008 |
| White Haven's relief mission to Yeltsin | May 2008 |
| Escort CLACs | May 2008 |
| Capital ships and raiding defenses | May 2008 |
| Status of the Solarian League Navy | Jun 2008 |
| The League vs the Star Empire of Manticore: <em>Who declares war on who?</em> | Jun 2008 |
| Misconceptions about Torch | Jun 2008 |
| Point defense laser clusters | Jun 2008 |
| More on the Keyhole platforms | Mar 2009 |
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Pearls of Weber
A collection of posts by David Weber containing background information for his stories, collected and generously made available Joe Buckley.
Why did Pavel Young accept Harrington's challenge?
- Series: Honorverse
- Date: November 01, 2002
Pavel the political figure had no choice. Had he not accepted, he would no longer have been a political figure... period. So, yes, he could have refused, but only at the price of giving up everything he felt he had left in life. If you'll notice, he didn't exactly cover himself in steely-nerved glory when the moment came, and that was largely because his political ambition (i.e., hunger for power) had gotten him into a situation he lacked the intestinal fortitude to face up to. And remember also that he had agreed to a protocol in which he only had to face a single shot from Honor. Yes, as the moment loomed large before him he became more and more aware of his own mortality; at the moment he actually accepted her challenge, the instinctive need to preserve his position of power (and to avoid a situation in which no one in "society" would ever so much as acknowledge his existence once again) overpowered his fear that she would be able to kill him with that one shot. In the event, his nerve snapped, leading to his ignominious demise.
As for why none of Paul's family members or HH's friends challenged Denver, there were two reasons. (1) No one knew where to find him until Georgia slipped the word to Ramirez and McKeon through an intermediary, so no one could challenge him, and (2) Would you really want to be the person who challenged and killed him instead of leaving him for Honor to deal with?
