Alta Battle Record

[Mistcloaked Mountains]

The ease in which Spensa gains access to the record of the Alta battle is very strange, as It contains a big secret. Even though she needed Cobb's code to get in and he may have had special access, It was in a room with many other records, which presumably were not state secrets.

Furthermore, assuming that it was easily accessible, how is it possible that her father's treason wasn't common knowledge? Everyone would want to see the nation's most infamous event, and then gossip about it.

Also why was Cobb so ready to let her see it? Was he trying to pay her back for calling him a coward?

Edited November 28, 2018 by Ookla the Inconceivable
typo

[Argel]

4 hours ago, Ookla the Inconceivable said:

It was in a room with many other records, which presumably were not state secrets

Why are you assuming that? The quantity? They probably have every battle recorded the same way, and those alone would clearly be state secrets. There's no way they would let e.g. cadets listen in on what the command staff are saying.

And e.g. Jorgen did know, so it wasn't entirely a secret.

As for Cobb, by that time the concerns/politics surrounding the "defect" were heating up. Cobb was worried that she might end up like her father. He also knew Spensa would learn the truth, and better to let Spensa find out on her own terms when she had time to process it vs. being blindsided or back stabbed with it by someone else. And arguably Spensa needed to know to continue moving forward/growing as a person, and Cobb probably saw that as well.

Though with all of that said, it did seem a bit too easy. But maybe Ironsides thought Cobb would never help her see it. Or that if she did, the truth would crush her, and problem solved. Or it's another example of Ironsides' incompetence.

[Mistcloaked Mountains]

4 hours ago, Argel said:

Why are you assuming that? The quantity? They probably have every battle recorded the same way, and those alone would clearly be state secrets. There's no way they would let e.g. cadets listen in on what the command staff are saying.

First, I made a mistake the book says there was a short rack in the second room which implies that there weren't that many.

Cobb says that cadets aren't allowed in there which implies that full pilots are (though he might've been referring to the first room). It doesn't sound like the second room was a collection of high security recordings, it sounds like contained all the earlier battles.

It could've been set up that way so as not to draw attention that there was a secret in that recording.

4 hours ago, Argel said:

And e.g. Jorgen did know, so it wasn't entirely a secret.

Jorgen was clearly a special case he knew a lot of secrets because of his family's high status.

[Scion of the Mists]

I think it's a really good question.  I can't imagine that all full pilots are in on the massive secret/lie (it would be pretty impossible to keep it contained with that many people).  I understand that extra protective measures would make the tape stand out more and make people curious, but I highly doubt that people aren't curious anyway.  The Battle of Alta wasn't just notable for Chaser's cowardice/betrayal - it was the defining battle in the war against the Krell.  It's when they finally took back the surface of their planet and when the DDF really came into existence.  

[Mailnaise]

I think as readers we're all programmed to assume something like this would be harder for the character because in most books it is. I know I was immediately wondering what the catch was. Turns out there wasn't one. 

3 hours ago, Scion of the Mists said:

I highly doubt that people aren't curious anyway.  The Battle of Alta wasn't just notable for Chaser's cowardice/betrayal - it was the defining battle in the war against the Krell.  It's when they finally took back the surface of their planet and when the DDF really came into existence.  

Maybe they had a record of the battle available to the general public with Chaser's betrayal cut out, just in case people insisted or requested on seeing the battle, on official reasons or curiosity. 

[king of nowhere]

On 28/11/2018 at 10:59 PM, Mailnaise said:

 

Maybe they had a record of the battle available to the general public with Chaser's betrayal cut out, just in case people insisted or requested on seeing the battle, on official reasons or curiosity. 

that's a pretty reasonable explanation.

Full pilots are probably going to want to see the battle of alta, unless there was already a circulating (fake) record.

[Scion of the Mists]

13 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

Full pilots are probably going to want to see the battle of alta, unless there was already a circulating (fake) record.

This is the thing that confuses me.  Full pilots are going to see the real version.  Not all of them, but certainly some of them are going to review the version in the library, even if there's a fake one played for the public.  Once someone has seen the real version, I'm not sure how it stays a secret.  

I'm not sure what's more plausible: no full pilots have ever seen the tape or every full pilot is sworn to secrecy and nobody blabs.  

[king of nowhere]

all the politiking between cobb and ironsides make it clear that a lot of people knew of "the defect". if nothing else, all first citizens who survived the battle knew, and the medics putting sensors in spensa's helmet probably knew, and top level politicians also knew. yes, it is actually a lot of people

[Mailnaise]

1 hour ago, king of nowhere said:

all the politiking between cobb and ironsides make it clear that a lot of people knew of "the defect". if nothing else, all first citizens who survived the battle knew, and the medics putting sensors in spensa's helmet probably knew, and top level politicians also knew. yes, it is actually a lot of people

We still don't know what story they've been told, coward or murderer?