--------------------------------------------
On Tue, 5/19/15, Bruce Johnson <xxxxxx@Pharmacy.Arizona.EDU> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [TML] What is the moral?
 To: "xxxxxx@simplelists.com" <xxxxxx@simplelists.com>
 Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2015, 9:24 AM

 > On
 May 19, 2015, at 9:04 AM, Bruce Johnson <xxxxxx@pharmacy.arizona.edu>
 wrote:
 >
 >>
 >> But in this specific case, a system
 government did not yet exist. The security was being sought
 for the Constitutional Convention aimed at creating said
 government. So the PC noble was asking for Marines to be
 placed at his personal disposal. Tactical command remained
 with the Marine lieutenant who was placed in charge of the
 platoon by the ship's Marine commander. The PC noble
 could tell his "borrowed" Marines what should be
 done, but not how to do it.
 >>
 >
 > Thus very neatly
 demonstrating what 'Rule of Man’ v. 'Rule of
 Law' actually boils down to in practice. The captain of
 that cruiser has ‘Age of Sail’-like autonomy over his
 ship, forces and use thereof, and the authority to do what
 the Baron asked him; he also had the authority to
 oh-so-politely decline.

 Also, the baronial heir, due
 to his feudal relationship to the Emperor, has the authority
 to make the request (Feudal obligations run down as well as
 up). Had he outranked the captain (who no doubt has a duty
 title attached to his rank as captain, and is likely Baron
 or higher) he could well have just ordered him to do it, for
 instance, the ranking noble of a subsector, or certainly the
 sector Duchess could. That the noble making the request was
 the heir not the actual title holder would make the Captains
 job a lot easier in this case.

 The cruiser Captain could very well decline the
 request in that case but he would then likely have to make
 his case at his court martial, on the grounds that obeying
 the noble would directly conflict with his orders as given
 by the Emperor.

 Depending
 on where the trial were held, this could prove dicey.

 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

There's also the attitudes of the cruiser captain's superiors (CruRon & IN Fleet commanders, subsector/sector IN admirals, etc)
towards LSP in general & this situation in particular.
"Let's see old Admiral Crotchety has been carrying a grudge against LSP ever since that 'not-to-be-mentioned' incident way-back when. If I can get in good w/ the old guy maybe it'll help me get promoted to a higher position or maybe even get on the Admiral's Promotion List! In any case it sure won't hurt to get on his good side".
The roleplaying possibilities are virtually endless, esp if it turns out that LSP has a clandestine 'connection' to the Sector Duke or some such. Maybe even just a connection to the high-ranking staffers.

Good Stuff!

=========================================================================