[LMB] Arms

[Victoria L'Ecuyer]

From: "Jim Parish" 
Thanks to all of those who've chimed in on this, in particular to Victoria 
L'Ecuyer for the step-by-step description. 

Me: 
You're welcome. 

From: "Jim Parish" 
I'm still a little troubled by a few lesser questions. Yes, there's at least 
some chance that Cordelia was trained in a maneuver like this at some 
point, but would it have been recent enough, and/or followed by enough 
practice, for her to have been able to execute it quickly and well? This 
is amplified by her relatively recent injuries - two cracked ribs and a 
compound fracture of one of her arms - plus the layover in a prison 
camp and the psychological stress that followed her repatriation. Still, 
these concerns are nothing that good old WSOD can't handle.

Me, again: 
These questions were answered under Gunny's "scare the beejeezers out of them" introduction to the actual hands-on demonstration. 

Up until the bedroom/fishtank scene, Cordelia was actively running from Mehta in a classic Escape and Evade. The problem? 1) Cordelia was outnumbered 2)She had no place to escape to once she had evaded. Mehta kept running her to ground. They were engaged with indirect combat. 

When Cordelia's mother gave her up to the Mental Health Board, Cordelia's last perceived (percieved by Mehta, that is) refuge was gone. So Cordelia obliging gave up and went along with Mehta's program. As I recall, Cordelia started telling Mehta what Mehta wanted to hear while she began packing as a cover for getting her ID, credits, etc. so she could make a break for it. (This was the equivalent to Gunny having us close our eyes while he gave a 2-3 minute description of a lovely sunrise in his most soothing voice.) 

Mehta was relaxed and confident. She was mentally checking off her list of conspiracy theories, burbling right along and gloating to herself over her victory. The toughest nut in the Betan Expeditionary Force, the very same woman who brought Steady Freddy to his knees, had cracked and she was the one who won. (We were heading back to base with empty magazines and ready for food, shower and bed. Gunny was a great speaker and, if he had wanted, could have put the lot of us to sleep.) 

Cordelia is tense, hyperalert, and adreniline charged. She's running on nerves and desperation. Once she's got the belts and maneuvers to Mehta's blind side. (The scenic description suddenly aquires a man in a strange uniform. You fire the gun. Nothing happens.) 

Mehta is jerked out of her self-congratulatory haze literally and figuratively. (WHAT DO YOU DO! Gunny bellows.)

Mehta is mental all the way. She's never had to be physical. That's what all the other people are for. Once the patient is restrained, she steps in.  Mehta has no training whatsoever, so her primitive reflexes take hold and she flails. (After the others, with the exception of Tess[1], settle back down, he starts on the "Panic and Fear are Your Worst Enemy" lecture. A large part of that lecture covered, "Others Controlling Your Body is the First Step in Controlling Your Emotions and Then Your Mind".)

Cordelia is used to mental control AND physical control. After all, she shimmied up and down a pole, and lept for concealment in the overhead pipes when she convinced Aral's engineering crew to surrender during the mutiny. Now, with her mother double crossing her, Cordelia has only one place left to go. Aral. She knows how the Betan system works. She knows how to circumvent it. All she needs to know is where the guards are. At that point she hauls Mehta over to the fish tank. (And we end up playing a game of "Pin the Marine on the Floor".)

Victoria 

[1] Who was snickering at my "Hit him with the butt of my rifle" comment. She, like me, had enough siblings to experience a lot of rough housing and guerrilla attacks as a child.