Something that's been bugging me:
At the beginning of Marathon Rubicon, Durandal tells you that the Human/Pfhor War has been in a state of stalemate for at least some while, yet later while exploring the decks of the Chimera you find out from terminals that the UESC has made it as far as Pfhor Prime, where the Chimera presently rests. I don't see how it could be called a stalemate if the UESC has managed to push that far, even if they *have* partially lost the Chimera in the process.
On the other hand, the UESC seems to be using the Chimera's wreck as a forward command post, so presumably Durandal wants to ensure that valuable parts of it don't fall into the wrong hands---and possibly into his, depending on whether you believe Tycho or not. I figure the Chimera is the key part as its survival and that of Admiral Carroway are the key factors as to whether you flip from the Pfhor Plank to the Salinger Plank earlier on.
Still, it seems a bit odd that Durandal would tell you your skills would be so necessary (not that we're complaining, right? :P) and that the situation was so weighty given that your/Durandal's side of the war seems to have momentum. I suspect that the Chimera's being shot out of the sky caught Durandal's attention, and that he decided to send you in to help assess the situation as it must have struck him as noteworthy that the UESC's greatest conventional weapon against the Pfhor had been badly damaged, while still keeping his exact reasons for sending you in a secret, and telling you that the war was at a stalemate to make you feel more..."Necessary."
Also, I get the feeling that the reason the Chimera got knocked out of the air so unceremoniously has more than a little something to do with Dangi's connection to the Pfhor and the presence of a Ms. Carroway on the Dangi staff...
