The Honor of the Queen

1993

As the threat from the People's Republic of Haven increases, the Government of the Star Kingdom of Manticore is looking around for allies.

Desperately looking indeed.

Desperately enough to send a small mission to the Protectorate of Grayson.

Grayson was a single system power like many of Manticore's neighbours but unlike most it was closest to a theocracy with an anti technological church as part of the power structure of the planet.

As one of those little jokes the Universe likes to play on people, Grayson was rich in heavy metals and the death toll on the original colonists was horrendous. When the people had adapted to their new home they found that live female births vastly out numbered males so they were relegated to breeding and a subsidiary role in society.

The Manticoran mission was headed by Admiral Courvosior, ah, aided and advised by Reginald Houseman as a economics advisor and sop to the Progressive parties in Manticore's Parliament. Both men, they got along reasonably well with the Graysons (well, the admiral did, Houseman is such a pratt that no-one takes him seriously).

The military commander is cut from a different cloth however. Honor Harrington is definitely female. She's definitely in command of her squadron too.

The Graysons give her such a hard time that she decides that she really ought to escort some Manticoran merchantmen to their destination.

Big mistake!

Not only were the Graysons threatened by the PRH; there was a bunch of fanatics who had fought a loosing civil war several centuries earlier. Kicked out of the Grayson home system, they had formed a new society based on the original precepts of their religion and fought a bitter interstellar sub-light war against the heretics on Grayson.

But now the PRH had found them and promised aid against the Graysons in the shape of a couple of ships and technical expertise.

Unknown to the Graysons or the Manticorans, this unholy alliance had established a base and forces in the Graysons' home system. Unknown, that is, until it was deemed time to move on the infidels. Grayson had a small navy suitable for anti pirate action but not for standing up against a modern force.

They died.

So did the remaining Manticoran ships.

Including Admiral Courvosior. Leaving Houseman as the senior Manticoran.

Can Honor work out what's happening before she too falls to the fanatics?

And are the ships the only threats to Grayson's continued stability?

Buy the book and find out!

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