The Short Victorious War

From Honorverse

The Short Victorious War is the third book of David Weber's series of novels and short stories chronicling the adventures of Honor Harrington. It was first published in 1994.

Timeframe: 1904 PD – May 1905 PD

[edit] Cover Summary

The families who rule the People's Republic of Heaven are in trouble. The treasury's empty, the Proles are restless, and civil war is imminent.

But the ruling class knows what they need to keep in power: another short, victorious war to unite the people and fill the treasury once more. It's a card they've played often in the last half-century, always successfully, and all that stands in their way is the Star Kingdom of Manticore and its threadbare allies. Enemies who in the past have alway backed down.

Only this time the peeps face something different. This time they're up against Captain Honor Harrington and a Royal Manticoran Navy that's prepared to give them a war that's far from short... and anything but victorious

[edit] Plot

The People's Republic of Haven finds itself teetering at the edge of economic disaster. Unable to maintain its massive welfare state in the face of inflation and deficit and with opposition to the government getting bolder, the leaders of the People's Republic decide to resort to war against the Star Kingdom of Manticore. A short, victorious war, they believe, will both distract the proles from their current economic problems and allow them to use the riches of the Manticore system to prop up their wellfare state.

Meanwhile Honor returns to duty after injuries she sustained at Yeltsin's Star, to command the brand-new battlecruiser HMS Nike, the pride of the Royal Manticoran Navy, with some of her old crew aboard and her old friend Michelle Henke as Executive Officer. But on their way to her post, the engineers of the Nike discover a flaw in one of her fusion reactors, which hampers her first operational deployment to the critical Manticoran base at Hancock Station. Honor spends the time her ship is in dock by beginning her first real romantic relationship with Hancock Station senior officer, Captain (JG) Paul Tankersley.

The Havenites' plan is to launch probing missions on Manticoran Alliance members to push the Alliance into re-deploying its forces to create weak points and allow them to strike at Mantircore directly. They are aided greatly in this through the use of project Argus, stealth sensor platforms purchased from the Solarian League and planted to watch the movements of Manticoran forces. When Admiral Mark Sarnow's superior deploys most of Hancock Station's ships to other star systems to guard against further Havenite provocation, the Argus net allows the Havenites to see this weakness in the Manticore position, and they decide to attack Hancock Station in force.

Honor joins Admiral Sarnow's fleet alongside her old enemy, Captain Pavel Young. With most of the Royal Manticoran Navy deployed elsewhere to prevent the Havenite provocations, Honor and Sarnow find themselves forced to defend Hancock Station from a vastly superior Havenite armada. With the help of Honor's unorthodox tactics, the task force is able to hold off the Havenites for long enough for reinforcements to arrive. In the final stages of the First Battle of Hancock Station, Captain Young's cowardice nearly costs Honor her life when he disobeys orders and flees the defensive formation protecting the wounded Nike.

After the battle, Young is removed from command and placed under arrest to be court-martialed on Manticore. Captain Tankersley is promoted to Captain of the List and is to be re-assigned to Nike as its chief engineer.

After the first disastrous battles of the war, three Havenite revolutionaries, Rob S. Pierre, Oscar Saint-Just, and Cordelia Ransom, lead the overthrow of the legislaturalist government by killing Hereditary President Sidney Harris and nearly his entire government during his birthday celebration with an air strike by shuttles of the People's Navy. They blame the killings on the Navy, and use the fear of a possible military coup to form a Committee of Public Safety to rule the People's Republic "until a new government can be formed". They begin a purge of senior military officers and political figures to cement their rule.

[edit] References

[edit] Characters

[edit] Starships

PNS Alexander | PNS New Boston | HMS Nike (BC-413) | RMMS Queensland

[edit] Stations

HMSS Hephaestus

[edit] Planets

[edit] Nations

[edit] Battles

First Battle of Hancock Station

[edit] Other

[edit] External links

The Short Victorious War at the Baen Free Library
The Short Victorious War on Wikipedia

Main Honor Harrington series
HH1	On Basilisk Station	HH7	In Enemy Hands
HH2	The Honor of the Queen	HH8	Echoes of Honor
HH3	The Short Victorious War	HH9	Ashes of Victory
HH4	Field of Dishonor	HH10	War of Honor
HH5	Flag in Exile	HH11	At All Costs
HH6	Honor Among Enemies	HH12	Mission of Honor
Spin off Series
Wages of Sin		Saganami Island
WS1	Crown of Slaves	SI1	The Shadow of Saganami
WS2	Torch of Freedom	SI2	Storm from the Shadows
Anthologies
HHA1	More Than Honor	HHA3	Changer of Worlds
HHA2	Worlds of Honor	HHA4	The Service of the Sword

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