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5.0étoiles sur 5
Five Against Pardal, Fév 16 2003
Heirs of Empire is the third novel in the Dahak series, following The Armageddon Inheritance. In the previous novel, Colin has become His Imperial Majesty, Colin I, and returned from the Bia System with the Imperial Guard, 93 planetoids, all larger and more powerful than Dahak. This flotilla helps finish off the Achuultani advance force and then ambushes the vanguard and the main force. However, they soon discover that a powerful reserve force still remains and Earth has no more reinforcements. During the desperate fighting, however, Dahak leads a suicidal assault on the command ship and, while communicating with the Achuultani Battle Comp, manages to terminate its software. Although Dahak the ship is destroyed, Dahak the persona is downloaded to Dahak Two and rebooted therein.Ten years later, Earth is faced with the religious bigots of the Church of the Armageddon and the xenophobic bigots of The Humans for a Human Imperium. Moreover, Colin has a mole in his government, providing information to a terrorist group, the Sword of God, that is bombing random targets and assassinating government officials. Meanwhile, Sean and Harriet, the Imperial children, are growing up under the benevolent guardianship of Dahak, the 52,000 year old Battle planetoid. They and their friends are destined for the Battle Fleet Academy and, on their midshipman cruise, the terrorists sabotage their ship. While escaping before the ship blows, they are stranded in an unexplored sector. Fortunately an inhabited planet is nearby, but it is controlled by a theocracy that believes all offworlders are demons. Moreover, the planet is heavily defended by an ancient computer which, under the control of the theocracy, is programmed to destroy any ship approaching or departing the planet. They cannot overcome the numerous orbital weapon systems nor can they destroy the computer itself due to possible collateral damage to the human population, so they will just have to confront the computer directly despite the tens of thousands of opposing soldiers. This novel has a basic subplot of a technological treasure trove among a primitive and hostile theocracy much like Pournelle's King David's Spaceship. It has military aspects similar to Pournelle's Janissary series as well as Weber and Ringo's Markudan March series. It also has a minor romantic element. During their stay of the planet Pardal, Harriet sustains damage to the implants in her right eye and has to wear an eye patch. Shades of HH! Recommended for Weber fans and anyone who enjoys tales of shipwrecked technological sophisticates among primitive natives.
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