Henke is now the default Queen of Manticore, and they want to impeach her.
We have not seen the POV of an heir apparent, at the infamous moment that all succeeding heirs before her are unceremoniously removed and she is shoved and bullied onto the throne. I'd like to witness the ensuing power struggles first hand... Michelle would have to secure a virgin power base...
'The balance of political power is threatened during an unforeseen, emotional, enemy instigated usurping of powers. The delicate political balances and processes that Elizabeth had so carefully woven during years of cultivation are unduly stretched and threaten to snap when political alliances are questioned and allegiances are lost.
It happens at the nexus of another two-pronged war - delivered unto the unwitting souls of Manticore by that smiling Demon Murphy, caught between two different entities who've just decided to up the ante on their game.
The MAlign, smelling blood, commits a precipitous act. News of an unprecedented design of attacking MAlign ships is spreading like wildfire. Bad press at such a suspiciously appointed time has shaken the very sanctity of peace deep within the marrow of the average Manticoran citizen in the street, causing widespread panic and fear.
But this time, the MAlign has seriously wounded the SLN with a devastating attack. Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence has convincingly simulated voice and video of Harrington and others, indubitably implicating Manticore in this horrendous loss of civilian lives. A total destruction of Solarian infrastructure, with orbital fallouts causing planetside catastrophies that make Oyster Bay look like a circus.
But it wasn't Detweiler's plan. It is the handiwork of a rogue element, a clone. Detweiler didn't count on the god-complex. He had bred one other - who thought his genius exceeded his own, a satan to Detweiler's own plans, a power-ridden megalomaniac who considers himself intellectually Supreme.
Everything is thrown at Michelle. The wolves come out of the woodworks. The SLN, stalwarts in the area of half-a-brain, decides to launch an all out attack of remaining mothballed ships. Every single ship in the fleet, thousands of ships.
Henke is on the ropes, her beloved Star Empire is in jeopardy.
Meanwhile, a chemical reaction is brewing between certain members of a nuclear reactive element - Jeremy X, Thandi Palane, Victor Cachat, Anton Zilwicki, The Ballroom, representatives of Erewhon, Sphinx, the Andermani and Beowulf, along with Nimitz, Samantha, Ariel and Sorrow Singer are all mysteriously assembled together on Torch under the prepossessed eye of Queen Berry - and they are not amused. They've got a well founded sniff of the MAlign Bolthole, a scorched earth policy and plans to Torch it.
Treecats everywhere have unusually adopted a meditative, lotus postion, with two pair receiving palms, crooning. As if it is an omen of what is to come.
The MAlign Bolthole is exposed for its one glaring weakness. To remain so successfully hidden in the dark for so many centuries required a sacrifice of an impractical life in a harsh uninhabitable region of space. As a result, no civilian targets live within. They are shipped in and out from another secured location. The Bolthole can now be attacked with relative impunity, without worry of collateral civilian deaths.
Except - Elizabeth and those next three successive heirs are held captive, and are therefore considered hostages, on Darius.
Thomas Theisman still dreams of peace, but this time he has his sights set on the entire galaxy at large, and he has delivered unto the Salamander his technologically brilliant golden girls of Shannon Foraker and Sonja Hemphill, bearing gifts in the form of their latest toys and a twinkle in their eye.
Harrington and a dream team are gathered together in Manticoran space planning yet another unprecedented defense of the Home System. The Salamander's eyes are brown flint and her heart has gone cold. The duped Solarian League has formally dispatched a pregnant juggernaut with the latest upgrades in her direction, hellbent on another misguided mission of revenge.
Peace be still...
Honor Harrington is about to unleash — a killing machine.
News of an impending MAlign attack reaches Michelle. And on top of it, Queen Henke learns that the four who died in order that she ascend the throne are still alive, but to save them she will seemingly have to sacrifice the unthinkable. She is teetering on the verge of losing a tough battle with certain elements of her own government and there's growing rumour and talks of an impending impeachment.
No, Henke decides instead, that her Star Empire is in peril.
BUT she is still reigning Queen right now. And Gloria Michelle Samantha Evelyn Henke, is about to show the entire galaxy at large the true meaning of ... it's in the blood.'
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