Ivar Caught Fire

The Day Of Their Return, 4.

"Then Kathryn McCormac, [Ivar's] father's sister, was taken away to Snelund's palace; and her husband was arrested, was rescued, and led the mutiny." (p. 104)

In The Rebel Worlds, we read about Kathryn, Snelund, Kathryn's husband, his rescue and mutiny. We did not yet know of Ivar. We knew that these events at the top of Aenean society had had massive repercussions for the planetary population. Now we are told something of those repercussions. The passage continues:

"Ivar caught fire, like most Aenean youth. His military training, hitherto incidental, became nearly the whole. But he never got off the planet, and his drills ended when Imperial warcraft hove into the skies.

"The insurrection was over." (ibid.)

 

The insurrection was over thanks to Dominic Flandry although we are not told that here. But the occupation and reconstruction of Sector Alpha Crucis cause further conflicts and Ivar Frederiksen tries to lead a new insurrection. This reads like real history. World War I led to World War II... Victory is followed not by peace but by the next war, at least as long as the underlying causes of conflict remain.