Brechdan Ironrede lists "'...a brilliant Terran move...'" (p. 92) as one of the unforeseeable eventualities that might negate the Merseian plan for Starkad.
Three volumes later and in an entirely unrelated context, Chunderban Desai reflects that, despite most of her Navy being tied up elsewhere:
"...Terra nevertheless, brilliantly, put the rebels down..."
-Poul Anderson, The Day Of Their Return IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 75-238 AT 3, p. 82.
The first time that I read The Day Of Their Return, I knew of Dominic Flandry but wrongly thought that this novel, like The People Of The Wind, which I had bought in paperback at the same time, was set in another period of the Technic History. Flandry's co-existence with Desai is revealed but in a later chapter.
I wondered why we were told that Terra had "brilliantly" defeated a rebellion. Of course, this was an oblique reference to Flandry's performance in The Rebel Worlds when he not only forced the Aenean rebels into exile but also tied up some other loose ends, to say the least. Similarly, Brechdan knows that the Terrans remain capable of brilliant moves but does not suspect that Commander Abrams' young and junior aide, Flandry, is destined to be the brilliant mover and shaker on this, and on several later, occasions.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, much of the Terran Navy was tied up because of the Jihannath crisis. Merseia was attempting to seize a planet the Empire thought was too important to tolerate being annexed by the Roidhunate. So massive forces needed to be concentrated near Jihannath to convince Merseia the Empire MEANT it. A single planet was not worth war, so the Roidhunate eventually backed down.
Yes, Flandry showed true brilliance in THE REBEL WORLDS, both as regards McCormac's Rebellion and other loose ends he tied up. And I liked how he was referred to in THE DAY OF THEIR RETURN, in a letter from Terra Desai read.
Ad astra! Sean
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