Flandry And Merseia

At the age of nineteen, Naval Cadet Dominic Flandry was shot down by Merseians on the planet Starkad. Despite this inauspicious beginning and possible end, he not only survived but also transferred to Intelligence and became well informed about Merseians. How did this happen?

The Imperial representative Hauksberg travels from Terra to Starkad, then to Mersia;

Commander Abrams, in charge of Intelligence on Starkad, accompanies Hauksberg to Merseia as a consultant;

Flandry, having come to Abrams' attention, goes as Abrams' aide because it is impossible to spare anyone already trained in Intelligence;

en route to Merseia, Flandry is electrocrammed with Eriau and Merseology;

with his superiors, he meets Brechdan Ironrede, Protector of the Roidhun's Grand Council;

in order to sabotage Abrams' Intelligence-gathering, their hosts invite Flandry to tour the planet with some young Merseians;

because they are already stalled and Flandry might learn something, Abrams agrees;

thus, Flandry sees the planet, not just its capital, and meets Tachwyr the Dark, a future successor of Brechdan;

later, Flandry is posted to Irumclaw, where he is needed as an interpreter when the Merseian cruiser Byrthioch makes a "goodwill visit;"

next, he is captured by Merseians and held at their base on Talwin, where he meets the Roidhun's nephew, Ydwyr;

in fact, he captures Ydwyr during his escape.

Thus, Flandry has learned Eriau, toured Merseia, spent time in a Merseian base, met (and thwarted) the current Protector, become friendly with a future Protector and had close contact with the Merseian ruler's nephew. And all this has happened because of the accident of his survival after being shot down on Starkad - unless, as Ydwyr suggests, there is a destiny/fate/mana in him?