Torch of Freedom

Torch of Freedom is the second book of the Crown of Slaves sub-series, written by David Weber and Eric Flint. It was released in November 2009.
Note: The short stories From the Highlands and Fanatic should be read for better understanding before starting this book.
Timeframe: late 1919 PD – April 1922 PD
== Cover Summary ==
:As the slavemasters of Mesa plot against the Star Empire of Manticore and the newly liberated slave planet of Torch, Anton Zilwicki and the notorious Havenite secret agent Victor Cachat set off on a dangerous mission to uncover the truth concerning a wave of mysterious assassinations that have been launched against Manticore and Torch. Most people are sure that the Republic of Haven is behind the assassinations, but Zilwicki and Cachat suspect others of being the guilty party.
:Queen Berry of Torch was one of the targets of the unknown assassins. The former head of the Ballroom slave liberation organization, Jeremy X – now one of Torch's top officials, but still considered by many the most dangerous terrorist in the galaxy – calls in some past favors owed to him. In response, a security officer from Beowulf arrives in Torch to take charge of Queen Berry's security – a task made doubly difficult by the young monarch's resentment of bodyguards and the security officer's own growing attachment to her.
:Meanwhile, powerful forces in the Solarian League are maneuvering against each other to gain the upper hand in what they all expect to be an explosive crisis that threatens the very existence of the League itself.
== Plot ==
While secret agents Anton Zilwicki and Victor Cachat are working undercover on the planet Mesa to discover what is truly behind Manpower Incorporated's operations in Torch, Manticore, and the Solarian League, the Mesan Alignment launches an attack on the Kingdom of Torch through a rogue force of former State Security Naval Forces, the People's Navy in Exile: they are supposed to overcome what little defenses the young star nation possesses, and then destroy all life on the planet with a kinetic bombardment. However, Rear Admiral Luiz Rozsak of the Solarian League Navy's Maya Sector Detachment learns of the coming attack and departs for Torch to protect the planet.
Meanwhile, Hugh Arai, a former slave who works as a commando for the Beowulfan Biological Survey Corps, visits Parmley Station, an almost abandoned orbital amusement park that is run by the Butre Clan, the descendants of the park's creator. The BSC and the Clan make a pact to turn the station into a secret fortress for the Beowulfan anti-slavery effort, and in return all members of the Clan still young enough will receive Prolong Treatment.
Zilwicki and Cachat make contact with Jack McBryde, a Mesan security chief who has become disillusioned after witnessing how his superiors treated Dr. Herlander Simões. The hyper physicist, whose work on the revolutionary streak drive is vital for Mesa's future operations, had an adoptive daughter who was put to death, despite his offer to take care of her, as she was a failed part of the Long-Range Planning Board's elaborate breeding programs.
Hugh Arai arrives on Torch and, after a Mesan-planned assassination attempt on Queen Berry, becomes the young monarch's new security chief and bodyguard. Although they have a rough start, they soon realize that there is a mutual attraction between them. In honor of Lara, one of Thandi Palane's Amazons who was killed during the assassination attempt, the newly founded Torch Royal guard is named Lara's Own Regiment.
Working with the slave underground and the Audubon Ballroom, Zilwicki and Cachat get Dr. Simões off the planet on a freighter controlled by members of the Butre Clan. Jack McBryde is trapped and activates the self-destruction charges of the Gamma Center, a secret underground research facility where Dr. Simões used to work. The detonation, together with another nuke activated by a seccy terrorist, levels parts of the city of Green Pines, killing a large number of people, including Isabel Bardasano, and destroying large parts of the Mesan genetic identification records.
The People's Navy in Exile's attack on Torch is thwarted by Rear Admiral Rozsak's Light Cruiser Squadron 7036: although the Battle of Torch costs him most of his ships, he defeats the ex-Havenite mercenaries. He and his surviving men are given a hero's welcome on Torch, while the surviving Havenites are sent to an island on Torch that is surrounded by marine predators dangerous enough to keep them in line without any need for other security.
The captured PNE ships are given to the Royal Torch Navy, and Queen Berry eventually becomes romantically involved with Hugh Arai. And finally, Elfride Butre, the leader of the Butre Clan, explains to Victor Cachat that his days as a spy working without anyone's notice are at an end, and that a future he can barely imagine awaits him, as all the universe will soon know his name.
== Background ==
This novel begins with a "quote" from Hester McReynolds' Origins of the Maya Crisis, a book published in Chicago in 2084 PD. This gives the reader a glimpse about 150 years into the Honorverse's future, showing that Earth and Chicago still exist, and that the crisis surrounding the Maya Sector did indeed grow into a serious event in Solarian history. Notably, the quote gives no hint if the Solarian League still exists.
== References ==
=== Characters ===
William Alexander | 
Ronald Allen | 
Philip Allfrey | 
Michael Alsobrook | 
Hugh Arai | 
Sarah Armstrong | 
Andrew Artlett | 
Isabel Bardasano | 
Oravil Barregos | 
Noémie Beausoleil | 
Queen Berry | 
Gansükh Blomqvist | 
Hervé Bostwick | 
Arsène Bottereau | 
Gail Brosnan | 
Elfride Butre | 
Victor Cachat | 
David Carte | 
Ingemar Cassetti | 
Alexander Chapman | 
Clarise Childers | 
Philippine Christiansen | 
Donald Clarke | 
Henri Clignet | 
Inez Cloutier | 
Cary Condor | 
J.T. Cullingford | 
Khalid Dante | 
Albrecht Detweiler | 
Benjamin Detweiler | 
Collin Detweiler | 
Daniel Detweiler | 
Leonard Detweiler | 
W.E.B. Du Havel | 
Cybille DuChamps | 
Jurgen Dusek | 
Queen Elizabeth III | 
Karen Evans | 
Martina Fabre | 
Harper S. Ferry | 
Barry Freeman | 
Jack Fuentes | 
Assuntina Ganneau | 
Jérôme Ganneau | 
Marti Garner | 
Genghis | 
Frank Gillich | 
Patricia Givens | 
Adelaide Granger | 
Greeley | 
Anne Guglik | 
Edie Habib | 
Iain Haldane | Thomas Hall | 
Jonas Hammarberg | 
Carl Hansen | 
Christy Hargraves | 
Honor Harrington | 
Edmund Hartman | 
Millicent Hartman | 
James Hartneady | 
Niklas Hasselberg | 
E.A. Hattlestad | 
Klaus Hauptman | 
Stacey Hauptman | 
Alessandra Havlicek | 
Stephanie Henson | 
Glenn Horton | 
Walter Imbesi | 
Lajos Irvine | 
Miguel Jutspa | 
Dirk-Steven Kamstra | 
Jordin Kare | 
Gordon Keller | 
Bryan Knight | 
Steven Lathorous | 
Santeri Laukkonen | 
Jimmi Laursen | 
James Lewis | 
Adrian Luff | 
Steve Lund | 
Gowan Maddock | 
Julie Magilen | 
Earl Manning | 
Jerry Manson | 
June Mattes | 
Jessica Milliken | 
Brice Miller | 
Catherine Montaigne | 
McAvoy | 
Arianne McBryde | 
Christina McBryde | 
Jack McBryde | 
JoAnne McBryde | 
Thomas McBryde | 
Zachariah McBryde | 
Daniel McRae | 
Hester McReynolds | 
Bernice Napoleon | 
Ildikó Nyborg | 
Oliver Wendell Holmes | 
Jozef Ortega | 
Chiara Otis | 
Thandi Palane | 
Michael Parmley | 
Carmen Priola | 
David Pritchard | 
Eloise Pritchart | 
Laura Raycraft | 
Oddny Rødne | 
Anthony Rogovich | 
Luiz Rozsak | 
Kalyca Sakellaris | 
Oscar Saint-Just | 
Francesca Simões | 
Harriet Simões | 
Herlander Simões | 
Sonya Sipes | 
Vegar Spangen | 
Heinrich Stabolis | 
Jim Stahlin | 
Melanie Stensrud | 
Brent Stephens | 
Thomas Szklenski | 
Haruka Takano | 
Andrew Taub | 
Wilhelm Trajan | 
Osiris Trajan | 
Triêu Chuanli | 
E.D. Trimm | 
Nancy Turner | 
Steph Turner | 
William Tyler | 
Kevin Usher | 
Judson Van Hale | 
Lydia Van Hale | 
Karen Williams | 
Patrick Van Hale | 
Olivier Vergnier | 
Jiri Watanapongse | 
Dana Wedermeyer | 
Kevin Wilson | 
Michael Winton | Ruth Winton | 
Richard Wise | 
Richard Wix | 
Agatá Wodoslawski | 
Robert Womack | 
Richard Wu | 
Jeremy X | 
Saburo X | 
Josepha Zachary | 
Anton Zilwicki | 
Larens Zilwicki
=== Starships===
People's Navy in Exile
PNES Alexander Suvorov | 
PNES Bernard Montgomery | 
PNES Chao Kung Ming | 
PNES Charlemagne | 
PNES Félicie | 
PNES George Washington | 
PNES Ho Chi Minh | 
PNES Isoroku Yamamoto | 
PNES Jacinthe | 
PNES Leon Trotsky | 
PNES Mao Tse-tung | 
PNES Marquis de Lafayette | 
PNES Maximilien Robespierre | 
PNES Napoleon Bonaparte | 
PNES Oliver Cromwell | 
PNES Sun Tzu | 
PNES Thomas Paine | 
PNES Véronique
Royal Manticoran Navy
HMS Harvest Joy
Royal Torch Navy
TNS Nat Turner | TNS Pottawatomie Creek | TNS Spartacus
Solarian League Navy
SLNS Archer | 
SLNS Alexander the Great | 
SLNS Artillerist | 
SLNS Charade | 
SLNS Cyrus | 
SLNS Francisco Pizarro | 
SLNS Frederick II | 
SLNS Genghis Khan | 
SLNS Gunner | 
SLNS Gustavus Adolphus | 
SLNS Hernando Cortés | 
SLNS Indurate | 
SLNS Julius Caesar | 
SLNS Kabuki | 
SLNS Marksman | 
SLNS Masquerade | 
SLNS Napoleon | 
SLNS Prince Igor | 
SLNS Ranger | 
SLNS Rifleman | 
SLNS Sharpshooter | 
SLNS Simón Bolivar | 
SLNS Sniper | 
SLNS William the Conqueror
Tempest
Erewhon
EMS Custis
Other
Hali Sowle | 
Vivienne
=== Stations===
*Parmley Station
=== Planets===
Ameta | Beowulf | Berstuk | Earth | Erewhon | Ghatotkacha | Kilimanjaro | Lugh | Manticore | Maya | Mesa | Sphinx | Torch
=== Nations===
*Kingdom of Torch
*Republic of Erewhon
*Republic of Haven
*Solarian League
*Star Kingdom of Manticore
=== Battles===
*Battle of Torch
=== Other===
The Adventures of Fung Ho | 
Ajax System | 
Beacon | 
Biological Survey Corps | 
Bonding | 
Broadhurst Group | 
Buenaventura Tower | 
Carina Sector | 
Carlucci Industrial Group | 
Centauri stock exchange | 
Chicago | 
Childers, Strauslund, Goldman and Wu | 
Committee of Public Safety | 
Core trade | 
Corterrael Coliseum | 
D-line | 
Darius System | 
Delta Draconis System | 
Destroyer Squadron 3029 | 
The Detweilers: A Family Biography | 
E-line | 
Eden Habitat | 
Epsilon Virgo | 
Eta Cassiopeiae System | 
Felix System | 
Felix Wormhole Junction | 
Operation Ferret | 
Gamma Center | 
General Strategy Board | 
Green Pines | 
Havlicek Pharmaceutics | 
J-11 | 
Jessyk Combine | 
J. Quesenberry's Ice Cream and Pastries | 
Killing Bay | 
Kwiatkowski & Adeyeme Galactic Freight | 
La Martine Sector | 
Landing | 
Lara's Own Regiment | 
Light Cruiser Squadron 7036 | 
Long-Range Planning Board | 
Mannerheim System-Defense Force | 
Manpower Incorporated | 
Maya Sector | 
Maya System | 
mayacow | 
Maytag | 
Mendel | 
Mesa Pharmaceuticals | 
Mesa System Navy | 
Mesan Alignment Navy | 
Mesan System Guard | 
Mfecane Worlds | 
Monica System | 
Nat Turner-class | 
Neue Rostock |
New Tasmania | 
Nouveau Paris | 
Origins of the Maya Crisis | 
Palladium Yard | 
People's Navy in Exile | 
Pharmaceutical Inspection Board | 
Pine Valley Park | 
Okada System | 
Operation Prometheus | 
Pyramid Shipping Services |
Rhodesian Rendezvouz | 
Royal Law Enforcement Center | 
seccy | 
Skydomes of Grayson | 
Solarian League Navy | 
Suvorov Tower | 
Talbott Cluster | 
Tau Ceti System | 
treecat | 
Vorva | 
War Harvest-class | 
Operation Wooden Horse | 
Yamato's Nebula
== External links ==
* Torch of Freedom on Wikipedia
Category:Honorverse material