A Call To Duty
OTHYZAHNANoveloftheHonorverse
A Call to Duty: Book I of Manticore AscendantDavid Weber and Timothy ZahnGrowing up, Travis Uriah Long yearned for order and discipline in his life . . . the two things his neglectfulmother couldn’t or wouldn’t provide. So when Travis enlisted in the Royal Manticoran Navy, he thought he’dfinally found the structure he’d always wanted so desperately.But life in the RMN isn’t exactly what he expected. Boot camp is rough and frustrating; his first ship assignment lax and disorderly; and with the Star Kingdom of Manticore still recovering from a devastating plague,the Navy is possibly on the edge of budgetary extinction.The Star Kingdom is a minor nation among the worlds of the Diaspora, its closest neighbors weeks or monthsaway, with little in the way of resources. With only modest interstellar trade, no foreign contacts to speak of, aplague-ravaged economy to rebuild, and no enemies looming at the hyper limit, there are factions in Parliament who want nothing more than to scrap the Navy and shift its resources and manpower elsewhere.But those factions are mistaken. The universe is not a safe place.Travis Long is about to find that out.
Also in the HONORVERSE by DAVID WEBERTHE STAR KINGDOMA Beautiful FriendshipFire Season (with Jane Lindskold)Treecat Wars (with Jane LindskoldHONOR HARRINGTONOn Basilisk StationThe Honor of the QueenThe Short Victorious WarField of DishonorFlag in ExileHonor Among EnemiesIn Enemy HandsEchoes of HonorAshes of VictoryWar of HonorAt All CostsMission of HonorCrown of Slaves (with Eric Flint)Torch of Freedom (with Eric Flint)The Shadow of SaganamiStorm from the ShadowsA Rising ThunderShadow of FreedomCauldron of Ghosts (with Eric Flint)EDITED BY DAVID WEBER:More than HonorWorlds of HonorChanger of WorldsThe Service of the SwordIn Fire ForgedBeginningsBAEN BOOKS by TIMOTHY ZAHNBlackcollar: The Judas SolutionBlackcollar (contains The Blackcollar and Blackcollar: The Backlash Mission)The Cobra Trilogy (contains: Cobra, Cobra Strike and Cobra Bargain)Cobra WarCobra AllianceCobra GuardianCobra GambleCobra Outlaw (forthcoming)
A CALL TO DUTY: BOOK I OF MANTICORE ASCENDANTThis is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.Copyright 2014 by Words of Weber, Inc. & Timothy ZahnAll rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.A Baen Books OriginalBaen Publishing EnterprisesP.O. Box 1403Riverdale, NY 10471www.baen.comISBN: 978-1-4767-3684-6Cover art by David MattinglyFirst printing, October 2014Distributed by Simon & Schuster1230 Avenue of the AmericasNew York, NY 10020Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataWeber, David, 1952–A Call to Duty : a Novel of the Honorverse / David Weber and Timothy Zahn.pages cm. — (Manticore Ascendant ; Book 1)ISBN 978-1-4767-3684-6 (hardback)1. Science fiction. I. Zahn, Timothy. II. Title.PS3573.E217C35 2014813’.54—dc23201402001010 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1Pages by Joy Freeman (www.pagesbyjoy.com)Printed in the United States of AmericaeISBN: 978-1-62579-313-3Electronic Version by Baen Bookswww.baen.com
For Anna, Diane, and Sharon.Thanks for putting up with us.
FOREWORDYou may have noticed that this book has two authors’ names on the cover: David Weber and TimothyZahn. There really ought to be a third name on it, however, and that name is Thomas Pope.When David decided to invite Tim to do an Honorverse series set in the early days of the Star Kingdom and dealing with the actual birth of the Royal Manticoran Navy, he wanted the books to do morethan merely cover a time period which hadn’t been fully explored in the Honor Harrington novels. Hewanted them to have a different feel, as well, and he’d always really, really liked Tim’s writing. The factthat Tim had done several short fiction pieces for the anthologies—including one which happened to beset in exactly the right time period—was icing on the cake. So after due consultation with ToniWeisskopff, the invitation was issued.But, wait, you say! Did we not say that there should be three names on the cover? Indeed we did, because Tom Pope and BuNine have been assisting David in the expansion, indexing, and enrichment of(and other really neat labors of love for) the Honorverse for a long time now. In point of fact, it wouldn’tbe especially unfair to say that by this time, Tom knows at least as much about the nuts and bolts of theHonorverse as David does, since David spends lengthy periods of time discussing them with Tom on thephone and having the occasional “Ohhhhhh, shiny!” moments along the way. So, especially since we weregoing to be dealing with the necessity of filling in David’s existing notes about the Star Kingdom’s earlyhistory, and the far cruder technology available at the time the RMN was created, it made perfectly goodsense to him to bring Tom on board, as well. He’s been the main keeper of the technology, plot analyst,concept suggester, continuity analyst, copy editor, and proofreader throughout the project, and in theprocess, his contribution is as much a part of this book’s DNA as anything Tim or David might have contributed.The only reason his name didn’t appear on the cover of this first book was a marketing concern. Because there have been so many multi-author anthologies in the Honorverse, we felt some concern lest theappearance of three authors on the cover might have led people to assume that this was another anthology, and not a complete novel intended as the first of a series of complete novels. Some people don’t readanthologies, and we were afraid they might pass this book by if that was what they thought it was. Sincewe happen to think it’s a pretty darn good book, we would have considered that a tragedy. Of course, thecrass commercialism of missed sales would never have entered our thinking, you understand.However, when it comes to the second and any subsequent Travis Long novels, you will see all threeauthors listed on their covers. Hopefully by the time Book Two comes out, this first one will have thoroughly clued them in to the fact that they are looking at novels, not anthologies.And that’s enough about why there are only two names on the cover. If we keep on gabbing away atyou’ll never get the book read. So shoo! Go read!We hope you have as good a time reading it as the three of us had writing it.David WeberTimothy Zahn
BOOKONE1529PD
CHAPTERONE“Mom?” Travis Uriah Long called toward the rear of the big, quiet house. “I’m going out now.”There was no answer. With a sigh, Travis finished putting on his coat, wondering whether it was evenworth tracking his mother down.Probably not. But that didn’t mean he shouldn’t try. Miracles did happen. Or so he’d been told.He headed down the silent hallway, his footsteps unnaturally loud against the hardwood tiles. Even thedogs in the pen behind the house were strangely quiet.Melisande Vellacott Long was back with the dogs, of course, where she always was. The reason the animals were quiet, Travis saw as he stepped out the back door, was that she’d just fed them. Heads down,tails wagging or bobbing or just hanging still, they were digging into their bowls.“Mom, I’m going out now,” he said, taking a step toward her.“I know,” his mother said, not turning around even for a moment from her precious dogs. “I heardyou.”Then why didn’t you say something? The frustrated words boiled against the back of Travis’s throat.But he left them unsaid. Her dog-breeding business had had first claim on his mother’s attention for aslong as he could remember, certainly for the eleven years since her second husband, Travis’s father, haddied. Just because her youngest was about to graduate from high school was apparently no reason forthose priorities to change.In fact, it was probably just the opposite. With Travis poised to no longer be underfoot, she could dispense with even the pretense that she was providing any structure for his life.“I’m not sure when I’ll be home,” he continued, some obscure need to press the emotional bruise driving him to try one final time.“That’s fine,” she said. Stirring, she walked over to one of the more slobbery floppy-eared hounds andcrouched down beside him. “Whenever.”“I was going to take the Flinx,” he added. Say something! he pleaded silently. Tell me to be in by midnight. Tell me I should take the ground car instead of the air car. Ask who I’m going out with. Anything!But she didn’t ask. Anything.“That’s fine,” she merely said, probing at a section of fur on the dog’s neck.Travis retraced his steps through the house and headed for the garage with a hollow ache in his stomach. Children, he remembered reading once, not only needed boundaries, but actually craved them.Boundaries were a comforting fence against the lurking dangers of absolute freedom. They were alsoproof that someone cared what happened to you.Travis had never had such boundaries, at least not since his father died. But he’d always craved them.His schoolmates and acquaintances hadn’t seen it that way, of course. To them, chafing under whatthey universally saw as random and unfair parental rules and regulations, Travis’s absolute freedom hadlooked like heaven on Manticore. Travis had played along, pretending he enjoyed the quiet chaos of hislife even while his heart was torn from him a millimeter at a time.Now, seventeen T-years old and supposedly ready to head out on his own, he still could feel a permanent emptiness inside him, a hunger for structure and order in a dark and unstructured universe. Maybehe’d never truly grown up.Maybe he never would.It was fifteen kilometers from Travis’s house to the edge of Landing, and another five from the citylimits to the neighborhood where Bassit Corcoran had said to meet him. As usual, most of the air car pilots out tonight flew their vehicles with breathtaking sloppiness, straying from their proper lanes and ignoring the speed limits and other safety regulations, at least until they reached the city limits. Travis,
clenching his teeth and muttering uselessly at the worst of the offenders, obeyed the laws to the letter.Bassit and two of his group were waiting at the designated corner as Travis brought the Flinx to asmooth landing beside the walkway. By the time he had everything shut down the three teens had crossedthe street and gathered around him.“Nice landing,” Bassit said approvingly as Travis popped the door. “Your mom give you any staticabout bringing the air car?”“Not a word,” Travis said, reflexively pitching his voice to pretend that was a good thing.One of the others shook his head. “Lucky dog,” he muttered. “Guys like you might as well be—”“Close it, Pinker,” Bassit said.He hadn’t raised his voice, or otherwise leaned on the words in any way. But Pinker instantly shut up.Travis felt a welcome warmth, compounded of admiration and a sense of acceptance, dissolving awaythe lump in his throat. Bassit was considered a bad influence by most of their teachers, and he got intotrouble with one probably twice a week. Travis suspected most of the conflict came from the fact thatBassit knew what he wanted and wasn’t shy about setting the goals and parameters necessary to get it.Bassit would go far, Travis knew, out there in a murky and uncertain world. He counted himself fortunate that the other had even noticed him, let alone been willing to reach out and include him in his innercircle.“So what are we doing tonight?” Travis asked, climbing out and closing the door behind him.“Aampersand’s is having a sale,” Bassit said. “We wanted to check it out.”“A sale?” Travis looked around, frowning. Most of the shops in the neighborhood were still open, butthere didn’t seem to be a lot of cars or pedestrians in sight. Sales usually drew more people than this, especially sales at high-end jewelry places like Aampersand’s.“Yes, a sale,” Bassit said, his tone making it clear that what they weren’t doing was having an extendeddiscussion about it. That was one of his rules: once he’d made up his mind about what the group was doing on a given evening, you either joined in or you went home.And there wasn’t anything for Travis to go home to.“Okay, sure,” he said. “What are you shopping for?”“Everything,” Bassit said. Pinker started to snicker, stopped at a quick glare from Bassit. “Jammy’s girlfriend’s got a birthday coming up, and we’re going to help him pick out something nice for her.” He laidhis hand on Travis’s shoulder. “Here’s the thing. We’ve also got a reservation at Choy Renk, and we don’twant to be late. So what I need you to do is stay here and be ready to take off just as soon as we get back.”“Sure,” Travis said, a flicker of relief running through him. He wasn’t all that crazy about looking atjewelry, and the reminder that other guys had girlfriends while he didn’t would just sink his mood a littledeeper. Better to let them stare at the diamonds and emeralds without him.“Just make sure you’re ready to go the second we’re back,” Bassit said, giving him a quick slap on theshoulder before withdrawing his hand and glancing at the others. “Gentlemen? Let’s do this.”The three of them headed down the street. Travis watched them go, belatedly realizing he didn’t knowwhat time the restaurant reservation was for.That could be a problem. A couple of months ago, when Pinker had been looking for something for hisgirlfriend, they’d all spent nearly an hour poring over the merchandise before he finally bought something. If Jammy showed the same thoroughness and indecision, it could be like pulling teeth to get himback outside again.Travis smiled wryly. Maybe it would be like pulling teeth for him to get Jammy out. For Bassit, itwould be a stroll down the walkway. When it was time to go, they would go, and whenever the reservation was for they would make it on time.Assuming, of course, that Bassit remembered how Travis insisted on sticking to the speed limit. ButBassit wouldn’t forget something like that.Putting all of it out of his mind, Travis looked around. Businesswise, he’d once heard, this was one of
the more volatile neighborhoods in the city, with old shops closing and new ones opening up on a regularbasis. Certainly that had been the case lately. In the two months since he’d last been here one of the caféshad become a bakery, a flower shop had morphed into a collectables store, and a small upscalehousewares shop—He felt his breath catch in his throat. In the housewares shop’s place was a recruiting station for theRoyal Manticoran Navy. Behind the big plate-glass window a young woman in an RMN uniform was sitting behind a desk, reading her tablet.A series of old and almost-forgotten memories ghosted across Travis’s vision: his father, telling hisfive-year-old son stories of the years he’d spent in the Eris Navy. The stories had seemed exotic toTravis’s young and impressionable ears, the stuff of adventure and derring-do.Now, as he looked back with age and perspective, he realized there had probably been a lot more routine and boredom in the service than his father had let on. Still, there had surely been some adventurealong with it.More to the point, everything he’d read about militaries agreed that they were steeped in tradition, discipline, and order.Order.They probably wouldn’t want him, he knew. He was hardly at the top of his class academically, his athletic skills were on a par with those of the mollusk family, and with Winterfall, the family barony, longsince passed to his half-brother Gavin he had none of the political clout that was probably necessary toeven get his foot in the door.But Bassit and the others would be shopping for at least half an hour, probably longer. The recruiterwas all alone, which meant no witnesses if she laughed in his face.And really, there was no harm in asking.The woman looked up as Travis pulled open the door.“Good evening,” she greeted him, smiling as she set aside her tablet and stood up. “I’m LieutenantBlackstone of the Royal Manticoran Navy. How can I help you?”“I just wanted some information,” Travis said, his heart sinking as he walked hesitantly toward her.Blackstone was a noble name if he’d ever heard one, her eyes and voice were bright with intelligence, andeven through her uniform he could see that she was very fit. All three of the probable strikes against himwere there, and he hadn’t even made it to the desk yet.Still, he was here. He might as well see it through.“Certainly,” she said, gesturing him toward the guest chair in front of the desk. “You’re looking for career opportunities, I assume?”“I really don’t know,” Travis admitted. “This was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing.”“Understood,” Blackstone said. “Let me just say that whatever you’re looking for, the RMN is the perfect place to start.” Her voice, Travis noted, had changed subtly, as if she was now reading from an invisible script. “Career-wise, we have some of the best opportunities in the entire kingdom. Alternatively, ifyou decide the Navy isn’t for you, you’ll be out in five T-years, with the kind of training and technicalskills that will shoot you right past the competition for any job or career you want. There’s going to beplenty of opportunity in the civilian economy for decades still, rebuilding from the Plague, and someonewith the skills and discipline of a Navy vet can expect to command top dollar. It’s as close to a no-losesituation as you could ever imagine.”“Sounds pretty good,” Travis said. Though now that he thought about it, wasn’t there a faction in Parliament that was determined to shut down the Navy? If that happened, there wasn’t going to be much leftof careers or exotic training.“Are you interested in the Academy?” Blackstone continued. “That’s where the men and women in ourofficer track start their training.”“I don’t know,” Travis said, starting to relax a little. If she thought this was a joke, it didn’t show in her
face or voice. And that officer’s uniform she was wearing definitely looked sharp. “I might be. What kindof requirements do you need to get in?”“Nothing too horrendous,” Blackstone assured him. “There’s a vetting process, of course. Certain academic standards have to be met, and there are a few other credentials. Nothing too hard.”“Oh,” Travis said, his brief hope fading away. There it was: academics. “I probably won’t—”And then, from somewhere down the street came the boom of a gunshot.Travis spun around in his chair, a sudden horrible suspicion hammering into his gut and morphinginto an even more horrifying certainty. Bassit—Jammy and his girlfriend’s supposed birthday—that bulgehe now belatedly remembered seeing beneath Pinker’s floppy coat—There was another boom, a double tap this time and somewhat deeper in pitch. Travis started to standup—“Stay there,” Blackstone ordered, shoving down on his shoulder as she ran past him, a small but nastylooking pistol gripped in her hand. She reached the door, slammed to a halt with her left shoulder againstthe jamb, and eased the door open.There was another pair of deep booms, then another of the slightly higher-pitched ones as the firstweapon answered. Travis jumped up, unable to sit still any longer, and raced over to join Blackstone.“What’s going on?” he breathed as he shoulder-landed against the wall at the other side of the door.“Sounds like we’ve got a robbery going down,” she said. Her eyes bored into Travis’s face. “Friends ofyours?”Travis’s tongue froze against the roof of his mouth. What was he supposed to say?“I thought they were.”“Uh-huh.” She turned back to the door as two more shots echoed. “Well, I hope you’re not going tomiss them, because one way or another they’re going down. The cops will be here any minute, and ifthey’re not gone by now, they’re not going. What was your part of the job?”Briefly, Travis thought about lying. But Blackstone had
War of Honor At All Costs Mission of Honor Crown of Slaves (with Eric Flint) Torch of Freedom (with Eric Flint) The Shadow of Saganami Storm from the Shadows A Rising Thunder Shadow of Freedom Cauldron of Ghosts (with Eric Flint) EDITED BY DAVID WEBER: More than Honor Worlds of Honor Changer of Worlds The Service of the Sword In Fire Forged
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