Central Kansas Library System

Rear Admiral Michelle Henke was commanding one of the ships in a force led by Honor Harrington in an all-out space battle when she and her surviving crew were taken prisoner. Through an agreement with the Havenites and her government, she was given a command far away from the war's battle lines. What she didn't realize was that she would find herself on a collision course with the interstellar syndicate of criminals known as Manpower.

It's hard to give peace a chance when the other side regards war as the necessary prelude to conquest, and a sneak attack as the best means to that end. On the planet Grayson to participate in diplomatic talks between the Kingdom of Manticore and the Republic of Haven, Honor Harrington discovers that she is stuck on a fiercely patriarchal, misogynist planet.