Table Of ContentTable of Contents
PROLOGUE
BOOK ONE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
BOOK TWO
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
EPILOGUE
A CALL TO
INSURRECTION
BOOK IV OF
Manticore Ascendant
DAVID WEBER &
TIMOTHY ZAHN
with
THOMAS POPE
A Novel of the Honorverse
A Call to Insurrection
David Weber, Timothy Zahn, and Thomas Pope
Book four in the nationally best-selling Manticore Ascendant
series, set in the world of David Weber’s multiple New York
Times best-selling Honorverse series.
Yesterday, the Star Kingdom of Manticore was a small, unimportant
interstellar backwater. A quiet little star nation, only recently
recovered from the devastating blow of the Plague Years. More
affluent than some, perhaps, but with little to attract trade or
interstellar commerce, it had little need for a navy . . . and even less
interest in paying for one.
But Manticore has now become a target. The Star Kingdom isn't
certain who is attacking it, or why, or what its mysterious foe can
possibly want, but Queen Elizabeth I knows she has to find out. And
she knows that whatever some of her subjects think, Manticore does
need a navy. And it needs allies, friends like the dynamic Republic of
Haven and the Andermani Empire. It needs their trade . . . and to
learn from their more experienced and powerful navies.
It is the job of officers like Travis Long and his wife, Lisa, to acquire
that experience. Of utterly inexperienced diplomats like Travis's
brother Gavin, Earl Winterfall, to build those alliances.
They have been sent to the powerful Andermani Empire to do just
that, for the Imperial Navy is one of the most potent and experienced
fleets in the galaxy. But the Andermani have problems of their own.
Their Emperor's death is the trigger for insurrection, and now that
powerful and experienced navy is locked in civil war.
The Manticoran visitors find themselves squarely in the path of the
storm, and before Travis, Lisa, and Gavin can accomplish anything
else, they first have to survive.
The MANTICORE ASCENDANT Series
A Call to Duty by David Weber & Timothy Zahn
A Call to Arms by David Weber & Timothy Zahn with Thomas Pope
A Call to Vengeance by David Weber & Timothy Zahn with Thomas
Pope
A Call to Insurrection by David Weber & Timothy Zahn with Thomas
Pope
Also in the HONORVERSE by DAVID WEBER
HONOR HARRINGTON
On Basilisk Station • The Honor of the Queen
The Short Victorious War • Field of Dishonor • Flag in Exile
Honor Among Enemies • In Enemy Hands • Echoes of Honor
Ashes of Victory • War of Honor • Crown of Slaves (with Eric Flint)
The Shadow of Saganami • At All Costs • Storm from the Shadows
Torch of Freedom (with Eric Flint) • Mission of Honor • A Rising
Thunder
Shadow of Freedom • Cauldron of Ghosts (with Eric Flint)
Shadow of Victory • Uncompromising Honor • To End in Fire (with
Eric Flint)
EDITED BY DAVID WEBER:
More than Honor • Worlds of Honor • Changer of Worlds
The Service of the Sword • In Fire Forged • Beginnings
THE STAR KINGDOM
A Beautiful Friendship • Fire Season (with Jane Lindskold)
Treecat Wars (with Jane Lindskold)
House of Steel: The Honorverse Companion (with BuNine)
BAEN BOOKS by TIMOTHY ZAHN
Battle Luna (with Travis S. Taylor, Michael Z. Williamson, Kacey
Ezell & Josh Hayes)
Blackcollar: The Judas Solution
Blackcollar (contains The Blackcollar and Blackcollar: The Backlash
Mission)
The Cobra Trilogy (contains: Cobra, Cobra Strike, and Cobra
Bargain)
COBRA WAR
Cobra Alliance • Cobra Guardian • Cobra Gamble
COBRA REBELLION
Cobra Slave • Cobra Outlaw • Cobra Traitor
A C��� �� I�����������: B��� IV �� M�������� A��������
This 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 © 2022 by Words of Weber, Inc., Timothy Zahn, and Thomas Pope
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
www.baen.com
ISBN: 978-1-9821-2589-9
eISBN: 978-1-62579-852-7
Cover art by Dave Seeley
First printing, February 2022
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Weber, David, 1952– author. | Zahn, Timothy, author. | Pope, Thomas, 1972–
author.
Title: A call to insurrection : a novel of the Honorverse / David Weber & Timothy Zahn with
Thomas Pope.
Description: Riverdale, NY : Baen, 2022. | Series: Manticore ascendant ; book 4
Identifiers: LCCN 2021050936 | ISBN 9781982125899 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781625798527
(ebook)
Subjects: LCGFT: Science fiction. | Novels.
Classification: LCC PS3573.E217 C355 2022 | DDC 813/.54—dc23/eng/20211015
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021050936
Pages by Joy Freeman (www.pagesbyjoy.com)
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Electronic Version by Baen Books
www.baen.com
PROLOGUE
1542 PD
Hereditary President Trudy McIntyre had never been what Lucretia
Tomlinson would have called a handsome woman. But there were
pictures from two decades earlier that had captured a smoldering
fire, a defiance, and a sense of righteousness that had more than
made up for the lack of physical beauty.
Now, sixteen T-years since McIntyre’s world and people had
been ruthlessly torn away from her, much of that fire had faded.
Much, but not all. And if the fire hadn’t aged well, the moral
righteousness certainly had.
“…I know you must be getting tired of hearing from me,” the
image on the display said, “as I’m sure your father did before you, as
well as all the other directors that have graced the PFT boardroom.
But it’s important to me—and to many others—that the crimes of
Gustav Anderman aren’t forgotten. For sixteen T-years the people of
the Tomlinson System have been crushed under his heel, denied
their God-given rights to liberty and free expression.
“I know that after all this time our small and distant problems
probably don’t even register on PFT’s agenda. That’s why I’ve sent
this message directly to you, Director Tomlinson. To remind you of
what was once yours, and to plead with you to do whatever you can
to make right what Gustav Anderman once made wrong.
“I hope to hear from you at your earliest opportunity. I hope even
more that you’ll do whatever you can to persuade the Solarian
League to take action on behalf of your people, your colonists, and
your world.
“Thank you for your attention and consideration. I know that if
we work together we can return the Tomlinson System to the
freedom and shining glory that your grandfather first envisioned for
us.
“With respect, Hereditary President-in-Exile Trudy McIntyre.”
The final image froze, a final mute plea in those aging but still
fiery eyes.
With a sigh, Tomlinson blanked the screen. She’d been Chief
Director of the Board for the transstellar corporation Preston,
Fagnelli, and Tomlinson for the past four years. In that time she’d
received no fewer than six other messages from McIntyre, all of
them pleading with her to take some kind of action against
Anderman and his so-called Andermani Empire.
The hell of it was that Tomlinson had tried. She’d sent a dozen
formal protests of her own to the Solarian League, both to official
agencies and to Anderman’s former employers and fellow mercenary
chiefs. She’d sent notes to some of the other transstellar
corporations, suggesting the possibility of bringing sanctions or other
economic levers to bear on the Andermani. She’d even sent
messages to Gustav Anderman himself, appealing to his better
nature or at least to his current reputation and his future legacy.
The League bureaucrats unanimously declared the situation Not
Their Problem. None of Anderman’s old friends—or enemies—were
interested in stepping up to the challenge, at least not for the funding
PFT’s Board was willing to offer. The transstellars were likewise
uninterested in rocking any boats.
Many of the latter group, in fact, hinted broadly that PFT’s
concerns were well beneath their interest level, as was PFT itself.
As for Gustav, the old man had started speaking exclusively
German nine years ago. That said a lot right there about his
perception of either reputation or legacy. Or, for that matter, reality.
Part of the problem was the distance. The Tomlinson System
was a long way from the League, and despite the old saying,
absence usually made the heart simply wander off. Probably one
reason the rest of the transstellars had never taken PFT seriously, as
well. Owning an entire star system—Preston—sitting on the edge of
the Core worlds carried a certain amount of prestige, but the fact that
their only other system had been at the back edge of nowhere hadn’t
added a lot to that status. And of course, since Anderman moved in
PFT didn’t even have that much.
