March to the Stars is the third novel in the science fiction series of the Empire of Man by David Weber and John Ringo. It tells the story of Prince Roger MacClintock and his remaining bodyguards of the Empress' Own Regiment who get marooned on the alien planet of Marduk due to an act of sabotage on their ship, and must continue fighting their way towards the planetary spaceport in order to get back home to Earth. The book appeared on the New York Times best seller list.
New Characters Introduced
Temu Jin is an undercover agent of the Imperial Bureau of Investigations (IBI) assigned to Marduk to investigate possible treasonous activity on the part of the imperial governor. Though a native of Pinopa, he does not speak with a Pinopan accent except in times of stress. A highly competent and professional individual, he feels an enormous amount of contempt towards those who are not capable of equal professionalism. He becomes aware of the Marines' presence on Marduk shortly before they arrive at Kirsti and begins helping them, first by concealing their presence and then with providing them with the information they need to capture the spaceport.
Pedi Dorson Acos Lefan Karuse is a begai, a war child of the Shin tribes and the strong-willed daughter of the chieftain of Mudh Hemh. As the daughter of a warrior, she is expected to mate with a warrior and been given a decent training in combat, both hand-to-hand and with edged weapons, so as to strengthen such a union. After being taken prisoner by a Krath raiding party and being made a "Servant of God" bound for Strem Island, her ship is taken by Lemmaran pirates. She is then saved by Cord once the Marines and their Mardukan allies storm the ship she is on. As a result, she becomes indebted to Cord (becoming a Benan) much like Cord is indebted to Roger. She also finds herself attracted to Cord, despite the large age difference between them.
Pedi Agol Ropar Sheta Gastan is the Shin Lord of the Mudh Hemh and Pedi's father. While short by Mardukan standards he is also unusually broad and a fierce warrior. He is also a very pragmatic and crafty leader, who uses the war instigated by the humans' arrival at Kirsti to solidify his control over the other Shin tribes. As the war with the Krath breaks out, he loses his only son and heir Thertik and he finds himself in a serious problem when his daughter returns as Cord's benan, a problem that manages to resolve itself favorably in the end (though not without some complications).
Sor Teb is the head of the slave raiding forces of Kirsti. Known as "The Scourge", he is a highly dangerous, capable, cruel and fear-inspiring individual (O'Casey says he reminds her of Grath Chain "only competent"). Teb sees in the humans' arrival at Kirsti an opportunity to gain the necessary political power to ascend to the post of high-priest. However, he has no allies and is not well-thought of by the other members of the council and the military hierarchy and as a result, he relies heavily upon force and fear to achieve his ends.
Lorak Tral is the head of Kirsti's main field army. Known as "The Sere" his forces are not nearly as competent and battle-hardened Teb's slave raiders. However, unlike Teb, he enjoys the respect of the military hierarchy and the common Mardukans which has made him a leading contender for the position of high-priest and is bitterly opposed to Sor Teb's ascension to the High Priest's throne (the idea of a slave-raider as High Priest galls him). Once Teb's attempt to force the humans to hand over one of their numbers fails miserably, Tral sees an opportunity to subdue the Shin once and for all, and place himself upon the High Priest's throne in the process.
Werd Ras is the head of the Kirsti secret police. Known as "The Flail" he has eyes and ears everywhere throughout the satrapy but remains neutral in the power struggle between Teb and Tral who are vying for the position of the high-priest. However, has no respect for Teb on a personal level.
Harvard Mansul is an award-winning journalist of the Imperial Astrographic Society (the futuristic equivalent of National Geographic) who is rescued by the Marines when he is captured by the Krath while documenting the Shin for a piece on Marduk. Mansul is known to his peers as a reporter who likes to live on the edge, venturing into dangerous places and positions to seek the story, disappearing for months and years at a time, only to come back with great stories. Like everyone in the Empire, he believed Roger and his marines had died and is astonished to see him alive. He then takes to following him around and recording his doings as he sees it as the story of the century.
Ymyr Brown, Earl of Mountmarch is the Imperial Governor for Marduk. While a highly competent media manipulator, his competence does not extend beyond this single talent of his (though he believes it does). After getting caught up in a scandal in court that had ended up costing the lives of Imperial Navy servicemen and women, he earned the displeasure of the Empress who had him exiled to Marduk where he can do as little damage as possible. Mountmarch had sold himself out to the "Saints", the Empire's enemies, for money, long before his exile to Marduk and has a sick predilection towards young boys (a weakness exploited by the Saints when they sought to suborn him).
Colonel Fiorello Giovannuci is the commander of the Caravazan ("Saint") Special Operations insertion ship Emerald Dawn and a commando of the ironically named "Greenpeace Division". A highly competent, paranoid and devout officer ("a true believer", according to his executive officer), his ascension through the ranks was the result of all these qualities.
Commander Amanda Beach is the executive officer of the Emerald Dawn. Unlike her Colonel Giovannuci, Beach is not a true believer in Saint religious doctrines as she is capable of seeing the great faults in her society and the hypocrisy of its leaders. As a result, she has not advanced through the ranks as Giovannuci has and feels little loyalty towards the system.
Captain T'Sool is the captain of the Ima Hooker, the ship carrying Prince Roger and most of his surviving marines across the ocean to the sub-continent where the spaceport is located.
Tob Kerr is master of the merchant vessel Rain Daughter who finds himself being chased by Lemmar Raiders and is fortunate enough to stumble upon the ships coming from K'Vaern's Cove. He is something of a risk-taker as he is willing to risk the unknown (at least, when the other options are known dangers).
Cred Cies is the captain of the Lemmaran ship Rage of Lemmar who is in pursuit of Rain Daughter when it happens upon the humans' convoy. While a capable and intelligent ship handler and sea fighter, he greatly underestimates the K'Vaernian vessels and their fighting capabilities, a mistake that ends up costing him dearly.
Plot summary
The story opens in the restored city of Voitan, where a human search and rescue team (really an assassination squad) is examining the remains of the marines who were interred there after the battle against the Kranolta. Temu Jin, a Commo-Tech serving as translator for the team, repeatedly questions the local leaders as to the marines' purpose and fate, who in turn repeatedly state that all the marines died during the battle or shortly afterward. While Dara, the team's leader is content with their story, Jin remains privately suspicious because of several glaring clues that Dara, in his stupidity, has failed to notice. Between the physical evidence (pointing to people with marine nano-packs), the reticence of the king of Q'Nkok (who allowed only limited questioning and always while under supervision), the inconsistencies in T'Leen Targ's story (that the Kranolta took all the marines' weapons and gear), the Mardukans' atypical body-language of nods, open-mouthed smiles and handshakes (all indicating acculturation to humans) and the fact that the bodies were all stripped of clothing, jewelry and even tattoos (making their identification impossible without a DNA database), Jin becomes convinced that the locals are covering for the marines who are headed almost certainly, to the spaceport. As he's about to finish his scans, Jin notices a bronze earring with the word "BARBARIANS" on it. Deftly snatching it without Dara noticing, he then passes it on to T'Leen in a handshake, and tells him that he might want to melt it down "so nobody else finds it".
Upon the Western Ocean from K'Vaern's Cove, a flotilla of seven ships carries Prince Roger, his marine bodyguards and around 300 Diaspran riflemen and Vashin cavalrymen who have sworn their allegiance to him and the Empire of Man. The long voyage across the ocean towards the far sub-continent has given the troops time to wind down after the intense battle against the Boman, train upon their new gunpowder rifles and for Roger to mourn the loss of his valet and friend, Costas. However, the idyllic journey is violently disrupted by the sudden arrival of a giant sea creature which proceeds to bite off half a ship before being gunned down by a well-placed shot of Roger's, an extremely lucky shot from Sgt. Erkum Pol, several harpoon shots and many depth charges. The fish turns out to be a giant coll fish and its attack ends up costing them a whole ship, half its passengers and three marines and the troops gleefully feed most of it to the civan and Dogzard. To avoid similar attacks, Krindi Fain recommends mounting a cannon at the rear to fire at any other sea creatures that might show up and Pahner orders that all their radios be shut off to avoid detection as they are nearing the spaceport. He also orders the troops to begin practicing on entry tactics in preparation for their assault on the port, which they and Roger do together.
Shortly afterward, the flotilla spots a series of volcanic islands, and then, the sails of one ship being pursued by 6 other pirate ships. Roger and Pahner decide to risk contacting the ship under pursuit, despite their ignorance of what is going on, and Roger is sent across (against Pahner's better judgment) with Cord, Despreaux, Kosutic and Poertena. They make contact with the captain of Rain Daughter, Tob Kerr, who is initially taken aback by Roger's use of the "High Krath" language, used by the Fire Priests whom all fear but who permits them to come aboard. After managing to get a hold on the language, they are told that Rain Daughter was part of a Guard convoy from the mainland (called Krath) headed to the Island of Strem, but was jumped by Lemmaran raiders. Roger also tells Kerr their cover story of travelling across the ocean to the Krath to establish trade relations. Kerr advises them to head for Strem but Roger states they are headed for the mainland of Krath and contemptuously snorts at the possible risk the Lemmaran ships might pose to their flotilla. Returning to their ship, Roger and the command staff discuss the problem and, despite all the unknown variables, decide to engage the 6 pirate ships.