History Literature / ManticoreAscendant

* WorthyOpponent: Emperor Gustav II attempts to recuit the mercenary admiral Quint, after she had helped destroy a large chunk of his fleet.

** Upon the conclusion of his thrilling murder investigation, Calvingdell points out to Chomps that, this time, he'll be the one with the exciting story when his friends return from their boring political schmooze-fest to the Andermani Empire. The audience already knows that Mr. and Mrs. Long's journey was anything but boring...

* DramaticIrony: Some of the experts Manticore is inviting to a conference to learn about their potential wormhole junction are from Axelrod, the company that is trying to take over Manticore for said Junction.

* VillainRespect: Llyn goes out of his way to prevent Amos from assassinating Commodore Quint in defiance of their orders (in spirit, if not in letter). He rationalizes this as preserving a [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou still-useful asset]], but the truth is he likes Quint and doesn't think she deserves to die -- an unprecedented emotional adulteration of his borderline sociopathic professionalism.

* BastardBastard: Downplayed. [[spoiler:Comodore Hansen]] is the illegitimate daughter of Gustav Anderman and wages a violent rebellion to try and overthrow her half-brother. However, she has moments of remorse and it is implied that a TreacherousAdvisor has spent almost two decades flooding her head with lies to push her to that point.

* WorthyOpponent: Emperor Gustav II attempts to recuit the mercenary admiral Quint, after she had help destroy a large chunk of his fleet.

* AlasPoorScrappy: [[spoiler: Ensign Locatelli, who apologizes for being such a pain in the butt just before his DyingMomentOfAwesome.]]

* JoinTheArmyTheySaid: Travis joins the RMN on an impulse after seeing the recruiting posters (and the beautiful recruiting officer) advertising an exciting career defending the Star Kingdom and learning valuable skills. As it happens, the RMN of this time period is a demoralized undermanned service seemingly lacking any actual purpose.

* TheResenter: Captain Clegg ''really'' doesn't like Travis... and she doesn't know why. Upon introspection, she realizes that none of the reasons she can think of to hate him are valid. He's a smart, capable, loyal officer who only steps on her toes because his orders from Delphi require him to -- and that's Countess Calvingdell's fault, not his. She has to face the uncomfortable possibility that the problem is with her. Clegg's internal monologue is very reminiscent of Commander [=McKeon=] in the very first novel, who also had to face the fact that he was resentful of Harrington when he served as her XO in the very first book.

* TakingTheHeat: As much of a rule-stickler as Travis is, even he realizes that Casie-Rosewood's boot camp calorie restrictions are not only counterproductive, but outright abusive to a {{heavyworlder}} like Chomps, with his [[BigEater accelerated metabolism]]. So when their CO discovers Chomps' package of cookies stolen from the mess, Travis chooses to take the blame for stealing it. No one believes him, but it becomes the final straw to convince the commandant that the whole food restriction social experiment bullshit has gone on long enough. She gives Travis a slap on the wrist for propriety's sake and lifts the restrictions the following day, and to hell with the politicians.

* SuccesionCrisis: The plot centers around two of them, one in the Andermani Empire and one in Manticore.

A prequel series of three books [[TrilogyCreep with at least one more coming]] taking place in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' universe. Focusing on the early years of the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the career of one Travis Uriah "Travesty" Long, this book portrays the Royal Manticoran Navy before it became the interstellar juggernaut seen in the primary series.

* WorthyOpponent: Emperor Gustav II attempts to recuit the mercenary admiral Quint, after she had help destroy a lage chunk of his fleet.

** Shown to be more in the order of parental neglect as of book 3, as it is revealed that she didn't even both to check if he'd lived or died after the battle in book 2.