The Armageddon Inheritance

Plot summary

After the defeat of the mutineer Anu, the warship Dahak and its new captain Colin MacIntyre face the approaching Achuultani threat. MacIntyre, as the highest-ranking Imperium officer present, elevated himself to Governor of Earth, absolving the loyalist mutineers of their crimes and unifying world governments under his authority with advanced Imperial armaments. He set Horus the task of preparing defenses against the Achuultani scouts, which had been detected by self-destructing Imperial sensor arrays. Lieutenant Governor Horus and his assistant Gerald Hatcher had barely two years to pacify holdouts like the Asian Alliance, modernize the world economy, and construct a planetary defense shield, a space fleet, and ground fortresses. The Asian Alliance, controlled by Marshal Tsien Tao-ling, joined after seeing the military imbalance and receiving promises of local autonomy and four council seats. Earth's defenses included front line spaceships built by orbital industrial units, a planetary shield powered by a core tap, and hypermissile launchers in Planetary Defense Centers. Meanwhile, Colin and his new wife Jiltanith, daughter of Horus, took Dahak to seek military aid from the nearest Imperial system, though little was expected as Dahak had failed to contact the Imperium via hypercom.