Introduction
Notes on the World of Miravel
We return to the world of Miravel, eleven years by their reckoning since the events of the previous book. Before we begin, a review is in order of the basic principles of this world and how it differs from our own. Centuries ago, the massive superpowers of humanity spread throughout the galaxy in a feverish contest to expand their territory. Aggressive terraforming turned hundreds of worlds into little copies of humanity's ancestral home. As the bitter fires of the Æther War died down, order in the galaxy was broken. Many of those freshly colonized worlds were cut off from the rest of humanity. On Miravel that dread event is known as the Day of Silence.
The people of Miravel had to start over. Most technology no longer functioned or quickly decayed as the knowhow to maintain it was lost. In a story told on so many of these Lost Worlds, the inhabitants rebuilt civilization, oblivious to what lay beyond their atmosphere. And then one day, in the Year 279 of the League Calendar, the galaxy came to them.
A scientific research vessel from the New Earth Empire, the Waldsängerfink-308, crash-landed in the northern polar region known as the Neveland during a planetary survey. Expeditions from two of Miravel's leading powers were dispatched to investigate. Only one returned, with a warning that this event was but the prelude to the Empire's impending arrival to reclaim the planet.
Speaking of the planet itself, it is important to note the differences in orbit and rotation from Earth. A Miravellan day is 28 Earth-hours and the average Miravellan year is 460 days, divided into sixteen months. Artifacts of Earth-based reckoning survived the Day of Silence and persisted, such as the tendency to think of hours in blocks of twelve, and indeed the use of Earth-hours as the standard measurement of time. Similarly, no adjustment has been made in considering the age of people. In most nations, in keeping with the law from before the Day of Silence, the age of majority is 20, but a Miravellan 20-year-old would be closer to 30 in Earth years. Despite this, the legacy of genetic modification of the original colonists means that a Miravellan's apparent age is roughly the same as an unmodified Earther, i.e. a Miravellan 20-year-old and an Earther 20-year-old. Hopefully, this explanation will reduce any confusion as the story progresses.
The New Earth Empire's Reclamation Project extends its reach to Miravel and the Miravellans have the misfortune of being set against one of the Imperial Navy's most notorious fleet commanders. The saying "A million is a statistic" is a grim understatement for a man like Vizeadmiral Baron Menahem Globus, a man dedicated to the idea of the Empire's divine right to rule the galaxy, a man who brooks no dissent. Nothing less than the fate of the world hangs in the balance as the 483rd Expeditionary Fleet enters Miravel's orbit.