What Price Victory?

Table of Contents TRAITOR by Timothy Zahn and Thomas Pope DECEPTION ON GRYPHON by Jane Lindskold THE SILESIAN COMMAND by Jan Kotouč IF WISHES WERE SPACE CUTTERS by Joelle Presby FIRST VICTORY by David Weber WHAT PRICEVICTORY? WORLDSOFHONOR#7 DAVID WEBER with Timothy Zahn & Thomas Pope Jane Lindskold Jan Kotouč What Price Victory? David Weber THE HOTTEST MILITARY SCIENCE FICTION SERIES OF ALL TIME CONTINUES WITH A COLLECTION OF TALES SET IN DAVID WEBER’S NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING HONORVERSEThe hottest military science fiction series of all time continues. The mission: to boldly explore David Weber’s Honorverse; to deliver all the action, courage, derring-do, and pulse-pounding excitement of space naval adventure with tales set in a world touched by the greatness of one epic heroine—Honor Harrington.New Honorverse tales by Timothy Zahn & Thomas Pope, Jane Lindskold, Jan Kotouč, and Joelle Presby. Plus “First Victory,” an all-new novella by David Weber! BAEN BOOKS 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 At All Costs • Mission of Honor Crown of Slaves with Eric Flint Torch of Freedom with Eric Flint The Shadow of Saganami • Storm from the Shadows A Rising Thunder • Shadow of Freedom Cauldron of Ghosts with Eric Flint Shadow of Victory • Uncompromising Honor WORLDS OF HONOR edited by David Weber More than Honor • Worlds of Honor Changer of Worlds • The Service of the Sword In Fire Forged • Beginnings What Price Victory? MANTICORE ASCENDANT A Call to Duty with Timothy Zahn A Call to Arms with Timothy Zahn & Thomas Pope A Call to Vengeance with Timothy Zahn & Thomas Pope A Call to Insurrection with Timothy Zahn & Thomas Pope THE STAR KINGDOM A Beautiful Friendship Fire Season with Jane LindskoldTreecat Wars with Jane Lindskold A New Clan with Jane Lindskold MULTIVERSE SERIES Hell’s Gate with Linda Evans Hell Hath No Fury with Linda Evans The Road to Hell with Joelle Presby What Price Victory? 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 © 2023 by Words of Weber, Inc. “Traitor” copyright © 2023 by Timothy Zahn and Thomas Pope, “Deception on Gryphon” copyright © 2023 by Jane Lindskold, “The Silesian Command” copyright © 2023 by Jan Kotouč, “If Wishes Were Space Cutters” copyright © 2023 by Joelle Presby, “First Victory” copyright © 2023 by Words of Weber, Inc. 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: 978-1-9821-9241-9 eISBN: 978-1-62579-899-2 Cover art by David Mattingly First printing, February 2023 Distributed by Simon & Schuster 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 Library of Congress Control Number: 2022050409 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 TRAITOR Timothy Zahn and Thomas Pope PROLOGUE Cutler Gustavus von Tischendorf was eight T-years old when he had his first space battle. Though in retrospect, he realized it probably wasn’t actually the first such battle he’d been in. He had vague memories of his mother disappearing for hours at a time while he floated in zero-gee in their cabin, listening to rumblings and thuds and occasional shouts from the passageways beyond. Afterward, when all was quiet again, his mom would come back into their cabin, and the deck would slowly become a deck again instead of just another bulkhead. Sometimes his mom would then go out again and not be back for another few hours, but sometimes they went off to the wardroom to eat. There was laughter and loud talk at those times, and he always got an ice cream sundae before his mom took him back and tucked him in for the night. But it wasn’t until the Battle of Jorgan’s Star that Cutler finally learned the whole truth. His mom was a kapitän now. That meant their cabin on Schreien was bigger than the ones on their previous ships. But it also meant that the cabin had a small set of repeater bridge displays that let Cutler see what was going on. And it was glorious. The rumbling was autocannon fire as the ship defended itself from incoming missiles. The thuds marked the launch of Schreien’s own missiles in response. The shouting was men and women swimming rapidly through the passageways on their way to fix equipment that had failed or to reroute power or sensor lines. Finally, it was over. Cutler had kept track as he watched, and by his reckoning his mom and Schreien had destroyed three whole enemy ships. And sure enough, an hour later, he got his ice cream sundae. “Did you watch the battle from the cabin?” his mom asked as he dug into the bowl. “Uh-huh,” Cutler said. “It was really cool. We got three of their ships, right?” “Three ships were destroyed, yes,” she confirmed with a smile. “But we didn’t do it all by ourselves. The other ships helped, too.” “Oh. Right.” Vaguely, Cutler remembered other ships being in the battle. He hadn’t paid much attention to them. “Was Uncle Gustav’s ship one of them?” “Oh, yes,” his mom said. “His ship is always one of them. And always the best one.” “I don’t think so,” Cutler said firmly. “Schreien’s the best. Because you’re the captain.” “Well, thank you,” she said with another smile. “I’m glad you think so.” Her eyes shifted across the room—“Pablo?” she called. “Yes, Kapitän Jen?” a swarthy man Cutler remembered seeing around the ship said, coming over to their table. He shot a smile at Cutler. “How you doing, Kapitän Jen’s son?” Cutler bristled. He hated when