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(More customer reviews)Insurrection (1990) is the first published novel in the Starfire series. However, it is the last in internal chronological sequence and should be read after The Shiva Option. It begins several generations after the Fourth Interstellar War against the Bugs.
The Legislative Assembly of the Terran Federation has long been dominated by the Corporate Worlds at the expense of the Fringe Worlds. Now the Corporate Worlds have devised a plan to reapportion the Assembly by merging with the Orion Khanate, thereby reducing the Fringe World power base. They are frustrated at the last moment by bad publicity generated when Oskar Dieter, a Corporate World leader, personally insults Fionna MacTaggart, leader of the Fringe Worlders. However, the leader of the Corporate World delegation, Simon Taliaferro, plots to assassinate Fionna in order to throw the Fringe Worlders into a fury so that they will resign from the Assembly. His plot works as planned, but the consequences are more that he reckoned with.
Terran Federation Navy Task Force 17 moves against Beaufort, Fionna's home planet, as a show of force, but it moves too slowly and the insurrection has started before it arrives. Admiral Forsythe is advised to go slowly and negotiate with the rebels, but refuses and plans on firing on opposed ships if necessary. This triggers a mutiny, with the Fringe Worlders taking or destroying all TF17 ships. As the word is spread, other ships mutiny and flee to the Fringe Worlds. Tenth Cruiser Squadron is too far within the Federation to flee, so takes the desperate gamble of raiding Galloway's World to destroy the largest Federation shipyards. Overall, the Federation loses approximately half of Battle Fleet, about 80 percent of the Frontier Fleet, and most of their shipbuilding capability for at least 6 months. This bad news forces the fall of the current government and brings Oskar Dieter to power as prime minister.
Dieter has been greatly changed by these events and feels much guilt over the assignation of Fionna. He takes the position of prime minister only to alleviate the damage done by the extremists. He continues to rearm while undermining the political power of the Corporate Worlds. He establishes clandestine communications with the rebels to keep them informed of the political situation.
Admiral Ian Trevayne is cut off from the Inner Worlds by the mutineers and forced to flee through Khanate territory to the Zephrain system. With the resources of the Gehenna R&D base on Zephrain A-III, Trevayne has new ships and weapons built for his fleet. An initial attempt by the rebels to take Zephrain is repulsed. Trevayne gains a very tentative channel with the Inner Worlds through the Khanate, but cannot send the new weapons data through that conduit.
The Federation consists of the Rump -- the Inner Worlds -- and the Rim under Governor-general Trevayne. The Federation has lost all the choke points between themselves and the Rump; only Admiral Trevayne's forces have been victorious over the rebels. Dieter is beginning to use the term Terran Republic, the rebels own name for themselves, in cabinet sessions. The situation is bleak.
This story is based on the political and economic situation between the British Empire and its American colonies prior to the Revolution. As with that situation, the Fringe Worlds are being economically exploited by the Federation mercantile class with the assistance of the Legislative Assembly. While Simon Taliaferro is not a king, he is just as mad as King George and just as dangerous to his own long-term interests. The ensuing military actions in this story are naval rather than military, but otherwise the results are much the same. Since the Khanate basically remains neutral, this story is greatly simplified compared to the Revolution by the lack of other major powers.
Of course, this plot has been used many times before -- i.e., the colonies breaking off from the mother world -- but a cliche is not necessarily a falsehood nor need it be trivial. For those that can't relate to the American Revolution, how many wars did England fight against France to establish its own sovereignty? After all, England was a colony of France after William the Conqueror, at least from the French monarch's point of view.
Von Clausewitz's On War is quoted several times in this book. The story reminds me of another axiom: "War is an extension of politics by other means". Politicians should be careful what they ask for; they may get it -- and choke on it.
Recommended for all Weber and White fans and anyone else interested in realpolitik, and warfare, as practiced in the far future.
-Arthur W. Jordin
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Reissued to tie-in with Crusade, a rousing space adventure in the spirit of David Drake and Jerry Pournelle. It's the American Revolution all over again--and this time the stakes are not a single continent, but the stars themselves. "Peopled with strong characters . . . who strive to uphold basic human values in a war of future worlds".--Greenville Piedmont.
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