This is a plot bunny for a fanfiction "sequel" of David Webers "Heirs of empire", the third part of his "Dahak" trilogy. I came up with some of the elements directly after finishing the novel, mostly because Weber did a very nasty job of cutting off the grande climax of his main plotline.

Before I present my bunny, I'll give everyone who doesn't know this series an opportunity to rectify that serious mistake-


Empire from the ashes (Dahak omnibus)

As you'll know if you read "Heirs of empire", David Weber (or his editors?) decided to cut out the final part of the Pardal- plotline, a move that pissed me off mightily. The exposition of my proposed "sequel" starts directly where Weber left off, with Sean, Sandy and Tamman still trapped in the heart of the temple, now in control of the quarantine system. They have to decide quickly how they want to use their new power, because every minute dozens of their soldiers die trying to free them. There is a short discussion, but in the end Sean gives Brashan the order to swoop in with his fighters and to open fire on the inner circle troops. The first part ends with a panorama "view" of the capital, with massive fires spreading around, tens of thousands of death soldiers on both sides and a very high number of civilian casualties.

In the second part, we jump back in time to the day the "Israel" arrived on Pardal. The events are described in diary format by an OC first person narrator, the young daughter of High- Captain Ortak. I'll use this narration device because it enables me to show the hightened tension in the capital after the incident with the "voice of god", the start of the war and the growing desperation as the "demon army" marches closer every day. In "Heirs of empire", Weber totaly neglects the POV of "enemy" civilians, the consequences of the war for them and their reaction to the destruction of their faith.

The third and final part of the fic alternates between the POVs of Tamman and Ortaks daughter in the first few weeks after the war. He was left behind by Sean and the others to control the situation in the capital while they jumpstart the orbital yards to build a hypercom- and she is alone in a partly destroyed city, hoping against hope to free her father from the dungeons of the inquisition. This is the main part of the story and it needs much fleshing out, but I have some attractive ideas. There'll be a meeting between the two main protagonists and a slowly developing romance, assassination attempts by church fanatics, the drudgery of occupation politics, a view at the other continents of Pardal and their troublemaking ecclesiastic rulers, and finally the arrival of DAHAK in the system.

My prognosis is that I'll need at least 80.000+ words to do this idea justice.