"In the Service of the Great House" by Roman Zlotnikov, summary

The story tells the story of an Earthling’s survival in the harsh depths of outer space and his rise to power in an ancient alien clan. The text was written in 2014. The plot revolves around the transition of the Earthling Nick from a discarded fugitive to the leader of the powerful Lusitanian Great House Cort, who gains control of a battle fleet to search for his home planet. In 2015, the book won the prestigious Silver RosCon award, taking second place in the Best Novel category.

This work is part of the "Earthling" series of space fiction novels. This text is the third book in the series, logically continuing the story of the hero’s return to the solar system.

Clash on the Outskirts

The events unfold on the Trimmin-Corrain trading station, located in a Frontier sector known as the Fringe. The station’s owners survive by buying equipment from voidfarers at discounted prices. The mapping cruiser Terra Seeker, commanded by Nick the Sigarian, struggles to return to base after an attack in the C3RO2755641L system. The captain managed to save most of the crew by executing a "powered turn" maneuver under extreme G-forces.

Senior Cartographer Vaerli promptly noticed a distortion in the sensor readings, allowing Nick to recognize the ambush. Despite Senior Officer Grokk’s tactical mastery in anti-boarding engagements, the cruiser suffered colossal damage to its hull and lost its medical bay. Nick’s crew, consisting of veterans of the Great House Cort — proud Lusitanians forced to flee their planet due to political exile — suffered enormous losses. Grokk himself was killed in the firefight.

The attack on the cruiser was carried out by elite forces behind powerful cloaking fields. Nick suspects the ambush is connected to his search for Earth, believing the space thieves are trying to eliminate a threat to their shadowy business. Lacking the technical capacity to repair the vessel at the outlying station, the captain decides to join a merchant convoy and head for civilized space. The crew hopes to repair the cruiser at high-quality shipyards. Engineer Gra Niopol performs a miracle, restarting the damaged cruise engines. However, during the third spatial jump, the convoy is intercepted by a massive military squadron.

It turns out that the attackers are the radical "Pure" faction of the exiled House Cort. They are led by Rirgen Tron, who considers it a disgrace that an alien should wield the clan’s officer’s sword. To save his comrades and ensure their escape to Tripolie Station, Nick disables the immediate defense turrets, deploys mapping probes to distract the enemy’s targeting systems, and single-handedly accepts Tron’s challenge to a ritual duel in the circle. Using Earthly street fighting techniques, Nick manages to dislocate his opponent’s elbow, but the enraged Lusitan instantly kills him.

Rise of a Hero

Nick’s life is saved by the New Path faction, also composed of members of House Cort. Councilor Stakal places the human’s body in a field regenerator. Waking on the planet Timpera, Nick learns that his comrades, led by their ally Tris, have successfully reached the safe zone. Stakal offers a deal: the clan needs a person unbound by oath of allegiance and exempt from the edict of exile to officially represent their interests on Lusitania. The human agrees to accept the title, gaining diplomatic immunity and access to restricted areas.

During the Officers’ Circle, where Nick’s status is being confirmed, Alaric, the senior hand-to-hand combat instructor, challenges him to a duel. She easily defeats him three times, as Nick refuses to hit a woman on principle. Appreciating his moral convictions and willingness to fight only true enemies, Alaric withdraws her objections and is appointed Nick’s personal bodyguard.

Upon arriving on Lusitania, Nick embarks on a massive campaign. He organizes an auction for the repair and complete modernization of one hundred and twenty-four clan ships, prioritizing the former Korth shipyards, including the Samora Cannubias, and denying contracts to the hostile Great House Kernet. Meanwhile, Nick interviews thousands of young Lusitanians willing to join the legendary exiles. The clan’s crews undergo full rehabilitation in extensive planetary-class medical facilities.

Soon, Nick and Tris are forced to secretly travel to a remote system to retrieve the data drive of the deceased Head of House Korth from an abandoned courier. The drive contains access codes to tens of billions of loot. Nick learns that Gra Niopol has gone missing and his nanonet has been destroyed. Near the courier’s wreckage, Nick’s yacht, the Throw, is attacked by Taibren, the leader of the hostile Great House Kernet. He personally initiated the hunt for the human using House Ikran’s advanced cloaking fields. During a fierce confrontation, Nick manages to eject the AI into outer space through the escape pod’s launch shaft.

Taibren takes the hero captive and brutally beats him, refusing a fair duel in the circle. House Cort’s paratroopers, led by Alarica, arrive to help. She shoots Taibren with a heavy scorcher, evening the odds, after which the half-dead Nick kills him with his bare hands, ripping out his Adam’s apple.

Preparing for the return

After the rescue, Nick makes a deal with the Stekla: the clan receives the recovered AI along with colossal funds, and in exchange, agrees to build a super-powerful ship to search for Earth and finance the expedition. The designers at the Samora Cannubias shipyard propose refitting the outdated but gigantic Plasma-class battleship, replacing its heavy armament with standard guns from the modern Skasan and freeing up colossal capacity for enormous fuel tanks. The resulting leviathan will allow Nick to operate autonomously in deep space.

To meet the requirements for commanding the flagship, Nick undergoes full clan-based body modification under the guidance of the planet’s leading specialist, Professor Triarni, at the fleet’s central clinical hospital. Synchronization between the neural network and the body reaches a record 99.521 percent. The process is accompanied by excruciating pain from unpacking the nanobot colonies, but the hero is now capable of withstanding unimaginable G-forces and training in martial arts under Admiral Huron, commander of the Lusitania regular fleet.

During a medical examination, Professor Triarni non-invasively extracts an image of the night sky from the Earthling’s deep memory. The fleet’s navigation systems compare this fragment with galactic maps and narrow the search area across the universe to 1,500 star systems on the outskirts of the Orion Arm. With specialized software for the onboard AI, the ship will be able to check the star positions with each jump, exponentially shortening the route.

Following the death of their leader, Clan Kernet mobilizes its entire fleet of eight hundred pennants, preparing to destroy the few exiles right at the docks. Nick harshly contacts the First Voice of the Planetary Council, Tella Piot, and the senior advisor of Clan Kernet. Threatened by the intervention of the regular Lusitanian fleet, the aggressors are forced to retreat.

Stekal and the clan officers, impressed by the earthling’s diplomatic victories, will, and fortitude, persuade Nick to accept the title of full Head of the Great House of Korth. The advisor explains that there is only one way to save the people from the inevitable war: the entire clan, with all its factories, fuel stations, orbital complexes, and medical modules, will follow Nick to the Solar System.

This will provide the exiles with a safe place to recuperate, and Earth with access to advanced technology, protection from alien smugglers, and the status of an equal participant in intergalactic politics without the risk of nuclear annihilation. Arriving on the newly constructed ship, the hero learns from Captain Sergeant Pinolli that his close ally, Tris, has suddenly left the team.

The book ends with the new ultra-long-range raider-battleship, the Earth Seeker, making its fourth jump and entering Pluto’s orbit. Hidden under a cloaking field, the crew launches sixteen multifunctional probes. After scanning the space, Senior Officer Vaerli detects a yellow dwarf, four gas giants, an asteroid belt, and four inner planets. The third planet actively emits radio waves. An old Earth song, "We Are the Champions," plays in the control room. Nick weeps with the realization that he has finally found his home. In the final lines, the scanner operator is surprised to notice an unidentified object on the screens.