Sir Dominic Flandry

Captain Dominic Flandry has been knighted for his many services to theTerran Empire — an Empire which is old, jaded, and corrupt, as Flandrywell knows. And while that “Sir” before his name may be an addedattraction to comely ladies, he expects that it will also bring him less welcomeattention from envious “colleagues” within the empire. What it isnot likely to do is make him more of an object of interest to the Merseians,whose plots he has repeatedly foiled and who are aware of how much simpler theirplans to replace the Empire would be if he were the late Sir DominicFlandry. Flandry himself has come to understand that there may be no more pointto all his victories than that a few trillion of his fellow creatures may liveout their lives before the inevitable coming of the Long Night of galacticbarbarism. At best, he may have postponed its coming and shortened its duration.But if that is the most he can achieve, so be it — he’ll keep onfighting, hoping that the barbarians, too, will pass, followed by a new round ofcivilization.