Victor Cachat

Honorverse Character


name= Victor Cachat
race= Human
gender= Male
born=
homeworld= Haven
occupation= Senior FIS Agent, Erewhon sector
affiliation= Republic of Haven
first appearance = "From the Highlands","Changer of Worlds"
last appearance = "At All Costs"

Victor Cachat is a fictional character created by writer Eric Flint for a story featured in an anthology collection set on David Weber's Honorverse series of novels. He has become of the outstanding agents for the Havenite police agency (Federal Investigations Agency).

Cachat was introduced in Eric Flint's short story "From the Highlands", which appeared in the Honorverse anthology book "Changer of Worlds". He reappeared in a second story by Flint, "Fanatic", in the anthology "The Service of the Sword". Finally, Cachat became a major character in the spin-off novel "Crown of Slaves", written jointly by Flint and Weber. He also made a cameo appearance in the mainline novel "At All Costs".

Cachat has evolved over the stories from an unsure, naive, 'green' agent on his first assignment to one of the most purely dedicated characters in the series. He is characterised as a fanatic whose dedication to the task in hand overrides all other factors. The character's apparent lack of empathy contrasts with the equally dedicated but empathic series-heroine, Honor Harrington. He is also described as having a genius for making up operational plans as he goes along. This contrasts with his Manticoran equivalent, Anton Zilwicki, who thinks through every move in advance. Zilwicki and Cachat feature together in 'From the Highlands', 'Crown of Slaves' and 'At All Costs'. In each case they have worked together although, nominally, owing their allegance to different sides.

Character Biography

Born in the Dolist slums of the Havenite capital city of Nouveau Paris, Cachat became a zealous supporter of the Revolution Robert S. Pierre and Oscar Saint-Just following their seizure of power, believing that the new regime would eradicate all forms of elitism. Once he was old enough, he entered the StateSec Academy to become a security officer. He graduated third in his class at the Academy, gaining a reputation for ruthlessness and efficiency which caught the eye of Oscar Saint-Just himself.

His first posting after graduation was to the StateSec unit in the Havenite Embassy to the Solarian League on Old Earth. It was on Old Earth where he became a friend and "protegé" of Kevin Usher, a disenchanted Aprilist (revolutionary freedom-fighter) turned Marine, who opened Cachat's eyes to the corruption and brutality of the Pierre regime. Coupled with his StateSec superior's involvement in the kidnapping of a young Manticoran girl as part of a plot to murder two high-ranking survivors of the previous Havenite government, Cachat turned against StateSec, killing a detachment of StateSec troopers and Scrags, thus helping the girl's father, Manticoran Navy Captain Anton Zilwicki, to find her. This became the "Manpower Incident" in which the Manpower offices on Terra were destroyed, and a Manpower Unlimited strike force attacking the Havenite Embassy was entirely wiped out.

Cachat managed to conceal his disenchantment with the regime when he returned to Haven. Unaware of his disaffection, Oscar Saint-Just considered Cachat to be one of his finest young officers, and sent him as a Special Investigator to look into the murder of the most senior StateSec officer in the La Martine Sector. Upon arrival, Cachat began to reorganize both the StateSec units and Fleet Marine units in La Martine, while establishing his authority as the commander in fact of the Sector. When Saint-Just was overthrown, Cachat's reforms ensured that hardcore StateSec elements could not take control of the sector, StateSec or Naval vessels, or attack the Naval Fleet. When the StateSec loyalists were neutralized, Cachat and other StateSec and military officers secured La Martine for the restored Republican government of President Eloise Pritchart.

After StateSec's dissolution, Cachat was transferred to the newly created Federal Investigations Agency (FIA), the federal police branch of the new Republic's security apparatus, now commanded by his old friend Kevin Usher. He gained recognition as one of Usher's finest men, and was personally selected by Usher to serve as Haven's unofficial representative at the funeral of murdered Solarian reform activist Hieronymus Stein in Erewhon, a mistreated and unhappy and member nation of the Manticoran Alliance.

In Erewhon, Cachat patched together a scheme intended to assist in Erewhon's breakaway from its Manticoran Alliance and perhaps even it its cooperation with Haven. After saving Manticoran Princess Ruth Winton and Berry Zilwicki from an attempted kidnapping, Cachat secured the cooperation of the Erewhon political opposition and a group of ambitious Solarian naval officers working for an even more ambitious Solarian governor, together with Captain Zilwicki, a Manticoran heavy cruiser (the "Gauntlet"), as well as the Audubon ballroom (an anti-slavery terrorist group). Together, using Cachat's impromptu scheme, they mounted a joint attack on the planet Verdant Vista (aka "Congo"), a slave breeding planet owned by the Mesan super corporation Manpower Unlimited. The planet had become a security threat to Erewhon, one that the previous Manticoran Government had promised to help deal with in exchange for Erewhon's membership in the Alliance, a promise that Manticore's High Ridge Government had failed to keep.

Cachat's plan succeeded. Congo was taken and transformed into the independent Kingdom of Torch, becoming a refuge for escaped slaves. The Ballroom served as the armed forces for Torch in its declared war with Mesa. The new nation became also a neutral site between Manticore and Haven, allowing them a chance exchange diplomatic contacts. Cachat's involvement managed to secure Erewhon's break from the Manticoran Alliance, and an association with Haven, though not belligerent participation on the Havenite side. As a result of his success, Cachat transferred to the Federal Intelligence Service and was made station chief for Erewhon and Congo.

These episodes secured Cachat's not entirely non-public reputation as a thoroughly ruthless and efficient secret agent, capable of injuring or killing without qualms if he believed it was necessary for his ideals and the success of his mission.

In terms of a personal life, Victor Cachat is a close friend of his now former boss Kevin Usher and his wife Ginny (who was Cachat's associate in the Erewhon / Congo affair). During that business, he began a romantic relationship with Thandi Palane, then a Solarian Marine Lieutenant who resigned, becoming the commander-in-chief of the Torch armed Forces. The strangest result of the manpower Incident and the Congo affair is his partnership / friendship with Anton Zilwicki. It is strange because they are each, in effect, agents for governments at war. Cachat and Zilwicki found common ground in the fight against Mesa and genetic slavery, and in a commitment to Torch and its new Queen.

References