Victor Cachat
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Special Officer 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. One of best agents of Havenite espionage and counterespionage agency (Federal Investigations Agency).
The character was introduced in Flint's short story From the Highlands, which appeared in the Honorverse anthology book Changer of Worlds. He then 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 by both Flint and Weber. He then made a cameo appearance in the mainline novel At All Costs.
Born in the Dolist slums of the Havenite capital city of Nouveau Paris, Cachat became a zealous supporter of 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 StateSec Academy to become a security officer. He graduated third from his class in 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 serve in StateSec's contingent in the Havenite Embassy to the Solarian League on Old Earth. It was on Old Earth when he became the friend and "protegé" of Kevin Usher a disenchanted freedom-fighter-turned-Marine who opened Cachat's eyes to the corruption and brutality of Pierre's regime. Coupled with his StateSec superiors' 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 and killed an entire detachment of StateSec troopers involved, helping the girl's father, Captain Anton Zilwicki to find her and put an end to the activities of the nefarious slaver corporation Manpower Unlimited on Earth.
Cachat managed to conceal his disenchantment with the regime once he returned to Haven. Unaware of his growing resentment, Oscar Saint-Just considered Cachat to be one of his finest officers, and sent him as his Special Investigator to look into the murder of a prominent People's Commissioner in the La Martine Sector. Once in La Martine, Cachat began to reorganize the StateSec presence in the sector and fleet while climbing to the top of the sector's power structure out of sheer ruthlessness. When Saint-Just was overthrown, Cachat's reforms ensured that the hardcore elements of StateSec could not take control of the sector 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 Federal Investigations Agency (FIA), the federal police branch of the new Republic's security apparatus commanded by his old friend Kevin Usher. He quickly 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 malcontent member nation of the Manticoran Alliance.
In Erewhon, Cachat concocted a plan which would ensure Erewhon's breakaway with Manticore and its approach to Haven. After saving Manticoran Princess Ruth Winton from an attempted kidnapping, Cachat secured the help of a group of ambitious Solarian naval officers working for an even more ambitious Solarian governor and the support of Captain Zilwicki and the Manticoran cruiser Gauntlet, as well as the consent of the Erewhonese and the active participation of the anti-slavery terrorist group known as the Audubon Ballroom for a joint attack on the planet Verdant Vista (aka "Congo"), a slave planet controlled by the Mesan supercorporation Manpower Unlimited. The planet had long been a security threat for Erewhon, one that Manticore promised to deal with in exchange for Erewhon's alliance, a promise that Manticore failed to keep when Michael Janvier came to power.
Cachat's plan was a complete success. Congo was taken away from Mesa's hands and transformed into the independent Kingdom of Torch, a haven for escaped slaves and the Ballroom which could be used to wage war against Mesa. The new nation became also a neutral site for Manticore and Haven to meet. Cachat's involvement succeeded in securing Erewhon's break from the Manticoran Alliance and its siding with Haven. As a result of his success, Cachat was made the FIA's station chief for Erewhon and Congo.
These episodes secured Cachat's reputation as a thoroughly ruthless and efficient 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 both his boss Kevin Usher and his wife Ginny (who was Cachat's sidekick in the Erewhon/Congo affair). He began a romantic relationship with Thandi Palane, a lieutenant in the Solarian Marines who became the commander of Torch's military. The most strange relationship is his partnership/friendship with Anton Zilwicki, given that they are both spies for nations at war with each other, but Cachat and Zilwicki managed to find common ground in the fight against Mesa and genetic slavery.
