Achilles de Flandres - Shadow of The Hegemon

Shadow of The Hegemon

Achilles, meanwhile, positions himself to take advantage of Earth's political circumstances after the end of the Bugger Wars. In a series of deft political and military maneuvers, he establishes a well-honed pattern. Achilles' modus operandi is to convince a set of influential leaders in a major country that his tactical genius is at their military's disposal. He uses his charisma to rise to a position of high influence in his host country's military, and prepares detailed plans for their geopolitical objectives. Once he has positioned forces in his current host country, he makes overtures to a neighboring power. At the point of his hosts' greatest confidence, he betrays them and transfers to a new country, where he begins the cycle anew. With each repetition, Achilles' host country is a larger and more powerful entity than the one he betrayed. Achilles uses this tactic time after time to become influential in Russia, Pakistan, India, and China.

He is rescued from the mental institution by Russian agents. While in Russia he arranges for all of the members of Ender's Jeesh to be kidnapped and set to work on making plans for Russia, except for Bean, whom he attempts to have murdered. The kidnapped children all sabotage the plans they are being forced to turn into Achilles. Of the nine kidnapped children he seems most interested in Petra. During their captivity Petra manages to slip a coded message into an avatar-like picture of a dragon. The message relays their location and is meant for Bean to find. When the children are rescued Achilles decides to take Petra with him.

After an exposé reveals his killing streak, Russia dumps him. He recruits India and persuades them to perform an all-out offensive on Burma; in doing so, the country is forced to create long supply lines which Bean (who is training soldiers in Thailand in an effort to stop him) constantly disrupts. This causes India to become overextended in Burma, exposing itself to China and rapidly depleting its munitions. India attempts to take over Thailand, only to fail. Achilles, meanwhile, allies himself to China, and leads that army to sweep over and conquer India.

At the same time, Achilles uses his power to attempt to kill Bean multiple times. He first attempts to kill him and his family at their vacation home in the beginning of the novel, and in a safehouse guarded by the Greek army at the middle of the novel (not knowing that Bean has already left). Near the end, he destroys another building, attempting this time to kill both Suriyawong and Bean. Bean, acting on an unconscious feeling of foreboding, once again gets out in time. However, Achilles is successful in another homicidal plan; he manages to kill Sister Carlotta, Bean's closest and dearest friend.

The novel ends with a showdown between the two arch rivals. Throughout the novel, Achilles has been holding Petra hostage, and attempts to use her as a shield which would force Bean to kill her in order to stop him. However, a Chinese officer, who is put in charge of bringing Achilles back to China, attempts to forge a temporary ceasefire with Bean, under the terms that they both fulfill their mission objectives. Thinking that there is no way Bean would hold his end of the bargain once he has Petra, Achilles attempts to kill the officer, only to be disarmed by him and knocked out by Bean, who does keep the terms and lets Achilles go.