Awn and One Esk Nineteen uncovered the plot, which the Lord realized presented a problem. Hoping to root out the traitor ancillaries, the Lord attempted to stage a bout of violence to determine how the other Lord ancillaries would respond. Some of the Lord’s ancillaries had taken on a reformist streak, which was unacceptable to the real Lord Radch. There, Awn and One Esk Nineteen uncovered a plot by the Lord Radch, who, like One Eask Nineteen, was split into numerous ancillaries to ensure a presence in all times and all places while avoiding assassination of her one true self. Breq, then known as the ancillary One Esk Nineteen, served as adjutant to Lieutenant Awn, who was tasked with keeping the postwar peace in the town of Ors. It is revealed that Breq, once both ancillary and AI system for the starship troop carrier Justice of Toren, was present during the last annexation and expansion of the Empire, of the planet Shis’urna. Breq explains to Strigan and to Vendaai that she wishes to assassinate the Lord of the Radch. With Vendaai in tow, Breq seeks out a doctor and collector of ancient artifacts named Strigan, whom she believes to possess a rare gun not accounted for by the Radchaai. Vendaai, reeling from the changes she experienced during the glory days of the Empire, has turned to drink and drugs. For example, Vendaai’s own noble family now no longer exists, while the Radchaai have entered into an embarrassing non-aggression treaty with the alien Presger Empire. Breq has quickly become a believer in human free will, even if she cannot understand why she does the things she does, sometimes.īreq learns that Vendaai has been frozen for 1,000 years, and on coming out of sleep, discovers how dramatically the Radchaai Empire has changed. Breq has a difficult time understanding why, because until 20 years ago, she had served the starship Justice of Toren as both part of its Artificial Intelligence system and an ancillary (a human with surgical implants to create a mindless slave soldier), where she had no free will to do such things.

Vendaai has been brutally beaten up, so Breq administers medical treatment and provides shelter.

There, she stumbles across a former ship officer named Seivarden Vendaai with whom she had briefly worked. When the novel opens, Breq has come to the wintry planet of Nilt. In this novel, a former ancillary who calls herself Breq is determined to assassinate the Lord Anaander Mianaai of the Radch Empire in revenge for killing her commander, Captain Awn, some 20 years before. NOTE: This study guide specifically refers to the Orbit/Hatchette Book Group First Edition, October 2013, of Ancillary Justice.Īncillary Justice is a science fiction novel, and the first part of the Imperial Radch Trilogy by Ann Leckie.

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