The Steel — S.M. Stirling; David Drake

For five years, the computer in Raj Whitehall's mind has been using him as its instrument to reunite the planet Bellvue as the first step in restoring technological civilization across the galaxy. A willing inMrument he was, for Raj was a loyal noble of the Civil Government of Holy Federation. Now, Raj's mission is to take on hordes of the Brigade and regain territories lost to the Civil Government for centuries.

Raj was used to difficulties. The paranoid suspicions of his governor, Barholm Clerett, and the corruption and treachery of the Civil Government's were familiar. But this time, the barbarians he had to conquer were showing a most un-barbaric talent for war -- and they outnumbered his men 30 to 1....

Civilization had been falling for a thousand years, since interstellar war isolated Bellvue from a universe in chaos. If Center's calculations were right, this was the last chance to reverse the fall. If Raj failed, the darkness could last fifteen thousand years....