Crucible of gold

Captain Will Laurence and his fighting dragon Temeraire have been put out to pasture in Australia, and it seems their part in the war has come to an end, but then they receive an offer to reinstate Laurence to his former rank and seniority as a captain in the Aerial Corps, but he is by no means sanguine, knowing from experience that personal honor and duty to one's country do not always run on parallel tracks.