In Death Ground
Starfire #3

David Weber and Steve White

Riverdale: Baen, 1997. ISBN: 0-671-87779-8. Pp. 632

Review © 2006 Branislav L. Slantchev

This third (but chronologically second) entry in the Startfire universe follows Crusade and the events take place about sixty years after the Theban War described there. By far the best of the three books in this series I have read thus far, In Death Ground has humanity face yet another murderous species in a war of extermination, and this time it's going to be a close thing. For fans of military space action, this book is a real gem. It is fast-paced, a breath-taking and attention-absorbing litany of assaults, counter-attacks, mayhem, and interstellar chases, with heavy dollops of intriguing battle tactics based on the hardware the authors have invented with an astonishing precision. If you ever wondered about the mechanics of assaulting or defending a warp point or the strategic implications of closed points, this is the book for you. If you have not, then you are weird.

A Terran survey ship wanders into what appears to be an empty system through a previously unexplored warp point. They proceed into another nexus in that system only to emerge into a system bustling with activity... and be attacked immediately upon arrival. The ship's initial entry was through what turns out to have been a closed warp point, and so its transit reveals the road to humanity to the new alien species. These are evil mothers. They do not communicate, they do not attempt anything but mind-numbing mass attacks with technology almost as advanced as ours. And they throw away their crews and ships with reckless abandon that would make any Russian tsar seem a bleeding-heart modern Western peacenik. The carnage they wreak in the conquered systems is terrible for the aliens regard humans as source of protein, and eat them by the millions.

They push, and we fall back. They push again, and we fall back, on the run, fighting desperate delaying action, attempting to evacuate civilians but leaving many, far too many, to become Bug fodder. For it turns out that the aliens are Arachnids, doubtless in a nod to Heinlein, but perhaps also in a silent homage to the 1950s sci-fi films that banked not just on the insects' inherently revolting appearance but also on the implicit suggestion that there would be no hope of communication between our species. The first half of the book is essentially devoted to Vanessa Murakuma retreating from systems in the Romulus Cluster, then staging audacious and nearly suicidal counter-attacks to relieve some of the abandoned populace. It is a story of fighting and discovery as we, the readers, accumulate more information on the inscrutable enemy as the Terrans do.

This time, the Terrans will not stand alone. They activate their alliance with the Khanate of Orion, the Ophiuchi, and the Gorm, and the allies respond with alacrity borne out of the evident threat the the Bugs represent to them as well. In fact, the Arachnids break into the Orion Kliean system and wreak astonishing destruction, murdering Tabbies by the millions. Halting this advance at Alowhan involves two creatures who will figure very prominently in all subsequent events: the Orion Zhaarnak'diaano and the human Raymond Prescott. The bigoted Orion who finds himself having to accept Terran reinforcements, and the diplomatic and intensely brave human who has studied enough of Tabby culture (and who can speak the Tongue of Tongues) who will inevitably turn the other around. By the time the manage the defense and then execute a brilliant counter-strike into Telmasa, the two will become vilkshatha brothers, only the second pair in existence. The study of inter-species mutual admiration is fascinating, even if utterly predictable. (Why can't there ever be an encounter that justifies a bigot's prejudice? After all, stereotypes are usually based on something.)

As Humanity recovers from the initial shock, a bit of a good news comes in with the discovery of a closed war point leading into what appears to be one of the Bugs' core worlds. But an offensive from Zephrain would have to wait for the sequel: the Bugs enter the Alpha Centauri system through a closed war point, and since this nexus leads directly to the Solar system, and thus represents the original home's sole link to the rest of the universe, the Alliance throws everything there. They push out the Bugs, then chase them across four systems into Anderson Five where they intend to finish what they dub Operation Pesthouse. In the course of this campaign, humans discover the horrifying fate awaiting any world conquered by the Bugs, a fate war worse than being eaten upon defeat. The planet Harnah reveals an indigenous sentient population that once ruled that world in a relatively advanced technological stage but that is now raised as cattle by the Bugs. Food that knows it is going to be eaten. This hardens the Alliance's resolve to execute Directive 18, which calls for the extermination of the entire alien species.

But as Ivan Antonov, the irascible foul-mouthed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Russian extraction presses with the attack, it turns out that the Bugs have set up an elaborate, and rather incredible from our perspective, trap which produces the worst disaster yet in Fleet history. Although the brave and decisive actions of another hero of the Theban war, Marshal Hannah Avram, and the ubiquitous Prescott that even half of the task force manages to extricate itself and escape complete destruction, but not without two additional grievous losses in the process. Despite all the warnings of intelligence officer Marcus LeBlanc, the Terrans are often surprised by the Arachnids' ability to innovate and put new weapons systems into production with astonishing speed. But at least when the latest surprise arrives in the form of the dreadful huge monitor ships that outmass superdreadnoughts by a factor of two, the humans achieve a temporary stalemate by halting an offensive into Alpha Centauri. The liberation of Harnah would have to wait the construction of a whole new fleet.

The narrative is occasionally interspersed with brief glimpses into the other side's perspective which may not reveal a whole lot (that's by design) but at least gives a vaguely sinister feeling to each encounter, and also serves as an effective way to introduce unspecified forebodings as it ominously mentions some new development, either in weapons systems or fleet dispositions, on the enemy side. It is actually a fairly welcome break in the relentlessly one-sided account (it is exclusively from the Terran side, very little from the Orion, and none from the Ophiuchi or Gorm). Despite the rare obligatory stab at venal politicians, the sneering at the peacetime useful idiots is kept to a minimum. There is one manipulative anti-military bitch that shows up but she is summarily dealt with as a pizhda by Antonov. There is not much in terms of strategizing either, the war is mostly a slug-fest that is as graceless in its totality as the individual engagements are orgiastic in their convulsions of destruction.

In Death Ground is a solid piece of military science fiction and I cannot wait for the sequel. After all, I just have to know what will happen to the hapless Survey Flotilla 19 currently fighting on the run from pursuing Bugs from one previously unexplored system to the next. And it will be interesting to see whether Ellen MacGregor is going to be a worthy successor to Antonov, or whether Kthaara would be able to avenge the death of his vilkshatha brother as the new head of the Joint Chiefs... or whether Prescott's and Zhaarnak's unbelievable luck will continue to hold. Off now to the bookstore to buy The Shiva Option.

August 10, 2006