The Shiva Option

2002 novel by David Weber and Steve White The Shiva Option, published by Baen Books, is the sequel to David Weber and Steve White's military science fiction novel In Death Ground. Plot summary The Grand Alliance of Terrans, Orions, Gorm and Ophiuchi has suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the Bugs during the Pesthouse Campaign. Many senior military commanders have been lost, along with the bulk of the Terran Federation pre-war fleet. The Bugs appear unstoppable and fight their way toward Federation space, reaching the key system of Alpha Centauri before they are narrowly repulsed. Now, with the war once more at a stalemate, the Grand Alliance must try to recover their losses and break the deadlock. Unable to communicate or negotiate with the Bugs, the Alliance realises that the war has become a fight for the survival of their respective species and invoke Directive 18, last used against the Rigelians, and embark upon a war of species extermination. Hope arrives when the Alliance infers that, due to differences in construction methods, they can be faced by no more than five Bug Home systems. They also postulate that the massive Bug fleets are, in fact, the result of years