Author: Mike Shepherd
Series: Kris Longknife (Book 9)
Publication: Ace; Reissue edition (October 25, 2011)
Description: Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife leads a reconnaissance mission of the vast uncharted regions of space. No one, least of all Kris, expects to find a hostile alien starship. Now, she must determine the extent of the alien threat-and whether to start an interstellar war...
My Thoughts: This time Kris might have bitten off more than she can chew. Her plan to take a group of scouts into the unknown to look for the aliens who are eating Iteeche ships, is "improved' by the addition of battleships from Greenfeld, Musashi, and Helvetica - all commanded by Admirals. And Wardhaven has sent a new secret weapon of immense power with her too.
They discover a planetary system where the unknown invaders have killed the population and strip mined the planet of everything including the air. That made them all a bit more cautious, but when they sent survey ships through one jump, they found a mothership the size of a rather large moon and thousands of ships attached bigger than even their battleships.
When they try to get around them to work their way home, they discover another settled alien planet that is in the path of the invaders. Kris proposes reversing by one jump and trying to ambush the invaders as they jump through. This plan has quite a bit of opposition from the Greenfeld delegation who favor running for home and letting the innocent alien planet fend for itself. Kris convinces them that they shouldn't do that, but the battle causes very large losses among the human fleet, and leaves Kris and just a few of her ships running for home chased by invaders.
When Kris does make it home after a harrowing voyage and with many more losses, she finds that she has been convicted in absentia of crimes against humanity. But King Ray and his advisors want to put off any thoughts of a new war until they have more time to win over the people and build up resources.
When the story ends, Kris is being sent off planet again to get her out of the way.
Favorite Quote:
"We are going out there to see, identify, and run back. You remember that old saying. 'I came, I saw, I conquered.' Forget it. Our goal is, We came, we saw, we ran like hell away."I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.
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