In Death Ground

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In Death Ground is a 1997 military science fiction novel by David Weber and Steve White. The story is completed in the novel The Shiva Option.

The title is taken from a passage in Sun Tzu's The Art of War: "In difficult ground, press on; On hemmed-in ground, use subterfuge; In death ground, fight."

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The novel is set in a distant future. Following the accidental discovery of hyperspace travel via 'warp points', humanity has expanded throughout space, evolving into a Terran Federation consisting of Core Worlds like Earth and Alpha Centauri, Corporate Worlds like Galloway's Star, and Fringe Worlds colonized by small groups of like-minded people seeking to preserve ethnic or cultural identities from getting lost in cosmopolitan sameness. (Tensions exist between the three groups of worlds, and are explored in the sequel, although published before any in the series, novel "Insurrection".) Following a series of four interstellar wars with different species (warlike feline Orions and their centauroid Gorm associates, birdlike Ophiuchi, genocidal Rigelians, and a weird Theban Jihad explored in a prequel novel Crusade), humanity has experienced a seventy-year "vacation from history".

A survey squadron accidentally encounters a hive-like species referred to derisively as the 'Bugs' (inspired by the Arachnids in Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers). All attempts at communication fail, and the Bugs ambush the survey squadron, destroying many ships. Pursuing the survivors, the Bugs mount a massive invasion of Terran space. Monitoring satellites left behind convey that the Bugs regard other sentient life forms as food sources, and indeed prefer to eat their prey alive. Later it is revealed that the Bugs raise ranches of conquered species, dining off them at their leisure.

The alternative being "equal opportunity genocide", Terrans, Orions, Gorm, and Ophiuchi form a Grand Alliance, with Terrans and Orions as the senior members. The novel features long and very detailed space and land battle sequences, detailed discussions of tactical doctrine and the arms race between Alliance forces and the Bugs, along with the development of interpersonal relations between military people of different background or even species.

It is also important to note that the universe and novels are based on the Starfire wargame series, which David Weber helped to develop in the past. Starfire has existed in various editions since 1976.