The Stars at War II

TWO NOVELS IN THE NEW YORK TIMES
BEST-SELLING SERIES IN ONE VOLUME—
INCLUDING THE FIRST COMPLETE AND UNCUT
PUBLICATION OF THE NOVEL INSURRECTION

The Shiva Option:

The war wasn't going well. The alien Arachnids were an enemy whose like no civilized race had ever confronted, overrunning planet after planet. The “Bugs” regarded any sentient species as a handy protein source. Defeat was not an option. The Grand Alliance of Humans and other races has been driven to the wall. Whatever they do, the Bugs just keep coming.

Reluctantly, they now must reactivate General Directive 18, however horrible it may be. Because when the only possible outcomes are victory or racial extermination, only one option is acceptable: The Shiva Option.

Insurrection:

And peace isn't always wonderful. Once the enemy was defeated, the central governments of the Inner Worlds were anything but willing to relinquish their wartime powers. To insure that their grip on the reins of power remained firm, the establishment plans to allow the non-human beings of the Khanate to join the Federation, thus reducing the Fringe Worlds voting bloc to impotent minority status.

The ruthless bureaucrats of the Corporate Worlds are smugly confident that this power play will keep the colonial upstarts in their place. But the Fringers have only one answer to that: Insurrection

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

David Weber is the author of the New York Times best-selling Honor Harrington series, and is often compared to C.S. Forester (the celebrated creator of Captain Horatio Hornblower). His novels range from epic fantasy (Oath of Swords, The War God' s Own, Wind Rider's Oath) to breathtaking space opera (Path of the Fury, Empire from the Ashes) to military science fiction with in-depth characterization (the bestselling Honor Harrington series, War of Honor being the latest, and the popular Starfire series written in collaboration with Steve White). He lives in South Carolina with his wife Sharon and their three children.

Steve White was an officer in Naval Intelligence, and served in the Mediterranean and the Vietnam War Zone. In addition to the Starfire series written in collaboration with David Weber, he has written several popular science fiction adventure novels for Baen. They include the trilogy comprising The Disinherited, Legacy and Debt of Ages, which combine fast-paced space opera with Arthurian mythology. He has also written the galaxy-spanning adventure Prince of Sunset, and its sequel Emperor of Dawn. His latest is Eagle Against the Stars. He currently works for a legal publishing company in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is married and has three daughters.

Cover painting by David Mattingly
Maps by Randy Asplund
Cover design by Carol Russo Design

Hardcover

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, July 2005

Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Weber, David, 1952-
The stars at war II / David Weber & Steve White.
p. cm.
"A Baen Books Original"—T.p. verso.
ISBN 0-7434-9912-3
1. Life on other planets—Fiction. 2. Space warfare—Fiction. I. White, Steve, 1946- II. Title.
PS3573.E217S73 2005
813'.54—dc22
2005011260

Production & design by Windhaven Press (www.windhaven.com)
Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-0-7434-9912-5
ISBN-10: 0-7434-9912-3

The Shiva Option copyright © 2002 by David Weber & Steve White; an earlier version of Insurrection copyright © 1990 by David Weber & Steve White; the -revised and expanded version in this volume is copyright © 2005 by David Weber & Steve White.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

A Baen Books Original
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Riverdale, NY 10471
http://www.baen.com

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