Eternity's Mind by Kevin J. Anderson

wished to wipe out all intelligent life, and they weren’t the sort of enemy King Peter and Queen Estarra could negotiate with.
    That meant this war against the Shana Rei and their black robots was going to be a balls-out fight, and it wouldn’t be over until either the enemies were defeated, or the human race was extinct. General Keah preferred the former outcome.
    As the strike force returned to the LOC, the comm filled with a flurry of transmissions, including a long list of “urgent administrative matters,” which General Keah ignored. Rakkem was horrific, but she had enjoyed being away from the paperwork, at least for a little while.
    â€œI’m glad to have the Okrun back home, General,” said Admiral Haroun, “but I admit, it felt good to be doing something active and important.”
    Keah felt a warm glow to hear him say that. Haroun was one of her three lead admirals, all of whom had been promoted for bureaucratic reasons during the decades of peace after the Elemental War. She would have preferred that officers be promoted because they demonstrated spectacular prowess on the battlefield—as she herself had done early in her career. Twenty years of peace had been a wonderful respite for the human race, but calm stability was not conducive to producing seasoned commanding officers.
    Haroun, along with his colleagues Admirals Handies and Harvard, were collectively called “the Three H’s.” The emerging threat of the Shana Rei and the need for aggressive defenses had forced those three to step up to the plate, but General Keah wasn’t sure they had it in them. At least Haroun had performed well during the recent Rakkem crackdown. Now if only she could see the same improvement in Handies and Harvard …
    The returning Mantas separated to their assigned positions in the Lunar Orbital Complex, while the Okrun cruised to the headquarters spacedocks, where Keah saw a sight that gladdened her heart. She smiled to Haroun and said, “I like your Juggernaut just fine, Admiral, but I prefer mine.”
    Her flagship, the Kutuzov, hung there with running lights aglow. A bright patchwork of new repairs across its hull bore witness to the damage inflicted by the Shana Rei and the bugbots. The stardrive engines were new, the destroyed decks now restored. The Kutuzov looked absolutely beautiful. “Now that’s what I like to see.”
    On the comm screen, jowly Admiral Harvard smiled at her. “Welcome back, General. You’ve noticed the surprise we have for you?”
    â€œIt’s a pleasant surprise indeed. I wasn’t expecting the Kutuzov to be finished for another week.”
    Harvard nodded. “We completed all inspections, but someone needs to take the flagship out on a shakedown cruise. We thought you might like to do it yourself.”
    â€œAbsolutely.” Keah was anxious to be back on her own bridge. “I’ll come to LOC headquarters for a briefing—and the operative part is brief. What else has fallen apart in the Spiral Arm while I was gone?”
    â€œThere have been many disturbing reports, General,” said Harvard. “Please keep your schedule clear. I’ll set up a succession of briefings.”
    Keah frowned. “Brief, Admiral. Brief. ” The Three H’s seemed to think meetings could solve everything.
    *   *   *
    Despite her reservations about sitting in a room and talking, General Keah found the briefings informative and necessary. With reports of all the shadow cloud sightings and bugbot encounters, she could dispatch her ships—preferably loaded to the gills with enhanced sun bombs.
    Admiral Handies presented his preliminary report with so much excitement she expected him to announce a substantial victory over the Shana Rei. Instead, he summarized the progress of ship repair and presented the dispersal of currently deployed CDF Mantas and Juggernauts, as well as full budgetary