The Shiva Option
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The Shiva Option (Baen Books, ISBN 0-671-31848-9) is the sequel to David Weber and Steve White's military science fiction novel In Death Ground.
[edit] Plot summary
The Grand Alliance suffers a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the Bugs during the Pesthouse Campaign. Several senior military commanders are lost, along with the bulk of the prewar fleet. The Bugs appear to be unstoppable, and manage to get as far as Alpha Centauri before being narrowly repulsed. The Allies manage to recover, and gradually take the initiative from the Bugs, forcing them onto the defensive.
As the Allies are unable to communicate with the Bugs (due to the Bugs being telepathic), along with their very nature, negotiation is impossible. And so the Allies invoke Directive 18, last used against the Rigelians, and embark upon a war of species extermination.
Directive 18 entails launching massive strikes using antimatter missiles against a planet's surface in order to sterilize it. This is especially effective against the Bugs due to their telepathic nature. The sudden, simultaneous loss of millions of their own kind temporarily incapacitates them.
