Originally published at The Hope Station Universe by R. A. Michaels. Please leave any comments there.
On a recommendation from a friend of mine who likes to read alternate histories as much as I do, I picked up the first of John Birmingham’s Axis of Time trilogy, Weapons of Choice.
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In the year 2021, the American-led Multinational Force flies the four-star flag of Admiral Kolhammer aboard the Bush-class carrier USS Hillary Clinton. Within formation are over a dozen other support surface vessels and submarines, and a research vessel conducting experiments in quantum singularities. When the experiment goes awry, it sends the modern fleet seventy-nine years into the past, just before the Battle of Midway during World War II in 1942. Upon entering the past, the computer-linked Combat Intelligence seeks and receives full combat autonomy. When the Japanese Defense Ship Suranai is attacked by the WW2-era United States Navy, the CI returns fire… and decimates the Midway-bound fleet. By the time the people aboard the future ships regain consciousness enough to regain control, it’s too late. Thousands are dead and Midway’s immediate future is in jeopardy. History has changed irrevocably, and now Kolhammer and his officers must face the hard reality of being forever stuck in the past with eighty years of advanced technology at their disposal. It’s clear that their arrival gives the Allies a significant advantage over the Axis.
Or does it?
