Victory Conditions

Victory Conditions (2008) is the fifth naval SF novel in the Vatta's War series, following Command Decision. In the previous volume, Kylara Vatta and her Space Defense Force drove away pirates attacking two Mackensee Military Assistance Corporation ships in the Boxtop-zip-figaro-112 system. More MMAC ships were expected in twelve days, so the SDF stayed insystem to protect the surviving MMAC vessel. When an SDF technician repaired the ISC ansible in the system, the relay notified ISC headquarters. An ISC Enforcement taskforce was dispatched to apprehend the ship. They encountered the returning pirates and lost half their ships. In this novel, Ky is now Admiral Commanding of the SDF. All her surviving ships are gathered within the MMAC home system and have been resupplied by the mercenaries. She also has been notified that the Slotter Key privateers have been ordered to report to her at Cascadia Station. Before their departure to Cascadia, Ky holds a staff meeting with all her ship captains and the MMAC liaison. She asks Major Douglas to query the Mackensee linguists about the language used by the pirates. Ky also decides to ask cousin Stella to check on a retrofit Combat Control Center for the Vanguard. Rafe Dunbarger is now acting CEO of InterStellar Communications. The board is happy to have him in command, but they are unhappy with his relationship to Ky. The board thoroughly believes his father's delusion that the Vatta family is aiding the pirates. Rafe cannot convince them otherwise. Stella is acting CEO of Vatta Transport on Cascadia Station. She has a problem with Toby's attachment to Zori Lourri. Remembering her own crushes, she reassures Zori's family of the status of Toby and herself. Toby is asked over to the Lourri house for supper. Aunt Grace is now Rector of Defense for Slotter Key. She prepares the Slotter Key Spaceforce ships to join the Space Defense Force commanded by Ky. Despite her objections, MacRobert talked her out of going along with the Spaceforce fleet. Of course, MacRobert was onboard when they leave. In this story, Toby discovers that the secret language of the pirates is the same as the one that he has been learning from Zori. Stella tells him to not confide in Zori, but he refuses to distrust her. Toby avoids telling her about the pirates, but he does ask her some questions about the language in a roundabout way. Then the pirates abduct Toby. Zori notices the kidnappers wheeling Toby away from the O'Keefe Ice Cream Palace as she arrives for their meeting. She tries to chase the ambulance, but her security holds her back. Then they tell her that she is going home now. Zori evades her security and then hides under a table to avoid the shooting. Eventually, station security shows up and she tells her story. They finally release her into the custody of Stella. Ky and her staff decide that the pirates will need more and larger ships. After several interstellar calls, they learn that only

This has been a steady series that has shown good steady plot development, along with interesting characters that are not overly stereotyped. I always look forward to the next volume coming on line.

As usual, Ms. Moon renders a tight narrative that moves right along to a satisfying conclusion. Space opera at its best, with more subtlety than the usual "more ships, bigger lasers, one great leader."

Wraps up all of the story lines for Ky Vatta and her cousins - a wonderful read, ends on a great note!!

Another fine book from Elizabeth Moon, who brings military experience and knowledge and a bit of a civilian sensibility to her military sf. So what you get tends to have an air of realism and lacks the tone of military "good/civilian bad" that sometimes marks sf of this genre. The action scenes are great, the dialogue well done and the pacing rapid (sometimes too rapid - I would have preferred a bit more lead in to the final battle). This is clearly volume 5 of a 5 book series, so new readers beware! Start with book 1 - Trading in Danger - and get to this stirring finale and you will be well rewarded.