Weapons of Choice (book)

Weapons of Choice is the first novel of the Axis of Time alternative history trilogy, written by Australian author John Birmingham.

The book starts in 2021 off East Timor, as a US-led multinational taskforce, commanded by Admiral Phillip Kolhammer, prepares to liberate the Indonesian islands from an Islamic government calling itself the Caliphate, which is slaughtering the Chinese nationals living there. In the book's backstory, the Chinese government was planning to send a task force but was warned by the American government not to do so. The flagship of the task force is the aircraft carrier USS Hillary Clinton, named after "the most uncompromising wartime president in the history of the United States". The task force is made up mainly of American and British units alongside French, Australian, Japanese, and Free Indonesians, along with a few other units like Spetsnaz from Russia and Kommando Spezialkräfte from Germany. Alongside the navy task force is the JRV Nagoya, a scientific ship that is experimenting with wormholes; the navy ship protecting it is ordered to join the task force. A new ship from the Royal New Zealand Navy is sent as escort, but prior to its arrival, Nagoya's project director, Manning Pope, decides to make a trial run. The task force is constantly watched by a Caliphate spy on the mainland.