Book where the humans discover tachyon technology and use this against a race of liquid metal beings

Question

I unfortunately cannot remember the title or author of this book, but can summarize various plot points and details.

1. The principle motion technology is named "counter mass", a form of localized space warp used on everything from fighter jets, space torpedoes to larger ships.

2. One of the Earth nations (there are several) develops tachyon technology. This "tachyon drive" allows them to make journeys nearly anywhere instantly, compared to the days required for counter-mass transit between stars.

3. If I recall correctly, the ship is named the "Odyssey". I remember this because the replacement ship they build at the end of the book is powered by two black holes and is named the "Odysseus".

4. They teleport to another location in the galaxy and encounter a race of highly advanced humans that are nonetheless surprised at these strange abilities of the earthlings. The advanced race has extremely powerful shields, lasers and transit abilities using some kind alternate dimension. It still takes them a few weeks to cross the galaxy.

5. A race of liquid metal beings is awakened by the human activity. They invade Earth.

6. The Odyssey also features "t cannons" or tachyon cannons which teleport atomic bombs directly inside the ships of their enemies.

7. The Odyssey changes colors to reduce damage from enemy lasers.

8. The Odyssey is almost completely undetectable to enemy ships whose sensors are used to track captured suns and black holes. The Odyssey, meanwhile, uses mere fission and is thus overlooked.

9. At the end of the book, the metal aliens invade Earth but are repelled. The earthlings form an alliance with the advanced humans. The Odysseus is built. One character thinks to herself that the black hole seemed sapient, somehow.

Answer 1

This is Into the Black by Evan Currie. This novel mentions several of the technologies and events you've listed, but others don't happen until much later in the book series, so it's likely that you've actually read several of the books or a compendium.

All the ship’s Tachyon generation systems were being discharged, degaussed, and taken offline. Since that list included the FTL sensor systems, as well as the Transition drive, the net effect was to make the Odyssey blind, as well as lame.

...

The Counter-Mass system was the heart of the Odyssey’s sub-light propulsion systems, a series of generators along the keel of the massive ship that threw up an energy field around the entire vessel. The math involved gave Weston a headache, though he understood it enough to comprehend what was happening, as the fields began to charge.

_{^{Into the Black: Odyssey One (#1)}}

and

He took a breath. “In the spirit of a true alliance, we will build you ships as well. You may even have the first ship of our combined technology, Admiral. We…we could call it Odyssey, perhaps?”

Gracen had to force the shock down. She didn’t know any other way to do it though save to drag back up the admiral part of her she’d almost buried through the trauma of what had happened. She straightened in place, eyes flicking to the impossible scene on the screens that showed what lay beyond the ship.

“No, Admiral,” she said with a dry mouth. “I…we don’t need the voyage of destiny anymore…. We need the warrior king.”

She looked out on the planet beyond, thinking of all the destruction she’d just fled, and found that maybe hope wasn’t entirely dead.

“Call her…Odysseus.”

_{^{Homeworld: Odyssey One (#3)}}