With the planet's fighting men and women deployed across the galaxy-battling in the noble cause of enslaved humanity-the insidious Xul have reached across space to devastate the unsuspecting Earth with asteroid fire. Without warning, a once majestic world is reduced to near-rubble-and the very future of humankind is in dire jeopardy. Interplanetary leaders are on the brink of abandoning Earth and its colonies to an overwhelming enemy. But Brigadier...

The United Star Marines, who have operated unnoticed for years after the mighty Xul nearly destroyed Earth, journey to the farthest reaches of the galaxy to destroy the tyrants who dominate the universe.

Thirty-eight years after first contact, Lord Commander Grayson St. Clair leads the Tellus Ad Astra on an unprecedented expedition to the Galactic Core, carrying more than a million scientists, diplomats, soldiers, and AIs. Despite his reservations about their alien hosts, St. Clair is deeply committed to his people, especially after they're sucked into a black hole and spat out four billion years in the future.