Star Marines

Star Marines
Ian Douglas

The ultimate battle is about to be waged in a war that will alter the universe forever . . .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 General Garroway of the Marine Interstellar Expeditionary Unit is unwilling to concede defeat—not as long as there's a single marine willing to give his or her life in defense of their embattled homeworld.

For Brea,who saw me through the worst of times

Table of Contents

Title Page (#u99dfce2b-62b3-5255-bdbe-5d42e2c353f2)

Dedication (#u78db2f28-e1a9-5319-9bd2-99fb11236348)

“They’ve Found the Intruder, Sir.” (#u47d1a13e-d05b-5bd1-99dc-75aafeb2f71e)

Prologue (#u1ce86345-cb3f-5191-97c3-9a7b18e277cf)

Chapter 1 (#u97a53c94-47df-5849-b5e4-08379103d996)

Chapter 2 (#u3ae1a10d-21cd-59a1-bc3d-ea70e5bc7c94)

Chapter 3 (#uc8e7bae1-70d5-511a-9024-dc864d3a33f1)

Chapter 4 (#u45deea5b-ca94-5385-8f44-7ee860ff880d)

Chapter 5 (#u4397bb19-455c-5f43-8998-5f901041058d)

Chapter 6 (#u0e0d6bec-340f-56dc-b634-fc1ca514c7da)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)

Interlude (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 21 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 22 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 23 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 24 (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Books in the Legacy Trilogy by Ian Douglas (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

“They’ve found the intruder, sir.”

“Let me see.”

A three-dimensional schematic opened in a new mental window. The intruder’s course was clearly marked, as were the last known positions of the monitor Prometheus and the patrol frigate Rasmusson, several High Guard drones, and Mars. A tiny white star had detached from the crimson star marking the intruder. “What’s that?”

Data unfolded in columns down the right side of the window. “Mass analyses suggests it’s a small asteroid, sir,” Bettisly told him. “About one kilometer across … mass approximately two billion tons. The intruder seems to have nudged it onto a new vector.”

Garroway studied the data with growing horror. “Two thousand kilometers per second?”

“Yes sir.”

“That’s a hell of a nudge.” A cold thought gripped his heart. “Where’s it going? What’s the target?”

The schematic shrank in the window, showing more of the orbit of Mars … and then of Earth. A yellow line projected itself along the rock’s projected path, which passed just in front of Earth’s current position. The white star tracked down the slightly curving line as Earth moved forward …

“Great Father in Heaven …”

Prologue

They were called the Hunters of the Dawn.

Their own name for themselves did not translate well into the languages of lesser beings. It might have been rendered, very approximately, as “the Sentient Ones,” or even, more approximately, as “Living Ones,” or simply as “We Who Are.”

All who were not We Who Are were lesser life forms, scarcely worthy of notice save when they became threats. When that happened, they became prey.