War's Edge

In the 35th century, mankind has colonized vast reaches of space, yet war remains constant as galactic governments and interstellar corporations fight for control of resource-rich planets and lucrative interstellar trade routes. And if centuries of war has taught man one thing, it's that planets are valuable and lives are cheap.

On its heels after the disastrous Battle of Verdant, the United Systems Alliance is taken completely by surprise when the Galactic Union launches an all-out surprise offensive that captures planet after planet. Fear and panic spread like an oxygen fire as the Union invasion fleet makes a dash for the Alliance core worlds. Sergeant Mark Rizer and the Marines and sailors of Sixth Fleet are lightyears from the front, still licking their wounds after the bitter defeat on Verdant. But there is no time to rest.

Devastated early in the war, the United Systems Alliance has retaken several key systems lost to the Galactic Union. But getting even isn’t good enough for General Hella. Determined to end the costly war and destroy the Union, Hella launches a daring offensive against the planet Kuut, a key military base deep in Union space. At the tip of the spear, Lieutenant Mark Rizer and the Marines of Orcus Company find themselves in the mud and blood of a planetary ground invasion.

To annihilate the Galactic Union threat once and for all, Alliance Intelligence Director Aaron Hella needs the world-destroying firepower of the Ra weapons. Aligned with a sinister cabal of synthetic humans, he dispatches his most trusted operative—his own daughter—to steal two Ra warheads from a top-secret facility in the Planetary Federation. But the synths have other plans for the Ra weapons. To Hella's alarm, they fall into the hands of General Umez, a radical nationalist who launched a revolt against Alliance rule in the Tellus System.