Ian Douglas
The Legacy Trilogy Books 1–3
Table of Contents
STAR CORPS
BOOK ONE OF THE LEGACY TRILOGY
IAN DOUGLAS
Table of Contents
EIGHT LIGHT YEARS FROM HOME
“All is quiet on the perimeter, Captain,” Aiken said. “Sounds like the Frogs’re pretty riled up in the ’ville, though. Do you think they’ll attack us?”
“It could happen,” Pearson replied. “The ambassador still hasn’t answered Geremelet’s ultimatum.”
“They’re not talking about … surrendering, are they?”
“Not that I’ve heard, Master Sergeant. Don’t worry, it won’t come to that.”
“Yeah. The Marines never surrender.”
“That’s what they say. Keep a sharp watch.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
Aiken turned and looked into the southern sky, where the first stars were beginning to appear. Eight light-years from home had not much altered the familiar constellations, though the dome of the sky was strangely canted against the cardinal directions. There was a bright star, however, in the otherwise dim and unremarkable constellation Scutum, not far from the white beacon of Fomalhaut.
Sol. Earth’s sun. As always, the sight of that star sent a shiver down Aiken’s spine. So far away, in both space and time.
Eight point three light-years. Help from home could not possibly arrive in time …
Prologue
12 MAY 2138
Firebase Frog
New Summer
Ishtar, Llalande 21185 IID
72:26 hours Local Time
Master Sergeant Gene Aiken leaned against the sandbag barricade and stared out across the Saimi-Id River. Smoke rose from a half-dozen buildings, staining the pale green of the early evening sky. Marduk, vast and swollen, aglow with deep-swirling bands and storms in orange-amber light, hung immense and sullen, as ever just above the western horizon. The gas giant’s slender crescent bowed up and away from the horizon where the red sun had just set; its night side glowed with