Clone World recap

Financial need draws James McGill into a lethal rift mission against Rigel, where his sabotage destroys an orbital city and exposes Claver's infiltration of Earth. Legion Varus attacks Clone World, uncovers Winslade's treason, and destroys Claver's fortress, but the victory attracts both the Skay and Mogwa. Earth sides with the Mogwa, and human boarders destroy the final Skay. A delayed revival creates two McGills, so Galina Turov kills one and protects the survivor. Sateekas then forces Earth into battle with Rigel. McGill kills Sateekas during the torture of a copied Squanto, learns the secret of Rigel's armor-piercing rear line, and hides the killing with Primus Graves. McGill's cohort captures one of those cruisers, whose weapons help rout Rigel. Back on Earth, Drusus prepares a covert revival operation, while Claver X and Abigail warn McGill that an imperial civil war over machine intelligence is spreading toward Earth.

Previously: James McGill is a Legion Varus centurion and Etta's father. His long military career has left him tied to senior officers including Galina Turov, Drusus, and Primus Graves, as well as comrades such as Carlos, Sargon, Harris, Leeson, Natasha, and Della. Florimel works with advanced technology at Central, where Etta serves as her assistant. McGill has encountered Claver and the wider clone network before, while Earth remains subordinate to the Mogwa within a dangerous galactic order. Earlier campaigns also established the Skay as a machine-intelligence power and left McGill with connections to the mercenary Armel and the Mogwa commander Sateekas.

So far this book: Short of money while away from active service, James McGill accepts a hazardous contract at Central. Florimel's team has built an unstable rift that can place a person on Rigel but cannot bring the subject home. Revival is possible only if Central receives proof of death. After a violent first reconnaissance exposes the operation, McGill returns through the rift to sabotage the reactor of Rigel's orbital city. He finds Claver clones guarding it and Armel commanding human mercenaries there. McGill causes an irreversible containment failure, and Armel kills him in time for Central to revive him as the reactor goes critical and the city destabilizes. Before the second insertion, Claver also demonstrates that his agents operate on Earth by threatening Etta and arranging McGill's death. The mission has therefore shifted from covert reconnaissance into an open conflict involving Rigel, Claver, and compromised human security.

So far this book: Rigel offers peace in exchange for McGill's permanent death. When Deitch rejects McGill's report about Claver involvement, McGill shoots him, but the body proves to be a disguised Claver agent. An apparent Drusus is another impostor, showing that Earth's senior command has been penetrated while the real officials are missing. Earth responds to the proposed exchange by preparing an expedition against Claver's clone operation. Legion Varus departs aboard Leggett with a near-human formation. Armel has lost command of that allied legion, and Winslade unexpectedly takes the post. Carlos and Sargon suspect that his motives are concealed. McGill enters Winslade's restricted area under false pretenses, only for Winslade to mistake him for an operative sent by Claver. McGill has uncovered the edge of a conspiracy without yet knowing its membership or purpose, while the larger mission is already heading toward Claver's world.

So far this book: Winslade's alarm at references to Claver deepens McGill's suspicions, and near-human slavers attack him after he leaves the officer's area. Badly injured and worried that conspirators can alter his revival record, McGill persuades Evelyn Thompson to make a secret physical backup. His current data is then deleted, proving the danger was real. Revived from the backup but still injured, he leads a hard-vacuum exercise against Bubbles's cephalopods. Cooper and most of the unit fall in the fighting. Carlos sacrifices himself with an improvised explosive attack that kills Bubbles and breaks the opposing force, giving McGill's survivors the victory. Winslade then tries to arrest McGill, but Primus Graves produces evidence that Winslade has communicated with Earth's enemies. Galina Turov declares Winslade a traitor, Graves executes him, and McGill openly aligns with Turov against Claver. Winslade is removed, but the evidence suggests that the hostile network aboard Leggett is larger than one officer.

So far this book: Leggett's force learns that Claver has built an illegal clone army on the outer world targeted by the expedition. Galina Turov agrees with McGill that Claver probably expects their arrival and that hidden defectors remain aboard. She approaches the system in radio silence and uses a false raid plan as a leak test. Saboteurs led by the revived Bubbles breach Leggett's hull, and a large force of Claver combat clones surrounds the troops sent outside to stop them. McGill disobeys orders to hold the breach and instead leads a counterattack with gunfire and gravity weapons. The combined action kills or disperses much of the clone force and drives the remainder away, though Leeson dies in the battle. The attack confirms both internal sabotage and Claver's ability to place a substantial army against Leggett before the ship reaches the planet. The transport survives the first assault, but its mission has become an urgent battle against enemies inside and outside the hull.

So far this book: Claver fighters attack Leggett, and technical clones teleport aboard to disable its fire-control room. McGill retakes the compartment in time for the ship to launch a second barrage. Galina Turov then sends him with a commando raid against Claver's headquarters. He arrives in an ambush, helps the survivors escape, and dies alone while covering their withdrawal. Claver revives him inside the fortress and prepares to transfer him to Squanto. Toro, a former Legion Varus adjunct now directing special operations for Claver, reveals that she helped command the attack on Leggett. McGill pressures her over her own vulnerability, and she secretly stops the transfer. Toro arms him, lets him kill the guards, and asks him to shoot her so her later revival will not expose her betrayal. McGill escapes through a gateway and emerges beneath Central City, proving that Claver has a hidden route into Earth's capital. Mortally wounded, he reaches transmission range and uploads his record before dying, allowing Earth to revive him with the discovery intact.

So far this book: Revived at Central, McGill conceals Toro's role but gives Drusus enough supported information to return to the campaign. Galina Turov orders Leggett to warp into low orbit, destroy Clone World's anti-space batteries, and deploy Legion Varus before the defenses can answer. The ground force lands in radioactive terrain and penetrates an inner dome that blocks outside support and communications. Sargon destroys a concealed turret, while McGill's unit relieves Manfred's soldiers and captures Lisa, a former Legion Germanica centurion commanding Claver troops. Lisa explains that Claver replaces missing officers with cloned continuations and says his alliance includes Rigel and the Skay. Turov accepts that warning but presses the attack before the machine intelligences can arrive. With no safe way to carry a prisoner, McGill kills Lisa. During the fortress approach, Della dies destroying the center of three turrets, allowing Sargon's team to eliminate the others. Varus reaches the fortress and begins a direct assault under heavy defensive fire, with no reliable reconnaissance or external support.

So far this book: Legion Varus breaches Claver's fortress and destroys its remaining defenders, but most gateways have already been ruined and senior enemies have escaped. Claver X, a dissident who is searching for Abigail, surrenders and takes McGill through the last working portal. On Dark World, McGill sees a rebuilt shipyard capable of producing warships for Rigel. Claver X says he opposes his brothers' attempt to dominate humanity and asks McGill to pass the intelligence to Earth. Back at Clone World, long-range sensors detect Skay and Mogwa forces converging on the system. Drusus chooses to remain and gathers Earth's fleet rather than let the destruction of the clone base lead the Skay back to Earth. The arriving Skay leader demands an explanation, and McGill persuades it that Earth acted in its interest. Rigel then approaches in support of the Skay. Drusus commits humanity to the Mogwa side, and Galina Turov orders McGill's cohort to teleport into the smallest Skay as its hull opens. Earth has escaped immediate punishment only by entering a much larger battle.

So far this book: McGill's cohort boards the smallest Skay with timed teleport charges intended to guarantee death and revival. Natasha disables those timers, accepting the risk that delayed memory transfers could create duplicate soldiers, and scatters scouts in search of a critical target. McGill enters a vast internal structure while Skay defenders pursue him. Sateekas reports that two Skay have been destroyed but the final sphere has defeated most of the Mogwa fleet. McGill refuses orders to stop, reaches a central shaft, and dies without retaining the final moments. He revives aboard Drusus's flagship with his memories delayed through the Skay network. Another McGill has already been revived from the earlier record, leaving two living versions of the same man. The internal attack nevertheless destroyed the last Skay, while Leggett and much of the allied force were lost. Galina Turov kills one duplicate and directs the survivor to claim the status of the original. Sateekas then boards, accepts McGill's explanation of Earth's conduct, commandeers the surviving human fleet, and orders it to meet the approaching Rigelian force.

So far this book: Squanto reveals that Earth previously sent Rigel a copy of McGill rather than permanently surrendering the original, ending the truce. Sateekas removes Drusus and briefly puts McGill in command against a much larger Rigelian fleet. McGill prepares mass boarding attacks using missile bursts to lower enemy shields. Sateekas then commandeers Earth's revival systems and produces a backdated copy of Squanto for interrogation. When the Mogwa begins torturing the prisoner, McGill disables the live transmission and kills Sateekas. He deceives the copied Squanto into believing Rigel has already lost, learning that the rear formation carries weapons able to penetrate collapsed stardust armor. McGill then kills the copy and stages the scene to blame him for Sateekas's death. Primus Graves removes McGill from fleet command but agrees to revive Sateekas and support the false account. Drusus resumes command and assigns McGill's cohort to board the dangerous rear line once Earth's barrage creates an opening.

So far this book: McGill's cohort teleports aboard a rear-line Rigelian cruiser and captures it after costly close fighting. Leeson dies taking engineering, Erin Barton dies clearing the cargo spaces, and about half the unit is lost. Natasha establishes control and contacts Galina Turov before human missiles can destroy the prize. As Drusus's flagship fails, its surviving command staff transfers to the captured ship. Natasha and the technicians turn the cruiser's armor-piercing guns against Rigel from behind, breaking the enemy formation and forcing its surviving fleet into retreat. Earth returns home after a victory that has destroyed much of its own new fleet. The revived Sateekas, stripped of command, accepts McGill's fabricated explanation of his death. Florimel and Etta begin studying the captured weapons. Drusus plans to revive an earlier Winslade copy and watch him secretly for intelligence, while McGill asks Galina Turov to consider reviving Lisa from her saved scan. McGill is demobilized in Georgia, where Claver X and Abigail warn him that conflict over machine intelligence and imperial succession has become a wider civil war. He agrees to take them to Drusus.

Earth returns from the battles with the local Skay destroyed and Rigel driven away, but both victories are costly. Galina Turov resolves the duplicate crisis by killing one James McGill and presenting the survivor as the original. McGill later kills Sateekas to stop the torture of a copied Squanto, and Primus Graves helps conceal the act. The revived Sateekas accepts their false account and loses his fleet command. Drusus retains command, while the captured Rigelian cruiser gives Earth access to armor-piercing weapons. Etta and Florimel begin studying that technology. Drusus also plans to revive a backdated Winslade and monitor him for intelligence, while McGill asks that Lisa's saved scan receive another chance. McGill is demobilized in Georgia. Claver X arrives there with Abigail and warns that disagreement over machine intelligence and imperial succession has widened into civil war. McGill agrees to bring them to Drusus, leaving Earth with new technology and a brief respite but exposed to a larger conflict.