Dark World recap

James McGill joins Legion Varus in a covert attempt to seize an alien-built orbital factory near Dark World. Rivalry between Galina Turov and Tribune Deitch turns the occupation into a two-legion disaster. McGill exposes hidden losses, brings reinforcements, severs the enemy link, and helps make captured troops eligible for revival through bombardment. After Varus kills a hive queen, an enemy fleet takes the factory. McGill secures an escape route, destroys the captured installation, defeats the resulting charge, and regains centurion rank. Florimel then verifies that The Eaters of Lotus contains a spore formula lethal to the Magwa. Claver obtains the book, apparently through Etta, and his clone network survives McGill killing one body. Etta leaves for Dust World. McGill conceals her role from Galina Turov, who wants the book recovered and its secrets destroyed. Drusus demotes Tribune Deitch to permanent guard duty on Machine World.

Previously: James McGill is a veteran officer of Legion Varus in an Earth military that uses revival technology to return many dead soldiers to service. His history ties him personally and professionally to Galina Turov, Evelyn Thompson, and other long-serving members of the legion. Drusus is a senior strategist and political patron, while Galina Turov and Tribune Deitch occupy competing positions in the command structure. Claver remains associated with covert operations and unresolved danger.

So far this book: Drusus concludes that Earth needs a hidden industrial base near Blood World and rearranges the leadership of Legion Varus for a covert mission. Galina Turov takes command at the cost of her imperator rank, while Deitch is promoted away from the legion. Turov responds by demoting McGill and Winslade and restoring Evelyn Thompson to centurion. An attempted military-police arrest leaves Turov, McGill, and Winslade briefly detained, but the coming deployment prevents the case from proceeding. Evelyn secretly gives McGill The Eaters of Lotus, a book believed destroyed in an earlier bombing. He brings it to Florimel, a former lover who has studied it. A saurian intruder kills Florimel and McGill before McGill kills him in return. After revival, McGill conceals the book and bargains with Evelyn over Florimel's revival. Drusus then reveals the legion's objective: seize and repair a neglected cephalopod-built orbital factory in disputed space, using a false destination and Machine World as cover. Everyone briefed is bound to secrecy under threat of permanent death.

Legion Varus departs after McGill prevents Etta from enlisting under forged records. Mission security leads to arrests, including Adjunct Toro. McGill selects the aggressive recruit Cooper after a lethal zero-gravity test, then receives command of a light platoon when Varus adds a large contingent of alien troops. The Blood World heavy infantry fight in littermate groups and can become uncontrollably violent when one of their own dies. Repeated exercises improve their discipline, but their large bodies require a single specialized revival machine. The announced destination proves to be a counterintelligence deception. Turov reveals that Varus will assault an active orbital factory near 191 Erydney, with little intelligence and poor preparation for the conditions. When McGill raises the revival bottleneck, she explains that fallen heavy troops will usually be left permanently dead and replaced through a gateway. Their training is being copied remotely to the replacements. McGill objects to treating allied soldiers as disposable, while his fraught relationship with Turov remains entangled with Winslade's harassment allegations against her.

Varus launches its assault on the orbital factory and suffers severe losses during the capsule drop. With Winslade and Leeson temporarily dead, Primus Graves gives McGill command of a depleted mixed force. Natasha decodes station markings, while she and Carlos trace a strange signal to a detention cell containing unidentified human remains. The mystery is interrupted when cloaked insectile troops attack the station. McGill's force helps clear the first assault from the hull, but a long-range beam forces the defenders inside. Winslade, Harris, and Leeson return through revival, and Leeson attributes their fatal landing to Winslade's pursuit of glory. A larger enemy attack then drives Varus from the exterior and into the factory's inner defenses. The officers believe the position cannot be held without aid, but Turov delays requesting it because failure would damage her career. Winslade sends McGill toward her with a spy drone intended to collect compromising evidence. McGill instead gives the drone to Turov and urges her to seek reinforcements. She only promises to consider it. Meanwhile, enemy drilling signals an imminent breach into the occupied decks.

A synchronized breach overwhelms Varus's outer positions. McGill escapes with a small group but refuses to destroy the orbital tether because Earth still needs the factory. After arranging his own return through revival, he secretly leaves the campaign and reports directly to Drusus that Turov has concealed the scale of the losses. Drusus sends Tribune Deitch and the Iron Eagles as reinforcements, then kills McGill to preserve a cover story for the unauthorized visit. Deitch assumes command of both legions and sidelines Turov. Her first counterattack sends the inexperienced Iron Eagles into an ambush that leaves only a small remnant. Varus attacks before the defenders can fully reorganize, aided by reinforcements that McGill persuades Turov to release. The advance reaches the hull, where enemy forces continue arriving from Dark World along an umbilical link. McGill leads a near-suicidal assault to sever it. Despite Deitch's threats and shipboard fire, he cuts into the structure, and the damaged umbilical tears away toward the planet with him inside. The enemy reinforcement route is broken, but McGill appears dead.

McGill revives after two weeks and learns that Varus has invaded Dark World. Graves and the rest of his cohort have been captured inside a hive, but because their deaths are unconfirmed, the law does not permit revival from their stored records. Turov quietly clears McGill's revival hold, and Evelyn gives him a galactic key that can operate the ship's broadside controls. Their plan is to destroy the captured area so the cohort's deaths become verifiable. McGill and Evelyn reach fire control and arm the weapons, but Evelyn refuses to fire at the final moment. Deitch arrives, kills her, and reveals that she deliberately allowed the plan to proceed so Turov and Varus would carry the blame. Deitch and McGill fire sixteen fusion shells, destroying Dark World's eastern continent. Before Deitch kills him, McGill forces her to leave DNA on a trigger. McGill, Evelyn, and Graves revive in custody, escape, and enter Drusus's tribunal. The physical evidence establishes Deitch's participation, and Drusus accepts that the strike was required to recover the captured soldiers. He dismisses every charge and sends Varus back against the remaining hives.

Varus assaults another engineered hive on Dark World. Blood World troops absorb the first traps, after which McGill's mixed force descends into an enormous tunnel system. Sarah is killed while scouting, but Cooper returns to ensure that her death is recorded for possible revival. A cephalopod sub-veteran tries to seize command and wounds Veteran Mahler. The heavy troops reject the coup, execute their former controller, and continue under McGill. The survivors reunite with Graves near the queen's chamber, where Natasha supports the attack plan. A jump gate to the ship stops responding. McGill crosses and finds an enemy fleet attacking the vessel, which appears to be destroyed after firing its broadsides. Isolated from command and revival support, Graves orders the ground mission to continue. His frontal assault is overwhelmed, but McGill's flanking force reaches the enormous queen. Sargon dies placing explosives beneath her, and McGill detonates the charges. Her death halts the defenders' attack. An alien official then declares the humans prisoners and identifies Earth as a possible extermination target. McGill bluffs with an empty packet, trading it for a translator and safe passage for the few surviving troops. Graves is missing after the battle.

Natasha attempts to reroute the local gate directly to Earth. McGill tests it and arrives at an Earth-side guard post, but further travelers vanish into a delayed transit space. He reports the enemy fleet and stranded force to Drusus, then re-enters the gate rather than abandon the survivors. The transit eventually releases him inside the orbital factory. He sends the accompanying officer and soldier toward Dark World with word that the route home works. The factory's human personnel are dead and enemy troops are boarding. Once the survivors have an escape path, McGill enters the generator chamber and destroys the power system, apparently sacrificing himself to deny the installation to the attackers. He revives instead on an unknown low-gravity world in Claver's custody. Claver reveals that his organization produces prime originals, specialist copies, and loyal worker clones. He says the sabotaged factory ultimately fell into Dark World's ocean. McGill also learns that Claver employed the saurian who attacked Florimel while searching for The Eaters of Lotus. Claver threatens McGill's family and demands the book, then kills him so he can return to Earth.

McGill revives months later to face charges for destroying the factory and the Iron Eagles. His recordings prove that enemy troops had already captured the station and killed the Iron Eagles before his sabotage. Drusus drops the charges and admits that placing Galina Turov and Tribune Deitch together after reversing their positions was a command failure. McGill also challenges the system that treats Blood World troops as replaceable because their revival needs are costly and incompatible with human equipment. Galina Turov restores him to centurion, elevates Primus Graves to senior primus, and arranges Winslade's transfer to hegemony service after both sides withdraw accusations. Florimel's study of The Eaters of Lotus reveals a formula for spores lethal to Magwa tissue but harmless to other tested life. Claver appears with the physical book, apparently obtained after Etta found it at McGill's home and traded it to him. McGill kills that body, but Claver's clone network survives, and Etta leaves for Dust World. McGill hides Etta's apparent role from his family. When Galina Turov arrives after her own inquiry, he admits that Claver has the book but claims he sent Etta away for protection. She accepts the account, dismisses a concealed arrest detail, and says the book's secrets must be recovered and destroyed. She also reports that Drusus has demoted Tribune Deitch and assigned her permanently to guard duty on Machine World. Claver still holds the book, while Central retains the anti-Magwa formula.

The Dark World campaign closes with the orbital factory lost, the surviving ground force given a route home, and the hive queen dead. McGill destroys the enemy-held installation, and his recordings prove that the Iron Eagles were already dead. Drusus clears him. Galina Turov restores McGill to centurion, makes Primus Graves senior primus, and remains in command of Legion Varus. Winslade becomes a primus but transfers to hegemony service. Drusus later demotes Tribune Deitch and assigns her permanently to guard duty on Machine World. The unequal treatment of Blood World troops remains unresolved. Florimel verifies that The Eaters of Lotus conceals a formula for spores lethal to Magwa tissue. Claver obtains the physical book, apparently after Etta finds it at McGill's home and trades it to him. McGill kills the visiting Claver body, but the clone network survives, and Etta leaves for Dust World. McGill conceals her apparent role and persuades Galina Turov that he sent her away for protection. Galina Turov withdraws a hidden arrest detail but intends to recover the book and destroy its secrets. Central retains the formula, Claver holds the book, and Etta remains beyond McGill's immediate reach.