Ice World recap

An inquiry into illegal galactic coins leads James McGill from a Tau attack on Galina Turov's family to a mission against a Claver colony on Ice World. Legion Varus reaches the planet after sabotage cripples Dominus, suffers severe losses attacking the fortified colony, and then joins the Clavers when a Tau-led invasion arrives. McGill survives battles, a command mutiny, and an effort to expel him before discovering that the hoard bears the Turov crest. Alexander Turov admits directing the Tau recovery operation and coerces McGill into moving the crates to his estate through a deceptive gateway evacuation that exposes the colony to bombardment. Galactic inspectors then rule the entire hoard counterfeit, ending the currency case. Alexander restores McGill to Varus while retaining leverage over him. Galina is demoted to tribune but returns as Varus commander and reconciles with McGill. Carlos is expected to revive after being killed during the Claver evacuation.

Previously: James McGill served as a centurion in Legion Varus and maintained a long, complicated relationship with Galina Turov. Earlier campaigns brought him into conflict with the Clavers and other alien powers. He came to know a distinct member of the Claver family called Claver X, separate from the wider clone collective. McGill's daughter Etta underwent an illicit restoration after a permanent death and later lived on Dustworld with her grandfather. McGill also irregularly restored a blue-scaled Saurian specialist, creating a disputed life-debt between them. These personal, military, and revival entanglements remain part of McGill's position as a new crisis begins on Earth.

Carlos returns with sudden wealth and admits that he kept illegal galactic coins, drawing both himself and McGill into an official inquiry. While that problem develops, Galina takes McGill to her sister's wedding at the Turov estate. Tau attackers strike the gathering, killing Galina and her sister before withdrawing. After revival, Galina orders McGill to investigate. The Tau explain that they want both the stolen currency and payment for an older obligation, and they threaten McGill's relatives when he cannot pay. McGill and Carlos lure them to McGill's family property, attack their separated air cars, and die in the resulting crashes. McGill revives under arrest, but Galina intervenes. Carlos remains detained after coins are found on him and the dead Tau. To prevent the alien complaint from becoming a case against Earth, McGill must prove that the currency came from off-world.

McGill searches for the coins' origin through an untraceable deep-link, a dangerous visit to Green World, and coordinates obtained from a giant cephalopod. The trail leads to a frozen frontier planet where Abigail Claver isolates him from Central's observation. McGill learns that her memories of her creation were erased, then encounters Claver X, who says he separated from the collective and created Abigail as an adult clone. Claver X explains that the Tau are looking for a supposed Claver cache, and Central records enough of the exchange to connect the colony to the disputed coins. Galactic authorities respond with a settlement: Earth must destroy the colony and return every recovered coin. As Legion Varus prepares for the operation, Galina appoints Tribune Foam, a cephalopod officer, over the legion's senior humans. Primus Graves is again denied command because of his restricted past.

Legion Varus and Winslade's support legion depart aboard Dominus for Ice World under Foam's command. Carlos is recalled from detention as a bio specialist, while Adjunct Barton is pulled from the Moon. Senior officers discuss removing Foam, but Primus Graves refuses to become their replacement. Winslade later tells McGill that he is organizing Foam's assassination. McGill's Green Deck exercise then places him alone against a large robot force. A hidden shot wounds him, but Foam's specialized armor keeps him alive. Trapped in a lagoon, McGill tells Foam about the plotting and receives an order to finish the fight on shore. McGill disables the robots with an EMP supplied through Kivi and Sargon, also disabling his own equipment. Winslade declares him disqualified, and Wendy Stinson kills him by injection while claiming she acted under orders.

After revival, McGill learns that Wendy killed him to protect her own wager, not because Winslade ordered it, and the two begin a relationship. Winslade admits arranging the robot exercise in hopes that McGill would kill Foam. Alexander Turov later cancels the failed robot program during a military budget review. Wendy is transferred to Earth, and McGill suspects Galina used the cuts to remove her. Soon afterward, sabotage destroys Dominus's system drive and every gateway post aboard. Galina takes operational command and approves a dangerous approach: the damaged ship will warp close to Ice World, launch its lifters, and teleport McGill's advance unit onto the defenses. Dominus arrives in an unstable close orbit. With no time to locate the anti-air sites, Graves sends McGill's unit to the cave from his earlier visit. Seven soldiers die during arrival, the return route fails, and the survivors attack from inside a field-covered valley.

McGill's opening force is nearly destroyed beneath the Claver dome. He escapes with a charged teleport harness, reports that the colony hired mercenaries, and dies so he can revive with the warning delivered. Foam prepares a full ground assault but also orders McGill to kill Winslade with an isotope intended to interfere with revival. McGill suspects a larger takeover and finds another primus attacking Galina with a matching syringe. The captured attacker confirms the connection, and Galina orders McGill to kill Foam. A formal inquiry later accepts the event as suppression of a mutiny, with Drusus supporting Galina. Varus returns to the Claver fortifications, where concentrated bombardment cannot safely break the wall and dome. The defenders lower the field to fire, inflicting heavy losses. Kivi and McGill die during the failed advance, and the legion remains stalled outside the fortress.

Galina and Graves send McGill with a small stealth team to breach the Claver wall. Snipers detect the infiltrators' breath in the cold and kill most of them, but McGill teleports to the wall, plants the charge, and opens the southern defenses. Inside the village, Claver X shows him a large Tau fleet approaching and proposes negotiations. A rival Claver Prime kills Claver X and takes control, but McGill persuades the Prime to stop fighting Varus and form a temporary alliance against the shared threat. The Prime reports that Abigail has already left Ice World and that he eliminated most rival primes. Galina accepts an equal division of the coin hoard after the Tau battle, partly because the Prime threatens to destroy it rather than surrender. Varus and the Clavers redeploy together within the damaged dome as the Tau fleet reaches orbit.

The Tau bombard the dome with thermonuclear weapons. Most are intercepted, but the surviving strikes damage the field, contaminate the ground, and devastate troops caught outside shelter. Graves gives McGill command of an improvised southern force of Bloodworlders and Clavers. Leeson's heavy guns stop repeated infantry attacks, but a Rigelian siege tower reaches the breached wall. McGill, Harris, Sargon, Kivi, and allied troops board it. Harris dies clearing the lower structure, while Sargon and several Clavers are killed by a grenade. McGill seizes turret compartments and assigns Kivi to one of the captured weapons, but Tau fire destroys both turrets and kills their crews. Reinforcements finally scatter the assault. Two giants pursue the retreating Tau beyond the dome, and McGill follows them into the radioactive battlefield despite the continued danger.

The pursuit outside the dome ends under fire from a Tau dropship, costing many of the remaining giants. Graves blames McGill for the loss. A martial court then tries McGill for killing Foam, with a blue-scaled Saurian from an earlier illegal revival acting as prosecutor. McGill provokes a melee in which the gremlin judge dies. The Saurian frees him and declares their life-debt settled, but Graves still plans to expel McGill because Galina has not confirmed giving the order to kill Foam. With one day left, McGill finds the Claver Prime's underground vault. The coins carry the Turov family crest, leading him to conclude that Alexander Turov, not Carlos, is connected to the attacking force's true objective. The Prime agrees to consider a plan for dealing with the original claimant before the next assault.

McGill arranges an unauthorized revival through Florimel, then Graves sends him out unarmed as an offering to Squanto. Captured by Rigelian bears, McGill detonates an implanted plasma grenade, killing himself and his guards while Squanto escapes. McGill revives in Alexander Turov's custody. Alexander admits directing the Tau coin-recovery operation and sends McGill back to Ice World with gateway posts. McGill falsely tells the Claver Prime that the route leads to Dustworld. The Prime kills Carlos, evacuates selected Clavers and the crates, and lowers the dome, exposing the stronghold to immediate bombardment. The gateway actually delivers the group to Alexander's estate, where McGill brokers a settlement that pays the Prime and leaves Alexander with the remaining hoard. At Central, Galactic inspectors discover that the coins lack the required nanostamps. Every coin is counterfeit, so the imperial claim and the related prosecution end.

Alexander Turov recovers the counterfeit hoard and retains political control of the outcome. He threatens McGill's family, friends, and legion to secure obedience, then uses his authority to restore McGill to Legion Varus at centurion rank and prevent reprisals over Ice World. Galina reports that the campaign disaster has cost her the rank of imperator. Demoted to tribune, she nevertheless resumes command of Varus. She also tells McGill that Alexander now considers him an acceptable partner for her, and she and McGill reconcile. Carlos was killed by the Clavers during the gateway evacuation, but his network connection left revival expected and no later confirmation is recorded. The Claver Prime and selected evacuees escaped the destruction of their exposed fortress, though their later position is unknown. Alexander's coercive hold over McGill remains the main unresolved threat.

McGill learns that Alexander Turov directed the Tau campaign to reclaim the Turov-marked coin hoard. After arranging an illegal revival, Alexander sends him back to Ice World with gateway posts. McGill tricks the Claver Prime into moving selected Clavers and the crates to the Turov estate, leaving the colony's dome down and the stronghold exposed to bombardment. He then brokers a payment settlement between Alexander and the Prime. At Central, Galactic inspectors discover that every recovered coin is counterfeit, so the imperial currency case ends. Alexander uses his political authority to reinstate McGill as a Legion Varus centurion and block reprisals for the campaign, but threatens McGill's family, friends, and legion to ensure obedience. Galina is demoted to tribune because of the Ice World disaster, resumes command of Varus, and reconciles with McGill. Carlos is killed during the evacuation ruse but is expected to revive. The escaped Clavers' later position, any survivors at the bombarded colony, and Alexander's continuing control over McGill remain unresolved.