Rogue World recap

James McGill joins a covert Legion Varus mission while trying to save his sick mother. The legion attacks an illegal research colony before a Galactic audit, but McGill learns its people are human-derived survivors defending themselves. After Galactic intervention disables revival equipment, he helps build a secret alliance against a Nairb observer ship. His team captures that vessel, survives its automatons, and returns as Battlefleet 921 destroys Rogue World and its population. At Earth, McGill and Natasha shift blame toward the Nairbs, then use Galactic procedure to delay humanity's extermination. The later settlement preserves Earth's conquered systems but commits its forces to another secret war. Back home, McGill, Anne Grant, and Natasha illegally reconstruct his parents in healthy bodies, restoring Etta's household while Claver's network remains at large.

Previously: James McGill served as a veteran legionnaire in Legion Varus. His family ties remained complicated: he and Della had a daughter, Etta, and relationships with Anne Grant and Natasha belonged to his past. Humanity had defeated the cephalopods and taken control of a large group of their former worlds, greatly expanding Earth's reach inside the Empire. McGill also possessed knowledge and technology that could create serious problems under Galactic law, while Claver remained associated with stolen teleport equipment. After returning from Dust World, McGill settled at his parents' Waycross home with Etta and faced the consequences of bringing his family back to Earth.

So far: McGill is living in Waycross with Etta when his mother returns from hospital with a progressive illness acquired on Dust World. Her reduced Hegemony coverage makes timely treatment unaffordable. McGill refuses to buy her place by displacing another patient, then receives a coercive offer from Winslade: refuse Drusus's coming mission in exchange for the needed money. An air-car confrontation kills both men, but they are revived. Galina Turov repeats the offer, and McGill secretly preserves a recording despite Drusus's warning about her political protection. Drusus promotes him to centurion and asks for his loyalty. Della identifies the disease as self-replicating nanites. Anne Grant confirms that disabling them may not repair the existing damage and says regrowth may be necessary. McGill responds by obtaining recruitment imprints for both parents and engineering a diversion at the Mustering Hall so they can escape with the disks. He has created a possible route to preserve them, but must now report for a classified assignment.

So far: Drusus assigns McGill to test a human-fitted teleport suit by spying alone on an approaching Galactic fleet. Earth fears punishment for expanding into former cephalopod territory. McGill returns without the suit or any memory, while the fleet reports that a human spy damaged one of its ships. Graves prepares to execute him permanently, but a radiation-injured second McGill suddenly teleports into Central. This alternate is the original mission traveler. Before dying, he passes his account to the revived copy who remains. McGill reports that Galactic auditors intend to inspect Earth's newly acquired worlds and reduce its holdings, not immediately erase humanity. With the intrusion likely to draw further scrutiny, Legion Varus musters for a one-way operation. Graves gives McGill command of the Third and orders his unit to reach a hostile-environment laboratory before the site is destroyed. The mission is meant to erase evidence before the auditors can find it.

So far: McGill organizes his command for the secret expedition, promoting Harris and working with Adjunct Toro and Leeson. Anne Grant confirms that his mother's condition is still worsening before he departs. A lethal recruit test brings Sarah into his unit, and a jungle exercise tests the new command structure. With covert help from Kivi and a flag-removal plan carried out by Della, McGill's veterans defeat the larger recruit force despite temporary deaths. Tribune Deitch assumes command of Legion Varus and reveals that their target is an illegal weapons-research complex whose existence could condemn Earth during the Galactic audit. In the Arcturus system, Natasha studies advanced components that Earth is not permitted to reproduce. Deitch expands McGill's task: his unit must breach the dome, disable its defenses, and help capture technical personnel before orbital destruction. After further lethal training, the troops stand ready to descend onto Arcturus IV, with the true evacuation plan still unclear.

So far: Legion Varus lands on the hostile world and immediately meets adaptive automated defenses. McGill's unit uses improvised drone attacks and heavy weapons to break through silent turrets and a major dome-side cannon. Inside a service duct, spherical combat drones kill Toro's entry force, and Harris dies opening an internal barrier. The defenders then release a dense material that blinds sensors and isolates the invaders. McGill's remaining troops reach the dome interior and attack a power station, but laboratory workers ambush and destroy the unit. Before dying, McGill damages the station and temporarily shuts it down. A worker explains why the inhabitants resist: earlier human ships promised evacuation, then destroyed those who accepted it. The operation is therefore not the rescue its commanders suggested. The dome remains occupied and under threat, while McGill's first successful penetration has exposed both the defenders' motive and the human force's destructive purpose.

So far: After revival, McGill confronts Tribune Deitch and learns that obtaining the dome's hidden technology matters more than saving its inhabitants. A second assault is interrupted when the researchers strike the Legion transport with advanced missiles, killing most of the force and Deitch. Winslade takes temporary command and authorizes harsher tactics. On the surface, engineered creatures hidden in black vapor overrun the Legion position until the lifter's automatic guns destroy them. Natasha's analysis points to an underground route, so Winslade sends McGill's rebuilt unit into the caves. A concealed collapse drops the advance force into a pit, where Harris detonates a grenade against one of the creatures and apparently kills both himself and McGill. Six days later, McGill awakens in Winslade's bunker after Claver pulls him prematurely from a failing revival machine. Galactic scouts have arrived, shutting down Imperial equipment. McGill is physically incomplete, revival is unavailable, and Claver's Hegemony rank and presence are unexplained.

So far: Claver offers escape in exchange for McGill's Galactic Key and claims that multiple copies protect him from permanent capture. McGill kills that copy, then learns Sarah murdered Harris after repeated deaths and brutal assignments. While seeking teleport suits, McGill escapes Winslade and reaches the human transport, where he negotiates with the dome's lead researcher. A Nairb observer catches McGill warning the settlement about an attack, and he kills the agent to prevent identification. Another Claver copy appears, confirming that several versions operate at once. McGill persuades Graves to accept a deception that blames Winslade for the Nairb's death. A superior Galactic official restores Legion equipment but orders Varus to hand over Winslade and kill everyone in the dome. Deitch is revived and reluctantly approves a counterplan. McGill delivers Winslade alive into Galactic custody, then disobeys orders to contact the researchers. They capture Claver in a stasis trap, while McGill seeks an alliance rather than carrying out the extermination order.

So far: The lead researcher reveals that her community descends from humans enslaved by the cephalopods. Her people built the paired gateway technology once used in invasions, and one fixed system can still provide a route to the Nairb ship. Claver escapes confinement briefly, but McGill exposes his betrayal, takes his teleport suit, and returns him to custody. Scouting the Nairb trophy hold reveals stolen researcher technology already aboard. Deitch accepts a covert plan in which Legion Varus and the researchers will disable the ship without exposing their alliance to the approaching battle fleet. McGill installs a gateway in the trophy hold, though the teleport leaves him partly merged with a cable. Sarah is sent through too early and dies after merging with her equipment. McGill removes her final memory before returning the body. He then leads his unit and allied researchers through the gateway, leaving Toro to guard the route while the boarding party advances toward the ship's deep-link communications module in silence.

So far: McGill's boarding team kills the Nairb technicians and disconnects the deep link, preventing an immediate warning to Battlefleet 921. Returning to the cargo hold, they find Toro dying beside the ruined gateway. Galactic automatons crossed into the human ship before he severed the connection. Kivi leaves by teleport suit to seek help, while the stranded force hunts automatons among opened storage containers. Six attackers die in an ambush that also kills Leeson and many legionnaires. The Nairbs vent the hold and enter warp, forcing McGill's survivors deeper into the ship through vacuum and radiation. The Nairb commander announces that humanity must be destroyed. McGill's force fights its way to the bridge, losing Harris after catastrophic wounds, then captures the vessel. Natasha becomes its pilot and turns back toward Arcturus. The human ship is missing, communications remain cut, and possession of the Nairb vessel is itself evidence of another severe violation of Galactic law.

So far: Near Rogue World, an autonomous defender attacks the captured Nairb ship but pauses when McGill promises help against the incoming Galactic fleet. Legion Varus has already returned to Earth after defeating the automatons. A restored gateway lets McGill meet the lead researcher, who refuses evacuation and gives him a copy of the community's research archive. About one thousand Galactic warships enter the system. Concealed mines destroy dozens, and the autonomous defender continues the battle, but the fleet adapts. McGill cannot flee without revealing that humans control the Nairb vessel. The fleet turns its weapons on Rogue World and teleports bombs into the atmosphere. The lead researcher rejects a final chance to escape because contact with her people could condemn Earth. The bombardment vaporizes the surface and kills the entire research settlement. Their defender continues fighting after the world it was built to protect is gone, while McGill's surviving party remains aboard the captured ship with the only preserved copy of the researchers' work.

So far: McGill attacks Rogue World's autonomous defender with the captured Nairb ship, making his crew appear loyal to Battlefleet 921. He contacts the Grand Admiral, claims to be a human enforcer, performs a diversion, and escapes while the defender destroys nearly a third of the fleet before being overwhelmed. A week later, the survivors reach Earth and find the remaining fleet waiting. The Grand Admiral praises McGill's apparent service but still orders humanity exterminated for producing the advanced technology found on Rogue World. McGill offers genetic evidence to dispute the colony's human origin. Natasha and Carlos process the sample, and the submitted result shifts immediate blame toward the Nairbs, prompting a frontier-wide purge. Humanity nevertheless remains condemned for accepting forbidden technology. McGill then files a grievance on behalf of the Nairbs. Their own officials insist on formal procedure and relay the case to the Admiralty, producing a delay of up to two years. Earth has not been cleared, but its immediate destruction is stopped at the close of the numbered story.

The surviving boarding party returns to Earth in a captured Nairb ship after Rogue World and its research community are destroyed. Although Natasha redirects suspicion toward the Nairbs, the Grand Admiral still intends to exterminate humanity. McGill invokes Nairb grievance procedure and forces a delay. In the later aftermath, Earth settles the case by accepting a secret military commitment in a neighboring province while retaining its conquered systems. Winslade remains in Galactic custody, and Claver's wider network of copies and stolen technology is unresolved. McGill returns to Waycross, stages his parents' deaths, and illegally reconstructs them in healthy bodies with help from Anne Grant and Natasha. Etta remains with the restored household, and Sarah later joins McGill there.