Sky World recap

James McGill and Etta uncover a forbidden bunker on the family land just as Earth's Big Sky defense test is sabotaged, killing more than 90 million people and starting war with Rigel. Legion Varus strikes Rigel, captures Dark World's orbital factory, forces that world to surrender, and seizes Sky World's mine. Galina Turov evades a political purge by taking a flagship, but an immense alien vessel pursues the legion home, destroys Phobos and Mars's main colony, and boards the transport. Earth destroys the transport to end the pursuit, then Drusus retains the consulship and pardons the accused officers. McGill returns to the bunker, finds one living brain among eight tanks, and secretly moves her to Dust World, where Etta stays to help care for her. Hegemony agents continue searching for McGill, the war and purge remain unresolved, and Galina reunites with him in disguise.

Previously: James McGill returns as the narrator of the continuing story. Etta, Galina Turov, Alexander Turov, Drusus, Winslade, Kivi, Carlos, Natasha, Sargon, Harris, Leeson, Merton, Barton, and Collins are established figures from his earlier history, and Legion Varus remains the military unit connecting many of them.

Etta finds two old bodies in the swamp on McGill's family property. McGill recognizes them as men he killed during the Clone World period but hides that history. A second discovery leads them to a buried, armed structure with sealed lower doors. Etta leaves for Dust World to seek help identifying it, while McGill approaches military and government contacts. Graves already knows about the site and orders McGill to stay away. McGill's searches for Unification War history draw Internal Security attention. Galina Turov warns him that the investigation could prove fatal, but he refuses to explain the bunker or implicate Graves. Security officers kill him during his arrest, and after revival he is interrogated and punished. Further violence in detention adds felony killings to the case. An automated court sentences him to ten years without existence, to be served by execution and delayed revival. McGill is executed while the bunker remains sealed and Etta's investigation continues separately.

McGill's storage term is unexpectedly commuted so he can attend a Rigelian diplomatic visit and Earth's first Big Sky shield test. Rigel demands that Earth stop the project, but Alexander Turov proceeds. The four satellites successfully form a defensive panel before a test missile carrying an illicit antimatter warhead destroys the system. Debris devastates the eastern Mediterranean, killing more than 90 million people. Evidence points to an Earth-side collaborator, yet Earth declares war on Rigel and begins a purge. Drusus becomes consul and sends McGill's commando team to destroy a Rigelian shield station. The team plants atomic bombs, but Kivi discovers Imperial communications and Armelle extracts McGill before detonation. Armelle denies Rigel caused Big Sky's destruction and warns that hidden rebel bunkers may preserve resources from the Unification Wars. He also shows McGill the immense alien vessel protecting Rigel. The bombs destroy only a station that Rigel has detached from its network, leaving the planetary shield intact. Armelle then kills McGill for return by revival.

After revival, McGill gives Drusus proof of the alien vessel at Rigel and argues that the war and political arrests may share an unseen organizer. Legion Varus deploys while Graves and Winslade are caught in the widening purge. During transit, Dixon imposes lethal discipline and stages a last-survivor contest among recruits, earning Galina's approval. Fleet agents later attack McGill, and Merton arrests him while reporting Graves's death in custody. Galina refuses her own recall and sends Merton back to Central. Varus then joins a surprise attack on Dark World's orbital factory. McGill's unit crosses the exposed hull under planetary fire and breaches the installation. Inside a dry dock, an unfinished warship activates its defenses and kills many legionnaires. McGill receives temporary command of another unit, while Dixon and Sargon help disable the turrets. The ship escapes into space with Varus troops clinging to it, forcing them through unfinished gun mounts. Harris's heavies and Dixon's lights clear the interior, and McGill prevents the fleet from destroying the captured vessel.

Galina claims public credit for capturing the battleship and renews both her political alliance and private relationship with McGill. Drusus warns that new charges threaten them despite McGill's earlier pardon. To finish the Dark World campaign before investigators can act, Galina proposes compelling surrender by bombing the insectoid hives. Merton arrives with orders to arrest her and McGill, but they teleport to the flagship first. Galina arms herself in a combat machine, fights through the ship's Marines, and reaches the bridge. She uses an edited recording of Drusus to undermine Merton's authority, kills him, and coerces the crew into accepting her command. Galina then fires fusion warheads into multiple hives and kills the flagship officer who objects. Under threat of further destruction, an insectoid queen publicly accepts Earth's rule. Galina orders Winslade to evacuate Legion Varus from the factory and takes the flagship into hyperspace before another authority can stop her, with the purge still unresolved.

Galina carries Legion Varus to the Sky World system, where a mining complex supplies metal for Dark World's industry. Armelle, now serving Rigel, attacks with a transport carrying Saurian troops, then withdraws to seek reinforcements. Varus lands and enters the asteroid facility, fighting the abandoned garrison while trying to preserve the machinery. The legion vents the overheated complex and clears most defenders, but the survivors fortify the irreplaceable reactor. Kivi discovers secret communication between Dixon and a blue-scaled Saurian liaison inside. The liaison seeks mining contracts for his homeworld and threatens the reactor. Dixon admits the liaison is his colleague and says he serves Earth, but McGill can only infer that he is a Central agent. Galina chooses to destroy the reactor rather than accept the standoff, leaving the mine captured but badly delayed. She then orders Dixon's covert death and removes his revival record. Soon afterward, an immense spherical vessel arrives, traps the Legion transport with gravity beams, and follows it through an emergency warp jump. Galina redirects the fleeing ship toward Mars.

The alien vessel pursues the damaged Legion transport through warp for two weeks. Galina deliberately emerges extremely close to Mars, forcing local defenses into the fight. The pursuer launches invasion craft, destroys Phobos and its station, and annihilates Mars's main colony despite heavy defensive fire. Boarding craft drill into the transport. Dixon unexpectedly appears alive again and resumes command of his light troops, even though Galina had suppressed his revival. Collins directs the defense while Sargon, Harris, Winslade, and McGill help repel the armored creatures from inside the ship and across its outer hull. With the alien vessel still closing, Galina jumps toward Earth. Radiation entering through battle damage leaves Legion Varus severely depleted. McGill tells Drusus that the pursuer is focused on the transport, so Drusus orders Earth forces to vaporize the ship with teleport bombs. The alien vessel pauses at the debris. Drusus avoids another attack and persuades it that Earth is protected imperial territory and that the destroyed transport acted alone. It leaves toward Rigel after warning Earth against attacking its friends.

McGill and the principal Legion Varus survivors are revived after the transport's destruction, but Alexander Turov immediately renews the treason action. The ruling council tries to remove Drusus, who invokes his emergency authority, keeps the consulship, and pardons McGill, Galina, Winslade, Graves, and another accused officer for the current charge. The prosecutor remains unidentified, and Dixon has no connected service record despite his unexplained return. McGill secures Galina's revival and later revives Graves, who warns that the bunker inquiry can still provoke extralegal retaliation. Ignoring the warning, McGill borrows Sargon's heavy weapon, uses Carlos for covert transport, and cuts through the sealed bunker door. Inside are eight brain tanks, only one of which still holds a living brain. McGill steals gateway posts, travels illegally to Dust World, kills two guards, and brings the Investigator and his wife through to retrieve the survivor. Etta stays on Dust World to help them. Back in Georgia, McGill learns Hegemony personnel have been asking for him. Galina arrives disguised as Sophia, reveals herself after testing McGill's loyalty, and enters his home. The Rigelian war, political conspiracy, bunker history, and survivor's identity all remain unresolved.

Earth destroys the Legion transport after its alien pursuer devastates Mars and follows the ship toward Earth. McGill, Galina Turov, Winslade, and other survivors are revived. Drusus defeats Alexander Turov's attempt to remove him, remains consul, and pardons the current treason defendants, but the unknown origin of the purge and Dixon's unexplained restoration remain open. Rigel is still at war with Earth, while the alien vessel departs toward Rigel after accepting that the destroyed transport was responsible for attacking its allies. McGill then cuts into the forbidden bunker and discovers a single living brain among eight tanks. He steals gateway equipment, kills two guards during an unauthorized trip to Dust World, and moves the survivor to the Investigator's laboratory. Etta remains there to assist. Hegemony personnel are already looking for McGill when he returns home. Galina arrives disguised as Sophia, reveals herself after testing him, and resumes private contact with him. The survivor's identity, the bunker's purpose, and the wider political conspiracy are still unknown.