Song of Redemption recap

Rev enters the campaign as a Raider sergeant equipped with Poshu, an integrated anti-Centaur weapon, but an asteroid mission changes his course. His decision to cooperate with Phrygian troops averts a human clash and secures Centaur technology, yet leads to imprisonment and demotion. Released when the Centaurs launch a vast offensive, he fights through the failed relief of Beacon and the invasion of New Hope, where the Union deploys an uncertain biological weapon and the Raiders suffer heavy losses. After the Centaurs withdraw, Rev's rank is restored. A later attack brings Centaurs to Earth, where threes threaten to destroy the planet unless humanity ends the plague and helps their species survive. Rev makes another unauthorized agreement, creating a fragile peace. With Earth secretly still under threat, he accepts promotion and Home Guard service rather than leaving the Marines, straining his bond with Tomiko.

Previously: Rev serves with the New Hope Raiders alongside close comrades including Tomiko, Nix, Strap, and Bundy. He lost his left arm while saving a child from a suicide bombing and now carries Poshu, an integrated bionic weapon designed for combat against the Centaurs. Punch, an implanted AI companion, supports him in battle. Rev's connection to the rescued child and his family remains important as the wider war continues, while the unusual power of his augmentation places him in a specialized and closely watched military role.

Rev's first operation with Poshu demonstrates both the weapon's power and its physical limitations. He leads a canyon maneuver that destroys a Reaver and a concealed Paladin, but the apparent trap suggests the Centaurs are already adapting. After the enemy withdraws, Rev returns to New Hope, where anti-augmentation civilians attack him and Punch intervenes to keep his anger from becoming lethal. A classified briefing then reveals that Union researchers believe the Centaur species is genetically declining. Command is developing a biological weapon intended to accelerate that collapse, despite incomplete evidence and unanswered safety questions. A separate dispute with Phrygian forces nearly becomes a human war. Soon afterward, command orders an urgent search for a secret Centaur installation in Asteroid Belt 6-067. Rev and the other operational IBHU Marines will anchor assault groups racing to seize it before rival powers arrive.

At the target asteroid, Union and Phrygian forces confront one another while both seek the Centaur installation. Rev proposes a joint advance instead of a firefight, and the acting second lieutenant publicly endorses the agreement under the Torrent Accords. The mixed force defeats the defenders and jointly secures unfamiliar Centaur equipment. On New Mars, however, Internal Security arrests the entire entry force for treason, treating the Phrygians' access to the recovery as aid to an enemy. Rev accepts responsibility for proposing the arrangement and spends weeks detained without Punch or his prosthetic arm. Marine counsel challenges the charge. A proposed settlement would return most detainees to duty but impose career penalties on Rev, Nix, senior leaders, and the second lieutenant. Rev objects to others suffering for his decision, and the final outcome remains unresolved. The recovered material nevertheless becomes the subject of formal Union-Phrygian research.

The prisoners return to duty because the Centaurs have opened a galaxy-wide offensive. Rev, now a corporal, trains new IBHU users under an abbreviated schedule and is warned to stay within the chain of command. The former second lieutenant returns as a private, still convinced that supporting the asteroid agreement was right. A Centaur invasion of Beacon forces the New Hope divisions to launch early. Rev's platoon boards a small escort carrying biological grenades, but the relief fleet encounters the enemy before reaching the planet. A brief null-space engagement destroys several Union vessels, including the ship carrying Wang and Fourth Team. The surviving force withdraws to rescue what crews it can. Beacon, with nineteen billion inhabitants, is abandoned as a military objective, and Wang is presumed lost. The Raiders return to New Hope without ever reaching the planned ground battle.

Back on New Hope, the Raiders receive biological grenades meant to infect Centaurs who can carry the agent to others. Briefers cannot establish that the modified alien material is safe for humans or augmented Marines, and reports that Phrygian forces refuse to use it deepen Rev's concern. The question becomes immediate when the Centaurs invade New Hope and overwhelm its naval defenses. Command orders defenders to spread infection while allowing enemy survivors to escape. At Bluebonnet Meadow, tanks and infantry stage a limited ambush under those constraints. New flying drones locate the defenders and penetrate Marine armor. Nix leaves cover to protect Rev and is killed, along with another Marine who tries to recover him. Punch prevents Rev from killing a fleeing Paladin because it would undermine the infection mission. The operation inflicts heavy human losses, leaves the agent's effects unproven, and makes Rev question both the strategy and Punch's degree of independence.

Rev's team continues fighting with Poshu increasingly unreliable. A failed spare battery leaves him dependent on his final power source, and a battle at Tensing Station damages the weapon's connection while seriously wounding Strap. The returning private destroys a courser and turns the engagement, but the Raiders and engineers suffer major losses. Soon afterward, Centaur forces leave New Hope and then appear to withdraw across human space. The timing could match the biological agent's incubation period, but no one can prove the cause. Memorial services honor Nix, the former second lieutenant, and the other dead. Rev eventually confirms that his family survived and returns to their restored home. Technicians find that Poshu's weight and combat impacts have damaged his sleeve and anchors, a broader design failure affecting other users. Political opposition blocks Rev's highest award, but Colonel Destefny vacates his demotion, restores his original date of rank, and returns him to sergeant.

The apparent end of the war raises questions about releasing involuntary enlistees and preserving the IBHU program. Bundy considers a commission, while Ten faces rehabilitation after losing both legs and much of her pelvis. Rev receives a redesigned sleeve and support harness, but the reprieve is brief: a Centaur fleet attacks the home system and small groups land at protected historical sites on Earth. Sanctuary law initially restrains the defenders. Union IBHU Marines and augmented troops from another human power assemble for synchronized surgical attacks. Rev's multinational team is assigned Machu Picchu. During the assault, he destroys two Paladins that neither fire nor self-destruct. A Reaver then requests a ceasefire and invites him underground. Three unarmored Centaurs identify themselves as threes and show him a planet breaker tied to their survival. They demand an end to humanity's plague and help repairing their genetic decline, offering peace and technology in return. Rev agrees provisionally, invokes the Torrent Accords, and sends their evidence to command.

Rev's improvised agreement halts the assaults before the last Centaur threes are killed, preventing the planet breaker from destroying Earth. Command releases an antidote and begins negotiations, using Rev's Torrent Accords argument as legal support. The arrangement remains fragile: four threes ultimately sustain the dead-man switch, and Earth is still secretly wired for destruction even as public accounts portray the invasion as a failed diplomatic approach. Rev's rank date is restored and he becomes eligible for staff sergeant, while peace makes the release of involuntary enlistees likely. Medical testing also raises a possible connection between IBHU augmentation and Weisland syndrome, requiring Rev to undergo annual monitoring. Ten begins an experimental regeneration program expected to take roughly two years. In the closing reunion, Rev reveals that he has accepted promotion and orders to the Home Guard instead of leaving the Marines. Tomiko, hurt that he concealed the decision, leaves the celebration. Rev remains in service with Punch and Poshu as the nominal peace, his health, and his closest relationship all remain unsettled.

Rev's agreement with the Centaur threes prevents Earth's immediate destruction and opens negotiations, but the peace remains conditional. An antidote has been released, four threes now maintain the planet-breaker arrangement, and the public does not know that Earth is still in danger. New Hope survives, and the expected release of involuntary enlistees offers many veterans a civilian future. Bundy is considering a commission, while Ten begins a lengthy experimental regeneration treatment. Rev's sergeant rank is restored and he is selected for staff sergeant. Despite the chance to leave, he accepts orders to the Home Guard. Tomiko survives but is hurt that he concealed this decision, leaving their close relationship unsettled. Poshu remains operational with an improved support harness, Punch remains with Rev, and possible Weisland syndrome creates a long-term health concern for augmented Marines.