With the planet's fighting men and women deployed across the
galaxy--battling in the noble cause of enslaved humanity--the insidious
Xul have reached across space to devastate the unsuspecting Earth with
asteroid fire. Without warning, a once majestic world is reduced to
near-rubble--and the very future of humankind is in dire jeopardy.
Interplanetary leaders are on the brink of abandoning Earth and its
colonies to an overwhelming enemy. But Brigadier General Garroway of the
Marine Interstellar Expeditionary Unit is unwilling to concede
defeat--not as long as there's a single marine willing to give his or
her life in defense of their embattled homeworld. The ultimate battle is
about to be waged--with breathtaking new attack technology, an ancient
code of courage, and the help of an ally race that once inhabited the
Earth--in a war that will alter the universe forever . . .