Starfist: Lazarus Rising

Zusatztext CAUTION! Any book written by Dan Cragg and David Sherman is bound to be addictive. . . The authors have a deep firsthand knowledge of warfare! an enthralling vision of the future! and the skill of veteran writers. Fans of military fiction! science fiction! and suspense will all get their money's worth. . . . [These novels are] fast! realistic! moral . . . and hard to put down. Sherman and Cragg are a great team! Ralph Peters! New York Times bestselling author of Red Army Informationen zum Autor David Sherman and Dan Cragg Klappentext It's the 25th century! but the Marines are still looking for a few good men. . . . In their fiercest combat yet! the hard-charging Marines of 34th Fleet Initial Strike Team (FIST) have finally won their battle against a fullscale alien invasion of planet Kingdom. But as citizens try to return to some semblance of normalcy! the old government is replaced by a ruthless new regime. Meanwhile! in a cave in some forgotten Kingdom backwater! several humans slowly regain consciousness. Their minds have been probed repeatedly . . . by whom and for what reason they cannot say! for they've been stripped of all memories of themselves and their past lives. These half-dead outcasts begin a journey into the unknown- in search of civilization! in search of themselves. And one survivor's journey will take him to places of overwhelming danger! where his identity will be revealed-to the shock of all. "Non-stop action . . . This is state-of-the-art military SF."-Publishers Weekly (starred review) Leseprobe CHAPTER 1 The navigator on the Amphibious Landing Ship, Force, CNSS Grandar Bay, was very good at his jobhe jumped the starship out of Beamspace barely more than two days' travel from the world called the Kingdom of Yahweh and His Saints and Their Apostles. Those Marines who knew anything about the mechanics of the jump reasoned that the closer they were to Kingdom when they came out of Beamspace, the sooner they'd get to somewhere they'd rather be. And after the campaign the Marines of the 34th Fleet Initial Strike Team had just fought against the Skinks, the Marines were anxious to get back to Camp Ellis, their homeport on Thorsfinni's Worlddespite the fact that the Marine Corps rated Thorsfinni's World a hardship post. The stop at Kingdom was too brief for Marines or ship's crew to be granted shore liberty. Brigadier Sturgeon, commander of 34th FIST, and a few members of his staff made planetfall to report to Confederation Ambassador Jayben Spears and the leadership of Kingdom's ruling Ecumenical Council. Before lifting off again, Sturgeon took the time to share a glass of wine and a cigar with Spears. One more thing before I leave, Jay, Brigadier Sturgeon said when the wine and cigars were almost gone. Anything in my power, Ted. I need to send a backchannel. Can you handle it for me? Of course. Thank you, Jay. I haven't the words to tell you how important this message is to 34th FIST. He handed over a crystal. It's for Andy again. He'll get my official report, of course; that was dispatched via Navy drone from the Grandar Bay as soon as we reentered Space-3. He tapped the crystal. Go ahead and read it. Spears rose, went to his desk, and popped the crystal into his reader. He raised his eyebrows when he began reading. The headers on the message weren't in normal military format, but that of a personal letter. Spears looked up at the Marine commander. I hadn't realized how close you are to the assistant commandant. On my leave to Earth we became friends. Sturgeon nodded for Spears to continue reading. The ambassador read: Andy, First off, let me thank you for sending 26th FIST so quickly. Jack Sparen and his Marines really saved the day; we couldn't have done the j...

Autorentext

David Sherman and Dan Cragg

Klappentext

It's the 25th century, but the Marines are still looking for a few good men. . . .

In their fiercest combat yet, the hard-charging Marines of 34th Fleet Initial Strike Team (FIST) have finally won their battle against a fullscale alien invasion of planet Kingdom. But as citizens try to return to some semblance of normalcy, the old government is replaced by a ruthless new regime.

Meanwhile, in a cave in some forgotten Kingdom backwater, several humans slowly regain consciousness. Their minds have been probed repeatedly . . . by whom and for what reason they cannot say, for they've been stripped of all memories of themselves and their past lives. These half-dead outcasts begin a journey into the unknown- in search of civilization, in search of themselves. And one survivor's journey will take him to places of overwhelming danger, where his identity will be revealed-to the shock of all.

"Non-stop action . . . This is state-of-the-art military SF."-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Leseprobe

CHAPTER 1

The navigator on the Amphibious Landing Ship, Force, CNSS Grandar Bay, was very good at his job—he jumped the starship out of Beamspace barely more than two days’ travel from the world called the Kingdom of Yahweh and His Saints and Their Apostles.

Those Marines who knew anything about the mechanics of the jump reasoned that the closer they were to Kingdom when they came out of Beamspace, the sooner they’d get to somewhere they’d rather be. And after the campaign the Marines of the 34th Fleet Initial Strike Team had just fought against the Skinks, the Marines were anxious to get back to Camp Ellis, their homeport on Thorsfinni’s World—despite the fact that the Marine Corps rated Thorsfinni’s World a hardship post.

The stop at Kingdom was too brief for Marines or ship’s crew to be granted shore liberty. Brigadier Sturgeon, commander of 34th FIST, and a few members of his staff made planetfall to report to Confederation Ambassador Jayben Spears and the leadership of Kingdom’s ruling Ecumenical Council. Before lifting off again, Sturgeon took the time to share a glass of wine and a cigar with Spears.

“One more thing before I leave, Jay,” Brigadier Sturgeon said when the wine and cigars were almost gone.

“Anything in my power, Ted.”

“I need to send a backchannel. Can you handle it for me?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you, Jay. I haven’t the words to tell you how important this message is to 34th FIST.” He handed over a crystal. “It’s for Andy again. He’ll get my official report, of course; that was dispatched via Navy drone from the Grandar Bay as soon as we reentered Space-3.” He tapped the crystal. “Go ahead and read it.”

Spears rose, went to his desk, and popped the crystal into his reader. He raised his eyebrows when he began reading. The headers on the message weren’t in normal military format, but that of a personal letter. Spears looked up at the Marine commander. “I hadn’t realized how close you are to the assistant commandant.”

“On my leave to Earth we became friends.” Sturgeon nodded for Spears to continue reading.

The ambassador read:

Andy,

First off, let me thank you for sending 26th FIST so quickly. Jack Sparen and his Marines really saved the day; we couldn’t have done the job by ourselves.

That’s an understatement. If you hadn’t expedited reinforcements, there’s an excellent chance the Skinks would have wiped us out. By now I imagine you’ve seen my draft report on the Kingdom Campaign. Take my word for it, as hairy as that report reads, the reality was worse. This one was more of a meat grinder than the Diamunde Campaign, if you can imagine that.

I lost a godawful lot of men. You’ve seen the details in my report. Andy, I’ve never had such losses on one campaign, and I doubt that you have either. Now, I know that as soon as my report filters throug…