War's Edge

In the 35th century, mankind has colonized vast reaches of space, yet war remains constant as galactic governments and interstellar corporations fight for control of resource-rich planets and lucrative interstellar trade routes. And if centuries of war has taught man one thing, it's that planets are valuable and lives are cheap. 

On its heels after the disastrous Battle of Verdant, the United Systems Alliance is taken completely by surprise when the Galactic Union launches an all-out surprise offensive that captures planet after planet. Fear and panic spread like an oxygen fire as the Union invasion fleet makes a dash for the Alliance core worlds. Sergeant Mark Rizer and the Marines and sailors of Sixth Fleet are lightyears from the front, still licking their wounds after the bitter defeat on Verdant. But there is no time to rest.

Devastated early in the war, the United Systems Alliance has retaken several key systems lost to the Galactic Union. But getting even isn’t good enough for General Hella. Determined to end the costly war and destroy the Union, Hella launches a daring offensive against the planet Kuut, a key military base deep in Union space. At the tip of the spear, Lieutenant Mark Rizer and the Marines of Orcus Company find themselves in the mud and blood of a planetary ground invasion.

In war, there is no second place. To ensure victory, planetary governments employ private armies to help fight their battles. And the Berserkers are the best. As the galaxy's preeminent mercenary force, they are hired by governments and corporations to do jobs that are too tough, too messy, or too deadly for their own forces. Expertly trained and equipped with the most advanced weaponry, they are willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill a contract - if the price is right.

Samuel Rutger was out of options and out of luck. Broke and jobless, he turned to the only option that could provide for his wife and sick daughter. He became a mercenary. When he joined Breacher’s Berserkers, the galaxy’s most elite private military force, he was initially designated as a logistics specialist. Far from the front lines, Rutger never thought war would reach him, but when he is reassigned as a gunner on a grav-tank he finds himself at the tip of the spear in a bloody planetary civil war.

Private Don Ekker joined the Berserkers expecting combat; that was what he wanted. But he got more than he bargained for. Escorting water shipments on the desert world of Wayward, he finds himself in a brutal and schizophrenic conflict, facing fanatical insurgents and bloodthirsty pirates, all with one thing in common: they want him dead. For Ekker, survival means quick reflexes, superior firepower, and horrific choices between life and death. Choices he must live with, if he doesn’t get wasted first.