ISBN: 0671319760 9780671319762

Category: Fiction / Action & Adventure

Page count: 597

"The aliens had arrived<br> with gifts, warnings, and an offer we<br> couldn't refuse..." <p> Our choice was simple: we could be cannon fodder, or we could be...fodder. We could send our forces to fight and die (as only humans can) against a ravening horde that was literally feeding on its interstellar conquests -- or remain as we were -- virtually weaponless and third in line for brunch. <p> We chose to fight. <p> Thanks to alien technology and sheer guts, the Terrans on two worlds fought the Posleen to a standstill. Thank God there was a moment to catch our breath, a moment, however brief, of peace -- <p> Now, for the survivors of the Barwhon and Diess Expeditionary Forces, it was a chance to get some distance from the blood and misery of battle against the Posleen centaurs. A blessed chance to forget the screams of the dying in purple swamps and massacres under searing alien suns. <p> For earth it was an opportunity to flesh out their force of raw recruits with combat-seasoned veterans. Political, military and scientific blundering had left the Terran forces in shambles -- and with the Posleen invasion only months away, these shell-shocked survivors might be the only people capable of saving the Earth from devastation. <p> If the veterans had time to lick their wounds. <p> Because the Posleen don't read schedules.