Killed in action. Reborn on the battlefield. Sergeant Paxton Alejo is a League of Humanity Marine Commando, the best of the best. After getting sent to oversee a batch of fresh conscripts, Pax makes the fateful decision to sacrifice his life to save his subordinates. He is posthumously awarded the Cross of Honor, the highest military medal . . . . . . except that the Marine Corps isn’t done with him. Using highly classified, experimental technology, his deceased body is transported to a top secret facility and infected with a genetically modified mycelium that can imprint on his brain, creating a biological download, ultimately preserving most of his memories and combat skills. Despite being labeled legally dead, he wakes and feels alive. He has no rights. He is no longer a citizen. Instead, he’s government property, part of a clandestine unit made up of the finest spec ops Marines, soldiers, and sailors, each one deceased. . . . . . and all with capabilities too valuable to lose. The military’s new goal is to create the finest combat force ever conceived, capable of bringing back the best of the best, no longer bound or constrained by death itself. With enemies on the battlefield and at home, and with no real rights to his name, Pax and his fellows will struggle to survive in a universe built only for the living.

As more and more special operators are resurrected with their mycelia and joining the Undead, the powers that be begin to “borrow” the Marines for missions beyond their stated scope. Particularly galling to Sergeant Paxton Alejo is when they’re assigned a mission against supposed human traitors, especially when the reek of politics belies the integrity of the missions. He might be uneasy, but all of this is above his paygrade, so Pax marches on, doing his duty. There are continuing rumors of “androids” in the press that seems to focus on the Undead, so the Marines in the brigade are surprised when they’re tasked to train Internal Security Agency operators to conduct joint military ops. The ISA’s mission is to ferret out internal threats to the League of Humanity. How can the Undead maintain their secrecy while working so closely with them? Meanwhile, there’s that small issue of a galaxy wide war with the alien Tucanans, and the Tucs seem to be closing the net around the Undead. All Hell breaks loose when the enemy strikes, and the Undead, along with the still untrained ISA operators, have no live ammunition to fight back with. As the Tucanans close in on them, loss feels inevitable. The Undead experiment could be over, and all of Humanity could follow and shatter. But a Marine never gives up. Especially a dead one.

As more Undead are created, a second battalion is formed. Pax becomes a team leader as the Marines are developing new tactics, but the Tucanans aren't standing still, either. And they seem to have targeted the Undead. High on their list of priorities is to figure out what makes the Undead so dangerous, and they'll go to any length to get their foot-arms on a few of them. Pax has to ensure their military mission is accomplished while blocking the Tucanans from taking Undead prisoners to face a fate worse than death—even multiple deaths. Between the Tucanans, public outrage and alarms, and unpredictable command decisions, Pax and the Undead must navigate complicated and increasingly dangerous waters in their mission to save humanity.