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.