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In the International Space Marine Corps (ISMC), every new Marine is a cherry, raw and untested. Even the officers.

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Second Lieutenant Abner Fortis is as cherry as they come. The ink on his commission is barely dry when he is ordered to make his first combat drop-ship insertion, or “cherry drop.” The mission is a training operation on the jungle planet of Pada-Pada, where the biggest challenge is how to avoid becoming a snack for the carnivorous bugs that lurk in the underbrush. Practically a vacation, by ISMC standards.

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When the mission goes awry and a dark secret is exposed, Fortis and his fellow Marines are forced to fight for their very survival against a vicious foe on a hostile planet.