Desperate to escape a life of poverty on his desolate home planet, Ryck Lysander enlists in the United Federation Marine Corps, hoping to make a better future for himself. However, Ryck soon discovers that the Corps is more than a means of escaping his former life as he is pushed beyond the very limits of his strength and willpower. From bootcamp brawls to skirmishes with galactic pirates, Ryck's new life presents him with unimaginable adventures and forces him to prove his mettle as he forges his new identity and fights to earn his place as one of the Brotherhood of Marines.

This is the omnibus version of the first three books in The United Federation Marine Corps series. It follows Ryck Lysander from his time as a recruit up to his service as a lieutenant. Ryck will make appearances in the next two books in the series, but these three focus on him. Book 1: Recruit Desperate to escape a life of poverty on his desolate home planet, Ryck Lysander enlists in the United Federation Marine Corps, hoping to make a better future for himself. However, Ryck soon discovers that the Corps is more than a means of escaping his former life as he is pushed beyond the very limits of his strength and willpower. From bootcamp brawls to skirmishes with galactic pirates, Ryck's new life presents him with unimaginable adventures and forces him to prove his mettle as he forges his new identity and fights to earn his place as one of the Brotherhood of Marines. Book 2: Sergeant Ryck Lysander has proven himself as a Marine, as a warrior. As he is promoted to sergeant, though, his responsibilities expand beyond merely fighting to leading other Marines into battle. When an old ally becomes a new enemy, one well-equipped and trained, Ryck is pushed to his very limits as he tries to keep his Marines alive while fulfilling his mission of defeating the enemy on the field of battle. Faced with extraordinary challenges and grueling missions, Ryck discovers love, loss, brotherhood, and dogged inner strength as he learns what it means to be a sergeant in the United Federation Marine Corps. Book 3: Lieutenant As a certified Federation "hero," Sergeant Ryck Lysander is offered a commission as a second lieutenant. Only, he doesn't feel like a hero, and his tendency to jump into a fight himself is at odds with his mission as a junior office. Accepting his commission might have been a big mistake. When contact with an alien species is finally made, that contact is not peaceful, and Ryck is thrust back into combat, combat that does not end well and plunges Ryck into an emotional crisis. Thrown the lifeline of transferring to Marine Reconnaissance, where he is back to being a fighter and not responsible for as many subordinates, this is Ryck's last chance to determine if he has what it takes to be a leader of Marines.

Noah and Esther Lysander, twin children of General Ryck Lysander, try to make their own mark as United Federation Marines.

The Marine Corps has always considered itself a breed apart. Since 1775, America’s smallest armed service has been suspicious of outsiders and deeply loyal to its traditions. Marines believe in nothing more strongly than the Corps’ uniqueness and superiority, and this undying faith in its own exceptionalism is what has made the Marines one of the sharpest, swiftest tools of American military power. Along with unapologetic self-promotion, a strong sense of identity has enabled the Corps to exert a powerful influence on American politics and culture. Aaron O’Connell focuses on the period from World War II to Vietnam, when the Marine Corps transformed itself from America’s least respected to its most elite armed force. He describes how the distinctive Marine culture played a role in this ascendancy. Venerating sacrifice and suffering, privileging the collective over the individual, Corps culture was saturated with romantic and religious overtones that had enormous marketing potential in a postwar America energized by new global responsibilities. Capitalizing on this, the Marines curried the favor of the nation’s best reporters, befriended publishers, courted Hollywood and Congress, and built a public relations infrastructure that would eventually brand it as the most prestigious military service in America. But the Corps’ triumphs did not come without costs, and O’Connell writes of those, too, including a culture of violence that sometimes spread beyond the battlefield. And as he considers how the Corps’ interventions in American politics have ushered in a more militarized approach to national security, O’Connell questions its sustainability.

Human slavers attack. Despite trying to fight back, there is nothing the young Leefe can do to save his family and friends. But he doesn't have to. The Imperial Marines arrive in the nick of time, and they hate slavers. Three tri-years later, when the new emperor issues a proclamation to integrate the imperial military with non-human citizens, Leefe is among the first to volunteer.Integration to resurrect the empire as a force for good is challenged by centuries of prejudice against the "dung races." Leefe and the other Wyntonans only want to prove their worth and fight for the empire, but their greatest battles are closer to home. With threats to the empire from both within and without, this grand experiment has the potential to save it . . . or tear it apart.