Thorn Mansun was well and truly at rock bottom: marriage destroyed; his promising Space Marine career a distant memory; a spell of self-destructive heavy drinking only just behind him; and his new Earth Fleet role not unfairly described by many as a suicide mission.

Things could only get better, right? Wrong! He was about to find himself marooned on a distant, war-torn planet, only alive thanks to a band of brave but woefully under-resourced alien freedom fighters. Depressed, demoralized and cynical about just about everything, he surprises them and himself when he agrees to join them in their battle against their evil oppressors.

Has he finally found a way to start turning his life around, or will the Thorn Mansun jinx bring the Resistance down with him? The answer to that question could have huge implications for the galaxy-wide war for supremacy.