Abyss Deep

From New York Times bestselling author Ian Douglas comes a new military science fiction series about the elite units of recon Marines and S/R Corpsmen who infiltrate alien worlds ahead of major military strikes and planetary invasion to gather intelligence on both the local environment and on the psychology and biology of the enemy.

For thousands of years, Galactic civilization has been guided by the more-or-less benevolent species who are evolving to a higher and nonmaterial plane. As they continue to depart for parts unknown, the infrastructure of the civilization they forged millennia ago is now crumbling, and younger, more aggressive species are arising to vie for control. It is a time of high-tech barbarians smashing through the ruins of High Civilization and attempting to build new empires within the wreckage.

The Navy Medical Corps, as in ages past, continues to provide the Marines with medical corpsmen, highly motivated and skilled men, women, and artificial intelligences who train with the Marines and who make combat drops with them onto alien and hostile planets. Their role has expanded since Humankind first began expanding to the stars; they serve now not only as medics, but as science technicians and specialists who must unravel alien ecosystems, psychologies, and biologies so that the Marines can better understand both the nature of their foes and the unique environmental dangers confronting them with each combat drop.

The Navy Medical Corps is now more than doctors - they are first contact specialists, spies, and the first line of defense for Humankind - and it's up to them to make sure that Humankind maintains their status in the galaxy.