Continuing the saga of the bestselling game series! In the third of three official tie-in novels to the hugely successful videogame from Microsoft and Epic Games, Marcus Fenix and his Gears defend humanity’s final city from the Locust horde. With the Locust Horde apparently destroyed, Jacinto’s survivors have begun to rebuild human society on the Locust stronghold. Raiding pirate gangs take a toll—but it’s nothing that Marcus Fenix and the Gears can’t handle. Then the nightmare they thought they’d left behind begins to stalk them again. Something far worse, something even the Locust dreaded, has emerged to spread across the planet, and not even this remote island haven is beyond its reach. Gears and Stranded must fight side by side to survive their deadliest enemy yet, falling back on the savage tactics of another bloody siege—Anvil Gate. Karen Traviss  is a science fiction author and full-time novelist from Wiltshire, England. Originally from the Portsmouth area, Traviss is a graduate of the Clarion science fiction and fantasy workshop. Her first published novels include  City of Pearl  and its five sequels:  Crossing the Line, The World Before, Matriarch, Ally,  and  Judge . COALITION OF ORDERED GOVERNMENTS NAVAL BASE VECTES NONCITIZEN INCIDENT LOG SUMMARY THAW 1 TO BRUME 35, 14 a.e., INCLUSIVE. Attacks on property: 35 Attacks on civilians: 20 Casualties, civilian: 15 injured, 6 dead. Casualties, COG personnel: 18 injured, no fatalities. Casualties, insurgents: 30 dead. (Injury data unavailable. No wounded detained.) Vectes Naval Base, Navy of the Coalition of Ordered Governments, New Jacinto: first week of Storm, 15 a.e. "Welcome to New Jacinto," said Chairman Prescott. "And welcome to the protection of the Coalition of Ordered Governments. May this new year be a new start for us all." Hoffman had to hand it to Prescott; he could always manage to look as if whatever lie he was telling at the time was the holy truth. The two men stood on the jetty as the Gorasni container ship Paryk disembarked its human cargo, five hundred civilians from an independent republic that had still been officially at war with the Coalition until last month. They were part of the COG now, whether they liked it or not. Hoffman guessed that they didn't. "They don't look in a party mood, Chairman," Hoffman said. A statesmanlike half-smile was nailed to Prescott's face, probably more for the benefit of his local audience--a detachment of Gears, a medical team, some civilian representatives--than for the new arrivals. "I hope it's disorientation and seasickness rather than a lack of gratitude," he said. Hoffman eyed the procession, looking for potential troublemakers and wondering if any of the refugees spoke the language well enough to see the irony in the COG's title. Governments? There was only one government left, a city-sized administration on a remote island a week's sailing time from Tyrus. That was all that was left of a global civilization of billions after fifteen years of fighting the Locust. But on a sunny day like this, not a typical Storm day at all, Vectes must have looked pretty good compared with the mainland. No grub had ever set foot here, and it showed. The Gorasni bastards should have been grateful. Safe haven and food in exchange for all that extra fuel they didn't need? It was a good deal. "Maybe they just hate our guts." Hoffman tried to imagine the mind-set of a pipsqueak nation that ignored the Pendulum Wars cease-fire. That was some serious grudge-nursing. "It was their leader's idea to join us. I'm betting he didn't take a vote on it." "Let's hope they think of it as a bring-a-bottle party." The Gorasni certainly weren't arriving empty-handed to drain the COG's limited resources. They were surrendering their imulsion supplies--an operational offshore drilling platform--in exchange for a refuge. In a world burned to a wasteland, fuel and food were the two assets that meant there'd be a tomorrow. Hoffman wasn't crazy about the Indies and he was damned sure they weren't crazy about him, but these were desperate times. Can't be too choosy about our neighbors. At least they're not Stranded. They're not killing us--yet. A security detail of Gears lined the jetty, channeling the refugees to the reception team at an old storehouse that was built into the fortresslike walls. Hoffman glanced at the faces around him and wondered if any war could ever make you forget the one that preceded it. But the Vectes locals had never even seen a Locust. Their monsters were still the Indies, the old human enemy from an eighty-year war--the people landing on this jetty. "Bastards." An elderly man from the Pelruan town council wore a chestful of Pendulum War medals on his threadbare jacket, including the Allfathers' Medal. No, he wasn't about to forget. "Can't forgive any of them. Least of all those who still aren't sorry for what they did." Hoffman noted the campaign ribbons and chose his w