Death Comes But Once

Zack Decker wanted one thing: to fight as a Marine Pathfinder. He got it. Then he lost it. Temper. Hatred of brass. Career over. Wife gone. Friends gone. Nothing left but a bottle and a string of planets he barely remembered.

Then an old Marine buddy pulled him out of the gutter. Offered him a job. Decker took it. He was already running—cop dead, militia hunting him. No place to hide.

The job was dirty. Security on a starship with owners who stank of trouble and a crew just as bad. Work that made a mockery of Once a Marine, always a Marine.

Curiosity almost killed him next. He dug too deep. Found a secret big enough to burn the Commonwealth to ash. Now the hunters were closing in—shadows, killers with orders. The kind who don't stop.

They thought he was finished. Washed‑up. Broken. They forgot he could still fight like one of the Few. And he was ready to remind them.