Grimmer Than Hell

YOU DON'T NEED SAINTS TO FACE
RUTHLESS ENEMIESYOU NEED HEROES!

THE FLEET

The Khalians are weasel shaped and weasel vicious; their main concern with humanity is the way humans taste. Behind the Khalians are others: stronger, smarter, and more vicious still.

Captain Miklos Kowacs and the men and women of Marine Reaction Company 121, the Headhunters, have faced the Khalians on the front lines: now they're taking the war to the enemy, freeing captured planets from their bestial conquerors and penetrating even the Khalian horneworld.

But the worst dangers to Kowacs and his Headhunters come from traitors who wear the same uniform!

BATTLESTATION

The only chance of defeating the Ichtons is to capture one one alive. No human battlefleet could hope to do thatbut just maybe a lone scout like Sergeant Dresser could.

Anyway, he has to try. The Ichtons don't conquer their enemies: they destroy them utterly.

LACEY

In the not-too-distant future, government cameras watch every soul in North America. Only the most cunning and powerful imagine they can commit a crime and escape punishment, and they become the prey of hunters like Jed Lacey.

Lacey has neither hopes nor fears, and he has no mercy at ad. There's never been anybody better at what he does.

There've always been men and women willing to stand between humanity and the worst the universe has to offer. The trouble is, they can't stay human and do their jobsand they must do their jobs.

David Drake is a Vietnam veteran, former lawyer, former bus driver, and bestselling author of many different types of science fiction and fantasy. Drake graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa, majoring in history (with honors) and Latin. His stint at Duke University Law School was interrupted for two years by the U.S. Army, where he served as an enlisted interrogator with the 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam and Cambodia. Drake, his wife, and various pets live in Chatham County, NC, where he writes every day.

Illustration by Stephen Hickman
Cover design by Jennie Paries
Author photograph by Jonathan Drake

Hardcover

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, February 2003

Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Drake, David.

Grimmer than hell / by David Drake.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-7434-3590-7
1. Science fiction, American. 2. Life on other planets—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3554.R196 G75 2003
813'.0876208—dc21
2002034194

ISBN: 0-7434-3590-7

Copyright © 2003 by David Drake.
"Introduction: Coming Home By the Long Way" copyright © 2003 by David Drake. "Rescue Mission" copyright © 1988 by David Drake; first printed in The Fleet. "When the Devil Drives" copyright © 1988 by David Drake; first printed in Counterattack. "Team Effort" copyright © 1989 by David Drake; first printed in Breakthrough. "The End" copyright © 1990 by David Drake; first printed in Sword Allies. "Smash and Grab" copyright © 1990 by David Drake; first printed in Total War. "Mission Accomplished" copyright © 1991 by David Drake; first printed in Crisis. "Facing the Enemy" copyright © 1992 by David Drake; first printed in Battlestation. "Failure Mode" copyright © 1993 by David Drake; first printed in Vanguard. "The Tradesmen" copyright © 2000 by David Drake; first printed in Drakas! "Coming Up Against It" copyright © 2003 by David Drake; original to this volume. "With the Sword He Must Be Slain" copyright © 1998 by David Drake; first printed in Armageddon. "Nation Without Walls" copyright © 1977 by The Conde Nast Publications, Inc.; first printed in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, July 1977. "The Predators" copyright © 1979 by David Drake; first printed in Destinies, Vol. 1, No. 5 (Oct.-Dec. 1979). "Underground" copyright © 1980 by David Drake; first printed in Destinies, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Feb.-March 1980).
 

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
https://www.baen.com

Production by Windhaven Press
Auburn, NH

Electronic version by WebWrights
http://www.webwrights.com

For Edmund D. Livingston, Sr.

Ed was proud to have served as a Marine rifleman on Okinawa
and been part of the unit which landed in Yokosuka
—without ammunition—
two days before the Japanese surrender.

I'm equally proud to have been his friend in later years.

BAEN BOOKS by DAVID DRAKE

Hammer's Slammers

The Tank Lords
Caught in the Crossfire
The Butcher's Bill
The Sharp End
Paying the Piper

RCN series

With the Lightnings
Lt. Leary, Commanding

Independent Novels and Collections

Seas of Venus
Foreign Legions, edited by David Drake
Ranks of Bronze
Cross the Stars
The Dragon Lord
Birds of Prey
Northworld Trilogy
Redliners
Starliner
All the Way to the Gallows
Grimmer Than Hell
The Undesired Princess and The Enchanted Bunny
(with L. Sprague de Camp)

Lest Darkness Fall and To Bring the Light
(with L. Sprague de Camp)

Armageddon
(edited with Billie Sue Mosiman)

Killer
(with Karl Edward Wagner)

The General series:
Warlord with S.M. Stirling (omnibus)
Conqueror with S.M. Stirling (forthcoming)
The Forge, with S.M. Stirling
The Chosen, with S.M. Stirling
The Reformer, with S.M. Stirling
The Tyrant, with Eric Flint

The Belisarius series:
(with Eric Flint)

An Oblique Approach
In the Heart of Darkness
Destiny's Shield
Fortune's Stroke
The Tide of Victory