The United Federation Marine Corps' Lysander Twins

Esther and Noah Lysander are the twin children of General Ryck Lysander, Commandant of the Marine Corps, leader of the Evolution and Chairman of the Federation. When they are told that their father and mother have been assassinated, they are both devastated. Cut adrift, they each decide to enlist in the Corps - but for different reasons.

Esther Lysander, the driven, professional Marine ever-conscious of the heavy weight of her father's legacy, is selected to become an officer. She has high goals for her career - very high goals - and she believes the best method to achieve success is to be a complete hard-ass, keeping emotions at bay. This outlook has resulted in some notable achievements, but at the cost of friends and her relationship with her twin brother Noah, a price she is willing to pay.

Noah Lysander, son of the former Marine Commandant and Chairman of the Federation, followed his twin sister in enlisting as a Marine. While Esther excelled, getting commissioned as an officer, Noah is not so driven, and when he proposes to Miriam, he makes a pledge to be a better husband and future father than his own father had been. Reenlisting for armor, Noah becomes a crewman on an M1 Davis, the most powerful tank ever developed. He quickly finds out that despite nominal peace within the Federation, the deployment demands placed on his platoon are heavy.

Captain Esther Lysander, UFMC, is a combat Marine. Her new orders, however, are APOC, or “At the Pleasure of the Chairman”, and while she knows this type of assignment could be career-threatening, she feels duty-bound to accept them. There is no SOP for being APOC, except that it isn't combat as usual. Part spy, part soldier, part political window dressing, Esther has to adapt to everything from clandestine meetings with rebel forces, hostage rescues, and off-the-record sniper missions to being a courier between the chairman and other heads of state.