Gianni De Luca

First Lieutenant Gianni De Luca leads a United States Marine Corps Special Operations unit. He has "orders from Washington" to stop the T'lan invasion, and as such, uses his discretion to ignore the order to kill Derrick (and presumably all research staff). He and his unit wear Urban BDUs, Woodland Tactical Vests, and kneepads and are armed with state-of-the-art (fictional) Anti-T'lan Lasers (the only weapon known to be capable of killing T'lan). As an Officer, he also carries an M9 in a holster on his right thigh.

While much smaller than the other military units present at Terminus 4, De Luca's squad crosses paths with Derrick on several occasions. At one point, Derrick assists De Luca in holding off a T'lan attack. They manage to stop the advance, but De Luca's squad suffers several casualties. Later, Derrick meets De Luca again. His entire squad has been wiped out and he's mortally wounded. He informs Derrick he has to destroy Nexus immediately before dying. After Derrick returns to the past, and destroys Nexus, De Luca orders a helicopter pilot to "wait for Derrick." This gives Derrick and Alex enough time to exit Site-Zero. When Derrick makes a jump for the helicopter, De Luca helps pull him in. He does not extend the same courtesy to Alex. When Casval appears from behind the netting, De Luca remarks, "Smart cat, hiding in the helicopter like that." It's unknown how long Casval was in the helicopter, or how he got there on his own, though this statement likely exists simply to confirm that Derrick is not hallucinating and that Casval is in fact present.