Postal Marine 1: Bellicose by Ben Wilson

Author:Ben Wilson [Wilson, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780983952107
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Dausha Publishing
Published: 2014-01-30T17:00:00+00:00

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Litovio - Spaka

After boarding the Spaka, Admiral Bence dropped the topic of Litovio having a major role in the upcoming slaughter. Soon after, the Spaka jumped to Pellinio, then Xaryio with a final destination Bence refused to share with anybody.

Then they jumped to Difektĝintio, which worried Litovio. They were on a route that led to The Barns, a system so important to the Imperial Navy that its name was officially changed to the name of the Navy's shipyards—home to the Imperial Navy headquarters. Litovio knew it was insane for them to try to take on the Navy in its home system. He did not believe it when Bence said that the bellicose faction was completely rogue. He suspected some of the senior naval commanders actively supported the conflict.

The Spaka entered Difektĝintio without incident and then jumped to Sovaĝio, just two paces away. The longer jumps were more challenging for the AI, but routing through The Barns was less safe. The week spent in hyperspace gave him time to read through all the dispatches they had picked up in Difektĝintio, which was one of the Imperial Core Worlds.

While Bence had dropped the topic of Litovio being his aide, he was given priority read access to the dispatches. The first dispatch he opened caused him the most worry. Negotiations had gone on between the Emperor and the rogue fleet had broken down. Litovio had hoped that a deal would be struck and a real fight could be avoided.

Humanity learned to travel the vast distances of space by manipulating the folds of realspace by manipulating gravity fields. A typical jump could take hours or weeks to cover a volume of space that could span millions, or billions, of light years. Neighboring systems in hyperspace could be in different galaxies in realspace. That was a scientific reality that took humanity a while to accept. It led them to conclude there were no other sentient lifeforms beyond humanity. It also meant that it would be impossible to cover the same distance using a slowboat.

Jump travel was inexplicably curtailed for a period of 430 years, known as the Terran Decline. Only for the past few generations had routine travel between systems resumed again. Slowly, old routes were re-discovered, finding pockets of humanity. Some of those pockets were happy to rejoin the rest of humanity. Others, however, resisted. The Navy's role was to persuade those systems to return to the greater Imperium. Litovio found that mission more detestable as an officer than he did growing up. That was why he joined the Marines—stopping crime was more gratifying than pulverizing a system into submission.

But it was the Navy's mission that currently terrified Litovio. For the Postal Marines to take on that firepower and training would require more than what the Marines were capable of. For Admiral Bence to think that Litovio was somehow capable of helping the Marines win seemed absurd.

I need some fresh air. He turned off his tablet with the dispatch traffic on it and left his cabin.

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