Retreat Hell Read Online Free PDF

War in a time of ‘Peace:’ The Empire’s Forgotten Military History.
    In her slumber, Jasmine looked beautiful – and deadly.
    Emmanuel Alves carefully – very carefully – lifted himself out of bed and moved away from her.  Jasmine slept very lightly, he’d discovered, and making too much noise near her could have alarming and painful results.  She'd been trained, she'd admitted after the first incident, to snap awake at the slightest hint anyone might be near her.  Emmanuel hadn't been able to avoid asking how she’d managed to sleep in a small compartment with her fellow Marines, only to be told that was different.  He wasn't sure how.
    He looked back at her and smiled.  She looked shorter, somehow, without her uniform, but there was no disguising the sheer strength of her body.  Muscles rippled along her arms and legs, while her small breasts stood out against her flat chest.  Longer hair might have set off her face nicely, he considered, but he knew she would never grow it out.  All Marines, without exception, had their hair shaved close to their scalps or removed their hair permanently.  It just made it easier to wear a combat helmet during fighting.
    His smile grew wider as he stepped into the shower and turned on the tap.  The apartment was small, but neither of them really cared.  Jasmine was used to a Spartan existence, while Emmanuel himself had hidden from the old Council’s goons in the badlands more than once, back before the old Council had been removed.  Maybe it wasn't as heroic as service in the Marine Corps or the Knights of Avalon, but he had served a useful purpose.  He’d kept people informed of what was going on before the end of the war.
    He jumped as he felt a hand touch his shoulder, then heard a very feminine giggle.  Jasmine moved silently, even on a hard wooden floor, so silently that he’d never heard her coming even when he was listening for her.  She pushed him to the back of the shower, then directed the water to splash over both of them.  Unlike him, she didn't seem to have any problems waking up in the morning.  He felt himself harden as she washed the water over his member, then grunted as she pushed him against the wall and impaled herself on him.  Somehow, her silence made it all the more exciting ...
    Afterwards, they dressed together, Jasmine donning her undress uniform rather than the civilian clothes she'd worn the previous day.  Emmanuel had to admit that she looked better in her uniform, as shapeless as it was, rather than in civilian clothes, which looked rather ill-fitting on her.  Unlike his previous girlfriends, Jasmine didn't seem to want to cuddle or talk after having sex, as if she was unwilling to open herself mentally as well as physically.  It puzzled Emmanuel more than he cared to admit, but it wasn't something he wanted to share with anyone else.  As far as he knew, he was the only person on Avalon dating a female Marine.
    “Councillor Travis has requested my presence in two hours,” he said, as he finished pulling n his jumper.  There was no standard appearance for a reporter on Avalon, not like there had been on Earth – or so he had been told.  But then, Earth had been a heavily stratified society for so long that most of its population was unaware there was any stratification.  “Rumour has it that he’s going to make a run for President.”
    Jasmine looked up, her face almost unreadable.  Emmanuel had spent long enough with her to be able to read the signs of worry, almost concern.  No one could escape hearing about Councillor Travis’s campaign to build political influence in the month since they’d returned from Lakshmibai – or the speculation about what it might mean for the Commonwealth.  The President of Avalon wasn’t all-powerful, but Avalon was one of the most important worlds in the union.  If Avalon started to pull away from the Commonwealth it had created, it was hard to see how the Commonwealth would