After book 12, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with this entire story. With the Naxli having been destroyed by the ever quiet and always around Sia, humanity had no significant enemies. So they did what they normally do and that’s turn on their own kind! For some odd and unexplainable reason, the IBHU Marines who had protected the vast civilian population through all sorts of wars were now being singled out as undesirables just because they had their modifications that made them appear different from other humans. So a small part of the population started campaigning to rid humanity of these “less than humans”. In their ignorance, they wanted to eliminate all future human modification of any kind. So, the IBHU program was shut down and no more were to be put through the process.
So, Gunnery Sergeant Tomiko Pelletier was the last of the IBHUs, just barely and only because a lot of her and Sergeant Major Pelletier’s friends got it done. That meant that Tomiko would be joining her husband as they were exiled by the human race. Their mission was stated along the lines of the original Star Trek mission, ” To explore strange new worlds: to seek out new life and new civilizations. To go where no man has gone before”. Or something along those lines. What it meant was that all the IBHU Marines, a large number of MDS karnans and 1,767 Genesians were also part of the flotilla. The Genesians had their own ship and didn’t plan to intermix with the other humans. They were along to hopefully find a home planet. There was also a large contingent of scientist. As this was an exploratory mission, the scientific teams would have a large play in what was done. And actually, the person in charge of the entire mission was a civilian Chief Scientist, not the military!
Where were they going? No one was sure, but they knew they were heading way beyond known space. They would explore each system to find out if it had life and if it was technological enough to meet with the flotilla. If not, they wouldn’t interfere, but discreetly observe and mark that system for future study. Then again, if they did find a highly advanced civilization, then they would attempt to make contact and gain new allies. What the role of the Marines, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Bundy, was a question that would be answered depending on these situation.
But, the first situation Reverent Pelletier found him self facing was the pending birth of his twin daughters. Tomiko was going to deliver any time now and Rev wanted to be there when it happened. Only, LTC Bundy had other plans involving the finding of a century ship called the Loman’s Haven. Earth had sent out 817 of these century ships some two thousand years ago. Most had been found, most were just carrying a lot of dead colonist as they traveled through the vastness of space. Loman’s Haven wasn’t dead. There definitely were life forms aboard so a contingent was going to find out just who or what was there. Rev was on the away team although he hoped it didn’t take too long. Little did he know that his time on the Haven was going to be longer than it should have been.
They did recover from that mission and Tomiko did have their two daughters. They were born healthy and were the immediate darlings of the entire ship. Marines getting pregnant wasn’t supposed to happen. How it did with Rev and Tomiko is something you’ll read about and have to form your own opinion of what Tomiko did. There was rumors aboard the ship that others were pregnant, but as of yet, there was no official comment from the leadership. The ships doctor actually was encouraging the idea of having news ones born on this ships since most of these people were never going to return to Earth!
So the next mission is on a very Earth like planet. Very green, calm weather and abundance of flora and fauna. One in particular fauna was what the ships crew came to call “buffalos” because of their uncanny resemblance to the Earth buffalo. Only these had four eyes and were present in their thousands. At first things went along pretty smooth for the landing party. They had set up a base in which to explore the planet, make observations and catalogue everything they could. But then, the buffalos became restless. No one knows why, but they were starting to cause a problem. It was up to the Sergeant Major to get it solved if he could.
This book, as you’ll read is very different from previous books in that the enemy is not always who you’d expect. They’re not encountering hostile aliens although there are hostiles on occasion. There will be casualties and both Rev and Tomiko are going to lose friends. But the mission must continue although where it might end, I have no idea. Oh, I also don’t know what the title means for this book. They actually weren’t exiled to anywhere specific and certainly not to a place called “Perdition”!
The next book in the series, “Into the Void”, Book 14 will be available on/about 14 June 2023, but can be pre-ordered now. I’m waiting until it’s available an then adding it to my reading list.