"Richard Allen Stotts - Empire 1 - Midshipman" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stotts Richard Allen)

cannot make the sounds that are the Snakes true name.
The Snakes were a more communal society, individual
achievement and initiative were not part of their makeup,
they were highly xenophobic and regarded other races as
pests to be exterminated or workers to be subjugated.
Humanity did not take kindly to being treated as тАШpestsтАЩ, a
full scale war with the Snakes was looming, scattered
тАШincidentsтАЩ had already occurred.


In the New Empire there was one absolute ruler, the
Emperor, and one absolute unifying power, the Imperial
Navy. The Navy needed the best people that the Empire
could supply, the best people that mankind could produce to
keep the peace and to protect the weak, to protect and
expand the empire. Most young males didnтАЩt measure up to
the requirements to be a naval officer, the Empire had very
harsh standards for itтАЩs leaders and selection began at an
early age.


In times long past the selection process to find a
naval officer would have been considered to be inhumane,
cruel, mean spirited, sexist and just plain nasty.




9
Tough.
You go with what works.


Candidates for the naval academies (too large of an
empire for just one) were selected at age ten. In a distant
history with wooden ships, midshipmen were often just as
young, mere boys.


Every ten-year-old male citizen (I am so very sorry,
mixed sexes in the military never really worked out) of the
New Empire was entitled to take the preliminary screening
tests. Most didnтАЩt take the test, it was just too damned hard.
On average 94 percent who took the examination failed.
There was no disgrace in failing, most did and went on to
lead perfectly ordinary lives. If you passed, you were
something most special, you were a cadet-candidate. If you
and your family possessed sufficient grit you then went on
to the pre-academy screening process, as many as
seventy-five percent sometimes failed that screening, some