Kratman Snippets
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath – Snippet 17
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath - Snippet 17 Chapter Six The difference between stupid and intelligent people - and this is true whether or not they are well-educated - is that intelligent people can handle subtlety. --Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age Estado Mayor, Sub camp C, Ciudad Balboa, Balboa Carrera didn't really listen to the Quartermaster as he droned on about how many shipping containers had been packed with which arms and what ammunition. It was too soon for it to be that many, anyway. Instead, his eyes focused on a...
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath – Snippet 16
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath - Snippet 16 And that's why I picked this spot. Marciano held out one hand, palm up. Automatically, an RTO placed a handset in the palm. Just as automatically, the general raised it to his face. He saw the first puff of smoke from the lead aircraft, a single puff, indication a ranging shot. Marciano pressed the key and ordered, "Fire! Fire! Fire!" Instantly and simultaneously, those three dozen machine guns opened up, firing from all around the clock and at a combined rate of over...
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath – Snippet 15
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath - Snippet 15 San Juan del Norte, Cordoba When Tsarist-Marxism and the notion of the planned economy had finally gone under, in Volga, and the Cordoban government had lost its deathgrip on the breast and nipple of international socialist aid, the government had turned to the Tauran Union as the next best alternative. The loss had been a bitter blow, for that government had only thirty or so years before been installed as a result of victory in its own revolution. That Taurans' aid had been fairly generous,...
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath – Snippet 14
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath - Snippet 14 ***** His ship was already listing badly and down by the stern when Liu's smudge-faced, filthy, and apparently singed damage control chief reported in. He was wet nearly to the waist, which was another very bad sign. "All the fucking hatches in the area are warped, Captain. We can't seal off enough of the ship. We're wading through burnt fetus-looking corpses and the fires are out of fucking control, too; so we can't stop the leakage at or near the...
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath – Snippet 13
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath - Snippet 13 Chapter Five No, I have no right to rank with the great captains, for I have never commanded a retreat. --Moltke the Elder. Over and on the Mar Furioso, North of Santa Josefina At about fifty miles out, the package split into three, two of six Finches, each, and one, much more spread out, consisting of the six Gabriels. One package of Finches circled out to sea, enveloping the Zhong destroyers. The other did the same thing, but veered toward the land. The Gabriels just spread out...
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath – Snippet 12
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath - Snippet 12 ***** Marqueli was speaking on the stage now, talking about truth in advertising, her relationship to Carrera through his wife, Lourdes, but also how Jorge's medical care preceded any relationship except that of soldier and commander between him and the Duque. "You've heard all this before, I suppose," said RSM Ayres to Hendryksen. "One version or another of it, yes. This isn't the persuasive part. That comes when they start talking right and wrong, nature and nurture, and...
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath – Snippet 11
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath - Snippet 11 "This is the strangest thing I've ever seen, Kris," Ayres said. "They're treating us like guests, not enemies. No threats and no attempts to bribe anyone into cooperation. What the hell is going on? Is this because they think the war's over?" Hendryksen laughed softly. "You want my personal opinion? Okay, no, they know the war is still on until it's officially over. As to what they're doing…they're turning us into weapons." Ayres' quizzical look prompted the...
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath – Snippet 10
Days of Burning, Days of Wrath - Snippet 10 Chapter Four "Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate." --Sun Tzu Cristobal Province, Balboa The prisoners of war marched into captivity with their arms, as promised, but had to deposit them at a point along the way. As it turned out, there were a lot more non-Anglian Taurans with the Die-hards than Carrera had expected. More of them were wounded, too, than he'd...