Weber Snippets

A Call To Arms - Snippet 34 BOOK THREE 1543 PD CHAPTER SEVENTEEN There was a soft tone from the repeater display in Llyn's cabin aboard Score Settler. Starting awake from his light doze, he checked the readout. Finally -- finally -- a hyper footprint. McConnovitch and Hosney had arrived. Llyn rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, feeling a surge of relief. The bulk of the Volsung task force had been orbiting this uninhabited red-dwarf for the past two weeks, with only one of the battlecruisers still absent, and Gensonne was starting to get...

A Call To Arms - Snippet 33 Castillo grunted as he unstrapped from his station. "No need to be sorry, Lieutenant. There's just a need to learn." He waved at the tac display. "As I said, that kind of trick takes careful timing and a great deal of skill. But it also requires a fair amount of luck. Your job as an officer of the Royal Manticoran Navy is to cultivate both. And to always assume that your opponent has done likewise." He floated out of his chair, steadied himself a moment, then gave himself a shove that sent him floating swiftly...

A Call To Arms - Snippet 32 Once again, the tac display began to shift. Travis watched, his thumbs pressed hard against the sides of his forefingers. From somewhere forward came a muted rumble as the autocannon began firing. The flashing red rim around Invincible vanished as the sensors reacquired contact -- "Missile!" the tac officer snapped. Travis blinked. The whole thing had happened way too fast for him to see, but the vector line on the tac display showed that the incoming missile had come in right along the edge of fire from the...

A Call To Arms - Snippet 31 CHAPTER SIXTEEN "Yes, Ma'am," Travis said, his pulse suddenly pounding. Maneuvering past her, he pulled his way down the passageway and headed toward the bridge, a sinking feeling joining the resident tension already in his stomach. He had no idea what he'd done now, but for Castillo to be bothering with him at a time like this it must have been something big. Like the other officers aboard Phoenix, Travis had been part of the bridge watch rotation ever since the early days of his assignment. But he'd never seen it...

A Call To Arms - Snippet 30 "Understood, Admiral," Castillo said. "May I also say that congratulations are in order. This is the first time in years that I've heard of anyone being actually preauthorized to spend a missile. Even a practice one." "I credit the Izbica Incident," Locatelli said. "I'm expect the Exchequer's new-found generosity will fade with time. Do you have any questions?" "No, Sir," Castillo said. "But I do have a request. One of my junior officers is very good with book learning, but I see a certain disconnect with...

A Call To Arms - Snippet 29 Bajek was waiting in Captain Castillo's office when Travis arrived. "Come in, Lieutenant," Castillo said, his voice and expression stiffly formal. "I understand you want to write up Ensign Locatelli." Travis was opening his mouth to answer when the phrasing of the comment suddenly struck him. No, he didn't want to write up Locatelli. He'd already done so. Or so he'd thought. "Yes, Sir, I do," he said carefully. "Is there a problem?" For a tense second he thought the question had put him over the line. Castillo's...

A Call To Arms - Snippet 28 CHAPTER FIFTEEN "Lieutenant. Long?" the gruff voice echoed down the passageway of HMS Phoenix. "Sir?" Travis came to a reluctant halt, taking the calming breath he'd taught himself to do at times like this. Senior Chief Osterman was a major pain in the butt, on a ship much of whose officer corps and enlisted personnel seemed to take a special pleasure these days in competing for honors in that position. "Yes, Senior Chief?" he replied, catching one of the passageway handholds and bringing himself to a floating...

A Call To Arms - Snippet 27 "That's because you didn't know him before King Michael," Breakwater said ruefully. "He was quite the politician during Elizabeth's time, with a firm grasp of his opponents' weaknesses and a clear eye for pushing through whatever laws or policies his sovereign wanted." He shook his head. "I'd assumed that age and the lack of a strong monarch had simply sapped his strength. I appear to have miscalculated." Winterfall turned that one over in his head. Only minutes ago the Chancellor's faction had been striding...