THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN CONNECTION – snippet 20:
The cramped interior of the cockpit seemed like bedlam to Denise.
“Jesus, Lannie, you bombed my sister! You bombed my sister!” Keenan kept screeching, in blithe disregard for the fact that he’d been the one who’d actually released the weapon.
Naturally, Lannie’s response was to shift the blame himself. “She told me to it! She told me to do it!” was his contribution.
“Shut up, both of you!” was Denise’s own, trying to settle them down.
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THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN CONNECTION – snippet 19:
Chapter 9. The Bomb
“Bombs away!” shouted Lannie. Way too soon, in Denise’s judgment.
Fortunately, Keenan objected. “Hey, make up your mind! You said only one—”
“Drop it!” Denise hollered, when she gauged the time was right. Lannie might have buck fever, but she didn’t. Not with Buster for a dad, teaching her to hunt.
“It’s off!” said Keenan.
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BY SCHISM RENT ASUNDER – snippet 20:
Sharleyan's face tightened. Not with anger, although Gray Harbor saw anger in it, but in pain. The pain of memory at his oblique reminder of how her own father had died in battle against "pirates" subsidized by Hektor of Corisande when she was still a girl.
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WHEN THE TIDE RISES – snippet 18:
CHAPTER 8: Port Delacroix, Diamondia
Daniel kept a real-time exterior panorama running at the top of his display as he readied the Princess Cecile for liftoff. It didn't seem to him that the sky was brighter than it'd been a few minutes before, but now the water of the harbor shimmered in pale reflection.
"Six, this is Three," announced Pasternak on the command channel. "We're ready to light thrusters, over."
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BY SCHISM RENT ASUNDER – snippet 19:
This was Rayjhis Yowance's third visit to Cheryath, although both of his earlier trips had been made as an officer in the Royal Charisian Navy, not as the kingdom's first councilor. First councilors, after all, never left home. That was why kingdoms had little things called "ambassadors" to do the traveling instead, since first councilors were far too busy, and their duties were far too important, for them to go haring off on quixotic quests.
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WHEN THE TIDE RISES – snippet 17:
"I'm sorry, Officer Mundy," said a secretary who sounded more hostile than regretful. Thick white-washed walls made the room much more comfortable than the sun-blasted street; the only illumination bounced in from high windows onto a light shaft, though the small lamp on the desk could be lit if needed. "Master Torregrossa is out today and I don't expect him back. You might try his estate on Exos."
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THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN CONNECTION – snippet 20:
“There!” hollered Denise, pointing across Lannie’s chest out of the window on his side of the plane. “It’s them!”
He looked over and spotted the wagon immediately. “Yup. Gotta be. Keenan, you get ready to unload when I tell you.”
“Both bombs?”
“Better save one in case we miss the first time.”
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BY SCHISM RENT ASUNDER – snippet 18:
.II.
Queen Sharleyan's Palace,
City of Cheryath,
Kingdom of Chisholm
Trumpets sounded and the batteries protecting the Cherry Bay waterfront blossomed with smoke as they thudded their way through a sixteen-gun salute. Indignant sea birds and wyverns made their opinion of the goings-on abundantly clear as they wheeled, screeched, and scolded across a sky of springtime blue. The brisk wind out of the east lofted them easily as it blew across the sheltering peninsula known as The Sickle, which shielded Cherry Bay and the city of Cherayth from the often rough weather of the North Chisholm Sea, and the air was refreshingly cool.
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WHEN THE TIDE RISES – snippet 16:
CHAPTER 7: Port Delacroix on Diamondia
The terraces of the Governor's Residence overlooked the Inner Harbor of Port Delacroix. Just as Admiral James was now occupying the Residence, the RCN squadron had displaced civilian shipping. The Zeno and the ancient Lao-tze were moored bow-in on opposite sides of the pool. Between the two battleships floated the heavy cruiser Alcubiere, the light cruiser Antigone, and four destroyers; two more destroyers were in orbit.
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THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN CONNECTION – snippet 17:
Chapter 8. The Cuirass
Near the Fichtelgebirge, on the edge of the Saale valley
Janos Drugeth was trying to keep his temper under control. Despite his demands—he’d stopped just short of threatening his charges with violence—the up-timers had wasted so much time arguing over which items could be left behind that there had been no way to resume the journey until the next morning. And then, the idiots had wasted half the morning continuing the quarrel before they finally had the two intact wagons reloaded.
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