1636: The Saxon Uprising — Snippet 24:
Chapter 9
Poznán, Poland
The grand hetman of Poland and Lithuania finished studying the enemy lines beyond the city’s fortifications. From his expression, Lukasz Opalinski thought he wasn’t very happy with what he saw. Not so much because of the enemy’s lines, but because of his own. Poznán had begun the process of renovating its walls with the modern trace italienne design, but had not finished it when the USE launched its invasion of Poland. As usual, funds had been short and erratic. King Wladyslaw IV was a spendthrift and the Sejm was feckless.
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1636: The Saxon Uprising — Snippet 23:
Jesse frowned. “John, I’m a thick-headed flyboy. You’re leaving me behind in the dust.”
Simpson chuckled. “Jesse, you know and I know that the USE is on the brink of a constitutional crisis.”
“That’s putting it mildly. The term ‘civil war’ comes to mind also.”
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1636: The Saxon Uprising — Snippet 22:
USE naval base
Luebeck
Colonel Jesse Wood hung his flight jacket on a peg near the door and then took a seat in a chair against the wall in Admiral Simpson’s office.
“So what’s up, John? Why did you insist I fly out here at the crack of dawn?”
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1636: The Saxon Uprising — Snippet 21:
Chapter 6
Stockholm, capital of Sweden
“It’s a tub,” pronounced Kristina. The Swedish princess made the statement with a royal assurance that sat oddly on her slender eight-year-old shoulders.
Nine-year-old shoulders, she would have insisted herself, and never mind that her birthday was still a month away. Kristina tended to view facts with disdain, if they conflicted with her axioms.
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1636: The Saxon Uprising — Snippet 20:
He looked down and scuffed his boot across the surface of the road. “Then there’s this little problem. You did notice these are cobblestones?”
She looked down. “Um. Yeah.”
“And exactly how many cobblestoned airstrips have you ever seen?”
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1636: The Saxon Uprising — Snippet 19:
Eric could figure out the rest for himself. He already knew from filling in fairly obvious blanks in Jeff’s letters that the Hangman Regiment had been left behind in Tetschen so that Stearns could bring his whole division back into Saxony in a hurry, if need be. The most likely cause of such a maneuver would be an impending battle in or around Dresden.
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1636: The Saxon Uprising — Snippet 18:
Chapter 7
Dresden, capital of Saxony
Eric Krenz propped his elbows on the tower’s stone railing and gazed out at the Elbe. The river that bisected Dresden was more than a hundred yards wide, and about that far away from his vantage point on the Residenzschloss. The height of the tower provided a magnificent view of the Elbe valley.
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1636: The Saxon Uprising — Snippet 17:
By mid-morning, Ernst had half-forgotten that the young woman he was having such a pleasant discussion with was not only the most notorious political radical in the Germanies but someone whom it could even be argued, given the recent change in the USE’s government, was an outright enemy of the state. By now, he had discovered that Gretchen Richter was perceptive and astute on the issue under discussion, in addition to being personally quite charming. Neither quality was one he had expected from her reputation.
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1636: The Saxon Uprising — Snippet 16:
Chapter 6
Dresden, capital of Saxony
Gretchen Richter studied the man sitting behind the desk. He was slight of build, with a large-featured face framed by long, light brown hair and decorated with mustachios and a goatee. Two bright blue eyes peered at her above a bony nose. The gaze was composed of equal parts of apprehension, suspicion and curiosity.
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1636: The Saxon Uprising — Snippet 15
The wand-tip came back to Swabia. “This map doesn’t reflect it yet, because it’s still not formally established. But the fact is that in the real world the former duchy of Württemberg has seceded from Swabia and is operating as its own republican province. So far, Horn hasn’t used force to squash them. But he can always claim that what few forces he doesn’t need to stare down Bernhard will be needed to keep order in Württemberg.”
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