X. DIn middle <strong>of</strong> the tower's laser fire, Palomides stomped on the de. He ran tothe bots that were hauling materials from the small doors on the de, cleavedone in half and smashing one with his arm. He took his sword and cleaved some<strong>of</strong> the truss structures. e tower creaked, but didn't fall.“Have at you, metallic menacers!” Palomides roared. “My strength is thestrength <strong>of</strong> a hundred <strong>of</strong> your kind, for I have the heart whi you la! Britainshall prevail! For valour!”“Daleworth to Sir Palomides”, Daleworth said over command link. She wasn'tsure what sort <strong>of</strong> orders Palomides had goen, but things seemed to be going welleven without instructions. It was just that she needed some order. “Don't worryabout the tower, just destroy the construction bots first and anti-air weapons next.”“By your word, dame Daleworth”, Sir Palomides replied. With a few leapsover twisted, bla metal, Palomides cleaved his way through some <strong>of</strong> the remainingconstruction bots. “Your destruction is the will <strong>of</strong> God! And I am Hishumble servant, instrument <strong>of</strong> your demolition!”“What the hell is that guy babbling about?” Daleworth muered to herself.is was turning almost amusing.“Semisentient cylinders <strong>of</strong> mostly copper! Face the wrath <strong>of</strong> my trusty broadsword!Aaa! A-hah! I shall cleave you in twain, villain!”Daleworth started to wonder if there was some sort <strong>of</strong> an amusing undercurrentin all these legends—“Yaah! Hyaah! Hoo! —Aah!!!”—And then Daleworth noticed that there was nothing amusing going on. Shelooked at the video feed and didn't see movement. What was going on out there?“Daleworth to Sir Palomides.”“T…the vile v-v-v-v-villains caught me o-o-<strong>of</strong>f guard, dame. Constructionmainery is… d-d-d-destroyed. I've s-s-suffered a hit. My b-b-body doesn't seemto f-f-f-function properly, dame.”“Fu. Um… Will you hold up if we blow up the tower?”“I-i-i shall r-retreat to m-my Steed. I-i-i can barely move.”“ʰ Company Command to ˢ Platoon”, Plaerman imed in through thecommand network. “Bomb the tower. I repeat, bomb the tower.”“Say again, Major?” Daleworth asked. “Want us to drop the Sassy Lass?”“We don't know if the Planner cra has shielding, but it seems the towerthey're building doesn't have shielding. If we can take out the tower, the missionis as good as done. Just stop the bastards from broadcasting the signals.”“What the fu is a Sassy… holy fuing shit, you can't really mean…” Batesprotested.“Sir, will you take responsibility if the Roughs Platform is damaged in thebombing run, sir?” Daleworth just couldn't contain the slight amusement in hertone.
“I will”, Plaerman said. “Now bomb that tower to the stone age.”“Oh no you don't! Oh no you fuing don't!” Bates screamed — unable to moveor actually do anything about the maer, as the Alpha Squad hadn't even needany specific order to restrain a rather restless civilian that was causing trouble inthe shule.“Will comply.”“Command out.”“Ford!” Daleworth shouted. “You heard the man! Bombing maneuvers!”“Roger”, the pilot replied.“Newkins, quit fuing around with the ziplines and take the bomb sights!”Daleworth shouted.“Gladly, ma'am!” Newkins shouted and ran to the vacant seat by the targetingcomputer in the copit. Daleworth idly wondered when was the last time anyonehad not said they'll handle the shule weapon systems “gladly”.“Everybody else, brace for bombing run!” Daleworth herself kept standing,but took a good grip <strong>of</strong> the loops on the crew bay's ceiling.“Got target, sir?” Newkins said.“I have the target, private”, Ford said. “Run height?”“Run height, .”“Copy that.”e engines howled as the shulecra shot forth, taking a good counterclowiseloop to south and to east. e shule aerburners fired and took the shuleto the meter ceiling.“Any sight <strong>of</strong> the knight, Newkins?” Daleworth shouted to the copit.“Negative, ma'am”, Newkins said, examining the video feed on the weaponconsole. “Camera resolution is shit, but I can't see the knight the de.”“Okay, guess we need to assume he got <strong>of</strong>f, then”, Daleworth said. “As youwere.”“Commencing run”, Ford said.“Dropping the fork”, Newkins said.With a bit <strong>of</strong> a creak and a very loud clunk and tremble, the bomb bay doorsopened and the shulecra was ready for divebombing.“You can't be fuing serious!” Bates protested.“We try to minimise the damage to the platform, sir”, Daleworth said. “Don'twe, Newkins?”“Sure do, ma'am!” Newkins shouted.“See, Bates?” Daleworth said. “Nothing to worry about!”“If there's one bit <strong>of</strong> concrete <strong>of</strong>f its place…”“…you'll just thank us for removing the crumbled concrete so that your repairmenwon't have to”, Daleworth said. “Why don't you fuing relax already.”“Drop height ”, Newkins said. “Slope nominal.”
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NaNoWriMo 2010 WinnerUrpo LankinenN
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Prologue
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wouldn't really want to discuss the
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hundreds of families stu together i
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Part IWe Held the Line
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I. F H“Now that just sus”, Tan
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II. F F?“Contact, yellow, blind!
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III. A E Sscientist with thi glasse
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III. A E Swhen he first saw the lie
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III. A E Sand started to accept the
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III. A E Sa short notice. e Major p
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III. A E Sreason that was somewhat
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IV. A R S Sbefore gently starting
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IV. A R S Sfrom projectile and en
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IV. A R S Se eight walls with cre
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IV. A R S Sey looked at the space
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IV. A R S SIt was fairly common-s
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IV. A R S Sand rescuing damsels f
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IV. A R S Snotice massive differe
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V. S F THe knew what they would say
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V. S F Twin.But damn if they though
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V. S F T“Take us the hell out of
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V. S F T15 TH 0F FEBRUARY, 2632 AD,
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V. S F T“What do you recommend, M
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V. S F Tworlds, feet just weren't t
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V. S F Tthe surroundings for clues
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- Page 83 and 84: “I see”, Dr. Grovepath said.
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- Page 122 and 123: XII. T Q“Take cover, everybody!
- Page 124 and 125: XIII.Once and Future… and Forever
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- Page 134: ContentsContentsI We Held the Line