Dusts of Avalon - Beastwithin.org

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V. S F THe knew what they would say, and he knew what they would say would be avery ugly truth indeed.e world was doomed, and they'd need miracles now.“Torpedo blast absorbed”, nd Lieutenant Batmann said. “Contact is still there,sir.”“Direct hit, no effect. Target now out of range”, came a report from the frigate'sgunners.“at was the biggest shot we had. Dammit” Pyrehill leaned on the desk andhung his head, trying his best to show to his men that he was calculative andnot defeated yet. “Saladin, you may disengage. ank you for trying, you mayreturn to the bale plan. Please come to Earth as soon as you humanly can, weneed every ship we have.”“Understood. Saladin disengaging. Sorry we couldn't help. Over and out”,Captain Stoman replied over command network.“So mu for last dit efforts, then”, Pyrehill muered to himself, then turnedto Batmann. “Estimate on how soon that bogey reaes Earth?”“About hours, sir, give or take some.”“I guess this is it, then. e war has nowhere to go. It comes home. It's time.”February 15, 2632, 15:14 UTCDaleworth pulled on her power armour's gloves and sighed a lile bit. Before sheput her helmet on, she huned down and buried her forehead to the flexmetalgloves, feeling the grease on her forehead. No time for shower. e M– washeading to Earth. She didn't know what was going on, except for the fact that oneof those damn Planner cras was heading straight to Earth, too.at, of course, was not very good news.So this is where things have come to…Daleworth pulled on her helmet and prepared, for the first time in years andthe first time since her basic training, to fight on Earth. She had fought in lowgravity of the moons and moderate gravity of Mars, fought in starry skies underalien skies, but now, she was ba in the cradle of humanity.ey'd be fighting in a plain ordinary evening. e twilight. e twilight ofhumanity if it came to that.e last fight would be sad and beautiful.Right now, e Lenin Co-operative's shule is taking Tankerman and Wolffto Mars for Captain Bluebrook's burial, Daleworth thought. ey could be saved,if we fall here and now. But…Daleworth put her helmet on, loed it, and pied up her assault rifle. Angerswelled in her as she looked out of the window.
A display lit up in her helmet. Drop zone coordinates near Paris.Open field. Trenes had been dialed up — Daleworth imagined Plaermandrawing tren vectors on the map from his comfortable air, and ordering themto be dug — and they would be available when they came to the drop zone.Calculated position of the enemy cra in the end of the landing orbit appearedon the other side of the balefield. A white cross on the map at the end of a doedline.And a curious entry.“Suspected coordinates of the enemy.”Another cross, only in red and grey this time, and only about meters awayfrom the calculated position.e Planners just gloated. ey always gloated, and they never, never announcedanything. But Daleworth was stru by these “Suspected coordinates”.She just knew what had happened.Now, the Planner bastars were gloating beforehand.e military wanted everyone know that they were playing with estimates,not solid facts that were wrien in stone. When people saw estimates, they knewto trust them only as far as they seemed to be true. Great many bales had beenlost because the soldiers were blindly following information that was leadingthem to their doom. e high commanders wanted the officers on the field tothink what was actually going on, rather than hold their hands on every stepalong the way. Everyone was honest with this setup: e officers saw the estimates,they led by the estimates, and made good calls on how to follow the data.When every soldiers saw first hand that the estimates were complete baloney,however, the commanders could make efficient decisions on how not to followthe data. While the data was being collected, it was constantly adjusted as the situationdeveloped. Everyone could see the numbers get fiddled with right beforetheir eyes. e recon fed the computers new data, the commanders analysed theinformation coming from soldiers, and somewhere, the computers would crunthe numbers and spit them ba out to the rank and file.In this light, a “suspected coordinate” that just sat there with no explanationwhatsoever and without any data to ba it up stu out like a sore thumb. It wasautomatically suspicious.It was automatically something that almost begged a label “explanation forthcoming”.Someone, somewhere — in all likelihood the generals — had received somenot-so-gentlemanly communiques from the enemy that told exactly where thefight was going to take place. Daleworth hoped they'd play the message babefore the fighting started. is was not the hour of secrets, and she damn wellknew the even the most secrets-loving generals would realise that.e Planners wanted the Space Marines to be there. ey knew we wouldn't
Page 1 and 2: NaNoWriMo 2010 WinnerUrpo LankinenN
Page 3: Prologue
Page 6 and 7: wouldn't really want to discuss the
Page 8 and 9: hundreds of families stu together i
Page 11: Part IWe Held the Line
Page 14 and 15: I. F H“Now that just sus”, Tan
Page 16 and 17: II. F F?“Contact, yellow, blind!
Page 18 and 19: III. A E Sscientist with thi glasse
Page 20 and 21: III. A E Swhen he first saw the lie
Page 22 and 23: III. A E Sand started to accept the
Page 24 and 25: III. A E Sa short notice. e Major p
Page 26 and 27: III. A E Sreason that was somewhat
Page 28 and 29: IV. A R S Sbefore gently starting
Page 30 and 31: IV. A R S Sfrom projectile and en
Page 32 and 33: IV. A R S Se eight walls with cre
Page 34 and 35: IV. A R S Sey looked at the space
Page 36 and 37: IV. A R S SIt was fairly common-s
Page 38 and 39: IV. A R S Sand rescuing damsels f
Page 40 and 41: IV. A R S Snotice massive differe
Page 44 and 45: V. S F Twin.But damn if they though
Page 46 and 47: V. S F T“Take us the hell out of
Page 48 and 49: V. S F T15 TH 0F FEBRUARY, 2632 AD,
Page 50 and 51: V. S F T“What do you recommend, M
Page 52 and 53: V. S F Tworlds, feet just weren't t
Page 54 and 55: V. S F Tthe surroundings for clues
Page 56 and 57: V. S F Tmounted in any remaining ve
Page 59 and 60: VI A Historic Meeting or TwoFebruar
Page 61 and 62: is.”Daleworth wasn't really sure
Page 63 and 64: And now, it was time for the Presid
Page 65 and 66: e whole group meandered in the repa
Page 67 and 68: aised his hand and pointed to ea of
Page 69 and 70: principles from the ones of your er
Page 71 and 72: ident, I am willing to part with my
Page 73 and 74: “Well, I'm glad some of my fears
Page 75 and 76: something that you already know?”
Page 77 and 78: “So I'd imagine. Anyway, how did
Page 79 and 80: “And… where is this device now?
Page 81 and 82: VIII A New reatFebruary 18, 2632, 0
Page 83 and 84: “I see”, Dr. Grovepath said.
Page 85 and 86: that most people would take for gra
Page 87 and 88: into a bureaucratic nightmare. It w
Page 89 and 90: “I discussed of these reasons bef
Page 91 and 92: “What do you mean?” Dr. Grovepa
Page 93 and 94:
velocity.It was a sho, nevertheless
Page 95 and 96:
are ideas of Knights. Ghosts of Kni
Page 97 and 98:
with the heavy footprints of the tw
Page 99 and 100:
loaded, and she still had no idea w
Page 101 and 102:
It suddenly started to look to Dale
Page 103 and 104:
the family honour a lile bit too fa
Page 105 and 106:
“No, the fuing knight! I'm not le
Page 107 and 108:
“I will”, Plaerman said. “Now
Page 109 and 110:
“Good!” Daleworth shouted. “H
Page 111:
Part IIIForces of Heaven
Page 114 and 115:
XI. T Mto upgrade some of the parts
Page 116 and 117:
XI. T Mderstatement was allowed, no
Page 118 and 119:
XII. T Q“Fellow Citizens of Earth
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XII. T Q“Warm climate, hell yeah!
Page 122 and 123:
XII. T Q“Take cover, everybody!
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XIII.Once and Future… and Forever
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XIII. O F… FShe flined a bit as
Page 128 and 129:
XIII. O F… Fsame as it always h
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EpilogueNovember 25, 2632, 19:35 UT
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ContentsContentsI We Held the Line
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