Against her centurions’ advice, Faustina crosses the bridge into a still-live battlefield, the PLA garrison surrender notwithstanding. I was curious how she would handle it. This is part one of the aftermath. Part two shortly.
Tag: war
Bang Bang
Three thousands words today! W00t! I have the morning off tomorrow, Christmas Eve, but have to work second shift. At least with now-teen daughters I don’t have to worry about them running screaming into our room at 0600 that “Santa was here!!!111!!”
Instead, I’ll work more on the Battle of Augusta. Short and confusing but more engagements are. We even catch a glimpse that our heroine is not nearly as composed as she thinks she is. Lots to do…
Luke 4:5
No, Fussy’s not the devil; but, she does have her demons. Once she catches “victory fever” after Savannah we’ll likely see more of them, I’m afraid. In the meantime, she really does care about “her boys.”
Locked out
Finished the segment I began yesterday: Faustina having a brief chat with the mayor of what’s left of Asheville. With that in the bag, I went to review some maps about their upcoming troop movements. Yeah, there are those three dams, but I’m sure the barges and escorts will fit through their locks… Those dams look a little small… let’s look them up and also check ‘street level view’!
Well, dang. Having spent a half-dozen of my formative years around the Columbia River, I took it for granted that a great waterway would have locks for barge traffic. I realized now that the Savannah River is not a “great waterway.” Important, certainly, but it is a creek compared to something such as the Columbia.
I still think I can get their artillery onto barges in Augusta. But the legions are going to have to cover the 160 miles from Asheville to there, first. Then, while the barges – under guard – move down-river, the infantry will march another 125 miles. I see that a few days of maps, calculations, and re-writes are ahead of me. Hope to have something by Wednesday.
Bed to bed
No, not Faustina; she’s too nice a girl for that… and she has more important things in her mind that dalliances with boys. “It is no small thing to make a new world.”
In the meantime, they are coming up on their first non-Knoxville population center and need to maintain operational security in what is essentially “Indian country.” I’ve actually written on a little as to what happens the next day but it was not a good fit for this little entry. Tomorrow.
First Moves
War! Well, at least the first stages of it. To engage an enemy you have to get your men there first. Faustina leads Legio One and Legio Two out of permanent camp on their way south, over the Smoky Mountains. This puts her in a challenging position: she will be away from any signal, at least until the outskirts of her target city, so will have no choice but to rely upon what the machine Ventidio trained her to do, as well as her own staff, officers, and centurions. If she’s smart, she will listen very closely to her centurions…
After Dinner
I close things out at the Hartmann Family Dinner. Henge has a random act of kindness for her new family; Faustina talks war with her father; Gary and Henge make another go or two at a sibling for Aurelia. Wrapping up lose ends, really. After this, Faustina and her legions are on the march!
A Question of fire
Part Two is all about Faustina’s crusade to take Savannah, the deep-water port of former Georgia, off the occupying Chinese and hand it on a platter to the resurgent city-states of the Tennessee River Valley.
Me being me, not doing “action” well, most of it will be about the people and their relationships. In this case, we start off with the government of Knoxville defining their problem and facing up to the only solution: the use of force. The fact that a demi-human girl has a near monopoly on said force is another thing entirely.
As you can tell from my posting, I was lost for days about one simple question: how is Faustina paying for all this? No matter what they feel for her, troops expect to be paid and weapons cost money… a lot of money. Until I had that answer given to me – and when it happened at DayJob on Monday and I burst out laughing (confirming their suspicions that I’m mental) – I could not write a word. Here’s half of what I laid down. More tonight or tomorrow!
Harpy
Battles are still very difficult for me. I do jaw-jaw better than war-war. This 12k word prologue should wrap up in the next installment as they fly home. Then we will learn how Fussy scaled one cohort up to two legions and led her first crusade, to Savannah.
I am as curious as you are!
Cat Naps
Yesterday was the county library’s Local Author Fair. of which I was a part. There were less authors than last year and also less attendees; I warned them about scheduling this opposite an Ohio State football game, but librarians are stupid.
While I was there I made a page and half of notes on Faustina’s book. Below the fold is merely the transition to the start of the notes I made. This is going to be a very long novel.
machciv 