Chains Of Command Quotes
"But we beat them, and we survived. Earth won a reprieve."
"Humanity’s survival is still on the edge of a knife. But we are finally starting to pull on the same end of the rope together, and we are finally killing Lankies in numbers."
"In the new NAC Armed Forces, made up of what’s left after the Mars defeat, the Exodus, and the Battle of Earth, that makes me one of the old and experienced NCOs, and that’s a scary fucking thought."
"You think you’re smart and tough. You think that dying is for other people. But I’m here to tell you that there are a lot of ways to die out there past those gates."
"I solemnly swear and affirm to loyally serve the North American Commonwealth, and to bravely defend its laws and the freedom of its citizens."
"The training? No. ’Course not. Just sending these green kids out into the force like that. Giving them the idea that they know shit about shit."
"We’ve been married almost a year, and by now I know better than to argue with my superior."
"The world is changing. It’ll never go back to the way it was. Not now."
"Earth. It has its nice little corners, doesn’t it?"
"The day I accept an officer commission is the day you’ll see a parade of Lankies tap-dancing down Broadway."
"Everyone is starved for information down here."
"Protect yourself. And your family. And my mom. You keep them safe. Whatever it takes."
"I love the sense that we are home for each other—that it’s not a fixed place on Earth or anyplace else you can find on a map, but where we both happen to be together."
"Doesn’t matter much, as long as they help us kill Lankies."
"Guess they have some bugs to work out," Lieutenant Colonel Renner says wryly. "Hope they included tow hooks for the tugs."
"Let’s just say I’m glad we’ll be in suits and with a drop ship nearby if the Orions miss."
"All Fleet units, all Fleet units. This is AEGIS."
"It’s okay," I say. "We drop, it’s Sergeant Quinones’s show. I’m just tagging along to bring an extra rifle."
"Well, you can’t fucking miss the sons of bitches, so there’s that, anyway. Just aim for the weak spots and unload until they drop. Nothing to it."
"If they got one out, there may be more," Halley replies.
"We’re going to have a whole bunch of wreckage in atmo very shortly," Halley says.
"I’d tell the Scandis to put a nuke down the hole after that pod," I say.
"We’re not ready," he says. "We weren’t ready a year ago, when we got our asses kicked. We sure as shit aren’t ready now."
"It’s amazing how quickly you can cut through paperwork bullshit when the wolf is at the door, Sergeant."
"SOCOM has a ton of pull. If I can make the reassignment happen, will you take the slot?"
"We have no time to waste," Major Masoud replies. "It’s amazing how quickly you can cut through paperwork bullshit when the wolf is at the door, Sergeant."
"Affirmative," I say. "I know you’re above rank for the job, but this isn’t going to be a cookie-cutter recon platoon. Everyone’s going to be senior rank for their slots. Except me, I guess."
"Because fuck ’em," she repeats. "Damn straight."
"Plenty to it," I say. "But you’ll get it done. And you’ll enjoy blowing those spindly motherfuckers apart. And if it turns out to be that day, you make sure you don’t have a single round left in your bird before you go in. Because fuck ’em, that’s why."
"If Homeworld Defense don’t defend the home world, the fuck are they good for?"
"The eternal generals’ dilemma. Go too soon, risk failure. Wait too long, risk losing initiative to the enemy."
"I don’t want to babysit recruits until we all get orders to file into the drop ships and hope the Orions do the job."
"The universal motivator. That has always been what makes a squad function under fire. Not honor or medals or promotions."
"You will at all times give everything you have to make the mission succeed."
"We’re just one platoon, part of one short company. We can’t have anyone slacking off or screwing up. So don’t slack off or screw up."
"I trust you. I don’t know the other squad leaders yet, but I know I can count on Philbrick and his two."
"We are so incredibly skilled at adapting to even the most hostile of environments, and so often we use those skills to be more efficient at killing each other."
"You're the boss now. You have to keep your distance."
"The luxury of being right does not afford one the luxury of sitting back and doing nothing."
"They don’t use experienced senior flight instructors for ferry flights."
"If this mission fails, it’s not going to be for a lack of kick-ass gear."
"We will fight dirty. We’ll sucker punch and keep hitting below the belt."
"We are bringing along four brand-new Blackfly covert-ops drop ships. You are most likely not familiar with them, but I guarantee you that you will come to love them intensely."
"Son of a bitch turned a fleet oiler into a tiny assault carrier."
"Deep-space recon with experimental hardware."
"Right now I can’t decide whether to be scared out of my mind or piss myself with excitement. Probably a little of both."
"Pressurization confirmed. Opening main hatch."
"Hack it," Gunny Philbrick tells her. "Thirty seconds. Then we'll go in the hard way."
"As soon as that lock cycles, they'll know they have visitors."
"NAC Defense Corps," Humphrey shouts. "Freeze and show me your hands!"
"I don't give a shit," the Blackfly's pilot sends back. "Cut your engine right the hell now."
"We'll do an EVA recovery when the dust settles," I reply. "Fucking do it."
"Don't shoot at us, goddammit," the shuttle's pilot replies, and now there's more than a little panic in his voice.
"We've got to make that call, and I have to make it right now."
"You kept EMCON and had your platoon execute a successful assault on an enemy installation."
"That's how I know you're a good person. You doubt yourself."
"They made the choice to take their own and then leave us all to die."
"We know exactly where they are, and what they have in-system. They don't know where we are."
"Our success or failure may decide the outcome of the greatest battle in the history of humanity."
"If we end up a frozen cloud of stardust today, I know that I've fucking lived."
"Burning for intercept trajectory in three . . . two . . . one. Burn."
"Once again I am amazed at the low noise level inside the cargo hold."
"Not really, I’m used to breathable air on the outside of the hull."
"It’s an anchorage, same as the one they left behind in the Solar System."
"It’s friggin’ paradise. Never seen anything like it."
"We are in the business of killing people and breaking their shit. So let’s get ready for business."
"Hold your fire until they are on the bridge."
"Arcadia is easily the most beautiful of all the colony moons and planets I've seen."
"We destroyed or damaged every last ship at that airfield."
"We could have scouted the whole continent without pegging their radar once."
"I've been asleep for two hours, but it feels like I got no rest at all."
"Splash one. Second one got winged, but he’s still in the air."
"Here’s something you can’t do, motherfucker."
"Assist, my ass," Halley replies. "You’d be a smoking hole in the ground if I had gotten here ten seconds later."
"Yeah," I say. "I’m the luckiest son of a bitch alive."
"We saved Third Platoon’s asses. Snatched them off the ground in the middle of a Shrike strafing run."
"You want me to give you the entire defense setup of Arcadia. Sell out my comrades and help you kill them easier."
"That would be an incredibly aggressive and reckless thing to do. And only a totally irresponsible gung-ho podhead moron with more balls than brains would even think about it."
"These people have sold out their species to sit here and set up Pleasantville for themselves. They have no incentive to surrender. And they don’t have a bit of honor in their bones. Because if they did, they wouldn’t be here. You want to go home? You hit them so hard they have no time to think straight. Show them what happens when rear-echelon garrison troops go up against hard-ass grunts with nothing to lose."
"They can't reach us in here, but they can mess up things for Second Platoon outside."
"Move along, folks. And no funny business. I'm quicker and meaner than the lot of you put together."
"I can't tell you how very glad I am to find you here."
"Engaging. There's activity on the main drag."
"Hold them off, but retreat to the admin center before they tear you up."
"Hit. He's damaged. Breaking off to the north."
"Now they know we have Tridents on the ground. Watch yourselves."
"Sons of bitches don't know when it's time to pack it in."
"That won't make a bit of a difference to you."
"You were willing to nuke every single terraforming plant on this moon?"