"To the Commander, Confederation Jumptroopers:Sir:
Fuck you.
We stand until the last man falls."
-- Lord Thomas Reserve Shamba (his forces outnumbered fifty to one), in the backstory to The Man Who Never Missed by Steve Perry
Rather more formal (and less obscene), but never published; still, it's got pragmatic duty and defense covered. I based the phrasing of this on a family ritual in Andre Norton's Ralestone Luck:
"Soldiers of the Mark, how hold ye the Line?"
"So the Crown be just, so the Church be true, so hold we the line."
"Crown and Church alike may fall into hands unworthy, People rise in red revolt, Land be riven by war. How then hold ye the Line?"
"By fire and steel and bold hearts' blood, so then hold we the Line!"
Edit: Arioch's mercy, I'm an imbecile. Duty and defense?
-----
Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING.
Fuck you.
We stand until the last man falls."
-- Lord Thomas Reserve Shamba (his forces outnumbered fifty to one), in the backstory to The Man Who Never Missed by Steve Perry
Rather more formal (and less obscene), but never published; still, it's got pragmatic duty and defense covered. I based the phrasing of this on a family ritual in Andre Norton's Ralestone Luck:
"Soldiers of the Mark, how hold ye the Line?"
"So the Crown be just, so the Church be true, so hold we the line."
"Crown and Church alike may fall into hands unworthy, People rise in red revolt, Land be riven by war. How then hold ye the Line?"
"By fire and steel and bold hearts' blood, so then hold we the Line!"
Edit: Arioch's mercy, I'm an imbecile. Duty and defense?
Quote:These, in the day when Heaven was falling,-- "Epitaph On An Army of Mercenaries," A. E. Houseman
The hour when Earth's foundations fled,
Followed their mercenary calling,
And took their wages and are dead.
Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood, and Earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned, these defended,
And saved the sum of things for pay.
-----
Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING.