Honorverse favorite one-liners

waddles for desert wrote:

roseandheather wrote:Another narrative line that will always stick with me, because the character it is referring to is one of my all-time favorites:

"Terekhov felt his jaw trying to drop and restrained it firmly." ~ Aivars Terekhov, as Admiral Khumalo does the polite military equivalent of giving President Tyler of Monica the finger and the general gist of "...and the horse you rode in on."

Khumalo's dialogue in that exchange reveals his strength as a leader. He objectively and systematically considers each question and answers each directly in a way that makes his position and intent inescapably clear.

Contrast him to Halsey at Luzon. With Khumalo, the world does not have to wonder.

Truth be told, my jaw dropped right along with Terekhov's. At the beginning of that speech, I was still at the "Well, he was pretty awesome responding to Monica..." stage. By the end of it, I was forcibly stopping myself from screaming "Good God, I love you!!" from the rooftops. (I only barely succeeded. No rooftops, but my cat sure took off running!)

The other line always guaranteed to make me cry: "I tried. God, I tried to keep him safe."

NortonIDaughter wrote:The other line always guaranteed to make me cry: "I tried. God, I tried to keep him safe."

...In what universe is that an okay thing to bring up?? That is like Lovat! We don't talk about that!!

Sorry! Here, have some Lester in reparation:

"Our orders are to pull a 'reconnaissance', but when I find something to shoot, I'm damned well gonna shoot it!"

NortonIDaughter wrote:Sorry! Here, have some Lester in reparation:

"Our orders are to pull a 'reconnaissance', but when I find something to shoot, I'm damned well gonna shoot it!"

Tourville, Yosemite Sam meets Brain from Pinky and the Brain.

Yes, he is a cartoon character. Where are the ACME anvils?

Contrast him to Halsey at Luzon. Brilliant!

Khumalo probably threw everyone a curve, but he comes across as more of an administrator at first glance, imho, although on second look you realize it to be more of the sleeping giant syndrome.
Or the hulk's David Banner...you do not want to see me angry.

Great admirals don't make wars great, bad admirals make great admirals' wars great.
-cthia

cthia wrote:Contrast him to Halsey at Luzon. Brilliant!

Khumalo probably threw everyone a curve, but he comes across as more of an administrator at first glance, imho, although on second look you realize it to be more of the sleeping giant syndrome.
Or the hulk's David Banner...you do not want to see me angry.

Great admirals don't make wars great, bad admirals make great admirals' wars great.
-cthia

I for one certainly did not expect Khumalo to show up at Monica and censure Terekhov. Wasn't worried about that at all.

Even if he had, by the time Khumalo arrived, Terekhov had amassed far more evidence in support of his... unauthorised expedition's merits. So even if Khumalo had repudiated Terekhov's actions, Elizabeth would have re-endorsed them.

And then Khumalo goes to the beach. I'm much happier with what actually happened.

NortonIDaughter wrote:Sorry! Here, have some Lester in reparation:

"Our orders are to pull a 'reconnaissance', but when I find something to shoot, I'm damned well gonna shoot it!"

Yes, that is the "cowboy" in Lester in full flower.

But he also had a one-liner in War of Honor that probably summed up the Honor Harrington we've come to know over all these years in just four words:

She has the touch, Molly," he said simply

munroburton wrote:

cthia wrote:Contrast him to Halsey at Luzon. Brilliant!

Khumalo probably threw everyone a curve, but he comes across as more of an administrator at first glance, imho, although on second look you realize it to be more of the sleeping giant syndrome.
Or the hulk's David Banner...you do not want to see me angry.

Great admirals don't make wars great, bad admirals make great admirals' wars great.
-cthia

I for one certainly did not expect Khumalo to show up at Monica and censure Terekhov. Wasn't worried about that at all.

Even if he had, by the time Khumalo arrived, Terekhov had amassed far more evidence in support of his... unauthorised expedition's merits. So even if Khumalo had repudiated Terekhov's actions, Elizabeth would have re-endorsed them.

And then Khumalo goes to the beach. I'm much happier with what actually happened.

Agreed.

But, from Terekhov's perspective, by the time his report is received and acted upon, pretty much anything could have changed with regard to the SKM's internal political situation, its external political situation and its military situation.

If her majesty's government of that moment had reason to hang him out to dry, how far would She go to save him? Unless they just stacked the court, he faces no real risk from capital charges, and small risk from lesser charges. And, for a person who has fought a major battle while not fully recovered from the traumatic stress of another battle, worse things could happen than being retired to the beach despite the ego crushing involved.

For a person in such an emotionally vulnerable position, there must be some strain even when every rational calculation says it should work out okay.

To be fair to Halsey,
Khumalo had communications that worked *much* better!
We forget how clumsy USN coms were at Leyte.

HTM

waddles for desert wrote:
[snip - htm]

Contrast him to Halsey at Luzon.
With Khumalo, the world does not have to wonder.