[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-114512-en":3,"doc-seo-114512-105":28,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":89},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":20,"language":21,"language_code":22,"site_id":23,"html_lang":22,"table_of_contents":24,"faqs":25,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":26,"read_time":27},114512,7971461740886,"Theodore","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2",1,"Story & Novel","Steel Gauntlet - Prologue","Steel Gauntlet opens with a tense prologue set around a diplomatic reception and an unexpected arrival of dozens of heavily armored tanks at an embassy compound. Gunnery Sergeant Bong receives urgent warnings from Lance Corporal Winterthur and rushes to the gate, weighing past wars on Diamunde and the risk of another outbreak. Despite the ceremonial and political setting, the scene turns immediate and dangerous as Marines face a tank commander’s quiet, direct surveillance and a sudden demand to open the gate.","Page 1  \nPa ge 2  \nPROLOGUE  \n\"Tell me, Gunnery Sergeant Bong, is it true what they say about Marines?\"\"What's that, Madame Proconsul?\"  \n\"Call me !Tang'h, Gunnery Sergeant. Well, is it true?\"  \n\"Ma'am?\"  \n\"That they're like their swords...?\" She smiled seductively, then looked quickly at the ceremonial sword fastened by its peace knot to his sword belt.  \n\"A good Marine is always ready to stand tall for action, ma'am.\"  \n\"Gunny, I think you should take a look at this,\" a small voice said in his right ear.  \n\"Not now, Winterthur,\" he whispered into the throat mike concealed in the high stork collar of his dress scarlets.  \n\"Gunny, it's really important.\"  \n\"Excuse me for a moment,\" Gunnery Sergeant Bong said with some frustration. The Honorable Mistress !Tang'h looked even more ravishing than usual, Bong thought as he turned away from the Second Assistant Proconsul from Kalari'h. She'd been flirting with him for several months, and he'd finally managed to convince himself that a personal liaison on an official liaison mission might help in the successful completion of that mission. He blocked out the sounds and sights of the diplomatic reception that swirled around him.  \n\"Take a look at what? This better be good!\" he said.  \n\"Ah, Gunny.\" Lance Corporal Winterthur's voice sounded nervously bemused behind the buzz of the receiver in Gunny Bong's ear. \"Somebody just drove up with a bunch of tanks.\"  \n\"What kind of tanks?\" Bong asked. \"Chemical? Storage? Hydroponic?\"  \n\"Don't know their model, Gunny, but they've got turrets with what look like projectile cannons and plasma guns. Looks to be sixty of them.\" Bong blinked. \"Armored vehicles?\"  \n\"That's an affirmative, Gunny.\" Page 3  \n\"You sure they aren't armored personnel carriers?\" Bong was already walking briskly out of the reception hall, the Honorable Mistress !Tang'h forgotten. Major Katopscu, the Confederation military liaison, watched him leave.  \n\"They're not APCs; they look like something out of a history vid,\"Winterthur replied over the receiver.  \n\"I'm on my way.\" As soon as Bong reached the corridor, he broke into asprint toward the main gate, two hundred meters away. His left hand undid the peace binding that secured the hilt of his ceremonial NCO sword to the sword belt so it couldn't be drawn and shoved the binding into his trouser pocket. Tanks? Where could anybody come up with sixty tanks? Where could they be made? Then Bong stopped wondering about the wheres and started thinking about the whys of tanks at the gate. Throughout history, whenever someone paraded cavalry, drove up in tanks, or surrounded an embassy with infantry or artillery, it usually meant war. Three planetwide wars had already been fought on Diamunde for control of its wealth--wars big enough that the Confederation Army had to be sent in to fight along with the Marines who'd originally been dispatched to deal with the situation. The gunny hadn't fought in any of those wars himself but he'd served with plenty of Marines who had. Wars on Diamunde were tough, and just then it seemed that he and his ten Marines might be all that stood between the Confederation of Worlds and another war. He whispered a prayer to the nine Buddhas of peace that Winterthur was mistaken.  \n\"Allah's pointed teeth,\" he whispered as he rounded the final corner, the Buddhas of peace forgotten and the god of a warlike people invoked. A dozen armored behemoths were arrayed under the lights outside the compound, and a lone Marine, blaster held at port arms, stood at attention in dress scarlets in front of the closed vehicle gate. One tank, probably the battalion commander's, stood five meters in front of PFC Krait. The muzzle of its main cannon pointed directly over his head. In the turret hatch the tank commander casually stood looking down at the Marine. Bong didn't think there was a chance that none of the tankers were using night-vision devices, but he took that chance anyway and kept to the deepest shadows he could find as ","cbCaio2itRof2sZ6","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaio2itRof2sZ6","pdf",1726820,360,"English","en",105,"# Prologue\n## Diplomatic reception and urgent warning\n## Tanks at the embassy gate\n## Gunnery Sergeant Bong’s preparations","[{\"question\":\"Who is Gunnery Sergeant Bong and what situation does he face in the prologue?\",\"answer\":\"Gunnery Sergeant Bong is a Marine officer who must respond when dozens of tanks arrive at the embassy gate during a diplomatic moment.\"},{\"question\":\"How does Bong learn about the incoming tanks?\",\"answer\":\"He receives a urgent call through his throat mike from Lance Corporal Winterthur, informing him that vehicles and tanks have driven up.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does Bong believe the tank arrival could lead to war?\",\"answer\":\"He links tank parades and embassy assaults to past planetwide conflicts on Diamunde, fearing that this event could trigger another war.\"}]",1785400641,554,{"code":4,"msg":29,"data":30},"ok",{"site_id":23,"language":22,"slug":31,"title":13,"keywords":32,"description":14,"schema_data":33,"social_meta":84,"head_meta":86,"extra_data":88,"updated_unix":26},"steel-gauntlet-prologue","",{"@graph":34,"@context":83},[35,52,66],{"@type":36,"itemListElement":37},"BreadcrumbList",[38,42,46,49],{"item":39,"name":40,"@type":41,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":43,"name":44,"@type":41,"position":45},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":47,"name":12,"@type":41,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/",3,{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":41,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/steel-gauntlet-prologue/114512/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":22,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":60,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":61,"interactionStatistic":62},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":39,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-30",true,{"@type":63,"interactionType":64,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":65},"ViewAction",{"@type":67,"mainEntity":68},"FAQPage",[69,75,79],{"name":70,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":72},"Who is Gunnery Sergeant Bong and what situation does he face in the prologue?","Question",{"text":73,"@type":74},"Gunnery Sergeant Bong is a Marine officer who must respond when dozens of tanks arrive at the embassy gate during a diplomatic moment.","Answer",{"name":76,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":77},"How does Bong learn about the incoming tanks?",{"text":78,"@type":74},"He receives a urgent call through his throat mike from Lance Corporal Winterthur, informing him that vehicles and tanks have driven up.",{"name":80,"@type":71,"acceptedAnswer":81},"Why does Bong believe the tank arrival could lead to war?",{"text":82,"@type":74},"He links tank parades and embassy assaults to past planetwide conflicts on Diamunde, fearing that this event could trigger another war.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":50,"og:type":85,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":57,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":87,"canonical":50},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":23},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":90},[91,94,98,102,107,112,117,122,127,130,134],{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":92,"slug":93},90,"story-novel",{"id":45,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":51,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":103,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":104,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":106},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":108,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":109,"show_sort_weight":110,"slug":111},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":113,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":114,"show_sort_weight":115,"slug":116},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":118,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":119,"show_sort_weight":120,"slug":121},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":126},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":129},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":131,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":131,"slug":133},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":135,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":44,"category_name":136,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":137},19,"General","general"]