USD: A few Days later
Location: 92 Pegasi, A3123Y Central Module
The Tears had been rendered uninhabitable for the duration of its refit, so Alex and Elis, with the help of a lot of drones, had to move all their belongings to the station.
If the Tears had been comfortable with just the two of them, the station felt enormous. Even with the addition of Amy and ...
2022-11-15 02:09:52 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: One week later
Location: 90 Pegasi System, SMS Grazhdanin, Bridge
Lieutenant Lavigne sat at his engineering console, monitoring the summaries that the computer was showing him about the massive ship’s waveform drive. Everything was operating normally, which left him little to focus on.
“Emerging from the jump corridor!” The Grazhdanin’s astrogati...
2022-11-13 19:19:35 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: Around the same time that SMS Grazhdanin left for 90 Pegasi
Location: 92 Pegasi, Tears of Fire, rendezvous with A3123Y wharf
Alex stared out the observation deck’s window as Nameless slowly guided the Tears into position for the automated mooring system to dock the ship to A3123Y’s orbital. That orbital had grown from a simple shell to a multi-ringed orbit...
2022-11-13 03:53:19 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: A few days later
Location: Theta Corvi System, 90 Pegasi jump point, SMS Grazhdanin, Officer Berths Section
Lieutenant Lavigne frowned as Commander Terrance pulled him into a cubby hole out of sight and sound from the hallway.
“Sir?”
Commander Terrance was the XO, the second in command of the ship, so wasn’t sure why he was dragging him into ...
2022-11-11 15:41:21 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: A week later
Location: Nu Crateris, Fifth Planet High Orbit, Nucrateri Station, Concourse
Information was for sale in droves on ‘Nucrateri’ Station. The problem was, Alex didn’t need any of it. Nameless had already developed and built multiple probes on their flight from Dedia IV to the fifth planet’s orbital.
She had already launched them to the...
2022-11-10 17:49:17 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: A few hours later
Location: Dedia IV, Szizsielia’s Hive, Starlight Revolution Annex
Alex watched as the drones installed the final servers to the computronics module to the underground bunker. She wasn’t sure how the drones had chiseled and smoothed the stone to such a clean polish, but the look was certainly at odds with the high-tech nature of the new co...
2022-11-09 19:34:31 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: A few days later
Location: Nu Crateris, Dedia IV Orbit, Tears of Fire, CIC
The situation remained tense, to say the least.
The Brigadier had called back his bombers in response to her ultimatum quickly, but he was quite angry at the threats she had made.
She was quite angry at his failure to clear the action with her.
There had been some voic...
2022-11-08 11:24:19 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: Thirty minutes after entering Szizsielia’s Hive
Location: Nu Crateris System, Dedia IV, Near Tifara, Szizsielia’s Hive
Elis paused at yet another intersection. Her acoustic imager had been feeding her back miles and miles of tunnels that seemed to snake out like long worms of angel hair pasta. They all seemed to converge toward one central point, but it ha...
2022-11-06 18:43:41 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: A few days after AMCN-AADN5 detonation
Location: Nu Crateris System, Dedia IV, Near Tifara
Elis raised her hand in a fist, and the small column came to a halt. Her HUD had picked up some type of movement on the next hill and signaled a warning to her. The combat bots reacted immediately to spread out in a line abreast beside her, taking care to stay behind wha...
2022-11-06 18:39:56 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: Sometime in the morning
Location: Nu Crateris, Tifara
Elis disentangled herself from an arm before sliding out from under the bedsheet, escaping into the bathroom to pee. As she came out, she bent down to snag her panties and slide them back on. A quick check of the time told her what she already knew: she had overslept and missed her morning sitrep with Alex....
2022-11-05 13:18:28 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: A bit earlier
Location: 92 Pegasi, Ackman Asteroid Belt, A-3123Y Orbital
“Logan, this is the most stupid thing I’ve ever seen you pull, and that’s incredible.”
Amy held onto a handhold welded to the ceiling of the old badger MKII’s cockpit, her other hand on the back of the pilot’s seat that was occupied by her stupid younger brother.
...
2022-11-04 17:41:24 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: Five hours later
Location: Dedia IV Orbit, Space Elevator Rendezvous, Tears of Fire, Mess Berth
Alex confirmed a third and final bombardment, this time drawing a line of horrific fire in front of the main front. It was more spread out, but the Rexxor nest had spat out an increasingly large number of units after the first bombardment, that had taken the beleagu...
2022-11-03 06:08:22 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: During skirmish at Tifara
Location: Dedia IV Orbit, Space Elevator Rendezvous, Tears of Fire, Mess Berth
Alex frowned as an alarm beeped at her. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up in her bunk and waved the intrusive sound away. Nameless’s voice prompted her to wakefulness a little faster.
[Notice: A call from ground, Dedia Prime Forward Po...
2022-11-02 04:42:03 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: Four days later
Location: Planet Dedia, Tifara Militia HQ
Elis leaned against the railing of the Militia HQ’s second floor balcony. She had removed her MK4B helmet earlier to relax. The humid, earthy smell of the planet had contrasted heavily with the filtered and sterile air that the combat suit fed her. The night sky shimmered with a multitude of sta...
2022-11-01 03:30:16 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: The next day
Location: Planet Dedia, Hard entry, Tears of Fire Shuttle #1, ALT: 40,000m
Elis looked at the readout on the pilot’s monitor and tightened her grip on the seat’s arm rest. The shuttle’s nose was pointed up at a thirty-degree angle and flames were licking up around casting the cockpit in various shades of...
2022-10-31 12:34:43 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: One day later
Location: Dedia IV Orbit, Space Elevator Rendezvous, Tears of Fire, CIC
A necklace of ships floated in geosynchronous orbit behind the space elevator, following it in the constant dance that saw them circle the planet. The massive tether was tens of thousands of kilometers long, a massively thick tether that reached the surface and stretched out ...
2022-10-31 12:31:40 +0000 UTC View PostThe table of Contents grew and got long enough that I decided to split each story into its own post.
Now the main TOC--this post--will have a link to each story's individual TOC.
This one will also stay pinned at the top, and have information on my schedule, link to announcements, etc.
Writing has gone well in November. I'm having a ...
2022-10-30 02:34:19 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: One day after arriving to Nu Crateris, a few minutes later
Location: Midpoint to Dedia IV orbit, Tears of Fire, CIC
“While I've attempted to discuss the mission with Captain Walker, unfortunately he has ignored the colony's authority. I’m not sure how the Solarian Admiralty found such a pompous jacksnipe to put in charge of a merchant marine ship. I suppos...
2022-10-30 02:21:19 +0000 UTC View Post** James Fighting Starships – GSD 64 **
| Grazhdanin|
|Class: Super Freighter-Troop Transport|
|First Production Year: GSD 63|
|Categorization: Military|
|Sub-Cat: Mass Transport / Troop Transport|
|Outer Hull Length (Bow to Stern): 2860m|
|Outer Hull Beam: 590m|
|EST Effective Operation Duration 36 months (4 months loaded)|
... 2022-10-30 02:21:09 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: One day after arriving to Nu Crateris
Location: Midpoint to Dedia IV orbit, Tears of Fire, Cargo Area
Alex reached up to wipe the sweat off her forehead, but that only ended up being the signal Elis needed to strike. Power armored fist rocketed forward at a blinding speed and Alex barely had time to raise her other fist to intercept it.
The polarized met...
2022-10-29 05:47:52 +0000 UTC View PostNote from author: Hey all of you lovely patrons! You might have noticed that there are a bit of spelling and grammar errors in the latest patreon posts. This is because I've been releasing them fresh off the page essentially with just a quick glance over for mistakes.
I've been doing this so I can get as much content out to you as fast as possible. It's...
2022-10-28 09:16:27 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: ~3 days after SubCore A-3123Ydeployment
Location: Ackman Station, Mooring Arm D-1, Tears of Fire
Alex watched from the observation deck as the Ackman station crews rigged the final few lines to the ship. Unlike their first visit, she could see that there were at least a dozen people waiting for them in the mooring arm. The entire flight on the way bac...
2022-10-28 01:39:45 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: ~1 day after SubCore A-3123Ydeployment
Location: Ackman Orbit, Asteroid Belt, A-3123Y Orbital, Mess Room
Alex nodded, continuing to explain what happened inside the ShipCore while the two of them were enjoying a non-kebab but still tasty chicken Caesar salad, “Nameless is a guy.”
“The ship’s computer is a guy.” Elis repeated b...
2022-10-27 02:33:53 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: ~31 days after Tears of Fire arrival to 92 Pegasi
Location: Ackman Orbit, Asteroid Belt, Orbital Construction Point, ShipCore
Alex looked between Nameless’s new form and the towers and tower of the server racks. The slow flashing blue lights were interspersed with glows and random blinking of other colors. A cool breeze brushed against her from behind threat...
2022-10-26 07:39:29 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: ~29 days after Tears of Fire arrival to 92 Pegasi
Location: Ackman Orbit, Asteroid Belt
Alex grumbled looking at her credit account. She’d spent everything down to dangerous levels. She kept telling herself that she had to spend money to make money, but that it was cold comfort when she didn’t have enough to pay for another week’s mooring.
Selling ...
2022-10-25 23:06:43 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: ~20 days after Tears of Fire arrival to 92 Pegasi
Location: Ackman Station, Jaco’s Kebab Place
Alex and Elis sat in the corner finishing their meal at Jaco’s while they waited. The entire place was full of customers, but that was partly because there were a dozen armed Iron Horse MC guards scattered about eating as well. Elis had not commented on their cas...
2022-10-25 02:51:20 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: ~18 days after Tears of Fire arrival to 92 Pegasi
Location: Ackman Station, Mooring Arm D-2, Observation Deck
Alex and a MilTech Arms technician watched the outer hatch of the Tears from inside the mooring arm of the station. Eight of their combat bots were floating in space around the hatch in a show of force. As much as she had liked Wyles, she wa...
2022-10-24 06:34:22 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: ~17 days after Tears of Fire arrival at 92 Pegasi, after finishing the deal
Location: Ackman Station, MilTech Arms Facility, Medbay, Personal room
Alex leaned forward to put her elbows on the bed, keeping her head propped up with a hand as she browsed her data pad idly. In the news feeds, she found a lot about her, and Elis had been right, there wer...
2022-10-24 01:25:18 +0000 UTC View PostUSD: ~17 days after Tears of Fire arrival to 92 Pegasi, an hour after the ambush
Location: Ackman Station, Main Concourse, Annex 3
The Station Authorities, who had been little more than glorified police, and some Iron Horse soldiers had arrived to take charge of the situation. Beeper and Booper had already arrived by then, and Alex had thought for a seco...
2022-10-24 01:22:06 +0000 UTC View PostYou can find all earlier chapters for free on Royal Road.
WARNING: First Trigger warning of story; scene contains death, injuries, blood, and some gore.
USD: ~17 days after Tears of Fire arrival to 92 Pegasi, after finishing their meal
Location: Ackman Station...
2022-10-24 01:18:19 +0000 UTC View Post