Cover for Action - an Imperial Spymaster recruits an operative“It’s a straightforward question, do you want to serve the Emperor, or do you want to appear to serve the Emperor?” Senator Marcus Caio looked at the woman sitting stiffly on the other side of his quaint wooden desk. The desk itself—virtually a relic...
DespairVallysa had never considered herself to be the kind of person who could become an addict, but most people learn hard truths about themselves the hard way. In the months following the victory ceremony on Polya Coliseum over the Thargoids, her dreams...
DisorderVallysa woke in a terror, sheets soaked cold with her sweat. Every night, every night for the past several weeks she had woken like this. Unable to get back to sleep, she made her way to the coffee press built into her ship’s bulkhead and brewed a strong...
Awards ceremony for anti-xeno pilotsSenator Marc Caio stood at the head of the ornately carved podium in his Imperial full dress regalia, resplendent in his tailored white breeches and fitted blue waistcoat. He was an aged, minor functionary in the royal house of Lavigny-Duval, but he...
Fire in the HeavensThe faint, burnt taste of ozone from the stale oxygen filled Vallysa's nose and the reverberating echo of her breath filled her head through the sealed helmet of the Remlock suit. The thin glass of her helmet was now the only thing between her and the...
12 secondsThe price of having just a little bit of fun could be shockingly high if you weren’t prepared. Drifting 3.5 kilometers above the surface, Vallysa replayed the past five minutes in her head. Drifting 3.5 kilometers above the surface...in her SRV. ...
Total Perspective...The ancient Earth strategy game Chess consisted of a board with 64 squares where two opponents would each command a team of 16 pieces (6 unique) in an effort to capture the opponent's "king" piece. Each type of piece had different movement...
DistractionsTwo weeks into her journey, and Vallysa felt good. The solitude afforded by the Black was exactly what she needed to get away from the never-ending, ever-stratified politics dominating the Bubble. She was eternally indebted to the Emperor and knew she...
Day 0Optimization. Turning down the cabin temperature an additional 1.6 degrees would save .07 mega-joules per day. Vallysa did some rough math in her head...if she was able to finesse out an additional 3% power for her engines...that should reduce her travel...
ContrastAs I pulled my Dolphin 'Cecil' into Metcalf Station, the destruction that met my eyes immediately shook me out of my travel reverie. The latest victim of a Thargoid encounter, the station was burning inside and out and barely holding itself together...
