M.J. Markgraf

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-38

Surprise bonus chapter! This is to celebrate hitting 100 chapters on Patreon. I would have had it out sooner, but RL and dealing with my ISP got in the way.

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Alexander had only planned on spending a day in Varlen initially. Just enough time to let people converse with their families and get responses back. That changed when Captain Na approached him in the engineering section.

“Al...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-37

“That’s the gist of it,” Mingyu said after relaying what happened to him aboard the STO ship.

Alexander was a bit irked by the treatment Na went through. It also seemed like the STO wasn’t nearly as cohesive as he had believed. It certainly explained their lack of response to Dawn vanishing and some other inconsistencies he witnessed. He wasn’t sure their lack of unity was a good thing though.

An undivided entity would do much better against a threat like the pirates. Un...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-36

Tense was how Mingyu would describe the trip on the shuttle to the STO ship. It didn’t help that the STO ships had their weapons actively tracking Fury. They had done that since the moment their ships got within range. The Fury’s weapons were doing the same, so he couldn’t really blame the opposition Captains for all the tension.

As he got close enough to see the Blueridge, he noticed it was an older model. Thanks to his time in the Coalition fleet, he was familiar with most of th...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-35

LOCATION: STO NAVALYARD

SYSTEM: VARLEN

DATE: 2400

After returning to Varlen to make her report, Valeria and the Eclipse were ordered to dock at the naval yard for maintenance. The yard in Varlen was the only facility on this side of STO space with the clearance to handle the top-secret ships. Even then, there were some steps she had to take before that could happen.

It wasn’t like Valeria could simply approach the massive hangars or radio ahead that she was on her wa...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-34

Simon was halfway to the target when his sensors screamed at him as another ship dropped out of warp at the far end of the trap.

He could only gape as the sensors told him this new arrival was a frigate. At first, he thought the pirates had laid a trap for him, but he soon picked up a transponder code, labeling the ship B.S.E. Eden’s Fury.

Simon went pale when he saw that. He didn’t know who the hell B.S.E. was, but he knew a warship designation when he saw it. Panicking, he t...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-33

The ship shook around Alexander as Eden’s Fury towed it away from the station. He really hoped the entire trip wasn’t this rough.

After about ten minutes, the turbulence settled down and his radio flashed, alerting him that he had a message. He was glad he finally had time to combine the radio with one of the tablets to allow for text messages. Alexander could have kept the simple light panel, but it wasn’t quite good enough to relay complicated messages.

He pulled up the ta...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-32

“Ladies and Gentlemen, We’re going home!” Vitor addressed his remaining crew.

The people broke out in relieved cheers and shouts of joy. Vitor was glad to see this as he had heard grumbling from some people about never being allowed to leave this place.

Even Chief Engineer Parson was out of his medically induced coma, almost completely healed, and joining in on the celebration.

Despite the joy of their imminent departure, Vitor couldn’t help but wince at just how few...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-31

“Hurry up, Alex!” Yulia said as she pulled him along.

“I’m hurrying, I’m hurrying,” he laughed, letting his daughter tug him along. This was one of the nights he had set aside time to spend with her. His time to leave with Fury was coming quickly so there wouldn’t be many more of those days left. Depending on how things went in Varlen, he would be gone for a minimum of a month, maybe two.

She led him to the old parking garage and let go of his hand.

“Tada! Sh...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-30

Alexander left the apartment a bit conflicted. While it was true he wanted to spend more time with his daughter, he wasn’t completely honest with her as to the reason.

If his plans came together and the Fury was complete on schedule, he knew he was going to be gone for an extended period of time. A month at least, maybe more. He would discuss his absence with her in the coming weeks, but considering how she reacted the last time he left, he wasn’t sure she would be all that happy he...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-29

Yulia sat at the lunch table practically vibrating in excitement.

“What’s got you so jittery?” Claire laughed.

“I learned something really neat in history today,” she beamed. “Wanna guess what it was?”

“Pass,” both her friends giggled at the same time.

“You said history was boring just last week, what changed?” Sarah asked.

“Most history is,” Yulia said defensively. “But I learned about something called a racecar. I wanna make one.”<...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-28

Captain Valeria Greaves exited the Goliath transport ship and entered the STO Navy Fleetyard in Varlen. Her ship was still hidden inside the massive transport and would remain so until they left with their new orders.

It galled her to have to relocate. All the work she and her crew did in Epsilon Indi was now wasted, and she didn’t even have a clue as to what was so important that she needed to be retasked. Command had refused to transmit new orders over Qcomm, which meant whatever sh...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-27

“Report,” Vitor said, trying to keep the exhaustion out of his voice. While the air inside the facility was breathable, unlike outside, he still wasn’t used to how thin it was compared to back home. It wasn’t enough to harm him or his people, but it did make working extra tiring.

Then there was the pervasive smell of rotten eggs. The smell made it hard to sleep, compounding the issue.

Of course, none of the locals were outwardly hostile towards them. In fact, the drifters ...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-26

Alexander walked down the hallway, Yulia leading the way as she held his hand.

“Urgh, hurry up, Alex, we’re going to be late!” she complained.

He just chuckled. “We’re fine. The play doesn’t start for another half an hour. And you’re already in your costume. I think you just want to arrive early to show it off to all your friends.”

“Nu-uh,” she replied unconvincingly.

He chuckled once more but he didn’t increase his pace. The play had been Nancy�...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-25

Now it's time to see what's going on elsewhere in the galaxy.

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LOCATION: ASGARD

SYSTEM: YGGDRASIL’S EYE

“How bad is it?” she asked as she walked next to her main engineer.

“It could have been worse,” the man stated flatly. “Odin was with us. We had hull breaches in four areas and lost a dozen brave warriors. Their rites were performed and we sent them to Valhalla t...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-24

Yulia cautiously opened the door to their home and looked around. When she didn’t find Alex waiting inside, she breathed a sigh of relief. “Dog, hurry up,” she gestured behind her.

Dog came limping in on five good legs. The last leg was dragging behind him by the cable to the motor. They had been playing in the park when she thought it would be a good idea to have him climb on the merry-go-round. Then she tried to see how fast she could make it spin with him on it.

They were...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-23

“Captain!” a chorus of surprised shouts greeted Vitor as he walked into the room.

“At ease,” he said tiredly. He may not have been injured in the attack, but receiving the box of tags taken off the dead had weighed heavily on him. There was also the activation crystal to think about, but that was a whole other matter. “How is everyone?”

“We’re ready on your command, Captain!” one of the surviving Marines declared.

Vitor pinched the bridge of his nose and gr...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-22

Now that Alexander had everything pulled from the ship that he could, without actually taking it apart, he waited for Branston to arrive so he could return to the surface and begin his next project.

It didn’t take long for the pilot to land in the hangar and return him to the facility. “Oh, before I forget, please give this package to Captain Krieger if you would.”

“What is it?” the former Navy officer asked in confusion.

“They are the ID tags from the bodies we ...

Tarnished Chapter 58: Epilogue

John stood front and center next to Seline and listened to the priest give a eulogy. This wasn’t the first funeral he had attended in the past few days, and it wouldn’t be the last. But this one stung even him. John had seen enough in his long life that he didn’t believe in some almighty power, but he sat through the man’s words because it was the right thing to do.

He glanced over at Seline, who had only been released from Hawthorne’s care the day prior. She leaned awkwardly ...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-21

One thing was abundantly clear to Alexander after the last attack, he needed to increase production speed.

While everyone kept telling him that what he was doing was a miracle and it would take normal people years if not more to get to this point, that simply wouldn’t cut it. There were threats out there that would return. He couldn’t imagine the pirates that fled would be happy about their loss. At some point, they would try again and he wanted them to see a veritable fortress and ...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-20

The shuttle landed in the mostly intact hangar aboard the refueling station and he waited for the air to be sucked out of the storage bay on the shuttle. Some of the loose debris floating through the space pinged off the shuttle's hull lightly, sounding like hail.

Before the air was completely removed, Alexander radioed the pilot. “Branston, you may want to just float nearby with your static field up. There is a whole lot of junk floating around, and I don’t want to risk you or the ...

Tarnished Chapter 57

John picked up the rifle, Seline dropped, before he scooped up the unconscious woman. After she was safely in his arms, he made his way toward town but didn’t get far before he heard shouting over the sounds of a steam engine puffing.

“Seline!” Travis yelled as his auto-cart rolled into view.

John hadn’t seen the man since before the fighting started. That wasn’t a surprise, the man was not a fighter.

Travis eventually spotted John and swerved toward him. He came t...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-19

“Missiles are away, Captain.”

“Is everything locked down and everyone suited up?”

“Yes, Captain,” the crew are all green except the bridge.

He nodded to the man. “Helmets on people.”

Once he sealed his helmet and the crew gave him a thumbs up, he vented the bridge and the rest of the compartments that hadn’t been vented already. He hated being stuck in a vac-suit but it was better than dying from asphyxiation.

The ship went eerily quiet as all t...

Tarnished Chapter 56

John could only scowl at the retreating form of Jacob. He refused to acknowledge that man as his son. The thought sickened him and brought back memories he preferred not to think about.

Back before he was conscripted, Jennavieve had been his fiance. Their marriage was set to happen later that year. Back then he had loved her with all his heart. Jennavieve had been an amazing woman with a heart to match. Much like her mother, Jen was raised to be an herbalist and midwife.

When the ...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-18

Captain Krieger of the Epislon’s Dawn yawned as he entered the bridge. It was early, even for him, but this is when the jump was scheduled to exit into normal space again.

“Captain on deck!” the new watch officer shouted, making Vitor wince and give the man the stink eye.

“That’s not necessary on my ship, Marine,” he stated flatly.

“I’m afraid I must protest, Sir, STO rules state–,” he cut the man off before he could go into the arbitrary rules that had b...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-17

Not being alerted to the unknown ship when it arrived irked Alexander. And the fact that it was Branston who had alerted him and not Lucas or Damien pissed him off. Especially when Branston informed him of what Damien had asked him to do. Thankfully the former STO pilot was smart enough to realize that Damien had no authority over him and decline the order.

Branson worked for him, and the shuttle belonged to him. It wasn’t at Damien's beck and call to do with it as he pleased, especia...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-16

Alexander finished swapping out the last ammo canister aboard Eden’s Fury. He needed to speak with Lucas or whoever was operating the security room to go easy on the remaining ammunition. This was the last of their supply and they didn’t have an easy way to produce more yet.

Sure he could make gunpowder, that was easy enough, but it would need to be done by hand since it couldn’t be printed. Even then, specialized machines needed to be manufactured to create the grains, and that m...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-15

This will be the last week of Mon-Fri chapters. I'll be taking next week off, and then we will return to Mon-Wed-Fri chapters of BSE until I complete Tarnished, which shouldn't be too much longer.

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Odin’s Revenge jumped deep into the outskirts of the system. Haldor had never been out this from home of the STO border before, but all the other systems closer to the STO border were being ...

Tarnished Chapter 55

Sorry about the lack of chapter Friday, I didn't have time to write anything Wed, Thur, or Friday last week, so it was a bit of a scramble this weekend to get some words written. I'll try to do an extra chapter of Tarnished this week but no guarantees. I'll also be taking next week off.

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John ducked another slash from the crazed Harc’otti. While the battle was a fight for his life, he couldn�...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-14

Yulia woke up to the smell of something wonderful. She quickly got out of bed and hurried to the kitchen.

“Good morning!” she stated as she hopped onto her stool. “What’s for breakfast? It smells really good.”

Alex turned to her and smiled. “These are called pancakes. But you aren’t getting any until you wash up. Do it quickly or they will get cold.”

Yulia groaned and slid from her stool. She would have dragged her feet, but her stomach growled, reminding her...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-13

I think I added almost 500 words to Katelynn's POV in this one while editing it for Patreon. I hope you all enjoy it.

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Katalynn set down the very expensive crystal goblet that she was holding. The glass had been taken from some rich idiot who wandered into her territory when she was much younger. While they were few and far between, those were her favorite targets. She looked at the man who had brought her ...