M.J. Markgraf

Tarnished Chapter 41

As he approached the bridge, a few people pointed weapons at him wearily. Some of them must have recognized him because he wasn’t shot on sight.

He nodded as he passed the people clearing the bodies off the bridge. John felt a bit naked without his hat, but going back to fetch it now wasn’t as important as finding out how the town fared.

“Have you seen the Sheriff or Deputy Seline?” he stopped a worker to ask.

The man shook his head. “Try over by where the machine ...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 28

A few days later Alexander got a comm message from Fidelity Properties. They had found a suitable location that met his criteria. They just wanted to discuss it over video at his earliest convenience. He supposed it made sense. They couldn’t know what time it was where he was located and they were available at all hours. He was honestly surprised they had gotten back to him so soon.

Alexander waited until Yulia was asleep before he walked to the nearest terminal to contact Fidelity. H...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 27

Yulia was still sleeping when Alexander rolled her wheelchair into the apartment. It wasn’t much. There was a main room with a small kitchen, a single bedroom, and a small bathroom. But it was more than enough for the little girl’s needs. And it was clean since Alexander had spent the last day scrubbing the place from top to bottom. It hadn’t been nearly as filthy as his shop when he first moved in, but he still wanted to ensure a clean safe environment for the girl.

Alexander gen...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 26

Alexander waited in the patient discharge area. People were giving him odd looks, but he was used to that by now. In his hand was a stuffed bear he had printed for Yulia. Despite the advanced meds, they still kept the girl for two days. This was to ensure no complications from her injuries or the medications.

Soon enough, the door swung open and a nurse wheeled A very disoriented-looking little girl out on a wheelchair.

“Alex?” the girl asked in confusion. “Where is Headmast...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 25

After speaking with Doctor Nord, and the man assuring him that Yulia was now eligible for the advanced healing treatments, he returned to his shop. He needed to secure housing for his newly adopted daughter. As well as other things a child of her age might need.

It was crazy to think a child relied on him now. As he entered his shop, he found it even more destroyed than it was when he left. “What the hell!”

Nothing had been taken, and there were little evidence tags on everyth...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 24

Mingyu sat silently among the other six council Captains as the prosecutors read the charges.

Unlike the arbitration between Omni and the station, this was an open trial. Instead of being hidden away in some conference room, it took place on the tenth ring in the Court of Affairs.

The space was a large one, meant only for the most important functions of Petrov station. Like the passing of a Captain, or a new Council Captain stepping up to fill their parent’s role. Thankfully tho...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 23

As he neared the orphanage, he came across more children. These seemed to be about Yulia’s age or older. They looked sad and scared. They must have heard about Yulia’s condition.

The children averted their eyes when they saw him. It was a reaction he hadn’t seen in some time. Although he probably looked much more imposing without his holographic cartoon face to make him appear friendly.

Alexander lightly knocked on the bulkhead door that led into the orphanage.

“Yes?...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 22

Captain Harn was aboard the Devil’s Bargain when an alert went off.

“ALL STATION LOCKDOWN IN EFFECT. ALL DOCKED CRAFT ARE TO REMAIN DOCKED. ANY SHIP ATTEMPTING TO LEAVE AT THIS TIME WILL BE TREATED AS A PIRATE AND DEALT WITH IN THAT MANNER.”

He slammed his fist against his desk. Those fucking idiots had done something to bring the ire of the station down on him, he just knew it. He hurried out of his cabin and to the ops center.

“Rico!”

“Yes, Captain?” Th...

Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 21

Alexander and Yulia are back! I'll be dropping 5 chapters today for the RR launch and one every other day this week!

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“And here you can see where we process the station’s wastewater,” an adult droned on.

Despite the adult’s less-than-enthusiastic tone and the noise, Yulia was enjoying the field trip that the headmaster had put together for the orphanage. She couldn’t say the same for the ...

Tarnished Chapter 40

By the time John arrived, the armored form and the injured warrior were long gone. He jogged over and retrieved the fallen rifle from the dead Harc’otti.

He was hoping the injured man had left his weapon as well, but he hadn’t. John checked the charge pressure on the weapon. The little gauge read nearly full.

Good, that meant he would have plenty of shots remaining.

He quickly stripped the man of any extra ammo or weapons and started running toward the waterfront. The so...

Tarnished Chapter 39

As John moved through the streets, he encountered very few warriors. The few he did only glanced his way before continuing deeper into the town. They were hell-bent on getting to the civilians. Considering their violent nature he was surprised the Harc’otti weren’t burning everything to the ground as they ransacked the buildings. Then again, having a fire at their backs probably wasn’t a good idea.

He was about to enter another street, but he heard the distinctive clomping of meta...

Tarnished Chapter 38

The group, minus Travis, made for the Town hall. John thought Pappy’s convoluted plan was a waste of time. Once more people pushed west and the Fareen government made their presence known, a few words on a piece of paper weren’t going to stop them from taking what they wanted. But if this is what the old man wanted, so be it. It was easier to give him than money, which the town had practically none of.

John stood back with his arms crossed as the Sheriff prepared the documentation. ...

Scheduling changes.

Starting this week, Tarnished will be moving to a Monday and Friday release. I also decided to push back the launch of BSE on RR until the 10th. Turns out that trying to write five chapters a week for Tarnished didn't leave me much time to create new chapters for BSE. But I now have an additional ten chapters ready to go. Expect those to all drop the week of the 10th.

Tarnished Chapter 37

John found the wayward Peacekeepers along with Travis in the artificer’s storage yard. The group looked a little worse for wear and were using a nearby water pump to splash cold water over their reddened skin.

“Everyone ok?” John asked.

“Just a bit burned,” Blackwood replied, flicking his arms to knock most of the water off. “Seline, why don’t you head to the Doc and get that cream?”

The woman nodded and stood, but unlike the Sheriff, she simply let the water...

Tarnished Chapter 36

Wyatt rode the stolen horse like it was well… stolen. The poor animal was nearly ready to drop when he hopped out of the saddle outside of Travis’ compound. He could tell from the noises coming from within that his Deputy and the artificer were still there. That couldn’t be good.

He rushed around back. “Seline, Travis, are the weapons ready? We’re out of time!”

“Almost!” the wild-haired artificer shouted as he scrambled beneath the walker’s wooden platform to att...

Norman's big debut!

I know many of you have been waiting for this day, and it's finally arrived! Norman Book One is now live for preorder on Amazon. Norman the Necromancer Book 1: A Rocky Start

Tarnished Chapter 35

Sorry about the late chapter. I spent most of yesterday prepping Norman book one for pre-release on Amazon. I'll make a separate announcement when that goes up.

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“Smith! Are you okay?” Sheriff Blackwood asked as he hurried over to the pile of logs John had taken cover behind. The horse kept trying to pull away now that he wasn’t in the saddle, but he held it firml...

Tarnished Chapter 34

The rest of the day was mostly quiet. John did spot movement inside the forest a few times, but whoever they were, they didn’t get close enough to do anything, or for John to do anything. Probably scouts. He lamented not bringing his rifle, but it was better off in the hands of the deputies watching over the town.

He watched the last of the volunteers make for the town. They all nodded respectfully as they passed and John gave a slight tilt of his head in return. It was all he could o...

Tarnished Chapter 33

The town was surprisingly quiet since John reopened the mines. There were a few more attacks by the Harc’otti, but they were weak attempts at best. Each attack consisted of a few arrows fired from the treeline. The only casualty was a cart full of hay that couldn’t be doused before the flaming arrows turned it into a bonfire.

John stood next to the burned-out remains, scanning the treeline. He heard footsteps but didn’t turn to see who was approaching in case there were still warr...

Tarnished Chapter 32

“Why are we working for that city boy instead of just killing him for what he did to Big D and the others, Pappy?” One of his malcontent children whined. Pappy couldn’t even remember the man’s name. They all kind of blurred together now that he had so many.

He looked at the man-child out of the corner of his eye before spitting the wad of chew out of his mouth. He was leaning back against a tree watching the mining crew work below. With a grunt, he stood up and walked over to hi...

Tarnished Chapter 31

Finally having a win was nice, but John wasn’t sure how much the artificer’s improvements would help out. It might be different if they had an unlimited supply of raw materials. But that wasn’t the case. They barely had enough material to build a few weapons for the town.

Restarting the mines would alleviate that issue somewhat, but John hadn’t seen any large-scale processing plant hidden in town. Any material they managed to pull from the mine would have to be processed in smal...

Tarnished Chapter 30

Now that he had a sketchy deal in place with the mostly unknown and probably unreliable Klein family, he could open the mines.

To be fair, he fully expected Pappy to honor the deal if only to suit whatever agenda the patriarch had. And that was enough for John. It wasn’t like this was his money he was spending. Good old Daniel would certainly throw a tantrum if he learned of this deal, but he was back in New Gata. What he didn’t know, couldn’t hurt him.

As long as John maint...

Tarnished Chapter 29

Extra Chapter today, Enjoy!

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“Knock it off!” He yelled at the group of brawling men.

It didn’t have the effect he hoped. One man stood up after knocking another on his ass and took a swing at John.

He sidestepped the blow and smashed his elbow into the man’s ear, sending him to the ground in an instant. A few more judicious uses of his fists and only three of the brawlers were left standing. They backed away wi...

Tarnished Chapter 28

After their talk, the pair headed over to the foreman’s office to retrieve the books.

Cassi tsked, “Seems like that man couldn’t do anything properly.”

“Is there a problem?” John asked, walking over to take the book she held out. He looked it over, and the text was nearly illegible. Even he had better handwriting than this.

“Are you still able to decipher it?”

“I can. It will just take me more time. Can you help me carry these back to my place? This b...

Tarnished Chapter 27

“Madam Cassandra, a moment of your time?” John asked. It had been three days since the Harc’otti attack and the first chance he had to speak with her.

He had wanted tensions in Ember Creek to relax before making a decision. Part of that was to make sure the barbarians didn’t return. Another was to give people time to grieve. Tobias and the man with the arrow wound to the gut had both died during the short encounter. And both men had families.

Both had also been rescued fro...

Tarnished Chapter 26

The Harc’otti would be unlikely to return anytime soon, not after taking that many losses. And the explosion would tell any of their surviving warriors that their infiltration had been successful. That didn’t mean they would never be back. With this unknown group backing them, John couldn’t say what they might do next.

The Harc’otti’s willingness to risk the lives of a large number of their fighters just to destroy a few broken automata suits was a shock. But considering what ...

Tarnished Chapter 25

It took a good while to return to the town. By the time they arrived outside the ruined wall of Travis’ compound, his prisoner was looking pale and sweating. Likely from blood loss, exhaustion, or a combination of the two.

“What the hell, John!” Seline stated angrily as she strode over. “He’s just a boy, why did you shoot him?”

John flicked his pistol at the damaged yard. “He looks young but he’s old enough to do this and old enough to shoot at me. Seems mightily s...

Tarnished Chapter 24

At least eighty Harc’otti came pouring out of the tree line just outside the city. At least twenty more were already past some of the buildings. These are the ones he focussed on.

With each shot, one of the barbarian warriors fell. And he wasn’t alone. The soft hiss of the pneumatic rifles punctuated the din of combat from at least four separate rooftops.

There was a louder hiss, and one warrior's head was split open by an impact. That had to be Sheriff Blackwood and Sally. 2024-05-21 12:15:01 +0000 UTC View Post