M.J. Markgraf

BSE Chapter 5-56

The remains of the BSE fleet jumped into Unokane, a little over a month after they sprung the trap on the Shican’s human forces to devastating effect.

Vitor should be relieved that they were home, but he couldn’t quite dismiss the niggling doubt in the back of his mind that the Shican were up to something.

After the group of five Shican ships jumped in to try and destroy his ship at Drakvold, there hadn’t been a single sighting of any Shican vessels. The enemy destroyed Jotu...

BSE Chapter 5-55

“Is something wrong, Mr. Kane?” Admiral Dufresne asked, pulling Alexander’s thoughts back to the present.

“I think the Shican plan to wipe out humanity,” Alexander blurted out.

“I told you it wouldn’t take him long to put the pieces together,” Dufresne said to the other Admirals. “And before you ask, Mr. Kane. No, we didn’t keep that from you. It was one of the possibilities we discussed while we conferred amongst ourselves. We already have plans in place to ta...

BSE Chapter 5-54

Alexander finished up some documents that Theo had sent him and set down the tablet. Hiring the man had been the right choice, and made managing his duties as Jarl and owner of BSE much more bearable.

Theo filtered out all the bullshit, so all that was left were items he needed to personally approve. If the man hadn’t been around, Alexander wasn’t sure he could have taken a year off to fly to Earth, even with the comm node. Even though the trip had turned into a mess that nearly got...

BSE Chapter 5-53

The production of the new printer bots went off without a hitch, but Alexander would be lying if he said the first use of them went as smoothly. In the first ten minutes of building the first of the two new smelters, ten collisions had taken place.

There was some margin of error built into the bots’ field generators used to lay down the material, but not enough to make up for the bots being knocked around by impacts. The print had to be scrapped and started over; thankfully, it hadn�...

BSE Chapter 5-52

Sorry about the late chapter today, I could have sworn I scheduled it, but alas, my mind failed me on that front. FYI, I didn't get a chance to go over this chapter for editing, so please point out anything that might be wrong.

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The Shican fleet arrived outside the human system and waited for the two new sensor ships to find the enemy trail. It had taken two weeks for the ships to reach him, but Thesska wasn’t in any...

BSE Chapter 5-51

“Grand Commander, you were correct, it was a trap,” his subordinate said in surprise.

“Of course, I was correct,” Thesska hissed back in annoyance.

His subordinate flattened his ears and bowed his head slightly in supplication.

Thesska narrowed his eyes dangerously at the man. The bow wasn’t quite enough to show true supplication, but Thesska didn’t call him out on his insubordination. He knew his subordinate was testing the waters before a challenge. It was comm...

BSE Chapter 5-50

SYSTEM: DRAKVOLD

DATE: 2403

Grand Command Thesska stepped out of his quarters and strode to the bridge. He inhaled deeply and crooned quietly in satisfaction at the musk of anticipation from his people. The hunt would be upon them soon.

“Report,” he ordered as he made his way toward his command seat.

“The remains of Sivarra’s human ships are throwing themselves at the human fleet on the order of Sivarra’s clones,” his subordinate replied quickly.

Thes...

BSE Chapter 5-49

One stood and stared at the broken ship in front of him for quite some time before he was interrupted as Two appeared beside him.

His brother glanced at the wreck for only a moment before turning to him. “Why are you wasting your time here?”

Ignoring his brother, One stepped onto the ramp leading into the vessel. He stopped as he crossed over from the human-built ramp to the vessel itself. Two joined him but remained quiet, waiting for One’s response to his question.

I...

BSE Chapter 5-48

Alexander hurried into the meeting room. “Sorry, I’m late. I was speaking with Damien about another matter.”

“Nothing serious, I hope?” Archie inquired.

“Just teenagers being teenagers,” Lucas said with a snort. “Damien’s got his panties in a twist over these unauthorized parties. They aren’t even doing drugs or alcohol, though, so I don’t know why he’s so gung-ho about stopping them. He should just let them be and monitor them. Cracking down too much is wh...

BSE Chapter 5-47

“Um… Sure,” Kane’s daughter said after a bit of hesitation.

Thirteen smiled awkwardly and gestured for the girl to follow her. “There is a quieter spot over here,” she added, leading the human girl over to a corner that was acoustically dampened thanks to a roll of construction material.

It was clear to see where they were heading, and the girl seemed to approve of the choice.

“You’re Chairman Rush’s daughter, right?” the girl asked once it was quiet enou...

BSE Chapter 5-46

Yulia shifted uncomfortably as she walked down the hallway with Sarah and Claire.

Claire tsked and pushed Yulia’s hand down as she tried to reach up to touch her hair again.

“You look fine,” Claire admonished.

“I feel ridiculous,” Yulia complained. “I should never have agreed to let you two dress me up and do my hair.”

“But you look so cute,” Sarah smiled as she leaned in and gave her a one-armed hug.

“I don’t want to look cute,” Yulia gru...

Taking time off

I had some IRL stuff pop up this week, and I have plans this weekend that will be eating into my writing time. Instead of rushing out chapters, I'll be taking next week off. See you all back on the 28th

BSE Chapter 5-45

“His ability to design and engineer seems to be intact,” Two stated as the group examined the small gunship from inside their virtual space as it came off the orbital printer. “Are we sure he lost his memory at all?”

Annoyed, One pulled up the detailed image of Kane, taken during the scan when he visited the man in his office. The scan had only been possible due to having so many Collective ships in orbit.

“Would you like to take a look again?” One asked in exasperatio...

BSE Chapter 5-44

Alexander and Lucas watched as the first missile fired up its drive and zipped toward the distant target. A sensor inside the cube ensured the missile could track its location since the target was only ten feet across and covered in stealth armor, making it almost impossible to detect with the missile’s normal onboard sensors.

As the weapon crossed the halfway point to the target, two things happened. First, the field on the cube engaged, then the missile overloaded the small reactor ...

BSE Chapter 5-43

“How are the tests proceeding?” Alexander asked Lucas.

“Eh. The field is getting stronger, but like I said before, I don’t think we’ll be able to make it work without more power. In fact, I know it won’t work. We built another test platform that was about half the size of the Stingray to do a small-scale test, and hooked that up to the Stingray’s reactor. We were able to produce a stable field that blocked the FE rifle rounds on full power. Considering we haven’t even be...

BSE Chapter 5-42

LOCATION: XIN PRIME

SYSTEM: XIN PRIME

DATE: 2403

Grand Commander Thesska rubbed his cybernetic fingers against the curved blade in his hands. The aptly named claw was a weapon of a true warrior, earned through personal combat against an alien or through ritual combat against a rival. Any Shican worth their lineage had one, or they were no one.

Thesska had no rivals. At least not any longer. Their blood had whetted his blade long ago. He looked up at the mewling fool st...

BSE Chapter 5-41

LOCATION: TWO JUMPS FROM XIN PRIME

SYSTEM: UNKNOWN

Vitor went over the update that Alex had sent to them, as they sat idly a few jumps from the enemy stronghold. The news wasn’t good. Despite their best efforts, the Union fleet had been unable to cut off the Xin forces before they managed to reinforce Xin Prime. If it had been only the twenty-five Shican vessels to deal with, they might have had a chance, but there was no way the remains of their fleet could handle the Shican ve...

Book 1 Announcement!

Great news, everyone. I now have a release date for book one and an image of the cover to share. Set a calendar reminder for November 11th for the ebook and Audible drop.

BSE Chapter 5-40

“You’re certain they are heading in our direction?” Vitor asked over the comm.

“Yes, Admiral,” The technician from Eden’s End replied. “We’ve been tracking them for a few systems. The next update should be in a couple of days, but all evidence points to them coming for you.”

“What about the ships at the STO border?” Vitor knew from previous updates that a large chunk of the Xin fleet had broken off from attacking the STO, but they didn’t have any satellites...

BSE Chapter 5-39

“Enemy fleet detected, Jarl Ylva,” the sensor operator said in anticipation.

“Start pulling us out of the gravity well,” she commanded.

You can do this.

Stormraven shook as its engines burned hard to sell the idea that they had been caught off guard by the enemy’s arrival.

Ylva kept an eye on the tactical screen, and soon enough, red dots started to appear. She cursed when she saw their positions, though. The Xin fleet had jumped well clear of the pl...

BSE Chapter 5-38

Vsevolod cracked his sore neck and rubbed at his stiff muscles. He was getting too old to be managing a space station, but the alternative was worse, so he didn’t complain. He had been put in charge of the shipyard, which was better than most of his fellow compatriots could boast. Most of them had been trapped aboard their vessels their entire lives, forced to live like rats while clones of their younger selves were treated much better and even allowed families and lives, if you could call ...

BSE Chapter 5-37

LOCATION: BEYOND THE OORT CLOUD

SYSTEM: BJORN’S REACH

DATE: 2403

Vitor monitored the overall battlespace from the tactical center. Normally, the room was used for ground forces, but Alex had reconfigured the holos to allow for an overarching view of space.

He could have done the same thing from the bridge of Vanguard, using the tac-display, but Captain Vargthane was in charge of the ship, while Vitor kept track of the overall tactical environment.

The BSE fleet...

BSE Chapter 5-36

Alexander stood and shook Rush’s hand. “Welcome to Eden’s End. I know we don’t have many amenities, but feel free to take advantage of what we do offer during your stay.”

“Nonsense,” Rush replied, shaking Alexander’s hand enthusiastically. “Your people have been extremely accommodating since I arrived, and I don’t really partake in partying or living a lavish lifestyle like some in my income bracket. To be honest, I prefer the quiet that a small place like Eden’s E...

BSE Chapter 5-35

Theo waited patiently as the Gravitational Solutions shuttle touched down. Flanking him were six BSE honor guards in dress uniform. They carried ceremonial blades, with their hilts tied to the scabbards.

Alex told him it was ridiculous, and he was right, but Alex also wanted to be present to greet their guests. Theo overruled that option. He knew it often paid to present a bit of pomp and ceremony to those in power, even if it was all made up on the spot. It was also important to play t...

BSE Chapter 5-34

The Gravitational Solutions fleet finally transitioned into Unokane. One would have preferred to jump from the system they originally departed from to arrive instantly instead of spending the last few months traveling the way humans did, but displaying that capability would have cast a spotlight on the Collective, and they couldn’t afford that right now, even if his brothers and sisters had agreed to allow it, which they hadn’t.

One’s siblings were right, word of such an advanced ...

BSE Chapter 5-33

One of the issues Alexander had been beating his mind against the proverbial wall over for the last three weeks had been getting sufficient power to the emitters. The delivery of that power wasn’t a problem. The alien carbon nanotube pathways were arguably far superior to the Shican’s power delivery system. At least the parts he had recovered for study.

The issue was output. He had been struggling with the new reactor design and had tried over forty different combinations of the thr...

BSE Chapter 5-32

Alexander spent the remaining few weeks before the Seahorses were done, trying to crack the issues with his field stabilization idea. That wasn’t the only thing he focused on, however. Yulia’s birthday had also come and gone. It was a much more subdued affair, with only half a dozen kids attending.

Yulia was barely speaking to him, but he still gave her a gift. Her gift wasn’t anything tangible this year. Instead, it came in the form of a promise that he would work with her to des...

BSE Chapter 5-31

By the time the pair of them reached the surface, the engineers had already disassembled the test rig and had part of it loaded onto a shuttle. It would take three trips to move the entire thing into space, then Alexander’s bots would reassemble it to save time and keep any risk to a minimum.

Most of the engineers weren’t trained for zero-G assembly or maintenance, so there was no point sending them up. The few who were trained were Asgardians, and they were more than happy to super...

BSE Chapter 5-30

The next few weeks passed in awkward silence, with Yulia still giving Alexander the silent treatment, even though her punishment was over. It was extra awkward considering her birthday was coming up soon. The thought made him melancholy.

An entire year, gone in the blink of an eye, and yet so much had transpired in such a short time. Alexander should be looking back on that time with happiness. He spent time with his daughter, trying his best to be a better father, which had been going ...

BSE Chapter 5-29

“So, what’s up?” Alexander asked Theo as they entered an adjacent empty classroom.

“Nothing serious,” Theo clarified, holding out a tablet. “I just wanted to give you an update on our sales.”

Alexander accepted the tablet and glanced at the numbers. “I think you put an extra zero on the end of the income column.”

“Nope, that’s the correct sum,” Theo smiled.

Alexander looked up at him. “How?”

“Well, the Navy purchased a thousand Kcomm...