M.J. Markgraf

BSE Chapter 4-4

Other than the manufacturing areas, the Eden’s End facility was rather quiet for the most part with the majority of people assisting with repairs.

Something had awoken in the populace in the wake of the fight and was further cemented after they bore witness to all the names of those who had given the ultimate sacrifice to save everyone who lived there.

Even Alexander was changed by the sheer magnitude of what he had witnessed. It was hard not to be moved by the deaths of thousan...

BSE Chapter 4-3

“Are you sure it’ll fly?” Branston asked.

Alexander had asked his erstwhile shuttle pilot, Captain Krieger, Lucas, and Archie to view the ship’s design after the fact.

He hadn’t been expecting the man’s reluctance at first viewing the ship.

“I was kind of hoping you would be able to tell me,” he admitted to the former STO pilot.

The man looked back at Alexander in shock. “I was joking. Please tell me you did a flight simulation on this?”

“�...

BSE Chapter 4-2

Katalynn and Ylva both left shortly after nightfall, so the conversation Alexander had planned to have with the Asgardian leader got delayed for the time being.

It was probably for the best after the memorial unveiling, it was rather late even in Eden’s End’s day/night cycle. He decided to head home and brush up on some learning modules since there was little else to do with everything running at full production capacity.

Alexander was in the process of getting Yulia ready for...

BSE Chapter 4-1

Sparks from welders, shouts from workers, and frantic activity surrounded Alexander as he surveyed the damage on Wayward Soul.

It was hardly the only ship to have been brutally mauled during the week-long conflict with Harlow, the self-proclaimed pirate Emperor. Most of the combined Asgardian/BSE fleet had been ravaged, but in the end, the combined forces had managed to put an end to Harlow’s reign of terror and rid the galaxy of an untold number of pirates once and for all.

Ale...

BSE Chapter 3-62: Book 3 Epilogue

A slightly stocky and mostly bald man, chuckled as he watched Harlow put down like a dog. He had always thought the human’s plans were far too ambitious to play out as they thought they would.

“What amuses you so, One?” a thin reedy-looking individual asked as he entered the office.

Two’s look was almost inhuman, yet he refused to change.

“I’ve asked you not to call me that here,” One sighed.

“There are no biologicals present,” Two stated in return. 2025-01-28 13:00:09 +0000 UTC View Post

BSE Chapter 3-61

“No, this is all wrong,” Benning scolded the junior engineer. “Redo all of this and don’t bring a project this sloppy to me ever again if you know what’s good for you.”

The young man across from him hung his head in shame. “I’m sorry, sir, I will do better.”

“If you don’t I’m busting you back down to entry level,” Benning stated.

A soft chime rang before a melodic voice spoke. “Chief Engineer Benning, there is a matter that requires your attention...

BSE Chapter 3-60

The trip over to the Talon was filled with anticipation that Alexander was finding hard to suppress. He was eager to finally look Harlow in the eyes and lay this long-running nightmare to a close.

Soon they landed on the hangar deck of the large ship and Alexander stepped off the shuttle and made his way to where they were holding the Pirate Emperor.

Krieger was already waiting outside the room for his arrival. “Char filled me in on the plan,” the man stated without preamble. ...

Changes to BSE Chapters 37-45

I have finally gotten time to go back through and rework some of these chapters based on feedback.

For those who don't want to go back and read them, see below for the major changes. The end result is the same, but how they get to that point changed quite a bit.

In the conversations between Kane and Char, there is quite a bit less railroading going on by her or her leading Alex by the nose. Although there is still some. Katalynn is meant to feel like a forceful presence.

Ale...

BSE Chapter 3-59

Alexander lifted aside a large chunk of metal to allow the rest of the rescue party through the corridor.

Rescue operations were a morbid affair, but they beat dwelling on how close the facility on Eden’s End had come to being destroyed.

The facility survived mostly intact thanks in whole to the people operating the orbital defense array. Harlow hadn’t fired just ordinary missiles at the planet. Mixed in were nuclear weapons.

Soul didn’t have the tac-display, so Alexan...

BSE Chapter 3-58

Harlow cackled hysterically as he waved his flechette pistol at the surviving crew with one hand and his sword with the other. “Fire faster you useless shits!”

The surviving crew were those too afraid to confront him as the battle quickly spiraled out of control. His second in command had been the first to voice his concern and the man now lay in a pool of drying blood off to the side, having been the first person Harlow dealt with.

It hadn’t been the last though.

None...

BSE Chapter 3-57

Knowing that the conflict was likely coming to a head, the fleets recombined together to cover the only real asset in the system worth defending, the facility on Eden’s End.

Katalynn had still declined to move into the gravity well so the fleet could maneuver if needed.

Alexander didn’t think that would be an option if Harlow responded the way everyone thought he would, but he understood Katalynn’s desire to be able to jump and maneuver.

No scout ships showed up to war...

BSE Chapter 3-56

Being a more mobile target, Harlow had to send his scouts in once again to ensure the ship’s placement before he committed his fleet.

“Your eminence, the scouts have verified the large ship is still in the same parking orbit,” one of his crew stated.

“Fools,” Harlow said with a smirk. “Tell the fleet to jump to their initial locations and be ready to jump toward the planet in twenty minutes.”

If Char thought she could bleed his forces until she had the advantag...

BSE Chapter 3-55

Over the next eight hours, Harlow’s scouts popped in and out of the system at random points, ensuring nobody got any rest. When the attack did finally come, it wasn’t like the first time.

A concentrated barrage of projectiles came for the orbital assets including the station and the refueling depot.

Thanks to all the system surveillance they had, Alexander had time to implement his static field array across both stations and the facility.

The incoming ordinance destroyed...

BSE Chapter 3-54

On the shuttle ride up to his ship, Alexander did his best not to worry about Yulia. He had prepared her and the people of Eden’s End as much as he possibly could. He needed to have faith that they could handle things if a ground fight occurred.

Alexander needed to focus on doing his part, keeping Harlow’s fleet away from the planet.

He did manage to read the report Pembrooke had prepared for him. Just over eight hundred people had fled the system after his announcement. It wa...

BSE Chapter 3-53

The next few days were busy with activity. Katalynn and her people had gone back up to their respective ships, and Alexander had shuttles flying almost nonstop running ordnance up to the Asgardian fleet.

“We’re almost out,” Lucas stated as the pair of them watched the bots scurry into the armory where the weapons were stored, only to come out a few minutes later, carrying one of the large weapons between two of the robots.

The underground bunker was located on the far side o...

BSE Chapter 3-52

“I won’t lie to you, Kane,” Katalynn said as they slowly walked down one of the empty hallways of the complex, “Harlow surprised us with how many ships he brought with him. He must have been holding them back from the STO because he still had three fleets harassing their border and defending the territory they had claimed. What I’m trying to get at is that even with your impressive defenses, I don’t know if this is a battle we can win.”

“Are you certain?” Alexander ask...

BSE Chapter 3-51

Alexander and Theo arrived at the intake center before their guests had touched down. There was a security room off to the side and he passed his badge to the door controller and stepped inside.

The guard monitoring the cameras for the intake area and landing field looked over and nodded to him before moving aside to let Alexander see the holo-display better.

It wasn’t long before three shuttles landed on the platform.

“Three?” Alexander asked, turning to Theo.

�...

BSE Chapter 3-50

Alexander was aboard Vanguard overseeing the replacement of the ship’s reactor and thruster assembly so he could upgrade them from the underpowered pulsed fusion drives to the newer more powerful compressed plasma ejection system when his radio buzzed to life.

“Alex, this is traffic control, the Asgardian fleet has arrived.”

“What!” he said in surprise, getting looks of concern from the other engineers who were assembling and testing the reactor.

He waved them back...

BSE Chapter 3-49

Harlow waited with the majority of his fleet as his scouts checked the next system. It irked him that he had to move forward with much more caution now, but it was clear the Asgardians weren’t taking him lightly.

That was both good and bad. He had hoped the Asgardian’s desire to enter their vaunted afterlife by dying in battle would have had them throwing themselves at his fleet. They weren’t doing that though. Instead, they were fighting dirty and laying traps.

As a pirate,...

Announcement Time!

With the release of BSE on Amazon coming in the next month and a half or so (Date TBD) I decided I want to try and push BSE to the front page of RR's Popular this week just to say I did so before it stubs. So for the next two weeks, there will be two chapters a day, Mon-Fri 7 AM CST and 7:05 CST with a solo bonus chapter on Saturday probably at 7 AM as well.

For those worrying I work too much, have no fear. My writing schedule will not increase. I've had these chapters prepared and rea...

BSE Chapter 3-48

Yulia raced through the halls in excitement. Alex was returning today! It had been five months since she had seen him last and until last night, she hadn’t spoken with him in over two months. He had contacted her from Asgard, the planet he was visiting. She knew communication between planets was possible but she never really had the opportunity to speak with anyone across such vast distances in real time. She had sent messages to her friends back on Petrov Station before they came to Eden�...

BSE Chapter 3-47

When Harlow jumped into the next system, the Asgardian shadows weren’t far behind. They once again tried their tactics of firing off a volley of projectiles from a distance before turning away.

He made sure his fleet immediately adjusted course on a random heading, and none of the projectiles even came close. To further rub in the fact that those ships were powerless to stop him, he had his people do the exact same thing to a small mining station in the system.

For a few minutes...

BSE Chapter 3-46

Alexander stepped onto the bridge and paused. Katalynn’s Sub-Commander was having a staring contest with Captain Krieger over the bridge's main display.

Going by the tense expressions of the Hawks mercenaries who were filling in the important roles within the ship, he had just entered after the two had finished an argument.

“Is something the matter?” Alexander asked.

“Tell your Captain that I am in command,” the taciturn Vynnson demanded.

“…...

BSE Chapter 3-45

“Swap ships?” Alexander asked in confusion. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“With the war going on and Isbjorn’s attack, I cannot afford to be down my flagship for multiple months. A common practice among the Jarls is to trade a ship of equal value during a retrofit as an act of trust. Normally there would be no transfer of personnel, those staying with their respective Jarls, but since you are unfamiliar with the Valkyrie’s systems, my sub-commander Haldric Vynnson will a...

BSE Chapter 3-44

Once again Alexander was taken to a new area. When they entered the circular chamber, he saw a Celtic circle inlaid into the black marble floor in gold with the interior of the circle being made from pure white marble. The circle wasn’t all that big around, maybe five feet or so, but it was beautifully designed. Outside of the black marble floor was a two-tiered section of white marble, similarly inlaid in gold around the lips of the short raisers.

If he hadn’t been brought here to ...

BSE Chapter 3-43

Alexander flew down to the surface for the third round of negotiations. While he was pretty sure what he was going to do, that could change. He wanted all of his questions answered before he made his final decision.

As much as he would like to just accept this title and join the Asgardians so he could be done with politics for the foreseeable future, this was a huge decision to make. An even bigger one than when he decided to form his own nation since that choice had been purely designe...

BSE Chapter 3-42

“You want to join Katalynn Char?” Krieger asked in concern. “I thought the whole point was to just ally ourselves with them against Harlow and be done with it?”

“It was,” Alexander admitted. “Char brought up some points that I hadn’t considered or wasn’t even aware of. The biggest issue is that an alliance would simply be with the fleet here. If you can convince me that we could win against Harlow with the ships we have here and the ones you see in Char’s fleet, I’...

BSE Chapter 3-41

Alexander knew coming here that there would probably be some give and take to come to an agreement. He just hoped whatever she asked for was something he was willing to offer.

“And what is it you want?” Alexander asked.

“I want a lot of things, Kane, but from you, I want technology.”

Before he could reply, she held up her hand. “I know what you said before. After Harlow is dead. That’s not going to cut it. I agree that an alliance would make defeating him easier,...

BSE Chapter 3-40

It took two full days before Alexander got a follow-up response from the leader of the Asgardian people, Katalynn Char.

“I agree that Harlow is a threat that needs to be dealt with,” the woman stated without preamble as soon as she connected, “but your terms are too vague, your demands too one-sided. I need more clarification about these stipulations before I can make a final choice.”

She wasn’t saying no, that was a good sign. Now he had to put his demands on the table....

BSE Chapter 3-39

“So we just wait and see?” Krieger asked. “I don’t like it. For all we know, she’s contacted more of her people and they could jump in and surround us. I also haven’t forgotten about that other fleet. They may come back as well and Char may just decide to put their differences aside and that taking us out would be better for them in the long run.”

“What do you suggest?” Alexander asked, not having the first clue how to handle a tactical situation of this scope.

�...