Science Fiction Short Stories

Here are some Science Fiction Short Stories. Enjoy!

CopRit Empire, Halfil Sol 14 Of Race 4 Year 4958 Frostal Secondary, New Baltimore Sitting down in the chair across from the Principal’s desk I nervously swallowed and tried to calm my heart. The Principal could probably hear it, and smell my perspiration. Which was only making me more nervous. “Thoomaas,” squeaked the principal from on top of her desk, the sounds of her voice amplified so we could both easily hear her. She was as large as an Earth cat, and resembled their favorite prey in some respects. Four legged, hairy, with an acute sense of smell and ears

Sweetness – Implications

CopRit Empire, Halfil Sol 25 Of Race 4 Year 4958 Monty Publishing House, New Baltimore Slowly gathering myself I stepped into the hologram chamber, the projection flickered and the simulation automatically paused as I stepped in. I quickly looked around to get my bearings, I appeared to be on a starship bridge enduring greatly exaggerated weapons fire. It had to be the next scene in his latest story. Yiner, standing in the center of the holographic bridge that was in the process of exploding looked up at me an expression of slight annoyance quickly morphing into an exaggerated smile. “Mary,

Sweetness – Chapter 4 (NSFW)

CopRit Empire, Halfil Sol 78 Of Race 3 Year 4958 Suburbs, New Baltimore I looked back up at the shopkeeper, the small Human was trying to appear unconcerned. Not that I could really blame ‘him’- glancing over at the human I checked the chest. It was a male, the chest did not protrude and there was hair on his face. “These.” I held my data tablet out to the human looked at it. “Roses?” he asked a smile spreading across his face exposing his teeth. “Roses.” I confirmed. He moved his head up and down, a motion I was fairly

Sweetness – Chapter 3 (NSFW)

CopRit Empire Sol 77 Of Race 7 Year 4957 PackRat IV, 5 Months out from Halfil I slammed into to deck plating. Coughing, I rolled over onto my side and vomited on the floor, trying to get over the fact that everything was spinning around me. “You know, Humans have perhaps one of the most graceful exits from stasis I have ever seen. At least you haven’t defecated on yourself this time,” deadpanned Jonas. I wanted to curse at him, but my stomach once again rebelled. Turning my head, I vomited again and groaned. “Seriously, the epitome of gracefulness,” said

Sweetness – Chapter 2 (NSFW)

CopRit Empire, Halfil Sol 78 of Race 3 Year 4958 Athletic Complex, New Baltimore I jumped to the side, dodging the attack. I felt the breeze as the weapon passed my abdomen; it missed me by only a few millimeters. Twirling to the side, I brought my foot up. Reacting with amazing speed, my opponent also twisted to the side, in a motion that would have broken a Human’s spine. He curled back, leaning on his large tail to retain balance, his torso bent back almost 90 degrees. I hadn’t know about his ability to move like that; my attack

Sweetness – Chapter 1 (NSFW)

CopRit Empire, Halfil Sol 78 Of Race 3 Year 4958 Divsion 3 Police Station, New Baltimore “What?” The officer frowned and pushed the circular data tablet across the table to me. On it was an image of the woman I had met at the bar last night. She had green skin, of a shade that would have made Kirk proud, her hair a vibrant metallic red. She was an exotic beauty, and unlike so many it wasn’t only skin deep. She and I had hit it off spectacularly and gone back to my place after only a few drinks. We

Shades of White and Orange

Sneaking forwards Kalif slowly tilted his ears to either side and waited in the darkness. Not sensing anything he slowly crept forwards towards the statue, and the artifacts in its base. Slithering as silently as possible Kalif focused his eyes on the objects, as if afraid they might disappear at any time. Reaching the statue and coiling himself up to better hide himself in the darkness of the town square Kalif stared down at the items, he had seen them from afar earlier in the day and before then he had never really paid the statue any mind. The alien

Mother Earth

Mother Earth. She’s a bitch. A hard ass bitch who tortured every form of life that she brought forth onto her surface. Every life form on her surface had to fight, feed and fuck. After that she didn’t care about what happened, only that they had improved on themselves perhaps a little bit. Life on Earth has had to suffer through catastrophes that have on multiple occasions pushed it to the brink of total extinction, sometimes it looked as if the bitch had gone too far and destroyed the life she had spawned, but each time as if to spite

Enduring

Nyx fired off another shot from her rifle and the Prod nearly 800 meters down the street jerked and ducked into an ally. She frowned and sharpened her gaze on the point where the purple mass had disappeared, looking for the telltale red fragments on the pavement. “More of ’em?” asked Iyo, he was whispering but his deep voice easily carried through the dead air of the dark warehouse. Nyx grunted in affirmation, her eyes still locked on the corner watching for the telltale purple. “Don’t know if I got the core.” She saw movement on another corner 600 meters

Adam, Artemis, Atlas, & Icarus Part 2

The data streams slammed into me. With practiced ease, I pushed them aside and forced myself to view the data from afar. To not see it as billions of lines of code, but rather as the small white room that any other human would see. Floating in the center of that white room was Artemis, represented by a small blue sphere exactly one cubic meter in volume. “Aaron?” she asked, her voice a stream of data inside what was to her a blank room, but to me the least disturbing of the digital constructs used by most of humanity, which

Adam, Artemis, Atlas, & Icarus Part 1

0 days Adam “You’re insane.” “Your point is what?” She rolled her eyes and tightened the straps holding me to the chair. “The point is that someone who can’t move shouldn’t really be this snippy.” She gestured at the plethora of medical equipment around us. “I’m sure I can do some interesting things with all of this.” “Well, can you wait until after we do the duplication, then?” Eva sighed and nodded. “Fine. You fry your brain on this, though, then I was right.” I smiled. “When I don’t fry my brain, you’ll owe me that drink.” Eva rolled her

Painful Mercy

We had begun with the standard shock and awe tactics, bombarding their population centers from orbit with kinetic weapon strikes. One moment a city was standing, and the next it was ash through the power of pure physics. No radiation to clean up and minimal collateral damage to the atmosphere. It was standard procedure, one that was so common I didn’t even look up from my work as the cities were incinerated far below. Most species at this point usually took one of two routes. The more cowardly races like the Vnhin supplicated to surrender before we had even finished

Bartender

“Well little Hunin?” “Human, It’s pronounced human.” said the woman as she sipped at her drink. The two Yinhin looked at her for a moment not sure what to make of her interruption. “What do you think?” asked the larger of the Yinhin as he raised and dropped the sword onto the bar, attempting to replicate his supposedly dramatic entrance. The woman looked down at the sword and then at the large warrior creature. “Impressive,” she took another sip of her drink and turned back to stare into it’s depths. The two fanged and clawed warriors once again looked at

The Alien

“You’re going to die. You know that right?” I ignored her and slowly opened my eyes, I was in the middle of the module and the emergency lights were the only source of illumination. She was floating over in the corner, glaring at me despite her own injuries. “Just die already, to keep fighting is pointless,” she drawled her voice low and threatening. Something was keeping my left eye almost closed, glue or something. Rubbing at my eye for a moment I opened it again and looked at the residue on my hand. It almost looked like blood, but then

Commitment

Humanity is horrifyingly, unendingly, foolishly committed. It makes them one of the most dangerous alien races I have ever encountered. They are small creatures, pale and without much color or ornamentation. Pit them against the monsters in the betting pits of the outer colonies with nothing but their own skin and they will fall in moments. Humans are weak little things, creatures that I had for most of my [two hundred] years of life dismissed as just another weak race to be absorbed into the Coalition. Until the day when flogging my wares in the market of an outer colony

A Request For The End

“Everyone ready?” asked Wek as he held his pulse rifle up and let the capacitor charge. The weapon’s hum filled the back of the small tactical military transport as they moved through the space station’s atmosphere. “We’re going up against humans, right?” asked Nilnet one of the newer members of the tactical assault team. Wek shifted his skin blue in confirmation, “we are.” “The same species that spearheaded the Ronhin liberation invasion?” he asked tentatively. Several of the other members of the assault team who had been calmly checking their weapons and going over other details of the planned operation

Annihilators

Long before crawling out of the gravity wells of their home stars, most species of the Galaxy understand what lay above them in the heavens. Before history even began, they named the stars, found patterns and meaning in them, looked at the specks of light in the sky that moved and took pride in being able to predicted them. The heavens were wild and fantastic, the place where gods battled amongst one another, where the heroes of old were laid to rest, where the young dreamed to travel. Sailors, merchants, travelers alike would follow the heavens, the farmers and clocks

Parasites

Staring at the creatures for a moment Mary sighed and folded her hands behind her back. “Just kill me.” The creatures in the room looked at one another and then back at Mary. “What?” asked the unnaturally Tall and impeccably dressed creature in the center of the dark room. Mary glared back at it, “I give up how the hell are you things real? For fucks sake!” Stalking towards the closest of the creatures, one that looked like it was the sidekick Fucker #2 to the tall one Mary stared it in the eyes. Fucker #2 leaned back slightly, red

Children

Settling in the chair I looked across the embassy office at the alien, and tensed. Large the creatures were vaguely humanoid in shape, two legs, two arms a torso and a head. Beyond that general shape it was different from a standard human. Its legs had two knees and claws that curved upwards. Its skin was a vibrant purple flecked with green in places. The hands were six fingered and stubby the claws cut back. Its robes were a dull brown, and the regal pose combined with the very humanlike glare from its two eyes the creature was plainly trying

Years Later

“No.” Praetor Hahac looked up and ruffled her feathers. “What do you mean by no General?” “We’re not going to give you children, no matter how you promise to treat them.” Said General Han as he crossed his arms and glared across at the table at the creature. Praetor Hahac’s feathers puffed out slightly and she set her six fingered talons down on the table clicking them against the bare metal. “You have lost, you are not in a position to deny us anything General. Your brood need to be raised by those who are strong, should you be allowed

Human day!

“Kiyi! Kiyi! Look!” The older sister smiled and extended her talon towards the moltling trundling towards her across the smooth stone floor his three legs pattering as moved towards her. “Yes Oler, I see it,” said Kiyi as she grabbed the moltling in her talons keeping him in place. Oler puffed himself out, looking like nothing more than a ball of feathers, a beak three flailing legs and three waving talons. “I’m a Human!” exclaimed Oler as he grabbed the mask that was hidden somewhere in his feathers and slipped it on over his face, the cheap plastic covered two

Monster

Looking around the corridor Tulgif gripped the gun he was wielding more tightly and slowly began to advance. The creatures had taken everyone else, he had seen what remained after the Humans had finished with them, little sacks of entrails and gore, gray bones sticking up through it splintered at odd angles. The air vent next to Tulgif belched, a sound that was normal enough for the ship but under the current circumstances nearly had the frightened man send a barrage of bullets into the vent. The Humans had been crawling around inside of the vents despite the low temperatures

Fireworks

<Fireworks> Outside my window there was a muffled explosion, looking up at the sky I leaned back on my haunches. Humans really did like explosions, but then it was Unification day for their planet I supposed some merriment was in order. Already dark outside I glanced at the time piece, even after having been on Earth for ten orbits around its primary I hadn’t gotten used to the shorter days. About two-thirds the length of those on Yernik. It was just enough to throw off my sleep patterns, and I was adjusted. The newest batch of delegates and their broods

Peace by the Sword

We are peaceable out of necessity, and because of it we are the most powerful race in this galaxy. For a Human to kill another takes but a moment, a sharp knife or even just a few ounces of pressure and a man can be easily killed, his corpse discarded as a worthless sack of meat. Indeed, if there has been one constant throughout Human history it is that we have always found new and more creative ways to kill one another, ways to kill one another more quickly. We invented the spear, the sling, the bow and arrow, the

Eight Hours

0 Seconds Leaning over the small fence around the domicile, I carefully tied to lead to appropriate peg. The creature on the end of the lead, an Earth ‘pig’, let out an odd sound but otherwise didn’t protest to being fixed in place. I continued down the row of domiciles, fixing other animals in place from the small herd of them behind me. More and more families were trying the Human’s animals, but I had not had one yet. Getting past the odd smell of Human that clung to them was apparently too difficult for my stomachs. I saw a

Confidence

Rolling his multiple sets of shoulders Ponif settled into the fighter, she was a beauty of modern engineering. Quad plasma thrusters with an antimatter injector for an extra kick when needed, adaptive g-force negation generators so he could pull maneuvers that would have otherwise been impossible. Four Ionic plasma cannons tunable to multiple frequencies for maximum damage, as well as two regenerative missile pods. So long as he had energy the missiles would be replicated at a rate of one every ninety seconds. She also possessed the newest transphasic adaptive plasma channeled redirected shields allowing her to absorb shots from

Insanity

“What the hell are you doing?” I asked as another round of explosions went off around us, my small companion seemed to be struggling with something in the wall. “My arms stuck!” growled my Human partner. Moving over to him I looked at the mess. I had avoided the collapsing wall but he had taken the brunt of the collapse, what was left of his arm was stuck in the wall beneath several hundred kilos of rubble. Vainly I tried to move one of the beams off of the rubble to release him but I could barely get the thing

Assimilation

Humans are odd, introduced into the Galactic community only about 110 of their years ago they have already made themselves one of the most important species in the Galaxy. From a biological standpoint they are a fairly standard with tolerances for heat and cold, pressures and vacuum within the midrange for most species. They are not exceptionally strong nor do they possess weapons or strategies more effective than anything else that other species have produced. Humans are from almost any standpoint average, and just another species amongst the hundreds within the Galactic community. But the humans possess one ability which

We Become Death

“Why do you insist on continuing this?” asked the Captain, addressing the smaller creature on the ground in front of him. The thing scrambled forward on its limbs moving at an unnatural gait unable to raise itself back up to the stance he had seen in the rest of the species. It hit and bounced off of his armor, and once again collapsed onto the floor. Leaning down the Captain grabbed one of its upper limbs in his claw and lifted it into the air. The creature struggled for a moment before going limp as he brought it up to

Patchwork Pirate Part 2

I raised my gun and fired. The young Captain’s face exploded outwards in a spray of blood and gore. The Princess shrieked and fell backwards into a pool of blood from one of the guards. Jumping at that she stumbled up to her feet, eyes going wide bloody hands over her mouth and tears in her eyes. Pulling a knife from my belt I offered it out to her, “Would you like to sheath the dagger Juliet? It’s about your only way out at this point.” She jerked towards me, grabbing the knife away from me. Juggling it in her

Patchwork Pirate Part 1

Category: Star Sailor Leaning back in the chair at the circular table I looked at the hologram above it, the Ophanim was slowly pulling away from us. She was a much larger and newer ship by far, with three quantum-fusion plants compared to the single old-style reactor of the Patch. But even full bore, her mass was proving to be detrimental as she moved towards the jump point. Not that the Patch was having an easy time, I could feel the deck plates vibrating, the engines pushed far past their normal cruising speed as we slowly lost ground by only

Protectors

Heri poked at the chunks of meat in his bowl with a tentacle, trying to look as if he wasn’t hungry. He was molting though, his feathers sticking out in odd directions. Last year when he had been growing, he had devoured anything I had put in front of him. The same glint was in his eyes now, but he wasn’t eating. Jalasen shifted on her hind legs and nervously patted down her fur. She was eyeing her food as well, but hadn’t taken a bite out of the vegetables in her bowl yet. Putting my tablet down on the

The Deathworlders – Chapter 66: Unbowed Part 5

Date Point: 17y5m4d AV Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Ian Wilde Wilde learned three things that afternoon. First, never play rugby with Hoeff. Short he might be, but he was quick, relentless, insanely strong, and absolutely willing to use his heft and low center of gravity to ruin a man’s day. He didn’t quite manage to put Ferd in his place—he was still a reasonably normal-shaped human being, after all—but there was definitely a look of respect between the two tanky juggernauts. The rest of the Ten’Gewek had learned a painful lesson or two as well. In rugby, skill counted

The Deathworlders – Chapter 66: Unbowed Part 4

Date Point: 17y5m3d AV Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Daniel Hoeff, bodyguard to Tarzan or whatever Run done, sparring done, morning slab…done. One last set of bent-over rows, some lighter accessory work to cool down a bit…and that was his work put in and his free time earned. He’d really been enjoying his caveman time with Julian lately, too. Good sparring partner! “Fuckin’ good workout today,” the huge Tarzan enthused. “You gonna be crashing in the basement tonight? Or are you and Xiù scheming again?” “Totally schemin’ this week.” Hoeff re-racked the weight, headed for the door, and switched off

Blaze

Alin turned on the park bench to face the silver Humanoid shape next to her. The creature was unmistakably synthetic, unnaturally still and unmoving against the waving greenery of the surroundings. With a sigh Alin turned to Silver and hand and waved it at the flowers and trees in front of her. “What do you think?” “It is an inefficient use of resources.” Silver’s voice was choppy, broken and precise communicating only the necessary syllables of the speech without inflection or emotion. Alin nodded, “True.” “You recognize the error, but do not correct it? Explain.” Asked Silver. “What would you

The Deathworlders – Chapter 66: Unbowed Part 3

Date Point: 17y5m AV Clan Firefang headquarters, The Great Isthmus, Gao Tooko Clan meant politics. And Tooko hated politics. Oh, he was definitely good at it, like he was good at most things—a Brother needed to know his strengths—but that didn’t mean he reveled in it. He’d much rather be out there, doing what he first learned to do on the runway just outside the headquarters. Clan Firefang was among the youngest. That was the way of a Clan system built around specialization, and fighter pilots were a fairly recent vocation. Even the Longears were older, if one counted their

The Deathworlders – Chapter 66: Unbowed Part 2

Date Point:17y4m2w AV High Mountain Fortress, the Northern Plains, Gao Daar, Great Father of the Gao “That will almost certainly be a bloody campaign, My Father.” Daar nodded sadly. “I know. Gotta do it, though. We ain’t got no right ‘ta come along, stick our noses’n their business, an’ leave ‘em so unstable they can’t fuckin’ cope.” Vark knew all that, of course. So did the other Champions. They were bound by duty to advise Daar of the consequences, of course—not that they’d ever spelled out those duties anywhere, but whatever—and he wasn’t gonna dissuade ‘em of what was a

The Deathworlders – Chapter 66: Unbowed Part 1

Date Point: 17y4m2w AV Relay world, deep uncharted space Ferd Given-Man Hand signals only. No words, only silent footsteps, glances, gestures. Tail-flicks and crest-waves, which the Humans had long ago learned to read. They didn’t have tails to flick back, but they could say much with their faces the People couldn’t. Ferd and his men could read those faces as well as each other’s tails. They were all brothers now, and they had no secrets between them. At a gesture from Rees, they melted against the old, broken walls as an arrowhead of five death-birds slithered past overhead, moving slower

Middle Ground

Sliding across the smooth metallic floor I just barely dodged under the beam of the phase disrupter. The cloaking field around me flickered but continued operating. I had been a little too close. Rolling up to my feet I jumped over the second beam that was sweeping across the floor. Silently jogging down the rest of the hall I jammed my hand up to the interface panel next to the door. The unsettling feeling of ants made of pure capsaicin crawling under my skin spread from my abdomen down my arm and into my hand. The price of carrying a

The Deathworlders – Chapter 65: Leaps of Faith Part 5

26th day of the first year of freedom The “Clawhold,” above the old-bent-leg tunnels Ukusevi The “Clawhold” was… Uku hadn’t realized that a place could be so clean, even while it was alive and working. Not even the hydroponic farms in the warrens were so well-kept. The light was a little too bright for her, but a helpful Gao had given her a pair of darkened lenses for her eyes. They rested on her nose and kept the worst of the glare out so that she was comfortable. Another had shown her how they archived their knowledge. Whole vast troves

Guarded Titans – Chapter 13

10 Years, 01 Months, 10 Days After Eridani Landing Chront Derrick stumbled into the cell, his eyes half open and his body screaming out in so much pain he didn’t notice his own impact into the concrete of the cell. “Ucabej!” shouted Hala as the bars swung shut. The guard grunted several harsh words back and stomped out of the cell block. Derrick spread his hands out on the cool concrete, for once in his life enjoying the feeling of something cold. It was a salve to his skin, and the multitude of lacerations, burns, and bruises all in different

The Deathworlders – Chapter 65: Leaps of Faith Part 4

Date Point: 17y4m1w3d AV Chiune Station, west of Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Julian Etsicitty Misfit was a lot smaller than Julian remembered, but damn if she wasn’t a welcome sight. And he’d have to be ten years dead not to smile at the way Allison was practically sparking with happiness at working on the old girl again. “She’s just so unique!” she gushed, ducking under the landing gear to check it before flight. “Like, the production model took a few lessons from our girl here and they’re special and arguably an improvement, but Misfit is her own thing… She’s

The Deathworlders – Chapter 65: Leaps of Faith Part 3

Date Point: 17y4m1w2d AV The Clawhold, a liberated world, former Hunter space Ginn, aide-de-camp to Grandfather Vark of Clan Stoneback With the endless global industry halted, air quality was soaring. There was still a haze of carcinogenic particles in the air, but it was thinner than ever before, to the point where Ginn could actually see the mountains near the Clawhold with the more-or-less naked eye. They looked dirty, dead and brown, but they were still a view. It was hopeful. One thing Ginn hadn’t properly appreciated in his short years was just how connected to nature a people truly

The Deathworlders – Chapter 65: Leaps of Faith Part 2

Date Point:17y3m3w5d AV Planet Akyawentuo, the Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3KPc arm Julian Etscitty Yan’s armpits were just as lovingly smelly as ever, which Julian learned as the monstrous chief of the Ten’Gewek wrassled him into all sorts of vaguely pretzel-like shapes. But that was the price of his friendship, when they hadn’t seen each other for too long. Julian had made a kind of family vacation out of this visit. Al had a few days of downtime while the factory at Chiune Station got the next Misfit superstructure ready for her team to work on, Xiù’s property portfolio mostly managed

Guarded Titans – Chapter 12

10 Years, 01 Month, 08 Days After Eridani Landing Species C1764 Home World [Vann] turned his gaze to the man next to him, inspecting him for what felt like the millionth time. He was close to his own age and looked utterly comfortable at the controls of the vehicle as they moved across the face of the desolate planet. The calmness, as far as he could tell was an act as much as it was true. Looking at him [Vann] couldn’t help but feel he was looking at a reflection of himself, young, confident, powerful in his own right, and

The Deathworlders – Chapter 65: Leaps of Faith Part 1

Date Point: 17y3m3w AV Kansas, USA, Earth Six/Cynosure “Shit, shit, shit, fuck…” Earth was outside of dataspace contact. There was no signal from the Irujzen relay at all. That could mean only one thing: Six had fucked up. He’d fucked up badly. The plan had been so simple. The Humans were supposed to find the relay, monitor it, find it utterly impenetrable and then ask for his input. He’d then infiltrate it and use its core access functions to fundamentally alter the 0001 compilation algorithm, effectively inserting a new mandate into the Hierarchy at, for lack of a more accurate

The Deathworlders – Chapter 64: Survive Part 5

Date Point: Opening days of the first year of Liberation. Library bunker at Old-Bent-Leg, a freeed world Ukusevi The schism was complete. In fact, Ukusevi’s proposed additions to the Chant had been met with acclaim from one side and outraged violence from the other that only ended when the two factions of Keepers were dragged from each others’ throats by their bodyguards and hauled away back to their libraries. Ukusevi still had Umilivi’s teeth-marks in her ear. It was still better than she’d feared. She’d envisioned herself surrounded on all sides by anger, universally rejected and exiled to the surface.

The Deathworlders – Chapter 64: Survive Part 4

Date Point: 17y2w AV Asteroid belt, liberated system, former Hunter space Brigadier General Rylee Jackson When Hunters didn’t want to fight, they were about as slippery as a bar of soap in the bathtub. When they did want to fight, they threw everything they had into it. No middle ground. It was dismayingly sensible of them. Not that Rylee had expected this to be trivial. Or quick. They were crawling their way around a twenty-five AU circumference, thoroughly checking every asteroid. There were more than two million in this belt that came in at a kilometer or larger. Gaoian drone

Guarded Titans – Chapter 11

9 Years, 11 Months, 25 Days After Eridani Landing Chront Megan let out a low whistle as she stepped into the hanger that contained the remains of the Canada. The security personnel who could be spared from the Russia, moved in to join the Seninon troops who were standing guard outside the building. “He got the main systems working, and that’s what he had to work with?” asked Megan. Stagg glanced back at her, tearing her eyes from what had once been the main display of her ship which had been propped up in one corner of the room with

The Deathworlders – Chapter 64: Survive Part 3

Date point: 16y11m3w AV The Clawhold, Liberated world, former Hunter space Ginn, Foot-soldier first class, Grand Army of the Gao One could only play so many games of Ta’Shen before they lost their mind. It wasn’t that Ginn was particularly eager to face down cloaked Hunter death machines or a slavering horde of crazed monsters boiling up from their underground burrow. The Clawhold was actually pretty nice, in an austere and tightly regulated way. At least, it was a place where he didn’t have to wear full body protective equipment all the time which made it several steps up on

The Deathworlders – Chapter 64: Survive Part 2

Date Point: 16y11m2w2d AV Leadership’s Gymnasium, Stoneback Chapterhouse, High Mountain Fortress Arthur Sartori The Great Father was in a bad mood from the word go. That was easy to tell of course, partly because Daar wasn’t one to hide his feelings, but mostly because aside from his many noble and civilized qualities, in his heart of hearts he was the predictable type of working-man alpha meathead who preferred to gym-beast his rage and frustrations away, rather than talk them out. He had, apparently, been doing a hell of a lot of that lately, and was just finishing up yet another

The Deathworlders – Chapter 64: Survive Part 1

Date Point: 16y11m10d AV Hierarchy Cleansed Session 508 ++0020++: Full retreat. Every Hunter asset in the system is being withdrawn or scuttled. ++0004++: <Aghast> So quickly? The Gaoians only launched their invasion days ago! ++0020++: Correct. Their maximum leader personally intervened on a key asset in close orbit around the star, and this was apparently enough to convince the new Alpha-of-Alphas that their objective was lost. ++0004++: I hadn’t expected the new Alpha-of-Alphas to be such a coward. ++0020++: It isn’t. It is in fact a good deal bolder, more intelligent and more decisive than its predecessor. It has also

Guarded Titans – Chapter 10

10 Years, 01 Month, 05 Days After Eridani Landing Species C1764 Home World Pursing his lips [Vann] looked down at the C1764 planet. The oceans took up most of its surface, almost a direct inverse to that of the Home world with its proportions. The first wars on the Home world thousands of generations ago had been fought over the access to water. Looking at the oceans [Vann] couldn’t help but admire them. It was something he hadn’t seen with his own eyes. Even from orbit the seas looked massive. If the C1764 had followed the same trend as other

The Deathworlders – Chapter 63: Torn Part 5

Date Point:16y11m6d AV Starship Destroying Fury, Mordor system Daar, Great Father of the Gao It was only Daar’s unbreakable discipline that kept him afloat. All he wanted to do was rip and tear and pillage and destroy, over and over again, endlessly, until everything was a haze of red and he’d stacked a pile of corpses big enough to avenge…fuckin’ everyone. But Daar couldn’t do that. He was the Great Father. He couldn’t enact revenge for its own sake. His actions demanded purpose for more than himself. He could only act on behalf of the Gao. There could be no

The Deathworlders – Chapter 63: Torn Part 4

Date Point: 16y11m5d AV Hunter stellar array, mordor system, Hunter space Regaari The hard part was the light. It was everywhere, and stepping out in it meant being exposed to a flood of radiation and enough heat to melt lead. The shadows meant life, but with the suit’s eye protection turned almost fully opaque to handle the glaring stellar radiance, the shadows were impenetrably dark. Anything could be in them, totally invisible. Not even the contrast-enhancing vision augmentation system in his helmet could do much in such a fierce EM environment. There were other sensors in the helmet to help,

Guarded Titans – Chapter 9

9 Years, 11 Months, 24 Days After Eridani Landing Chront Derrick continued the staring match with the Seninon outside the cell, his gaze locked on the other sentient his eyes drying out despite the humidity. The Seninon man was dressed in what looked like an ancient Earth uniform. Straight heavy cloth with protective plates inside of it, brown greens mixed over the cloth combined with actual dirt to help him blend into the jungle background. He sported a few days of beard growth, his pupils were almost completely round as well. A tell that Derrick had picked up on with

The Deathworlders – Chapter 63: Torn Part 3

Date Point: 16y11m4d AV Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Julian Work done, head hosed down, feet clean, hair toweled dry. Babies blissfully asleep, and a long and very welcome bout of fun with Al and Xiù, while Amanda and the boys went shopping for supplies. Then a pleasant evening walk to escort her home, and a quick, easy jog back to encourage his boys—he didn’t care what anyone had to say, Tristan and Ramsey were his now. They closed out the evening cuddled up with him while he was stretched lazily across the couch, watching what must have been Gaoian

The Deathworlders – Chapter 63: Torn Part 2

Date Point: 16y10m3w AV Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Leemu There weren’t many Clanless who could claim a personal friendship with the Great Father of the Gao. That had enjoyed (and survived) cuddly afternoon naps with him. Or really knew that the pictures or even videos didn’t do the in-person experience any justice, not even a little bit. That, yes, his mere presence could fluster pretty much literally anyone and that his musk was strong enough to make even a Human feel a bit overwhelmed. That he could so effortlessly court any Female, that he was so ridiculously shameless about

The Deathworlders – Chapter 63: Torn Part 1

Date Point:14y1m AV, two years prior to the invasion of Mordor Planet Akyawentuo Ferd Werne-Breaker A Man. A tall, strange man, with a strange spear in his hand. Fire falling from the sky. That had been his vision on the day Ferd became a man and was Given his name by the Singer. He’d earned it by doing exactly that in his manhood hunt; his spear failed him at the worst possible moment and, faced with a very angry young werne bull, Ferd did the only thing he could do. Fight it. The werne charged. Ferd met it, and wrestled

Guarded Titans – Chapter 8

10 Years After Eridani Landing Home World [Charles] took in a shaky breath, turning he looked up at the star hanging above him in the sky. It was the same star that his ancestors had looked at for generations, his genetics were pure Dorvakian. Going all the way back to the dawn of civilization, before the Empire when they had only known of one planet in the cosmos. Reaching into his jacket [Charles] pulled out his flask, opening it he quickly downed half of its contents. Focusing his gaze back down [Charles] continued down the footpath, passing the homes of

The Deathworlders – Chapter 62: Tooth and Claw Part 5

Date Point: 16y11m5d AV Starship Silent But Deadly, Planet ‘Mordor,’ Hunter Space Tooko, Pilot and Stud of Clan Firefang Combat was infinitely more stressful when it was your friends doing the fighting, and there wasn’t a Daar-damned thing to do about it. Tooko had a commanding view of the factory, though that by itself wasn’t good enough to see his team, nor the Fourth Fang claw. Stealth operations were… well… stealthy like that. He had no idea if things were going well, if they were going horribly wrong… All he could do was silently orbit and watch. And wait. A

The Deathworlders – Chapter 62: Tooth and Claw Part 4

Date Point: 417th Year of the Punishment Library bunker at Old-Bent-Leg, the Great Ruin Ukusevi, Librarian and Keeper of the Long Chant “Keeper?” Ukusevi woke at her desk. She’d only put her head down for a moment…. But no. The fire-safe oil lantern beside her had burned dry, and was going to need a new wick. Her back was sore, and the fur on her cheek was matted with her own saliva. She scrubbed at it with her fingers to try and restore some dignity, stretched her back which went crrrunch so hard that she gasped in relief, and turned

The Deathworlders – Chapter 62: Tooth and Claw Part 3

Date Point: 417th Year of the Punishment Library bunker at Old-Bent-Leg, the Great Ruin Ukusevi, Librarian and Keeper of the Long Chant For the first time in living memory, the library was in uproar. Libraries were silent, not just out of reverence for the knowledge they protected, but out of fear that the Punishers might detect them if their inhabitants moved or spoke too loudly. The Long Chant was the loudest thing the Penitents ever dared to utter, and even that was only ever a little louder than an ordinary conversation. For now, however, Ukusevi was whispering it fretfully to

The Deathworlders – Chapter 62: Tooth and Claw Part 2

Date Point: 16y11m3d AV Planet ‘Mordor,’ Hunter space Ginn, Foot-soldier first class, Grand Army of the Gao Ginn’s protective gear itched. In fact, it itched maddeningly, to the point where he could kind of understand the idiots who’d taken it off for a good scratch, even though they were now enduring all the wonders and joys of decontamination and medical intervention back at the clawhold. Clan Openpaw’s war doctors weren’t gentle, or considerate. They wielded their razors and wax strips without concern for the unfortunate soldier’s protests: Every hair had to go. Something to do with heavy metal contamination building

Guarded Titans – Chapter 7

9 Years, 11 Months, 23 Days After Eridani Landing Home World [Howard] smiled at the Consul and nodded, “Whatever it is you would ask of me and the resources I command are the disposal of the Empire.” “I’m very glad to hear that,” [Marcus] trailed off scowling as [Howard] turned away from him to look at the Emperor. “What is it that you would have me do?” asked the man. [Vann] held back his smile and looked and steadied his glare on [Marcus]. “Consul, before we move onto the, proposal. I must speak to [Howard] about a matter I would

The Deathworlders – Chapter 62: Tooth and Claw Part 1

Date Point: 417th Year of the Punishment Library bunker at Old-Bent-Leg, the Great Ruin Ukusevi, Librarian and Keeper of the Long Chant The Chant had always promised a day when the Punishment would end, but Uku had never imagined she would live to see it. Perhaps she hadn’t, yet. But there had been a bright flash in the sky, and the Punishers had abandoned their torments to somewhere else, and hope had a death-grip on Uku’s innards. It was a sick, forlorn, desperate hope, and only for something small—that maybe there was a future other than endless sickness and toil—but

The Deathworlders – Chapter 61: Violence Part 5

Date point: 16y11m1d AV Starship Silent But Deadly, Planet Mordor, Hunter Space Sergeant Ian Wilde The thing that Wilde never got his head around was the idea that a spaceship could be as quiet as a breeze. Deadly could fly supersonic, and that obviously wasn’t quiet, but at low speeds she could be pretty much entirely silent. And of course, her cloak made her entirely transparent across the visual spectrum, with not even the faintest blurring or distortion around the edges to give her away. The intersection of these two capabilities meant Tooko could drop them right next to the

The Deathworlders – Chapter 61: Violence Part 4

Date Point: 16y10m2w AV Wi Kao city, Planet Gao Xiù Chang Yulna’s pyre was huge, and fierce. And, in a mark of Daar’s considerable respect, it was a wooden pyre rather than the industrial, gas-fired thing that was how the Gao usually said farewell to the dead. Wood, to the Gao, was about as valuable as the same weight of silver. There was probably some gas-fire trickery in there too, to make the flames so hot and so high that they completely obscured the body: It was supposed to be a dignified farewell, after all. Yulna’s cloth-wrapped remains had been

Guarded Titans – Chapter 6

9 Years, 11 Months, 23 Days After Eridani Landing Home World [Vann] groaned as the Senate leader run the bell for afternoon recess. The few members who had attended the general meeting got up to leave, most them continuing to deliberate with one another. Several larger groups moved towards the doors that led to the more secure meeting rooms. In the public seating, high above the Senators and on the opposite side of the rectangular room from where [Vann] sat began to move as well. [Vann] narrowed his eyes, just barely making out a gaggle of small children pressing themselves

The Deathworlders – Chapter 61: Violence Part 3

Date point: 16y10m1w4d AV Gateway Station 2, Ugunduvur System, the Guvnuragnaguvendrugun Confederacy Fiin, Champion and Stud of Clan Stoneback Fiin’s paws met the gateway station’s outer hull with a solidity that reverberated through his whole body, eerily loud in the soundproof confines of his suit. Electrostatic sticky fields in the palms and soles stuck him firmly to it, and he scuttled along the surface to plant a sensor, ensuring that the compartment he was about to enter didn’t contain a civilian: when it turned out to empty, he peeled the hull open with his fusion claws and forced himself inside

The Deathworlders – Chapter 61: Violence Part 2

Date Point: 16y10m1w AV Planet Mordor, Hunter Space Ferd Given-Man Ferd was trying not to shiver from a mix of the cold and… Wilde called them ‘hee-bee-jee-bees.’ This more-door world was sick, and Ferd could feel the creeping illness all around him, even through the safe-clothes. The mud was stained, dark with slime and bright with rusty red and sickly green. The waters were often orange, or covered in dense scummy foam like soap bubbles. But not a strong clean bubble, these were…like the froth of snot bubbling from a sick child’s mouth. The grass was pale, dry and yellow.

Guarded Titans – Chapter 5

9 Years, 11 Months, 20 Days After Eridani Landing Bellona Colony Tapping at the computer console embedded in the bench Megan leaned back to look at the pair of small cubes that sat on the medical examination bed, two small metallic cradles feeding them power the only comforts. “Anything Yern?” asked Megan as she looked over the data streaming from the two of them. “Nothing beyond what we have already observed.” Said the small Tanuin from the other side of the examination bed his small feet flying over the to large computer console in front of him. Alpha crawled down

The Deathworlders – Chapter 61: Violence Part 1

Date Point: 16y10m1d AV Cloaked Hunter observation ship, Spacelane BlueSquare-552, the Guvnuragnaguvendrugun Confederacy The Builder Alpha-of-Alphas Things… collapsed. Spectacularly. In one instant, the battle had been at a deliciously productive impasse. The Hunters’ own ships were grappling with the Humans’ and Prey-Species’ war vessels, neither side had a clear advantage and for the first time ever the Builders were able to study their foes at length. Previously, every estimate on those ships had been estimates, with quite a wide margin of error. Precision promised the opportunity to duplicate, or even improve upon, their designs. The prolonged brawl had been eminently

Guarded Titans – Chapter 4

9 Years, 11 Months, 20 Days After Eridani Landing Home World [Vann] stood up and moved away from the small stone bench as the young woman stepped out of the back entrance of the palace and into the garden that dominated the space behind the ancient building. Smoothing his formal robes [Vann]’s eyes quickly roved over her. There was no doubt of her lineage, a pure Class A with a line from the Home World was very clear even from a distance. Her features as refined and as pure as those within the royal family itself. Dressed in thin pale

The Deathworlders – Chapter 60: The Calm and The Storm Part 7

Date Point: 16y10m1d AV HMS Violent, Armstrong Station rally point, Cimbrean-5, the Far Reaches Admiral Sir William Caruthers “Caledonia reports the HEAT are aboard, sir.” Caruthers acknowledged the update with a nod. Things were moving quickly, but not quickly enough by half for his tastes. The Hunters had hit the convoy on a relatively remote stretch of the spacelane, and although one of the Gaoian-made interceptor drones was en route, it wasn’t due to arrive for another four minutes. Every passing minute was lives lost. They may, indeed, already be too late to save anyone. But Caruthers would be damned

The Deathworlders – Chapter 60: The Calm and The Storm Part 6

Date Point: 16y10m1d AV Starship Silent But Deadly, Hell system, Hunter Space Tooko, Brother and Stud of Clan Firefang To Tooko’s mild surprise, Ten’Gewek did not, in fact, stink. Oh, sure, they had a certain… physicality that extended to their aroma, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Just… Well. Strong. Strong enough that the scent still lingered in the main cabin even though most of their cavemonkeys had been safely in stasis for a couple of weeks. It had quickly become apparent to Tooko that carrying them as cargo was best for everyone’s sanity: They did not respond well to being cooped

The Deathworlders – Chapter 60: The Calm and The Storm Part 5

Date Point: Halloween, 16y10m AV Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Champion Fiin of Clan Stoneback It was good to be reunited with the HEAT. The joint training exercises, the sport and play afterward, carousing at Rooney’s, the bonds of Brotherhood they were re-forging after too long a time apart…all were important for what was coming. First Fang rarely assembled as a complete unit, let alone combined with the HEAT, so such small social niceties helped the teams bond, as everyone played together and learned their relative strengths and weaknesses. That kind of thing was surprisingly important on missions. It was

Guarded Titans – Chapter 3

9 Years, 11 Months, 14 Days After Eridani Landing Olyn, Karskara Rolling out of the small bed in her apartment Diana dropped to the floor and luxuriated in the cool temperature of the faux stone for a moment. The bruises, scrapes, and cuts covering her body temporarily dulled by the cold. Not waiting for the stone to warm, Diana spread her hands out and pushed herself up. Raising her legs up off the cold stone and balancing only on her hands Diana lowered herself to the floor and pushed herself back up again. The light from the system primary began

The Deathworlders – Chapter 60: The Calm and The Storm Part 4

Date Point: Halloween, 16y10m AV Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Allison Buehler Halloween was Allison’s favorite holiday. An entire day devoted to minor rebellion? Awesome. And these days she knew exactly what her favorite part was: she could coax Julian into a skin-tight superhero costume, one custom made to show off that comic-book build of his, and there wasn’t anything he could say about it, or any way he could weasel out. Playing dress-up with her loving, handsome, genetically perfect super-meathead boyfriend? Fuck. Yes. It was the perfect opportunity to ogle him. “Ready to go, babe?” Julian fidgeted at his

The Deathworlders – Chapter 60: The Calm and The Storm Part 3

Date Point: 16y9m AV High Mountain Fortress, the Northern Plains, Gao Brother Tooko, Stud of Clan Firefang The door closed, and Tooko was left alone with a male who was, in a very biological sense, practically his opposite. Tooko was proud to be a first-degree male. It was his charm, his calling card and his selling point. He could confidently and truly boast that no other male his age had sired as many daughters, and very few had sired more cubs than him in total. The Great Father was obviously among those few and held a commanding lead over the

The Deathworlders – Chapter 60: The Calm and The Storm Part 2

Date Point: 16y8m3w AV Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Ava Ríos “I’ll just need a minute to set up the recorder.” “Take your time. I mean, we haven’t seen each other in a while anyway, it would be nice to catch up, not just be all business.” Ava shot Xiù a sorry smile and stopped fussing with her gadgets. “You’re right. Sometimes I forget how to set my work aside.” She had to admit, mothers and babies looked good. Xiù and Allison had come to her, in part on the Byron Group’s request, to do a little girl talk interview

Guarded Titans – Chapter 2

9 Years, 11 Months, 13 Days After Eridani Landing Home World [Vann] rubbed at his temples trying to suppress the pounding headache that was beginning to form behind his eyes. [Sonten] oblivious continued to drone on, “So after we crashed the transport on the side of the mountain, it took another two hours for the stupid B’s to get another transport out to us. It was horrible, the insects bit!” [Sonten] extended his arm shoving it into [Vann]’s face showing off several small dimpling’s from insect bites. [Vann] turned an eye on the man, “You took control of the transports

The Deathworlders – Chapter 60: The Calm and The Storm Part 1

Date Point: 16y8m1w1d AV Wi Kao city, Planet Gao Yulna The painkillers weren’t working so well any longer, and Yulna had taken to wearing several thin layers of loose robes to hide her missing patches of fur. Her natural eye was almost useless thanks to a cataract, and without the replacement she’d had installed after losing the other one in a rogue Corti lab all those years ago she’d probably have been thoroughly blind. But she was home. Though, home looked rather like she felt. Wi Kao had been spared, but the Commune–once among the most populous and productive on

The Deathworlders – Chapter 59: New Life Part 7

Date Point: 16y8m1w AV Broodship of the Thirsting-Brood, The Coreward Marches, Kwmbwrw Grand Houses Alpha Limbs destroyed. Cybernetics…neutered, somehow. Prey so powerful, they tore apart even the Augment-Betas with ease. The Alpha couldn’t move, couldn’t issue orders, could hardly think– An armored figure kicked a nearby corpse aside, and the Alpha felt the deck under its helpless body shake and bend as the Prey—not prey any more—stopped and considered its broken form. Somehow, its translation implant was still almost working, in a glitchy way. Hunters rarely deigned to communicate with Prey, but understanding their language meant hearing their fear given

Guarded Titans – Chapter 1

9 Years, 11 Months, 13 Days After Eridani Landing Home World [Vann] grimaced at his reflection in the mirror. Slowly he turned side to side examining his visage. There was something different in his reflection, and it was not the ridiculous clothing he was being forced to wear for the night. “This, is what the youth are wearing nowadays?” asked the Emperor of the Dorvakian Empire as he tugged at the loose-fitting red yellow shirt and billowing pants. The black carbon composite armbands on studded with gems and an intricate pattern of other precious metals. [Syn] glanced up from her

The Deathworlders – Chapter 59: New Life Part 6

Date point: 16y8m1w AV Planet Rauwryhr, the Rauwryhr Republic Scrythcra, Rauwryhr ambassador to the Dominion Security Council Rauwryhr tradition symbolically put important things higher up. Leaders and visionaries flew higher, saw further… and stayed there. Climbing up the trees from the bottom was hard work after all. For this occasion, and these leaders and visionaries, the Republic had chosen the highest and most symbolically important location possible: the canopy. Dappled green-and-white leaves sprawled away in all directions under the perfect open sky, pierced here and there by the silver needles of starports and transit hubs. And on a wide platform

The Deathworlders – Chapter 59: New Life Part 5

Date Point: 16y7m3w2d AV Quarterside Park, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Ferd Given-Man The ‘hostel’ had other guests staying, though there was room for Ferd and his men. They were given room keys (and then a quick lesson on how keys and locks worked). Ferd kept the intricate little steel shape in a pouch on his bandolier next to his lucky arrowhead and his game-bones. The other guests were young humans, a couple of hands of hands of them who couldn’t believe their good luck at actually getting to meet Ten’Gewek. Ferd and his party quickly became the most interesting

The Deathworlders – Chapter 59: New Life Part 4

Date Point: 16y7m3w1d AV Ninja Taco, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Sister Leela, proprietor Folctha was a strange and protected place, one where the great and powerful of the galaxy could freely intermingle with everyday folk. Presidents and Prime Ministers had wandered its streets. Premiers and Potentates had visited her shop to purchase her tacos. And the most powerful and awe-inspiring of them all, the Great Father of the Gao himself…made a habit of visiting her, and her specifically, at her humble little shack. And flirting with her. Hard. They had long ago settled into a roughly bi-weekly routine. Daar

Guarded Titans – Chapter 0: C1764 Recap

The Year is 2290. Recovering from the first truly interplanetary war the Earth and Martian governments feel that it is necessary to disarm one of the deadliest weapons developed by both sides. Antimatter. All antimatter is given to a cooperative scientific endeavor between the two planets, the Longboat Program. The result of the program is the Longboat IV, a ship designed by the mathematical savant Dr. Lincoln an Earth Scientist. Piloting the vessel, an Ace pilot from Mars Lieutenant Malcolm. The purpose of the ship and by extension the Longboat Program, is to break the lightspeed barrier by utilizing all

The Deathworlders – Chapter 59: New Life Part 3

Date Point: 16y7m3w1d AV Planet Akyawentuo, the Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Julian Etsicitty The best part about hunting, was that Julian didn’t need to think about anything else for a while. He’d come over on the jump with Hoeff and Claire, which was honestly a nice distraction; the two were so completely in love, they were doing the playful cuddling thing people did, where they were oblivious to everyone besides themselves, whispering little secrets to each other… It was hard not to smile after that. And a really good hunt was a spiritual exercise of its own. Akyawentuo was

The Deathworlders – Chapter 59: New Life Part 2

Date Point: 16y7m3w AV Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Xiù Chang Maybe it was hormones. Maybe it was the Cruezzir… Maybe it was learning that one of her oldest friends was dying. Either way, try as she might, Xiù couldn’t quite pull herself together. Her parents had taken Allison and the babies to the park to give her some time alone with Yulna, but really she would have preferred to have Allison there at her side. Or Julian. Or preferably both. Dealing with this without either of them was… …Was… “Shoo, it’s okay.” Yulna cooed gently. They were cuddled up

The Deathworlders – Chapter 59: New Life Part 1

Date Point:16y7m2w AV Folctha General Hospital, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Allison Buehler Xiù had a Caesarian, in the end. She needed it. Harrison just didn’t want to come out, and he was so overdue that when the obstetrician came to consider whether it was time to induce she took one look at the ultrasound and decided that surgery was the safer option. Xiù hadn’t been terribly happy about the idea but, well…Harrison was a big baby. Bigger than Diego, even. And Xiù being small and narrow-hipped and punchy didn’t help at all… So, Al and Julian held her hands and

Causal Results – Chapter 9

Ruck, Willinkree Year 3042 Day 37 [Sil] guessed that it was one of the more ornate chambers the class C had. Hand stitched rugs covered the stone floor, the bed was stuffed with something the class C probably considered soft, and most importantly to [Sil] the chamber had an extremely large hearth with a roaring fire. The heat from it had been inconsistent, but exhausted from the day of walking and nearly frozen from the harsh atmosphere of the planet [Sil] had welcomed even the primitive source of heat. The blankets on the bed were by no means clean, and

The Deathworlders – Chapter 58: Gjallarhorn Part 6

Date Point: 16y7m2w AV Clan Starmind monastery, Alien Quarter, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Champion Gyotin Gyotin was enjoying a rare quiet day. At least, relatively quiet. He’d had breakfast with the Bishop of Folctha that morning, but that was a weekly event anyway. And of course he’d spent some time at the Faith Center, met a few people, caught up on the news, offered some insights… The opportunity to retire to the monastery garden and practice a nice long meditation in solitude was a welcome one. It couldn’t last forever, of course. After maybe twenty minutes or half an

Waters of Babylon – Mitzvah Part 4

Date Point: 14Y 6M 2D AV Great Father’s Cabinet, High Mountain Fortress, Northern Plains, Gao Champion Gyotin, Clan Starmind Gyotin found that the brisk air at this altitude made getting around just a bit less enjoyable than it might have at a younger age. The comparatively much warmer temperature of Folctha and his monastery made for much easier sitting and thinking on aged bones. The Champions had assembled, as was their custom, in the room that had always been used for the Conclave, around the enormous ancient wooden table that had served them thus for millenia. Everyone was on time,

The Deathworlders – Chapter 58: Gjallarhorn Part 5

Date Point:16y7m2w AV JETS training camp, New Albion Island, Planet Akyawentuo, Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Sergeant Ian Wilde Akyawentuo was a big planet, bigger even than Earth. And her native population would have utterly vanished just in Wilde’s home city of Sheffield, which was only the seventh most populous in the UK. The Hierarchy had come far too close to wiping them out. In other words… it was an empty planet. A lot of open space and unclaimed territory that the Ten’Gewek weren’t going to want for probably centuries, if their civilization ever moved in that direction anyway. From

Waters of Babylon – Mitzvah Part 3

Date Point: 14Y 5M 1W AV Office of the Great Father, High Mountain, Gao Champion Yeego, Goldpaw Yeego had never been invited to the Great Father’s private chambers. Most of the Champions hadn’t, and to have been so was considered somewhat of a dubious honor; Daar preferred to do his business on the move. In his suite where he slept, ate, consummated his daily mating contracts…if the Great Father felt the need to interrupt any of that to speak to a Champion, there could hardly be anything good about it. There was nothing to be done. Yeego glanced in the

Causal Results – Chapter 8

RUCK, WILLINKREE YEAR 3042 DAY 36 [Sil] took the water from the class C, Piral and holding her breath to avoid the smell of the bag the acrid tasting liquid was in took a few quick gulps choking them down as quickly as she could. She had yet to have any of the food from the planet yet, and was predicting that it would be similarly barbaric. [Sil] handed the water inside the leather back to the brute, he slowly took it and slipped the thing back onto his belt. [Sil] sniffed and drew the primitive and roughly hewn leather

The Deathworlders – Chapter 58: Gjallarhorn Part 4

Date Point: 16y7m1w1d AV Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Daniel Hoeff I don’t deserve her. It was a wretched thought, and Hoeff hated it, but it kept popping up in his head as unwelcome and as persistent as door-to-door evangelists. Because, that was the thing: He didn’t. Daniel Hoeff was a stone-cold murderer. Stone-cold murderers didn’t deserve to be happy. They didn’t deserve the affection of intelligent, innocent, young and beautifully bookish women. There was something badly wrong with karma if something as good as Claire came his way. She was nestled in his arms. A delicate, beautiful soul, happily

Waters of Babylon – Mitzvah Part 2

Date Point: 14M 4M 3W 5D AV Three Valleys FOB, Gao Fang Leader Vuutyo, Grand Army of the Gao The Stoneback Claw and their Human companions that had been their instructors, guides, and battle-brothers had moved on to their newer recruits, and for the first time, his Fang had been approved to conduct independent operations. Vuutyo had heard stories, and had done quite a few operations with their guidance, but there was a tangible difference when he was the one that was responsible. Operational tempo, if anything, had been stepped up significantly. Vuutyo’s own command structure, as thin as it

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