The sound of a klaxon woke Jota Cesil from his sleep. He grunted, and pulled himself up onto the chair. He’d drunk a lot of kapskrasi. A lot. Been drinking a lot lately. To celebrate. He winced at his hangover. “Who the frak authorized the emergency alert system?” he barked, looking at his pad. “Where’s …

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Pane Segdi looked out the window of the Floor Leader’s office, just outside the conference room, anger slowly building within her. The list of officers lost was being steadily filled in, and it was horrible. She had been out of the service over twenty years, but she still knew more than her share. One of …

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The Day of the Battle of Tau Ceti “You don’t need the restraints. I’m not running back out there.” Baeus Thalo smiled as she sat down next to her nephew’s bed. “I’m glad to hear it. You know I had to strip you of your commission, and that you’ll be in detention as soon as …

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Zhalem trepidatiously opened the door to the ornate office. She didn’t want to. She had to. What made it worse…he would understand that she had to. She hated that he would be understanding. It wasn’t fair. “Your Imperial Majesty,” she said, quietly, “we have received word from Gama Fleet. The…they….” “Antero is missing. I know, …

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Four Imperial Days Later Jolu Ikno stumbled toward the cavern, hoping it wasn’t delirium that led him there. He was the last one. Of the twenty-one who’d gone into drift, four had deserted, six had been killed by something along the way (pick your poison – falling into a crevasse, being bit by a poisonous …

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Alex stared across the crowded room as people, as his family, waited for any sort of news on the unfolding events that would affect them all, regardless of the outcome. He watched as his daughter played with the twins, who were a few years older but not so much older that they didn’t want Asteria …

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Six-and-a-Half Imperial Days Before the Battle of Tau Ceti…. “We need to kill Khora Perol,” Scylane said, pacing. “I thought we needed to kill Palsa Temis,” his top lieutenant, Abrylyar Kurusu, said. “We need to kill him too,” Rimosi said. “And what about those outside agitators?” another officer said. “We have a lot of people …

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Two days after the secession of the Federation…. Baeus Thalo felt bad for the men and women running for their lives toward the untamed wastes of Kembror, phase cannon fire scouring the ground at their heels. “Wing two, targets are heading into drift. Keep firing behind them until they’re beyond marker ten.” “Yes, ma’am.” She …

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Mikkael Uksahkka stood in front of the board of investors with sweat dripping from his brow, his stiff collar felt extra tight, and his knees like they were going to buckle. He rested a hand on the table, and with all the gumption he could muster he leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. “The political …

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“…And so by reverse engineering the virus designed to target Titans, but not humans, we were able to synthesize a vaccine to counter-act the related plague that was designed to affect humans but not Titans. Are there any questions?” Dr. Nick Archer was currently in Melbourne, Australia in order to give a lecture on the …

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