2163 AD ૨૧૨૫ MA “Did you ever think we’d be here this soon, Admiral?” “Not a chance,” Xú Mùlán said, looking at the vessel wistfully. “Not after just eleven years. You know, it was designed for sixty. Could have made 100 with refit.” “Counter-Admiral Chandrasekhar’s fault,” Ted said, following his former Commanding Officer’s gaze. “No …
Author: D.X. Machina
Chapter Seven The Debate by D.X. Machina
2163 AD ૨૧૨૫ MA “This is it, Jimmy,” Elaine Ridgemont said, waving her arms for emphasis. “This is the fuck-up I’ve been waiting for.” Her husband nodded, as he sipped his coffee and read through sports scores. He was aware of the fallout from Lennox McClure’s story; it had landed like a lightning bolt in …
Chapter Six The Debate by D.X. Machina
Chapter Six 2163 AD ૨૧૨૫ MA The Emperor’s Chartered Shuttle Priyontæ orbited a moon of the first planet of Gliese 785, and Lennox McClure looked down on the corpse of a world. It was jarring to see. The fact that the Insectoids existed was not news, nor the fact that the Empire had been defending …
Chapter Five The Debate by D.X. Machina
2163 AD ૨૧૨૫ MA Lennox McClure was wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into. He could have been a fiction writer. Stayed home, made up stories for a living. His dad had done that, and done very well for himself. But no, he had to go into journalism. He had to seek out …
Chapter Four The Debate by D.X. Machina
2163 AD ૨૧૨૫ MA “And so, mister chair, I say it is high time that we petition the provincial and Imperial governments to recognize the human governments on Avalon and Earth as full territorial councils, and for Azatlia to recognize humans as Class One Sentient Beings, no matter what the Empire may say.” “Thank you, …
Chapter Three The Debate by D.X. Machina
2161 AD ૨૧૨૪ MA “It could have been worse,” Zeramblin said, after leaving the stage. Oh, it could have been better – Empire-pledged candidates had lost a net of 20 seats, though he was hopeful he could claw a couple back; there were a couple independents who would be in line for committee leadership posts …
Chapter Two The Debate by D.X. Machina
2160 AD ૨૧૨૪ MA “These are dark times, Poron Cesil. Dark times indeed.” “No question about it, Councilor Rimosi. Bad enough we added the bluefaces. Worse that we added the fish and the lizards and the gorram shaars. But the frakking bhatwani? You’ve gotta be frakking kidding me. The Empire won’t survive it.” Jori Rimosi …
Chapter One The Debate by D.X. Machina
2157 AD ૨૧૨૪ MA The cabinet meeting was nearing adjournment when Pane Segdi’s pad chirruped. She looked down, and her eyes widened. It wasn’t that she hadn’t known this was coming. They all had. Still, not even four months had passed since First Contact, and at that point, they’d been told it would be a …
Liberated by D.X. Machina
Lessy knocked on the door of the small house, and found she was a bit more nervous than she’d expected. It was silly – but still, it had been a while, and she felt more than a bit self-conscious about that fact. It wasn’t that she’d been avoiding it – far from it, she’d very …
Epilogue Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? by D.X. Machina
A few weeks later…. “So anything else I need to know before I meet with the leadership group?” “Yeah,” Ammer said, flipping through his pad. “Titan Party’s numbers have spiked in my most recent models. 30-40 probably, 50 isn’t out of the question.” Loona leaned back in the chair. “Gorram, knew that was coming, but….” …