Worlds Apart - Chapter Sixteen
The first electronic map Dan passed was a shattered mess. The next one gave him directions to the medbay, but only after delivering a strongly worded suggestion that he turn back and call for assistance from the safety of his cabin. Ignoring the...
Worlds Apart - Chapter Twenty One
Before the sun was even over the horizon, Dan's eyes snapped open like they hadn't since he'd fallen asleep in the middle of his freshman exams. What the... He sat up straight in bed. Disoriented, he looked around him for something familiar but saw...
Worlds Apart - Chapter Twenty
The stream of people emerging from the shuttles slowed to a trickle as friends and family reconnected on the planet's surface. They clustered in small groups, waiting for someone - anyone - to tell them what to do next. Dan's attention was drawn...
Worlds Apart - Chapter Ten
"Relax." "I should be telling you the same thing," Bo said, bluntly. "You look like shit." "I am...aware of that." The Kenzine wished that he could express his frustration, but to do so would have been counterproductive. Had his hair not been...
Worlds Apart - Chapter Seven
Dan threw himself out of bed in a frantic bid to escape the huge spiders that he'd just watched crawl out of the mutilated corpses of his best friends. Half-blind with panic, his fingers scrabbled across the wall, frantically searching for the bathroom...
Worlds Apart - Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine "I can get it." Bo's left hand held one end of his cumberbund behind his back while his other hand fished around for the buckle. His oversized body spun around in a tight circle, ignoring the fact that as far as his right shoulder...
Worlds Apart - Chapter Eight
Chapter Eight A few minutes after leaving Dan, Victus found his mate swapping stories with the black battle varius in one of the ship's pubs. The two men were swapping military stories with fervor, and Victus didn't have the heart to break them...
Filling the Void - Chapter Twenty-four (and a half)
Sixteen hours spent riding between House Mal and the Kenzine monastery had given Victus plenty of time to think. He'd started his journey contemplating the possibility that Lucas MacKenzie would have been better off had he been left in the pits, but...
Filling the Void - Chapter Twenty-five
"No, and that's final!" With that, Negin Rudex Mal slammed the door in Victus's face. It wasn't the first time he'd done something like that. It wasn't even the fiftieth time. Victus thought the man was taking a perverse pleasure in blatantly ignoring...
Filling the Void - Chapter Twenty-four
Lucas went through his morning routine the same way he and Victus did on any other day, but going through the motions without the other man by his side was disconcerting. He knew the moves, he could perform the duties, but without having Victus there...
Filling the Void - Chapter Twenty-three
Moving as one, the small class of young ken-shi brought their bamboo practice swords down, slashing diagonally across their chests. "Hai!" They regrouped, pulled their swords close to their centers of gravity, then pulled their free arms around in a...
Filling the Void - Chapter Twenty-One
"I'm worried about my boy." Dagen pulled a used paper napkin out of his pocket and wrung it in his hands, absentmindedly twisting it this way and that. Even though dead air was generally discouraged while on long-distance vid calls, he was glad that...