《The Taleweaver》Intermezzo
Advertisement
"Are you telling me he managed to disguise himself as a trader and go through the Gate?"
"Technically, no, but for all practical purposes I'm afraid so, Clayton. He made some clerks at Migration and Commission for Belt Trading very wealthy."
Both men walked along a riding lane in southern France, beautifully shaded by the canopy of trees above them but, most importantly, not within earshot of anyone.
Clayton wore his usual black suit as if he believed his office required him to stay, if not invisible, then at least as unobtrusive as possible. The man at his side wore the red uniform of a high ranking naval officer.
"And this is confirmed, without a doubt?"
"Yes, he even biosigned his autograph for a fan working at the launch port."
Clayton winced at the news. "Then it's too late to deny it. How long can we keep the newscasters out?"
"Normally I'd say half a year, but you know how bad he hurt FHC when he sold out to Red News."
Clayton nodded and sighed. "Yes, I know. There's something dirty behind that story, but we can't prove anything. Christina Ulfsdotir probably has murder on her mind. If she can get back at Wallman with her dwindling resources she'll do so?"
"Yes, I'm afraid that's the case," the taller of the two men confirmed.
Clayton stopped, reversed his steps and sat down on a stone bench they had passed earlier and leaned against the tree trunk behind it. He felt very tired right now. "Two months before she acts then?"
"At most. Six weeks more likely. They'll make surface another three months after that."
"Erwin, we have an agreement with them."
Clayton knew Rear Admiral Erwin Radovic didn't have to be told who them was. He'd known when to keep his mouth shut as a young lieutenant and since eight years he was part of the first diplomatic corps the Terran Federation had really needed for over five centuries.
Advertisement
"But they never demanded that we only send traders there. That's a decision we made."
"That's a decision we made because we know what makes the newscasters tick," Clayton retorted sharply. "They'll never be able to hold to the agreement we made about knowledge, and you know what happens if we're blamed for breaking that deal."
Erwin slumped. "So, what are you going to do?"
"I'll send in a group to bring him home before we have an entire news team lose on that planet."
"You mean to strip Theta 47?"
"No, I'll take one group from Gatekeeper."
"We have a translator there?"
"No. I'll provide them with a recorded message."
"Can't we just stop her from going through the gate?"
"No, the government can't be seen to break the laws. There's nothing forbidding anyone from traveling there as long as they can guarantee their way back."
"What?"
"It gets worse. On the other side anything goes. Formally it's not Federation space. Only the implied threat of losing all major contracts have kept corporations out."
Erwin sat down beside Clayton. The day had begun with bad news, and Clayton knew he was rapidly making it worse for the young admiral. If humanity was blamed for breaking the deal they would close the Gate.
"It's a dirty thing to do to a man who's lost as much as he's done," Erwin said.
"I know," Clayton muttered. "But he was the only one with the guts to make use of my report after our insanity." Clayton sighed. ”Damn! I'll never be able to prove it, but if Arthur Wallman hadn't run his Otherworld Disclosed we could still have suffered a bloody military coup. He had the guts and after what happened to him, I don't dare to have him running around on Otherworld." Clayton stared unhappily into the air. "Especially not after what happened to him," he whispered.
Advertisement
- In Serial11 Chapters
The Sorcerer's Aria
Only ten years have passed since the last war. Now, war threatens to break again as both powers of Acolythis ready their forces. The stakes are higher than ever before because this time there will be no surrender. Sorcerers of this world use melodies and harmonies to create their powerful and deadly magic- Meaning the loudest score is often deemed the strongest. But when a child born of two nations finds that his score is too quite to master the harmonies and melodies that master sorcerers can, he must find a way to get creative or die trying. Especially when he is possibly the only one who knows the secret behind the entire war- and of those who will stop at nothing to keep the silence.
8 112 - In Serial6 Chapters
HELM.ONLINE
“We all die but not all adventurers truly live” Helm.Online, a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online game boasting “Grounded Virtual Realism” and “An Immersive Reality Unlike Any Other”, takes the world by storm, becoming a resounding international success. H.O creates a virtual world unlike any seen before, where players aren’t just simple adventurers. They stand at the forefront of a war against primordial, cosmic beings known as The Nevermore who seek to break the inhabitants of the virtual world. Kazim is fed up with hearing about the hit game. Having played many games in Virtual Reality, he writes off H.O as another boring addition to a quickly oversaturating market but the phenomenons’ constant media barrage eventually stimulates his curiosity and he finally joins the millions of players in the fight against The Nevermore. There, Kazim discovers Helm.Online’s unforgiving and random nature and immediately struggles to find his footing. But, with the help of three new friends and an impending in-game event, Kazim just might find a way to keep the game from kicking his ass and have some fun while doing it. *This is the story of Kazim's journey to the maximum rank in a virtual reality game that's trying to be as realistic and immersive as possible. Nothing more, nothing less. No harems or anything like that. *Feedback, bad and good, is always appreciated. I mean seriously, tear my story to shreds. Its my first story and It helps me grow and get better. This is a hobby but I have a lot of fun writing my own stories and reading stories created by others. Thank you *Chapter every week, they may be out sooner than that
8 120 - In Serial33 Chapters
Rooms of the Desolate
Rooms of the Desolate is a collection of short stories designed to guide the reader through the many rooms and mysteries of the bleak and greyscale labyrinth of the Desolate. The first entry, "The Forever Tower" follows an unnamed wanderer climbing an endless, colourless tower; the only world they have ever known. As they slowly ascend alongside the masses, they consider the nature of their world and look to the corridors as temptation beckons. The second entry, "Production Line", follows an engineer in a boundless factory, who encounters a product that does not wish to bow to the overseers and makes them question their belief in the truth and duties they were made to believe. Content guidelines: Current entries do not include explicit profanity, but future entries may do so, hence the presence of that tag. Some entries do include gore and violence, though not currently to particularly extreme degrees. The Desolate is exactly that: a desolate world; as such, it is bleak, downtrodden, and may deal with mental struggles. Cover art credit: Adam Borkowski on Pexels.
8 133 - In Serial35 Chapters
The Fate of The Summoned (being ReWritten)
The Fate of The Summoned In the world of Aethion things are vastly different than on Earth. There is Magic and Monsters, as well as Demons and Dragons. Throughout the history of the world there have been many wars, both between all the various nations and kingdoms and between those nations and kingdoms and the Demonic forces lead by a Demon King or Lord. There are times that the Demons gain so much more power than the other nations, or that the others are embroiled in a war against each other and the lone nation is targeted by the demons. It was during these occasions that the various Gods and Goddesses started giving two things to the races. The First of these things were the Blessings, magical blessings given to the worth for chosen things. The Second of these things were the Summoning rituals, magic rituals that could summon beings from somewhere else, that would be Chosen, by the gods. These beings have almost always come from our world, Earth. It has been centuries since this practice began and the countries of the world have almost always flourished for a time after a Chosen or group of them were Summoned. All of the countries treat the Summoned well, almost like kings or princes in their own right. Well, not all countries, there are some that have treated them almost like slaves, though those countries don’t usually last long. There is one though, that has lasted, for a long time due to their connection to their Patron Deity, the Goddess of Light. They only accept certain types of Summoned and they dote on certain members of the country more than others. Several years ago they performed a summoning, as they were being plagued by overflow from the dungeons. Now they, like the other countries of Aethion, have performed the ritual to fight against the current Demon King, who is said to possess a Blessing. This is a story about Fate, and those that fight against it and those who accept it. In this story the main character(s) do not fight their fate, like those in my other story, rather they embrace it and let it shape them, though that does not mean they are total slaves to it. While there will be similarities to most other Hero sumoning novels, i hope the Mcs abilities and such will make it unique.
8 272 - In Serial39 Chapters
Love and war
There are 2 worlds lost children go to to find eachother, there is Neverland for the boys, ruled by the ruthless Peter Pan. Then there's That Ocean Island for the girls ruled by Ruby. They have a past that's a "little" complicated. When Pan kidnaps Ruby and the lost girls. How will they react after not seeing eachother for 20 years , yet they still look as if they were 18.
8 484 - In Serial45 Chapters
Genesis Swan is the elder sister of Bella Swan. She and her sister move in with their father after their mother Renee and her new husband go off around the country. The sisters are best friends, and do everything together, and even happen to fall in love with two vampires of the same family. How will the sisters prevail when they seem to be in danger 24/7? (All rights go to Stephenie Meyer. I only own the random characters and extended plot lines.)
8 162

