M.J. Markgraf

BSE Chapter 4-34

Alexander would like to have been able to say he had been able to refine the field generator uninterrupted, but that wasn’t the case.

A few days after his initial testing had been completed, one of the STO people had asked to speak with him.

“Captain Rhys,” Alexander said, stand...

BSE Chapter 4-33

After Alexander took a very tired, very grumpy girl to class the next day, he headed back to his workshop to dive into what he had uncovered the previous day.

Having a spinning motor create static electricity wasn’t going to cut it to create a defensive field.

The first issue was th...

BSE Chapter 4-32

Alexander was in his workshop, overseeing Yulia while she worked on her buggy design.

Occasionally she would glance over and he would nod or shake his head slightly at a change she made. That was becoming less and less as she grew more familiar with the design software and gained some much-...

BSE Chapter 4-31

“I understand this is your company, Alex, but a simple heads up that you are testing new weapons would be appreciated,” Krieger stated.

Alexander sighed. “I know, and I’m sorry for not telling you, but I wanted a working prototype before unveiling it.”

“I take it by the fa...

BSE Chapter 4-30

Alexander gestured to the fire button. “I’ll let you do the honors.”

Lucas didn’t hesitate to press the button on the screen. There was a bang, but nothing came out of the barrel.

Alexander frowned. “That’s less than ideal.”

They powered down the weapon and headed ...

BSE Chapter 4-29

Alexander knew he was procrastinating by starting work on a Stingray improvement project instead of working on the defensive field project, but he was running into so many dead ends that progress had stalled on that research and he needed a break.

He had multiple experiments running to try ...

BSE Chapter 4-28

Alexander saw Jasper and his crew off a few days later before heading to deal with another issue that had cropped up.

The ship carrying his stealth comm satellites had finally arrived at the border of Asgardian territory where some of the attacks with Xin were taking place. The first satell...

BSE Chapter 4-27

Alexander was glad to be done with the Omni spy so he could finally greet his friend Jasper. It had been days since the man’s arrival, but he had been busy dealing with the corporate nonsense. While having an actual document stating their intent was nice, he didn’t trust them one bit. At most...

BSE Chapter 4-26

“You’re sure it’s her?” Theo asked Captain Ramirez for the third time.

“Yes,” the man responded in annoyance. “We ran the DNA scan three times. Unless someone is pretending to be her, it’s her.”

The video of the captive proved it was someone who looked exactly like h...

BSE Chapter 4-25

Alexander was growing frustrated with his lack of progress in figuring out how the defensive field operated. It had been weeks since he had made any headway.

The discoveries he and Lucas had made had led him to believe he was close to a solution, but that was not the case.

Between dea...

BSE Chapter 4-24

While Alexander once again had a direction of study for his defensive field, he was forced to put that on hold as another issue cropped up.

“The other STO ships are leaving?” he asked Theo in confusion.

“They received orders from STO Naval Command this morning to return to Varle...

BSE Chapter 4-23

The next few weeks flew by for Alexander. Thankfully, there were no more incidents at the Meteorite bar. And despite the assurances from Krieger, Alexander was still surprised when nothing came of the fight. The STO hadn’t said so much as a word about it.

He would like to say everything w...

BSE Chapter 4-22

Alexander stared silently at the pair of people across the desk from him. One was Admiral Krieger, who stood quietly but looked annoyed. That annoyance was aimed at the individual who stood at attention next to him.

“Sergeant Galloway, please explain to me why you started an altercation w...

BSE Chapter 4-21

“That can’t be right,” Alexander stated as the pair went over the data.

Lucas pointed to the screen. “It’s what the sensors show.”

Alexander still couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing despite the data that proved otherwise. “That would mean I’m capable of effect...

BSE Chapter 4-20

Alexander didn’t even wait for the STO to leave before tracking down Lucas. “Is it already done?” Given what he learned from Willard, there was no point disabling the ship now. The man was stuck here anyway.

“About that,” the younger man said with a chuckle. “Getting the bot ove...

BSE Chapter 4-19

Theo stood in the middle of a storm of reactions as all four STO Marines leveled weapons at him and into the room – which Willard was now standing in front of – while Alexander’s guards did the same, only their weapons were pointed squarely at the Marines.

“Is this some kind of a jo...

BSE Chapter 4-18

Why did the STO and corporations have to bring their nonsense to his doorstep?

If Pembrooke was correct, Alexander knew why. It was just aggravating to have to deal with a delicate matter such as this so soon after finally getting rid of Harlow. Their method of approach surprised h...

BSE Chapter 4-17

Theo waited in the intake area, a vapid expression on his face to greet the new arrivals. A simple persona for when Willard eventually recognized him. Alexander had asked him to act as the STO personnel’s liaison while the puffed-up Vice Admiral was visiting.

The fact that he had been ask...

BSE Chapter 4-16

Knowing ships were arriving and watching them do so in real-time when they were multiple light hours away was an interesting experience for Alexander. Being able to communicate with Krieger and the rest of the active ships in the BSE fleet at the same time was a game changer.

It was Krieger...

BSE Chapter 4-15

Markus hurried through the halls. It wouldn’t look very good if he was late for class, especially this day.

Normally his mother Eva would wake him up in the morning, but she had told him now that he was in the academy, he needed to learn to get ready in the morning by himself.

It wa...

BSE Chapter 4-14

When the pair exited the shuttle after Alexander landed inside the Talon’s hangar, they found the place mostly deserted.

They approached one of the mercenary techs and Alexander let Archie speak with the overtired-looking man.

“Captain Williams!” one of the techs saluted hastily...

BSE Chapter 4-13

“How are the supplies for the stealth coating holding up?” Alexander asked Lucas in their weekly meeting.

“They would be better if you weren’t using them on the missiles, but I can see the advantage to doing so.”

Before Alexander launched the Stingrays, he wanted to give the...

BSE Chapter 4-12

There was a lot to be said about automation, but sometimes it just wasn’t feasible to use it. This was one of those times.

Alexander cut away the wall with a torch, but the confined space and sensitive wiring behind it made the job far harder than normal.

He was currently aboard Res...

BSE Chapter 4-11

The STO Naval transport had stopped far from Eden’s End as Vanguard approached. Until this moment, the Talon was the largest ship Alexander had ever seen. The Talon was ever so slightly larger than Harlow’s dreadnaught. This transport made them both look small in comparison. It had to be near...

BSE Chapter 4-10

Alexander entered the medical facility and quickly located Gabriella. “Is she awake?” he asked.

When Alexander had tried to visit Dr. Lund the day after the opening ceremony for the academy, he found that she had taken ill and was rushed to the emergency center by her grandson.

Th...

BSE Chapter 4-9

Kane’s prototype stealth gunship popped into Yggdrasil’s Eye, far on the outskirts to ensure they avoided any detection.

Katalynn would like to say the trip had been uneventful, but a few support systems had burned out during the trip, requiring days of delay to repair. Luckily this hap...

BSE Chapter 4-8

“What do you mean there’s nothing?” Benning demanded.

The agent looked uncomfortable but responded anyway. “All of the research was cleared out before we arrived, sir.”

“What about the engineers and scientists involved in the projects?” Benning asked in annoyance, alread...

BSE Chapter 4-7

Yulia fidgeted uncomfortably in her dress. She didn’t know why anyone liked wearing these things. She sighed. At least it wasn’t pink.

Yulia had only agreed to wear a dress because Alex said this was an important occasion. She didn’t know why this was any different than any o...

BSE Chapter 4-6

The next day, Alexander loaded the ammunition for the cannons as well as the missile. He was glad they were in a zero-G environment for that second bit because he hadn’t thought to build a loading machine and the anti-ship missiles weighed nearly a ton. The missile tube below the crew area exte...

BSE Chapter 4-5

Testing day had finally arrived and the ship was ready or as ready as a prototype could be. And that’s exactly what the stingray looked like.

It was rough around the edges, literally. There were also gaps between the stealth armor panels as Alexander had to minimize production time by sta...