The man arrived at the table, waiting silently for Jrin to allow him to take the seat opposite him. Jrin took a pull from his mug, looking the man over again, before nodding to the chair. To his credit, the man moved very smoothly and naturally. Jrin preferred to think that he worked for an exclusive clientele, men and women who didn't move with the stage fright a person down on their luck might display. Whatever the man was here for, it was a need but not desperation, which usually meant the pay would be good.
"You're a pilot," he said.
Jrin shrugged. "I can fly, sure."
"You know what I mean. Name's Ryder, and I need you to do a favor for me."
The Wind wasn't the sort of place where a man used his real name. No matter. If the man wanted to call himself Ryder, then Ryder he was. He also noted that Ryder hadn't used his name yet, either, which he supposed he could respect. Lack of discretion could get you killed around here, no matter how close the Imperial Palace and civilization were.
"I don't do favors, and especially for people I don't know."
Ryder indulged in a small grin. "Job is such a callous word for what men like me are seeking, and for what men like you can do. I know about your record, and if you do this favor for me, I can reciprocate with a pretty good favor of my own."
Unlikely. "Twenty mil," he said, throwing a number out there to drive the man away.
Ryder feigned a look of wounded surprise. "For twenty mil, I'd do it myself. Ten mil, and I can have your service record altered. Ten and a general discharge is worth more than what I'm asking you to do, in my opinion."
Jrin was no stranger to work that paid handsomely, and he knew that pilots were in short supply at any price. He hadn't pulled a single job in the last six cycles that had paid more than four. And besides all of that, the offer about wiping his Imperial Fleet service record might be worth that much alone. There was nothing illegal about a dishonorable discharge, but altering that to a general discharge would make future work easier, and would make him a great deal more attractive to future employers. But ten mil by itself ensured he wouldn't need to work again.
"I'm listening."

 

if anybody is out there, i'm writing again
 

so my timeline is starting to look downright beautiful. it's still a bit barren in places. ok, it's really barren in a lot more places than i'd like. but it's starting to give a good shape to the history of my empire. good stuff so far.
 

Well, after a lengthy period of not writing due to some real life -ness going on, I stumbled across my notes while doing some e-cleaning and got drawn back into my story (which I suppose is a good sign). Anyway, that brought me back here to WDC, and even though I haven't started writing anything, I've been doing a lot of thinking about plot points and all that fun stuff. I don't know how much I'll be coming back here, because my upgraded membership ran out and it's pretty hard to do everything I'd like to do with a free membership. But we'll find out together how round 2 of WDC goes for me.
 

i'm still not feeling the drive to write, though i have been kicking around a lot of new ideas
 

taking a break from writing for a few days. i thought it was just the weekend, but i'm not ready to come back yet. hope i don't disappoint anyone too much

-sam
 

I rewrote Will's entire story, and it looks like I can squeeze an actual full-on novel length piece out of it. I also have a complete storyboard for Bral, and I am starting to plot out a second one for Will. Of course, now that I've accomplished all that, I don't feel my usual drive to write. Hopefully it resurfaces some time this weekend.
 

For the time being, I am yanking all of the Will Ryder storyline except for chapter 4. I've been having a lot of ideas recently, and I am going to rewrite that section to reflect them. Hope nobody got too attached to them.
 

---Imperial Databank File 00-07-0BE-131665313-J---

INITIALIZING...
READING FILE...
DISPLAYING FILE...

NAME: Becker, Jrin
PLANET OF BIRTH: Sector 11, Endet Prime
DATE OF BIRTH: IY2038
PARENTS:
-Becker, Denod [LINKED FILE]
-Becker, Nidra [LINKED FILE]

CURRENT EMPLOYER: Unemployed
CURRENT POSITION: N/A
LENGTH OF CURRENT EMPLOYMENT: N/A
NOTES:

FORMER EMPLOYER: Imperial Fleet - [SERVICE RECORD]
FORMER POSITION: Lieutenant - Small Ship Warfare, Enforcement Arm
LENGTH OF FORMER EMPLOYMENT: IY2058 - IY2066
NOTES: Dishonorably discharged - insubordination, conduct unbecoming an officer

EDUCATION: Imperial Fleet Academy - Naldel
YEARS: IY2055 - IY2058
NOTES: Graduated 4th in class. Unsurpassed aptitude as a pilot. Disrespectful of authority.

CRIMINAL: [LINKED FILE]

END OF FILE...
DISCONNECTING...
---

"You want me to what?"

"I hear you're a talented pilot, Becker."

Jrin frowned at the man standing in front of his table. He was too smooth, and Jrin didn't like that. The man said his name was Ryder, but this wasn't the sort of place a smart man used his real name.

"I am," he said carefully.

"It's very simple," Ryder said - if that was his real name. "I have a shipment going out that I would prefer didn't get noticed. That means I need to distract as many eyes as I can."

"And you want me to make a mad dash for the Orbital Command Center?"

"If you think you can do it."

"Oh, I can do it, Ryder. Ability isn't a problem. I just don't have a death wish, is all."

Ryder smiled. "And what would it take to change your mind?"

They both knew that every man has his price. Jrin had learned his shortly before he was booted out of the Imperial Fleet. "Ten mil. Eight in advance. And you supply the ship."

The man leaned closer toward him. "The ship's a given, but we both know eight up front just can't happen. You get three up front and the other seven after."

Jrin shrugged. "If you heard about me, then you know what kind of heat I draw every time I leave the Fourth Shell, and it doesn't matter whose ship I'm on. Six and four, or I stay grounded."

"I can get you off-Shell with a single comm call. Four and six."

"You came to me because I'm the best in this Sector. That isn't worth five and five to you at least?"

Ryder conceded. "Five and five. I can do that."

Jrin nodded. "So when do we start?"

Ryder smiled.
 

So do I actually have any readers of this? I'll keep blogging because I want to, but I want to get a feel for my viewership.
 

It looks like this is going to be a novella, from the storyboard I created yesterday to organize what was happening. I think I have a full-length novel in me, if not three or four, but it won't be the one I try to use to get my foot in the door.

I'm only going to make the first twelve chapters available on WDC, so that the whole story isn't given away. Hopefully I will get published with this setting as my playground, but if that doesn't look like it is going to happen, then I will find some way to make the entire story available.
 

The Empire spans over three million inhabited systems, and even more uninhabited ones. While expansion is always an Imperial priority, the energy required for a ship to move about the Empire under its own power is enormous. It is possible to move a ship about independently, but the cost is highly prohibitive and requires advanced knowledge. Fortunately, the Corporate Alliance long ago devised the technology to move large ships around the various sectors at a considerable rate of speed. The original concept was to lay a network of "pipes" along which the waters of commerce could flow. A formal name was established, but it is lost to the flow of time and the image of pipelines remains.

Each system has at least three pipelines, so that no system is completely cut off from any other system. The more important systems usually have seven to ten pipes, while the key systems such as Naldel System have up to twenty. The Imperial Fleet is charged with policing the pipelines and keeping them clear for commercial traffic.

The major conduits of the pipeline system run in between most systems, ensuring that any unfortunate accidents do not turn into disasters. Every system's pipelines dump into a central nexus, and the major pipes run between each nexus. For example, in order to get from Naldel to Inech, a ship must leave the Naldel system to get to the closest nexus, then travel through each nexus until he gets to one connected to the Inech system.
 

The Empire has existed for over two thousand years, and under the current House of Sam'tai for nearly three quarters of that. In reality it occupies roughly a third of the known galaxy, but Imperial Galactic Exploration officials have acknowledged on record numerous times that they are sure the current 'known galaxy' makes up only about forty percent of what they believe to be out there.

The official form of government is comparable to Enlightened Despotism, with the Emperor ruling absolutely. Imperial law has taken shape over the last two millennia and is well defined by this point, though the Emperor and his Udari have quite a bit of leeway to do what must be done.

The Empire's visible power is represented in the Imperial Fleet, and to a lesser degree in the Imperial Military. The Armed Forces provide stability and quality of life to some fifty billion people all over the Empire, as well as keeping the peace both in space and on planet surfaces.

The planet of Naldel is the center of the Empire in every sense. Home to several trillion citizens, it also is the location of Imperial Complex and Throne Palace.


 

So I started doing something the other night in scroll (great fun, you should check it out). I started asking them for names. Now obviously, I can't let them dictate the names of major characters and all that, but I can have them name the various members of the Corporate Alliance (see "Bral Ranyr chapter 3"  [E] for the full background). It's a futuristic scifi setting, and these companies are major, multi-trillion-credit corporations. So far I have two of the 25 named: Aosta Research and Development Enterprises, and The Lotus Syndicate. ARDE does mechanical R&D, stuff like ship engines and all that, and TLS doesn't have a defined business (or businesses).

So why do you care? Submit a company sketch to me and if l like it, I will use it in my story. At the bare minimum I am looking for a name and a field of business. You can be as creative as you want, and even include board membership, corporate assets and sub-companies, corporate history, or anything else you want. Obvious I hold full editorial right to change whatever I want to make it work, but I figure this may be cooler than feedback. Really good ones may even get GPs.
 

The legal age for an Emperor to assume the Imperial Throne is sixteen years. Should an Emperor die before the heir reaches the legal age, a Regent is appointed to rule in the heir's name. The Regent is usually appointed as a contingency when it becomes apparent to the ruling Emperor that he will not survive to see his heir take power, so rarely is there a bloody struggle for power.

In the history of the Empire, only seven Imperial Regents have held power. The power of a Regent is severely limited compared to a true member of the House of Sam'tai. Regents usually are granted the power to defend the Empire and ensure that commerce stays running, and can temporarily promote officers of the Imperial Fleet and Imperial Military, but generally do not receive much more. They are meant to preserve the Empire rather than expand it. In fact, though sworn to the Emperor, the Armed Forces see an increase in their influence when Regents are in power.

The most recent Regent is Choriel Du.
 

It would be impossible to write something with the scope of my story if I didn't keep good notes. I was lucky to stumble on a program called Notebook, which functions more or less as a personal wiki. I link to it in the piece at the top of my port, and if you're thinking about writing anything longer than a short story, it is definitely worth your time to check out. It's also free.

Anyway, I said in my very first blog post that I would put random bits and pieces of things up here as I saw fit. As the mood strikes me, I will post the various notes I have about different aspects of the galaxy that is home to my story.
 

Now, I'm not saying anything about anything, but if you find yourself with a nice pile of GPs burning a hole in your pocket, gifting them to "Invalid Item"  would not be a bad thing. Especially since I'll be writing a regular column for them about scifi movies.
 

I can be incredibly self-centered when it comes to my writing ability, but from time to time I like to give credit where credit is due.

Case in point: this.

ID: 1272229   (Rated: E) Fiat Lux  A 55-word story, entered into "The Amazing 55 Word Story Contest." by Potus Emeritus