Sorcery, Silicon, and Scales

September 8th, 2248 Ibore, roughly 700 lightyears from Sol. "An Orion warship?" I'm struggling with the half-second response lag. I can't remotely control myself like this. Maybe on a Union planet with the infrastructure for a terabit fiber-to-laser link that I could plug into,

0300L, November 18th, 1765. Kaltukatjara AFB, Australia. Two hours before the Battle of the Celebes Sea. MSgt Bouddi looked up from the console as she walked into the hangar. "Ready to go, Major?" "Come on Master Sergeant, don't hit me with the 'major'

August 29, 2248. Hyperspace, approximately 700 lightyears from Sol. My name is USCS Autumn Light, hull number KE-2136. I have been born three times, and I have died once. My first birth was in the tidally-locked twilight of Colony City, Blackspine. You probably don’t recognize the planet’s name,

Fort Bloodland, Missouria, Northern Union. September 4th, 1765. Eighteen months and thirteen days after the Seattle landings. They lined up for inspection while Sergeant First Class Kamau prowled past the platoon. Despite the sudden change of uniform, fatigues were fatigues the world over, and the rest of the platoon had

Content warning: This story contains explicit sex scenes. Outskirts of Seattle, Kulshan, Northern Union. September 3rd, 1765. Eighteen months and twelve days after the Seattle landings. The 120mm mortar shell left its firing tube at just under five hundred meters per second, traveling upwards in a high arc. If it

0830L, August 27th, 1799. 198th Fighter Squadron, Seqoia AFB, Inyo, Northern Union. Thirty-one years after the end of combat operations. MALACHITE kissed its spouse on the cheek, sending a quiet radar detection ping over their link. ECLIPSE grumbled themselves awake and slowly began to disentangle their limbs before giving up

The air combat of the Transhuman War (or Pacific War, or WW3, if you prefer) was, at least at first, not particularly different from previous air combat so much as it was just more. More missiles, more jamming, more stealth, more altitude, more speed, more radars, more everything. While the

March 3rd, 1765. Topeka, Kansas, Northern Union. One year and three weeks after the Seattle landings. It hadn't planned on enlisting when the war broke out. It was a apprentice machinist, a profession in high demand with the war economy, and it was needed in a factory more

0937L, December 4th, 1765. Sequoia AFB, Inyo, Northern Union. Almost six years after Saigon. Mal lived for scramble calls: the all-out sprint to the flight line, carbide claws biting into the concrete as it ran, watching its allies frantically dive out of the way as it shouted “SCRAMBLE!”, the preparation

██ █████, 1763. ██████, Moscow, Russia. Roughly three years after the start of the war. Val hated many things. She hated the war, she hated her country, she hated the body she was stuck in, and most of all, she hated her customers. Most of the people who hated the same sorts of

While the PDT embraced magically-enabled transhumanism during the war, ODI was obviously uninterested in such methods. Instead, they turned to their larger industrial base to produce powered infantry exoskeletons, which played a pivotal role throughout the war. Troops equipped with such devices are today referred to as “power infantry” or

The point of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other poor bastard die for his. Throughout the war, engineered forms were used to offset the severe manpower disadvantage that the PDT faced. While fighting at longer ranges favored ODI due to their numerical advantage

0210L, January 2nd, 1760 240km northwest of Kota Kinbalu, Borneo, Indonesia. Six hours after Saigon. “ACAAF formation, you are directed to break off your approach immediately. Please acknowledge. Over.” Her radio produced nothing but static in reply. She switched to Mandarin. “ACAAF formation, this is Major Saragi, Indonesian Air Force.

0001 0330L, January 9th, 1760. Roxas Naval Station, Republic of Panay. Seven days after Saigon. Private First Class Jonas "Mort" Mortenson vibrated in his seat as he whipped the LCAV around another corner. His team was on patrol, notionally helping evacuate the area immediately around the base. Really,