Firefly Part 14 update · 5:14pm Feb 15th, 2019
Tentatively titled “Storm Warning”, I'd hoped to have the new chapter draft complete by now, but it's not. It's about 2/3rds done, standing at around 6300 words currently. I've got the start, the ending, and the first of the middle sections more or less written, but two other sections remain. And then I have to make some graphics. Be advised, it's going to be a big chapter; probably 10k or more words.
How long will all this take? Don't know yet. I have a long weekend coming up, at least (one benefit of working for a bank is having bankers' holidays like Presidents Day here in the U.S.), so I should be able to make solid progress on it. The chapter sports no less than four different perspectives, including Firefly herself, and will indeed make one final shift back to the Loyalty battle group on approach to Epsilon. In fact, I think I’ll make the first part of that section (which is told through the eyes of Captain Shady) the teaser:
Wild North
110 miles north of Outpost Epsilon
September 2nd, 1139 AE
0350 hours
Less than two hours before arrival at Epsilon, the mood aboard the Loyalty was best described as tense.
Methinks the feeling I had was something akin to seeing a bad storm approach and waiting for it to break, and ‘twas not an invalid analogy as we watched the superstorm spend its fury from afar. We knew by then ‘twas indeed a desperate last-ditch defense by the Epsilon garrison, and ‘twould seem it had worked to excellent effect as more chatter was heard on the gryphon scrying network announcing a failed strike and heavy casualties, shaky Aeric voices describing a monster storm that had torn their attacking formations to shreds whilst pleading for magus healers and reinforcements to keep Epsilon contained.
Both were promised, and worse, an eavesdropping Ensign Kusema reported they planned a fresh and final strike against the battered base by daybreak, one that, with their storm cloud cache spent and now down at least a third of their strength, the garrison’s exhausted forces had no chance of defeating.
‘Twas a grim report, but one we drew great heart from. For incredibly, nearly twenty hours into the invasion, Epsilon not only still stood, but by all gryphon reports had accounted for nearly a fifth of a legion—a heroic stand indeed, and one that I could only hope would be rewarded with our rescue. It also, Tailwind himself pointed out, made our escape from Epsilon easier if their forward forces had been thinned out for it.
We could only hope, for unlike our circuitous ingress route, our only chance to escape was to make a mad dash for friendly lines and hope our fuel reserves held out that long, to say nothing of our combat worthiness. With daybreak but ninety short minutes away, we’d been at general quarters for nearly two hours as we made the final turn for our objective and proceeded at flank speed.
‘Twas then, as I checked with Aries Azimuth and a slightly frantic Flash Fix as to our progress and the ship’s status—the latter was very nervous, not about our imminent engagement but our rapidly dwindling fuel reserves—that I made one final decision that I knew Tailwind would not be happy with, but one I ‘twas certain I needed to make.
“Ensign Kusema, order the group to reduce speed from flank to full,” I instructed, closing my eyes as I awaited the inevitable explosion. “We need to save enough fuel to reach friendly lines.”
‘Twas not long in coming. “But ma’am!” Commander Tailwind protested loudly despite my preemptive explanation. “You heard the reports—they’re only holding on by their hooftips! We have to get there before the gryphons strike again!”
With effort, I held my normally cool temper in check. Under normal circumstances, methinks I wouldn’t have gotten so angry, but in the end, ‘twas certain I was as tense and on edge as every other pony present, even if I was doing my best not to show it. “As you were, Commander,” I bit out, letting the barest of anger into my voice. I did not want to relieve him, but methinks I was actively considering doing so as he had done little but pace and inspect everything repeatedly for the past hour, raising tension levels on the ship even further. “Mister Sora, you have your orders. Carry them out.”
“Aye-aye, ma’am.” He pulled back on the speed control lever with a slightly wary glance over at Lieutenant Azimuth, who was heads-down at his own station but kept an ear pointed at us. “Reducing speed to full.”
“Belay that!” Tailwind ordered, even though he had no authority to do so.
With that, I very deliberately turned to him. “I beg your pardon, Commander?” I put heavy emphasis on his lower rank. “You are not the Captain here.”
“Well, mayhap I should be!” he retaliated, fire in his eyes. “For your gross negligence if not outright cowardice! This is twice now you’ve ordered us to delay our arrival, and for what?” He bared his teeth at me, which would normally result in getting immediately thrown in the brig if you did it to any superior officer, let alone your Captain. “For fuel reserves? Who cares when we can power our ship by wind from our pegasi?” he challenged. “Or perchance you’re just hoping that if we hang back long enough, they’ll be wiped out to the last pony and we won’t have to make a rescue at all? That we can spare the battle group whilst at least saying we tried to rescue them, gaining glory whilst winning no victory? Methinks Luna would be ashamed of such dereliction of duty, ma’am! And methinks I should relieve you here and now for it!”
Nerves on the Naval battle group are reaching the breaking point, and not even Tailwind is immune. Release date of the new chapter remains uncertain but hopefully by the end of next week.
Tailwind is clearly badly effected, not that I could blame him.
I look forward to the next chapter, and if it's long that just means there's more of the war to witness.
10k? I've read longer. Background Pony's obscene 43,858 word chapter, plus most of those chapters were 10-20k each.
Hoooo boy....things are getting dicey. Tailwind, you are definitely not helping your case any.
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Indeed he is. And don’t worry; there will be plenty of war to witness in this chapter!
5014289
And I’ve written longer. But I think that barring special circumstances, chapters should generally limit themselves to around 10-12k words or you’ll start losing readers midway through.
5014306
No, definitely not. The ending to this exchange is already written and approved by prereaders.
It's good to see you're still working on it even if it's slower than you hoped.