Daimon's Lair

Author's aside: this is the 50th post on my blog! I think I'll make it to 100 a lot faster than I did 50. I'm having fun blending all of the things I do on here, so here's hoping. . . .

My current WIP (which is all but done) is a chapter delving into the backstory of my novel's central character, Azriah Shepard. In this scene he's a young lieutenant tasked with a mission to investigate a rebel arm's cache. Before the mission, he meets an important side character for the first time: his new executive officer, Katerina Jensen.

My wife's been helping me find better models than Anna Paquin. This one is Sarah Chalke, of Scrubs and HIMYM fame:
 She's a fun character to write, because she doesn't take crap from Azriah--and in general they have a very casual relationship for a superior-inferior in the military. Cf scenes like this:

 Azriah’s fruitless exploration brought him back to where Katerina continued her own hunt, all attention fixed on her datapad. He snuck up on her from behind, masking his footfalls, a smile on his face as he relished the idea of scaring her. He made it within two meters of her when she suddenly spoke: “tickle me and I’ll kick you in the balls.”

The suddeness of her comment took him back, but then he had to chuckle. She turned around and looked up from her pad with a slightly irritated look on her face, but his persistent laughter eventually won him a smile.

“What the hell have you been working on, brainiac?”

“Solved the maze yet, genius?”

Both Imperial soldiers, they possess numerous advantages over the rebels--save numerical superiority. Azriah observes the rebels' tactical incompetence rather acidly:

Not like he was complaining. When the Empire faced competent enemies, that resulted in the near total destruction of the Eastern seaboard—and the desecration of the District of Columbia. A cultural memory now seared in every citizen of the Empire, a fury that allowed them to annihilate inferior foes. As they now did.

The notion of an 'American' Empire is a fascinating one to me, not because I'm some sort of megalomaniac. It's the notion that a descendant America (which I believe we are already) will eventually be faced with a military crisis that will either break the country permanently or break it, but then allow it to be reborn with a new governmental structure. The root cause could be many things, and I won't go into too much detail because, well, it's my story--and a lot of the detail still needs elaborating.

The heart of the target conceals something Azriah couldn't possibly have expected, which acts as the catalyst for the next phase of his career: a military commander tasked with ascertaining to what depth alien technology has infiltrated the core of the rebellion (with the even greater fear that it has also made its way to the Empire's chief rival, the UEF).

I'm not sure exactly what role I'm going to give Atelia's Fire. I think, in fact, it calls for another backstory chapter :).