This city is about as far from the shining jewel of Garden as a city can get. Ah, Garden, a beacon of civilization. The laws are kept, and altruism rules; at least for the most part. Which, of course, means the nobles there are bored to tears. That’s a beautiful opportunity for a company like Lush Bodice Publishing to step in and give them something to read and blush over.

The problem is inspiration tends to run dry in paradise. As an example, we’ve had an absolute flood lately of bodice-ripper novels about a dashing combat mech pilot. Inspired by recent events in the Terran Empire’s ongoing war against rebellious planets. Every young woman in the city has got a dog-eared copy of one mech romance or another. They giggle over them in alcoves and in the streets, and blush while discussing passages with their peers. Many a young man has picked up a copy of his own hoping to learn techniques and flair to get these young ladies to swoon for him. My own foray into this genre and my most recent novel, My Mech, My Love, was naturally the best of them all. Why, reader, I wouldn’t be surprised to find you yourself possess a copy of your very own!

This is where yours truly enters the story. The nobles need entertainment, and I need to increase my fame and fortune. I’ve come to the planet Sivern and the city Tiers to find grand inspiration for a new novel, something the Garden residents haven’t even dreamed yet.

Some last notes about the key players. The fine, upstanding Keepers in this story belong to the Upper Town Division, First Cell. The Keeper leaders decided welcoming me into the fold as an embed would be good for their purposes, and the First Cell was the best place for it. No doubt they felt my talents would be wasted anywhere but at the very top.

The events of this story are absolutely true. Every bit of it, no matter how fantastic, is completely accurate. I have changed names where necessary in order to protect the privacy of the people involved. These are real Keepers doing their job, struggling to keep the peace in a city which crawls every day further into the darkest corner, looking to die.

So, you know. Enjoy!

Chapter 3

Before I was fighting for my life in an alley…

“What do you think Tiers will be like?” I asked Ved. We’d been stuck in the carriage together for two weeks, and my hired bodyguard still looked uncomfortable on the little cushioned bench on his side of the carriage. He shifted his rear end around and seemed to mull over my question, furrowing his brow and scratching his chin.

“Wet,” he finally said. Not hired for his brains, this one; three weeks of travel had made that clear. We’d spent a week shuttling through space and then arrived at this planet, only to have every scrap of electronic gear and anything that couldn’t be hand-made stripped from us. They even took my self-adjusting sunglasses. Ved had taken just about every opportunity to show off his ignorance, and I’d lost track of how many times I’d been asked to explain a word.

I waited for more, but he’d turned back to looking out the window.