After completing Kiss Of The Bee '0', I wanted
to do another bubblegum crisis fanfiction, but one that was completely
different in direction, tone and style again, a theme that the bgc group had
not yet explored.
Enter Tom Clancy and his Power Play novels (actually written by somebody
else). With Machinations, a nice or rather sinister name similar to Power
Plays, I focused on events after the bgc:2040 ended and has Sylia as my main
character, which is not done much; Sylia is not a popular character compared
to Priss and Nene *shudder*, and set it in a world of business and espionage.
Sylia
now owns Genom. Her father created boomer technology and left her a large
legacy, enough for her to buy a controlling stake in the megacorporation after
the boomer plague and Galatea destroyed most of Tokyo and customers all over
the world wanted to return their boomers, afraid that they would go rogue and
rampage.
The story follows these corporate events from Sylia's position. All
the hurdles she has to overcome to restore Genom to its rightful place - now
that she is in charge - and to make boomers a safe, respected product. Former
Knight Sabre members Nene and Linna have been recruited to help her in their
respective fields: I.T. for Nene and Security for Linna along with ex-ADP
Officers Leon and Wong.
Priss is still missing and presumed dead after the
battle with Galatea in space.
But, sticking to the Machinations theme, other
parties are at work to destroy Genom completely whilst it is in its weakened
position. Other parties have their own product they want to sell, or bear a
grudge against Genom or Sylia, and do their utmost to bring the corporation
down. Sylia has to work her intellect like she has never done before to keep
Genom from failing commercially, and from the attempts against her life and
company by these malcontents.
But there are also other factions at work that
have an old agenda and questions still remain unanswered about what really
happened in space. Was Galatea really destroyed, would boomers still go rogue
and if so, what causes it, and what happened to Priss?
So these tightly
bound threads play against each other creating a story that delves into trust
and betrayal amongst closest confidants.
Currently work on Machinations has
been suspended, although I have written a 'final' chapter that was going to be
the conclusion of the story. I found that working on two large works at the
same time was too demanding (KOTB) and that a Machinations thread was going to
be the same as a KOTB thread all the way down to the same character. That's
not a good sign, even though I liked how the story was progressing and so did
my readers. Maybe, if I have the time and inclination I will revisit the last
chapters and put the story firmly back on its own tracks and complete it
properly.
Machinations: Sylia, now
chairwoman of Genom, must fight against her own boardmembers and outside
competition to retain her position, the success of her weakened company, and
keep her own life. To that end she calls upon the talents of her former
friends and Knight Sabres and ex-ADP Officers.
read more...
Machinations
Undone: Priss, with the powers passed onto her by Galatea, is the reason behind the
spate of rogue boomers and is demanding that they be recognised as sentient
beings. Led by Sylia, the other Knight Sabres try to stop their former team
member.
read more...