Autumn's Darling

Title: The Still Point
Author: autumnsdarling 
Fandom: Mass Effect
Setting: Mass Effect 2
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Joker, FemShep (Referenced only)
Words: 1,100
Summary: As a ship enters a mass effect relay, there are two and a half seconds when every system on the ship shuts down... and you're just hanging there among the stars. A short, first-person piece for Joker, reflecting on the Reapers, the mass effect relays, and the fate of galactic civilisation.
A/N: Also to be found at Archive of Our Own, and cross-posted to the masseffect community. 

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I pull the Normandy around in a curve so tight it would have blown Einstein's frikking head off, and bring her up alongside the relay. I relax my grip on the controls, and take a breath--exactly the amount of time it takes for the mass effect field to power up around us. Then I ease off on the choke, slow and steady, right up until the point that I feel that little snap in the throttle as the field pulls tight around us. Tight enough to slingshot the Normandy halfway across the galaxy.

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Title: The Ruins of Ostagar
Author: autumnsdarling 
Fandom: Dragon Age: Origins
Setting: Post-Canon
Rating: PG
Characters: Female Warden/Alistair
Words: 1,400
Summary: "Mage and templar, together. One to walk the path, and one to watch her step. It is as it has always been." After the events of Dragon Age: Origins, Neria and Alistair must find some way to re-build the Order from what little knowledge is left. It's a painful process for everyone, not least the apprentices that they choose to put through the ritual of the Joining.
A/N: Also to be found at Archive of Our Own. It's been a loooooooong time since I've posted anything here. Figured that it was about time I shared one or two of my new obsessions. 

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The ruins of Ostagar stretch up against the winter sky and scratch against the clouds. The snow stopped falling about an hour ago, but it's still piled high into the windshadow of the broken walls In the darkling, it almost seems to glow with its own, inner light. Here and there, the fire or our footsteps have swept almost all of it away, and the earth beneath is black.

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Title: The Divided City
Author: autumnsdarling 
Fandom: Star Wars
Setting: Prequel-Era
Rating: G
Characters: Original Characters (Shai Laren Ashak, Anselm Erith)
Length: 5 parts
Words: 3,500
Summary: Fresh from Coruscant, a Jedi Master takes his new padawan to a city at war with itself - where everyone has lived underground for decades in fear of one another - on a diplomatic assignment to find some common ground between the warring factions, and make the city whole again.
A/N: Although I'm posting this one later, this story actually falls chronologically before Murder on the Outer Rim Express, and is the first thing I ever wrote for Shai. It's worth noting that Anselm (in all his glory) belongs to dark_knight_130, who is kind enough to let me borrow him from time to time.

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The two Jedi walked down the No Man's Highway that ran through the very centre of the Divided City. Their cloaks whipped and whirled in the dry, dead wind that tore through the calcified heart of the city – an endless, concrete mausoleum that stretched up against the featureless clouds above them.

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Title: The Divided City
Author: autumnsdarling 
Fandom: Star Wars
Setting: Prequel-Era
Rating: G
Characters: Original Characters (Shai Laren Ashak, Anselm Erith)
Length: 5 parts
Words: 3,500
Summary: Fresh from Coruscant, a Jedi Master takes his new padawan to a city at war with itself - where everyone has lived underground for decades in fear of one another - on a diplomatic assignment to find some common ground between the warring factions, and make the city whole again.
A/N: Although I'm posting this one later, this story actually falls chronologically before Murder on the Outer Rim Express, and is the first thing I ever wrote for Shai. It's worth noting that Anselm (in all his glory) belongs to dark_knight_130 , who is kind enough to let me borrow him from time to time.

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The two Jedi stepped out of the transport ship and on to the No Man's Highway that ran through the very centre of the Divided City.

Title: Diplomacy
Author: autumnsdarling
Fandom: Doctor Who
Setting: EDA's
Rating: PG
Characters: Eighth Doctor, Anji, Fitz
Length: 1 part
Words: 2,400
Summary: Paying a visit to an old friend, the Doctor's past catches up with him and he is forced to faces the consequences of his actions.
A/N: Written for Big Finish's Short Trips competition. Originally posted on who_writers

Tu Mei clung silently to a support rail, lost high up in the eaves of the Senatorial Building in the capital city on Uru V. Expanses of clinically perfect marble stretched out on all sides of her, and the tall windows let in the blazing sunlight of an idyllic summer’s day. She’d watched the Doctor and his companions enter the Presidential Office over an hour ago – absolutely still and silent while every nerve in her body sang with hatred and anticipation – and she hadn’t moved a muscle since. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that she kept waiting. All that mattered was the Doctor.

Title: Murder on the Outer Rim Express
Author: autumnsdarling
Fandom: Star Wars
Setting: Prequel-Era
Rating: G
Characters: Original Characters (Shai Laren Ashak, Anselm Erith)
Length: 8 parts
Words: 5,000
Summary: A Jedi Master and his Twi'lek padawan are on an interstellar train, on a mission to protect a Senator from assassination, and get a little more than they were expecting...
A/N: It is worth mentioning that Anselm is entirely dark_knight_130's character, and has very little to do with me. I just borrow him for fun and frolics.

The Outer Rim Express screeched and snarled and buckled as it steamed towards the canyon – its thrusters thrown suddenly into full reverse. The very fabric of its superstructure shuddered and groaned with stress. The carriages jack-knifed and concertinaed, and a mile of metal and glass screamed in bitter protest and slid across the sand like oil on water for a full two minutes, before finally coming to a rest just outside the gaping maw of the ravine. The last few carriages banked hard, threatening to roll the entire train – exposing the white hot underbelly of the repulsorlifts and crushing everyone inside – but after several seconds they righted themselves, and soon they too had come to a shivering halt.

 

Title: Murder on the Outer Rim Express
Author: autumnsdarling
Fandom: Star Wars
Setting: Prequel-Era
Rating: G
Characters: Original Characters (Shai Laren Ashak, Anselm Erith)
Length: 8 parts
Words: 5,000
Summary: A Jedi Master and his Twi'lek padawan are on an interstellar train, on a mission to protect a Senator from assassination, and get a little more than they were expecting...
A/N: It is worth mentioning that Anselm is entirely dark_knight_130's character, and has very little to do with me. I just borrow him for fun and frolics.

Shai Laren and Major Alladice faced down on top of the driver's cabin of the Outer Rim Express and stared at one another. The huge, cone-shaped smokestack roared and distorted with the heat, and the top rim of it glowed white-hot with the force of the massive sublight drives that churned in the engine-house below.

Title: Murder on the Outer Rim Express
Author: autumnsdarling
Fandom: Star Wars
Setting: Prequel-Era
Rating: G
Characters: Original Characters (Shai Laren Ashak, Anselm Erith)
Length: 8 parts
Words: 5,000
Summary: A Jedi Master and his Twi'lek padawan are on an interstellar train, on a mission to protect a Senator from assassination, and get a little more than they were expecting...
A/N: It is worth mentioning that Anselm is entirely dark_knight_130's character, and has very little to do with me. I just borrow him for fun and frolics.

Title: Murder on the Outer Rim Express
Author: autumnsdarling
Fandom: Star Wars
Setting: Prequel-Era
Rating: G
Characters: Original Characters (Shai Laren Ashak, Anselm Erith)
Length: 8 parts
Words: 5,000
Summary: A Jedi Master and his Twi'lek padawan are on an interstellar train, on a mission to protect a Senator from assassination, and get a little more than they were expecting...
A/N: It is worth mentioning that Anselm is entirely dark_knight_130's character, and has very little to do with me. I just borrow him for fun and frolics.

Title: Murder on the Outer Rim Express
Author: autumnsdarling
Fandom: Star Wars
Setting: Prequel-Era
Rating: G
Characters: Original Characters (Shai Laren Ashak, Anselm Erith)
Length: 8 parts
Words: 5,000
Summary: A Jedi Master and his Twi'lek padawan are on an interstellar train, on a mission to protect a Senator from assassination, and get a little more than they were expecting...
A/N: It is worth mentioning that Anselm is entirely dark_knight_130's character, and has very little to do with me. I just borrow him for fun and frolics.

As the door of the Senator's room shattered inwards in an explosion of tiny shards of wood and the light from the corridor beyond flooded in, Shai Laren and her Master looked in to see a dark shape bending over the Senator's body.