Dear readers,

Welcome to the setting known as Universal Nexus.  Why is it known as that?  Well, that’s a somewhat complicated story that has to do with how the setting started, so for now let’s just leave it at “It made sense at the time and stuck even once it didn’t make as much sense.”

The reason I’m bringing the setting up before anything else is because you may have started to read this after seeing that it was categorized as space opera and gotten all excited, thinking you’re going to get to read about epic battles, people bravely perservering against horrible odds, spaceships zooming around everywhere, all that sort of stuff.  That’s understandable.

Unfortunately for you (if that’s what you were wanting), that’s not what this story is.  This story is in a space opera setting, but it does not have a space opera plot.  This story is for everyone who has ever wondered “What does everybody else do while the heroes are out saving the universe?” and “What do the heroes do when they aren’t out saving the universe?”  It’s unusual; it might not, by the strictest definition, have a plot; but I hope you’ll give it a chance anyway.

That’s not to say there isn’t any action contained in it.  Some of the characters do have exciting jobs that involve fighting, after all.  It’s just that those aren’t the focus, so they’re rather sparse compared to the ones that show people doing things like going to balls, or even just sitting on their front porches talking to family.

Also, before you start reading, I’d like to talk about language.  Translation is not, alas, an exact science and sometimes you have to make decisions, awkward decisions.   In this story, as in all works in this setting, I had to decide what to do about time words.  You see, the Terran Confederation still uses second, minute, and hour in the time this story is set, but the meanings have changed.  So do I translate the Galfarran times to our equivalent like I am just about everything else, since they are very nearly equal anyway, or do I keep the words in Galfarran?  I’ve chosen to keep them Galfarran just in case anyone ever uses the Terran Confederation terms in the text of this or any other story.  Context should make clear which English word could be reasonably substituted, but if you are unclear, I’ll be putting a glossary up some day, as well as useful cultural notes on things like Sweytzian military ranks and religion.  For those of you who find that sort of thing annoying, I’m sorry.  My favorite part of The Lord of the Rings is the appendices, so I really can’t understand your complaint.

And, finally, a disclaimer:  This story contains content some may find objectionable, like socialism, polyamory, monogamy, homosexuality, heterosexuality, puns, and other horrible, horrible things like that.  And scientific realism is tied up in the corner, wishing it could remember the safeword, so telling the author that “space doesn’t work that way” or similar will be a waste of your time.

Next chapter:  http://intertwined-lives.universal-nexus.com/2015/02/03/chapter-one-richie/