Crafting the Celestial Saga: The Tower

Welcome to this entry of Crafting the Celestial Saga where I give you a behind-the-scenes look at the series. This entry is all about chapter ten of Dawn of the Seekers, the Tower. I am someone who hates spoilers so I would like to warn you that spoilers for Dawn of the Seekers follow. If you have not finished reading Dawn of the Seekers, or plan on reading it in the future, you may want to avoid reading Crafting the Celestial Saga until you do.

In this chapter, we get a fair amount of action, some shock and awe, as well as the official entrance of the story’s main villain, Malaton. The Tower is one of the longest chapters in the book, so there is a lot to unpack. I would also say this is the first chapter where the main good and evil forces in the book, being Nova Team and Malaton, clash.

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- Section One: The Second Draft -

Chapter ten in Dawn of the Seekers takes up two chapters of the second draft. The beginning of this chapter in the second draft had Julal telling Nova Team some of the history of the Inaris Galaxy and the Seekers. This was something that I moved to the title chapter of the final version of the story because that made the most sense for that conversation to take place. The chapter played out with Nova Team entering the vault and the next chapter in the second draft saw Eagle Squadron escorting Nova Team to the Vrenner.

In the second draft, the vault was different from what the tower ended up being. There were separate areas of the vault that contained weapons, vehicles, and the tower. In the final version of the story, I decided to split these elements into separate vaults. The reason for that change is that the Arashi did not keep all of the resources they placed in the Milky Way Galaxy in one location. This was to counter everything falling into the wrong hands should anyone instead of the Seekers stumble upon the vault.

Much like the first draft of Dawn of the Seekers, I had Arashi security drones in the second draft. Nova Team and the Seekers come in contact with one of them before more start to arrive. The Seekers welcome these drones since they are of Arashi make, however, they all start to grow weary when more start to arrive. The drones end up being hostile which causes the group to split up. The Seekers make their way towards the part of the vault that would contain vehicles while Nova Team makes their way towards the weapons.

The Seekers reach the part of the vault that contained vehicles to find it empty. The only vehicle remaining is a small ship with no weapon capabilities. As intended since the first draft, Bala Vitorin betrays the Seekers as he takes Kre Wisha captive and forces the others to drop their weapons. He leads them to the top of the tower where he orders Kaltari troopers to take the Seekers to the barracks and kill them. One of the troopers states that he does not take orders from Bala, Bala in turn tells the trooper that today he does or he can take it up with Malaton.

Julal makes his move against the Kaltari troopers who are escorting the Seekers and notifies Nova Team of Bala’s betrayal. Julal has them pick up Kaltari weaponry and start to make their way to the top of the tower to get Kre back and deal with Bala. When they enter the room, Mika starts to run forward as he immediately sees his wife. Kre yells out for him to stop, but Bala shoots him. Julal tries to make a move, Bala disarms him. Bala fends off an attack from Wina before he tells the other Seekers to stop or he will kill Wina who he has a gun pointed to. The Seekers obey his command, and he has them join Kre in captivity. Mika is injured, but alive.

Nova Team finds that the portion of the vault that contained the weapons had also been emptied. By the time they start making their way to the elevator to join the Seekers, the Kaltari have arrived. The vault’s defense drones are fighting against the Kaltari as well. The elevator moves a little slow for their liking which causes Jamie to run for the ship that the Seekers had mentioned to fly it to the top of the tower. Ethan was not fond of this decision as Jamie takes off on his own. Nova Team boards the elevator as the elevator music begins to play.

Malaton arrives at the tower where he introduces himself to the Seekers. I believe I made Kre the only woman member of the Seekers in the second draft because Malaton sees her and says that she is carrying the future of the Leoan species. Malaton starts to make his move to kill her when Jamie arrives and begins to fight him. Malaton makes a crippling blow to Jamie.

Malaton asks a dying Jamie for the coordinates for the UCA High Council. Jamie provides coordinates for the Hades System which contains a star that burns anything that enters the system due to an experiment that went wrong. The ships that Malaton dispatches to the coordinates are fried. Malaton is angered by this and makes the killing blow against Jamie.

Nova Team arrives too late to save Jamie as they see Malaton make the final hit. Malaton and Bala take the Seekers prisoner and make their exit as Nova Team fires at them. They run over to Jamie where Ethan has one last conversation with him. Jamie tells Ethan about how he gave Malaton the wrong coordinates and orders him to save the Seekers. Ethan and the others begin their pursuit of Malaton and Bala.

Jennifer Anderson makes her grand action entrance as she takes out the Kaltari troopers who Malaton left behind to deal with Nova Team. They make their way to a transport to go after the Seekers who are being taken to the Doom’s Prophet. Once they break orbit, Eagle Squadron escorts them to the Vrenner, a Kaltari ship, that Nova Team boards.

While there are some similarities between how the events in the second draft played out and the final version, there are a lot of differences. The Seekers survive until the end of the second draft while in the final version, all but Julal are killed. Jamie still fights Malaton, but Malaton’s strength is more evident in the final version. Due to the friendship between Jamie and Daniel, it made more sense for me to have Daniel be the one to approach Jamie in his final moments. In the final version of the story, I also decided to have Jamie not say anything as the manner in which he was killed left him paralyzed.

With how the dynamics of the species in the Celestial Saga work, the location of UCA High Command was not a secret. The Kaltari would have known that Ricon was the headquarters of the United Celestial Alliance. That whole plot point was dropped along with the star that burns anything that enters the system.

I also wanted to avoid the use of robots or drones given the history that the Milky Way Galaxy has with artificial intelligence. It also presented an unfair power advantage should one side gain the ability to control Arashi security drones. I was delicate with how I wanted to handle artificial intelligence within the Celestial Saga. It is an important plot point, but its more of a fine wine that is better given time.

Also a fun fact, the Arashi were referred to as the Guardians in the second draft. A friend and former co-worker once told me that I needed to come up with a better name for the cool technologically advanced alien species. Some amount of years after we had that conversation, I did. As I am not shy about admitting, I am horrible at naming things. The naming process for me takes some time until things click in my head.

- Section Two: Your Girlfriend is a Badass -

These were once words uttered by Ciro Ruiz in the second draft when Jennifer Anderson made her entrance to rescue Nova Team. It was also the payoff of when she told Ethan in chapter two that she would have to rescue the team one day. I will say that her action entrance in the final version of Dawn of the Seekers was more spectacular.

This also served in keeping with my Rule of Five, which was that Nova Team always had to have five members. John Banks is replaced by Ciro Ruiz and Jamie Harper ends up being replaced by Jennifer Anderson. Although Jennifer has always been a member of the team out of respect that her and Ethan are a couple. She was never officially a member of the team until this point when she decided to take an action-oriented role instead of serving as a member of the Ever Star’s bridge crew. Jennifer officially joining Nova Team was solidified in a later chapter.

As I have mentioned before, J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek and Star Trek: Into Darkness were a huge inspiration for the Celestial Saga. A cool moment from Into Darkness was the official entrance of John Harrison/Khan when he ended up saving Kirk, Spock, and Uhura on Kronos from the Klingons. He makes a grand entrance taking out the Klingons singlehandedly.

This action sequence inspired Jennifer Anderson’s entrance to the action as she takes out several members of Malaton’s Crimson Guard by herself. While she does have a few UCA soldiers as back-up to deal with some of the guard, she did not need the help as she could have taken them all out by herself. Given the fact that the final version of Dawn of the Seekers is a book versus a script like the second draft was, I got to elaborate on her action sequence more in the book.

In the second draft, Ciro makes a comment to Ethan that his girlfriend is a badass when they watch her make her entrance. This small moment was scraped in the final version of the story because Nova Team was dealing with members of the Crimson Guard inside of the tower and they also had a dying teammate to tend to. Having them stop to watch and make comments such as that when one of their own is near death did not make the most logical sense. Plus, for the final version of the story, the two are engaged so Ciro would have said that Ethan’s fiancée is a badass.

Despite this line being cut, it still does not change the fact that Jennifer Anderson is indeed a badass.

- Section Three: For those about to die… -

This chapter featured the death of at least ten named characters. While most of them were minor characters, there was of course the main one being Jamie Harper. The section of this chapter where Malaton kills the Seekers surprised me while writing in how violent it was. I wanted to showcase the brutality of Malaton and what made him a compelling villain. I thought about the size difference between Malaton and the Leoan. This allowed for Malaton to have some brutal and physical kills against the Leoan.

While you get a brief glimpse of Malaton at the end of Jumper 9, this chapter truly served as his introduction. Having him come in and immediately kill the Seekers as well as who I thought would be a fan favorite character seemed like a proper introduction for the story’s main villain. This version of Malaton is the definitive version that I find leagues better than how I had him depicted in the second draft. I also liked the dialogue between Malaton and Julal where Julal calls him a pawn, but he refers to himself as the master. This goes to show how Malaton, while working as an agent of the Child of the Stars, views himself as being completely in control. This is something I indicate with the plan he came up with and throughout the epilogues of this trilogy.

A few pilots from Eagle Squadron are killed in the same chapter that they are introduced. A main reason for this was to show that characters in the book, regardless of if they are special forces or some of the best pilots in the UCA, can still be killed. I also thought it provided a nice dynamic to show how superior the Arashi fighters are compared to a UCA Spearhawk. Having the best pilots in the UCA get taken down by being overpowered, not by the skill of the pilot, goes a long way in showing the difference in technology. Also, a fun fact, I did not come up with the name for the single pilot Arashi fighters until Brave New Galaxy, and I have a fun cannon reason for that. You’ll have to wait to find out what that is when the third book releases on September 8^th.

- Section Four: The Forgotten One -

One of the great things about writing Crafting the Celestial Saga is that it is allowing me to re-edit my first two books. I’m not changing story content on a large scale, just minor changes to grammar or continuity. It was a ten-year journey from the conception of the Celestial Saga to Celestial Saga: Dawn of the Seekers. Over the course of that time, I saw how far I had progressed with my writing abilities. Even now looking back at something I finished writing two years ago, I can see how far I have progressed in that shorter amount of time. So, this allows me to make little changes for things I learned along the way.

Another reason for doing this is what I am calling the Codex Project, which is where I am compiling all the lore, character info, timeline events, and more, to create the Celestial Saga website. While reading through this chapter, when it came to introducing the other pilots in Eagle Squadron, I did what I had done for the other special forces team in presenting their names and ranks. However, I realized that I had forgotten one in the original introduction. Patrick Shelby just randomly popped up with his line of dialogue and I went, “Who are you?” I had to re-read the names several times to make sure I hadn’t skipped over him. I had not skipped over him, I had forgotten him entirely. So much so that when I continued making my way through the chapter, I had Eagle Squadron acting like they only had six pilots instead of seven.

While this was just a humorous goof on my part, these are some of the small story changes that I didn’t catch on the initial rounds of edits when I was working on Dawn of the Seekers. As I am writing this, I am reminded of how I caught one in Ithaca where I mentioned a character not being able to see into the bar where the electrician and the Kaltari operative were meeting, yet the character then comments on their interaction. So yes, minor changes like that are being made for continuity’s sake. As well as my own sanity.

- Section Five: The Comedic Relief -

A lot of times in stories, I think that the characters that are there for comedic relief may not necessarily get their time to shine in action or get to show off their strength. I’m always a fan of a main character going out in a big way if they are going to go out. That is something I wanted to bring to the Celestial Saga. If I was going to have one of the main Nova Team squad members die in their own trilogy, it was going to be doing something cool. In this case, Jamie Harper got his time to shine.

Jamie was the character that I used for comedic relief. Often times this character can become a fan favorite which is something I was hoping would happen, and it did, which I’ll talk more about towards the end. Jamie also provided the sympathetic voice in the matter of helping the Seekers from the beginning where others in Nova Team showed some apprehension. Size wise, Jamie isn’t the most formidable, but that doesn’t mean he can’t hold his own in a fight.

I wanted Jamie to go out in style; he was going to risk his life to save the Seekers and take on the boss in a one-on-one. Was this a good idea? No. Did he care? Also no. Jamie was doing what he thought was right. I showcased his strength as he was able to fight Malaton on his own and landed a few hits against him. This fight also provided me with the chance to show off Malaton’s strength and combat proficiency as well. Malaton quickly learns Jamie’s fighting style and is able to counter Jamie’s moves to ultimately kill him. However, this still doesn’t undermine the fact that Jamie went against the story’s main villain on his own and managed to put up a decent fight.

This chapter did provide the shock and awe of Malaton killing the Seekers, the characters that the title of the story would suggest are crucial to the plot, and then again when he kills Jamie. The Seekers provided a mystery that was squashed, in some cases quite literally, almost as soon as it appeared. Jamie was the comedic relief who I thought would be a fan favorite and would give the audience a shock when he died.

Jamie Harper’s death wasn’t solely for shock and awe. It is a critical plot point for the character of Daniel Robinson. For those who have read the book, as well as Shadow of the Emperor, you can see how Jamie’s death has already started to have negative effects on his best friend’s mind. This is a critical character plot point for Daniel specifically. You start to see how his mind deteriorates without the help of his friend. It’s one of the mental health aspects I wanted to showcase in the story.

- Section Six: “You wanted more?” -

A very small part of this chapter features one of the worst boarding attempts in the history of the galaxy. At least as far as the Celestial Saga is concerned. Hades Team fending off a single transport worth of Kaltari troopers was a late addition to this chapter, and I believe the story in general, when I was looking for places to add a little something extra. The Seekers’ ship exploding was a new addition to the final version of Dawn of the Seekers. This provided some new story opportunities.

One was the fact how crew members of the November had just been rescued and were suddenly sucked out into the vacuum of space when the Ever Star’s hangar is damaged. This also made me think that if the enemy saw an enemy vessel damaged, wouldn’t they try to capitalize on that? This allowed me to have Eagle Squadron get some action and show how the Kaltari were trying to make the best of a damaged Ever Star. They didn’t get very far thanks to the best pilots in the United Celestial Alliance and the newly reformed Hades Team.

- Section Seven: Things Start to Change -

 What do I mean by the newly reformed Hades Team? Quite simply put, it’s the first time that the change is seen after the events on Kalfuri. Hades Team had orders to take a transport to the ground of the unknown planet to fight the Kaltari forces at the tower. Carter Jensen makes a different call once he hears about the Kaltari transport that boarded the Ever Star. Carter knows that Ethan would have diverted Nova Team to fight the incoming boarding party, so that’s what he has Hades Team do. Afterall, the Ever Star needs to be protected.

It’s a minor thing that might go unnoticed, but it does show the character progression of a character who said that he would change. The old Carter Jensen, and the old Hades Team for that matter, would have left the boarding party for someone else to deal with to join the chaos of war. With their newly reformed outlook, Hades Team knows the most important thing to do is protect the Ever Star. It seems like a smaller scale objective, especially since it’s only one Kaltari transport, versus aiding Nova Team at the Arashi vault, but it’s a problem that has to be dealt with.

This was just a little nod to how Hades Team, especially Carter, is changing for the better. This is later shown in greater detail during the City Destroyer.

- Section Eight: Ode to Elevator Music -

“You know, they used to play music.” – Steve Rogers/Captain America from Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014.)

Much like Steve Rogers, I too remember when elevators used to play music. I also remembered how much I enjoyed the elevator rides in the first Mass Effect where the elevators would play catchy little tunes.

When Nova Team enters the elevator to go to the top of the tower, I mention how elevator music starts to play. This was just a little joke that I wanted to add to a serious part of the story and give a nod to something that seems lost to the days of old. I also thought it would be funny due to the fact that it was an elevator designed by the Arashi. The Arashi are presented as being technologically advanced compared to every known species within the Celestial Saga at the time, so to have them think of adding something like elevator music just builds character.

- Section Nine: Message from a Friend -

Something I have mentioned on my social media accounts in the past is that if you are reading a book that a friend wrote, I encourage you to send them live updates. I had a few people do that while they were reading Dawn of the Seekers and it was a blast!

I remember one such message from a friend where he said that he thinks he knows what was about to happen in the story and that he wanted to be wrong. This was one of the exact situations I had wanted to happen when writing this particular part of the story. My friend’s favorite character ended up being Jamie Harper and he got the sense that Jamie’s doom was approaching while he was reading this chapter. He ended up being right and told me that he would be writing a strongly worded letter to the author.

I also ended up asking him who his new favorite character was, and he refused to tell me as he didn’t want me to do something to his new favorite.

I will say again, if you are reading a book by someone that you know, I encourage you to send them updates while you read. For me personally, it was so much fun to hear how other people, my friends, were enjoying the story that I wrote. It went a huge way in boosting my confidence, not only as a writer, but as a person. So please, take a few minutes from reading to provide an author with an update of how you are liking the story. It can go a long way.

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The Tower provides readers with a lot of action, a lot of wonder, and in some cases, a lot of sadness. There have been some reviews for Dawn of the Seekers that mention how the book started slow, but once it starts going, it doesn’t stop. This is true that there was a lot of build up before reaching the main part of the story that started with the title chapter. After a brief history lesson, the story hits the gas and doesn’t let up until the final page. So stay tuned for the wild ride ahead.

That will wrap things up for this entry. The next entry will be about chapter eleven in the book, Diplomatic Meeting. I hope you enjoyed this entry of Crafting the Celestial Saga, and I hope you will return for the next. If you have any questions, please feel free to use my website’s contact form and I will address them in a future entry.