Ship log of the SS Caroline, not the best ship of the federation, but the best chance it has for survival.
Our mission is understood. We, a fresh, inexperienced Engi ship, must deliver valuable data to the federation base 8 sectors away, with a perilous journey ahead of us. The expected survival of this mission, 3.12%, was calculated by our Engi crew. We all know what we are into with the rebellion taking dominant control of the cosmos.
The crew outfitting this ship is nothing spectacular, and is as fresh as the ship itself. Gonzo our reluctant gunner on the ship, in charge of manning the weapons system and that at high importance, is an Engi. He always said he could never blow up another ship, but he scored the highest on the federation simulations, I hope he can handle his duty, no worries now, he’s in charge of a new ion blaster. Then on to our second Engi, Gordon, he will be manning the shields and first to be pulled off to repair, he is very stable and has been friends with Gonzo since their first start in their Engi home worlds. They decided to do something about the rebellion together, luck behold they end up on the same ship. If something goes wrong, I hope the other can still perform its job. Then arrives our human inductee Norman, a fierce pilot. Not much bothers him and he keeps to himself in the pilots’ cabin excluded from the Engi. Hopefully we can find him another companion other than inorganic beings; his psych sheets tell that he’s lonely. Our last “member” is a standard anti-ship drone, we call all the anti-ship drones Philips, as that is the AI that takes control of the shells of destruction. Last of the crew is an AI, me, I have been on extremely successful ships, ones that have taken the fight to the Rebels, and It is hoped with my experience I can get this rag tag group to the federation base, before it’s too late
Recorded Logs:
Day 1: Our first day of the journey , morals are high, Norman seems calm, the Engi were conversing in the med bay, Gordon tells how he was a brilliant engineer and received high training until he was demoted, which he refuses to mention how. He tells Gonzo the rumors of a new cruiser, that used an invisibility cloak in the federation. I don’t know how true that can be. We plot our jump course to be 6-8 through this civilian sector. We are surrounded by 2 stores, if only we had scrap. We jump to an undiscovered beacon, anything could happen, I hope my crew is ready.
Day 2: Our first rebel ship, rigger grade, adrenaline flows through the, let’s take the cursed rebels out! Gonzo shoots the ion blast targeting their shields and hits them. Phillips damages their engines, they are trying to flee! Their single laser does nothing to pierce our shields, we can only hope that that beam doesn’t coordinate its laser to do damage to us. Norman took a hit by a bomb in the cockpit, he repairs the system. A wretched scar on his face is made, we’re not green anymore. Volleys go back and forth between our ships, but their ship is suffering, we are hopeful. They send a last Hail Mary bomb into our o2, no worries as Gordon repairs it. Their ship shatters apart as Phillips fires the last shot into their hull, shattering their ship apart. We killed them. We see the bodies float off slowly, one dismembered in half. We aren’t as happy as we thought we’d be. War is horrid. We jump to the next beacon on our course.
Day 3: An auto scout stationed at a small rebel station, we check our sensors which indicate goods, we go for it. It didn’t have shields and we made easy work of it disabling its weapons right away, at least we didn’t kill anyone again. We get a bit of scrap, and a small bomb launcher, it requires only 1 power, we’ll probably upgrade our weapons soon enough. Gonzo seems nervous. We make our next jump.
Day 4: Another manned rebel ship attacking a refueling out post, we intervene. They have a missile launcher, my crew will be in for a surprise. With the first shot the crew saw how missiles can penetrate shields, good thing it didn’t hit a system. Phillips makes short work of their piloting cabin, the crew calms. We eat another missile, this time into the door system, Gordon automatically goes to repair, he’s learning. We destroy the ship and go to help the refueling station while Gordon repairs the drone control. Another manned ship killed. We have a good amount of scrap, and decide to upgrade the weapons to support that bomb launcher. I talk to Gonzo, try to cheer him up, I don’t know if he can do this. We jump to a distress signal.
Day 5: IT’s a civilian ship needing to get to the nearest depot to fix their FTL navigation, we other to lead the way. It feels good to do something good. We jump to the next beacon on our course.
Day 6: We encounter a Mantis ship in control of the beacon, we decide to attack and keep our needed scrap. Gonzo targets their weapons with the bomb, he seems emotionless. It lands, and shortly after the ship crumbles with the ion blaster allowing Phillips to wreak havoc. We take the scrap and move on, I decide to off put talking to Gonzo. We jump.
Day 7: Another Mantis ship, they are rather aggressive, we fight. I decide to charge, but withhold the bombs, we’ll need these two puppies later. We notice Phillips has a thing for destroying the pilots cabin, he makes short work of their weapons too. We destroy the mantis untouched. We recuperate quickly, and jump out of the way, Norman felt like exploring, we had a lot of time until the rebels would catch up.
Day 8: We come across another auto scout. We destroy it without thinking, we have a great reserve of fuel, and a good amount of scrap. We head towards the sectors exit.
Day 9: A station to sell missiles/bombs to, we decline, they wanted at least 5 bombs anyway. We jump to the final destination of the ship that we are helping. We wait, and they give us a handsome reward. Gordon thinks we should upgrade our shields, we might. We jump to the last beacon from the exit of the sector.
Day 10: A rock pirate ship, very tough, our crew can handle it, things are starting to get a nice flow in the crew. They make a preemptive EMP on our engines, no worries, Norman will give it all he has. We take a few hits, nothing Gordon can’t fix, and the ship is destroyed. We collect the scrap and upgrade the shields, Gordon is thrilled. We jump to the sector exit.
Day 11: A small repair station is found, we spend a few scrap on repairs, and we are in good condition and have high morals. I hope Gonzo and Norman are coping. We then have a choice of a pirate or Zoltan sector, we didn’t buy these shields for nothing.