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CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 2, JUMP POINT 9

More nebula. We cycle through wide-band comms channels but are greeted by nothing but static.
Jumping out.

CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 2, JUMP POINT 10

There is a small planet nearby with scattered settlements. A forward contingent of the Rebel Fleet is in orbit with a number of ships arriving and departing. This must be a more recently “liberated” planet.

We slip away without being noticed.

CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 2, JUMP POINT 11

A Rebel ship is guarding this beacon and immediately turns to engage us as soon as we jump in. They were waiting for us. As the crew scrambles to their battle stations, Betty chimes in:

WARNING: INTRUDER ALERT, SHORT RANGE TELEPORTER SIGNAL DETECTED

A flushed and panicky Rebel soldier has teleported aboard. The Rebel, who appears unarmed, repeatedly declares his peaceful intentions. It appears the Rebel life has lost its charm. I trust my gut and welcome him on board. The kid, who identifies himself as “Kozar” is more scared than dangerous. If he causes a problem later, we can always space him.

Sensors are picking up this Rebel Rigger has a drone-system installed and we've got company. A beam-drone is orbiting our ship and must be silenced immediately. Damn, we forgot to pre-charge the Burst. The Ion-Lasers will have to do.

Matt works on locking down the targeting computer on the Rebel's drone-control module and punches the authorization into the weapons control panel. The twin plasma shots are away. The first is absorbed by their shield layer but it the ion-charge short circuits their shield-generator. The second shot slams home into their drone-control room, and the orbiting gnat goes dark. Hopefully that will give us the window of time we need.

Next volley is away, targeting their shield-generator and drone-control. We must keep that drone offline or it will carve us up badly without any shields of our own. It is too close for Liu to dodge.

The plasma shots both strike home but not before they are able to bring their shield-generator back online. Their repair crews must be experts to have it repaired in such short time! The second shot slams home again into their drone-control room but not before the drone wakes up for a split second and carves up our drone-control room. Kozar is dispatched to repair the room.

This Rigger is proving to be more trouble than anticipated. They only have a single shot laser but while we are focusing our attention on keeping that beam-drone down, they are sending shot after shot at our ship. Liu has the thrusters at maximum and is dodging the incoming bolts as best he can, but a few are getting through. The door-control module is hit and taken offline. A miss. Another hit to the port cargo bay. We have to take that gun offline.

WARNING: HULL INTEGRITY 75%

We can't keep taking shots like this, so I order Matt to concentrate his fire on their weapons control module. We will have to hope that their efforts to repair the weapons module will slow down the repair effort on their drone-control. If they get the drone back online, that very well might swing the battle in their favor. It's a risk, but we have to take it.

The Ion-Lasers hit their mark and take down their laser weapon. Matt begins alternating his shots against each system, wearing down the Rebel ship. He runs a line of shots all the way across their ship, breaking off pieces of their hull and leaving behind glowing scorch marks. Under the blistering hail of fire, the enemy ship breaks apart after suffering internal explosions. We salvage what we can.

Before jumping out, I make sure to set the pre-igniter to charge the Burst for our next engagement.

Don't want to make that mistake again.

CAPTAIN’S LOG: SECTOR 2, JUMP POINT 12

A small civilian ship approaches us as soon as we jump in. We prepare to fight but scans confirm their identification and they are merely out of FTL fuel. We are low ourselves but go ahead and send over the fuel cells they will need to escape the approaching Rebel Fleet.

Their Captain hails us personally and says, “Thank the Gods! We will be jumping directly home from this Sector, so please take this extra weapon. We won’t need it any longer.”

They transfer an ion-cannon aboard our ship and Matt sets to installing the weapon. By re-routing some power from our Med Bay while it is not in use, we should be able to pre-charge this weapon due to its lower power usage. It is a most welcome addition.



Jump drives online, the exit-beacon is near.

Just curious, are the pictures showing up right for you guys? I want to make sure it's not just showing up for me because the comp has them cached.

CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 2, JUMP POINT 13

We arrive at the long-range FTL beacon and are greeted by an automated repair station. It has hundreds of repair drones attached to it. A recorded message hails us, “We service any and all ships, pay the fee in credits or move along.” The rate for repairs is extremely modest, so we pay for a partial repair. When the bots are done, they have repaired more than we were invoiced for. We don't stop to question the gift but move on to the new sector.

Rather than spend more time in the nebula storms, a course is plotted through the heart of Engi homeworld space.

Perhaps we will find more luck in obtaining a shield-generator. Our fuel situation is getting grim as well, which will be a very serious setback if we run out of fuel with the Rebel Fleet on our tail.

CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 3, JUMP POINT 1

As we jump into the new sector, a large asteroid floats across our view screen, illuminated by our running lights. We strip the asteroid for materials and continue into Engi space. These partially-synthetic creatures have suffered with the fall of the Federation, but are usually willing to help.

There is a giant void in the lower portion of this Sector. Perhaps due to some kind of cosmic anomaly. We will give it a wide berth as we make our way to the exit-beacon.

CAPTAIN’S LOG: SECTOR 3, JUMP POINT 2

We complete the jump and almost immediately, a pirate ship appears on short range scan. These areas must have once been rich pickings for pirates before the war. This pirate vessel looks worn down but hungry and still dangerous. We will have to fight our way out.

Sensors show the pirate is powering up his teleporter unit. Mantis boarders would spell trouble for sure. We have to try and keep them off our ship. The pre-charged Burst is targeted to their teleportation control room, the ion-cannon to their shield-generator and the ion-laser to their weapons systems.

The combination of the attack pattern and timing is effective. The Burst burns through their shield layer and tears into the teleportation control room, causing widespread damage and bringing it offline. The ion-cannon strikes the shield-generator and disables the system temporarily while the ion-laser slams home into their weapons control suite, blowing panels off of the walls and causing significant ion-disruption.

The Burst gets powered down in favor of the faster-reloading second ion-laser. The pirate ship eats a full volley, with chunks of their armor plate splintering and falling away from their hull. A second barrage charges and fires. Their pilot is good! A quick flick of the controls and their damaged ship manages to side slip a couple of shots, giving them just long enough to repair the teleporter pads.

Even with their ship being in such bad shape, they have been working on repairs to their teleporter and once complete, still decide to beam aboard a pair of lethal Mantis commandos. The good news is, with the beating their ship has been taking, both the Mantis boarders arrive in pretty bad shape. One has an arm hanging limp by his side and the other is dealing with a deep shrapnel wound in his side. Still, these are some of the fiercest and most lethal creatures in the known universe, injured or not. We will have to keep our guard up.

The boarders have teleported into our starboard cargo bay. The locked blast doors are preventing them from moving freely through out ship, but they are using brute force to break through. Given enough time, they will.

Another volley from our forward battery strikes home, bringing the pirate ship to the point of nearly breaking into pieces. The com channel crackles to life, “Enough! Clearly, your ssship is sssuperior to ourssss. If you will sssspare our lives, we will give you our excess storesssss.”



Gladly, we accept the offer and their Mantis boarders disappear back to their own ship.

Sorry, been caught up in holiday stuff with the fam!

CAPTAIN’S LOG: SECTOR 3, JUMP POINT 3

Upon arriving at this jump-point we are immediately hailed by a Rebel ship, “When the rebellion is complete, you will see the safer universe we will provide. Well, YOU won’t, but you get the idea!” They begin powering up their weapons systems.

Again, we have forgotten to pre-charge the Burst. This is not a mistake we can afford to keep making.

Matt will fire the ion-cannon first to disrupt their shield layer, and the ion-lasers will follow up moments afterward, targeting their weapons and shields. Wait, they have a beam-drone! We will have to target the drone-control center instead of the shield-generator.

The ion-cannon slams into their shield barrier as expected and does its job, sending a crackling wave of ion-charge through the shields and bringing them down temporarily. The ion-lasers follow up. The first shot goes wide, missing the drone control module. The second slams home into their weapons control suite, taking their weapons offline.

The beam-drone is still active and orbiting our ship. It fires a slicing shot into our door-control module, taking it offline and starting a fire as well. Without the ability to open and close airlocks, we will have to fight the fire manually. Eoin and Kozar are sent in to begin fighting the fire.



We need as much firepower as we can muster. I re-route power from the engines to our Anti-Ship Drone Mark-I and hit the launch-authorization button. Liu, as good as he is, can’t dodge this drone fire from such close range anyway.

The Ion-Lasers have recharged and are away, both slamming into their drone-control module. The terrorizing beam-drone has been silenced. Our ion-cannon is doing its job, sending a steady stream of ion-blasts into their shield-generator, keeping it offline. Now, we return the favor and our Attack Drone begins orbiting the Rebel Rigger, unleashing a relentless attack, taking out systems and punching holes in their armor plate.

Eoin and Kozar have the fire under control and are working on repairing the door-control module.

The battle has swung in our favor. The enemy ship is taking a pounding from our drone and Ion-Lasers and soon breaks into pieces. We salvage what we can and prepare to jump.

If we can’t locate a shield-generator soon, we are not likely to survive much longer.

Hokay! Have a huge backlog of logs! Holidays and family drama taking up too much of my time!

ON WITH THE SHOW

CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 3, JUMP POINT 4

We receive a distress call from a nearby Engi ship. “Assistance requested. Danger present. Imminent destruction.” We respond to the call and move in to assist.

A Mantis ship is assaulting a small Engi space-station. No drones, but now we will have to deal with Mantis commandos. I'm not sure which is worse.

Ion-cannon is set to hit their shield-generator and the Ion-Lasers target the weapons control suite.

WARNING: INTRUDERS DETECTED

The Mantis ship has teleported two commandos aboard and they quickly make their way to our drone-control room! Our crew is no match for these fierce warriors, but they will have to do their best while we work on subduing their ship. Kozar and Eoin are first into the fight. As they take damage, we will rotate them back to the Med Bay and replace them with other fresh crew to keep them occupied and distracted from sabotaging our ship. Wearing down the Mantis with a battle of attrition is our only hope of winning the close quarters battle.

The ion-cannon strikes their shield and opens the door for our ion-lasers to do their job. Both shots slam home, ripping up the Mantis ship's armor plate and causing significant damage. Their weapons systems are offline. Because we have no need to dodge any incoming fire, I re-route power from the engines to the Drone-Control module and quickly punch the launch-authorization to put our Attack Drone in orbit around their ship. The sooner we can bring their ship to its knees, the sooner we might be able to negotiate for a cease fire and get these commandos off our ship.

The hand-to-hand combat in the Drone Room is not going well for Eoin and Kozar. Eoin, as an Engi, is not meant for physical battle and is taking a brutal beating from the Mantis commandos. Kozar has seen some combat but is similarly no match. Their vital signs begin to drop as the accumulated damage quickly adds up. They are ordered to the Med Bay to receive life saving treatments. Matt and AJ have taken up position just outside the doors and jump in to cover their retreat.

Meanwhile, the Mantis ship is absorbing an enormous amount of punishment. The Attack Drone has disabled their engines and life-support systems. The Ion-Lasers continue to pound on their weapons center, keeping any hope of repair completely erased.

The Mantis boarders beam back aboard their own ship, presumably to help with the repairs. No cease fire request is received from their bridge, and no quarter is given. The pirate vessel takes one too many blows and goes dark, breaking apart under the steady laser fire.

We board the Engi station but it is quite apparent that there are no survivors. The Mantis kept the distress signal beacon active merely to lure more victims. At least that won't be happening anymore. The beacon is disabled and we collect what salvage we can.

Jump drives online.