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CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 4, JUMP POINT 6

We follow a distress beacon to a nearby asteroid belt. There is a small ship in the asteroids, struggling to dodge incoming hunks of space rock. They hail us, in a panic, “Please help us! Our shields are down, engines are damaged and we're not going to last much longer!”

We power up the teleporter and offer to bring them aboard to safety. They refuse at first but then, after another asteroid rocks their ship, they agree and accept our offer of assistance.

Once aboard, their Captain says, “Thank you, but we really should return to our families. I'm sure we can muster up a reward if you take us home.” Their planet is nearby, so we quickly maneuver through the local system and land at the designated space-port.

Overjoyed at the return of their son, the family of one of the survivors offers to fully repair our ship.

We have no time to stay and partake in the planned celebratory events. We have to keep moving on.

Jumping out.

CAPTAIN’S LOG: SECTOR 4, JUMP POINT 7

Sensors detect two ships engaged in heated battle. It appears that the Mantis fighter craft is getting the upper hand and will surely defeat its prey if we don’t intervene. Not today.

Shields up! Weapons online and pre-charged, Attack-Drone on standby.

Liu brings us into an attack vector on the Mantis ship.

The Burst and Ion-Laser is targeted at their shield-generator. Keeping that damaged and offline will be key to allowing the Fire-Beam to do its work. Eoin punches in the authorization key and the first volley is away.

WARNING: INTRUDER ALERT

Two Mantis commandos have transported into our Bridge! Liu is badly over-matched. He tries to defend himself as best as he can, hiding behind consoles and equipment, but the Mantis are scoring blow after blow. Kozar and Matt unstrap themselves from their stations take off running toward the front of the ship. Coming all the way from the aft compartments is going to take a few extra moments that Liu just doesn’t have. He will have to retreat before the backup arrives, leaving the Mantis alone in the Bridge to disable systems and sabotage the ship.

The Burst and Ion-Lasers strike home, disabling the Mantis ship’s shield-generator and allowing a window for the Fire-Beam to strike. The super-heated particle beam strikes the enemy ship, tracing a line from one end to the other. Flammable objects, computer components and other materials inside the ship burst into flames. Their crew scrambles from their stations to try and fight the fires that have started in three different compartments.

Matt trips over one of the bulkheads and falls flat on his face in the adjacent life-support module, leaving Kozar alone when he bursts through the door to the Bridge. Kozar delays the Mantis’ efforts to sabotage the controls but at the expense of his own well being. It is only a few moments before near-fatal blows have been struck and he must drag himself aft towards the Med Bay. Matt collects himself and is next in line to stall the Mantis commandos.



A fresh barrage from the ‘Proto slams into the Mantis ship and she is mortally wounded. The Engi slave they had on board to perform repairs has been cut down and the fires are now raging throughout their ship. The two Mantis boarders beam back aboard their own ship in a last ditch effort to save her, but the fires are too strong and widespread. Something in their ammunition cache gets a little too hot and the entire ship explodes in a huge wave of debris.

The engineering vessel that had been under attack offers to fully patch up our ship as thanks, but we are already at maximum state of repair. We thank them for the offer and wish them well.

All crew report to the Med Bay for medical attention before returning to their stations.

Jump drives are charged and online.

CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 4, JUMP POINT 8

We arrive at this jump-point and find a Zoltan research facility. They say they are researching genetic mutations due to stasis-sleep and prolonged FTL travel. They further state they are aware of our mission and believe they can be of assistance, if we can spare but a few minutes for a quick sensor scan.

As soon as we dock, pirates burst through the airlock and a hostile ship appears on the radar! We hear the Zoltans yell in the distance, “We're being held hostage!”

Shields up! Weapons pre-charged, drone control on standby.

Eoin targets their shield-generator with the Burst and Ion-Laser, and holds the Fire-Beam in reserve.

WARNING: INTRUDER ALERT

Sensors show four boarders on our ship! They are assaulting our Bridge and Life-Support systems. Thankfully, they are a mix of three Engi and a Zoltan and not Mantis or Rockman. Kozar and Matt rush forward again to support Liu. Kozar bursts through the bulkhead into the Bridge and lands a solid blow to the back of the Zoltan's head and the fight is on.

The Burst Laser finds its target, smashing through both layers of shields and landing another hit on their shield-generator. The Ion-Laser, fired just a split second afterward, has been timed perfectly and smacks into their shield-generator as well, the crackling ion-charge disrupting the generator. The window is open and Eoin unleashes the devastating Fire-beam, cutting a line through the Rebel Fighter's aft compartments, setting their weapons-control, engine room, shield-bay and life support on fire! The Ion-Laser is extremely quick to recharge and lands another shot into the Rebel's Fire Control module, taking all their weapons offline.

WARNING: MISSILE LAUNCH DETECTED

The Rebels must have been able to get a missile off the rails a split second before we could disable the system. Damn! In an adrenaline induced quickness, I reach over to transfer some power from the engines and Med-Bay to the Drone Control module and hurriedly smack the launch-authorization on our Defense Drone Mark-I.

The Defense drone deploys, lines up a shot on the incoming missile and fires. But, it is not quick enough. The missile impacts into the port engine nacelle, damaging our Fire Control center, taking the Fire-Beam offline.





Meanwhile, the hand-to-hand combat is raging in the forward compartments. Neither side is gaining a decisive advantage, and all involved are giving and taking terrible blows. Liu has been shot through his shoulder and Matt has taken a blade to his side. Kozar has been fighting two Engi simultaneously like a madman, holding his own against the synthetics despite being at a considerably numerical disadvantage.

With the Rebel's weapons offline, I give the order for AJ and Caldwell to relieve Kozar in the life-support module and all three of our injured crew withdraw to the Med Bay. There is only one Engi left in the life-support module and if we can win that battle, the remaining badly injured boarders will be trapped in the bridge and we can assault them with a much healthier squad. AJ and Caldwell make quick work of the remaining Engi and setup in cover to await either reinforcements or for the enemy boarders to present themselves.

The enemy ship is consumed by flames. I toy with the idea of putting the Burst and Ion-Laser in standby mode and boarding their ship, but before I can decide one way or the other, the weapon systems have charged and unleash a final killing blow, cutting the enemy ship in half.

The boarders have disabled our helm controls but it is too little, too late. They will not survive the day. Rather than wait for their death, they come running through the doorway, yelling as they charge, only to be cut down by a hail of blaster fire as AJ and Caldwell finish them off.

As the crew rotates through the Med Bay, the Zoltan captives hail us, “Thank you for saving us! Please, take these warheads and drone schematics as thanks.” We gladly take the materials and put them in the cargo bay.

FTL drive charged, jumping out.

I just wanted to say that this is an AMAZING idea. So far i love everything about this thread. If you need any help or want another playthrough let me know and I can youtube a playthrough using Captains Edition.

ScubaSteve3465 wrote:I just wanted to say that this is an AMAZING idea. So far i love everything about this thread. If you need any help or want another playthrough let me know and I can youtube a playthrough using Captains Edition.

Thanks mang! Having fun doing it

I'm currently trying to figure out what ship / mod combo to run for the next one. Lots of options! Hard to pick.

I'm not sure how the flow would go writing up someone else's playthrough.. I dunno! Might be cool!

I actually only recently downloaded CE and have been playing it. I've been a purist.

So far, I really like it! The enemy ships are VERY challenging now even on easy.

CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 4, JUMP POINT 9

We approach a nearby distress beacon and find a strange scene. A number of ships are fleeing from a space-station. We hail them and ask what is going on to receive the reply, “The entire station is being overrun by some kind of giant alien spiders! Help!”

I can't risk our crew fighting giant arachnids and we don't have the drone systems to handle the situation. Reluctantly, we join the ships retreating from the station and move on.

Jumping out.

CAPTAIN’S LOG: SECTOR 4, JUMP POINT 10

This beacon has been placed too close to a super gas-giant class M star! The ship will gradually overheat and take fire damage from solar flares until we can power up the FTL drive and escape. To make matters more complicated, a pirate with more balls than brains has decided to engage our ship in combat.

Shields up! Weapons pre-charged, drones on standby. Fire control teams on the ready!

The Burst fires and connects with their shield layers, bringing them down temporarily but not causing any additional damage. However, the window is just enough for the Ion-Laser to slam home into their weapons control suite, causing half their ship to lose power. Eoin loses no time in unleashing the Fire-Beam on the pirate ship, cutting a line from their weapons control suite all the way through their central cargo bay and into their shield-generator module. Fires erupt in their weapons-control and central cargo bays. When the star erupts in a flare, their ship will be in serious trouble.



Their entire crew focuses their efforts on fighting the fire in the weapons-control suite, leaving the cargo bay to turn into an inferno. Our sensors are detecting a massive firestorm inside their ship. They may have put out the small fire in the Fire Control bay but at the cost of the rest of their ship if the fire spreads.

Eoin has the Burst and Ion-Laser charged again and unloads a full barrage into the Pirate vessel’s weapons bay, cutting through their dual-layered shield and causing heavy damage. Their ion cannons and beam-weapon slump against the side of their vessel. One of their crew has made his way to their Med Bay to get medical attention for his wounds. The fire has broken through their blast doors and is spreading to the rear deck, towards their engine room.

WARNING: SOLAR FLARE IMMINENT

FTL DRIVE 86% CHARGED

Looks like we’re not getting out of this system without doing a little fire fighting of our own. The computer is ordered to vent most of the ship to suck as much oxygen out as possible to starve any fires that might start.

Then, a blinding flash of light as the super gas-giant erupts, and the warning panel begins blinking red. The starboard cargo hold is on fire. Caldwell hits the bulkhead override control, venting the shield-bay and opening the door to the cargo hold, before ducking through to the engine room with AJ and Kozar.

All three weapon systems are fully charged and Eoin wastes no time repeating the process. Burst and Ion-Laser unload into their weapon control center, nearly killing both of their crew feverishly working on repairs. The Fire-Beam starts cutting across their ship and starts a fire in their Med Bay, but their shields are up quickly and cut off any further effect the beam might have.

Sensors track the human pirate attempting to withdraw from the weapon center and get to his Med Bay but he is cut off by a wall of flames and consumed. The Engi is still manning his station in the weapons control suite and the third human pirate has retreated to the engine room.

WARNING: SOLAR FLARE IMMINENT

Another flash of light, and we have a small fire on the Bridge! Liu grabs an extinguisher and gets to work putting the fire out. The enemy ship is not faring as well. Most of their ship is on fire now. It’s a bad way to go. Their shield-bay is now on fire and will soon be disabled. It may be cold, we should be able to finish off the rest of the crew with the fire beam and grab a little more scrap before jumping out. It’s not personal, it’s just business. I’m sure the pirate crew was looking to do the same thing to our ship.



The fire-beam finishes the grim work and all the pirate crew are dead. We quickly extract their remaining fuel cells and collect some valuable salvage before jumping out.

Just read through the whole thread and I love it. I tried the X-9 myself a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it, so I'm glad to see that someone else seems to be enjoying it too!

Anyway, patiently awaiting the next set of logs

CAPTAIN'S LOG: SECTOR 4, JUMP POINT 11

There is an Engi contingent here, hiding on the back side of a small moon, harvesting salvage and materials from an abandoned equipment cache left over from the Federation-Mantis War. They suggest it might be booby-trapped to slow down the pursuing fleet but we are already so close to the exit-beacon that we decide instead to see what salvage we can make use of.

A Defense Drone Mark-II is here, intact! This next-generation Defense Drone is capable of shooting down not only incoming missiles but laser weapons as well, and at twice the rate of fire. A valuable addition to our ship, indeed.

Sensors show a Merchant beacon between us and the exit-beacon from this Sector. We will stop in and see if there are valuable wares to trade for.

Euxcine wrote:Just read through the whole thread and I love it. I tried the X-9 myself a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it, so I'm glad to see that someone else seems to be enjoying it too!

Anyway, patiently awaiting the next set of logs

Yeah, it's been a great little ship!

Glad you're digging the blog/thread. Thanks for reading