Entry 10
I have been running the route the Zoner gave me for a few days. The profits are unimaginable. You just wouldnt believe it if I told you. All the whilst the things he has told me have been running round and round my mind. The desire to avenge my mother and exact blood price from the Nomads burns deep within my heart, and one day my thirst for blood must be slaked. Until now I had seen myself going off to join the Order to fight as my parents had. But since the Nomad war of 799-802 the Order seem to have lost some of their value...I do not mean to denounce the great work everyone in the Order is doing, I mean its value to me. The Order kill countless Nomads, a deed that maintains the balance between us and them, without the Order I do not doubt Sirius would be over run with Nomads once more. But for every Nomad the Order destroys, another appears. Whilst the Order are maintaining balance, I want more. I would see every Nomad in all of Sirius EXTERMINATED. I am beginning to believe I cannot see this achieved through allegiance with the Order. Whilst my thirst for Nomad blood could be quenched, I am unsure it would be enough. The road this Zoner walks seems better...I would get to fight Nomads, and at the same time aid the researchers to develop ways to protect us from them, and ways to destroy them more! Now that would be a result. I have always been an outsider anyway. I dont think being a Zoner would make any difference to my usual social practices. In the next few days I intend to buy my first warship. A liberty gunboat or something, and I shall set out for the outer rim, to find out for myself how things are out there, maybe get in contact with both the Order and the Zoners. It is time I got some direction to my life.
Entry 11
This gunboat has the grace of a beached whale. I am dreading my first asteroid swarm in it. Even the massive Large Transport had better response when fully loaded, and that must have had 4 times the inertia.
Still it has the firepower I feel comfortable with considering my plans. I am currently en-rotue to Dresden, and from there to the Omega and Omicron systems. Its time to see for myself what it is like in the Outer rim. Its possible to say that I am even nervous. Even with this new hardware surrounding me, the knowledge of its power, its let down by one major flaw, my inexperience. I have crew of twenty four people on board, 3 watches of 8 people. They rotate in 8 hour shifts. My command second is an incredible woman named Karla Vixon, on first glance she is gorgeous, but when you get to know her you find she is made of cold steel. The crew are all scared of her...which means they listen, and do everything she says. A very competant woman, and i dont believe she will ever have the need to bring a problem to me, there is nothing I can imagine her being unable to handle. Perfect for the command job, and not a woman I will ever feel attracted to, she scares even me at times, so I wont have to consider demoting her.
Just before writing in this journal I was pouring over the problem of supplying a ship this large. It uses a hell of alot of HFuel just to get moving. Then there is the task of feeding this crew, and my chief engineer Randy eats a hell of alot of food...it aint cheap. I am going to need to make sure I maintain a strong income just to supply the vessel. Anyway, Karla just comm'd saying we are approaching Dresden now, I must go.
Entry 12
I feel a little out of my league. The universe is different way out here. We are flying a course that should bring us close to a jumphole to a system known as Omicron Theta. It is here that we are to make first contact with the Zoners governors. Our lives have been in thehands of Sergio, my targ officer, for the past four hours. Not only is he responsible for keeping the guns tracked on enemies, he is also the only man on board with any experience of this region of Sirius. I have been informed out current location, Omicron Gamma is home to the Corsairs, and from what I have heard from them, I really do not want to meet these guys. Our pilot has kept to the dust clouds as much as possible, and as of yet it appears we have passed undetected. We have been attacked by several factions between Dresden and here, mainly pirates, but our first encounter with the Corsairs in Omega 41 has left me no desire for a repeat performance. Even with the firepower and shielding this gunboat wields, it was a tough fight.
On a more personal note, this mission so far has taught me something. If I am truely to survive months, if not years, out here in the Outer rim, where Corsairs are the least I have to worry about, I may well want to be flying something even more powerful. How I might achieve getting a bigger vessel I havent got a clue, but if I am to fight the Nomads effectively, I need survivability.
So far I havent had any issues from the crew, I am suprised reallly. I didnt have time to be selective for the general majority, but Karla is truely an asset to my venture. She keeps 'em all in line so easily, makes my job so very simple. I hope she doesnt have plans to become a captain of her own ship one day, or I may have to cut her pay.
Entry 13
Finally. We docked at Freeport 9 in the Omicron Theta system, and through sheer luck there was an Order pilot docked there aswell. I was able to sit down with both Zoner and Order around the table. I was as brief as I could be as I described my parents, who they were, and what I wanted to do. Then I asked them how I might be able to fit in to each of their factions.
The Zoner just sat back in his chair, a thoughtful expression on his face as the Order man began to speak. Clearly the Order do an aweful lot to fight the Nomads. He described countless battles, raids and exploration missions carried out by the Order since the war. He was very loyal, and I could tell he took enormous pride in the work the Order do. But I was there to judge, to analyse, so I pushed him. "With all your strikes and raids, how many Nomad ships have been destroyed, and how many Order" I asked him. His eyes darkened, clearly the question had offended him, but he answered anyway. "We kill atleast four of them to every ship we loose". He then went on to tell me how they had only lost a few capital ships since the war, and the number they had in fleet was increasing all the time. At this point the Zoner suprised me, he sat forward and asked in a neutral tone "And what has been the impact on the Nomads to loose so many of their ships, do they stop coming? Do they ever seem low in number?" The Order man pushed his chair back stood up and stalked away without another word. His face a picture of offence. The Zoner simply smiled at me, "The Order are so easy to offend, they fight hard against the Nomads, unrelenting. And yet whilst when every one of their comrades dies they feel the loss so keenly, the Nomads seem....unconcerned." The Zoner took another sip of his drink then leaned in close, his voice barely a whisper "I deliberately annoyed the man, it is not that the Order dont do good, they work so incredibly hard, and pay with their own blood to hold back the tide of the Nomads. Without the Order Sirius would be in the hands of the Nomads already. It is just despite everything they are doing it seems to have absolutely no affect on the Nomads, and the Order know it. They seem to have an absolutely limitless supply of vessels, and no one knows how or why. As far as I see it, the Order cannot stop the Nomads, all they can do is keep them busy." He glanced briefly to where the Order man was slumped against the bar, back turned, "Whilst the Order are blinded by thier own pride we Zoners have accepted the Nomads are superior to the Order in numbers, and we also assume in the ability to construct new ships. But we also know from the war that the Nomads are not strong enough to defeat humanity as a whole, otherwise they would have just attacked everywhere and wiped us out. So whilst the Order are holding the Nomads at bay, we are seeking knowledge. Knowledge is the key. Knowledge is power. Right now our scientists on Corinth are experimenting on captured Nomads. We seek to understand their biology, and their technology, hoping that somewhere we might find an answer that will allow us to defeat the Nomads entirely. We have many vessels exploring the deepest reaches of Nomad territory, aquiring valuable information and artefacts that we may use against the Nomads. Yet our efforts so far have been in vain, we are too few, and our knowledge to little to have made a difference yet, but we grow stronger. We are always in need of captains brave enough to go up against the Nomads, I believe it is the best chance for humanity to defeat the Nomads." As he got up to leave he slid a data jack across the table. "This contains the codes for the Zoner transponder, should you wish to fly as a Zoner equip this with your IFF." With that he left.
When I returned to my ship I came straight here to my cabin. I gave the crew permission to go enjoy the facilities on Freeport 9 for the rest of the day. They need some time to unwind anyway, and I need to decide my next move. What the Zoner told me fits with what I already suspected, but what theyre doing seems like madness. Do I really want to go up against the Nomads, alone and outnumbered, in order to aquire cargo that the researchers may work with. Though the idea scares me, I think I agree, this could well be the best chance humanity has, and my best chance to earn Yari's forgiveness, to do something good with my life. If I die that is no big loss to humanity, but if the Zoners succeed, it could be our salvation.
My head is swimming, I think I will go lie down.
Entry 14
It seems like 12 hours rest has done me little benefit. I feel weighed by the pressures of so many questions. I believe I will fly as a Zoner, even though I need not decide right away. But it is not as though they are the only faction conducting research. Yet I fear that all of the major houses are too afraid to really take the risks. Nomad equipment and bio matter is banned throughout the Inner systems. They are terrified of contamintaion, and admittedly whilst we dont understand and so cannot truely be safe, I fear we will loose this battle if we do nothing, if we hamper ourselves with caution.
I recieved a message from the Zoner before he left dock a few hours ago. It gave coordinates in Omicron Gamma for a jumphole into Nomad occupied space. He recommended that I see the enemy for myself before I make any decisions. Unfortunately the crew enjoyed themselves a bit too much yesterday. I doubt that even one in six of them is in a stable state this morning. I dare not fly them into the Nomad space with hangovers, I think I will need them to be sharp. So I have ordered a rehaul of the ship, every pipe, circuit board and unit is to be checked for damage or leaks. Best cure for a hangover, keep them too busy to notice. Hopefully they will be more ready to face the Nomad space by tomorrow, in the mean time we have undocked from Freeport 9 and now maintain an orbit around the station, I didnt want to leave the crew the temptation of repeating last night again tonight.
In my opinion a good captain doesnt command his crew to do anything he wouldnt do, so on that note, I better go get my hands dirty.
Entry 15
It is time. I am as ready as I will ever be. The ship is as ready as it will ever be. The crew is, well the crew is s**t scared, and I dont blame them, but I know they wont fail me. Personally I dont know if I should be more afraid of the Nomads, or Karla. She is unmoved by my plans, as if going to deliberately engage Nomads with an unexperienced captain and a crew unfamiliar to the ship holds no meaning to her. Seriously this woman gives me the creeps. I am having to work hard to control my own emotions, Yari was aboard a more powerful vessel than this, with a veteran crew, the day she died. Is this how she was feeling in the last hours of her life? Oh mother, how I miss you still.
I must get on the bridge, it is time to get underway.
Entry 16
This could be the last communication I ever send.
We jumped into the Nomad system on full battle alert, and instantly came under fire from a whole fleet of Nomad ships. If the Order think theyre keeping the numbers of Nomads down I think they need to open their damn eyes. 1 Battleship, 2 Gunboats and 4 Fighters opened fire without warning. We are only alive thanks to being in the jumphole still, helm reversed thrust and jumped us straight back through. But not without damage. We have holes to several decks, and vented alot of atmosphere, the shield now holds this tub together, if it fails once more I have no doubt the ship will come appart. But thats no the worst of it. The battleship hit the oxygen tanks, a lucky shot no doubt, which exploded. We had a fire across a whole deck. The bulkheads managed to contain it to that deck, and the safety systems quickly doused the fire. But we are now running on what oxygen we have left. Every breath taken is another breath towards our last. The nav computer is down. Randy claims to have some skills with electronics so he is down in the core right now trying to set up a bypass to the mainframe so that we may retrieve nav data, even if it is on hardcopy. Il do the damn algarythmns on paper if I have to, we have about 6 hours before we suffocate. The nearest planet I can recall in this sector was Planet Crete...the home of the Corsairs. I am loathe to request their help, but it is not like I have any choice in the matter. Still first things first, we must get there. I still dont know how many crew have been lost, I dread to hear the figure, the lives are on my head, I brought them here, they died for me.
I must return to the bridge, I cannot have them thinking I am a coward.