A battle cruiser flashed back into real space followed shortly by three additional frigates. The battle cruiser’s surface was marred with several impacts and scorch marks but didn’t appear to have suffered any real loss in functionality. The ship’s inhabitants had a simple mission; loot, burn, and steal in whichever order seemed appropriate at the time. Slowly turning, the ships checked their last projected coordinates and began preparing for their final jump.
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Engineer’s Log Day 201
Alright so the plans for the little drones have been accelerated. The difficult bit was supposed to be getting the xythans to fork over explosives but I forgot how entirely blast happy they are. I literally just asked for a small amount to test my idea and I received a record speed response of, and I quote, “Ok, go for it and let us know how it goes.” No restrictions, no warnings, no nothing, just rapid access to explosives. To be entirely fair, they are probably feeling the pressure of a looming invasion even more acutely than I am. I mean, I’m just one person and if push comes to shove, I can try and just rough it in the wild. It’d suck but I could probably do it if I’m ready ahead of time. They have a whole population center to worry about and a lot of moving pieces to worry about on top of that. It’s also entirely possible that they’ve learned that I’m an actual professional and to be trusted to not cause chaos.
HA! As if!
More seriously, the few tests I did run actually seemed somewhat successful. I can’t put that much on the plane so it’s certainly not taking out anyone with combat armor on but the drone’s suicide attack was still potent enough that any hostiles probably can’t really afford to ignore any planes so you know, worst case scenario, they’ll make for an excellent distraction.
Engineer’s Log Day 202
The first of my mounted defenses has been set up and passed its integration tests with the shields around the base. It took a bit of time today but with the original base as a starting point, I was able to knock it out right quick. If I can continue working at this speed, I’ll be done in about four or so days. To that end, I cannot stress exactly how much the Reshapers actually pushed my project through to completion. They were such an immense help and I cannot stress how nice they were to work with. These lads managed to help me get my rebar ready and molds up and ready and have still managed to find time to make a not insignificant amount of housing. Actually in awe.
Speaking of good work ethic, I went and checked the progress on anti-ballistic and anti-aircraft emplacements and good night have they made some progress. I guess what I was seeing initially was just the warm up because they went and covered a small country’s worth of land with enough launchers to truly impress. Obviously, we can’t protect everywhere on the planet with the time we have to set up but they’ve certainly been making an effort.
While I’m still going to need to mount the shield generators and turrets, the Reshapers have just about finished their work up and are getting ready to head on out. They’ve finished the aforementioned housing up which means that the base is officially ready for habitation! Now, while I've not been kept in the loop concerning the particulars here, my understanding is that we’re planning on moving folks over gradually in groups of like twenty or so at a time. Something about helping folks get adjusted or something like that? I don’t know the particulars but the xythans hardly want to abandon their small town and I feel very much the same about my base. I’ll tell you what, it would make it an absolute shame if we did end up abandoning both only to have the pirates never show up. Actually, I think I’d prefer that now that I say it out loud.
Engineer’s Log Day 203
Work has been proceeding apace but I encountered a bit of an interesting problem. I’ve been keeping track of time recently via the use of these audio logs. Before this, I kept a general eye on the electronic calendars but never really thought much of them before today. I’ve been running with the idea that 28-30 days belong in a month but that’s just Standardized Sol Times or SST. Obviously each habitable planet will have varying lengths for their days and years and sometimes, the residents of a planet will use an alternate and more convenient form of time keeping. Personally, I grew up on New Abrams and while we used Earth length months, we only had 7 in total. I know there are a few places where they just split their year into ten months and then called it a day regardless of length.
Ha! Unintentional puns.
But back to the topic at hand. I know that when we landed we knew the length of the year and had already divided up. The problem here is that I don’t remember now how we had it divided up and I don’t know where I would even begin to look to find that information.
I could ask the xythans if they had received any communications about that from us but I strongly suspect that I would receive the xythan calendar right back. The base’s clocks aren’t helpful since they all just use the New Abrams calendar by default. If I do want to make a calendar, I suppose I could be a boring individual and just use the original Gregorian calendar and add a few extra days to each month but let’s be real, being normal was never really on the table for me. I’m legally obligated to choose something stupid given the fact nobody can nay say me.
Each year here lasts 350 days with some change which actually breaks down really nicely into a whole lot of numbers which in turn, gives me a lot of options. This kinda means that dividing things is up to my taste and that I can change it to fit my personal desires. I think I’ll make it fit a naming scheme, maybe something classical? Hmmm.. I’ll soundboard a few ideas later with Darana.
While all of this stuff isn’t super important, I’ve been needing a bit of a distraction recently. I can feel stress building up since the festival and am like 90% of the way to developing an ulcer.
Engineer’s Log Day 204
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
The distraction I needed was found this afternoon when a three way dance off broke out. I was grooving to some of my music while cleaning and at some point Bayfur snuck in and started copying me. Once I realized, I began introducing him to the intricacies of hitting a Rick Roll to the music. Naturally this commotion summoned Darana who was fully prepared to bust out a few moves of her own and from there it fully degenerated.
I definitely styled on her. Yup, yup, yup! She 100%, definitely, totally didn’t absolutely show me up. My practicing of dance moves now is definitely to keep the lead.
Yeah...
Nah.
Engineer’s Log Day 206
Today was kind of nice for a number of reasons. Yesterday, the cement mixture had finally finished drying which meant that I could peel off the molds and begin mounting everything which leads into today where I managed to finish mounting the last of the base defenses. The base is now officially and fully defended. Not heavily defended mind you but defended nevertheless. At this point, my goal is just to get down as many turrets as I can and increase the density of metal I put down range. Unlike the shields, turrets don’t add much in the way of energy draw so I can pretty safely just keep adding them. Regardless of work to come, I’m quite pleased with everything I’ve completed thus far.
With the new base completed, it's been decided that a new name needs to be chosen. Since the base is a joint effort between xythans and humans, I’ve decided to give Sarlunt a call and discuss it with him. We ended up going back and forth for a bit with different names and ended up landing at one I personally like, Camp Treaty. Xythans all seemed to like the name, or at least did object, so it’s more or less official.
A second bit of good news is that I have managed to secure my own private room to live in. It’s nothing more than a small hut with a bed, desk, and closet but it's private so I’ll still be able to keep to my own company. It’s got working air conditioning, optional sound damping, and a window that lets me keep an eye on my defensive emplacements which is a hell of a lot more than my college dorm rooms ever offered in all three regards and easily beats having mystery roommates. Apparently the Reforgers had a bit of spare time after they finished the main houses so they decided to make something for me. When this is all done, I’ll have to make them a gift basket.
Move-in on the base has been going pretty well so far. Several families have already made their way on over and gotten settled in. Darana and Bayfur have yet to move over which I have to say, I’m not super thrilled about but Darana says she has no intention of leaving me all on my lonesome and that aside, she wants to get all the human medical equipment moved over. She’s thinking she’ll keep working out of the base so long as I do and then catch a ride with me on HARP when I do make the final trip over.
While I appreciate the company and having access to medical supplies, I have zero faith that I’ll be able to just march over to Camp Treaty without some issue arising when the time comes. These things some how always end up complicated for me and I’m confident this will be no different. Is it bad luck to think like that? Maybe, but better to plan for the worst you know? When I have time I’ll set up a few contingencies
Engineer’s Log Day 208.1
Got some good work done and managed to finish up the last of this set of turrets. This is the second set of three I’ve finished. As I jump into the third set, I might squeeze it a bit closer since I’ll have some spacing issues if I go for a fourth set. I also managed to finalize the drone designs and have been getting them ready at a pretty decent rate.
Engineer’s Log Day 208.2
The pirates have arrived. Will update as I get more information.
Engineer’s Log Day 208.3
Well, the pirates are here and I’m not a happy camper. I suppose it was too much to expect them to come during the day. Space doesn’t really have a day night cycle so it was really a coin toss as to if they showed up during the day or during the night. Just my luck I lost this one. We received a warning signal and location from one of the xythan satellites before they were all blown out of orbit.
You remember how I was doubting things would go smoothly when the pirates arrived? I was unfortunately right as I’m currently marching off into the wilderness instead of heading to Treaty like I originally planned. Some of the code in the backend of the xythan launchers went sour when the satellites started going boom and now all of their transports are being marked as hostile. We can’t fix this remotely and will need to manually disable a total of three launchers before anyone can safely fly towards Treaty. Since the transports can’t be used and the HARP is about the fastest all terrain land vehicle either party has, I’m currently sprinting through the dark with two xythan engineers strapped onto my back.
Right now, xythans are getting organized to begin a trek towards Camp Treaty since they really can’t afford to risk waiting around in the event that the pirates make an early landing and decide to visit. The infirmed are being moved into my base in preparation for the transports being able to fly again but worst case scenario, they’ll be sticking to my place. All my shit is powered up and ready to defend them so it’s probably one of the safer places right now.
We don’t have much information at the moment but what we do have is rather concerning. Our pirate pals have decided that punching down is funny and have brought a whole battlecruiser to the fight just to do that. We saw a few smaller ships that looked like barges but we can’t be entirely certain as they seem to be quite keen on picking off the satellites that do have anything to tell us. Small mercies, they seem to be taking their time picking those off and haven’t decided to try anything with us directly yet but it’s only a matter of time.
The part that really makes me nervous is that we haven’t received any messages from them yet which is particularly ominous. No statement of objectives, no bartering, no nothing. Just silence.
Engineer’s Log Day 209
I’m so tired right now. I ended up marching through the better part of the night to the first launcher and only ended up getting 2 or so hours of light sleep before the engineers fixed the problem and we could run off to the next. Only two more turrets to go! Weeeeeee…
If I still had hair, it’d be turning a nice silvery grey right now.
I’ve been keeping in contact with Sarlunt and at this point all of our satellites are gone. Fortunately, we were able to sus out a bit more information on our opponents before we lost the last of them. The battle cruiser we spotted initially isn’t a design any of us are familiar with although it’d be hard to say all that much without seeing the interior of the sucker. We were also able to identify two frigates lurking nearby that appear to be repurposed trading ships. They don’t have weapons which I’m thankful for but the battlecruiser more than makes up for that with enough point-defense to protect all parties with our current firepower.
The pirates haven’t been idle either and have been probing our defenses with a few missiles. Nothing super heavy so far but they’re definitely up to something and the sooner I can be away from these launchers the better.
The pirates have still maintained their silence so maybe they’re still in the decision phase? I mean, we have a lot of rockets so maybe they’ll figure we aren’t worth the effort and’ll just screw off.