Alex Chou's Log for: 12/29/2351 11:23


I don't really have time for logs, but I just need to collect my thoughts. Just two days... wait, no three, well a little over 2 days. The days have all just run together for me. 2 days ago I thought that I'd be dead by now, but here I am still going. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the crew. 152 people were killed in the fight. I'm still trying to piece together everything thats happened.

2 days ago we were ready to carry out our suicidal distraction plan so that the other Guerrilla Cruisers could escape from the Sol System. Less than an hour before execution time all of the Vinak battle cruisers suddenly left their patrol routes and converged on the position of the Cruisers we were supposed to help escape. I have to guess that they were somehow detected by the Vinak They were soon surrounded and attacked. We were on the other side of the solar system and couldn't help our brethren. At this point the plan changed. Essentially, They were now the distraction for our escape.

The Captain started barking out orders. "Helm, Full speed to the Volga Warp point. Weapons, put us into Battle Mode!"
"Sir, there's still one Vinak Ship guarding that warp point", Pierre politely reminded.
The Captain turned to Lieutenant Chang and said, "Weapons, concentrate everything we got on that ship. I want it destroyed before we go through the warp point." That's when some shipmate, I never knew her name, delivered the fateful news.
"Captain, I've picked up 2 additional Vinak cruisers heading our way.
"Pierre, bring up the tactical", Harris ordered. Pierre brought up the tactical display in the center council. Pierre then did some calculations for the Captain.
Pierre announced the results, "We'll be within the Vinak weapons range of their ships before making it through the warp point".
Harris stood by his original orders, "Weapons, ignore the other ships, concentrate everything on the ship already guarding the warp point."

It was a rough ride, but we made it through the warp point and the Vinak guard ship was destroyed before going through. Now, the Volga system was still held by humans at the time of Earth's surrender. Therefore, while we didn't necessarily expect to find any Human forces in the Volga system, we definitely didn't expect to see Vinak Cruisers in the Volga system already. However, 3 of them were waiting for us the moment we flew through the warp point and appeared in the Volga system. The firefight was intense. This little ship really showed it's colors. We destroyed 2 of those SOBs within minutes. That's when the Vinak cruisers that were chasing us in the Sol System came through. Our power was dropping fast and our armor was filling up with holes so the Captain had us retreat into open space. We were pursued and the fight continued. It wasn't long after that that our hull armor was falling apart and we were losing power throughout the ship. That's when we lost our Engines and ended up floating.

At this point, the Vinak could've probably finished us off if they'd wanted, but they had other plans in store for us. They were going to try and capture the ship. They stopped firing on us and then started launching their invasion pods into our hull. I think each one contained a boarding party of 6. The front of them would boar right into our hull - any place where our outer armor had already been destroyed. I don't know how, but those boarding parties all knew the quickest way to the ships Command Center. Security locked down the C.C. At this point, I don't know if the Captain was a genius or just a stubborn old curmudgeon that refused to give up. Either way his final orders is what won the battle. "Chou", He called me by name instead of station, "no matter what happens, you keep my fucking ship together you understand me?"
"Yes sir!". I said.
"And I mean NO. MATTER. WHAT."
"I understand".
Chang, the same goes for weapons. You keep firing whatever weapons we have at those Vinak SOBs until their ships are destroyed."
"Yes Sir!" he replied.

Every other person in the Command Center, except me and Chang grabbed a weapon. Security kept reporting that the boarding parties were getting closer to the Command Center. Our Security forces and systems just weren't able to stop all of them. Then Chang must've gotten in a lucky shot and managed to destroy one of the 3 Vinak ships. Our celebration ended quickly. The remaining 2 ships started firing on us again - I guess they were getting impatient with their boarding parties.

Everything after that point was a blur. I did what the Captain said, through the fire fight and all I just stared at my console and kept the ship together from the outside blasts. Diverting power, closing off sections that were breached, and dispatching what Engineers were left. I didn't look away no matter what. Even when I heard people screa... I didn't look up. That's all, I just... didn't look up.

An additional security team showed up just in time. They killed the last of those Vinak SOBs, but it was too late. Not only had the Command Center been tore apart, but Captain Harris, Pierre, Chang, and just about everyone else that was in the Command Center had bought it. It was just Steele, me, and some shipmate I'd never even met until that day. That's when the chief of the security team that saved our butts looked at me and asked, "Sir, what are your orders?" He realized it before even me, I was now the highest ranking officer on the ship.
I looked at Chief Miller, I found his name out later, "Take the security station and coordinate our effort to get rid of our Vinak infestation."
"Yes Sir." he said.
I surprised even myself when I started giving more orders. "Steele take the weapons station. I want those Vinak ships destroyed. You there, Shipmate. What's your name?"
"Chavez, sir"
"Chavez, take the-"
"Chou!", Steele interrupted, "The weapons console isn't responding."
I rolled my eyes and said, "Then reconfigure one of the auxiliary stations. Shipmate Chavez, take the helm."
"Yes Sir", he said with a shaky voice. I bet he never expected to be piloting a 40,000 ton ship when he woke up this morning.
"Miller, how's our infestation?" I asked.
"Uh... It looks like-"
Steele suddenly interrupted, "Sir! I can't get a lock on the last ship".
"God damnit you have a bad habit of interrupting." I yelled, "What's the problem?"
"The Vinak have resumed firing on us. There's still one Vinak ship, but it's angled so that none of our working lasers can hit it" I looked at Chavez.
"I can't get anything to work, we're still adrift", he said.
I was about to panic when a decompression alarm was set off on my station. It gave me an idea. "Chavez, get on the ship comm and order everyone off of deck 11. It's about to be decompressed. Steele, the ship is about to go into a multi-axis roll."
Guessing what I had in mind, she asked, "Chou, are you sure about this idea?". To be honest, at the time, I wasn't too sure about the idea, but we didn't have a lot of time to debate options.
"It'll be just like the maneuver the Johannesburg pulled." She stared at me blankly. I could tell that she had no idea what I was talking about. I remembered reading about it in my history of military tactics class. It is an elective class for officers, but it should be required if you ask me. "Just be ready to fire everything we got."
Chief Miller, who I'd almost forgot about chimed in, "Sir, everyone is off of deck 11".
At that moment I opened the sealed doors were the Hull had been compromised and let atmosphere start escaping and sent the Constant into a slow, but steadily increasing spin. It took 1 minute and 30 seconds for the first operational gun to gain a shot, and it was the longest minute and a half of my life. By the time the Vinak realized what we were doing it was too late. We got lucky and our primary cannon was lined up for a shot. It must've hit a primary system because they didn't fire another shot after that and the rest of our weapons took care of them.

Since then the remaining Vinak on board were killed. Now we're trying to regain control of the ship. When we lost the engines we were going full speed into open space and now our inertia is carrying us further and further into open space. Which, for now, is fine with me because a dozen or more Vinak ships are trying to catch up with us. Fortunately, it should be a few days before that happens. So, I guess that's my priority, get control of the ship and then evade the pursuing Vinak battle cruisers. When I put it like that it doesn't seem as overwhelming.

System Command: End Log