The KMS Konigsberg and her crew.

[Numberwang]

Here is my first AAR (well its an in progress action report, just jumped in to my third system)! Hope you enjoy.

T1 - KMS Konigsberg sets off from the safety of a nebula carrying vital plans! Its crew consists of myself, Captain Hans Dichter, chief weapons officer Commander Hans Landa, as well as shield specialist Lt. Karl Hungus. We are sure of this mission and that the ideals and training we have received from the Federation will see us through.

T2 - We could not quite clear the nebula, and the outer edges are beset by plasma storms! Many wrecks float by our view-ports. Sensors are useless. We search the wreckage for possible survivors or parts to help us on our vital mission. Eureka! Spare parts and an advanced Burst Laser Mark III. Lt. Hungus needs to get to work upgrading our systems to install this fine piece of advanced weaponry.

T3 - Jump into open space, well not quite open. Asteroids...and the remains of a ship. We salvage a few missiles with high yield warheads as well as the bits of the launcher assembly and spare hull plating. As we spool up the FTL we pick up a distress signal, but its back the way we came. We must investigate under Article 42-5 of the Federation charter.

T4 - An illegal mining operation gone awry, the small criminal vessel is trapped between two large 'Roids. We can't just leave them, we power up the lasers and see if we can free them. A large explosion! The scanners didn't pick up that bit of volatile ore, but we'll pick up whats left of the criminal's vessel. Lt. Hungus says we will need the wiring and shielding from the wreckage to install that new Burst laser.

T5 - We've jumped into the sights of a pirate slaver that is demanding we hand over a crew member. Slaver scum, prepare to be brought to justice. All power to the engines, target their modified shield systems! The slavers first few volley's missed wildly. We were able to quickly breach their shields and disarm their weapons and disable their engines. They quickly offered to free one of their slaves if we spared them. We accepted their terms, with any luck their disabled ship would be overtaken by our Rebel pursuers and destroyed. In the end we gained a new crew member Jon Fischer, we set about putting him to work in the engine room.

T6 - The rebel fleet has appeared on our scanners. As we try to lose them in a nebula we are engaged by a reluctant Rebel captain. We however show no reticence in blasting holes in the Rebel ship. A carefully placed missile damages their shield systems, as we are rocked by laser fire. Cmd. Landa returns fire with our burst laser but the jolt causes us to miss most of our shots. The Rebel cowards attempt to jump out of system but a quick burst from our cannons disable their engines. The reticent Captain tries to bribe us into freeing him. Rebel scum. Comm systems off, line up the shot, take it Landa. One less traitor vessel, now we need to get into that Nebula before the rest of the Rebel fleet arrives to see what happened to Brave Sir Captain Robin.

T7 - Who knew this cloud of gas was a tourist destination. Certainly not us. A small station proprietor offers to trade us missiles for fuel. "Sorry buddy, can't do it. We're dipping into our reserves as is and we need to get jumping."

T8 - We were able to shake the rebels for now. I plotted a course and jumped into empty space to get our bearings. They're relentless, we need to keep moving. Perhaps to that flotilla of alien vessels, they may have something useful for us.

T9 - An Engi convoy. We were able to use the scrap we've scavenged to refuel and repair. An eager Engi named Tach offered his services so we picked him up. He'll be more suited to the Engine room. We let Jon keep his engine room tool set and have him on repair duty now.


T10 - We've arrived at the long range beacon, time to jump out of system. But then we stumbled across a disabled Rebel Auto Scout. Don't know who our benefactor was that left him here but we're going to strip it down before it powers back on. We hit the beacon, several civilian sectors lay before or us or we could go through Rock territory. We need to get this information back to headquarters, we'll take the safe path.

T11 - We enter Engi space. We plot a course that takes us through a densely populated region. Jump!

T12 - Another disabled Rebel Auto Scout. Who are we chasing that keeps leaving these in our path. Karl is sure he can download useful information about this sector from the drone. Its surely just coincidence that we've encountered two of these drones, but the crew is convinced its a sign. I let Karl give it a go at hacking into the Auto Scout. Not only was he able to pull out some fuel and parts, but we have accurate info on this system. Several contacts light up the scopes, but on the other end is a distress call. Article 42-5 of the Federation charter and my years of training beckon me on that path. But first I see a supply station just ahead on the NavComp.

T13 – Well we don't have much scrap to trade with the Engi hive, what we do have we put towards fuel. Sorry Landa, you'll have to wait to get those laser upgrades. We head towards the first of the contacts blocking us from that distress call.

T14 – A slug interceptor is waiting for us. They claim we have information they need. Do they know what we carry or are these just loud mouthed braggart pirates? No time to find out, we move into engage. Landa lines up an Artemis rocket to their shield system and follows it up with a quick laser burst to their weapons. Both systems completely disabled. Another volley takes out their engines, but they're repairing quick! Their shields are up and their FTL is attempting to spool. Weapons free, take them down before they escape. Two more direct hits and their hull breaks apart. Now only one more ship stands in our way.

T15 - A Mantis raider. We only know one way to deal with Mantis. We lock weapons on but before we can even fire two of their warriors teleport into the Weapons Bay. Landa is hurt bad and runs to med lab. “Boarders! All hands to the weapons bay to repel them.” I drop engine power, set the computer to autofire and start up the auto medbots. Landa stumbles into the medbay as Jon, Karl and I rush past him and into Weapons to engage the borders. They cut me and Karl down quick we have to retreat into sickbay and push a half healed Landa back into the fray. Jon, tough bastard he is, sticks it out with the Mantis for two solid minutes, two of them against him. Don't know how he did it. Then our engine room is rocked by missile fire. Luckily the Engi Tach didn't respond to the order to repel borders. “Repairs are in progress, sir!” Karl and Landa get back into the weapons bay just as the Mantis teleport out. Bad move bugs, Hans Landa has you in his sights now. They probably materialized back in their teleporter room just in time to be sucked into space as their ship broke apart. We all take a turn in med bay before heading off to the source of the distress call.

T16 – We jump into system, an empty pirate hulk drifting in front of us. We manage to find some useful material, but was it worth it? Those Mantis nearly killed half my crew With the scrap we found Landa and Hungus are able to rig up some power to the Burst Laser III, but we can't have both the laser and Artemis missiles running at the same time. Rebel ships are on sensors. No time to worry about it now. We plot a course to the beacon.

T17 – We jump into an inhabited system. The Engi inhabitants, who promise to pay handsomely, ask us to fight off Rebels who are attacking one of their outposts. Apparently the Rebels and their twisted laws and beliefs have labeled this outpost an illegal operation. I'll take the reward, but I'm taking this mission to make these Rebels pay.

T18 – We jump in hot, but the Rebels were on alert. Before we can even blink they've teleported a boarder into our starboard airlock. He rushes into the Weapons Bay, I send Jon in to reinforce Hans Landa. Weapons! I need them. I take manual control and lock on our new Burst Laser, no time like the present to see how these things perform. An incoming missile hits our engine room, Tach is on repairs in no time. Meanwhile, Hans Landa and the boarder exchange laser fire and Jon rushes in to the melee. He beats the Rebel boarder to death with his wrench. He smiles at Hans after caving in the Rebel's skull. But the celebration is cut short as another missile hits directly into the weapons bay. Jon is gravely wounded and limps to medical. Damn! That hit knocked out power just before the Burst Laser fired. Hans Landa powers up our trusty old Burst II and Artemis combo while I give the medbay power for Jon. More incoming fire, we evade the first missile and our shields absorb laser fire. Landa puts a rocket into their shield generator, damaging it. Then a volley into their weapon system knocking it out as another one of their missiles impacts our hull. Well at least we stopped them firing. Power up that Burst III and let 'em have it. Blast this thing is slow to charge, they have shields and weapons spooling up again, but a precision blast from the new cannon decimates their engines. We prepare for impact, two more rockets hit us again in the engine section causing a serious fire. Tach is wounded and makes for medbay. Jon grabs his tool kit and heads into the fire, fearless as ever. The second rocket hits weapons, again disabling the Burst III midcharge. Switching to auxiliary weaponry, just finish off these Rebels Hans, this job is getting too complicated. Two more missiles slam into engineering, Jon is wounded and burned, engines are offline, we have a hull breach! All hands to engineering, but not before Landa finishes off the Rebels with a blast from trusty Betty Burst II. We lost a significant amount of O2 as we fought the fires that spread from engineering, we're all suffering from smoke inhalation and need a trip to sickbay. After a short rest I hit the comms, the station offers to sell us fuel and repairs. That's the thanks we get? We'll take what we can get, everyone back to battlestations.
We need to head for the beacon, the Rebel fleet is in close pursuit.

T19 – Another Rebel ship, the fleet must be close. This one turns tail and runs as soon as they see us. That's fine, the crew needs a break from the fighting.

T20 – We jump into an empty asteroid system, last jump I was happy for an uneventful hop. Now I'm looking at our supplies and hoping we run into something out here or else we won't have what it takes to finish our mission.

T21 – We jump to the beacon, but before we can make it out of system we pick up a Rebel drone attacking a refueling station. The drone is well shielded, we put a barrage into her port weapons bay disabling it, but only after a missile hits the bridge. Sparks fly, Jon and I are both scorched, but able to repair the systems damage and keep the Konigsberg maneuvering. The drone dodged our next missile, but flew right into Betty Burst's laser fire, knocking out the engine. We finished off the listless drone with laser fire to conserve ammunition and proceeded to the refueling station. With the supplies we gathered we were able to upgrade the shields, Karl was glad for the chance to upgrade his babies. But in order to run the shields at full power we will have to throttle back the engines and disable medbay. Lets hope we can upgrade the reactor soon. Perhaps in the next system, another Engi controlled sector.



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[Numberwang]

T22 – We continue on through troubled Engi space. Another distress beacon dead ahead. I punch the coordinates into the Nav computer.

T23 – We jump in to find another crew of illegal miners, trapped by their own greed between two asteroids. I ask Karl to take a detailed scan, and have Landa aim away from the mineral deposits. But my careful planning was to no avail. The asteroid came apart, taking the pirate vessel with it. We've seen so much on this journey that I feel nothing for these criminals fate. I do see a trading post on the scanners, we need to put this pirate scrap to good use.

T24 – We use the little scrap we have to refuel and repair. The Engi tell us of another trading station nearby, but we have nothing to trade. I punch up another system hoping to find some more scrap to trade with.

T25 – Perhaps we're in luck. Sensors detect a Rebel ship guarding a military supply cache. I signal the order to attack, we need to get in and out before the rest of the fleet arrives. Just as I close the comms, the Rebel vessel cloaks itself. These Rebels get trickier by the system. There they are, just to our aft. We take a few laser blasts to the hull and return fire, a devastating blast to the unshielded craft that impairs their weapon and cloaking system. But not enough to stop them from skulking back into hiding. The mindless Auto Drone comes out of cloak and fires its lasers fruitlessly into our shields, but its fate is sealed with another precision blast from Landa's weapon arrays. We quickly board the station to find it empty. No wonder such a useless defense craft was left here.

T26 – We jump in to the second Engi trading post, trying to barter the scraps of the Rebel scout, but there is nothing of import to be found in the Engi's wares. The Rebel fleet is in system, we push on.

T27 – The Engi sure are a resourceful lot. We come a cross one of their salvage crews fiddling about with a cache of weaponry left behind from the Federation-Mantis wars. They suggest we booby trap the cache to slow our pursuers. I suggest they step away from the goods, we need the equipment for our mission. I should have looked at the goods first before I had them bring it aboard. A bunch of damaged scrap and a boarding drone. Store it in the cargo bay until we can rig up a drone control bay.

T28 – Yet another distress beacon, and yet another trap! A Slug heavy cruiser gloats over their clever trap as we enter the system. I've heard it all before slug. The slugs open up with a wildly inaccurate volley of laser and missile fire. Its not long before we have all their systems disabled and their captain begs for mercy. So much braggadocio as we entered the system, so little dignity as we pick them apart with laser fire.

T29 – The Rebel fleet is slowly plodding through the system behind us. Even though the beacon is within reach I plot a course perpendicular to the Rebels, taking us into a system with an Engi research station. This particular station is beset upon by dirty Mantis raiders. The Mantis, as is their way, beam two of their warriors onto the bridge. Clever move, but they didn't count on Jon, my trusty bodyguard. I hit shields to max as Jon buys us enough time to level a volley at the enemy ship. Wounded we both strategically withdraw to medical, I have to reroute power from the shields back to medbay. The rest of the crew rallies to the bridge to repel the bugs. The Mantis, for all their vaunted hand to hand prowess, choose to retreat back to their battered ship. Its too little and too late, their extra appendages can't help repair their damaged ship before we crack its hull with precision fire. With the parts from their ship we're able to rig up better power capacitors, allowing us to fully power our shields.

T30 – The Rebel fleet is still futily searching in the sectors we've long since passed. I plot another lateral jump, this time we find an advanced Rebel scout. A powerful and well armed vanguard vessel, we aim for her engines first. Can't have them jumping out of system to bring the whole fleet down upon us. As they drift aimlessly they fire off a homing missile that hits our port side, causing a significant fire just outside of the Weapons Bay. No way to vent that fire into space I order the Jon and Landa to put it out before it spreads to the Life Support Systems. I switch over to the Burst Laser III to finish them off while Landa is distracted, the long charge cycle may give him enough to time to quell the fire and get back to his station. But the fire spreads into the Weapons Bay and the engine room is rocked by another missile. Engines are completely offline and Tach reports multiple fires around him and a shattered arm. I line up the shot on the Rebel fighter and tear it to pieces, a final plea from their captain echoing over the comm as their ship breaks apart. I order the beleaguered crew to sick bay and then vent the aft airlock to suppress the fires. With everyone back on their feet, the fires out, and the enemy neutralized we begin repairs to the engines and prep for our next jump. I notice several cracks in the hull.

T31 – We gamble on one more jump before we hit the beacon. Yet more pirates! These systems are infected with these rabble. They offer us a bribe to ignore what we've seen. -Not likely space villains. I order the attack, give them hell Landa! Our two ships trade light weapons fire, we're unable to pierces their heavy shielding. Their ion cannons suppress most of our shields, but their follow up attacks yield no damage. We trade several more volleys, their beam lasers raking harmlessly against our ionized shields. I can sense they are spooling up their FTL's and order consentrated fire upon their engine room. But it was too late, the pirate's escape to harrass other innocents. As we close in to offer aid to the vessel the pirates were after I realize that its a Rebel ship I see before us. I order its immediate destruction and move on to the beacon before the Rebel's can catch up.

T32 – We are fortunate enough to find a refueling station near the beacon, but as we begin docking procedures a cloaked Rebel Auto Drone descends upon us with blistering missile fire. We suffer heavy hull damage, multiple fires and a knocked out engine. Our return fire has no effect on the advanced Rebel fighter before it slips back into its cloak. All we can do is manage the damage until it shows its face again. As the Rebel uncloaks we are rocked again, hull breaches are opening up everywhere. Landa, focus and knock that bird out of the sky! We fire back damage several of their systems, but we can't take another hit. I watch as our rocket, our last hope, sails past the enemy vessel. Scanners report an incoming missile, I order the crew to abandon ship, but I was the only one that managed to eject. All I can do is float here in Engi space and hope other ships were more successful in deliver the plans to the Federation.


Not how I hoped it would end, not after such a promising beginning! My next report will be more story driven and less Captain's Loggy! Hope you enjoyed, this game is great. The losses are as fun as the victories!

[JRLegrasse]

You have some good writing skills, sadly an all too common way for stories to end, but that's just how it goes when you base it off a real game that's actually happening. Farewell Konisberg we hardly knew ye.