Year 27 Day 55 — The Theft

Tiefe stole the planetoid today.

Not just any planetoid — our planetoid. The only one we had ever found.
Our foothold. Our claim. Our start.

Now it’s gone.

I didn’t ask how. I didn’t ask why.
I simply ordered the crew deeper into the Khuiumin Sector.
When someone steals your celestial body, you follow them.
That’s just good seamanship.

I took a sip of rum and promised myself we’d find something better.
Or burn something worse.

Year 27 Day 63 — Reinforcements

Deckhand Dobis deployed to join the system searches.
He arrived with enthusiasm, a datapad, and a lunch he insisted on calling “combat rations,” even though it was clearly just a sandwich.

I’m beginning to suspect Dobis joined the crew solely to eat sandwiches in new locations.

I took a drink of rum to celebrate the reinforcement.
Morale improved.

Year 27 Day 66 — More Reinforcements

Commander Zaktu and Deckhand Morlen joined the search.
Zaktu brought discipline.
Morlen brought questions.

Many questions. Too many questions. I began to suspect he was writing a book.

Dobis brought another sandwich.
I brought rum.
We pressed on.

Year 27 Day 81 — The Prize

We captured a CR90 today.

It was a clean operation — no casualties, minimal damage, and only one argument about who got to sit in the captain’s chair for the victory photo.

I later deleted the one where I wasn’t centered.
Command privilege.

Then I had my moment with a bottle of rum.

Year 27 Day 99 — The Break

Set a rendezvous. Crew exhausted. Ships damaged.
I granted two weeks of leave while I repaired what was left of our fleet.

The silence was refreshing.
The repair bills were not.
The rum helped.
The rum always helps.

Year 27 Day 101 — The Discovery

Deckhand McGruff refused to take leave.
Instead, he scouted ahead and found a system not on any charts.

The Khuiumin System.

I recalled all hands immediately.
We entered the system, looked at the planets, and collectively realized we were in way over our heads.

After consulting Quartermaster Dampier and Commander Zaktu, we decided to call Bork Shalas, Khagan of the Son-Tuul Pride.

He accepted.

The Hordes began to move.

We touched down on Courkrus and began claiming territory.
I drank rum with purpose — the kind of purpose that suggests you may need more rum soon.

Year 27 Day 103 — The Pride Arrives

The first wave of Son-Tuul Pride forces arrived.
With my crew on the ground, they took command of our ships without hesitation.

They seemed delighted.
I pretended this was part of the plan.
The rum helped with the pretending.

Year 27 Day 104 — The Scouts

Enemy scouts detected.
Anonymous friends warned me that hostile forces had intercepted the system’s location.

Skirmishes began.
The Pride held the line in our ships.

I began to suspect this campaign would not be relaxing.

Year 27 Day 105 — The Line

More Pride forces arrived.
Skirmishes escalated.
So did my drinking.

Space trembled on the edge of full battle.

We held the line.
For now.

I suggested the enemy bring their own rum to this party — seemed only polite, given the turnout.

I sipped my own rum and tried not to think about how often “for now” had become part of my vocabulary.

Year 27 Day 106 — The Ascent

The battle intensified.
As the best fighter pilot in my crew, I decided it was a waste to remain on the ground.

I ascended.

Joined a bomber squadron.
Slotted into a special task unit.
Together, we pushed five Corona frigates out of the system — a feat that should not have been possible, yet somehow was.

Afterward, the members of the task unit started calling me
Krodo Rask, Coronadile Hunter.

I pretended not to enjoy it. I failed.

We held the line.
But the line was fraying.

Year 27 Day 107 — The Swarm

I counted at least fifteen enemy organizations in the system.

Then five enemy fighter squadrons attacked me at once.
Not consecutively — simultaneously.
I survived easily, which surprised them more than it surprised me.

During the exchange, Eli Descartes hailed me and, with the calm of a man watching someone else’s problem, addressed me as:
“The Invincible Krodo Rask, Hero Pirate.”

I did not correct him.
I did, however, take a celebratory sip of rum once the smoke cleared.

They fought hard.
We held harder.

My crew on the ground needed more time.
I intended to buy it.

Year 27 Day 108 — The Break

Twenty-five enemy organizations now.

Two organizations cannot hold against twenty-five forever.
I admired our optimism.

The line broke.
They reached the planet.

We continued supporting from above, but the ground forces would decide the outcome.

I drank rum, but only a little — needed my hands steady.

Year 27 Day 109 — The Victory

Word arrived: Courkrus seized.

A good feeling.
A rare feeling.

But something felt wrong.
A shadow behind the triumph.

I couldn’t shake it.
Rum did not help this time.

Year 27 Day 110 — The Last Ship

Most of our ships on the ground were destroyed.
One remained hidden.

Everyone still alive attempted to reach it for exfiltration.

I paced the deck. The deck offered no solutions.

Year 27 Day 111 — The Loss

Nearly everyone extracted.

Deckhand McGruff fell under fire.
Bork Shalas went to his aid and ordered the others to exfil without him.

Then the worst news:
We lost control of the planet.
Our people stranded.

I swore I would not rest until every last one was extracted.

I meant it.
The rum bottle trembled in my hand.

Year 27 Day 115 — The Miracle

Word arrived: Bork Shalas, Deckhand McGruff, and the others extracted by a smuggling team.

A miracle.
A small one, but I’ll take it.
I’ve learned not to be picky.

This campaign has taken years off my life.
Possibly decades.
Definitely rum.

Year 27 Day 117 — The Survivors

The campaign is ended.
The battle is over.
We are leaving this forsaken system behind.

Khuiumin should have been our haven — our home.
Instead, it became a crucible of blood and fire.

But we survived.
We are survivors.
Khuiumin Survivors.

And our coffers are filled with credits.

But I need more rum.