{"id":1486,"date":"2026-03-24T23:10:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T23:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ordcantrell.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/24\/the-khuiumin-survivors-from-the-log-of-captain-krodo-rask\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T23:10:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T23:10:27","slug":"the-khuiumin-survivors-from-the-log-of-captain-krodo-rask","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ordcantrell.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/24\/the-khuiumin-survivors-from-the-log-of-captain-krodo-rask\/","title":{"rendered":"The Khuiumin Survivors – From the Log of Captain Krodo Rask"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

\u27e1 THE KHUIUMIN SURVIVORS \u27e1<\/h1>\n

Captain\u2019s Log \u2014 Krodo Rask<\/h3>\n

A Collection of Entries from the Khuiumin Campaign<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 55 \u2014 The Theft<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tiefe stole the planetoid today.<\/p>\n

Not just any planetoid \u2014 our<\/i> planetoid. The only one we had ever found.
\nOur foothold. Our claim. Our start.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t ask how. I didn\u2019t ask why.
\nI simply ordered the crew deeper into the Khuiumin Sector.
\nWhen someone steals your celestial body, you follow them.
\nThat\u2019s just good seamanship.<\/p>\n

I took a sip of rum and promised myself we\u2019d find something better.
\nOr burn something worse.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 63 \u2014 Reinforcements<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Deckhand Dobis deployed to join the system searches.
\nHe arrived with enthusiasm, a datapad, and a lunch he insisted on calling \u201ccombat rations,\u201d even though it was clearly just a sandwich.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m beginning to suspect Dobis joined the crew solely to eat sandwiches in new locations.<\/p>\n

I took a drink of rum to celebrate the reinforcement.
\nMorale improved.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 66 \u2014 More Reinforcements<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Commander Zaktu and Deckhand Morlen joined the search.
\nZaktu brought discipline.
\nMorlen brought questions.<\/p>\n

Many questions. Too many questions. I began to suspect he was writing a book.<\/p>\n

Dobis brought another sandwich.
\nI brought rum.
\nWe pressed on.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 81 \u2014 The Prize<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We captured a CR90 today.<\/p>\n

It was a clean operation \u2014 no casualties, minimal damage, and only one argument about who got to sit in the captain\u2019s chair for the victory photo.<\/p>\n

I later deleted the one where I wasn\u2019t centered.
\nCommand privilege.<\/p>\n

Then I had my moment with a bottle of rum.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 99 \u2014 The Break<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Set a rendezvous. Crew exhausted. Ships damaged.
\nI granted two weeks of leave while I repaired what was left of our fleet.<\/p>\n

The silence was refreshing.
\nThe repair bills were not.
\nThe rum helped.
\nThe rum always helps.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 101 \u2014 The Discovery<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Deckhand McGruff refused to take leave.
\nInstead, he scouted ahead and found a system not on any charts.<\/p>\n

The Khuiumin System.<\/b><\/p>\n

I recalled all hands immediately.
\nWe entered the system, looked at the planets, and collectively realized we were in way over our heads.<\/p>\n

After consulting Quartermaster Dampier and Commander Zaktu, we decided to call Bork Shalas, Khagan of the Son-Tuul Pride.<\/p>\n

He accepted.<\/p>\n

The Hordes began to move.<\/p>\n

We touched down on Courkrus and began claiming territory.
\nI drank rum with purpose \u2014 the kind of purpose that suggests you may need more rum soon.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 103 \u2014 The Pride Arrives<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first wave of Son-Tuul Pride forces arrived.
\nWith my crew on the ground, they took command of our ships without hesitation.<\/p>\n

They seemed delighted.
\nI pretended this was part of the plan.
\nThe rum helped with the pretending.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 104 \u2014 The Scouts<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Enemy scouts detected.
\nAnonymous friends warned me that hostile forces had intercepted the system\u2019s location.<\/p>\n

Skirmishes began.
\nThe Pride held the line in our ships.<\/p>\n

I began to suspect this campaign would not be relaxing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 105 \u2014 The Line<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

More Pride forces arrived.
\nSkirmishes escalated.
\nSo did my drinking.<\/p>\n

Space trembled on the edge of full battle.<\/p>\n

We held the line.
\nFor now.<\/p>\n

I suggested the enemy bring their own rum to this party \u2014 seemed only polite, given the turnout.<\/p>\n

I sipped my own rum and tried not to think about how often \u201cfor now\u201d had become part of my vocabulary.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 106 \u2014 The Ascent<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The battle intensified.
\nAs the best fighter pilot in my crew, I decided it was a waste to remain on the ground.<\/p>\n

I ascended.<\/p>\n

Joined a bomber squadron.
\nSlotted into a special task unit.
\nTogether, we pushed five Corona frigates out of the system \u2014 a feat that should not have been possible, yet somehow was.<\/p>\n

Afterward, the members of the task unit started calling me
\nKrodo Rask, Coronadile Hunter.<\/b><\/p>\n

I pretended not to enjoy it. I failed.<\/p>\n

We held the line.
\nBut the line was fraying.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 107 \u2014 The Swarm<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I counted at least fifteen enemy organizations in the system.<\/p>\n

Then five enemy fighter squadrons attacked me at once.
\nNot consecutively \u2014 simultaneously.
\nI survived easily, which surprised them more than it surprised me.<\/p>\n

During the exchange, Eli Descartes hailed me and, with the calm of a man watching someone else\u2019s problem, addressed me as:
\n\u201cThe Invincible Krodo Rask, Hero Pirate.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

I did not correct him.
\nI did, however, take a celebratory sip of rum once the smoke cleared.<\/p>\n

They fought hard.
\nWe held harder.<\/p>\n

My crew on the ground needed more time.
\nI intended to buy it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 108 \u2014 The Break<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Twenty-five enemy organizations now.<\/p>\n

Two organizations cannot hold against twenty-five forever.
\nI admired our optimism.<\/b><\/p>\n

The line broke.
\nThey reached the planet.<\/p>\n

We continued supporting from above, but the ground forces would decide the outcome.<\/p>\n

I drank rum, but only a little \u2014 needed my hands steady.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 109 \u2014 The Victory<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Word arrived: Courkrus seized.<\/p>\n

A good feeling.
\nA rare feeling.<\/p>\n

But something felt wrong.
\nA shadow behind the triumph.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t shake it.
\nRum did not help this time.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 110 \u2014 The Last Ship<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most of our ships on the ground were destroyed.
\nOne remained hidden.<\/p>\n

Everyone still alive attempted to reach it for exfiltration.<\/p>\n

I paced the deck. The deck offered no solutions.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 111 \u2014 The Loss<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nearly everyone extracted.<\/p>\n

Deckhand McGruff fell under fire.
\nBork Shalas went to his aid and ordered the others to exfil without him.<\/p>\n

Then the worst news:
\nWe lost control of the planet.
\nOur people stranded.<\/p>\n

I swore I would not rest until every last one was extracted.<\/p>\n

I meant it.
\nThe rum bottle trembled in my hand.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 115 \u2014 The Miracle<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Word arrived: Bork Shalas, Deckhand McGruff, and the others extracted by a smuggling team.<\/p>\n

A miracle.
\nA small one, but I\u2019ll take it.
\nI\u2019ve learned not to be picky.<\/b><\/p>\n

This campaign has taken years off my life.
\nPossibly decades.
\nDefinitely rum.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Year 27 Day 117 \u2014 The Survivors<\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The campaign is ended.
\nThe battle is over.
\nWe are leaving this forsaken system behind.<\/p>\n

Khuiumin should have been our haven \u2014 our home.
\nInstead, it became a crucible of blood and fire.<\/p>\n

But we survived.
\nWe are survivors.
\nKhuiumin Survivors.<\/b><\/p>\n

And our coffers are filled with credits.<\/p>\n

But I need more rum.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Captain Krodo Rask<\/b>
\nPilot of Miracles
\nCoronadile Hunter
\nInvincible Hero Pirate (according to Eli Descartes)
\nAnd, apparently,
\nA Khuiumin Survivor<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u27e1 THE KHUIUMIN SURVIVORS \u27e1 Captain\u2019s Log \u2014 Krodo Rask A Collection of Entries from the Khuiumin Campaign Year 27… <\/p>\n

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