Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

July 30, 2007-Cpt. J Man 038-Classified location-2121 hours-

I haven't reported in a while, but what's the point. Nobody's out there to recieve this anyway. I guess I'm reporting to help myself feel better. My former commanding officer, Captain 024 is gone, and the leadership position was thrust upon me. The very day we were stranded on this planet, the remaining pieces of my faction were called to help another unit, my old captain's unit. Apparently, they had also crash landed, but they were held up in a capital ship about 47 kilometers away from our makeshift command center. At the time, we had only enough working energy generator towers to power a few C-65 dropships. C-65s were relatively small compared to other dropships and relied more on speed and manuverabillity to transport troops. Their firepower only consisted of two mounted pulse machine guns. I ordered three C-65s to get to Captain 024's crashed capital ship. Each C-65 could hold 6 troops other than the Pilots and gunners. Two of the three C-65s were loaded with medics and riflemen. One was empty for the sole purpose of evacuation. When we arrived at the downed capital ship it was in almost total ruin. The surviving crewmen were held up in the observation deck. There was an opening made for us to get troops in and out of the ship. Two of the C-65s unloaded their troops onto the deck, I was the first to board. The medics provided immediate assistance to the wounded. The Captain told me what exactly was going on. The ship was infested with disgusting organic insect-like creatures larger than dogs. Once the things made their way inside, the crewmen were forced to regroup, and so they did. The hatches to the observation decks were broken open from an attack barely lived. Riflemen guarded the position. The combat engineers rebooted the automated anti-personnel guard turrets around the ship. As we held the deck, crewmen were evacuated, starting with the injured. The Captain refused to leave until every last surviving personnel was evacuated. The ship was falling apart and it was only a matter of minutes until the observation deck was overrun. The dropships returned, but there were only a few minutes until we lost the ship to those things, but there wasn't enough room on the dropships for all of us. Four would have to be left behind. I urged the Captain to get on board, but he ordered me to take as many troops as I could and leave. I screamed with tears filling my eyes, "This isn't logical sir! You're our highest ranking and..." He interrupted me with a strong firm voice of a leader, "Well now you are! I told you, I'm not going anywhere until every last crewman was evacuated! My engineers and I will activate this ship's self-destruction. You have your orders! Now go!" The Captain and three of his most loyal engineers programed the engines and power generators to destroy themselves, taking the ship with them. The Captain was a close friend of mine, and I would have gladly taken his place on that doomed ship. He knew it too, and before departure he told me to lead my troops to a better future, a new beginning. I think of 024's words every day. How could I lead us to a better future. Where can we go? All I can do now, is pray for a miricle. As a child, I always dreamt of the glorious day that I'd become an 0-6 Captain, and now I regret that it had to happen.
-J Man 038 over n out