Moliskion: The Voyage of the Gard

Moliskion: Voyage of the Gard

Log of Leader Griefer, Mission Chief

Year 1 Day 1

In the tradition of our race I now start a Moliskion anew. The first day of this mission shall be the first day of a new era, and so from cover to cover, however many pages are filled, this is the log of our voyage and the history of our lives. All that went before is of little importance now. Only the success of the mission matters.

It was easier than I thought to capture and pilot one of the Earth forces' ships; although an advanced race it seems the concept of the unexpected still exists for them. The ship was one of the numerous, identical freighters we had seen making their rounds to Moli from whatever nearby base the Earth men used; it was too much traffic for them all to have come from Earth itself. I found the controls to be much the same as those I was used to; there are only so many ways to steer a craft. The auxilliary controls, of which there were many, were not used or needed during our brief flight to the spaceship graveyard; as with the engineers of our race, I correctly surmised that a degree of over-provision had been incorporated into the design of the stolen freighter, although even our mechanics would draw the line at heated seats and sub-lit flooring tiles.

The graveyard at first seemed an impassable tangle of ships and debris; only on reaching visual distance did we see a way through, and after only a short search, found the Gard.
It was still a mighty ship, noticeably less damaged by the corrosion of war and time than the hulks that surrounded it. It seemed the graveyard had escaped the attention of the scavengers who patrol space eager to strip such prizes; I smiled as I remembered the reason. We had given the Foul a home; without this offer they would have been the prime suspects should the Gard have been plundered.

Seeing no compatible docking point or sealable airlock, we crashed straight into the aft cargo bay. Donning suits against the void, we then passed into the main body of the ship through the lower airlocks and sealed up the bay and the now useless freighter. I regret this a little, but we should not need the mass-produced Earth ship. If it had been of Molisk construction, or even more so, from a Calamuran shipyard, I have no doubts it would have made the same manouevre with shielding to spare.

I have some concern over the state of the Gard mechanically; unused propulsion units soon become rusted and seized, and the main energy cells had run themselves flat many years before. It will take a little time to even see if we can start her; time I hope we have. It will not be long before the Earthmen launch a search for their craft. We have routed all power on the stolen ship to the cells of the Gard, and will be a beacon in space to anyone looking.

Year 1 Day 2

Work continues on the Gard, with no sign of Earth forces. I assume they are looking elsewhere; they are not aware of the Gard and possibly see no reason for running in this direction.

The propulsion units are turning, but no drive as yet. The transfer of energy from the stolen freighter has now been completed, and nothing has been left that might fuel a sensor or automatic transmitter. We should now be safe to continue our work.

Year 1 Day 3

I only pray that our measures to halt any pursuit have worked, for today I recieved grave news from Hunda, our chief Technician. The propulsion units, on close inspection, have become heavy with the deposits of space, and need meticulous attention to remove the offending matter. We may be here longer than we hoped. Hunda believes the work can be done in forty days; I have given him twenty.

With Kilber and Mophon, the war-weariest of our mostly young crew, I have begun making the most of our defences should the worst occur.
We sit inside a dead ship, but a battleship nonetheless.

Year 1 Day 6

Work continues on the propulsion units, and pleasing progress has been made. We remain undetected by Earth forces from the home planet but we cannot hide forever; we will have several days "alight" before we are able to leave, while all systems are readied to achieve the power we need to fly from this place. This is a time I do not look forward to.


Year 1 Day 11

Warrior Kilber has delivered his report on the assessment of the Gard's weapon systems. It makes for reassuring reading to find we now have both forward laser cannons on-line, all four orbital turrets are operational and able to fire both armour-spec plasma and short range missiles, of which there are a healthy compliment, and the shields are hardly damaged, and will activate to a decent capacity as soon as we put fuel through the engines. The Molisks who left the ship here left it with care and respect it seemed; some of the old damage had already been repaired, in the short time the crew had left on board. As each new array comes to life on the bridge, as each component part of this mighty ship finds it's feet for war again, I feel the same respect, and face the future with a new confidence.

Still no attempts have been made to search the Graveyard; we hide and wait, anxious for the readiness we need.


Year 1 Day 14

The main batteries are full, and we are risking partial activation of the major operating systems for necssary tests and evaluation; to fly on untried equipment would be suicidally foolish. Technician Hunda tells me we face at least ten more days of preparation before the propulsion units can be used. As their efforts increased, thicker and more stubborn deposits were found to be clogging up the chambers and exhausts of the main engine. All available hands have been put to the task; roll-call has become a parade of blackened hands and faces.


Year 1 Day 17

They have come for us.

Warrior Mophon, on duty in communications, detected the arrival of Earth ships into the Graveyard, and immediately all work was halted and all power was shut down. We cannot be sure if their sensors picked anything up; many of the thousand-plus ships still held ancient power in their cells and shields, and several had time-dulled lights and signal colours defiantly flickering and twinking against the void.

Mophon and Kilber have taken charge of the forward laser cannons, our strongest weapon. I remain on the bridge. All the turrets are manned and what little drive power we can safely use has been routed to go straight to the shields, with a little siphoned off towards the manouvering jets, as soon as the danger becomes imminent and we have no choice but to start our engines and reveal ourselves. We are on full alert.


Year 1 Day 18

Battle Report: Enemy was Earth Forces. Two Savage-Class long-range fighter-bombers approached our position from the direction of the home planet, through the middle of the spaceship graveyard. We followed our plan to remain hidden until the last possible moment. The Savages did their best to assist us by passing straight over our heads; Warrior Medloc reports visual confirmation of the number of crew on the bridge of the one that cruised by his turret. I can only imagine the wrecked cargo bay door from our "docking manouvre", which jutted out from its hinges ready to be jettisoned on our departure, made them presume the ship was dead.
It was not the most honourable of battles, but little of honour has been shown to us by these Earth men, and we need the time to carry out our mission. As soon as the Savages cleared the bow, I gave the order to fire up the smaller engines, and put all the manouvering power into the reverse thrusters, engaging all frontal shields at the same time. As the Savages halted and wheeled in space, the twin cannons raised together under the helmsmanship of Kilber and Mophon, and delivered the fatal blows. In all, the cannons fired seven times, and the mighty punches vaporised both ships in less than two seconds.

Log of Leader Griefer, Mission Chief

I resisted instructing the turrets to target debris; I was sure of no survivors, and felt uneasy with the practice of eliminating life-pods anyway. Once your ship has gone, you should be allowed a chance to get home, whatever you fought for.

We can only expect more; we work round the clock to achieve readiness. I shall take my shift in the drive chambers tonight and wear the dirt of my crew; we must not be prevented from leaving.


Year 1 Day 21

Communications report a fleet of around thirty ships heading from the home planet towards the spaceship graveyard. We cannot hope to fight so many and survive. It is estimated they will be upon us by morning, following the beacons of their lost scouts. Work continues.

Year 1 Day 22

A fine day to be a Molisk! As the ships drew closer we saw what we faced; As well as Savages, there were Vanquishers, Cormorant-Class fighters, several converted alien craft and a Gargant Heavy Cruiser, which no doubt slowed their progress. They were making their way through tighter areas of the Graveyard by means of destroying the obstacles in their way; it was with great concern we watched the scanners to see ships larger then the Gard set afire and destroyed in seconds as the Earth Forces ploughed toward us, and our only comfort was the power we had in our shields. We were limping it was true, but we were no derelict, empty hulk.
When the enemy convoy had become too close for any other action I gave the order to clear all workers from the propulsion units and for them to sound in when they had. Due to a crew thinking as one when it was most needed, within two minutes I had confirmation of all bodies clear, and started the engines of the Gard on full operational power. What followed was dramatic to say the least; the train of derelict mega-freighters that lay between our position and the relentless enemy convoy exploded in a curtain of light as the earth ships poured through towards the signal given by our awakened engines.
On the Bridge, the floor bucked and jolted as the choked-up propulsion units coughed with immense pressure, until a succession of horrendous cracks resounded from the exhausts, and a super-fast cloud of cleared deposits shot from the back like a farmers dirt-gun, damaging the foremost of the approaching ships and masking our intentions for a few crucial seconds; it was as if we had exploded in front of them before a shot was fired. With all rear shields powered up to maximum and a brace of short-range missiles sent out towards the enemy, I ordered us to full emergency speed. As our rockets exploded around the noses of our pursuers we accelerated away from the Graveyard under all available power and swiftly gained a good deal of ground; we had a pre-chosen route though the final hulks which allowed us rapid egress. Once out the range of the sensors on their ships, it only took a course to the far side of the home planet to avoid the Long-Range stations there. By the time the larger, faster enemy ships had readied their high-speed capability, we had effectively vanished; they would easily catch us, but not knowing which direction we took or the destination we seek, it would be pointless for them to try.

The Gard has proved itself, as has the crew. The mission continues.

New Chapters precede this post..... straight from the Czech republic

a bump for our absent friend, while he whiles away his summer in the good ole usa.

this is my favorite of all his tales

Log of Leader Griefer, Mission Chief

Year 1 Day 23

Today I am reminded that all things have an opposite. Our victory has been stained, and so soon. In escaping the Earth forces in the spaceship graveyard, we plotted a course that would lead us clear of the debris around us with little thought of a destination. My mission was to seek aid from the home planet and any colonies where the Molisk race thrived still, isolated and un-noticed. These colonies lay in every direction, and the lack of contact had with each was equal. Letting recklessness rule me, on a foolish whim I had chose to let the graveyard decide which one we would head for first. Whatever path took us out of the tangle of decaying ships, we would make our escape at full speed on that heading until we were clear. Then we would ascertain which of the colonies was closest to our position and commence the exploratory part of the mission. This allowed fate to do its worst.

We came out of the full burn to find ourselves in a part of space the sensors immediately recognised. We had never imagined it to be so close to Moli all this time. The opaque cloud in this direction was thinner, and it was only after an innoucously clear drift that we slowed and saw the beacons, hanging in space like silent sentries. The controls were alive; the old ship had seen this part of space before. The planet loomed in the forward screen. To my side on the bridge, Warrior Mophon croaked the report to me.
"Ship stable, Engines cooling. Currently in orbit around... Akbal Cimi."
He didn't have to say the words, the panicking alert messages on every free viewscreen had confirmed our predicament.
We had sped headlong into the heart of the Robot Empire.
Warrior Kilber had rushed to the bridge, and it was he who spoke first.
"Why haven't they shot us out of the sky?" was what he chose to say.
Sensors showed no incoming attack, although still urged us to make good our retreat; idle defences showed up that were enough, if activated, to render us dust in seconds.
"If they wanted to, they wouldn't wait," I said. I searched my mind for a reason. Whay would we pose no threat?. No. I shuddered at the thought. But I had to know.
"Make steady and cautious progress to Akbal-Cimi. Head for anywhere.... quiet," I said to all on the Bridge. A slight pause passed before each in turn took to their posts once more. They had chosen to trust me. They had chosen to allow me to make good that which caused us to be here.
My mind was ablaze. If what I thought was right, we might get out of here. But if what I thought was wrong, I might still want to carry on.

Huge robot-controlled ships lay waiting for us to glide past them, our crew in disbelief at their indolence, their refusal to act as robots had done in the past. This was not acceptance, yet they still ignored us. While it drew mixed feelings from the crew between invincibility and of an impending catch, I remained convinced my worst fears were true. We drew ever closer to the robot planet, the cities and complexes shining bright on every map.

Our safe passage scares me most of all.


Year 1 Day 23

We entered atmosphere without incident, except the loss of a few heat shields from our un-ready transport. We had selected the most barren area we could find, although this was not easy; the robvots had built extensively outwards from the huge capital city, with steel and halogen covering much of the arid, rocky land. There were several islands out to sea around the main continent, but preliminary cheacks offered nothing of what I sought.

We landed in scrub at the base of a sandstone valley, with steep, weathered sides that sheilded the Gard from any long-range inspection. I set a crew to wrk immediately on repairing any damage form our flight and assembled a team to venture out and confirm my suspicions about this place.