This is my first official entry as Commander of the Battleship Khonsu, and admittedly it is coming sooner than I had expected. The final phase of her construction wasn’t scheduled to be completed until late March. But we don’t have the luxury of waiting that long anymore. Over the last week, the final leg of work had been entirely rushed and then derailed following the siege of Carthage. We’ve had our technical crew and station staff pulling triple shifts, and honestly at this point I am worried for them. I’m worried for us all. Numerous ships have been lost over the last week, and most of the fleet had sustained notable damage. Several of our ships of the line are in dire need of the Carthage drydocks for repairs, lest we risk depleting our forces further. Unfortunately this means we’re being pushed out to space since command has dubbed the Khonsu unneeding of the full support facilities. The final stages of work will need to be completed in space.
Thankfully, I managed to secure the transfer of Chief Forbes to my vessel to serve as our Chief Engineer. Her work overseeing the installation of the power plant and distribution system during construction has given me at least some confidence going forward here. With her supervision, our technical crews were able to finalize the shield system after our launch. We will be conducting a thorough test of the main generators before the day is out, along with the weapon systems. Hebel in Ops has been chomping at the bit, eager to ensure that all our weapon systems are fully functional before we depart for our mission. I can’t say I blame him. Our mission won’t put us in range of Carthage for at least another eighteen months once we set out.
Unfortunately our non-essential systems are still in dire need of completion. Even now as I write this I can hear crews down the hall working, their deafening machinery and tools echoing madly through the bulkheads. There are several outstanding issues with crew accommodations and our entire laboratory bay is lacking equipment. Sickbay is poorly stocked as well, and we’ll be having medical equipment delivered to us by freighter within the next two or three days. I’ve petitioned command to make this a priority, but I am not sure I’ve managed to get my foot in the door. We’re likely going to be relying on ourselves entirely for support over the coming months.
The Khonsu’s assignment will take us far away from Mu over the next eighteen months, which means the Order’s traditional infrastructure will be unavailable to us. The recent threats to the system and suspected Nomad activity in the borderworlds have led to this decision. Command has seen it fitting to establish self sufficient cells in remote areas of Sirius, ones that can survive and continue our work if Mu were to truly fall. Our task will be to monitor, study, and counter Nomad activity within more civilized space and establish local supply and intelligence networks to maintain self sufficiency during our deployment. The first stint of our journey will see us in the Sigmas, and my first order of business will be making contact with the True Sons of Kusari in order to gain access to Sendai to finish installing our laboratory equipment. Doctor Blackwood isn’t due in from Bretonia for another three days, but she won’t have much work to do if there’s no equipment onboard for her.
Though, as we ready to depart from Omicron Mu, I can't help but worry for the comrades we leave behind.
From: Chief Engineer Jordan Forbes. Encoded: Khonsu Datacore. Topic: Too many problems. Encryption: P/K -v11 CLASSIFIED.
decrypting logs ... DONE
Chief Engineer’s log, February 8th, 835 AS
God what I’d give for an actual drydock right now. I understand high command’s choice for pushing up our launch schedule so much, but shit. I feel as if I am being pulled in every direction at once right now, we’ve effectively got every single crew member we can spare doing what’s effectively damage control. I have two teams down in main engineering trying to properly calibrate the EPS power coupling plasma distribution ratios for the shield generator on the fly while the damn thing is running… and I got another team installing the refueling system in the launch bay while taking on cargo shuttles. I feel like we’re asking for an accident.
So far we’ve thankfully managed to hide the ship out of sight deep within Sigma-13. That at least assures us we’re left alone during all of this work. Lord knows if we get jumped by the Core or bounty hunters now, we’d be in so much trouble. The shield grid could barely take the strain of crossing through the explosive gas fields here. I told the captain we’d need another twelve hours to get this thing back up to normal strength, but I may have exaggerated that number a little. I figure my boys can get it in line under eight.
Good news in all of this though, the new power distribution system is holding up well. So far all the weapons tests we’ve done have gone swimmingly. So we have our offensive systems operational, now we just need Hebel to help finalize the calibration of the range finding targeting systems. It won't take much convincing there, though I just don't think he likes how I keep stepping in on what he sees as his domain or something. He needs to realize that while he is in charge of tactical, I oversee the entirety of the ship's systems and he actually has to listen to me when I tell him things.
Captain tells me we’re trying to get clearance for Sendai. I haven’t met with the Dragons before, but from what I’ve seen of their ships they’re damn fine engineers. We’re planning to dock there to get our lab equipment installed, but honestly I need to see if I can make a case to get some of their repair crews transferred over to help get this ship properly sorted. Lord knows we can’t afford to have the waste recycling system go down again.
After having received clearance from the Headmaster himself, the Khonsu has finally made it's way to Sendai. Chief Forbes has been meeting with the head of the engineering team on Sendai, and she's working on coordinating the installation of the new computer cores and imagers for Doctor Blackwood's laboratory. Work is proceeding smoothly, and with the extra support staff is helping us finally get ahead of our schedule. Forbes tells me that the lab should be ready to go before Thursday at the latest. Once Doctor Blackwood is aboard and the equipment has been properly installed, we will be heading to Sigma-15 to ensure the sensors and analytical devices are properly calibrated by doing a deep scan of the local Baxter anomalies. We will cross reference the data we obtain with our records to ensure our sensors are properly calibrated. It should be a relatively trivial science mission.
I may reach out to the local Bundschuh elements and see if they're willing to spare any ships with high end sensors to help cross reference our own results with theirs. Once we work out any accuracy and calibration issues, we will turn our attention to our primary objective.
In the meantime, work on the hangar bay has finally concluded. Our cargo loaders and refueling systems are now ready to receive support craft. We've already conducted several rapid dock and launch test with the help of the local Dragons. Flight control reports no problems. Tractor control has been fully brought online as well. Work on our crew compartment nears completion, and we now have a proper recreational room and properly furnished quarters for the crew and officers. So far today has brought nothing but good news.
We've just been informed that Cairo station has been destroyed. I've informed the crew and tried my best to rally them, though I am now concerned about the sudden dip in morale. I've had several officers come to me and begin suggesting we should return to the Omicrons. We're not in a position to do that. I've done my best to dissuade the notion from them, and most have them have come to agree with me and our current mission. If Mu were to fall and collapse, the future of the Order would depend on our far flung ships... the Amenta, the Atum, our own ship. Decentralization is key, else we could be wiped out in one fell swoop. And if the Order was truly wiped out, how long would humanity survive? It's not a question I like to entertain. I suddenly feel a lot more weight on my shoulders.
I will be contacting Doctor Blackwood and encourage her to get here as soon as possible.
It seems our good Doctor's attempts to leave her post behind have not gone unnoticed, despite our best efforts to give her plenty of outs and assets to assist with her exfiltration from Bretonia. I had contacted her for an update after days of delay. It seems two of her associates had been arrested on espionage charges. This unfortunately includes her pilot. She tells me she's rushing to gather some contacts who would be willing to help her, and that she's dropped a line to a Zoner medical group. I hope they can be trusted, but at this point it's our best bet. She's made too much noise to leave on a corporate transport now, and she's been playing up the medical angle some. It sounds as if she's taking this opportunity to stock up on supplies and equipment for our sickbay... while I appreciate the notion, I feel like Blackwood is taking unnecessary risks. We can get equipment after she's aboard. But instead she's out there trying to make some kind of deal while the DAF sub-orbital facility in Newcastle is buzzing about a missing data drive and scientists. And the clock is running down. The BIS will track her down before long. I fear that Doctor Blackwood's bold initiative is inseparable from her risk taking, something that will no doubt be frustrating down the line once she's aboard. Assuming she survives long enough to get here.
I will be following up with some local assets, but the Doctor has made enough of a mess as is. If Vicarro Medical Group can't get her out, I'll arrange a kidnapping.
This is why we run simulations and diagnostics, boys. I will try to keep this brief and concise. Basically, Ensign Redding found an anomaly in one of our simulated jumps. Something that had what I wanted to call a minuscule chance of rending the ship completely in half upon completing the spacefold. I did some digging into it, and found that one of our paragravitic toriods fails to maintain a constant spatial dilation when strained above a certain temperature. We're looking at a fluctuation of almost 8.09%. This of course makes the spacefold envelope of the jump too small, and we'd jump maybe only the middle three quarters of the ship upon activation given how the field contraction is exponential. I managed to track down the issue to a faulty structural containment field generator, which has somehow been over-tuned and stressing the drive core this entire time, coupled with a faulty sensor in the unit that was relaying us bad information. I've made arrangements to replace the field generator, but the damage to the paragravitic toriod is too much for a mere patch job at this point. There's damage on the molecular level, and we're going to need a replacement or else we risk rending our ship if we jump and the cooling system is too hot to handle the strain.
I've informed the Captain. Unfortunately we simply don't have parts onboard to replace the toroid with a new one, we'd need to get one. If this ship had stayed in drydock as long as originally scheduled, we wouldn't have these issues and oversights. I am ordering my engineering team to do another full systems diagnostic. I'll have them tear this ship apart and test everything. I really don't want to see another issue like this crop up again. Or else this could be a real short mission.
I am making a special request to the quartermaster to try to get us a few more crates of coffee brought aboard. We will need it.
From: Chief Engineer Jordan Forbes. Encoded: Khonsu Datacore. Topic: That woman. Encryption: P/K -v11 CLASSIFIED.
decrypting logs ... DONE
Chief Engineer’s log, February 19th, 835 AS
Jesus Christ, Doctor Blackwood hasn't even been aboard for a week and she's already trying my patience. She got the Captain's okay to pull an engineering team of mine and start re-configuring the power conduits in the laboratory module despite my protests. I dunno how much power she thinks she needs for her work, she certainly hasn't given me a reason why she needs an extra thirty percent run up through the lab. Damnit, I am just tired. I am going to get with the Captain later and see if I can force Blackwood to actually answer some of my questions. Not that I want to spend much more time with her, I swear she looks down at me and thinks I'm an idiot. At the very least, I am trying not to take it personally, she seems to think everyone who's not her is an idiot.
I got a coffee half way through writing this. I think I just need to clear my head. At the very least, Ross began talking with Civil Servant of the Platform. He's agreed to lend us his technical expertise and some engineering teams to address the issues with calibrating the main sensors array. I need to see if I can get in touch with them myself soon, I need to pick their brain about the jump drive, maybe see if they can source a new paragravitic toroid for me.
With the Platform's assistance, we've completed repairs to the main drive core. Chief Forbes reports that all engine systems are now fully operational. I've been coordinating an operation with Civil Servant from the platform to properly test our jump drive capabilities. A deep incursion into Thuringia is planned as the penultimate test of the drive. In the meantime however, we will begin testing the accuracy of the unit with our automated sensor probes. The data will be forwarded to Chief Forbes and Doctor Blackwood for analysis and final calibration before we plan the mission into Thuringia with the Platform forces. Despite their disapproval of one another, they're thankfully keeping their dynamic professional and level headed. Though I've had to remind Blackwood several times about the limits of her authority aboard my ship. Thankfully the woman is already proving her worth, despite the trouble she seems to be.
From: Doctor Rebecca Blackwood. Encoded: Khonsu Datacore. Topic: Strange and dramatic man. Encryption: P/K -v11 CLASSIFIED.
decrypting logs ... DONE
Chief Science Officer's Log, March 29th, 835 AS
It seems I've encountered that melodramatic man that I've heard so many rumors about. Scuttlebutt from those neanderthals down on the flight deck that I've had the unfortunate opportunity to socialize with has at least proven to be marginally correct in regards to him. This CS is peculiar, and seems to frequently discuss space in ways that border on footling about in a pseudo-religious manner. Despite his... mannerisms, I do believe we have had a successful social encounter which was not entirely unpleasant. Though I do think the saving grace was the fact he was personally knowledgeable of Nomads, and we had a somewhat prolonged discussion on sterilization protocols. Which reminds me, I do need to finish work on the prototype entropic accelerator device for future sterilization tests on Nomad samples. Recent supplies procured are more relevant to the beta-3 wave analyzer, I will need to pry my contact for more materials soon. See CSO proposal 18 and 23.
However I do believe much of my free time will be devoted to upcoming jumpdrive tests. The initial tests conducted with our remote probes have proven nominal, with minimal deviation from expected norms. It has been suggested that Thuringia become a target of extensive testing, due to the apparent weakness of spacetime within the system. Obviously, tied to the so called debacle of Thuringia from several years ago. I'll need to comb over the Order's records of the incident and study them for the upcoming tests. Subspace and spatial mechanics are merely a hobby and masters focus of mine, hardly tied to my doctorate and actual field of specialty. Though, I am apparently the most knowledgeable person on the ship in regards to such matters so as per normal the intellectual burden falls to me.
We've lost one of our remote probes that had been surveying the Omegas. The last transmission it was able to send on its own placed it in Omega-11 near the Baxter anomaly, but it suffered some kind of malfunction due to outside interference and tampering from what I can tell. The probe managed to activate its data scrub, but the process was interrupted by subsequent damage. My attempts to remote in and trigger it's self destruct mechanisms did not prove to be entirely successful either. Data drills prior to its destruction by either weapons fire or asteroid impact did not yield scans of whoever tampered with the device, likely due to failure to its data encoders. I will need to get with Anders and have him create a more aggressive data scrub program before we deploy another drone.
But losing only one of our three deployed probes so far is not the worst outcome. Still, I can't help but be marginally concerned that it may draw unwanted attention to our operations.
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