Diary of a Space Age Bureaucrat Pt 3.3

 Zakalwe cursed as the Phlebus prepared to exit the third sector. His mistakes had not ruined their chances of survival but they meant that Horza was entombed in an Engi self repair pod and he was down a crew member even if the gunner managed to pull through and receive his new mechanical prosthetics before the Rebels took the sector.

He angrily stamped into the cockpit and spooled through the latest archive tape:

Jump 1 – Zakalwe had opted to follow the Engi scouts back to their home sector rather than chance a transit through Rebel space. The scouts had already cleared any hostiles at the entry point and the arrival of the Phlebus was unimpeded.

Jump 2 – The Phlebus came upon an Engi archaeological colony on an abandoned moon. The mechanical diggers had come across a Federation weapons cache and the Engi swiftly followed official guidelines in handing it over to the crew. Among the scrap was an outmoded Defence Drone. The Phlebus lacked the docking bays to launch it but it should fetch a good price.

Jump 3 - Zakalwe followed a distress signal and found an abandoned craft in a frozen asteroid field. 1 Missiles, 1 Drone Part and 30 Scrap were recovered from what turned out to have been a terminally unsuccessful pirate shuttle.

Jump 4 – Another distress call led to a Federation ship that had run out of fuel during its flight from the Rebels. Zakalwe gave them 3 Fuel from his large stockpiles and received a moderate cash payment. The two ships opted to split up in order to have a better chance of sneaking through enemy lines.

Jump 5 – Zakalwe groaned as another distress signal sounded. Obviously a lot of ships had suffered Rebel of Pirate attacks before the local Engi had taken charge. Diziet took charge and again succeeded in guiding a civilian ship through an asteroid field. The Phlebus took a few hits but received 4 Fuel and 35 Scrap as a reward.

Jump 6 – A Mantis craft angrily hailed the Phlebus as it arrived, “You'd better stay out of this” clicked the mandibles of the translator as his ship chased down a fleeing Engi craft. Horza didn't wait for Zakalwe's order before blowing the shields off the pursuing Mantis. He then switched to Halberd and missiles so Diziet could power three shields as they finished off the fighter. The Engi scientists were overjoyed at their lucky escape and rewarded the crew.

Jump 7 – Stopping off at an Engi store, Zakalwe purchased minor repairs and Long Range sensors with the scrap he gained from selling the archaeologists' Defence Drone.

Jump 8 – With every mission, Zakalwe knew, there came a point when you briefly lost focus and paid for it. The next two jumps would strongly reinforce this lesson. A Rebel fighter with two shields blocked their progress. As they engaged a human Rebel beamed abroad the Federation vessel and was engaged by Diziet and Horza. Preoccupied with directing weapons fire at the Rebel ship, Zakalwe delayed gaving the order for Horza to retreat to the medical bay. The Rebel raised his rifle and blasted Horza between the shoulder blades as the gunner tried to diengage. Diziet rushed in and finished off the intruder but Horza was too far gone and had to be put into a cryogenic chamber. The fight was won but this was the hardest blow yet for the Federation crew.

Jump 9 – As the Phlebus arrived they were hailed by an Engi ship. As they approached it activated its guns and scans indicated that it had been taken over by Mantis warriors. A Mantis beamed aboard and Diziet attacked it. Remembering his mistake against the previous Rebel, Zakalwe concentrated too much on this fight and while Diziet subdued the attacker with the help of some timely oxygen venting it was at the expense of the hull shielding. Zakalwe failed to notice that the Engi had a ship drone that was taking out missiles and wasted a significant number before realising his mistake. Further the Engi craft's accuracy in taking out the guns of the Phlebus meant that it took a long time to breach its developed shield system with burst laser fire. Further time was lost as the attempts of the crew to repair the guns consistently slowed their charging process. The Phlebus came through but its hull was in tatters and Zakalwe admitted that they had been lucky to survive.

Jump 10 – Smarting from the previous encounters the Phlebus arrived at another Engi store. Repairs were expensive but without them the Federation craft would have had little chance of survival. The crew reluctantly left Horza's corpse at the Engi facilities. The doctor-mechanics there were confident that they could reanimate him with the assistance of nanotechnology and artificial organs but feared that Rebel advances would force them to abandon their equipment before they could complete the process.

Jump 11 – The final stages of the journey through the sector provided anti-climatic. Zakalwe piloted the ship through populated and peaceful areas of space and opportunistically purchased 5 Fuel for one useless Drone Part.

Jump 12 – The offers in the Exit point proved less tempting and the Federation ship declined to purchase Fuel for Scrap.

(This is a game report taking a certain level of artistic license from the game 'FTL Faster than Light'. I'm flying a Zoltan cruiser, which I had the good fortune to unlock after only a couple of plays.This sector was certainly a set back but the prevalence of Stores meant it was not disastrous and I should be able to come back from it.)