I apologize for the shortness of the update; it’s been a hectic week, especially with taxes being due yesterday. Fortunately, I managed to get my taxes complete on time this year, even if I ended up owing this time around. Anyway, take care.

Homeworld: Exodus

by Robert A. Howard

Chapter 2, Part 1: The Burning of Kharak

Fleet Intelligence Personal Logs

Kharak… Kharak is gone.

May Sajuuk have mercy on us.

We emerged from hyperspace two kilometers from where the Scaffolding should have been…

Damn it. I need to get this down. Now. There’s no time to… damn it all.

Radar telemetry immediately registered multiple objects in our orbital plane, which were potential collision threats. There was no comm traffic… and the Scaffolding… it was a burning hulk. A debris belt was starting to form around Kharak. And Kharak itself….

It’s burning. Even now firestorms are raging across its surface. The Great Desert’s been reduced to molten glass. Nothing could survive that. Nothing! Kaali, my parents… even that bastard Admiral Telar. I guess I won’t need to worry about him taking over as head of Fleet Intelligence. No doubt anyone reading this would think that comment inappropriate. I’m not sure if it’s gallows humor or shock. I know that the only thing keeping me going… it’s taking everything I’ve got not to curl up in my chair and shut down.

When we realized… I saw grown men, older than I, break down into tears. Mothership systems became erratic as Karan S’jet reported on what her sensors had found. There was nothing left. The communication satellites, weather satellites, the space telescopes… sunspot activity was still disrupting communications with the rest of the Kharak system, but it’s doubtful any of them survived. Those bastards knew where the Khar-Toba was. They appeared right on top of her. They undoubtedly know about the Somtaaw asteroid miners and the science team out on Haarsuk’s ice moon.

All ships launched. While we weren’t picking up radio signals, we had to search. Just in case. Echo and Wasp squadrons split up to check for life pods or the like, while the Water Thief and Rogue assisted. There were some fragments of ships; it appears that Kharak Missile Command managed to take out some of the aliens, and some of the fragments are fairly large. Tactical believes that several alien frigates were destroyed, and something larger.

There were no standing orders against this; a couple of Somtaaw took a shuttle and landed on the Lungma Jiin mountain, site of the Somtaaw Temple of Mysteries. Captain T’amin Somtaaw and Lt. Jaana Somtaaw. I don’t know why they left; they didn’t explain their actions. Maybe they thought someone might have survived? I left orders with Chief Engineer Maren Somtaaw that if they return, they’re to be held and brought to me for debriefing. I don’t want them spreading stories among the crew…

Karan’s just detected an emergency beacon; I’ll be back.

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