The Journal of Duncan Streit

Historians have recently begun a renewed attempt to document the stories associated with various colonies found in the outer rim. The story of one such colony, Salvation, can be found in the journals of Duncan Streit, a traveller on the ill-fated Intrepid. Duncan, in his notes to himself, found himself stranded on a rimworld with two others: his son, Manuel, and a stranger – Zero ‘Maker’ Tachikoma. Together these three would struggle to find shelter and survive on a new world, gradually accepting others into their group.
While the first few entries cover large swathes of time with relative brevity (likely due to Duncan’s preoccupation with attempting to survive), more detail is gradually added as the colony becomes settled. What follows below is the first excerpt from Duncan’s journal, which covers the emergency landing, the founding of Salvation, and the survivor’s first encounter with bandits.

I’ll never forget the sounds of the ship ripping itself apart. The hiss of the emergency release on the cryptosleep caskets, the screams of panic, the screech of metal pulling apart. The banshee wail of the emergency siren piercing through it all. People scrambled madly, falling over each other as we all desperately rushed to make it to the escape pods. I was barely able to force Manuel into the next pod over, mashing the launch button before I slid into my own.
What followed next was minutes of total silence, as the pod slipped through space, hurtling toward the planet below. I was totally alone, left to wonder what had happened to the ship, and try to fight off the effects of the rapid exit from cryptosleep. I don’t think that I was floating through space for that long, but it felt like an eternity. The loneliness of it didn’t bother me so much though. It reminded me a bit of my time in the Rangers, of the calm the comes before the frantic action of combat.
The waves of nausea pummeled me as the atmosphere rocked my pod.
The retro boosters almost knocked me out as they fired, desperately trying to slow the descent of the pod. The howl of the wind and the sound of raging fire surrounded me for what felt like hours. I knew the crash was coming, but I still wasn’t ready for it. The sudden jolt knocked me to my knees as I tried to compensate for the abrupt stop.
After that the pod’s door blew off. I’ll always remember that first breath of air – the first scent of a new world welcoming me. I had a moment of panic then, wondering what had happened to my son, before I heard another two crashes nearby.
I poked my head out of the pod to see what else had landed. I felt relief run through my veins when Manuel stuck his head out of the first pod. The second contained someone I didn’t recognize (though I’d later come to know him as ‘Maker’). Some emergency supplies had also landed nearby, including a handgun and a hunting rifle. I snatched up the rifle, an old bolt-action model like the one I’d used on Kriton-4.
Together, after the briefest of introductions, the three of us set out to find shelter. Luckily there were some ruins nearby that we could spend the night in. I’ve wondered many times who created them originally – the structure was made of rough sandstone bricks, mostly intact. We’d come to build our home around it, using the original structure as the basis for our food storage (the stone helps keep the structure cool).
What happened next was a whirlwind of activity. Another survivor of the ship crashed nearby – Schultz. Two others, Joshua and Olaf, joined us after fleeing from a group we’ve come to know as the Cutters of Torture. Not long after those two were welcomed into our burgeoning colony the Cutters showed up to reclaim their lost prizes.
I don’t know what I’d expected to happen after we crash landed here, but having a run-in with armed bandits was not something I’d forseen. We were lucky that time, only four of them appeared to try and take Joshua and Olaf back. We were able to drive them off in the first bit of action I’ve seen in a long time. All of my training came back to me in a rush, and I found myself slipping back into familiar patterns as my muscles things I’d long ago forgotten.
That encounter was a harsh awakening to the realities of this new life. I’d adjusted pretty well to the basics – building a base camp was something I’d learned to do in the Rangers, and agriculture was something I’d tried my hand at before. I’m not sure how Manuel is taking it though. When we boarded the Intrepid to head back towards the core it was the first time we’d seen each other in a while. I think he may have grown more accustomed to life on the urbworlds he does business on (a far cry from the woods on Kriton-4).
For now I think I’ll have to put this journal down. It’s getting late and once the sun goes down I won’t have any way to see. Hopefully I’ll have time to continue this soon.