Stardate 2764-159, 21:17 Earth Time. Somewhere near the planet Rathos.

We had watched in horror as 7 of the 9 ships we had were turned to mere space debris in a matter of seconds. The Intrepid, a small frigate, never made it through the first hyperspace jump, and came out the other end a tiny compressed ball of metal, no more than 2ft around. Faster-than-light space travel can do strange things.

The Corvatti battle cruiser, on the other hand, had followed us flawlessly, and as the black and red hull emerged from the hole in space, it wasted no time in firing off a series of short, devastating blasts that ripped our engines completely apart.

“Prepare for emergency planetary landing.” Said the calm, collected voice of the ship’s computer. It knew not the human emotions befalling us. Men were crying as the ship broke the atmosphere, barreling toward the planet’s gray surface.

I will try to continue this historical record as long as possible. My name is Ensign Mark Glaive, and (DATA STREAM INTERRUPTED )