Curiouser & curiouser...
23 Aug 2018LUNCHPADDLE
YESTERDAY - 22nd August 3304 Mission: Tip off from a mysterious stranger regarding some potentially valuable data.
Mission location:
Juracame 1a
Lat +3.12
Long +146.83
I flew out to the listed location to see what all the fuss was about.. having barely skimmed over any of the mission parameters its safe to say that all I was seeing was dollar signs, I neglected to notice that the message had warned me of 'potential resistance' at the site.. had I noticed this information I would have taken my FDS missile boat, alas; I did not.
Upon arriving at the marked site I was met with something I had never seen before, the shape was foreign as far as 'known' ship designs go - and it seemed way too large to be a civilian craft of any personal or even commercial nature.. I spent a great deal of time examining the object from afar while trying to figure out how to deal with the skimmers and turrets that were suspiciously populating the area..
After a more accurate evaluation of the site, I moved in and cleared the targets with no hassles. All I had to do was *slightly* change my gameplan; rather than pummeling the site from above with a barrage of 400 missiles, I came in at a much lower level - a lot closer to the surface - and skirted around the site removing the anti-air turrets one by one, before landing nearby and deploying my SRV to handle the remaining skimmers.
Once I was closer, I managed to find the damaged (but still functional) data core of the crashed ship. Lucky for me I had been given the decryption codes necessary to unplug and transfer the remaining data from the core, allowing me to quickly and effectively scan the data from my vehicle and transfer it immediately to my ship, I was starting to find this mission more and more curious, or 'curiouser and curiouser' as one could also say..
Once I was safely back on board the Anubis I opened up a feed of the data that had been pulled from the wreckage; it was nothing special, just some low level open comms from who i can only assume are various crew members - mostly stuff between lonely husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, that sort of touchy-feely 'i miss you so much' kind of thing.
While listening through the logs I noticed absolutely no callsigns, ship ID tags, auditory emblems or in fact ANY mention of any sort of identification that could be used to identify the missing (or newly presumed dead) crew
After flicking back and forth through 15 or 20 messages (sorta wondering to myself why i came here at this point) i stumbled across the most recent of the recorded logs... the last thing to be recorded before the ship went down.. my blood went cold as i hovered in solitary above the site and listened.
The message itself played from start to finish and as i sat there in the dead silence of space, a bolt of hot ice shot down the length of my spine and i suddenly realised WHY this data was potentially so valuable and also that the longer i was to sit there, the more potential danger i could be in.
Several facts started running through my mind, quickly convoluted by erratic "what-ifs" and desperate rationalisations..
I had no idea how long ago this ship had crashed, who was on board or why it was brought down, but there were sentinels and turrets present - so i KNOW someone else knows about this place. Was someone watching me? Would my drive signature give away my identity? surely not, I paid a guy in Eranin a very hefty price to have my engine drive's signature scrambled.. all i could hope for was that his word was as good and his skills as honed as his teeth were rotten..
I quickly logged the only legible details on the body of the craft (the ID tag read: "23810-06"), pitched my nose upwards and away from the planet before hastily engaging my boosters and gettin' the heck outta there.
For the sake of this log i will include a short snippet of the message recovered from the downed craft.
"... what the hell was that!... hit from behind... systems disabled... oh god its killed us... i cant pull up... brace, brace, brace..."
My immediate question was "hit from behind by who?" There were no visible signs of it being a thargoid attack with no obvious damage or corrosive residue present.. It seemed more likely to have been a human vs human encounter than anything else, and as mentioned - there were turrets and skimmers at the site..
The question that still remains fresh in my mind almost a day later - after all my angsty internalised and self-posed questioning is: "why?"
It feels noteworthy to draw attention to the fact that the recording definitely mentioned an "it" killing them.. Im still not sure what to make of it.
The scan from the downed ships data core was received from the 'mysterious stranger' via a nondescript Universal Cartographics terminal. (cant give away the tricks of the trade now, can i..)
The scan was worth just over 1,900,000 credits... i can only assume the information was of some severe or significant importance.
This occured more than 24 hours ago but due to my desire to stay anonymous in the local area i decided to wait some time before wide-beaming my log. I felt it my duty to give commanders the location should they choose to investigate or avoid what i have found.
Should anyone find anything else that might help in the quest to answer these questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with myself or any member of my wing, as they will be able to pass a message on to me in the event that i am running dark.
On top of this message and to sign off, I will urge you all to stay safe and as always, fly dangerously. o7