So Yeah, Some Stuff Happened.
16 Jan 2017Tuts
*** Heverduduna, Jacquard Orbital, Stardate 01.07.3303 ***Now that I had my space legs back, and a healthy bankroll, my next port of call was Deciat, to meet with the first of my mystery contacts, this Felicity Farseer, about her enigmatic message. As it turns out, she is one member of an esoteric group known only as the Engineers. As a loose collective of technological experts, they provide non-standard customization options to anyone in the Pilots Federation that can meet their individual requirements. In Felicity's case, she is demanding one unit of meta-alloys as a non-refundable deposit before she will negotiate any further with me.
I've asked around, but nobody has seen any of these exotic materials on the local market boards. Indeed even the black market has none to offer. I suspect I'll have to make a journey to the source - the Maia system out in the Pleiades star cluster. Sigh.
This begs the question though... is the Pilgrim II the ship I want to keep flying for awhile? Because I've recently earned ALMOST enough to buy the dream ship I've coveted since my childhood. The venerable Python.
Rumor has it that there's a nearby hub system offering discounted ships for sale, including the Python. Fifteen percent off of 56-ish million credits is a great deal! But I just know that decent modules are going to break my bank yet again. Would she be a good enough ship to fly while I earn more for upgrades? Or should I stay in the Asp yet awhile, and go fetch these meta-alloys?
Then it happened. We all saw it on the newsfeeds. Alien contact, with an inscrutable starfaring species that outclasses human technology. The markets have gone haywire as people either panic, convinced the Thargoids are coming for us all, or else hop in their ships and hotfoot it to the region of the encounter - "huntin' fer alee-ins!" All of the alien conspiracy nuts are having their day in the sun. They're all hoping that first contact will be the biggest opportunity of all - fame, fortune, power, adrenaline, name your drug.
As for me, I figure if the thargoids are REALLY coming, I'd rather meet them in a new Python. So I plunked down every credit I've earned and then some, for the as-advertised discounted Python, along with a suite of "D" modules. This round has just turned high stakes, and I've decided to go all in.
