I was there when the sentinel fell.
12 Aug 2022Batterybun
///START OF RECORDING ///Captain's Log [120833080944]
========================================================
//DATE: 12th of August, 3308 [0:09:44 UGT]
//LOCATION: Phoenix Base|Meene| Inner Orion Spur
//
//COMMANDER: Saryn "Batterybun" Bathory
//SHIP: KRAIT PHANTOM [AB-KPH]
//
========================================================
"To all human kind, this is Salvation. Future generations will remember our triumph today. The thargoid thread consigned to the past.
With my guidance, Azimuth has constructed the means to destroy our enemy. My final gift, born from a century of sacrifice; the proteus wave.
Our victory is delivered in this moment. Humanity's great next chapter, begins now."
I sat in my ship, floating in the void around the planet 10b of HIP 22460, watching the broadcast in proud anticipation. In the past week I took part in protecting the construction of Salvation's greatest weapon: The Proteus Wave. This effort onto which thousands of commanders took part in was finally at hand, ensuring that in mere moments the threat of Thargoid incursions would be nothing more but a marking in the history books. Today would be remembered as the day we won.
A bright flash of blue light enveloped the planet and the shockwave extended throughout the whole system of HIP 22460. Public communications network flare up with thousand voices rejoicing, celebrating and proclaiming the victory over the thargoids as numerous commanders had observed thargoids becoming immobile. If only the rejoice hadn't been short lived.
Another bright flash of light exploded from the planet 10b, where Salvation's Proteus Wave had been built into, but this time green. The emergency systems of my ship filled the hologram displays of the ship cockpit, informing me of the malfunction on all guardian tech installed in my ship. The machine lost power and started spinning uncontrollably and thanks to my Remlock suit and it's impact dampening, I merely lost conciousness and gained a minor concussion as equipment broken loose flew wildly inside the ship interior.
I was out cold for several hours before I was snapped awake by a unnatural bellowing that sounded like a thargoid, but something bigger.
I opened my eyes, head hammering like a experienced blacksmith on an anvil (stories i've heard from old earth from around 15th century) and in front of my eyes I saw a green ominous vortex, centered on the location of proteus wave. The ships holographic systems had taken some damage from the blast, or they were getting some interference as they were glitching and flickering wildly, often making navigation bit inconvenient.
"Fra-mesh--ft ---- chrg---- dete---d" spattered the sensor reading through the glitching and out of a reaction, I diverted all power to thrusters and initiated supercruise, hoping for it to still be in working order.
Public communications network was unstable, but thankfully the text based feed still worked and even that was filled by thousands of voices asking for help, evacuation or assistance against thargoids. I plot my course towards the bright sentinel near 10b, a megaship of that magnitude and with that many ships can help in the evacuation process.
It couldn't
As I dropped into normal space near bright centinel's mass lock I saw the desolation. A green mist surrounded the megaship, dozens of large ships scattered around the debris field of smaller ones, with the megaship itself in several pieces floating in the middle.
It felt surreal, this was supposed to be humanity's victory over the thargoids, but the exact opposite had happened. Where is salvation? is he still alive? Where is everyone? My mind was filled with thousands of panic fueled questions.
My sensors spotted components, materials, few communication arrays and a black box! maybe the black box would have recorded something about this whole event. "Frameshift anomaly detected" informed the sensor system.
I turned my head to the right side of the cockpit looking towards a black cloud appearing to the distance, seeing the threatening shape of a Thargoid medusa float through it. Before the interceptor did it's familiar shockwave I had scrambled to the console to initiate a frameshift jump to another system.
This was few days ago and I have now arrived to Meene system, to provide the scientist Ram Tah one of these unfamiliar guardian relics that have been infused with thargoid technology. Time will only tell what happens next.....
/// END OF RECORDING ///