THE HEART OF THE MAELSTROM
25 Apr 2023Jav Marlo
THE HEART OF THE MAELSTROM20 DIC 3308, Hodgkin Dock, Senocidi system.
Hodgkin Dock, Senocidi system
This is commander Jav Marlo, recording this log on Hodgkin Dock, a Coriolis Starport currently controlled by the Feds in the Senocidi system in the Hyades Sector, just a few light years away of what has been called the Taranis Maelstrom. (Scoffs) A fitting name, that thing almost swallowed us three weeks ago. The Athena suffered extensive damage due to a collision with an unidentified body inside... well... inside the cloud... or the Maelstrom. It will need some time before it flies again. It is a miracle that we managed to find a way out of Taranis and jump here for repairs, with all the corrosion damage we suffered.
The Athena landed at Hodgkin Dock with corrosion marks
The arrival of the Taranis unleashed a ferocious wave of Thargoid attacks in the region. We have never seen anything like this. Not even during the Thargoid invasions of the Coalsack, Witch Head and Pleaiades Nebulas. Mankind is suffering a wide scale invasion with millions of casualties. Everyday reports arrive of another system being invaded. Nobody knows yet what is inside Taranis, but its purpose seems very clear, to eradicate all humans from the region. They are not just fighting us. They are wiping out civilian populations. Their mission is extermination.
Thargoids attacking a surface settlement in the Hyades Sector
There is no combat. It is carnage. All military fleets sent by the superpowers have been rapidly overwhelmed by the Thargoids tremendous firepower. Only some crazy independent pilots dare to fly by the Hyades Sector FB-N b7-6 system, and few of them make it back. The Thargoids eliminate any human structure they detect. Passing ships are being pulled out of hyperspace and destroyed. They are merciless.
A human settlement after a Thargoid attack
As a front line is being created, rescue megaships have been placed at a safe distance for the mass evacuation of civilians. They are also stocked with anti-xeno weaponry available for those independent pilots willing to assist in the defence effort. (Scoffs) They call it a defence effort. I would rather call it retreat.
A Thargoid pursuing an evacuation ship
And Taranis did not come alone. More rogue signals were detected following it on its course towards human space. The Indra and the Leigong anomalies arrived to the HIP sector bringing havoc the same way as Taranis. The front is extending every day with more maelstroms incoming. There are eight of them now, positioned in a broad semi-circle along the fringe of the core systems. The Thargoids indisputably control several human systems. If they were a presence in our galaxy before, now they have definitely stablished themselves and are taking territory by the force, moving slowly towards the Sol system.
Thargoids patrolling
This crisis has eclipsed any other conflicts within the Bubble. All superpowers and factions are focused now on the rescue efforts, with millions of refugees coming from the front, and in containing the Thargoid advances. This is not a war for resources, territory or power, we are fighting now a war for survival, and we are losing.
A starport after a Thargoid attack
More systems continue falling every day. The caustic nature of the clouds has disabled or destroyed all the ships that dared to venture inside. Xenologists have speculated that the cloud is a defensive asset generated by a huge number of caustic generators like the one that collided and almost destroyed the Athena. No one has reached the core of the cloud yet and find out what is hidden within. I was reckless when I tried the first time... (Deep breath) Well, I learned from my errors... and I have tried again.
An outpost after a Thargoid attack
I left Ayumi at Senocidi with the task of relocating all of our anti-xeno capable ships to Hodgkin Dock in preparation for the battles ahead, while I took a short trip to the California Nebula. Ten months ago, I helped a group of slaves, leaded by Ayumi’s sister, to escape from their pirate masters. I took them to the California Nebula, where they sought asylum with the Examplars. But they are not the only thing I left there. We get there on a huge Imperial Cutter, the Pretorian, that we stole from the pirates. That ship was still there, and I had a plan to use it to penetrate into the Taranis Maelstrom.
Jav Marlo recovering the Cutter he abandoned in the California Nebula
I took the huge ship to Hodgkin Dock and expended a fortune refitting it for xeno-combat. I also added all the heavy duty hull reinforcements the Cutter could hold plus a boosted prismatic shield generator and enhanced sensors. Finally a renamed the ship as the Xenophon.
The Xenophon at Hodgkin Dock
And like that, I managed to convert the rusty and dreaded slave merchant vessel into a top of the line shiny anti-xeno ship engineered to endure massive amounts of punishment and caustic damage. Taranis ate and spat away the Athena, so I was taking something harder to chew this time.
The Xenophon departing from Hodgkin Dock
I found some resistance at Hyades Sector FB-N b7-6, as expected but, on this occasion, I came with a ship that was not only capable of outrunning a Thargoid Interceptor, but also to face it. Conventional anti-xeno weapons are not affected by the maelstroms, so I could shot my way towards the Taranis instead of just running.
The Xenophon fighting a Thargoid Interceptor
I did not tell Ayumi where I was going. Not after our last attempt together. I told her that I was preparing the ship for Thargoid combat, that was true, but avoided mentioning my intentions of getting into the Maelstrom again. So I recorded a message for her before flying into the cloud in case... in case I would not make it.
Jav Marlo on board the Xenophon about to enter the maelstrom Taranis
And I went in. Aiming directly to the heart of the beast. Or whatever that was lurking in the centre of the cloud. Soon my old friends, the caustic generators, came to greet me. But I had brought with me a long range heavy laser that melted them any time they crossed my path.
The Xenophon firing upon a caustic generator inside the maelstrom Taranis
The generators leave a caustic cloud when they explode, and corrosion started to dissolve the hull of the Xenophon. But, there were so many layers to melt, that I had several minutes before a hull breach. My armour reinforcements were buying me time, so I decided to get deeper into the maelstrom and passed by the cluster of caustic generators leaving them behind.
The Xenophon suffering caustic damage inside the maelstrom Taranis
Deeper and deeper... until I reached the core, or what I thought it was the core. Sensors were useless inside... It had to be... there was a presence... I could feel it... in my head... something... solid... something real... I saw a cloud... a cloud within the cloud... but darker... ominous... power surges around... it was luring me...
The Xenophon approaching the core of the Maelstrom
My head was buzzing and I could barely focus... but I kept flying towards it... and then... (deep breath)... then... it reacted... with a ROAR... a roar like the one I heard months ago at Hyades Sector FB-N b7-6 when the Proteus Wave was activated... but not as intense... this time I did not fainted... but the roar came with a massive EMP pulse emanating from the very centre of the cloud...
The maelstrom Taranis activating an EMP pulse
A shock wave followed the EMP pulse disabling most of the Xenophon systems and effortlessly launching the huge vessel frantically spinning around towards the rim of the cloud. I still cannot believe that the hull or I resisted the shake. It felt like colliding with a rock while flying a Taipan, but in a 2500 tons vessel.
The Xenophon spinning around after being hit by a shock wave
Systems came back to life. Hull integrity was at thirteen percent, but holding. Sensors were melted, but I could see the system’s only star shining by the port side, and I used it to find my way out of the cloud, like in the ancient times, weapons ready to deal with any unexpected visitors, just minutes away from a hull breach.
The Xenophon leaving the Taranis Maelstrom
I barely managed to make it back to Hodgkin Dock, where I am recording this log now while I watch the dock crews removing the caustic substance from the hull of the Xenophon. And I was about to consider this mission a very expensive failure when I noticed something. Before melting, the sensors must have been able to register something, because the Xenophon data banks now show a new encoded material that has been labelled as Massive Energy Surge Analytics. And, I bet, that there is my roar.
Jav Marlo signing out
Jav Marlo watching the corrosion marks on the Xenophon