The Best Is Yet To Come - 6: Without Firing A Shot
24 Jul 2023CrazyGolm
Without Firing A Shot - July 3309Parra Watch, HIP 21261 12 B
The figure leapt from the roof, his makeshift armour not making a sound in the surrounding vacuum.
The wearer could hear his own breath.
But that was okay.
In these times of great trial, there arose tales of heroism. Reports circulated of lone rangers, operating deep within Thargoid-occupied territory, scouting out and restoring lost settlements. Isolated and with no guarantee of rescue, they were either incredibly brave or stupid, or both. But they did it anyway.
This one in particular had been called many names, but “Crazy” was the most befitting of them right now.
Falling at 0.03 g’s, Commander CrazyGolm hit the ground in front of the command building at an entirely harmless speed.
Parra Watch was a military command post, the emphasis being on “was”. The Thargoid invasion had overwhelmed the system. Now the settlement was abandoned, its hallways hauntingly empty. What end had befallen the human occupants remained unknown.
The deserted base that was once called Parra Watch was guarded by Revenants, Thargoid drone constructs akin to Skimmers. They hovered in the sky in the way that most things really prefer not to, and projected an eerie green searchlight-like glow as they patrolled the area.
But if an operative could infiltrate the settlement and power up the main reactor, perhaps they could uncover vital intelligence. Or just recover something that someone really wanted back.
Golm had approached the settlement from the north side (assuming he could read a compass correctly). The Revenants hadn’t noticed his ship land approximately a kilometre away, thankfully obscured by the rocky terrain. He had covered the remaining distance on foot, reaching the settlement’s abandoned landing pad. He then had to sneak round to the west to avoid the drones patrolling the centre of the settlement grounds.
Sadly, Commander CrazyGolm’s signature orange flight-suit wouldn’t hold up for these surface missions, so he’d needed to use one of his pieced-together Maverick suits. On the plus side, it did give him the advantage of anonymity, as, not including electronic ID, he was nearly unrecognizable! This was especially useful if he suspected someone was keeping tabs on him lately, which he, in fact, did.
At the entrance to the command centre, Golm quickly assessed the situation. The doors were powered down and sealed shut, so he would need to use his Arc Cutter. With a deep blue blaze, the cutter’s plasma beam sliced around the door’s maintenance panel until it neatly popped off the hatch, allowing him to access the power port within and jump-start the door. A little clunky, but it did the job.
Thankfully, none of the Revenant drones noticed him. For all their lethality, Revenants were bonehead stupid. As long as you resisted the urge to shoot them first, if you stayed out of their searchlight, they wouldn’t even sense you. That said, he didn’t wish to hang around.
Golm entered the derelict command centre, and began finding his way to the connected power plant. Dark was an understatement in here: without his flashlight, it was pitch black. Somewhat unsettlingly, his suit indicated it was still pressurized, despite the entire settlement being powered down. What had happened here?
Although the darkness was foreboding, CrazyGolm liked these missions. He had been eager to help in the war efforts, and here he could do something helpful, something good. Repairing this settlement would make a difference - he had taken the mission from a nearby Alert system, and every little helped in the Thargoid War. And it gave him something to put his mind to.
Where had CrazyGolm been for the past few months?
Well, firstly, he definitely completed that inventory for the Bank of Zaonce to the best of his ability. Yep, he definitely did that. Nothing to see there.
He also went on a bit of an expedition to unlock Tech Broker modules for getting to a Thargoid Titan. After a pile of Clipper shipwrecks, he made it to the Taranis Titan, and he lived to make an ICE tutorial for it.
He also partook in a few SRV shenanigans, including a mystery trip organized by the Buurian Protectorate. Reports of him using a SRV to mow his relatives’ lawn are pending verification.
And it was summer back in Sol, and he’d never got the seasons of home out of his veins. He’d had a few barbeques, some beach trips, and even cooked up a few pizzas onboard Golm’s Kitchen.
And lastly, he'd been doing what he was doing now: dropping behind Thargoid lines to repair lost settlements.
Golm’s current suit was titularly a Maverick suit, however it defied Remlok’s original specifications due to some custom and likely warranty-voiding modifications, not to mention the fact that almost none of the original Remlok components were still installed.
It was a hodgepodge of vintage void-suit, plainsman gear, and even some borrowed Artemis arm plating. This resulted in a mixture of white, brown and green colouration, and it was draped in deep green cloth, such that it would’ve been at home on Altair or another jungle world. To top it off was a mint-coloured raider helmet, though its intended effect was less sinister and more makeshift. It had a white smiley face decal on each shoulder, if that was supposed to reassure anyone.
To be honest, Golm had built this suit in a hurry, and he wanted to re-build it entirely once he got the parts he awaited. Just provided it was still hermetically sealed when he put it back together!
There were small fires in the corridor between the command centre and power plant. Not wanting to risk getting hurt, Golm activated his shields, his suit flaring blue for a moment as he ran past the flames.
Additionally, power would be a problem until he rebooted the settlement’s reactor. Opening all these doors was draining his suit’s power supply. As he was cutting open the maintenance hatch for the power centre door, his power dropped below 20%, and he had to use up one of his few energy cells.
The power centre was illuminated by flames. Golm took care to avoid them. Reaching the power regulator housing, he installed the precious power regulator that had been entrusted to him. He then stepped over to the nearby reactor console, again avoiding the fire, and enabled the reactivation sequence.
In the face of the desperation and desolation the war had wrought, Golm was surprisingly calm. Maybe not completely composed, given the situation - creepy floaty alien things of doom could try to disintegrate him at any wrong move - but a lot calmer than he could’ve been.
The power plant rebooted with an encouraging sound and a warm blue glow. The settlement’s emergency lighting kicked in shortly after. It was clearly still in red alert from the invasion.
Now that he had successfully reactivated the base, his next task was to recover an undisclosed item from Reactor Locker 2. This turned out to be a Biological Sample, likely containing something important about the Thargoid invasion of the system. Given it was right here in the power centre, Golm retrieved it with ease.
CMDR CrazyGolm had accomplished the mission, but he wasn’t finished here yet. As per galactic law, he had legitimate salvage rights to the settlement. Provided it didn’t detrimentally impact his mission, he could legally take anything not nailed down from a reactivated settlement. His mission providers didn’t seem to mind, or if they did, so what? And he wanted to do something about these fires.
Even now, Golm still had to be careful. He had to contend with sparking computer banks, leaking pipes, and even fires that just refused to go out even after venting the building’s atmosphere. He reckoned his suit could protect him from most of this without needing shielding, but he would rather not take chances.
And to top it all off, there were the Thargoids outside. Revenants still patrolled the grounds, a sinister presence that didn’t exactly encourage him to go outdoors. There were additionally Thargoid Scouts frequenting the region, and Golm was concerned in case anything bigger came along. Still, he shouldn’t fret: there was nothing he could do about that right now.
Golm found his way to the security block of the Command centre. He was greeted with empty prison cells, and a plethora of computer consoles and holographic charts. He knew this was a military base, but he could only wonder what exactly had gone on here before the invasion. He was able to grab some Graphene from a locker room annex, and he also recovered some remaining data from a computer.
Having explored the command building, Golm wanted to lastly cross the settlement grounds and check out the two hab-buildings for any salvageable assets.
Unfortunately, this was where the Revenants were concentrated, so he would have to be very careful.
Watching from the entrance, Golm chose his moment carefully, and, activating his shield, made a break for it.
As it turned out, Golm’s timing was perfect. The Revenants were just moving to focus on either side of the grounds, creating a clear path down the middle. Golm took the opportunity and sprinted for it, pushing both himself and his suit’s locomotors to not waste a moment. He didn’t look back.
Golm made it to one of the habs, and rummaged through the contents of its lockers. There were quite a few items that Golm didn’t need, but some of it was worth taking.
Making it from the first to the second hab was more difficult than at first glance, as it involved going back into the settlement grounds and running left, potentially in plain sight, to reach its entrance. However, Golm had an idea.
Exiting the first hab-building, he jumped up to its roof. Though not fully enclosed, the hab rooftops had sheltered areas, allowing Golm to take cover from the Revenants.
Then, at the right time, Golm jumped between the rooftops. On top of the second hab, he hurriedly dropped down to ground level and ran into the entrance.
He had made it to the safety of the second hab, and he promptly scavenged it for resources. There was nothing of note in the kitchen, however there were plenty of assets to be found in the barracks.
Between the two habs and the command building, he had found more than he could carry.
It was time to leave.
Golm exited the second hab, ran to the left a bit, then jumped up on to its roof. Then, running to the other side of the hab, he leapt off the rooftop, and disappeared into the starlight. None of the Revenants even noticed him as he made his escape. He had successfully evaded them this entire time.
When he was nearly a kilometre away, Golm recalled his ship. It was an Orca, unconventional for planetside or Thargoid operations, but it was fast and well protected. It was at 99% hull integrity, having been only a bit rattled by a run-in with Thargoid scouts on the way to Parra Watch. Its pristine Saud Kruger paint also contrasted starkly with his cobbled-together suit.
However, as the Orca descended, the Revenant drones swarmed to attack it, firing green beams of doom and hostility. The Orca’s strong shields held as it landed, allowing Golm to safely board the ship, but there was another problem. The words “ENERGY SURGE DETECTED” flashed up before his eyes, and he felt a sinking feeling. His concerns from earlier had come true: a Thargoid Interceptor was here.
Golm ran to the Orca’s cockpit as the energy surge struck. The ship controls were completely unresponsive. Thankfully, he hadn’t even taken off yet, so it wasn’t going to fall out of the sky.
The words “Oh no” repeatedly came out of Golm’s mouth. This wasn’t part of the plan.
But he could still salvage the situation.
His mind went straight to “Drop and Roll”.
“Drop and roll” was a manoeuvre that CrazyGolm had developed to escape Thargoid Glaive interdictions, but it could be adapted for other Thargoid threats. It essentially consisted of quickly rigging the ship for silent running, then flying to a safe distance from the Thargoid attacker, before disabling silent running and jumping out. It would mean that he had no shields during the stunt, but he had plenty of armour. The Orca had been outfitted to be a battering ram. He could do it.
As soon as he regained control, Golm activated Silent Running on the Orca and powered up the launch engines. As the ship lifted, the Thargoid Interceptor opened fire on it, still able to detect it at close range. Golm throttled up and the Orca boosted forward at something like 600 metres per second. Leaving the base, the drones, and the Interceptor behind, Golm was able to disengage silent running and prepare to jump home.
But it wasn’t over yet! As Golm jumped to HIP 20491, he was hyperdicted and wrenched out of witchspace. The aggressors were two Thargoid Interceptors, although he wasn’t able to deduce their variants on the fly. The Thargoids wouldn’t get what they wanted, as Golm had already “dropped and rolled” and was now speeding away into the black.
On Golm’s way back to Semeonis Survey in HIP 20491, one more assailant would cross his path, but not a Thargoid this time. James Tupper, a wanted criminal, tried to interdict him for no good reason. Even in the midst of the Thargoid War, moreover in a system a state of Thargoid Alert, some humans would still turn on you for their own gain. Thankfully, Golm outperformed the Imperial Eagle and evaded the interdiction.
Commander CrazyGolm landed safely at Semeonis Survey, with another mission accomplished, and another tale of heroism for these times of great trial.
Without even firing a shot.