Salvation or Damnation?
01 Aug 2022Ember Lacson
The other day I found myself delivering thousands of tonnes of HN Shock Mounts to Glorious Prospect in accordance with Azimuth's final call for materials. I made a hundredfold profit, and on top if it I'm getting a couple more Salvation shard cannons and another hold full of cash. The AXI says these weapons—the shard cannons, that is—are good, but...I feel like I should know better than to trust Azimuth and what they plan to do with those inactive Thargoid vessels. Will we see Thargoid hybrid weaponry like we've seen with the Guardian stuff? Will the Thargoids make a retaliatory strike, like I've been predicting for years? Will Azimuth push for power in the Bubble? Wycherley certainly seems to have a god complex with his messianic Salvation persona, so if he makes a play, I'm positive a large portion of humanity will stand behind him.As the day of the Wave's activation draws near I simultaneously feel the urge to hunt and the urge to stay here and protect Nicole. We don't know of any instances of Thargoids attacking fleet carriers yet, but that doesn't strike me as a logical or strategic decision. The best way to stick it to humanity would be to attack our AX forces where they live, not where they work. And secretly—I guess not so secretly now—I feel like it's only a matter of time before that starts happening. Maybe as a result of the Wave. But who knows? I just want to make sure that Nicole gets back to the Pilots Federation Zone intact so that she can get a proper start on her career.
She told me she wants to be in-system when the Wave goes off. She wants to see exactly what happens. And while I feel that's too dangerous...I think I have no choice but to oblige. I'll have to grab my AspX out of the garage; I don't even remember where I have her stored. The moment I got my Phantom I never looked back. But nothing beats that big, open canopy except maybe my T9. We'll have a front row seat to a hell of a show, for sure. But what if it doesn't work this time? Back in the late 20th and early 21st, there was a TV franchise called Star Trek. Some good stories, but it got weird in the second and third decades of the 21st. Anyway, there was this malevolent, hivemind race of aliens called the Borg. They had the ability to adapt to energy weapons used against them, i.e., to analyze the frequencies and tune their shielding specifically to counter those weapons. What if the previous successes of Salvation and Azimuth were just "acceptable losses" and this time they can counteract our weapons. A lot of us seem to treat the Thargoids like they're dumb animals. Hella tough with combat ability nonpareil, but still dumb animals. This seems to be Wycherley's mindset, too. He's baiting them, that's for sure. But what if they know it's a trap and this whole thing backfires? Remember what I said about hubris back in my first logbook entry. If they survive the Wave and converge on every human ship.... I can't really bring myself to finish that thought. My old AspX is not outfitted to survive an encounter.
If you're the praying sort, pray for us all. I have a feeling something big, something really bad is going to happen, and soon.