A new expedition - Log, Day 03, Part 1
16 Mar 2020Kris Afron
The third day, a day for exploring the Conflux Settlement sites.We'd over-nighted at the first one, the Alpha settlement at Pru Aescs Ty-J a64-1, planet 1. The settlement was in darkness on the unlit side of the planet when we landed and it still was when we arose this-morning. Maybe the planet is tidally locked. Anyway I took the Scarab out and explored the area, collected materials and downloaded four log entries.
Here are the downloaded logs,
Expedition Log: 21/08/3270
“So we’ve hauled right out into unexplored territory. Heading corewards, doubt anyone has been this far before. Star density is rising fast, the galaxy looks pretty amazing from this vantage point”.
Expedition Log: 30/08/3270
“We’ve been tasked with dropping off these beacons. New tech it would seem. Looks like long range comms stuff to me, but I’m no expert. Can’t see why anyone would want a beacon this far out.”
Expedition Log: 17/09/3270
“Reckon I have it figured. We’re dropping these beacons around Earth-like worlds. Can’t be a coincidence. I guess it’s some kind of long term planning by someone. Not sure who’s paying for this gig. Best not to ask too many questions. They’re paying a proper wedge.”
Expedition Log: 14/10/3270
“Well, we’re done. Dropped off the last beacon today. It’s going to be a long old trip back to the core worlds. We’re thousands of light years out. Kind of wish we could keep going all the way to the core. Guess someone else will have that little bit of glory.”
Livvy and I agreed that not much could be gleaned from this, although it did imply that the expedition returned to home space - unless they also moved on to the other sites, but that seems unlikely.
So, on to the Beta Site next, Pru Aescs HW-S b31-2 is the destination and drop into the site on planet CD 1. This was just a small hop.
And at least there was some daylight so it was a lot easier to see what I was doing. Same routine, but no materials to collect, just downloading these logs.
Expedition Log: 01/10/3270
“Witch-space once again. We’re almost to our destination in the Conflux area now. That’s odd… looks like… can’t be! You can’t be interdicted in witch-space… that’s impossible! We’re back in normal space. Systems off-line, no power, what in Randomius is that…”
Expedition Log: 30/08/3270
“Signed on for this one as I had the exploration bug, but we’re just jumping and jumping. We’re not staying in systems to survey, just refuelling as fast as we can and then it’s back into witch-space. We’re spending more time there than in real space. Someone is in a hurry.”
Expedition Log: 12/09/3270
“Reminds me of what my father told me about witch-space. it’s haunted. There’s weird lights, shifting clouds, who knows what they are. Makes you wonder whether we should be out here at all. So much stuff we just don’t understand.”
Expedition Log: 18/09/3270
“Witch-space is different out here, there’s something odd, those lights we were seeing are less frequent now, but they seem to be hanging around, almost as if they’re following us. Maybe I’m going nuts.”
These confirm that there was a different team running this mission, as some of the log dates are the same as the first - Can't be in two places at once.
At this point Livvy said "There's something odd there, the first log is dated after the other three, how does that happen?"
"Hmmm, strange - it must have been made after the others so were they also returning to the core systems when they got interdicted? No, they were still approaching the conflux. How did they make the log? The only time that I've been interdicted in Hyperspace, actually a few times, was by Thargoids. In general they scanned me and I got away before anything more happened."
At this point Livvy looked at me with a puzzled expression "What's a Thargoid?"
"They're an insectoid alien race, you might have heard of their attacks on stations in the Pleiades and the Witch Head sectors. In fact you can find them all over these systems and I've fought and killed a few hundred of them."
A gasp from Livvy, "It's very dangerous out here then!"
"Oh, yes. The void will kill you easily in one way or another. So you need to keep vigilant and careful at all times".
"Anyway time for lunch Livvy?"
"Thought you'd never ask, I'm hungry!"
CMDR Kris Afron signing off. Fly safely commanders.