On the lookout for the Thargoids part 1: 3306.08.09
10 Aug 2020Suremaker
3306.08.09. It's the day. The day to go to the Pleiades and follow the path of explorers finding the first marks of Thargoid civilisation.Until then I happened to transfer meta alloys bought on Maia markets, but this day I planned to go and re-discover the first locations of Thargoids crash sites.
The Eridu engines were warming up for the jump to Merope when I was browsing the logs for the first discovered crash sites. Pleiades Sector AB-W B2-4, planet 9 A, coordinates -26.37, 97.70 - the first reported crash site, discovered by CMDRs Noctrach and Ihazevich on 3302.08.30. I checked the galaxy map - 77.8 LY distance from the carrier destination - it sounded like a good first place to visit. To make the travel easy I planned to use Fafik, the exploration Anaconda. I looked over the panel to check if the ship is equipped properly for a journey, I got distracted however by the announcement of imminent departure. I made myself comfortable in the armchair and got ready for the jump - the ship review can be done after arrival, I thought. Soon after we entered the hyperspace...
The planet 9 A did not look anyhow special when I approached it. I fired the scanning probes to map the planet and noticed the non-human origin signal at coordinates matching the ones from archives. I descended the orbit close to the target and landed nearby. When I drove closer in the SRV, I saw something I have never seen before. There were fragments scattered around the crash site with a visible impact spot. The texture of the fragments looked organic and was similar to the bone structure. The impact spot held round in shape central part of the ship, and beside it, there was nothing else except the dead silence.
I felt like on the day when I saw the Guardian ruins for the first time - a mixture of fear, excitement, and curiosity. Of course, I knew the story about the Thargoids, but I tried to imagine how the first discoverers had to feel when they saw it.
Back on Fafik I browsed the archives and found the HIP 17862, planet 6 C A with another location of crashed alien ship. I went there and found similar Thargoid ship remnants. This time, I managed to discover a few small samples that scanner has identified as Thargoid Sensor, Reisin, and Sensor Fragments. I collected them and took off to come back to Eridu. I entered the hyperspace but quickly noticed that something is wrong.
The witch-space tunnel lights changed to intensive orange and green colors and ship started shaking. The "Warning! Hyperspace Conduit Unstable" alert appeared and soon after the ship dropped off the hyperspace.
All panels blinked few times, and when became stable, I noticed some strange objects on the radar. Immediately after and another alert appeared - "ALERT: ENERGY SURGE DETECTED"... and all the ship power went off.
The ship has stopped, power-less, with all instruments dead. The only thing I could notice was this sound... Suddenly the ship shook and the cockpit filled with a pale green light just to stop and disappear after a few seconds. I could not do anything but wait and look around - the only thing I could observe, however, was moving shadow cast on the front part of the ship.
After a moment, the power went back on and everything went back to normal. I started turning the ship and then saw it - a flower-like vessel with distinct petal-shape parts. It was flying away from me, followed by another alien ship. I tried to scan it, but could not get anything. Soon, they entered hyperspace and disappear, leaving strange-looking wake signatures.
I noticed one more object on the radar with a set of smaller ones around it. When I turned the ship towards it I saw one more vessel with red-lit petals and a swarm of small ships flying around it. It did not look friendly at all! Sensing that something bad is going to happen I turned away from it and began the hyperjump sequence, just to realise that it started shooting at me. Fafik is suited for exploration thus I knew that I have no much chance to survive. I speed up and started maneuvering to avoid the hits, franticly counting the time to jump. The shields were dropping quickly, but I managed to escape soon after they went offline.
Uff - that was close!
I have managed to come back to Eridu, however, I got hyperdicted a few more times yet during the journey back - it looks like whatever I had in my cargo, was making Thargoids angry!
To be continued...