Thargoids, Day 3
04 Sep 2020Korzhakov
"Your all loaded up Commander" the ground crew leader tells me as I enter the hangar and start my external pre-flight inspection of the Chieftain. Thank you my friend, I say back to him, and despite the absolute beauty of this station, make no mistake, there is alien combat here every single minute of every single day, and these crews know their stuff. I climb aboard the Chieftain and I make my way to the cockpit while telling Astra to start preflight checks and run full diagnostics. I have taken a lot of caustic damage the first couple of days fighting theses scouts, but am leaning to stay away from the caustic clouds they leave once I put them down. "All systems green, we are ready for combat Commander" Astra says after a few seconds.
I climb into my seat and we go though the startup checklist as we make our way to the up from the hangar to the port area. The engines begin to hum and the rest of the ship comes alive. I request takeoff clearance and am told to hold position for a minute to clear some passenger ships from the bay. I take sip of coffee and wait my turn. Station control calls back a minute later, "Lakon Tango Echo Charlie you are cleared for departure", "Thank you control, Lakon Tango Echo Charlie cleared for departure, have a good one control" I call back as I thrust up and into the middle of the flight bay. I make my way out and then clear the station and get into cruise. I get some separation from the station and then begin my scan.
I scan the surrounding space and find the targets I am looking for. I am hunting Thargoid Scouts and this system is full of them. I head to the location and drop into normal space, the human ships are fleeing as the scouts drop in, I guess they didn't count on me being here and they engage the fleeing ships. I splash the first one and the other 5 turn their attention to me, which allows the other human ships to escape.
I start on them methodically, taking down one and then the next until they are all gone. I retract my weapons and then enter super cruise again and find the nex t Thargoid signal and go after them again.
By now I have taken down almost 200 of these things and to be honest with you, it's boring. They are never a real challenge for me and they go down fairly easily, but I am not yet confident enough to take on an interceptor. I keep taking them out, 2,5, 7 at a time, they are just no match for the Chieftain with AX multi-cannons like the experienced Thargoid hunter told me about a few days ago.
I keep at this all day, until I am too tired to safely keep engaging in combat. I make the jump to super cruise and head to Artemis Lodge. I put the ship in the hangar and this time, there is a lot less caustic damage to fix.
I head down to my hotel and stop off at the bar for a whiskey before I head to my room. I guess I am getting better at this stuff, but I know I need to take on an interceptor soon. I need that challenge, and although I know I will most likely end up running wounded from my first encounter with one, I know that is the step I need to keep this progression going.
I get to my room and send a message to Jean back home. It is good to here the one she has sent to me as she is well and each day I let her know that I have returned safely from my adventures.
I get out of my remlok and after a quick shower, climb into bed, thinking about my fiance, and my cat. I miss them both, but I need to know I can bet the baddest of the Thargoids. Because before too long, were going to need a lot of commanders who can.