CMDR Adrella//SJCS Artemis//3310-12-15 - Defending Sol
16 Dec 2024Adrella
It's been another busy day. I spent a lot of time continuing the fight around Mars High, which was still under near-constant attack by the Thargoids. I managed to bag a load of Scouts and several Cyclopes, and even a Basilisk. This is surprisingly tough when only using the AX MCs. Another Far God-worshiping CMDR, known as Franz Turdinand - a highly appropriate name - was in the vicinity, but was quickly dealt with by Mars High security. The fight definitely seemed to be turning in our favour, though - Mars High is able to support the defenders, and a high number of CMDRs were working in defence.
After taking down a number of enemy ships, I received a call that more bombing runs were needed against Cocijo. So I jumped to Hutner Rescue Ship at Luyten's Star and outfitted the ship for a bombing run. I also took the opportunity to deposit my combat bonds, totalling a tidy 335 million. This puts me back into the 2 billion mark, which is handy.
In regards to the Titan bombing, I figured things would go a bit more smoothly, now that I knew kinda how it was done.
The journey to Sol saw a hyperdiction, but with the Dirty Drive thrusters, I left the Thargoid Interceptor in the dust. I managed to make it to Earth without any interdictions - I guess the Thargoids are trying to marshal their forces, having lost significant numbers of their fleet in the fighting around Sol, particularly at Mars High.
As I headed into the maelstrom, I prepared the Artemis, teeing up my caustic sinks and the pulse neutraliser. It was a far smoother run in this time, as I only faced a single pulse - clearly the damage to Cocijo's hearts is starting to take its toll.
Eventually, I could spot the silhouette of Cocijo in the cloud. I boosted for the monstrous vessel and switched my weapons to the nanite torpedo and beam laser. I flew around the central core of the vessel, using my beam to stay cool. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to reset my pips after boosting through the caustic cloud, and couldn't work out why my beam was out of juice. After hitting and damaging some of the heat vents, the Titan attempted a purge, allowing me to hit the core.
I made three runs on the Titan, managing around 2 to 3 million credit bonds per run. By the second run, I'd worked out my pip mistake, so was able to stay cool during my runs. Eventually, I was down to about 40% hull integrity and decided to head out for repairs.
I used my tried and tested method of getting out of the cloud quickly, turning off flight assist and being launched by a pulse at ~1,500 m/s out of the cloud. I headed back to Luyten's Star, and refitted the Artemis for combat.
I decided that, before returning to Sol, I'd have a moment to rest at Hutner. I had purchased the new Cobra Mk V, and was keen to try it out.
I took it for a spin and was more than happy with its handling. It'll be a snappy little ship once I've had the engineers tinker with it. The SCO boost is so smooth, and barely consumes any fuel, especially when compared to the SJCS Artemis.
The Mk V will clearly be a great little multi-role vessel, so I decided to christen it the SJCS Apollo, as a clear link to its big sister, the Artemis. Both are Faulcon De-Lacy ships, both a great multi-role vessels, and both are manoeuvrable. I'm looking forward to theory-crafting a few Cobra builds, as a raider, a mat collector, a combat ship (both shielded and hull tank variants) and as a bubble-runner.