Some New Ancient Tech
18 Dec 2019Rex-Cramer
An interesting excursion came about from me hanging out on comms the other night and chatting with another commander who was an old acquaintance from Colonia about getting Guardian technology. I mentioned that I was interested mainly in the FSD booster. Getting another 10.5 LY per jump on Narada would be a big help. Well what do you know he's on his way to collect some artifacts himself from a site that he's learned about and he asked me if I wanted to join in. I jumped on the opportunity without hesitation. Docked Narada and hopped into Firefy to get out to the rendezvous point at a distant science outpost as quick as possible and outfitted the ship with some recommended point-defense turrets upon arrival. From there we traveled together to the destination system and dropped down onto the ruins. It was a very new experience for me as he led me through the best places to look for the bits of technology I would need to gain access to the Guardian booster. We spent a good deal of time breaking open some of the strange pillars and archways grabbing power cells and technology components. Manuvering the SRV was a challenge to me in this space and I'm sure my antics provided the other commander a good laugh. The Guardian sentinels were also new to me, and early on made a fool of me trying to manage all the switches and modes in the SRV in combat, many I have had little use for since starting as a pilot. They seemed to be activated, all these hundreds of years later, by proximity and by the activation of certain devices on the site. With a little practice I was handling these attack craft more confidently. I'm sure any serious archaeologist would have a brain aneurysm seeing how we handled the site, but I was there on a mission and blasting, prying and prodding were the order of the day.
Eventually we (he) had found enough of the technology components to satisfy the requirements to unlock this tech from a broker. He then introduced me to the process to obtain the technical data needed from the guardian probes. With a warning that I should be ready to fight we activated what I can only describe as the core of the site. This involved finding the activation pillars and charging them up in sequence within the allowed time-frame. This then activated the main terminal and by depositing the correct artifact into terminal the central Guardian probe was launched allowing me to scan it. Moments later the attack came with multiple sentinels attacking from different directions. We split up and dispatched the attackers, but not without taking a bit of damage from their missile attacks. With the attack fended off, we returned to our ships and got out of there. I thanked my benefactor and we parted ways shortly after.
I stopped at a local science outpost that indicated they had a tech broker to process my unlock request. I first had to spend a bit of time getting through a rather rude and self-absorbed little clerk that seemed to enjoy his position as gateway. With some forms, signatures and sorting through the collected artifacts we'd brought in I was granted access to the broker's inventory and could not help but smile. A class 3 booster would give Firefly a nearly 57LY range. I purchased one immediately and contracted to have it installed in my ship. After just enough time for a drink and some hot chow my ship was ready to go. I hopped in and chuckled a bit as I plotted my way home. Not an enormous change but it cut 4 jumps off a 700+ LY trip and I'm happy with that outcome.
Thanks out to my wing-mate for this adventure! I only hope I can return the favor someday.
CMDR R. Cramer