Finding the Valkyrie
27 Mar 2021Cayce Luther
Spoiler Alert: This logbook entry contains spoilers for the current Community challenge of finding the ACT Anaconda Valkyrie, if you want to look for it on your own please do NOT read this logbook yet!The following is taken directly from the CMDR's log of The Traveler:
"Commander's log, 3/26/3307, 15:00 hours. I got a tip-off a few hours ago that the missing Anaconda was in a star system not far off from its projected flight path. I hopped aboard The Traveller and made my way to HIP 22550 from Ember. Not far in this old girl. With a nearly 55LY jump range it made getting here a snap. I docked up at Stillman Hub in system to take on supplies and fuel. Ship didn't need much, she barely used any on the way here, but keeping Phoenix from nagging at me after that unintentional hypermiling run in the Stratos' Fire is always a plus."
"While there I grabbed some food and asked around the station lobby for anything. I was fairly vague, looking for just wrecked ships in general. Some hints at stuff that cross-referenced with other local wrecks in the area, but nothing major. So I hit up a bar to grab a drink. And that's when I heard it..."
"Some intoxicated spacer bragging about his discovery of the ACT Valkyrie, loudly enough for it to be heard by just about everyone. I sat there long enough for the bartender to bring me my drink, and then continued to listen in. Going to be honest, I had a slight twitch in my eye. I didn't much care about being the first to find the ship, I just needed to see the wreck with my own eyes, and I'd never actively searched for a shipwreck before, so I told my squadron I wanted to run this one in the dark as a challenge. But this idiot was loaded down with so much brandy, he not only bragged about the discovery but he blurted out the entire name of the system the ship was located in. I don't know if luck was on my side or fate wanted me to suffer. Nevertheless, I had what I came for....the buzzkill that it was. I took a drink from the scotch in front of me when whoever it was that was bragging hooted out in victory again."
"I kind of feel bad for the bartender that gave me my drink. I don't think she expected it to be wielded as a projectile, but right after the holler, I wheeled around and just hurled the rocks glass as hard as I could. Unfortunately my aim was right on point and the poor glass shattered against his forehead, sending him down faster than a harmless raider in a hazRES site. His buddies wheeled around in just enough time to see me getting up, and I turned to the shocked bartender, paid my tab, left a tip and some extra money for the broken glass, and headed out. I lost them in the crowd around the bar fairly easily. But still, what a waste of scotch..."
"Once I boarded The Traveler, I punched in the system name to galaxy map and requested launch clearance. Launch was uneventful and aside from some chiding from ATC about my little incident in the bar, nothing came of it."
"After about an hour of traveling, I took the scenic route just to cool my jets a little, I ended up in the system Trianguli Sector, GW-W B1-0. There are a number of planets in the system that could serve as potential crash sites. Sadly, my 'informant' didn't give up the planet/moon the ship was on, so I went by process of elimination and just settled in, expecting to spend the next hour scanning planets right down the line with the 'DSS'."
"Once again fate draws me the best short straw I've ever gotten. Immediately upon scanning out all of planet '1 A', I got an 'other' blip on the DSS. I made for atmosphere and dropped the ship out of SC. I wasn't picking up the site just yet on the nav computer, turns out crash sites won't show up until you drop out of Supercruise in Atmosphere. I'm not sure if it's an overarching glitch between the Detailed Surface Scanner and the Nav panel of our ships, or just my Diamondback Explorer in particular, but it didn't pop up until I went to normal flight over the surface."
"And there it was. 5Mm away, on the opposite side of the planet, 'Crash site.' Raising the nose I put Arty back into Supercruise and skimmed the atmosphere of the planet. It didn't take long and I managed to drop again and glide right over the wreck. Even in the wireframe that is Night Vision, I could make out the silhouette of an Anaconda partially buried in the dirt down there on the surface."
"Thankfully, at this time, nobody else was around save for a trio of fleet carriers occupying orbits near the planet. Erring on the side of caution, I did a pass over the ship with the floodlights on and NV deactivated. A quick zoom in on the name plate confirmed it; this was the ACT Valkyrie. The ship was charred, scars from what could possibly be energy weapons slashed across the top of the hull. A debris trail stretched out behind her, the remains of cargo racks strewn on the ground, likely the ship tore open when she hit the surface. If I had to compare it to something, I could liken it possibly to the Empress of Ireland, from ancient Earthen maritime history. Mostly intact, but showing serious and obvious damage. This ship is probably not salvageable."
"So I set down on the port side of the ship, close enough to let my floodlights bathe over the wreck. She had a starboard list in her resting place, not sure if I could reach the data core so I set out in the SRV. Ever the curious wreck-diver (figuratively speaking, mostly historical records and whatnot), I headed for the stern to get an idea of the extent of the debris field. As mentioned before, several pieces of Cargo Rack modules were spread about, and they carried Antimony. How fortunate, as I was running short. I'm sure there's something in this about graverobbing, but I'll let others be the judge of that, I'm only taking what I can use. The rest can stay."
"It didn't take long to examine what I could see, and I circled back to the wreck. Coming up on the starboard side, I drove carefully onto the upper deck of the ship. Metal creaked, and some gave, but the ship held. It probably wasn't necessary, but considering issues I've had in the past with Data Link Scanners, too close is better than interference getting in the way."
"The computer pinged when the SRV finished its scan of the Valkyrie's data core, depositing the ship's logs into my databanks. A few minutes later and I returned to the ship, and sat down to listen and sift through the records."
"At the end of the recordings, the pencil that was in my hand snapped. Not in anger, but because at the end, I knew what was coming next. It was a trap. The evidence was right in front of me, broken and rotting. It's possible Theta Group were in fact on that ship, but the results speak for themselves. Valkyrie didn't stand a chance."
"Scanning back to the thoughts on Order of Mudhrid and Landgrave Delacroix, I wondered if Seutonia was really onto something. Delacroix thought about replacing the Imperial family with new rulers. Who better to carry out that idea than a terrorist cell who basically wants the same thing? They get the credit, and Delacroix gets what they want. The mixture of Imperial, Fed and Alliance factions in the system certainly made it an ideal staging area..."
"For now though, it's time to head back to HIP 22550. Once there I'll put in a call to Phoenix and have her arrange to transfer Luther's Folly to Stillman Hub. I'll take on some merc work in the meantime, doing what I always do, until something comes up. I think my best bet will be to work the shipping lanes between the Colonies and Mudhrid for now...especially with this 'Delacroix' apparently up to something. At the moment? This doesn't feel like much, but it's progress, what's more it's a step in the right direction. It's been too long since we've had any kind of headway on the NMLA, and my trigger finger's itching. I'm going to return this to Stillman and get some sleep, first. After that, we'll get back to hunting down more leads...the sooner we can knock these bastards out, the better."
"Commander Cayce Luther; out."
