Repairs Needed
18 Mar 2022Lance Ducatillon
The Argo is currently 16,762.44LY from Sol docked at the DSSA Fleet Carrier Void Crusaders for some much-needed repairs. We've been flying for about a week on 43% hull thanks to a very hard bounce off a planet. Shields took a good deal of it, thankfully. If they hadn't, we all would have woken up in some hospital back in the bubble or stuck on some planet in lifepod stasis. The AFMUs got everything but the hull back up in no time. We really had a good run going there for a bit. We had a nice languorous journey happening, then routine set in. We were slow jumping to the next waypoint, a Science Vessel working on the Rekohu Project, gathering lots of first discovery systems, including a few Earth-like worlds, as well as first footfalls and exobiology find. We were headed down to a dust ball of a planet that sensors said was teeming with life. I was paying too much attention to the lifeform sensors and not enough attention on our velocity.
Orion suddenly said, "Commander, the planet is approaching rather quickly."
How he said it so calmly is beyond me. I yanked back on the stick trying to the nose to the sky and hit the afterburner. It helped but not nearly enough. We bounced like a rubber ball thrown onto a flight deck. Shields were gone instantly. The hull remained intact but got beat the hell up. Every system in the ship took some damage. Vega is still pissed about his black eye.
After that we hit atmo and made a best speed course to a Guardian Site, the Hollow Veil. I'm going to start devoting my exploration time to visiting more of them and seeking out and researching Thargoids. Reading up on the history and current theories I'm starting to believe I may have misread the threat the Thargoids purportedly pose to humanity. I don't think they are as violent towards humans as the headlines would have us believe.
Until then we're moving on. We're less than 10,000 LY from Sag A*. Our next waypoint is Tranquility's Stop out in the Shrogea sector, then Sag A*.