Heavy void
04 Apr 2020DrPillman
harmonized startime 2020-03-25 22:44Supplementary entry, captains personal notes.
So, this is a few days ago, need to catch up on the logbook. Things that get pushed aside in the hurry, but the pilot authorities are known for random checks, so...better do your homework. I still prefer to keep this in my style, as my personal mumblings to myself, or the void, whatever. I remember more if I imagine I am telling someone. The technical data are in the logfiles, anyway, and those go to tape on every docking.
Yes, tape. Ancient, but hardy. 100% solar storm proof.
Where was I? Yes. A really strange and eventful day, that started out really easy:
I was just finally heading out to do the grand "tour d´ingenieurs" with my Krait Phantom, after her "Maiden flight" over 900ly. I had tried to get some obelisks decrypted, but somethin was wrong with the communications array, I couldn´t get a connection to Ram Tah, either my data never made it to him, or his messages got lost in the void, who knows.
So I decided to drop it for the moment, visit him in person, and start over. I wasn´t all to eager to go right away, and figured I could as well tweak some things the way I thought might work.
So..yeah.
And en route between stops 2 and 3, I just happened to pop into a star system I had never visited before!
Right in the middle of the bubble, I had actually been hopping all around it for years. So I started scanning. Could as well bring the data home. Guess what? There was a gas giant with an ice ring. On closer inspection, it revealed pristine reserves of a bunch of precious minerals, so I synthesized a couple limpets and started digging.
And that, dear diary, is how I found my first 12 tons of void opals!
And plenty bromellite to go with it, so that I could pay a visit to Alioth and start investing into my membership card for the "Turner Metallics Inc. Fanclub". While I was sitting in the reception lounge, waiting for my number to come up, I idly browsed some of the brochures and catalogues, and I think, I need to come here more often. Memo to self: Bromellite. Dig! You really need lightweight scanners on this!
After doing the rounds, I am now very very pleased with the Krait Phantom. It handles very nicely, has a comfortably low heat profile with plenty headroom for fuelling and such, enough juice to run everything (A ginormous fuel scoop, for starters. I got so bored waiting for the fuel on my long tour, that I decided, 64t cargo is enough for diamonds and opals. Let´s see), It´s fast and nimble, I don´t feel totally naked with what armor and shield I retained, and I managed to push the jump range into the sweet 50ly-league. So yeah, I like this ship. I really like her. It took me some time to get to know her, but Lise turned out to be a jewel.
Just for kicks and giggles, I tried a supercharged white dwarf jump on my way to RamTah....muaahahahaha...She can handle it, alright. Jolly good fun.
Meene was another story, though. On my way to Ram Tah I picked up a series of strange signal sources, that turned out to be wreckage, neatly lined up in orbit. Many. I dropped into the first, thought maybe I could salvage some scrap, maybe record some data...It was a lot of wreckage. Like the sky was all scrap metal. I tried to make out what it had been, there are not many ships the size to produce that much scrap. A Corvette, maybe?...then the unmistakable wing of an Eagle drifted past my canopy, and my perception shifted and clicked into place: not one big ship. A bunch of small ones. And in between: escape pods. Not one, or two: 5. Five frozen pilots drifting in the void. What on earth had happened here? A space race gone horribly wrong? I picked them up, went to the next signal source: Same scene. I picked them up, wondering. Went for the next: Same same. What was this? If these were former engagement zones, the fight must have been pretty fierce, and most of all: Why on earth had no one of either side come back and pick up the drifting pilots? The wreckage was cold as the void, no infrared signature at all, this hadn´t happened like 5 minutes ago. I checked the comms panel, the news channels, my favourite random job agencies: Nothing. As if this planetary war-sized massacre had gone down in complete radio silence. Spooky.
Had this been the annual space-lemming convention? Some weirdo esoteric pilot´s death cult? I know some navy veterans start to drift sideways at some point (The Neo-Mithras guys make my skin crawl), but this...
I opened the cargo scoop to load the next bunch of unfortunate disposable heroes into my cargo bay. When I heard the distinctive "PFWUMP" of a Fer-de-Lance dropping not even a kilometre away, that instantly opened up on me. Now, with a deepspace-miner/explorer built for range and digging, I had but one option: Floor it. The only real defense system built into this outfit is the booster speed. And, yes, the idea seems to work, I got out with barely a scratch. So, another design feature successfully tested. I felt a little bad for the 3 pilots I had to leave to their fate, but then again, had no intention risking the lives of those 12 already on board. Not to mention my own. So. No space race. No lemmings. The void was apparently heavy with lead around here. Someone had serious beef and no sense of humour. Explains why no one picked up the pods. Someone, for whatever reason, rather has them drifting.
Ram Tah, however, was very clear about his installation maybe being kind of NGO, but that he was running a research institute, not a refugee camp. *sigh*
As I headed off to get them somewhere else, I passed yet another signal source, and it turned out to be some kind of orbital installation registered as "Stellar transmission core" Interesting, I thought, let´s have a look. I wanted to check on the guys, see whats up, maybe ask them about the pilots, check out how they roll, maybe offer help. I got to know how they roll pretty in-my-face: As soon as I came into range, a gazillion of red lights came on, and what felt like the whole galaxy opened fire. Ah, ok. I see. Nice to meet you.
So that explains part of the mystery about the scrapyards lining the core´s orbit. I still don´t know frakk about these guys, but one fact: They are no joke.
I turned on the spot, my left index finger on "Boost", my right index finger on "Charge FSD". Phew.
I was about to just leave it and go, but the thought of these drifting pilots haunted me. So I sneaked back into the scrapheap I had left earlier, and picked up as many as I could. With 38 dreamers in the hold, I high-waked out of this apparently godforsaken place.
I figured, the least I could do for these guys, is get them somewhere far away were they could thaw in peace, have a nice welcome and a cup of tea, free of charge, and then decide in their own time whether they want to go back to join the fray again, or do some serious revisions on their career paths, look for a new employer, or just silently drop off the grid.
So I brought them with me all the way to Gateway. Authorities are reasonable there, the Workers of gateway are a friendly, accepting, unintrusive"behave and no questions are asked"-bunch, and even if they are broke, they will not be sold to slavers. They can always find some odd job in New Chernobyl.
I realize, I didn´t even take a single picture the whole day, because I was either really bored, or really busy. XD XD