Captain's Log: Far out in the black
14 Jun 2021Pon Pon
Well, looks like I'm an explorer now. I guess I should start at the beginning, though.It all started when I got that email, letting me know I reached trade rank Elite. At that moment, I had it made. I'd achieved all of my goals, and was all the better for it. But I knew I could go higher. Further. Deeper into the black. Follow the allure of space, and remember the real reason I became a pilot: To explore the great unknown. To boldly go where no man has gone before. But, well, I've actually dipped my toes into this pool in the past, and I knew I wasn't ready--or, more specifically, my ship wasn't.
Y'see, out in the Pleiades sector, I heard from chatting with some Anti-Xeno guys about these "Guardian Modules." Out there, where the Thargoids had a presence, a lot of the combat ships ran various Guardian weapons since those were most effective. But not all Guardian modules are weapons, and I set my sight on something every explorer probably already knew about: The Guardian FSD Booster. Well, I sold one of my DBS's, the Reichweite, in order to partially fund the purchase of a new exploration ship: The Diamondback Explorer. Being a direct replacement of the Reichweite, I dubbed her the Reichweite II and set about kitting her to scavenge Guardian sites. An SRV bay, point defense, the works. From my previous ventures, I already had enough raw materials to synthesize SRV fuel and ammo, so all I needed to do was plot a course... After making sure the brand new DBX was in tip-top shape for making the flight out to the Synuefe cluster, of course.
After making sure I was kitted properly, thanks to the advice of other Commanders I heard from, I plotted my course to Synuefe NL-N C23-4, where I heard the Guardian sites were plentiful. And, planet B3, I found one. Setting my ship down, I deployed my SRV and began cautiously making my way around the site. Then, well, less cautiously, since it didn't seem like there were any sentinels. After I approached the altar, though, I was in for a bit of a surprise, but at the end of the day they turned into more materials for me to gather. To activate the altar, so I could scan it for the data I needed, I had to activate six pylons, so I took a few laps around the complex to make sure no sentinels would interrupt, and that I could locate and charge each pylon before the grid collapsed. It took a few tries, 'cause the grid kept collapsing when I took the time to eliminate Guardian Sentinels, but eventually I got them all charged. Funnily enough, I actually got a combat rank after all this time, reaching "Mostly Harmless."
Jumping back to the nearest technology broker, I managed to trade down some materials I needed to get the focus crystals, and the HN Shock Mounts were child's play since I could just buy them, so I am now the proud owner of a Guardian FSD Booster. Well, with just over 60ly of jump range, I figured I might as well take the freshly upgraded Reichweite II for a spin, and see about snagging me a double Elite. To that end, I've been operating out of Algorab, my squadron's home system, for the past couple days, taking runs out into the black to get used to everything involved with the life of an explorer. While I've been stuck at "Trailblazer" for too long, I've since ranked up twice and now hold the title of "Pioneer."
After receiving the rank-up notice in Algorab earlier today, I decided it was time to find a base a little further out, to use as a jumping-off point to deeper in the black. And, what better place than the Robigo system? It was a 500ly or so flight, maybe a bit longer due to me taking detours to systems with high-value planets to DSS, but I'm finally here. I'm in Hauser's Reach, and now that I've ordered a few things to be shipped to me I'm about to bed down for the night. Sirius Corp, whom I've worked with before, were very pleased that I rekindled relationships with ~20M in cartographic data, and I look forward to what my future as an explorer holds.
