Tripping the deep
12 Aug 2022Valanga
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
That's what I keep telling myself as I continue to blur the line between bravery and stupidity.
After I heard the reports of Thargoid surface installations having bizarre new interactions with Guardian technology - no doubt thanks to Salvation's ingenious machinations - I felt like I I had to be a part of the ongoing research into the phenomenon. I would be doing the galaxy a disservice if I didn't harness the resources made available to me through the Seven Keys Alliance for some sort of good here.
But I'm way out of my league and in way over my head. Every second that passes makes this all feel like more and more of a mistake. Usually I'm able to plan around every outcome of pretty much any situation, but for once, I really feel like I'm going in blind. I really DON'T know what I'm doing, do I? It's more than a bit humbling for someone who calls herself an archaeologist...
~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~
I swapped out the cargo rack onboard my science vessel, the Krait Mk.II "Ancient Scapes", for a smaller corrosion-resistant one insulated with a layer of Meta-Alloys. I'd need it for what I was about to do. I made my way to a Guardian installation I had yet to investigate, collected nine Guardian relics and an assortment of other artifacts, and set sail for the Pleiades Nebula. Destination: Merope.
I was looking for a Thargoid Sensor, as I've heard that it's the only way to get those grotesque doors to open at the Thargoid surface installation in HIP 24007 - the same one I cased out a day ago.
I was trying to find a way into Hell from the gates of Heaven.
I came across a Sensor whilst digging through the wreckage of what appeared to be a crashed Thargoid Interceptor-class ship. I couldn't tell you what variant - honestly, all of this Thargoid stuff is pretty new and jarring to me. The thing scanned my ship as I approached. The sensor scanned my ship. I could hear the awful thing making strange creaking and roaring sounds, mixed in with what sounded like the transmission of data. It had an almost pestilential aura about it; I'm not sure I've ever laid eyes on something more cursed than this chirping bio-engineered mass.
I didn't dare get out and poke at it - I just scooped it up and hastily made my way back to the ship. The thing had already eaten away at my Scarab's internals in the few seconds it took me to transfer it into my ship's insulated cargo hold.
I returned to the site in HIP 24007, and I used the Sensor to make my way into the structure carrying as many Guardian relics as I could hold. Before me was a labyrinthine network of tunnels that looked as if they were alive and breathing, filled with these strange red-eyed mechanical drones. The whole site was crawling with those floating machines - what purpose they serve is beyond me, but they're clearly Thargoid in origin. The entire time I was in the structure, my systems were all on the fritz: HUD spazzing out, COVAS barely able to speak, headlamps flickering out randomly.
Just as the intel had reported, when I took the relics I brought with me into the structure's core, and deposited them into the glowing receptacles in the floor, they were levitated around the center of the device by what looked like tendrils of orange lightning. Unsure of what to do next, I scanned the device itself, but in doing so I triggered a violent reaction that tossed my SRV into the wall behind it, snapping my head forward and almost causing me to bust my nose on the Heads-Up Display panel.
The whole room grew incredibly hot - I desperately tried to scoop up all of the now-Thargreen relics and make my way out before my SRV literally melted. The heat indicator peaked at a balmy 220% as I broke free of the inferno in the core. The scavenger drones had all turned quite hostile, and I did my best to navigate the winding tunnels while avoiding them until I finally found an exit.
But, as I made it out the door I came in, I glanced down at my SRV's hull integrity, and realized that I had quite an issue.
The relics were eating away at the hull of the SRV. The vehicle wasn't overheating anymore. I wasn't inside the hellish structure anymore. I wasn't holding the corrosive Thargoid Sensor anymore.
Yet my Scarab was being shredded by an invisible force very, very quickly.
The vehicle made it into the boarding sequence with a paltry 5% hull integrity remaining. Just as I got out of its cockpit and into my own, an explosion rung out in the planetary vehicle hangar, blowing it wide open and destroying the unclassified relics I had just brought into existence. Had I been any slower with disembarking, I would have probably died.
My spirit was shaken by this defeat, but I wasn't going to let this stop me. I'd just have to source another Sensor, right? So, I started jumping back to the Pleiades.
That's when I was torn out of witchspace by a Thargoid Interceptor. A very alive, very upset Thargoid Interceptor, probably wondering why I had been carrying around his Sensor. I never even saw the thing; I spun my ship opposite the direction of its reading on my radar and boosted away as fast as I could, redirected pips to systems, fired the AX shutdown field neutralizer sitting on the underside of my ship, and prayed. I knew that if it got a scan off, it would see everything I was carrying. And it would be more than a little angry with my assortment of Guardian tech onboard.
Fortunately, I slipped away and managed to high-wake out.
I was then hyperdicted again, one jump later. And this time, he brought a friend. Thankfully, they were no faster than the last time, and the same strategy proved effective. But I'm not sure anything has made me fear for my life more than this incident.
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I had never been hyperdicted prior to the Proteus Wave incident. Not once. I wasn't on the Thargoids' radar. They didn't know I existed, and they had no reason to seek me out specifically.
And now they do.
They have my scent, and they are not happy with me meddling around. Not one bit.
I cancelled my route at this point and instead punched in the nearest station so I could dock, repair, resupply, and decompress after what just happened. That's where I am right now as I write this: sitting in Reed's Rest in the Merope system, still shaking uncontrollably as I try to collect my thoughts. After I'm done here, I'm going to head back out to find another Thargoid Sensor, and go right back to where I just came from. I'm determined to return to the Bubble with URs in my hold, god dammit! I have half a mind to call all of this off and cut my losses, and the other half is too arrogant and conceited to even entertain such a thought. And besides, I'm definitely in too deep to back out now, right?
I don't know if I'm headed for victory or suicide. I don't even know if I'm doing the right thing anymore.
But hey... nothing ventured, nothing gained.
- CMDR Valanga