A Dangerous Error with a Thargoid
07 Sep 2020Storm Grezal
I knew I was in dangerous part of the galaxy. Anyone who has been in the Pleiades Sector knows it is not for the faint of heart. I was out in the Pleiades Sector, somewhere around the Celaeno system when Professor Palin contacts me and says he has a job for me. He says all he needs is four tons of Thargoid Resin. A dangerous mission to be sure, but I had had my fair share of run ins with the Thargoids. I had spent some time trying to research their behavior, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get up close and personal with something other than an interceptor. I have been hyperdicted before, but let me tell you, it always makes my hair stand on end. That, growl, they have. It's unlike anything I have ever heard before, and it never sounds friendly, even when they let you go. So far, I have been lucky.Regarding the resin, I had an idea where I could find some. I had overheard some hot shot xeno hunter bragging about how he found a great Thargoid surface base in the Delphi system while I was taking my lunch over at the local bar in Artemis Lodge some time ago. I had wanted to see it for myself one day, but now I had an excuse to head over and get paid for whatever might be inside. I set the destination to the Delphi system in my Cobra mk3, specially fitted with xenological research modules and I arrive in the system and start making my way to the Thagoid surface base. However, on the way, I received a distress call. Someone had been attacked, and recently. I couldn't just leave them to die. I deviated course toward the distress call, approximately 300 Ls away from the Starport Oracle. I dropped into real space and am met with a chilling sight.
There in front of me, was a Farragut class Federal Battle Cruiser. Fully disabled, floating dead in space. Around it, numerous Federal gunships and at least 4 destroyed Corvettes. Most chilling of all was the great green cloud of gas that surrounded the entire scene. Thargoid handiwork. I was not even able to fully process what was in front of me, when I heard it. My blood ran cold. The growl. I maneuvered the ship to see where it was coming from, and one Thargoid had stuck around. It was exactly what I did not want. It drew closer, and I could see, from the darkened coloring that it was a Basilisk class Interceptor. It drew closer and began its bright and aggressive scan. I quickly turned and disabled my ship's Gauss cannons to make sure no accidents happened. The scan finished, and the interceptor closed back up with what sounded like a disappointed sigh and started to turn away to continue its business. Relieved at being allowed to live another day, I decided to take this opportunity to try and learn a little more about this type of interceptor. After all, Xeno hunters pay good money for this kind of information. I was late to start the scan, and the Basilisk quickly drew out of range of my scanner before it could complete. Cautiously, I inched toward it, barely touching the thrusters to ensure I wouldn't get too close. My nerves must have gotten the better of me though, as I back out of range and the scan had to restart. Steeling myself, I nudged a little closer, and started the scan again, this time as the Thargoid was scanning a section of the battle cruiser, facing away from me. I held my breath as the scan bar filled. The scan finished, and I let out a relieved sigh.
The sigh quickly turned into a gasp of horror. The Basilisk quickly performed an about face and looked directly at me. I swear I could feel the glare from whatever was inside that ship, and to my horror, the normally neutral green glow turned a very hostile red. Thargon drones poured out of the interceptor. I did not hang around long enough to see how many. I pulled the stick back to try and pull away and slammed the button to engage the FSD drive to get out. My ship beeped in denial. I was still mass locked by the battle cruiser. In a blind panic, I engaged the boost. And I engaged it again, and again, even though my ship did not have the power to engage the boost, and I kept trying to boost away. To get away from certain death.
After what felt like an eternity, I regained enough state of mind to see that there were no shots coming in. I was not under attack. I look at the hologram of the interceptor on my dash and see that its looking an entirely different direction. I slow down and turn around and find the Basilisk did not give chase. It went back to scanning the Federation remains. Panting from the sheer amount of adrenaline coursing through me, I looked at my contacts. There was still an occupied escape pod. I tried to get closer to the battle cruiser again, but my fear got the better of me. The thargons were still swarming around the Basilisk and I could only watch helplessly as the occupied escape pod was picked up by the interceptor. After that, the Basilisk left. It warped off back into witch space with some poor soul on board. In a cold sweat I jumped out of that cursed site and made my way to Starport Oracle. All I could do was rest my head in my hand. I arrived at the port with no further incident, but I felt dead inside. I made my way to the Pilot's Respite in the port. I was done for the day. It was time to leave the Pleiades Sector.