Bank Error In My Favor, relaxing exploration, Thargoid hunting, missing friends
19 Jul 2017Vizz Curio
::CMDR Vizz Curio on the Stealthship Manticore, at asteroid base Stargazer, Pleione::::personal log::
Received a message from the Bank of Zaonce. Very unusual!
Said they noticed I wasn't paid correctly in a recent transaction of bounty claims in LTT 4961 and had credited me the difference:
Sure, I'll take an extra like 3 Million I didn't know about. Cha-ching!
I needed to get away for a while, so I decided to head out and do some exploring. Chose the vicinity of the Arietis sector, as Weyn Dock in 64 Arietis is a familiar port of call. It was nice to cruise the spaceways. But after 20 systems I understood how easily "space madness" can settle in. Eighteen Million in cartographic data sales comforted me.
During the excursion I heard chatter from the rumormills that there had just been some new sightings of Thargoid ships, particularly near recently-destroyed Federal ships. The Thargoid ships flew away and then blinked out of space as soon as any Commander has shown up.
Well now...
I haven't seen an actual Thargoid ship in space, so just word of it and something new galvanizes me.
I pinged CMDR Delco and sure enough having heard the same rumors he had already plotted a course for Maia from the bubble so I did the same.
Now here's where I got to smile and bask in stealth:
We exited supercruise on approach to Obsidian Orbital at the same time and I was closer or faster so I was ahead of him lining up for the mail slot. Looking out the left side glass I saw his Anaconda, Profit Seeker, with its telltale cyan-colored engine trails and I said something like "Ah I see you, lookin' good" over the comms.
His reply was along the lines of "You're not on my radar and I don't see you..."
A stealthship indeed!
A moment later I was entering the mail slot and said so, and the bright station lights offset the matte jet-black paint of the Stealthship Manticore. I imagine my ship looked like a voluminous shadow drifting into the station.
So what did we do?
Checked the local news and the mission boards for any tips of unusual ship encounters or situations. Nada.
Took off and jumped to nearby systems looking for suspicious activity or signals. No dice.
At one point a jump through Witch Space took longer than I expected and it unnerved me as I thought "What if they're slowing down my drive and watching me before letting me continue on?" A chill spread across my body and I had to get up and take a walk around the bridge to clear my head of those thoughts.
I ended up at Stargazer, the asteroid base in Pleione. I like this place: full of honest, hard-working people; they're always busy and focused. I think they're harvesting the rock for resources?
Approach to Stargazer is beautiful, with the expanse of the whole Milky Way galaxy as the backdrop.
Walking through a busy corridor to one of the bars I swear I saw Lennox for a moment. A second glance confirmed I was mistaken. I asked the same old bartender about her; he didn't even know who she was.
Odd. Did she not stay on Stargazer after we parted ways here? I had offered to bring her back to the bubble but she declined, so I doubt she'd split as a passenger on a liner to elsewhere so soon. She had a good chunk of money from working for me, so maybe she bought her own ship and took off for the void? She probably could have afforded a decently equipped Cobra Mk.III. But where would she have purchased it? Alcazar's Hope in Merope? If she could get there? It's not like she was a swindler to "win" it in a bar bet or a card game. I really hope she regained her sanity and didn't fall into the pit of her existential dread feelings.
After a couple of shots of what the bartender called a "Bright Stellar Remnant" (tasted sickly sweet but burned going down) I was sipping on something more robust on the rocks (and I mean ice!) and dwelling on these thoughts. I pinged a certain base for an update on Sheila's condition. First ping went unreturned. Second ping gave me a standard "looking up patient files and authenticating your access" message. A few minutes (or more? those shots were making me a bit cloudy...) later I received a reply message from an actual person stating that according to the records Sheila Weaver was no longer a patient at that facility but there was no release information at all.
I didn't ping back.
Another time, a past-me, would have exploded with concern and questions for a former crew mate.
But nowadays we have actual freakin' aliens showing up out of nowhere, and mysterious groups like The Dark Wheel supposedly wiping people's brains and giving them new lifelong memories... conspiracies abound and I'm in no position to get involved.
The Asylum is already full.
Related personal log entries:
Lennox Gilliam, consumed by existential dread
Back to the stars, Searches for Thargoids, Parting of ways
Sheila Weaver, fallen to Thargoid-induced madness
The Asylum
::end transmission::