First contact
23 Nov 2020P-Y
Curiosity killed the cat. And it almost got me too. I'm writing these lines from the Champion of Piety detention center. What started with the investigation of a derelict science vessel, the HLD-667 in the Deciat system, rapidly escalated to a blazing exchange of weapons fire with an alien spacecraft, which I narrowly escaped with 5% hull - ship parts falling around my cockpit seat - only to be chased by thugs on my way to the safety of the Calypso fleet carrier. But none of that matters. I got the sample. While that mysterious alien ship was tearing my hull to pieces, the research limpet was boring a sample out of it. I almost left without it. I almost bailed as hull was melting away. But I decided to make one last pass at full speed to collect the drone. It rammed into the cargo scoop as I boosted away from the threat.
Of course the notorious Daciat pirates were lurking for any signal to pop up on their radar. They picked me out of supercruise like a cosmic cherry. But the Alcyone is a good ship. I've learned to trust her. Even when her hull is nothing more than a used tissue. She has spirit. Full power to my barely regenerated shields, punched the throttle and supercruise, and before I knew it I was decelerating with a bang next to the Calypso.
I got the sample. As I crawled back to the docking spot, a stray cop scanned my ship and immediately issed a wanted warrant when his scanners picked up the alien biological tissue... I landed with a sigh and transfered it to the carrier's cargo hold before it corroded its own way out of my ship.
The lawyer says I'm free to go in an hour. They checked my research permit and even issued a formal apology for the warrant. And all I can think about is the sample... I've got to analyse it and I've got to go get more. I know I'm close to a breakthrough. And this sure beats painite mining.