JOURNEY OF A COMMANDER PART 33
22 Jan 2024Ni6h70wl
An alarm message from the pilots' association reached the Novara
"Thargoid fleet contingents have apparently invaded the Didio, Novas and Sosong systems and are now threatening the lives of over 10 billion people.
Local security services in all three systems report an overwhelming superiority of hostile Thargoid ships. Several starports have been attacked with caustic enzyme weapons and the total number of casualties is already in the hundreds of thousands.
Didio, Novas and Sosong are members of the Alliance, the Empire and the Federation respectively. The defensive measures are now to be coordinated by three admirals: Henry Paul Atherton of the Imperial Fleet, Maxton Price of the Federation Fleet, and Rachel Ziegler of the Alliance Defence Force.
However, it will probably be several days before the necessary troops have been assembled. For this reason, the factions Emperor's Grace, LTT 4772 Alliance Mandate and Union of Sosong Democrats have asked all independent pilots for their support.
With Aegis officially disbanded, command of the organisation's fleet has been temporarily transferred to Frontline Solutions. The military logistics company was able to man the ships with volunteer pilots, who are now to support the superpowers in all systems threatened by the Thargoids. However, a permanent solution is reportedly now being sought, as the CEO of Frontline Solutions, Imogen le Ray, has already ruled out making her company's resources permanently available for the anti-Xeno campaign.
The Alliance, Empire and Federation are currently in talks with Salvation, whose unique weapon systems have proven themselves against Thargoid invasions of this scale. So far, however, Salvation has not commented publicly on the negotiations."
After reading through the message a second time, I noticed the name, Salvation. 'Where had I heard that name before?'
I started looking through old Galnet reports and found an entry dated 19/04/3307:
"Commanders have reported receiving anonymous instructions regarding the 200 year old abandoned megaship in orbit of Chukchan 5b. A communications beacon stored aboard the Adamastor began receiving and retransmitting an encrypted signal on 8 April. Efforts by the authorities to track and decode the signal were unsuccessful. However, a number of independent pilots claim to have been contacted by an anonymous source who provided an access key to decode the Adamastor signal. Commander Rex Trevelyan told Vox Galactica: "Not long after I arrived in the Chukchan system, my ship received a message from someone calling himself 'Salvation'. He gave me a decryption code, and when I downloaded the signal from the Adamastor, I was able to read it. It appears to be an automated SOS from its sister ship, the Hesperus. I've heard that some commanders have decoded the navigation data from the signal. I have a feeling the pilots are being recruited for something, but who exactly are we working for?" The pilots' association has launched an investigation into the situation. The identity of the 'Salvation' is still unknown, but there are reports that the Adamastor's signal contains data that led to its sister ship."
As the year 3307 progressed, Salvation came more and more into the public eye, impressing the intergalactic community with its anti-xeno weapons used in the Thargoid War. 'Now I know where I heard the name, back in the Cornsar Incident in September 3307, Salvation's "superweapon" had driven out the Thargoids. Strange that the Thargoids are increasingly attacking the Bubble again. Unfortunately, from our current position, we can't do much except follow the reports.'
28.04.3308 - Novara Expedition Day 217 (Evening)
We didn't get far, in the system Hypoea Pre GH-V f2-0, planet A 12, bioluminescent anemones of the Blatteum variety are growing. As the planet also has strong volcanic activity, I took the opportunity to replenish the material store to cover future FSD injections. Especially because several injections would be necessary on the way to Star One.
04.05.3308 - Novara Expedition Day 223
While the Novara was approaching a planet whose surface is covered in sulphur, the long-range sensors received a subspace message from the Sol system from Earth.
Apparently, a technical possibility was created so that commanders whose ships were equipped with the X and PS software could transfer them to the new PC software. It remains to be seen whether this will bring back the many commanders who have resigned their licences. (Announcement and introduction console transfer)
10.05.3308 - Novara Expedition Day 229
We are making slow progress, our little junior commander is demanding a lot of attention at the moment. There are still 20,000 ly to go until we reach Star One. The Novara is currently in orbit around a terraformable moon, the landable rocky world has a CO2+SO2 atmosphere. However, no landing was attempted, especially as no biological signature could be detected.
16.05.3308 - Novara Expedition Day 235
The Novara jumped into the double star system Wembu MS-R d5-10, after running the FSS-scan I noticed a biological signature on an atmosphere-less moon. The moon was B 2 d, after travelling over 22kls the DSS-scan showed the presence of crystal shards. Due to the composition of the planet, this organism is likely to excrete or accumulate the element antimony on its surface. The Novara prepared for landing.
And indeed, our antimony store was completely replenished, even though this element is not required for FSD synthesis. The course was then set back towards Star One and the journey continued.
20.05.3308 - Novara Expedition Day 239
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After four days we reached the system Ainair TV-B d14-27, as my first officer and wife were unable to attend for reasons I was responsible for analysing the data myself. Even I was able to recognise the value of this system straight away.
The first planet was a high metal content world with an almost 100 % carbon dioxide atmosphere. Due to the similar density and presence of sulphur dioxide, the conditions on this planet are likely to be similar to those of Venus. But with one striking difference: this planet is still within the so-called habitable zone and was presumably therefore classified by the system as "terraformable".
The second planet was a water world with a mixed atmosphere consisting of 83% nitrogen, 15% oxygen and just under 2% water vapour. Ideal conditions for life, even the pressure is in a range that does not require any adjustments. As this planet is also in the habitable zone, it was also labelled as "terraformable".
And all good things come in threes, or rather three and a half. Number three was an Earth-like world that harbours ideal conditions for life. But much more exciting was the moon, this landable celestial body not only had a light atmosphere, no, biological signals could also be detected on its surface. And to top it all off, this celestial body was also terraformable.
The life forms Stratum Paleas and Bacterium Aurasus were documented on the surface, and after taking the necessary samples, we continued our journey. A really beautiful system.
22.05.3308 - Novara Expedition Day 241
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The Novara jumped into the system Ainair VZ-W d2-6, a white subgiant with 1.78 solar masses. In this system, a world with a high metal content, which is terraformable and has a biological signature, could be identified. After the Novara touched down, three genetic samples of the bacterium Aurasus were taken from planet A6. A very common bacterium that thrives in an atmosphere containing CO2 and forms a flower-shaped pattern. After the analysis of the samples was completed, I initialised the next jump sequence.
28.05.3308 - Novara Expedition Day 247
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Since my first officer retreated to the commander's suite with her offspring, it has been very quiet in the cockpit. From time to time I receive various status reports from the crew, but full-fledged conversations are rare.
The next jump was to the Loihaae NF-R c7-4 system and after completing the FSS-scan, I informed the ship's crew that there would be an extended stay here.
Planet 1 is an Earth-like world orbited by a landable rocky moon. The orbital period of the moon around the planet is approximately 14.5 Earth days. Unfortunately, the Earth-like world has a bound rotation of a good 194 Earth days, as its own rotation is almost the same length, so it always faces the same side of its star. Life is also increasingly found on this planet in the twilight zone. The average temperature amounts to 308 Kelvin, which is 20 K more than on Earth, turning the side facing the star into a desert landscape. The side facing away from the star is shrouded in eternal darkness and frost and is likely to harbour only a few life forms.
As this planet is not exactly "human-friendly", it was decided not to land. Instead, the Novara touched down on the rocky moon, 180,000 kilometres away, whose surface temperature was only 221 Kelvin due to the lack of atmosphere. This celestial body is approx. 20% larger than the Earth's moon and has a correspondingly greater mass. As the distance to the orbiting planet is also smaller, the tidal forces in the oceans on the Earth-like planet must be enormous. According to initial calculations, waves up to 15 metres high reach the coasts there every 15 Earth days - funny.
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Finally, I also recorded the ammonia world in the system and all the remaining celestial bodies in the system. The ice planet 6 offered me a very beautiful spectacle, its atmosphere consisted of ammonia, methane and nitrogen and made it glow green in the oblique light of the star. The journey then continued, not so far to Star One.