Damn pirates
06 Apr 2021Junkyard Druid
I was returning from an extended exploration trip, had not seen hide nor hair of another living being in almost four days, and the first one I did come across was a bloody pirate. “Just my luck” I said to myself.I had been away investigating the abandoned guardian ruins on planet A12 in the IC 2391 Sector CA-A D43 Sector. The ruins were not totally deserted however. On arrival I conducted a few obligatory scans, with no sign of life evident on any. On entering the ruins, all be it a bit tentatively I was greeted with the warning screech blaring from my proximity warning scanners, there were sentinels present. They had come out of the ground; I can only assume that they were alerted to my presence and subsequently activated to protect the area. guardian sentinels were metallic security drones that were leftovers from when the guardians were on the planet. Not their fault they were not to know that the guardians were no longer with us, they still had programming to follow.
There were 4 indications on my screen, "great" I thought to myself. "Just what I need". Analysing the locations of the sentinels, it appeared that I might have a chance at eliminating two of them separately, however the remaining two were going to be a problem, they had a good field of fire and were covering each other well. I manoeuvred around the ruins in my trusty scarab trying to get a bead on the first sentinel. There it was, sitting just beside a pillar, maybe it had not detected m presence as I was trying to engage it. BAM, I was hit head on, my shields held. It went from sitting there to firing on me in less than a second, guess it did know I was there after all. I activated my weapon system and returned fire. The sentinels did not pack a big punch individually, but together, they could overpower my shields and armour with ease. I took out the first one just in time as the second came into view. It must have been alerted by the gun fire. “Missile launch detected” blared my system. I just had enough time to manually lock each missile and shoot it from the sky. Returning fire on the drone I took that one out as well.
Checking my sensors to locate the remaining two drones I could only find one. Could this day get any worse? I knew there were two more out there, one was easy to find as it was coming right down the main drag at me. The other was nowhere to be seen. I would have to worry about that later, as the most imminent threat was 200m and closing. “Missile launch detected” blared my system once again, I could see the streaks departing the drone directly ahead of me. Once more I took manual aim and destroyed the inbound missiles before they got to close to me. “Bam Bam Bam”, the noise was horrendous as the remaining drone hit me with three missiles as well. They must have launched simultaneously, and I did not realise. Both drones were peppering me with laser hits. I drove straight at the drone ahead of me, firing as I went. I scored a direct hit, but it must have been shielded as it was not destroyed. AS I continued to pour fire on it whilst closing the distance, I felt my trusty scarab rack from more hits to the rear. I knew the final drone must be directly behind me now.
I had to get of the main drag as the being caught between both drones, with their constant fire would not be good for my scarab, or my health for that matter. I took a hard right between two pillars and found myself in an open courtyard. The scarab was a very manoeuvrable vehicle and was able to turn almost on the spot. I sat and waited for the first drone to stick is head between the pillars I had just passed. It felt like I was waiting for hours, but in reality, could not have been more than a few seconds. The wing of the first sentinel was visible. I opened fire and took it out. I waited for the final drone to come towards me and the little trap I had laid for it. There it was, directly ahead of me. It fired, I fired, and when all was said and done there was only one of us left.
I knew these drones were made of some interesting material, so I began the task of searching through the remains for anything I could salvage. What a bumper haul, guardian power conduits were found along with wreckage components that could all be used. I continued to search the ruins for and data spheres, the real reason I had come to this site in the first place. I found the activation pylons easy enough, along with the activation relics. All six pylons were activated and the location of the key was glowing and highly visible. I tried all of the relics I had located on the planet but none of them worked. “Damn” I guess this is one of those sites that only work with a key and not a relic.
To try and salvage something from this trip, I decide to spend more time searching the remaining ruins. It turns out these ruins had not been stripped clean previously, and I was able to locate multiple guardian orbs and caskets. Add them to my relics and the whole trip might just be paid for.
Which brings me back to my initial human contact on return. Jumped out of hyperspace in the Dvorsi system, and was almost immediately interdicted. No “hello” or any form of communication he just opened fire. I guess he scanned me and really wanted my cargo. I thought about running, but then the scans of his ship came in. This would be fun! I might be an explorer at heart, but I have had to learn to look after myself in my trusted Python. The whole encounter took less than 30seconds. He fired and then overshot me in the extremely fast and highly manoeuvrable Viper Mk3. His fire had little to no effect no my shields, as he flew directly into my filed of fire. He must have been new to the pirate life as no experienced pirate would fly in front of a ship’s main guns. Oh well, he won’t be gaining the experience now. I dispatched him as clean and cold as the open void. I received notification that he was actually wanted, and that there had been a bounty on his head.
I did not manage to gather the important and very lucrative data from a guardian sphere, but I did make enough from the artefacts I collected and the bounty from the pirate to break even.
I have had a lead on another possible guardian site, so I will need to undertake some work to fund the next exploration into the deep dark yonder…..