Logbook entry

In case I don't make it

15 Jan 2022Covertkiller70
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Funny, never thought I would be writing my first log and maybe last log like this.
Whoever finds this will have a good laugh at how my luck ran out, that is unless I'm able to figure out a way out of this mess.

I left Colonia about a month ago on my way to a POI, the Great Annihilator. The mission is for my own curiosity as well as a way to move up the ranks within my squadron. Along the way I was surprised that I discovered lots of virgin neutron stars. Thinking that most pilots flying from Colonia to Sagittarius A would have found them before me. I guess space is that big. God I really hope I can figure this out... that is a lot of credits to lose...

Ok, sorry for rambling. I tend to do that when facing death. I made it to the Great Annihilator about two days ago, did my scans and got my photos. Starting to make my way back to Colonia taking the scenic route that would take me through a patch of black holes, possibly ones no one has discovered yet. I continued to Honk Scoop Jump my way back when while I was scooping a star I noticed in the nav panel that one of the near by planets I honked had biological signals.

Well, my OCD could not let me pass up the opportunity to fill out a bio tag in my codex. Even though it was likely it was bark mounds.... it was still worth a shot to me. I launched DS3 probes, located the nearest signal and made my way to it.
I approached the planet and started my descent. It was a easy glide, with the planet on the smaller side, a rocky one full of craters and only 0.4G.

I touched down 700m from the signal. What was strange is that usually you can see the source of the signal on the way down. I figured these life forms may be on the smaller side and I would just need to get closer with my SRV.
I lowered the SRV from my ship and started driving on the surface. Still no sign of the signal source. My SRV Scanner didn't even pick up anything within range. I was about 1Km from my ship when I finally got a ping. On the SRV scanner, it almost looked like what you would see for a Guardian site or another ship, it was very strange, I've never seen that signal type before.

Driving toward the signal, I reached the 2Km limit where the ship auto pilot kicks in and keeps it in orbit. Hearing the ship roar ahead I watched it fly above. Near the ship I saw a glimmer in the blackness of space. Before I could process what it was *THWAP* *CRACK* the ship was on fire and falling back to the planet.

I started racing toward my downed ship, mixing wheels and thrusters skipping the terrain in low G. When I finally arrived at my ship it was a mess. The auto pilot somehow managed to land the ship upright and open the SRV bay. I'm glad I paid extra for the advanced docking computer now.
Getting the SRV back inside I assessed the damage. Miraculously, the Powerplant and AFMU were operational, at about 70% integrity. The FSD and Thrusters, Hull, Fuel Scoop, landing gear, basically the rest of the ship, was a complete wreck.

So, what the hell knocked the ship out of the sky?
What I could gather from the flight logs, and the last recorded pings from the ships sensors was a small meteorite cracked right through the ship like a rail gun salvo. The kinetic energy was way too much for the shield to stop it, let alone redirect it. A clean shot right through all of her innards.

But I've got a working AFMU right? Still don't see a problem yet? Oh I'm getting there...
The kicker is, I used a good chunk of my AFMU nanites to repair my FSD from all of the Neutron jet cone boosts. Now I won't have enough to even repair my thrusters. And, the god damn idiot that I am, wasn't paying attention to my resource inventory for the materials I need to synthesize more AFMU nanites.

Wanna know the best part? The key ingredient I am missing is Vanadium. Wanna know how much is on this planet? 0.001%
I've been driving around for the last 5 hours, looking for a sliver of the stuff so I can get off this god forsaken rock.
I'm trying not to get too far from the ships beacon, since being this close to the sun is causing a lot of EMI with my radar.

I've got a little bit of rations in the SRV I was able to salvage from the ship and I'm real glad I spend the extra credits to get a water recycler installed on my suit. Ugh... though.... you can only drink your own piss for so long...

Hopefully this message manages to beam its way to a station and hit Galnet.
Learn from my mistakes, don't panic, and always bring a towel...
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