War in Aditjana | Personal Log 11.28.3308
28 Nov 2022Mark Zero
-//Log Entry Start[Date: 11.28.3308]
[Location: Escobar Platform, Aditjana]
If there's one thing humanity can be counted on, it's that we're never gonna stop fighting ourselves.
I'd just gotten back from my poorly thought out investigation of the Kingfisher wreck when the captain of the Legacy, Kimber Gross, notified me I'd received a message from my friend and fellow Commander, Gaz Ubermick. Our former outfit, The Emporium, had been dragged into an unexpected war with some upstart imperial faction in Aditjana, a one star system with a single uninhabited planet orbited by an industrial outpost.
Disappointing that of all the places for a war to break out, and at all the times, it would be in a quiet backwater with 72 hours until contact with multiple invading gigantic unknown Thargoid signals. But, that's humanity for you.
I met up with Gaz at the bar on board the ENS Blackstar, the personal carrier of our friend and liaison to the Emporium, CMDR Kalous. Over a cold pint, Kalous filled us in. These Imperials apparently expanded recently from the home system of their Feudal state, gained a foothold in Aditjana, and moved directly towards overthrowing the Emporium without contact. When the Emporium's reps opened diplomatic channels, the response was something to the effect of "it is natural, and our right, to take control of the system". Which is about as close to "piss off" as the Imperials tend to get.
"Of all the times to be fighting a turf war", Kalous had said regretfully. But there was no mistaking that glint of determination in my friend's eyes. You never answer a handshake with a closed fist unless you're ready for consequences or you think you're above them.
The Emporium was calling in favors with Commanders willing to put guns on their side, and Gaz seemed more than eager to oblige them. Truthfully, it didn't take me much convincing. The Emporium pays well, and always kept on the up-and-up with me. And it was a good chance to put my seldom used Mamba, Black Sunshine, through her paces.
The fighting is surprisingly fierce, considering how little there is to fight over. Black Sunshine handled herself well in a wing, but it's tough not to be effective when you're working alongside Corvettes. Gaz is as deadly as he's ever been behind the sticks of The Morrigan, and anywhere the Hush waked in, Kalous effectively controlled the entire battlefield. Half the time I was able to dive at targets in blistering strafing runs and get out before they'd realized something other than the oppressive firepower of my wingmates was hitting them.
Hopefully, we've routed them hard enough that they'll take the hint and back off, now that the debris from a fairly huge chunk of their fleet is floating around Aditjana 1 in high planetary orbit. But we'll see.
What's on my mind is how many time's I've had the nagging thought that this is all just a warm-up round for what's coming. How many times I considered leaving Black Sunshine in the hangar and bringing out Firebrand with a compliment of fixed weapons. How many times I idly speculated on the difference between my opponent's trajectory and what I remember of a Thargoid Interceptor's.
The Firebrand's been docked since the Battle of HIP 22460. It's all fixed up and ready to go, but I haven't been able to will myself back into the cockpit even to fly it for fun. The few times I've done a walkthrough or a routine systems check, I can feel the knot forming in the pit of my gut. I guess once you've almost died in a ship, it's a little hard to see it the same way.
Getting worried that I'm gonna have to shake that off really, really soon.
-//Log Entry End