I shouldn't have returned
10 Aug 2022Lemmy Rudd
But I wanted to contribute, I wanted to be a part of history.I was a few thousand light years outside the Bubble, doing what I love the most (exploring) when word got around to me of what was starting to happen in HIP 22460. Initially, I didn't want anything to do with the war with the Thargoids and my combat ship The Ace of Spades was thousands of light years away in the Ceos system. It was collecting dust since combat wasn't my specialty, though I took it out occasionally for bounty hunting runs. I found much more joy in exploring uncharted space, ever since I discovered my first untouched system Wredguia ME-L B23-0 6. But something made me want to return closer to the Bubble to see what the fuss was about, whether it be good or bad, who knows. The voices in my head seemed to grow louder as the war in HIP 22460 raged, was it because of an unsolicited calling to help humanity or maybe too much plutonian nyborg from when I was in my 20's? Curiosity got the better of me so I made my way back to Ceos to retrieve the Ace. I left my explorer ship The Midnight Express in Brunel Hub, made my way to HIP 11847 to Cremona Base to swap out my beam lasers for some ax multicannons, lit a cheap cigar, then set out for HIP 22460.
When I arrived in HIP 22460, I could see that the situation was much worse than I anticipated. I was actually picking up Thargoid signals before I even made it there, but I bypassed those to join the main fight. I first made my way to the Bright Sentinel to touch base and attempt to make sense of what was going on around me. After a quick debrief from a drunken slob at the bar, I downed a quick shot of vodka for good luck and headed to the hangar bay. I had many encounters with Thargoid scouts, and all told, I killed around 200 of them. In almost every battle zone, a Thargoid interceptor would eventually show up and that was right around the time I would make a hasty retreat back to the Sentinel for repairs and restocking ammo. My prismatic shields held up nicely against them for me to make a retreat but not to engage, plus my ax multicannons didn't seem to deal that much perceivable damage to them. I was in approximately 30 or so encounters and the Thargoid interceptor chased me off in every single one, all except for one. In this particular moment, I could see that every Thargoid scout was eliminated, and a motley crue of Chieftans, Fer-de-Lances and one commander in a Cobra MK IV whom I was frankly surprised he managed to squeeze into the cockpit due to the size of his massive balls were taking the fight to the interceptor, and were slowly winning the fray. I decided to chip in against my better judgement, and after what seemed like an eternity passed, with my shields at 14 percent and hull integrity around 25, the interceptor exploded into a massive fireball. It was a moment I shall take with me to the grave.
The Proteus Wave was scheduled to fire the next day, so I docked at the Sentinel and headed to the bar to celebrate. I made enough in combat bonds that the first round was on me, I told the bartender to start up a tab and I'd pay up before leaving. I have a rule, I only drink on days that end in the letter "Y", and seeing as how this was a Monday, I had to follow protocol. I sat and watched the monitor as Salvation fired up his new toy, and wondered if the Thargoids would even see it coming. A couple Thargoid interceptors jumped to our location and fired a few shots off at the Sentinel but were stopped as the Proteus Wave blast radius engulfed them. The blue glow from the planet's surface was bright and vivid, the cheers from everyone there were loud, and the overwhelming sense of triumph could bring a tear to a statue's eye. The irony of it all, in hindsight we never saw it coming. The blue haze slowly shifted to a bright green, and you could literally feel the collective jaws of everyone there fall to the floor. Gasps and screams echoed through the Bright Sentinel, and the Thargoid interceptors suddenly sprang back to life and continued their assault. I realized the proverbial shit has hit the fan so I drunkenly stumbled back to the hangar bay, jumped into the cockpit of the Ace of Spades and set a course for the first system I could punch in which happened to be Pleiadas Sector BL-X C1-7.
After somehow managing to spill through the anarchy of the screaming crowd, getting an elevator, finding my ship and piloting it while failing any field sobriety test in the galaxy, I took a deep breath and turned on Galnet. Horrified does not do it justice, I have no clue what this means or what to expect moving forward. Is humanity doomed? Are we now suddenly in a holy war against a species we (A) know little about, (B) we barely have the tech to fight and (C) could potentially be vastly outnumber by? Speaking of tech, I'm also hearing reports that the Guardian tech our engineers and scientists have been busting their asses trying to figure out and have made great strides on is now obsolete? Too many questions, and fuck all for answers. Remember that cheap cigar I lit in HIP 11847? I stared at it smoldering in the ash tray, as it was now a physical reminder of my conceit. I planned on smoking half of it on my way there and the other half on my way back to celebrate humanity's victory. The hopes of humanity seemed to dissipate just as the stringy trail of smoke from the slightly burning cherry faded in the cockpit.
For the time being, I made my way to Pleiadas Sector HR-W D1-57 and docked at Cleaver Prospect. I'm going to stay here for a day or two and keep Galnet on, hopefully someone can figure out what the next step is. Death toll for HIP 22460 is anyone's guess, I'm just grateful and blessed I'm not on that list. I knew I shouldn't have gotten involved, I knew I should have just kept exploring the dark reaches of deep space and trying to find new life to catalogue but something in me is also glad I was able to do my small part. Now I feel this is personal, and I will be back to continue the fight. These bug bastards have a receipt coming, and I know I'm not alone.
If there is one bright side to any of this, at least I was able to avoid what would have been a hefty bar tab!
o7 commanders, good luck out there