Star Trawling and Other Distractions
14 Jan 2019S. O'Brien
Howe Holdings, Temba - 10 JAN 3305For those that don't know, Raxxla is the mythical... place (I guess is the best name for it, since no one seems to know exactly what Raxxla is) that was home to The Dark Wheel for some time before they apparently lost it (or people hope they lost it). It's been said to be a gateway to other galaxies or hold the riches of vast ancient empires. All of these stories are the typical descriptions of some El Dorado, some city of gold for treasure hunters to find and make a fortune so they never have to work again. I'm fairly certain that the shipping payouts for Commanders are an El Dorado all their own but nonetheless even mega rich, Elite ranked Commanders need something to find out in the black.
Honestly I'm sure this is just another myth perpetuated by whatever powers that be want Commanders out in every corner of the galaxy collecting information needed for more mining outposts. Enough people out there looking for Raxxla and you'll have the whole galaxy mapped out and sold before 3400.
And enter me, still looking for Raxxla anyways, because honestly it would be pretty awesome to find. I started, as I said last time, with some rumors around Lave and Tionisla. Now having effectively removed the 7 LY limit (can't get to Sol from Lave on 7 LY if you didn't know) that really only applies to stock Sidewinders, I decided to just fly around some systems I'd never laid scan to and see what's around. Dropped into maybe 20 systems to just scan and look around when I wound up in Quator, interesting little system with nearly zero population and nothing of note in Inara or EDSM aside from it's pirate population. I caught wind of a signal on planet two and went out to rescue a couple of escape pods, but not much else was going on.
Stopped in the station for some dinner I picked up in Diso, just normal steak though, no Deline. Owner wouldn't say what Deline tastes like. Claims he's never sold it.
While waiting around I caught a glimpse of a system in the galmap. It kinda just stuck out to me... Now that I think of it, I shouldn't just put out interesting system names in case someone goes and beats me to it. I'll report back with any pictures or data once I check it myself first. No population, and nothing showing up on EDSM or Inara, so I either spelled it wrong or no one has gone there (in the bubble even!).
I figured I should refit my AspX for some combat, just in case, when of course all of my luck shows up about 20 Ls off Jameson Memorial. An Anaconda and Cobra MkII interdict me just off station and take all of two shots to send me spiraling. Twenty minutes later I'm waking up in the station after security dragged me to safety. Only lost about 100k in scan data, but still, very rude. I'll never get the fun of shooting down a fellow commander who's flying an unarmed explorer.
A few minutes on station got me thinking... Grid searching the area around Lave is tedious work. Without a break I'm going to get bored and ditch this project like so many others (looking at you Zelda series). To keep it fresh I need to be able to switch it up and do something else with my time between sections of space to scan. Enter the Krait MkII.
I know, I know I just got shot down, I'm bad at combat. But that's against Elite Commanders. I can take on some common bounties and system security in war torn systems. And to top it off I fit up with the new fighter module I've been dying to use (was going to wait for a Corvette, but I want some practice). While fitting it up I ran into a pilot named Yolanda Buchanan. Nice woman with some crazy green hair, said she spent time with explorers headed toward Sag A* and lived to tell the tale so I hired her on to pilot the Krait while I take on bounties. I haven't done much for my combat rating since heading out to Colonia, so this should be a nice change of pace.
The Iarracht Nua (New Endeavour), while not perfect, worked well against belt rats and warring security forces. We made some cash back on the 30 million credit investment I made on the ship and got in some good practice working together. Buchanan know's her stuff and handles the Krait well, even in an asteroid field while following a Fed fighter moving at 500m/s. Taking on some Spec Ops ships with no ammo left was the line. We got out with 10% hull left, which Ms. Buchanan has been keen to remind me of over the last few days doesn't leave her much room to get to an escape pod. After that brush with death we decided to take a few days vacation while I look into some more leads on brushfire wars.