Exploration Payday
13 Feb 2022Nalethion
After a passenger run left a sour taste in my mouth, I decided I'd really wasn't cut to run snotty VIPs back and forth. The money was nice but this isn't what I became a CMDR for. I parked my Dolphin liner back at my home station and settled into the comfort of my old Mk III. I fitted it for deep space and pointed it outwards, away from the spiraling chaos, and punched the FSD.The days went by as fast as the systems, plotting almost aimlessly away from everything I had become used to. Alien worlds and bizarre star formations never seen by humans became my daily norm. I would have happily remained lost in the void, mapping planets and charting new routes until I was sharply snapped back to reality by my own hubris.
I never enjoyed leaving the cockpit while in deep space so I would find a suitable landing spot each night and settle in on some foreign moon for the evening. Come morning I would take my SRV around and gather some minerals and see some local views. Yesterday, when I was about to start my return journey to my Cobra with a belly full of materials I pinged something big on my radar. Curios, I started off towards the signal, it may have been a downed ship in need of assistance. I did not expect to find a heavily fortified bunker with ground turrets and multiple skimmers.
Knowing they were guarding something valuable, I charged in, popping skimmers and using terrain to hide while I whittled away at the ground turrets. With the defenses now charred debris, I scanned the data point and gleefully sprinted away knowing I had nabbed some valuable intelligence. I called my Cobra back to the surface and started my docking approach when I saw white trails streaking across the sky. To my horror, explosions hammered the shields of my ship while it was on decent, helpless on autopilot. I hurriedly checked my scanners and my stomach dropped, a Goliath skimmer had been dispatched from the base and launched another volley of missiles towards my only way off this tiny moon. My SRV had taken a beating during the skirmish before and stood no chance against that monster so I dropped all power to engines and pounded across the dusty surface to intercept my doomed ship as soon as its landing gear hit the ground.
My Cobra had barely touched down when I zipped under it and started docking, feeling the force of another volley of missiles slamming against its now exposed hull. Strapping in, I started charging my engines and dumped all power into them. I glanced at my ship status, my hull had been severely damaged and was sitting at 23% integrity. Just as my engines fired up the Goliath popped over a hill and launched another salvo at me. Full thrusters engaged, I tilted towards the sky and boosted away, watching the missiles pass through where I had been moments ago before arcing towards me. Firing another boost, I raced against the approaching missiles waiting for the FSD to sound Mass Lock. My blood was pounding in my ears; the countdown to supercruise seemed an eternity. 4...3...2...1.......safe.
Limping back to the relative safety of deep space, I checked over my internals and ensured I wasn't leaking anything vital. My cargo hatch had been destroyed and multiple systems were badly damaged. I was barely alive through sheer luck and knew I needed to find civilization again and soon. My shields were still intact so I charged up what I could while scouring the map for any refuge. A blip of yellow was my salvation, a small independent station terraforming a system 100 light years away. Four shaky jumps later, I announced myself to docking control and gingerly set down on the pad. I didn't even look at the repair bill, I just signed the work order before downloading my travel's data and heading to the Universal Cartographer's office.
My eyes still had not stopped bugging out of my head as I transferred my new credits into my account, it didn't seem real to see over 300 million staring back at me where 15 million used to sit. Only one thing kept popping into my head, "One week."
I had been in the black for one week. I walked out with a over quarter billion credits. And it was almost vaporized by my own arrogance.
My Cobra came out of the shop in pristine shape but I'm not sure if it'll see the black again. That ship saved my life and I owe it a proper retirement after our excursion. I'm heading back to the bubble and finding a new ship that can take a bit more pounding. With the funds I have now that should be fairly easy, I just need to weigh my options. I'll be heading out again soon though, I already miss the grand scale and sense of awe at the galaxy's raw beauty one can only get deep in the void.
CMDR Nalethion signing off. Safe travels.