Thargoids in the Coalsack
03 Feb 2022Solari Parravicini
On January 28, 3308 I headed to the Nervi system to rendevous with a friend. CMDR ***** and I were in search of the rumored Mount Neverest, a mountain range that reportedly extended beyond its own atmosphere and was easily identifiable from space. It wasn't hard to find at all. Its white peaks looked like a boil on the planet's surface. CMDR ***** successfully landed their stealth Eagle on one of the peaks and we tried some stunts. I got out my SRV and drove around for a bit, although I was unable to find any snow. After we had enjoyed the mountain we decided to try something new: we would head to a nearby nebula. It was my friend's first time beyond the bubble and both of our inaugural trips to a nebula. I remained in my Asp Explorer (I rarely leave it) and they headed to a nearby station to store their Eagle and buy a cheap Diamondback Explorer.
Plotting our route we were pleased that it wasn't too many jumps away, between 15-20 for each of us. CMDR ***** showed me how to plot my route for speed and not economy: all these flight hours and I'm still learning things. And away we went.
Jumping for speed and not economy uses a great deal of fuel and I used 6 of my 9 heatsinks adjusting to this change in fuel usage. We were headed to Musca Dark Region GX-S B4-10 because there seemed to be a station or economic presence there. When we both arrived we discovered it was just a fleet carrier with a bold paint job. It offered incredibly limited services. Above us the nebula had grown to cover half the sky.
We headed into the black.
Arriving in Musca Dark Region CQ-Y D68 we began to scan the system. Over a hundred nonhuman signals flooded our FSS, some with threat levels as high as 9. Neither of us had seen more than a threat level 4 before, and never a nonhuman signal. After some discussion and risk evaluation we dared it: we headed to a threat level 4 I saw and my friend waited to follow my low wake in.
Once inside I had no time to properly see anything before I was attacked. With only a few hits something behind me had badly damaged my shields and I began charging my FSD while trying to evade the barrage. Jumping back out we reassessed: I wasn't too badly injured and hadn't seen anything useful, so we decided to try again at another site.
This time my initial impression was of an overpowering green. A green cloud surrounded me and more green was leaking from a destroyed Orca. Below it: the beautiful flower shape of a Thargoid ship. It scanned us the moved away, quietly observing. It was eerie but non-threatening. In fact the main impression I got was of awe-inspiring complexity. The ship seemed more biological than mechanical, reminding me of the arthropods of Earth. When the Thargoid ship began to leave we followed it out of the green cloud before it jumped away using a technology we were not equipped to decode.
Emboldened, we headed towards a higher threat level signal.
This Thargoid was red and stayed around longer than the previous. We approached it cautiously after it scanned us and were stunned as it released a beautiful swarm forming a halo around it. These little bodies would explode upon impact with our ship. Besides these weak explosions the Thargoid was calm and still and I sent out a free camera limpet and took dozens of pictures. A structure that resembled a cockpit or eye was on the backside of the flower, ringed with red spikes and crossed by pulsing red veins. It was gorgeous.
Before we left we fired a few shots at the huge creature. The petals of its flower glowed bright red and it let out a roar but it did not attack.
We had spent hours in the nebula and needed to return to our duties, so we headed back out to HIP 62154 and docked at a station. The trip had been an incredible success. We had broken out of the bubble and finally encountered our galactic neighbors. My overall impression of Thargoids is one of complexity, beauty, and grace.
I cannot wait to see them again.