Pilots from the Nova Navy and Salus Invicta pierced the maelstrom Hadad
12 May 2023Salus News Network
[ Warning: This post contains spoilers for Update 15 content. ]The joint project to pierce the Maelstrom started weeks ago, when CMDR Helene Valoux from Salus Invicta ventured the guardian ruins in ”SYNUEFE EU-Q C21-10” to collect vital guardian data and technology, such as caskets, tablets and relics. She then handed the gathered relics over to CMDR Jeremaya from the Nova Navy, and CMDR Hekateh, who in turn ventured to the still active Thargoid installation in “Mel 22 sector NX-U d2-31”.
“Imperial intelligence told us that the newest Thargoid Pulse Neutralizer would require tainted guardian relics to purchase. So we ventured to the still active site in the Mel sector to ‘cook’ some relics. The Thargoid drones tried to stop us, but they were no match for the guns on our SRVs. All in all we returned with roughly 40 tainted relics from the trip. These relics will be provided to friends and allies of the two Navy’s in case they also wish to pierce the maelstroms.”
CMDR Eclipse the Pony, CMDR Jeremaya, and CMDR Hekateh then began their exploration of the outer reaches of the Hadad maelstrom to gather the remaining materials required for the pulse neutraliser.
“Aegis called for Massive Energy Surge Analytics, which you gain by attempting to venture into the Maelstrom. The centre of the maelstrom violently ejects you if you get too close, and as the energy pulse washes over you, your sensors pick up residual analytics data. This was not a pleasant experience, and I might have run out of vomit bags while gathering the necessary data.”
Although the dangers in the Thargoid controlled systems were ever present, all three commanders managed to gather enough materials to purchase the Thargoid Pulse Neutraliser. The neutralisers worked flawlessly, by converting the energy of the massive pulse into heat energy instead of kinetic energy. Although a few internal systems were fried under the surging heat, the commanders managed to push into the core of the maelstrom.
CMDR Jeremaya recounted the events:
“The experience of penetrating the maelstrom cloud is something unforgettable. Avoiding caustic mines on the way in, and the massive energy pulse are just small challenges on the way to the heart of the mysterious cloud. CMDR Heateh was loud and excited over the comms "One more push, one more push…" while our ships were frying from high temperatures and taking corrosive damage. And then suddenly through the mist we saw an unusual and unnatural asteroid field that should not be there. Our sensors were wild and unreliable and all ship systems were working with glitches, and the cloud made it even more difficult to navigate the cloud.
And then slowly in the distance we could see glimpses of a very large structure - a moment every CMDR will remember for their whole life. We came closer to it and could not believe our eyes: A Thargoid Titan Mothership was in the middle of the cloud. Right away we saw a lot of similarities with Unknown Thargoid structures found on planets in the Pleiades sector. The structure was bigger than humanities biggest space ports and it seems to be very active and "alive", but our ship sensors and scanners could not pick up anything meaningful on the structure except couple of spots that looked like "cracks" and thermal vents, and something that looked like turrets or cannons. It was clearly ALIVE. We managed to pick up some debris around it for investigation by our science teams.
And the the chaos started: our research team got noticed by the structure and launched whole armada of Thargoid vessels at us, the space started turning red from the turrets shooting at us: we took some serious damage, CMDR Hekateh started firing back at it and managed to destroy couple of turrets, but very fast had to eject from the ship. I managed to pick up his Escape Pod in all the chaos and under heavy fire escaped the cloud with a heavily damaged ship.
We barely managed to come back alive and reported our findings to both Nova Navy and Salus Navy science teams.
More investigation is needed to fully understand what we are dealing with.”
Samples and scans were taken from the Thargoid Titan before it turned hostile, and opened fire on the commanders. All of the information, analytics, captured footage and materials gathered were shared with CMDR Harrison "Wells" Sahakyan of the Nova Technocratic Scientific Assembly. Further analysis of the threat posed by the Thargoid Titan will be performed by the Nova Science Team as well as the biological division of House Salus’ Science and Terra-Forming Division.
CMDR Harrison Sahakyan, the head of the Nova Science Team, had the following announcement to make regarding the data and materials gathered from the centre of the Maelstrom:
“We have received the collected data and scans from Titan. We will perform analysis of data using the latest database about Thargoids in collaboration with Imperial Xeno Defence and Canonn. We have never seen a Xeno of this size before and to understand its mysteries better we need to work more to gather more samples and information. Best way is to conduct various tests on it with great caution. As to support the efforts, Nova Science Team will provide its fleet carrier [NNV] Destiny in HIP 28240 buying samples from Titan with increased price. More will be requested if required.”
The Arch Duchess Archduchess Magdalena Sophia von Salus personally commended the pilots on their successful project:
“I’d like to highlight the bravery and perseverance of the brave commanders that not only went into the Maelstrom: CMDR Eclipse the Pony, CMDR Jeremaya, and CMDR Hekateh. They risked their lives to give us valuable scientific data, materials, and information; but also laid the groundwork for fellow Imperial commanders to do the same. Now our scientific institutions need to work through the data gathered, so that we might learn how to best defeat these Titans.”