A lot to Celebrate! And to Mourne...
09 Sep 2022Final Asgard
Today we accomplished a lot of important endeavors.We finally got a high enough reputation with the Federation to be given a special Naval mission that increased our rank to Recruit! This is the first step in a really long journey that is a rep grind.
We also had a generous commander from The Fatherhood help us out with some Pirate hunting missions, that totaled around 400,000 credits. I think we're almost ready to outfit the Anaconda now. And I now know how to increase my profits from fighting to make it even more lucrative.
Then we bought a brand new ship! FA-11 Blade, an Alliance Chieftain. After a lot of research we fitted it out with all kinds of Anti-Thargoid technology. With the ever increasing threat that the Thargoids pose on the galaxy, it is about time that I got a ship that could help defend humanity against this alien threat.
After running around the galaxy buying specialized parts from everywhere and working on engineering as many of the core components that we could, we took FA-11 Blade out on its maiden voyage.
To give it a test run we went near HIP 22460. Upon approaching the system we did indeed get hyperdicted. We attempted to use the Shutdown Field Neutralizer, but this was the first time ever using it in action. Apparently when the Thargs start charging their EMP you need to use it immediately. So we sat there in front of a Thargoid ship, with no power, and our rear ends exposed to the enemy. Luckily, they did not deem us a threat, and ran away. Probably because they knew if I was too incompetent to use a Shutdown Field Neutralizer, then I could obviously be no threat to them.
Little did they know....
That they were right.
The Thargoids took off, and we proceeded to HIP 22460.
This was the first time I had been there since the incident. So much has changed.
Before what we saw was a warzone, but the destruction was contained to those that were actively engaged in combat. You could safely fly around the system as long as you avoided anything suspicious looking. You could dock with the Bright Star, or another carrier, and you knew you were in a hostile zone, and had to be careful, but didn't feel like you could die at any second.
How things have changed.
The Thargoids have taken over everything. Everywhere you look in the system, there is damage and debris. There are no safe havens for humans any longer anywhere in the system.
Just being in the system causes havoc with your ship systems. The power was glitching, radar was fuzzy, and every guardian module I had (luckily it was only the FSD Booster) started degrading. I don't know what they could possibly have done to that system to make it absolutely destroy all guardian tech, but it is not natural. I don't know if it was Salvation, or the Thargs, or a combination of both, but the entire system is poisoned.
With FSD booster out of commission we did an FSS scan, and honed in on some wreckage.
What we found, was indescribable. Debris, mostly likely from a ship, floated in space, surrounded by some kind of green cloud. There was nothing left of the ship that was recognizable, so I can't even say what type of ship it was. And whatever that cloud was, I wasn't going to touch it.
And then it happened....
An anomalous frame shift signature was detected by the ship. This time I was prepared. The Thargoid dropped out of supercruise and immediately started charging its EMP. I was ready, and had the neutralizer field powered up, and this time, it worked. The wave of energy passed over the Blade without causing any disruption to systems.
However, the Thargoid did NOT like this. Immediately the ship turned red and the battle was on.
I tried. I really really tried, but in the end I was no match for this single Thargoid ship. How is humanity going to survive?
In the panic I struggled to switch to weapons, and even when I did get the weapons locked on, there were so many things coming at me, that I didn't even know what to shoot at.
Shields died rather quickly, and then the hull started to crack. In about ten seconds the canopy was nothing but a spiderweb of cracks. I tried to save the ship. I tried to run. But I was not fast enough.
With the alert of incoming missiles I boosted while my FSD charged, but that was it. That was the last thing I remember.
RIP FA-11 Blade. You were a good ship, while you lasted. Sorry I couldn't engineer or pilot you better.
FA-11a Blade, we will get more work done on you before we attempt this again.