Personal Log, first entry
26 Apr 2023Rygobeth
It isn't often that I have something worth noting in a personal log, so I have as yet not bothered writing one. I do so now, for I have known true fear.I expected it would be a normal jump. If I'd paid enough attention, I could have easily avoided the whole mess. But I didn't, and I'm just glad now that I made it out of there with Torabera in one piece. I was following a list that the commander of Victorious gave me, systems and planets I could visit and scan to get some practice under my belt, earn myself an Elite so I could get into Shinrarta Dezhra. Indeed, the main aim of this endeavor was to get access to the various weapons merchants and goods brokers at Jameson Memorial so I could fit the Bahrendel for anti-Thargoid duties. To that end, I picked myself up a DSS and stripped down Torabera for maximum jump range. I even broke my third cardinal rule and removed her weapons, which I had cause to regret three times on the trip in question as random idiots tried to interdict me while I was scanning planets. Had I been armed, I'd have sent them to meet their maker. Not that it would have saved me in this case, but I'm very thankful today that I chose not to break my second cardinal rule and kept the shield generator installed.
I'd been hopping between systems for hours. Between the monotony of probing previously-known worlds and the complete lack of anything to do while going from a system's primary star to whatever planets were on the list, I suppose I got lax. I'm pretty sure I even had forewarning, since 116360 had the "Post-Thargoid Recovery" label when I went to look at the system map. I should have listened to my gut right then and there, but no. I underestimated just how close I'd gotten to the front line before I was ready. And so, without even checking the system's designations or status reports, I jumped into HIP 112475. I went to find the planet the list told me to scan (note to self, it's the 9th one, if I can ever safely go there), and the moment the system map loaded I knew I'd jumped head-first into the dren. Frelling system was under active Thargoid occupation! I barely had time to register the fact when the interdiction came in. And I knew it was different from normal, all my HUD elements started going funky and I'm yanked out of supercruise before I can even start trying to buck this guy.
Well, these guys, it turns out, as the moment I dropped to sublight my radar display painted four bogies on my aft. They fired immediately, of course. Fortunately, I've been studying, preparing for confrontation with Thargoids when I eventually got a ship built for it. Dumped a heatsink, tried my best to go evasive, and called up my navcomp. I keep Implacable's position bookmarked in the system no matter where she goes for good reason. Told the computer to plot a route home - five jumps, but the first was the only one I cared about. Shields dropped to 23% before my FSD spun up and got me the yotz out of there with only some minor hull damage. Good thing, too, I'd have hated to lose the data I'd just spent half a solar day gathering. Which, when I got back to Baillaud Ring, paid out 65.3 million credits and got me ranked to Pioneer. Another haul about twice that... and I'll be done with step one of the plan I'm renaming "Plan Goose".
Because what's good for the goose is good for the gander. And next time I drop into a Thargoid-occupied system, it'll be me on the hunt instead of them.