The First Journey into The Black - The Setup
19 Apr 2023MalachiS1778
4/19/3309 - Synuefe PX-J c25-8 7 a:I curse out loud, who's there to hear me, the extinct guardians? The damn site has been abandoned for so long that the pillars won't communicate with the datalink from time to time. "No wonder their own creations slaughtered them" I think to myself, before considering my options.
I open my comm-link, I know who can help me, he's explored countless guardian sites. I call CMDR Draco Silmar. He's only a few jumps away, exploring another Guardian site. He's gathering materials for weapons he tells me.
"I'll be right over, sit tight." he says. I tell him that I'm headed to a nearby fleet carrier to restock. My SRV had been destroyed while trying to gather technology components for an FSD Booster.
"This was supposed to be a simple operation, gather the blueprint and components for an FSD Booster, then GTFO. Where did it all go wrong?" I thought to myself as I flew to the fleet carrier.
Silmar had now shown up to the planet, as I made my quick stop at the fleet carrier to restock. I flew back to meet up with him on the ground. He's standing by the path leading up to the Datalink, next to one of the already raised pillars.
"You grab the 2 pillars by the Datalink, and this one. I'll grab the other 3." He orders. I'm not gonna talk back, he's given me the easiest 3 to activate. I had luckily grabbed most of the components I needed earlier, so it should be a relatively quick operation.
I fire a few shots at the pillar next to me with my plasma rifle, and run over to the datalink, and activate them as well. He's activated 2 of the pillars, but having trouble finding the last one.
"I know where it is! I saw it when I was here earlier!" I exclaim over comms. After making my way over to it and activating it, he returns to his ship. He's done enough of these site to know that some pissed off sentinels are going to pop out as soon as we scan the Datalink.
I get in my SRV as he shoots one of the relics out of place with his ship's beam lasers. I deploy my cargo scoop and pick it up, and start driving slowly towards the Datalink. "Don't wanna risk destroying another one of these" I thought. Once i arrive at the Datalink, I jettison the Guardian Relic from my SRV, and wait for the sphere to appear. After what feels like a painstakingly long scan, the two sentinels appear, as if on cue.
They start engaging me, while I attempt to break contact. Silmar quickly dispatches them, while I run around to a few more towers to gather technology components. "I only need 2 more, we're almost there" I mutter to myself.
After gathering the components, I drive back to my ship as quickly as I can without destroying my SRV. Another successful operation, thank god. I thank Silmar for the help and watch as he departs, probably to complete his original mission.
As for me? I'm headed out to meet my squadron's executive officer, he's weary from a long journey out to Colonia. He's been in the black for about a month now, gathering exploration data. I'm determined to catch up to him. I stop by a Coriolis on my way back out of the bubble, and purchase as many energy drinks as I can. It's going to be a long week.