Technical Difficulties
10 Nov 2023Argon Shadowstar
I was hesitant to trust Federation-aligned engineers, but someone had gone to great lengths to establish that Juri Ishmaak and Felicity Farseer do not let their affiliations affect their work or who they do business with. I should have known better.I suppose I cannot really blame them, for I have made many enemies and these enemies have placed a hefty bounty on my head. That said, these engineers have a reputation for being motivated not by financial gain, but by personal growth and the honing of their skills. Indeed, one might think they had already all the money they could ever use, from the looks of their facilities. Ah, but perhaps they are just like all the other pawns of the superpowers, willing to abandon their principles for the right price. That would easily explain the cascade of technical failures I have experienced since trusting Ishmaak and Farseer with my ship.
Initially, I did not make the connection since the issues seemingly began at my hidden industrial laboratory, Argon Labs. But soon what started as a series of communications drops escalated into sensor glitches and, after visiting Farseer, the complete failure of my Frameshift Drive. Additionally, a Federation assassin had positioned himself above Farseer's compound, waiting to ambush me. Of course, the facility defenses did not fire on a Federation lackey, despite his violation of the no-fire zone. Fortunately, my years of combat training allowed me to escape, albeit with heavy damage, by disappearing into the dark and deep canyons far from the facility, using silent running and decoy techniques to throw off the pursuer. Now you may ask, "why not simply high wake out?". Well, that's a good question, and the answer leaves the bitter taste of one who has been conned in my mouth. As of now, my Frameshift Drive is completely non functional. And while it is possible that it was damaged in the attack, the extra shielding Felicity was supposed to have installed should have protected it. After a thorough examination of the damage, I came to the conclusion that the drive has been sabotaged. Additionally, malfunctions in my sensors prevented me from identifying the attacker, however, my in-ship security cameras are still functional, though damaged. The database containing those records is being repaired right now, and should include cockpit footage showing the HUD at the time of the attack. Perhaps there was a brief flicker of a proper ID, and if so, I can take that freeze frame and know just who it was that had the guile to ambush me.
Such talent deserves recognition, after all. Were their ambush successful, they might have altered the course of the future through my demise. But not today. Still, it seems I will be out of action for some time until I can fix the sabotage and get back into space again. The canyon is dark and cold now, but this planet has no atmosphere and when the day comes the sun will heat the hull up. That will make working on the exterior more difficult.