My Sweet Sweet Dezhra
20 Sep 2024SawbonesEDM
0310 20 September, 3310It's been a while since my last logbook entry, so allow me to recapitulate what I've done since then. I've fought in countless wars in both orbital and planetside engagements, became a tycoon in the trade world, did some bounty hunting, and went to Sag A. My trip to Sag A brought me to the esteemed rank of Elite, granting me passage into Jameson Memorial. Since then, Jameson has become my second home after my first one was taken over by the Thargoids. I used some of the money I made to buy a Krait MKII that I named Exterminatus in honor of the Cobra I flew in my first encounter with the 'goids. Flying her, I've defended eight (well... I guess now nine) ports, lead successful counter-strikes against ten systems, repelled the invasion of five, and killed hundreds of the bugs.
I just came back from bounty hunting and decided to take a break. I've always had this sixth sense when it comes to danger, I have a tendency to wake up right before disaster hits. This morning I had woken up to one of these bad feelings, I searched around my room and everything seemed fine, yet there was still this eerie feeling that something wasn't right. That's when I heard it, gunfire coming from outside the station. It sounded too organized to be a group of pirates, yet chaotic enough that I could tell that one side wasn't ready for this conflict. All of a sudden, explosions occurred across the station, setting it ablaze. Flashing lights and concussive alarms made me not need any coffee. When I exited my room, I was met with a horrific scene. Scattering the passageway were bodies, looks of terror and agony upon their faces. As I made my way to the hangar, the station shook, debris falling in the passageways and in the rooms. All around me I heard screaming from those trapped beneath the rubble, the cries of children searching for their mothers and wives searching for their husbands, and shouts from the station's emergency service personnel. I helped as many as I could, but I kept feeling like it wasn't enough. Closer to the hangar, another explosion happened near me, throwing me against the wall and knocking me out. When I came to, fire fighters and medics were standing over me, making sure I was ok. Smoke filled the air and the stench of burning flesh and viscera filled my nose. I finally made it to the hangar, and my worst fears came true. The shriek of Thargoids filled the hangar and I was thrown into a merciless rage. Wasn't one home enough?! They had to come take my new home as well?! No, I won't let what happen to my family, happen to the innocent people of Shinrarta Dezhra! I hopped in Exterminatus and launched right into the thick of the battle. I had outfitted her with a carapace of a medusa. It was time to show the goids their dead brethren as they fell to my multi-cannons.
Upon exiting the mail slot, a swarm of scouts spotted me, but with the assistance of Jameson's defenses, I quickly dispatched them. I spotted a cyclops being taken on by other commanders and joined them. With the combined fire power, it quickly fell. A few basilisks showed up with a couple of squadrons of scouts. We split our forces to cover more targets. While we were split up, more scouts joined as well as some hunters. Fortunately, I didn't have guardian modules installed. As we mopped up the last of the scouts, a medusa and another cyclops appeared. They managed to take out a couple of the commanders, but I saw escape pods leaving the ships and get scooped up by another who needed repairs. The medusa got a lucky hit on my thrusters, sending me into a spiral while the cyclops shattered my weapons and power distributor. After repairs, I rejoined the fray, focusing on them. When we eliminated them, more scouts dropped in as well as three hydras. I've only faced a couple of hydras, all one at a time, and wasn't prepared for the sheer brutality of three separate swarms and hydras. I popped my shutdown field neutralizer in time for the first field, but my systems couldn't last long enough for the second. I sat there, drifting in silence, unable to fight back against or even maneuver away from the constant fire. Why they were targeting me specifically, I'm not entirely sure, but it was probably because of the carapace bolted to my hull. My systems came back online just in time to dodge a caustic missile. I repaired and rearmed, and boosted out of the mail slot, ramming one of the hydras back so that all of the defenses could fire at it. I noticed over the comms chatter that one hydra was killed as I came out. The one I rammed quickly followed. One hydra left with every last gun trained on it. We opened fire, overwhelming it's shields in a matter of seconds and exposing one of it's hearts right after. One by one the hearts exploded in a caustic rainbow, yet upon destroying the last one, it was still alive. I put all pips on weapons and gave it everything I had, my fellow commanders accompanied me in this orchestra of weapons fire until the hydra finally died. We received some respite, but just a moment. The air traffic controller requested we dock so as to load up the wounded denizens of Jameson Memorial. Once my cargo bay was filled, I jumped to V886 and delivered the wounded to the Cornwallis. I might be able to rest now, but I know that everyone in Jameson Memorial is in for a restless night.