Black Hole
15 Apr 2024BILLY MCSHIPPINGTON
While checking the navigation terminal, we noticed there was a black hole nearby. Neither of us had seen one with our own eyes yet, so we decided now was a great time to stop by, no risk to the cargo, no pirates threatening us, and we're riding the high of finishing a long excursion 300+ Lightyears away.Carefully, we made our way through abandoned systems that could only be inhabited by the most heinous of pirates. Systems with twin suns in close proximity, almost took us out a few times when we jumped in with no warning. While there was basic navigation data on where to jump in and out, almost every planet we encountered looked untouched and unexplored.
It wasn't all bad though, we did see a lot of beautiful planets that neither Kiwi, nor myself had seen in our previous adventures. Some looked completely volcanic, oceans of magma, the light radiating almost as bright as a star. Meanwhile another would be what I can only describe as a frozen Earth, a giant ball of ice where you can just barely make out continents under the thick layers.
My favourite sight though, 2 ringed planets that seemed to be stuck in the same orbit. We didn't get close for fear of running into an asteroid field, but from a distance it looked magical.
Soon we approached the last jump into the black holes location, strapped up and prepared for anything, we initated the launch sequence. As we came out of hyperspace, we realized very quickly that we were NOT prepared for anything.
Everything we looked at was distorted, matter seemed to weave in and out of existence, it seemed like anything you tried to concentrate on would... run away from your eyes. It sounds ridiculous, but the whole experience is hard to put into words. We didn't have much time to consider what was happening though, because the surrounding area was full of hostile ships, waging a war with each other- and they didn't recognize us as the innocent tourists we were.
Awe struck by the black hole, I barely noticed the blaster bolts bouncing off our shields. I didn't hear Kiwi's shouting until the announcement that our shields had gone offline, quickly snapping into action, I flipped on the boosters, dipped our nose directly down and slid the throttle to max.
For a solid 10 seconds, the only sounds we could hear were, the ting's of kinetic rounds desperately trying to pierce our armor, the singe and creak of plasma melting through metal, but all of it nearly drowned out by the several blaring alarms ringing throughout the ship. Kiwi and I not making a sound while we watched the speedometer slowly climb to the proper speeds.
While I was extremely thankful for the Titans durability, it's engines were about to kill us.
Once we hit the speed required, I switched on the FSD drive, and prayed harder than I've prayed in a long time.
The incoming missile tone sounded off, adding to the awful orchestra of explosions and warning messages the ship was already playing for us. Scanning the systems quickly I realized the point defense turrets were spent, and all we could do was hope that the FSD drive charged up in time.
It may have only been 2 or 3 seconds, but those seconds dragged on for eons, but the FSD drive did charge in time, and we were safely in a different system.. far from whatever the hell that was. Kiwi and I sat in silence for a bit, thankful we made it out, surprisingly with no injuries. The Titan saved us today, I made a mental commitment and a promise that I would get the big guy brand new engines and a new power supply.