DW II | Stationside at Eudaemon Anchorage
29 Jan 2019Chad VanGaalen
Rohini. It's interesting, because I'd heard of the place back home. A bar, if my memory serves me correctly - and some chap who had much more to drink than he should have.
"It's a beautiful place," he chortled. "I'd go back there in a second if I had the creds to win back me ship."
"Oh yeah? And how did you come across this place, exactly?"
"Well, y'see, I'd made a bet against me mate. We'd both gotten a whiff of these aliens... they were, I'dunno. Insects 'er somethin'. Somethin' like ye wouldn't believe."
"So like this story."
"Twas real!" The man slammed his tankard to the bar. "I swear me lucky stars. We should'na been there. But we 'ad a good ole fashion adventure sense."
He sobered. As much as a drunk could. "Nearly killed us, mind ye, or worse."
"Listen. The aliens were in Rohini, or on the way back? What can you tell me about them?"
It proved impossible to hear the rest of the old man's story out as the ale did its work. This had to have been at least twenty years ago, and the idea of encountering non-human spacefarers was one few had accepted. But this man was highly convinced that he'd seen some sort of extraterrestrial life - by modern accounts, very likely Thargoid - on the route to Rohini.
The route I was now on.
Commander Lansing and I, after having reunited in Omega, are taking different paths for this next waypoint. I'm roughing out the first 3,000 LY across the neutron star highway, while he explores the scenic route. Little known to him, or anyone, is that neutron highways fucking terrify me. Best I get over that on my own, I guess.
At this point the solitude at the helm - Tal being occupied with her projects - was starting to get to me, and I knew I had to make a few changes about Forward Into Dawn before setting out in to the black once again. She's not a small ship, eclipsing my old Krait Mk II by a long shot. That thing you could handle solo. This Cutter, not so much. So I hired another crew member specialized in flying SLFs named Harper, and I finally got around to upgrading the ship's onboard computer.
It fucking talks now. So that's just great.
Anyway. All the preamble aside, the burn to Euadaemon Anchorage has been largely uneventful. You see a lot of the same old ice and rocks out here in the black, and it conditions you to an extent. But then you stumble across something unique, perhaps even profound. Introducing Gria Drye RO-X d2-133 1:
A ringed, terraformable water world orbiting a neutron star all by itself. Not even an asteroid belt to speak of in the system. It was picturesque, elegant and serene, and I've been overwhelmed thinking about it ever since.
Now, it's time to sleep.