Scavenger
23 Sep 2017-ry-
I admit it, I'm a scavenger at heart. I love to land on a planet, take off in the SRV, and look for jetsam. I live for those moments when the wave-scanner's chatter resolves into the low, plaintive whistle of a cargo container being scanned. If there are skimmers on guard, well; we can all use a little excitement in our lives, and maybe a few extra credits in our pockets.Sometimes it's a little tricky, though. Once, I had followed the wave-scanner's train to a shipwreck, when three skimmers popped up. No big trouble; just pop the turret, check the scanner, and...
Oh.
I work very closely with Canonn. They consider me an ally, and I am loath to do anything to change that. Such as, for example, blowing up three of their skimmers.
Still, that cargo's not doing anyone any good just sitting there. Besides, Progenitor Callahan's been such a sourpuss lately, mainly due to my failure to wipe out this Goliath that Jarildekald Public Industry had floating around Mourelle Prospect, that I kind of *have* to get this cargo somehow, even if I'm not willing to resort to property damage just yet.
I called my Cobra to land, then began loading all the canisters outside the trespass zone onboard. Once I got those stashed, I blasted through the trespass zone, targeting any canisters I could find. If I really gunned the motor on my SRV, and didn't get caught on debris (protip: you ALWAYS get caught on debris) I could scoop up a canister and get back outside the trespass zone before the skimmers could respond.
Stupid skimmers.
Still, my most hair-raising scavenging experience had nothing to do with skimmers trying to kill me, or tense political mini-dramas where I balance my desire to see flying metal against my desire not to piss off people who give me money.
No, by far my most chilling experience was after I had turned back from a trip to Colonia. See, I set out for Colonia a few days ago in What's That There?, but about a quarter of the way there, Professor Palin invited me to swing by. Well, fanboy that I am, I turned back almost immmediately. 25 jumps later, I'm somewhere in Drojae, feeling the need for a little rejuvenation in the form of a drive on one of the high-metal worlds I had just surveyed. Besides, I can sometimes be a careless pilot after the hundredth star I've scooped in a single day, so I was thinking that materials for my AFMU might be in order.
After I landed, deployed my SRV, and dismissed my AspX, I did a slow circle to see what I could hear.
Wait, what?
Through my headphones, I hear the moan of cargo canisters, begging me to come get them. Here.
1600 light years from the nearest settlement. On a planet where, if anyone else was here before me, nobody thought to tell Universal Cartographics.
In this remote, apparently untouched location, a canister of taafetite is rolling down the hill as though it had just been placed there. Where it came from, and who put it there, I may never know, but if I never make it back to the Bubble, please know -- the Pleiades and the Formidine Rift are not the only places where there's weirdness afoot.
Sleep tight.
