Log# 13 :Running to the rescue and then from my problems
22 Dec 2017(Wettoast) Wanda Fersegi
Pleiades region I hate this! Coming across wrecks just in time to witness another abduction is becoming too common. The Pleiades sector is now full of these bugs and every jump may be your last depending if the bug pulling you out of witchspace is out for blood and if you have a fast enough ship to outrun them. More and more large scientific and cargo vessels are falling victim to these things, humanity's greatest and largest weapons in the form of capital ships being useless against them .
Another megaship destroyed, another set of human popsicles to retrieve. My feelings sank to a new low seeing some pods with cracked windows and damage to their seals. I'm not a brave person, I've run from most problems in my life and only attended to them when they became extremely dire. I feel sort of ashamed that maybe the only reason I'm here is because this feels like the bare minimum. Confession time. Fine, I'm a coward. I'm scared.I get frustrated easily. Dealing with pirates is one thing, but dealing with the thargoids is something entirely different. The screech of the swarm drones and roar of the thargoid itself never let me sleep well at night after life pod rescues alongside cmdr Capricos. There's no communicating to them that you don't want to fight, and that they are abducting a fellow human and we would prefer they don't.
Inra deployed a virus to kill them off, so it would be entirely possible that they believe the intention of any human ship they come across is genocide and not self defense. I've done my best to ensure that I only fired when the thargoid would turn hostile on us. I won't shoot unless attacked. However with reports of commanders already killing some of these things with Aegis developed AX weapons, the possibility of any peaceful dialogue may be long gone. Hell, didn't THE Jameson launch a missile filled with the virus at one of their hives ?
I would be lying if I said I didn't want to drop everything and flee home, go to my parents' house, and never leave my childhood bedroom. The Pilot's federation, the engineers, the federation, the empire, the alliance, aegis, rescue operations, the thargoids....F*** it..F*** all of it ... I want to hide .
The Oracle : PLEIADES SECTOR IR-W D1-55
That's it ! I've had it ... If flying through a debris field while a starport cooks around you isn't enough for you , then having to ram your own exit through the hangar slot should be! Pieces of the station's structure were starting to obstruct the entrance on the way in, and I foolishly considered that it would remain wide enough to allow the ship to fit through. 30 souls on board and I put all their lives at risk by making a split second decision to force a way out. The shields held for the most part, but I was informed that the jolt injured some refugees. After a screaming match with a man who took the co-pilot's seat about the incident, I retreated to my quarters and went through a whole pack of cigarettes in half an hour. I'm going away, far away from this . Even if I have to retreat to deep space again.
Harris hospital: Miola
I've Just turned in the last batch of pods I'll be picking up for a while, I've made up my mind and it involves several thousand light years away from this place. I did stop by my parents' to let them know I was fine, but I don't think the facade held up. I made up an alibi that I was going to settle down somewhere and find someone nice, maybe a job at a shipyard while I get my life in order but that couldn't be further from the truth. I've been loading the anaconda with enough food and necessities for a long disappearance. They're going to kill me if they find out I lied to their faces just to turn tail and jet off into the galaxy .
Hillary depot
Just 2000 light years out and I'm already worried about the home I'll come back to. Will Colonia truly be the last refuge , the core worlds evacuating upon returning ? No. I have to keep going, no turning back ...My problems don't exist, I'll deal with it later.... Just hammer on out of this place.
Core edge region : uncharted system
Finally a trip to the core where the light feels familiar and welcome. At least while being dazzled from all sides I can forget my troubles even faster than a few pints of beer can wipe my brain. It also seems that Christmas is around the corner, but I stopped celebrating it since graduating flight school and moving from Nanomam. At this point I have no arguments against having my Christmas in the loneliest reaches of the galaxy, if I go home then the thargoids will be waiting for us just after the festivities end. Maybe I won't skip Christmas this year, I might as well make something of my situation this time . That is do what I believe a few people have done before, I'll have my Christmas at beagle point.
Core region : uncharted system
I've been there not to long ago actually, a trip I made in my diamondback in not too bad a time either . But that was a mission of discovery. This time around it is a mission of fleeing while the times get tough ... Not really proud of myself this time around. Maybe I'll meet up with another explorer again, but it seems unlikely considering a large part of a holiday is celebrating it with friends and family..... Maybe I should shut up for a bit before reconsidering.
Above core region : uncharted system
Can't see straight , I set down on one of two binary ringed worlds and the last thing I remember is guzzling the lavian brandy I had packed. The rumble of the engines seems louder than usual, my head is ringing a lot more than usual , and the brandy is gone..... All of it ! The next stop after universal cartographics might be rehab....
Far core edge : uncharted system
I can't convince myself that I deserve to fly anymore. I still feel guilty about abandoning rescue operations in the Pleiades, not doing enough to help as many as possible. I feel like a frightened child pretending to be a big adult with a pilot's license, not nearly prepared for the demands and stress of a crisis that requires saving lives . Impostor, fake, unprepared, fraud. Guess I'll go back to the one adult thing I'm good at for now, and that's drinking. Well, whatever is left over that wasn't the brandy.
Styx inter arm region : uncharted system
Heading into the outer arms now, the emptiness is now replacing the light of the core. I've been out this way before but the feeling in your gut of something being "off" never changes . Other explorers likening it to a "dark murky river". The feeling sticks with even the most seasoned of explorers in my opinion. This still doesn't feel far enough from the Pleiades, need to keep going . But at last there's some peace and quiet to be had over this lava world... Maybe too much quiet, I can hear the canopy cooking.... At least I wasn't planning on repainting the hull so that's one less thing to worry about.
Only so far to go now. The outer arm and abyss are coming up fast, thought I was making good time and took the rover down for a quick drive on an interestingly colored ice world.Low gravity again reminded me how much I suck at driving, the drive on the iceball almost trashing the rover .
Abyss region : uncharted system
This place has always been an area of concern for me and many explorers, the sheer distances between stars cause even the ships with the longest jump ranges to take caution. A multi thousand light year expanse where only the bravest of fuel rats can reach you if you c*** up . One short break here and then off into the gaping maw of nothing . Apart from the interesting system here and there , a colonization friendly area this does not make. Who would want to colonize a place as isolated as this one? But.. Maybe further from the thargoids the better.
Tip of Sagittarius-Carina arm, solitude void, beagle point
Well, here I am. As far as I can get away from the Pleiades and the rest of my problems. Inky black the only thing to accompany me along with the data packet here and there beamed from the bubble. Having previous visits under my belt hasn't made this place any friendlier, but at least familiarity holds off space madness for the time being. Just 2 jumps away from beagle point, better land and set up camp then.
Beagle point
Well, this is where I live now for the next while . As far away as you can get from absolutely everything, apart from the few 100+ ly jump systems. If I'm celebrating the holidays this way, then I can at least say it's a hell of a way to do it ! Driving piss drunk on a rock all the way across the galaxy, my awful driving made worse by alcohol, no police, no parents, no nagging twits . Well, I'd better store the rover before I break it .
Oh, son of a .....
The distress signal
There's someone else out here! But they are stranded 11 light years from the system star in Oevasy SG-Y d0, otherwise known as Salome's reach, Salome being Kahina Loren the imperial senator killed while exposing a conspiracy . I can't believe this, someone is stranded out here and it's out of my reach! I thought I came out here to get away from trouble ..... To make matters worse, I have no means of refueling them since I didn't think to bring a fuel limpet controller, and I'm fresh out of materials to synthesize a long range jump. The good news is that the story circulated a bit on galnet and there are rescuers on the way to help them, the bad news is that my sanctuary will be spoiled....Just what I needed.... Something to remind me of my initial s****y decision. Anyway, here's to cmdr Persera getting home safe .
All I can do is watch the rescue from afar and offer help if it is necessary, that is if I haven't tried to kill myself drinking again. However what I will do is have a drink to the universe passing me by. It's not lavian brandy, but what I have left over is enough to help me sit here and forget everything . No screaming refugees, no cops, no deadlines, no pirates, no employers, no thargoids, no aegis . Just nothing. Guess this is a good first christmas in a while then.
I guess I'll wave out the window in the direction of sol just to be nice...
Wanda N. Fersegi " Wettoast", out .