Expedition - Entry #3
31 Oct 2015Calteru Taalo
So I'm out here in the black, trying to carve a path to 44 Iota Orionis for AviCorp because it's marginally better than being Philip J. Fry. I don't get interdicted, I don't even catch many signals other than Galnet and Radio Sidewinder. But I did see one wreck site so far.
I was cruising above the rings of this one planet, getting mineral readings and what-have-you, when I came across a very, VERY faint signal on the scanners. Definitely a distress signal, but one on its last legs. It must have been going for years.
Against all logic - exploration vessel, no guns, no boost, barely any shields, and certainly no cargo space unless I dump my Onionhead and we all know THAT ain't happenin' - I decided to go in for a closer look.
It was eerie. I couldn't see the stars, the asteroid rings I was just scanning... I could barely see Longshot's nose, and I am on Longshot's nose! I powered up the lights, which thankfully helped some. No stars or asteroids still, but I could see floating debris of some kind. It looked like ship wreckage, but not from any kind of ship I've ever seen.
I start poking around with the scanner. Found the beacon, still attached to half a fuselage from a much older-looking vessel about 2 clicks off my position. It must have been an exploration vessel, because clustered nearby were some survey data canisters still pinging merrily away.
Had I the cargo space, I probably would have scooped them. I'm glad I didn't.
I scanned them from where I was and determined that they weren't all from that one vessel - they were from several. The reason I didn't recognize the ship's wreckage was because it came from multiple ships.
This wasn't an accident site. It was a graveyard... a graveyard for explorers.
I had seen enough. I hit the FSD and prepared to jump to another star. Error message comes back from the navcom: Obstructed path.
I panicked. I start cycling through what few options I was presented for a different way - ANY way - out of there. Obstructed. Obstructed. Obstructed.
Out of desperation, I simply jumped to supercruise without having a star targeted. FSD hummed straight to life, so at least my drive wasn't busted. I started circling around as I gathered up speed, looking for a way out of the darkness - and saw a glimpse of jagged starfield to my 10 o' clock. I banked hard to port and gave her all she had. The starfield got narrower as I approached.
I made it through the gap in the darkness just before it closed. It was if I had emerged from a cave. The starfield expanded all around me, the view returning to normal. I checked the navcom - all paths clear again.
I picked the nearest star and got the hell out of there, not looking back. I had a feeling it wouldn't have been good if I did. I don't want to ever know where I just was.
And I'm certainly not examining any more wreck sites out here. -Sid