The Guardian
03 Sep 2020Aequfire
I found them, the Guardian runes. Something as old or older than the Thargoids. They were magnificent and some of their tech still worked. I had gotten some scuttlebutt from some other pilots at Jameson Memorial about some ancient tech you could pick up from the sites and one of them even showed me their frame shift booster. 10.5 LY jump range upgrade just by strapping one of these bad boys on. Plus some others had found some shield and hull upgrades which I think is worth checking out. Lord knows I have gotten into some close scrapes and some extra shields would be nice.Well I got some coordinates and set out. They were a mere 400 ly away, so close it was hard to understand how I hadn't stumbled on them already. The site was old, full of broken monuments and littered with strange artifacts. The whole place had the feeling of being forgotten and ignored and it probably had been for most of human existence up until we started exploring the stars. The weathered facades had seen a million sunrises and had watched stars burn their entire lives away before exploding. And yet this place was not nearly as dead as it appeared as I glided over the desolate landscape.
I was able to put down right on the edge of the ruins which was very good considering what was coming next. I deployed the SRV and rode over a ridge into a large open courtyard of sorts when suddenly the ground rumbled. Up shot a large spire with some sort of blue glowing object on the top. I targeted the glow to find out more and realized that the plates surrounding the object were able to be shot away. After doing this, the glowing object fell away and my computer identified it as an ancient artifact... helpful. However, the pilot I talked to at Jameson told me I needed this to "unlock the site". I moved farther into the ruins. In the middle of the whole structure was some sort of weird stepped ramp, not designed for an SRV that was for sure. As I approached the base of this ramp, the ground once again rumbled. I craned my head around, trying to find the slowly rising pillar that was surely causing this but what I found was something entirely different and not at all welcome.
A warning klaxon blared as my shields rippled from impacts. It took me a moment to gather myself as blue energy bolts streamed overhead and into my weakening shields. I reacted quickly and backed behind a half demolished wall, blocking the source of this sudden assault and switched into the turret. A red target pip danced on my sensor HUD but the system targeted it and to my surprise immediately identified it. A Guardian Sentinel. I guess the Pilot Federation had pushed a target acquisition update since I was most certainly not the first pilot to encounter one of these. I silently cursed the pilot at Jameson Memorial who didn't give me a heads up but I guess he figured I could take care of myself. This thing looked like a flying triangle with wings and had unloaded a full salvo into my shields with me flat footed but my shields were still online so I sighed a bit thinking this thing couldn't be that big of a threat.
I threw some pips into weapons and into systems to get the shields recharging and poked my nose out around the corner. The thing just looked at me with that glowing blue nose, not firing, just staring me down. I had the targeting reticle locked, the repeater charged, and finger on the trigger but something stopped me from opening fire. I mean it wasn't firing at me for the moment and this thing could have been the oldest piece of working tech I have ever encountered. It seemed wrong to just blast the thing out of the sky when maybe it was just as curious as I was. Maybe I just scared the thing and it fired on me out of fear or reflex. I figured my shields could withstand another volley and if I could learn something, maybe get a closer scan without destroying it then I should try. I cautiously nudged the throttle and the SRV moved farther out from the cover of the ruined wall. I held my breath as I turned the SRV to face the sentinel and tried to work out in my brain what my next move was going to be.
Suddenly though the question of this things intentions and hostility were quickly answered as it launched a volley of missiles into the air. I can't tell you all the emotions that went through my head in that split second, but if I was a religious man I would have been praying. The missiles leapt fast, high into the air and arced over quickly having acquired me as a target. The SRV computer chirped out a warning chime and announced a missile launch had been detected but my brain was way ahead. I didn't even have time to realize that there was nothing I could do to avoid the impact when suddenly green plasma tracers streaked through the sky, intercepting the incoming projectiles and detonating them spectacularly before they could make a close encounter with my SRV. That pilot I had cursed only a few moments earlier I now vowed to by him the largest bottle of Lavian Brandy I could find. He had insisted to the point of near demanding that I attach a couple of point defense systems to my dorsal hull. He wouldn't tell me why, just emphatically stating that it would save my bacon. It sure did, because under the cover of the Artemis's point defenses, those Sentinels had only their weak plasma cannons to use against me.
The brown alert moment quickly faded and I focused back in on the task at hand. Full pips to weapons and I squeezed the trigger on my repeater. It took several seconds of sustained fire but eventually the guardian faltered and slammed into the hard pack surface, exploding in a muted orange fireball. I eased the SRV over and detected several pieces of wreckage. I figured it was worth collecting, it had to worth something to someone. I would find out later it was worth a lot to the folks who wanted to sell me Guardian tech so every time one of those sentinels popped up, I gave it a full salvo and scooped up its remains.
It took me a couple hours to figure the place out but I was able to trigger the central altar and then all the required pylons. Every time more of those sentinels would appear but the Artemis kept me safe under her point defense umbrella and I was nearly chalk full of dead sentinel parts. Triggering the central altar was a piece of cake after I got all the pylons activated and it was as simple as dropping that artifact from earlier unto the receptacle. Before long I was lifting off and putting this particular guardian site in my rearview.
Anyways, I made it back home to Jameson Memorial where a tech broker is in residence and got my modules made. I found that pilot, Lacey is her name by the way, and as I promised above, I gave her the biggest bottle of Lavian Brandy I could find. We are suppose to make a dent in the bottle later. I think I am going to head back over to Ohm Station once I complete upgrades on the Agrippa and say hi to some old friends and run a few missions. The Feds saw fit to promote me to Lt. Commander which is nice and I am working steadily towards Entrepreneur rank with in the trade guild. Of course, people recognize my name and are surprised I made Elite in exploration before Trade considering my pedigree but you know I have always been somewhat of a wanderer.
Well that is all for now, I will write again soon and let you know how that FSD booster handles. I am already itching to head back into the black but for now Colonia is still not my destination. Would like to build up that bank account a little more. Been thinking I need to try some mining.
Until next time,
Jacob