13.01.3304--Obsidian Orbital Refugee Rescue
16 Jan 2018VictoriaTerpsichore
This is my first official CMDR log. It serves partially as a diary of my increased exposure to other factions, individuals, and events in the universe. Up until now, I’ve had mainly been doing Hutton runs in a small Keelback outfitted for cargo. I've made a modest living running Hutton, but when I woke up to the news that more stations had been attacked, I knew it was time to leave the relative safety of long-haul space freight and use my ship for good. Although the stick and throttle still feel foreign and I'm not a particularly adept combat fighter, I figured at the very least I could aid in the relief effort. So I strapped an extra fuel tank onto my ship and headed out into the black. It was my first time traveling hundreds of light years away. I saw bright blue stars, small purple ones. Systems with up to 69 other astronomical objects—the sheer scale of space is fascinating.
As I drew closer to Maia, I began seeing non-human signal levels (threat 5 & 7). I wrote down the system names in my physical logbook but I’m not sure if and/or where to send that data (perhaps Canonn?) Before I knew it, I had arrived at the Obsidian Orbital Rescue Ship.
It was my first time seeing a megaship. There were at least four medium-sized landing bays with others for smaller ships. When I docked, I saw that they had passenger cabins there for sale, which is incredibly convenient. After exchanging my cargo racks for economy passenger cabins and depositing my extra fuel tank for another small cabin, I headed out the short distance to Obsidian Orbital. While cruising out past the no fire zone, I felt satisfied with my choice of economy vs. business. There is a time for comfortable quarters, and it isn't while desperate people are cramming into every nook and cranny of a ship just to stay alive.
I had never seen a station on fire before. I’d done some reading and purchased heat sink launchers prior to making the 72 jumps it took to get from my location back near Hutton all the way out to Maia. I headed in toward the mail slot, but noticed a CMDR in a Fer-de-Lance. He had clearly gone mad, because he was in league with the Thargoids, insistent that the humans still trapped aboard the station were meant to die. He destroyed my ship before I made it inside.
I wasn’t to be deterred, however, and I believe that the CMDR was either distracted by the other rescue ships or simply did not see me, because I managed to run half a dozen times back and forth before the wayward CMDR joined with other murderers (I call them that because a few saw fit to destroy my ship several times while it was full of refugees) I had many successful rescue ops.
Many sprang to the defense of us rescuers, calling for anyone with hardpoints to mount a defense. The killers alternated between blockading the burning station and the rescue ship.
I finished the day having saved 779 refugees.
Leaving the relative safety of my long haul freight position to help rescue people from the burning stations filled me with a sense of pride and accomplishment that I'm not accustomed to having in any other aspect of my life. Although it's exhilarating, at the end of the day I feel tired and stressed. I'm filled with concern for those still on stations elsewhere, and whenever I have a spare moment while waiting to enter the hangar I think about the increased Thargoid threat. How woefully unprepared are we for a large-scale invasion? There is little I know about Thargoids, but I imagine if a station as beloved as Obsidian is that easy of a target that many others may soon fall under their shadow.
I’m happy to report that even as I was exhausted and leaving, people were still showing up in droves, forming wings and heading back in for more refugee extraction.