Rutherford Station Tour - Day 1
27 Dec 2024MajorBummerDude
Rutherford Ring - GD 175My first stop is only 2 jumps away from my squadron's home system. GD 175. It's a white Dwarf system, and Rutherford Ring is a small outpost orbiting plant 1 (a Gas Giant).
The outpost is in the shadow of the planet, so it was hard to see much from the outside, and there was almost no traffic. It's a scientific outpost, so I thought I'd go in and find some really smart folks to talk to. But as I walked towards the elevators, there were cans strewn all around the floor. And the first person I bumped into when I got to the main floor offered me an illegal mission to retrieve an electromagnet from some wreckage. I politely told him that wasn't what I was here for and just kept moving.
The Pioneer Supplies store did have a nicely upgraded TK Eclipse for sale, but I don't really use laser carbines when I fight in ground conflict zones, so I left it for the next person.
After sitting down at the bar, the bartender Mervin and I got to talking. He sounds exactly like Jason Statham, an actor from some really old movies I like. Anyway, I ended up selling him 100 Circuit Switches I had in my inventory, and that was enough to buy a premium drink from the bar. I'm not entirely sure how I fit that many switches in my small pockets, but it paid for my drink, so that's good.
I tried to talk to a few more patrons, but the only ones who would talk to me all wanted me to either steal something or go kill someone. "No thanks" was the phrase I said more than any other that day.
Oh well, time to move on.
Rutherford Plant - LTT 6139
Rutherford Plant in LTT 6139 was a bit more difficult to find. I had to do a Full System Scan before I spotted it, about 1600 Ls away. No problem at all for this Mandalay. It's so fast, and handles so well! I'm really beginning to like the feel of this ship.
Rutherford Plant was a lot busier than the last outpost. Took me a while to get landing clearance. But once I was finally docked, I headed in.
The lobby was a lot cleaner, and no graffiti on the walls.
Thankfully, there were more "legal" jobs offered to me as I walked in. I'm really just a tourist on this trip, though. I had a drink, did a little light bartering with Nada, the bartender, and strolled around the station for a bit to take it all in.
I sat down on a bench to take a picture of the view, but there wasn't that much to see. So I grabbed a selfie of me and the dude next to me who was sleeping. Childish, I know.
Moving on...
Rutherford Refinery - Flechti
Listed in the Nav computer as an "iconic" starport, Rutherford Refinery is one of those big Coriolis stations with the arms that stick out to either side. I never knew why some stations had those, so I intended to find out. I landed on the pad and headed into the station itself.
After talking with Sadie, the bartender, it seems those arms are there to provide a higher G environment for the refinery. Something to do with separating ores, etc. She didn't know any real details. So I did some bartering, bought myself a Karsuki Juice, and wandered around for a bit. Nice place.
You can tell these folks have a lot of work to do, so I didn't want to bother them too much with my questions. I did get offered a few less-than-legal jobs, but I'm not looking for anything stressful right now. This is a journey of discovery.
Rutherford Mines - Maljadal
Maljadal is a weird system. The main star is actually THREE stars orbiting each other. I guess in an infinite universe, any configuration is possible.
Rutherford Mines is a small industrial Outpost orbiting the fourth planet in the system, a gas giant. According to the locals, it's purely for industry, but it's owned by a local crime syndicate. Makes me think it's some sort of front for something more nefarious.
The store did have a really nice level 3 Artemis suit with Night Vision, though, so I picked that up. I try to do all my Exobiology on the sunny side of the planet, but you never know when Night Vision might help, so I plunked down the credits.
I didn't want to get tangled up in the local business, so I didn't stick around long.
Rutherford City - Matikuoluk
Rutherford City turned out to be another Coriolis station, but this time run by the "Loosely Organized Lunatics". It was a nice place, and I tried to chat up a few of the residents, but loosely organized crime was about all anyone would talk about. Seems to be the case more and more these days. With the Thargoid war over (for the moment), folks are turning back to trying to make an "honest" buck again.
Rutherford Depot - Ngaledi
So...uh, this was a disaster. This depot was my first surface visit on this trip. As soon as I approached, I got a message saying I was trespassing, and before I could back far enough away, I was fined. Then the guns started firing, and they dispatched an assault ship to take me down.
I fled. I'm in an exploration vessel, not a war ship.
After I lost the assault ship, I turned around and snuck back to the depot low to the ground and landed about 6km away. I decided to check it out in my Scorpion and see how close I could get before they noticed me. I really just wanted to see the base up close.
As I approached again, I could see the depot was firing on another ship, this time a Viper MK IV from the Federal Navy. Something fishy is definitely going on here. I got within trespass range again, and the depot sent security skimmers after me. As I turned around, the Viper started firing on me!
I fled, but he just kept pursuing me and taking shots at me when he'd get close. Finally, I switched to my turret and started taking down his shields. When those fell, I thought he'd had enough, but he persisted. So, I'm sad to say that a few rockets were launched and Notoriety was gained. I had to get him off my back, after all.
I guess I need to find an Interstellar Factor near here and pay off my fines. I think that's probably enough for today.