Another day, another Journey. Still so many sights to see.
Woke up feeling more positive than usual, and initially, i didn’t know why. Then i remembered. The night before. Daros and Cat, the trust. It felt good. Poured coffee, launched and bid freeport a fond farewell. A transporter on the way told me of activity in Theta, but didn’t seem violent. Good. I could drink my morning mind-waker without risk of spilling. Jumped, systems seemed good. No harm in a check over before going though, is there?
Cloak, comms, weapons, engines, power core. In that order. Speaking of Order, one of them and two freelancers appeared on long range as i jumped in. No matter. Systems tests first, then pleasantries. Cloak worked, comms rebooted, weapons seemed optimal power, engine readings were nominal. Power core seemed fine. Good to go. The two things i keep forgetting, comms defaults to system-wide frequency after a restart. Oops, hope i didn’t disturb anyone. And of course, i was still cloaked. Turn that back off… don’t wanna drain the batteries before i’d manage to leave Omicrons-
I turned my attention to the trio, once my systems were sorted. Got into the conversation late, but i could work out enough to keep up. A private line from Daros, a reminder that we don’t know each other. I know, Daros. Maintain secrecy. Of course, right around that time, my ship enters a full power core reboot, as is customary with an individual ship system restart. So my comms went down, right after the one word i didn’t wanna hear. Crowley. Great, just what i need to think about on my way through space. Apologised and took my leave of the group in Theta, plotting for Omegas.
Sometimes, the quiet of space is relaxing enough on its own to lose yourself. Almost enough to miss my jump to Coalition space. They haven’t changed much. Still fighting their fights and helping their friends. Same old, same old. No matter. Take a cut through Bretonia to Cortez. Coffee resupply. And a bit of information i didn’t know. A bonus. Inverness Jump hole location, and the freeport there. Described easily enough “the one next to a planet”, he said. I guess, he failed to mention there were three planets, and that all three had stations in orbit. What didn’t help was… the feeling of being watched coming from the nebula. Needed to see, just to shake the feeling. A structure. Alien in nature. Here? In-between Bretonia and Liberty!? Time to go.
Cruise always seems to feel slower when you’re trying to get away from something. Also seems to be a distraction for when you just really need to plot. Took a wrong turn and… ended up in Gallic space. Well, i was here now. May as well have a look around. First thoughts, Gallia was just going to be as active as i remember. Nope. Boring, quiet. Except for the ones who wanted you to know you weren’t happy. They were obnoxious and loud. Way to make a man feel welcome eh?
Burgundy, i knew that somewhere there was a shortcut to Omicrons, a quick way home. The Outcasts had rumoured such, and most rumours of jump holes… they tended to be correct. Narrowed down my search area based off star map and rough star direction of Alpha. A nebula. Maybe 40 klicks by 30. Not much to search. Sure enough… there she was. The unstable variety, sure. But freighters can handle such, so i knew i was safe enough.
On the way back through Alpha… i passed the graves of the Outcasts. A cluster of ships, where their bodies would rest. But thats not what drew me there. The strange anomaly was. A jump hole, among the dead. Sensor check, no contacts. Why not? Ill tell you why not… yet. Uncharted space. Radiation damage, and freaky looking, mines? Yeah. They looked volatile. Good job it was a two way jump hole. No more detours. Straight to Pygar. And try to make sense of the days events…..
