I can't believe my luck. Not only did I find the Phantom base, nearly on accident, but I lived to tell the tale. My palms are still a bit sweaty, even though I've been safely docked on Java station for nearly an hour. Alright, time to recap...
I've spent the last few days trading as usual, and massaging what few solid contacts I have for information. It's not easy: nobody wants to talk about the Phantoms. Including me, to be honest, but I had a job to do. At any rate, I wasn't having any luck. While in the Taus, I received a request from Theta for a bunch of Niobium: no doubt it's destined for the Discovery Project. Since I was so near anyway, I popped into Tau-37, set all weapons to mining mode, and collected enough ore to keep the Zoner shipyards happy for a short while. The shortest route from Tau-37 to Omicron Theta goes right through Outcast territory, and I decided the shortcut was worth it (even though the Outcasts uniformly shoot me on sight right now).
That's where things got interesting. As soon as I got into Alpha, I found myself swarmed by an Outcast patrol. No time to chart a course, I picked a direction and ran for my life. It took a while, but the engine power of the Aedos payed off... I got away without any serious damage. Once clear, I started scanning and figuring out where I Was. Imagine my surprise when there, at the edge of my scan range, was a jump hole I had never seen before. I've never been one to turn down an opportunity to explore, so I locked on and made the jump.
I found myself exiting the jump tunnel into a thick, dark cloud. I activated scanners... almost no functionality. Where am I?, I wondered. Suddenly, before I could think anything else, everything happened at once. I found myself spinning the Aedos to avoid a huge chunk of twisted metal that had tumbled towards me. My scanners managed to partially adjust to the murky conditions, and then the ship rocked as a missile exploded against the shield. Alarms sounded as hostile weapons platforms were detected pouring fire into my ship. I instinctively shoved the throttle into the stops and rocketed into the darkness. Twisted black shapes loomed in the darkness, visible only as a darker shade of black on black. The Aedos twisted and rolled around them at madcap speed, blazing a trail through the twisted asteroids around me. After a couple minutes that felt like hours, the weapons platforms stopped firing as I made it out of range.
I finally had a moment to breathe and see what the scanners had to say. There wasn't much. I was somewhere deep inside a dark cloud, dimly illuminated by a small sun and filled with shattered slabs of obsidian rock. I winced as I noticed that the Aedos was being punished by a dozen kinds of nasty radiation. The weapons platforms I had escaped, as well as the jump hole back to Omicron Alpha, were still in scan range. I should probably move, I thought. If I can see them, they can probably see me.
I started moving into the blackness. This part of the cloud wasn't quite as dense, and movement was easier. Scanners weren't registering anything... then suddenly, they were. A small navigational buoy, a dozen clicks off. I made for it... and there was another just beyond it. For half an hour, I followed the trail of buoys... and found the Phantoms.
The buoys led me into a clearing in the cloud, and right in the center of it was a huge black base. I've found them, I thought. I've found the Phantoms! This had to be the legendary Temple of the Revenant. This place suited every dark rumor I'd ever heard about the Phantom Empire, and initial scans agreed. I couldn't believe my luck: I'd stumbled right into them, much sooner than I had thought possible. I moved in closer, trying to get as much scanning data as I could. The base was embedded in a giant asteroid, and it was dead silent. Some automated defenses locked on, but I made sure to keep my distance. I knew it was only a matter of time before somebody came after me, but I wanted to leave with as much data as I could. After all, that's why I'm here, right? I thought.
It didn't take long. Less than two minutes after spotting the Temple, I detected two Sabre fighters coming straight at me. The ships were almost in firing range... I quickly keyed some instructions into the computer, setting it to collect as much scanning telemetry on those fighters as I could, then sent the Aedos rocketing into the blackness once again, back towards the jumphole to Alpha. The Phantoms pursued. It took every once of piloting skill I possessed to keep ahead of them. But as I neared the jumphole, they finally got into range and opened fire. I could hardly believe how fast my shield crumbled, then gone. Space, that's some serious firepower! I thought. My hull shuddered and groaned under the fire...and then the jumphole was right in front of me. I dived through. Once on the other side, I engaged cruise engines, and sped away. The Phantoms did not pursue.
There's not much more to tell. I limped back to Java Station in Tau-23, fortunately without encountering any more hostiles. Once I finish updating this log, I'll send the scanner data I collected to Leroy Fenning and get the Aedos repaired. And hopefully, that's the last time I'll have anything to do with the Phantom Empire.
![[Image: aedos_mini.jpg]](http://students.cs.byu.edu/~sushi/aedos_mini.jpg)