Found myself watching a duel, between Miss White and “Empress” Order pilot. They paused mid battle, seemed to communicate. I probed in jest… nothing. Worrying. I took my leave, Miss White apologised. I didn’t respond to that. Somethings wrong… but what? Are me and Daros in danger now? Is she reporting us to the Order? No way to know… shes.. hiding something for sure. Otherwise she would have been open channels with us all at Freeport…
Took myself away, went out to Zeta and found a quiet place to reflect. Thought about the strange alien gate and wondered where it went. I didn’t bother. No good pushing into their worlds to ask questions. Thats just asking to be murdered. No… i needed space. Theta… The guys on Pygar said they’d hook me up with one of their new sensor arrays, for a moderately high price tag. Some assets liquefied to keep some in reserve for possible future modifications, and the purchase was made.
On the return… I saw Miss White. Darting towards Alpha. Hailed, and temporarily stopped. Thing is… i couldn’t exactly trust right away. So i started with the accident. The reaction… was not what i was expecting: “How did you know about that?”, “That was your note?” Both relief and concern. She hadn’t remembered my old habit, i hadn’t signed it. Idiot! Coulda at least put “your friend” or something… damnit. But more worrying.. was the feeling of distrust i felt from her. Even after confessing about our concerns. That Daros and I were… worried for her.
The journey chat took us to Tau37, and then to Alpha. A quick burst of comms from freeport 10 to Daros, and he was en-route to us. Connected him to the private channels i had installed as a failsafe, established a safe private sphere of local comms. Right outside Theta jumphole in alpha. Then came the heated debate. Turns out that, even though we couldn’t trust anyone but each other… we didn’t trust in even that fully. Me and Daros’s trip hadn’t been mentioned, nor our aims with it. But it was clearly not the time to be mentioning such… We were… at odds. And i could not maintain myself there in any calm state. Harsher words than i really intended were spoken, and i received such from Miss White. Left the bubble and jumped. I needed somewhere to breathe.
Daros received a compact broad-line transmission, to settle things with her without me. Then i cut the line. Omegas. Freeport 5 would be far enough away for now… Would put more distance later. We i would have if i didn’t find out the bar was open. The next parts are all fuzzy… but.. i guess the meds i took later helped to keep the memories while under that influence, and reduce the adverse effects of the alcohol consumption.
Maybe an hour into my… expensive night out.. my ship received a call. I had already set up automated ping back for this specific reading lock, location of my intoxication. If they wanted me… they could find me. Sat in my ship, spirit bottles around me, i was watching the star pulses. I was reflecting. Another transmission. Persistent. Ugh. Guess i gotta fly back to Delta…
Theta and Gamma look very similar on sensors. identical when as deep in the realms of thoughtless action as i was. Lock, cruise, jump. Oh… this doesn’t look right. Ahhh musta taken the wrong hole. Before i knew what was going on, a corsair pilot was upon me. Fumbled wording, slurring and confusion were not exactly a help. Made worse by the fact i expressed i didn’t mean no disrespect to their people, “Sir”. As i said that. My mind was screaming. What a cock-up! Especially when the anger from the corsair pilot herself hit me. That reminds me, must remember to send an apology and payment for, well. Regret and thanks. For not sending me to be one with the stars. She let me go. And even told me where Theta exit was.
Moments like that, they seem to help snap people to reality. I needed to focus snd not get myself dead. I didn’t look back. Straight home. What i didn’t expect, was the… feeling of the un-welcome party waiting for me. The distrust was… evidently there. Miss White probably still hates me now…. Took the medication freeport medical staff gave me and cleared my head. Shared most of what had transpired in her absence, in an attempt to try and show i still had some worth in trusting. I dunno… probably blew it in the heat of the moment in Alpha…
My first mission tomorrow, will be a journey to apologise to that corsair pilot. After that… i have no idea how to fix the distrust among those that i can only trust with my knowledge of the aliens…
Just one of those days where ya cant put anything right.
Went on a cruise today through Omicrons, to find the corsair from yesterday and Miss White/Daros. None of them. Went as far as omegas and taus, then looped back through to Theta through sigmas. Nothing. No sensor contacts, no pings, nothing. Got my ship checked over one more time, hoping that id get some luck there. Nope. My contacts didn’t come through for me. Decided Freeport would be my next stop. Nothing. No note, no directions, no message. Never before have i felt this alone, even as a smuggler.
Sat at freeport, looked out at the blue dwarf above the nebulae. Reflected on the night before. I deserved to be lonely. Alls i had to do was trust my friends instead of being concerned of compromise… instead i pushed them away. Maybe that corsair should have spaced me for my words….
No. You chose to do this Jack… this is what you brought on yourself. Face it. Don’t be the coward you used to be. They might come back, they might not. But you made this happen. If they come back you can have your chance then… for now, just live with what you did and try to make it so this never happens again.
Outcasts and Core, Corsairs and Order. Now i think I’ve seen it all…
Spent most of my time out of Delta. Needed to do some exploring. Made my way through Theta and took a turn towards sigmas and Rheinland. Nothing overly exerting. Scouted round into Frankfurt and noticed id got a logged minefield. Strange. It didn’t even detect as very efficient either. Closer look? Why not- Worst case i can always leave.
Started to poke around, nothing too fancy. Just a little look around. Couple of relatively calm-looking places, some moderately unsafe, and one reading as flat-out suicide. Space never fails to amaze me. Took a look in the less dangerous places, and there were Rheinland intelligence officers trying to fill me with pamphlet propaganda. No thanks, got enough on my plate as it is.
Contact. Showed as a ship, but inactive. Thought id have a look. The wreckage contained some armament i have never seen before. Nothing in database of any faction, didn’t even identify as alien. I took it with me. Figured i could get a friend to look into it for me. But, if theres one… surely theres more around?
No sooner had i thought this, were there a second ship hull, carrying a similar weapon signature. Unknown. Of all the places to find such, here in the middle of nowhere. Kept scouting, for another way out, but there wasn’t anything showing up, so i dipped out the way i went in. Started keeping my eyes open for these ship hulls carrying strange signals.
Took the turn through Rheinland into Liberty, and sat at Pueblo for awhile. Sent my contact a message, with the cargo being sent by a trusted courier to a drop-off site we used to frequent. Recently contacted to say the courier arrived, so he should tell me what they are by next week or so. Read a news article about the Dark matter storm in Kepler. Ames still operational? This i HAD to see. Colorado still had jump hole connection, so with some minor hull reinforcing, felt ready to brave the dark energies. Much to my surprise, the Zoners had mapped a route through the energies where the tunnels seemed to be weakly ionising. Ames greeted me with a warm welcome and a refill of coffee supplies. Story swapping at the bar, reasons for visiting the lonely research platform. Then the time to leave was upon me.
Halfway in an attempt to reach the Shikoku jump hole, there was a disturbance in the antimatter. An unknown contact. Yeah. In Kepler. Must be able to traverse the storm better than us, because it came close enough to lock on to. And yet… even more confusing than the usual aliens i’ve seen. No discernible “vessel”. Its proximity was alarming enough that i couldn’t focus on my next route move. To make things worse, it’d appear, then vanish. Alot. I needed to get outta here… and fast.
No sooner had i made to return to Ames, a recognised contact appeared on sensors. Crowley. Twice in two days, two completely different places. To make matters worse… he didn’t seem surprised to see me. Another reason not to stay. Strange things had started to occur, more alien swarming. Some didn’t stay long though, probably couldn’t cope well with the systems interference…Good, one less thing to worry about. Out through Colorado, Ontario, California and then to New York. Docked at the battleship Missouri to refuel and restock supplies. Cant survive on coffee alone ahaha.
Checked the charts. I was getting a little homesick and i didn’t fancy nipping all the way through Rheinland space again… so i stared at Zone-21. Rumours of Freelancers not making it back through had been commonplace. Even attempting to breach security there was considered lawbreaking. Though i suppose they’d have to catch me to do so. Besides… i knew it had a quicker route to Delta.
Tanked down a coffee, picked repairs up and plotted in my course. No way i wasn’t gonna try. And if i got caught, I’m sure as a first offence it’d be a fine and escorted out. Reminds me of what Daros told me once: “pretend you’re a tourist, that normally works!” That’d take some pulling off i’m sure Daros. One last check over before takeoff, and the most i tense flight i’ve been on yet.
Mines, weapons platforms, checkpoints and patrols. Too many to count, all of them locking on and lighting me up. Ahhh, good ol’ Liberty. Spray and pray as usual. Minor paint scratches and a few bursts of thrust later, i’m back through to Minor.then the most extremely uneventful cruise to Delta, Freeport 11. Pitstop to check to see if either Miss White or Daros had left me anything… Nothing. Too soon i guess…
Delta, felt too quiet. And that was proved to be the opposite en-route to Theta. Much to my surprise… Outcasts were amassing in heavy battleships. Along with… the Core!? Two known enemies, together in force? To make things worse, it seemed they were taking on the mixed forces of sensor contacts logged as both Order, and Corsairs. Yep, today is the day that i see it all… Who knows, if they fight loud enough maybe the aliens will wake and fall upon them in force. There aint no way i’m staying around to find out if that happens-
Off to Sigma 13. Some sanity restored through the peaceful space of Kusari’s borders. Honshu next stop, take a left at Akita Border Station, then hopefully some peaceful exploration. Nope. Today had one more trick. Crowley again. One wide-band local transmission: “You again?”
He punched right through my disabled private transmission line. Cross-system too. I stopped, trying to work out how. All while receiving their communications. Something about “Destiny… if i believed in such things.” A return ping: “are you monitoring me…?” The reply was ominous. “You’re not important enough to monitor. …. Yet.”
That. No. Time to get the fuck outta here. Not staying around to find out what this creepy fella wants… or could possibly NEED to monitor me for. Delta may not be safe for me now either… gonna have to find somewhere else to disappear to. Maybe Taus…. Cause this is just too much…
Sometimes, life gives you an olive branch after its tortured you a bit.
Plotted from Pygar to Taus. Stopped briefly at each, before settling at Harris in Tau 31. Shutdown most of my ship, prepared to settle down to sleep. “Incoming: transmission request”. Well.. at least whoever it was, was asking first. Must admit though, i was surprised to hear Miss White’s voice. Well… Cat now, but that comes later. The general polite exchange of words, also surprising after how things went before. Well, until i explained where i was. Then it was concern. Well. That at first maybe i was paranoid.
So, i went to open up, realised i was on an insecure backline and asked to meet at Tau 37. The response was to swap instead to a more secure line, and link Daros in. Thats when i opened up. Explained the last two days, the incidents, the encounters. What caught me off guard was Daros also encountering the strange, ghostly alien thing too. They both seemed more concerned by the alien than the three encounters of this Crowley guy.
“Maybe you should talk to him”. Yeah… No. Why should i even wanna talk to the guy who randomly shows up and talks the way he did, not to mention punching right through my private comms firewall! Though… the more i thought and listened… the more it made sense to at least try. Sometime if i meet him again.. or rather… when. Cant help but feel like he is keeping some sort of tabs on me. Theres just… something about him.
Once settled down, i felt… secure enough to return to Delta. So, i did. Then Daros asked me for the location of the Mu hole. Coordinates transmitted, and then i stopped. Why would he need the Tohoku Coords? He already had them. Then when clarified, it was the other side he wanted. Sent them too. Mi- Cat.. was with him too; she saw the Heavens Gate, and seemed, underwhelmed by it. Guess me n Daros are just not prepared for what we haven’t seen before. In any case, they returned without incident. Spent some more time finishing my drawing, adding some colour to it. Need to remember to deploy the camera drone behind my ship tomorrow.
After a little bit of talking and applying colour, i stopped and watched them. Flirting. Teasing each other. I stopped, and smiled, thinking back to a time where i had such in my life. Though like all sparks of fond memories, the more recent past began to loom. This time, i decided to cut the thoughts before they dropped too far from happy memories. I bid them and the others t freeport goodnight, to Daros and Miss White. “Its Cat, Jack.” I knew, from Daros. But politeness, and the hurdle of distrust the two days past… it was a more than pleasant surprise to hear those words. I left them in the company of a Zoner capital and one of those Artificial Intelligence ships, almost wanting to stay just a little longer…
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…..
I would say that humanity never fails to disappoint, but its the exact opposite.
Contemplated my trip on Pygar. What i saw. Took off and poured a coffee, sat back. Musta nodded off. Next thing i know, Daros reached out. Clearly, i was tired. But the warm awakening, was a nice change from my thoughts. Met up close to our usual spot, a cheers and hello, in good spirits. We sat and talked. Told each other of our days events, shared the stories. Then moved onto.. well. Recreational activities. The nature of it, i will omit from the log. But thats one hell of a chat to have with Cat. Sure it’ll go down really well ahahaha
Then, talk of the Order, and Mu. Serious again i see. Another coffee, then. I wasn’t tired, just enjoyed the pleasant warmth the beverage provides. And the thinking power. He wanted to go there again. A strange urge. Couldn’t deny i didn’t feel the same… some sort of strange curiosity. So, we set course, distanced in case we met someone along the way in Delta. The journey was uneventful, but the Order home world… it raised questions. IMG fighter craft. Really!? What the hell are they doing here?
Light probing, learnt little. It was… concerning. Why. Why IMG here? It didn’t make sense. When we couldn’t learn anymore, it was a short return to Freeport 11. Conversation about it, a few salutes to those who were passing through. More thinking. I had gotten close to finishing the drawing, shading and colours of the picture i outlined on my first day here, what i saw, what was now a part of my new Home. And… i finished it. Before the Outcast showed up. Another reminder of conflict here on our doorstep. Please… not right now…
Of course right now. And it was one of those Outcasts who thinks themselves to be a higher breed of the pirates. Full of themselves, arrogant in their confidence over their enemies. Their righteousness of their alliance, the justifications for war. No. You’re just the same. As even the houses you want to overhaul. The real hope in humanity’s future, comes from the Gaians. Sure, religious vegans. But. At least they show respect, and don’t go out of their way to spread more conflicts. Most of humankind could learn from their love for nature, and life. Not long after Daros took his leave, i had to too. I wasn’t gonna stay at the same system as him, let alone station. Its a good job Pygar’s not far. Gave me time to make this log.
A day of rest. Not the most… comfortable, but enough of one in preparation for tomorrow.
Spent most of my time gathering supplies, organising my growing stash of coffee blends and giving ship systems a double check. Everything seemed optimal. A little to check before sleep, and in the morning. But so far, all looked to be going well. Delta was building for conflict, though. Again. Decided to hang around Freeport this time.
Daros was there, and Mis- Cat. Still getting used to that.. one day, Jack. We talked little, as there were too many at Freeport to talk freely. Then, Daros proposed an idea. Joining the Three Star Concord Militia, i think they’re called. A defence force for Freeport 11 during times of conflict. I wasn’t sure exactly why, but i said id give the idea some thought. At the very least, id need to liquidate some assets. That would need time anyway.
Not too long after… i headed out to check the state of the battle under the watchful gaze of the blue sun. Outcasts had punched through most of the Corsair forces. Daros.. wouldn’t take this well. Brought my observations back to Freeport… and sure enough.. his tone changed. Went to take some time away to reflect. Don’t blame him. Sat with Cat for awhile, and the other visitors. AI among those., too. Over time, and Daros’ lack of return, we grew concerned.
“Ill head out, see if i can find him, maybe provide some small comfort.” They wished me safe travels and good luck. Yeah. Didn’t know I’d need that. First stop, the dangerous one. Minor. Scanned Toledo, the surrounding area, and the alien gate site. Nothing. Not even a blip. Then…. Order. Great. Just what i needed. Actually… maybe they could be helpful. Cat seemed to think so, and i was inclined to agree, especially with me being on the wrong side of their law
Well, he was about as useful as any rock. “He’s probably been killed by nomads already.” Clearly… he never met him. With little more to do than accept the escorting out to Freeport, i wondered about his location. Sent a private line to Cat, told her my situation. She acknowledged, and shared concern. Though, luckily she was able to gain clearance to go search more thoroughly. Which she did. And… she found him.
Mu seems to be his interest. A lot more lately, than maybe it should. In any case… he was brought back to Freeport, safely. We all talked a little, after. About the goings on of our lives. And about, the discussion of “recreation that no one talks about”. Cat wasn’t as humorous as usual today. Didn’t see the amusing side. A small concern, until she disconnected from the private line and disappeared into the nebula, alone. Didn’t respond to hails either. This communication thing.. it seems to be a struggle for all of us.
I returned to Freeport, took my leave and docked up, needing some head-clear time. Things used to be simpler. Maybe thats just me, struggling with the changes around me. During this time, my thoughts wandered to the militia offer. It’d be good, to do some good. Just need a new Ship for the Militia group, and to know what i am to do. Got up and headed out, into Delta to tell them i had thought on it, but neither were there. Guess i should make my plans for tomorrow.
Musta been an hour past, writing my plan down, getting myself in the mindset, when Daros joined me in space around Freeport 11. Told him of my goal for tomorrow, and showed him. He seemed familiar with the place… another mystery about him that i didn’t know of. He spoke the name, but decided to leave out the details. I was grateful. I would explore myself. He did tell me to leave a followable trail for in case I’m needed to be picked up… for emergency. I told him i would… just in case…
After taking an earlier night, i was able to get an early start. Perfect for the planned trip. Checked provisions, coffee supply and ship one last time. All systems good to go. Freeport was host to minimal traffic this early, which made it easy to navigate my route over to Alpha and the unexplored anomaly jumphole. Jumped successfully, next task was to navigate the alien-like explosives field. It only seemed to be about a 5 klick range, not too dense either. In any case, the first job was to scan the planets, stars and nebula. Three planets, two unknown structures, two suns. One nebula. All, unknown to my databases.
In the nebula, both structures resided together, along with some… defensive platforms by the looks of them. Cloaked though… they seemed to not notice me. One structure resembled that of a jumpgate. Being curious enough, I went through. Cloak remained stable throughout jump. My biggest worry, and something i should have checked beforehand, was passed. What took me by surprise though, was what i saw. A huge…. Plane? Of some kind of megastructure. A quick fly about determined it expanded way beyond what my sensors could measure. And there was some form of… gate. Is this the Sphere? Where the Order opened a Hypergate to beat the aliens before…? I felt… uneasy on being so close to such a place.
The jumpgate showed to be connected, so i double checked my battery store for my cloak and went back through. Another surprise. Instead of it bringing me out back to where i came from, it took me somewhere new. Many.. anomalous structures, visible nebulae and planets. And… it was breathtaking. Almost overwhelming. I pushed out, explored each pathway. Mostly cloaked, but once everything was mapped, i Pulled up, went high. From there… i sat back and took in the sight. The whole system, laid out in its pretty alien vibrancy.
While i thought, i drew what i saw, finding a peace that i didn’t think was possible. Two stars, two nebulae, three planets and a distorted asteroid belt. Quite remarkable. If only such beauty could put the hostilities away…
I spent hours there. Simply drawing and applying the colours i could see, through my own eyes. The blends of blues, purples and light shading, it accelerated my calm, my inner peace. With the image finished, i sat and compared my efforts to the backdrop. I didn't feel like it did what i saw justice, but i could close my eyes and see what was there. It did what i needed to. That was good enough for me to try and return. From my vantage point, i had passed a different jumpgate. So, in the hopes that it didn’t lead me somewhere dangerous, i went through cloaked.
Zeta back on the map. Safety once more. A cruise and jump to delta, then another short flight. Ill be surprised if theres anything else like it anywhere else…. Truly beautiful.
Whatever i felt in that alien world… i needed to think upon. I set out from freeport shortly after my return, to ponder and contemplate how i felt. My peace, my relaxed state of mind. I closed my eyes, and lay there. Between the planet and the sun within the belt. Thoughts wandered, feelings were fleeting but steady. Then…a sound. A distinct, engine sound. It was like a snap back to reality. And, i couldn’t shake the unnerved feeling. Nothing on sensors. Something was close. And i couldn’t see it.
Engines on, cloak activated and burn as much as it took to get somewhat away from the planet. Cloak activated, and then… contact. Closing rapidly. Alien in signature. I was still moving, still cloaked. And yet, it homed in on me, as though it saw right through my cloak! In a panic, i disabled my cloak, right after the alien seemed to power up…. Something i wasn’t sure was possible… a bright blue beam. I couldn’t believe what i was seeing… nor how quickly it tore my ship apart.
Repair nanobots were being vaporised as quickly as they went to work… ship was creaking with the sheer discharge. I sent an improvised system-wide distress call, and the alien vanished as quickly as it appeared. Had it lost interest in my demise? I didn’t know, nor did i even think to ask. Minutes later, a technocracy pilot and a corsair showed. And a couple minutes after, Daros too. The techno pilot, Revenant. They seemed to know things. The talking and mention of certain… words was like a warning beacon of curiosity. More so when they offered me a… trade. “Information for information”. Swarms of alien contacts began appearing in formation, at distance. We moved around a fair bit to keep distance.
The talking danced around the real questions, hoping to glean some of their information without too much direct approach nor exposing my encounters before. This, was futile. I didn’t exactly get anything, except more questions. With Daros and the corsair heading back into the freeport, i moved out with Revenant, to Minor. And more questions were raised. An unstable anomaly by the planet Toledo. Not the strangest thing, by far.
More aimless talking about nothing to the point, then a short flight to the destroyed alien structures. Again, more questions than answers were given to me. This Revenant seems to be a heap of mysteries on their own. They claimed to know much about them, and yet they had only talked about knowing of them. Being a Guild-master of the Core, and looking at “what were we really fighting” is about as useful as telling me you watched them for awhile. We all at some point watch them, from a distance, get to the point already!
Just when i finally thought id learn something useful… another alien formation… coming… towards us directly. So much for leaving to not disturb whatever it was… then a voice? From one of the ships. “Freelancer, leave.” Revenant began to go with me, “Auxesia, stay”. I felt that extreme sinking feeling, and took one look between the technocracy pilots vessel, and the alien formation before i was told to go to toledo and wait for them. Strange alien crafts, and i get told to wait away, like a badly behaved child? Yeah. Thats really gonna happen.
Flew, 20 klicks from the destruction site, til all the contacts were off sensors, then cloaked. No way i wasn’t going to go and wait idly for whatever was about to happen… Set up my comms to record, and kept distance, to see… i don’t know what it was. Some form of… alien reveal itself. It used one of the pilots in formation around it…to talk. At least… thats what i could make out from what was said. Names popped up that i have no idea what they mean, Laz, Caliban, Harbinger…
In losing myself in the conversation… i didn’t see the approaching swarm. Next thing i know.. they’re in formation!? Cloaked, and they still found me!? Cruise on, burn to maximum, try and make it to Delta before the alien got close…. To escape. Not today… With my hands shaking on the controls, i lost speed and direction. But even when everything was at maximum, i couldn’t have outrun it… the alien… was moving far faster than i ever could. When my ship de-cloaked, my engines died. The formation on me started engagement. Revenant, didn’t seem the least bit surprised to see me, but the alien… i could feel the…. Anger and betrayal from them… almost overwhelmingly so.
Freaked out and bleeding structural integrity, i hoped that they’d just make it quick… when Revenant spoke of sparing me, that i was just curious. Curiosity was the least bit on my mind. If i wasn’t so.. fearful. I would have asked questions. But anything i thought to ask was firmly locked away by the feeling of impending doom. Fear, turned to shock when it actually… listened to Revenant. They let me go, and left. I hightailed it out to Delta, to the Freeport. Made a stop for repairs and flew on to Pygar.
Time to cool down, and then Outcasts being less than tolerable. What a day…
Dropped the ships entire logbook off at Pygar, as well as the recording of the Revenant/Alien conversation. Sent an urgent message to Cat and gave her the coordinates encoded in the message to find their location. Told her that… if something happened to me, she would need them, as they contained information. Told her where i was headed too… not intent on keeping the transmission open any longer than needed.
Took the same route that i did before. I didn’t care if they knew i was there or not… i needed to relax… something that seemed easiest when there. In their worlds. Ironic. The most unnerving and dangerous creatures seem to have the most calming place to be. Got into the unknown anomaly, headed to the jumpgate structure, cloaked close. Fully active by the time jump was to happen. Jump successful, then my first malfunction. Cloak. Not what i needed, especially not here…
Attempted cloak reboot, still a failure. Couldn’t risk a full-system reboot… it’d take too long and i was in too much danger. Jumped again and gripped the controls… This was gonna get rough. Engines online, throttle maximum, pull down and burn hard, avoid the defences. Push to attain safety margins, then fly flat. Pull up and aim for the previous location. Safe. Unless the aliens found me. Full system reboot, and Cloak came back online. Well, at least that was fixed…
Spent awhile just, breathing. Peaceful. Until the comms interference. Seems someone was attempting to reach me. I ignored it. They’d soon move on out of comms range, then i’d be alone again. Minutes pass, then another short burst. The only word i caught, albeit distorted and garbled, was “Talk”. Of all the times i didn’t want to talk, this time was right at the top of that list. A sigh, followed by an attempted return signal: “Why?” I guess they were looking for me, whoever it was, because more came through this time. Still couldn't work out what they were trying to say.
Guess ill go find out. Restored engine power, set course for Zeta. On the other side, comms stabilised. It was Revenant. Almost wished i had ignored the attempts now. Almost. Turns out they were intrigued by my reaction to their conversation. Initial distrust, but then it faded behind my curiosity. Maybe a chance to learn some things. Well, it ended up being me mostly talking, but still. Learnt a little, i think.
Got back to Freeport, settled down for the night. Outcasts on sensors. Great. Just what i needed. Others were also present, among them, Cat and Empress. After some liberal use of humour, something Outcasts seem not to understand despite their “higher state of existence” as they call it, they left. Speaking of setting a price on my head. Seems he didn’t like my slightly on the explicit side jokes. Or my distinct lack of respect for any side involved in the current battle under the blue sun.
Not too long later, the Outcast returned, with a friend! Yep, the captain of the capital class Outcast vessel was that offended by me, he went and got another capital friend. Figured he wouldn’t talk about him being upset though, pulling the “potential customer of cardamine” card. Sorry, Don and company. Not interested. I am however interested to watch you break the Freeport No Fire Zone, with a Zoner present. Ahh, i’m too tired to deal with politics. Maybe i should get some sleep.
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