Signing in Cmdr Scholten

After the recent event with the Thargoid attacks and our narrow escape. I have taken up time in my quarters and transporting some risky cargo trying what to think of what to do next.

I don't feel like joining in the Thargoid war rightaway again. Amanda has recovered, but she has probably a lasting effect of the corrosive vapors she inhaled in her damaged escapepod. She is slowly recovering but on her feet again. And she has made it quite clear she doesn't want to leave the safety of the carrier for now.

Her voice has become raspy sounding, and her respitorysystem hasn't completely healed yet. So she sounds raspy and as if she is in very hard physical work. As for now she is working short shifts as a traffic controller on the carrier.

Quite a surprise for unsuspecting pilots to hear her 'special' voice over the comms.

I am filling my days with some risky cargo runs for the E.G Union. Things I can do alone. And takes my mind of the recent events.

Signing out Cmdr Scholten

Signing in Cmdr Scholten.

During last part of our trip from Colonia back to the Bubble, messages reached us about Salvation's fail, and the appearance of the Stargoids, or phenomena now known as Maelstroms.

The last 1200 ly to the bubble we discovered the first 'rogue signal' and as we got closer more and more of these signals appeared during our system scans.

We reached the bubble, and than, for no other reason than curiosity we set course to the first system where a stargoid would appear. We took the toughest ship from my fleet. A well reinforced and engineered Federal Gunship called 'The magnificent Seven'.

We found we were not alone, a lot of cmdrs were curious to see first hand what this 'stargoid' would be like.

Whilst waiting for the thing to arrive, a party started to build up. Some were speedchasing just over the surface, some SRV races were being held. Just a good party to spend the wait on a nice moon with this green star coming ever closer.

It would be hours before this thing would arrive, so we decided to park the Gunship in a narrow valley and get some sleep. We woke to the alarm going off. We were under attack! As I dashed to the cockpit to fire up the ship, I noticed there was no power. Thargoid EMP attack!

Rebooting... , come on, and finally the Magnificent Seven rebooted and powered up. The thargoid returned for another attack. We lift off and the fight ensued we got some glimpses of the moon, or what was left of it. Everything was gone to a scorched surface. The atmosphere had turned from sunny and a light breeze to a green gas.

Not a single human signal left on the navigation. We got out of this fight and shot away into supercruise. Only to be interdicted by the next thargoid. We fought, and started to loose. With only 23 percent hull left and declining I gave the order to get into the escape pods and leave the ship. As I fled into my pod I thougt I saw a blimp on the radar. Artificial sleep set in, to keep us alive in our pods as long as possible. Fearing the worst, yet hoping for a miracle.

After an unknown time I woke up with a terrible headache, somewhere unknown strapped to a bed. A man came in, introduced himself as cmdr Dalton. He picked up the signals from our escapepods. And couldn't leave any humans back out there with the goids. He must have been the blimp I saw just before our ship blew up. We were onboard a Krait Mk2. Completely fitted for illegal retrieval and smuggling missions. And very stealthy indeed. Perfect to slip away unseen. Cmdr Dalton saved our asses, mine anyway. As the pod with Amanda got damaged before we were picked up. She lives but needs medical care asap.

I contacted our squadron Carrier to send a ship to pick us up and in a small system of Dalton's choice. Arrangements were made, and cmdr Dalton has been greatly rewarded by the squadron for his efforts.

I am back in my quarters on the carrier, and Amanda is in sickbay recovering.

Signing out Cmdr Scholten.

Signing in Cmdr Scholten.

In the early hours, I woke up as Amanda stumbled and crashed into living quarters. With a bottle of Latvian brandy in her hand, she loudly exclaimed she got us in to a party.

I told her that's great, and as you woke me up already tell me about it. Oh and it seems like you had a party already. She fell into a chair and told me she wandered around the port and found a hangar where people were busy loading an old Type 10 defender with crates of liqour, good food and decorations. Nothing special, except the defender was called 'the party crasher' And that got her interest. She got into contact with some of the people loading there and offered them to help loading it.

Long story, but she managed to get an invitation to the party. A small card with just a location of a compromised beacon on a nearby moon.

I asked her, did you read the back of the card? And she did. It stated clearly, 500.000 credits entry fee, no authorities or security personel and no uninvited guests. Join at your own risk and no liability on the crew of the party crasher. So I asked her what kind of party are we to expect? And with a smile she answered, just make sure we get there tomorrow, it is going to be wild.

The next day we took off and set course to the specified moon. As we approached it, the compromised beacon showed up and we set course to land near it. When nearly there, we saw a group of ships landed around what seems like a pile of shipping containers with party lights around an old Defender. We were let in after we paid the fees and our identities were checked. Once inside I had never seen anything like it. The whole defender and the surrounding containers made a temporary base where the party would be held. We had a great time, partying with mercenaries, possible pirates, independent pilots, and a wide variety of people you wouldn't find in a pilot's bar. One could gamble, drink, dance, fight and well.... what ever you wanted And what a party we had, and as most visitors were too tired or drunk or knocked out in the early hours of the morning the party slowly calmed down and ended. We found our way back into the python and knew, we would be sorry tomorrow. But what a party.

Signing off Cmdr. Scholten.

Signing in Cmdr. Scholten.

Wow, we made it. We finally made it to Colonia. Weeks, months of travelling and exploring has now come to a end for now, right here in Colonia. I docked the Python in a hangar in Jacques station and gave orders to a groundcrew to restock and repair all modules. Amanda and me, we got our selves dressed to the occasion and stepped in the elevator to take us to the concourse. And what a bummer and a dull place that is. A handfull of missionproviders, trying to get you to do their dirtywork, mostly fighting missions for wich the Python is no good in exploration outfitting, First I stopped at the universal cartograpics to turn our data into credits. We finally found the pilotsbar,tucked away in a corner behind a pioneers supplies store. It was still early, so maybe later there would be some public coming for a drink.Later in the evening still not too many folks there. All explorers. We asked the somewhat grumpy barkeeper at what time there would be some livelyness. "Too many outsiders" he said. All coming in from exploration or by the bridge looking for parties. Whilst we colonians have our own problems, you outsiders don't care about. So no, no parties in here for now.

Allright, I decided I'd go to bed in the Python, whilst Amanda wouldn't give up. She wanted a party and would find us one.

Signing off Cmdr. Scholten.

Signing in Cmdr Scholten

Just keep going on to your destination, words I heard a long time ago at the academy. Told to us by our instructor in case we ever lost track of ourselves in the vastness space. Never thought I'd remember that single phrase. And remembring it brought a smile to my face. It seems like ages since we've seen any other human than the two of us in this Python. And yesterday we both realized we miss other people. This trip, going from the lively bubble to the abandoned Formidine rift sites all the way to colonia is starting to take it's toll on the both of us. We love exploring, gathering samples and sometimes just marvel at the wonders of space. But both Amanda and me we are also social beings, with an appetite for parties and booze. And now after months of travelling we long for a good party and a stiff drink. Well we can drink onboard the python ofcourse but it's just not the same. We've regained our spirit and energy when we checked the routeplotter with only 60 jumps togo to Colonia, a place with other humans and probably a party or two. Just keep going to your destination....and you will get there.

Signing off Cmdr Scholten

Signing in Cmdr. Scholten.

We visited the Gamma site at Eafots RA-G B11-0 3.

Strange as this base should be abandoned ages ago but, as we approach the site we get more and more new contacts. Ship after ship is coming and going, all Elite level cmdrs. But none of them seems to be willing to communicate. Neither do they show any sign of hostility towards us.

We can land near the base. I go out in the SRV, check out the base, collect some materials scattered around and download the mission logs.

A warning story about some bright lights and an evil entity they can not grasp. No direct attacks, but disturbance of scanners and equipment. The crew finishes the mission and leaves heading home.

As I return to the ship a new contact appears, an unknown contact class. The 'ships'seem to have gone away, just the one unclassified contact remains. I start the engines and the contact moves closer but can not be seen nor targeted or scanned. I feel uncertain and slightly worried as the contact keeps closing in but can't be seen. I aim the nose up, boost away to go into supercruise as soon as I can. As we near the orbital cruise altitude a loud static noise is heard over the radio and some flashing of the screens in the cockpit. Than silence, but the accelerating of the fsd.

Something is strange out here. Not sure if it really is an alien lifeform or some kind of disturbing radiation around the site causing the systems to go haywire. Still relieved we got out of there unharmed.

Last settlement to visit is the Delta Site.

We landed near the Delta Site at Eafots GL-Y e2 1.

An abandoned site with only some mission logs to download. The mission logs give little but a clue of what has happened. Talks about the long boring journey and the work of putting out beacons. At one point the sidewinder of the cmdr is shut down for a short time. After wich everything comes back online. When she returns all ships have gone. No debris, no survivors, nothing. Just the cmdr and an old sidewinder. She talks about an earthlike world she might be able to reach.

We found an earthlike world within reach of a standard sidewinder. We scanned an d scanned the whole planet, but no sign of life or a crash site. Guess we will never know what happened.

Signing off Cmdr. Scholten.

Signing in Cmdr Scholten.

Today we finished our tour along the long abandoned bases in the Formidine Rift. Monuments to remember us of a time when exploration and expeditions were a lot more dangerous than these days.

Alpha Site, a base in the EAFOTS EU-R c4-1 system. Outside we found some engineering materials left behind. 6 Settlement comm logs and an active Datapoint. Apparantly the empire is using this Datapoint as I managed to scan some of their data with a nice value.

The mission logs give an sad view in a crew struggling with the darkness, loneliness and finally loosing their mind and ending their lives.

Beta Site, a base in the EAFOTS LZ-H b10-0 system. Not much to be found outside. 6 Settlement comm logs and an active Datapoint. The datapoint has a nice surprise, a complete backup of the base software. Big value for historical research as we get back. Another story comes from the mission logs. Long travels, boredome and secrecy. And bad luck. As their hyperdrive malfunctions they are stuck out in the rift thousands of lightyears from home. The crew mentions going to a terraformable planet, but it's exact location is lost in the corrupted log.

Signing off Cmdr Scholten

Signing in Cmdr Scholten.

Today we witnessed the beauty of the well known Heart and Soul Nebulas. As we are on the verge of the Formidine rift and the two nebulas are clearly visible in all their beauty.

Sofar we made good progress, and collected a lot of exploration and exobiology data. Always a good feeling when you can add more information and discoveries to the Codex as well.

The coming weeks or months will be spent traveling further to and into the Formidine rift. All depending on the decision where to go after the Formidine rift.

Not sure wether we will travel forth and back as our original plan or that we might make a grand tour and explore our way to the Colonia region as well.

Finding our way there, and than use the new Colonia bridge to get back to the bubble.

Signing off Cmdr Scholten.

Signing in Cmdr Scholten.

With Amanda again joining me on this exploration trip, well on our way to the Formidine Rift. We are passing through the Elysian Shore.

Scanning one system to the next, mapping valuable planets and sampling lifeforms and species on the way.

In the OOCHOSS XV-C D8 system we mapped planet nr 4. And to our surprise two new signals appeared. Non human signature, caution advised.

I gave the order to activate the shields, point defences and the lasers before we went into the descent.

We touched down about 300 meters away from the signal source. Deployed the SRV and set out to find what was there. In the lights of the SRV a small metalic structure appeared. Looked a bit like a satelite of some sort. Wich had crashed to the surface.

I unboarded the SRV and carefully walked over to the device. As I came within 10 meters blue lights started to lightup in the broken thing. Nothing else happened, it just lit up blue with lights in patterns. Other than some loose parts and fragments laying around there was nothing left to see. I collected the parts, so called sensor fragments, and went back to the Python.

Back onboard I stored the parts in a cargo rack and went up to the cockpit. Amanda was there, preparing our departure. And with a worried face she asked me if I thought it is a good idea to bring non-human technology onboard. Especially technology of wich we know hardly anything, except that it turns on as it is approached. She could have a point, but I don't think there will be much of a risk, since it looked like the equipment had been laying there for quite some time. And nothing happened as I handled it.

I am sure to keep an eye out on the radar for the coming time. You just never know.

Signing off Cmdr Scholten.

Signing in Cmdr Scholten.

With the new year starting, I thought it might be a good idea to put some time and credits in a serious build of my Type 10 Defender.

I made a list of upgrades, plotted a course along different stations wich held the better modules for the outfitting. With a new huge 8A powerplant and lots of shields, reinforcements in hull and modules and a big fighterbay it was ready to see battle. Hired a fighter pilot a mr Amado Dalton to the crew and we took off for a test flight or fight, you decide.

Took it out with squadron member Cmdr Overstear and we caused havoc around the nav beacon of the local system. Our fighters picking the fights chasing pirates and driving them towards our T10's where we blew them up and collected bounties and materials.

The only thing left to do was some engineering to both shields and thrusters. So with some hesitation I planned a trip to Elvira Martuuk. Because last time she 'cost' me a good co-pilot. Now I didn't think she would hire Amanda quick but the thought was there.

We made the trip and we landed at Farsight Base to meet with Elvira. We discussed the plans, engineering and experimental effects. Than she told me there was someone who might want to see me. A designer and developer of her experimental SRV department. A certain Jim Beam. He would usually sit and dine at a table in the local bar.

All three of us entered the bar, and from the far end a man stood up and shouted "I don't believe it!, cmdr Scholten and Crew! He was certainly happy to see us, we sat down, order food and drinks. And we exchanged a lot about what happened to us lately, had a bottle of Latvian Brandy brought to our table. And as the evening passed, the brandy kicked in on all of us we had a good time. As the bar closed, we were brought back to the Defender by Jim. He thanked us for a good time and the visit. I thanked him for giving us a good time and was glad to see he does well at Farsight Base.

The next day we had a quiet breakfast as we all endured the hangover of too much brandy. After breakfast we took off, jumping our way back to our FC. In a lighter and better Defender. More resilient than ever and with the engineered thrusters almost as agile as a ballerina.

After all the stories told by Jim about the old days, Amanda and Amado now understood why Jim and I used to have such good times together.

Signing off Cmdr Scholten