The Water Geysers of Kusauts 2 B
It began. First came the salt.
The crystals split and then
reformed. So it began. The moon's icy feet
trod all things down and ground them deep.
Then came the voids. Grown slender,
subjected to enormous pressure,
it gradually squeezed between
the tortured folds of rock below.
Once again
the cranial black shell
of an enormous stony brain,
cut into clod and runnel
in scalding corkscrew motion, to strain
and steam until -
It burst. Suspended, still.
One long vertical sliver
of time nailed into steam and frozen emptiness.
Those words, writ by the sometimes poet, sometimes explorer Cmdr. Agnes Nagy (1), floated about my brain as I beheld the water geysers of Kusauts 2 B. It's odd: while I am a seasoned commander of the Pilot's Federation, I had never actually come across an active geological formation before. While I knew they were out there, finding such formations was exceedingly difficult due to a surface scan deficiency in Pilot Federation-approved cockpit software. (2) What is more, I just never had a reason to expend the effort to actually go looking for such formations.
That all changed when I upgraded my fleet with a Keelback. Being a stock buy, the ship needed not only module upgrades, but a ton of engineering to bring it up to spec to survive in the oft dangerous environs of the galaxy, and that engineering was going to take a lot of salvaged materials to happen. Now I had a reason to go looking for the mineral-rich fields of an active geological site. Fortunately, the Pilot's Federation had updated our cockpit software a few months back with new features that facilitated our exploration efforts, as well as unveiling a probe launcher that made surface scans much more accurate, something that allowed for the precision location of surface anomalies, including geological features. With that in mind, I loaded up my dedicated exploration ship, a Diamondback Explorer christened Stella Oceanum, and headed out into the black to do some hunting for a geologically-active site.
It didn't take long as I quickly happened upon the Kosauts system. This system, one comprised of a central star along with a series of gas giants, contained an icy moon that seemed to have to be a perfect candidate as my probes detected many active water geyser fields. I had my target: Kosauts 2 B.
Seeing how the surface temperature was -270 F below zero, I put on my winter gear and made a quick descent to the nearest active field. I touched down just short of the field and triggered my ship's headlights to pierce the abyssal blackness of the moon's frozen night. I was gratified to see that this field was going to be just what I needed.
We had geyser-sign!
Unfortunately, it was too dark for me to head out to do some prospecting. I mean, I could have if I really wanted to - the SRV does have night vision - but the idea of driving around in the dark on the surface of a frozen moon in a very fragile surface craft did not appeal to me in the least. So, I shut down for the night.
At daybreak, the site was even more impressive as it was clear that the chemical composition of the geysers served to tint the water purple.
Eager as a kid on a snow day who can't wait to go play in the white stuff, I jumped in my SRV and started touring the field.
The scenery was breathtaking. But I wasn't here as a tourist, I was here as a prospector, so I got to work looking for the minerals I needed. It turned out to be an easy job as most of the geysers had mineral deposits of various compositions clinging to their sides like barnacles to a ship's hull. My SRV was soon busy blasting loose mineral accretions and scooping them up.
I soon became like a kid in a candy store grabbing everything I could - that is, if there was a spacesuit-wearing kid who found a candy store on the moon! It was a busy half-hour, but I soon had a hold full of lots of different minerals. I decided it was time to call it a day. My prospecting had taken me across a few kilometers of territory, so I needed to recall my ship from its distant perch. I found a nice, flat area outside of the geyser field and waited for my ship to come to pick me up.
I quickly took off and was prepared to head back into deep space when my surface scanner detected an unusual signal on the horizon. I was still a bit jazzed after my surface adventure, so I decided to cancel my descent and investigate just for kicks. I set my ship down in the general proximity of the signal source - a scan from near the surface of a moon only gives you a vague idea of a signal's location - and deployed the SRV once more. Using the wavescanner mounted on my dash, I homed in on the signal until I uncovered an uncharted moonbase built into a small rise.
It was either a pirate or rogue prospector base because the site was guarded by some cheap defense skimmers that were very protective over some assorted cargo pods that contained different mineral hauls, from gold to painite. Score! If you don't want people stealing your stuff, you need to secure it better than that, fellas! I made quick work of the drones and made off with the cargo containers. Life in space is dog-eat-dog.
But my luck still hadn't run out as after driving away from the base and offloading my cargo into the hold of my DBX, my wavescanner again detected some signals over a nearby set of rolling hills. As I expected due to the weak signal strength, it turned out to be more mineral deposits (sans the geysers), deposits that I quickly mined. However, I also soon detected another signal, stronger this time and nearby. This time it resolved itself to be the comm signals of a small unit of surface skimmers guarding another clutch of cargo containers. It was odd as unlike my first find, there was no base anywhere in sight. Instead, this seemed to be a dead drop in the middle of nowhere. Pirate loot?
I didn't care. As before, I made quick work of the skimmers with my dorsal cannon and made to quickly grab the loot.
This time I found not minerals but goods, such as brand name clothing and consumer electronics in the cargo pods! I guess it was a pirate dead drop after all. Boy, are those guys going to be annoyed when they discover someone made off with their stuff!
They were.
Some time after lifting off from the surface of Kusauts 2 B, I received a garbled message from a fella calling himself "John Smyth." (3) Despite the static of his transmission, I gathered enough to ascertain that he had lost an important packet of data in this system when the courier that he hired was destroyed in some fashion. He wondered if I would be good enough to search the wreckage site, retrieve the data package, and bring it back to him? He assured me I would be well compensated. Of course, I smelled a rat, but the money was too good to pass up! So I warmed up my frameshift drive and jumped into supercruise to look for his package.
I headed into deep space, searching the endless void for the data packet's transponder. I soon located the signal and supercruised over to it. Upon popping my warp bubble, I found the packet drifting amidst a field of miscellaneous debris. I deployed my cargo scoop and quickly snatched the data packet. It was then that I must have triggered a tripwire for as soon as the data was in my hold, two vessels snapped into space around me and opened fire! Yup. A trap. I didn't panic as I expected something sinister. Instead, I deployed my weapons and engaged the nearest foe.
We made a few passes at each other with little effect - I chipped away at his shields while he did the same to mine. No problem, I could keep this up for days. At least, I could if it wasn't for my foe's wingman, for while I was preoccupied with his pal, he was hammering away at me from behind, and with weapons that seemed more powerful than his wingmate. Soon, my shields buckled under the dual onslaught. However, as the resultant hull damage was only slight, I continued to fight the pair, determined to exact my pound of flesh before bugging out.
It was not to be. One of the vessels - in the frenzy of the fight I lost track of which - scored a lucky shot and blew out my cockpit canopy! My cockpit quickly depressurized, and my Remlok helmet slammed into place over my head. I now only had five minutes of emergency O2 to keep me alive (why oh why didn't I upgrade my emergency life support system?!).
That all changed when I upgraded my fleet with a Keelback. Being a stock buy, the ship needed not only module upgrades, but a ton of engineering to bring it up to spec to survive in the oft dangerous environs of the galaxy, and that engineering was going to take a lot of salvaged materials to happen. Now I had a reason to go looking for the mineral-rich fields of an active geological site. Fortunately, the Pilot's Federation had updated our cockpit software a few months back with new features that facilitated our exploration efforts, as well as unveiling a probe launcher that made surface scans much more accurate, something that allowed for the precision location of surface anomalies, including geological features. With that in mind, I loaded up my dedicated exploration ship, a Diamondback Explorer christened Stella Oceanum, and headed out into the black to do some hunting for a geologically-active site.
It didn't take long as I quickly happened upon the Kosauts system. This system, one comprised of a central star along with a series of gas giants, contained an icy moon that seemed to have to be a perfect candidate as my probes detected many active water geyser fields. I had my target: Kosauts 2 B.
Seeing how the surface temperature was -270 F below zero, I put on my winter gear and made a quick descent to the nearest active field. I touched down just short of the field and triggered my ship's headlights to pierce the abyssal blackness of the moon's frozen night. I was gratified to see that this field was going to be just what I needed.
We had geyser-sign!
Unfortunately, it was too dark for me to head out to do some prospecting. I mean, I could have if I really wanted to - the SRV does have night vision - but the idea of driving around in the dark on the surface of a frozen moon in a very fragile surface craft did not appeal to me in the least. So, I shut down for the night.
At daybreak, the site was even more impressive as it was clear that the chemical composition of the geysers served to tint the water purple.
Eager as a kid on a snow day who can't wait to go play in the white stuff, I jumped in my SRV and started touring the field.
The scenery was breathtaking. But I wasn't here as a tourist, I was here as a prospector, so I got to work looking for the minerals I needed. It turned out to be an easy job as most of the geysers had mineral deposits of various compositions clinging to their sides like barnacles to a ship's hull. My SRV was soon busy blasting loose mineral accretions and scooping them up.
 |
| A carbon accretion ready to be scooped up by my SRV |
I soon became like a kid in a candy store grabbing everything I could - that is, if there was a spacesuit-wearing kid who found a candy store on the moon! It was a busy half-hour, but I soon had a hold full of lots of different minerals. I decided it was time to call it a day. My prospecting had taken me across a few kilometers of territory, so I needed to recall my ship from its distant perch. I found a nice, flat area outside of the geyser field and waited for my ship to come to pick me up.
 |
| My AI co-pilot likes to make me schlep to the ship |
It was either a pirate or rogue prospector base because the site was guarded by some cheap defense skimmers that were very protective over some assorted cargo pods that contained different mineral hauls, from gold to painite. Score! If you don't want people stealing your stuff, you need to secure it better than that, fellas! I made quick work of the drones and made off with the cargo containers. Life in space is dog-eat-dog.
But my luck still hadn't run out as after driving away from the base and offloading my cargo into the hold of my DBX, my wavescanner again detected some signals over a nearby set of rolling hills. As I expected due to the weak signal strength, it turned out to be more mineral deposits (sans the geysers), deposits that I quickly mined. However, I also soon detected another signal, stronger this time and nearby. This time it resolved itself to be the comm signals of a small unit of surface skimmers guarding another clutch of cargo containers. It was odd as unlike my first find, there was no base anywhere in sight. Instead, this seemed to be a dead drop in the middle of nowhere. Pirate loot?
 |
| The surface skimmers can be seen guarding their dead drop in the distance |
 |
| The wreckage of the just-destroyed skimmers strewn in the low gravity across a rocky field |
This time I found not minerals but goods, such as brand name clothing and consumer electronics in the cargo pods! I guess it was a pirate dead drop after all. Boy, are those guys going to be annoyed when they discover someone made off with their stuff!
They were.
Some time after lifting off from the surface of Kusauts 2 B, I received a garbled message from a fella calling himself "John Smyth." (3) Despite the static of his transmission, I gathered enough to ascertain that he had lost an important packet of data in this system when the courier that he hired was destroyed in some fashion. He wondered if I would be good enough to search the wreckage site, retrieve the data package, and bring it back to him? He assured me I would be well compensated. Of course, I smelled a rat, but the money was too good to pass up! So I warmed up my frameshift drive and jumped into supercruise to look for his package.
I headed into deep space, searching the endless void for the data packet's transponder. I soon located the signal and supercruised over to it. Upon popping my warp bubble, I found the packet drifting amidst a field of miscellaneous debris. I deployed my cargo scoop and quickly snatched the data packet. It was then that I must have triggered a tripwire for as soon as the data was in my hold, two vessels snapped into space around me and opened fire! Yup. A trap. I didn't panic as I expected something sinister. Instead, I deployed my weapons and engaged the nearest foe.
We made a few passes at each other with little effect - I chipped away at his shields while he did the same to mine. No problem, I could keep this up for days. At least, I could if it wasn't for my foe's wingman, for while I was preoccupied with his pal, he was hammering away at me from behind, and with weapons that seemed more powerful than his wingmate. Soon, my shields buckled under the dual onslaught. However, as the resultant hull damage was only slight, I continued to fight the pair, determined to exact my pound of flesh before bugging out.
It was not to be. One of the vessels - in the frenzy of the fight I lost track of which - scored a lucky shot and blew out my cockpit canopy! My cockpit quickly depressurized, and my Remlok helmet slammed into place over my head. I now only had five minutes of emergency O2 to keep me alive (why oh why didn't I upgrade my emergency life support system?!).
 |
| Remlok saves the day yet again! |
Now I had no choice. I had to leave immediately or face affixation. I withdrew my weapons, directed all power to the engines, and hit the afterburners to get put as much distance between myself and my pursuers as possible while I spooled up the frameshift drive. It was close - the rats were now pounding my hull into pulp - but I managed to make the jump out of there and into supercruise.
Those two weren't giving up, though. They pursued me and attempted to pull me out of warp yet again. (4) Using superior flying skills, I outmaneuvered them, escaped, and limped into the nearest safe port I could find - an industrial outpost by the name of Thomas Stop. With mere seconds - seconds! - to spare, the landing pad descended into the station's hangar level, and breathable air flooded my cockpit. I removed my Remlok and marveled at the close call I had just experienced.
Surprisingly, John Smyth actually paid me for retrieving his package! Maybe it was a coincidence after all...
It was a busy two days of sightseeing, lunar mining, stealing pirate loot, and fighting thugs, but I came through richer for the experience..in more ways than one. And that is all an old spacer like me wants. After all, isn't that the entire point of heading out into the black?
Those two weren't giving up, though. They pursued me and attempted to pull me out of warp yet again. (4) Using superior flying skills, I outmaneuvered them, escaped, and limped into the nearest safe port I could find - an industrial outpost by the name of Thomas Stop. With mere seconds - seconds! - to spare, the landing pad descended into the station's hangar level, and breathable air flooded my cockpit. I removed my Remlok and marveled at the close call I had just experienced.
 |
| That's a lot of broken glass! |
It was a busy two days of sightseeing, lunar mining, stealing pirate loot, and fighting thugs, but I came through richer for the experience..in more ways than one. And that is all an old spacer like me wants. After all, isn't that the entire point of heading out into the black?
Now, it was time to get to work modifying my Keelback! Onward!
(1) This is my modified version of Trees and Geyser by Ágnes Nemes Nagy
(2) That is to say that Elite: Dangerous lacked the proper exploration tools to spot such formations from orbit. Fortunately, this changed with the exploration enhancements delivered during the Beyond series of updates
(2) That is to say that Elite: Dangerous lacked the proper exploration tools to spot such formations from orbit. Fortunately, this changed with the exploration enhancements delivered during the Beyond series of updates
(3) Here, I am fudging the narrative a bit as the following series of events were the result of a subsequent mission. Thematically, they work too well with the story to leave out!
(4) Again, some creative license on my part. Actually, an unrelated pilot pulled me out of supercruise to steal my cargo! What terrible timing!
Comments
Post a Comment