The following story is based on my experiences in the game Odyssey 3011, an Xbox Live Indie game. The story is a mix of my play through and added fictional encounters in the form of a log kept by my player character.
Jump 30
Still trading. Bought a minor engine upgrade and a mining scoop. I don’t have the patience to go asteroid mining but I do run across them from time to time. It’s a bit counter-intuitive to use at first. Like the fuel scoop, the mining scoop activates automatically when minerals or ore debris from an asteroid comes into range. “In range” means close enough to hit the shields. This means the easiest way to scoop up minerals it to fly straight at them. It’s a little nerve-wracking the first few times but I’m starting to trust the scoop.
Jump 33
I don’t know if I’ll ever make it home.
Jump 35
Other traders have been sending me leads on planets with shortages of goods. Some are five to eight jumps out from where I am now. It wouldn’t be hard to make those jumps. With the fuel scoop, I don’t even need to dock on the way. I’d be in and out of the in-between systems in less than an hour. I’m not sure I should take the chance. My ship is still relatively weak. A few more upgrades and maybe I’ll be ready to leave my safe systems.
Jump 40
Goddamn pirates!
Jump 60
After several uneventful jumps, I was almost happy to encounter a pirate ship. They knocked my shields off but I was able to get a solid missile hit and finished them off with my laser. No dropped cargo. I was less happy when I found two more pirate ships near the docking station. This is supposed to be a safe system. I hauled ass to the docking station cutting my engines just before entering the docking tunnel. Never cut it that close before.
Jump 64
Took a trip back to Daazearro to get my engines replaced along with the maneuvering thrusters. I’m nearly broke again but my ship is purring. Travel time from hyperspace point to the docking planet is noticeably shorter and handling is a lot smoother and tighter. Worth the money.
Got a crate of space burritos to add to my rations. Not really but they kind of look like burritos. Some sort of brown or red filling wrapped in an off-white space tortilla. I hope it’s a space tortilla and I haven’t been eating the packaging. They’re not better than the space hot dogs I had been eating.
Heading back to Iwltr for a few more easy cargo runs.
Jump 70
I took a chance on a tip about a system suffering from an asteroid storm in need of textiles. Well, not a total chance. I made a jump to a nearby system and scooped some fuel from the sun so I could make a quick jump out if needed. The message I had received had warned about asteroid density being high but I didn’t expect them to cover most of the system. I managed to weave around the thickest patches and blasted through where I had to. Even so, my shields were nearly stripped by the time I reached the docking station.
Besides the tidy profit, I made on the textiles I was given a gift of an alien artifact. It struck me as kind of strange for the diverse collection of aliens to refer to these things as being “alien”. Turns out that they’re not from any IGUP planets but they are found throughout the galaxy. There are even some superstitions about them being cursed with the more you collect the more likely you are to befall some unexpected death. Looks like a carved rock with designs on the faces.
Jump 73
I heard about a medicine shortage on Oquib, two jumps from where I was docked and took off. In my haste, I failed to buy any medicine from the docking station I was at. Rank amateur mistake. I realized this after making the first jump toward Oquib. Instead of just refueling at the sun I headed to the local docking station. I encountered three different pairs of pirate ships. My new thrusters really proved their worth by letting me out run them losing only part of my shields.
Dropped off the medicine on Oquib and was gifted another alien artifact. These things are everywhere.
Jump 82
I’ve gone farther out into IGUP space. I’m ten jumps from where I entered this space. Halfway across the star chart loaded into my ship. Still, no leads on getting home to Earth. I’ve been trying to stay within safe systems but I fear I will need to start searching some of the less savory ones. Upgrades to shields, a slightly more powerful laser, and a cooling system for the laser are a good start in making sure I can survive the increased pirate activity.
I bought an auto-docking computer. It’s not the smartest piece of equipment, making odd turns to line up with the docking tunnel and runs full throttle at the docking tunnel, but it does work. I’m glad the docking station autopilot takes over once the ship is in the tunnel.
Jump 84
Docking Station Flight Control at Filosil sent out a message asking for help “decommissioning” a malfunctioning laser defense array. It sounded like a good way to test my new laser. I did a flyby of the array to check out its size and orientation. Nine drones in a stationary formation. I lost a large portion of my shields during the flyby, really glad I got that upgrade. I backed off and maneuvered to fire on the drones from the edge of the array where they couldn’t target me. Then it was a simple matter to fire away at the drones. My laser is effective but overheats fairly quickly even with the cooling system. I’m going to have to find a better cooling system. Despite that minor problem, I was able to “decommission” the laser array.
I was gifted another alien artifact. I’m mildly worried I’m being set up for something.
Jump 86
Heard a rumor about ships disappearing during jumps. Not a lot just a few. These aren’t normal pirate attacks. When a ship enters a system, it’s transponder is recorded. Even if it’s destroyed it’s counted as destroyed not lost. These ships just disappear between systems. I’m not even sure you can jump into empty space.
Well, whatever is happening it’s a business opportunity for me.
Jump 88
Goddamn pirates! I got pulled out of hyperspace and ambushed by seven pirate ships in empty space. I don’t know how they did it but it knocked my hyperspace drive offline for several minutes while it rebooted. Lots of running away and dodging laser fire later I was able to jump to Xiwiku. Now I know what happened to those other ships.
The station’s commander came down to talk to me about the pirate ambush. There’s not much they can do except pass the info around. They gave me another artifact and said they hoped it helped me on my quest. When I asked what they meant, they said, “Your quest to find your home planet.”
It’s a new rumor. The alien artifacts are from outside known space. I’m an alien from outside known space. So obviously, it’s a map to Earth! Or something. I didn’t realize I was well known enough to have rumors springing up about me. This might explain why I’ve been gifted so many.