Macet: The Hunters

[rusot]

Personal Journal: Olivier La Gardeau
Date: 824 A.S.
Log Number: #35
ID: Bounty Hunters Theta 12-12
IFF: Bounty Hunters
Ship Type: Fighter
Ship Class: "Manta"

Heading: Exploring the deadly Nomad Systems
Description:

Well here i am back on the nearest safe location from the Nomads on a hospital bed recovering, i can't say i was not impressed by the Nomads. At first i wanted to scavenge for the highly valuable and rumored CODENAME weapons out in the neutral systems, the Omegas between Bretonia and Rhineland for example, but my curiosity got the best of me and after encountering and shooting down my first Nomads, they are more deadly than the usual opponents i face, their attack profile is more aggressive as is their need to protect their space, in hindsight i should of stayed out and accepted the warning when i was in Omicron Delta but after the Order chased me into a dense cloud i discovered a jump node, the HUD ID reads: "Omicron Minor", with little choice, i decided to take up the option and headed into this barely explored system, most of what i heard are from 3rd hand reports and rumors, but those rumors don't do it justice!

After being chased again by the Order, i found myself outside an asteroid field and some kind of ancient space gate, since the order had shared some of their findings of what little they know of this sector to others during the Nomad war 24 years ago, i headed through this gate and what i saw on the other side was.. beauty and wonder, deadly and terrifying at the same time. I Loved going through that system avoid Nomad cruisers, gunboats and their fighter variants, having traveled down one of their lanes, i discovered that they are a uni-directional technology, marvelous technology, ships can travel through the lane from both sides, after almost getting caught in a Nomad ambush, i was forced into another dense cloud, and what i saw in there was incredible. A Massive city with what looks like a jump hole above it and a shipyard with a half constructed nomad next to it in what appears to be a sort of shipyard attachment, my HUD ID clearly identified power nodes on this massive nomad station made up of lot's of individual segments with small connections to each and what look like energy projectors and gravity tethers.

After sitting about 5k away from the station, scanning it and being in awe of how advanced the Nomads are compared to Humans, i decided to move on and by the time i left the cloud, the Nomads had found me again, after chasing me half way across the sector i found another jump hole and with no choice, i went through, as soon as i made it through i was ambushed and immediately chased into a cloud and after dodging several Nomad battleships and countless fighters i discovered another massive installation, like the previous one but only a lot more bigger and a lot more energy and gravity tethers, at one point i almost bumped into a nomad energy shield that was hiding some sort of station, my ship scanner was going crazy with life sign readings from every direction, most of which came from the station in the energy shield, i can only assume it was some sort of "city". I was again forced out of the area and finally made it out the cloud which i thought would go on forever, my scanners located a jump node. I took it and came out the other side, with one Nomad fighter on patrol, i destroyed it before 6 more fighters came after me, i fled the area and was being chased by a few Nomads each time, but more than a match for me.

In the distance i observed another jump hole and decided to try get out of this area of space while i could with the information i had gathered to disprove the rumors, the end of my journey had came, the Nomads were waiting for me back in Omicron Delta, they had 20 fighters, 3 gunboats and a cruiser, i didn't stand a chance of escape, i decided to eject from my manta and immediately power down my life support systems for a few minutes on my escape pod. The Nomads immediately scoured the area for me, after seeing my heavily damaged fighter nearby, the Nomads left it alone before broadcasting some sort of energy beam at it and them leaving the immediate area. i switched the life support systems back on when i started getting dizzy due to a lack of oxygen. I could see several order ships in the area, but somehow they didn't pick me up on scanners. After a few hours of floating in space, a ship finally picked up my signal and found me.

I got out of my pod when the cargo hold was secured and pressurized, turns out to be some group called "The Core" who rescued me, the pilot let me know that The Core are what the order should of been and The Core are strictly a lawful group but i got the impression that was not entirely true, after dealing with criminals, i got an insight how the Human mind works and i know when someone is not being honest with me. This pilot said he would drop me off, in all that fighting i had not noticed a serious injury on my body at that point before the pilot pointed it out. Good thing the ship i was towed on was a freighter and the remains of my fighter was also in the hold as well. The pilot let me go to the ship, i attempted to boot up the systems without any luck, after running a few diagnostic scans, i determined that the Nomads had fried the whole computer core to a crisp.

After a few days of travel, i had completed a few essential repairs to the Manta, however without a proper equipment dealer to help me out, this ship is likely to be sold as spare parts in it's current condition. The Pilot found me at the Manta which had been on it's side for those few days, he told me that he is coming to dock with a Zoners station to offload my fighter and myself and he will pay for the costs. I asked him why and his response is that anyone who can fly into Nomad systems, come out the other side and survive to tell the tale, is worth a lot of respect. Turns out the Zoners base i was heading to is in orbit of a dead star surrounded by a massive debris field and a minefield. The Core pilot informed me that i was not far from Rhineland space, but i knew this as my last stop in Rhineland space was Planet Baden Baden. He wished me luck after ejecting my ship into a docking bay.

Before i could do anything i feinted due to blood loss from that wound, the freighter only had limited medical facilities and drugs. So here i am on this bed, writing this log. I am expected to leave the bed in a few days from now after being stuck in this room for weeks, i can't wait to return back to hunting duties.

Glory to my missing family members, may they be remembered forever.

Olivier La Gardeau.

Notes: End of Log.