Origin of a Spaceship: Personal Journal, Bubbles

Excerpt from: Origin of a Spaceship

Personal Journal, Bubbles
Location: Great Wildlands, Null Security Space

It had been but days before I penned this journal that a respected colleague, Rose of Heimatar, asked me about my experience with bubbles.

"Bubbles?" I asked?

"Yes."  He leaned forward, his posture one of great eagerness. "They are have been called Warp Disruption Fields."  He went on to explained to me about these objects.  Unknown if they were flora or fauna he said they only existed deep into uncharted space.  He had been told be a crew from an escape pod that had been ensnared while attempting a contract for a supply run into the deep, unknown.

"Null sec!"  I said, the surprise clear in my voice.  My wanderings had not yet taken me there but I found myself intrigued by his description.  His very animation drew me in.  The thought of these mysterious objects enticed me.  What were they? It was that very burn of curiosity that drove me to Egbinger XII - Moon 2 - Vherokior tribe Treasury a station that sits on the very edge of the Great Wildlands, Null Sec.

Even as I write about my accounts my hands shakes with the excitement of it.  Egbinger is a busy system and one of vast, ill repute  It is barely controlled by the Minmatar Republic its security status so low as to almost be non-existent   Even now, I can see the sentry guns around the station but that has not stopped the battles that rage through this place.  The tension is palpable   I have seen spaceships of size and type that I have never seen before, tamed behemoths of vast ability.

I hired a guide. I had expected dingy corridors and shady deals.  However, the hiring of my guide was simple enough.  He was the captain of the ships crew for a capsuleer whom specialized in exploration.  I would ride in a Tengu!  These creatures were almost of living legend   Known for their great prowess men had arguments that would turn into brawls over the proper care and training of these ships.  That I had found a capsuleer willing to allow me onto the depths of this ship stunned me.

I made my way to the hanger with trepidation.  Yet, the hanger was a buzz of activity.  Supply pallets swarmed the still form of the Tengu.  It was a sleek beast, all harsh angles.  The missile launches were dark humps, retracted as it rested in its hanger tended by the dockyard.  "I call her Lo'rall." said my guide with a fond pat as we walked towards the loading bays.

Did I hear correctly? "Lo'rall, like..." I paused, worried about insult.

"Yes."  He ran fingers through flaxen locks.  "Because I'm worth it."  Indeed.  I could not help but agree that the gorgeous hair that started at his brow and flowed down past his shoulders was a thick, silken mane.  A faint, herbal scent lingered in the air.

We ascended the ramp into the depths of the Tengu.  The ship rippled around us.  The material familiar yet strange.  This technology, adapted by the Caldari from reverse engineered relics amazed me.  The metal was smooth and warm, not a single rivet to be seen.  "This is just a scanning run," my guide told me.  "We will see if we can find you bubbles."

Without the fanfare of a normal ship the Tengu undocked.  There was not a ripple as the ship slipped into warp, only a few thousand meters away from the station.  I found myself riveted, as the gate into B-VIP appeared.  It was so innocuous that gate.  A simple frame for such a massive change.  Yet, as the ship activated the gate and slipped through I pressed my hand against the coolness of the port window as space rippled and changed around us.

There was a faint shimmer as the Tengu cloaked.   That ability to turn away both visual and sensor scanners!  Amazing! Through the view point I stared into the darkness of space.  Having been raised in the heart of empire, this vast darkness was new to me.  Behind us, I could see the double sided flare of the Minmatar Republic's deep, red Nebula.  In the distance was the rich green of Gallente space and the pale blue streak of Caldari.  The swirling gold of the Amarr empire stood bold and proud and then faded behind us as the Tengu leapt into warp.

"We are going to spring a trap."

"I do not understand."

"Watch."

I watched.  There was a mild shaking that I could see but not feel.  The ship dropped out of warp.  In the distance, light reflected off of the gate.  Beyond the gate, under us, was a perfect sphere that shimmered in the light.

"That is a bubble?" I asked.  What was it?  A creature?  A natural occurrence? It was beautiful.

"Yes.  But that is not the fun part."  The Tengu slipped into warp again and before I realized it was back out of warp and activating the gate.  We entered 9SNK-0.  The

We landed in a blue shimmer.  Space rippled around us.  The Tengu sat for a moment and then decloaked.  As it did, a Rapier appeared.  A Dramel landed a moment later beside it.  Then the Tengu cloaked and I felt a ripple as the microwarp drive activated a moment before the cloak.  The Dramel, sleek and sharp sped towards us at ridiculousness speeds.  Even as it approached the Tengu slipped into warp.

Could I truly feel its hunger?  As it had approached at such vicious sipped I swore its headlights pivoted towards me. The dark swirls of its markings blurred the eye. I swallowed, my breath caught. A shiver wound down my spine. It could not have seen me. Could it?

Beside me my guide laughed.  A deep, guffawing chuckle as he slapped my arm.  "They know but they always hope that today is the day."  The bubble receded into the distance.

"It is a spaceship trap."

"Aye," said my guide.  "They lay them down and use them to ensnare their prey."

"So they carry these things with them?"

"That is how it looks.  I have run across many.  You only see them out beyond the edges of the empire.  Sticky as anything and they stop the drives from working for everything but the tech three type cruisers."  He laughed again.  "Teasing them with a good kill is amusing.  It makes them buzz angry."

I spent the rest of my journey in thought.  I had never observed this group stalking.  And this bubble.  A beautiful creature but was it a creature?  The spaceships move it around and take it with them   Do they care for it and it cares for them?  Or was it something they cultivated?  It is obviously some type of relationship that allows the Spaceships to lay a trap to ensnare their hapless prey as they jump through the gate.  A trap the likes of which I had never seen.

The wonders never cease.  Even as I sketch out notes about these bubbles I fear I will need to learn more before I can categorize them.  And even with my attention so diverted by these things, other wonders did I see.  Yet, my guide calls to me again.  I must go, these hastily written thoughts are but a small peace of what I have seen.  This place is astounds!

I must leave a note to myself to write to Rose of my wanderings.