《Captain's Log Files》 01 - New Beginnings 4620-01-01:01 I''m at the port of Arth as usual; I''ve been assigned to my ship - a single engine freighter with a bare minimum of cargo and rigged with an ATV explorer. I''ve named the ship the (ISS) Optiplex and equipped it with the maximum cargo the ship will hold. The engines will take a hit, but I intend to do some mining in the home system so it won''t matter. I''ve equipped the ATV with extra cargo and turbo chargers for the obvious - this thing is going to be a beast when I get done with it. --- I''ve logged the oxygen/co2 planet in the system. It is an iced world. Hopefully it pans out. --- 4620-01-01:20 I''m mining on the closest rock to the star in the home system. Nothing but calm weather here. It is largely uninteresting and I can''t say I''m enjoying it all that much. I intend to mine enough to fill my cargo hold, sell and repeat until I can get a better mineral scanner - so far minerals are too few far and between. --- 4620-01-02:09 One day in on this planet mining; turns out the "Flat Device" teleports my ship. I''m not impressed by sending my ATV underwater; I''ll get some pontoons later - the mineral scanner takes priority. I find I''m having to move further and further from the ship to get minerals. I could move the ship, but I''m stingy when it comes to fuel. I''ll just have to keep moving further and further until I make no progress and must move the ship. --- 4620-01-03:13 I''ve used five units of fuel of my ship to arrive and land; the ATV has left the ship I don''t know how many times, but the ship has otherwise remained stationary. I''d like to think I''ve done well with a full cargo hold after just two days. My booty includes Antimony, Copper, Silver and Platinum. My first thoughts about mining for the first time are that forests are good for richer material minerals, but mountains provide the best surface bounty and best areas for digging. Plains are a given, they are random; I''ve toyed with the idea of moving the ship in and out of water, having fun with it, but I really need pontoons. I won''t risk the ship sinking. I still cannot scan the planet I''m on. I find it strange the weather is so calm. --- 4620-01-04:02 Arth postings include possible sun damage; our sun is having instabilities in radiation and will flare possibly killing all life in the system. Colonization efforts will be stepped up - I''ll make some money off of this for sure. My recommendation for the third planet in the system has proven suitable for colonization and I''ve been rewarded accordingly. Other ship postings include reports of Androids 20 sectors coreward from here. I''ll give it a look when I have a fully rigged ship - I''m not going to play fool''s errand here. As I understand my ship hsa been equipped with a flare meter which detects when a star will flare. I''ll need to stay out of the system when this happens. I have no idea what the Whining Orb in my cargo hold does; I figured it''d make a nice knicknack on the ship''s dash. It makes a weird whining sound. I''m off to the first planet for mining again. --- 4620-01-07:23 I''ve spent almost four days on this mudball; I picked a very bad spot, but due to my stigma towards moving the ship, I made do. The ATV was sent out on day one and spent all kinds of time exploring the area; I made good and hit the jackpot in overground minerals. The next two days were largely avoiding water filled areas, trudging along and gathering minerals. I''ve concluded that east and south of here is best for mineral hunting, anything to the north and west is either water or barely any minerals. I remember going out on at least two trips with almost nothing to return in tow. That was not a good thing. I almost had a heartattack when trudging in water too long; I made it out in time. I do not know how much time the ATV can spend underwater. I should have enough money for my mineral scanner. I will most likely invest in some science training - it''s my favorite subject. I''ll be blasting off shortly. [Update] I''ve bought my mineral scanner and equipped the ATV with pontoons. I''m going to pillage the inner most planet shortly. I''ve maxed my skills as far as science training. I''ll see what it turns up by scanning the inner most planet when I arrive. --- 4620-01-09:22 Currently in orbit around Arth; forgot to update my log. I landed on the innermost planet as before and the new mineral scanner paid off. I found minerals within just a few jumps of the ship and they were plentiful to boot. One mountain range of interest just west of here was loaded to the gills with platinum. I will not have to worry about mineral hunting, to say the least. I blasted off, and had to turn back to get my scan. This planet is .3Gs, inferno temperature all around and composed of helium and hydrogen. Not bad for a rock mudball; it''s more like a giant fireball in space. I''ll be investigating the other planets for better mineral finds. I figure I need to start exploring. Signing out and blasting off. --- 4620-01-10:11 I''ve chosen to test check out the planets in order; this time I''ll be moving to the oxygen planet I logged earlier. It''s composed of all ice, but my scans show that it has temperate regions; it also has life forms below. I''ll pick some up for investigation and sale back at Arth.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. [Update] I wasn''t expecting the Gs of the planet (1.6Gs) to be so strong and pull my ship so rapidly, I had to hit the ground thrusters to avoid crashing. On the way down I heard some strong winds - this planet probably has turbulence. More importantly, I moved a bit off course due to my bad landing. I''ve actually landed near what appear to be standing ruins. I''m not sure if this was fluke or fate. I''ll be investigating further. [Update] Found lifeforms, and investigate ruins further; the ruins have a trail of sorts, but I''ve found nothing of use in them. I''m retreating to the ship due to an earthquake. [Update] Ruins all around. Investigations have proven mostly empty structures half abandoned with nothing to report. I''ve had to retreat to the ship at least once due to a quake; I had to teleport via the Flat Device by using all of my fuel for a safe return. I''ll be moving the ship shortly to investigate ruins further to the east. I have gotten lost and lost my bearing on multiple occasions, I know what skills I''m learning next. I''ll further investigate the ruins while mining. [Update] I can''t believe the strong winds on this planet; the earthquakes made it worse. Still, I was surrounded by civilization, no matter how dead and I had wildlife all around me. What more could I want? Maybe some booty from the ruins - I didn''t find anything and my investigation turned up empty. I''m returning to port to sell my booty. --- 4620-01-14:09 Another ship must have been in the area, the message directory lists confirmation of the ruins. Another message indicates that the radiation increases in our star are theorized to be external. Other races may have the answer. I figure the Androids towards the core of the system might have information - if they''re friendly. I''ll rig my ship as best as I can before I get there. I''m off to learn navigational skills and get some equipment. Ciao. [Update] ATV is fully equipped with the best money can buy. [Update] The ship has been equipped with a Pulse Cannon and Three-Way Cannon (Tri-Cannon). I''m equipping class one shields and some actual armor. Engines will remain the way they are while I investigate the home system; I intend to visit neighboring systems and want to be ready. None of my equips have to do with a venture with the Androids. I''m not stupid. [Update] Heading to the fourth planet. --- 4620-01-14:22 This planet''s mineral content is a joke; I also crash landed which makes the situation worse. Earthquakes are plentiful. I''m blasting off and cutting my losses. [Update] Flew by the mother star; wonderful. 5x10 solar masses to the twenty forth power. That is big. But how big to other stars? /grin --- 4620-01-15:05 Fifth planet, currently in orbit. 1.6Gs, with sub-arctic to arctic. This thing is going to be tundra all over. Scanners show it is moderate with weather and has minimal mineral traces. I may just chance blasting off to the next system. [Update] Blasting off. --- 4620-01-15:22 Checking in to report something weird. I''ve landed (by fluke I suppose) next to some ruins again. This one is a strange pyramid. No idea why it is here or what it is for. This planet is also an Oxygen/C02 class with moderate weather and suitable gravity; I''ve recommenced it for colonization. Life forms surround me also. I''ve landed on the ice world at the edge of the system with nothing to report. There is one gas giant that I orbited briefly; I can''t land due to the crushing gravity. I will continue investigating the rest of the system and then move to the neighboring one before depositing my booty. [Update] It wasn''t pure fluke, there was some more ruins south-west of here. They had nothing as usual. I did a brief underpass of the atmosphere to see if there was anything of interest before blasting off. --- 4620-01-17:21 Blasting off from this system to the next. My starmap indicates four systems close proximity to this. I may explore them briefly before investigating the so-called Androids. However, I have one close to home I must investigate first. [Update] This system has two magma worlds; the third planet has about 14.5Gs of gravity where as the star has 16.6Gs. I''m surprised they don''t orbit each other or something. [Update] Back at home system. Sensors read 282 days until system flares. The clock is ticking. --- 5620-01-18 Blablabla, flux locations in message directory. I saw a flux on the way back to Arth; maybe later. I''m looking at buying an Android before rigging my ship up. [Update] Bought a laser blaster (Lance) for the ship; equipped it with upgraded shields and armor and went two full classes of engine ahead of what I just had. I''ll be exploring the neighboring systems shortly before taking on the Androids to the east. I''ve bought an Android in anticipation; he''s been assigned to engineering - I''ve named him Max. Quaint, to say the least. --- 5620-01-18:20 The first system that I jumped to was a dud, no planets at all. [Update] Landed through a continuum flux by accident into an area with multiple stars and other fluxes. [Update] Sensors report an object outside the ship; investigating revealed it was a lifeform that communicates without sending a transmission. They were sending a message about space, crystals, comedy and other such musings. It appears to be history of some sort, but beyond that... [Update] Warped back out from the flux, entered the intended star system and ran into more objects. They are ships; when hailed we were greeted to a slimy blob with weird satellites in its antenna; it communicated weird and I couldn''t begin to translate it. I cut the com and warped out just as quickly. [Update] This system has something strange; the star has less gravity than one of the orbiting gas giants. In fact, the gas giant also has more mass. How is the gas giant not a star with planets in orbit? Why is it in orbit around a weaker body for that matter? Maybe it just worked out that way and it will change due to gravity wave sin the future. [Update] I logged a planet in this system and the neighboring system. A ship was present around that star. This time I waited; I got some weird gibberish onscreen. I decided to simply warp out. The galaxy is more crowded than I thought. I intend to check out three star systems just north of here; I see this as my exploreable home territory of sorts. After this I will be depositing my loot to Arth for upgrades; then those Androids... [Update] Ran into more lifeforms; planets I explored in the far neighboring systems were duds. One of the planets appears to be guarded by a probe; I couldn''t establish orbit without it intercepting and trying to communicate. I''m the stranger here, so I warped out again. One thing of note was that the last star I went to investigate wasn''t even there. I''m not sure if my star chart was wrong or if something was up... I intercepted a continuum flux on the way to said star and promptly warped back. I''ll be heading back to Starport now. --- 4620-01-21:23 I arrived back at starport with 1.2 units of fuel; that was cutting it close. All three planets I reported for colonization were deemed suitable and I was rewarded accordingly. I have sold my spoils consisting mostly of Tin with some Rhodnium on the side. I''m going to have the ship retrofitted with the best engines, shields and armor this space station has to offer while I get myself skilled up with the best training they have to offer. I''ve equipped the ship with twin bomb launchers or so-called Buzz Bombs; this is anticipating of any hostilities, but I should be more than equipped for these so-called ''Androids'' at least I hope. I''ve purchased enough fuel to fill half of my cargo-hold; I should be good to go for anything else out there. In the meantime I have new knowledge in my head and an Android companion to keep me company. Wish me luck, I''m sure I''ll need it. See you later, David. --- Log Ends 02 - New Horizons First thing I did was blast off for the area with the so-called ''Androids''. It didn''t take them long to find me; I had life-form readings in the area and scanned them the minute I made contact. I raised shields to be safe; they asked me if I confirmed my vessel was made from Empire technology; they also asked if I was "Group 9". I have no idea what they meant, but in the name of friendly relations sayed ''no'' to each one. They promptly opened fire on me. Glad I raised my shields! They were armed with basic pulse cannons only, so they weren''t much of a threat - my "Tri-Cannon" promptly annahilated them after a few hits; I collected my booty and went about my business. I decided to explore this area further; for starters, I want to know where these "androids" are coming from - they must have a base in the area somewhere. I ran into a continuum flux and was teleported to an area of continuum fluxes I''d visited before. I ran into another life form in this area. I picked up strange communications via the comm, as if no message was recieved, but it was being read loud and clear. Their message was something about a dance, comedy, and almost like a play. They answered no questions. They did reference ''ancient ones'' though, so I can only wonder. I was promptly pulled into the same continuum flux I arrived in and warped back to the Android territory. I approached the first star system south-east of this area. There was some alien activity, I chose to ignore it. It did not follow me into the system. These are my findings on the system: 157, 98 - Touched Down, uninteresting system, oxygen planet, violent weather I left the system and approached the alien activity found on the sensors. This time it was a strange satellite that approached me. This was no ordinary satellite; it weighted in at twenty tons, had deep space engines and otherwise was meant to record and relay planet data. I tried communicating with it, but it only relayed planetary data. I wasnt going to bother recording it, as it could be a wild-goose chase, a lie, or worse - some malificent force bent on luring in ships (I can dream right?). I decided to record it down for future reference - just to be on the safe side; you never know, it may come in handy! 3/5 94,42 - Life Bearing, Bio Density Medium, Mineral Density Medium 3/4 163,46 - Life Bearing, Bio Density Medium to Low, Mineral Density Medium to Low 3/4 179,195 - Life Bearing, Bio Density Medium, Mineral Density Medium 2/6 17,213 - Life Bearing, Bio Density Very high, Mineral Density High 3/7 163, 119 - Life Bearing, Bio Density High, Mineral Density Medium to Low 1/6 149, 133 - Molten, Non-Colinizable, Mineral Density Very high I decided to explore the other many planets in the other star systems in this four cluster group. There is also a nebula south-east of here that I will explore before returning to the main continuum flux I encountered in this area. 158, 95 - Many Planets, first time seen, touched down on outermost planet on an aluminum sensor reading; null find and a dead end, waste of time, innermost world had aluminum and plutonium - great find; second planet seemed to be habitable - logged for colonization; I can''t land on gas giants; second outermost world is oxygen/nitrogen based, but has 9Gs of crushing gravity and extremely violent weather; I will skim the lower atmosphere to check things out and land to test the odds if it seems probable [Followup] The gravity was too strong and I underestimated it; I had to hit my boosters before I crashed - I was needless to say, forced to make a landing. I tested the odds on the grounds of the calm weather. All I encountered was extremely high winds and freezing nights; my ATV was pushed around a bit, but nothing the turbo chargers couldn''t fix. I blasted off after taking up some elements into my cargo hold. 156, 94 - One Star, Two Planets; Landed on molten planet on a Rhodnium, Silver, Plutonium read; I did this without thinking about it - my starship can handle the heat however. I will be more careful in the future. I found two surface minerals and should have listened to the ''0'' reading from the ship''s scanner. This planet''s light gravity made it easy to blast off to the next world. Last planet was a wild goose chase. 157, 91 - Single Planetary system; dead system with nothing to report 4620-01-25:20; I blasted off for the nebula area and found four star systems in close proximity to each other. I would check back at these four stars after exploring the nebula. I found alien activity via the sensors in this area. I have them approaching the ship as I write this. [Followup] It is the alien I encountered at the continuum flux region from before. I''m not sure if it was following me or not. I raised shields and weapons to be safe. At best, I was confined to a weapon and my shields wouldn''t work in this nebula. That is okay, because the alien didn''t have shields according to my scanners; it had a paultry pulse cannon. When hailing it, it gave the same response as before. I chose to blast out and ignore it. My findings from the star system include: 164, 85 - Many Planets; First planet (second to outermost) had bio and mineral readings; it was temperate to searing, I logged it. I landed just to see what was going on here. I was attacked by something the minute I left the ship. The native animals are hostile here; the creature attacking my ATV was a flying predator of sorts; there were also some kind of creatures with many arms that were firing projectiles at my ship. I stunned a few to collect them. I ran into ruins at 30N x 10E with nothing to find. I will explore furthe. [Followup] More ruins directly north. I investigated further, exploring surrounding regions and even moving the ship. I have been pushed around by heavy winds, seen tornados, and otherwise been attacked by lightning and native creatures for my efforts. My findings report nill, save for this planet was inhabited at one point. Minerals and hull damage are the only tell-tale signs I was here. Moved the ship and thought I landed on the ocean surface; turns out it was a lake; thank god for pontoon floats! Followed the land at an angle to the poles and equater to do a quick ruin spot-check of things around the planet; found some ruins on the central north-west area of the planet. Will investigate further and followup. ---Screw these native life forms--- I didn''t want to be outright hostile, I am an explorer here, but enough is enough. I opened fire and went maverick on these bastards. I made quick work of them and mother nature promptly unleashed a thunderstorm on my atv. This lightning is wreaking havoc with my sensors and hull. I realized some of these ruin patterns looked familiar; I somehow double backed over my area - I must not have paid attention to my instruments when I was here before - I blasted off and said goodbye to this hellhole. The molten planet nearby had nothing of interest. The outermost ice world had bio and mineral readings, but was uncolonizable. That is okay though! Because when I touched down to investigate, I landed next to some ruins. I am under the impression there was an alien civilization in this system at one point; I''m very excited! My excitement was illfounded. I will attempt to be more professioal later on (yeah right!). If there was an alien civilization here at one point, they are now extinct. The native lifeforms were not hostile, a few were unphased by the ATV vehicle, while another slowly tried to escape. Stunning one did not do me any good - my cargo holds are full. The rest of the system was a dud save for the outermost planet. Rhodnium, Aluminum and Plutonium based on the sensor readings. I didn''t bother scanning the planet; I should be more careful in the future; it was big while descending, I underestimated the gravity and landed hard. I did a scan of the are and found some Rhodnium, I went back into my ship, lifted off and jetisoned the lighter minerals in the cargo hold and relanded. I landed hard again despite using my thrusters. I found mostly Plantium rather than Rhodnium. I have a better cache of minerals for my efforts. This planet also has high winds. 165, 85 - One planet, ice world - oxygen and nitrogen with no life. Best of all - no weather. Logged for colonization. 165, 84 - Outermost world had 100% bio and low mineral content. Despite being an oxygen and nitrogen world, I decided to check the analysis of the scanners this time. 2Gs, with sub-arctic to tropical temperatures and moderate weather. I will descend on this planet before logging it for colonization; I will most likely do a surface flyby of the ship first to see if there are any ruins. I picked up some lifeforms and scars from lightning strikes and that was it - there are no ruins on this planet. Two rock worlds (outermost) and three magma planets (innermost) nothing else to report. 164, 84 - Nothing to report in this system, three gas giants which I will not be investigating. I am leaving this area to investigate the area where I encountered the androids initially. Scratch that - there is a lone red star northeast of this nebula - it is sitting by itself and seems to be lonely. Think I''ll detour before heading back to the main mission. [Contingency] Ran right into a continuum flux en route to the red star and was teleported to another region. My starmap indicates I am 74 sectors from my current location. I may as well explore the nearby star system while I am here. Will follow up. 145, 168 - Got caught in the star''s gravity; had to achieve orbit before I could escape. The ice world here has nothing to report. I doubled back through the continuum flux and proceeded to investigate the star system. I saw alien activity on the scanners the minute I entered the system. This was strange as I''d not seen any outside of this system. I left to confirm and did confirm; reentered and there was alien activity. Engaging the alien vessel now. I had my pulse cannon armed from before and raised shields; the vessel I approached was nearly 2000 tons on scanners. This thing is massive. Max indicated we were picking up a distress signal. We punched it up on display to see what was the matter. What we ran into was not what I was expecting, nor something I wanted to see. The message was recorded in March of 3480; this was nearly one thousand years before the current date. The ship was apparently a colony ship and captained by "Smelenuf"; the ship''s name is "Lasthope". The ship was critically damaged and two-thirds of the crew and colonists are dead. They put down on the third planet in this system. The repeated message contained coordinates 22N x 97W on the third planet. The message ends with "we will survive as long as we can; I just hope you are not too late". Just what I needed was dead bodies. I had an opportunity to raid the ship - I decided to respect the dead and leave it as is. It was composed of lighter mineral element materials anyway. The third planet is at the other end of the system. I will investigate (and would rather) investigate the first two anyway. The first planet was life bearing, but low; the mineral content was the same. I touched down. It took the native wildlife awhile to find me; they were hostile and resembled the things I''d seen on another planet - makes me wonder. I dug up some minerals for my trouble. I did a low-land flyby to see if there were any ruins; found nothing and blasted off for the third planet. I found nothing at the expected coordinates. I think I may have flubbed on the first and third worlds being the touch down point. I blasted off for the first planet at the designated coordinates to be certain. 4620-02-01:23 - I touched down at the coordinates and found the ruins; they settled in the middle of an icelake or ocean or whatever. I put Max on point while I waited at the ship; he reported some findings - dwellings, an small vessel (presumably a ship), miscellaneous stuff reminiscent of a civilization. There were dead bodies well preserved due to the extremes of this planet. I followed in with the ATV and left accordingly with my space suit. I will respect the dead here and not loot anything of interest; most of it appeared to be non-technological which I was interested in the opposite. Either way, I found the captain''s decayed corpse and his log book nearby. They lasted eight and a half months. What the log book reported was astounding! They were on their way to establish the Noah 9 colony world of "Heaven" when the ship blew. The "Mechans" are currently in a preperatory state of ''code blue''; their arrival would have signified ''code red''. They would have taken control of the mechans by that point. The ship, at least the captain assumes, was damaged by the "Laytonites". The log confirms that a bomb detonated the entire aft quarter section of the ship - something Max and I confirmed upon approaching the ship before hand. There was mention of a single pod. I assume this was a lifeboat. the log ends there. I will put two and two together here - the Mechans are the androids north-west of here; this colony ship was "Group 9". Odds are I can communicate with them now if they are still not ticked at the fact I destroyed some of their ships. Better still, maybe the ships I did destroy did not get a chance to radio back to base and I''m all set. I''ve decided to double-back to the continuum flux I encountered before and explore the neighboring region of the star system nearly seventy sectors away. I expect to find some alien activity on a hunch. I will then rendezvous back at Arth to restock supplies, sell my cargo and check with command on these colony worlds I''ve logged. I also need to catch up on some stuff with the locals. I will not be reparring any dents and dings to the hulls of the ship and the ATV at this time. Interest as of note, I chanced a look outside the ATV''s window and noticed several predators were circling. The ship must have scared them; I entered the ship and blasted off, leaving them in the dust!They can''t get in, but it was a funny sight. ---------- 4620-02-02:21; This area has a number of stars north of the star immedietly outside of the continuum flux''s entry. I will do a fly through, but will not explore these systems. I may chance it later. I''m here to investigate possible alien activity due to my findings elsewhere and I will remain professional. David out! I ran into alien activity in less than an hour. I scanned the ship accordingly; cobalt and molybdenum composite, with lots of fuel on board. It was a little over 300 tons; about three-quarters the weight of my ship. Analysis of sensors indicated this was a scoutship, class three shields, it used torpedos for attack, but its weapons were disarmed. Shields were raised. I hailed them accordingly indicating my peaceful intentions. I was greeted to a giant insect on screen; my training with the auto translator worked as intended. He identified himself as Captain Chufe of the vessel "Pux". He identified himself as a Veloxi, which I assume is his race. I questioned them about themselves first before anything else. He immediately accused mes of trespassing in their space. His speaking style was not necessarily grammatically correct English - for whatever reason the auto translator was either malfunctioning or this was how they actually spoke when translated. Anyway, he was up front about wanting three energy crystals (read: Endurium, my ship''s fuel) as a tribute to their queen; then perhaps their queen''s disgust with my behavior would be forgiven. I promptly agreed and jetisoned them from the cargo - which they collected promptly. He was pleased with this and then promptly answered my question. The Veloxi are ''ancient and prestigous'', their empire has been in space the longest and they are the most civilized. He didn''t provide any other information, so I asked him about something important on my mind by this point - if there were other races out there. He didn''t care about other races on the grounds they were barbarians and not knowing about the prophecy of ''the egg''. Apparently the Veloxi are held in number one regard above all races in their culture. Upon further enquiries; life in the galaxy is going to end and only the Veloxi understand it. Further enquiries turned up racial info - a stupid race called the ''Spemin'', two races the "Elowan" plant and Thrynn ''scaly beast'' are always fighting with the "Thrynn" attacking all the time. The Veloxi were under the impression that all humans (my race) had been destroyed in the "Second Wave". This "Second Wave" consisted of the Uhlek and Gazurtoid. He refused anymore information and blasted off.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. As I confirmed my findings and the fact I was trespassing, I decided to leave my investigation of the area and blast off for Arth to get some much needed break time. This little venture cost me about two weeks and burned through half of my fuel. --- 4620-02-03; My little expedition in logging planets paid off. 35,000, 30,000, 25,000, 35,000, and 25,000 MUs all into my greedy piggy bank; uwehehehahasdga;sdgklas -cough-. I still have to check the listings, sell my mineral cache and then take some much needed R&R. Listings included "Continuum Flux Locations", they are 128, 105 to 146, 112; 126, 87 to 173, 88; 148, 166 to 170, 93; 99, 82 to 118, 107. There was also a listing for employment by a female "Thrynn" by the name of IHSSS T''Larra; ''her'' experience is extensive having served onboard the "ISS Intrepid" as a communicator; she also has a Class 5 navigator''s license. I will look into this later; R&R comes first. Lastly, my cargo cache netted enough money to fill my fuel stores two/thirds more than when I first started. [Followup] After some much needed R&R, I met with Miss T''Larra. The "Thrynn" are a reptile, and despite having been in the same habitat as them at Arth, I''ve never seen any of them - only heard of reptiles onboard, so they must keep to themselves or something. Anyway, I expressed my interest in having comrades on board; her skills would also lighten a bit of the load so to speak. She wanted money; that was the stipulation. I counter-offered to train her in further and serve aboard our ship as permanent crew; she would have access to 5% of our cargo hold''s networth. She agreed. Must have been desperate. She is undergoing further navigation and communications training. Of interest is her current skills in science and engineering capacity; her skills in medicine are a bit laughable and she seems uninterested in learning anymore. We blasted off for the ''androids'' after a few short hours. With Max as our sturdy engineer and T''Larra as our helmsman and communicator, I''m sure we''ll be fine. Also on the topic, "T''Larra" has better communications skills than I do. I''m told it is a racial trait - my comments to this are, "Whatever". 4620-02-05:03; Breakfast consisted of sausage, eggs, and the top half of a hamburger bun. T''Larra is definitely a carnivore and will have nothing to do with vegetables; Max was unimpressed at the exchange. I asked T''Larra what her thoughts on her place in the universe were; she expressed she did not care and needed money to survive before anything else. I had to agree; although I''m not necessarily in this for the money - I want to know what those androids are up to. We were stuck in orbit for awhile; I passed the time performing diagnostics on the ship. 15 wasted Arth Crystals (read: Endurium) later, we blasted off for better or worse. 4620-02-05:10; This time we just went straight to their territory until we found alien activity on sensors. We hailed them this time; they introduced themselves as "Mechan 9". This was it, these are the Mechans reported in Smelenuf''s log. The first thing I did is question them. The refused to answer any questions. Any information regarding other races or general information was also denied by them. We finally introduced ourselves and intentions. They straight away asked us if we were prepared for Heaven; I said no. They terminated communications. I scanned their ships - they use class two shields; paultry compared to ours. Their ships were scoutships in the same vane as the Noah 9 colony ship, only smaller. The only star systems in the vicinity that we hadn''t explored were north of here; it was doubtful there would be anything south as we never encountered any "Mechans" south-east of here. We entered the first star system accordingly and found several planets and went to investigate; of interest was alien activity here. Upon attempting to orbit the first planet we encountered alien ships. We hailed them; more Mechans. They refused questions - again. We expressed our intents as peaceful explorers and were scanned (ugh!). The interrogations began. They asked if we serve Layton. Considering the circumstances from before and Smelenuf''s theory, answering "Yes" would be a bad thing; I answered "No" as it was the truth anyway. They asked about waiting for Noah; I simply told them "Yes" without breaking the news. They then asked if it was our desire they maintain "Code Blue". I told them "No." They asked about "Code Red" I said "No". They terminated communications. Either they are dedicated to Noah despite the undertones of what I wasn''t communicating, or they simply were not interested. 145, 107; Outermost world we attempted to orbit was disrupted as we were engaged by androids dubbed "Mechan". Planet when finally assessed was a lost cause. The innermost planets were either molten or rock and of no interest; the last planet at the other side of the system upon closer inspection appeared to be habitable so we went to investigate. We achieved orbit and found above-medium mineral and bio readings. We logged the planet and landed to investigate. The sensor readings indicated this planet was about average. We landed at 14N x 11W to investigate. Outside of the indigenous life being afraid of us, we encountered uninteresting minerals (tin) and a thunderstorm with medium winds. --- [Supplemental] En route to the last planet we encountered more Mechans. The interrogations began again; are we an enemy of Noah, ''no'', are we ready to take our place in the brave new world, ''yes''. The machine on the comm responded with an odd statement; he said we were delayed and they were not programmed for this contingency. They asked about their scanner readout, "Empire Technology" and if we were "Noah 9". I said no. This was a mistake; they opend fire. They are currently circling the ship and attempting to hit us with pulse cannons; they have bad aim and have yet to land one. They just landed one and another; it is barely scratching the shields. I looked over to T''Larra and Max; T''Larra said nothing and Max was silent as usual. I let out a chuckle and started writing this log entry. [Followup] Shields recharge before their pulse cannons do any major damage. This is laughable. I don''t know if we should destroy them or not. I let out a hail just to ensure our intentions. No response so far. No response. I let out a hostile warning this time. No response. I finally gave the all clear to T''Larra to open fire. Of note, our own ''Pulse Cannon'' fires quicker than their''s and in rapid succession. I attempted to hail them again; this time hostile, after their remaining ship was left with near 100% damage. They still insisted on firing at us, so I told T''Larra to finish it. We collected some space debris and headed for the fifth planet. We blasted off for the next system; reading alien activity in this system the entire time. The Mechans left us alone while we were in the system, but the minute we hit the outer-limits of the system they engaged us. This time I hailed them quite aggressively. To told them of their situation. They were not impressed and continued to interrogate us. I was forced to change my posture and answer questions in the same fashion as before. They would answer no questions as before. This time I told them to maintain "Code Blue". They promptly terminated communications. [Report] Before we entered the system; we encountered more Mechan ships. I wonder what happens if I lie? It is -NOT- as if they are a threat to us. I verified "Code Red"; they said we were delayed and they weren''t programmed for this contingency. We were clearly, ''not'' an enemy of Noah. They terminated communications. Upon entering the system and attempting to orbit a planet, we ran into a strange satellite weighing in at 100 tons according to scanners. It had class 5 shields and phasers as weapons. We treaded lightly if this was a Mechan ship. It started asking us questions in the form of numbers. I said no to all of them. Nothing happened when it cut communications. It turned around and went off for some reason. This planet, once we achieved orbit - turned out to be an oxygen and nitrogen world with high bio-density and low mineral density. Sensor analysis reported it was habitable, so I logged it in the colonization log. We landed at xxxxx ----I forgot to log this, but it was west of what happens next--- we did some mineral digging. It was largely uninteresting deposits of Chromium with some more important Rhodnium deposits here and there. The local lifeforms were otherwise content to mind their own business and ignore us. At 27N x 2E we spotted something in the distance. It looks like a black egg suspended in some kind of device. We''ve taken it aboard for safe keeping. If there was another civilization here, we haven''t seen any traces of it. So I assume it has something to do with the satellite in orbit or there was another ship here. We will circle the planet before blasting off. At 54N x 34W we ran into a strange pyramid. It appears to be some kind of ruins. We ran ruins a little north at 62N x 39W. A thunderstorm and heavy winds stalled our exploration; we used the ship instead and only found another set of ruins in the area. They are confined to this area with nothing of interest; all save for the "Black Egg" of course. 4620-02-09:05; After some analysis of the "Black Egg" in question, T''Larra and I agree it is some kind of detonation device. It is clearly of alien origin. What we have confirmed is there is a switch on the bottom that is used to trigger it, but we do not know what it''s payload is. We wouldn''t want it to blow up the ship now, would we? We have locked it in suspension material in a safe and left it on the bridge for safe keeping. We blasted off for the next planet. It had a frozen oxygen hydrosphere, but other than that Fluorine compounds do not make a breathable atmosphere. We blasted off to explore the surrounding star systems. Surprisingly no Mechans disturbed us in our venture through this system - which was surprising. 151, 119 - Five Planets - Outermost is a gas giant; innerworlds are all rock. System has low mineral content. No alien activity; nothing of interest here. 4620-02-09-17; We ran into another Veloxi scoutship North-West of the system at 151,119. The Veloxi identified himself as a valiant drone of the Veloxi Empire and us as the inferior aliens trespassing. He wanted energy crystals as a tribute. We complied and he started to interrogate us. He asked us if we were part of the "Old Empire"; I have no idea what he means. He then said not to try anything funny as the Veloxi was superior and the most powerful. He said as long as we showed the proper respect for the distinguished Veloxi, everyone would be as happy as a ''Bivalve Mollusk''. I asked him about his race and he gave us the same information as before about the Veloxi being prestigious and ancient. I asked about other races. He inferred the "Uhlek" was the most powerful of all races, with the "Gazurtoid" following behind them as the Uhlek move outward from corward (outter rim from core of galaxy) during the "Second Wave". He rudely cut communications after and we were left to our devices. South of our encounter we encountered no alien readings. We ventured further-south still until we hit a star system; we ran through them quickly, but did not turn up anything. These systems were 143, 82; 145, 81; and 140, 80. We come from the area West of here, so the only other area to explore was further North of our encounters with the androids and then North-West still. We went North-West first, then North. 131, 116 was of no interest; but once we exited the system we ran into alien activity. Another Veloxi ship. The captain was to the point in threatening us; we are now ''evil trespassers''. He wanted more energy crystals to which we complied. He proceeded to communicate his "flabbergasted sensory apparatus" in the fact we were not acknowledging their superiority. I changed my tone - and while not sincere about it, begged him to spare our lives. He changed his tone. We enquird more about other races in the galaxy. We asked about the "First Wave", to which he told us it was the Phlegmak and Numlox races attacking from Coreward in the year "3000". Nearly a millenia ago. He cut communications - quite rudely as is usual for this race - and took off. At 129,123 we saw alien activity. I had a hunch it was the Veloxi, so we did not stick around. We entered the system and there was more alien activity on the sensors. We were intercepted by more ships that identified themselves as Veloxi. They told us we were surrending our "space boat" and creating the best of situations "no doubt". They had us outnumbered, so again, I changed my tone. More energy crystals. He asked if we were going to worship the "illustriousness" of the queen of their race. I promptly said "Yes". He asked us if we were killing "the Spemins", I said "no". He said perhaps the Veloxi would be ''nice guys'' and not kill us if we cooperate. I really did not want a fight by this point. He then proceeds to tell us we probably think they are smart; and he agreed that ''no wonder! All Veloxi are exceptionally cunning the brain." I could have puked if I weren''t trying to hold back my laughter. T''Larra was unphased. Max was looking at me for my reaction. I went to ask them about other races and they cut communications again. Once they cut communications, I scanned their ships - 300, 550 and 700 tons equivalent. They were a scoutship, warship and transport. Sensor readings indicated their shields were inferior to ours and the only ship which might give us trouble would be the warship. We left peacefully. In trying to figure out why they were so hostile towards us; T''Larra pointed out the shields and weapons were raised in all situations where as only their shields were raised. We lowered our defences and went about our business. 128, 125; Red Star; Three Planets - Innermost are rock worlds and outermost was a world with some kind of liquid. The planets orbited unusually close; so we figured we''d give a closer look. We encounterd alien ships before we got to far into the system. They raised their shields the minute we encounterd them; scans showed it was the Veloxi. We went to hail them and they were a bit more pleasant than before. Rather than any formalities, I asked about alien races almost immediately. They wanted more energy crystals to which we agreed. We''re not out of fuel - yet; but another 100 encounters in our investigation and we''ll need to refuel (-cough-). The communicator informed us that the "Uhlek" are further outward (west), much to the happiness of the Veloxi. Further, no Veloxi knows what the "Uhlek" look like. He gave proceeded to tell us about the Numlock and Phlegmak which are now ''dead''. The Veloxi killed them in 3250; he gave a location in the handle of the "Axe" constellation; second planet at 35S x 99E. He failed to give us the planet coordinates. We''ll investigate later. He mentioned the first and second waves coming from the galactic center in the years 3000 and 3400 respectively. He told us about the Gazurtoid; they are squid-like and fanatically stupid. They want to wipe all air-breathers from the galaxy. The "Minstrels" are a race as almost as old as the "Veloxi"; they are harmless and wander space singing ballads. Veloxi think they are strange. The Veloxi have encountered a strange ship that communicates only occasionally. They lowered their shields by this point and gave one final communication. We are now ''best friends'' and that perhaps we would eat together the many slimy nodules the most delicious. I kind of gave a wave and motioned for T''Larra to cut communications. We blasted off without another word and left the Veloxi alone. We didn''t bother investigating the system. Our next stop was the multi-planet system in Mechan territory. We at least now know where they reside. It is about 20-30 sectors distance by our estimate, but they are closer in to about 10 sectors. 4620-02-11:01 - We waited outside of the system; the Mechans intercepted us soon enough. They performed another interrogation. This time I lied. I put on the best award winning act I could muster. They terminated communications. We waited in the same spot for them to intercept us yet again; it took an hour of waiting. Again more lieing. They terminated communications again; we repeatedly hailed them - they finally answered. More lieing. We hit paydirt when they gave us access to their databanks. Immediately, I wanted to know about them. Our findings were this - their mission is to establish the underground colony of "Heaven". They were to be followed by "Group 9" one year later; but they did not arrive. At this point it was obvious they thought "We" were Group 9, and it explained why they hadn''t attacked us. They went on to say they left "Earth" in 3479, sent out by the "Institute" with instructions for standard Noah project procedure. They were given instructions to patrol the area within 8 sectors of the Heaven system, and repel any invaders after Heaven was established. Heaven was initially only marginally habitable and needed to terraform the entire planet and engineer the suitable biota. Since being established, they were attacked at least 14 times; twice they had to retreat underground. Personal Comment: I''m surprised with as weak as they are compared to our single ship that they stand a chance against other ships; but perhaps other ships are as weak as the ones we have encountered up until now. Project Noah was a final attempt by the "Institute" to ensure the survival of "The Empire" and the human species. All Noah colonies are underground for this reason. Heaven supports several hundred thousand colonists; it is the fourth world in the nearby star system. I finally questioned them about "The Empire". They mentioned the first and second waves; which we knew about. At the time of their departure, the Empire had wiped out the Numlox and Phlegmak with an 84% certainty factor. Our presence (my crew''s ship) indicates the Empire survived; at the time of their departure the probability of this was very low. During the wars with the Phlegmak, many worlds of the Empire were destroyed with their "Black Egg" planet bombs. Personal Comment: It explains what might be in our cargo hold. I only looked at T''Larra whom gave me a thoughtful glance. Max had nothing to say - as usual. The entire economy of the Empire was based in endurium with the richest planet being "New Scotland" located in the upsin end of the staff constellation. When the Mechans left, the Empire was divided into many factions. One was headed by "Layton"; Laytonites believed the empire was evil and should die. Layton and his followers are the enemies of Project Noah. The Mechans were explicit that they were their enemies. In 3440, Empire morale was broken when their offensive headquarters at Mardan-2 were destroyed by the Uhlek. The Institute has an underground station on Earth at 12N x 104W. The Empire uses drones called "Nomads" in preliminary explorations; these explorations and drones are used to map out possible colony worlds. We cut communications by this point and sped off. It was finally apparent what we were dealing with. Me and T''Larra had a lot to discuss in the coming evening. In the meantime, we have decided to remian stationary in Mechan territory, just outside of the Heaven system. 03 - Blast to the Past 4620-02-11-06 - Over the next few hours, T''Larra and I had quite a bit to discuss. The Mechans among other things, are simply patroling and defending their territory from any trespassing and invaders. The fact they have mentioned several ''outdated'' life forms, also means that there are going to be some worthwhile artifacts and lost technology to be plundered for sure. This does not explain any flare activity that is occur any anomolies such as flares in stars nearby to Arth. What we did note is that there is alot of alien activity in this area - all Mechan; they routinely patrol the area and perform sweeps about once an hour. They always approach our ship, scan us, and then speed off. They must know who we are; they haven''t opted to comunicate any of the times they have approached. T''Larra and I were both in agreement that the Mechans were ancient; based on what they told us they have databanks going back at least a millenia. It would be wise of us to stay in the area and pump them for as much information as we could. Our tactic would be other races, then any general information, and finally about themselves. To do this, we would remain stationary and wait during their next patrol. On cue, they approached at the turn of the hour, and we hailed them. Our findings follow: The Mechans immediately acknowledge us as Group 9; their friends. Indeed having data back as far as a millenia, they reported that the "Uhlek" moved through the area almost 1017 years ago. Heaven was never found and things resumed as normal after that. Compared to a Mechan ship, Uhlek are many times more powerful; they lost four of their ships to one Uhlek ship in 3540. The "Gazurtoid", whom we know by name only from the "Veloxi", are acquatic creatures that have many tentacles and live in massive colony ships. The Gazurtoid are enemies of the empire; they passed through the Mechan territory following the Uhlek. The Mechans mentioned another race called the "Spemin", they were discovered by the empire in 2675 in system 82, 148. The Spemin were in a pre-techological state and the Empire put much effort into teaching the Spemin their science and technology. All organizations within the Spemin are preceded by "SS" which stands for "The Secret Society of"; the Mechans did not have any further information. One group, "SSSS" or "The Secret Society for Spemin Superiority", gained power and the Spemin attacked the Empire with the very technology that was taught to them. In the year 3000 the Numlox and Phlegmak attacked the Empire; the Spemin begged for protection despite their declaration of war in 2790. Protection was granted, but at the end of the attack the Spemin again turned on the Empire. I cut communication to speak with T''Larra. She just gave me this quizzical expression and I only said one thing, "What a bunch of dicks!". Communication was put back on to the Mechans. The "Second Wave" - inferring that the first was the Phlegmak and Numlox - attacked in the year 3400; again the Spemin asked for protection and this time the Empire didn''t grant it. What did the Spemin do? Being the nice guys they were they allied with the Gazurtoid. Other information on the Spemin included their technological state; their technology is always inferior because they build their ships out of cheap materials and always copy from other races. They are also numerous and breed at a remarkable rate. The Mechans last ran into a Spemin ship in 4410; all it did was threaten them an fled. The Mechans finally mentioned a more familiar race; the "Velox" were discovered in 2300 and the first race ever encountered by the Empire. Between 2300 and 2400 the Human-Velox Treaty was signed and any skirmishes between the two races disipated. The Velox have been in space for many thousands of years; much of the Empire''s technology, including ship design, is modeled after their''s. The Velox have had an isolationist attitude since 3330. The Mechans inferred the Velox are upsin (north) of here; something we already knew. The Mechans finally brought something of interest; they mentioned the "Thrynn"; T''larra''s species. However, until recenty, much like with my own race (Human); the citizens of Arth and company of Interstell only know legends of where our races began. The Mechans filled us in on the reptilian sentient creatures that were discovered in the same system as "The Elowan" in 2770. Now I''ve heard of the Elowan before; they are plant creatures that prefer fanciful things like philosophy as opposed to more complex matters that of the Thrynn. While they are present on Arth, their numbers are fairly rare; they are outnumbered by Humans, Thrynn and Androids. It would seem that the Thrynn and Elowan on Arth are of a different social caste than those found in their home system; the Mechans have informed us that the Elowan were not thought to be sentient at first, due to deprecations of their enemies - whom are none other than the Thrynn. T''Larra just gave me another look; I didn''t ask. More information on the Thrynn reveals that they are interested in matters of import only; they filled Empire positions such as spies. ambassadors and diplomats. The Elowan were quite the opposite; they were creative thinkers that were normally artists, theoretical scientists and otherwise philosophers. Both the Thrynn and Elowan were found in a system, downspin (south) of this location in a K Class star system with just five planets. The Thrynn of a more advanced technology would often attack the Elowan. They didn''t have any information about other races. I finally terminated communications and told T''Larra to hold position. The Mechan ships remained stationary for several minutes and then blasted off from our current location. {Subnote} Did I ever mention what their ships were made of? They are mostly ''iron'', ''magnesium'' and large amounts of the coveted fuel source ''endurium''. Weighing in at 200 tons each, T''Larra reckons Mechan ships could be melted down melted down and turned into a large steel hammer. Not that I condone that or anything. --- 4620-11-02:08 - As it is we know of the general location of many races in this area now. The Velox are north of our present location, the Thrynn and Elowan are further south. No location for the Spemin has been given; they only listed a single star system that they were found in. The Uhlek being more powerful than Mechan ships, were probably best left alone. No mention of the technological state of the Gazurtoid; but if they were following the Uhlek and the Spemin were willing to ally with them, it meant that they were probably pretty powerful. T''Larra and I decided that the Gazurtoid and Uhlek were best left alone; the Mechans said they were both west of this location. We never ran into them west of here, so they must be further out than even Arth. There was no indication of what was further east of here. Yet by indication of the Mechans, the Uhlek and Gazurtoid passed through ''Earth'' nearly a millenia ago. If by any indication that the Old Empire found the Veloxi, Thrynn and Elowan in native systems almost two millenia ago, then it means that Earth should be somewhere west. Max, our Android counterpart interrupted us with something of import - if we are going to do any major traveling to distant systems, it would be wise to mine some minerals on the mineral rich world (closest to the sun) in the Heaven system. We both agreed and that became our next priority. 4620-11-02:09 - We were enroute to the innermost world when a Mechan patrol intercepted us and started to follow us. We were immediately welcomed as "Group 9"; they introduced themselves as "Mechan 9". Good grief. I looked at T''Larra; she looked at me. I mean, even if we did load up, had everything in our favor, and still ran into enemies out there; or worse - died in battle; at least we had one last good conversation amongst friends, right? Max gave no attention to their demeanor. I mean, more questions couldn''t hurt, right? {subnote} At this point I realize I am both talking to myself, as well as anyone that might be reading this in the future. Please forgive my insanity; I only have a reptile and android for crew to keep me company; these other androids, despite their best intentions are kind of creeping me out with their ''friendliness''. --- General information revealed that an "Institute" was convinced of the Empire''s impending doom. This institute was composed of scientists and other intellectuals. The Institute knew of an instability of stars coreward (east). There are numerous references in the Mechan databanks to the "Dead Zone" which IS encroaching; meaning it is slowly overtaking stars surrounding it. When the Mechans left Earth, they were studying "Sol" for any strange radiation emissions. I did not know what "Sol" was; but it was most likely a star. The Mechans did tell us it was in the "Pythagoras Constellation". They did give us a quick get-rich scheme; Earth used to do most of its mining on mineral-rich Mardan-4, which was, also, incidentally, in Pythagoras. Back on the Institute; they had a Starflight research station at the center of the North Pole on Mars. No idea what Mars is; but it must be a planet or a moon of some sort. The first Noah Mission, "Noah 1" failed due to a "Ring Device" malfunction. This device was used to identify continuum fluxes. The Mechans have found evidence of Empire ruins at 28N x 4E on one of the planets in the nearby G class system. They are unable to investigate due to a Veloxi Drone- I looked at T''Larra by this point; she was thinking the same thing I was. We''d be leaving for this area after doing some mineral digging. -it at least explained the weird satellite we found in orbit. The Mechans went on about the politics of the Institute, as well as rehashing some of their information. It wasn''t of interest, so I told T''Larra to cut the comm. I don''t think there is anything else that we can learn from them until we know more about the universe around us. 4620-11-02:13 - We chose to land down at 145,107:1 at coordinates 90W x 43N - just between what appears to be a lake and a lighter terrain area. We do not know if the ship can actually handle the hot temperatures of the planet - but we will find out soon enough. We set down - and sure enough, landed near an outcropping between a lake and lighter terrain. This world is filled with magma lakes, has charred terrain and otherwise doesn''t look to pleasant. Max recommended staying in this area for about an hour to see if there were any signs of hull stress; we routinely monitored the diagnostic equipment. The temperature was slowly increasing; we coul stay here, but not for very long. Max gave us a day at most. The next step was to test out the provisions of the ATV vehicle; we spent twenty minutes behind the inner hatch with the outter hatch open - more temperature increases - faster than in the ship due to the difference in size between the two. We finally exited and waited only ten minutes next to the ship. The temperature was rising at about the same rate; Max gave the all clear and we went to work. We had about twenty-two hours, but I gather our time here is much shorter before we get cooked. [Personal] I do not like cruising with pontoons on a lava lake; that I do not. I''m surprised it didn''t melt.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. 4620-02-12:03 - We have about ten hours; we have explored only a short distance from the ship. We appear to be surrounded by a massive lava ocean. It was hard just seeing what terrain was seperate from above the planet due to the atmosphere. But what we have found is that this planet is different variants of charred landscape, standard desert and dunes, along with lots of red terrain. No idea what causes the terrain to be red - but it seems to be "the planet from hell" to say the least; it goes quite well with the theme of this area - what with the fourth planet being called "Heaven" and all. Of interest was a massive volcano chain with lava everywhere. From sensor readings Max indicated it was hotter than the surrounding regions; it was coming from within the planet''s core as opposed to being directly heated by the star in this system. We sent out a probe - nothing of interest. We set it to autoroam to return to the ship in five hours. I told Max to stay clear of the volcano zone - no telling if the ATV could handle those things if they were volatile. The planet has underground tungsten deposits; they are not numerous, but they are enough and easy to find with our onboard mineral scanner. There are some surface deposites of zinc, but they are few and far between, and more importantly of zero value an therefor of no interest to us. We did find one nickel deposite strangely enough... 4620-02-12:06 - We ran into some strange terrain; I''m not sure what to make of it. It had flowing lava from it; almost like a volcano, but it was more hilled. I assume it was a volcano that didn''t quite turn into a volcano, and instead bathes the area in lava rivers. There is also some more remarkable terrain that resembles mountainous areas; they vary in size; they are mostly red. 4620-02-12:08 - We made one pass across the lava lake for good measure; just to say we did and the fact it might have never been done before by anyone in our recorded history. By early morning we had crossed, but our ATV''s internal temperature was starting to reach critical at nearly 120. We spent a little over ten minutes investigating the terrain when I told Max to turn the ATV around and deliberately run us out of fuel and trigger the Flat Device for an emergency teleport back to the ship. The ship was cooler, but not by much - 103. We prompty blasted off and did a diagnostic of the ship in orbit. 4620-02-12:09 - Nothing. The ship''s ambient temperature returned to normal within twenty minutes once we approached orbit. Our cargo bays are also full. We will investigate the ruins the Mechans mentioned, and will then return to Arth. 4620-02-12:12 - We encountered the Veloxi drone. It hailed us and asked us numbered questions again. I told T''Larra to cut communications, we speed off to the opposite side of the planet and attempted to achieve orbit. We tried to enter orbit again, but it reached us again - we cut communications; it waited awhile and sped off. We tried again and ran into another drone. This time I armed the weapons and raised shields. I told Max to take the helm and set us on a retreat course while I laid homing mines. It started firing on us. I guess I should have scanned first - but its laser blasts looked pretty powerful - they were also pretty quick. All we have is a low-end beam cannon. {Followup} We destroyed one during our next encounter; we wasted minimal fuel, lost about a tenth of our shielding, and picked up some space debris as our reward. We also achieved orbit. Nice! Right then - 28N x 4E. There was nothing here but aggressive thunderstorms; we stunned one lifeform and that was it. Apparently we''ve already logged this planet. The only other planet in this system was probably the location we needed. We set down there. We used a slingshot effect to speed us on our way and out of orbit. We saw a drone attempting to follow us, but it diverted course once we were out of orbit. 4620-02-13:10 - We are in the middle of an earthquake. There are no ruins here and we are stuck in the ship until the quake ends. It isn''t safe to blast off otherwise. 4620-02-13:14 - Blasting off. That wasn''t pleasant. Correction; another just started. !@#$^ {Followup} Eight hours of this shit. Now blasting off. {Subnote} Another quake was starting; this planet is highly volatile. I told T''Larra to man the engines and blast off despite the danger. We made it into orbit without a hitch. The planet was shaking underneath us. I got some video footage for later. Sensors indicated that the planet''s weather an geology was only moderate. Unbelievable. 4620-02-14:01 - We are outside of the system; there is alien presence outside the ship as I write this. I am here to report there is one other star system close by; but it is further in what I assume is Veloxi space. We will deal with the aliens furst, then blast off to that star system to see what is up. {Followup} Veloxi ship; our weapons and shields were armed when the hailed us. We exchanged pleasantries and our normal mission statement; the Velox we communicated with was not too happy we were present. He wanted more of our endurium; moreso than usual. I wasn''t too worried if we had to shoot first and ask questions later - his ship was a simple scoutship. Not that I condone that kind of thing... He terminated communications after making asserting his position and making threats. He sped off and left us alone. Right then! Business elsewhere... 4620-02-14:21 - Writing this in orbit of Arth. The nearby system was a bust. Once we arrived back at Arth, all of our bounty was sold; I purchased another android that I''ve named "Rex" as an inside joke. He will go into cold storage should something happen to Max. I have made T''Larra take more skill classes to round out other skillsets should I become incapable of piloting or become inundated with some other task. Going on the information provided by the Mechans, I''ve decided to forego upgrading the ship''s weapons and only stay with our current set; the Spemin do not exactly scare me, but I cannot be certain either - we have good engines for escape - I think. I have decided to get new armor though, our old hull armor is worse for wear. As a last preventative measure, I have spent all of our funds on endurium; we may need the fuel for an upcoming battle, an escape - or maybe something far worse. If we make it back, it can always be sold. We will be blasting off for the system 82, 148 shortly. I will not be posting any followups for this mission until we make it back. Wish us luck. 4620-02-16:05 - We encountered several Spemin ships in the system of 82, 148. They begged for their lives upon hail; they were doing everything from kissing up to us, to claiming they worshiped us and did anything they could to avoid our wrath. I have no idea why they are doing this. Does it concern relations with the Old Empire? Based on the information they have relayed about themselves and other races; they are lieing about their information; rather their information is misinformation or the Spemin we are running into are misinformed or simply miscommunicating. I''m not sure which. What I did learn is that they do pretend to worship the Veloxi (that raises a flag) and they have tricked the Gazurtoid into thinking they are water breathers. They have managed to get information out of the Gazurtoid about the Uhlek for this reason. Of note is the fact the Uhlek are actually a single race, spread out in space - they have a central mind-ganglion (disgusting!) located at 55,32 - the Spemin indicated it is the life bearing planet. If the planet could be destroyed, the Uhlek would not be able to move. I like the way that sounds - but I do not know if I condone killing an entire species; but the Spemin have also indicated it doesn''t kill them, rather a new mind ganglion must develop. The Spemin have also claimed to be super powerful; they have powerful warships that the Gazurtoid have copied. My scan analysis indicated otherwise. The Spemin also claim that we are friends and want to spread the good word about us. T''Larra finally burst out laughing; Max gave no reaction as usual. I had to put on my best poker face. There was very little information concerning other races and the old Empire; but they did mention other races tend to stay away from them for some reason. They do seem to like guilt tripping us; as we are descendants of the Old Empire, which has seemed to have a distate for them. It is becoming obvious as to why. Of better interest is a secret way into Uhlek space; jump points located at 106, 139; 64, 186; and lastly 35, 186. Apparently only a master Spemin navigator would be able to do such a thing. The Spemin think too highly of themselves. We were given random information (read: rumor) about a "Veloxi Focusing Stone" on the first planet of system 81, 98. For some reason they have chosen not to retrieve it - I''m not sure why. The Spemin mentioned a race called "The Ancients" this we did not know about. This information was further coupled with a device "The Ancients" have built which warps a critically wounded ship out of battle; it is called the "Crystal Pearl". 4620-02-16:08 - We have tried to establish orbit several times over; but we keep running into scoutships or the same scoutship; I am uncertain as to which. While I was trying to come up with a solution the Spemin ship hailed us begging not to destroy them. This is getting annoying! I considered blowing them up, but I don''t condone the behavior. They finally spilled the secret location of their homeworld "82, 148" - this system! - all in an attempt to save their lives. What a bunch of cowards. I finally gave in - I don''t think their species will miss one ship. I told T''Larra to quit laughing on the matter. We finally managed to achieve orbit - indicating it was only one ship. I did a sensor scan with nothing of interest; I told T''Larra to land anyway - we had some mineral digging to do. Our local was 11E x 8S. 4620-02-17:03 - Full cargo bay, blasting off. We''re off to retrieve this "Crystal Pearl" that we''ve heard so much about. It may be useful when working in dangerous territory. {Edit} My bad; there is no location for this thing. We could try the jump into Uhlek space and see what happens; Max has warned against it. T''Larra is feeling lucky. I''m game. We took the warp, so not as to leave empty handed. 4620-02-18:00 - We ended up reversing the coordinates and running into more Spemin ships. While correcting the problem we ended up off course entering an unseen continuum flux; our final destination was 68, 183. We ran into a Minstrel that repeated the same verse. The universe is a busy place. After, we warped back through and proceeded to our destination again. Messed up our coordinates again. This time ended up 65 sectors south-east of Arth. We are a bit further south-east of Mechan territory. If I remember right, this was supposed to be the area of the Thrynn and Elowan. We''ll be investigating since we are here. We do have a main mission to complete once we are done - Uhlek territory. 4620-02-18:05 - Ran into another Nomad probe. It relayed the same data communications as before. This is turning into a waste of time! I set weapons on auto and wasted it - the Old Empire won''t be missing it much anyway. 4620-02-18:07 - We ran into more alien activity; this time weapons were armed and shields raised; turns out we ran into the Elowan. We were outgunned in ships that easily matched ours. I proceeded to be as friendly as possible. It didn''t work; they were unimpressed by T''Larra being onboard - and promptly attacked us. I let Max handle this one. The ensuing battle did not go well - their ships'' sizes, despite being small are not to be underestimated. They managed to drain our shields and started taking shots at our armor. We managed to destroy one of their ships, sabotage the engines of another - but they resorted to sending out random shots while they spiraled out of control; the last ship was simply a matter of time. I am not happy by this turn out of events. The Thrynn are supposed to be in this area. We will investigate further. 4620-02-18:16 - At system 161, 47 we ran into more Elowan. They did not hail us, they scanned us and that was it. They seemed to be more around our ship as a form of security and intimidation. I can only assume relations with the Elowan have been damaged permanently; we may be forced to ally with the Thrynn. More Elowan at 163, 46. We didn''t hail them; they didn''t speak to us. If this little cold standoff between us continues, our shields will regenerate over time. Further south we ran into nothing. We went east after this. 4620-02-19:13 - About twenty sectors east, we ran into a massive ship of about 30,000 tons. What the hell? I mean seriously; what the hell - who in their right minds builds a ship that large? We were in the middle of a nebula and our shields were down - I view this as hostile territory so we blasted out without sticking around to see who it was. Communications soon followed as we fled. Based on descriptions by the Spemin, it was the Gazurtoid. They soon fired at us, but we were already out of shot range. I think it was more as a parting sign of affection more than anything else. We went out pretty deep, about sixty sectors into the eastern areas south-east of Arth, but found nothing. We proceeded to double back. The Thrynn must be in the opposite direction. 4620-02-19:23 - We ran into alien activity near system 144, 22; hopefully it is whom we are looking for. Scanners indicated three vessels; two warships and one scoutship; inferior shields but weapons superior to our own. We hailed them. It was the Thrynn. This came as a relief. I was a bit taken aback by the fact they had scanned our ship and wanted to bargain with us for some Plutonium. Their price? Endurium. I am not going to complain after the attack by the Elowan; we only netted 4.2 units of Endurium; which means they were ripping us off, but all in favor of relations right? The proceeded to try and barter with us for a number of our items in the cargo hold; I refused any and all trades at this point. We had business to attend to. -David out. 05 - The Three Races 4620-02-21:21 - When we finally ran into the aliens we were swarmed by about eight large ships. No sooner could we hail them when bursts were coming from their ships. T''Larra already had the shields up and Max had the engines pushing us away from the encounter. One burst from their ships took about half of our shielding. It was a long chase, but we finally outran them. I should have gotten a scan, but neglected to give the order. I think we''re just glad to be out of there. 4620-02-22:04 - We were well out of range of the continuum flux and otherwise in hostile territory. We chose to hide in the nearby nebula, but there was alien activity in the northwestern most part - we avoided it and chose to hang lower. There were two star systems here; system 33, 6 had rock worlds, but the oxygen planet had violent weather and had fifteen Gs of crushing gravity. System 31, 5 had a single rock world orbiting a red star of all things. I told Max to bring us in close to the star and get a sensor reading - nothing out of the ordinary. The rockworld was also of no interest - save for a methane and HCN atmosphere with chlorine oceans. We had a few decisions to make here. Our shields will not work in a nebula; there is hostile alien activity nearby, and the continuum flux we need to get home and save on fuel is about twenty sectors west of here. There is also a star system out in the open between this nebula and the one we arrived at. If we traverse the original nebula, our shields will be out and if we are attacked, I can only assume what kind of damage we will sustain. Explore in dangerous territory or take the long road home. It was unanimous. Take the long road home. 4620-02-22:16 - Max got the coordinates wrong. We ended up in Spemin space. They had nothing of interest to report so we left them and warped out. 4620-02-22:22 - Never have I been so glad to be home. Me, T''Larra and Max parted ways for some needed ''shore leave''. I had work to do unfortunately before this would happen. I checked the bulletin board system for any new details which might have arisen. Endurium prices were increased on due to colonization efforts; it is now 1,500 MU per cubic meter compared to the original 1,000 MU - my wallet is crying. Arth has lost a ship in system 192, 152 - Arth advises caution, but ships in the area may want to investigate. Operations also has reported that the Thrynn are offering to buy artifacts at inflated rates (!). Operations has advised against doing this, even if it might further relations - we would be sacrificing what we may learn from these ''artifacts in question. I''ll make a note to have the lab here analyze them once we acquire those that are on our agenda. Also, two of the planets our ship logged were suitable for colonization and we were rewarded accordingly. Lastly, and of note - operations has compiled a list of (nearby) fluxes brought back by exploration ships. These are indeed of interest to me. Coordinates as follows: 128, 105 - 146, 112; 126, 87 - 173, 88; 148, 166 - 170, 93; 99, 82 - 118, 107. Our cargo hold did not hold much in the way of profit; just enough to recuperate our fuel costs. At this time we had used half of what we originally purchased for fuel (!#@$). But if these artifacts we will be hunting down are of any indication, there will be plenty of time to do some mineral hunting. There was no needed maintenance to be done on anything in the ship; the ATV checked out, and there were was no new equipment that we needed. Okay, I take that back, we could use those higher end weapons, but they were too expensive for our coughers. --- I spoke with T''Larra and Max on our upcoming mission agenda. We had already gotten pretty far with the Thrynn; this was probably due to T''Larra being present as our communicator and navigator. However, the flipside of that coin is that the Elowan were less than tolerable of her in our crew. In order to get anywhere, T''Larra would need to stay behind on at least one venture to Elowan space. We decided it was best to have the trip to Elowan space as part of the entire excursion - T''Larra would stay behind and complete her training in all five mission critical areas as a crew member. I would be taking over as communicator and navigator. Max would be assigned to engineering as before. Considering the hostilities we encountered near the galactic edge, it would be best to avoid that area (for now). Considering how much fuel we burned through on that and the trip to Thrynn space, it would be advantageous to explore the continuum fluxes that operations had listed. The flux location the Spemin gave into Gazurtoid space would also be on the agenda. Due to the nature of space faring races and encountering them frequently - it may be a good idea to make as many friends as possible. The Elowan are on the list, but we haven''t made any progress with the Velox. This was next on the agenda - the Gazurtoid and Uhlek might also be worth looking into - although I doubt they as enemies of the Old Empire, would be too keen on speaking with their descendants. After stocking up on Endurium, I bid farewell to T''Larra; me and Max would be by ourselves for this one. We blasted off with our first agenda - continuum flux locations that ops mentioned. 4620-02-23:04 we ran into a ship with a mass of 3536 tons; it was composed entirely of rodnium. From the outside of the ship it looked like a giant orb. Closer magnification showed it was composed of many smaller orbs. When it finally communicated with us - we saw only smaller orbs onscreen that looked like the ship itself. They communicated entirely in jumbled binary. Weird. More interesting is the fact their sensor readout showed class seventy-five shields. 4620-02-23:07 - The continuum flux at 126, 87 warped us just ouside of a nebula in Elowan space. Our scanners indicated a ship in some distance; it was Elowan and a small scoutship. Due to the fact we could easily overpower them, we may need to change our plan a bit - relations would be established first - if at all possible. Worst case scenario - we blow them up. What we got up on screen was not what I was expecting. It was something I could describe as having the head of a giant pod, but with red eyes; but it had the trunk of a tree with limbs for arms and leaves on them. Unlike a normal tree, this one was moving. I did my best to start communications for equitable relations in the future. The first thing they asked is if we needed energy. I''m not sure what they meant so I said no. I communicated the fact it was our wish as representatives of Arth to have a long and lasting beneficial relationship between our two races. Max indicated that their shields lowered by this point. I can only say that I was taken aback by how the Elowan onscreen spoke. He spoke of us as being together again, with those so few of our kind (humans, I assume). They must have been allies in the cause of truth, and the search of wisdom. He asked me if this was the way it should be - all I could say is - yes. He finally spoke of the Thrynn and not to betray them (Elowan) for the Thrynn; we would only lose by doing so. I rolled my eyes at Max. I can see where this might be going. I finally dared to ask some information about themselves. There are not many Elowan left; their second homeworld was destroyed by a solar flare. They are also preyed upon by the "cold and relentless Thrynn". Elowan become uprooted when they reach adolesence. When they take to the soil again their heads turn into flowers. One in ever 300 of their members stays rooted and its head turns into a melon-like fruit they call headfruit; the seeds of their future lie here. Headfruit is most dear to the Elowan. The Thrynn also claim it bestows greater intelligence and brings an increase in lifespan - the Thrynn thieve and consume it on the black market. For this reason the Thrynn and Elowan are enemies. Elan is a sacred island world where their young reside; those that are grown do not distrub their meditations of tranquillity. Elan is in the system of 148,63. I did a check later on that star system. The Thrynn spoke of it as a secret-base of operations for the Uhlek. The Elowan never gave the exact planet of Elan, but the Thrynn did - it is the second world. The Thrynn and Elowan were born as a species in the same star system. This system is 129, 33; named Eleran by the Elowan, and Thoss by the Thrynn. The Elowan were born on the second planet, and the Thrynn the fourth. As the conversation turned to the Thrynn and other races, we learned a great deal about the Thrynn that they did not tell us. Their culture does indeed embrace the machine (as they told us), but in September of this year (human year), their star will flare. The Elowan refuse to tell them. The Thrynn have been constant with their attacks against the Elowan ever since the Empire fell and could no longer keep them in check.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. The Veloxi are arrogant with no wisdom concerning the Ancients. Meeting us was also a great surprise - humans were thought exctinct due to the belief (the Elowan had) that all colony worlds of the Empire had been destroyed. The Spemin know very little, and bluster frequently. They can be pampered to appease them; but using force will get the the best results. The Uhlek are the strongest of all races, as well as the Gazurtoid - both whom have fled the wave of flaring stars. The Uhlek have fled longer than any other race; they came from the center of the galaxy and are continuing on as we speak. They move outward to the galaxy edge every ''100 score years''. The Uhlek are like a many-celled organism that is independent from each other, but is also autonomous and one. It''s central mass is deep underground in subterranean caverns. The Gazurtoid have travelled from the galaxy center for so long they have forgotten why they do so. Only that they are on a ''holy crusade''. The Gazurtoid have little to offer and there is nothing to learn from them. Check. Gazurtoid are off the list. The Uhlek only ''speak'' with their weapons. The Elowan believe we would not care for what they have to say. There is a race of wandering creatures called "Minstrels"; they are also known as "Delasa''Alia". They are older than other races in the galaxy. They also do not require a ship to travel in space. No one knows what lies within the interior of their bodies. All that people do know is that they sing of tales of old. The Arth home system (that''s us!); will flare in the last week of the tenth month (last week of October) of this year - or so the Elowan have calculated. Homeworlds of any species should be observed at all times - few races will tolerate a landing - as many species have learned. I guess this means that checking out the homeworlds of these races is not an option. --- I questioned the Elowan about the Old Empire. These were my findings--- Thrynn sold headfruit on the market since the earliest days of the Empire. There existed an Institute (referenced by the Mechans) in the Old Empire that knew more about the Ancients than anyone else. With the fall of the Empire the knowledge was lost. The Elowan also do not know where the Institute''s final resting pace is. The Elowan changed the topic of conversation to the Ancients. --- The Ancient ones no longer exist, but they were the oldest of all races. They come from another galaxy - or so the Minstrel songs say. This is the only record of their existence that we have. However, the Elowan also infured that the Minstrel songs indicate the Ancients lived in terms of millenia, not years. Every race has a different theory about the Ancients; each bit of knowledge is another clue to their nature and the truth. The Elowan do not know if the Ancient ones have survived or not; but they do know they have a horrible legacy that has been left behind. "The Crystal Planet" was left behind to destroy everything that lives. The Elowan have no idea why however. The Crystal Planet unleashes a ''mighty force'' upon approach; only a specific device known by the Institute will stop it. The Elowan have no idea where it is, or what it is for that matter. There is a control nexus on the Crystal Planet where it is known to be weak, but the Elowan have been unsuccessful in bombing it from space. In order to find the control nexus we would need a "Crystal of Cone" created by the Ancients. The Elowan do not know where it is. They did not have much else to say, bid their departure and we were off. --- I finally switched to seeking general information. Report follows--- The Four Seedlings is a constellation in the territory of the Elowan; it is used as a landmark. The four seedlings are "Akteron, Gaal, Iridani and Echt". --- 4620-02-23:14 - We ran into a Gazurtoid ship around a dense concentration of continuum fluxes. We outran them after they introduced themselves as the Gazurtoid and opened fire on us. We explored the ones that weren''t already on our map. We ran into a Minstrel that wanted to sing songs to us - we ignored him and carried on with the mission. We ran into a Nomad Probe after taking the flux at 96, 92. After another flux sent us into a nebula in Gazurtoid space we opened a hail to them; they proceeded to rant to us about the vileness that is air breathers. More interesting is the fact they look like squid. After some ranting they left us and we proceeded on our way. Continuum Flux Report follows--- 4620-02-23:00 - 128, 105 - 146, 112; Mechan Space 4620-02-23:06 - 126, 87 - 173, 88; Elowan Space 4620-02-24:01 - 148, 166 - 170, 93; Veloxi Space to empty space 4620-02-23:16 - 99, 82 - 118, 107; Arth (Human) Space 4620-02-23:19 - 96, 82 - 150, 96; Spemin Space 4620-02-23:22 - 96, 80 - 69, 66; Gazurtoid Space (nebula) 4620-02-24:01 - 97, 77 - 93, 62; (empty) 4620-02-23:15 - 101, 83 - 142, 51; Thrynn Space 4620-02-24-04 - 100, 78 - 61, 131; Nebula (empty) 4620-02-24:18 - The last flux at 148, 166 brought us into Veloxi Space; we learned this after the fact. The flux warps just outside of Elowan territory. At this point our mission was done, so I told Max to bring us through the flux again and back into Veloxi territory. At this point we were going to establish contact with them and hopefully have better relations than our first few encounters. Wish me luck! --- They were not happy to see us. In fact we were trespassing of the "Grand Veloxi Empire". We agreed to pay their tribute. We were immediately asked if we were exploring their space to find energy crystals of the Ancients; I told them ''no''. There interrogation began; we were not part of the Old Empire, so I told them no. This is the truth as far as "Arth" is concerned; we have no affiliation with the Old Empire, save for being a colony world long and forgotten. The Veloxi speaking to me inferred that if we show the proper respect for the charming Veloxi, then everyone is indeed happy as a bivalve mollusk (I assume he means clam). I looked over to Max whom had no suggestions of advice. Further questions in a friendly matter did get the Veloxi to open up a bit though. I asked them for general information. System 175, 94 has a distress call that has been emitting for nearly a millenia. That is the colony ship for the Noah expeditions. Any system of importance to the Veloxi is guarded by a space drone. Drones ask questions which must be answered correctly (!). There is life in system 149, 133; Veloxi explorers find this system interesting. System 149, 133 also has a molten planet with many minerals in the mountainous regions. I know were we''re going after this. The number ''six'' is the perfect number to the Veloxi; it is the sacred number of the ancients. But there is also the fact the Veloxi have six legs. (ugh!) I asked about the ancients. The Veloxi said there is a "Great Egg" at 192, 152 made by them. It apparently looks like a giant Veloxi Egg. "The Most Magnificent Hexagon" on the sacred planet of Sphexi is a sign from the Ancients to Veloxi descendants. There is a small egg there and it is the most sacred of Veloxi possessions. The Most Magnificent Hexagon is a sign to Veloxi from the Ancients about the "Holy Number 6"; the most perfect of all numbers - naturally because the Veloxi are the only race with six legs. I would have puked if I could at this point. The Veloxi and Ancients are clearly related due to the fact they are a powerful race. I changed the topic to the Old Empire. Perhaps this was a mistake - The Veloxi are very happy the Old Empire was wiped up due to ''scoundrel activity too naughty''. I had to stifle my laughter at how they said it. The Empire used colonizing drones that collected data on planets; they still come around Veloxi space and annoy the Veloxi to no end. During the "First Wave" (in 3120) the Veloxi and Empire had a pact to fight the first wave. This was when the attacks were on the Empire; however, when it changed to the Veloxi the Empire did not help and the Veloxi have been ticked ever since. When the "Second Wave" hit, the Veloxi did not help and the Empire was too weak and was destroyed. The Veloxi were very happy because of this. In the year 3330 the Veloxi and Empire were not cool with each other; an Empire pirate by the name of Harrison attacked a Veloxi Ship and stole the Focusing Stone. The Veloxi seek its return and will be ''buddy-buddy'' with anyone that finds it. This may be useful. There are ruins of the Old Empire on an ice world (coordinates 34N x 28E) in the bottom most system of the Staff Constellation. This was discovered by an exploration team a very long time ago. There is also a very old Empire Base in Veloxi territory at 28N x 4E on the first planet of the yellow star at 143, 115. This planet is forbidden to the Veloxi (but not to us!). According to the Veloxi, other races are not important - they don''t know the prophecy of the Great Egg. The Veloxi are civilized and know how life inthe galaxy will die. The Veloxi see the Spemin as stupid and cowardly; they also do not taste good. The Elowan and Thrynn are always fighting. The Veloxi had thought all humans were destroyed by the Uhlek and Gazurtoid in the Second Wave. The Uhlek are the strongest race and the Gazurtoid have been following them towards the galactic edge ever since the Second Wave. The Veloxi do not know what the Uhlek look like and they are very happy that they are towards the galaxy''s edge. The Gazurtoid are squids that are fanatically stupid - their legacy is to ''remove all air breathers from the galaxy''. The First Wave was the Numlox and Phlegmak races as they came from the galaxy''s core in the year 3,000. I can only assume it means they were running from the flaring stars. Lastly, the "Minstrels" are strange, but harmless species as old as the Veloxi. The Veloxi gave a location to a Phlegmak base located at 35S x 99E on the second planet in the handle of the Axe Constellation; this was the last battle the Phlegmak and Numlox fought before the Veloxi wiped them out during the First Wave. We will pay this area a visit if we can find it. The Veloxi sometimes see a strange alien ship in the shape of a ball. It communicates occasionaly and it communicates in a funny language. I assume this is the spherical ship (composed of rhodnium) that we saw earlier. They didn''t have anything to say about the ''best of questions'' (about themselves), but happily answered it - they are older than other races and are therefor civilized the most. 06 - Exploration 4620-02-2421 - En route in the current star system (red star, one planet). There is nothing of interest here save for one ice world. If we are lucky it will have life, lots of minerals, and be colonizable. [Update] It was a bust. Our next stop is 149, 133. 4620-02-2502 - En route to 149, 133 we ran into a star system at 150, 148. It has numerous rock worlds along with one gas giant; at least four of the rock worlds are ice worlds; the inner two might be oxygen based. [Update] We ran into the Veloxi in this system. Business as usual; 3 arth crystals, chatter, etc. Max suggested this time we appease their arrogance by pampering them the same way as the Spemin. I will not say what I said to the Veloxi; my disgust with kissing up to an insect is something I don''t think I could ever live down. I will say it won them over through our few encounters in the system. [Update] The gas giant (3rd planet) is of interest due to the fact it has sixteen Gs of gravity. I believe we''ve scanned some ice worlds that are just as heavy. The first planet is a water world with... water. It however has a CH4, NH3 and Argon atmosphere. Very odd. We''ll land on this planet later should the other planets prove to be worthless. The second planet we were unable to achieve orbit in; the Veloxi keep intercepting us and communicating. We finally managed to sneak in a scan; it was an oxygen and nitrogen planet without any water - worthless. We flew on to the remaining planets. All planets turned out to be worthless. We reported back to the water world and did some mineral scavenging. Hard to do when it has only three land masses. 4620-02-2715 - Weather consisted of regular thunder storms; at several points the ATV with hit directly by lightning. I can see several hits to the hull of the ship where it has also been scorched. I had Max do a once over and he says about twenty-five percent of the armor has been weakened. At one point there was at least two earthquakes. I don''t remember the scan having violent weather. In all we spent about two days on this planet scavenging minerals. It''s not that they weren''t plentiful - there was plenty of surface deposits - some sticking out of water. The fact of the mater was this planet''s mineral cache isn''t of that much value - we decided to fill our cargo with mostly cobalt and lead; we found one deposit -ONE- deposite of titanium. I''m sure this won''t fetch even 50k MU back at Arth. We are stopping back at Arth by the way; both for money and to pick up T''Larra. It has been getting lonely on the ship just talking to androids. 4620-02-2721 - Indeed, our cargo cache was about 51k. We have T''Larra back in tow as our navigator and communicator; she''s fresh off the books and ready for some action (and adventure). We''re heading for 149, 133 as I write this. We passed through one star system (red star) at 144, 131 that had nothing in it. Of interest, but at the same time not of interest. 4620-02-2810 - 149, 133 is already interesting from the sensor read out; one gas giant, but five rock worlds - four of which could be life bearing. We know for a fact based on what the Veloxi said that at least one has life on it. Report will follow. Planet Five - Life bearing, very high; mineral content, average. Oxygen and nitrogen planet with water; sadly it is another water world. Also of bad report is the fact it has violent weather and is unsuitable for colonization. Planet Four - Life bearing, medium; mineral content, medium. Oxygen and nitrogen based planet with water. Suitable for colonization. Planet One - High mineral density; molten planet. We loaded up mainly on Tungsten with some light amounts of lead. Should fetch a pretty penny. Planet Six - Oxygen, Nitrogen; Water. No life. Ice world, but can be colonized. 4620-02-3009 - Rather than just head back to Arth, we decided to visit some of the hotspots we''d gotten in our logs. Reports on each follows. --- 4620-02-3012 - 143, 115 - Planet 2; We ran into a Veloxi Drone. It started asking us questions in the form of numbers. Based on communications with the Veloxi, it was obvious the answer was always a multiple of six. It eventually left us alone and let us achieve orbit. We landed at the location specified by the Veloxi, but found nothing. In orbit, I confirmed we''d logged this planet already. 4620-02-3023 - T''Larra has spotted three stars on the map which make up a single line; we assume it is the staff constellation and are heading their now. We ran into a flux at 177, 123 which took us to 217, 80. This is too far off en route and we warped back. The bottom star in the Staff Constellation has three ice worlds. Our only clue is the Old Empire base is on one of these planets. Planet Two - Life bearing, medium; mineral density, medium. We were followed by flying creatures when we left the ship. No idea if they were aggressive, but that wasn''t why we were here. We left them in the dust when we blasted off - the ruins are not here. The planet is incidentally, NH3 and hydrogen based with water. We found no ruins in this system. It must have been a false lead. By this point T''Larra had been studying the map a bit, looking for the handle of an axe like constellation. She found it - 234, 20. We stocked up on fuel earlier and had a flux which could warp us there just a bit quicker - we decided to take it. 232, 40 - 180, 52; 178, 52 - 128, 24; Continuum Flux chain. Warped us to a nearby star at 128, 25. We investigated before warping back through the fluxes and back on course. [Update] The system was worthless. 4620-03-0123 - We arrived at 234, 20 better known as the Axe Handle and proceeded to map the planets. The only planet of interest was the second one which was our destination at any rate. It was almost a small moon, and while it had water according to scans, it looked like a rock world with greenery and nothing else. Odd. We found another Black Egg this time at 35S x 99E. We''ll keep it in storage for now. Checking our logs, the next place with precise location coordinates is for a planet called Koann-3. We are heading there now on a clue from the Thrynn that we can find a Cylindrical Red Device at coordinates 59N and 64W on what I assume is the third planet (based on the name) at system 112, 200. This is actually towards the galactic edge, which has me a bit worried - there were hostilities here, but on the lower end of the galaxy. Wish us luck! We stopped by Arth on the way and sold our booty; more Endurium, but no weapons. I''m seeing a pattern here. 4620-03-0219 - I assume the ships that oppened fire on us are the Uhlek. All I know is we entered the Koann system and en route several ships were suddenly chasing us and letting out streams of bolt like blasts. These ships bore a similar resemblance to those as our encounter at the bottom of the galaxy. We had our shields inactive and were lucky enough our engines were pushing us towards Koann. There is no use crying over spilt milk. Instead, we will outrun them (eventually), hit orbit and leave this system as fast as possible. The Uhlek Mind Ganglion is becoming a tempting target by the day - cripple them!Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. [Update] While they were chasing us, I got a scan of one of their ships. Nearly 5,000 tons. We''re lucky if ours even comes in at 500. That thing must be massive! It doesn''t look very friendly either. I did some checking on damage to the ship - only the engines and hull suffered damage; however, a few more hits and we would have been dead in the water or our hull would have been destroyed. Max and I set to work on repairs while T''Larra piloted the ship. We would embark the minute we landed and do some exploration, find the Cylindrical Red Device and then blast out never to come back to this region again. 112, 200, Planet 3 Koann-3; Life bearing, high; mineral density, average. Unsuitable for colonization due to violent weather. The minute we landed was the minute we were under attack by some weird many tentacled creatures that shoot many projectiles. The ship is further being hit by lightning as I write this. At least one snake like creature is moving towards the ship and three tornadoes are in the distance. If the Mechan''s colony world is Heaven, than this planet is Pure Hell and guarded by the most menacing race in the--!@#$ Earthquake. --- [Update] I''m not sure why the Old Empire used this as an outpost world. Perhaps because no one would think to establish a colony here. Max and T''Larra are readying the ATV. We''re going to take care of the wild life and then secure the Cylindrical Red Device. Our scanners show it is some short distance from the ship, but has been otherwise unobtainable for at least a day by us due to extremely violent weather. 4620-03-0409 - We''re currently outside of the Koann-3 star system near a nebula. No hostiles insight. We''re currently analyzing the artifacts we''ve acquired up until now. The Red Cylinder is of particular interest because despite it''s age, it actually works with our computers. It is used to analyze artifacts at large and otherwise homes in on special technology on a planet. This makes our search just a bit easier. Black Eggs are indeed planet bombs that can destroy an entire world. Think we''ll pay the Uhlek mind world a visit soon (hehehe). The Black Box is absolutely useless. The Flat Device is an emergency teleportation device - but we''ve known this for some time. The Whining Orb seems to scare the Spemin; it otherwise makes them beg for mercy. I''m not sure these devices work the way they do - they just do. Our search continues from here - we will be searching for the Great Egg of the Ancients as the Veloxi describe it. We have a star system location to make our job easier - 192, 156. 4620-03-0417 - Veloxi scoutship. We engaged it. Nothing useful. 4620-03-0421 - We encountered a lone planet in this system; it looks like a small moon. Upon entering orbit, the computer''s alarm sounded due to the outside hull taking on excess heat. I told T''Larra to prepare for a landing, but our computer also appeared to be overheated - for some reason we couldn''t land. I did a sensor scan to see what was up - the planet was made purely out of endurium - the same thing we use as fuel. This is indeed one weird planet and I assume it is the reason one of Interstell''s ships was reported destroyed. Our hull from the outside windows was starting to glow read; we broke orbit and retreated - for now - we''ll be back. This planet is too good of a gold mine to let fail into obscurity. 4620-03-0423 - We''re starting to run low on fuel (under 100 units); we''ll be stopping by the innermost world in the Heaven (Mechan) system to stock up on minerals to sell at Arth. We''ll also stop by Arth for some much needed repairs from our first encounter with the Uhlek. As it is, our next stop is going to put us into their territory. Ultimately we''ll go to find the Tesseract; what it does yet - is a mystery to us. 4620-03-0620 - The Mechans almost didn''t recognize us; it took some questioning on their part before they''d leave us alone. We ran into them again on one of their patrols while in orbit around Heaven. This was due in part to the fact we were scanning the different planets after the first planet proved to be of weak mineral content (zinc and chromium). We opted for the third rock world which netted us an almost full cargo bay of chromium, tungest and prometheum. Sadly, repairs to the ship require aluminum and molybdenum - so we are now breaking orbit to return to Arth. 4620-03-0701 - BBS has an interesting report - Interstell has recieved numerous reports of little to no life east of this location. My ship''s crew cannot confirm, we don''t normally head out that way strangely enough. But what I do remember is that we didn''t find anything of note in the handle of the Axe Constellation. 4620-030703 - Right then, blasting off for the Tesseract''s supposed location. ---We took the continuum flux at 134, 84. This flux''s target point was both in a nebula and a known hostile location. We were already booking it the minute we entered the nebula and our sensors detected alien activity. We entered a nearby star system that did not have any alien activity. We''re using it as a staging point for what to do next. T''Larra recommends we go after the Shimmering Ball which is located in a star system not far from the Tesseract''s supposed location. In the meantime we''re conducting scans of the planets and hoping to mine some minerals. 4620-03-0804 - The second planet (ice world) in this system was of interest so we landed. T''Larra misjudged the descent for this world and we had a hard landing - I paid the price with a bruise. However, we landed near some mountains with a huge stockpile of platinum. Also nearby we found some copper and nickel a little further south. Further west we found more stores of platinum. Our holds are mostly full with platinum, but we''re leaving some storage in our holds incase we run across anything interesting. 4620-030808 - We are proceeding with shields up and weapons armed - this system has alien activity and we are within Uhlek space. We are en route to the fifth planet as specified by the Thrynn. 4620-03-0809 - We were en route to the fourth planet which was on the way to the fifth planet; however, we ran right into the Uhlek. I''m not sure if they were patrolling or not - but their weapons were already firing at us the minute our sensors detected them. T''Larra didn''t have much time to plot a course and chose several random directions until we weren''t getting pummeled by enemy fire. If it wasn''t for our shields - we would be space debris right now. As it stands, as testament to their ship''s strength, three ships managed to rip through our shields, render the bulk of our armor useless and about a third of the ship is in need of repair. T''Larra has navigation and the scanners while we get repairs under way. I will be doing most of the repairs with Max; I feel it is almost my duty as I was pretty useless in not getting any weapons fired at the enemy ships. 4620-03-0811 - Our hull cannot be repaired without molybdenum. When we approached the fourth planet, scanners were inoperable due to battle damage. We''ve landed on the planet as a staging ground for repairs. We also don''t know what minerals are on this planet due to scanner damage. I''ve sent T''Larra out by herself to scan for minerals while the rest of us (Max and myself) conduct repairs. 4620-03-0904 - T''Larra came back with plenty of plutonium, and some trace amounts of antimony; nickel was also an element in the atv. What we have ascertained from our time on this planet is that it is a rockworld that is just about as boring as others - and this is a good thing. We didn''t stay too long and otherwise were up in orbit. We are now in orbit of the fifth world - we do not know anything about it - yet. We''ll be making a careful landing. Of note, is the fact that the Cylindrical Red Device does indeed live up to its function - some coordinates appeared on our computer. How this works exactly, I''m not certain. But the Tesseract should be waiting for us. Wish us luck - we are landing at 48W x 17N. 4620-03-0913 - We landed in the middle of an earthquake; we stayed airborn to wait the worst of it out and then landed after about an hour. We found life on this planet soon after leaving the ship. The Tesseract wasn''t far in the distance. We had at least one hostile lifeform try to attack the ATV; the onboard stunner ended up vaporizing it (pity). Heavy winds also hit the ATV while we did some mineral digging; nothing to note here except for aluminum and cobalt. We had to take our mineral digging short - our cargo is near full and we are in Uhlek space. They strangely have left us alone up until now, but I do not want to push our luck. In orbit I did some quick analysis work of the Tesseract. It emits some kind of field, although I''m not certain as to what. 4620-03-0913 - We managed to get our engines online before we encounterd the Uhlek again. It seems to be the same ships as before - there are three of them. T''Larra had the helm so quick and managed to get us pointed in the other direction under enemy fire. We suffered no damage strangely enough (this time). At this distance they seem to have trouble locking onto us. At this point in time we have never had the chance to stand our ground or turn into the Uhlek''s fire power. This would almost be suicide at this point - their weapons rip through our armor and shields like they were nothing. Our current weapons are pretty weak - a Pulse Cannon can take down some small crafts; and our Tri-Cannon is useful against against much larger ships - it has a large rate of fire. Up until now our few skirmishes resulted in minimal damage with our Tri-Cannon doing most of the work. T''Larra was unimpressed by my lack of confidence and pointed out we''d never tested the Buzz Bombs which we carried on board. What are Buzz Bombs They are a mine which homes in on enemy ships. T''Larra pointed out our Pulse Cannon and Tri-Cannon may be weak, but they are also forward facing - meaning they are useless when fleeing from an attack. Homing weapons of any sort, would easily veer into the path of the enemy while we outran them. An advantage or at least a distraction. [Update] Scanners didn''t work, so I could identify any damage to the two ships we hit, but the homing mines do indeed work. 07 - The Uhlek 4620-03-0915 - En route to the system at 98, 97. There was nothing here. I double checked our logs. Turns out we were looking for the Cross Nexus and a specific flux which would get us to the location we needed to be. Oh boy. 4620-03-0921 - We ran into a Gazurtoid ship. We hailed it, but they opened fire. Our shields and weapons were active - which explains why. There was a flux at 98, 79 - which may have been the actual location we needed. I may have entered it into the log wrong. At any rate, there is a star system at the end of the flux gate at 69, 66. It is also in a nebula. We will be proceeding with caution. Sadly, shields will not work here. 4620-03-1000 - We entered orbit around the planet closest to us. We, however, were intercepted in orbit by three Gazurtoid ships. They opened fire on us and we suffered damage. Our weapons don''t affect them due to them being missile-like in nature. We have no choice but to flee. 4620-03-1001 - We managed to outrun them. More importantly, I completed sensor repairs. Some diagnostic information of the ship reveals the hull need some major repairs. Our engines have some technicalities, but they still work. The comm is inoperable and our shields need repairs. Our shields won''t work in a nebula, so I went about repairs on the engines. [Updates] Need molybdenum to repair the engines - I''m moving onto the comm system next. [Update] The planet we''re in orbit around, does not have anything significant about it. Sensors reveal nothing of interest on this world and the Cylindrical Red Device did not activate. I''m assuming the Gazurtoid were not protecting this planet and it was infact a chance encounter. We''re off to the next few planets to see what comes up. 4620-03-1005 - I think we hit pay dirt. The second planet of this system is an rock planet with an oxygen atmosphere and water hydrosphere. More importantly it is plentiful with life and is otherwise full of minerals. The minerals, are sadly mostly zinc, platinum and nickel based on scans and we already have a full hold (thankfully). We''ll gather some life for study on Arth. (Update) The landing computer triggered some coordinates near 28E x 15N - it is in a shallow region within water - or so we gather. Glad we have pontoon on the ATV! Landing now! 4620-03-1010 - T''Larra saw some ruins in the distance before I had a chance to write the newest log. We went to investigate. Nothing out of the ordinary here. However, in the distance from this ruin was a pyramid like structure. We went to investigate; nothing spectacular - it resembles other ruins of the Ancients. We''re going to do some investigating in the area to see if we can''t find any other ruins and anything of interest. Also - I at first thought this planet only had insect based life. I was wrong. As the second set of ruins presented themselves in the distance, we found a reptile to our rear. We''ve gathered it and a few others as specimens. (Update) We used the ATV a short time, then returned to the ship and got some air time to get a bird''s eye view below us. The ruins we stumbled upon were the only ones. We''re reporting back to Arth for repairs and scans of the newest artifacts we''ve found. First, we will log this planet, and scan for any other useful planets to colonize and log. The Uhlek mind world is our next target. The whole crew has decided on some much needed payback for what they did to us earlier. 4620-03-1103 - The planet we were on has violent weather making it a no go for logging. We did encounter a thunderstorm shortly before we hit orbit, so I assume the calm we saw was the best of it. 4620-03-1109 - My first priority was repairs - they were under 50k MU - I can live with this. While repairs were under way, I stopped by the lab to drop off the Shimmering Ball and Tesseract to have them perform an analysis of them. I''ve bought had had the ship equipped with a twin beam style weapon - it is supposed to create a laser point from the left and right wings of the ship and focuses it at a distance in front of the ship. Should any enemy ships or debris get to close, we can effectively bore into them at a high rate for some damage. Of note, is a conversation with one of the installation crew members turned up something interesting. When discussing Gazurtoid ships and lasers (the primary reason I''ve chosen the Twin Beam) being effective against their shielding - one of the installation technicians indicated that we already had a laser onboard. He pointed to a small duct on the ship which was in fact a Lance that we had installed at an earlier date. I had him double check it while I inspected the interior of the ship. As it turns out, the ship was equipped with it, but it was never installed to the weapon controls. This has been rectified. I''m stocking the ship up on Endurium and we are heading for the Uhlek mind world. I just need to check my logs to find out where it was. It has been awhile. [Update] T''Larra has also indicated the Arth Lab has gotten back to us about the Shimmering Ball and the Tesseract. The Shimmering Ball auto detects and scans any alien ships at a distance and provides information about them (neat!). The Tesseract is supposed to increase ship efficiency; this might have something to do with the field it emits. I''ll have Max perform some diagnostics of the ship''s internals to see what is affected.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. [Update] There is a secret jump into Uhlek space that the Spemin use. It is 106, 139; 65, 186, and then 35, 186. Our goal is to hit the life bearing planet in system 55, 32. 4620-03-1114 - The jump coordinates are unrelated to the mind world of the Uhlek. It took us to the edge of the galaxy - the opposite side of where we first encountered them. This is supposed to be a ''secret jump'' into Uhlek space or so the Spemin have stated. There is a nearby star system, but we are returning in the direction that we came, ASAP. Their mind world first - no sense in taking them on if we can avoid it, right 4620-03-1123 - We are at the appropriate star system. Our intent to scan the planets to finds the life bearing one has been put on standby due to the fact the first ice world we encountered is full of plutonium - a very precious mineral. We will be mining our cargo hold to the gills with it - then proceeding as normal. Is there a concern of the Uhlek in this area Despite the mind world being in this system, there is no alien activity here - or so our sensors say. This is too good an opportunity to pass up. [Update] Useless minerals - tin, tungsten, and a lot of gold. We found one plutonium cache and that was it. Blasting off to the next world. 4620-03-1212 - Found the life bearing planet - it is, surprisingly an ice world. It has a low bio reading, but a high mineral content. It is also an oxygen world, primarily composed of a nitrogen atmosphere with a water hydrosphere. I have a few thoughts on this ice world being a mind world, but supposedly the Uhlek mind exists as as a multi-celled organism beneath the planet''s surface. T''Larra and I both agreed it would be better and too time consuming, to dig for it. Instead we''ll do some investigating, set the Black Egg device for a delayed countdown, and see first hand how destructive these Black Egg devices from the First Wave truly are. It is interesting to note, that a device used to cause destruction against the Old Empire is now being use dto help its descendants. 4620-03-1214 - We found ruins at 38N x 6E. Continuuing to investigate. If we are going to blow up a planet, we might as well extract as much as we can from it. [Update] Ruins at the following coordinates 41N x 36E, 44N x 35E, 48N x 33E, 53N x 30E, 63N x 24E, 77N x 18E, 49N x 32W, 48N x 63W, 55N x 69W, 57N x 68W, 63N x 71W, 65N x 72W, 66N x 73W, 75N x 78W, 65N x 103W, 57N x 99W, 56N x 100W, 48N x 32W, 27N x 10E, 33N x 25W, 34N x 40E, 38N x 6E, 63N x 25E, 54N x 30E, 41N x 37E, 44N x 34E, 48N x 33E, 53N, 30E, , 54N x 56E, 58N x 61E, 69N x 56W, 85N x 45E, 94N x 45E, 83N x46E; [51N x 1W, 50N x 0W, 49N x 0W, 47N x 1E, 46N x 3E] -- bracketed locations were a high concentration of ruins located in a flat area some distance from mountains on the west and hilled regions on the east; [51N x 96W, 49N x 97W, 49N x 95W, 48N x 95W, 47N x 95W, 46N x 94W] -- bracketed locations were a concentrated pairing of ruins in the mountains very close together. [Update] T''Larra wanted to give up on catalogging the ruins; I felt they were of some significance and Max was interested in who they belonged to. I''m glad we kept going, we found some alien books with writings of the Old Empire. They spoke of a constellation at 216, 87 by the name of Pythagoras. I remember this because it has been on my mind for awhile. Pythagoras is where Old Earth is located. There are some important events that Earth ties together. It was seat of the Old Empire and center of culture and government of many of the races we''ve encountered; it was also enemies with the Gazurtoid and the Uhlek. According to reports given to Interstell, there is a region far east that is devoid of any life. Old Earth might be before that region - at least I''m hoping. It would be a pity to find out everything in my species ''home system'' was killed off. What I have, noted, however, is that the systems we have been exploring - mostly west of Arth - have a higher countdown until their stars flare and kill off life in the system. Considering that Old Earth is east of Arth and within that region further out, then it is . Special Notes 34N x 8E had ruins that were mostly intact. Amidst some debris we found many piles of books of alien origin. 58N x 61E We found a newspaper clipping in ruins at 58N x 61E. Amidst piles of alien books, some writing from ''The Old Empire'' - ...The Pythagoras Constellation at 216, 87.... Newspaper - Feb. 8, 3465 - ...The Death of Johnny Beaver marked the extinction of the last animal species other than man on Earth. The environmental protection agency was forced to close down due to the lack of any environment to protect. 4620-03-1421 - We didn''t find any more ruins beyond those listed. We traveled quite abit around the planet trying to locate them. We were going to destroy this world afterall. When asked about the ethics of killing animal life on a planet, along with an entire space faring species - I ask you this - this species destroyed an empire, has probably slaughtered millions before, and will continue to do so since. My crew has no objections, neither do I. It is for the good of all; I do not agree, however, to the deaths of millions of animals. But it is a necessary evil. [Update] We''ve set the device and are returning to our ship. After entering orbit and about an hour on cruise, we noted that the planet was changing to a dull red; our instruments detected an explosion and our scanners indicated there was only debris in that area where it once was. We''re leaving it in the dust as we head towards Arth. We''ll be venturing the Pythagoras system to find Old Earth, as well as Mars, the latter of which has a Ring Device in the northern hemisphere, or so the Thrynn say. We''ll also be looking for Mardan 4. Mardan 4 was supposedly a military outpost of the Old Empire, as well as a planet used for mining due to its high deposits of minerals. 4520-03-1502 - We ran into a Gazurtoid ship as soon as we left the system. Their sensors might have picked up on the planetary explosion. We raised shields just to be safe. They spewed some religions rhetoric about being vile air breathers and left us alone. We continued to Arth. [Update] Bought Endurium; it is being loaded as I write this. 08 - Pythagoras 4520-03-1519 - We''re heading off to Pythagoras - we''ll be using the flux at 126, 87 to give us a headstart and save on fuel expenses. On that note, Max finally returned results from the ship''s diagnostic. He reports that the Tesseract is in fact a device that helps with our engine''s fuel efficiency. Nice! [Update] We encountered an Elowan ship at the end of the flux gate at 173, 88. They weren''t happy T''Larra was on board. We had to make quick work of them when they opened fire. [Update] We detected a flux gate at 180, 87 and took it to do some exploring. It put us all the way up at 237, 153 - which was way off course. Alien activity turned up just west of it - turned out to be a minstrel. There was also a star some distance north-east of the gate. We chose to investigate it - it might have some significance. [Update] Star system is empty. Useless. Moving on. 4620-03-1604 - We found a cluster of stars near the Pythagoras region. The first one we entered had flared. It was a red star with two planets. We picked up some titanium and rhodnium on the innermost planet, so it wasn''t an entire bust. The second planet was rockworld with oxygen and mostly nitrogen atmosphere; it had no water. [Update] There was alien activity closer in the main cluster of stars. It was another spherical ship that communicated in binary. We couldn''t make heads or tails of it. 4620-03-1615 - We entered a yellow star system with three planets. The furthest planet out was an iceworld and had no mineral content that scanners could discern. The innermost world is a small world, almost like a moon; it is of interest in the fact it has water, but it has a flourine and chlorine atmosphere - a great way to suffocate. It''s mineral content is almost non-existent. Second planet also has water in the hydrosphere, but it is on an ice world. The atmosphere is composed of CH4, NH3, Argon - useless for colonization. 4620-03-1621 - We entered a system at 216, 86 - which is close to the coordinates listed in the book we''ve salvaged from the Uhlek planet. One of the planets here is Earth. Closest to our approach is a number of rock worlds; to the opposite side of the system are a number of gas giants. [Update] The fourth planet is a habitable world. It is probably the one we are looking for. It is an oxygen planet, but with a mostly nitrogen atmosphere; it also has a water based hydrosphere. [Update] Upon getting ready to land, the Cylindrical Red Device started to make noises and some coordinates came up on our screen. They pointed to 105W x 15N. Upon landing the Cylindrical Red Device started whirring louder and making chirps as we got closer to the coordinates it pointed to. We found something called the Hypercube according to paperwork next to it. It scans for long distance alien activity and it seems to isolate it on our computer''s maps. Being descendant from the Old Empire has its advantages. [Update] We found an invoice that pointed to a shipment of Iridium to arrive on Mardan 2 HQ located at 56N x 16W. This shipment was to arrive no later than the third day of... - it endsd there. [Update] We also found a log conerning flares coming from Earth''s sun. People were panicking; I don''t blame them. The flares were apparently intensifying. The best guesses by ''them'' were three days on the outside. I assume they mean the surface. There was no date, but a later log entry was dated for 2-28-3480. It describes a surface tempurature of 150 degrees Celsius (translates to 302 Farenheit). The people that were underground (this was a surprise) only stayed alive that long due to the fact they were underground. Not neat, not neat at all. [Update] We found a cornerstone inscription on the ruins - Ben and Anna''s Academy of Independent Thinking [Update] We found ruins on the lower portion of the second contintent south of the equater in the western region of the planet. There was a sign that indicated it was First Church of the Last Laugh. They had a ''sermon'' that day, So far, so what. I don''t know what to make of it. T''Larra said it was of no importance. 4620-03-1703 - Thunderstorms are common on this planet. Lightning shocks have hit our ATV infrequently, but more importantly they have been wreaking havoc with our instruments and our map sensors. Our coordinates are unknown, but we know the ship is to our north-east. 4620-03-1706 - Found the ship. It also appears heavy winds are common on this planet. [Update] Ruins at 39S x 98W. We found a newspaper clipping dated for Jan 28, 3478. In it, an article indicated scientists were expecting a cure for cancer any day... [Update] Ruins at 32N x 117W. Newspaper clipping dated for 3404; it was an ad for homes on the moon of this world. The real estate started at 699,000,000 MU. This came at a catch for being available to senior citizens ages two-hundred and up only. This is all a pipe dream by Arth standards; but adjusted for how we use MU, I doubt very much that 699,000,000MU is what it is worth by Arth standards and uses. A pipe dream none-the-less! [Update] Ruins at 24N x 90W; ancient historical textbook with a reading about primitive societies that would live out fantasies for countless hours in front of two dimensional phosphor screens. Historians believe this marked the downfall of civilization. [Update] Ruins at 75N x 98E; newspaper dated July 1st, 3476 with an article about the emperor of the United States announcing the royal family would be on hand at this year''s 17th centennial celebration that would be held at the capitol in Disneyland. [Update] Ruins at 59N x 6E; newspaper dated April 1st, 3465 - article about representative from CMIS Christian Missionaries in Space. They report the successful conversion of quasi-humanoids in the Omega Sector. They have ''once again'' saved a race from their native cultural depravity.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. [Update] Ruins at 5N x 13W; magazine dated May 3rd, 3450 - article featuring an interview. The donor for the first successful brain transplant, ''George Schmenge'' had little to say.. Amusing. [Update] Ruins at 18S x 8E; newspaper dated March 22, 3477 - government tax hike to go into effect. Effective April, middle income families can expect to pay 260% of their annual income in taxes. Good grief. [Update] Ruins at 28S x 22E; newspaper article about Johnny Beaver as the last animal to die. Seen it in ruins on another planet. Ruins Locations 9N x 101W, 47S x 81W, 39S x 98W, 28N x 118W, 32N x 114W, 24N x 90W, 39N x 91W, 52N x 129W, 75N x 98E, 53N x 63E, 52N x 62E, 59N x 6E, 5N x 13W, 18S x 8E, 28S x 22E.l 4620-03-1900 - We collected some interesting information on Earth; most of it was useless. Mardan 2 was of interest though, and the last star system we have yet to check in Pythagoras is probably where Mardan 2 and Mardan 4 are. Old Earth was not very forgiving to us - we were rocked by winds, hit by thunder storms, lightning was frequent (at least at first); and we had to survive an earthquake or two, all while we saw tornados on occasion in the distance. Despite our sensor reading, this planet has far from ''calm'' weather. 4620-03-1902 - We pulled into orbit around the fourth planet just after 200am. We went to land and the Cylindrical Red Device indicated an artifact was at the North Pole. This planet was Mars. We lowered our shields and disarmed our fuel to conserve our dwindling fuel supply. [Update] Found the Ring Device in some ruins at the north pole on this planet. There was a sign that read Starflight Navigational Research Station. We got lost at least once. We didn''t find any other ruins on this world and blasted off for the inner two rock worlds. 4620-03-1918 - We''re now heading out to the remaining planets which are all gas giants. 0 Star, Hydrogen, Helium; 66.6G (Sol) Inferno to Inferno; Extremely Violent Weather; Predominant Surface Plasma Atmospheric Density None; Mass 4x10(24) Tons 1 Flourine Compounds, Hydrosphere Metal Compounds; 0.7G, Zinc, Plutonium, Copper Inferno to Inferno, Moderate Weather, Predominant Surface Rock Atmosphere Density Thin; 4x10(22) Tons 2 No Atmosphere; Hydrosphere Chlorine Compounds; 1.7G, Tin, Silver, Aluminum Searing to Inferno, Moderate Weather, Predominant Surface Rock Atmosphere Density Moderate, Mass 1x10(23) Tons 3 Nitrogen, Oxygen; Water; 1.0G, Promethium, Mercury, Chromium (Earth) Arctic to Tropical, Calm Weather, Predominant Surface Liquid, Atmosphere Density Moderate; Mass 6x10(22) Tons 4 No Atmosphere; 0.7G, Methanol, Ethanol Hydrosphere; Aluminum, Chromium, Rhodnium (Mars) Temperate to Searing, Calm Weather, Predominant Surface Rock, Atmosphere Density None; Mass 4x10(22) Tons 5 NH3, Hydrogen; Hydrosphere Ammonia Compounds; 29.8G, Lead, Magnesium, Copper Arctic to Tropical, Extremely Violent Weather, Predominant Surface Gas Atmospheric Density Very Thick, Mass 1x10(24) 6 Methan, HCN; Hydrosphere Ammonia Compounds; 29.8G, Iron, Molybdenum, Aluminum Sub-Arctic to Temperate, Extremely Violent Weather, Predominant Surface Gas Atmospheric Density Thick, Mass 1x10(24) 7 No Atmosphere, Hydrosphere 12.6G, Nitrogen; Nickel, Tungsten, Mercury Sub-Arctic to Arctic, Violent Weather, Predominant Surface Liquid Atmospheric Density None, Mass 7x10(23) Tons 8 No Atmosphere; Hydrosphere Nitrogen; 5.8G, Copper, Iron, Rodnium Sub-Arctic to Sub-Arctic, Violent Weather, Predominant Surface Liquid Atmospheric Density None, Mass 3x10(23) 4620-03-1923 - After an exhausting run of sensor readings and logging, we blasted off for the last star system - Mardan. [Updates] Mardan consists of five rock worlds and one gas giant. At least three of these worlds are ice worlds; the second one looks habitable; it is also Mardan-2. Mardan-4 is also of interest to us. 4620-03-2006 - Mardan-2 does not have an atmosphere. Odd, considering an invoice in one of the Earth ruins said there was a station of sorts here. We are landing at those coordinates... now! [Updates] At 55N x 19W we found ruins. There was a letter requesting researchers at the Mars Polar Station be directed to look into this and... We found a notice also. To all personnel - Earth Base One, at 12N x 104W, is temporarily quarantined due to... Found a request letter asking for mining stations 25 through 158 on planet 4 (Mardan-4) to bring immediate supplies. We found no other ruins and blasted off. 4620-03-2012 - The last planet we encountered was Mardan-4 - it was surprisingly an ice world. Sensor readings showed it was a habitable world so we logged it; more importantly it was rich in Rhodnium, a very high selling mineral. We set our coordinates to land and set to work doing two things - looking for ruins, but most importantly - mining for sweet Rhodnium that will fill our coughers nicely. I can see those weapon upgrades accompanied by a huge cache of Endurium. We did however, land hard and the engines suffered damage. Repairs will begin once we blast off for orbit. [Update] Ruins at 30N x 9E; Newspaper clipping about a tax hike of 260%. Seen it. [Update] We found a sign and some ruins. This was the eighty-second mining station on Mardan-4. [Update] We found a sign and ruins; another mining station, this time marked number two-hundred and forty-four. [Update] Ruins at 37N x 57W; newspaper clipping about the first brain transplant. Locations of Ruins 30N x 9E, 2N x 1W, 49S x 11E, 37N x 57W 4620-03-2120 - We need to cut our exploration short. We have just shy of twenty-two units of Endurium - enough to raise concern about getting back to Arth. We''re blasting off with intent of selling our mineral cache and getting more fuel. 4620-03-2123 - I checked the map to show our general location and noticed strange holographic markings where on it. They were coming from the Hypercube we picked up on Earth. We can''t be bothered with them - for now. The Ring Device was also doing something similar; holographic images I mean. They looked like continuum fluxes and I assume they are due to the fact the lines on the map also joined up some of the markings. Some markings were unmarked. This device will come in handy for later. [Update] Turns out it only took us seven units of Endurium to get back to Arth space. This Tesseract sure is handy! 4620-03-2203 - All three planets we logged were qualified for colonization and we were awarded 117,000 MU for the log report. I saw to it to sell our entire cargo cash - minerals, animals in stasis, and that annoying Black Box that the Thrynn sold us. That last one is absolutely useless. Repairs on the ship commenced as needed. I did not mention that we managed to land hard a second time on Mardan-4 while using the ship to scour the planet for more ruins - our hull suffered damage this time. Total repair cost is 22,000 MU. While ordering for repairs, I had the option to buy and equip the ship with a Photon Torpedo launcher or a Fusion Blaster. I opted for the Fusion Blaster as the Tesseract may make engine fuel economy better, but it is better safe than sorry when exploring different areas of space. After ordering 160 units of Endurium (and making us broke... again), we had two last mysteries on our hands - a space pirate named Harrison and the location of the Four Seedlings. We know from conversations with different races that Harrison had a history on one of the planets in the top star of the staff constellation is. We also know where the staff constellation is. Without knowing the location of the Four Seedlings, our agenda was obvious. 09 - Four Seedlings 4620-03-2206 - We took the continuum flux just north-east of the Arth system. En route to the Staff Constellation the Ring Device picked up two flux gates. 175, 123 - 217, 80 took us very close to Pythagoras - I assume New Scotland and the Staff Constellation were popular destinations for tourists. The second gate at 177, 127 took us to 189, 190; there were two nearby stars that we explored - one was a dead (empty) system and the second had a single rock world that was of no interest. We continued back through the flux in our search for New Scotland. [Updates] The New Scotland System has six rock worlds - three are ice, two appear to have water, and the inner most is probably just a dirtball. Of interest are the third and fourth planets; both have a nitrogen and oxygen atmosphere; but both have crushing gravity - the third has 6.2Gs and the fourth has 12.5Gs. The third world is mostly a liquid world of ammonia oceans and large continents (or are they islands); the fourth planet is an ice world. Both have thick atmospheres. The ice world does have liquid water; but the gravity is too heavy for colonization. The first planet in is also an oxygen world with traces of carbon-dioxide; water is present. Due to extreme heat, we cannot log it or face a heavy fine by Interstell. The last planet we visited turned out to be New Scotland. Due to the atmosphere of flourine and chlorine, I was certain New Scotland might be the innermost world. However, upon setting the landing coordinates - the Cylindrical Red Device kicked in and coordinates were on the map. There were ruins on this world along with an artifact. We are about to enter the atmosphere now. Of note, is that while New Scotland does have a hydrosphere of water, from space there don''t appear to be any oceans - I assume it means the water is limited to lakes, rivers and trace amounts on the surface. 4620-03-2302 - We landed at 49N x 23E, just shy of ruins. The Cylindrical Red Device was chirping and making noises. We noted there was also ruins of the Ancients located about seven sectors to the north-east. We will investigate after investigating the artifact and nearby ruins first. [Update] Picked up a rod-like device. We also found some location listings - 59N x 22E, Base 2 at 54N x 13E, domocile at... and it ended there. The ruins of the ancients had nothing of interest; we did encounter an earthquake on the way. We''re investigating for any ruins now. We found ruins at 53N x 12E. We found a report about Harrison and his base of operations on New Scotland. He was always one step ahead of the people tracking him. They believe he relocated to 44S x 137W on the first planet of 81, 98. They would proceed to... and the report ended there. There were ruins a short distance away, but there was nothing of import there. They did match the secondary base location we found in the location listings from earlier. We did find two more ancient ruins and a number of more modern ones - no Endurium (as usual). We found nothing else of interest and blasted off for the planet Harrison was last believed to be at. 4620-03-2320 - We had a brief scare with an alien encounter. I thought it was the Uhlek - turns out it was the Veloxi. We exchanged some words and then left. We also took this time to investigate the markings on the map created courtesy of the Hypercube. What we investigated I thought would be in Gazurtoid space, but it was in fact in Mechan space. The only thing I can think of is the Hypercube is indicating alien activity on the map; it just scans at an extremely long range. [Update] Confirmed. At the center of the markings on the map, our sensors indicated was at the center of alien activity in the area - at least we confirmed it once we arrived. It was a Gazurtoid ship. 4620-03-2506 - We ended up in the wrong system - we didn''t notice until we didn''t find anything at the coordinates specified for the first planet. This was after we landed at the wrong coordinates the first time around. Moving to the next planet. Space exploration sure has it''s downside! 4620-03-2511 - This system gave us some warm-bearing right away - it doesn''t flare until 391 days from now - to put it another way, that is over a year from now! There is one planet at the inner-most orbit of the red star in this system and an ice world at the far distant endge. It looks weird on the map amongst other things. The inner-most world is closer and it is the one we are here for - so we will investigate this one first, then the second one once we leave the system. [Updates] The first planet has a high amount of life, and is moderate in mineral content. Getting ready to land and our faithful Cylindrical Red Device started chirping. It displayed coordinates on the map at 141W and 45S. We found an Ellipsoid at 45S x 137W. We also had native wildlife attempting to attack us. Due to this planet being high in mineral content - amongst others, rhodnium - we chose to stay and do some mining, risking the wildlife and thunderstorm that was upon us. 4620-03-2706 - T''Larra says scanner equipment on the ship indicates that the Ellipsoid matches the description in our databanks of the Veloxi Focusing Stone that was stolen by Harrison. If so, we may be able to return this with some interesting results from the Veloxi. T''Larra also suffered an injury (mild), due to the local wild-life doing some damage to our ship while we tried to capture and stun them. We logged the planet and then blasted off for the last planet.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. [Updates] The last planet was a bust. Right then, we''re heading to Veloxi space. 4620-03-2713 - We engaged them near system 136, 153 - just outside of a nebula. We were scanned, we hailed them; they did not hesitate in asking if we agreed to hand over their Focusing Stone. They immediately lowered their shields. They, however, were not swayed in their normal behavior - save for they did not say we were trespassing. Their usual interrogation ensued, but they declared us friends after the fact. I assume this Focusing Stone is of so much importance that we could never understand its worth to the Veloxi. We didn''t get much more than we already knew from them at this point; but the captain adressed me as Greatest Buddy. I almost puked once the comm was disabled. T''Larra gave her condolences. We departed for Arth to regroup and discuss where the location of the Four Seedlings could possibly be in this vast galaxy. One thing was for certain - we were NOT going to explore the stars one by one to find it. David out. 4620-03-2800 - Our stores got us enough monentary units (MU) to buy the Photon Torpedo launcher that I''d opted out of at an earlier date. The rest was spent on Endurium as usual. T''Larra and I had a lengthy hour long conversation over lunch. Based on information from the Elowan, we know the Four Seedlings are stars in Elowan space that are also used as a landmark by them. I thought they might be in fairly close proximity together due to their name as opposed to being named in a series (Seedling One, Seedling Two, etc). T''Larra and I were busy for another half-hour looking at the map in front of us. We didn''t find a set of four stars in close proximity. Max was the one to point out there were several nebula in Elowan space and most starlight is blocked out by nebula to begin with - meaning the Four Seedlings could reside within a nebula and otherwise be invisible to us. T''Larra and I agreed - it was also our only lead at this point. We''re resting up for the day and then heading out tomorrow to check out nebula in Elowan space. 4620-03-2904 - Right then; we''re heading to Elowan space. We are avoiding any communications with the Elowan when the time comes. They will not take too kindly to T''Larra being on board. I would rather she was onboard during this and all of our future missions. If the Elowan disagree, well, the ship has a new Photon Torpedo launcher onboard that needs to be tested. David out. 4620-03-2912 - There was only one nebula in Elowan space. There were also only four stars in this nebula; they were in close proximity. These are most likely the Four Seedlings. It may be a bit early, but Max''s suspicion appears to be right. In other news, I''ve been doing some analysis of the Rod Device that we found earlier. It appears to enhance the ship''s laser weapons. We won''t know until we test them. Until then, we are going to search the Four Seedlings for the supposed Institute that the Elowan spoke of. It should be able to wrap up the mystery of flaring stars and the Ancient''s Crystal Planet that the Elowan also spoke of. I''m beginning to think with the nature of the Crystal Planet being able to super heat the ship''s hull and overheat the landing computer, that it is also responsible for the flares. The Sol System (Old Empire Home System) had a flare and it otherwise heated Earth''s exterior tempuratures in excess of 300 degrees Farenheit. Put two and two together; I could be wrong on this though. One begins to think that the Ancients have not left the galaxy, but instead are amongst us as I write this. Time may very well tell. We are now going to check out the Four Seedlings. David out. --- 164, 85 - Planet seven has both below average bio and mineral readings, but that is better than nothing right We''ve apparently logged it also. Planet three is a very large magma world; very rare. Planet two is rare being as it is -also- a medium sized magma world. Planet eight has high bio readings and below average mineral content; it is a non-oxygen world - atmosphere is CH4, NH3 and Argon; water is present. We landed and found ruins at 33N x 56W, but nothing was of interest. This planet has a series of ruins north of the location we found - again, nothing of interest. This system has seven rock worlds; two with bio. 165, 85; One planet, ice world; oxygen and nitrogen base with water; already logged this one. We have apparently been to these star systems in the past. I don''t recall when though. 165, 84 - Planet three is a medium sized magma world. Innermost planet is a magma world the size of a small moon. Planet two is also a magma world the size of a moon. Planet four is the size of a small moon. Planet five is an oxygen and carbon-dioxide based world with an oxygen and hydrogen based hydrosphere. 164, 84; System has three gas giants. --- 3620-03-3022 - With some gas giants to keep us company in the last system we were in a dilemma. The Institute should have had some interesting artifacts that the Cylindrical Red Device would have picked up on. Instead, attempting to land on the suspected world (planet five, 164, 84) turned up nothing. We''ll be breaking the upper atmosphere and surveying the ground from the air. If we find ruins, we''ll know. 4620-04-0220 - We''ve spent about a day searching the fifth planet in star system 165, 84; we figured mostly bodies of water, but found nothing. The Cylindrical Red Device has also not fired off recently. I''m going to check our logs quickly to see if the Mechans didn''t say something about the Institute''s location - I know they mentioned it before. [Update] We have no choice, but to depart and visit with the Mechans. We''ll be stopping by Mardan-4 first to pick up some minerals. I''d like to get some more fuel on board. 4620-04-0401 - Yuck! We found nothing but lead, chromium and trace amounts of plutonium this time. 4620-04-0423 - 100,000 MU. Not bad, but could have been better. We have fuel and the Mechans gave us the location of the Institute. It is located in Akteron-6 at 77S x 66E. We were in the wrong system. 4620-04-0515 - I stand corrected; we landed on the sixth planet of the system we thought was the place we needed to be. The heavy gravity should have been a dead give away - there was nothing there. The planet we suspected had the Institute''s hidden location was indeed correct. Going there now. 10 - The Crystal Planet 4620-04-0600 - We found ruins at the appopriate location; they were just at the base of some mountains, next to a forest with a lake some distance away. The ruins were pretty badly damaged, but we found a few log entries for what we are looking for. On January 1st, 3380 the Institute engaged in something called Project Teleport. This involved teleporting an individual from a specially designed starbase (known as Crystal Base 1) to the surface of the Crystal Planet. Due to the distance of this nature, they could not retrieve the individual. The individual would be sent in with a nuclear explosive. They wanted to stay in contact with the starbase if at all possible. They intended to locate and destroy the control center of the planet. Problems include a lack of sufficient explosive power, teleportation reliability, and amongst other things communications through the magnetic field generated by the Crystal Planet. There was a communication''s log about two years later; it was from the starbase. Fourteen hours transpired after Commander McConnel was sent down. No communication was recieved from him. After twelve hours and eleven minutes from the time of his departure there was an explosion on the planet''s surface. Drones were sent out to test the defenses of the Crystal Planet after the explosion. Another log, dated May 5th of 3386 (six years later), a research council''s findings conclusion were that the only way to destroy the Crystal Planet was with the use of ''three devices''; one of which is the Crystal Orb needed to nullify the magnetic field of the planet. The Velox have it in their possession and it is known to them as the Small Egg. The second device needed is the Crystal Cone, it will identify the location (from orbit) of the control center of the planet. It''s location is 29S x 55W of the first planet in system 20, 198. There was a remark about it being deep in Uhlek space. I don''t think they will be an issue after the planet is destroyed. Another note includes that the Crystal Planet is only vulnerable at the control nexus. Lastly, a bomb of sufficient explosive magnitude is required to destroy the Crystal Planet; it was unknown to the council how much power was needed, but they estimate something in the order of a Gigaton. By this point T''Larra and I knew already what we were going to do. We still had one of the two Black Egg planet bombs in our possession. The first was well used now that we must return to Uhlek space. The Small Egg we may be able to pry the location from the Veloxi now that we have become their ''best alien buddies''. David out. 4620-04-0607 - While attempting to reach the ''secret jump into Uhlek space'' provided by the Spemin; we ran into a Veloxi ship. The time was now. He gave us the location of the small egg; it is at the Most Magnificent Hexagon and is on the planet Sphexi. Sphexi is the first planet of 132, 165. I didn''t ask the location of the Hexagon; the Cylindrical Red Device should take care of that if the Small Egg is indeed an artifact. We bid the Veloxi fairwell and took the jump into Uhlek space. 4620-04-06-23 - The first planet was an NH3 and Hydrogen atmosphere with a water hydrosphere; there was very little water to be seen from space - it looked more like a giant mudball. The Cylindrical Red Device went crazy when we attempted to land. It was pointing to the location we needed to be regardless. 4620-04-0708 - This system is a red star with two water based planets. I''m hoping they can be logged. [Update] The second planet is a water world. We logged it. 4620-04-0717 - We set off a Veloxi drone in orbit; we destroyed it with some quick bursts from our Tri-Cannon. Some scans of this planet indicated it had an abundance of life as well as a high mineral content. We will be spending some time mining for minerals on this planet after acquiring the Crystal Orb. As we attempted to land, the Cylindrical Red Device went nuts (as usual). We landed at the coordinates indicated. [Update] Amidst some ruins of the ancients we found a number of isolated bits of Endurium. We collected it along with the Crystal Orb. I assume the arrangement of the ruins (hexagon) is why it is called The Most Magnificent Hexagon. [Updates] Hostile lifeforms made this a dicey affair. T''Larra and I suffered some minor injuries from them rattling around the ATV; Max as usual is pretty sturdy. We left the planet with a full cargo hold and are returning to Arth to buy more fuel which we are in need of. T''Larra and I are also discussing our plan of attack on the Crystal Planet at 192, 156.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. 4620-04-0816 - About two hundred units of Endurium is in our cargo hold. I replaced our damage armor from our last encounter with the Uhlek. I still can''t believe they are that powerful. I wouldn''t mind their shielding and weapons on our ship! Right then, the Crystal Planet. 4620-04-0903 - Upon entering the system the ship''s computer reminded us again that this system had flared recently. The Crystal Planet loomed in all of its evil as we approached. [Update] We established orbit without incident due to the Crystal Cone onboard. As we were about to land the Crystal Orb shot some coordinates on our landing map. About 39E x 51N is where we need to land. Wish us luck. 4620-04-0906 - We did some exporing of the ruins at this location and found what looked like a well preserved camp. In it we found some used and unused supplies along with a notebook. The notebook was dated for 8-8-3382 and owned by a one Commander McConnel. In it he spoke of the control nexus being visible from the camp (which it was) and the sense of disorientation and diziness he experienced after teleporting. A second entry indicates the electromagnetic field surrounding the Crystal Planet appears to block communications due to the fact he has recieved no communications from Crystal Base 1. The log which he created was intended as a failsafe incase of such an event. In a third entry he set the charges the control center which was a massive ruin of the ancients. He made mention of the ''lumps of Endurium'' which were everywhere. T''Larra and I had made note of them while we explored the area. We didn''t plan on any excavating until we''d done some exploring. In the fourth entry Commander McConnell explains that he had an ''astounding experience'' and seems to have made telepathic contact with the Ancients. They were apparently on the Crystal Planet when he landed; they were indeed ''controlling it''. As of the time of his writing, the charges were set for less than an hour; Commander McConnell only wished he could communicate what he had experienced. Thankfully for him, he did get to almost a millenia after the fact. [Update] T''Larra and I are a bit dumbfounded at what we have been reading in this log. McConnell couldn''t believe it, and neither could we - the ''lumps of Endurium'' are in fact intelligent life - they are the Ancients. McConell mentioned that we have infact spent hundreds of years hunting them to burn for fuel in our ships for interstellar travel. The log continued that their metabolism is so much slower than ours that they exist in an entirely different time framework. He figured they don''t even know that we are sentient. He believes the Crystal Planet served as a link that established contact at all. Regardless, the Crystal Planet was to be their last defense. McConnell couldn''t blame them in the fact that carbon-based life probably seemed like a virus to them. McConnell didn''t blame them for the Crystal Planet, but at the same time pointed out that at this point it was us or them. That was were the log ended. 4620-04-0910 - T''Larra and I had a decision to make at this point. Should we even collect any Endurium at this point. It would be a cruel thing to extract a lifeform from its native environment only to burn it as fuel. However, any life on this planet would be destroyed with it. T''Larra and I decided that in fact yes, it would be better for us to get as much Endurium as possible and grant the Ancients a little bit more time before they died. They would die with the planet anyway, so it didn''t matter. As McConnell had pointed out, it was us or them. [Update] We picked up as much Endurium as we possibly could find and then set the Black Egg for a delayed detonation within the massive ruin that served as the control center. As we were returning to the ship, we experienced an earthquake. I didn''t think it was the Black Egg, but as we broke orbit, we noted an explosion from the contol nexus surface. The planet began to emit several flashes from the surface and began to implode. T''Larra set the engines to maximum burn to get us out of there. 4620-04-1000 - We were Awarded the Interstel Medal of Sublime Achievement by the Citizens of Arth and the stock-holders at Interstell. This award is the highest achievement anyone working for Interstell can achieve. We were also given a 500,000 monentary unit award for our valor and finally thanked for saving everything that they hold dear. The only thoughts that T''Larra and I had was to continue exploring the galaxy; Max suggested that we get a special pass for ''free Endurium'' from Arth. Time will tell if this happens. Until then, the ship is being upgraded with the highly-coveted seemingly powerful (not to mention high-priced) phaser with the award money. At this point in time, I''m not sure if I agree with buying Endurium to use as fuel; however, to continue with our mission we have no choice. Perhaps given enough time we will be able to find another fuel source. Wish us luck as we continue to explore the galaxy; or better still, we are currently are in need of another crewman. If after reading this log, you or anyone you might know is interested in aiding our mission, don''t be hesitate to contact me. Captain David of the ISS Optiplex, signing out for the last time. 4620-04-1000