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 The fact they have mentioned several 'outdated' life forms, also means that there are going to be some worthwhile artifacts and lost technology to be plundered for sure.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.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. 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.