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.
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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!
Stolen novel; please report.
[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.
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[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.