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.
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[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.
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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.
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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.