CAPTAIN ANN CHARTER - PERSONAL LOGS ABOARD THE M.R.N GAIA
EXPEDITIONARY REPORT - APPROACH TO MARS
DATE: 23RD MARCH, 2246
We've just passed through the Asteroid Belt. It took us eight months to get here from the Kuiper Belt. It was supposed to take six. The Sculptors may have left, but a lot of their tech is still up and running, the drones in particular have given us nothing but trouble. We were swarmed a few days back and lost a ship.
Our supplies have gotten so low we've had to start cutting into the surface mission rations, and two extra months on our transit time has taken its toll on the crew. Morale is as low as ever. I myself am beginning to wonder whether this mission even has any chance of success at all. What will we find on the Martian surface? Is it even remotely hospitable? A hundred years ago, Dr. Marian wrote that Earth, Venus, and Mars had been transformed into three blue worlds, equal in life and habitability. Since the Sculptors left however, we have watched from afar as both Venus and Mars drifted in colour once more, and we now face landing on a Martian surface tinted by purplish-blue clouds, oceans, and a land of Neptunian blues.
I can only hope the planet will be kind to us. Humanity simply cannot continue to survive in the far reaches of the system. A hundred years in the Kuiper belt has withered our population — perhaps beyond recovery, and I cannot fathom trying to survive even another decade out there.
Even still, I can only imagine what Sculptor-born horrors may be waiting for us on the Martian surface. If I'm going to die on the planet, then I'll least be glad I was able to finally see a real sky.
EXPEDITIONARY REPORT - TOUCHDOWN ON MARTIAN SURFACE
DATE: 6TH APRIL, 2246
We lost one ship during the landing, watched its altitude suddenly start dropping just before its signal cut out. Other than that, only minor damages to the rest of the fleet. Our old Martian map shows us to have touched down in a forest within a region called the "Tharsis Montes", on first observation it appears to be a very mountainous area, though I cannot confirm this fully until we achieve overhead reconnaissance.
The air is breathable, and compositional analysis shows the make-up to be almost identical to the documented atmosphere of Earth. Soil analysis has proved to be significantly more difficult and thus far is inconclusive.
Both the sky and ground foliage are comprised of various shades of blue and purple. Prescence of animalia has thus far been minimal, with the most significant sighting so far being a flock of birds that scattered during our descent.
I'll be joining one of the scouting parties tomorrow. Given the low rations, we'll need to find a place to set up and get the hydroponics running as soon as possible. It'd be good to get a proper feeling for the local geography too. Nothing has come to kill us yet, but I'd rather be pre-emptively prepared for the possibility that a Sculptor construct comes crashing out of the forest than scrambling for my life when it finally does.
EXPEDITIONARY REPORT - SCOUTING PARTY MID-OP FIELD REPORT
DATE: 7TH APRIL, 2246
Well, it's been pretty clearly established that we've landed on top of a large plateau. One of the scouting parties that set off yesterday managed to reach the edge of the plateau. They were following the distress beacon of the missing ship and found half of it lodged just on the edge of the cliffside, and the other half at the bottom almost two kilometres below. They found the surviving crew huddled up inside — according to them, a fuel line got cut during their descent and they lost half of their thrusters. Apparently the auxiliary lines were ripped during one of our drone encounters during the trip. The team brought them back and they're resting up with the others now. I'll be honest, considering the damage some of our ships took in the past eight months, I'm amazed we only lost one.
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The surface of the plateau itself appears to be relatively flat. After our little lunch break we'll start setting up seismic scanners to try and figure out what's going on beneath us, hopefully there'll be some raw materials we can start thinking about extracting. If we find anything particularly useful then I'm going to propose that we set up camp on top of it, our ships desperately need repairs, and a solid perimeter might help me sleep properly for once.
PERSONAL LOG - 12TH APRIL, 2246
Just as I was starting to get comfortable with our situation here, the seismic scans come in and it turns out we've got a whole cave system under our feet. Not just that, even through the blurry seismic data you can clearly see that nothing about these caves is natural. We've managed to locate a potential entrance on the far side of the plateau. I'll be joining the team that's going to investigate tomorrow. I don't like a single thing about this, but if we're going to have any chance of surviving here then we've got to understand as much about the place as possible, information — even the littlest scraps of it — was always said to be the most valuable thing during the war against the Sculptors, and I see no reason for that to change now.
MISSION LOG - 13TH APRIL, 2246
[BEGIN TRANSCRIPTION]
ANN: Ben get down!
BEN: [AUDIO LOST]
ANN: [OVER GUNFIRE] Pull him outta there!
BEN: My arm! My arm! [SOUND OF TEARING]
DANIEL: [OVER SCREAMING] C'mon buddy, keep it together— hey! Look me in the eyes!
ANN: [OVER GUNFIRE] You got him?
DANIEL: [OVER SCREAMING] Affirmative.
ANN: [GUNFIRE CEASES] Can you walk Ben?
BEN: Gimme a shot first.
DANIEL: Here, last we got.
BEN: [SOUND OF A COMBAT MEDICAL INJECTOR] Alright, lets get out of here.
[END OF TRANSCRIPTION]
Something attacked us on the way. It ripped Ben's arm straight off, though not exactly cleanly. Daniel is patching him up now. No doubt about it, that thing was Sculptor tech. Ben says it looked biomechanical, though I was too busy shooting to notice. It ran off eventually. I'd like to say it took more lead than it would have liked, but its far more likely the thing had something else to attend to — whatever that may be.
We made it to the cave at least. I think we'll camp just outside the entrance for the night and make our way inside tomorrow.
MISSION LOG - 14TH APRIL, 2246
Well, I'm counting us lucky because I can't say I expected our underground anomaly to be human. The old Martian Republic city of Ulysses it would seem, from way back when humanity hadn't figured out radiation shielding so they settled for hollowing out mountains and letting the dirt do that job for them. Still though, I can't act like I'm not impressed at the effort put into the place.
Most of the tech here is too old for us to use, but the materials? Well lets just say the "scrappin' boys" we brought along with us are going to have a very good few months ahead of them. And who knows, maybe with this we'll be able to survive long enough to build our own Martian city. With the air now breathable and a full atmosphere to shield us from the sun's radiation, I'd say maybe its about time we let the old Ulysses finally see the light of day.