Monolithic [10.26.3302]
27 Oct 2016Milwaki
The last few days have been... how can I put it, somber. I suppose I should mention, to conclude from my last entry, that Selene was rather happy to get her hands on the Painite I brought her, though she would be; over half a million credits worth. She's agreed to assist me in reinforcing the plating and bulkheads on the Corvette, which I'll have her look at in a few weeks when things settle down.To start things off, the Prism system has been under heavy lockdown while the Kahina trial is underway. The media has been foaming at the mouth to get a story out about her, it's nearly impossible to not hear about it. She's been linked to a number of shady organizations: Children of Raxxla, The Dark Wheel. Still, it's hard to pick a side when the opposition is the Empire.
Palin, likely in corroboration with the Feds, since there's been a Farragut stationed over his base for weeks, have discovered a new use for Meta-Alloys, apparently to great affect for combat vessels. Currently in prototype, perhaps I'll pay the Professor a visit and see if I can't be a mule for him.
Then, someone went and discovered this:
Just 300 odd lightyears from Earth, is this... I don't know. Could be a burial ground, map, calendar, town? Located at -128.9212 -31.7347 on planet 1 B of the SYNUEFE XR-H D11-102 system, is this collection of ancient artefacts, urns, totems, caskets: I've seen it all myself, with my own eyes. It's not rumours or stories, it's true.
We keep getting these trickles of life outside our bubble; the crashed ship a few months back, the barnacles, and if you go back far enough, the Martian relic of 2280, which up until now has been myth, but things like this seem to solidify the stories.
The region was swarming with fellow Commanders; some have wild theories, but one that may hold some truth was that The Missing, an easily forgotten group of pioneers, could possibly have built this, albeit with a few liberties.
Starting in 2097, thousands of generational ships left Earth in all directions, searching for new worlds to colonize. That in itself, compared to travel today, seems like quite the dedication from those who chose to leave, knowing they would never reach their destination; to die never knowing those 'what ifs'. Sealing the fates of your unborn as well, to a life aboard man made capsule, a destiny and a prison all-in-one. Then to die, I can only assume, more curious to see what Earth looked like with their own eyes, then their destination. I can kind of sympathize; I was 24 before I saw her myself, it was a long wait, and I wasn't even born there.
No one really knows what happened to all of these ships, most lost comms, and those who didn't could now be a thousand lightyears away; it may be another millennia before we hear from them. Some didn't go that far though, some only planned to travel a few hundred light years. Some probably ended up in systems that didn't harbor life quite as well as they wanted, just like this one; it's pretty hard to say. Collectively, these people are referred to as 'The Missing'. What happened to them, what they may have encountered on their journey, the things they might have seen. Could've been anything.
I sit here now, in Astrid, looking at this... place. It's infuriating to ask yourself the question 'do alien's really exist?' your whole life; wondering the how's, the where's, the when's, and to stare this monument in the face, the answer right in front of you, but as if written on a piece of paper, and then shredded, torched, soaked, and scattered.
I've hired a new hand to help me on my adventures. Her name is Virginia Scott, not sure if there's irony in the name, it's not as if I'm deliberately trying to build a crew named after places from old Earth. Her mother ran with Interpol, the skillsets seem apparent in her as well, but after going through a nasty divorce she hasn't had much opportunity to get work. She seems nice enough, will probably stick around until she gets back on her feet, after that, it's up to her what happens. We've ran a few sorties together already, and she's actually been a massive help both in the Taipan and at the helm of Umbra. Odd to hear myself say that I can trust anyone with the Corvette, but she seems to appreciate her as much as me. At the end of the day that's really all you can ask for.
We'll see where life takes us from here. The galaxy is on the cusp of some major changes, plus hearing the footsteps of another human onboard is starting to make this place feel a little more like real home. Maybe we'll do a movie night.