The Great Brain Tree Expedition
08 Oct 2023Streya Jormagdnir
"Even soldiers need breaks from time to time", another Commander had mused at me once while I bemoaned my sorrows. I thought about it for a time and looked at the Galaxy Map. The Thargoid War seemed to be going well enough, and humanity's forces continued to reclaim lost systems at an accelerating pace. When news of previously undiscovered Guardian ruins came up, I couldn't resist going out to investigate.The news had actually broken earlier via galactic social media. CMDR Marina Oatmeal had stumbled upon a world with many Thargoid signatures, but in fact contained both Guardian Ruins and crashed Thargoid ships. The site heavily resembled previous ancient battlegrounds between the Guardian and Thargoids, and there was even talk of a peaceful enclave of Thargoids. Pilots Federation Commanders rushed their fleet carriers out, creating what felt like a boarding ramp party overnight in the ancient battlegrounds.
My initial entry into the system was in my exobiology Cobra Mk3, but I keep all my ships armed and relatively well-shielded. I checked in with a public-access carrier first before heading down to the ruins. The following days were filled with a combination of mind-blowing awe and intense combat as fellow outlaws had come more so with piracy and murder in mind. Being a lawless anarchy far from the law, I could understand why they had followed the flock out here, but nonetheless I was more compelled to investigate for signs of Salvation hiding in the Guardian Monolith Network.
My friend CMDR Qianas T. Geeq from the medevac routes around Maelstrom Raijin came out to join in the research, so I jumped my carrier out to act as a station. I began speculating that there must be an unknown Guardian Beacon accompanying the Starship Blueprint-bearing datacores found in these newer ruins, if they followed the same architectural trends as "main" Guardian space. Knowing that Brain Trees often can be found near Guardian locations (as it was probably their domestic crop), we set out to look for anything else new.
Never before had I attempted such an intense regional survey, but having a more veteran survey partner helped keep up the steam. While we didn't find any further novel Guardian Ruins, we catalogued 108 systems with previously undocumented Brain Trees! This interstellar corn field mostly sat between the new ruins at Wregoe BU-Y B2-0 and Puppis Dark Region B Sector, in a "sheet" going laterally along the galactic arm. With so many parsecs of Brain Trees, what were the Guardians growing? Is this evidence of an ancient biological weapons program, or proof of the Guardians' reach into the Thargoids' territories?
We sought answers but walked away with more questions, which is typical of good science. As approximately a month began to drag on we even started to take delight in finding things other than Brain Trees, like Notable Stellar Phenomena and other wonderful examples of xenological flora. Why was this region so rich in wonderful sights, yet with no further traces of the Guardians? We did note quite a few crashed Thargoid probes, but those have been found to be ubiquitous in the galaxy by seasoned explorers.
By early October my trigger finger began to grow itchy. News came on GalNet of more focus on studying dangerous Thargoid surface sites by Aegis, so I trekked back to the Bubble. Qianas and I laid down our bookmarks in the Puppis Dark Region B and Col 132 sectors, and we plan to return to the area for future vacations! I hope one of us finds something truly awesome there one day.