Merope: The Eastern Limit
27 Dec 2018Chad VanGaalen
It's morning. Tal is asleep in our quarters. She's breathing a bit less forcefully now, and I'm convinced that she'll wake up feeling more like herself again.
I'm wide awake. Partially due to the sour espresso ration I just forced down, but mostly due to the mesmerizing timeline of the last 12 hours...
STRAYLIGHT SYSTEMS
RECONNAISSANCE LOG
Declassified
SYSTEM: Synuefe RT-Z c16-13
ORBITAL BODY: 1 A
COORDINATES: -50.1277 / 44.2171
TARGET: Foreign planetary installation
ORIGIN: Thargoid
ATTACHED: Imagery
As we prepare for our next expedition, I've been harbouring a growing interest in pushing our fleet's capabilities a bit further. Foreign technology is an obvious choice for doing so, and that starts with developing an understanding of both Thargoid and Guardian development.
CMDR Tal Akira, my first mate, joined me last night on the bridge of Forward Unto Dawn to kick off a reconnaissance mission to Merope, our first of many to come. We determined our destination after poring over the brilliant work done by EDSM's Galacting Mapping project: Synuefe RT-Z c16-13.
Initial descent went uninterrupted, though it did take some time to pinpoint the exact coordinate location of this site in supercruise.
Then we arrived. And it became very clear that this... thing, is very much alive.
Low frequency rumbling, unmistakably organic in character, filled our ears. While we encountered no physical resistance, an obvious flurry of movement was taking place in the caverns below: drones, harvesting planetary resources and ferrying them deeper in to the compound. It's likely that we're only scratching the surface of this installation. It's estimated from our scans that it could run miles underground, but we're unable to verify the extent.
CMDR Akira deployed a GU-97 to capture higher resolution imagery from up close; I maintained a low orbit. Unfortunately, she developed an excruciating migraine due to the ongoing aural emissions coming from the structure. We managed to recover her fighter without issue, and retired her to the crew quarters for rest.
At this point we were exhausted, so I identified a suitable landing zone and we powered down. In the coming days we'll finish system and local scans and compile additional imagery before charting a course back home.
