Log # 24 : Short log : Questionable judgement ( on route to Praei sector )
27 Aug 2018(Wettoast) Wanda Fersegi
Not unsettling at all .... A few weeks ago, I was approached by a representative of federal congress inquiring about a flight to the other side of the galactic core, specifically some area known as the Praei sector in the Scutum Centarus arm of the galaxy. I had been aware for a few years now that the Praei sector had been inaccessible due to drives and navigation computers flipping out when attempting to target a system within the sector, but I kept listening anyway. Three quarters of the way through the conversation, what was being said took on more a tone of tin foil conspiracy. With a straight face they claimed that they had some evidence to believe that the reason why navigation computers refuse to lock on to anything within, is that this is some sort of artificially made anomaly. I had to resist the urge to throw both the data slate and the folder at the representative's face. What stopped me from lodging the slate in his throat was the payout. A neat 50 million just to circle around the sector with pay increasing the longer we would have to stay if instructed, and act as a mobile listening post, look for evidence of communication or anything unnatural coming from within.
The very idea that someone was willing to throw 50 million credits at me just to fly them out there means someone got scared by something, or there is extremely compelling evidence of something within that I'm in the dark about . The map of the sector shows huge spherical areas of space mapped out by an earlier expedition called the Aronnax Expedition. Plenty of space to hide an entire civiliza... So with a few day's contemplation behind me, the pickup was arranged for Vo dock in LHS 142 and we set off for deep space. This isn't any sort of hush hush mission, the cartographer sent by federal congress said that this was neither to confirm or deny that this was artificial. I think they summed it up as, not strong enough to confirm anything at all, but enough to warrant investigating. I think deep down we're all hoping this ends up being "deny".
https://www.edsm.net/en/galactic-mapping#2/0/0/25000|restrictedSectors|903
Come to think about it, with humanity's recent encounters with the thargoids, and overwhelming evidence that a race known as the guardians existed long before we were capable of space flight, it's not completely out of the question to expect another space faring race in the galaxy. However what seems to be bothering the cartographer on board and his assistant is that the areas are almost perfectly spherical, and if put side by side they would be the same size. The hours of the day in the crew quarters spanning from lunch to dinner would see these two engrossed with the map of the region's boundaries, starting to go completely off the rails with the assistant's proposition that it was a race that had not only discovered a form of frame shift technology, but also a way to disrupt it. That's when they both started to throw words at each other so complex I swear my vocabulary was melting. Words such as "Von Neumann probe" and "Dyson sphere ". I stopped one of them and inquired if they were on onionhead and " What in the everloving sam sh** was a Von Neumann probe ?". After I got my explanation that basically it was a self replicating machine that kept reproducing itself forever, I left for the bridge more confused then I had been when I walked into the quarters .
While not too much of an obstacle, our flight plan would have us go through a few nebulas with systems that scouts had previously marked for survey, and then Sagittarius A*. Then we would get to circling the Praei sector, perhaps a few months out there if we start to receive evidence of communication or anything else that may be considered significant. I was informed to pay special attention to earth like planets and other temperate planets that border the anomaly, as it is possible that if there is anyone in that bubble, they may be looking to expand. It seems we're already coming up on a previously scouted location recommended for survey. While messing around here, the two tin foil lovers back in the ship can get their equipment ready for when we hit the edges of the Praei sector.
Right, I guess while out here I should start filling in details since the last entry in march, uh... I managed to take down my first few thargoids in a wing effort, the plasma chargers are a huge step up over the standard anti-xeno outfittings, and I'm slowly but surely getting more familiar with blasting bugs. But for the most part, when I'm not looking to pick a fight with a bug or doing cargo runs I'm out in the galaxy, just recently topping 2.5 million light years traveled total. I'll be sure glad to see the bubble again, feels like I haven't seen civilization in a while. I guess I'll be doing another update a week or two after circling the Praei sector.
Wanda N. Fersegi, FSS Ivy Cooper, out.
ooc sidenote : I'd like to thank cmdr maxfaded for replying so often to my spam messages, effectively keeping me from going insane.