Captain's Log - September 23, 2023
24 Sep 2023dead_bothan
Captain's Log - September 23, 20231400
After I became Starborn, I was returned to a new universe. In this universe, I am back to when I was first on Argos and discovered my first artifact. I have a ship and a Starborn suit. I went to the Lodge where everybody was waiting for Barrett to return just like last time. Except this time, the artifact was returned by Vasco, Barrett stayed on Argos, and I had disappeared somewhere in transit. I decided to keep my Starborn identity a secret for now. I rejoined Constellation and Sarah and I went and found another artifact. I'm going to continue helping Constellation and also explore more of this Universe. I've decided to join the UC Vanguard. I'm a Freestar native, but I think I want to get to know the UC a little better.
1454
I've officially joined the UC Vanguard. They were very welcoming. I did a walkthrough of the history of the United Colonies and also did a ship space fight simulation which I got to the second highest level of scoring. I've been assigned a probationary mission of installing some comms equipment on the remote planet Tao Ceti II, which apparently the settlers don't know I'm coming. I've been given some supplies and I'm off to find Tao Ceti II in the Tao Ceti System and complete my first mission.
1506
Arrived at Tao Ceti II. Shit is fucked. The whole settlement appears to have been attacked by something, everyone is dead. There was a researcher in the admin building of the packing plant. She said a terramorph attacked the settlement. She wants a tissue sample to confirm the origin of the terramorph. We also need to restore power to the admin building to see what happened before the attack. Off to do some terramorph hunting.
1523
Using the packing plant's security system, we were able to track and kill the terramorph. I brought tissue samples back to Hadrian, a scientist studying terramorphs and former UC military. She wanted to study the sample but the equipment in the packing plant wasn't sufficient. There's a big issue going on with Terramorphs. Basically, after humans colonize a planet, 60-80 years later terramorphs appear and begin to harass the colony. We've figured out how to defend ourselves, but not until after they've managed to destroy small colonies and even a big city, Londinian during the Settlement Wars. This new issue is that Tao Ceti II has only been colonized for maybe 20 years so a terramorph showing up after only that short period of time is cause for concern. Either someone is weaponizing them, or they are being born a lot lot faster. The current theory is that a seed or egg is being transported by humans to each colony that is undetectable. After 60-80 years, the seed or egg hatches into a monster. If we can study this tissue sample of this terramorph, we can determine its origins and why it is showing up so much faster than before. I'm headed to go find a scientist on Cydonia on Mars and see if he can help. Hadrian will meet me at the bar in Cydonia. First, I need to check back in with the Vanguard Commander to provide an update on this mission and see what he thinks about this current terramorph threat.
1551
Vanguard Commander was surprised about the terramorph attack and looked at Hadrian's record. Apparently she was part of the xeno-weapon project during the Settlement Wars. I've been authorized to track down this scientist on Cydonia and deliver the terramorph tissue sample.
On Cydonia, my first contact is the Trade Authority where the scientist, Percival, worked. The Trade Authority manager, Oktai, said that Percival was in hiding because he went against his work contract and started developing medicine and selling it at low cost than what the Trade Authority was charging. This guy is a fucking saint. The Trade Authority manager wanted me to find him and collect money he owes, but fuck that guy. I'm going to go find Percival and give him the tissue sample. Trade Authority man, bunch of jerks.
1632
I tracked down a bartender who knows about Percival but says he won't come out of hiding until his debt with the Trade Authority is paid off. What's the deal with this guy? Clearly, the Trade Authority operates more like an old school mob than a legitimate business.
I decided to help out some guy with knowledge of a new product made from aqueous and hematite. There's a deep hematite mine about a thousand meters from Cydonia that's run by Space Pirates. If I clear them out and finish some of the research, we can market it to the Trade Authority and collect on credits and clear the debt for Percival.
Cleared the mine and finished the hematite research. Bundled it all up on a slate and sold it to the Trade Authority manager. He gave me a fat stack of credits and cleared Percival's debt. Not a huge fan of giving the Trade Authority another business venture opportunity, but at least we got Percival's debt cleared.
Now I'm back with the bartender to let him know Percival's debt is cleared and hopefully he can point in the right direction to find this guy. Don't people realize the bigger issue here is the terramorph crisis?