Captain's Log - September 24, 2023
25 Sep 2023dead_bothan
Captain's Log - September 24, 20231325
The bartender gave up Percival's hiding spot now that his debt is cleared with the Trade Authority. Percival was the scientist that Hadrien, the scientist from Tao Ceti II, wanted me to find to give these tissue samples from a terramorph that was a on settlement 40-50 years too early.
Percival was in the deep hematite mine that I just cleared out. There's a back area that leads to the old Red Devil's HQ. Percival and the bartender go way back as United Colony marines in the Red Devil's division. It's been disbanded since, but the HQ is still hidden away deep in this mine.
Met up with Percival and we're going to go take a closer look at the tissue sample inside the HQ.
1342
Percival determined that the tissue sample matched the same tissue samples from the Londinian attachk during the Colony Wars. He thinks that this means that the terramorphs are hatching much faster than they used to (20 years instead of 80) and that we need to come up with a plan to stave off future attacks that could end up like Londinian all over again.
We met up with Hadrien at the 6 Circle Bar in Cydonia and discussed options. Hadrien used to be a Red Devil marine herself. She and Percival were military researchers on a xeno-warfare project that deployed terramorphs into enemy territory. Things got out of hand and after the Colony Wars ended, all of their research went into the Archives that's sealed and protected by the Cabinet, the highest authority of the UC. We will need to get permission from the Cabinet, and also from the Freestar Collective, and House Va'Ruun to access that research. We're off to New Atlantis to talk to the Cabinet now.
1410
We met with the Cabinet and it was a successful meeting. They agreed to open the archives. However, just as we were discussing the next steps, the whole city went on lock down. Terramorphs were reported to be attacking the Spaceport of New Atlantis. Hadrien and I hightailed it over to help. Sure enough, three Terramorphs were on the rampage. Hadrien, Sarah, and I put the Terramorphs down. The UC Security held the line while we fought them on the landing pads. They're big, but they go down easily with some Starborn powers and a machine gun.
We're returning back to the Cabinet to report on the Terramorphs. Hopefully this will light a fire under everyone's ass to find a solution to this obvious problem.
1423
The whole Cabinet is completely on board now with opening the Archives to get the research data about the Terramorphs and the xeno warfare project from the Colony Wars. We still need to get the passcodes from the Freestar Collective and House Va'Ruun. I've been named Diplomat of Foreign Affairs to handle those conversations. I'm going to talk with the Intersteller Affairs Deputy, Elisabeth McEntyre to get caught up on current diplomatic relations with the two factions. Guess I'm a politician now?
1551
I started by talking with Deputy Radcliffe, the ambassador representative from the Freestar Collective, my home people. The talks went smoothly and she came to agreement fairly quickly. I needed her passcode for the Archive and she led me down to their server room and printed one out from their "Archive Password Generator" machine. I have to laugh at this. Not only was the machine unguarded, but it was in an unlocked server space with no security setup. I feel like anyone could just waltz in there and generated a printed passcode. May need to talk to their security folk to get that machine in a better security posture. Ryujin has a good security program, should refer to them.
Now I need to go find the House Va'Ruun ambassador who has not been seen in a while. Supposedly he is still in the embassy building, but no one has actually seen him or been in that building in a while. Let's see what's going on in there.
1643
I found the ambassador for House Va'Ruun in the embassy building. There was some kind of venemous plant that had taken over multiple levels of the embassy and had driven out all the members. The plant had also corrupted the security turrets and robots so I needed to work my way through that whole mess before I found the ambassador holed up in the basement. He was very agreeable about opening up the Armistice Archives to find the data we need to mitigate these Terramorph attacks. He was also very appreciate of me returning the power to the embassy and for dealing with the corrupted bots. Kind of a hermit, but he gave me a little Va'Ruun history and the passcode for the archive, so I'm happy to have helped.
I retrieved the Terramorph data from the Armstice Archives and gave them to Major Hadrien. She has since been re-activated in the UC Marines and will take the research from here. The Intersteller Affairs Debuty McEntyre was appreciate and impressed by my diplomatic abilities and has fast tracked my UC citizenship! I am now an official United Colonies Citizen. First things first, buy some property! But the Deputy also let me know that there was someone asking for me by name in the UC's secret division down in subsection seven. I'm going to go meet with this person, sounds like they may have some useful information for dealing with the Terramorphs. What secrets are the UC holding?
1942
The person being kept secret down in subsection seven is none other than infamous war criminal, and father/clone father to Hadrien, the former UC Admiral, Vae Victis. He is reported as being dead, but is actually running undercover ops for the UC to find other war criminals from the Colony Wars. He has found the other researchers that worked with Hadrien and Parcival on the xeno warfare project. He will give me their location, but in return I need to take out a war criminal for him. A rogue weapons scientist named Reginald Orlase. He thinks Orlase is hiding near the planet of Etherea in the Wolf System in a place called The Den. I'm going to go talk to Capt Marquez of the Vanguard for more information. Hadrien is still working with the data we collected from the Armstice Archives. We're getting closer to solving this whole situation with these advanced Terremorphs.
2009
Decided to use my newly gained UC citizenship and buy some property in New Atlantis. The only thing available was a crappy little apartment down in the Well. It was 30k credits. Decided I should start somewhere. Home ownership isn't always glamorous. Went to visit and it's above Jake's Bar and there is a patron down there that's constantly arguing with the bartender. Might need to figure something out with those two. Did some decorating, got a bed and a weapons workstation. I need a lot more resources. But I also put in a couch, chair, rugs, and plants. Try to make it a little more homey. Ok, back to finding this war criminal.
2019
Here at The Den. Found Capt Marquez and she gave me coordinates to a ship floating around Etherea. It's a mysterious ship that never responds to hails and never docks. Sounds like my guy. Hanging out down at the bar of The Den and I notice that there is a giant portrait hanging on the wall behind the bar that's a photo of Vae Victis. Weird.
Talked to the bartender. He's a big Vae Victis fan. So, I'm not history buff here but my understanding is that Victis is a war criminal who was executed for war crimes at the end of the Colony Wars. Maybe he was setup? A patsy? Not sure, but seems that's the general understanding. I know Victis is down in section seven and working secretly with the UC to find other war criminals, but I don't think that justifies any war crimes he may have committed. Anyway, this bartender is all hopped up on patriotism and the UC military. He wants me to put some posters up celebrating the career of Vae Victis. Naw man, I ain't about that. Portrait on the wall makes a lot of sense now though.
2108
Found Orlase floating around Etherea. This Starborn ship is super effective and I took out his engines in less than a minute. I intended to board his ship and bring him in for judgement, but as soon as I boarded he took some type of syringe and killed himself before I could get to his cockpit. Shame. These war criminals need to be sentenced for their crimes. I took his ID off his body and checked the ship for supplies before heading back to New Atlantis. Found some contraband and decided to sell it to the Trade Authority back at The Den. Perks of the business.
Reported back to Victis and showed him the ID of Orlase. He was also not pleased about his suicide. But, it was enough. Victis is ensuring that the rest of the researches will help Hadrien and the rest of our team back at the Red Devil's HQ. There's one holdout though that I need to go find. I'm going to check in with Hadrien first before finding the holdout.
Traveled to Red Devil HQ and it's been activated. Full UC Security and services. Nice to see it back to its former glory.