da Gama has functioned without error. I can honestly say that the ship has flown without exception better than I could have hoped for. On my final stage of data mining in these ruins I experienced "operator error" though. I dropped out of atmospheric flight too early as I approached the first site on planet D2 of SYNUEFE ZR-I B43-10. This was only the first of my experienced on this planet. If I was a bit less of a skeptic I would have said the planet was haunted. Upon closing in for a landing my landing gear failed to deploy and instead the thrusters where sent into a boost. This unexpected boost to speed cause a devastating impact, taking my shields offline and caused significant hull damage. Scanning the site one data package continued to fail though intel showed I should that the setup was correct. The second site housed a similarly "dead" node that I could not access. On approach for landing at the third site my boost misfired for a second time, this time flight assist failed as well, sending da Gama into a careening series of bounces that I only just barely recovered from before completely destroying the ship. da Gama was leaking internal atmosphere from a severely cracked and damaged cockpit during the crash and only a minimal amount of hull structure was left undamaged. Making my final scans I decided to abandon my previous plan of trying to access one final data point to recover the final piece of data for Ram's request.

I reviewed my logs after returning, both crashed were all on me. Perhaps I should switch to decaf nutrition blocks. I hit the boost both times instead of the landing gear, and in a panic the second time I disabled flight assisted instead of cutting the throttle as I intended to do. It was not the ghosts of long dead alien Guardians causing da Gama to misbehave, just fatigue and poor reflexes it seems. da Gama limped back to Felice Dock to a anxiously waiting Ram Tah. Docking was easy and I was glad to be back. 100 million credits richer and awarded the rank of Pioneer.

Colonia I am coming for you next. :D

da Gama is functioning better than I could have hoped. Felicity Farseer is a genius, I think I should send her something nice, my FSD is getting me close to 50ly per jump in da Gama exceeding specs.

I did some information gathering and found some potential locations worth checking for Ram Tah. I had eleven potential systems to check and an itch that needed to be scratched. I checked the SRV and bay I had installed in da Gama and my stores, caffeinated nutrition blocks and cargo hold. Then I left Felice Dock for Synuefe XR-H d11-102. Synuefe XR-H d11-102 seemed to be a good starting place, and after a some searching I found a Guardian ruins dubbed 'Site 1' - Regor western limit. This ruin is well know and had a beacon with information about the site. I was able to obtain several alien artifact. There seem to be six common types of these artifact (Casket, Orb, Relic, Tablet, Totem, Urn) and I quickly realized the difficulty of the task ahead. Each obelisk that is still active requires that I have at least one artifact in the cargo of my SRV, of the six artifacts Ram's algorithm can use two to attempt to accept the data stored in the obelisk... there are over 30 possibilities per active obelisk and no seeming visual cues to what combination may be needed to activate it. It came down to a systematic task of trial and error. Soon the second problem became apparent, different obelisks required different combinations to access but many contained the same data packages as others in the site. The final problem is that my data storage is too small for the volume of data patterns that I discover. I find myself in need of purging repeat pattern data from the obelisks, these are only useful to engineers so perhaps keeping a few may be useful so I only purge the majority of these patterns. Perhaps when I get back I can talk to Felicity and she can aid me in finding someone interested in them.

With the need for a resupply I jumped the 250ly back to Felice Dock, in only six jumps! I refit to a larger cargo rack, I needed at least 12 tons of storage to properly search a site and not have to worry about finding more artifacts at each to use. Relics are the easiest to find and seem to fetch a good price so extra space could be filled with a few of those for a bit of extra.

Ready to try again I had heard of several other locations, and set up for SYNUEFE TP-F B44-0, the rumor was this system was once home to several Guardian settlements. It was 16 jumps away but da Gamma made the 750ly in no time. I was not disappointed, as I scanned the system more than one planet had prospects, one was particularly good with four ruins on it! I landed, it took some time but I was able to activate 18 obelisk with unique information at the first site. The second had 17 more, while the third was only nine. The last site was a bust. I moved on to SYNUEFE LY-I B42-2, the two sites I found on planet C2 yielded twelve more data packets for Ram. From there it has been jumping to near by systems (COL 173 SECTOR AP-Q B21-2, COL 173 SECTOR LY-Q D5-13,VELA DARK REGION KR-W C1-24, and VELA DARK REGION EL-Y D32) for a total of 69 data packets, Ram is pleased with the results so far, I am anxious to find more. The information I have found is interesting. When I finish I may include the finding in my log. I wish I had thought to do this when I was at Zurara.

Hauling Cargo sucks. The tedium of it all it too much for me. AND the pirates that constantly interdict my ship are more an annoyance than a danger, though I have lost more than I like to them.

I've heard rumors and whispers in the pilots lounges. Ancient ruins of unknown origins, and scientific discoveries... the name Meene system comes up often, though most pilots seem to discount all these are unfounded and unreliable. I have and itch though, ever since I flew out to Farsight and then on to the abandoned settlements in Formidine Rift. Ever since I heard the logs from Zurara, a massive ship adrift in the vast reaches, I must go back out and see what very few others have.

That expedition was lucrative, Magellan's data collocation alone was worth almost 100 million credits when I had returned. I tried the mundane life to earn extra for a larger ship with more systems. But a Python isn't what I want to fly. Instead I fit da Gama for a trip, a new Asp Explorer, and went to Meeme, Felice Dock. The rumor is true. Ram Tah heard of my interest and sent me a message, asking I help him find information on a group he calls the Guardians. He has offered me 1 million per data package I find, and an additional 10 million just for returning with any data I can.

He uploaded translation algorithms and software into my computer core and wished me luck. Now I find my self two days out and seeing that the galaxy is much bigger than I had ever guessed.