The wreckage lies in a barren desert, adrift in the sands of a dead sea. The hard-packed dirt was once an oasis for fishermen– now it is home to a titanic skeleton and its refugees.
Author: Traveler
Traveler is the pseudonym given to the unknown author(s) of a collection of documents and memorabilia during and after the Second Golden Age of Human Space Exploration. Traveler's Log is an ongoing project to transcribe and archive these documents.
LOG_008_POLYGON
NOTICE ACCESS BY UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED NOTICE > NEW SESSION INITIATED > ENTER HOST NAME: > ████████████ >... > SUBMIT PRIVATE KEY FOR AUTHENTICATION: > █████████████████████████████████████████████████ > AUTHENTICATING WITH PRIVATE KEY... > ... > ... > LOGIN AUTHORIZED > WELCOME USER 1Œ‰)*òˆæ›ÄéRøß4¯–î· > OPENING FILE 19890607_POLYGON_S3_IMG004 > ... > ...
Item No. 012
The exterior of Station “B” illuminated by a billowing cloud of smoke and fire following the criticality incident at Reactor █ at ██████ on ███████, ████████, 19██. Initial report of ██████ casualties increased to ████████ after the total structural collapse of Station “B” and subsequent triggering of ████████████████ at ████████.
Addendum 001-1
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LOG_007_ECLIPSE
Industrial District, Pedja Colony
The industrial complex– steel and concrete and smoke, an urban jungle of thick cables and dizzying heights– rises out of the dusty landscape, shadows thrown into stark relief against the foothills by a reddish glow. As the Red Giant makes its ponderous trek across the sky, so does a neighboring, gaseous titan, a looming darkness racing in its wake to swallow the light.
LOG_006_STATION
The terrain on the twilit 1c is treacherous, mountainous and perpetually blanketed in ice and snow near the surface– and bubbling with molten rock seeping through cracks in the dark valleys below. Several research stations are established across the planet; this one in particular focuses on ice core drilling and magnetometry.
LOG_005_CAPSULE
05.
Artist Unknown
One of several photos from a private collection donated to the Gallery. It seems to mainly consist of popular culture media and references– a personal time capsule of centuries past.
LOG_004_ECHELON
Echelon supersoldier Taiga poses for a recruitment poster.
“The Elites of Echelon”
Quincy Takai,
Published JR-7274-E, 23-10-2977
It’s costly to sustain an interplanetary standing army– thus many world governments turn to private military corporations when conflict boils over. Of these private corporations, some of the top corporations– among them Vanguard, Citadel, and Echelon– have found vast fortunes to be made beyond conventional warfare.
Echelon recruits the cream of the crop, developing those with potential in both combat prowess and charisma into supersoldiers. From day one, Echelon gamifies their soldiers’ performance: each action in training and on the battlefield is assigned an XP value, and as enough XP is earned, unlocks and promotions are granted through this system. On many planets, these supersoldiers are treated as major celebrities, with their battles frequently recorded and broadcast or even livestreamed. The profits from merchandising, external sponsorships, and licensing rights dwarf the money Echelon makes through government contracts.
