TO: General Guild Mining ops, Guild Exploration Division
FROM: John Sanders, mining vessel Carsten Miller
RE: Mining opportunity: Freeport 4 vicinity
We received a curious hail from an artificial intelligence piloted vessel (the AI calls itself "Alice", the vessel itself, a Kusari explorer gunboat called "Sleepyhead"). The vessel in question was familiar to us, we had previously encountered it on a number of occasions, once in the presence of the Colonial fighter pilot Shiro. And more recently in the Colorado system, where it was trying to reactivate an old DSE mining outpost in the Silverton field. Unsuccessfully.
The vessel alerted us to the presence of a cache of Iridium. The prospect was appealing, as to our knowledge the only known source is the far Omicron systems. So we set course for Magellan, and from there ventured into the Kansas system, previously unknown to us.
Arriving in the Kansas system we immediately noticed the binary star's gravity flux had thrown several asteroid belts and nebulae off of the zero plane. Alice her signal was coming from one of the nebulae in the north of the system, well below the zero plane. The AI was engaged in some form of mining using nanobots as minute remote mining drills, or nets. It's hard to describe. Our shipboard computer is unable to replicate this kind of control, but from what we observed, this form of mining is most effective in low yield fields, as it will literally scoop up, capture and solidify particulate matter. Dusts previously thought too fragmented to be effectively mined, could be tapped using this technique. But the computing and transmission capacity involved would require at least a station-type system. It might be something we could test at South Shields, the gas giant would be an excellent test ground. Forwarding all our observations in databurst at the end of this message.
This however was not all we observed. Within the Iridium-rich cloud lay something... that worried me greatly. A massive, but damaged structure. AI Alice identified it as a jumpgate, but inoperable. Well, if it was a jumpgate, I can tell you here and now: Ageria did not build that thing. Nor did anyone else... anyone human that is. There were massive chunks missing from the central ring, and we could detect no energy signature. But then again, the entire thing read to our sensors as a mass of inert material. A derelict borderworlds fighter nearby stuck out more strongly then the entire gate... thing. The thing feels alien in origin. With all those Order prowling about in the Taus, someone might want to give one of them a shout to investigate this gate, to make sure it would not pose a risk to future mining ventures.
Still, all the while we were mining (a second AI vessel soon joined us, with AI Alice training it in the use of nanites for mining) we did not encounter a single hostile vessel. Once the Carsten's bay was full, we did a quick survey of the system. There are two additional jumpholes in this system, one leading towards a naval base, the other towards a desolate system with just a single worthless asteroid field. A sparse darkmatter cloud in the southeast end of the system was unappealing. The southwest part contains a single, potentially inhabitable planet, a vast oceanic world, reminiscant of Kyushu. Traces of Libertine expeditions remain there, most likely they will lay claim to this planet within the next decade. An ice asteroid field is not far from this planet, but considering the abundance of water in the Barrier, it is not of great value.
It is my belief that this system could be of great value to the guild. Mining operations to this Iridium field could be based out of Freeport 6, just one system away. The Bretonian military and the Mollies as well, have shown interest in this material, with over 4000 per unit being offered at both the Belfast and Scarborough facilities in Newcastle. If travelling by jumphole, this is three systems away (5 by lane/gate), so a relatively short route.
The only drawback I suppose is that this material is new to us. We don't have specific tools to gather and process it, and the yields are a bit low. On the upside, the metal is so dense and corrosion resistant, that it will withstand the high energy purging of standard transport plasma weaponry. Specialized mining vessels should not be neccesary until we develop methods to properly process and refine this material in our mining fleet. The material is also rare in this portion of Sirius. Perhaps our trade negotiators could see about specific deals? It'd be easier to mine things locally on-demand then to import this material all the way out of the Omicrons.
A last note about this system. Alice concluded her tour of this system with a rather grim tone. A derelict station, of considerable size. It looks to have been abandoned or destroyed for several decades at least, and not much aside from the station core remains intact. The station shows component parts of Liberty origin. I speculate it was either a pirate or zoner base at some point, 'though no sign of the inhabitants, or who they were, remains.
*Data packet: Observations of AI "nanite" mining, and AI transfer of this knowlege from one unit to the next.*
*****GuildComm Deactivated*****
Wide awake in a world that sleeps, enduring thoughts, enduring scenes. The knowledge of what is yet to come.
From a time when all seems lost, from a dead man to a world, without restraint, unafraid and free.
Mostly retired Discovery member. May still visit from time to time.
