---System Statistics---

DISTANCE FROM CORE – 31,022 LY
DISTANCE FROM PHAELAXION – 34,690 LY
PRIMARY STAR – Artelesia, type Orange Giant
NUMBER OF PLANETS – 7
ASTEROID BELTS – 1, orbiting third planet.

Artelesia at a Glance:
Artelesia – type Orange Giant, surface temp 4900ºK (4 Billion Years Old)
Artelesia I – Closest planet to Artelesia (0.4 AU).
Artelesia II – (1.4 AU)
Artelesia  III – Third from Artelesia (3.2 AU), Terrestrial planet, damaged biosphere. Debris ring. (Details below)
Artelesia IV – Average sized Gas Giant (1.1 Jupiters). 12 satellites 15AU from Artelesia.
Artelesia V – Gas Giant, no rings. 20 AU from Artelesia.
Artelesia VI – Gas subGiant. 33 AU from Artelesia.
Artelesia VII – Icy planetoid. 90 AU from Artelesia.

Nearby Interstellar Features:
THE CENTRAL ARMS – The fourth innermost region of Phaera.
THE CANYON OF STARS – gulf of empty space between Central Regions and Outer Arms of Phaera.
LESSER PHEONIX NEBULA – Visible from system, this small nebula is located 5 LY away. It has the appearance of a bird with outstretched wings from a vantage point 20 LY spinward from the system. From Artelesia, it looks like a bright orange anvil.
LOCAL STARS –
Pazzarati (White Giant), Napo’Ca (Orange Dwarf), PSC-NS-88258 (Neutron Star).


Planet Concept:
NAME – Artelesia III
DIAMETER – 12,450km
DISTANCE FROM SUN – 3.2 AU
CORE DENSITY – Average, 27% nickel 73% iron.
GRAVITY – 0.94 standard
MOONS – None.
RINGS – 1, asteroid debris and particulates.

ORBITAL PERIOD (YEAR LENGTH)– 635.1 standard days
ROTATIONAL PERIOD (DAY LENGTH) – 23 standard hours
AXIS ROTATION – 15° (originally 22)
SURFACE TEMPERATURES – -70ºC - 23ºC

ATMOSPHERE –
Pressure at sea level – 1.2 standard atmospheres
18% Oxygen
70% Nitrogen
9% Trace Gases
3% Particulate Dust

ARTELESIA III: A world quarantined – Planetary Concept for Project Phaera

Artelesia is a backwater system on the inner edges of the Illanden Arm. Situated far from common trade routes, it sits in an area devoid of reliable anchor points. As such, Artelesia developed in relative isolation for much of its prehistory. The system was discovered roughly 3000 years ago, by a Heruv prototype vessel, seeking an empty sector of space in which to conduct weapons testing.
The Populated Worlds of the Central Arms are visible from the system. The sector Artelesia borders on is commonly called the "Canyon of Stars", because of the great gulf between the Central Arms and the Outer Arm it resides in.
The most recent survey of the area revealed that an entire civilization had risen, fallen, and rebuilt between the Heruv Consolidation era and the current one. The following passages are excerpts from a Human survey team's reports and personal logs, dated last year.

Records of the Observer Starship “Intervener”, under contract from the Radiance University Xenology Department Cultural Survey, Arthur Talwyn-Smythe commanding.

Arrival in heliosyncronous orbit of Artelesia successfully achieved at 22:17:31. Preliminary sensor sweep of system conducted between 23:00 and 23:15. No anomalies, artifacts or mega-scale engineering detected. Primary is 4.3 billion years old, with a good 6 billion left in it. 7 planets, all benign at this range. Conducting closer survey of each world tomorrow morning. Transferring command authority to Di (Ship’s Artificial Personality Construct sl5-25-812468-01) for the night.
Captain Arthur Talwyn-Smythe recording. – 23:17 Expedition Day 0

Close-range sensor sweep of first two planets uneventful. Di’s starting the burn towards orbit of third. Shields and disrupters are down, to allow probe launches and better cam resolution. Cloak remains intact, just in case. Continuing scans of sector out to 10 LY, no hostile vessels detected.
Tactical Specialist Cora Rodriguez recording – 09:30 Expedition Day 1

There’s some unusual feedback on the tertiary bands. The Q-Inferometrics are all on spec, so it must be local. Something strange lives here. I can feel it.
Sensor Technician Peter Xiang recording – 03:05 Expedition Day 2

There’s a pattern in the static. It cut out as soon as I tried to amplify it, but something was there, I’m sure of it. I’ve asked Di to start recording immediately if they appear again. I don’t want to leave my post, but the day-shift’s here, and I need the sleep.
Sensor Technician Peter Xiang recording – 05:59 Expedition Day 2

I couldn’t sleep. I ran another analysis set from my quarters. Di agrees with me, there is a pattern, emanating through the shallow hyperspatial levels. But she thinks it’s a natural phenomenon, possibly from all the debris in orbit. I couldn’t disagree more. There has to be intelligence at work here. Asteroids just don’t talk to each other.
Sensor Technician Peter Xiang recording – 09:58 Expedition Day 2

Pete came to me with some crazy theory this morning. Apparently he thinks the planet we’re burning towards is inhabited. The local-range sensors haven’t picked up so much as a peep on hypercast, there’s no tanglement eddies, or even radio chatter. I told him to refit the HSS clusters before we arrive, since we don’t need them yet. Should keep him busy enough, and out of my hair. He should leave the science to the scientists, after all.
Chief Science Officer Dr. Martha Bricht recording – 12:36 Expedition Day 2

We arrived in orbit of Artelesia III at 14:03 today. It’s a red and brown globe 12,450km across, with russet sands, burnt vegetation, raging oceans, and an unstable, contaminated atmosphere. It possesses standard gravity, core density, and low mineral wealth. Short lived, violent weather. Dr Bricht says there are ruins on the coastlines of every continent, but no signs of animal life.
Chief Warren tells me the drives are recharged and ready for the trip home.
Captain Arthur Talwyn-Smythe recording. –  17:30 Expedition Day 4

No immediate threats to the ship or crew detected so far. The captain’s authorized me to drop the cloak, and ordered Max to land the ship.
Tactical Specialist Cora Rodriguez recording – 18:14 Expedition Day 4

After dropping their sensor disruption cloak, events preceded rather quickly. A recording of the bridge conversation between 18:22 and 19:01 follows:

[Science officer] Captain, a massive burst of comm chatter just washed over the debris field. Highly complex, extremely strong signals. I can’t localize the source.
[Captain] Is it another ship? Cloaked, like we were?
[Science officer] I don’t think so Sir, mass readings are too diffuse for a ship to be out there. And Cora’s sensors would pick up the power signature long before mine would.
[Captain] Tactical?
[Tactical specialist] I’ve got nothing. Whatever they are, they’re not armed.
[Captain] Launch a probe, full sub-AI control.
[APC sl5-25-812468-01] Launching type 52 probe, autonomous flight control.

Sensors on probe reveal a swarm of biological masses, possibly space-dwelling life forms. Probe intelligence attempts to take a sample. One life form is snared and scanned invasively.

[APC sl5-25-812468-01] Probe signals incoming. Preliminary analysis; space-dwelling pseudo-cephalopod with arthropod-like exoskeleton. Artificial genome sequences identified. Primitive chemical glands secrete biological hypergolic substances. Chemical reaction propulsion. Dense neural structure suggests intelligence. Possible First Contact scenario.
[Captain] Did the probe kill the sampled creature?
[APC sl5-25-812468-01] Yes. Neural activity no longer detected. Sample was frozen post-mortem for retrieval.

[Tactical specialist] Sir, that swarm is moving toward our probe.
[Captain] Do they pose a threat?
[Tactical specialist] Uncertain. The fuel they secrete looks pretty nasty.
[Captain] Tell the probe to raise shields, but don’t do anything. Let’s see what happens.

A group of 23 creatures jet towards the probe, grappling it.

[APC sl5-25-812468-01] Probe reports multiple shield impacts. Shield strength is dropping. The creatures are draining the probe’s energy through the shield emitters. Its shields have collapsed.
[Tactical specialist] That’s impossible! The probe’s backups are designed to kick in before an integrity breach!
[APC sl5-25-812468-01] All power sources were drained simultaneously. No backups were functioning at the time of shield collapse. The probe now reports hull breaches. The creatures are invading its systems, consuming it as they go. They appear to be attracted to energy and basic structural elements. They are eating the probe.
[Tactical specialist] Sir, I think we should leave. Now.
[Captain] Couldn’t agree more. Navigation, take us out of orbit, maximum thrust.
[Science officer] Sensors indicate more of the swarm heading towards us. Communications chatter has increased tenfold. I’d say they know what the probe did to one of them.
[Captain] How fast are they going?
[Science officer] The main swarm is up to 13 kilometers per second now. Our acceleration’s topped out at 10 until we clear the debris ring.
[Pilot] We can jump when we clear the ring. I doubt they can match that.
[APC sl5-25-812468-01] I am registering shield impacts, forward quarter. There are creatures in the debris ahead of us. Shields are degrading.
[Captain] Can we jump yet?
[Pilot] Not safely, the asteroids will affect our course-lock.
[APC sl5-25-812468-01] Shields are almost drained. Reactor core is unstable.
[Captain] Forget the lock, we can use the nearest anchor if we have to. Get us the hell out of here!

The Intervener executed an unbalanced faster-than-light translation at 19:01:22 on Day 4. They emerged in the Canyon of Stars, 94.5 LY from Artelesia III, 0.25 LY from a stable anchor point. With their FTL propulsion burnt out, it took them the next seven months to make contact with another vessel, and be towed back to Solnuova.

Further analysis of the scans taken during the Artelesian Incident revealed some interesting facts. The creatures encountered by the Intervener’s crew were artificially engineered drones designed by the planet’s previous inhabitants. Originally autonomous mining constructs, used to manufacture and operate space vessels, these creatures evolved to the point where they superseded their programming. When their creators tried to exterminate them, their survival instinct (a programmed imperative) led them to bombard the planet’s oceans from space, wiping out any threat to their existence. Tsunamis and earthquakes killed off anyone who survived the impact shockwaves.
With nothing left to do, and no one to serve, the drones continued to reproduce themselves. They eventually consumed the two moons in orbit, leaving a ring of debris and slag behind. After local resources were depleted, the drones became highly competitive, individualistic, and ranvenous. A few decades before the arrival of the Intervener, drones had resorted to cannibalism. The hyperspatial signals detected by technician Xiang were attempts by the drones to extract energy from the fabric of spacetime itself, after all other local ‘food’ sources were depleted, and their numbers had dwindled to a few hundred of the strongest, smartest creatures. The slag could not offer sustenance, the planet below was uninhabitable, and solar cells would not function efficiently due to the dust in the debris ring. The arrival of the Intervener offered the drones a fresh meal. The loss of their comrade to the human probe was of no concern.

Now the threat of Artelesian Drones are known to galactic scholars, the system has been deemed off-limits. General consensus is that the drones will exterminate themselves, now their only choice is to eat each other. A small flotilla of Human and Heruv vessels are scheduled to investigate the system in another 50 years.