<recording audio and transcribing>
Commanding Officer's Log 003
CMDR. Alex Rodriguez
U.T.E. Corvus
0947hrs 28 July, 2463 Earth Standard

So, a lot has happened since my last log. Rose still hasn't had the time to review the sensor logs, so all we know so far is the wormhole from the Atlas Gate destabilized while we were in transit. I'll be including her personal log on what happened once I'm able to read it later today, not that I expect anyone to be reading these.

After we got tossed back into realspace, I was knocked unconscious from a mixture of redout and being thrown bodily across the cabin and head first into a bulkhead. Thankfully Rose was able to manage the ship without me for a while. She ended up using one of the frames to secure me in the engineering bay and perform first aid while trying to arrest our momentum.
The short version from there is that it appears that we crash landed on an unknown Earth-type planet with a full ecosystem of flora and fauna. Nothing sapient has been observed, but we have been kind of occupied as well. We did manage to find a nice clearing on the slopes of a nearby mountain. It gives plenty of elevation for the sensors and daylight for the solar panels once we get them deployed.

As we sit currently, both primary and secondary shield generators are needing to be taken offline and realigned. The stress from reentry at extreme speed knocked them offline, and the tertiary generator I had installed was the only reason we survived. Hilariously enough, Rose landed us in a lake to work as a heat sink from the massive heat output. I never would have thought of that, but she lives in the ship and feels everything that happens to it. Beyond that, we are at under a third fuel capacity at the moment. Between the jump and trying not to die we ended up using the majority of our fuel. The frames are going to be inspecting the main engines while I get the shields back online if possible. From there, we are going to try to return to orbit and head to this system's dwarf star.

We'll be sitting in medium orbit scooping fuel for an estimated seven hours plus minimal Quantum travel time. Rose will be managing the ship while I go over her and the ship data logs. Hopefully we can make some sense of this. On the way back, I'll have one of the frames tossing our small supply of beacons out the airlock as we pass the lagrangian point. The final three beacons will go in orbit at different altitudes. That way we have most of them scanning the system and trying to connect to the UTE network as doubtful as that is. The others will at least give some recon for the planet despite not being designed for that sort of thing. Who knows, we might find a giant cache of minerals.

Lastly, while we are away Rose will have a partition in her personalized frame here on the planet with the last three regular ones. They are going to be setting up the maintenance hood for when we come back. That way the engines will be shielded from the elements and easy to work on. If they get time, they'll toss out a few ultrasonic barriers to keep local wildlife away.

God help me. I don't want to die out here. End log.

<end recording>

Thank god for whoever designed modular everything for starships like the Valiant class. Every major component is easy to access in the field and repair by scavenging non-essential systems if needed. I planned ahead with plenty of spare parts for everything in storage, but if I needed to I could easily take the power linkage from the projectors in my cabin and use them to power the shields. For something so complex, they were designed to be incredibly simple on the inside. The primary shield had melted the power feed connection and shut down, and the secondary blew all its fuses. All in all, easy fixes that we got off way too lucky for. Unfortunately, it looks like the engines were in need of a lot more work than we thought at first. So after we refuel, the Corvus is going to be parked for a good while so the frames can replace or rebuild whatever needs it. With a full tank for the fusion reactor, we should be able to park a good long while with most systems offline or on low power status. Hopefully we won't need to go anywhere in a hurry.

The view from the cockpit windows was beautiful to be honest. For being an utterly alien planet, it looked surprisingly like the northern reaches of the Americas. Ruddy colored stone from the base of the mountain blending into a green field rimmed with that looked eerily like spruce and pine trees. There's no way it could be, but it looked just like it. Shame the scientists couldn't see this, they'd shit a brick over it. The only thing marring the pristine landscape was a growing stack of crates next to the ship and a small cluster of frames led by Rose. I couldn't leave the ship without my helmet on, so it was disconcerting to see someone out there without one on for a moment.

"How's it going out there anyhow? You think you'll be okay setting that up while we are refueling?"

A soft chuckle through the speakers was my only response as she bent over to lift a box that had to easily weigh hundreds of pounds without effort.

"Yeah, I think I can take care of it mom. Since we'll be out of comm range until the beacons get dropped, I'll have to instruct the other frames manually if anything comes up. Kind of hard to network if there's no local network and all. After we get those set up, we should be good for a while at least. The big challenge is making sure we set the landing guide just right. Don't want to land slightly off level and have me fall over you know. I'm a big girl, it might be a challenge to get up if that happened."

I think my laughter at the last bit just egged her on though.

"Oh, well you could just stay here and watch me screw things instead. You'd like that you dirty bastard."

At least I was in good company.

As twilight fell, a single night guard managed to be in the right place at the right time. The stallion had no idea what he was witnessing in the distance. From the slopes of the Foal Mountains, a brightness spread across the terrain. Golden light throwing everything into harsh shadows as it slowly rose before climbing to the heavens with a keening wail. The glow piercing the clouds and making the sky burn for a moment before fading. All that remained in the distance was strange geometric shapes and a baleful green light where the... thing departed from. It would be a hard two days flight but the Princess needed to be aware of this. Ember Glow knew he'd have to stop at the Hollow Shades garrison for the upcoming day, but if he left early he'd reach Canterlot midway through the next night.

Without even thinking twice, the armored stallion took to the air in the hopes of reaching the village before morning. Something unnatural was happening in the forest and it was his job to protect Equestria. Next Chapter: 06. Burning Bright Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 25 Minutes