Cesar Aguilar, Logs of the Gallic Expedition

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Cesar Aguilar, head scientist and commanding officer of Apostatas Research Vessel La Diosa, present and on duty.

Currently, the Diosa is on course to Gallic space at best speed, with the intent of leading a weeklong technological expedition, whether through legalized trade, salvage, or otherwise. I intend for this to be a peaceful undertaking, and hopefully our presence will not cause any unwarranted difficulties with the ruling factions.

This log will be where I record any notable findings during this week's tenure.

For now, that will be all. Aguilar out.

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(BEGIN LOG)

One of the first things I wanted to learn about when we made this trip was the workings of a Gallic oil-powered engine, rarely seen outside their space. Luckily we managed to secure a dormant unit from one of the many fighter wrecks sitting in Leeds, along the way to our destination. Whether this is from an actual Navy ship or that of another Gallic faction, I cannot say. The GRN is very not very adept at cleaning the messes they make, contrary to their flamboyant disposition. Unfortunately, while the engine appeared to be completely intact, we simply had no knowledge of how to obtain fuel or operate the bloody thing, and in the meanwhile it had been sitting in our hold collecting dust.

That is, until we reached Ile-de-France. Monitoring radio transmissions within the system revealed the presence of a seemingly innocent little event being held by EFL Oil and Machinery. Apparently, the company had been holding public tours at Beauvais Production Facility, one of the nation's most prestigious petrochemical refineries, exclusive to the proud and loyal citizens of King Charles XI.

Wasn't that hard getting a convincing façade for myself. I read a few magazines on men's fashion, used a baby naming site on the Neural Net, and dropped by the photo-lab facilities aboard La Diosa to make a sketch-free fake ID. Apparently, my facial structure is considered very attractive by Gallic standards. While the Diosa remained under wraps in an undisclosed location, I hitched a public shuttle over to Beauvais. Security up front was relatively lax, so I managed to get in without any questions. I ended up with a small crowd led by an unsettlingly enthusiastic woman as our tourguide. They didn't like cameras in the facility, but there weren't any regulations on bringing a book and pencil. I'm no spy, but my time as a solo explorer has left me very, very good at notekeeping.

The facility was actually quite impressive, and the woman was awful descriptive of the chemical processes we were looking at in each room. Must've been for the middle-school science class that was with us. Helped me look a lot less out of place being the guy in the back scrawling in his notebook. But the tour ended sooner than I expected. I was well aware we wouldn't be looking at the whole place, but I gotta say I felt a bit ripped off of my 20 credits I'd spent. I had everything I needed though.

Back on the Diosa, we've been trying to recreate the petroleum refinement process based on the notes I'd taken. Progress is somewhat slow, but it's a hell of a lot easier than working with alien technology. If successful, we may manage to wake that dormant engine. It could open up a lot of new avenues for research.

So far, that is the extent of our progress. Will be sure to update in the midst of a notable breakthrough. Aguilar out.

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WARNING: TO BE ACCESSED BY AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY


(BEGIN LOG)

It's been a good few days now that we've been trying to lay low on the radar. We've had to shut down a lot of non-critical systems to keep our signature low, which has made any scientific progress slow at best. It's frustrating, and quite repetitive. The crew has found ways to keep themselves in good spirits however.

Luckily, despite all that, we may have just managed a breakthrough on oil-fueled propulsion. After a torrent of simulations and cold testing, we've finally managed to ignite our dead engine. Finally, we've figured out how it works. While this device is only fighter-sized, reverse-engineering the technology will be a much easier feat now, thankfully. Creating a battleship-sized engine based on this design will be a trivial affair. Of course, we will have to run comparison tests to properly analyze the advantages and drawbacks of said design, compared to our own standard at least.

It's one way to break the monotony. Today is a good day, either way. Aguilar out.