The derelict Research Vessel Cete was discovered in June 3303 following reports on GalNet of "curious records" published in February of that year. The ship was chartered by xenobiology expert Professor Melville to find artefacts from the ancient Guardian civilisation. Melville claimed to have information that would help the crew find more sites.

Crew logs indicated that the Cete found three sites in three different systems: Synuefe LY-I b42-2, Synuefe NL-N c23-4, and Synuefe TP-F b44-0. Melville discovered three types of sites, which were later classified as Alpha, Beta and Gamma. He posited that each type provided different functionalities. However, the professor soon lost his tenuous grasp on sanity, locking down the ship's communications and, later, welding shut the airlock between the laboratories and the drive ship. Some time later, the ship's atmospheric processors failed, leading the crew to die from hypoxia.

The system in which the Cete was discovered lies several hundred light-years farther from inhabited space than the first-discovered ruins designated "Site 1" in Synuefe XR-H d11-102, leading some aboard the ill-fated ship's crew to speculate that he was looking for additional sites in this region of space, and that he wasn't planning to return. Had the Cete kept going, they would have found the numerous Guardian ruins they were looking for.