Trip to the Zurara

Ashnak

Ashnak
After dropping a small cargo of rares and Geological Equipment at Darwin Research Facility, I had a short look around the nebula, and am not sure I liked what I saw there.

Next, I took a look at the stories from the Formidine Rift and thought "sounds interesting - I'll have to go there some day".

Then I had a look at my ship and thought "What the .... Put in a mining laser, and I'm as ready to go as I'll ever be".

So now I'm sitting in a dump called "Flaming Star Logistics Centre" while writing these lines, which will hopefully evolve into a diary of my trip to visit the Zurara. One thing is sure - whoever called this "Flaming Star" should be employed by the PR department of Sirius Corporation.

Next stop: Farsight Expedition Base
 

Siobhan

Siobhan
I'm recently back from my visit, and have a half written blog post about it. It is rather awe inspiring.
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
My plans are pretty vague at the moment - since this trip will lead me out to the rim, I don't want to stray too far from the main plane or the established routes. So far, I want to go pretty much straight (avoiding the brown dwarf layer) out to the Heart & Soul nebulae, then continue onwards to the Formidine Rift, taking one of the established routes suitable for my ship through the Rift, then go onward to the Zurara.

After that, I have no further plans. I guess it'll depend on what I find at the Zurara - and what happens back at the Bubble in the meantime.
 

Siobhan

Siobhan
There are a couple of bases One in Heart and one in Soul, and also you can detour to see the Sagan too. The easiest way then is the Heisenberg Bridge, and depending on your jump range you can peel off about half way across and head for the Zurara.

It *might* be possible then to follow the arm around clockwise towards Colonia or Beagle Point, but while I was tempted, I didn't try.
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
Thank you for the tips. Like I said, I have no concrete plans after the Zurara, but yes, going back the long way round is definitely tempting.
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
08. May 3303, Flaming Star Logistics Centre

"Dump" just about covers it. Still, even dumps have their use. After a few hours of dumpster diving, and with the gratuitous application of a #3 impact wrench, a rather clunky, but serviceable field maintenance system has taken up residence in my ship's lower cargo hold.
Digging into my private stash of Void Extract coffee permitted me to sober up one of the station's technicians for long enough to help me calibrate the controls of the external camera, so that is settled, too.
Trying to find some goods to take along to Farsight Base turned out to be fruitless. The only things on sale at this "Logistics Centre" are weapons and armor. And the supposedly female behind the counter didn't exactly give the impression that "answers" were somewhere on the list of approved goods, either.
So now I'm diving down beneath the galactic plane for a few more ly's before turning southwest towards H&S.

ZrPA4ec.jpg
 

Cmdr Andrew Johnson

Cmdr Andrew Johnson
I seem to be stuck with my map unable to calculate a route, think I took a wrong turning. Need to double back a bit and try again. Any routes out there?
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
AndrewJohnson said:
I seem to be stuck with my map unable to calculate a route, think I took a wrong turning. Need to double back a bit and try again. Any routes out there?
Click to expand...

If you're talking about the Rift, I'm intending on taking this route through it. There are apparently others, I have no experience here so far.

------------

09. May 3303, Edge of the SLEAGO sector

Have set down for the night on a nice pink snowball. After checking status of reserves, I saw that I need to top up SRV recharge materials - I'm out of Phosphorous. Well, shouldn't be a problem, that snowball scans at 14% P, so I went out on a little drive. Murphy happens - half an hour later, I have collected a metric cr*pload of rare materials, but no P. SRV charge down to 80% - nothing yet to worry about, but keep an eye on it.
Decided to recall the ship. Instead of landing on the nice flat plane I was sitting right in the middle of, she decides to set down in the middle of the hills I just crawled out from. I know that a Dolphin can land on a tea towel, she doesn't have to show off every time. Decided to call it a day. Nice view, though - if you happen to like pink.

Gk0UOg5.jpg
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
11. May 3303

Spent the last cuple of days scooting over a few planets - metal, rock, ice - in order to fill up my storage of materials. The last one (it's always the last one...) yielded enough Phosphorous for a dozen SRV recharges, and in the progress I also collected all the stuff I need for a handful of jump boosts, so now I think I can consider myself sufficiently stocked.
Currently parked on a yellow-greenish (should I call it lemon-lime or bile?) snowball. If I look out towards the Edge, the sky already gets decidedly dark.
Radar had indicated a POI occasionally, but looking closer, I couldn't find anything, not from the ship, not from the SRV. Should probably have a technician look at it once I reach Farsight Base.

I think I'll stick around for a few more hours, then continue on my way.
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
12. May 3303

Still jumping towards H&S. Encountered an rather crowded system today, may be here for a while. 111 planets and moons, orbiting two suns.

mPn3hew.jpg
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
13. May 3303

The Blinded By The Night is still in good shape. Docked at Base Camp now, last outpost before the Rift. Overall integrity was down to 50%, but that was to be expected. Everything else working as smoothly as on the day she came out of the factory. Sold off a first batch of scan data, too - and received a promotion to Ranger a few minutes later :).

On the way, met one of those Sagan class tourist barges, posing in front of a blue planetary nebula.

ypx1yj1.jpg

Looks like they had been hanging around there for quite some time, local space was littered with smaller ships.
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
14. May 3303

After leaving Base Camp, decided to go for the Heisenberg Bridge. Had my coffee break on a nice little planet that could become a major skiing resort:

ijSsNMm.jpg

Further on the route stumbled across a big pond all the previous explorers in this area apparently missed:

UjnTWi9.jpg

Apart from these occasional gems, the journey is quite uneventful. Quiet. I like it.
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
15. May 3303

Did I say quiet? Too quiet, more likely. Something is not right here, but see later.

Crossed the Rift via the Heisenberg Bridge - a big Thank You to all the explorers and cartographers who made this possible. But it's an eerie feeling when you look at your navigation screen, and instead of the usual long list of possible jump targets you only see exactly one. On the other side of the Rift, business as usual for the first few thousand lightyears.

The Zurara

Finally reached her, saw her drifting(?) in orbit around a small, unremarkeable planet, and listened to the last words from her crew and the warning from a strange woman.

But later I realised that something is not entirely right here. According to the crew logs, the Zurara lost all power in January 3270 and had to go on emergency life support. 3 years later, R. found her, and found her empty except for frozen corpses. That was 30 years ago. So I should expect to find a cold, frozen wreck, no?

Look at my pictures:

N5dzblT.jpg

CFcsupY.jpg

6BV8hKN.jpg

Does that look like a frozen wreck to you? The engines are running, navigation lights are blinking, heatsinks are glowing nicely in idle, the lights are on and the tori are spinning. I've seen active stations look worse than this. Heck, after merely two weeks in the black, my own ship looks worse than this.
Back in the bubble, people have been discussing whether it would be worthwhile to retrieve the bodies and bring the Zurara back into shipshape again. I'm afraid this is a very pointless discussion indeed. There may be more to be found, more evidence to be gleaned than my three meagre pictures, but I'm not going back there.

THIS IS NOT A FROZEN WRECK!
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
17. May 3303

After the somewhat confusing encounter with the Zurara, I decided to head out further to the rim. As I'm coming into the Outer Arm, the density of stars at least along the ecliptic plane increases somewhat, but the systems themselves are almost boring in their similarity: a red dwarf, surrounded by half a dozen of lifeless rocks.

Yesterday, I encountered what seems to be the only non-main sequence star within a couple of thousand lightyears: a very angry Neutron Star. Apparently, I wasn't the first one to visit this system, Schafeau NA-A d16. The star itself seemed much too dangerous to use for fuel boosting, so I simply crept closer carefully to scan range, then beat a quick retreat.

tc9QOCW.jpg

The planet where I set down for the night looks so much like a scoop of mint ice cream that I'm tempted to nip outside and grab some for dessert later on.
 

darkwolf79

darkwolf79
eW3QVLX.png

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I was in the area so I had to take a look. My trusty ASP got a 45ly range, so I only needed 2 50% Boosts to get there.
A stunning and unsettling view. The ship looks much more alive then the logs suggest however.
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
At 45 ly range, you shouldn't need to boost at all if you stick to one of the established routes.

Nice pictures, though.
 
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