[DW2] Commanders Log

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050304
So, we rested up at the Dryau Awesomes for a few days. R'geli has been making a few tweaks and patch jobs, hopefully just enough to get us to the new station. That being said, I think she may have turned up the gravi-plates a bit too much.
Headed off to the Shrogaei Nebula Cluster. Interesting seeing nebulae so close to each other, and more nice colours.
Currently sat in the Mysturji Crater on Caeruleum Luna. Nice place to relax, and R'geli is retweaking things.
Hoping to get to Galionas and the great annihilator in the next few days, with a last big push to Wulfric and Sag A* on Thursday, just in time for the next community initiative.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050306A
So, after a relatively short trip, we arrived at Galionas. Interesting combination of shades in the nebula, blue seems to be a popular colour, but green less so.
After that it was on to the Great Annihilator. Quite scary dropping out of witchspace and then dropping again out of supercruise due to the gravity well. The gravi-plates started to give out, almost achieved weightlessness for a few minutes. I’m sure it was just the ship trying not to get spaghettified, but I thought I heard a squeaking coming from the console. Getting a tad worried about Sag A*. If we're having issues with this black hole, what will it be like with the biggest of them all? After extracting ourselves from the gravity well, we did get some nice shots of the lensing. Planning a big push tomorrow to get to Wulfric and then Sag A*, base camp and the new station. Just annoyed that I’ve missed the early stages of construction.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050307A
So, we were ready to set off on the last leg to catch up with the main fleet. 49 uneventful jumps later, we arrived at Wulfric. Very nice colour combination of red and green. Would have been nice to have visited some of the other POIs in the area, but we really wanted to get out of hammocks as soon as possible.
And so, after 53 days (7 weeks and 4 days or 14.52% of 2019 depending on how you look at it) since leaving Pallaeni, we arrive at Sagittarius A*. I was able to dive the ship underneath the black hole, but in doing so the gravi-plates finally gave out. Trying to pilot a ship in zero-g is fun, but not as funny as what floated out from behind the console: Sid the space gerbil! It would seem that between dropping him off at a friend's place and leaving Galileo station, he had found his way back to my apartment and had hidden himself on board the Athena. All of a sudden, the missing food supplies and minor technical glitches made sense as Sid was making himself at home.
So after finally getting the gravi-plates working again and containing Sid, R'geli and I were able to appreciate the view. And what a view it was. Could also say at that point that yes, the galaxy does revolve around me . Not bad for my first visit to the centre.
A short hop later and we arrived at the new station: Explorer's Anchorage. Slightly annoyingly, they completed another stage the day before, but it’s looking good and interesting seeing the work continue. Station is still a bit buggy, had difficulty accessing the universal cartographers and others saying the mission board wasn’t working. Was a tad too tired to worry about it now, think we'll have a day to rest up and fix the ship up before heading out to help gather materials to make the station better.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050318A
So, it’s time to set off again. Helped a bit with the mining for resources to complete the new station, hoping that the new stuff is really cool. Will have to make a return visit out this way again sometime in the future to see all the stuff.
Stocked up on supplies, got a bit more now that we are up to three flyers due to Sid. Also got a few things to keep him contained and entertained, it’s amazing what you can make from bits of construction scrap.
We decided to head to Armstrong Landing to start off this leg. Did get a tad distracted and visited a nearby stellar phenomenon. Unfortunately, we kept a bit too much momentum at one point and clonked right into an asteroid, stripping the shields and taking off about 20% of the hull. I could feel R'geli's glare burning into me from the co-pilot seat. So, we'll head off on the leg tomorrow, after a brief stop at Explorer's Anchorage to repair and get a few snaps we forgot to take.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050320A
Take two.
After quickly patching up where I had dinged the hull against the asteroid, and taking some snaps of the station's progress, we left humanity for the next few months. We decided to skip the Phua Aub Nebula Cluster, instead heading straight for the Crown of Ice in Phipoea WK-E d12-1374. For something so big, it took a while to find it on the planet. Eventually we landed close to the top of a 90km peak. would have tried to land at the top if it was possible, and R'geli hadn't "strongly" advised against it (not quite sure if the ejector seat threat was a bluff or not). the view was stunning, quite nice with a planet coming over some of the other peaks. Still trying to get my head around the 90km height. In comparison, Mt Everest of Earth is just shy of 9km, and Olympus Mons on Mars is 26km tall. Decided against driving a scarab down the side.
A short hop later and we were at the Silver Highway. Was quite surreal flying close to the rings, at that height they seemed to stretch on for ever.
We were able to continue for a bit longer into the night and arrived at the Stairway to Heaven. Always find it weird seeing an Earth-like with rings, having grown up on Earth.
We're estimating we're about half way through this leg, another evening should see us to the base of the ascent to Goliath's Rest.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050322A
Fairly uneventful trip to the Dark Eye Nebula, some nice colours there. This was followed by a stint towards the Black Giants Nebula. It is weird seeing a system in perpetual darkness, I wonder whether anything could survive in those conditions. R'geli started feeling a tad uneasy with the system, so we continued along. Sid just ran in his wheel.
Tried to continue to the Braisio Juliet Nebula Cluster but the engine kept cutting out. R'geli is currently EVA'ing to get a better look. Doesn't look like we will be arriving at the base tonight, do hope we can make it before the next announcement.
33050324A
Yes, the engines are back. after much trouble shooting, it appears Sid had gotten out of his cage, chewed some wires, and then got back into his cage. I think he’s going to stay in his cage for the next few weeks, after getting threatened by R'geli with the frying pan (she's beginning to get quite protective of the Athena).
After that mishap made it to Breakthrough Echoes. Quite cool seeing so many Earth-likes so close together. I wonder how long it will be until these are colonised. I did find it interesting for this leg that in the core, most of the systems were just stars. Now that we're heading out, most now have planets, usually in excess of 25 bodies. Hoping for a big pay-out out the end of this.
After leaving the Echoes we headed to the bottom of the ascent. We were able to then plot a route up without needing to use any Neutron stars. The last jump did require a boost. I think that’s the first time I've done that (another one to add to the list).
We arrived in the base system 5 minutes after the announcement of the next leg, so wasn’t really that late. We headed down to the base camp, unfortunately came in a tad fast and knocked almost 30% off the hull. Didn't think I was coming in that fast, but then again, the gravity was higher than I thought. Fortunately, there were a few other commanders, Federico Desoya and Alex Swindler, hanging around, who were able to donate some hull repair limpets. Next expedition I’m taking a bigger ship that can repair itself.
The views were stunning at the base camp. It was one thing seeing the galaxy spread out below you, but due to the inclination of the planet, it looked like we were still climbing up. This was due to being perpendicular to the galactic plane.
Next leg is a rather simple one, so hoping it won’t be taking too long, just need to get down first.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050328A

We were able to get down from Goliath's Rest without issue and started on our way to Iris' Missive. Not much happened along the way, Sid behaved himself in his cage, R'geli having some "me time", and I had the helm. It was definitely one of the longer stints we’ve done on this journey, at just over 50 jumps. We might need to consider using neutron stars to get back promptly, but R'geli isn’t sure on them and there is also the whole "it’s not the destination, but the journey" view.
Got to Iris' missive, nice view generally. Tried to replicate the shot of the nebula behind the black hole but couldn’t quite manage it. we either overshot the position or got too close to the black hole, causing an auto-drop. When we started taking damage to most of the systems, we called it quits. A shame, but as R'geli pointed out, we are moving away from the nearest repair bay. Yes, we can repair most of the parts, and the hull can be repaired by others, but if the powerplant goes down, we're toast.
As we left Iris' Missive we headed to the Blue Rhapsody Nebula. Got a nice bit of chatter through the comms as a parody of an old Terran "rock" song by King (?). Quite amusing, almost crashed into a star as I got distracted. I think R'geli may have fallen out of her hammock as she came in afterwards with a bit of a glare and rubbing her head.
Annoyingly the engines cut out about half a dozen jumps away from the nebula. R'geli started eyeing up the frying pan, until I vouched that Sid had stayed in his cage the whole time. Quick inspection revealed some black hole damage had shorted out a few wires, an easy fix. Going to call it a night, almost a hundred jumps without many breaks takes its toll, whilst we fix the drive. We can finish the stint when we resume the leg.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050331A
Made it to the Blue Rhapsody Nebula. Nice shade of colour to it. R'geli feels happy with the patches to continue along.
Next stretch took us to the Forgotten Twins nebula. Interesting shape with the two nebulas colliding.

33050331B
After a bit of a break, we continued on to the Dances with Giants. It was a spectacular view, R'geli stopped in the hatchway when she saw, even Sid stopped on his wheel to admire the view. We tried positioning to get a good shot, got close to having the star between the two planets. It wasn’t quite centre, but close enough for us.
A relatively short trip later, and we had reached the base camp. Interestingly the moon is tidally locked, so the planet will always be in the same position just above the horizon. Unfortunately, it was night when we arrived. Hopefully it will be brighter when we leave, would be nice to have some sunny snaps.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050404A
Got a bit caught up with some maintenance, and Sid slipped out of his cage at one point (got him back in before R'geli noticed). Also, the sun had risen and so got some nice snaps of the base camp with the planet looming overhead.
First stop was the Briar Patch Nebula, some pretty impressive colours there.
Next few legs were quite short (relatively), so we were able to do a few in quick succession. First stop was the Zinnia Haze, again some nice shading with the purples and pinks. After that was Infinite bonds. It was weird seeing two Earth-likes orbiting each other so close that it looked like the view from earth, just with the moon being blue and green instead of white/grey.
The last stint of the evening took us to the Magnus Nebula. It was quite big, and we didn’t realise we had entered it at. Quick back-track gave us a spectacular view of the Nebula over filling our view screen.
Just another short hop to the Hydrangea Nebula and then two longer stints to the Morphenniel Nebula via Neighbouring Necklaces. Unfortunately, R'geli is a tad concerned with the cooling vents. So, we are going to have to put down again for a few days, meaning we will miss the next announcement, though we believe the leg after will be two weeks long instead of one, so we should be able to catch up easily enough.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050411A
Heading off again, after R'geli took a look at the cooling system. It appears we have been accidentally firing off heatsinks when we haven’t needed to, so the super-cooling has started to damage the casing around it. Controls have been re-bound a bit to avoid any more firing when they are not supposed to, so hopefully that will avoid any issues.
Got to the Hydrangea Nebula shortly after that. Some nice colours as well as some odd ribbon patterns in the mix. It was a proper pain after that though. There was a permit-locked system right between us and our next stop, and our route computer was having a hard time finding a route through. Finally got through by swinging wide and then tucking in at the end. Does make you wonder though, why those systems are off limits so far from anything. Super weapon testing? More aliens, more 'goids?
Arrived at the Neighbouring Necklaces. It was pretty cool seeing those two sets of rings so close to each other.
It was a nice trip from there to the base camp. Despite four areas being locked off, we were able to get a route first time straight through. It also wasn’t long before we could see the nebula. There was a rather uplifting feeling slowly seeing it getting bigger with each jump. As we arrived in the penultimate system, R'geli commented that it looked somewhat like a creature from the moon of Pech, which I understand to be of avian origin. I do agree there was something eagle/falcon like about the formation. It was also interesting to see that it’s not just humans that try to see shapes in random things. Landing at the basecamp was easy enough, got some nice snaps of the planet just above the crest of the crater. It appears the next leg is quite a long one, but we do have a week and a half to make it.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050416A
What a few days. I think we've seriously underestimated how long this leg is. Started off yesterday, but was only able to fly for a few hours, in which time we were able to do about 50 jumps. This took us about halfway to the first rest point. Today for another few hours we were able to cover the remaining distance to Aristo. Upon landing, we realised our mistake. Previously we thought we were about halfway to WP 11, and that another couple of days of a couple of hours of flight we get us there. However, it turns out that Aristo is only a third of the way from WP 11 and so our remaining flight time is doubled what we had planned. To make matters worse, R'geli has detected some weird stellar phenomenon passing through the region towards the end of the week, so from Friday to Monday, we won’t be able to fly. So, we have two evenings to fly for potentially 8 hours total. Guess I’m going to be pulling a late one for a few days.
That being said, Aristo is quite nice. Visited some space plants and some iron geysers. Got to the mini-camp and took some nice pictures of the rings. I did come in a tad heavy to the camp and removed the shields, but I don’t think we took any hull damage (good thing too as R'geli would have had my head).

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050417A
That was a long stint. About three and a half hours straight fling we arrived at Kalipheron. Regrettably, on first approach to the planet, we came in a tad fast and took out 60% of the hull strength. Unfortunately, R'geli took a knock to the head and went out cold, and Sid's cage went flying across the cockpit, with him inside!
After seeing to R'geli and getting her safe and retrieving Sid from within the weapons control panel (R'geli would have had both our heads if he had been found in there), I took a ride out around the ship. It was mostly structurally sound, a bit of buckling here and there but the key components were intact. So, I put a request out for repairs on the expedition comms board. It didn’t take long for them to arrange someone to head over to my location, whilst I hobbled over to the rest stop camp to make finding me a bit easier. Overall, I was deeply impressed by the professionalism of the Fleet Mechanic Arm.
As I was waiting, another commander turned up to the site on the off chance. After a quick chat, they offered to patch me up. my incoming mechanic was still a bit out so took them up on their offer. Didn’t take too long to fully repair, by which point R'geli had come around though still rather groggy. I’m pretty sure I’m in for a good thrashing when she's feeling up to it.
After the repairs, took a quick look round the ship. All nicely fixed, though the paint job is slowly coming off.
Thanks again to Commanders Payperheirplain and SkoidUK for their help with this issue, as well as all in the Fleet Mechanic Arm. I owe you a bottle of Lavian Brandy when we get back to the bubble. Also, if I ever do something like this again, I’m definitely going to get a repair limpet controller fitted.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050418A
We continued on from Kalipheron without incident. Took another 3 hours of flying to reach Shadow Earth. This has definetly been the longest leg so far, almost totalling 300 jumps and 10 hours of flight. Right now, we are in the area thats on the exact opposite side of the galaxy from Sol. At this point we are on a straight line from Sol through Sag A*, at the same distance from Sag A* as Sol is and the galactic height is 0. Strange to think such a place exists, but it becomes obvious when you think about it. Shadow Earth is the closest Earth like planet to this point which is all rather cool.
A quick hop took us to Luna's Shadow. This is the true antithesis of Sol. Landing on the moon of the third planet did remind me of those old Apollo photos of Luna, particularly with the planet hovering a good distance above the moon. If the planet moves a bit, I could try to recreate some of those shots. I will say this really does want to make me get back to Sol for July, just to experience the anniversary of that historic trip.
Now just over 13k Ly away from Beagle point, the end is in sight.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050507A
So, after a bit of a break, we are back on the stellar highway for this last leg. After the announcement that there would be no end date and that you can finish when you like, there was no rush like there had been, and it all felt rather anti-climatical. I had been hoping for a bit of a gathering, maybe some fireworks. I think R'geli might be planning something in its stead, so looking forward to that.
With all that, we headed off to the Seldowitch Nebula. Some nice pinks and purples mixing together.
After that it was a relatively short trip to the Fly Trap Nebula. From the penultimate jump, we could see quite a distinct shape of a venus fly trap, almost an infinity shape of clouds. A bit closer and the shape changed to more of a venn diagram of three overlapping circles. All quite interesting. We decided to call it a night at that, we got another long trip to the next checkpoint.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050516
So, we continued on for a bit longer. After a bit of a stint, we made it to the Lone Star. While not much of an impressive sight, it was interesting hearing the history, being the furthest point a Sidewinder has reached without mods. Seems rather unfathomable when you think about it.
We're aiming to get to Beagle Point by the end of this week, as we are now just under two months away from our planned return date, so the sooner we get to the end the sooner we can turn around.

P.S. Would people be interested in a return journey log? Just a "I made it back log"?

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050519
This should be the penultimate log of the Journey Out portion of this epic adventure. After that we just turn around and head home.
After a short trip from the last point, we arrived at Thomaski Point Memorial. Bit of a sad story surrounding it, but also one of perseverance and always going for your goals. R'geli withdrew to her cabin for a bit. I think the thought of this explorer never being able to make it home hit a bit closer to home. the stellar phenomenon that threw her across the galaxy also threw her temporally, getting home, rather than just to her planet, seems nigh impossible without a similar, once in a lifetime, event.
After paying our respects, we headed off again. On the journey, we came a unique situation were 3 of the planets were almost in a line, with a fourth being a quarter of a rotation out. This is the closest to a planetary alignment I have ever seen. I do wonder when this system would achieve that goal. I am a bit annoyed that I forgot to make a note of the system or take a shot of the orrery map of the system.
A few hours after leaving the memorial, we arrived at the Grand Rings POI. I think I would like to have a word with Cmdr Rojo Habe when we get back, about the promises he made in that tourist beacon, of being the grandest system you'll ever see. Problem was, we couldn’t see them. First, the moon was in the shadow of the planet, so everywhere was dark. The other issue was due to the positioning and angle, the rings were just a straight line in the sky and didn’t have any depth to them. Hopefully when we start up again tomorrow or the day after, the moon would have moved out from the shadow and gives us a better show.
So (hopefully) there is one more trip to make. Aside from a hopefully small detour, another 3-4 hours and we will reach Beagle Point, 4351Ly and 97 jumps away. (that feels like nothing after this trip).

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050521
We Did It!!!
Backing up slightly. So, we started this last leg on Grand Rings. The sun was up this time, though unfortunately the planet was on the other side of the moon, so we couldn’t see it. A little shimmy round the moon gave us quite a view of the rings, and I will admit it was quite a grand view at that.
We had a bit of a trek to our next point, VonRictofen's Rescue. It was great hearing a story of such a friendly community that one person crossed the galaxy to help another. It does make me want to help others on any future expeditions, maybe even during normal time around the bubble. After visiting the neighbouring system of Macedonica's Leap, we turned our sights to Beagle Point, which was 9 jumps away. It felt weird having the goal within a single digit's worth of jumps. Excitement was building as we ticked off the jumps, briefly scanning a planet along the way. Eventually we got to the last jump, the target was in sight.
And so, at 21:59:19 (Galactic Time) we jumped into the Beagle Point system. After travelling for 4 months, 8 days, 1 hour, 59 minutes, 19 seconds, (or 11,066,359 seconds or 35.09% of 2019) we had arrived. A massive sense of achievement washed over all of us, even Sid stopped in his cage.
Turning around we viewed the galaxy, a strip in the sky. We hadn’t quite realised how thinned out the stars had become in the sky but compared to the busy core it was obvious. We flew around the system for a bit, taking in the sights, visiting the beacon (touching story) and finally landing at Legacy Crater.
And what a mess it was in. Empty bottles of Lavian Brandy and Eranin Pearl Whiskey. Kamitra Cigar boxes. Wrappers from Arouca Conventual Sweets. Clearly someone had had a party and then just left. While being slightly bummed about missing the party, R'geli and I took to the SRVs, and with the scoops down, we did a litter sweep around the landing co-ordinates. Hopefully, due to the lack of an atmosphere, nothing got blown away.
So, with the area tidier than before, we completed the paperwork for our arrival and enjoyed the sun rising in the distance.
We are going to take a day or two to recoup and patch the Athena up. Her paintwork is so scratched up from the journey, in some ways it’s a shame, but in others a badge of pride and endurance.
We have had a look at the route we want to take. It will be fairly direct, though taking a detour to break the journey. We plan on visiting the Rendezvous Point and Explorer's Anchorage to see it all finished. In all we estimate the journey will be about 70kLy, or about 1400 jumps at normally jump range. We need to decide how we are getting back. We don't fancy using neutron stars due to possible damage to the ship and no way to repair the hull. If we use our normal method to get back, it would involve almost 2 days of straight flying to get back. that would average out to 6 hours a week if we wish to meet our goal of being over Luna on the 16th of July. That won’t be a leisurely trip back, considering the average on the way out here has been about 2 hours 40 minutes a week.
If we use the old honk and go method, the time is brought down by about a third to 18 hours’ worth of flying, but we don’t know what we might be missing.
We have a couple of days to figure it all out. Will keep the log going if people want to keep track of our progress.
Just want to say a massive thank you to the organisers for providing such an incredible opportunity as this.
Sol: 65,279.35Ly, 1 month, 26 days to go.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050528
So, we've started to head back. It would have been nice to have explored around BP a bit more, but there’s only so many recycled protein packs one can have before the flavour leaves (and the flavour left a while ago).
We set our course from the Rendezvous Point POI from leg 10, unfortunately it was just out of reach of a single route plan. We were able to find a system just on the edge of the 20kLy limit, with a planned route consisting of 414 jumps. And so, we started.
We called it a night after 90 jumps (about 3 hours of flight), from there we were able to plot to the POI, a new distance of 397 jumps.
We will have another stint in the next day or so.
Sol: 61,601.94Ly, 1 month, 19 days to go.

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050529
40 more jumps
Sol: 60,040Ly, 1 month, 18 days to go

 

[Nitrogue]

Commander's Log: 33050603
Made it to 250 jumps from Rendezvous Point. The galaxy does look like its trying to engulf me. We have also left the Abyss and have entered the Formorian Frontier, so progress is being made. However it isnt progressing fast enough .
Sol: 55,331.30Ly, 1 month, 13 days to go