[Expedition Diary] John Xenir and CEV Moya venture into the void

[John Xenir]

[DISCLAIMER] Any similarity to Farscape characters is fully intentional.

I've had a fair share of exploration up until now, getting into Ranger rank in the process.
I've seen black hole in Pleiades first hand. I've visited Coal Sack Nebula, too. I've managed to be the first Commander to chart Butterfly Nebula, and stick my name onto galactic map for once. I've also visited Crab Nebula in my trustworthy ASP, barely making it inside this wonderful nebula due to jump range limitation. Had to empty my tanks to such low amount of fuel, that if after jumping in the star would turn out to be unscoopable, I would be stranded. I'm glad it turned out otherwise.

I've been stuck to this damn inhabited space for quite a while now, and my lone wanderer spirit is itching to venture out once more.
All these wars, shooting, death, struggle for power, influence, resources... Are we, as a race, incapable of reaching higher than that?
Time to leave that far behind starburst trail.

CEV* Moya is eager to fulfill her destiny - to boldly go where no man has gone before, to witness wonders hidden among galactic dust, obscured by millions of stars, all screaming their presence in unison.

*CEV - Civilian Exploration Vessel

Pilot suggested we first head north-west, into the nebula cluster visible in the galaxy map between the lower 1st quadrant, and intermediate 1st quadrant.. All of us are very eager to see Sagittarius A* with our own eyes. Beagle Point may be on our list as well, depending how the journey goes. We will then attempt to get back to inhabited space, riding on galaxy's edge all the way around.

Ship fit for the journey:
http://coriolis.io/outfit/anaconda/...--v42i2f.AwRj4yvVpI==.Aw18ZlA=?bn=LR Explorer


Disclaimer: I understand by now forums are crawling with Commaders' journey diaries, so I don't even hope to gain major attention like Distant Worlds did. However, I would like to start documenting my endeavour in some organized fashion, which my previous diaries lacked, so here's the Farscape-themed topic to go along. Still, if you decide to pop-in regularly, I'll be more than honored. Godspeed, fellow commanders!

Entry #1
Entry #2

 

[John Xenir]

Starlog date 08-01-3302
Entry 1 - Departure and sudden turn of events
]:: Loading report file...



It is the inevitable flow of life, that things change so rapidly you barely have time to adjust. And when the idea facing changes fails in its own, reality can strike back hard.

On the first day of our journey we decided to go west of Sol. Our first stop, as Moya insisted on seeing this wonder with her own eyes... well, sensors - West Veil Nebula. We've landed on a small, nearby planet as Moya never felt gravity before. She was a little careless during approach, and we ended up speeding a bit. Not enough to cause major damage, but the bump to the ground wasn't soft either. I immediately regret not fitting shields - each landing attempt seemed to damage her hull a little here, a little there... I carefully considered options, but it was apparent that if we wish to explore not just space, but planets as well, shield is a must. We decided to hang around Veil nebulas for some time, and head back to habited systems to fit Moya up. What a bummer, such a fail so early in the voyage. But then, it's better to head back now, than 40.000Ly from home...

Still, this was a good opportunity to spin the buggy a little, while Moya was enjoying gravity experience for the first time.
View attachment 93219

After some surface fun, we launched against planet's gravity and headed a little further into the void.
Passing by Veil Nebula East...


... we stumbled across this interesting planetoid.


Moya was eager to touch down but I had to insist we stay away from planet surfaces until she's fitted with shields for landing damage compensation. We agreed on gently cheering the little planetoid with close range approach, and visit it again on our post-retrofit approach.


Pistachio ice cream, anyone?
View attachment 93226

Alternatively, space oranges! Grab some before all are sold.


And just as we decided to head back, we've spotted Milenium Falcon!


No wonder this thing did the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs. After chasing it for more than 30 starbursts, we barely got any closer:


We could not tail Milenium Falcon any longer, as each jump put us further and further away from home, so we turned around and headed back home. We'll get you next time, Solo!

All in all, this short first stage of our journey was a taste of wonders to come, and we settled for dealing with shield generator as soon as possible, not to waste any minute for resuming our trip.

]:: Report file CLOSED

 

[Sixxor]

Cool expedition report, CMDR. Have some rep!

Definitely a good idea to get yourself some shields sooner rather than later, or you will be totally farbot after trying some landings. Then you'd be in serious dren.

 

[Cmdr Frawd Digger]

[DISCLAIMER] Disclaimer: I understand by now forums are crawling with Commanders' journey diaries, so I don't even hope to gain major attention like Distant Worlds did. However, I would like to start documenting my endeavour in some organized fashion, which my previous diaries lacked, so here's the Farscape-themed topic to go along. Still, if you decide to pop-in regularly, I'll be more than honored. Godspeed, fellow commanders!

Don't be silly Cmdr...it's what these forums are for. Post away...

EDIT: Beautiful pics BTW.

Frawd

 

[John Xenir]

Starlog date 10-01-3302
Entry 2 - Return to the Stars
]:: Loading report file...

After prematurely returning to inhabited space we've headed straight for the first starport capable of fitting Moya with shields.
Lucky for us, engineers and mechanics seemed to have all the time in the universe with no ships queuing for their service, so we were ready to get back on the track just the next day.
And so we departed, this time much better prepared for whatever Universe wanted to throw at us.

Leaving for stars! *cough* again *cough*


We've set our course for Elephant's Trunk Nebula, hoping to resume the journey more or less where it was put on hold.
Moya enjoyed the sensation of exploring uncharted systems again.

These must've been helluva fireworks!


We've also found yet another, glorious Space Potato:


This one turned out to be a fairly interesting planetoid.
You'll note that despite aligning ship with surface's horizon, the gravity's vector is not perpendicular to surface's plain, all because of irregular surface shape:


There were few more featuers worth noting:

1) Is that a volcano? Cause it sure looks like one, at least from the orbit...
2) Yo dawg, we've heard you like craters, so we put a crater in your crater onto another crater, so you can crater nice images! Get it? Crater. Create her. Crate'er. Crater. *silence*

I should perhaps write the name of this system down, in case any of the exploration society members would like to visit this wonder.
Simple 2MASS J21375756+5724197 and voila, feed your eyes!

Closer to the Elephant Trunk Nebula, Moya picked up interesting readings on her sensors, and proposed we touch ground on the night side of a planet.


Her readings were right - soil on that side was glowing red at night, matching Nebula's color.


Sun-bathing side was full of craters as well, so we decided to explore one and see if we can find any surface materials for eventual repairs, refuels and whatnot.
That's when stumbled upon something reminding us that while exploration can be exciting, it can also be dangerous. Deadly dangerous.


Someone else's wreck of an SRV. Resting right next to a canister of Tea he/she tried to retrieve, but failed. They must've held that Tea very close...
Moya and I agreed this is not a place of rest for any lost soul, so we scooped what remains we could find and dumped it into system's star - the only burial worthy of a space farer.

We've set course for Elephant's Trunk Nebula's inner systems, eager to see what wonders we find, yet calm and focused.

]:: Report file CLOSED