14th of January 3302, managed to buy and fit my ASP, the Shpadoinkle!, learned the exploration techniques, I'm all set up and waiting for action at Pallaeni. I had the time to befriend a couple French CMDRs who joined the Distant Worlds Expedition after I advertized it on the french forum. I socialize with early-comers at Pallaeni, add in-game friend, enjoy the tension and the fun before departure, and we're off. The kind of event that gets me going! I joyfully take off and jump, barely realizing the trip I just threw my life in, for the next 8 weeks.
I soon feel the awe and amazement at the beautiful sights offered by each waypoint. It gets me even more motivated. Glad I gathered photographers to honour the beauties awaiting us further into deep and mostly unknown space. I meet people. CMDR Karla was wondering if it was worth flying for so long without much people around, as she was among the fast-runners. We were around NGC 6357, I said 'Hey, why not stick around for the trip?'. I met CMDR Hessiam, who later brought in CMDR Post_M, sweetest guy I know, then we stumbled into CMDR Zulu Romeo (the famous!), and we soon formed our little group, messin' around CL Pismis 13 and 17 in our SRVs. But I get careless and too eager to land and take the camera for some shots, I forget to check the gravity... I crashed on a planet, CL Pismis 13 4. No need to say that I was . Disappointed and quite furious at myself. In other times, I'd have given up and left the game ; but this time, I didn't. Swapped one SRV for another AFMU, and I was out again. I buckyballed for two evenings to catch up with Karla. Then we all went on. Lesson learned!
As we were faster than the Fleet, we thought we'd do some sightseeing alongside DWE's itinerary. I decided to go and explore other nebulae - Bleae, Froarks - and make spin-off albums out of the numerous shots I took. I have a taste for planetary nebulae, wanting to see them all, appreciate the colors, play - safely - with neutrons and black holes. And hell, I never followed any path, this would be no exception! I planned my own planetary nebulae trail, a true voyage of wonder of its own. Constantly checking up on the Fleet's progression, I was simultaneously onthe hunt for locations visited by few - and that would stay this way for some time. I found myself on top of Sagittarius A*, a location I truly enjoyed for its remoteness. I felt something there. I climbed up to 2,777ly without jump-o ; not the record, but who cares? I don't. The time spent there was great. Tryin' to find a way in such a scarcely dotted area was thrilling, having only absolute darkness most of the time around my canopy. I felt like I could fall down from my jump trajectories, anytime... And then I found it... My five Water Worlds system... All tidied up in a straight line...
So in a way, I had done WP12, and I was on my way to the great Sagittarius A* - not before grabbing another planetary nebula on the way. The monster was impressive indeed, but not so much as I expected. On my way... Having a look at my road map, it seems like I have to backtrack a bit... I have time, let's go! Let's go and see the Great Annihilator - nice sight too! But the Athaip Wisteria nebula had caught my eye, and I rushed there soon. Roaming around the place, I noticed another planetary nebula ; nice. Let's hang around... Wait. Oh, is that a Herbig Ae/Be star? Wow, I think it's my first or second one ever!... And soon I stopped counting (no I didn't). Studying the galactic map closer, I found a pocket of Herbig stars. Now I didn't find anything on it in the Galactic Mapping Project thread, and none was tagged. So I surveyed the area, and scanned 215 of them. Among the last ones was an absolutely unexpected Earth-Like World, a true gem I found on the 5th of February ; a couple days ago (10th of March I think), three others (including two in the same system) were found somewhere else. It will remain one of my favourite and most precious treasures.
I then continued my route hopping from nebula to nebula ; I can't even make an album for each, there are too many. About five or six nebulae later, I come back a second time to visit WP10. I follow DWE's itinerary for some time, until I find a small pouch of carbon stars very close to each others. See? I keep being distracted. All the more reason to find new things while I'm trying to figure out the location of WPs 14, 15 and 16. I can't be 100% confident, so I end up visiting eight planetary nebulae, taking photos of each. Turns out, three of those nebulae were untagged ; and those findings I'm very proud of. Following the path again, I head for the Magnus Nebula, planning to grab a few O stars on the way to Greeroi and Rendezvous Point. I can cross that off my bucket list. Space feels more lonely now. Time to officialize the Maverick Buccaneers Squad ; let's set up our Discord, design our patch, find our motto. Now we can recruit...
It is now hard to know the exact locations of the WPs. But anyway. I'm a Maverick Buccaneer now, I fly my own path! Where is the Furnace? Oh, nevermind, it should be a couple systems around this landmark ; I find a planet matching the description ; 8ls from its sun, same type/color, etc. : it'll do for me. Now on to the challenge : Beagle Crossing. I must admit I was confident, maybe a bit too much... The Abyss proved challenging indeed, I had trouble crossing there. I must have drifted a good distance to find a path, finally crossing at +5,800, not without apprehension. But I did it - spacially as well as psychologically, for those hours were rough. Loneliness struck me. The blackness around me, again. No escape, no choice but to keep on keeping on, no matter what. Fighting the route plotter. I had to. Even one system at a time. I won't let go ; I made it so far, I won't let go. A couple Mavericks are waiting for me ahead, I'm coming buddies. I'm coming. Watch the Shpadoinkle! go through every difficulty!
Finally, after such a long trip (at least for me), after such a dense trip, I reached Beagle Point. Tired. Relieved. Happy. I could finally breathe!... I sat there and had some picnic, witing for the other Mavericks to arrive, while Zeewolf and Dalatrace, already here, where hanging around the place ; Palkkipantteri came soon after. Seeing that I posted on the 65,000ly from Sol thread, two lone wolves who hadn't met before befriended me, as they were close by. They had been on the road for months and hadn't been able to join DWE but nonetheless, they felt like they could socialize there, 65,279ly from home... Isn't it amazing, somehow?... So kudos to you, Orion29 (out since November) and Martin Afonso (our since last May!), who flew for such a long time with tenacity and curiosity, always eager to discover, just as if you took off yesterday. It was astonishing and very peculiar to meet new people there. So they joined our Mavericks squad and we messed around Beagle Point for a few days, recruiting Tane Savoya as he was approaching, checking on Karla and Pitsligo (The Kerbinator) as they would be here soon as well.
Resting at Beagle Point was the opportunity to think a bit about us, about explorers, about mankind. So far away, so close to death at every second, this puts things into perspective. What would we care about some gang leader trying to conquer a bit of land on some forgotten planet back in the bubble... Brings back dark memories of darker times in the History of Sol. When you're looking at the Galaxy from Beagle Point, only the core of things really matters. Hope our fellow CMDRs will arrive safe and sound ; the rest is just noise.
