Hey peeps. Cmdr Duckfat here.
.. I um.. I'm not quite sure how to start here, so I'll just get on with it and dump the log files I have. You the reader can make up your own mind.
Just to quickly give you the back story first, I was lurking around Merope when I saw something strange on the radar. On closer inspection it turned out to be some kind of high wake residue, but very intense at the same time. It's difficult to explain. The initial scan almost shutdown my ship, but I kept persisting. Before the scan was complete though the ship did end up crapping out and refused to start. So I fired up the old backup computer and run a diagnostic on all my modules. Turned out my memory terminals were completely full, so the ship's computer just could not boot. Luckily I had an old backup unit which I managed to quickly swap out before my air run out. Bingo, back in business.
The wake was gone when I went back for it a while later, so somewhat baffled and suspicious, I headed back to the bubble to start what turned out to be a very long inspection of the ship's memory modules. I can't even begin to tell you how much crap was on there, or how on Merope 5c it got transmitted out of a simple wake echo. I've never filled up the computer's memory even after thousands of light years worth of exploration data. This was strange stuff too. Most of it just seemed like gibberish and I almost gave up, dismissing it as modulated static that the computer had managed to mistake for information. That is until I started to notice strange patterns in the data. This was all beyond me so I ended up taking the modules to a hacker I know who pretty much demanded every last drop of some pretty old Lavian I had in my cargo in exchange.
I spent almost an entire restless week waiting for this guy to finish. Then finally I get a transmission saying "you better get over here mate". So I jump straight over and he flicks a hollo screen up and says "here, have a look for yourself". I spent about an hour going through most of it, slowly turning pale in the process. I was in a daze and had goosebumps when I finally looked up at him. Turned out there was a hell of a lot of "junk" data on there anyway. Or at least nothing that our computers would recognise as data. There was also quite a bit of exploration data there, and a series of logs by a commander named Eric Strauss. Here's where it really starts to get weird. The high wake turned out to also belong to Eric's ship(Star Tamer). Except he wasn't anywhere near the Pleiades when he jumped. How his wake ended up in the Merope system is anyone's guess, and I'll tell you my personal theory after you read the logs.
Not all the data has been cleaned up yet as it's a pretty painstaking process. It's very messy and hard to read. I'll post them all here in their entirety as I keep working on them.
See you on the other side...
..................................
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: September 29 3302
Heeeeeeya folks! Eric here with another exciting adventure about to unfold. Off to Colonia and I can't lie, I'm excited! Well ok, not that excited about the journey, but I am pretty keen to try out a brand spanking new FSD we've just fitted into this bad boy. Engineered for maximum jump range with a few more crazy extras added. Bit on the experimental side of things, but all the short and medium-range tests came up good, so I'm pretty hopeful. I'm expecting close to a whopping 500LYs after a neutron boost! Try and wrap your coconut around that! For now I have to hurry up and go through my check list.
Talk soon.
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: September 30 3302
Hi all. This is commander Eric Strauss, still alive and kicking and happily reporting from the outskirts of the bubble. I managed a 260LY jump today! WOOOOOO!!! This is the stuff man! So exhilarating. I could kiss that white dwarf if I wasn't allergic to heat! And the rest of the tests all came back promising. I do believe I'm ready to go. This shouldn't take me long thanks to the hard work of all the folks who have been mapping out the neutron highway for us, which I plan on taking full advantage of. Seriously guys, a big thank you!
Anywhoo, see you all soon f%#$rs!
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 02 3302
Guess what I just had? A shower! Yep, right here on the ASPx baby! I'm a genius I tell ya. A few weeks ago I found a very old mining module on a backwater station and it gave me a wicked idea. It's a core drill they used back in the dark ages. But it works really well. So I stuck it on the butt end of the asp and hooked the feeder up to one of the cargo holds.
Here's how it works. You set down on an icy and fire up the module. It lowers down under the ship and starts to drill into the crust. The conveyor tube then sucks up the ice back into the ship. I've got the tube running next to the power plant so the ice heats up and melts as it travels through. It ends up pouring beeeaaaaaautiful warm water down into the container. Another tube then takes the water back out of the ship and spits it out as chunks of dirty ice.
Huh? Huh? Genius or what? Bit of a dodgy setup, I admit. But if you've ever had the pleasure of smelling your typical explorer after a long trip you'd understand. Hell I nearly choked to death the last time one of the boys opened his hatch door at the station after a few weeks out in the black. Pew! I tell ya man!
Now I just have to remember to scan every rock I land on to make sure there's nothing funny in the ice. The first time I tried it I turned bright orange for a week!
Anyway, that's me for today. Talk again soon f%#$rs!
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
FDS Serial SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 03 3302
Having a wee spot of trouble with the power plant overloading. I've toned down the FSD to lower the stress on the plant. So far so good. I'm about a day from the NS I've got in mind as my first candidate for the big test.
Hold on to your butts folks! Exciting stuff coming up.
Eric out.
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 04 3302
Boy I never get tired of watching these things. So beautiful and yet so deadly. Not as bad as my ex, but still pretty deadly. Bit of a special system this one. It was hand-picked by my engineer sidekick back in the bubble. He told me he had a surprise for me. Wasn't expecting this though. A bloody NS being orbited by a black hole! Yeah, thanks mate, no pressure there. He knows I like a challenge, and I cordially except. For now though I have another long checklist to run through.
I'm buzzing!
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 04 3302
Oh crap crap crap crap!
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 04 3302
Crap crap crap!
Commanders Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 04 3302
Ok I wasn't expecting this. Maybe it was because of the black hole, I don't know, but the FSD got way overcharged as I cruised through one of the jets and now it's stuck. I'm not getting any response out of the drive at all. Too dangerous to switch off or disconnect at this point as well since all that energy has to go somewhere. Time for a shot of brandy. Think think think!!!
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 04 3302
I figured out why it's not responding. It's the safety. It didn't occur to me at all. I'll have to disable it, I have no choice.
Here's my problem though. None of the ship's modules are designed to deal with this drive, so inter-module communication between the FSD and the rest of the ship is not exactly stellar. The computer is not able to accurately predict my jump range in the current state, so I'm going to have to calculate the approximate distance based on what variables I have and manually plot.
Now here's the thing. With the safety off, the computer will let me initiate a jump to any system, even if I don't have enough fuel to get there. I can't overestimate this jump range. Running out of juice in the middle of Witchspace would be bad. Very bad! And once I exit out on the other side, the drive is going to dump whatever excess spooled energy it has left in it. So if I underestimate and end up not jumping far enough to use up most of the built up charge then I'll pretty much reach my destination in the form of a ball of molten lava. I don't like being lava :-(
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 04 3302
Ok I think I've got it. My jump estimates are somewhere between 1200 to 1220 light years. It doesn't make sense. I went through it 3 times, but got the same results every time. I can't believe it. This is more incredible than I thought! Oh god I hope I don't die. Dying doesn't work for me at all.
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 04 3302
Ok here goes nothing.... wait maybe some more brandy first..
.. I um.. I'm not quite sure how to start here, so I'll just get on with it and dump the log files I have. You the reader can make up your own mind.
Just to quickly give you the back story first, I was lurking around Merope when I saw something strange on the radar. On closer inspection it turned out to be some kind of high wake residue, but very intense at the same time. It's difficult to explain. The initial scan almost shutdown my ship, but I kept persisting. Before the scan was complete though the ship did end up crapping out and refused to start. So I fired up the old backup computer and run a diagnostic on all my modules. Turned out my memory terminals were completely full, so the ship's computer just could not boot. Luckily I had an old backup unit which I managed to quickly swap out before my air run out. Bingo, back in business.
The wake was gone when I went back for it a while later, so somewhat baffled and suspicious, I headed back to the bubble to start what turned out to be a very long inspection of the ship's memory modules. I can't even begin to tell you how much crap was on there, or how on Merope 5c it got transmitted out of a simple wake echo. I've never filled up the computer's memory even after thousands of light years worth of exploration data. This was strange stuff too. Most of it just seemed like gibberish and I almost gave up, dismissing it as modulated static that the computer had managed to mistake for information. That is until I started to notice strange patterns in the data. This was all beyond me so I ended up taking the modules to a hacker I know who pretty much demanded every last drop of some pretty old Lavian I had in my cargo in exchange.
I spent almost an entire restless week waiting for this guy to finish. Then finally I get a transmission saying "you better get over here mate". So I jump straight over and he flicks a hollo screen up and says "here, have a look for yourself". I spent about an hour going through most of it, slowly turning pale in the process. I was in a daze and had goosebumps when I finally looked up at him. Turned out there was a hell of a lot of "junk" data on there anyway. Or at least nothing that our computers would recognise as data. There was also quite a bit of exploration data there, and a series of logs by a commander named Eric Strauss. Here's where it really starts to get weird. The high wake turned out to also belong to Eric's ship(Star Tamer). Except he wasn't anywhere near the Pleiades when he jumped. How his wake ended up in the Merope system is anyone's guess, and I'll tell you my personal theory after you read the logs.
Not all the data has been cleaned up yet as it's a pretty painstaking process. It's very messy and hard to read. I'll post them all here in their entirety as I keep working on them.
See you on the other side...
..................................
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: September 29 3302
Heeeeeeya folks! Eric here with another exciting adventure about to unfold. Off to Colonia and I can't lie, I'm excited! Well ok, not that excited about the journey, but I am pretty keen to try out a brand spanking new FSD we've just fitted into this bad boy. Engineered for maximum jump range with a few more crazy extras added. Bit on the experimental side of things, but all the short and medium-range tests came up good, so I'm pretty hopeful. I'm expecting close to a whopping 500LYs after a neutron boost! Try and wrap your coconut around that! For now I have to hurry up and go through my check list.
Talk soon.
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: September 30 3302
Hi all. This is commander Eric Strauss, still alive and kicking and happily reporting from the outskirts of the bubble. I managed a 260LY jump today! WOOOOOO!!! This is the stuff man! So exhilarating. I could kiss that white dwarf if I wasn't allergic to heat! And the rest of the tests all came back promising. I do believe I'm ready to go. This shouldn't take me long thanks to the hard work of all the folks who have been mapping out the neutron highway for us, which I plan on taking full advantage of. Seriously guys, a big thank you!
Anywhoo, see you all soon f%#$rs!
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 02 3302
Guess what I just had? A shower! Yep, right here on the ASPx baby! I'm a genius I tell ya. A few weeks ago I found a very old mining module on a backwater station and it gave me a wicked idea. It's a core drill they used back in the dark ages. But it works really well. So I stuck it on the butt end of the asp and hooked the feeder up to one of the cargo holds.
Here's how it works. You set down on an icy and fire up the module. It lowers down under the ship and starts to drill into the crust. The conveyor tube then sucks up the ice back into the ship. I've got the tube running next to the power plant so the ice heats up and melts as it travels through. It ends up pouring beeeaaaaaautiful warm water down into the container. Another tube then takes the water back out of the ship and spits it out as chunks of dirty ice.
Huh? Huh? Genius or what? Bit of a dodgy setup, I admit. But if you've ever had the pleasure of smelling your typical explorer after a long trip you'd understand. Hell I nearly choked to death the last time one of the boys opened his hatch door at the station after a few weeks out in the black. Pew! I tell ya man!
Now I just have to remember to scan every rock I land on to make sure there's nothing funny in the ice. The first time I tried it I turned bright orange for a week!
Anyway, that's me for today. Talk again soon f%#$rs!
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
FDS Serial SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 03 3302
Having a wee spot of trouble with the power plant overloading. I've toned down the FSD to lower the stress on the plant. So far so good. I'm about a day from the NS I've got in mind as my first candidate for the big test.
Hold on to your butts folks! Exciting stuff coming up.
Eric out.
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 04 3302
Boy I never get tired of watching these things. So beautiful and yet so deadly. Not as bad as my ex, but still pretty deadly. Bit of a special system this one. It was hand-picked by my engineer sidekick back in the bubble. He told me he had a surprise for me. Wasn't expecting this though. A bloody NS being orbited by a black hole! Yeah, thanks mate, no pressure there. He knows I like a challenge, and I cordially except. For now though I have another long checklist to run through.
I'm buzzing!
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 04 3302
Oh crap crap crap crap!
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 04 3302
Crap crap crap!
Commanders Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 04 3302
Ok I wasn't expecting this. Maybe it was because of the black hole, I don't know, but the FSD got way overcharged as I cruised through one of the jets and now it's stuck. I'm not getting any response out of the drive at all. Too dangerous to switch off or disconnect at this point as well since all that energy has to go somewhere. Time for a shot of brandy. Think think think!!!
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 04 3302
I figured out why it's not responding. It's the safety. It didn't occur to me at all. I'll have to disable it, I have no choice.
Here's my problem though. None of the ship's modules are designed to deal with this drive, so inter-module communication between the FSD and the rest of the ship is not exactly stellar. The computer is not able to accurately predict my jump range in the current state, so I'm going to have to calculate the approximate distance based on what variables I have and manually plot.
Now here's the thing. With the safety off, the computer will let me initiate a jump to any system, even if I don't have enough fuel to get there. I can't overestimate this jump range. Running out of juice in the middle of Witchspace would be bad. Very bad! And once I exit out on the other side, the drive is going to dump whatever excess spooled energy it has left in it. So if I underestimate and end up not jumping far enough to use up most of the built up charge then I'll pretty much reach my destination in the form of a ball of molten lava. I don't like being lava :-(
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 04 3302
Ok I think I've got it. My jump estimates are somewhere between 1200 to 1220 light years. It doesn't make sense. I went through it 3 times, but got the same results every time. I can't believe it. This is more incredible than I thought! Oh god I hope I don't die. Dying doesn't work for me at all.
Commander's Log
Eric Strauss
ID: SU39967G
Call Sign: Lakon Sierra Tango Alpha
Date: October 04 3302
Ok here goes nothing.... wait maybe some more brandy first..
Last edited: