'Attention, carrier jump-sequence initiated'
We were at the point of no return. Once again. But this time it had a different meaning from that time in 3302.
Four years later we stood with our SRV's at the remains of a great expedition, which found its programmed and voluntary end here, at the 'Anaconda Graveyard' in HD 76133, more precisely, at a point they called 'ultimate destination'.
How ironic... Because with what we were about to do, we were robbing the place of its finality, we would shift the boundaries of what could be achieved, rise higher than anyone has ever done at this point, beyond the Elysium, higher to the stars, closer to the true ultimate destination.
Was it a coincidence or an omen that our carrier was named 'Walhalla'?
In a long past earthly mythology, the name was given to the hall where fallen warriors were allowed to enter if they died honorably on the battlefield.
Also the CMDR, who had fallen here at the Anaconda Graveyard, certainly did so honorably and undoubtedly earned their place in Valhalla.
Their grave became a legend, a memorial with an aftertaste that no one could return from there. Too great was the distance at the neutron star that led into the Cancri Cluster, which had the fitting title 'Decision Point'. A charge of the FSA brought the traveller over the void, but since there was no equivalent neutron star on the other side, one could not jump back.
At the Decision Point, commanders became heroes. and at the Anaconda Grave, heroes became legends.
'Attention, Carrier lockdown in 5 minutes'
I was at the Graveyard too long.
Thanks to the outstanding technology of 3306, the Decision Point was no longer a one-way street. With a carrier, systems became reachable that nobody could reach before, and since the influence stuff in our home system was very routine anyway, my squadron, the 'Besonders lustige Astronauten unterwegs' [BLAU], decided to make a little trip to the Graveyard.
With a carrier, exploration and mining ships and all that. The Valhalla was filled with tritium up to the edge, so that the galaxy-wide tritium shortage could not harm us.
The journey and the stay in the cluster were unspectacular with beautiful views of the Cancri Cluster, which is nicknamed 'Elysium', the "island of the blessed". Whatever the reason, actually it looked exactly the same here as everywhere else.
We found BIO-signs, the one or other hotspot and finally we reached the highest system of the cluster, there we had to fill in jumponium again to make the jump to the Graveyard.
I flew ahead to scout the area and to identify any problems for our younger participants. So I hung around the graveyard and waited for the arrival of my comrades, and the waiting time I spent browsing the galaxy map and exploring the surrounding area.
I could imagine that the members of the expedition in 3302 were doing exactly the same thing here, hoping to find another way back into the bubble and maybe they were as surprised as I was when they happened to find a bright spot on the Galaxy Map, that was labeled 'HD 75406'. How big must have been the disappointment when they realized that the short glimmer of hope they had was deceptive, because the distance next to it was 349.14ly. Except for mega ships, no other ship could cover this distance at that time, so they had to admit that they had reached their ultimate destination.
But we had our mega ship with us, so I contacted the tour guide and the carrier-owner and we discussed and calculated whether our tritium supplies would still be sufficient for the return trip. Soon the enjoyment of the trip gave way to the excitement of an expedition, which our trip now became. An expedition. For many of our youngest squadron members a completely new, unfamiliar experience, but together with Distant Worlds 2 veterans the further procedure was explained and the schedule was discussed.
And then I looked at the Galaxy Map again and found another system.
And then another one.
And the last one was almost vertically above the previous one and by using lateration we tried to find out how far the distance from the second to the third discovered system was and we estimated at just under 500ly, which means that with a lot of luck, the Walhalla could reach this high system but we would only know when we arrived at the second one.
We did not intend to open a carrier graveyard up there, so again we calculated how many jumps we would need for the outward and return flight and how much tritium would have to be available. The calculation showed a reassuring tritium supply but we decided for safety's sake to hold a squadron mining unit at the tritium hotspot. Within two hours we had finally acquired enough tritium for another jump. It was possible.
"Attention, counting down. 10, ..."
So we decided on the route,
"5"
determined the time for the start,
"4"
divided the squadron members into scanning- and mapping-teams
"3"
invoked discipline and teamwork
"2"
hoping for the luck of the brave
"1"
held their breath
And the Walhalla jumped....
to be continued...
We were at the point of no return. Once again. But this time it had a different meaning from that time in 3302.
Four years later we stood with our SRV's at the remains of a great expedition, which found its programmed and voluntary end here, at the 'Anaconda Graveyard' in HD 76133, more precisely, at a point they called 'ultimate destination'.
How ironic... Because with what we were about to do, we were robbing the place of its finality, we would shift the boundaries of what could be achieved, rise higher than anyone has ever done at this point, beyond the Elysium, higher to the stars, closer to the true ultimate destination.
Was it a coincidence or an omen that our carrier was named 'Walhalla'?
In a long past earthly mythology, the name was given to the hall where fallen warriors were allowed to enter if they died honorably on the battlefield.
Also the CMDR, who had fallen here at the Anaconda Graveyard, certainly did so honorably and undoubtedly earned their place in Valhalla.
Their grave became a legend, a memorial with an aftertaste that no one could return from there. Too great was the distance at the neutron star that led into the Cancri Cluster, which had the fitting title 'Decision Point'. A charge of the FSA brought the traveller over the void, but since there was no equivalent neutron star on the other side, one could not jump back.
At the Decision Point, commanders became heroes. and at the Anaconda Grave, heroes became legends.
'Attention, Carrier lockdown in 5 minutes'
I was at the Graveyard too long.
Thanks to the outstanding technology of 3306, the Decision Point was no longer a one-way street. With a carrier, systems became reachable that nobody could reach before, and since the influence stuff in our home system was very routine anyway, my squadron, the 'Besonders lustige Astronauten unterwegs' [BLAU], decided to make a little trip to the Graveyard.
With a carrier, exploration and mining ships and all that. The Valhalla was filled with tritium up to the edge, so that the galaxy-wide tritium shortage could not harm us.
The journey and the stay in the cluster were unspectacular with beautiful views of the Cancri Cluster, which is nicknamed 'Elysium', the "island of the blessed". Whatever the reason, actually it looked exactly the same here as everywhere else.
We found BIO-signs, the one or other hotspot and finally we reached the highest system of the cluster, there we had to fill in jumponium again to make the jump to the Graveyard.
I flew ahead to scout the area and to identify any problems for our younger participants. So I hung around the graveyard and waited for the arrival of my comrades, and the waiting time I spent browsing the galaxy map and exploring the surrounding area.
I could imagine that the members of the expedition in 3302 were doing exactly the same thing here, hoping to find another way back into the bubble and maybe they were as surprised as I was when they happened to find a bright spot on the Galaxy Map, that was labeled 'HD 75406'. How big must have been the disappointment when they realized that the short glimmer of hope they had was deceptive, because the distance next to it was 349.14ly. Except for mega ships, no other ship could cover this distance at that time, so they had to admit that they had reached their ultimate destination.
But we had our mega ship with us, so I contacted the tour guide and the carrier-owner and we discussed and calculated whether our tritium supplies would still be sufficient for the return trip. Soon the enjoyment of the trip gave way to the excitement of an expedition, which our trip now became. An expedition. For many of our youngest squadron members a completely new, unfamiliar experience, but together with Distant Worlds 2 veterans the further procedure was explained and the schedule was discussed.
And then I looked at the Galaxy Map again and found another system.
And then another one.
And the last one was almost vertically above the previous one and by using lateration we tried to find out how far the distance from the second to the third discovered system was and we estimated at just under 500ly, which means that with a lot of luck, the Walhalla could reach this high system but we would only know when we arrived at the second one.
We did not intend to open a carrier graveyard up there, so again we calculated how many jumps we would need for the outward and return flight and how much tritium would have to be available. The calculation showed a reassuring tritium supply but we decided for safety's sake to hold a squadron mining unit at the tritium hotspot. Within two hours we had finally acquired enough tritium for another jump. It was possible.
"Attention, counting down. 10, ..."
So we decided on the route,
"5"
determined the time for the start,
"4"
divided the squadron members into scanning- and mapping-teams
"3"
invoked discipline and teamwork
"2"
hoping for the luck of the brave
"1"
held their breath
And the Walhalla jumped....
to be continued...