A Light in the Dark; an Oasis in the Void
17 May 2022Jack Borson
The Gangari is doing quite well, 7.9kLy from home; in a distant binary system with no other astronomical significance. No planets, no asteroids, just two stars 200+kLs apart. Crew are using the time to perform maintenance and cleaning, especially after all the stress from the 15 jumps or so over the last two weeks. Lots of infrastructure and structural elements to inspect, especially considering she's nearing 114kLy on her frame.Expedition is going well, aside from the unexpected rapid disassembly event that first day. Getting some Genomics studied; 10 planets landed on so far, 29 total samples last week. Getting a good variety of Tussock, and a few Cactoida even along with the standard Stratum and Bacteria. Was a bit worried about trying to do so many landings without shields, but I'm being particular and so far the Albatross is doing well. I have chosen to skip a few higher G planets for now out of safety, but I'm marking the systems for a possible return visit on the way home. Also skipped one system that had 6 different biological containing moons all around the same gas giant just for time savings; certainly need to return there!
Not a lot of communication with the fellow expedition members, but from the little I hear spirits are still good. Beagle can be a mind-killer; know enough folks from DW2 that just gave up, exploded their ships, or are maybe still out there, drifting. Hopefully with a smaller group like this, we can keep each other's spirits up especially after the core.
The Albatross is holding up well. Took a bit to get used to the shoulders on the Vulture, but mechanically she's a fine ship. Rarely get above 60% heat threshold when scooping, no need to stop to scoop in those little planet-less systems, and the jump range is more than sufficient.
It's good to be back in the Black again.