WP12: BEAGLE POINT PT. 2
02 May 2019J.Bauer
On May 1st, 3305 at 0434 the USNS Chicago, 7BT-DW, Roster #8729, arrived at Beagle Point completing the Distant Worlds II Expedition. 
Jan 13, 3305 - May 1, 3305.
The final leg of the journey to Beagle Point tested the limits of the Chicago. Last week, our inability to plot a proper route to Beagle from waypoint 11 required a change in strategy. We had planned to use Route 33, a known path for ships with limited FSD range. The starting point of Route 33, was at the edge of the Fomorian Frontier: CHO THUA SF-W B29-0. From there we were to head "west" toward The Distant View in Blue. The route was expected to add a few days to the journey, but it was guaranteed to work.
Upon arriving, I attempted to plot a course directly toward Beagle Point again. If we could navigate there directly we would arrive within a week. The navigation computer again failed to plot a direct route. It was still too far, or impossible to do with the USNS Chicago as outfitted. It did however correctly plot a route to Grand Rings.
Grand Rings was the main POI listed on the expedition. We were warned that crossing The Abyss along the Grand Rings waypoint would be challenging. Plotting to Beagle failed, but maybe if we could navigate to Grand Rings first, we could get close enough for the nav computer to calculate the route to Beagle correctly. It was worth a shot, and we set our heading for Grand Rings.
We arrived after a couple days. Our navigation computer successfully plotted a route toward Beagle Point. Safe from having to backtrack, we landed on a planet nearby. A few CMDRs had touched down as well and we performed a visual inspection of our ship's hull with the SRV. A beacon nearby noted the location as Tourist Spot 0017.
It read:
An enthusiastic Commender Rojo Habe declares that this spot is so far off the beather track that it promises to be the trip of a lifetime! He promises that this will be one of the grandesr ring systems you will ever see.
The USNS Chicago arrived this morning concluding an expedition that took 108 days and over 100kLy traveled. The Chicago was registered into EDSM a week after the start of the expedition, on Jan 21, 3305. This was just after departing from Waypoint 2. Since, she has seen 1740 systems of which 1116 were first discoveries.
The expedition visited the following twelve waypoints on the journey to Beagle Point:
- Pallaeni
- Omega Sector VE-Q b5-15 (Omega Mining Operation)
- Pru Aescs NC-M d7-192
- Clooku EW-Y c3-197
- Boewnst KS-S c20-959 (Polo Harbour / The Venetian Nebula)
- Stuemeae KM-W c1-342 (Armstrong Landing)
- Hypiae Phyloi LR-C d22 ('Lower' Goliath's Rest)
- Phroi Bluae QI-T e3-3454 (Cerulean Tranquility)
- Bleethuae NI-B d674 (Morphenniel Nebula)
- Smootoae QY-S d3-202 (Luna's Shadow)
- Beagle Point (Beagle Depot)
According to Universal Cartographics:
Beagle Point marks the end point of a galaxy-spanning expedition undertaken by Commander Kamzel in 3301. At the time, the system was known as Ceeckia ZQ-L c24-0, but Kamzel nicknamed it Beagle Point after his beloved beagle Jack, who had passed away a short time before. One year later, the system was chosen as the final destination of the first Distant Worlds expedition, resulting in an influx of over 500 pilots in April 3302. In recognition, Universal Cartographics officially renamed the system Beagle Point on the 26th of May 3302.
Beagle Point marks the end of the USNS Chicago's role in the Distant Worlds II expedition. We will take a final system scan and after mining materials for jumponium we will begin the long journey home.
CMDR J.Bauer signing off.
