A new expedition - Log, Day 03, Part 2
16 Mar 2020Kris Afron
I'm getting closer to figuring out what the odd odour is. During lunch I caught it again and traced it to a small pool of oily liquid in the cabin's mess area. So maybe i'm looking at a coolant leak or something similar, I just need to find the source of the leak now.Anyway we headed off to the Gamma settlement at Pru Aescs OI-K a64-0, planet 1. It was on the night side of the planet again and the landing site was quite a distance from the settlement. The best shot I got of it was from altitude.
The logs that I downloaded were similar to the other two sites,
Expedition Log: 30/08/3270
“I’m just the navigator aboard this ship. Never flown an Anaconda before, but it’s quite a beast. This one is stripped right down, just cargo space and jump capability. Nothing else. We had an escort to the edge of inhabited space, but our destination is right out there…”
Expedition Log: 12/09/3270
“Thousands of light years! Fortunately the ship has behaved itself. We’ve passed countless systems, but we’re not stopping to survey anything. I’ve just been asked to plot on as fast as we can go. We’re aiming for a zone known as the Conflux. It’s sure a long way out. Can’t help wondering why we’re doing this.”
Expedition Log: 18/09/3270
“So, we’re here now. Took as five months to reach this part of the galaxy. A team of hired spacers are out there now, dropping off some kind of cargo. Looks like beacons from what I can see, but some guy in uniform came and switched off the scanner. Best not ask too many questions. Might not be wise to be logging this to be honest…”
Expedition Log: 10/10/3270
“On our way back home again. Just dropped off whatever it was, turned about and started back. Five months out… probably five months back again. Managed a quick scan of the site when no one was looking. Definitely beacons. Why would anyone want a beacon right out here in the void is beyond me. Not my problem though!”
Nothing new here, definitely this guy had to keep his suspicions to himself. The Delta site is on planet A3A at Pru Aescs NC-M d7-192, so we headed over there without wasting any more time. Another site in daylight and the whole system was very interesting. We'd bee honking and using the FSS at all of the systems, but this one was kind of special. There were a lot of bodies with geological sites, 6 in all with 100 geological sites between them.
Before we descended to the Delta Settlement we put down on A3A at one of its geological sites to collect materials.
The view was spectacular, the parent body had a really wide ring and the planet (or moon) was only just outside of it.
Materials collected, and a quick hop brought us to the Delta Settlement nestled in a mountainous area, not an easy place to land.
The downloaded logs were similar to the others, but this crew didn't make it back. In fact they are probably a small smear of matter on the surface of a neutron star by now.
Expedition Log: 30/08/3270
“I’m just the engineer on this particular jaunt. I was advised to prep the ship for a seriously long haul into the void, so I’m loaded up with as many hyperdrive spares as I can cram in. When I asked why, the captain just responded with ‘Don’t ask’.”
Expedition Log: 12/09/3270
“It’s putting a strain on the ship, that I can tell you. I’ve asked for some downtime so I can run some maintenance, but the captain says we have to hit a schedule. What can be quite so important a thousand light years from the nearest inhabited planet I can’t say, but we’re in a mighty rush.”
Expedition Log: 18/09/3270
“I warned ’em. We blew the hyperdrive initiator coil jumping in today. Caused a right mess down here. Lots of collateral damage. Scanners are offline and the main generator is running hot. Can’t figure out why, looks like we’re in empty space, but the heat is fierce!”
Expedition Log: 01/10/3270
“We figured it out. Gravity. We’ve dropped out near a neutron star. Can’t see it, but we can feel it. The ship is cooking around us. No way we can jump out before it gets us. We’re being pulled in. Odds are even as to whether the heat, gravity or magnetism kills us first. We’re jettisoning the logs, if anyone ever finds this… save yourselves! Beware the neutron star.”
So, everything collected. We'll head home tomorrow after I look for that coolant leak. Gonna go via the Eagle Nebula, i'm expecting some good views there, and it's something else to show Livvy. She's still really enjoying the trip.
CMDR Kris Afron signing off. Fly safely commanders.