Pegasus Run 3305 - Days 14 & 15
14 Oct 2019Flemish Jack
19:21:53 10-14-05So...here's what we should have done (and to be quite honest you'd think, we being former Imperial Navy would have out of sheer habit, but nope): deployed the Taipan to run aerial recon prior to descending into the canyon in our SRVs.
So there I was....
Dropped down dirt side on a high metal content world to gather some materials and break up the monotony. This particular space rock had 18 geological sites to choose from. I picked one at random light side and made my approach. On short final tracking in VFR I see a really interesting looking canyon with a decent sized mesa near the center, kind of an island in the middle if you will.
Looks big enough for two. I radio my old shippy Vel Eshti to follow me in. Vel comes in low and slow and sets down next to the Cutter. So far...so good.
So naturally, after the photo shoot concluded we drop our SRVs and commence to gathering resources. In the pics above you can see the geysers, this is the centroid of the geological site so we head that way. I get the bright idea to head straight at it rather than skirt the edge (read: go the long boring way). Below is a shot I took a day later for perspective.
Yep, you guessed it. Quite clearly I eventually skirted the edge and went the long boring way. Anyway, we commence our descent into the canyon. In several cases we need to put the SRVs in slow reverse to keep from careening @$$ over tea kettle to the canyon floor. It was needless to say slow going, but a ton of fun. Even when we ultimately lost traction and wound up rolling over, and over, and over. The inside of my helmet may or may not have been sprayed with what was left of my breakfast. "Safely" on the bottom of the canyon mostly intact we commenced to scouting a path up to the top of the other side. We were both very excited to still be alive at this point. Please refer to photo above as it reflects all but a very small, very hard to find portion of the canyon wall.
There are only two directions to go from where we dropped in. One way leads to a box canyon with sheer vertical walls the other leads to another box canyon or to the observant the other fork in the road takes you, in a very round about way, to a less than 6% grade easy climb exit. As we were attempting to violate the rules of physics by climbing a wall in our SRVs we disregarded logic and instead chose to fuel our swear machines that only years in the Navy can properly tune. For the record we nearly made it out climbing vertically before tumbling back down to the bottom on several occasions. Had I not been so frustrated I would have taken some pics. When I finally threw my hands in the air and sped off to explore the canyon floor Vel was nearly to the top of the mesa we originally crawled down throwing all sorts of debris. Would have been a great one for the Pegasus Run scrapbook. It's funny now, several days later. Then? Not so much.
You ever felt trapped? You ever been trapped? Yes to both for me and it ain't a good feeling. Particularly when you're taking someone else down with you so to speak.
Obviously we both made it out of the canyon mostly none the worse for wear. Vel is several thousand light years farther from the planet than I am now and hopefully no longer sore for once again following me into another poorly thought out operation. We did not die, nor did we catch on fire. All-in-all a good day. I spent the next day snooping around the geo site and headed back into the black. Destination: the wreck of the Zurana.
Until next time commanders, fly safe.
Flemish Jack - OUT