NYND 3308: Day 49 (FINAL ENTRY)
20 Feb 2022Helios Eusebio
February 20, 330816:35:18 UGT
Spaceball Two, Pirigen A 3
The final mass jump of the expedition. First Mass Jump for Lavender Spirit. It's life's little ironies that make these moments all the more memorable. Still, no matter the vessel, the last Mass Jump is always the hardest for me. It's an implicit acknowledgement that our voyage has come to an end and the time has come to head on home.
We had a good fleet this year, with good commanders at the helm. One of the things I like about these expeditions is seeing the variety of vessels that make the trip, especially with Lunar Hyperlight shuttling us out and back. When I did my first expedition back in 3306, we had to spend a couple of weeks properly engineering Challenger for the trip. Now we can bring on several ships that are specialized for a variety of activities. All three ships got their share of flying time on this voyage (Olympus is only brought along in case of Thargoid-related emergencies) and all performed well (even with Challenger's bad drive at the end). I'm already thinking about possible modifications for them to give them all a little more flexibility next year.
It's too early to say what next year's expedition will look like or where we'll go. I have some ideas, myself. Beagle Point is the obvious choice; this was the first time I've been to the North side of the galaxy and so it makes sense to follow that up with a full crossing. There's also sections of the Northeast and Northwest regions that are relatively unexplored and I've always wanted to go there. Maybe we could go above or below the disc and see how far we can get? Set a record for the farthest distance from the Milky Way?
I'll let Luna and her team decide that. Wherever they end up picking for next year, I'm sure it'll be amazing.
After the Mass Jump it was time to settle in for the long ride home. I do have to give credit to Luna for routing the expedition in such a way as to avoid long haul trips until the very end, when everyone would be more content to relax on the carrier. I certainly didn't mind; after a month and a half of mostly legging it ourselves to the waypoints, it was nice to get a ride back.
Gave us a chance to catch up on the news back home as well. Emperor Lavigny-Duval has resumed the throne and wasted no time in enacting her revenge against Darkwater, as I write this Imperial Naval forces are engaging Darkwater in combat over in Summerland. She also gave a charming speech about how she alone could lead the Empire through these troubled times, not altogether dissimilar to what Hudson is saying back in Fed space. I would argue though that Arissa at least has a more pressing concern; some say that Aisling may have a claim to the throne with how long Arissa has been gone, so it makes sense that she'd want to ward off a potential power struggle which could further divide the already fractured Empire.
Speaking of the Superpowers, they're still trying to get their collective asses in gear when it comes to the Thargoids. Independent pilots are once again picking up the slack with the loss of Aegis, so clearly some things never change. Oddly enough there's been no word yet from Salvation, usually they jump in against the Thargoids the first chance they get. Wonder what's keeping them so busy? Or maybe their goal wasn't the destruction of the Thargoids but Aegis...in which case, mission accomplished.
At 15:00:22 UGT, Lunar Hyperlight arrived back in 59 Virginis. New Near New Discoveries 3308 had concluded with a mission elapsed time of 48 Days, 20 Hours, 41 Minutes, and 12 Seconds. A full week longer than last year's voyage and an endurance record to be sure for many of the commanders in the fleet.
We said our farewells and went our separate ways. Some to their home systems, some to assist Alchemy Den elsewhere in our sphere of influence and others back out into the black to do some exploring of their own. I admit that I'm craving some R&R myself, but there's no time for that. Not just yet.
Our immediate priority was to head back over to Spaceball Two and offload our precious cargo of Void Opals and LTD's to be saved for a rainy day. Then it was a matter of returning the rest of our ships to our carrier, loading her up with Tritium and heading off. It's a breakneck pace, to be sure, but we wouldn't be spooling up if it wasn't a matter of urgency.
Whitetip Operations has been very busy in our absence. After months of prep work, Operation: Reclamation is finally moving forward. This expansion effort may not be as aggressive or expansive as Alchemy Den's tend to be, but even a small group needs to start somewhere. WTO has needed their own bubble for some time to push back against the Imperial-aligned powers in the region (even if they're much easier to deal with than the Alliance-aligned ones). And frankly, given the recent tone from Capitol as well as Arissa's newfound sense of aggression...well, let's just say it's imperative that WTO lock up these systems now before they risk having to push back against a more militaristic Empire.
Hopefully when all is said and done I can talk to Delta about organizing an expedition for these folks as well. There's a lot of explorers in WTO and Delta, like Sapphire before them, is no stranger when it comes to heading out into the black. With that said, I doubt many of these folks have ever been as far as Colonia, let alone more than 1,000 ly outside of the bubble. And I've always liked the idea of having Spaceball Two explore the stars.
Maybe we could start with well known landmarks, similar to this year's NYND route? Perhaps fly WTO out to some well known nebulae like the Orion or California? Maybe even visit the Crab Pulsar? Nothing major, just a quick out and back to give folks a taste of deep space exploration. I mean, if Rhea could get the bug from just one jump out on this trip, I suspect WTO pilots would have a similar reaction.
That's the truly great thing about these expeditions; they make you want to explore. Don't get me wrong, a month and a half in the black is an enduring task and not everyone need apply. But the first time you fly into a system that no one in history has visited before, seeing things that literally no one before you has ever seen...it just makes you want to go higher and faster and farther than before. And sure some will say that all the really interesting and cool stuff has already been found, but that's a statistical lie. There's still 99.5% of the Milky Way that's unexplored.
We've seen a lot of amazing things already...but what excites me is all the things that we haven't seen yet. And while there may be more to see than can ever be seen and more to do than can ever be done, that sure as hell won't stop us from exploring.
As I said before; we are all discoverers. We are piecing together the puzzle for the first time.
This has been the expedition log for New Year New Discoveries 3308. Commander Helios Eusebio, signing off.
We embarked on our journey to the stars with a question first framed in the childhood of our species and in each generation asked anew with undiminished wonder: What are the stars? Exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars.
-Carl Sagan.