Logbook entry

Far From Home with Black Holes and Brandy

Begin private log.
Date: 5͖̆/͓̖͍̞̂̎͒̽̎͟2̡̍l'̦̯̖̓̾͘o̥͓̔̈̏ͅ;̙͗
Author: _{PERMISSIONS INVALID.}

Almost a month in the void, countless terraformable HMC’s, water worlds, even a pair of earth-like’s. I’ve closely scanned thirteen – yes THIRTEEN – black holes before even getting within five thousand LY of the core. This contract specifically tasked me check them out – why, I don’t know. But I will say, there is something damn terrifying about drawing close to the space-time warping of a singularity out in Odin’s Hold, only to turn and run away to think you see the stars moving in a telltale warning pattern again.

How many times I panicked.
Of all the anomalies out here, these are and ever will be the ones that get to me.  

I found some relaxation and unwinding from that experience in a pretty high system, 2,800 LY above the rim. It’s no Systeia Aub BA-A g12, but still has nice views from up here.

But I digress… the more I run around, often sidestepping past systems I've just recently been to as each new coordinate is fed in to the Omega, the more I realize that this contract might tie back closer to home than I first thought.

Many of the terraformables are within a few thousand LY of Colonia region.

It’s not the brightest thought, but… in the long term game, if someone were to want to set up competing interests around the Colonia region, this would be the place to do it in. As far as I’ve seen of it, that is.

I had a particularly bad day on one rocky, dusty little world. Took this shot after finally making it back to the Omega from a serious scare out in the SRV. I'd ended up trapped down in a valley and for all the life of me, couldn’t find any landing spot for the Omega’s systems to identify and set down onto. The thing just kept coming in and floating there, no many how many different points and angles I tried. The SRV took quite a bit of damage too, and got down to 7% hull, considering all of my efforts to navigate canyon walls, jutting rocks, and steep hill-walls.

I lost three and a half hours before finally getting to a place that the Omega could land at, a narrow little strip just barely poking out on a rocky, steep ledge. A spot that getting to earned me quite a few good bruises, despite being well-strapped in as the little rover fell and tumbled down five times in reaching it. This was the majority of my struggle, and I won’t say just how low-G that planet was.

I made sure to take off and land a good distance from the mountain range that’d caused these problems, now worn out and tired enough to go off to bed. Oh, though that does remind me of some good news.

The space madness I experienced on the way out to Colonia has been long gone, even running out in the black from the Omega or facing multiple black holes and neutron jumps. There's been no indication of it coming back, I don’t know how much of it is the upgrades I had put in back in Colonia, and how much of it is Ciel. But I'm grateful, all the same.

Speaking of, I’m glad I left when I did. Heard the news about the attempted shipment to Holloway, and knew if I had been around it would have likely seen them trying to get me tangled up in all of that. No, thank you...  I’ll have to reconsider my ties depending on Melendez’ activities following the outcome. Surely Eaton will have some good intel for me on return.

She may not be a drinker, but was I f****** surprised and glad to make this find! The cargo pod held mostly old brandy, but a few good selections and some mixers that I think will make a nice gift. That said, I am struggling not to pop a few too many more of them – it gets old fast, living off the same rations for weeks on end.

I do try and keep my food stores varied, but it's hard to do compared to the larger crew quarters on the Krait. I love my AspX, but I’ve found myself missing the Tandem. Or maybe it’s the same – though beautiful – open view greeting me all day, every day that’s wearing on me.

Ah… well, that’s enough of it for now. Don't take any offense, Carina.
Might as well compile a few favorite shots so far:  

Alright, that about does it. Carina, end log.