Under 24 hours
24 Jun 2021Korzhakov
"Goodbye Niki, Goodbye Becky, we will come visit once we return" I tell Jeans parents. she hugs her mothers and tell them she loves them, just before we step back onto the Karelian Dawn to make the trip back to the Archangel. With 71 light year jump range it's a short trip and we are back onboard our carrier quickly. We set off for our quarters where we have lunch with my folks before they set off for home. My father hugs me, my mother, the retired officer, hugs me, kisses my cheek and tells me fair winds and following seas. We walk them to the hangar where I have chartered a Dolphin to take them home to 21 Draco.
Supply ships of all sizes are making last minute drop offs, The cargo holds are getting full which is normal for a capital class ship headed to Colonia. Would be a waste to do otherwise. Plus the cargo and passenger fees paid for all of the fuel needed for the trip.
Randy, my newly promoted Fleet Manager has been getting all of my ships ready for this voyage. Some needed visits to engineers, some needed complete refits of various components. Everything should be tweaked now for it's intended purpose. I hope to leave the combat ships in their hangars for this trip, but they are ready in case are needed.
We are on board now for the duration. Will not be leaving the carrier again until we settle into a system near Colonia. The pre cruise excitement is starting to overtake the more somber mood we felt last night. Tomorrow it will be all business up until launch, then most of the crew will just relax either in quarters or at one of the forward observation decks or pubs at the bow of the ship to watch the jumps. Every few jumps we will remove the lockdown to allow crew to move around. It's going to be a couple of long days of continuous jumps until we arrive. Then the crew will go over the systems again to make sure everything is in tip top shape.
As the owner of this carrier, the best thing I can do at this point is to stay out of the crews way.