Captain's Log: War, huh?
08 Oct 2021Pon Pon
Well, I got back from 'round about a month in the black, and it seems the galaxy is at war now or something.This isn't that Kumo clan crap, by the way. Still have no clue what's going on there. I've been catching up on the news through Galnet and my squadron's private network for the past week or so, and an absolute shit ton has happened both while I was gone, and as I was arriving back in the bubble.
As usual, though, let's start at the start.
I originally went out in the black just to see if it could be done. I got to my destination, the Traikoa cluster, on the 14th, and left on the 17th. Frankly, while I did discover a whole load of new systems, and a couple new species of planetary life, I can't say I did much exploration. I barely spent any time there, and without an SRV it was difficult to do any exobiology. But, that was fine. Att 5000LY, this was the longest journey out of the bubble I had done until then, and served as a good test run of the Reichweite II.
Unfortunately, however, she didn't pass the mustard. While I really appreciate the jump range you can get out of a DBX, I found that at 5000LY the hull size left a lot to be desired. Good thing the boys at Lakon know exactly what to do about that: The ol' faithful, Asp Explorer. After returning to the bubble, the first thing I did was start perusing the market for an Asp X. Around the same time, or maybe a bit before I got back, the Sidewinder Syndicate (SWS) launched our new Scouting Initiative (the SWSSI), which was right up my alley. I submitted an application, and was approved before I knew it.
So, the work started rolling in, and after a few days to outfit and engineer the modules in my new Asp X, christened the Reichweite III, it was off to the Elysian Shore for me. Finally, finally, I was leaving the Inner Orion Spur, and let me tell you, that felt like an achievement. Sure, the bubble isn't that far from the nearby galactic sectors, but there's no denying that it started to feel like true exploration as those Codex confirmations started to roll in. Anyways, my first destination was the Phroea Phoe cluster, specifically a confirmation of the system unofficially named "Moore-Naunberg" after Cris Moore and Michael Nauenberg, the orbital theorists who developed solutions predicting the individual motions of more than three gravitationally interacting celestial objects. Basically, they figured out how stars move when there are more than three, and what better than a nonanary system to be named after them?
Seeing nine stars in a single system was impressive, but the stars are so far apart that it's difficult to appreciate it from just an image. It was, frankly, impossible to get more than two or three stars in a single frame, so I really only focused on documentation. Oh! I guess I should explain what the SWSSI is all about. As the name implies, the Scouting Initiative seek to "scout" the galaxy, but what does that really mean? Well, there are points of interest (POIs) all over the place that other commanders have discovered, but a lot of the time the documentation is either poor, nonexistent, outdated, or otherwise not useful. In the Sidewinder Syndicate, we often run expeditions to various parts of the galaxy, where commanders visit these POIs en masse, but recent expeditions like the 3307 Summer Slam, a tour of high-g planets, have run into problems where the information given simply wasn't correct, and waypoints on the expedition turn out to be a flop. Well, the SWSSI basically pre-screens POIs, so that doesn't happen.
Alright, back to my exploration log, then we can talk about war! Later. Hold your horses.
So I finished my survey of Phroea Phoe RD-S e4-12, AKA Moore-Naunberg, and moved on to the next cluster that needed surveying: Sleguae. Bit of a mistake, since there was another POI in Phroea Phoe that I missed, albeit at lower priority. I did catch it in the end, though, so it wasn't really an issue, just meant that towards the end of my survey I had to pop ~1000LY back to backfill. Anyhow, Sleguae! Now that was a busy sector. 6 POIs to document, and countless other systems were scanned, mapped, and occasionally landed in. The first destination was the Melis Geysers, on Sleguae JC-S d5-135 2 B. The description we found was as follows:
Melis Geysers is a field of silicate vapour geysers, located on body 2 B, in the Wayfarer's Graveyard region. The site is located in a valley, at the coordinates 41.6383 / -157.6963. The moon itself is small, bright yellow and red, and highly deformed. Dark basaltic rock coats the bottom of the valley, in strong contrast to the bright white, silvery eruptions from the geysers. The geysers themselves are at a medium-low activity level, and do not pose any threat to SRVs or ships. It is still unclear how the area remains a dark colour despite the regular eruptions. Hypotheses include the geyser field being extremely recent, or a chemical process that quickly dissociates or changes the ejected material.
Well, while the coordinates ended up being in the middle of a mountain range, it wasn't hard to follow the mountains down into the valley. Maybe something fancy happened with tectonics or something; this place is volcanically active enough that I wouldn't be surprised to see the crust shift a few km like that. As implied, it was only a few km down the ridge, and I found the "geysers" spreading out across the valley floor. Just, one small problem: They weren't really geysers at that point.
...yeah, a bit too much lava to be a geyser. Now, these lava spouts are clearly new. The Melis Geysers was one of the better documented POIs, so there was actually video and audio recordings of the planet's surface, showing the old formations of the valley. Given the fumaroles and gas vents present, shooting out silicate vapour, I'd say that the "geysers" have simply evolved due to the high volcanic activity in the area. The valley floor showed very few traces of the basaltic rock, instead having a very consistent, sandy yellow surface. Following the trail in my SRV, I was also able to find the field extended for many km, and confirmed that there was still some of the original basalt rock remaining.
Overall, we concluded that the Melis Geysers had evolved. The silicate gas vents would occasionally spout hot steam, with much weaker pressure than one might expect from a geyser, but it was hard to deny them the title. Seeing the new lava spouts was originally concerning, however they too were rich in silicates, as was the vapour emitted from the fumaroles. Overall, the silicate field is still strong, though the high geothermal activity means it may warrant additional survey in the future.
After that, I continued surveying and updating the documentation of our lower priority POIs in Sleguae. From there, I received a transmission from CMDR Richart Fluiraniz, an authority on this sector of the galaxy, my fellow Sidewinder, and my boss, to go to Hegua LM-I b24-4 and survey the ELW there for some competition Saud Kruger were holding back in the bubble. We actually met up in that system and documented it together. Word has just come in, though, that it wasn't selected as one of the new tourist beacon locations, but at least CMDR Shakalx3, another member of the SWS, did! Congratulations!
Before flying out to Hegua, I had actually finished up the POIs in the Sleguae and Phroea Phoe clusters, so I figured it was time to go home. With CMDR Fluiraniz in the area, I figured he could handle the POIs in Hegua (which, admittedly, aren't high priority anyways). So I fired up my FSD and headed home.
And arrived in a bloody war. I usually try to sell my data somewhere where I might be able to nick a permit or two, and that day was no different. I thought it was a little odd that I needed to fly down to a planetary settlement, but it wasn't too much of an issue. The problem reared its ugly head when I arrived: Lasers, plasma, and bullets flying across the ground, and troop transports navigating a field of AA fire in the air. Yeah, I washed my hands of that, turned around, and headed for calmer waters.
Namely, waters held by the Sidewinder Syndicate. But, despite the peaceful name, the election in Cocorix was nothing but. I sold my data fine, but from the comms chatter I heard there was a shadow war going on between my team, and another group called Dark Enterprise. I didn't participate in the combat myself, since helping out the election was higher priority and I'm certainly not the best combat pilot, but from what I heard some of our commanders were interdicted and destroyed. Well, we were also doing the same in return, so...
Anyways, we did win the election, but things in Cocorix are so unstable that another one has just started. Go figure. Our attempt to expand into LTT 4447, too, has gotten violent, with an actual state of war being declared. I was helping out in some CZs earlier today, and while we did force the Federal Reclamation Co to retreat, they came back in force. With my shields shredded, I pulled out long before the Sidewinder Syndicate system security did, heading back to a friendly fleet carrier, the SWS//Lockheart. It was the right call: I engaged the supercruise with only 18% hull remaining. The Fuchsjäger, my Alliance Chieftan, is in repairs as we speak, and I expect to sortie again in a few hours.
God, this has turned into a right mess, but the Sidewinder Syndicate entering a state of rapid expansion can only be a good thing. For me, not for Dark Enterprise or the Federal Reclamation Co... Crap, two more wars have just broken out, in 53 Virginis and Naitis respectively. This is going to be a long fight...