Walking the Void - the End Journey part I
21 Oct 2021Enrogue Óðinkárr
So on Monday I designed and built a new ship for my next journey, my thirteenth Annie, the [VSS] Voidilus (link to build: https://s.orbis.zone/gu5h) and started on the first leg of a journey I have been wanting to do since the last six and a half years or so. I am calling it "Walking the Void - the End Journey". Long name; even longer a trip -as I plan to finally visit all 42 regions of the galaxy. And circumnavigate it at the same time. And hit the 2.5 million light years travelled mark (the distance between the Milky Way and Andromeda). Odds are I won't be doing it all at once though, planning to do it in a few bouts while stopping momentarily at Colonia as well as come back to bubble for duties. Pace the journey and use my combat ships and guns which I love - like I love the Void. But it's too early to tell, might make the whole journey from beginning to end without a pause. Time will tell.On Wednesday night I arrived at the first leg's end point; the very tip of the Outer (Norma) Arm, beyond the Perseus Fade (in the first shot), in Xibalba region. While this may already be considered a wall-of-text so far, there's yet more information to follow for anyone wanting to read more.
First let me tell you a few words about the ship, my newest Anaconda, the [VSS] Voidilus. She can do mighty 82.21 ly jumps on full tank (even though Coriolis says 82.20), because of extreme stripping and having only a two jump tank. Am not sporting an SRV bay either, so less of gathering biologicals on this journey. Minimal shields. Just so I can land on planets with less stress, as I have no boost capability. And 4D thrusters which one has to add in only after stripping the weight, outfitter won't allow it before. Have been just loving travelling on her so far, very very fast and cool running. Doing this on such a radical build also exhilarates me incredibly; having just the two jumps in the tank and being so barebones I get this wonderful sensation of a flashback back to the summer of 3301/2015, when in the very beginning of June I visited Sag A* on a 34 ly range AspX for the first time. With one thousand ly plotting and no star type filtering and neutrons being so very dangerous as they were back then compared, it was an arduous and lengthy journey which I enjoyed thoroughly. The void seemed so much more dangerous, dark, and desolate back then. With this barebones 2 jump build I am getting similar vibes, and am totally in love with it.
So, the first shot is the last waypoint for the first leg of the journey, which I wanted to add first for it's importance. In it I am at WILD UO-Z D13-0 system, at the end of the Outer Norma Arm, beyond the Perseus Fade, in Xibalba. 27,713.32 light years from Sol (further than Sag A* from Sol) and 45,021.14 lys from Sag A*. There is not a single star this way at this point beyond the galactic rim (the sky is utterly and totally black here) - at least none that I could spot. Had to use jumponium (FSD synthesis) to get here even with the 82 ly range. It's not the furthest one can get from the centre, but it is pretty damn far as you can see by the first image - there is next to no bulging on the star in the shot's left; the objective lens magnification is pretty close to the cockpit view. The Milky Way really is that frigging far out (man). This is on the first body from the main star, which I got first footfall as well. Did not dare venture far enough from my ship to have my Cmdr in the shot, for I had already lost a fourth of my health due to the extreme heat just coming to the edge of my ship's shadow. Unsurprisingly I was not the first Cmdr to come here in Odyssey times, there was one other body with a first footfall. Oddly enough they didn't take the first body, which now bears my name. I left the other bodies for future visiting Commanders to get their name on, likewise mapped just one body for the same reason, all others are still there for others to put their tag on. No biologicals in the system. The place feels even more removed from civilization than Beagle Point for me. Adding a screenshot of the galmap in the comments section shortly.
The second shot is from the Statue of Liberty nebula in the Outer Orion Spur, the first region I hit after leaving the Inner Orion Spur and my first waypoint of the first leg of the journey. The planet had no atmosphere, but did have one biological, which is very rare. Sadly I did not manage to find it before I wanted to move on. Odds are it was a bacteria with a similar colour to the planet surface.
Next we are at Sanguineous Rim, the second waypoint, at the Skull and Crossbones nebula. A water world orbiting a gas giant.
And then one from Kepler's Crest, the third waypoint before reaching Xibalba and the end of the first leg of the "End Journey", with a first discovery Earth-like. You can see the Milky Way in the background, already growing very distant. There are no nebulae here or at Xibalba as far as I am able to tell. If someone knows better, feel free to correct me please. I'd like to know if there are any. A desolate region, like Xibalba. The feeling of emptiness is palpable.
Lastly a shot of the galmap from the edge.
Anyways, thanks if anyone bothered to read this monstrous wall-of-text and until the next time! As always, hope everyone's having fun doing their thing. Fly steady & give 'em hell! Right on, Commanders o7
-Cmdr Enrogue Óðinkárr
