CC13: Magellan Experience (Prep-Waypoint 10)
16 Jan 2022Scopelx
I had spent several weeks assaying atmospheric worlds in Mare Somnia and amassed a large amount of genetic data that needed to be turned in at a Vista Genomics office. And when you have a carrier stationed as far afield as I do, there's only one bit of civilization within 40k light-years: Explorer's Anchorage. With samples stored away, I made way into the bright center of the galaxy and docked in the now-familiar XA harbor. I transfered the data I'd acquired to Vista Genomics and was rewarded with the rank of Taxonomist and a new flightsuit. Beaming with pride, I decided to celebrate my achievement with a few drinks at the local bar and overheard some chatter about the next big expedition leaving the Bubble. It was called the Magellan Experience and would run from the Bubble to the galaxy's eastern extreme and back, hitting many notable systems along the way. It did not take me long to decide that I wished to participate. The flight to Beta Sculptoris would take awhile, but I was longing to take part in a large expedition again. I readied my ship and immediately got underway. I did end up taking a slight detour en route to the Bubble. During Heart of the Storm I had logged first discoveries on most of the anomalies that make their home in the Wepaa sector. I had some time on my hands so I surveyed black holes until I was able to find the one I had missed.
K01 Anomaly
System: Wepaa HG-Y f2977
With that task out of the way, I completed the long trek back to the Bubble and realized I had a decision to make. A new expedition required a new ship, but which to take? The Magellan Experience was going out to the galactic fringes so at least a modest jump range was going to be required. Additionally, I knew that I wanted to focus on exobiology and I had learned several lessons during my time in Mare Somnia that would hopefully make my life a little easier. Ideally, the ship would have an unobstructed view from the cockpit to make finding surface organisms less of a chore as well as be small enough to be able to land wherever those organisms are found. As much as I love my Phantom, it just wasn't particularly well-suited to that type of work. I asked advice from various commanders and the clear concensus was that the Dolphin would be the ideal candidate.
A couple weeks spent on design, gathering materials, and flying to engineering bases and my Dolphin, the Makara, was almost ready. The last module I needed to address was the FSD, and the ongoing community goal at the time was perfect for it. I picked up my Cutter and delivered several thousand tons of goods to Alcor, from which the goods would be distributed and used to build megaships along the route to Colonia. In exchange, I was granted a selection of double-engineered FSDs and promptly equipped my Dolphin with the 4A. The Makara was officially ready.
All that remained was a proper test flight. After all the engineering I'd done I was basically out of materials. Given that the Magellan Experience was going to Magellan's Star, I knew FSD injections and manual route plotting would be unavoidable. A relatively short trip to the crystal fields in the Sanguineous Rim allowed me to replenish my depleted mats and get a feel for how the Makara would perform. I honestly could not be happier with this ship, it was exactly what I needed.
But in all the excitement of designing and building out a new ship, I had inadvertently missed the expedition launch date. Thankfully, one of the official expedition fleet carriers had yet to leave and was available to stragglers to help them make up some ground. I docked aboard the SWS//Lockheart in Beta Sculptoris and was finally able to relax. I mingled with the crew and some of my fellow explorers on the expedition, who I found to be both friendly and knowledgeable. It is always a pleasure to be in the company of like-minded explorers. This also gave me the opportunity to read through the latest exobiology data and refine my survey strategy for the remainder of the expedition. The SWS//Lockheart had ferried me as far as WP4 once I was ready to disembark and begin the expedition in earnest. I thanked the carrier's commander for the ride, set my routing filters, and set out exploring on my own again.
WP4: Qiefaa EB-U d4-20
There wasn't much in the way of Canonn Challenge items in this region of space that I hadn't logged, but that does not mean there was nothing for me to find. I had quite a bit of luck with the life on atmospheric worlds, collecting genetic data and earning several official Codex entries in the process. At least five or six other participants reported that they had earned Codex entries as well, so the expedition was starting off in a very productive fashion. As we moved westward through Sanguinous Rim and Achilles' Altar, I experienced some strange but welcome luck with Earth-like worlds. In my previous ~150 undiscovered ELWs, I'd only ever found 3 with ring systems. I found 5 undiscovered ELWs through this phase of the expedition and 2 of them were ringed. In my opinion, few things in the galaxy can match the beauty of a ringed ELW that you are the first to ever lay eyes on.
System: Phraa Hype SV-B d14-7
System: Engofy EZ-D d13-8
On my way through Achilles' Altar, I had the pleasure of visiting a fellow DSSA carrier, the DSSA Nereus' Deep. The expedition organizers actually chose the carrier as an expedition waypoint. I must say, it makes me happy to see the array being utilized by the wider exploration community. I stopped by for a hot shower and to freshen up the Makara's paintjob, and I left a fairly sizable contribution in the form of exploration data.
WP8: DSSA Nereus' Deep, Engopr YH-L b14-2
I grew more excited as I passed WP9. We made it into Lyra's Song, a region that contained NSP-dwelling organisms that I had never scanned before. As a bonus, this was another site that the BNE has put effort into mapping so they would also benefit from any data I could gather. The known systems were not too far out of my way, so I plotted a course to the area where they'd been found and began thoroughly surveying systems. It wasn't long before I was finding undiscovered populations of quadripartites. The first three varieties I found relatively quickly. Their growth requirements are fairly easy to meet, needing certain main sequence stars and a life-bearing planet in system.
Caeruleum Quadripartite Pod
System: Blaei Phlue HV-Y c1
Albidum Quadripartite Pod
System: Oodgosly XA-F d11-0
Viride Quadripartite Pod
System: Oodgosly OB-F c11-3
The last variety took significantly longer. I logged the first three in a few hours, this one took me days and a lot of effort scouring the GalMap for candidate systems to check. It too requires a specific star class and life-bearing world in system. The problem is that the star classes this variety requires are L or T. And life-bearing worlds are incredibly rare in systems where these dim, cool stars are primaries. The strategy I adopt in cases like these is to search for a system with a brighter primary star, where those planets are more common, but also has an L or T secondary. The effort eventually paid off, and I found an M class primary system that met the requirements.
Blatteum Quadripartite Pod
System: Oodgosly PY-T b44-0
I scanned everything I came to see and flew to WP10 where I learned all three expedition fleet carriers were mining for fuel in a nearby system. I did not bring a mining ship so I couldn't be of help, but it made a nice spot to rest. I docked aboard the Halpy's Revenge and settled in to prepare for the next leg of the journey.