The Redemption Journey
27 Aug 2020Hojothefool
If this would be a mountain on earth I would feel the wind blowing through my hair and feel just as happy as I am now…I am floating here, left of me there is pure darkness, right of me I see a a band of billions of stars all blurred together into an explosion of light across the sky. There is no one here. I am happy to be here, but there is a dark edge to this story. A dark edge that will have me return to this place one day…
My Exploration Logs
Pictures of the Journey
It all starts with a fellow rat and a small joke that got way out of hand.
I joined the fuelrats exactly 23 days ago. Not much later I dared a new rattling called Micro-T to deliver a Hutton Mug to Beagle point. A feat that really is only for the crazy ones. I did not expect anyone to go for this. But little did I know this one didn’t back down from a dare and beyond my believe they set off into the black! I felt somewhat guilty so took an active interest into their journey, give them moral support where I could!
By the time they reached Sagittarius A* I started planning my own expedition to Jettison my mug!
Kit out my ship, gather materials and look for interesting points to visit!
Only I decided to go one step further and go all the way to Oevasy SG-Y d0 aka Ishum's Reach. The current furthest reachable system from Sol. Always trying to do one better!
So on a Monday morning I did a Hutton run, Visited Sol, engaged my FSD and pointed my ship “north.”
The first part wasn’t bad. First I made my way to Colonia and Sag A*. I planned my route with a map from a member of the Intergalactic Astronomical Union. Many Thanks to cmdr Orividius! I jumped from points of interest via DSSA fleet carriers, discovered a lot of new systems (at least 40 new neutrons), took a detour via colony and before I knew it I dropped into Sag A*. What a sight to behold!
But then after watching at my Galaxy map the truth sunk in. I was not even halfway…
I took some deep breaths, jettisoned my MegaGin as I promised, got some good support from fellow commanders and set of again! This time for the long haul!
Everything went smoothly, I jumped from system to system, Visited some nice systems, docked at carriers to hand in my data, Discovered my first blackhole (and found a neutron and white dwarf circling another star in the same system), did some codex discoveries. It was a good time!
I dropped my data of at The Four Corners Monument Carrier and set out to cross the Formorian Frontier. My longest uninterrupted trip on this exploration mission. No fleet carriers in between me and The Abyss. I did decide to scan literally everything on this part. Discovered or not!
About 2 hours in I decided to land on this nice looking planet. Just to get out of my ship and do something else than just jumping. I did this before and it is great to race around a planet and get some raw materials while you’re at it. The SRV is just wonderful to do donuts in!
As I approached the planet nothing seemed wrong, I dropped into an orbital glide and headed for the surface. A few second later I noticed how my speed was high, VERY HIGH. Much too late I realized that the gravity of the planet was much higher than expected. I tried to throttle down or divert my course but nothing would divert the disaster: My ship buried in the planets surface!
The moments I say my ship blow up and the rebuy screen popped up were absolute horror. Not my data, not the cost of the rebuy but the loss of my last Hutton Mug nearly made me collapse in a pile of misery. After I calmed myself down, noted the crash in my logs and I took peace with it I set of again from The Four Corners Monument. This time vowing not to land at any planet!
Not much later I heard from a fellow that Commander Ledgerl2524 was on his way to Hutton to get another mug and deliver it to me! Such a noble thing! Respect, pure Respect! We decided to meetup at Beagle point and do the Semotus Climb togheter.
I visited a nebula with a blackhole in it, Went to salute Vonrictofen’s Rescue, Hoped to run into another explorer at “Otherwise Ordinary” and made some wonderful pictures! Eventually I made it to Beagle Point! For anyone who gets this far: First I salute you, Second Go scan the Memorial to Zy. Best story in the game so far!
I was here, all I had to do was wait! I spent my time practicing maneuvers around the beacons and making some nice pictures to send home.
I received a message from Ledger there was a change of plans. He had to be back in the bubble sooner then expected. We decided to jump towards each other and meetup somewhat halfway. So I charged up my FSD an injected it with jumponiun. He took the time to get this far, the least I could do was take a bit of time and materials to save him time. We met up just as he entered The Abyss. After I picked up a mug and a ton of Gin, we made some great pictures togheter and he exploded in some nice fireworks!
I wished him safe travels home and I set course towards Myeia Thaa DL-E c25-0, the start of Semotus’ Climb.
The last 8 jump are the loneliest jumps of the entire trip. Every jump the sky got darker, the sense of loneliness rising.
Boom! The final drop, the familiar tune plays and the sky has never been darker. I scan all the bodies in the system and head for body B9f a small icy moon called Salomé’s reach. The furthest reachable body in the galaxy. I jetissoned my mug and Gin and think of Micro and Ledger. Even though I made it and jettisoned a mug, it wasn’t MY mug. Not the one I left Hutton with and was supposed to carry 65.000 ly across the galaxy…
While being here I promise myself that one day I will make it back here! With that mug!
For now I need to turn my ship around and Plot a Spansh route. I hear the sounds of empty tanks that needs refueling…
FSD spooling up