Mike November Alpha signing in to traffic control
03 Apr 2022Raugharr
LOGBOOK UPDATE 3308-04-03 00:11 UTC
After four days of traversing the Black, the Midnight Angel arrived safely and in good condition to Jaques Station, Colonia. We took our time checking and mapping systems along our way, including a larger detour on day one.
We skipped the first station of the new Colonia Bridge in favor of revisiting the endpoint of my second deep space exploration. Doing so turned out to be a fortunate decision, as a few jumps after departing NGC 6664 Sector EW-W D1-24 our sensors picked up a faint distress signal. Upon following it we found the remains of a Colonia liner scattered across a small moon. We descended to pick up as many lifepods as we could find, but only a few remained intact. After examining the remains and the residual frame shift wakes in the system, we determined that the ship was torn apart right after exiting hyperspace, as their FSD suffered a catastrophic failure in flight.
A total of 26 survivors were recovered from the surface. Unfortunately, the Angel does not house passenger cabins, as every compartment is loaded with exploration equipment. The only livable space is the captain’s quarters which I share with my co-pilot. The cargo bay on the other hand was planned to be mostly empty up until Colonia. And while it’s not especially comfortable, it could definitely house the survivors for a few days. I gave them access to our on-board synthesizers to create furniture and sanitary equipment.
On the second day our pace accelerated due to the increased density of neutron stars. We could finally kick our FSD into high gear and race across the sector. The secondary fuel tank came in really handy when the navigation computer decided to do two thousand lightyears in seven jumps. We stopped briefly at Cannon Complex and then continued our journey towards the fourth stop, Promuim Relay.
The third day had a surprise for us. With most of the journey behind us we took another detour. We visited PSR J1846-D258, a system with a total of eight stars, two of them being neutron stars. The distance from the Bubble really started to tower over us as we encountered more and more previously uncharted systems. The scare came when we were on final approach to Venatores Hub in Eoch Flyuae QK-E D12-2118. With the station still in the distance, we were ambushed by a pair of small ships. They must have mistaken us for unarmed travelers, but sadly for them it proved to be a mistake. Note to self: send a crate of Orrerian Brew to Tod, his ultralight multicannons really do pack as much punch as their standard issue counterparts. Our passengers were a bit vary upon hearing the guns fire, but luckily no enemy projectiles penetrated our hull, even after the shields went down.
We arrived to Colonia on the fourth day, and headed straight to Jaques station. The lack of traffic control was a bit surprising and prevalent. Quite a few passenger liners were fighting for entry around the station. After we made sure the survivors were in the safety of the station, we did the paperwork and ordered a general maintenance for the ship. Seems like the fresh news from the Bubble and the cartographic data from the way is highly sought after here. Also, the small crate of miracle water we picked up at ShinDez really helped to grease the wheels. Caylee Eaton, the Architect of Jacques station introduced us to the engineers we were looking for and helped us get a spot of the local ship painting workshop. I noticed ships flying around with a beautiful hue of an iridescent paintjob which I just couldn’t resist getting. With all these people on board recently, I decided to upgrade the life support system. A few extra tons won’t too matter much in return of the increased security it provides. The air was getting a bit stale anyways.
We shall spend the next few days in the region. We still have to visit the engineers’ workshops, and I’ve head that there are a few beautiful Lagrange clouds in this system. And after that we will set course to the very middle of our little swirling pocket of the universe. I can’t wait to be on the journey again. Til then –
SAVE AND CLOSE.