Aborovi Causeway 1: the final chapter
18 Jun 2023Claude Lecardunoie
- "... and I would like to conclude this presentation with the technological aspects of this mission. First, the DSS probes improvements developped by the Professor Khan and his team, here at Farseer Inc., were of great help. They saved me a lot of time while delivering accurate maps of every stellar body I scanned. Then, the improved FSD range developped by Jérôme Cynar actally made this exploration around Elephant's Trunk Nebula possible: no way I could have done that with a regular FSD system."I couldn't end the report of my exploration mission that I started on the first of April 3309, without mentioning Farseer Inc. technology. I was doing this presentation at their facility main conference room. Local scientists, engineers and technicians were present in the audience, Jérôme Cynar, among them, and I couldn't resist to end my speech by some compliment on his work just for the fun of seeing him blushing. He is a nice guy, but he has such an ego and he is so proud of his knowledge on FSD propulsion... I like him nonetheless.
It took me two days to prepare this conference. I set the auditorium with various Petri boxes to display some of the samples I collected on planets I explored during this trip, loaded all kind of pictures, graphics and charts on stellar bodies I scanned. Okay, I only flied to Elephant's Trunk Nebula, but I still collected for about 100,000,000 credits of exploration data, discovered some unknown systems and mapped a dozen of water worlds and terraformable planets.
Felicity Farseer, of course was also there. At the end of my presentation, she came to talk with me, along with two Federal officials, a civil and a miltary.
- "Congratulation Claude, great work", Felicity said, "This system you talked about, IC 1396 Sector VO-R d4-4 seems very promising. A terraformable planet with high valuable resources, with 2 aquatic worlds nearby and this not too far from the Bubble!! One of the best prospect for expansion we've seen in years!"
- "Actually, concerning a possible expansion there, how does it work, would I receive some royalties on any production made in that system once colonized?", I asked.
There was five seconds of an awkward silence, as the two Federal officials were looking at each other, and then they started to laugh.
- "Ah ah ah! no, sorry commander that is not the way it works", said the civilian one, "Listen, as Madame Farseer said, you've done great and already received a lot of money from Universal Cartographics. But your data are now public. I am Director Mazzola, of the Federel Bureau for Colonial Expansion. Again, we thank you for your effort. Aborovi Causeway 1 is a success and we'll look into a potential expansion to IC 1396 Sector VO-R d4-4 and the other systems you discovered. But you've been away for more than two months, and in case you hadn't noticed, we have other problems in the galaxy to deal with".
- "Indeed", said the other, a Federal military officer, the Colonel Nguyen, "We first have to repel the Thargoids out of the Core Systems. All Federal resources are now put on the war against the Thargoids. All exploration budgets have been cut. It is same for the Alliance and the Empire or any other Independant power. You are an officer of the auxiliary Federal Navy and therefore I urge you the join the effort against the Thargoids."
The day after, I was in Jérôme Cynar's appartment, sharing a breakfast.
- "So, I guess you'll be leaving soon?", he asked
- "I guess I have to. I think I have to take my share in this war. But, I don't really know where to start"
- "Well, you are from the Pilot's Federation right. So join one of their many squadrons. Actually, they are the ones really holding the line, you know. The superpowers remain divided and therefore not very efficient against the Thargoids. Please, join one of your fellow Independant Pilot squadron, you'll be safer".
I remained one more day, to get the thrusters of my Krait MkII improved. Speed is the key if you want to escape these fast Thargoids vessels. Then I took off for Sullivan Dock, LFT 133 where the rest of my ships were.
And this was how I put my exploration career on hold for while. Aborovi Causeway 2, would have to wait.
NOTE: all logbook entries wrote during Aborovi Causeway can be found here:
Aborovi Causeway 1 expedition logs