Endurance Shakedown Cruise
25 Sep 2022Final Asgard
After refitting FA-09 Erosion, it was renamed FA-09 Endurance. This Anaconda is going to some great places, and will serve as a cornerstone of the Asgard fleet, I think.She may not be fast, but having the capability to go out on long expedition missions without worry about a fragile ship is going to be comforting.
As soon as I finished the upgrades, CMDR Kunkali contacted me to join her in an expedition that would serve as a good trial run shake down cruise for Endurance.
She heard rumors that there is an engineer out there who will not even speak to you if you just play it safe around the bubble. Apparently he only wants to help explorers, so to prove yourself you have to travel 5,000 Light Years from habitable space. Once you do that, you may actually gain enough of his attention that he will speak to you. So of course I took her up on the offer.
When I actually decide to go on a long expedition, to Sagittarius A or Beagle Point, I will need to know which ship to take. I already know the capabilities and limitations of FA-05a Grace Upon Grace, but there are a few things that are lacking that may be a huge drawback on an extended expedition.
So far I've learned some things... The fighter is an AMAZINGLY FUN vehicle to fly in. Having the capability to repair your ship whenever you need to is awesome. Having the ability to gather up materials for synthesis by having mining equipment is awesome. Having a large ship that can bleed away heat so you can start charging your FSD while close to a star makes jumping a lot faster.
But... Landing a large vehicle on a rocky planet, sucks. The speed of the Anaconda is about what you would expect from the giant snake it is named after...
I will definitely have to make some adjustments before going on a longer expedition, if I choose to take the Endurance. Mainly, I will be equipping a docking computer to assist with the planetary landings, I need more engineering to squeak out whatever jump range we can, and I need to get a second SRV, probably a Scorpion, just in case something happens to mine and so a friend can join in the copilots seat.
While exploring one of the systems Kunkali discovered three planets that had potential life. Neither of us had ever done any Exo-Biology before, so we decided to give it a try. During that process, I got first footfall for a second time!
My name will forever be recorded in history attached to a random ice planet in the middle of nowhere.
BLU EUQ UE-R C4-10 3And then we found the most beautiful planet that I have stepped foot on yet. BLU EUQ UE-R C4-10 6 A is an Ammonia world, which means nice green and blue skies, but with a purplish brown planet. Add to it the bright giant mushrooms and you have quite the color combination.
At first we didn't notice because we landed on the dark side of the planet, just barely before sunrise. This was not intentional, but in the future I need to try to make it an effort to land here. While we were scouting, the sunrise started.
This view made us both stop and decide to not just make this a quick exobiology trip but to look around for some picture perfect moments.
This is an amazing moon. I should bookmark it so I can come back to it again some time. If only I had gotten first footfalls here instead of Kunkali....
I'm looking forward to what we will find as we continue this expedition. So far we are 4,300 away from home, so we are almost there, but this isn't going to be just a quick out and back trip. The rest of the trip will likely take us through the week before we return. No rush, just flying.
And going on this adventure with my best friend, well that just really makes this trip special.
Now if only I could get Jedi Kai to join us...
I do miss the incredible jump range of Grace Upon Grace. The Asp Explorer is a fun ship to explore the galaxy in, but, if we ever get into trouble, it will be the Endurance that sees that we get through it and make it home.
Until next time,
CMDR FinalAsgard