DISTANT WORLDS 2 - DAY 10 - A DISCOVERY... AND A DISASTER!
22 Jan 2019Zak Starfall
Galactic stardate 21JAN3305Where to go next?
That was the question that was pondered over breakfast while gazing out over another alien horizon. We could continue scouting the local Trifid sector, though we had seen plenty of signs yesterday of other commanders having already explored this area. Or we could head for another nebula. Or we could search for black holes, though I don't think this area is known for them.
Then it struck on me. Let's get high! (No, not that high, we have no onionhead) Let's head towards the top of the galactic plane and see how far we can get!
Stowing everything away, Cathy plotted a route upwards (I know, there's no 'up' in space) for 1kly or so, and we fired up the Frame Shift. 20 jumps or so, and we got to the end of the plot, no sign of the stars thinning much yet. A check of the Galmap and another plot of a dozen jumps, and the stars looked to be getting sparser. Certainly space was getting blacker ahead of us, with fewer beacons of star light to point the way forwards (or upwards).
Another check of Galmap, and it looked like we could get 3 more jumps.
On the second jump we dropped into an F star system, the usual blast of the scanners, and we almost missed it... an ELW! A slower re-scan with the FSS displayed an ELW, a terraformable WW and a terraformable HMC, along with several rocky and icy bodies, and none of it yet discovered. The first undiscovered ELW of the trip, this was a good day!
We set to scanning and mapping the whole system. The ELW was a beauty, 0.75G, 794K temperature, with a 0.4D rotation, and about a 1,000 day year, and it looked like a tropical paradise with lots of small islands and archipelagos dotted across the surface. It also had a moon that looked uncannily similar to Earth's moon way back in Sol. There were also a couple of landable planets, but unfortunately this high on the galactic plane, no signs of life.
After completing the surveying of this system (and claiming it in the name of humanity!) we continued on to our perceived high point on the plane.
Both Cathy and I spent some time studying Galmap and trying to find a route higher. There where 2 or 3 stars fairly close, but they were all beyond our jump range, unless...
I checked the materials stock, and the synthesis applications. Yes, we had enough to synthesis several batches of Jumponium, so we could get an increase to our jump range. Some hurried calculations and feeding the new data into Galmap, and it's confirmed, we can reach the next star, 76.4ly away. Despite being a Commander for many years, I've never used Jumponium before, never had the need, but from what I've heard it's pretty simple. Tell the synthesiser the strength you need, then it's mixed and fed into the FrameShift and increases your next jump. The synthesiser will always mix the correct quantities of materials, so what could possibly go wrong?
I punched the requirements in, and waited while the synthesiser did it's thing. Green lights across the board and an 82ly jump range! We were ready to go!
Cathy plotted the course to the previously unreachable system, and I fired up the FrameShift. 4...3...2...1...Engage! And there we were, at the highest point we could reach. From here every Galmap plot was down. This was a pretty unremarkable system, a few HMCs and some rocky and bodies around 2 stars, so a high five, a quick scan of the system, and time to return the way we had come.
Synthesise the Jumponium, open Galmap, plot a course back to the previous star and, WTF? Plotting failed?
Try again. Plotting still failed. Double check this was the way we came. It was. Check the current jump range - 70.5ly. What! How? We need 76.4! Check the Jumponium synthesis. Oh, shoot!
Turns out that in my eagerness to get here I used grade 2 Jumponium, not grade 1. We have plenty of materials to make loads of grade 1, but we're clean out of Niobium, so can't any more make grade 2. We're stuck!!!
I feverishly checked Galmap again, but there is no other route. There is one system 23ly away, but nothing within reach after that. What to do?
A good commander never panics. Well, I'll admit I panicked a little bit. After I'd finished doing that, we sat and tried to figure out our next move, if we had one.
Yes, we did, but it was probably our only chance. IF this system had landable planets, and IF one of those planets had Niobium deposits, and IF we could find them, then we could get away with this.
I fired up the System map, 6 landable planets, box 1 ticked, 2 more to go.
I checked each planets composition...
No Niobium...
No Niobium...
No Niobium...
Damn! this wasn't looking good...
No Niobium...
No Niobium...
Oh hell, please, please let the last one have some...
Niobium, 1.5%!!
Oh, thank god!
Only 1.5%, but at least there is some. Now we've just got to get down there and find it.
Well, I've been searching for hours. Found every mineral under the sun, except Niobium!
The lights fading now and, although I have lights and night vision on the SRV, I'm packing in for the night.
Tomorrow, we'll move the ship and try a different spot, There's definitely Niobium here, and I'm going to find it.
I have to.
o7