Update: Race Delay!
26 Jul 2019LongDistanceClara
UPDATE: Well poop. Apologies for the horrible anticlimax! 
I updated the last entry as it's hardly new post worthy, but for anyone following:I have unfortunately had to delay the challenge till next week. I've been going flat out at work to try and free up this Friday, but believe it or not the heat has conspired against me. >.< I do a lot of fairly heavy rendering work on my pc for my 9-to-5 and thanks to the crazy temperatures, I've had to throttle this somewhat. Consequently - I'm not even close to being in a position to take this friday off sadly! Hopefully I'll be able to build up a buffer and take a crack next week, promise will keep updated!
I had a request to post the checkpoints which I was planning to do today, but change in plans etc etc, - I'll of course do on departure next week, along with the little graphic. Apologies again for the delay, fingers crossed for some cooler weather!
Stay cool if at all possible!---------------
Many thanks to the typically awesome Inara crowd, have got some lovely msgs supporting this dumb challenge and questioning my sanity
Thanks so much, I know I bang on and on about it but I doubt you guys realise how much of a boost it is getting that kind of little pick-me-up 
It is ENORMOUSLY appreciated and I only hope I can pull this off for you guys as much as for me! Thank you so much once again 
A silly thing happened in this one - I hit a statistical milestone during this log and wanted to record it accurately - suffice to say however that the delay on the Codex updating versus my calculations resulted in a classic overshoot! For in-character purposes, had to rp a bit of Clara dopeyness to make it fit, but it should all become clear hopefully!
Last thing I forgot to include this shot of "leaving the bubble" in my courier in the last log, like the dopey klutz I am! And I wouldn't normally retroactively try and plop this kind of photo in but I just really liked this one, so apologies for the lack of continuity but I'm just going to dump it here
Sorry!
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Getting REALLY nervous now
I like sleep. Actually, I LOVE sleep. I always have since I was a kid, sleeping through the journeys on vacations, snoozing at the Academy whenever I could and just generally being a lazy beast! I absolutely love that feeling when you're on the verge of drifting off in your bunk, feeling sleep creeping up, body heavy and just slooowly drifting off...
Which is why I'm really kinda dreading this coming race. >.<
Still, will get to that. It's been a really busy few days! Last log was - somewhere out near Tenebris? Out on the cross of Middle-of-Nowhere and Newpsville, on the eastern edge of the galaxy. We didn't have much more mapping to do, just the final leg. So sooner started, soonest finished as they say - off we pottered, metaphorically scritching our route down on a pad as we went. Few more neutrons out here but it's always a toss up on the rim as to whether going out of your way for the neutron is worth it - we're not talking little deviations but honking great doglegs!
Anyhow - finally we shuddered back out of witchspace into the start system we'd left a couple of weeks ago. It's funny - we'd just done a circumnav of the galaxy; and yet it barely registered, simply because it was only "prep" for the race! Hard work but well worth it - because poring back over the data on the way in to the bubble, we'd mapped out a pretty solid route of around 300+ mini-legs, two and a half thousand jumps give or take and suddenly this was all starting to look possible.
If a little masochistic.
We trundled back into Jameson a few hours later and pulled the Clair de Lune down into the hangar for a fresh lick of paint and some tlc. We still had a good week or more till we had to be on station for race day, but I wanted her checked and re-checked for any last minute hiccups!
Prepping the Clair
So, what to do! We were back in the bubble and had a few days to spare, hmm. We were sat around in the docks, having a natter, when Coral shyly nudged me and pointed something out - our logs showed we were nearing our 100,000th jump! We collectively decided we had to do something to recognise this! Our faithful conda was out of commission for now though sooo - let's do it in style.
We trudged down to the hangar and jumped in the Cassandra, that glorious big beautiful beast of an Imperial Cutter.Where to go? Somewhere local... a perfect old favourite was suggested to unanimous agreement - Veil West. But before we headed off, we took an old friend on board - interstellar cake deliverer, Cmdr Ziva who had kindly come to celebrate with us
After a long round of hugs and greetings, we fired up those ridiculously powerful engines and the Cassie slipped out of her moorings and glided smoothly out of dock. We spooled her for her first jump - and within the blink of an eye, it felt like we had arrived at Veil West.
One little marble in a big blue sea!
I know I sound like I work for the Veil West Tourist Board but how can you NOT love this place! It's just a hop skip and jump from the bubble and is unique - I've seen my fair share of nebulae all over the galaxy and this is still one of my stand-out favourites - and it's right in our back yard! This and the Bubble Nebula are two of the most special, unique little beasts out there in the big black as far as I am concerned and both SO close to home.
I also know I have a tendency to gush and waffle on about explorey stuff, I think poor old Ziva's eyes started to glaze over after the hundredth "hmm, that's interesting!"
But I can't help it, I loooove exploring and seeing the wonders of the galaxy - I know it's horribly tedious to all the hotshot fighter pilots out there but there's something incredibly calming and cathartic about drifting around here, no ego, no agenda other than just taking it all in
A little more ping ponging around, a bit of drifting and whoops - without realising it, we had overcooked slightly >.<
Dammit! Ah well, close enough.
We had a nice little laugh about it anyway and pootled on, drifting around the nebula, poking around a planet or two before swinging the nose of our big beastie around and heading back to the bubble.As we cruised leisurely home, Ziva kindly offered to take some of us on a little mining trip. I'd heard about the advancements in mining tech and honestly, rock crunching was never really my thing but it sounded kinda fun. So once back in the bubble, we played musical chairs with a few ships, those of my crew who were interested (basically all of Coral and Hal!) piled into our zippy little clipper and followed Ziva out to the mining site, accompanied by another friend (Cmdr Anubis).
We basically sat back and watched as the two of them zipped and swooped around in a mad dance, sniffing around the asteroids here and there like dogs on a truffle hunt
And once a juicy little treasure was found, they'd turn it into a discoball of explosives before zipping away to a safe distance, whereupon the thing exploded into a carefully choreographed ballet of huge chunks of rock and a glittering cloud of icy crystals. Really was quite the spectacle!
Bombing Run!
I must admit it did look like fun and I was a bit taken unawares by it all so failed to get any fun piccies really - but maybe in the future! We said our thank yous for the experience and skedaddled home. Cue more thumb twiddling - we still had what felt like an eternity before the off! Then the news about the thargoid retreat to the Pleiades hit, stations needing evacuation and so on. Since it was looking like we'd be away while the rescue effort was ongoing, we felt obliged to sneak in what rescue time we could.
All aboard our spiffy little new krait phantom (yes the ship shuttling was getting a bit ridiculous, I think the crew and I have been in more ships in the last few days than in the last 6 months!). The previous occupant had just the most godawful taste in decor, so we ripped out what we could with what little time we had, threw a bunch of cabins in for the evacuees and began our undock. As with all new ships though, I was a little nervous - control configurations might be standardised but the world always looks a little different through a new canopy!
Trying not to scratch the paint!
We zipped on over to one of the stations in need, a stricken coriolis out in the Pleiades. And again as we approached the systems, the inevitable happened and we were yoinked out of witchspace, two big Thargoids grumbling over to sniff us. But here's the thing again - we just sat quietly and the big space starfish just drifted quietly off, our systems came back online and off we popped. Which was a far more civilised encounter than I can say of the god-knows-how-many interdictions I've had to deal with from human pilots who were after cargo, fresh air or just a bit of bloodlust!
I know I've babbled on about this in the past - I'm not saying the thargoids currently in the bubble aren't a threat or that we shouldn't fight to defend our own! We absolutely should, in my opinion. But maybe as a species we could tone down the self-righteous whiter-than-white fighting-for-freedom-democracy-and-apple-pie rhetoric. As anyone who's been involved in such will tell you - there is absolutely nothing glorious about war. It's an evil necessity that sometimes has to be done but is nothing to brag about. And I can't speak to the thargoids history in this regard but I know for damn sure mankind's track record is pretty appalling! I'm just saying, as a species we're not the white knights and bastions of moral fortitude we claim to be.
This is why I should have a lock on my mouth.
ANYWAY - random gibberish over, we began offloading the evacuees from the station. Rescue efforts were already mobilised and pretty soon there were more ships streaming in and out of the crippled station than could fit at once, a line of ships queuing outside. We made way for some of the bigger more efficient ships and scuffled back home, satisfied that we'd at least done a little to help in the efforts. The Clair was almost ready to take down to the start line but one last little order of business...
There have been tons of milestones in the history of space travel but the first time man stood on a celestial body other than Earth, to look back and see it hanging in the void and think "holy bananas, I'm standing on solid ground and it's not Earth! How fricking cool is that!" (albeit couched in slightly more verbose phrasing!) has to be right up there. And so to celebrate this anniversary, we jumped in a banged up little Adder (seeming most fitting) and nipped on over to the Sol sytem.
Dropping out of supercruise right over the Mare Tranquilitatis on the Moon, we cruised over the Apollo 11 landing site and wondered again; what would those guys have thought of the current state of space travel. Would they marvel at the achievements, or think "what the heck took you guys so long!"
Either way, it was lovely just quietly drifting over that little rock in solitude, just as Michael Collins did all those years ago. A little dip of the Adder's nose in salute to all those early pioneers, both in space and on the ground who made this possible.
Happy Mooniversary!
We swung around and headed back to Jameson in thoughtful mood - not least because it was finally time. Everyone loaded on board the hulking frame of the anaconda but in nervous silence - we all were excited but even now there was that little buzz of tension in the air. Everyone quitely checking and rechecking their gear, Lauren running diagnostic after diagnostic, Coral and Flynn (bless them) still trying to shave a few milliseconds of each plot the navcomp would have to churn. They may all act like goofs sometimes but they are just so professional and make me both proud and a little insecure that even though we're such good friends, I'm the supposed commander!
It was time at last; everyone strapped in, the distant rumble as the thrusters fired - but a very slow, careful exit from dock - those poor undersized engines that had been tweaked so much were practically screaming to lift the enormous bulk of the conda out through Jameson's mail slot. It felt, I imagine, like trying to fly a hippo with a pair of hairdryers strapped to its back - not exactly a cakewalk!
We used the run down to the start system, far out on the outer rim, to check, recheck and check again all systems were running smoothly. We're currently laid up on a moon in the "Start Gate" system, with a few days still to go before launch. A few random messages of good luck keep drifting in, the crew are keeping themselves busy doing little things theyve done a thousand times already, just to keep their minds off things.
Like I said, I love sleep. But it's not coming easy right now and I just know this is going to be a toughie!
All the best to you spacefarers out there, wherever you are!
Clara signing off.(Sorry to bang on but just a quickie - wanted to thank Ziva for coming out to the 100k, also thanks to Zinnsei, Tiggs and Arc for just non-stop support of my dumb stuff! Thank you Mr Harmon for trying to come out to meet me despite the pesky Elite instancing nightmares! Also big hug to Leomon, coming from fricking MILES away to see me off but foiled by that evil real-life! And last but not least, Stormysan for his incredibly generous offer to help me map the dreaded Tenebris leg, it really is a beast! He's currently pootling up to Beagle the long way round and I wish him all the best! And ofc thanks a bajillion to everyone else who has pinged nice supportive msgs, very very gratefully received.