Personal Log - Expedition Day 3
28 Jun 2019Timothy Hooker
Personal log, Commander Timothy Hooker, Research Vessel Curiosity, 28 June 3305. Expedition Day 3.Survey report from Cat's Paw Sector HR-W D1-48 1 A: mercury-rich mussidaen seed pod growth; carbon-rich and sulphur-rich cordycep growths; and chromium-rich, germanium-rich, and zinc-rich polyporous growths on the bark mounds. Several sweeps of the bark mounds were made in Scarab-1, and many samples were taken.
RV Curiosity launched at 2058, 28 June 3305. At 2107, I experienced a second FSS scanner malfunction. I rerouted the FSS controls to bypass the affected portion of the subsystem.
At 2240, Curiosity landed on Lysoorb CV-B B41-3 B 1. The "planet" is barely deserving of the name. It is a spheroid only in the most absolutely vague sense of the world, and quite small. It is more of a solar moon than a proper planet, or an over-large asteroid caught in the gravity of its parent star, and little more. Despite its fascinating appearance, the rock yielded little in the way of geological resources or other scientific curiosity. I relaunched at 2243, followed by a camera probe sweep from orbit.
At 2306, I arrived at Waypoint Charlie, NGC 6537 Sector YK-O B6-11. Near the heart of the NGC 6356 Nebula, this system represents a distance over 8kLy from Sol. At 2324, I landed on NGC 6357 Sector ZQ-M B7-14 1 to conduct a diagnostic sweep of the ship in light of the second FSS malfunction.
After nearly an hour, I believe that I found the culprit - a faulty power relay. The actual repair will require me to dock somewhere with maintenance facilities to replace it. In the meanwhile, I bypassed the relay and plotted a course to Waypoint Delta, system Skaudai CH-B d14-34 - nearly the same distance again as the entire mission run so far.
RV Curiosity once again launched at 0311. By around 0430, I noticed that the ship had been running a little hot, likely due to the faulty power relays that I quickly discovered in the cooling systems and elsewhere. One faulty relay could have been an accident; with this much going wrong, I am starting to actually believe that my ship was deliberately sabotaged prior to the expedition.
Along the way to Waypoint Delta, I mapped several ringed ammonia worlds - FLYAE EAEC EF-U C5-46 AB 4, FLYAE EAEC RO-F B16-5 2, and FLYAE EAEC DQ-S B22-2 1 - and a non-ringed ammonia world - SKAUDE CG-M D8-124 5.
At 0704, RV Curiosity finally docked at Sacaqawea Space Port, in system Skaudai CH-B d14-34 - Waypoint Delta. One of the representatives from the Colonia Council has agreed to help me source any materials and personnel I may require for the repairs. However, I plan to personally effect all the repairs to my ship. If I could keep the customs officers away from it, I'd be even happier - not that I have any cause to suspect another episode of sabotage; but it's better safe than sorry out here, and I don't know much about Colonia or anybody who's been involved with them since Jaques turned up out there.
Still, it looks like I'm grounded for the time being. I'll have to take the SRV out for a sweep of the area. Being this far from any other civilized space, I'm sure that materials are likely still abundant out here. Perhaps I can end up owing the Council representative less than I would otherwise if I can fabricate some of my own parts for the repairs, and it's probably smart to avoid any political entanglements with the spacers out here.
I should get some sleep. It's going to be a long few days ahead.
End log.