Southern Expedition, Second Leg
30 Jan 2022Kissamies
DSSA Carrier 'Explorer's Bar & Grill', Hypau AEC IO-Z d13-0, AKA Arm's End.Well, here I am at the tip of the Outer Arm and a lot has happened since I last wrote about this trip. I didn't go as planned and I have forgotten a lot of the details, so I can't be as accurate in my recounting as I would like, but I will try to do my best. Despite my distraction, this second part has been the longest trip and included many detours, waypoints and mini-expeditions I took while my carrier remained at 'base camp' positions. It's only too bad that the Vista Genomics isn't available for the carriers yet and some of my detours were for unloading biological data at the asteroid bases.
In August I had set up the carrier at an overlapping tritium hot spot near the end of the solid Outer Arm. Middle of the Formidine Rift, as the regions go. I explored the nearby systems and mined for tritium for a bit before leaving the carrier for Errant Marches region where I intended to visit some southeasterly points of interest and come back touching the Vulcan Gate and skipping through the Elysian Shore.
By the first week of September I had reached the DSSA Maerzenbecher in the Errant Marches, having visited several POIs along the way. I was ready to leave the carrier when I received bad news from my family in the Old Terra. I won't go into too much detail, but it really took the wind out of my sails. My progress was completely halted for a week or two, and then I simply returned to my own carrier the most direct way possible, though I still scanned the systems along the way. Even found an Earthlike, which I named accordingly. Then I mostly just sat around in my carrier, choosing to instead live vicariously though the exploits of my protegé back in the Bubble. A lot was happening back there too.
I did come out of the funk in due time, but the focus was lost. The carrier moved East towards the next waypoint, but I had some detours and it took many weeks before the next base camp system in the Kepler's Crest was reached. Another double tritium spot. From there I reached Amundsen's Star a few day's before Christmas. Then I considered my options and decided to at least visit the Xibalba region because I am unlikely to ever come this way again. With the same logic I then visited many POIs along the way and ended up here in the Arm's End. The last few thousand light years were quite challenging, though my Phantom has a good jump range and I have learned to stock a lot of jumponium since my Abyssal crossing some years back. I made it a habit to scoop my tank only half full to squeeze some extra light years to my jump range.
From here I plan to return to my own carrier by a fairly direct route, visiting only a couple POIs that are directly on the way. When I reach Commodore Tramiel, I'll take her to home, briefly visiting a few asteroid bases along the way. I originally planned to explore a star cluster above the galactic plane, but I have been away from the Bubble far too long. Our faction back there has made a lot of progress, but that all is perhaps for another log.