Captain's Log #1: The Far Leys Expedition
10 Nov 2024Joydeep
Date: 3rd November, 3310Ship: Lone Wonderer
Status: Departing Jackson's Lighthouse
The journey began not with the thrill of formation flight but in the solitary embrace of deep space. I had missed the collective launch, and Jackson's Lighthouse stood as a beacon of my tardiness, its lighthouse pulse bidding me farewell into the unknown. Determined not to fall behind, I set course on the Neutron Highway, each jump a gamble with the forces of the cosmos. The ship surged through the jet cones, the Lone Wonderer absorbing their feral energy to propel me forward, cutting through light-years like a knife.
Waypoint #2: Syralaei MH-V d2-47
Reaching Syralaei MH-V d2-47 felt like arriving at the precipice of an ancient dance. A helium-rich gas giant loomed at the heart of a system where moons and ringed worlds pirouetted around it, each with its own grace. I marveled at the terraformable HMC world and the water world, each with their rings stretching out in shimmering perfection. The crown jewel, however, was the tilted gas giant—a cosmic oddity that defied the typical orientation with an axial tilt of 90.5°, making it seem as though the sky itself had shifted on its axis.
Body 15 e a, a moon hugged close to its gas giant parent, offered a view so surreal that even seasoned explorers would pause in wonder. The distant hum of gravitational pull resonated with the whispers of forgotten star charts. I lingered here, documenting the sights and the sheer majesty of the celestial interplay, before pressing on toward the next waypoint.
Discovery Between Waypoints #2 and #3
Somewhere along the trail, I stumbled into a system where the ordinary rules seemed suspended—a neutron star at its core, radiating an almost defiant energy. Orbiting it were two ringed landable worlds and a gas giant with rings that seemed to sketch out the boundaries of infinity. I set the Lone Wonderer down on one of the landables and disembarked, boots meeting dust that hadn't felt a tread in millennia.
The horizon was painted with cosmic strokes, the gas giant's rings arching across the sky like a bridge to the stars. The silence was profound, broken only by the steady pulse of my suit and the distant thrum of the neutron star. I set up camp, a flicker of light under the cathedral sky, to rest and soak in the sight before the journey to waypoint #3 called me forward.