Time to reflect on my personal experience and achievements during the fourth week of the Distant Worlds 2 expedition. The crew aboard the ‘Inquisitive Surveyor’ wrangle with their commitments to the Galactic Mapping Project as the high wakes of the rest of the fleet have already dissipated from around waypoint three. For the week ahead the standing operating procedure of economical jumps will be suspended in order to catch up with the rest of the expedition while taking in all the off-route points of interest that this part of the galaxy has to offer.
At the end of the first month of the expedition, time is our greatest enemy. The survey and data retrieval in the abandoned settlements of the Conflux takes significantly longer than originally estimated, leaving us little choice than to use direct maximum unboosted jump range route plotting to arrive at the various points of interest noted in this week’s navigation advisory. Fortunately this area of the galaxy is blessed with many unusual systems, stars, planets and phenomena to enable me to conveniently put to one side the exploration speech about the journey and not necessarily the destination. Therefore our approach this week is to travel the path of the many before us so that we can experience first hand what they too have observed and recorded.
This part of the weekly log is usually full with recitations of noteworthy experiences. However on this occasion there is an exception. For words ….. words can only do so much. They can convey a meaning; attempt to provide a poor approximation of the truth; a misstatement, misunderstanding or misinterpretation; or, as in this case, be completely inadequate.
You see the cynics among us would look at a tourist beacon called the “Collection of Wonders” as a piece of navigational click bait to elevate a particular system from the insignificant and mundane nature of the surrounding stars, burdened with their rocky and icy entourage. Indeed, a bold claim given the number of nebulae in this region of the galaxy. However, in this instance, wonder does not begin to capture the breath-taking majesty of the Skaude AA-A h294 system, which boasts scenes of spectacular rarity and the raw destructive power of nature. I’ve been to many parts of this galaxy, and witnessed things most people could not even dream about; but this ….. this is truly worthy of its moniker.
I’m sure there are many sights ahead of us on this expedition. Some of which I’ve seen once before while traversing the more notorious parts of the galaxy. However, if my ship were to fail and my Remlok not deploy, I can drift frozen in the eternity of space content that I have witnessed something truly wonderful. There are words, many words; and yet sometimes they are not enough. Instead you are directed to view this weeks image archive.
In stark comparative brevity, the remainder of the week can be summed up by a sharp increase in the number and diversity of encountered stellar phenomenon; as well as a rise in the threat to life that comes with more neutron and white dwarf stars together with the various black holes strewn throughout the expedition route.
And finally this week, even with a expedition of this scale, it’s quite possible to feel isolated from the rest of the fleet. As such it’s always a lift out of solitude when you encounter another commander. There are times you can never be quite sure who that other pilots federation member is going to be. In the surprisingly unoccupied departure space over Sacaqawea Space Port there was a brief fly-by from a fellow Hutton Trucker. Someone who was definitely on the wrong side of Diso. Lave’s Head of Health and Safety and Radio personality Cmdr Eid Leweise. Have a Lavian Brandy on me and good luck with next week’s narrow band telepresence to the Orange Sidewinder. At least you’re not having all your molecules disassembled, scrambled and reassembled to make the broadcast. o7
The images from this week can be found at https://imgur.com/a/wNuFazo
Route
| WP | System Designation | Friendly Name | Specific Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.05 | Flyiedgiae QN-T d3-17 | Quantum World | Planet : AB 1 B |
| 3.00 | Pru Aescs NC-M D7-192 | Conflux Delta Site (-53.348 / -48.923) | Planet/Moon : A 3 A |
| 3.01 | Skaude AL-X e1-28 | Rusty Net Nebula | |
| 3.02 | Flyiedgai ST-R e4-8 | Fish Eye Nebula | |
| 3.03 | Flyiedgai UL-C d13-41 | Flyiedgai Nebula | |
| 3.04 | Ellaisms QX-U e2-43 | Ellaisms Remnant | |
| 3.05 | Skaude AA-A h294 | Skaude (Collection of Wonders) | |
| 3.06 | Skaudai CH-B d14-34 | - | Sacaqawea Space Port |
| 3.07 | Preae Ain VU-V c3-23 | Hammer Nebula | |
| 3.08 | Skaudai AM-B d14-138 | Skaudai Guardian Ruins | |
| 3.09 | Eodgorph PI-T e3-21 | Spear Thistle Nebula | |
| 3.10 | Prua Phoe TK-M d8-361 | Octopus Nebula | |
| 3.11 | Xeehia GT-G d11-8 | Causality of Lotus | |
| 4.00 | Clooku EW-Y C3-197 | Llyn Tegid Nebula |
Full details available at Frontier Forums
Status
| Component | Rating |
|---|---|
| Hull | 100% (limpet repair) |
| Modules | 100% (AFMU repair) |
| SLF | 100% (6 of 6 ships available) |
| SRV #1 | 100% |
| SRV #2 | 100% |
Stats
| Expedition Day (#) | Week Day (#) | Jumps (#) | Distance (LYs) | Scanned Objects (#) | Avg Jump Range (LYs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 1 | 134 | 1,476 | 2,291 | 11.01 |
| 23 | 2 | 37 | 185 | 486 | 5.00 |
| 24 | 3 | 4 | 47 | 47 | 11.75 |
| 25 | 4 | 72 | 4,687 | 1,176 | 67.60 |
| 26 | 5 | 28 | 1,912 | 548 | 68.29 |
| 27 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 28 | 7 | 50 | 3,359 | 872 | 67.18 |
| Total | 325 | 11,846 | 5,420 | - |
Databanks
| Measurement | Value |
|---|---|
| Systems Visited (#) | 334 |
| Level 2 Detailed Scans (#) | 7,626 |
| Level 3 Detailed Scans (#) | 7,626 |
| Efficiency Bonuses Received (#) | 67 |
| Total Hyperspace Distance (LY) | 12,441 |
| Total Hyperspace Jumps (#) | 336 |
| SRV Distance Traveled (MM) | 0.02 |
| Profits from Exploration (credits) | 166,235,655 |
Codex
