~6500 LY from home, 19404LY from SagA. I buckled down last night and put 2200 LY behind me, and finally broke the 20KLY barrier. Found my first Gas Giant with Water-based life. It was in a binary orbit with a ringed metal-rich planet I wanted to get a closer look at. It may have been by chance, but I’ll take the credits just the same. When I get done with this trip, I’ll post my progress reports. Been keeping a written record of where I’ve been (at the end of each leg at any rate) and what I’ve seen.
That’s my log entry for Thursday, August 13, 3301. I decided to buckle down Friday and managed to put another ~2700 LY behind me, so I never got around to posting Thursday's log. The following is the results of my weekend flight.
9202 LY out as of Friday, August 14, 3301
11400+ LY out as of Sunday, August 16, 3301
I could’ve gotten further, but the stress of drifting for days in an escape pod with little hope of rescue finally caught up to my passenger. Rakhi suffered a nasty rhinovirus infection that laid her out. I spent all of Saturday and quite a bit of Sunday taking care of her and taking steps to prevent becoming sick myself. Not that I mind, though. We all know the risks we take when we go out this far. Obviously, I packed decent medical supplies just in case. We’re quite far from the nearest hospital.
I’m just about halfway to my destination. It’s nearly time to decide whether I’m going to push on, or head back. So far (knock on wood)
Izumi’s Intrigue is in good shape. 94% hull integrity, upper 90’s for my individual modules, no cracks in the canopy. As stated above, Rakhi got bulldozed by a rhinovirus, and I may get a whack from it later, unless the inoculations do their job. I do know that my air scrubbers will have it purged by the time I get back to civilization.
All in all, though, we’ve not hit a barrier we couldn’t overcome yet. I won’t say what the future may hold, but so far, so good. The first 5000 LY were probably the toughest. Now that I know what I’m doing better than I did when I started, It’s getting easier to put the lightyears behind me. I could get a thousand behind me in a day’s flying, but now I can get a couple thousand.
Rakhi and I had another interesting conversation last night. Honestly, it’s the first time I’ve really opened up since Izumi died, and to a relative stranger no less. She wanted to know exactly why I decided to make this pilgrimage. Most Commanders would wait until they’re more experienced to make such a long trek. I told her why. Balance, Zen, Nirvana, whatever you want to call it was and still is a big part of Izumi’s and my life. I won’t go into too many details,(Author’s Note: those will be in the next chapter of my novella. /Author’s Note) but Izumi and I are - I guess “were” would be more appropriate - very similar. Like her, If my emotions were to run unchecked, I’d likely end up being a Reaver at worst, and guilty of multiple charges voluntary manslaughter at best.
Izumi had to learn to control her emotions the hard way, but I was lucky enough to have help. First Elizabeth, my older foster-sister, then Izumi. If I started causing trouble in the orphanage, Elizabeth had no qualms about knocking me on my butt and telling me in no uncertain terms to calm down and behave. She was the only one who could bully the bully, and I love her for that. She kept me out of serious trouble by putting me in my place as Beta to her Alpha.
Izumi had a softer, more lenient touch than Elizabeth, but by that time, that’s all I needed. Her best method was simply meditation. She’d instruct me on how to acknowledge my emotions and then control them by putting the energy toward something more positive, productive, and/or constructive. Because of her tutelage, I was able to be trained by the Federal Navy garrison at Trevethick, and then pass the psych evaluations of the Pilots Federation representatives there in order to get my legally valid license.
Despite all that, though, I still feel lost. Not sure where to really focus my efforts. That’s why I’m going for what I consider to be the best example of balance in Nature, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. It can and will destroy anything unfortunate enough to cross it, but it’s a massive (pun fully intended) part of what holds the galaxy together. If I can get even a shred of inspiration from studying it, this trip will be worth it. Hell, even if I don’t, the sheer novelty makes it worth it in my eyes.
Well, I’ve recorded my thoughts, so back to checking and rechecking my ship before I put another couple thousand lightyears behind me. Fly safe out there, Commanders.
Supplemental, as I'm sure someone's going to see it before I post tomorrow's log. I got an invite to join Ghost Squadron, sent in a request, and was accepted. My Signature will show it eventually. Details to come tomorrow.