Internal Log: Day 25
Transcender System
Pod successfully launched
Cargo:
Basic supplies
Basic supplies
Touchdown
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Mission Log
Author: Captain Nathan C. Jackson
Mission 11, Entry 2
Well, this will be my last log for the immediate future, or for good, depending on how the launch goes. Hopefully, it goes well. If it does, I will be experiencing a relatively short 15-day trip into the asteroid field orbiting Beta. Oh yeah, I never did mention it, did I? The planets in a system are named for the position they are in relation to the star. So, Beta II is named that because it is the second furthest planet away from its parent star, designated Beta. A rather boring algorithm altogether, which is why no rules prevent the colonies from coming up with new names later down the line. Honestly, I cannot imagine anyone bothering even if there were rules that prevented designations from changing. It is not like anyone can stop us. Maybe there will be a nitpick among us who would protest, but that is one guy and he is arguing against just about everyone else who, at the very least, likely will not care too much about what their home world and its parent star are called.
Anyway, as I was saying, the final preparations for the launch are in full swing. The launch will be in a couple of hours. The shuttle will then attach itself to a space tether that, over a couple of hours, will wind up and fling the shuttle towards our target. That’s when the real journey begins. A couple hours after that, a base pod will follow suit. The rocket shuttle, the Pioneer as it's called, is meant for space travel. Well, it is meant for getting off a celestial body and connecting to a space station, the Pilgrim, that actually does the interplanetary transit work. The base pod, while it can do it, is not meant for crewed long-distance space flight. So we're using it for cargo. Less stuff on the Pioneer and Pilgrim. The Pilgrim was already launched earlier today. It is currently orbiting the outer fringes of Beta II's gravitational field, building up speed with its ion engines and preparing to slingshot towards the asteroid belt. Next, the space tether needs to be deployed from Transcender. Not where it was intended to be launched from, but we have been doing things off-script for a very long time now, so we figured a way out. After that, of course, we need a successful launch.
I am spending the time until the launch assisting in the creation of more defence infrastructure around the launch facility. It is not like there is anything that is going to cause trouble in the immediate vicinity and even if there was, we are well prepared to give up a site that will only have metal spires and empty tanks once the rocket launches and the nearby resource collection facility should survive the trouble. Nonetheless, we need to at least try to hold onto any land that we can lay our hands on. Transcender cannot stay floating in orbit forever. Well… it could, but if we want to stick to the protocol, we need to bring her down eventually and that means having the space to build a terrestrial docking bay, among other things. And besides… all it takes is one big ballistic missile and then this mission will be done for good.
On another note, speaking of names of the planets and their parent star… the asteroid belt does not have a name. Well, it does- Beta AS2, but no one is going to call it that. I bring this up because we had cool names for them back home, well for two of them anyway. The Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud. As the sole representative of Transcender's crew immediately available during this important moment of history, I will humbly and gladly take on this role. What should this asteroid belt be called? I mean… where do I even start? It can be a reference to something from Earth, or it could be something that I just sort of smash some syllables together from. Maybe… the Calaphysi Belt? Hmm… that sounds like calamity though, but is that a problem really? I wonder if Tara would want to pitch into this discussion or if they will just get annoyed by it.
I am going to go annoy Tara about this.
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Audio/Video Transcript
Location: Crew Quarters, Beta II Makeshift Launch Site, Sector 27
Time: Mission Day 26, 0516 (Beta Day 21, 2116)
Time: Mission Day 26, 0516 (Beta Day 21, 2116)
Cptn. Jackson lying awake, resting on a bunk.
Cptn. Jackson: Tara, time to launch?
Tara: 2 hours, 43 minutes, 20 seconds… Mark.
Tara: 2 hours, 43 minutes, 20 seconds… Mark.
Cptn. Jackson sits up.
Cptn. Jackson: Okay, I’m going to go shake some nerves off and get in my flight suit.
Tara: Copy that. I’ll have the shuttle ready to ferry you to the rocket.
Time: Mission Day 26, 0753 (Beta Day 21, 2253)
Tara: T-minus 7 minutes, Master Sergeant.
Cptn. Jackson: Copy that. Proceeding to shuttle. Wish us luck.
Cptn. Jackson: Copy that. Proceeding to shuttle. Wish us luck.
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Internal Log: Day 26
Space Port System
Pioneer successfully launched
Cargo and crew secure
Cargo and crew secure
Base pod successfully launched
Crew: None
Cargo:
Hornet Mk. 3
Basic construction fabricator
Ore drills and processors
Plotting course to nearest space tether
Docking with tether completed
Tether manoeuvre completed
Pioneer on course for Pilgrim intercept
Pilgrim docking complete
Pilgrim docking complete
Pilgrim grav-assist manoeuvre completed
Pilgrim on course for asteroid field Beta AS2
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Taraka has left the theatre
Begin preparations for simultaneous assault
Warning-
The above entries have been deemed as external interference and will be deleted at the time of saving to the repository
The above entries have been deemed as external interference and will be deleted at the time of saving to the repository
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