During the second half of 3308 I – Aldarion – used the vessel Honest Tuck to travel towards the north-eastern edge of the ED galaxy disc.

During November and December 3308 I returned to the Colonies via an east-western route along the edge of the bulge through the Izanami Region and further on South via the DSSA carriers Smilers’s Obsavatory and Enigma.

At the Colonies the 3.8-Incarnation could be retired and enjoys life hopefully.

The following Map shows the west-north-western loop during this expedition.

Exploring towards the South starting from Shurley’s Nest in Rodentia went on. I was crossing the sectors southernmost of the colonies until I reached the Vulcan Gate Sector. Finally I docked at the DSSA Explorer’s Heaven, which is located inside a planetary nebula containing a medium sized black hole.

The singularity itself created beautiful and colourful sights on approach and close to the event horizon due to the backdrop of the red-green cloud, which was created during the birth of the black hole.

The fleet carrier DSSA Explorer’s Heaven itself is orbiting a water-world, which again is orbiting a binary star system orbiting the singularity. The following link leads to a video of the carrier and the black hole.

DSSA Explorer's Heaven and a colourful BH (DSSA Explorer's Heaven and a colourful BH)

After many weeks resting on board the carrier Explorer’s Heaven I decided to continue towards the West, towards the sector named Errant Marches. Recently I am close to the edge of the ED Milky Way: Upon looking ahead Andromeda is the brightest object in front of a black tinted background and the star field thins out the more I approach the edge of the disk.

Actually I am very close to a point directly opposite of the north-eastern location I reached in the sector Mare Somnia months ago.

I successfully explored the two paths leading via orthogonal routes over and under the Galactic Plain as well as I investigated some areas in the Center Sector around Sagittarius A-Star. Then I made the decision to follow a north-eastern route towards the edge of the ED Milky Way. This project was leading me through numerous sectors during the following weeks:

The Centre, the Empyrean Straits, the Arcadian Stream, the Veils and finally the Mare Somnia became parts I crossed.

After crossing a part of Mare Somnia, where various Brown Dwarfs dominated the star-class distribution of travelled systems, which made me at least once diverting the course, I headed straight East towards the edge of the galaxy. The system density became the lower the more I approached the edge. Finally I made the decision to turn back, following a route towards the West. I had a rough idea where to find the DSSA Fleet Carrier The Late Show, which I reached during the second week of November 3308.

I plotted the related route to the location of the Late Show in one of the earlier reports. I stayed a week on board of the DSSA vessel before heading out and further towards the West again. I had crossed two gaps between two outer arms of the galaxy and now I was able to recognize the glow of stars of surrounding systems again. Heading towards the West also gave me some nice views of the arms in front of me and by progressing I was able to recognize ever more details of the denser star fields forming the arms. Finally, I was able to reach the DSSA carrier Four Monuments Corner. Reaching it I had to progress many light years towards the South-West and I still was many thousand light years away from human civilization.

Four Corners Monument is located inside Ryker’s Hope, where this sector meets the three neighbouring sectors. I used the following day visiting the three other sectors and spent one more night on board of the carrier before heading out towards the West again.

This was the location, where I realized, that there were a split, a fork of realities of the ED-Universe, leading to at least two completely independent entities of myself, Aldarion 3TwoAlpha: one in version 3.8 and one in version 4.0.

If I moved one of them towards some inhabited spaces, this would mean the other one were more or less stuck at a lonely fleet carrier far from everything, eventually becoming a curiosity for the few commanders reaching the carrier. If I were staying somewhere on track in my ship, this situation possibly could and would lead to one of the entities starving due to lacking energy and oxygen sooner or later. I did not like either possibilities. In fact I did like these even less than having to move both entities in different versions of the ED Milky Way without any connections. I realized, the best option would be to move towards some nice part of the galaxy, where the 3.8-commander could enjoy some early retirement including some action every now and then by starting from a comfortable location. The Colonies always were a place I liked, the so-called Mini-Bubble. Would I be able to reach such a far place before the ED-Galaxy were split?

On my trip towards the very low elevations under the galactic plain at the centre, not too far away from and under the Galactic Plain I found a beautiful, colourful gas giant containing water based life: The narrow cloud belts with high contrasts and the cyclones between these linear flows of streams were a remarkable, stunning view. The planet is located in Stuemeae SI-B C13-4303 1 and the following image shows the sight:

The following image shows a selection of a few life forms on planetary surfaces I found following the path towards the lower located systems.

The poster underneath displays my Exploration Tour towards the North-Eastern edge of the ED Milky Way. The turning point at the far end has a distance of over 47kly from the colonies. I experienced a few remarkable events: In the Sector called Empyrean Straits, far north-east of the centre, I found a hybrid probe: one of these Thargoid-Guardian items we don’t know where they came from exactly and what they might be used for or meant to be for or who – for which reasons – was creating it. So far Guardian and Thargoid technologies were completely incompatible.

In Sector Mare Somnia – the sea of forgetfulness – I discovered some phenomena in the Lagrange Points of one system I never heard of or read about. If there is some time left, I will post a description and add maybe one or two images in this logbook.

Returning from the trip towards the high elevated systems over the centre of the Milky Way I had a nice hot chocolate with a little bit of Lavian Liquid added; the bartender is great in creating any drink and I slowly consumed it: At least it is worth for a few things to return to inhabited space.

I watched the crew members on Shadow Head, who were relaxing after their shifts too talking to their mates. Some even do not know who I am: the guy employing them. I am not bothered, I like to sit undisturbed among these people doing a good job maintaining and running the vessel.

I had to meet the heads of the various departments for the monthly briefing tomorrow. While enjoying my slowly cooling drink I revised the lately collected data and wrote a summary about the trip towards the top. As well I scribbled down a few notes for the coming briefing; there is not much to do for me since the departments and their crews do an awesome job and I only have to check the most important reports. Rarely I have to deal with troublesome stuff, since the departments do a great job sorting out all of this daily business. Every now and then there has to be a lot of organizing and planning for the various operations I want the carrier to perform.

Anyway, at the very moment the Shadow Head is parked vis-à-vis to Explorer’s Anchorage, the Ocellus Starport we erected during DW2 and the shifts are calm. I will tell the Captain tomorrow to reduce shifts to the minimum of personnel and to maximise the free time for the ones not having to be on duty – the maintenance crews go over the same systems they did the month before. I also will let the Vessel Manager know, I wish to have all crew their lunches for free until further notification and I will make him paying a bonus for the technical stuff and especially for the maintenance guys.

My next aim is a trip from the centre to a point straight under the Galactic plain later this week.

Top View and Bottom View of the Centre 3308 – Early September

Exploration of high altitudes above the Galactic Plain over the centre of the Milky Way as well as the opposite course towards a point deep under the Galactic Plain is the plan for the next few days.

During DW2 I was reaching the higher elevations already but this time the course towards the top systems varies due to the different jump range. I know it were possible to add a few more jumps and get even higher but I did not follow that aim.

The following images show the sights one gets high above the Centre (System Sluemoa ZC-F C2).

Same is true for my jumps under the plain, even though I guess I was reaching the very low systems under the Centre.

When returning to Explorer’s Anchorage I was finishing a few more trips around the Centre as well before making the decision for a longer exploration route towards the North-Eastern edge of the galaxy.

On my route towards a point high up over the central Galactic Plain I was able to find different lifeforms. It is planned to have a look into the opposite direction, starting from Explorer’s Anchorage descending under the plain.

Today I explored systems in the eastern region of Odin’s Hold as well as in the region The Centre west-north-west of Explorer’s Anchorage.

Shadow Head reached Stuemae FG-Y d7561 earlier this afternoon and before I docked Honest Tuck at Explorer’s Anchorage.

Here are some impressions of a few places I found:

Phraa Pruae NN-B 16-6818 (planet 1C)

Hypoe Pruae PG-E C28-7409

Hypoe Prue BF-U c5-6321

Hypoe Prue CQ-X e1-10070

The Shadow Head slowly moves towards the Centre while I shadow her path exploring space.

Today I found a Hot Jupiter. I can't remember to have seen a gasgiant that close to its parent star (0.3 days for one orbit).

I made a video of the location, which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcanIoF71Qo

Otherwise the following image might give some impression how it looks like: