Tilon Quill
Intergalactic
Our galaxy is far vaster than we feel. The travel speeds of super-hyperlanes, the HoloNet and subspace comms, the audacity of interstellar war - they all conspire to deceive us. Stellar cartographers suggest a count of three point two billion habitable star systems. We do not live in a habitat that can be comprehended, let alone possessed. Scouts and explorers still range across the Outer Rim, Wild Space, the Unknown Regions, and the Deep Core, and still find - constantly - something new.
For others, though, there will never be another voyage to match the siren song of the intergalactic void, and who and what might await on the other side of the grand cold silence.
The first known extragalactic expeditions were, of course, the incursions by the Nagai, the Tofs, technically the Ssi-Ruuk, and the Yuuzhan Vong eight to nine centuries ago. Certainly there were earlier ones: whoever first made the connection between the Prime Galaxy and the Rishi Maze, for example, lacing the Zareca String and connecting with storied Kamino. And it is likely that other expeditions, outward expeditions, took place in the decades leading up to the Gulag Plague. A civilization that could rebuild worlds would certainly have considered turning its powers outward, not just inward. There are many things we cannot know.
Let's focus, then, on the past century.
With the first reemergences of stable galactic-scale civilization circa 830, the route to the Rishi Maze saw extensive traffic as Kamino became a powerhouse.
Concurrently, in what became known as the Dark Harvest crisis, an incursion of advanced Imperial-derived starships coincided - not coincidentally - with a Blackwing Virus variant outbreak. A great battle took place in the Polis Massa asteroids, perhaps one of the largest fleet engagements ever. In the aftermath, a Mandalorian force traced the incursion to Companion Grek - the farthest of the Prime Galaxy's seven major satellites - and staged a counter-assault across the intergalactic void. It is not clear whether the Mandalorians understood the significance of their achievement. They did, however, win, and that was good enough for them.
And at the same time as the road to Kamino was re-trodden and the Mandalorians were torching ancient Imperial remnants in Grek, a hyperspace disturbance wavered around Companion Esk. A large number of small independent ships were able to slip through and connect with a number of pre-technological or pre-spaceflight worlds, securing trade goods before the routes closed again. This became known as the ExGal Hunt. Interest in extragalactic travel died down for many years thereafter, perhaps due to the difficulty, cost, and relatively low returns that the Grek and Esk expeditions found.
After that lull, however, a number of initiatives pushed out in two key directions. The long-haul superfreighter S.S. Gossamer, under Captain Jorus Merrill and then Captain Atlas Drake, stabilized the Nagai Trade Spine and voyaged through the companion galaxy called Firefist. This was the 850s; not many years later, a trade convoy from the Outer Planets Alliance followed the path of the two Gossamer expeditions. Together, these three expeditions engaged with major local civilizations, built trade links, and found several key places to leave their mark.
The other key direction of mid-century intergalactic exploration was far less ambitious and smaller-scale, but would lay a critical foundation. Another OPA convoy, in collaboration with the Spacers' Guild and Silver Jedi Order, set out for one of the Prime Galaxy's smaller satellites, the star cluster known as Cosm's Well. It reached and connected with Father Torus, a trade station at the edge of the cluster. Cosm's Well would prove to be an important foothold for other extragalactic efforts.
The next expedition was in the 870s. Led by
Cotan Sar'andor
, this was another convoy-style initiative associated with the OPA. It traveled to Companion Cresh, a small satellite galaxy which had seen zero contact in recorded history. They found the dying core of an ancient Yuuzhan Vong worldship and helped it find peace; in the coming years, it would become known as Gadma Station, the gateway to Companion Cresh just as Father Torus is for Cosm's Well.
A second great lull settled over the extragalactic exploration scene in the aftermath of the OPA's dissolution. The next expeditions would not be launched until the turn of the century: Matsu Ike's voyage to Peridea, and the voyage of the S.S. Longjumper's Mark.
Starting around 890 BBY, confidential parties had laid out a plan for the most ambitious extragalactic expedition since the invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong: a visit to the Vong home galaxy. The voyage coalesced circa 900. A sixty-year-old, two-thousand-metre Connestoga-class superfreighter, the Longjumper's Mark was heavily modified with redundant nav systems, a primary hyperdrive ring, exterior fuel tanks, and a cornucopia of instrumentation. The voyage was coordinated by the expertise of the Outbound Flight Initiative and placed under the command of Captain Atlas Drake. The crew was large and diverse, including specialist contractors in first contact linguistics and away team survival. (Jorus Merrill, now long retired, declined a nav post, due to age and because he'd committed to come along as a passenger on Ike's voyage to Peridea.)
The Longjumper's Mark's first extragalactic jump took it from near Mezokara in old Levantine Sanctum territory to Father Torus at the edge of Cosm's Well. The expedition brought on additional crew and supplies, topped up its fuel, assessed the most current local nav data, and evaluated all systems after the jump. Then the modified superfreighter turned toward its target: the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy.
This stage of the journey was split into several carefully-calibrated hyperspace jumps, punctuated by nav scans and relay establishment. Rogue events included stowaways stealing a shuttle and jumping for Gadma Station, responding to a fungoid distress call, and encounters with Purrgills both living and dead. In due course, the Longjumper's Mark reached the edge of the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy.
What was known about that galaxy? What could be known? The Yuuzhan Vong had abandoned it centuries or millennia ago in search of a new home; they had left it war-torn and stripped of resources. At the end of the Netherworld Crisis (also known as the Second Akala Crisis) in 844 ABY, seventeen planets were inexplicably transported from there to the Prime Galaxy: Clamor, Interitum, The Void, Egktraesta, Ava, Tama, Plantis, Rr'Ghaal, Arion, Éadrom, Atoll Greater, Lashtu (which merged with Corellia), Suiirentaliath, Prania, Retice, Home, and Arborea. The ruins, scars, and remnant populations on these obscure worlds were considered to be representative of conditions in their home galaxy. The expedition knew more or less what to expect: a quieter galaxy than ours, poorer, with higher day-to-day stakes and fewer accessible resources.
Upon arrival, probes and teams fanned out through a dozen sectors' worth of space, seeking signs of hazards, new friends, safe harbors, and especially material that could be refined into fuel - to ensure a return trip.
The Yuuzhan Vong galaxy stretches out across every viewport. The ship hums with excitement, trepidation, urgency. What do you see? What are you thinking? No pressure, no rush.
Atlas Drake
Kairon Rees
Loxa Visl
For others, though, there will never be another voyage to match the siren song of the intergalactic void, and who and what might await on the other side of the grand cold silence.
The first known extragalactic expeditions were, of course, the incursions by the Nagai, the Tofs, technically the Ssi-Ruuk, and the Yuuzhan Vong eight to nine centuries ago. Certainly there were earlier ones: whoever first made the connection between the Prime Galaxy and the Rishi Maze, for example, lacing the Zareca String and connecting with storied Kamino. And it is likely that other expeditions, outward expeditions, took place in the decades leading up to the Gulag Plague. A civilization that could rebuild worlds would certainly have considered turning its powers outward, not just inward. There are many things we cannot know.
Let's focus, then, on the past century.
With the first reemergences of stable galactic-scale civilization circa 830, the route to the Rishi Maze saw extensive traffic as Kamino became a powerhouse.
Concurrently, in what became known as the Dark Harvest crisis, an incursion of advanced Imperial-derived starships coincided - not coincidentally - with a Blackwing Virus variant outbreak. A great battle took place in the Polis Massa asteroids, perhaps one of the largest fleet engagements ever. In the aftermath, a Mandalorian force traced the incursion to Companion Grek - the farthest of the Prime Galaxy's seven major satellites - and staged a counter-assault across the intergalactic void. It is not clear whether the Mandalorians understood the significance of their achievement. They did, however, win, and that was good enough for them.
And at the same time as the road to Kamino was re-trodden and the Mandalorians were torching ancient Imperial remnants in Grek, a hyperspace disturbance wavered around Companion Esk. A large number of small independent ships were able to slip through and connect with a number of pre-technological or pre-spaceflight worlds, securing trade goods before the routes closed again. This became known as the ExGal Hunt. Interest in extragalactic travel died down for many years thereafter, perhaps due to the difficulty, cost, and relatively low returns that the Grek and Esk expeditions found.
After that lull, however, a number of initiatives pushed out in two key directions. The long-haul superfreighter S.S. Gossamer, under Captain Jorus Merrill and then Captain Atlas Drake, stabilized the Nagai Trade Spine and voyaged through the companion galaxy called Firefist. This was the 850s; not many years later, a trade convoy from the Outer Planets Alliance followed the path of the two Gossamer expeditions. Together, these three expeditions engaged with major local civilizations, built trade links, and found several key places to leave their mark.
The other key direction of mid-century intergalactic exploration was far less ambitious and smaller-scale, but would lay a critical foundation. Another OPA convoy, in collaboration with the Spacers' Guild and Silver Jedi Order, set out for one of the Prime Galaxy's smaller satellites, the star cluster known as Cosm's Well. It reached and connected with Father Torus, a trade station at the edge of the cluster. Cosm's Well would prove to be an important foothold for other extragalactic efforts.
The next expedition was in the 870s. Led by
Cotan Sar'andor
, this was another convoy-style initiative associated with the OPA. It traveled to Companion Cresh, a small satellite galaxy which had seen zero contact in recorded history. They found the dying core of an ancient Yuuzhan Vong worldship and helped it find peace; in the coming years, it would become known as Gadma Station, the gateway to Companion Cresh just as Father Torus is for Cosm's Well.A second great lull settled over the extragalactic exploration scene in the aftermath of the OPA's dissolution. The next expeditions would not be launched until the turn of the century: Matsu Ike's voyage to Peridea, and the voyage of the S.S. Longjumper's Mark.
Starting around 890 BBY, confidential parties had laid out a plan for the most ambitious extragalactic expedition since the invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong: a visit to the Vong home galaxy. The voyage coalesced circa 900. A sixty-year-old, two-thousand-metre Connestoga-class superfreighter, the Longjumper's Mark was heavily modified with redundant nav systems, a primary hyperdrive ring, exterior fuel tanks, and a cornucopia of instrumentation. The voyage was coordinated by the expertise of the Outbound Flight Initiative and placed under the command of Captain Atlas Drake. The crew was large and diverse, including specialist contractors in first contact linguistics and away team survival. (Jorus Merrill, now long retired, declined a nav post, due to age and because he'd committed to come along as a passenger on Ike's voyage to Peridea.)
The Longjumper's Mark's first extragalactic jump took it from near Mezokara in old Levantine Sanctum territory to Father Torus at the edge of Cosm's Well. The expedition brought on additional crew and supplies, topped up its fuel, assessed the most current local nav data, and evaluated all systems after the jump. Then the modified superfreighter turned toward its target: the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy.
This stage of the journey was split into several carefully-calibrated hyperspace jumps, punctuated by nav scans and relay establishment. Rogue events included stowaways stealing a shuttle and jumping for Gadma Station, responding to a fungoid distress call, and encounters with Purrgills both living and dead. In due course, the Longjumper's Mark reached the edge of the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy.
What was known about that galaxy? What could be known? The Yuuzhan Vong had abandoned it centuries or millennia ago in search of a new home; they had left it war-torn and stripped of resources. At the end of the Netherworld Crisis (also known as the Second Akala Crisis) in 844 ABY, seventeen planets were inexplicably transported from there to the Prime Galaxy: Clamor, Interitum, The Void, Egktraesta, Ava, Tama, Plantis, Rr'Ghaal, Arion, Éadrom, Atoll Greater, Lashtu (which merged with Corellia), Suiirentaliath, Prania, Retice, Home, and Arborea. The ruins, scars, and remnant populations on these obscure worlds were considered to be representative of conditions in their home galaxy. The expedition knew more or less what to expect: a quieter galaxy than ours, poorer, with higher day-to-day stakes and fewer accessible resources.
Upon arrival, probes and teams fanned out through a dozen sectors' worth of space, seeking signs of hazards, new friends, safe harbors, and especially material that could be refined into fuel - to ensure a return trip.
The Yuuzhan Vong galaxy stretches out across every viewport. The ship hums with excitement, trepidation, urgency. What do you see? What are you thinking? No pressure, no rush.
Atlas Drake
Kairon Rees
Loxa Visl
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