Tilon Quill
Intergalactic
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
GENERAL INFORMATION
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
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.
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 current local nav data, and checked system integrity.
The journey from Father Torus to the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy was split into seven carefully-calibrated hyperspace jumps, punctuated by nav scans, system checks, comprehensive space sampling and sensor data collection, 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. After several months, the Longjumper's Mark reached the edge of the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy.
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 offered insights about conditions in their home galaxy. As a result, the expedition knew more or less what to expect: a quiet galaxy, poor and hungry, 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. The expedition also set up long-term probes and simple, reliable, long-range communications relays. While the expedition faced hazards from local powers, scavenger factions, and the innate risks of space and alien worlds, damage and crew losses were extremely minimal.
The Longjumper's Mark returned to the Prime Galaxy by early 902 ABY. En route, it passed through Firefist, reconnecting with contacts and colonies that had sprung from past expeditions. Notably, it took on supplies at the trade bazaars of Jaibrek, a Nagai farming colony, where some crew opted to remain. The final stretch of the way home was the long, cold trip down the Nagai Trade Spine from Firefist to Endor.
While the Longjumper's Mark has been preserved as a piece of history, every element of its hull and systems has seen deep study at facilities like New Habat University's Granth Institute. The secretive Order of the Selab has taken particular note, and samples and data have percolated through many research institutes and quieter archives as a public good.
Intent: To record the farthest expedition to date.
Image Credit: None
Canon: N/A
Permissions: N/A
Links: Connestoga-class Heavy Freighter
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Event Name: Longjumper's Mark expedition
- Event Specific Links:
- Deep Black Sea: Longjump
- My Shadow Runs With Me (posts 1-23)
- Deep Black Sea: First Contact
- Deep Black Sea: We Think We Come In Peace (arrival and summary of past extragalactic expeditions)
- Location: Yuuzhan Vong galaxy
- Galactic Standard Year: 900-902 ABY
- Participants:
- Outbound Flight Initiative
- Atlas Drake (Captain)
- Around three hundred crew and specialist contractors, including Kairon Rees, Loxa Visl, and Tilon Quill
- Two stowaways: Velok Brokentusk and Lily Rhodes
- Brief Overview: The heavily modified superfreighter Longjumper's Mark made the first voyage to the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
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. 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 current local nav data, and checked system integrity.
The journey from Father Torus to the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy was split into seven carefully-calibrated hyperspace jumps, punctuated by nav scans, system checks, comprehensive space sampling and sensor data collection, 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. After several months, the Longjumper's Mark reached the edge of the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy.
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 offered insights about conditions in their home galaxy. As a result, the expedition knew more or less what to expect: a quiet galaxy, poor and hungry, 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. The expedition also set up long-term probes and simple, reliable, long-range communications relays. While the expedition faced hazards from local powers, scavenger factions, and the innate risks of space and alien worlds, damage and crew losses were extremely minimal.
The Longjumper's Mark returned to the Prime Galaxy by early 902 ABY. En route, it passed through Firefist, reconnecting with contacts and colonies that had sprung from past expeditions. Notably, it took on supplies at the trade bazaars of Jaibrek, a Nagai farming colony, where some crew opted to remain. The final stretch of the way home was the long, cold trip down the Nagai Trade Spine from Firefist to Endor.
While the Longjumper's Mark has been preserved as a piece of history, every element of its hull and systems has seen deep study at facilities like New Habat University's Granth Institute. The secretive Order of the Selab has taken particular note, and samples and data have percolated through many research institutes and quieter archives as a public good.
