<recording audio and transcribing>
Commanding Officer's Log 002
CMDR. Alex Rodriguez
U.T.E. Corvus
1621hrs 26 July, 2463 Earth Standard

The initial checks and shakedown through the asteroid belt went perfectly. During the system tests, we found that the tertiary shield generator could hold up to more stress than anticipated, but had a significantly larger heat and EM output when under pressure. Thankfully, the generator is a backup to the backup generators so it will hopefully never get used. If it does, I don't think thermal bloom and whiting out part of the EM spectrum will be high on my list of worries. Beyond that, sensor resolution was better than expected when active scanning. Unless we know our position is secure, active scanning won't get used though as the EM signature is absolutely massive. All other systems are working as expected, and Rose has integrated with the new hardware without issue.

I'm not sure if it is a quirk from the hardware coding or what, but I swear she is speaking with a slight British accent on occasion. She's running diagnostics to make sure there won't be any errors because of it, and to find the coding causing it. I'll admit it is kind of hilarious to hear her muttering to herself while trying to find that code block. Apparently she hates the accent with a passion. Go figure.

Anyhow, we are set to hit the Atlas Gate in Jupiter orbit here in a few minutes. Jump time should be around twelve minutes accounting for dilation, but like always it'll feel a lot shorter for us. From there, it's straight to a fairly uncharted system to claim what mineral rights I can find. Here's hoping those new scanners were worth the credits.

Wish us luck.

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No matter how many times you see it, the Atlas Gate always gives you a sense of awe. It is both a work of art and military science if you think about it. Mankind has never encountered another sapient species, but the military sure prepared just in case. Since the gate gives a direct shot at everything in the solar system from colonies to shipyards and stations, they made sure something hostile would meet an interesting end. The gate itself is large enough for an entire fleet to jump at once, including the occasional supercarrier or dreadnought class ships. To make up for it, the space around the gate on both sides is studded with thousands of automated turrets, defense satellites, command and control stations, and a ton of stuff that nobody is allowed to know what it does. If something can survive that gauntlet, it has to go headfirst into the Home Fleet, which is a full third of the U.T.E. Navy. All in all, they'd be fucked sideways.

Point is with all that power in a small area, the space around the gate looks like it shimmers and moves at a distance like a puddle of mercury in space. As you close, you start to see the gate network through a mist of bright objects, until finally you see the clouds for what they really are. Breathtaking and awful at the same time once you realize that you could be obliterated from the universe with the press of a button. Thankfully, I filed a flight plan at the U.T.E. Fleet Yards before departure and had my IFF broadcasting the whole while. My flight path was clear toward the giant ring floating in the abyss.

"How are we looking Rose, everything prepped on your end for the jump?"

I knew we were going through the same checklists from different sides as my fingers danced over the control panel to set the ship. Even with the straps holding me to the seat, I could feel myself drift up against the restraints as she shut off the gravity generator. The cabin turned a ruddy color as she dialed life support to a minimum, with me taking that as my turn to grab my helmet that was floating next to me. It only took a moment to clip the info feed cable to a port in the collar of my suit, before settling it over my head with practiced ease. The thousand credits I spent on a custom fit helmet was some of the best money spent, as most of your helmets grab your ears or fit weird. A slight hiss of flowing air and flickering of in built displays was all I needed to know it was connected properly and sealed.

"All systems at minimal power other than shields and engines. The Corvus is prepared for jump Alex. Just don't make any goofy quotes about the great beyond, okay."

Grinning, I pushed the throttle forward to the limits as the gate burst into swirling light, my tiny ship just a speck against the brightness streaming towards us until it swallowed us whole.

As the light faded away, everything ahead of the ship was swirling blue, with the cameras in the rear seeing everything in a sanguine red from the dilation. It's so hard to describe no matter how many times you go through a jump gate. The light just flows around you, blue then red, with just a heartbeat of other colors in between as you pass them. Sparkling light from near overloaded shields dancing ahead of the ship are the only thing holding back the titanic energies of the wormhole from ripping your ship into shreds. For just a moment, I'd swear there was another brighter light in the wormhole with us though. Just a heartbeat before everything came undone. The colors of realspace screamed around us as the tunnel collapsed, hurtling us through the void like a throwing dart. I might have been screaming before losing consciousness too.

"Thank you everypony for coming to our fourteenth annual Starfall Festival. As you know, once a year my sister holds the Summer Sun Festival on the solstice where she holds the longest day. Since my return, I have done my best to show the beauty of the night. To that end, on the winter solstice, we hold the Starfall Festival. On this, the longest night of the year I show ponies all over the world what the night sky can be. So please, sit back and enjoy the show. As always, there are refreshments and vendors throughout the palace gardens. The show will start momentarily."

To say there was a large crowd of ponies milling around the palace gardens would have been an understatement. The crowd was packed practically shoulder to shoulder to wait the light show that the Princess of the Night was famed for. All of the Princesses were on stage in different capacities, but the main podium was dedicated to the twin sisters of day and night. The golden illumination from Celestia's horn throwing warm highlights throughout the crowd for a moment before the shadows seemed to lengthen. In a burst of magic, the darker Princess was born aloft on wings of shadow as the sun descended below the horizon, while her horn shone like a small star.

"Ponies of Equestria! I give you the night sky and the start of the Starfall Festival!"

With the clouds cleared away by dozens of pegasi earlier in the day, and the city lights extinguished or dimmed, every citizen in Equestria could see the universe blooming in the night sky. Whorls of color and twinkling lights spanned horizon to horizon as the aurora and stars fought for dominance. Princess Luna always enjoyed showing off her night, so to say she was overjoyed to find out it was used for celebration and relaxation for the masses brought great joy. Once a year, she gave it her all even if she did end up tired for several days afterward.

Through the night she'd pull different stellar phenomena from her bag of tricks or even have performers showing their skills among the night sky. One of her favorites had turned out to be the infamous Trixie Lulamoon, who after some discussion found working with the Princess on some nights to be the highlight of her career. Trixie's magical fireworks shot into the sky with screams and pops, showering color above the city, while Luna reached deep into the black to pull things to the earth to rain colors and fire from the heavens.

Unfortunately on one of those pulls, she had gotten a little too ambitious and the magician was the only one to notice at first. The small ball of fire spreading light among the heavens, yet getting brighter as it fell. As the heartbeats passed, the crowd and royalty noticed it as well. From a burst of flame, it had burst into a small star falling toward the city with a keening wail. Just before panic set in, the star screamed over the city in a burst of white flames, painting the city in a wash of brightness for a moment before disappearing over the horizon. Unbeknownst to the now cheering populace, it wasn't a trick and wasn't part of the plan. With a single nod, a flight of the Night Guard had taken wing to find the mystery object. What they'd find would change the face of Equestria and the path of the world forever. Next Chapter: 04. Basecamp Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 35 Minutes