Hi all, this is my attempt at an AAR of sorts. First post will serve as an introduction and a table of contents for future reference. I've started this on Discord, but then noticed that the limit of 2000 signs per post was way too little, so here I am. You should know that I am not a native speaker, and so grammatical and style errors can occur from time to time, but I'm doing my best to mitigate them.
I'm not an experienced player, but I'll do my best in the game - we'll see how it goes in the future.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS LEADING TO DEPARTURE OF ARK FROM SOLAR SYSTEM, TERRAN PERSPECTIVE
INSIDER DESCRIPTION OF EVENTS LEADING TO ARK DEPARTURE ARE KNOWN FROM ABANDONED FPM ARCHIVES
Events listed in accordance to standard human calendar (AD)
2221: Human settlements on Mars, Europa and Io become self-sufficient.
2223: Following a drastic increase in material taxes to be paid to the central government, Mars declares itself and its moons Phobos and Deimos "Martian Excluded Zone". Ships from Earth are diverted back by locally modified freighter ships. Europa follows suit, as does Io, Callisto and Ganymede.
Earthen governments formally demand the Excluded Zones to reestablish shipping lanes with Earth. Demands are unanimously refused, despite threats of military intervention.
Construction of first purpose-built military space vessel begins on orbit of Earth.
2225: Phobos is outfitted with a long-range mass driver, built in order to protect Mars. Second battery is built on Deimos.
2227: HSV (Humanity Space Vessel) Revenge is officially put into service after successfully flying across the entire solar system and back. At 1230 tons, it's one of the biggest ships in service.
Emergency session at Europe concludes the need to establish an independent navy. Concept of small patrol crafts is brought up, and quickly approved.
HSV Revenge departs for Mars. Construction of another two military crafts begin on Earth.
2228: HSV Revenge arrives on orbit of Mars, easily dodging projectiles launched from Martian satellites. Despite having no serious armament on its own (except for two small railguns), it's able to block all sort of interstellar shipping around Mars.
2229: A surface shipyard is established on Callisto, with multiple hulls of small patrol craft being built at the same time.
2231: HSV Mace and Sword are launched into service, and depart for Jupiter satellite system.
Six small (450 tons each) patrol craft are launched at Callisto, each armed with a single energy weapon system. They are hidden in shadow of Jupiter from the incoming Terran vessels.
2232: During approach to the Jupiter, Mace and Sword detect six patrol craft hiding behind the gas giant. Their demands for surrender are met with silence. Stand off ensues.
HSV Revenge is called to Jupiter, however due to low fuel levels it departs for Earth first.
2233: After another round of surrender demands, Mace and Sword attempt surprise attack against small craft group. Their shots are dodged, and they attempt a breakout. However, the independent crafts are able to inflict some damage to the escaping craft. First casualty of space combat is reported – weapon officer on HSV Sword was killed after the railgun he was operating was melted by the energy weapon of one of the patrol crafts.
2234: After Mace and Sword return to Earth orbit, UN officially declares war on the rogue coalition of planets and moons. Specialized troop companies are trained for interstellar combat, freighters are refitted to transport troops. On the other side of the system, the Federation of Planets and Moons is founded.
2237: First offensive by Terran governments is launched against Callisto, being the main manufacturing plant for FPM military. Campaign is plagued by problems and lackluster performance by ships and personnel alike, and eventually called off after one freighter is destroyed by operational error and all surrounding combat ships damaged.
2241: First ship of a destroyer line is launched on earth orbit. Named "Nero", destroyer weighs well over 3000 tons, and is armed with multiple energy weapons, as well as equipped with four long-range bombardment missiles.
Escorted by three smaller assault crafts of old Revenge class its first mission is subjugating a lone colony on Oberon. After short fight, colony surrenders after its life support systems are knocked out by a single missile. FPM notices the need for serious defense and enacts the Planetary Defense Act.
2242: Nero departs for Mars after receiving resupply.
Shipyards of Callisto finish another batch of patrol craft, as well as two vessels sized at about half of Nero. The new fleet immediately departs for Mars, being joined by the entirety of FPM navy.
2244: Nero and its escorts are intercepted by FPM navy a few days before the braking point. A single combat pass ensues, in which two FPM patrol crafts are destroyed and the rest is damaged. Nero suffers heavy damage to its armament systems, including jammed missile launcher and damaged maneuvering thrusters. The Terran fleet is forced to abandon intercept of Mars and return to Earth. FPM fleet splits in half, with least damaged ships staying on Mars orbit, while the rest returns to Callisto for repairs.
2245: Terran governments again demands FPM surrender. FPM responds by enacting the constitution and armed forces.
2247: News of multiple ship hulls launched on Callisto reaches Earth. Military leaders are unwilling to again commit their small forces to force the rebel planets to surrender. War turns cold.
2256: Small colonies are planted on all major moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune, quickly growing in size. Terrans create a massive colony on Luna, which quickly becomes the main shipyard for the planet.
2260: Terran Unity Act comes in force. A big majority of earthen governments agree to unite in their efforts of space exploration and colonization, and what comes with it – the subjugation of rebel planets.
2263: Every settlement of FPM is outfitted with at least one Mass Driver defense center, each capable of intercepting both missiles and ships. FPM navy reaches twenty four vessels commissioned and over one hundred thousand troops in active defense duty. In the inner solar system, Terra begins a massive strip mining operation in the asteroid belt just beyond Mars.
2264: A small skirmish ensues over a mining colony on one of the biggest asteroids in the belt. Terran destroyer fends off attacks by three FPM patrol crafts, with both sides enduring damage.
2267: Terran government prepares for another offensive on the FPM, the biggest one yet, utilizing weapons designed especially for this task. Majority of interstellar troops are called to action, supported by the entirety of Terran navy. Again, first target is Mars.
2270: Last settlement on Mars surrenders. Phobos and Deimos defensive installations surrender as well, but they are scuttled just before Terran troops arrive on location.
Terran fleets split in half, with damaged vessels returning for repairs, while the remainder guards over Martian orbit.
FPM notices that it cannot defend itself for infinite time. Ark begins construction.
2272: Terran fleet engages in a raid against Jupiter system. Multiple mines and installations are destroyed before FPM navy catches up to the invaders.
2273: New batch of frigates of FPM navy is commissioned. To the surprise of Terran commanders, they easily outrun and outmaneuver Terran vessels, staying out of their weapon range. In a series of skirmishes, Terran offensive on Jupiter is stopped after two destroyers, six patrol crafts and several freighters are destroyed for a loss of a single FPM frigate.
2275: Terran automated scouts operating in Kuiper Belt spot the Ark construction site for the first time. A scouting mission is dispatched, but returns empty handed after being intercepted and forced to retreat.
2276: Another Terran offensive is launched, this time against orbital installations around Titania, which are providing the bulk of fuel for the FPM navy. Despite the base being completely undefended, it has multiple sentries in close proximity disguised as asteroids, which shred Terran missiles and force close range engagement. Every Terran ship is damaged, but mission is successful.
2279: Arks hull is finished, with engines being put in place. Lists are being drawn for potential colonists. It's estimated that over 90% of FPM population will be able to depart on the Ark.
2281: In an attempt to hamper Terran navy, FPM launches a surprise attack on Earth itself. Terran navy, mainly scattered around in the asteroid belt and in orbit of Mars, is unable to react in time. FPM frigates and corvettes destroy multiple ships in construction on Luna, warehouses full to the brim with parts and resources, as well as a single construction plant of advanced Terran missiles. It's believed that this attack made the departure of Ark possible.
Retreating FPM fleet is engaged in a desperate combat by two Terran destroyers, escorted by six patrol crafts. All of these are destroyed, while FPM navy suffers one frigate and two corvettes destroyed.
2282: A gigantic budget is approved for Terran fleet, to be expanded to twelve destroyers, sixty corvettes (renamed patrol crafts), and three light cruisers of completely new design. FPM scouts can easily detect the construction.
2284: Ark moves by itself for the first time. Hull is 90% complete, with electronics remaining to be fitted.
2285: FPM navy attempts another raid on Luna. This time the attacking force is intercepted by the weapons waiting to be mounted on the half-finished hulls of Terran fleet, as well as missiles launched from orbital platforms around the moon. While Terrans suffer some damage, over half of the raiding force is destroyed, and all remaining ships are damaged.
2287: Ark completed construction. Estimated 98% of FPM population at the time (over fifty million people) will find place in cryogenic chambers onboard the vessel.
Terran fleet is fully commissioned. Trials are completed on the orbit of Mars.
The planned offensive of First Fleet, as it's named, is halted after Terran observation posts note a massive movement of nearly all previously seen freighters of FPM, all heading towards Saturn. Due to this, the campaign objectives are changed – instead of attacking the entire Jupiter system, fleet will split into smaller parts and attempt to take control over other FPM installations leading to the gas giant. Attacks are met with no resistance save for automated sentries and self-destruction routines. Sensing a trap, squadron commanders order slow progress, unknowingly aiding FPM in full scale evacuation.
2288: Almost 99% of FPM population finds a spot onboard of the Ark. A few remaining combat ships stand guard under automated routines. Massive sleeper ship is destined to depart sol in two days, when Saturn finds itself in the most optimal region of the solar system.
Arks engines ignite to slowly accelerate the ship to the travel speed. Its hull is soon visible from Earth. Terran Fleet is put on high alert, with high command expecting it to attack Earth itself. That sentiment is changed after the vessel keeps accelerating for days.
After two weeks of accelerating, Ark is travelling twice the maximum combat speed of Terran vessels. First Fleet abandons the pursuit, instead heading to the FPM headquarters, which ceased emitting any sort of radiation or heat since the Ark departed.
Automated vessels of the FPM navy, unable to keep up with the Ark, are ordered to alter their course to splash down on surface of Jupiter. They reach their final destination after a few weeks of travel.
2289: Ark passes sun at the distance of less than 0. 2 AU. Massive sails are visibly deployed, greatly increasing the ships acceleration. When passing the orbit of Mercury, estimated speed is measured at 0. 2c. Shortly after, the engines ignite again, aiding the solar sails.
First Fleet captured every single one of FPM installations, encountering only about forty thousand people left. During interrogation they admitted to refusing leaving the solar system. They weren't provided with information about the destination of the Ark.
Ark passes the orbit of Uranus, travelling at 0. 37c. After passing the Kuiper Belt, its travelling speed is measured at 0. 44c. The enormous speed makes accurate tracking impossible, and soon enough the tracking efforts are abandoned.
2290: A specialized telescope is brought to the far solar orbit, with a sole purpose of tracking the vessel. As it does not emit any light after it extinguished its engines it proves more and more difficult.
2298: Tracking telescope loses track of the Ark which appears to pass a dust cloud.
2301: Last automated radio transmission from Ark is detected by satellites in Kuiper Belt, albeit very weak. White noise makes accurate translation impossible.
AUDIO LOGS RECOVERED FROM CONTROL STATION GAMMA-OMIKRON-IOTA 17
Date of recording past launch: Year 677, Month 6, Day 11I think this one might work. . . I hope it does. There's so many of those, and they are all dead.
Now where. . . here.
Okay.
frakk, it's lighting up. It must work now.
Okay. So. Hi. I'm Jarema. Previously employed as an officer on gunnery station gamma of destroyer FNV Independence, duty number 422853. I doubt the records are stored anywhere. . . so, born on Ganymede, settlement twenty-six. We used to call it New Amsterdam because of how many water-filled channels there were. So much water in there.
Oh, yeah. Recording.
I don't know exact date, so I cannot say exactly what year it is, let alone month or day. I don't even know for how long this damn ship has been flying. It is still intact, but some sections are impossible to enter. Believe me, I tried. It's not easy to go through locked bulkheads, especially with no artificial gravity available. I found explosives, but I'm afraid I might destroy the entire ship when trying to blow them up, so screw it. I'll just stay here.
I don't know why I woke up. When they put me to sleep, I was told we were to be woken up just after we reached Sirius. Supposedly we would need twenty years to get there. But man. . . I don't think we're heading for Sirius. I don't even know if we're still in the same galaxy. We should be. I hope. Anyway. I woke up, something woke me up. I'm cold, I've been cold since I got out of this cryogenic pod. Display said that it's an emergency wake up, because of malfunction of freezing elements. Shame only I got out. From my entire container, all forty people, only I got out. The rest must be dead. I don't know. I didn't go back to this place. I don't ever want to go back there. It feels haunting. It's just rows after rows of containers fastened in place, with hundreds, thousands, millions of people sleeping there. Completely unconscious.
I wandered around the ship for a while. A lot of corridors are completely blacked out. Probably to preserve energy, which isn't all that strange. I don't think we're close to any star. Hang on, let me check. . .
I'll need a moment with this.
Date of recording past launch: Year 677, Month 6, Day 12So, this station has access to navigation systems. There's at least one thing I know now - we're flying for at least 99 years, 12 months and 31 days now. Some idiot designing the software didn't think of possibility that this ship would survive longer than a century. Great.
What was I. . . navmaps. Yes.
That's. . . hard to process. You look at the stars, and you don't really see any of the constellations you used to see. They're all completely different, I couldn't recognize a single pattern out there. Nothing. Couldn't even find the polar star. It looks like the nav computer is having trouble on its own, because it couldn't tell me accurately where we are. Just. . . that we're far. And we're travelling quickly. We'll need a miracle to slow down. I don't know much about propulsion systems, but I know that this ships engines are designed for slow, gradual acceleration. But. . . we're moving at point 44 light speed. Back at Sol we used gravity and solar sails to accelerate. Did no one think of some sort of slowing down system? That's, like. . basics. My damn gun had sixty different safety measures, but there isn't anything I can find that could slow us down. Maybe propulsion is locked here, I don't know.
I need to study the map charts. Maybe I'll be able to triangulate my. . . our, position in the galaxy.
Got it. We're currently 398 light years, give or take a light year, away from Sol.
It's. . . unimaginable. We wondered about travelling to distant stars, but for us, Proxima Centauri was a possible destination. And now? We're way past this. I don't think we'd be able to even get there. Not enough fuel, anyway.
I also found some automated navigational logs, created automatically. It's. . . interesting. They are very longwinded, but I'll try to condense them as much as I can. Oh, and we're at 677 years past launch. Ma, I've lived 650 years longer than you did.
Okay, logs.
32 years into the journey we've entered a system composed of a small star and a single dwarf planet. Computer decided that it's not worthy of our attention and used the star for minuscule amounts of gravitational assist. I can live with that.
89 years into the journey the automated defense systems destroyed a massive asteroid on a collision course with the Ark. Estimated size was sixty-seven kilometers in diameter. We got showered with debris, but power field was able to withstand this sort of barrage.
101 years in to the journey, another star, this time without a single orbiting body. Another assist.
198 years. Another assist.
208 years. Another assist. . . and reached our top speed of point fifty-one light. That's. . . dangerous in my book. We've dreamed of reaching point one with our engines before, but this. . . man. Scary.
271 years. Entered a somewhat livable system, with a main sequence star, multiple bodies, a lot of gas giants. . . but apparently not a single livable planet. So we moved on.
355 years. Again, same situation. Lots of planets, nothing sustainable.
501 years. Long flight. Defenses again activated, but this time. . . well, computer describes it as an unknown threat. Couldn't identify it. Ship has a scar on the bow, now.
540 years. Another lone star. . . but huge. Might turn into black hole soon. Well, soon. . . in galactic scale of time.
673 years. . . really, not that far back. Passed another promising system, but the star was emitting so much radiation it was impossible to live on any planet in the system. Which is a shame, because apparently one of them had atmosphere similar to earth. I imagine it could be a bit hot there, though.
And that's it. There's a lot of stuff here, believe me. Navigational logs take well over capacity of a hard drive. It's very. . condensed, but I don't think it's imperative to listen about correctional engine thrusts.
I'll take a break. Travel around the ship, try to find new stuff. I have plenty of supplies, but eventually I'll run out. Need to find a space to hunker down. I'll come back, I hope.
Date of recording past launch: Year 677, Month 7, Day 01So, it's been over two weeks now. At least I think it was, I slept at least fourteen times. Found plenty of supplies, a very nice zero-g bed, and training computers for ships crew. I think I found myself a new hobby. Because, why not? There's nothing else I can do on this damned ship. Sure, I can look through the logs. I can look at the surrounding space. I don't know anything about how am I supposed to read it though, or where to look for clues as to where we're heading next. I can't just sit around and look at the bunk, so. . . I'll spend some time learning. I know that this control station can send orders to the ship systems, there are options for it - but I have no idea how to use it. So. . . I guess I'll learn how to use it. Or blow up the ship trying, I don't know.
Following this there is at least two hundred further entries into the voice logs of the station GOI-17. These are determined to not be important to the progress of the Ark, and due to their explicit language are considered unsafe for general audiences to listen. Date of recording past launch: Year 679, Month 4, Day 22Finally, I'm certified for stellar navigation. Can reach the damned navigation systems. I've spent days just practicing and preparing for the exams. Even so far away from Earth and nearest school, official training programs are still haunting me. I hoped I've had that part of my past behind me. . . Apparently, it all comes back. Time. . . and time. . . again.
Anyway, now I can tell this damned ship where to go. But first, I need to look at local stars. So. . . I'll be back.
Oh man, this is some amazing news. I can't really sit down. Well, I can't because there is no artificial gravity, but also because I'm so excited. You know. All my audience, you know how it must feel, when you're so excited. Alright, so get this. We're currently travelling at 0. 49 light speed. Nearest star ahead of us is less than three light years away, and we're heading nearly straight towards it. It's truly a massive star system, and it appears it's binary, too - or even tertiary. There's three objects emitting light in this system, and at least five planets. At least that's what the ships systems were able to determine. We will be there within two years of travel.
We've passed last star over a hundred days ago. It was a supermassive O-class star, which gave us quite a speed boost, even though we passed it at well over fifty astronomical units away. It also charged our batteries quite a lot, and that's good, because we're running low on energy. Now every ship part is dark except for the ones where movement is detected - so there is an island of light around me, and that's it. Sometimes it feels really strange. I've managed to escape depression and the feeling of loneliness, because I know there's people around me. . . but this doesn't help. I've noticed I'm hallucinating sometimes, too. Seeing things that shouldn't be there, or hearing things. I have enough of sanity left to recognize that as such, but I don't know how much longer I can take it.
Anyway, I'm going to use all sensors on this ship to look at the incoming system. If it's promising, I'll gamble on it being a suitable homeworld for us all. We don't really have much fuel, enough for a few braking maneuvers, but not much more. It wasn't supposed to travel this far. I'm kind of amazed it hasn't fallen apart yet.
I'll be a few days.
Date of recording past launch: Year 679, Month 4, Day 23I authorized a 0. 02m/s travel direction change to the ship. We're going there. I've named it Homeland. I've used every single search and scan system on the Ark to scan it. There's some. . . interesting things about. It's definitely a binary system. Main star is a main sequence star of class G, with the luminosity and size similar to that of Sun. The second star is a. . . white dwarf, it appears. It orbits pretty far out, at over 180 AU from the main star, and seems to have either almost, or no influence on the parent star. It is orbited by a few small bodies, but nothing special.
The main star is orbited by at least ten different bodies. One of those is an extremely hot gas giant. I initially mistook it for a third star, but it's just a super-jovian. It emits a faint glow, but its absolutely massive satellite system aids in the reflected light. . . as does the white dwarf. Other than that it has another gas giants, but I wasn't able to get proper scans of the inner system. I know there is at least four planets and a few moons, but no exact scans. Besides that, I was able to detect a big mass of asteroids in the system, but nothing that would look like your typical comet.
I'm going to stay away from the consoles for a while.
Time-recording software of the console is damaged. It can't call any dates, so I'm having to rely on automated maneuvers of the ship navigational systems. They are better than me anyway.
It's been. . . well over a year since my last entry into the computer. I've spent this time traveling around the ship and learning its layout. Not that there is a lot of it, but it's still better than sitting in a single spot. We're very close to Homeland now. I'll try to describe it as well as possible. I don't really need to. . . but I don't really have anything else to do now. Power is failing on the ship. Generators don't work, and I think we got hit by a meteor, a terrible tremor woke me up a few weeks back. I couldn't find any damage, but always assume the worst.
Currently we're closing on the orbit path of the white dwarf. A few cameras we have outside are focused on it. Looks a bit like moon seen from Earth on a clear night. Not that I've ever seen it personally before, but my last ship had a plenty of recordings, and it looks very similar. The dwarf has three tiny planets orbiting it, and a swarm of asteroids in a fairly big belt.
The main star has thirteen planets orbiting it, including dwarfs and super-giants. I'm fairly sure the super-big one is very close to converting into a star itself - one stellar collision more and it'll ignite. The rest of the planets. . . well, I'll list them one by one, coming from the star. I named them too, by the way - took the liberty to do it.
So, the first planet is Atron. A dwarf planet, diameter of about two thousand kilometers, orbiting very close to the star. It has no atmosphere, nothing interesting about it.
Second planet would be Enyo. This one is traveling around the star at about 110 to 120 million kilometers from the star, and has very dense atmosphere, composed mostly of carbon dioxide. Reminds me a lot of Venus - crushing atmosphere, pools of lava. . . yeah, you can see those when clouds thin a bit. Looks like hell.
Third planet I've named Hecate. It's like. . . Venus 2. 0. Very similar to Enyo, but it appears to be slightly cooler than it, even though the atmosphere is very similar. But then, it's almost twice as big, so that makes a difference too.
Now we come to the interesting part. Planets four and five orbit at nearly the exact same range from the main star, but. . completely opposite to each other. Difference being, one of them looks like a perfect candidate for a new home, while the other. . . reminds me of Mars a bit. It isn't red though - it's green. The pale green you can see when copper oxidizes. It has massive polar caps, but barely any atmosphere. The habitable one I've named Unity. The other, Celestis.
Following that, is the first gas giant. I've named it Eos. It's. . . .
what was that noise?
No further recordings found. 
