Flight of the Phoenix 2800

The Flight of the Phoenix 2800 recounts the voyages of a lost Terran colony fleet before it founded the Solomani Preserve.

Description (Specifications)

This recounts the journey of the colony fleet that founded Havensmith and the Solomani Preserve. The 5 year voyage of the Phoenix 2800, and the ships it acquired for its fleet, is a well known Galaxiad sequence. Logs of the voyage were preserved at VoidBridge 1 (moved to VoidBridge 2 in 1134 as part of fortifying VoidBridge 1), allowing for exceptionally accurate and detailed simulation.

Route of the Phoenix 2800

Route of the Phoenix 2800

World	Sector/Hex	Remarks
Terra	Solomani Rim 1827	Started with one underpopulated colony ship, the Phoenix 2800
Agidda	Solomani Rim 1824	Acquired colonists, near-filling low berth capacity, started making more low berths
Apishal	Solomani Rim 1622	None
Tyudhuar	Solomani Rim 1619	None
Flanders	Solomani Rim 1517	Acquired Surfing Lighthouse and Secure Rapid Arrival w/some colonists
Hieronymus	Solomani Rim 1316	Uninhabited at the time
Boskone	Solomani Rim 1214	None
Alphanor	Solomani Rim 0914	Acquired colonists
Anacreon	Solomani Rim 0912	Finished initial retooling of first three ships
Quaver	Solomani Rim 1110	Uninhabited at the time
Ascalon	Solomani Rim 1207	Acquired colonists, transported some families to Biggles
Biggles	Solomani Rim 1205	Arriving families bought fuel as payment for transport; acquired colonists, near-filling current fleet capacity
Sase	Solomani Rim 1202	None
Dawns	Diaspora 1340	None
Usheriima	Diaspora 1138	None
Cole	Diaspora 1035	None
Frey	Diaspora 1133	Acquired empty colony ships from migrants to Frey, transitioned from 3 ships to substantial fleet
Chicago	Diaspora 1331	None
Hammett	Diaspora 1328	None
Iusea	Diaspora 1325	Acquired colonists
Wellun	Diaspora 1124	None
Gegaasha	Diaspora 1021	None
Millo	Diaspora 0819	Recorded drill of "just passing through" w/no interaction with locals
Vaasa	Diaspora 0617	None
Gai	Diaspora 0515	None
Ferry	Diaspora 0512	Acquired colony ships w/colonists
Vita Levu	Diaspora 0410	None
Soyuz	Diaspora 0209	Acquired colonists, refitted manufacturing equipment
Isaasakhur	Diaspora 0407	None
Jae Mona	Diaspora 0306	None
Jumar	Diaspora 0303	None
Sarabin	Massilia 0240	None
Ermi	Zarushagar 3139	Acquired colonists; some Darmine were accepted
Kees	Zarushagar 3037	Acquired colony ships w/colonists; voted to stop acquiring more ships for a while
Cold Heart	Zarushagar 2935	None
Qisoy	Zarushagar 2832	None
Irap	Zarushagar 2630	Acquired colonists; some Darmine were accepted
Pora	Zarushagar 2528	None
Hentier	Zarushagar 2426	None
Reunder	Zarushagar 2225	None
Clavert	Zarushagar 2222	None
Cesall	Zarushagar 2321	None
Serenity	Zarushagar 2119	None
Port Artemus	Zarushagar 2216	None
Nahsora	Zarushagar 2115	None
Birmingham	Zarushagar 2112	None
Westminster	Zarushagar 2009	None
Compunccioun	Zarushagar 1907	None
Al Mansur	Zarushagar 1904	None
Wilson's World	Zarushagar 2001	None
Uki	Dagudashaag 1839	None
Irrii	Dagudashaag 1737	None
Sh'si	Dagudashaag 1635	Maintenance overhaul; learned of a large group of prisoners on Vland awaiting some unclear fate; decided to "recruit" said prisoners as colonists
Miir	Dagudashaag 1534	None
Gaesh	Dagudashaag 1631	None
Vipac	Dagudashaag 1930	None
Junivaar	Dagudashaag 1927	Bought fuel
Zukalis	Dagudashaag 1625	Unoccupied at the time
Omegindus	Dagudashaag 1424	None
Khiishpur	Dagudashaag 1323	None
Nakharpii	Dagudashaag 1420	Unoccupied at the time
Nafud	Dagudashaag 1418	None
Adele	Dagudashaag 1516	None
Nguma	Dagudashaag 1613	None
Cimmeria	Dagudashaag 1511	None
Imgaa	Dagudashaag 1409	None
Bastion	Dagudashaag 1507	Bought fuel; offloaded some colonists
Liikirba	Dagudashaag 1705	None
Kemnagii	Dagudashaag 1904	None
Imga	Dagudashaag 1901	Irony of mainworld names noted
Zolo	Vland 2139	None
Gaarid	Vland 2236	None
Segikin	Vland 2233	Forced to accept colonists
Zaakkusham	Vland 2332	None
Irgar	Vland 2429	None
Zikurag	Vland 2227	None
Shib	Vland 2125	Bought fuel; gained intel on Vland
Karfir	Vland 1825	Recruited ships & troops to help with plans for Vland
Kalimgar	Vland 1725	Further recruitment, with blessings from Karfir
Asanik	Vland 1722	None
Sazisi	Vland 1719	None
Vland	Vland 1717	"Rescued" prisoners awaiting exile/recruited colonists
Luunbu	Vland 1515	Bought fuel so as to jump again quickly; arrivals start being on alert, in case word from Vland caught up (they did not know Vland had not sent pursuit)
Karka	Vland 1412	None
Gagzoe	Vland 1211	None
Suragginsu	Vland 1109	None
Kunumi	Vland 0807	None
Arfaan	Vland 0508	None
Lankhi	Vland 0208	None
Gerbetord	Corridor 3207	To pass base, claimed to be a colonization fleet heading to unspecified spinward destination, promised to check in at Treedisk
Twophur	Corridor 2908	None
Brytsee	Corridor 2710	None
Treedisk	Corridor 2409	Presented documentation of claim from Gerbetord; non-alert arrivals resumed
Amwaz	Corridor 2109	Purchased fuel
Munhofen	Corridor 1810	None
Veu Belle	Corridor 1609	None
Xinox	Corridor 1408	None
Shushaka	Corridor 1109	Requested to assist Antra evacuation
Bersha	Corridor 0807	Acquired partial charts of Gvurrdon and Tuglikki from droyne ship
Aka Gee	Corridor 0605	None
Sigma 7	Corridor 0407	None
Pergzitt	Corridor 0209	None
Olokono	Deneb 3110	None
Tensas	Deneb 2810	None
Niven	Deneb 2512	None
Mazirbe	Deneb 2210	Uninhabited at the time
Bangwe	Deneb 2109	None
Antra	Deneb 1808	Evacuated several colonists and ships; system would fall to vargr within a few decades
Yef	Deneb 1606	None
Lome	Deneb 1306	None
Kamisaraki	Deneb 1006	Checked in to let off any evacuees not wishing to continue; almost all stayed with the fleet
Jode	Deneb 0805	Last purchased fuel; dumped all remaining Second Imperium currency to buy parts and supplies
Carmel	Deneb 0604	None
Spectre	Deneb 0503	Last human world
Marz	Deneb 0201	Uninhabited at the time
Rugbird	Spinward Marches 3102	Uninhabited at the time; last non-alert arrival, save for known uninhabited systems, until after Thaethouvu
Rruthaekuksu	Gvurrdon 2840	None
Ksunekso	Gvurrdon 2540	None
Torrknungazarr	Gvurrdon 2537	Uninhabited at the time; resupply
Vakunggvoruego	Gvurrdon 2634	None
Oegaeldu	Gvurrdon 2832	None
Taekhoengsegzo	Gvurrdon 2830	Uninhabited at the time; resupply, consider staying, realize they need to go all the way; transitioned command from Phoenix 2800 to Surfing Lighthouse
Ungrughz	Gvurrdon 3029	None
Ogzang	Tuglikki 0128	None
Az Outs	Tuglikki 0226	None
Aengin	Tuglikki 0424	None
Oersung	Tuglikki 0522	None
Kugoerr	Tuglikki 0419	None
Uel Dathkoeng	Tuglikki 0617	None
Khoergh	Tuglikki 0516	None
Alldhouzae	Tuglikki 0414	None
Aeg Gzou	Tuglikki 0212	None
Odhonandon	Tuglikki 0210	None
Fa Gegdha	Tuglikki 0109	None
Ozago	Gvurrdon 3107	None
Ukokhuvoen	Gvurrdon 2806	None
Uerkfadzigue	Gvurrdon 2507	None
Gaengour	Gvurrdon 2404	None
Karrksinarka	Gvurrdon 2302	None
Vorroeng	Gvurrdon 2101	None
Saenrae	Knoellighz 2038	None
Dhognodozelldzours	Knoellighz 2036	None
Errkhe	Knoellighz 1834	None
Rriuerak	Knoellighz 1831	None
Ksoo	Knoellighz 1829	Built collapsible drop tanks
Nouon	Knoellighz 1927	None
Ghokhougaks	Knoellighz 1924	None
Ghurrakhalorr	Knoellighz 2222	Used drop tanks to initiate double-jump
Empty space or unknown world	Knoellighz 2219	Arrived with full fuel tanks, jumped soon after arrival
Odaefidae	Knoellighz 2216	None
Guigzdhaell	Knoellighz 1916	None
Oor	Knoellighz 1714	None
Ngokhirraang	Knoellighz 1811	None
Rarrllundazrruz	Knoellighz 1910	None
Tsoggandzous	Knoellighz 1708	None
Llaerrghorr	Knoellighz 1705	None
Oaezogzueks	Knoellighz 1504	None
Aaghzkhagzarrsoukh	Knoellighz 1702	None
Knarzuenfong	Knoellighz 1901	None
Easououdhue	Ghoekhnael 2039	None
Kfoangthuell	Ghoekhnael 2338	None
Angaegoeng	Ghoekhnael 2436	None
Aeragzgvoun	Ghoekhnael 2534	None
Nguearrgor	Ghoekhnael 2834	None
Ovae	Ghoekhnael 2932	None
Thaekhver	Ghoekhnael 3130	None
Ghoudoukeng	Ghoekhnael 3228	None
Ghuergnogzu	Ksinanirz 0227	None
Kheduzksuzuk	Ksinanirz 0330	None
Tuedukhsaghz	Ksinanirz 0631	None
Thaethouvu	Ksinanirz 0829	Contacted by Gvegh, directed to Kechk; resumed non-alert arrivals
Kasakhe	Ksinanirz 0928	None
Ghueaae	Ksinanirz 1126	Built and used drop tanks to initiate double-jump
Empty space or unknown world	Ksinanirz 1123	Arrived with full fuel tanks, jumped soon after arrival
Thoudzanang	Ksinanirz 1121	None
Ksauelloeae	Ksinanirz 1319	None
Roeagha	Ksinanirz 1517	Made contact w/Kechk, directed to Aedzaue
Kaethoukue	Ksinanirz 1514	None
Aekfuezarr	Ksinanirz 1511	None
Rrozuetsae	Ksinanirz 1508	None
Aedzaue	Ksinanirz 1406	Extensive contact, helped spawn Kechk Reversion
Tsoeghours	Ksinanirz 1506	Running away, resuming alert arrivals; faked a claim of heading to Gnughenangi/Ksinanirz 1707
Aeghaedhi	Ksinanirz 1806	None
Thouirru	Ksinanirz 1803	None
Irtaek	Ksinanirz 1703	None
Oukegaeguerr	Ksinanirz 1501	Built and used drop tanks to initiate double-jump
Kiden	Thaku Fung 1739	Hopped in just long enough to say goodbye to Vargr space
Empty space or unknown world	Thaku Fung 1736	Back to non-alert arrivals, after confirmation there were no more vargr ahead
Empty space or unknown world	Thaku Fung 1934	None
Empty space or unknown world	Thaku Fung 1932	Water refuelling finally allowed; Phi mutinies and jumps out early; the rest of the fleet believes Phi misjumped instead of mutinied
Empty space or unknown world	Thaku Fung 2130	None
Empty space or unknown world	Thaku Fung 2127	None
Empty space or unknown world	Thaku Fung 2124	None
Empty space or unknown world	Thaku Fung 2323	None
Empty space or unknown world	Thaku Fung 2321	Built and used drop tanks to initiate double-jump
VoidBridge 1	Thaku Fung 2318	Surfing Lighthouse stayed behind to begin work on experimental jump bridge, in case anyone wanted to come back; command transferred back to Phoenix 2800
Havensmith	Thaku Fung 2315	Founded Havensmith

History & Background (Dossier)

In -1690, as the Second Imperium lay dying, some Solomani grew fearful that the Vilani would seek to re-establish the First Imperium (which would technically happen by means of the Third Imperium, though only after the Long Night, and rather than the Vilani-dominant culture envisioned, would see a thorough blend of Vilani and Solomani inheritances, both culturally and biologically). In response, they hatched an ultimately successful plan to establish a colony on the far side of the Vargr Extents, using them as a shield to keep the Solomani and their descendants safe from conquest. (They knew there had been previous Solomani expeditions rimward, and feared the Vilani would start seeking them out. Coreward, they trusted the Vargr Extents to stop such actions - and planned to add some distance to shield them from the Vargr Extents to boot; given the Vargr Pillaging, they suspected that most vargr expansion would be into territory the Imperiums contested. Spinward there were more colonies, and trailing were the even less trustworthy hivers and k'kree.) Starting with just a single ship and several thousand people, they traded, hauled passengers and freight, and went on several adventures to keep themselves in maintenance and, more importantly, grow their fleet. While exact census records fell by the wayside, it is estimated their fleet had grown to over a hundred thousand people by the time they founded Havensmith.

That they were able to get a few thousand colonists and a single ship to start out was a small miracle of fortuitous timing: their voyage started when the Rim Province was forced to decommission most of their already trimmed fleet due to severe budget shortfalls. Among the decommissioned ships were the Phoenix 2800, a mobile manufacturing ship that the colonists would spend much of the early part of the voyage fitting out with low berths and equipment for their new colony, the Surfing Lighthouse, an observatory ship that would prove critical to safe navigation, and the Secure Rapid Arrival (usually just called S.R.A.), an armed cargo ship. As with all ventures of this size and nature, it had less of a true start date than a slow agglomeration of resources over time: by the time the Rim Province formally released these three ships to the colonists, negotiations had been taking place for over a year, ever since it became apparent that the Rim Province would soon need to release part of its fleet. The deal was mostly verbal, and not recorded other than the final formal release of ships, but early captain's logs state that the terms were, "Promise to make good use of these ships and take care of their maintenance, and you can have them." That said, the formal start is almost always designated as the launch of the Phoenix 2800 from Terra with its colonists in late -1690; while the other two ships were waiting at Flanders, legends note that the fleet had but a single ship for its first few jumps, since title transfer for the other two ships did not happen (and thus, the other two ships were technically not yet colonist property) until the colonists reached Flanders.

An often-overlooked focus of the early journey was reconfiguration. The Phoenix 2800 was originally a Tvastar-class manufactory ship intended to help out resource-poor colonies, designed to jump into a system, grab asteroids, then jump back, refining and processing during the week-long return. (It would either use drop tanks to arrive at the intermediate destination with full fuel tanks for a return, or scoop unrefined fuel then spend the next day processing it while grabbing asteroids.) The idea was somewhat of a flop, but proved very useful when remade into a colony ship, a process involving retooling quite a bit of the processing equipment (and asteroid storage) into low berths to handle tens of thousands of colonists. (Rough plans for this were complete before acquisition of the Phoenix 2800, and were broadly similar to designs for purpose-built colony ships but with better industrial capacity. This capacity attempted to retain an effective TL 12 manufacturing base upon arrival; while it was not entirely successful, it did partially arrest the typical new colony slide back as colonists realize what support equipment they forgot too late to go back and get replacements.) The need for this was demonstrated after their first jump to Agidda: they had started with 10,000 low berths and filled more than half on Terra; Agidda saw the rest fill up, with a few hundred volunteering to sign on to the ship's crew long enough to build their own low berths during the next jump. (Many of these would stay "live" until Anacreon.) Rebuilding one's own ship during flight is difficult enough that historians call this the first adventure of the flight, lasting past the pickup of (and including the retooling of) the Surfing Lighthouse and Secure Rapid Arrival. This was completed during their stop at Anacreon (whereupon the low berth building volunteers, their task complete, finally suspended themselves), and a few jumps later they would find all 60,000 low berths on the Phoenix 2800 (roughly half of the fleet's final count) filled to capacity. Further colonist capacity was added by picking up more ships, starting at Frey, but none would be as large as the Phoenix 2800.

While many who have barely heard of the Phoenix 2800 concentrate their attentions on the many dangerous jumps through the Vargr Extents during (technically just after) the Vargr Pillaging, in truth that was less than half of the trip, and in some ways the more boring part. By the time they hit vargr space, they had already spent over two years powering through from nearly the rimward extent of the Second Imperium to the coreward side, then Corridor and Deneb sectors to boot. They could and did speak and trade with human populations; with the vargr, exposure risked being shot on sight, so much effort went into avoiding interaction.

Still, the entire trip was a heroic adventure, so it is no surprise to see mostly-accurate representations in the Galaxiad. The most glaring difference, according to historians, usually lies in what happened during the jumps and at most systems, where no specific adventures occurred (whether in human or vargr space). This, by definition, accounts for the vast majority of the time the colonists spent. The Galaxiad depictions tend to gloss over this: wilderness refueling is wilderness refueling, and the fleet just knew which way to go. Historical accounts lay bare that lie.

During most jumps in the Vargr Extents (between Taekhoengsegzo and Thaethouvu), the command ship Surfing Lighthouse (having been given command from the Phoenix 2800 at Taekhoengsegzo, and surrendering it back when it stayed behind to work on VoidBridge 1) was abuzz with sophontologists, astrogators, and other specialists wringing every possible clue from what deep space data they got during their last refueling stop in order to detect lack of gas giants, likely fortifications or high volume of patrols, and other conditions that would make jumping into a given system extremely dangerous. The other ships entrusted their astrogation - and with it, their very lives - to these people; there are many recorded instances of captains of these other ships leading actual prayer sessions directed at the command ship's astrogators. Even in human space, many of the jumps were into systems with low or no population, to avoid attention - especially in the immediate aftermath of the "raid" on Vland, when the colony fleet incorrectly thought they would soon be pursued by warships bent on recapturing the rescued solomani prisoners (who had merely been exiled from Vland, and were waiting for the bureaucracy to decide where to exile them to).

Refueling, too, was a buzz of activity. The first actions were to make sure everyone made it (fortunately, only one misjump happened during the entire migration - commonly known as Phi's Betrayal - and that eventually turned out to not be a misjump after all), then to see if they were detected (they almost never were; the few exceptions are well known and documented) as they set up in stationary orbit on the dark side of the gas giant they had targeted, then for any ship that could to gather unrefined fuel and deliver it for processing. This processing was largely automated but took the bulk of their time between jumps. While this processing happened, fleet communications were opened up (always tightbeam), crew transfers happened as needed, and occasionally nearby asteroids were surveyed, with any mineral-rich ones swallowed whole for processing during the next jump. All this time, sensor crews across the fleet would scramble to gobble up every bit of data about systems on their projected path (and alternate paths, just in case).

Very rarely do Galaxiad representations detail any of this. Many presume psychic navigators who just knew what the safest routes were, and if they detail the refueling at all, most often show it as a kind of party (to be fair, there was a celebratory aspect each time the fleet broke out of jumpspace and could once more see each other). To be clear, while none of the navigators had been tested for psychic potential, none were historically noted to have displayed it, and in any case interstellar range clairvoyance was unknown in Charted Space at the time.

References & Contributors (Sources)

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• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Atymes
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science