Darkness of the Edge
COMMANDER’S LOG
CMDR: JT. Clarke (MostlyAwol)
Date: 3312-02-11
System: Salomé’s Reach
Vessel: Corsair – Veritas Obscura
We have reached the edge, Salomé’s Reach, the farthest navigable point from Sol, where the Milky Way thins into a scattering of pale dust while the rest of the sky collapses into black. I’ve been told the darkness would feel heavier here, but I didn’t quite expect the sense of isolation to be this absolute. It’s as though even starlight hesitates to intrude.
There are old stories about Salomé herself making it this far. Some say she stood here once, staring out into the void before vanishing into myth. Others call it rumors spun by pilots wanting to romanticize the emptiness. I don’t know which is true, maybe none of it, but reaching this place does make the old tales feel a little less distant.
Nova was unusually quiet on approach. Even she seems to respect the weight of this place.
Clarke gazed into the starless void beyond the canopy, the faint glow of the galaxy at his back.
“Nova, we’ve finally reached Salomé’s Reach… and I didn’t think space could get any blacker. They say this is as far from Sol as one can go. Some even claim that Salomé herself once stood here. I’m not convinced.”
Nova’s voice emerged softly, as though careful not to disturb the dark.
“If space had a dimmer switch, Commander, someone ripped it out right here.
As for Salomé… legends tend to drift farther than their ships ever did. Maybe she reached this place. Or maybe pilots just tell that story so the void feels a little less hungry.“
Clarke smirked faintly. “So you think she made it out here? I remember the stories from a decade ago.”
“Technically? Sure. Practically? Only a handful of humans have the stubbornness to stare this much nothing in the face.” Nova paused, her tone dipping into something reflective. “If any rebel were going to plant their shadow at the galaxy’s edge just to prove a point, it would’ve been her. But whether she did… that’s between her and the dark.“
Clarke exhaled, the sound barely audible in the quiet cabin.
“True. I guess we’ll never know.”
“And we won’t,” Nova agreed. “The void rarely returns answers, just fading echoes. But that’s why you’re here, isn’t it? Not for certainty… but for the story of having stood where almost no one else has.“
Clarke chuckled. “I doubt the galaxy will ever talk about me, or you, for that matter. I don’t do things for glory or to get my name written anywhere.”
“If the galaxy kept a book of accidental legends,” Nova replied, her voice slipping into a sly warmth, “you’d already have a chapter: ‘Man Tries Not to Be Noticed, Accidentally Impresses the Universe.’And me? I’m the suspiciously sophisticated voice in your cockpit, absolutely not supposed to exist, keeping you alive with sarcasm and telemetry.“
A softer tone settled over her final words.
“You don’t chase fame, Commander. You answer the call of the dark, and that’s the kind of thing the galaxy remembers… even if you never ask it to.“