Sweet Seventeen

June has arrived, and that can mean only one thing: another SCUL Day is upon us! SCUL is turning Sweet Seventeen this year, and in celebration Skunk planned many posi festivities for the evening. Pilots arrived for standard MRC, followed by an an all hands meet. Nosepicker and Danimal hung around for a while but didn't even make it to the launchpad before burning up as mission time approached, despite Wombat's best efforts to convince them to just "RIDE!" In a shocking revelation, pilots were saddened to learn that USB Skylab — simultaneously one of the most loved and hated ships in the fleet — had been quietly decommissioned earlier in the afternoon. Its mighty fork was salvaged to become the foundation around which its eventual successor will be built. Rest In Pieces, Skylab.

Following traditional SCUL Day protocol, we charted a course for the Arboretum in the Jamaica Plain system this pleasantly temperate early June evening, led by navigator Magneato. USB Abandon All Hope made its obligatory yearly appearance, its historic commission date representing the very birth of SCUL itself. It's the reason for the season! We followed a direct route to JP that had us there in no time flat, where we stopped for ice cream at JP Licks and were met by TorqueBox, who arrived on foot. Down the road we were sucked into a massive black hole, which we orbited several times before finally breaking free of its gravitational pull.

Inside the Arboretum we ascended a seriously negi g-well through the black darkness of night. It was like navigating the Alps in an airplane without any windows, with nothing but a map and a stopwatch as guidance. We finally reached the summit, where several pilots shed their spacesuits and took turns riding ships. DeathTrap was hailed via subspace communication channels, and arrived shortly thereafter on his bomber with a civilian friend bombardier. Acehole brought a ton of sparklers, which were all lit simultaneously in a spectacularly brilliant display of glimmering embers.

As we departed the Arboretum, Buntjigger and TorqueBox peeled off to stay in JP, while the remainder of the fleet set course back to base following a trajectory that was largely identical to that flown on the way out. Back at the landing pad, Metoikos introduced her babymaggot Tyrian, who showed off his crazy dance moves to the sound of weird yodeling noises. All in all, this was one of the fastest missions to the Arboretum ever, clocking in at barely over four hours for the entire round trip and arriving back home well before dawn. Happy SCUL Day everyone!