Steam Release

Pilots gathered, despite cosmically coincidental fatigue and stress all around. Our objective: just ride. Let off the steam. The mission got off to an uncertain start, with the potential that navigator Bane Thunderwolf could be called away for work duties in the middle of the night. Pilots worked together in the absence of our standard three groove operators to ensure we had sufficient life support for the mission, with Wombat filling in on Cloudbuster duties playing Deadblow's mix of refreshingly different electronic tunes, and later switching off to XXIII's set of island jams after an extended shore leave.

We followed a simple basic-ops route that took us through the Davis, Porter, and Central constellations on the way to our standard 7-11 shore leave. Threespeed and Deadblow troubleshot a noise issue with Cloudbuster's starboardside sonic disruptor, while maggot Puppy climbed to the top of a cluster of massive lanterns along the steps of the post office.

We continued down to Kendall for fuel dump, where we found the MIT student center's snack station was actually open late again, after many months of closing before our arrival. We headed onward toward that glowing beacon, the Zakim, and passed multiple appropriately steaming pipes along the way. In the North Point black hole, we passed some STs who appeared to be on a stakeout, whom Bane wooed with a simple tip of the hat to show we were friendlies.

After crossing the Rainbow Bridge and passing under the Zakim, we arrived at our destination, the Paul Revere Park, where many pilots climbed atop the slatted lattice gazebo and blew off steam in various ways during an extended shore leave. Before departing, we made two passes of the Charlestown bells so Puppy could hear them for the first time. (Pro-tip: they sound better in the Charlestown -> Boston direction)

We next headed over to the Lechmere Park for more casual lounging in the spider dome, where pilots discussed plans to someday cover the apex in SCUL stickers. After departing once more, Bane led us on a casual route back to base that looped along a placid stretch of the Charles before heading back through Cambridge. Sidekick took a gnarly spill through the front of YerMom that sliced up her hands and knees, but managed not to hit her head or face, providing a practical demonstration of why you don't try to hi-five Sidekick from the left side. After applying field first aid to her boo boos, we completed our return to base with no further incident, where Bane deemed enough steam had been released to declare mission success.