We arrived in Saraswati today, close enough to Colonia that familiar traffic has begun to appear again on long-range instruments. After a year in deep space, even that thin return of ordinary noise feels almost ceremonial.
The expedition carried us through the Inner Orion Spur, across the Norma Arm and onward through the Inner Scutum-Centaurus Arm. There were weeks when the galaxy seemed to narrow to fuel projections, stellar cartography and the quiet discipline of one more jump beyond the last dependable route.
Now the carrier rests only a few light years from Colonia. The decks are louder than they have been in months, not from disorder, but from the relief of crews who can finally name the edge of the journey behind them. We set out to cross distance. We return having measured something larger.