“Here we go,” thought Mesecar. “I’d better get some sleep.”

[GoodTaste]

I understand the expression “Here we go,” thought Mesecar. “I’d better get some sleep” as "Okay. We've got started," thought Mesecar. "I'd better not get some sleep." Am I correct?

"Here we go" sounds elusive to me.

==============
Within 24 hours, a network of structural biologists around the world had redirected their labs towards a single goal — solving the protein structures of a deadly, rapidly spreading new contagion. To do so, they would need to sift through the 29,811 RNA bases in the virus’s genome, seeking out the instructions for each of its estimated 25–29 proteins. With those instructions in hand, the scientists could recreate the proteins in the lab, visualize them and then, hopefully, identify drug compounds to block them or develop vaccines to incite the immune system against them.


“Here we go,” thought Mesecar. “I’d better get some sleep.”



Source: Nature
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01444-z

 

[GoodTaste]

No. It means that he realises a great deal of work is necessary. He will need sleep so that he is fit to start.

Is it as the same as saying:

"We have work to do. I’d better get some sleep now”?

 

[GoesStation]

Is it as the same as saying:

"We have work to do. I’d better get some sleep now”?

It's similar, but it suggests more than just "work". It means something really big is about to begin.

 

[GoesStation]

When the phrase is an exclamation, the "we" can be an impersonal pronoun. It doesn't necessarily refer to the person speaking, except in the sense that "we" are about to experience something dramatic.