The Quest for 1,000,000ly - Log #3
05 Oct 2020Stellas Incola
The remarkable green and purple gas giant in Gongae QW-L c24-0 was definitely worth the visit as I made my way towards the edge of the outer arm. The ship's grumpy nav computer struggled a little to plot a course across the Perseus Fade until I pointed it a little west of the meridian where the star density was higher. Once plotted I took stock of my Jumponium reserves and was surprised to see that despite having 98 premium injections available, my basic and standard injections were down below 40 a-piece. I resolved to top them up by dropping in to the appropriate geological sites on any planetary surface that looked promising as I went along. I knew I'd feel more comfortable with a good reserve once I was approaching Arm's End and for the trip across the Monoceros Passage from the Outer Arm to the Perseus Arm.I was kept company by the view of NGC 1893 for a while. A cluster of bright B class stars, which anywhere closer to the core would be fairly unremarkable. Out here where the star density is much lower though, they shine like a beacon in the black for well over 1000ly. Whilst gazing out of the windows I thought to myself that there have been many geo sites I've seen since leaving the Bubble, but I've yet to come across any bio signals thus far. Maybe it's a quirk of this region, but it does seem particularly barren of flora so far.
I reached 'Notus' at Hypuae Euq ZK-P d5-0 on 5th October after manually plotting the last 7 or 8 jumps with varying degrees of Jumponium injection. It lies 15,940ly south of Sol and feels almost as lonely as Beagle Point, with the distant galactic plane on one side and just blackness beyond. I scanned the system for posterity and slowly plotted my way 'north east' towards the denser star region of the Outer Arm Vacuus before letting the ship's computer take over navigation duties again as I turned more eastwards towards Arm's End, still a very long way off.
I'm definitely looking forward to sampling the food at the Explorer's Bar and Grill once I reach Arm's End, I've heard good things about it, plus it'll make a welcome change from the limited menu I have on board.
Time and date of journey start: 13:10 UTC, September 27th 3306.
Hyperspace distance travelled at journey start: ~749,000ly
Total Hyperspace distance travelled to date: 768,759ly