Jacques Recon and Resupply - Day 5
09 Jul 2016James Hussar
More forward progress, 73 jumps, just shy of a full 1kly traversed. Current location: "BLAE DRYE PO-X D2-131"; 17,204.67ly to Jacques Station, 4,798.51ly from Sol, 60,929.5ly from Beagle Point.
Some time during today's journey I've lost sight of Barnard's Loop. When I set off from Maia it dominated the sky. When last I saw it it was dim, and I could easily cover it with the thumb of my outstretched arm. I've passed through the area between the Orion and Sagittarius arms of the galaxy now, and while I'm sure I could still make out the Loop were the sky clear, the gas and dust clouds in the space between the arms occludes quite a number of the features edgeward.
The core and disc of the galaxy, as I am keeping to the galactic ecliptic, has grown immensely, just as Barnard's Loop has faded. passing the inter-arm gap has allowed much more light from the galaxy's center to be seen. Some jumps still take me away at odd angles where I do not face the trail of the Milky Way at all - but these are becoming increasingly rare, and the majority of jumps is made facing the core.
The current system contains four stars, A, G, K and M class, the last being 34kls away from the jump point. The A and G orbit closely with the K only some 2700 ls away. If I had naming rights to systems I am first to visit, I would name the A and B starts (A and G class) Scylla and Charybdis. They are a mere 4.4ls apart, yet coming from the direction of the Bubble you arrive facing the A star, and if you are not mindful and throttle down, veering away from the A class may run the risk of thrusting headlong into the G class. I am trying hard to make a habit of zeroing my engines upon entering witchspace, though when I'm tired I sometimes still catch myself not having done so as the FDL drive whines into the emergence part of the jump.
I had a close call yesterday, flying tired, where I begun my jump sequence before facing the destination, and grazed the star's corona with my fuel scoop. I was distracted and the heat spiked before I realized what was happening, and by the time I hit abort on the jump, the countdown was already in progress. Thursters and Life Support now at 99%, cargo hatch at 97%. All other systems unaffected, so I was very lucky. The temperature spike only hit 137% of tolerance, but the excitement certainly rattled me.
Today's finds include several water worlds, several more than that of metal containing planets, and failed star or two, and a number, six if I recall precisely, of the life-bearing gas giants the inhabitants of which will be my fellow explorers for the next week or so. The algae come from worlds that differ somewhat in composition. All are predominantly hydrogen and helium, but some include also various small fractions of water, methane and ethane, ammonia, and tholins, as well as a variety of other elements in more trace amounts. The tholin-containing worlds seem to have the greatest variety of life, and seem to play a role in the unique yellow-brown color of the life-giants. It's consistent, at least thus far, that it is only the yellow-brown giants that carry life. Not all of them, but it's been a pretty reliable bet. The ship's scanners render the life-bearing giants as having a bubbling sound, similar to an ammonia world, and fading in after a few seconds of observation.
I've made some adjustments to my audio sensor feedback settings - I've optimized for sensor feedback, so recreational audio volume limits have ben reduced as well as ship advisories, status and incident notifications. They're still on but turned down as I was having trouble discerning the nuances of sensor data in the system map over the hum of the engines, and the other notifications were rudely loud after listening in to sensor echoes.
Now that I'm in the Sagittarius arm, I will be passing through increasingly dense star fields until I reach my destination, travelling roughly toward the 11 o'clock position were the galactic plane the face of a giant analog clock, with the Bubble at the 6 o'clock position. Jacques is a little shy of the 9 o'clock radius, maybe 10% of the way from the very center of the bulge.