WK7: Colonia
14 Jun 2019J.Bauer
We've arrived. Colonia is a system of only four hundred fifty thousand, but I haven't seen civilization since we've embarked back in January. When we first arrived at Jaques Station, I had almost forgotten how to dock. Explorers returning from the expedition were still flying in every day. Their well worn paint jobs made them easy to spot. The problems from last week seem long gone.
The first stop was Universal Cartographics. The last time we had checked in was on March 17th at Explorer's Anchorage. The data unload took almost half an hour, but in the end we racked up about 630 million credits worth of exploration data. The entire expedition has netted nearly a billion credits. Terrell's cut was about 18 million, so I wasn't off the mark by much. The experience he's gained could land him a job on any ship in the galaxy, but the next one he flies will be his own. He told me he has planned to purchase a Diamondback Explorer or an Asp Explorer and ferry VIPs to the bubble and back. The passenger lounge had contracts for 20-40 million, so he will double that investment in a heartbeat. And the ship after that? Probably a Krait, he mused. Good man.
As solid as the Mk II has been, the ship integrity was essentially zero. The hyperdrive mechanics wanted to overhaul the FSD systems given the beating it took from neutron star supercharging. Flush with cash, I gave the go ahead to make full repairs for a half million credits.
I returned to my ship to find a message from the Pilots Federation in my inbox. In recognition of your extraordinary successes the Pilots' Federation has awarded you the rank of Elite. With it, a system permit for Shinrarta Dezhra, the Founders World. It's a bit of a hike from Colonia back to the bubble, but I think I've found my home port. 22,000.98Ly from Colonia. I could do it in three to four weeks. A message came in over the intercom from the fleet mechanics. They think they found a fault in the power distributor.
Shitcan it, then repaint the ship and put it on the market.
It didn't last long. A collector was excited to purchase a ship that had gone into the Abyss and back. Especially since I had the Distant Worlds 2 Logo Painted on the wings. The 34,788,406 he paid for it, a strangely specific number but pointless consequence of our algorithmic economy, was almost enough to pay for the new Krait Phantom I purchased for 36,535,446.
I've decided to call her the Scarlet Hawk, after an old favorite of mine the Ebon Hawk. Most of my modules were transferred from the Chicago. I paid to have them reconditioned and the modifications I had done transitioned nicely. She makes a healthy 54.88 Ly, and is fully self sufficient. The exploration build is linked here.
| Waypoint | System | X-coordinate | Y-coordinate | Z-coordinate | Estimated Arrival | Actual Arrival |
| 0 | Start | -1139 | -1 | 63578 | May 4, 3305 | |
| 1 | SKUEQIAE JG-W C18-0 | -2080 | -103 | 58668 | May 11, 3305 | May 11, 3305, 4:26:16 |
| 2 | THUECHO UH-L C24-17 | -3021 | -205 | 53759 | May 18, 3305 | May 15, 3305 1:02:42 |
| 3 | SWUENOE VA-G B2-0 | -3963 | -307 | 48849 | May 25, 3305 | May 18, 3305, 6:26:15 |
| 4 | GRU FLYI PO-Y D1-4 | -4904 | -409 | 43940 | June 1, 3305 | May 22, 3305, 2:54:22 |
| 5 | GOOREIA HE-Y B18-15 | -5845 | -511 | 39030 | June 8, 3305 | May 25, 3305, 6:12:00 |
| 6 | PHROEA BLOU ZV-D B29-18 | -6786 | -613 | 34121 | May 30, 3305 | May 27, 3305, 4:40:27 |
| 7 | SCAULOU JQ-U A77-0 | -7727 | -715 | 29211 | June 4, 3305 | June 1, 3305, 13:43:08 |
| 8 | WEPUA SF-E D12-3069 | -8669 | -817 | 24302 | June 9, 3305 | June 4, 3305, 04:07:25 |
| 9 | Colonia | -9530 | -910 | 19808 | June 14, 3305 | June 12, 3305, 04:00:37 |