The Independent Traveller
05 Feb 2021Andrew Linton
I bought a fleet carrier in Colonia on 02Feb3307, and named her Endeavour. Intending to make the carrier my permanent home and centre of operations, I moved all the ships and modules I had in Colonia Dream over to the carrier. I still have other ships dotted about the galaxy: in the bubble; at Explorer's Anchorage; and in the Outer Scutum-Centaurus Arm on board DSSA carrier Shepard's Dream. I'll pick those ships up as I travel around.
After some local mining to build a small stock of tritium I set off along the Tritium Highway fleet carrier route to the Outer Scutum-Centaurus Arm. I surveyed this route for systems with icy rings nearly a year ago, as soon as I knew that tritium would be needed for deep space exploration with a carrier; what remains is to map those rings to determine their tritium content. The highway identifies systems that are about 500 light-years apart which makes them convenient for fleet carrier use.
Three days in, I've slipped into a new routine for moving the carrier. Using eco-jumping between waypoints, I can still explore and discover new systems while looking for intermediate icy rings and tritium hotspots. When I arrive at a waypoint, I survey the rings I found earlier and summon the carrier to the most useful location, which would be either the closest tritium hotspot to the primary star, or the ring with the most hotspots. When the carrier arrives I jump out of my exploration ship - a trusty Asp Explorer - and climb into a mining Cutter. This ship has four mining lasers and the ability to deploy thirteen collector limpets. She's also equipped with a full complement of mining tools: abrasion blaster, sub-surface displacement missiles, pulse wave analyser, and seismic charge launcher.
I check how much tritium the latest jump has used, and head off into a hotspot to mine at least that quantity. In this fashion, I plan to wander the galaxy, seeing the sights and making new discoveries.