I can see for miles and miles
20 Jul 2020Korzhakov
"She held up really well Korz" my crew chief Randy says to me. He just completed full diagnostics on the Karelian Dawn, my Krait Phantom rigged for exploration. "She needed a few system parameters adjusted, but that is complete now and you shouldn't need anything accept some touch up paint" he says as he walks away. I completed two day run, 5 legs and over 11,000 ly in distance. I discovered some ammonia worlds, a few water worlds, and lots and lots of high metal worlds.
But that was just a test run, for me and the ship. Now that I know she's 100% expedition ready, I have plotted a course that will take me another 11,000ly away from the carrier, into some very remote space.
I have Astra run through the onboard provisions and make sure there is nothing we need topped off before we head back out. While she is doing that, I make a quick trip to my quarters and say a very appropriate goodbye to my fiance.
I climb back aboard the Karelian Dawn and Yumi takes me to the flight deck and clears me for launch. I clear the carrier and start my jumps. I get two systems away when I picked up a new ammonia world, followed quickly by more water worlds and then two more ammonia ones. This is going to be pretty when I turn this data over to Universal Cartographics.
At the end of my flight day, I find a nice moon with just over 1 g to set down on. I pick the flat bottom of a large crater and settle the ship in for the night. I cook myself a nice dinner and then after a little while doing some research. I go to sleep.
This morning I wake up and walk to the galley to get my coffee. I have some breakfast casserole that Jean made for my trip and heat that up and have it for a quick breakfast.
I check the navigation station and it looks like there are still 171 jumps to get to the nebula that I have set as a target destination. I pour myself another cup of coffee, but this time put the zero g lid on it and head to the bridge.
I settle into my seat and Astra and I run all the pre flight checks. All looks good so I warm up the thrusters and then lift off. The surface cleared, mass lock dropped and 4,3,2,1 were in cruise and climbing quickly off of this planet.
I scan, I map the planets that need mapping and I keep making discoveries. This is all part of my plan, I need the experience of working deep in space, away from support and living on my whits and skills, and a very well equipped Faulcon DeLacy ship.
I find more valuable planet and scan, and map them. My data haul from this trip will be enough for the Pilots Federation to finally grant me the rank of Elite in exploration. This will be my second Elite ranking. This will make my reputation a little better as I work my way towards that ultimate goal of a Commander and earn the triple elite ranking. It opens doors to many places in this galaxy. And I want those doors open to me.
So here I sit, over 13,000ly from the bubble, alone in my Phantom, mapping the galaxy for the betterment of myself and that of human kind as well.
As I jump I can't help but marvel and how beautiful the galaxy really is. I can see so far out here, where the stars aren't as dense and the gas clouds a lot less frequent. It gives one pause at the meaning of it all.
But I have a long way to go, hundreds more systems to scan, thousands of tons of hydrogen fuel to scoop and many planets to explore.
This is what we do, when we want to make ourselves better, we get to it. So at the end of day 2, I am once again in the bottom of a nice impact crater but on a low g moon this time. Dinner was great and I am settled in writing this entry before I head to bed for the night.
Tomorrow I will be at it again, working towards my multiple goals for this trip, and wondering at the inexhaustible beauty of the milky way.