Day 4, Great Southern Expedition, Beta Site
16 Apr 2023Dante Ragnarson
2 Beta Site Jellyfish Sector FB-X c1-5 5,015.39Well a day of jumping and pressing hard and I’m already 5k light years from Fujin. Only yesterday I was sipping a Tanqueray Flor de Sevilla Gin and Tonic at the Flaming Star Logistics Centre. I supplied the gin myself and left it with the barman, a fine looking chap Alfie, and told him to keep a double nip for my return, and that if I wasn’t back within the year to have it for me!
18 hours out and the cycling of the FSD has become a pleasant hum. The little niggles of the CG FSD are all ironed out and the thing is using above 5% less fuel than my old model. I must admit only 2 years ago my 67 ltyr Phantom was the highlight of my life, but the new Anaconda is god damned impressive. The salesman at Jameson Memorial in the Shinrarta Dezhra system is true to his word! I’ve never piloted a ship that cycles so quickly and refuels so fast. Often I’m fuelled up and ready to go well before I complete the system D-scan.
It brings back memories of a couple of years ago when I was out here last. Then I was trying to gain access to Professor Palin’s Workshop, and I’d made a beeline for the Jellyfish Nebula. Honestly in my A rated, and unengineered Phantom, it had seemed an expedition beyond reason. The distances so vast as to be almost inconceivable. However, after Palin had opened up the true capabilities of engineered FSDs, and let’s be honest my trips to uncover the secrets of Guardian Booster technologies, the horizons of my expectations widened. Since then I’ve been to Colonia twice, and out to the Crystal Shards and Guardian sites. One and a half thousand light years has become a weekend trip, and not even an inconvenience.
Back out here and I’ve spent the last 3 days visiting the Rosette and Jellyfish nebulas. Simple piece of advice, if you haven’t been out this way before, come! You will not regret the visit. The Beta site is, however, a complete bust. Docking services are adequate at best, and the other facilities are not even that. Best to bring everything you want to eat and drink as choices out here are pretty limited. One of the dock workers told me he hasn’t seen an egg or an orange in two years. Apparently most workers out here are on a 2-3 year contract, and once served can have their choice of stations back in the Bubble.
Ok That’s it for now, I’m off for the farthest Asteroid station in the galactic south, the ominously named Station X.