Balls of Confusion (And Other Shiny Temptations)
03 Jan 2019Tigon Ologdring
OK, I've been badgered, cajoled and bullied (well, told in nice, kind terms) into writing down some of the exploits/voyages of Cmdr Tigon Ologdring for posterity. To me that sounds like something to do with posteriors and so I figured why not — I'm accused of talking out of it often enough so hey!(Logrolling? Seriously? Firefox wants to "correct" me, my name, to "logrolling"?? Geez, great start...)
Anyway, digression, of which there may be a lot. Apologies in advance. I've been told I put the "scatter" into scatological...
Potted History
After a lot of footling about in and around home (LHS 3666, great place, you'll love it. Bring a gun.) a thing came along calling itself Colonia and some Tom Fool decided to set up another Thing™ in order to establish footholds in the surrounding systems. At the time Tigon Spaceways was just starting to get off the ground, having recently acquired a second-hand Saud Kruger Orca, the Aeriel's Repose, and being "savvy" the executive decision to take a bunch of commodities out to Colonia ahead of the official announcement was made, figuring what would be needed. Yes, you can see the slight issue here can't you? On the positive side of things, the bug for exploring and long-distance¹ sightseeing was caught.
[¹ - Max distance out on that flight was in the order of 3500ly... but in a 22ly jump range Orca with a pipette for a fuel scoop]
Eventually returning home, having sold the goods at the first port-of-call upon return to the Bubble, and a modest expansion of the company later, an extended excursion out to the Southern Shores and a navigation of the Perseus Fade was embarked upon. There are a number of Postcards From The Edge posted for the terminally bored of you to laugh at. That trip was slightly abbreviated (the trip to Amundsen's Star was skipped) as the "Great Cone Event" was to take place. We all know how that turned out. Suffice to say I'd already decided to head in a different direction so missed the "fun" when it happened. Why? Well, a shiny new beastie called the Wrong Way Up needed a bit of a shakedown having been on a couple of short-range hops to a couple of top-dog engineers.
Sooo... One Krait Mk II, stripped, prepped and loaded with bean and other fine comestibles and a trial run out to the first Earth-like world previously unknown to the UniCart wallahs that we came across in the Aeriel's Repose was plotted. Oh boy this beastie is fantastic! It can scoop faster than it can head around a star for the next jump, hops over 40ly without batting an eyelid (it could do way more but for now it won't) and can even rescue poor lost souls from remote planetary surfaces. OK, it looks a bit like a manta ray lost an argument with road-roller but that's cool, frosty with that. My only concern was that it wasn't going to last because there were rumours of a sleeker, sexier version coming that for those of us that fly-without-guns is going to be the DBs (and no, not Diamondbacks...).
Right, told you there would be digressions...
Anyway, New Corelay visited (3.3kly from home) and couldn't believe how easy it was. On to a newly established mining facility (now that is home-from-home!) in the Omega Sector and that wasn't there the first time we were out this way, and then a "where to now?" moment arose. Ky Cygni — it shows up on the galactic charts from a very long way off, it's a supergiant and we've not been to one of those in person so why not? Wooo... BIG! And close by another of these new deep space mining outfits: the Medusa Mining Company (or something like it). They liked us anyway as they get a cut of what's handed in at the local UniCart and we handed in well into a 7-figure sum of cartographic data. Quick zip up to the Heart & Soul area and then back into the Bubble for the Phantom (cue organ music).
Shiny. Simply shiny.
Apart from the first one, sorry guys. Apparently you shouldn't use barnacles to arrest your flight, especially on high-G worlds. Organo-braking lesson 101: don't do it. End-of-lesson...
So, that's it for recent history, apart from commissioning a replacement Phantom and whirling out to New Corelay and environs to test the new scanning kit. A short trip back home to Meyrink Orbital, collected the Repsose stripped out the junk that was installed, obviously with the best intentions, and installed the luxury cabin, ground exploration equipment, some self-repair capability and the biggest fuel-scoop Saud Kruger make allowance for on an Orca and it's back into the luxury pleasure cruises we return...
TANN Lines† proudly announces the Great Balls of Fire Tour: an exclusive, luxury cruise for up to four privileged guests to experience the galaxy's greatest stars of their class known to humanity², travelling in the most luxurious manner possible. TANN Lines will collect and return guests to/from any habitat within 500LY of the Sol System.
† A Tigon Spaceways Subsidiary
² Stellar bodies to be visited correct at time of departure, dwarf star classes not included.