Entry 9 - Into the Black
15 Aug 2022miamijuggler
So, the trip to Monde de la Mort went relatively well. 
In short, no one crashed or burned up. To be fair, I didn't choose the perfect landing site: due to proximity to the white dwarf, the heat was climbing fast in the Galaxy Song, and I wanted to deploy the SRV and send the Phantom away before it got cooked. I could have probably planned a little better, but in the moment, I didn't have the time to really select the best landing site for viewing the jet cones and the close pass of the planet to the star.
In any case, once landed, I drove around a bit looking for a decent vantage point to watch the event, since I had some time to kill. I settled on a nearby cliff face that overlooked a wide plain and I was hoping pointed in the correct direction. Even with my sub-optimal planetary placement, the near pass was still spectacular. I made sure that the SRV's Cameras were recording, but I haven't had time to check them yet to see the quality of the footage.
After the event, I had to wait quite a while before I felt it was safe to recall the Galaxy Song and take off again. It was a bit of a guessing game, since from the planet's surface I didn't have a clear indication of where the planet was in relation to the star (it had gone below the horizon again). However, I seemingly guessed correctly, because I took off and made it back to Colonia without further incident. As I docked for repairs, I received a notification that my Krait Mk II had arrived.
I mentioned in my last entry that I was trying to endear myself to all of the Colonia engineers. The lone standout was Mel Brandon, who wanted bounty vouchers to "prove my worthiness."
<Sigh> Bloody warmongers.
I considered re-outfitting the Song for combat, but it would have been a lot of work, and at this point, it's so finely tuned that I don't really want to mess with it too much. So I paid the exorbitant fee to have my Mk II, aptly named Pocket Full of Shells, shipped out here. In any case, it arrived just as I returned from the Planet of Death. So I went and collected some bounties before dropping them off with Brandon. After that he was quite cordial and easy to work with.
At that point I had realized that I had accomplished what I had set out to do in Colonia, and was running out of excuses not to leave for Beagle Point. Since the point of exploration is to gather new data, I didn't exactly want to tread the same path through the stars that someone has taken before. I figured that I'm not the first commander to Think of a Bubble>Colonia>Beagle Point flight plan, so I wanted to deviate a little from a direct course to give myself the best chance of encountering previously undiscovered systems. I looked at the Pilot's Federation galaxy map for some nearby, off-axis points of interest, and came up with two interesting candidates:
Kyloagh PE-G d11-86 (a.k.a.: The Gardens of Artemis) and Phoo Scroi AA-A h3 (a.k.a.: Three of a Kind). Both are relatively close to Colonia, but deviate from a straight Colonia>Beagle Point line enough to increase the chance of walking the path not taken. Also, the "Three of a Kind" system is high above the galactic plane, which means that most travelers who are simply seeking a point-to-point commute will not venture out there. Plus it gives a pretty spectacular view of the galactic plane spread out below you.
So that's where I am now. I made it to the Gardens of Artemis, and after scanning that system successfully (and even doing a bit of exobiology), I headed for Three of a Kind. I made it most of the way there before realizing I was getting too tired to continue, so I found a planet to land on and decided to write this log before turning in.
I'm only a few jumps away from visiting my first black hole, so that's exciting. As long as I steer clear of the exclusion zone, I should be fine, right?
...Right?