Belated Happy 3304! Kara's Shakedown pt.1
11 Jan 2018LongDistanceClara
(And back to Elite after what feels like forever >.< Hope everyone had a great holiday! My poor laptop couldn't handle Elite on even the most potato of settings, so I sublimated my ED cravings with unhealthy amounts of chocolate and booze whilst visiting relatives over the holiday period
First order of business on returning home - pick up a T10, rush a fit into it and head off out into the wilderness to give it a test drive!)Back to the cockpit after some holiday shore leave involving a) too much food, b) too much booze and c) some fist-bitingly cringey partying moments
Parts a and b have me running laps around the deck; and scuttling off out into the depths of space till no-one remembers part c should work!At some point during the festivities (most likely in a drunken haze - I'm really coming off well here aren't I? ) - I picked up a T10. It's been sat in the shipyard, untouched until I managed to emerge from a cocoon of blankets and hangovers to stagger down to the docks and check her out.
The Kara (as I've now christened her) is a beauty - at least in my eyes
I've always loved the rugged industrial look of the T9 and this latest offering from Lakon has pretty much the same hull lines, aside from (imo) a slightly goofy looking spoiler! That aside, I loved it and immediately set about throwing all the bits and bobs in her to see how she'd handle some "deep space time".I threw the kitchen sink in her, quick pre-flight (it's been a while!) and next minute we're heading for the letterbox and off out to the core...
I'm not knocking the Clair or Cassie, my other explorers - both are glorious, beautiful ships; but good god, I love the canopy in this thing. Not entirely new to me, having flown the T9, but you really do get a front seat on the galaxy
The cockpit is a little cavernous behind you, but being able to just glance up as we skim and scoop past the stars on our way to the core and watch the flares play across the photosphere is just breathtaking 
I honestly don't recall the run to the core being this quick and easy. Absence and all that, plus a new toy to boot, but honestly after no time at all, we were several k from the big enchilada Sag A*. No need to rush, so at the end of the first day, we set down on a fairly non-descript little dustball and powered down for the night. I couldn't resist a quick once-over of the hull from an SRV before lights out, and from the outside, Kara's just a gorgeous chunky beast
First night back on board always takes a bit of getting used to - the low grav, funky noises etc - so the next morning saw a whole lot of coffee and a little more caution as we started dropping the Kara into the neutron fields. Still, she rose to the challenge and although she's no ballerina in supercruise, I didn't find it at all tedious sliding her into the tails. One nice thing I noticed was that she handles heat very well - I was having no problems spooling the fsd while grazing the exclusion zones of A and even cooler B-classes, something I recall the T9 struggling with. Maybe that's just my memory playing tricks on me but it certainly seemed that way.
It felt really good to be back out here again and with every jump, I grew more and more in love with this honking great beastie - so much so that when I dropped out of Witch-space and was greeted with Sag A*, it genuinely came as a total surprise! Obligatory selfie:
I had only planned on doing a quick shakedown out to the core and back - but honestly, I was having a lot of fun in this ship and didn't want the party to end so soon. Plus I had made a real ass of myself during the holidays - I have no memory of it but apparently drunken dance/karaoke was involved? - so I guess hanging out in the wilderness a little longer wouldn't hurt
That being the case - popped the Roncevaux Crossing into the nav computer and swung her round to head up north. Next stop Beagle!