3 Days and we have arrived.
07 Jan 2016Jim Beaumont
Day 1 - I pushed out into the void before the other 2, and had gone passed 3.5k Ly by the time Merc started. Oppo was slightly later in getting away, needing a shipyard refit. Unfortunately, when Merc got to 2.7k he decided to take a break and land on some planet for a bit of a cockpit break. Only the landing didn't quite go to plan, and he inflicted a lot of hull damage to his Anni and subsequently had to turn back for repairs. By the time he got back under way, I was almost done for the day and 8.5k Ly away from the bubble. Oppo wasn't far behind. During the day, I had just belted out to around 5k Ly, not stopping and refueling as needed. But after that, and considering Merc's issues I decided I would do some discovering at the same time. So I changed the Nav comp a little and found a couple of Waterworlds and an Ammonia based one. All in all, a good days progress and some nice Cr in the bank hopefully.Day 2 - You wouldn't believe the shock I got when I fired up the Nav comp. Merc has been at it all night it looked like. He was about 3k Ly in front of me, and Oppo was level. So we all were just going hell for leather to put down as many Ly as possible today, barely stopping for anything. My intrigue got the better of me on a few occasions, systems with 84 bodies in them have to be looked at for those hidden Earths and such. So that slowed my progress a little. But by the end of the day I finished with about 6k Ly to go. Merc was about 1.5k in front and Oppo just less than that.
The biggest surprise was Oppo had convinced another mate of his to make the trip out and catch us up ... in a Sidewinder!! So he set of, he's gonna have to go some though.
Day 3 - Another shock. Merc is there. He'd pulled a long shift at the helm and pushed on through. Oppo is about 1.5k away. So I was playing catch up now. At about 2k to go, the density of the stars is really playing havoc with the Nav comp, struggling to find a path for me, so I was almost doing the last leg star by star. Certainly the last 1000Ly was star by star. When I arrived just outside Sag A, Oppo was already getting his head down, Merc was bouncing around on some planet and Crazyhorse in the Sidewinder was brewing coffee ready for 16k Ly in 16 hours. Myself, I went had a little mooch around nearby systems, found a brand new Earth world and settled down for the night. 30 Ly from Sag A
Tomorrow should be a momentous day, for 4 of us. 3 for sure. Hope Crazyhorse makes it.