Back Home at Colonia Dream...Again
02 Jan 2019Scubadog
I have GOT to stop doing this. Lately it seems I just get home when something drives me to make another trip back to the Core. Well, I just need to stop. And this trip took me longer than the last time. Mostly it was because the best I could get out of a stripped down Mamba was 41ly jump range, but also because I knew I needed to accumulate some cartographic credits to pay for shipping all the upgraded/engineered modules FROM the Core to Colonia Dream. So, as stripped down as The Ceti Kettu was for the trip home, and as many close calls as I had, it was a successful trip. One close call was when I dropped out of hyperspace going through one of the stars in a binary system! I hate it when that happens. You see it coming, as the twistiness of witchy-space begins to coalesce and you think you're going to drop in front the star forming before you like usual. Then, a nano-sec later you realize you're not stopping and you blast through star, praying you don't end up inside it. When the ship finally settled I was greeted within seconds of alarms going off and sparks beginning to fly. I realized quickly I was smack dab between binary stars in close orbit--my ship was getting baked from both sides. With the ship stripped down, I had no heat sinks to rescue me, so I slammed the throttle forward, pointing for the shortest route out of the oven. Only lost 1% off some of my modules.
On the final leg I spotted a very small, very bright blue nebula that looked to only take me out of my way by a couple of jumps, so I made a pit stop. It was worth it. The system has a neutron star and a main sequence star and a handful of planets and moons. I did a scan of the system and then headed over to the one landable moon, dropping down on the night/day terminator. I sat there for a good 30 minutes just enjoying the gorgeous view from the very open cockpit of the Mamba, with the only sounds being those from the electronics and the ship's hull adjusting to pressure and temperature.
After that, I knew I needed to get serious and knock out the last 57 jumps for home. I couldn't afford to do anymore system scans or sightseeing. I finally slid into Jaques Station to sell off my cartographic data--Colonia Dream still doesn't have that facility, for some reason--and repair my FSD. I'd relied on enough neutron star boosts to bring my FSD down to 80%. Then it was the final 8.8ly jump to Colonia Dream in the Ratraii system. It was so nice to slip through the mail slot of my home station, and I could already hear my apartment bed calling out to me. Well, after a proper meal, that is. Since I couldn't afford the excess weight of a refrigeration system and real food on this trip, the three choices I had from the food replicator got old quickly. Let's face it, when every pound counts, even the food choices you have your replicator programmed with can drive more or less raw materials requirements. So, you balance weight against taste and variety. I will be pigging out in my apartment, needless to say.
But, at the moment I've just finished queueing up all the upgraded and engineered modules I originally got for the Mamba, but had to leave behind for jump range considerations, and having them transferred here to Colonia Dream. As anticipated, I had all but eaten my entire profits from the trip. But, even as the local engineers seem to be improving their capability more rapidly, they still can't match the engineers in the Core yet. So, it's worth it.
Before I get the station crews to go over The Ceti Kettu with a fine-toothed comb and give it a new paintjob, I had to take a shot of what 22,000 lightyears without a shield generator does. And to think I've only had this ship for six days. Well, she's part of my fleet now.
