Into the Dark - a jaunt to the Pleiades
06 Dec 2015Myshka
So eventually Neville Horizons had sufficient Computer Components to continue the construction of the new starport. After all this hard work, and quite a handsome bonus payment, I wanted a holiday. And the new Station being built gave me a destination - the Pleiades in the constellation of Taurus, the Bull. Long steeped in mythology, the Ancients had invented many stories about this open star cluster, mostly now lost to antiquity.This would be my first trip outside "The Bubble", as the collection of inhabited systems is affectionately known as. So I spent quite some time equipping the Courageous for the trip, using my hard-earned Credits and the rewards earned by aiding the Kaushpoos system. So not only did I lighten her by removing most of the cargo capacity and equipping her with a lot of the lightweight class "D" equipment, but I was then also able to add various scanners to catalogue the systems out in the Beyond, as well as upgrading the fuel scoops and frame shift drives to give her a bit more range.
My final loadout for the Courageous, for those interested, is as follows:
COURAGEOUS EXPLORATION LOADOUT
| CATEGORY | ITEM | CLASS |
| Weapons: | 2x Gimballed Pulse Lasers | 2F |
| Defense: | Chaff Launcher | |
| Shield Generator | 2F | |
| Power: | Reactor | 4C |
| Distributor | 3C | |
| Propulsion: | Thrusters | 4C |
| Frame Shift Drive | 4C | |
| Fuel Tank | 4C | |
| Survivability | Life Support | 3D |
| Fuel Scoop | 2D | |
| Auto field maintenance unit | 4D | |
| Sensors: | System Sensor Suite | 3D |
| Advanced Discovery Scanner | 1C | |
| Detailed Surface Scanner | 1C |
This should give me a jump capability of around 15LY, and a range of around 120LY, well, pretty much indefinite as long as the fuel scoops don't break! Although I've heard there's regions of space where scoopable stars become quite rare.
Many explorers apparently also remove weaponry and shields to further lighten their craft and extend their jump ranges, however, I wasn't quite comfortable doing so just yet. Who knows what lurks out in the inky depths of space, where assistance is far far away, even assuming any distress signals are picked up. Many explorers never return, whether through mishaps or malicious actions is, as yet, unknown.
Anyway, it's time to set off!
The first part of the journey from Kaushpoos was still in the Bubble, perfect for trying out all of the new equipment and the changed handling capabilities. I also traded my way along - never miss an opportunity to earn a few more Credits! Who knows when one may need them. It quickly became obvious that I was nearing the edges of civilised space though - most of the systems only contained mining outposts, with occasional industrial facilities refining the miners' output before shipping them to the Core systems. There were also markedly fewer patrols and system security forces around. Leaving my weaponry intact, at least for now, was definitely proving to be a smart move as I had to defend myself from lawless opportunists on several occasions!
Soon though even these outposts of our civilisation receded behind me, and ever more often I would encounter systems which were entirely empty - no outposts, prospectors, nor even pirates. However, I was not the first to blaze this trail. Many had come before me, as my deep-range systems tagged the stars and planets with the names of explorers who had come before me. And yet, with every jump further from civilisation, my heart beat with excitement to find myself in a system which nobody had yet encountered. Alas, even though I found many wondrous sights, each and every one had been visited before. Sometimes I would encounter the same name in a string of systems, sometimes no two would be the same.
Eventually I neared the Pleiades nebula, and was suddenly starkly reminded of the dangers of exploration. Exploding out of frame-shift near a huge blue-white star, I performed my. by now standard, routine of thumbing the deep space scanner, scanning the star, and engaging the fuel scoop. I found keeping my tanks topped up meant it never took more than a few minutes, in which time I could perform the high level logging and system triangulation tasks. However, on this occasion my ship scanners suddenly bleeped in alarm and displayed a distress signal nearby! This far out? The only possibility was that another explorer had come to grief out here, so I quickly locked onto the signal and burst out of supercruise.
The sight was horrendous; there was the wreckage of a ship slowly tumbling in the actinic glare of the A-class star behind me. The destruction was too great for me to make out the type and class of ship, but amongst the wreckage was the source of the distress call - a rescue pod. I powered up the cargo bay doors, which I had powered down, and slowly nudged towards the pod. Help out here was unlikely, so despite the fact that this would net me a bounty back in the Bubble I feel it is my duty to help this poor soul, otherwise he might be stranded out here for the rest of eternity unless someone else stumbles through this system in the distant future.
As the cargo bay doors clunked shut I heard the automated systems stow the rescue pod in the cargo hold, debating whether or not to go down and free the inhabitant from the SuspAn. In the end I decided to leave them there - who knows who it is, and how they will react to this rescue. Maybe they would even try to take over my ship! Besides, I still want to get to Merope, which is apparently where the new station core will be sent.