Safely Home
31 Dec 2017Solaris
I'm not sure how I managed to keep on schedule to make it home before the end of 3303, but I did! The final stretch home was good seeing the stars glow in the sky after all the time out in the blackness. Seeing it fade in slowly as you approach was inspiring. I reached the Monkey Head Nebula after hitting the core systems again, then headed back east towards the planetary nebulae in the region. I had not seen a planetary nebula before, most were average but there were a few impressive ones. The final leg home took me past Barnards loop/Horsehead nebula (although I visited in 3301, this is now region locked 
) and then finally the Eskimo nebula. The icing on the cake, a place only 20 or so jumps from home but never visited. Such a beautiful place full of colour. Docking safely, after being out in the black since 14th Oct, the 10 week journey was highly enjoyable. Saw the Formidine Rift region & mysteries, reached the limits out past the rift heading towards the void, headed east along the Outer Vacuus Arm to traverse Livingstone's Trail to the southern meridian outer limits before making my way home. Was going to be a quick 20k ly trip to Formidine Rift and back, but turned into a 100k ly trip across the southern region. Estimate around 3k systems visited, and made it home with 71% hull.
Time to see what the exploration data will reward.