Colonia Bridge, part 21 (Passarola to Stargazer's Legacy)
13 May 2024Sarashina
Apparently there's a starport in this system - Vladmir McDoogle's Triumph. Now, there's a name with a story behind it. It's not too far into the system so I decided to go and have a look. It's very new. As in, they're still building it.
There was no history or anything of note about the origin of the station (or who McDoogle was*, or the occasion of his triumph - unless it was this station), but there are interstellar factors here, along with a material trader and a technology broker.
I settled down to try to plot a route to the next stop. Now, I'm not saying the galaxy map was what pushed me over the edge last time. I just saying it might well have played a part. It must have been created by an evil genius or a madman. Set a course. 10 jumps. The first few closest to the final stop show up. No others do. There doesn't seem to be any way to access them. Steer back along the course and a plot of stars disappears and you're left with an undifferentiated line with odd kinks. The only way to see a star name it to select it. The map then literally loses the plot. When you go back and plot again, the map picks a different route. Apparently at random.When trying to get a list of plots to save time en-route, it's utterly infuriating. To say nothing of the huge, intrusive right-hand system info menu that cannot be deselected unless you try to click randomly on the map without accidentally selecting a star. You can use the keyboard to move, but very often star names don't appear until they're nearly off the screen. Who did this? And why did they think it was an improvement on the perfectly serviceable map we had before? When it takes longer to map the route than make the jumps, something is wrong.
Finally, after the fourth attempt, slightly frothing at the mouth, it was done.
Flyiedge AU-N B12-10 Just the one star, at almost maximum jump range, so scooped here as the next is a red dwarf, and those things tend to travel in packs.
Flyiedge EV-L B13-5 - Ah, it was M-class, not L. Large system including 5 gas giants, 1 with water-based life and 1 with ammonia-based life. The rest a mix of rocky and icy but I had to check. Obviously.
Flyiedge EL-V D3-41 - binary white class F star with class T dwarf, with a small crop of planets, including 3 gg (1w/wbl), and 3hmcw. 1A (hmc) has 2.5% arsenic. (A couple of 5's moons have slightly higher but are a lot further out). As everything had been detailed scanned and landed, I jumped on.
Flyiedge UO-E B17-8 - Trinary system, with the brown dwarf having 9 planets, 2 with moons. Nothing exciting. A couple of the planets had a small amount of polonium, but not worth the 152k Ls to get there.
Flyiedge NN-N C9-46 - Tiredness creeping in, and I prefer to be planetside before sleeping, rather than hanging in the deep. But nothing here apart from the star, so another jump.
Flyiedge QT-L C10-6 - Fuel star. Scanned while I scooped, but only one gas giant here. On we go, quietly marvelling at the heat efficiency of a big, A-class fuel scoop. Then forget how to put the ship into supercruise. The blip only lasts a few seconds before the reset. I really need to sleep.
Flyiedge WU-J C11-23 - Binary system, no planets. I'll be at CB-27 shortly at this rate.
Flyiedge WG-Q B24-5 - 36 bodies, nothing landable within 2k Ls. Decided to scan the main ones. Out of the scanner. Missing one. Couldn't remember the keys to activate the FSS. The reset took longer this time. Time to rest, seriously.
Flyiedge FO-M B26-11 - Nothing of interest, nothing landable. But only one more hop. Worried now. I turn to line up for the jump and - what the hell is that? Something like a red, open maw. Is this the nebula the bridge has brought us this way to see? Nothing on the map. Time to dock.
Flyiedge KP-K b27-6 - a fair bit of traffic in-system. Lots of rah-rah on the comm, so selling carto may be out if the system's in lockdown. Into station services but everything's working despite increasing civil unrest. 716kCr for this hop, not bad considering how poor some of the scans were. The station commander's not happy, but the vibe elsewhere has been worse. Time to lock the doors and sleep.
[* Inara was helpful here. According to his biography, McDoogle was "first commander to achieve tier 5 in all medals on 10/5/2022. Sixth commander to achieve all Elite Vs excluding CQC on 04/22/2022." Nice of them to name a new station after him!]
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