After wishing Cmdr Nightstrider well, I plotted a route towards Shapley 1. This is a planetary nebula on the recommended sights along this first leg, as well as the first waypoint of the Distant Worlds 1 expedition. For nostalgic purposes I decided to revisit this place.

The nebula was much as I remembered it, so I did not dwell too long on it. Many more Commanders must have been exploring since those days as I did not find a single unexplored system enroute.

I was originally going to visit all the recommended sights, but have, as usual, decided to go off the beaten track. Plotting well above the galactic plane, I set my sights on the Cinnabar Moth Nebula, bypassing the intervening sights.

Enroute I found strange metal spikes in the rings of a Gas Giant with Water-based life in the Bleae Thua EX-R b48-0 System. My onboard computer analysed them and said they were formed by micro-organisms.

From there I plotted to directly above the Omega Nebula and finally started hitting the occasional undiscovered system. Still no interesting finds.

My final leg was via a couple of B-class stars to the Omega Nebula when I finally hit something interesting! The Traikoa HW-N e6-19 primary was an undiscovered B-class star. The first two planets in this system are landable and form a fairly close binary pair, but are otherwise unremarkable, but the third planet is covered in volcanic vents as well as glowing "space pumpkins" which are spectacular on the night-side of the planet. Rising above fields of these biologicals is the impressive night sky filled with nearby nebulae! Definitely worth a quick visit if you are in the vicinity.

Only a few jumps later found me in the Omega Nebula, home to the Omega Mining Corporation asteroid base in the Omega Sector VE-Q b5-15 System. After shaking off an enterprising pirate while enroute to the base (no way was he deserving of a Hutton Mug!), I hailed the base and secured a landing pad. Looks like I beat the crowds! While no stranger to extended deep space voyages, nothing beats some downtime in the artificial gravity of a station and a good long soak in a hot tub, luxuries I will be foregoing in the months ahead.

After thumbing for launch clearance from Hutton Orbital, I headed to the Pallaeni system and landed near Brookes Point, the gathering place for pilots embarking on the Distant Worlds 2 expedition.

Many pilots had already turned up and there was a constant flux of new ships arriving and departing the meeting. Various pilots had gotten into their SRVs for shenanigans, others performed fly-by's or other acrobatics in their ships. There were even reports of ne'er-do-wells preying on the mostly unarmed pilots cruising around the system. All up it was a scene of complete and utter disorganised chaos, with everybody at fever pitch in anticipation of the launch only a few hours away.

I shared out a couple of Hutton Mugs, but mostly kept aloof from the festivities as I was completely and utterly knackered after my recent exertions to prepare myself and my ship. Eventually I decided to head to my bunk for a few hours before the final countdown.

The fleet was to depart in several waves, the first of which I had set my alarm for. Stil groggy, grabbing a coffee from the galley, I made my way to the cockpit. Eventually I managed to power up the "Knackered Knave" and was dismayed to see that most ships had already left the meeting place to gather at the "Distant Worlds 1" tourist beacon in preparation for the first jump.

I hastily engaged the thrusters and launched skywards, but almost immediately the ship lurched sideways. I managed to correct the vectors and aligned the ship with the vector to Supercruise, but it took an interminable amount of time before the ship finally completed the jump. In my haste I guess I skipped some steps getting the ship ready for flight... no matter, we'll get there!

Wow, what a sight! The system was filled with the bright "fireflies" of other ships in Supercruise, all heading towards the beacon, which I was also fast approaching. One by one they winked out as they reached the waypoint until it was my turn to disengage from Supercruise to drop into normal space again. The familiar blue static interference enveloped the "Knackered Knave" but, again, stayed for much longer than usual. With a huge bang, everything went black.

When I eventually came to, my ship was drifting silently and alone in normal space. Nursing a headache, I took care to perform the full power-on procedure and then spent some extra time checking over all of the ships' systems. Everything seemed to be ok, so I opened Comms and hailed any other ships in the area.

Only a handful of traders replied, as well as a few expedition members who were already gathering as part of the second wave. I guess I missed the launch...

Instead of embarking on my own, I decided to return to Brookes Point and depart with the second wave of the expedition.

More shenanigans ensued as Commanders from across the Bubble poured in eager to get going. Eventually it was time to gather at the Beacon for the jump. Excitedly we left, cruising to the "Distant Worlds 1" tourist beacon which commemorates the inaugural expedition which left from this system 3 years earlier.

This time there were no issues with my ship's systems. Relieved I dropped into normal space around the Beacon with many other Commanders. Greeting us was the normal traffic - taxis, cruise liners, and sight-seers, and the occasional pirate waiting for a big haul. While not the most secure System, I'm still surprised at the lack of security around these popular spots.

Excitement mounted as the clock ticked down, with Commanders all lining up for the jump. Thumbing the nav-panel, I programmed the Frame Shift Drive for the first destination System - HR 5413.

Soon it was time! Comms chatter diminished as the final minutes rolled by. The call came to charge up our FSDs. Then the countdown: 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. JUMP!

Ship engines flared in the colours of the rainbow as Commanders engaged the boost, propelling their ships to jump velocity.

The acceleration pushed me deep into my seat and then the FSD engaged, enveloping my ship in the non-light of hyperspace, flinging it over 30LYs between the stars in the matter of seconds. Bang! and the light of the Primary erupted in the cockpit.

We had made the first jump! "Fireflies" filled the system as hundreds of Commanders poured in, amongst them Cmdr Nightstrider who is a fellow Rock Rat. We exchanged some well-wishes for the journey ahead before continuing on our separate ways.

From here on, every Commander was to make their own way to the next Waypoint in the Omega Nebula.

Unfortunately I was holed up planet-side for quite a while recently, which seriously hampered my preparations for "Distant Worlds 2". I had sketched out a refit plan for the "Knackered Knave" to prepare her for this epic journey, but the reality fell a little short despite the able assistance of various specialists which I stumbled across in my last ditch preparation efforts.

Almost towards the end of my preparations I heard of someone called Selene Jean who would be able to modify some lightweight armour plating for my ship to give reasonable protection against the vagaries of a long journey. Unfortunately she wanted painite for her efforts, so, after refitting yet again, off I went to try my luck mining the rings of the sixth planet of LHS 2661. Lady Luck was with me, and I eventually found the requisite gems for Ms Jean, who then provided me with the upgrades to my ships' armour. Compared against the Reinforced Alloy armour I was planning to take, I got an extra 2LY of jump range out of my ship.

All up, the "Knackered Knave" is now at nearly 49LY range unladen. This is the final loadout for Distant Worlds 2: Knackered Knave DWE2

Preparations complete, the last thing remaining was to visit my friends, those filthy truckers at Hutton Orbital, wish them farewell for now, and collect a few Hutton Mugs to distribute amongst the other crazy pilots embarking on this crazy venture.

The run to Hutton Orbital was as long and uneventful as ever, although part-way there I got a communique from one Cmdr Wotherspoon that today was a good day to attempt the speed docking record. Unfortunately this came a bit late - I had spent a minute or so fuel scooping on entering the system before setting my sights on Alpha Centauri B. Well, I still was in with a better chance than Cmdr Flossy, who had forgotten to set her ships' throttle to 100% until well into the flight!

For the sake of at least making the show of an effort I did boost to the Orbital after dropping out of Supercruise, recklessly disregarding the local speed limits, and dropped down onto the landing pad post haste. I'm sure those indentations will buff out. Eventually.

After a quick rum'n'coke in the bar to steady the old nerves, I requested my consignment of Hutton Mugs and was surprised to find over 50t of them waiting for me! Well, that's enough for half the Distant Worlds fleet I'm sure! And there goes my jump-range..

Well, that's pretty much that. All that's left now is to head to Pallaeni and await the start of the expedition.

Ram Tah - Starting off.

So I visited Ram Tah to drop off some of the Classified Scan Databanks he was after and he offered me a mission to go and scan some ancient ruins.

Sounded like a nice break from bumming around the Bubble, so I refitted the "Knackered Knave" and headed out to "Synuefe EU-Q c21-10", one of the first sites which he had mentioned earlier this year in GalNet.

Eerie place. Scanned this, collected that, and shot the other for a while. Managed to activate some databank or other and got a blueprint segment, whatever that is.

Will keep going tomorrow.

Well, I ended up visiting several other nearby Guardian sites over the next few days, scanning and activating various things in the ruins while fighting off the occasional Guardian guardian. I did end up getting a blueprint for a frameshift drive booster, but never managed to complete the mission even though I scanned dozens of pillars.

Time to head back to the Bubble..

The first leg of my return journey to the Bubble went mostly smoothly.

The upgrades to the navigational array meant that I could plot pretty much unlimited distances and it would also take neutron star boosting into account.

Neutron star boosting is a fairly new technique first discovered in 3303. In a not entirely understood process it is possible to overcharge the frame shift drive and achieve up to four times the standard jump range by scooping material from the emissions of a neutron stars' jets and injecting them into the FSD. The process is not without its dangers though, as the wash from the neutron stars' jets disrupts supercruise so extreme care must be taken while scooping. Also each time the FSD is overcharged it causes slight damage so pilots have to ensure they can reach a dock or perform their own repairs to avoid malfunctions. But due to the significant time savings which can be achieved many pilots now risk this manoeuvre on a regular basis.

I was making good progress while chatting to various Commanders on the long-distance comms, even bagging several new discoveries enroute. One of the highlights was a huge Ammonia World just shy of the galactic record followed later in the day by a tiny one barely twice as big as the Earth's Moon. On the whole though it was a mostly uneventful journey and eight hours or so later I was gliding towards the surface of "Boewnst KS-S c20-959 2 a", a small moon nestled in the Venetian Nebula and the location of Polo Harbour.

Welcomed by Flight Control (who were definitely not sniggering), I was assigned a landing pad and shortly afterwards was safely on the ground. Handing the Alacritious over for a quick refit, I made my way to the station's mess for dinner. The original plan was to stay for a night or two, but as I had made such excellent time (by my standards), and feeling energized to finally be on the way again, I decided to push on.

The next waypoint after Polo Harbour was Gagarin Gate in the Vostok-1 Nebula, roughly 3000 lightyears away. To break the journey up even more I plotted via a series of "Superbright" systems but unfortunately they had all been visited before. In general the number of tagged systems were on the increase and the stars were noticeably thinning out as I was leaving the galactic core behind.

Somehow I was making even better time than earlier, perhaps because I was less and less inclined to stop and scan as the trip went on, and shortly before midnight ship time (about 15:00 galactic standard), the Alacritious dropped into the "Gru Hypue KS-T d3-31" system. Reassured by the presence of various System Authority vessels cruising the space lanes I stopped at the Navigation Beacon for any data updates.

But barely had I started the scan when a harsh voice crackled over the comms demanding 4 tonnes of my precious cargo. I was caught completely unawares and while fumbling for the comms switch the dastardly deviant opened fire. How could this happen? Attacked at the Navigation Beacon of a friendly system? Where were the System Authority vessels? Triggering the SOS, shields screaming and rapidly depleting, I hit the boost in a panic and initiated the jump back to supercruise. An error popped up on my HUD : "Mass Lock Factor". Continuing to twist and turn, boosting whenever possible, the FSD charged up agonisingly slowly. The familiar "Danger: Heat Levels Critical" warning managed to make itself heard above the klaxons as the shields, with a final torturous scream, collapsed. I had gained some distance from my attacked, but incoming shots started peeling off chunks of the Alacritious hull. A sudden jolt tore through the ship and brightness engulfed me; the end had come!

Heart hammering frantically and blinking against the sweat running into my eyes, I was surprised to find myself still at the controls instead of inside an escape pod. The Alacritious must have finally managed the jump into supercruise! As klaxons and warnings slowly died down, I ramped the engines up to full speed towards the safety of Gagarin Gate, not trusting the pirate to give up his prize so easily. Soon I was diving towards the outpost and requesting emergency landing clearance, which was given without question. Apparently news of the attack had already been broadcast throughout the system and System Authority had been dispatched to deal with the miscreant. Shakily setting down on my assigned pad, I shut down the ships' systems and heaved out a sigh of relief. Was I really wanting to return to "civilised" space? While not entirely unheard of, there is very little crime in "Colonia". Perhaps this was a once-off, a desperate traveller resorting to preying on others in order to survive.

A few rums later and my nerves had steadied somewhat. However I was in no shape to continue my journey so I booked into the station facilities for the night. In either case it would take some time to make repairs to the Alacritious.

So much for mulling things over!

It did not take long to polish out the few new scuffs and scratches and prepare for the journey home. The Alacritious was mostly stocked and ready to go anyway and I decided against changing the loadout. So all that was needed was a full cargo hold of Jacques Quinentian Still for the people back home before heading off. Unfortunately he only had 4 in stock.. well, no matter, that'll have to do.

I got flight control on the comms and requested launch clearance while the Alacritious was being shuttled from the underground hangar to the landing pad. Clearance granted, I took off as usual when mayhem ensued! Not only was I careening slightly out of control towards the "mailslot" but the ships' klaxons started blaring and the cockpit assist was alerting me to critical temperatures and imminent equipment failure. What on Zaonce was going on?! Heart beating I managed to make it out the mailslot, dumped a heatsink, and managed to restore normal operations. It appears that during my final flight checks just before take-off I had accidentally flipped the "silent running" switch. Well, that was an auspicious start to my journey!

Thumbing the comms, I requested docking clearance again, citing a missing compliment of lemon-soaked paper napkins absolutely essential for the long trip. Sounding slightly unconvinced, perhaps having seen the trail of smoke the Alacritious was leaving behind, flight control nevertheless granted me clearance and assigned me back to the pad I had just left. After handing the ship back over to the engineers and muttering vaguely about shoddy workmanship instead of inept pilotage in the hopes of getting a discount on the repairs, I made my way down to the bar to settle my nerves.

Luckily it was a quiet day, so it didn't take long for the call to come through that the Alacritious was ready departure. Again. Unfortunately I had to pay full price for the repairs, but luckily Jacques had his Still back in stock, so I did end up with a full cargo hold of that at least.

Hoping against hope that Flight Control had had a shift change in the meantime, I requested Launch Clearance again and promptly received it. I'm almost sure that the snigger in the response was purely in my imagination. Triple-checking the controls this time, I gingerly eased the Alacritious off the pad and, this time without mishaps, guided her out through the "mailslot" and into the inky blackness of space.

Finally! I was off, the navigational array programmed for Polo Harbor, the first of the new way stations between Colonia and the Bubble.

Taking a last look around at Jacques Station against the impressive backdrop of the Colonia Nebula, I thumbed the frameshift drive controls and watched the station disappear as the psychedelic swirl of stars and nebulae visible during the hyperspace transition engulfed the ship.

Last night saw me gingerly touch down at "Fort Mug" to sell the last few weeks worth of exploration data and enjoy a well-earned rum in the station bar while getting used to gravity again.

While not quite exhaustive, I've now pretty much completed my survey of S-class stars within a few hundred lightyears of Colonia. These stars seem to congregate in large clumps and, as I discovered, also seem to have a higher-than-average concentration of M-class red giants around them. Most of these stars had already been tagged, albeit not catalogued, and I did add my name to a few. I also found a couple of water-worlds in these systems which had been overlooked by overenthusiastic explorers in their rush to get to the next system.

I also found a white dwarf star of subclass 'DB' which has been entered into the stellar records database as the largest star of its kind! But apart from recognition in a rather obscure publication called "Elite Galaxy Online" I have yet to receive any sort of remuneration for this discovery.

So on to the "Alacritious". She is carrying a rather heavier complement of equipment than when I originally set out two years ago, and most of it is suboptimal due to the limited module availability here in Colonia. Most notably the power-plant is only D-rated instead of A-rated, and I suspect this is the main cause of some heat problems I've been having while fuel scooping. On my original trip it would take a very long time, if at all, for the "Alacritious" to overheat while scooping whereas now I have to be on my toes not to cook her, and have even had to cut short some refuelling runs in order to let her cool down.

Similarly I have to be careful boosting out of a planets' gravity well, again, there's quite a bit of extra heat buildup now.

So I'm debating whether to just deal with this new quirk on the way home, or whether to strip the extra equipment and install the smaller, but cooler, power plant.

Well, I'm sure there's no rush... time for another rum or two to mull things over.

So last week I ended up asked the mechanics to retrieve the "Alacritious" from her long-term storage bay and give her a good once-over. They double-checked her systems and refitted her for exploration with some of my prized modules (chief of which is an A-rated FSD which you can't get for love nor money out in Colonia) which had been installed in my other ships. All checks "go" so, wrinkling my nose only ever so slightly against the overpowering smell of lavender which I had the technicians spray the interior with, I boarded my trusty Asp and made my oh-so-familiar way to the upper cockpit seat which had molded itself to my shape perfectly over the countless lightyears.

Despite many months flying other ships or simply enjoying some R&R my muscle memory instantly recognised the controls and despite my misgivings, there was real joy to be once again sitting inside that spartan glass bubble which had been my home for so long. Without conscious thought my fingers skipped over the controls and moments later the roar of the "Alacritious"' engines filled the interior of "Jacques Station" as she accelerated out of the mail slot.

For a shake-down cruise (and to ensure the space madness would stay at bay) I resumed my survey of a particular class of stars not too far from Colonia. A few weeks back out in the Black should clear away any last remaining doubts!

Cmdr Myshka, heading out.

Oh what an adventure it's been! Lonely at times, for sure, but filled with cameraderie and joy at the waypoints and shared exploration and prospecting too. I'm talking about my time on the Distant Worlds Expedition yet again, rambling and reminiscing to whoever will listen. The locals at Jacques are already making excuses and looking at their timepieces, mumbling about that cargo of biowaste which is "ripening" in their holds or the extra credits promised if they can make that deadline. Sure, sure, I know they are really just avoiding me now.

Recently though, while sipping my tot of rum at the bar, my mind has been wandering back to the Black, the distant space away from civilisation, the unexplored reaches of deep space. Not least because rumours of Commanders preparing for another epic journey of exploration and discovery have been reaching the spaceports of Colonia of late. Along with those rumours are reports of many new technologies available back home which I have yet to see with my own eyes. Magicians wielding screwdrivers able to tweak ship systems well beyond their specifications. Alien artifacts which have been found in ancient ruins and reactivated and, for better or worse, used to create hybrid technology outperforming our own. Too wondrous to be true? Well, colour me intrigued at the least.

So I'm faced with a dilemma.. since arriving in Colonia I quickly ditched my trusty Asp Explorer, the "Alacritious". Over a year in that industrial cockpit was enough to drive anybody to space madness! I've no idea how I escaped that particular malady... but yes, I've certainly enjoyed the more refined and spacious layout of a Python and my recently acquired a Krait Mk2.

The dilemma now is, do I squeeze myself back into the cockpit of the "Alacritious", to complete my venture in the ship I started out with, or do enjoy the extra luxury and capabilities (if not the jumprange) of one of my new ships for the final leg of my journey? I feel that I owe the "Alacritious" the honour of completing the journey she started, but can I really face another couple of months in that utilitarian space? Every time I enter the cockpit the smells of months spent in that confined space assault my nostrils despite the complete refit and scrub-down. Surely it's not just in my imagination!

Maybe it won't be so bad - I hear there are now several waystations on the way back home at which one can recuperate. And despite her faults, she is by far the ship with the longest jump range in my small fleet here. But for the love of exploration, Lakon, why can't you give us the option of a more luxurious cockpit layout for long-range exploration in your ships?!

Pondering these things I absently order another rum, while the autoloaders go about their task of filling my ships holds for the next cargo run to Deriso. Have I really sunk to this, trucking manure for HOTCOL instead of exploring the wonders of the Universe?

Yes, it's definitely time to raise landing gear and head off into the Black again soon methinks...

Not long after I returned to Colonia to hand in my S-class star survey the shipyards started advertising a new vessel - the Krait MkII.

Broadly similar in outline to an ancient design which is no longer available, even in scrapyards, but much larger than the original, this appears to be a multi-role craft with a slight leaning towards combat. The Krait MkII is roughly in-between the Asp Explorer and the Python as far as capabilities go. It even sacrifices some internal space to include room for a fighter hangar which is probably the biggest deficit of the Python class. The cockpit is broadly similar to the cockpits favoured by Lakon manufactured craft and offers the pilot excellent visibility in most directions, although it's unique position being underslung between a split in the hull does mean some bulkheads obscure the view to the upper left and right areas, but this should help protect it from incoming fire as well.

Intrigued I checked out the brochures and on a whim decided to try one. A short while later I was comfortably enthroned in the pilots seat of the "Kranky Krate". Time to test the ship out by running a few missions for HOTCOL!