Aside from a quick jaunt to Guardian space, I really haven't had a good chance to take the [i]Eostre[/i] out on any actual exploration missions. Now that there's a lull in operations and no major expeditions are on the horizon, I'm taking the time to head out to the Formidine Rift to do a little light surveying. I pulled into Newholm Station in Sothis about twelve hours ago; the station hasn't changed much since I ran courier missions between here and Ceos last year. Air's a bit more dry than I remember. Allergies, maybe. That's something folks seem to forget-- every time we pop into one of these islands in space, we're breathing new air. Treated air, obviously, but each station has its own character. The insulting ozone crackle of industrial stations versus the slight scent of jasmine carried on that perfect 44.86% humidity inside Aachen Town. Newholm is fresh but with a hint of mustiness. Busy, but clean.

From Distant Worlds I found that a comfortable ship with a respectable range is far more useful than a paper-thin jump-boat. So before I commit myself to either the Beluga or the Cutter as my extra large exploration vessel, I should at least have a baseline by which I can begin to make comparisons. The Formidine Rift is the best place to test this out. I'll flesh out a draft of my fleet requirements while I'm on this trip as well.

I don't think I've got an extensive list of waypoints to check out, just the Heart and Soul nebulae, then it's into the EAFOTS sector.

I've got your bullshit.

Literally.

Got a nice message in my inbox as I was transiting Skeggiko O, inquiring if I would do some folks over in Bunda a favor. It seems as if a shipment of theirs went missing near me, and if I could deliver it to the Eravarenth Alliance I'd be handsomely rewarded.

Not a job for the faint of heart, they said. Dangerous, they said.

Dropped into the coordinates and found out my dangerous cargo was... a load of biowaste. Well, a paycheck is a paycheck even if it smells bad, I reasoned.

Pulled into Faraday Ring and...

hello?

Anyone?

I'm here, I've got your thirty tons of steaming bullshit, where's my fucking money?

Crickets. Not a soul.

Nice. Looks like I'm the punchline to another stupid joke. I offloaded the cargo at the market and started to hose down the cargo bay with bleach. When I'm done I swear I'm gonna go back to Skeggiko O and tell a few jokes of my own with my plasma accelerators...

The MCRN doesn't employ slackers. I'm back in my temporary homestead of Shinrarta Dezhra after running my last batch of Courier Missions for those lazy asses in Ngalinn. I took my hard earned credits from the DW2 expedition and slipped into the bridge of my new Cutter, the MCRN Eostre., and set out for Guardian space. A few days later and I am now sitting on a batch of brand new guardian FSD boosters. The first thing I'm going to do to shake them down is to find a nice neutron star and see just how far of a throw I can manage. I hope this will speed my transit back to MCRN space. I've still got many connections to make while I am here and away from the frontier-- but due diligence and hard work will make an easier task of this. I am prioritizing making connections with engineers who will provide sterling service to those in the exploration field. With a secondary focus on security, of course! The MCRN is a NAVY after all.

I've just got to find a way to get all my ships out there.

Like any properly functioning machine, regular lubrication is essential for proper functioning. In the case of a corrupt empire, that lubrication is cold, hard cash. It's by this manner that I've found myself here, in Ngalinn, twenty thousand light years from my home in Colonia. Let's back up for a moment. I'm here primarily because my dumb ass thought it'd be fun to take a joyride in a tricked-out, shieldless Cobra on one of Ratraii's planets. Long story short, I really must move the flight assist disengage button to somewhere else in the cockpit-- somewhere it won't be slammed into by an errant elbow. Well, now that I'm in the bubble-- with all of its troubles, technocrats and thargoids-- I can set about finishing the gaggle of "must-do" tasks that are on everyone's bucket lists. Besides, I've been meaning to snag the upgrades to the FSD for what seems like ages, and there's nowhere else to do it but here.

But to do all of that, I need some new ships. Imperial ships. And that's why I'm stuck out here, running courier missions for a bunch of corrupt imperials while I slide them a few extra credits here and there, just so they'll write sweeter words about me in their daily dispatches. I hate this rotting empire. I'm going to get my ships and flush these fools down the toilet of my memory.

This return trip has given me the unique oppurtunity to start planning for my next expedition before I'm even on it. How efficient! Here's what I've gleaned as being necessary equipment from the DW2 expedition:

Outside of mandatory upgrades to the FSD and weight-shaving exercises, here's what I used:

• Class 1 AFM
• Class 1 Repair Limpet
• Class 2G SRV
• Class 3D shield generator

I did not need much in the way of cargo space since I set out with no limpets and synthesized what I needed; there's no point in synthesizing more limpets than the repair controller can govern at any one time, anyway. The same goes for the AFM. Despite some hamfisted flying and committing the cardinal sin of not checking the planet's gravity BEFORE I attempted to land, I still have yet to hit the halfway point of refreshing my AFM stores. Hence, I don't need to devote much space to cargo racks next time.

I also did not set out with a full store of premium FSD materials-- nor did I need to! Proper use of all available planning materials will make finding materials that much easier.

What I should not have packed:

• Extra cargo racks. It's simple-- I just didn't use them. I only really needed 5 spaces for cargo. The extra racks only add to the insurance costs.

What I should pack next time:

• An extra AFM. If I'm stripping out cargo racks I can easily slot another class 1 AFM instead, and it'll at least keep the AFMs healthy.
• A fighter bay. A scout ship is both fun and has moderate value; I can easily scan geosites from altitude without having to land or precariously balance the tip of my ship on a geosite while having to battle gravity.
• A SRV bay with expanded capacity. I had to make a round-trip backtrack of 14,000ly to replace a SRV that I accidentally destroyed. I'll take the minor weight and range penalty if it means I don't have to take the major time and range penalty of backtracking.
• A guardian FSD booster. Vanilla engineering can only get you so far. I do, however, need to get back to the bubble to obtain this item.

The desire for a fighter bay necessitates the a different ship. Currently I can scrape out a 50ly jump out of the Orchid Dreaming if I'm running on fumes, but I'll spend some time with schematics and possible builds to see what can fit my needs the best. I admire the aesthetics of the Gutamaya line, but obtaining those ships also means that much more work; however, if I'm in the bubble to collect the guardian blueprints, I have the oppurtunity to get access to the Imperial range of ships. Their other drawback? Inferior jumprange. If I can't get over a 45ly range with a FSD booster in a different ship I won't consider it.

But I'm still over 25,000 light years away from Explorer's Anchorage, so I've got more time to plan.

These are rough estimates, mind you, but since I'm currently 42,000 light years from Colonia and I make around 4,000 light years a day before the space madness starts to creep in, I'll be back at Pedersen's legacy in about 10 days.

I'm happy to have contributed my labor to the efforts to map the Abyss, the Aphelion, the Formorian Frontier and all of the other far places, but my eye is forever scanning the map, and the Festival Grounds are calling.

I enjoyed the trip out here, I really did. It was a leisurely stroll through the cosmos, seeing sights and meeting many new faces. But Beagle Point, while being a place of pilgrimage and discovery, is not home. It cannot be a home anymore than the peaks of Cho Oyu, Aconcagua, Denali, Wy'east or Zugspitze can be a home (Aiguille du Midi nonwithstanding; any place with a coffee shop and a cafe can very easily be a home).

No, I have been to the mountain and the only people who stay at the top are either dead or those who are afraid to come down.

My first order of business is to spend some time at the Iorant Jumponium Depot and stock up on premium jumponium materials. The leisurely journey out here was nice, but I have no intention of taking a snail's pace back to Colonia, and I've got to overcome the lack of neutron stars out here somehow.

Besides, my ship can easily do 47 light years without a Guardian FSD booster and it's only slower than a souped-up Mamba in realspace, so why WOULDN'T I make a flat-out, high-speed burn back home?

0230, 24APRIL 3305

Beagle Point! I feel like I should say something profound, something mystical, something meaningful. And I probably will, after I've had a lot of sleep.

Time to swap out the 300 thread count sheets for the 400 thread count sheets, turn the gravity down low and relax. Gonna be here for a few days, I suspect.

Met one other CMDR, too.

Time to have some pot-lucks and picnics.

I never knew you, Thomaski, but everyone else does-- and now you're part of my memory as well. And so you live on, another portion of your self transplanted into fertile soil.

I paid the ferryman. Once to cross, once to return, and once for you.