I arrived in my Imperial Clipper some 26 hours beforehand and started chatting to other explorers, and it was during these conversations that I had a good hard look at my decision to take the Clipper. She certainly is a fine ship to fly, but there is another drawback I had not considered, complacency.
There is no question, I am a bold pilot at the controls of the Clipper, very bold. I have been flying in the Plaedes Nebula for the past few days with a full A specified combat loadout and she is an absolute dream to fly with the highest quality equipment fitted. Even with the lower class thrusters she is smooth, and this builds confidence, which is not something an Explorer should have with a 400 tonne vessel on worlds of more than 1g. 400 tonnes doesn't change direction as swiftly with lower class D rated thrusters, not at all.
After a short proving mission to Ariel and Hutton Orbital I departed from Pallaeni in Lucretia, my recently repainted and refurbished Anaconda. Taking to the skies alongside hundreds of other commanders I set course and headed out to the Fine Ring Sector for the first waypoint.
Some 300 light years in I noticed a problem, my hull was showing damage. I could recall no place where I took an impact, which means this needed investigating. There was nothing I could do but peel off from the main fleet and head back to a starport.
It turned out there were no problems with my vessel, and the indication of a problem was a computer glitch. However this needed to be confirmed by an external visual inspection of a starport so while I added 700ly onto my journey I did not need to, I am still glad I did.
Plus that starport was massive. The bar near pad 11 serves some of the best beer I have come across in the entire galaxy so far, and I have seen a few. When I retrieve the name of the place from my logs I will be sure to post it because I can assure you, it is phenominal.
Fortunatly I have plenty of beer onboard. And a few tonnes of Hutton Orbital Mugs in order to share it around. ForTheMug.
Half an hour after depeature number two, and I come up on the destination system, the first waypoint. My landing is fairly uneventful and there are a few commanders dotted around already. It is my understanding the brave Imperial Cutter pilot decided against continuing in such a stalwart vessel, it seems I am not the only Imperial pilot who had a change of heart.
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