Still Burning to the Core

Today I am writing from my cabin as my ship drifts between a binary pair of O class stars approximately 6000ly from Achenar. I'm not the first to visit this system, CMDR Abrigant discovered these two stars, not that surprising when you consider how much the stars stand out on the map. This was taken at approximately 1200ly from the star, it certainly was big.

There have been some changes on my ship, it seems despite the distance, software updates are still getting out here. My ships heat meter has been recalibrated somewhat and after a few stars I'm finding fuel scooping a more pleasant experience. My ship is now taking the weight of the point defence turrets into account while calculating jump range too, I hadn't really considered it when fitting them, but I guess it's only a couple of tonnes and my ship is heavy enough that it makes little difference.

The most important update is the external camera drones, they have finally come online. I may be a commander foremost, but being an Imperial Baron permits me time to persue other hobbies, photography being one of them. Now I have my external camera I can start capturing many of the breathtaking views I come across without having to point my camera through the canopy glass.

The journey so far has been smooth. I made may way up the galactic arm about 2000ly before turning for the core. This afforded me the fuel confidence to make it over the void between the arms. The Clipper may be the most comfortable vessel in which to carry out my journey, but she is thirsty and only has a small fuel tank, so I scoop at nearly every star. I fitted a class 7 fuel scoop to ensure this did not delay me, and also to allow me to keep a safe distance from the hotter stars.

So far, my hull is undamaged and my modules are all operating at peak performance. I have been carefully studying the galaxy map each jump to minimise the chances of hitting a hot binary pair, and assessing the risk of each jump accordingly. This was a close one, but heat did not pass 90% on the new gauge.

Within the next 48 hours I hope to be passing near enough to the Eagle Nebula for some photographs. I don't plan on entering the nebula on the way out, but maybe on my return. Many an explorer has already charted that one, so I hope to find something new and untouched out there.

Another shameless shot of my ship, adding a touch of beauty to some already dramatic scenery.

This journey should get interesting soon, as I get closer to the core. I will also ensure I post about things I have found which may help new explorers looking to spread their wings out here. This is my first trip out of populated space, I have learned a lot already.

Rikk Out.