I have officially half the way to the Voyager's Reach behind me. On a larger ship it would be probably reason for some large party, but as there is only me on Natural Disorder, I just take pleasure in the fact that I made it here in one peace. It is more than 30000 ly journey after all, just with the jump power of my own Krait Mk2. It seems Milky Way celebrates with me though, it offered me a great sight on twin stars in system Phua Auwsy IX-L d7-609.

Otherwise I am getting a bit tired of Arcadian Stream region, I am here far too long. But at least the sky starts to look to what I am used to as normal now - less stars and more black. Wall of stars around the Milky Way core is now mostly behind me, and only the outer edge will await me now. I should probably make another rest stop on some friendly Fleet Carrier before I venture there.

As I am flying through Arcadian Stream, the wall of stars surrounding the core of Milky Way - and Sagittarius A in its centre - are my constant companion. I always planned to make an expedition there eventually, but now I wonder if Natural Disaster, my faithful Krait Mk2, will be up to what I will want from it in the future. WHenever I will lok at that wall, it more and more looks like a gates of an unpenetrable fortress to me. Partially of course, because the current 122000 ly long trip, while entertaining, is proving that for such long journeys I will perhaps need a ship with much longer jump range if they should still remain enjoyable - especially as I would one day want to circumnavigate the Milky Way.

I will of course not discard Natural Disaster, it has done me a great service and it is an awesome ship to fly around. But I have - for now as a mental exercise - began designing a long range explorer based on Anaconda, for journeys longer than 100000 ly. It will not be as maneouverable as Natural Disaster, but faster on the long trips and will be better able to sustain itself when I will not be able to land on station or Fleet Carrier, even for months at a time.

It will be a ship which will handle every single star and stellar phenomenas in that wall - as well as everything which lies beyond them.

I have named her Eternal Wonderer.

I finally managed to make my way into the system Greae Phoea XF-D d13-507, where the DSSA Totoro, DSSA project Fleet Carrier is stationed. While it does not offer refuelling, explorers usually have fuel scoops do it does not bother them (it definitely did not bother me) and pretty much every other service explorer might need can be found there, including some limited outfitting service. I sold all cartographic data I had with me (quite an amount by this point, including more than just a few first-discovered systems) and made all neccessary repairs and restocking.

Now, restocked and refreshed, more than 17000 ly from Sol, I decided to skip a few of my original wayponts and head straight to the Oephairgh sector, as this made this sidetrip only little over 1000 ly detour instead of 4500 or so which would it be if I would want to return to my next original waypoint. Shortly after leaving DSSA Totoro, I entered another new region, Arcadian Stream, in system Eord Ploe TW-H b2-59 - but that is story for another time.

After making my way through the Norma Exchange, I finally got to use my AFMU (not that I was so looking forward to it) after an elementary mistake - I simply run into a Tauri star headfirst after entering the system. It was not really a problem repairing most of the damage by my own devices, but it was a clear sign that I need some change of pace, maybe stretch my legs a bit. I was scheduled to enter Norma Arm soon anyway, but driven by the need to change scenery I found new route to the nearest DSSA Fleet Carrier in Norma Arm.

Thanks to that I am now heading roughly in the direction of Colonia. Not that I actually want to head up there, just to the Fleet Carrier (at least for now, as I had not been there yet) but the change of scenery had been rapid and welcome. Norma Arm have much more stars and nebulae which brightens the view. That kind of makes up for more than 3000 ly long journey I have to travel just for this sidetrip, not to mention the path back to my original course to Voyager's Reach.

Norma Expanse seems to be mostly empty, at least as far as larger stellar fenomena or inhabited systems are concerned. These days most people clearly travel by fleet carriers or neutron highway and I was often the first to visit systems here. Norma Expanse does present nice view over the rest of the Milky Way though, including far away nebulae like Running Man, which can be often clearly seen reflecting in the background. I also stopped to enjoy sight of the Neutron Star in system Eodgorks CR-N d6-164, as it is stunning sight. I however did not use it to boost my jump. For me setting a destination is not a goal to be reached, but an excuse to get out there, and therefore cutting on travel time would mean less enjoyment from the journey. So after a while I just set out in my own normal speed.

I crossed to the new sector today, Hawking's Gap, in system Preae Aec DH-B b27-8. I realized at that moment that it is the first time I actually left Orion's Spur. I kinda expected it to be more different there, but, well, why should be really - it is just the neighbourhood system. Not that I had much time to get the feel of the sector as I crossed into the Norma Expanse just a few jumps later. I should get to know this one much better - at least according to my original flight plan to to Voyager's Reach. Important thing is, everything still works as intended, I gathered just a few scratches and dents along those almost 9000 ly trip here, nothing serious or unexpected. Let's hope it will stay that way.

After I made my way from Blu Thua sector, I finally picked up the pace - it was not that I suddenly got more jump years to my hard drive, but I finally got into the right mood and I started to pick up the pace. I quickly moved through the Smoje and Smoji sectors to Tr 24 Sector, then to Traikee.

I originally intended to move along my waypoints in more or less straight line to Voyager's Reach, but then I found out thet independent station named Morgan's Rock is nearby. I did not really needed any of its facilities, but I was not yet in this system and for an explorer, it is always handy to know a good spot to crash in when something goes awry. So I made a detour there and stretched my legs a bit on the station, as well as done some maintenance. After endless looking on all those dead rocks, it was welcome change of scenery to be sure.

It was not on my route, but one day I suddenly found myself on Hillary Station in Blu Thua AI-A c14-10 system. Main reason was that my engines were not behaving the way they should, sometimes doing very strange noises, and I felt it would be better to have some checkup on them before I venture into the unknown. This is obviously going to be classic Murphy-kind of trip (given its Voyager affiliation, that is probably no surprise), so better to be safe than sorry. Some additional repairs and restock came in handy too, and I also sold some exploration data I already gathered along the journey - there were quite few of them given its current lenght in fact. And it is not like I have set date I have to return to. And now boldly into the unknown, I will probably not be back in the world of living for a while.

I made it to first checkpoint of my Voyager Expedition, Praea Euq HT-X b28-3. The journey itself was rather unceremonious, almost dull for its 900 ly, but I had lot of technical troubles to actually getting started - it delayed me for entire day. However so far I am travelling in a part of space which is well known, although uninhabited with exception of first few systems I was flying through. So I am kinda savouring the calm, as it is likely to change later in my journey. My next stop is now at system Blu Thua PU-I b9-2, another supposedly practically empty space.

I finally made it into actual starting point of my journey to the Voyager's Reach, Leonard Nimoy Station (named after the Star Trek Spock actor) in system LHS 3006. Repairs after ancounter with the two white dwarfs cost me most of the money I got for exploration data there, but it does not really matter - I did not expect any huge income at that point anyway, or even go on this journey for profit in the first place. I also performed all necessary last minute check-ups on the station and started to chart the route to first waypoint on my Voyager Expedition - Praea Euq HT-X b28-3, 900 ly far from Leonard Nimoy Station. I should be there in about 20 jumps.