It's been a while since my last entry, writing from the mining base of Farseer Inc, stretched out on a nice clean sofa while the Andromeda got it's final modifications for my journey. I launched as soon as she was ready, stocked up for months of travel through the black. She was ready, glistening with a new paint job and standing tall, sleek, and strong. The ASP is not a very stylish vessel, but there in the dim light of the hangar, she was the most beautiful ship I had ever seen.

We set out from Deciat immediately, slowly plotting the course to the Orio-Persean Conflux, over 30,000 lightyears away. The new ships' computers are amazing, mind-blowingly fast and incredibly detailed, able to process the characteristics of a stellar body in mere seconds. However, the vast scope of the galaxy provides a difficult task for the computer to process, and thus route plotting technology only spans a distance of 1,000 lightyears. That means that every thousand light years, I have to plot a new course in the direction of my destination, slowly trudging my way through the stars.

Getting about 2,000 lightyears away from the bubble, I encountered what seemed to be the end of heavily explored space. It was rare for me to find a star that had already been discovered. I had free reign to scan whatever I wanted, discovering stars and planets alike. I had several encounters with interesting phenomenons, such as my first encounter with a pulsar, allowing me to overcharge my frameshift and increase my jump range to 300 lightyears for one jump. I also encountered planets with astonishing features such as a mountain that was 8 kilometers high. I found stars with rings and gas giants teeming with water- and ammonia-based life forms.

I also encountered many dangers. From negligence, I came too close to several stars and planets, putting strain on my modules and frameshift drive. Through ineptitude, I lost a majority of my heat sinks, running the last three quarters of my trip with only one launch remaining (which I didn't have to use thankfully.) I faced planetary features that damaged my rover and threatened to strand me on some planet, thousands of lightyears away from any kind of help. In several systems that I had believed myself to be the first to travel to, I found shipwrecks just floating through space. On one small rocky moon over 3,000 lightyears away, I encountered a crash site by chance, picking up the strange signals on my SRV's wave scanner. It appeared to be a sidewinder, buried in the rusty dirt. I could not tell how long the lifeless husk of this vessel had been here. I didn't know how it got here. There was no sign of the pilot. I turned my rover around and kept moving.

Finally, only 4,000 lightyears from my start, I reached a system that the computer identified as Chraufao JH-D d12-29. It was here that I experienced another emergency drop from supercruise. With hull integrity at 91%, and the rest of my modules pushing 80, I was forced to make a decision. My databanks were full of new and undiscovered data. If I was to push on, I would eventually reach a point where the return journey would be more dangerous than to keep moving. Who knows what state the Andromeda would be in by then. I had already experienced three separate cargo hatch failures as a result of heat damage. It was not an easy decision to make, the prospect of continuing my expedition at a later date was worrying. When will I get another chance?

I chose to turn back. Using all of my FSD Injections with the materials I gathered on the surfaces of planets, I sped home. I landed here, in Millerport in the Quince system, in nothing but two days. I immediately sold my data to the Imperial faction that controlled the station, Quince Creative Holdings, which gained me an astonishing 30,000,000 Cr, putting me well over the threshold of financial security. Simply put, I have more money than I think I may ever need.

Here I sit, resting in the back of this empty bar. Despite the station being on lockdown due to unresolved conflict between factions, I was able to slip the bartender a few extra credits to let me in and serve me a decent drink. Imperial drinks may be expensive, but their excellent taste cannot be ignored. The Andromeda is in the shop now, getting her hull restored and modules replaced and made good as new, so that we can continue our travels.

The Small Worlds Expedition that I am to be a part of has already begun their travels. They have made it to the first waypoint and are now moving towards T Tauri, which is only a few lightyears away. While the Andromeda is being refitted and restored, I think I'll take the Kobiyashi Maroon out to T Tauri and catch them before they arrive. I think I'll stay with them for a while, it will be useful to have some companionship while I fly.

When I return, my Andromeda will be waiting for me.

-CMDR Berrett

After spending hours at a crowded Nav Beacon, flying about and scanning wakes, I finally captured the elusive datamined wake exceptions, an increasingly rare data signature released through irregularities in Frameshift wakes. This signal is an essential component to the final improvement to the Frameshift Drive, and the last component I needed to collect. With everything that Farseer needed, I flew back over to Deciat 6 A and landed at the compound. Then I stayed for several hours as the engineers of Farseer Inc got to work making the modifications. It left me with ample time to continue to plan my route.

Walking the halls of this planetary mining facility, I couldn't help but think about the inherent gravity of space exploration. Here I am, about to embark on a legendary journey through a vastly unexplored region of our galaxy. I will be traveling a distance that few pilots have surpassed, and collecting data for bodies that I will be the first in mankind to see. My name will be forever written upon these systems. As civilization expands further into the black, they may settle in some systems that I gathered data for, that I saw first. It is a magnificent thing, pioneering. To thank that once, many many years ago, some young and bright eyed explorer arrived here, in Deciat. They saw empty planets and lone stars but they also saw potential. Today, Deciat is one of the most travelled systems in the Bubble, filled with ships on trade routes or mining excursions traveling from station to station. It is a wonderfully magical thing.

With my Andromeda ready and fully upgraded to jump ranges of 50 Lightyears, I stand at the cusp of a vast sea of discovery. I stand here excitedly, looking out over the potential wonders I am to find. Yet I stand here hesitantly as well. I will be leaving this all behind. I will be traveling out to places where I am truly alone, and hope of rescue is nonexistent. I know not the extent of the dangers I face out there, but when I face them I will be facing them alone. I may not return here to Deciat. I may be lost forever in the endless void. But I am pushing against the limits of our knowledge, bringing light to the unknown and creating a path for further travelers to follow.

I am a leader now.

-CMDR Berrett

I have spent the past several days working alongside Farseer Inc to optimize the jump capabilities of the Andromeda. Scavenging for metals on the surface worlds and investigating crash sites and wake signals has given me the components to increase my jump range to just over 45 Lightyears. Farseer has provided me with the blueprints for the final upgrade of the frameshift drive which should push my jump capabilities to that of the most powerful ships.

I was lucky enough to find two of the main components that Farseer needed in order to modify the drive: arsenic and a Chemical Manipulator. I gathered these two pieces through extensive surface mining on the high-metal world of Deciat 3 and by investigating signal sources showing degraded emissions which is usually a sign of a crash or explosion. It is not a fun job, to pick away at the carcasses of ships as they float through the void. I try not to think about the passengers aboard the ship or what horrors befell them. It is best to find the materials I need and to move on. I know that the pieces I take will help advance the capabilities of the human race through deep space exploration.

Farseer was very interested in exploration data and it was ultimately the path for me to the highest levels of her workshop. In turn for selling my data to Farseer Inc, my reputation with her grew. And so I set out on a few short trips a few hundred lightyears out of the bubble. I searched for systems that were exceptionally bright which tended to have a number of bodies within them. My first trip was out to systems near the Coalsack Nebula and found the very bright system HIP 63835.

As I dropped out of hyperspace, I was met with the brilliant blue-white of the main star which was gigantic, 74 solar masses and by far the largest body radius-wise in the entire system, which was a spectacular feat, because HIP 63835 boasted a staggering 14 additional stars and no less than three black holes, all orbiting each other in a beautiful dance. I was dazzled by the brilliance of the various O, A, G, and K stars that dotted the orbital radius of the main star. It was truly a sight to behold. As I got farther away from the arrival point, HIP 63835 A began to look more and more brilliant, turning from white to a royal blue and finally to a deep and magnificent purple. I'm very lucky to have been able to see this, and I think we all are very lucky to have such a wonderful system so close.

On my return journey, I scanned each system and looked especially for exceptional gas giants. Farseer was elated with the load of data I had returned with. I'm so excited to begin my expedition.

-CMDR Berrett

I've begun to plan my first real expedition away from the Local Bubble. After looking at countless star charts and maps of the numerous regions of the galaxy, I've pinpointed an area that is quite unexplored by any expedition so far. It is to the west of Sagittarius A* in the 1st Quadrant of the square grid centered on Sol, and consists of the two spiral arms: the minor Orio-Cygnus Arm and the Perseus Arm. The rough plan so far is to travel up to the Orio-Persean Conflux through the Orio-Cygnus arm and then back through the Perseus Arm to inhabited space.

The expedition will begin from Deciat once I have completed the upgrade of my ship's systems. Over the next couple of days, I will be establishing a proper route through the use of the galaxy map searching for systems with KGBFOAM stars as well as some areas of interest such as dwarfs or neutron stars. The Conflux is located roughly 30,000 lightyears north and 20,000 lightyears to the west with an estimated total direct distance of 36,000 lightyears, which would make an ideal travel distance of 72,000 lightyears, though it will most likely be significantly farther as a result of the curving nature of the arms.

I will try and select a number of waypoints manifested in notable systems throughout the journey in order to properly plot the route for future explorers. I aim to be one of the first commanders to successfully plot these regions and give it some of the attention that the eastern arms have gotten.

I have chosen the star Segnao MN-Q D6-416 in the Segnao Nebula, also referred to as the Leviathan Nebula, in the Orio-Persean Conflux region as the turning point. It will be the farthest north of the bubble I will travel before returning along the Perseus Arm. With my fully upgraded FSD I aim to successfully reach this location relatively quickly. Hopefully the discoveries I make along this journey help to expand our scientific horizons among the stars.

I will be bringing with me several materials with which I will be able to repair/modify certain modules as well as my SRV while out in the field. I will also be taking with me enough provisions for months of travel plus some extras in case of emergency. I will also be taking several drives full of music and other such entertainment to keep me from going space mad with loneliness. I'm hopeful that my efforts among these stars can make a difference.

Deciat is a Federation system located relatively closely to the Sol system. Despite being aligned to the services of Li-Yong Rui, the CEO of the Sirius Corporation, I was able to traverse Federation controlled space very easily, landing on Deciat 6 A, the homeworld of Farseer Inc, without incident.

I brought with me the Andromeda, which will be my main exploration ship. I've heard improvements to the Frame Shift Drive can produce a jump range of over 50 lightyears, a magnificent feat. Upon landing at the headquarters of Farseer Inc, I was given an audience with head engineer Felicity Farseer and led to her workshop. She asked for a donation of Meta-alloys, of which I had a ready supply in exchange for her services.

Farseer offered me basic access to her workshop, which consists of a few basic improvements to many modules. As our business relationship grows, she has assured me that I will be able to access more complicated improvements that will give me real results.

I selected a small number of improvements to my thrusters and FSD using simple materials I received in the Quince system just earlier this week, doing scanning and maintenance work on the planetoid Kosmala Rewards for the Empire. Further improvements required a number of materials that I did not have, and so in an effort to find them, I disembarked from Farseer Inc in my rover and went in search of metal rich deposits. I fear that Deciat 6 A was not the best choice for such an undertaking, as I found no materials in the immediate vicinity of the station and had a difficult time traversing the massive canyons that run through the planet's surface.

In fact, I managed to fall into one of these canyons through careless driving which resulted in the destruction of my SRV. I managed to avoid injury by staying inside the disabled shell off my vehicle. Luckily, the power plant was undamaged and the computer system still had power and a signal, as I hadn't fallen too deep but had instead rested on a sort of outcropping of rock. I sent a brief distress signal to Farseer and was quickly lifted out and returned to my ship. It was quite embarrassing but I'm glad to have escaped unscathed. I made a note to work on my driving skill before going on any long range missions to avoid any future catastrophes.

-CMDR Berrett

I've returned to 39 Tauri with quite a large sum of money. It's enough to pursue a path in exploration, despite my inability to afford a DeLacy Python just yet. Its a comfortable enough financial situation to move on.

When I landed in Porta, I quickly sold my final remaining multistoves and organophosphates. In celebration of my relative success, I sought out the bar located on the Porta Station. Alliance systems have by far the best whiskey in the whole galaxy, it's so much better than the artificial shit they sell you in the Federation, and it's so much less expensive than the Imperial garbage you get from the Duval. I sat alone at a table near the back and logged into the GalNet access point located at each table. It was there that I first began to search for expeditions.

I found several expeditions leaving soon and my eye was caught by a relatively large mission leaving in a few weeks. The Small Worlds Expedition, led by CMDR Nuse, seeks to provide an exploration base for beginners, which I certainly am. The itinerary includes a series of planets on a 12,000 Ly trip. I'm excited to learn as much as I can about these new systems and planets as well as travel with a large fleet of commanders. I've sent my name in and will be traveling soon to meet some of these commanders and prepare for the journey.

I've chosen to bring my Diamondback Explorer on this mission, outfitted with a class A FSD and advanced scanners as well as a planetary vehicle hangar. This will make jumping to newer systems easier as well as allowing for accurate data scanning and the ability to explore the surface of planets. I've been contacted by an engineer by the name of Felicity Farseer of Farseer Inc. who claims to be able to enhance the capabilities of several of my ships modules including the Frame Shift Drive. I plan to set a course for Deciat to contact her and hopefully outfit my ship with a formidable arrangement of modules.

-CMDR Berrett

Just arrived from HIP 80364 with 70 tons worth of rare cargo.

From Rajukru- 32T Multistoves: profit ~16,000 Cr each for a total of 512,000 Cr From HIP 80364- 38T Organophosphates: profit ~15,000 Cr each for a total of 570,000 Cr An over all whopping 1,082,000 Cr for one half of the trip

With chimes from Tauri and Altairan Skin from Altair I'm expecting a similar return for the second half which would put me just over 2,000,000 Cr for a round trip.

Once I have enough to purchase a DeLacy Python and I can comfortably assert my financial situation I will outfit this Lakon ASP Explorer for long distance space travel. Trading is an honest profession and a good source of income but it gets boring seeing the same K and M class stars and all the metal space stations. I want to go to places I've never seen before and learn as much as I can from this vast galaxy of which we only inhabit a small, small portion. There's so much else to see.

I plan to leave as soon as I outfit my ship. It will only take a few million credits; I've researched all the parts I'll need. The most important and most expensive pieces will be the FSD and the power plant, both should be A-class for optimum performance. Everything else except the fuel tank and scoop will be D-class to conserve power and weight.

I don't know exactly where I will go. All I know is that I'm going to be far away from The Bubble. I'm thinking a loop around the outer ring of the galaxy with a long stop in a neutron star field on my return. I don't know what I'll find but I know it'll be magnificent.

I've recently completed a preliminary mission out to the Eskimo Nebula which was a meager 700 Ly away. Not a very impressive distance but it was good to practice my skills in terms of ship maintenance and the basics of scanning and scooping. I also got my first look at a black hole which was situated about 70,000 Ls away from the single star in the nebula. Fascinating.

I've gotten word of some expeditions that are setting out soon. I've decided to join some of them as a means to seek out adventure in the stars. They are a few months away, so I'll work up a solid exploration base before then.

-CMDR Berrett