Finally made it back to Explorer's Anchorage! Man that station was a sight for sore eyes, though I hadn't docked for so long it was a little rough landing. Made myself a little over two hundred mil from the exploration data.. Man these stations take so long downloading that from my ship's internal storage. I got my paint redone, restocked, rearmed, and considered what I'd be willing to sell off here so I'm lighter going forward. I stopped by Sag A* on my way out to throw a penny in the galaxy's largest wishing well before heading off home again, Diaguandri here I come!

(Sorry for the delayed update)

Claire sat back after making her log entry, sighing heavily. She closed her eyes and listened to the little metallic pops and groans of the ship settling under gravity. "I know how you feel sis," She said, feeling her own weight. Going on the float for as long as she had took an effect on you, things like "up" stopped making sense after a while. She leaned forward and opened the galaxy map. There was one system she could technically jump to but it was just as far away from anything useful as this one was. No dice. And that system was no more likely to have polonium than this one.

Ship sensors had picked that much up here, on this world... but she couldn't seem to find any. She groaned as she stood and made her way back to the SRV's, one had a broken strut on one of the front wheels so that was out until she could repair it and the other was nearly out of gas. Instead of synthesizing more fuel, however, she used the simple expedient of pumping the fuel from the broken one to the empty. She sat there on the fender, relaxing with a cigarette as the small motor whirred away and listening as the sounds of the alien world outside slowly grew louder than the fading ticks and thuds of her settling ship.

Relaxed, that was, until she saw a slight motion. Something she never paid any mind to before, transferring one thing to another thing meant moving mass... meaning the broken SRV was slowly sitting higher and higher on it's springs. Her eyes went wide "wait..."

She killed the pump and rushed back out to the cockpit, calling for the ship AI to start another Audio log.

"Audio log, same date, same system. I am a fucking idiot!" she shouted, clamoring back into her pilot's crash couch. "Ok, see this is what I get for being a newbie. I mean, This expedidition was my first time outside of the bubble, so I've never had to worry about jump mass much," she ran some numbers on the galaxy map. "And I only need, what, a couple of light years?" Claire smiled as the route plotted successfully. "Ok... I have my way out of here. I'm dumping fuel, I'm dumping everything I can save for enough to jump... Once. That'll get me to the neutron star. I can jump, scoop BARELY, then supercharge and jump again." she typed furiously, selecting star after star on her route. Each one a neutron, each one with a main sequence star, looking for ones which had another neutron main sequence combo after that. "All it takes is one broken link in the chain and I'm screwed... but at this point I'm willing to take that gamble. I have to take the chance... See you on the other side commanders, Claire out."

The computer chirped as the log ended and broadcast. Claire cracked her knuckled and started powering things up, "Ok girl.. We're going to get out of here but you gotta lose some weight first, that work for you?" She ship responded with a low rumble as the thrusters came online, lifting her from the surface. Claire punched it, pushing herself into the crash couch as she shot from the ground like an overeager missile. 1km, 1.5, 2, 3, 6.. Masslock lifted.. "Engage FSD" She barked out, smiling as the familiar blue ghostly tunnel started charging around her vessel. then finally silence as the roar of the thrusters died off and she pulled away from the planet at an appreciable percent of the speed of light. With the weirdity of supercruise, she was back on the float, so she took the opportunity to go back and finish pumping the fuel out of the broken rover. she patted it over the snapped strut with a soft smile, "You've been a good girl but it's time to call it." She disengaged the pump and hoses, then rolled it toward the cargo door. once opened, she admired the planet's surface retreating behind her ship, protected by the atmosphere shield which soon glowed angrily as she pushed the rover through it.

A few minutes later, Claire was back in her cockpit and pointed at a neutron star, fuel lines open and tank slowly emptying. She waited... waited as the ship got lighter and lighter before finally a chirp alerted her that she now had the range to reach it. With jubilant howl she punched it, finally free.

}}} BEGIN TRANSMITTION {{{

Transcript from Audio Log Entry Date: 06-05-3305 10:14 UTC Entry By: CMDR Claire Bunny Ship: BB-226 Wolpertinger System: GRAEA PRI JS-K D8-0 world 3 A

[Unintelligible grunts followed by the sound of a crash couch compressing with weight]

A... Audio log May Fifth Thirty-three oh five. This is Commander Claire Bunny of the Wolpertinger and I’m stuck... Somewhere. I was on my way back to Explorer’s Anchorage from Beagle point, using an aftermarket nav system to get more out of the Neutron Highway and reduce the trip time. But I wasn’t [the sound of a bulkhead being punched] paying attention! I noticed my fuel was low and tried to jump to a main sequence star to fuel... but [REDACTED] SPANSH had me so far below the galactic plane that I couldn’t go anywhere without a boosted jump! So, I jumped as high as I could to a class M star that looked like it had other stellar bodies in its general neighborhood. [sigh] I was wrong.

I got to a system… uh... GRAEA PRI JS-K D8-0, world 3 A, and got fueled up alright, but when I tried to egress the system and carry on my merry way, there were no worlds in my ASP’s jump range. Ok, no big, don’t sweat it, I can synth some Jumponium except NOPE! My DUMB[REDACTED] SUPID[REDACTED] SELF Can only Synth tier one or two Jumponium! What does Tier Two get me? [REDACTED] Seventy-Three point six light years. And where is the next closest system to me? It’s God [REDACTED] Seventy-Seven lightyears away!

Ok.. This isn’t so bad, I just spent all of today out in one of the SRV’s, Great Bird bless Vodel for designing those tough little buggies, on this system’s high metal content world. With any luck I’ll find some polonium, literally the only thing I am missing to synth a tier three injection. I’m putting my log system on auto broadcast, hopefully someone out here in the black will hear it and have some help for me. But for now, I’m signing out for the night. Been sleeping on the float this whole trip but I guess today I’ll have the luxury of some gravity. Kind of wish I’d brought along a passenger compartment.

Commander Claire “Bunny” Travis, signing out

}}} END OF TRANSMITTION {{{

I should probably stop waiting for my fuel levels to be no more than a line a couple of pixels wide on my Holo display before i start looking for scoopable stars. Would probably take the rats a while to get to me.

https://imgur.com/a/e8wWNzn

Ammendment: I made it, just as i was starting to think about life support refills and calling the Rats I got in range of a type M star. Thank the great bird of the galaxy!

The fleet has scattered and people are on their way back. It's kind of lonely out here now but that's ok, enjoying the flight in peace with the constant company of a good audiobook.