I have arrived in Colonia! I wandered a bit in the Temple region before stopping off at the IGAU vessel Paradox Destiny to offload my data. Then I took a direct route to Colonia utilizing neutron stars as often as possible to boost my FSD. Despite the rapidity of this last leg of the journey, I still managed to make many valuable discoveries including an undiscovered black hole Zejiae XO-A f4. There was unfortunately nothing to see visually as the other orbiting bodies in the system were a bit too far out to reach practically. I am currently docked at Jaques Station to make some refits to the Kepler. I intend to stay in the area permanently as I feel it gives me the best base of operations for extended deep space exploration.

I continue to work my way across the Temple region towards Colonia, surveying systems as I go. My pace has slowed after a near miss in Stroifai HR-N e6-2. I landed on a high metal content world with a gravity of 1.35G and a surface temperature of 934K in search of a Luteolum Anemone. Normally I would not have risked it, but I had never seen this particular species of anemone and wanted to study it. I should have known better. The landing was a challenge. The terrain was so rough I almost couldn't set down. I was unable to spend more than a few seconds at a time on the surface on foot due to the high temperatures and was instead forced to proceed in the SRV across razer sharp canyons and unstable gas fissures. The high gravity and steep terrain was a bad combination and the SRV took a beating. I was able to locate three specimens of the Luteolum Anemone and collected samples by leaving the SRV for only moments each time. My suit could not handle the heat any longer than that. I made it back to the Kepler with my samples and the SRV intact, but barely. There was a point on the way back where I got stuck and it became painfully obvious that if I had to abandon the SRV I wouldn't make it back to the ship before the heat overwhelmed my suit. In any case, I should have known better and will proceed more cautiously.

Well, I had intended to stay aboard DSSA Buurian Gold for several days for a bit of R&R, but I got antsy and decided to get moving again. I triple checked my supplies, paid one last visit to the bar, and set off this morning. I have also decided rather than returning to the Sol bubble, to instead head for Colonia. It is the same distance for me either way and Colonia will offer me a better base of operations for exploring some of the more remote regions of the galaxy. I have had no major issues with the Kepler, so I see no reason not to continue further. I have just crossed into the Temple region, so I suppose I can no longer call this trip the "Elysian Shore Expedition." I will call that one complete and successful. I will now be making log entries under "Colonia Expedition."

I finally arrived today at Blie Eup CM-T c17-0 and rendezvoused with DSSA vessel Buurian Gold. It has been a welcome reprieve from the solitude of exploring the void. I performed basic maintenance on the Kepler, but really everything was in fine working order. I also was able to offload the exploration and exobiology data I had amassed. The plan is to rest up here for a few days before continuing on.

After staring at the Bubble Nebula from a distance for a few days I decided to detour 1,000 light years to see it up close. I am glad I did because the views were incredible. I explored every system within the nebula while I was there.

From there, I have been following a long chain of neutron stars up the Via Maris towards Vulcans Gate. I am currently 11,500 light years from Sol and have stopped to repair the wear and tear on the FSD from all the neutron supercharging. Sometime in the next days I will begin crossing the gap called The Fallows to work into the inner part of the region that borders the Temple region. I intend to rendezvous with the DSSA carrier Buurian Gold sometime next week.

I have officially crossed into the Elysian Shore region. I made good time traversing the Inner Orion Spur stopping selectively to explore. I am now approximately 5,400 light years from Sol. I am aiming for a large area in the center of the region that appears very lightly explored on the saturation charts.

ADDITIONAL NOTE TO THE LOG

I was a little concerned about the 4D Shield Generator I installed before leaving, but after bouncing the Kepler hard off of a planet during a landing two days ago I am more than satisfied with it's performance. The shields took the full brunt of the impact leaving the ship unharmed. In any case, I will have to be much more careful in the future.

I learned a great deal from my first expedition to Hawkings Gap last year. I learned to be self sufficient. I learned valuable survey skills. Most importantly though, I learned that I had the temperament and desire to operate on my own in unknown space for extended periods of time. I knew that I wanted to explore further into the void.

Planning for a bigger, more ambitious expedition began shortly after I arrived home from Hawkings Gap. After three weeks in the void alone I knew what it would take to go further, chiefly I would need to carry more equipment with me and travel greater distances at one time. The Copernicus is a fine ship. It certainly has the range for long range exploration, but it lacks both size and space for the critical modules and creature comforts you really want on an extended trip. Sacrifices had to be made on my first expedition in Copernicus. I had only limited ability to make repairs, I could only carry one SRV, and the living quarters were spartan at best. I wanted to explore more ambitiously, so I needed to give myself a greater safety margin. I spent the next months working as a miner to raise funds and experimenting with different ships and loadouts before finalizing my new equipment.

The EV Kepler is an Asp Explorer model built by Lakon Spaceways on Alioth, outfitted at the dock in Jameson Memorial, and heavily modified by myself and Felicity Farseer. It has all the necessary survey equipment, plus an auto-field-maintenance unit, repair limpet controller, and two SRV bays so that I have a spare if the primary unit is damaged or gets stuck. Even carrying all this extra hardware, it also boasts a jump range of over 50ly.

I have also undertaken some training in exobiology and purchased an Artemis model exposure suit and all necessary equipment for extended extra vehicular excursions. This will allow me to explore in greater depth on this trip.

I departed Jameson Station in the Kepler today and am currently enroute to the Elysian Shore region. I hope to traverse it exploring as much as I can and then possibly move into the Vulcans Gate or Temple region.

After nearly 30,000 light years, Copernicus arrived home today at Okorafor Port in Taweret! I consider the expedition overwhelmingly successful. I accomplished far more than I anticipated. To top it off, was given Elite status with the Pilot Federation for the amount of cartographic data I brought back, and issued a permit to the Pilot Federation headquarters.

I will begin planning my next expedition after a bit of rest.

My route home took me through the Eta Carina Nebula where I was able to explore a guardian ruin site.

Copernicus received a well earned new paint job.

I arrived at Thaile HW-V e2-7 in the Three World's Nebula yesterday. I have to say, although it has been well explored by others, it was one of the most interesting systems I have seen in Hawking's Gap. Among the interesting sites include a Neutron Star, a water world, an earth-world, an ammonia world, and a number of stellar and biological phenomena. The prize was seeing a bunch of Albidium Penduncle trees in a Croceum Lagrange storm cloud.

I was also surprised to find two carriers in the system. I docked with the COSMILKY N5W-NTZ and took advantage of the facilities.

I explored several systems bordering the nebula, but found nothing else of interest. I crossed into the Outer Orion Spur today, headed for home.

An Albidium Penduncle Tree

I enjoyed my stopover at DSSA Ironside. It was a welcome break. I also had a chance to visit the abandoned Delta Site settlement on the planet below. I was surprised to find some ship traffic around it.

In any case I am happy to be on the move again. I spent the last few days wandering around a bit, but have now set a course for a system on the border of the Outer Orion Spur that is rumored to contain some biological signals. I expect to arrive any day.

Hawking's Gap Delta Site