We are making fast progress toward our sight-seeing destination near Colonia now. The last 5000 light years have been neutron jumping. The default galaxy map interface works perfectly when calculating jumps using neutrons. We do exercise extreme caution around white dwarves though as they have caused ship destruction before.

With only 2.5k LY we will make the last jumps without neutrons.

The trip towards Colonia is going steadily with a thousand light years traversed every other day. We have pulled several stops along the way to touch down on interesting planets to catalogue new xenobiology. So far no one is complaining.

On our way with criminals to Colonia, we detected a nonhuman signal on a planet surface. We investigated and found a lone crashed something. I believe it might be a thargoid probe but no way to be sure. We have marked the location for future exploration as we do not have any cargo space on the current ship. My sources also whisper that just brining in Thargoid material is unwise unless a properly treated cargohold is fitted.

Another mystery.

We are 12.000 LY from Colonia at the moment.

Progress towards Colonia with a shipment of criminals looking for sightseeing is going smooth. We now have 16,131 LY left to go. The Beluga is handling fantastically like she always has on these long-range excursions.

The improved advanced docking computer is very handy during planetfall. Previously it would be sometimes hard to find a good landing spot for the colossal Beluga. The new landing computer handles this easily.

We are slowly making way towards Colonia with a passenger hold full of convicts. I hope they enjoy the Beluga's Luxury quarters. They will of course be confined to their quarters throughout the whole trip although they will get to enjoy the sights and stops on route.

I have to admit I am a little nervous of the docking procedure at Colonia. A small slip up and a successful scan and 200 millions will be lost in an instant.

Starting at Cubeo I found four passengers that wanted to explore the area around Colonia and return. They all agreed to pay between 30-50 millions for the trip, making the long trip quite interesting.

The trip will not be a direct flight, there will be plenty of exploration opportunities on the way. The navigator has been instructed to plot a few detours on the way.

Day 1 - 21'633 LY to go.

After a few months out in the cold void with the trusty ANDRONIUS, Dolphin class exploration ship, we are finally approaching the civilization bubble again. Only 200 frameshifts remain until safe and sound in Shinrarta Dezhra again. There we will most likely take on the role of trade captain for a while, perhaps some bounty hunting before starting to plan the next voyage out into the darkness.

Another expedition is nearing its end. It is time to return back to civilization after reaching the edges of the Tenebrae region. The return trip will be made at a brisk pace, ignoring most unprofitable exploration objects, instead singling out the more profitable ones such as waterworlds and its ilk's.

At the most we reached 41,000 LY from Sol or 47,000 LY from Colonia.

The ANDRONIUS, dolphin class exploration vessel has now been surveying the Tenebrae region for a good two weeks. All systems nominal with hull at a healthy 97%

We did try to plot a course to the neighboring region Dryman's Reach. The star density seem to be just to low for our 59LY capable FTL of plotting an automatic course.

We are not eager to go full manual at this time to rely on short jumps and FTL overdrives.

We will stay in region for another week or two. Our hope remains to discover a black hole, as we have already discovered several ELWs.

With the restored ANDRONIUS (Dolphin class explorer) we made our way to the already discovered black hole in PLA AICK RG-Y D6 to complete the Lyra's Song codex of astronomical discoveries. Not completely unsurpringinly the system had not only been fully explored but also inhabited by a DSSA Fleet Carrier. We promptly requested docking permission and was allowed full repairs as well as a large data dump to Universal Cartographics.

We are very grateful for the Fleet carrier captains that dwell in the deep dark to allow us commanders a brief respite from the dangers of the void.

The black hole is hardly detectable and since we are unsure of the actual danger of ending up to close to one, we kept a respectful distance of 500 km at all times. It is worth noting that it was extremely hard to detect and very very small.

We will now continue to cross Lyra's Song and head further on towards Tenebrae.