After a long hiatus from logging my journey, I've begun my trek to Sagittarius A* again in earnest. Since my last entry, I visited Colonia and made a pretty penny on the exploration data I had gathered to that point, and now I am 286 jumps from the center of the galaxy. A few hours of non-stop travel would get me there, but the thought of missing all the wonderful systems between, and the missed opportunities at fame and glory for discovering amazing planets, keep me from bolting as quickly as possible.

Somehow, my ship's computer has also received an update through the depths of space! I've never understood how Galnet News reaches my ship when I'm flying exponentially faster than the speed of light, but apparently the same technology has also improved my discovery scanner. Instead of visiting distant bodies within a system in order to get a detailed scan, I can now sweep the night sky with an improved signal tracer to zoom in on features and get detailed information on them. I can also launch probes to map the surface of interesting planets, and I've been promised a big payout if I can bring that surface data home! Speaking of which, I'm not even sure where home is anymore…

711. That's how many jumps I have to make just to get to edge of my galaxy map's route-plotter. Colonia is another 1000ly from the system I picked to act as my "straightedge". I've heard of some pilots using neutron stars to maximize their jump capacity, but that's just insane... right? I value my life, and I value my ship even more. I suppose I just have to decide between scanning the many wondrous bodies along my route, or focusing on reaching my destination within this lifetime. I mean, if I'm not here to enjoy the journey, what am I doing out here in the black anyway?

Two nights ago, I actually managed to blast out my Federation ranking and get promoted to Petty Officer, enough to grant me access to the Sol system and visit mother Earth. The system is actually pretty cool: there are "tourist beacons" spread throughout the inner planets which detail humanity's history through the second millenium, the planets themselves are nicely detailed, and there are even two capital ships in orbit around Mercury and Mars (although the second one will blast you to smithereens).

Now that I've achieved this feat, I think I'm ready to start prepping for a trip to Sag A. I need to pad my wallet a bit first, so I'm planning on improving my trading skills to make money and help with community goals.

Tonight I journeyed to uncharted territory for the first time. Though I found no new stars, I did manage to discover previously unscanned planets within their systems. Among them were two Earth-like worlds, with the largest payout totaling a little over 700,000 credits. My total earned tonight was around 14m credits, and I was able to upgrade some of my systems.

I also learned about Colonia, the furthest outpost from Sol in the galaxy. I'd like to visit, but I think Sol (and specifically Earth) deserve to be seen first. This will require that I advance through the combat ranks of the Federation in order to gain access, so Colonia will likely be a distant goal.