I bought a Saud Kruger Beluga Liner to join Eclipse and Brain Damage in my exploration fleet of ships. After some modifications at a few shady engineering shops I was able to push the jump range up to a modest 53ly limit, running on fumes I could push 57 ly but that massive 7C tank (with 128T of fuel capability) is one reason I went with the ship. The other reason was purely for style. It doesn't have Brian Dramage's 67 ly or Eclipse's monstrous 75 ly jump ranges but I can go further with fewer refuel needs, meaning I can strike out further off the well trodden paths without as much worry and the massive 7A frame shift drive can really move the weight, even Eclipse's beefy 6A has me measuring ever limpet's weight to save fuel on my jumps. I christened the Beluga Liner D.S.X. Echoes I set out on a test drive to Colonia.

There are wondrous things. There are magical things. There are dangerous things. We get what we deserve.

60 jumps into my little flight to Colonia. Eclipse's nav compute says it should take me a total of 294 jumps to go 22 thousand ly, only 234 more jumps. For the last 30 jumps now there has been something to discover in almost every system. Most of the time it is only a dusty snowball or some ice but that is okay with me. I see a lot of systems that the pilots only honked before jumping away, sometimes they used more than their d-scanner and grabbed a water world but left everything else, but mostly the stars have some commanders name on it for being the first one through but none of the planets have even been looked at. It's sad, how many discoveries are missed as commanders just hurry along there way.

So this is how I fly. I drop into a system along my route and like everyone I honk my d-scanner and scoop fuel. I look at the orbits reported and check the system map. If I only see the stars and the d-scan says there is more there I fly away form the star and I engage my FSS. Like I said most of the time it's all ice, dust or gas but it's still something. If there are some terraformables, water worlds, ammonia worlds, or balls with geologicals I'll go and map them... I map and land for biological and alien readings though. To me it doesn't matter much if it's 10 ls or 300,000 ls, I can spend the time sailing between those points of light, I'm out here for that. Quiet and time, that is all I want and it's why I'm here... and to see what others have rushed by and missed.

It is so hard to keep preping when all I want to do is go. I've spent more time meeting engineers, Lei Cheung, and getting may scanners and sensor equipment stripped down and improved. Eclipse can now max jump 80.02 ly but I'm more interested the average jump range, with my current set up I'm jumping over 75 ly with a full tank. So I'm heading to Colonia and after hearing about Etienne Dorn from Liz Ryder. They say he can strip out more of the bulk in life support systems than anyone else.

Currently Eclipse is set up and cruising to Colonia. I have to say I'm excited to get out into to black and see what I find along the way.

I've spent the last few weeks gathering what I need. With the help of Felicity and a new contract I've made called only the Dweller, I've been able to push Eclipse further than I expected. I could stripe a few more tons offsome of Eclipse's core internals and lighten up other parts but i think a 74ly range withba full tank of star fuel is better than I'd hoped. It makes Brain Damage's 68ly range with the same engineering seem sluggish and slow.

I was feeling antsy tonight so I decided to take a short trip out to an area in Vela Dark I went to when I first engineered da Gama's FSD with Felicity's help. That trip out had taken me a long time and been a test for me, I had a drive that did amazingly in 3304, my wingmate at the time was envious of just how good Felicity had done on my drive when her work on his hadn'tbeen as impressive. She's learn so much since then and her work is even better. This time though I made the tip from Jackson's Lighthouse to V.D.R. DL-Y d109 in 10 jumps. The super boost of jumptronium from Jackson's sent me 297.79 ly and I could have jump further than that.

Soon I was at my destination, a trip that had taken twice as long before. And I looked and saw Orion's, Horsehead's and Barnard's Loop all close by... only 14 jumps to Orion's Nebula, and 3 systems away from my first stop systems that hadn't been fully scanned lost and forgotten planets, dusk and ice but still something to see that no one else has, even along this short tourists route. And now it feel real, my plan to go into the black. Every 20kly will take me 271 or so jumps, making Colonia only a few hours away instead of days. I am debating sacrificing 0.5ly of range by installung a First Class Cabin Module in place of a cargo rack, just for a bit of extra comfort on my expedition, I don't mind the hammock I have in the engine room or the cot I the back of the bridge but a real bed and lounge area (not to mention a sauna and shower.) I'll have to stew on an extra 4 jumps per waypoint around the galaxy.

I've been in deep sleep along time. I woke up only a week and a half ago. I've work up a few times between 3303 and now, flown someplace, like from Sag A* back to the bubble or out in to the black and then back. But this time I woke up form hypersleep in LHS 535 (Alexandria's Hub, a place that feels less and less like home every time I wake up). I wake up every few month with that taste of a dead rat in my mouth and the shakes from longer term hibernation, and the message that I am about to exceed the maximum recommended safe sleep time. I've normally flown a for a bit, maybe it's because Ram Tah needed my help and had the credits to get me out of the sleep pod, or I just had to evacuate my bladder and ended up catching up on current events for a day or two, but I always lost interest and went back to sleep after I got a pay off. My mind never stopped though, and every time I was waking "The Black Away" would be calling me, filling my thoughts.

Other commander's I've flown with had advised me on ships and builds over my career and I've acquired a small fleet of ships for every occasion and a couple of hundred million in my wallet. While I've flown in their wings and fit ships for what they needed, I never was happy with any of that. Now those commanders are gone and I have an Anaconda and no one asking me to be in their wing. Sir Mixalot, as I named it after the ancient Earth classical vocal-bet composer, wasn't needed for killing and bounties any more, I don't care for that kind of flying, I never have. BUT my 'Conda could be very good for what I want to do, and I've been hearing about stripping them down and slapping in engineered parts and a bit of hybrid Guardian tech for an almost 80 ly jump range, before super-charging the FSD. So I thought Beagle Point and then circumnavigate the galaxy in one that I would call D.S.X Eclipse. A new build, new name, new purpose and home for me in the black.

I'd taken to only really flying my Asp-X D.S.X. da Gama for a very long time, I'd named it for an explorer from our ancient ancestral home, long before the planet had even fully been mapped, but I just couldn't bring myself to fly it now. Instead I took D.S.X Magellan, my DBX and a ship that I had left gathering dust in my hanger for far too long. I went to work collecting the things I would need to engineer it and Brain Damage for intense Deep Space eXploration. I decided to re-christen it D.S.X Brain Damage, the hymn that precedes Eclipse in the Dark Side of the Moon oratorio composition. I seemed to have had this seminal work running on endless loop while I slept because suddenly it's music seems to guide my path.

Brain Damage has taken me many place now, I have it pushing 68 ly/jump at the moment, not further due to my lacking contacts with the engineers that I need to optimize core internals as much as possible. But that is why I am flying it, it is my forerunner for Eclipse and so must make it's way. Eclipse also has a 65+ ly/jump range now and I will make it go further, push it further. Then I will go, and I will see where I end up.

After reaching Sagittarius A* I decide to plot a course as far up as I could go. Jumping up 7000 ly i planned my course and began my journey's next leg.

It took some time but I made it to Sagittarius A. It was was a long and uneventful journey. The route there was well flown and I felt little excitement of discovery. I soon took the final jump and saw the it, Sagittarius A.

There are moments... which can change a person for all time. And I suddenly wondered if I would ever see my snug hanger in LFT-1748 again.

I wondered if I actually wanted to.

I've been here in Colonia a while now. I prefer Jaques station. There is a lot here for someone like me but I am itching to move on. Sagittarius A* is my next goal, and I am ready to head out.

It has been a few days flight time now. I'm 30 jumps from my goal. I made over 100 jumps of the 200 jumps from Skaudai CH-B s14-34 Sacaqawea Space Port to Colonia today. The neutron stars I have found have each sent me around 200lys shaving 3 or 4 jumps each.

I cannot wait to see Colonia. Tonight I will be there, and da Gama will get a well earned rest before I set out for Sagittarius A. I know I am not the first to make this trek, nor will I be able to discover as much as the first legs of my travel have afforded me. At Sacaqawea Space Port the local cartographer was able to pay me 22mil for the system information I have gathered since leaving the bubble. While I am hoping for a bit more when I reach Colonia, with almost 100 jumps less in my final 10,000 ly leg of this trip I doubt it will be as profitable. The new systems I have found are becoming less and less as I near my final destination... and I doubt I will find much on my way to Sagittarius A. I have flown almost directly here though, without much sight seeing. I wanted to see how long it would take me to make the journey and I haven't dallied much. I have seen places along the way that I would have liked to take more time in and I may try to take a few detours on my way back to LFT 1748.

I loaded up da Gama and I have set out for Colonia. My first stop was some 250 jumps away away for LFT 1748. Skaudai CH-B s14-34 really just rolls off the tongue doesn't, but their deep space out post Sacaqawea Space Port is a good half way stop and I have discovered several systems that I scanned along the way.

It is nice to be out and flying again. After Colonia, Sagittarius A then home.