Generation Ships were huge structures containing the infrastructure and technology to support multitudes of generations on their way out of the solar system (Sol) following routes towards possibly interesting star systems, which were considered to provide planets for future colonization.

These structures were huge enough to safely contain and maintain up to twenty thousand people: a whole society living isolated on board of such ships. These communities had to be able to cope with all possible problems during their journeys: technical issues and maintaining a generation ship over long periods of time, possible outbreaks of disease, the education and qualification of each new generation taking over from the predecessors, taking care for the elder generation, keeping up all production processes needed for supplies of food, water, medicine as well as the cultural foundation of the community by further development of music, fine arts or religion and politics. The ability of a relatively small number of people forming a self-sufficient society being able to keep up over centuries with such a limited amount of resources is a massive task.

The task of the generation ships was an experiment or, to be exact, many experiments about technology, society, all the various sciences, culture and as well about the vastness of space, the blackness with all of its unknown effects: Could the task be finished successful? Were it possible to reach the destination? How would a society look like after centuries in isolation? Cold the community and the technology cope with the task over a long term?

Humans are a social species. For an individual or only a small group of individuals staying out in space for long periods of time and possibly during their whole lifespans is an impossibility. Loosing the contact to the community surely might lead to disaster in these cases. But how about a whole community being sent out? No-one knew when sending out the Generation Ships.

The food production on board of the Thetis seems to work still:

Well, it turned out that all except one Generation Ships were failing after a while for various reasons. In case of the Generation Ship found in Nefertem system, which is the Thetis, there are a few log entries one is able to find by scanning the communication beacons of this Generation Ship.

Even though the real reason(s) for the decay of the society on board the vessel Thetis remain(s) a mystery: With the warning to enter the ship the messages report a change of human minds; it is not solved weather the craziness was infectious or did spread by other means. It is reported there was some radio source on board the vessel, which compromised the internal communication systems. Trying to isolate and to eliminate that signal turned out to be not effective finally, if there was such a breach at all. On the other hand it stays relatively clear that the people on board the Thetis collectively developed some weird kind of madness and were starting to kill each other.

Trees on board the Thetis seem to have survived so far but no sign of human life can be found on board the vessel Thetis:

To me the logs remain inconclusive. The said breach by the unknown signal was supposed to have taken place in a system roughly 15 light years behind on the route of the Thetis. I scanned all systems surrounding the Nefertem system, which were in a distance between 14 and 16 light years and found no (more) evidence. And how could the human mind be reprogrammed by a radio signal? There is no process known to me having such an effect causing the reported impact.

Beacon transmitting one of the logs being found with the Thetis Generation Ship

As well other kinds of failure may be possible, e.g. a contamination of food or water production having such an effect. But then again: how likely is it that all individuals do show the same symptoms? In a group of drunken people some become sleepy, some become agitated and aggressive but not all persons do react in exactly the same way. The mystery remains so far.

One more remark: Due to the travel by higher sub-light-speeds these vessels were believed to reach their target systems after dozens of decades, hundreds or maybe over a thousand of years after the launch. The Thetis Generation Ship is to be found in a distance of roughly 53.5 light years from Sol, a distance a state of the art Elite ship is able to travel in mere minute.

Typical Module Layout of a Genaration Ship:

Last remark: The name Thetis derived from a nymph in ancient Greek mythology: Thetis was the granddaughter of the sea-goddess Tethys and leader of the 50 Nereids, daughters of the ancient sea god Nerus. It seems likely the Generation Ship Thetis may have been on of a larger group – maybe 50 – other Generation ships.

Lore Tour 3306 – waypoint 3: Achenar (correct spelling: Achernar)

Achenar, home system of the second superpower in the Elite Milky Way, The Empire, is formed around a B-type star of the luminosity class V (Main-sequence star).

The Empire was founded in Achenar after the colonists of various systems were able to defeat the Federastion’s expedition corps and invading fleets. For various reasons the colonists of a number of worlds refused to be ruled by the Federation and claimed their independence. Most if not all colonies not willing to be dominated and ruled by the Federation until this time (year 2323) were incorporated and became part of the new power. The system Achenar was located at the limits of human space when the Empire arose and thus was able to maintain its new won freedom and grew to the second superpower during the following centuries. The society and political system of Achenar and the rising Empire with its strong hierarchy developed a culture of its own and was opposing the Federation during many occurrences throughout the following times.

The home world of the Empire

The Achenar system as well is known for the planet Achenar 3, which has a gravitation of 6.73 G at the level of its planetary surface.

In orbit of Achenar 3

Visiting the Achenar system a couple of times before, Aldarion knew the location and first decided to land on Achenar 2 to visit the Fumaroles located at its surface at the coordinates 71.4985 / 20.6576.

Visiting the Tourist Beacon at the Fumaroles of Achenar 2

After visiting the Fumaroles Aldarion inspected all tourist beacons of the system nevertheless he had seen some of these before.

Then, Aldarion planned a safe touchdown on the surface of Achenar 3, which is posing a challenge to every commander trying so due to the high gravity of this huge rocky planet. The first attempt became a disaster when Aldarion lowered his ship's nose slightly too much for a few seconds too long to reach the location of a search area he navigated to. The margin of error is a very narrow one under these conditions close to the planet’s surface.

Landing Procedure for Achenar 3

The second attempt became a success despite Aldarion used his lightweight built ASP-X again. Landing his fully loaded Cutter on a landing pad of a 5G world several weeks before seemed less of a problem than now landing the smaller vessel with a significantly lower mass on a surface with a difference of over 1G in gravitation: forces do multiply and the higher the G-force becomes the more challenging and severe the procedure of landing a ship will be. The start and reentry into a stable orbit around Achenar 3 was a slow process but proved save and successful as well.

Parking on the surface of the High G world Achenar 3 under the white light of the central star

Lore Tour WP1 – SOL

The Sol system: cradle of humanity and origin of human space travel, exploration and colonization of the now inhabited parts of space in the Elite Milky Way is the start and first way point of Drew Wagar’s Lore Tour.

The lore of the game not only gives the background story and some explanations for the scenario inside the game but either sets the frame for the individual histories of the players (commanders) providing a multitude of sometimes hidden aspects and details enriching the game itself.

Planet Earth, part of a dominion known as the Federation, was subject to ecological, historical, social, economic and technological changes through the two millennia until the start of the first decade of the 31st century. The Federation is one and the oldest of the three human superpowers existing inside the Elite Universe.

This image shows the first meeting point of the Lore Tour: The Ocellus Starport Galileo

Earth itself was and is subject to a recreation process after a devastating global nuclear war. Geo-morphology underwent slight changes due to the climate warming, now showing the continental coast lines reshaped by 2 millennia of global warming and ocean rise. Climate and ecosystem were reshaped by technological efforts to reconstruct the living sphere of mankind.

The same technological methods of terraforming were used on Mars and failed once before being able to be considered successful. When the success at Mars was reached, in some of the neighboring solar systems around Sol (such as Tau Ceti, the first colonized outpost) human colonists, driven by large co-operations formed by the now ruling industrial entities, had applied similar techniques of terraforming to extra-solar planets where considered feasible. By doing so, either by accident or intended, alien life forms and species were wiped out in most cases. In a few other cases some balance could be reached and co-existence was possible.

Planet Mars inside the Elite Milky Way, 3306

Planet Earth as seen from the orbit

These processes led to the creation of the second superpower, the Empire with its core at the Achenar system (shouldn’t Achenar be spelled Achernar?).

During the two millennia after the dystopian devastation of planet Earth man kind also made contact to a species called the Thargoids and was able to develop and improve technologies enabling space travels with a speed faster than light, finally leading to the use of Hyperspace drive technologies.

Before the age of faster-than-light speed and Hyperspace technology, the technological era of sub-light speed travel saw multitudes of so-called generation ships. These were sent out further away from the Sol-system to potentially colonize space; as known so far, all except one mission were failing through the centuries and some generation ships had been found since traveling through Hyperspace became common and everyday business. The one successful mission of a generation ship and exception is the Golconda, which recently had been saved by the superpowers in the year of 3305.

During the first meeting of the participants of the Lore Tour the question arose, why the dwarf planet Ceres inside the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter could not be found anymore inside the Sol system. Different theories were discussed but no final solution and answer could be found.

Molly Rosie – A Capital Class Ship

Today I joined some fellow rats fighting in combat zones at Fuelum system. Four of the smaller factions do fight against each other. To us it meant a good opportunity to go out and join the fighting role. To me doing so was all right as long as we did not choose to fight for the one faction fighting against the rats in Eleumo system roughly four weeks earlier.

When we started we had two wings inside the zones at a time. Some commanders left, others joined so we could establish one fighting wing over a few hours. Right when we started we defeated a Majestic Class Interdictor. For the next hours I did not see anymore huge battleships inside the combat zones until hours later we were happy enough to find a place where there were two of these huge ships: The Majestic Class Interdictor of the opponents floating next to the Farragut Battle Cruiser of our side. As during all the other combats our wing of (finally) three (commanders Recrudesce, Worthy Alpaca and I) was able to win this battle surprisingly quick and we could inspect the last remaining battleship in the area, which was Molly Rosie, a Farragut Battle Cruiser.

We were swirling around that structure like moths around a lighthouse at the sea: this lighthouse was in orbit over a rocky planet, Fuelum A1, the sun behind it in its glorious orange-golden glow now was warming our souls and brightening our moods: we survived all the battles and were victorious.

There is some kind of an open tunnel following the axis of a Farragut. It follows along the most part of the length of this type of cruiser: At the stern of a Farragut the engines are mounted and some bridge is set on top of the installations. I don’t know exactly what parts of the ship are contained in that bridge but I guess units for fire controls and fire solutions due to the fact the vital parts of a Farragut are placed deep inside the body of this giant ship. From a position before the engine compartment the open tunnel leads to the front of the vessel. It could be called some kind of a hangar but is not entirely closed: It is possible to access it from the top and bottom as well as from the front. Doing so, one will have a good view over multitudes of quarters to its starboard and port sides; all packed with tactical stations, logistics and recovery units as well as staff offices and rooms, which are protected at the inside of the vessel.

The following two images give a good impression about the central structure of the Cruiser Molly Rosie:

Along the bottom of this open hangar there are numerous bridges leading from one side to the opposite, from starboard to port or the other way around. It has to be mentioned: the open hangar is connected to and part of the free space, a vacuum. So the question arose, why this construction was made as it is. There are a few reasons to construct the ship in this way: At the one hand for obvious reasons this layout allows a good cooling of the vast vessel due to the fact a good amount of heat is able to be emitted to the coldness of space from the central and most heated parts of the vessel. So this open hangar acts like a giant heat sink with unlimited capacity.

The central Servicing Bay of the Farragut allows most ships to pass each other safely:

On the other hand it allows servicing ships to access all parts of a Farragut in an effective way: repair and maintenance tasks as well as all kinds of logistics can be done using this hallway: to supply the engine compartment with fuel means to run down the hallway from the tip of the vessel right to the end of the open hangar and to deliver the needed materials. Same is true for all other compartments of the Farragut: at some part of the ship there are units placed along its length, which can be served via the two closest cross bridges. I am sure there are numerous protocols describing the procedures. As well we steered Alpaca’s FDL and my Challenger through the servicing tunnel and found out we could park the two ships one to each other without any problems. I also was able to turn the challenger by 180 degrees via all axes without lacking of space. That means there is enough space for most ships servicing the segments and compartments of the Farragut while other vessels are able to pass these ships during the same time, when arriving or returning to their destinations.

The described logistical and technical possibilities of the central open hangar are essential to supply and run a huge structure like the Farragut in an efficient way; one needs to keep in mind: these ships neither land on a planetary surfaces nor dock at star ports. But there might be one more use of the layout: during rescue missions or after a battle broken ships can be towed through the structure and personnel could leave or being evacuated into the Farragut. Of course they had to wear space suits or jump into a rescue pod due to the fact they had to cross through open space towards and behind the hatches on both sides of the cross bridges before reaching a safe, pressurized environment.

Spacious runway:

A fourth use of the layout might be possible as well: covered and somewhat hidden it is possible to carry or even assemble equipment inside the central part of a Farragut; hence secret missions become possible. For example the construction of weapons or reconnaissance equipment can be done, which then could be launched easily at a given location.

Two medium sized ships passing each other inside the Farragut:

Well, everything ends somewhere as did our welcomed inspection tour: Molly Rosie was targeted and attacked by a second wave of enemy ships. This time we had a hard fight due to the reason we all were low on ammo. We fought this battle until the end with overheating light weapons and empty mags of projectile weapons… we succeeded but all were torn and tiered, exhausted after hours of combat: we returned to Wollheim Vision, joined one of the bars close to the landing pads for a last drink and a chocolate bar before heading to bed.

Dimensions of the Servicing tunnel of the Farragut Molly Rosie:

After I enjoyed a few days of mining operation at Borann TFRM got under pressure in a number of their systems. First to mention is ELEUMO System, which contains the the only major star port of my faction. In this system TFRM were at war and threatened to lose the control of this system including the Ocellus Star Port, which is dedicated to extraction and refinery operations; no doubt, these operations not only generated a good part of the faction’s income but were and are of imminent importance to generate the hydrogen fuel the Fuel Rats need to run their operations.

The following image shows the Guardian Site at HD 63164 out of some distance:

During the following days I fought in numerous combat zones, winged and on my own, to defend all the precarious systems. Among the wings with rats I got the support of CMDR LCP as well, who is no fuel rat but was fighting as brave as all the rest of us. A highlight was the take down of a capital warship in Eleumo system. As well I carried out several Black Box Missions but mainly I was sitting in my Challenger, Styx, fighting back the threats in at least three systems. All systems could be saved for TFRM and I gained ‘dangerous’ combat rank too.

After the fights were fought I took my part in strengthening the weakened systems. I bought a Python I named ‘Stanislav Lem’ to be able to dock at the numerous outposts of the systems with outposts only such as RHO INDI, where there is Erikson Retreat the single one station in system, which is an outpost providing a maximal landing pad size of M (medium). I finished multitudes of missions including to catch a few pilots being wanted by TFRM. Also, I swiped the compromised Nav Beacon in one of the defended systems.

Well, these missions took me a week before I decided to go out mining for Low Temperature Diamonds again. I might be able to earn the credits needed to get one of these fleet carriers during this year.

After days of mining, I thought it were nice to get some distraction from the repetitive mining tasks. I asked LCP if he would like to visit some Guardian sites. LCP did not have the blueprints for the FSD booster. CMDR Flossy, a ratting trucker, asked if she could join us, since she didn’t have those blueprints either. As a result the three of us met in a wing of three at the Guardian Structure at HD 53164. I explained the process of programming the Ancient Machine at the altar hill, which materials were needed for the tech broker later as well as I supported the mission. Turned out that site was busy and we were joined by a random commander during that task, while other commanders accidentally popped in at that site. During specific times there were six commanders present at the theater and I found myself in explaining task related details several times. Even though I dismissed my DBX landing spaces became rare and the arriving pilots had even more difficulties to find a landing spot for their ships, which resulted in commanders passing by, saying ‘Hello’ then leaving again.

When commander LCP left heading towards the bubble again, Flossy and I stayed. Flossy was not retrieving any blueprint from the machine: while the scan of the orb always is a little bit problematic since the lock on the target is only possible during a short period of time and not possible right from the beginning, when the Ancient Machine ejects the orb, these difficulties seem to multiply when trying to get the scan data as a part of a wing. I did the pylon activation run plenty of times. There are always advantages and disadvantages with everything: the advantage was, Flossy was able to gather all the needed Guardian materials, esp. the Guardian Technology Components, which are spawned in a lower ratio and number than the other guardian materials.

Finally, after lots of briefing and debriefing and re-trying, we succeeded and Flossy got the deserved Guardian FSD Booster Blueprint. She was about to give up but I knew the effort would work out in her favor sooner or later, which it did. I, myself gathered the blueprints for the Guardian Power Plant and the Guardian Power Distributor as well as for the Guardian Module and Hull Reinforcements at HD 53164 and had a scan success of roughly 50%.

The following image shows the Ancient Guardian Ruins at Synuefe EU-Q C21-10:

I was able to increase that success ratio the next day: I decided to head over to the Guardian Site at Synuefe EU-Q C21-1, where Guardian blueprints for related weapons can be obtained. During the following days I was able to successfully scan the orb six times out of eight or nine scans. It should be mentioned: I visited this site on my own and there was no wing involved in the process. As all the other Guardian sites this one features a beautifully constructed scene of Ancient ruins settled into a hilly landscape providing some atmospheric environment as well – at least during the daytime. I might visit some more Guardian sites in the future, since I do like it as much as I like the SRV.

Top view of the Guardian Structure at Synuefe EU-Q C21-10:

In retro perspective all these activities during the last month were a lot of fun and the multiplayer parts turned out to be a great experience as well. After all Aldarion is making new plans for the near future: CMDR Skywaiter mentioned that Lore expedition initiated by Drew Wager, which seems promising. Well, we will find out – fly save commanders.

Delivering a gift for Paul‘s mom (al-Din Prospect) and OP Hot Mess

After a few days of working in the trader‘s role and occasional re-fuel jobs for the Fuel Rats I had the chance to visit al-Din Prospect, the industrial outpost at Alpha Centauri A. As a remark I add: Alpha Centauri B is commonly known as Proxima Centauri where the Hutton Orbital is located.

When I arrived there, the system was at the state of public holiday. Most activities were paused and the outpost seemed to be relatively quiet. I met Paul’s mother when passing the customs. Customs at outposts are not as busy, not as sophisticated and less thorough than at the huge stations so I saw her when slipping through small gate area. Paul’s mom seemed younger than she should be but her hair showed a slight Grey touch. We were talking via intercom a few days before so I knew for whom I had to look out. As well she must be a respected person on the outpost, which makes some sense since she stayed most of her life at this station. As soon as the customs officer saw her he quickly swiped my Pilot’s Fed card through his machine, marked it just green on the related data base he was working with and waved me through saying: ‘Welcome, Sir.’. This felt a little bit odd due to the fact that the procedure took only a few seconds, which is very quick, even for an outpost like al-Din Prospect. No-one asked to open my rucksack, no-one wanted me using the X-ray machine or something. Even for a holiday state this seems peculiar.

Well, Paul’s mom, Natalie, directed me into the Worker’s Lounge. In its dimmed atmosphere during holidays we ordered drinks and I told her about Paul and how we met a few before. Then she asked if I had the gift from her son, which I confirmed, getting a small package out of my rucksack. When she opened it, it contained a bottle Lave Gin, a rare good, and even rarer at this outpost lacking of all luxuries.

Natalie smiled. I knew somewhere hidden with that package was some data. Data Hot Col needed to organize their operation Hot-Mess. Due to the fact I was supporting the Truckers since a while, I was invited to take part in OP Hot Mess. I agreed.

During the last week of January I returned to Alpha Centaury. I bought a Krait MK2 to do a Hutton run. I took two wing mates with me and we were hauling three times 68t of Hutton Mugs. After delivering the Mugs I stored in my cargo, I flew back to Hutton Orbital collecting another 68 mugs, I then dropped at Katzenstein Dock. So this day was filled with staying in SC for a while, twice towards Hutton Orbital, which needs a 6397069 ls SC distance to be reached and once towards Katzenstein Dock, which is not as far out from its main star but still involves a long Super Cruise distance to be reached (EDDB says 4217746 average distance from its main star) SC distance.

As Hutton, Katzenstein Dock sells some rares as well. So I returned there too with a Cutter to collect it. Katzenstein, other than Hutton, provides a large landing pad (L-Pad). So far, I thought I made a good job supporting OP Hot Mess. Far fetched, I wasn’t. A day later I got a message by Paul explaining to me the work so far qualified me to really join the Hot Mess operation. He gave me a code I could use to log into the related database. Using it (code and DB) I was able to find out, which stations and systems did not get any supplies of mugs. After learning that, I went over to Hutton again two days later. Anyone interested might seek for the Hot Col website to find further information.

Before going mining at Borann’s LTDs triple hot spot side for a week I delivered Hutton Mugs (as part of OP Hot Mess) to all stations in the following systems: Taevaisa, Nambal, Carverda, Shasir, which is one of my home systems, Maria, Basuk An, Volkhabe and Popontia.

Van Maanen’s Star star system – O'Connor City – meeting Taryn and Paul 21st January 3306

After a lot of trade runs I thought it would be a nice idea to visit a tourist star port. Before I left the bubble one year ago (returning a day short of New Years Eve) I liked the one placed in Caleta a lot. I guess it is called Watson Station.

In fact I have to admit I did not know O’Connor City was some of these tourist star ports, I just had to deliver the commodities of my last trade run to this destination being unaware of the type of station at all – and probably totally uninterested in this fact until I entered this Coriolis Starport.

Other than the industrial ports or the refinery stations, this type of starport welcomes the entering pilot with a blazing bright sight once entering through the mail slot. As well these star ports normally are equipped with some beautiful restaurants serving the best kinds of food and drinks. Even though I felt tiered after the multitude of trade runs I decided to leave my ship (Ikarus) for a walk through one of the pleasant parks finding one of the good restaurants.

The docking space of a Coriolis Starport consists of numerous cylindrical segments, which are forming the structure visible to the entering pilot. Each segment itself consists out of a number of rectangular fields of different sizes: Small, medium and large landing pads wit the related infrastructure of traffic control buildings, transit buildings, loading and storing areas an so on. These landing areas are placed among similar sized areas providing installations according to a starports’s classification. A tourist starport like O’Connor City provides hotels, parks, restaurants, botanical gardens, libraries, city halls and congress centres. As well two huge statutes can be seen when entering O’Connor City. Both look similar and each show two giant figures: a human male and a human female or – more precisely the artists interpretation of it. Set as a symbol of human triumph while colonizing space like an attribution to the ideas of Leornardo daVinci, who once produced a famous drawing of the human and his scales and reach.

So I passed the transit area related to the landing pad I used, quickly moving through the customs and further on via the internal net of walking paths underneath the docking area. Customs was absolutely no problem for me due to the fact O’Connor City is owned by the Hutton Orbital Truckers Co-Operative, a minor faction I was working together with since a long time; a relationship between me as an independent pilot being member of the Pilot’s Federation and the Truckers, a pilot, who did several Hutton runs and – most important – working for the truckers at Deriso, where I supported them since over a year with a multitude of successful missions. In fact, Giles Station became my home station in Colonia. So I had all papers and best references and was able to smoothly pass through customs with a warming ‘Welcome’.

There is a number of levels between the inside surface with the landing pads, which is formed by concentric cylinders and containing all the living areas and quarters of this part of the station. I was heading towards one of the parks with the statutes and could reach the one closest to my pad within 20 minutes. What a beautiful site: green trees, flowers and walkways over small bridges and gravel plus the astounding view of the monument placed in the centre of the park. It was worth checking out, since I never had done so before.

Now I was strolling around since more than two hours and still had no meal, yet. I was sitting on one of the benches, enjoying the surrounding watching spaceships entering and leaving the starport and wouldn’t have been bothered to fall asleep. A voice finished my daydreaming: ‘Hey, may I sit next to you, pilot?’. Turned out the pleasant voice belonged to a Taryn Burton; she was on the last two days of her holidays and originating form Graham Terminal, an Orbis Starport located in Tau Ceti run by a theocracy. I finished my last runs of the day for that faction and vividly could remember that place not too far away.

Taryn Burton was member of a faction named ‘South Heaven’ present over there; South Heaven was a democracy and during my negotiations at Graham I came to the conclusion the people of South Heaven were the better part at Graham Terminal. So we talked about the situation in Graham Terminal before we decided to seek out some nice restaurant. Taryn stayed since a week at O’Connor City and knew the best places so we ended up at a restaurant called ‘Chez Paul’. Turned out Paul was the manager and owner of that place and he greeted Taryn when we entered that place serving the best foods in light-years range. Paul was a talkative person and knew his job: Once finishing the last glasses of fine wine we three had together – we were the only and last people in the restaurant by that time – I paid for the superb service and tipped a good sum of credits on top of it due to the fact the meal was the best I had over a year, the conversation was pleasant and Paul did a great job.

The following image shows the location of 'Chez Paul': The restaurant is located in the tall tower placed in front of the botanic garden covered by a transparent roof at the midfield of the image, second floor to the right:

Paul told me his story, how he grew up at an outpost in Alpha Centauri next to Sol; not as you may think at Hutton Orbital but the other one, orbiting the main star Proxima Centauri, which is called al-Din Prospect. This was ok for a young child but when he grew older he needed to see something else, more than the small encapsulated world of an outpost with the constant smell of filtered and recycled air. So he went to Sol, where he stayed at the terraformed Mars for a few years learning the basics of his profession. When his friend, Harold, died, he settled on Earth working for one of the very famous cooks, who served Zachary Hudson himself and the whole of his entourage. With best references and some money he could save during these years Paul was able to open his restaurant at O’Connor system, which he now runs since nearly a decade as well. Paul liked one of the photos I produced when visiting the system Byua Aim HC-M d7-2196 for the first time back in 3304 (I returned there in 3305 during DW2 and still might be the only human so far, who landed on a moon orbiting a water world, which itself was orbiting one of the gas giants of that system); the following image shows the shot Paul liked. He said he will put it against the main wall of his restaurant and I liked that idea.

Anyway, I was about to leave with Taryn, who invited me to stay at her hotel suite not far away. Well, I got up late the following morning and made my ship waiting inside the dock. The servicing crew had some time and no stress to give it a really good inspection so the last day was a good one. Only downside was I had to leave but that’s a space pilot’s profession, isn’t it?

During some delivery missions yesterday I visited Sol due to the fact I took commodities from Galileo Space Port, which orbits Earth's moon. I was able to take some time to show a good friend the beautiful views on earth: North, Meso and South America, Australia, parts of New Zeeland, India, the Middle East, Africa and Finally Europe with a beautiful view on his hometown Liverpool.

Here are some photos we made:

The week before I took part in two evacuation missions. Since the Thargoids appeared again returning to the Pleiades Sector, the need of willing pilots was given to evacuate numerous burning stations.

I took part in the evacuation in Calaeno System located at the Pleiades Sector as well as in an evacuation at Shenve at the Witch Head Nebula. As well I was able to deliver some needed goods for the rescue, evacuation, reconstruction and repair of the two stations, which also involved some travels from the Wichhead Nebula towards the bubble and back. The evacuation at Calaeno involved a a beautiful view over some icy rings during the short hops to and from the rescue vessel.

At the end of 3305 I went on a re-fuel mission: a CMDR was stuck on his journey from the bubble towards the centre.

Due to the rescue I was speeding within short over 2 hours from Colonia towards the target system ton conduct the rescue. We could save the lost pilot refuelling his Krait Phantom.

The lost commander B. Sinclair was set in a system named Floawns RO-Z e3840, a system located some 11kly north of the bubble.

This system contains a BH, a Methane Dwarf as well as a Brown Dwarf; the client had to stop close to one of the non-scoopable stars and couldn't refuel his ship.

ETA at the rescue system was 19:00 (game time) and I arrived 5 minutes past the given ETA. There was a second Fuel Rat for this rescue, CMDR PryyPryy, who traveled from the bubble to the given destination and arrived half an hour after me. Then we had to wait for the commander to log back into the game and some time passed waiting and discussing the procedure.

After the job was done PryyPryy and I visited the Black Hole for some sightseeing and investigation; I guess PryyPryy told me it were his first visit to such a singularity.

When we departed the date had changed to the 29th of DEC 3305 and I decided to return to the bubble before the new year.

Thus, I flew my Beluga to Omega Mining, the mining outpost, which is placed as an Asteroid Base inside the ring of a gas giant close to the Omega Nebula. I had to do some maintenance and repair my ship, Ahab's Desire - I ran out of ammo for the AFMU during the last leg and sure had to repair some modules.