Greetings From Sagittarius A*

I finally made it, It was that last apprehensive jump into the one goal that I had set out to get to, was finally upon me.

"Ok Verity punch it"
"Please define punch it" her programming was still questionable
"you know punch it, engage F.S.D."
"Frame Shift Drive Charging"

With a smile on my face, I wait.

"5,4,3,2,1,","Engage"

This was it my last jump, finally, I would be amongst the few that have made it this far, finally I can say "Sagittarius A* yeah been there"

The suddenly I dropped out of witch-space and there before me was this Supermassive Blackhole before me.

And they we have it.... Now I have a big choice to make.... Turn back and race back home or head in a random direction and just stay out a bit longer.....

The pull home is stronger as I have had an invite from Felicity Farseer, of Farseer INC. from her the improvements I could hopefully make to Verity I may push her to Beagles Point. If not then I may have to mothball her and buy an ASP: Explorer.

But anyway I'm going to stick around here a while maybe out so close to this Blackhole, and decided what to do.

No stopping for sight seeing now......

28th June 3302 

Well in the past days I have continued to push closer to my goal and on the trip, there have been a couple of very close calls. As you properly read in the last post, I was very lucky.

So I have decided NOT to land anymore just in case, this does, however, come with risk, no mats to reload my ARM unit.

So with my new plan I hammered through a lot of different systems, in fact, 230 systems 5500 light years of travel, which puts me 2500 light away from Sagittarius A*

I found a few nice planets within some of the systems thought I would have found more, however, any way here are some pics of what I have seen along the way....

Along the way I came across two more water worlds, I also jumped into a twin star system which made me panic slightly it rose the temp a bit and cause a bit a damage, I then jumped out into another one then another I thought I was going around in circle for a bit

1 more water world along the way

And another

OHHH SHINNY

One System gave me kittens temp rose quiet quickly

Then jumped into another

Then another....

And then ...........................................

20th June 3302 (2016)

And then ...................

Something went wrong, drastically wrong.........



Ok, back to reality for a bit...

Elite Dangerous is a game, and is fairly new, so from time to time you get little problems, what happened next was more than a problem.

I was coming into a landing as gently as possible as you read in the previous entry but then suddenly the Graphics glitched and I ended up inside the planet, it was like the whole planet moved and swallowed me whole, within seconds BOOM!

OH BUGGERATION!

Devastated wasn't the word I would use, I nearly cried.... I did well I didn't swear outwardly, but my thoughts made the air blue, I just sat there staring at this notification.

Pressing continue I was then faced with the reality that I was 25k away again from my goal.

I contacted Frontier Developments :Customer Support. And explained the situation that I would have excepted if it was my fault, and had crashed it, or an NPC and destroyed me, but to have a Planet actually move wasn't really fair.

In 24 hours I received a message back, apologising and they reimbursed me my costs of rebuy, and place me back to the system I was in.

To quote someone from an Elite Dangerous Facebook group (Mobius PVE) I belong to "If Carlsberg did Customer Support"  I was again happy, I logged back on and was even happier when I noticed the ship was at 100% integrity again.

Well there it is the game failed me but everything turned out ok.

Thanks Frontier for the fantastic service.

Coming into land......... And

20th June 3302

Well, im on what I would say the final leg of my trip to Sagittarius A*. I'm getting close to nearly 8000ly to go.

It was getting late and I was getting tired and I just come across , a ringed planet with a good looking moon, so I decided to land and power down for the night. 

I came in on a normal approach

"Orbital flight Engaged" 

"Thank you, Verity I'll take it from here"

"You have the Con"

Landings easy I have done it so many times before, it's like docking I started with the docking computer, but half the time I needed to be fast so, in the end, I got rid of it. I always pride myself on my landings.

"Glide Mode Activated"

I love the sound of the ship gliding towards the planet you just have to trim the nose, every so often the whole ship shudders as it gets caught up in the plants gravitational pull.

"Glide Mode Deactivated"

"Ok girl lets find a nice landing place"

Checking my height it was a 3km slowly descending, at 2km I dropped the Landing Gear, my normal routine I throttled down, and slowly descended her using my thrusters. 

And then ...........................................................................................

Well thats 2000ly closer..

18th June 3302

Well today after, a break of just milling about in the ship, catching up with the news, I actually decided to push forward a bit more.

It was well worth the push as I found another water world, which is now happily stored in the data banks...

That make 6 of these now, I've taken some chances along the way tho get here, My worst fear right now is not being able to find the Materials I need to reload the ARM, as the integrity of every module is dropping, including my Frame Shift Drive.

Again I had a heart stopper I jumped out of Witch Space and got faced with this my temperature rose quickly again but, after having some practice at this I got away and fuel scooped of both stars. and jumped out.

Well, I choose, a nice spot for power down.

And tomorrow I look forward to getting closer to my goal.

Whooooaaahhhh, We're half way there Whoooaaahhh, livin' in a Cobra

13th June 3302 

Whooooaaahhhh, We're half way there Whoooaaahhh, livin' in a Cobra . 

Well, today I reached, that halfway mark, it's the point I have always said if I make it this far, I am not turning back. It's been a very enlightening trip. Lots of fantastic views, and systems, 6 water world's and 1 earth like, all data stored happily in the data banks.

To be honest, I had doubts, but this little milestone is enough to push me on. My little Cobra MKIII has done me proud, when we get back, she's going to have a much-needed service and wash, and I been informed that a new spoiler kit is available in the outfitters, I shall definitely be looking that up. The only thing I must do is look for material's to refill my Automatic Repair Module, it's empty... The rest will have to wait it's going to be a while before I get home.

Just for nostalgic, purposes I scanned the whole system, only had one land able moon, which was the furthest point away.

Coming into land, on My Halfway Moon.

Take off on only another 12,954 ly to go....

I'm sure to find what I need out here, plenty of undiscovered moons/planets to land on, and drive about...

Feet up...

12th June 3302

Well, I have been pushing hard these past few days, So today I decided to sit Verity down on the nearest moon, and just chill, and listen to my music, I actually drifted off to sleep. I woke up some 6 hours later. Verity had closed the music and went into sleep mode herself, must be tiring for her.

Well we have done over 10,000 Light Years, and the old girl isn't as young as she used to be, mind you neither the pilot. But 10,000 is a great milestone, in fact, it is 11,376 , I think I was right to put the old feet up today......

Feet up, and sleep.....

Well, Coffee time and a little more chillaxing....

Opps I ran out of road.

11th June 3302

For those that think it's easy plotting courses through systems, to get to your destination well think again, maybe it is plotting your trade route, practically click and go.

However when you so far out you can actually run out of stars.... I just got to my last way-point for the day I found a nice moon, to land on, it was orbiting a water world I'd just discovered

I decided to plot out my next 1000 Light years trip, I selected a star clicked plot and...

"Plotting failed, unable to determine route"
"What!"
"Plotting failed, unable to determine route" Verity Repeated.
"Ok try this one", selecting one a bit closer"
"Plotting failed, unable to determine route"

I slumped back in my seat coffee in hand

"Verity. zoom out view of the galaxy"
 The Galaxy view got smaller but then I saw the problem. Id been skimming the top layer of the galaxy, and I had run out of stars,

You idiot Sirsparkey its three-dimensional Space is three dimensional.

"Verity zoom in show our location."
Tilting the map to view from a different angle I clicked on a star 1000 light years away but lower, and waited

"Course laid in Commander"
"Ok thank you, bookmark destination please"
"Certainly Commander"

I felt like a right.....

That's one hot boobie....

Ok Who Left The Tap Running.

7th June 3302

Just a quick entry today.

Well carried on with my little trip and the first thing I did is jump into right in the middle of two hot stars. I tell you I had flashbacks from the last time..... I pulled up as quickly as I could and got away.....

NOT AGAIN!

Anyway after managing to scoop up the fuel. from one of them. I left the system and moved on to the next. The next system had this little gem....

Ok, who left the taps running.

A water world, undiscovered hopefully ill get back and no-one would have tagged it.

Well so far apart from the boredom of this long trip, I think things have gone really well, despite a few hitches, but it those bits that get the heart pounding, make it worthwhile....

Well onwards and ill think ill go that way.

The Trifid Nebula.

2nd June 3302

Well I made it here safely wasn't too long after the fuel issue, I think this Nebula looks better from the outside whilst you are flying here I mean. I'm not sure where I'm going to head next, Find a planet to land on would be a start I suppose, see if I can pick up some more Materials....

I know within this Nebula are many other systems, I will properly give them a tour you never know what you'll find.

But my main goal is still the core. And I have got a long way to go.

Anyway, Verity could do with landing on a planet so I can get a look at the Hull, the old girls been battered about a bit, and I don't want to have to turn back cause bits are falling off .

Anyway tomorrows another day, and there is plenty more systems to explore...

Could Somebody Please Point Me Too A Scoopable Star... (like now)....

1st June 3302

Today I decided to make a push to the Trifid Nebula, however, my Day at the Trifid didn't go as well as I hoped for.

The one thing deep space explorer dreads the most and that is running out of fuel, in the middle of nowhere trapped with no scoopable stars nearby. And just waiting to die.

Well this was that day, I couldn't believe what was happening, every system I dropped into was either a TTS Class  - Tauri Type These are very young stars, and are in the process of gravitational Contraction, or the T Class - Brown Dwarves, these ones are borderline gas giants and again not good for a pilot low on fuel.

TTS Class - Tauri Type

T Class - Brown Dwarf

After a few systems full of these useless Star I heard those dread words from the ships computer,

"Main Fuel Tank Drained"
"Oh Shit"

There I was drifting on reserves, stuck light years from home, not even sure the famed Fuel Rats could get to me in time not out here this far out in the black.

"Galaxy Map Verity Please"

In seconds the galaxy map was open I scanned the area for possible stars to fuel up on, and more importantly in range. Found , I think no data on system unknown star class, but something about this system that said I'd be OK. I selected the route, it was right on the borders of what I had left, I'd properly run out just before I left Witch Space or just after there was no real way to tell.

"Verity shut down all nonessential systems including flight assist...." Shutting down might help squeeze that last light year out of the tanks.

"Engage F.S.D."
"Frame Shift Drive Charging"

I could feel the old girl sucking up the last of its fuel, the engines didn't sound right the ship didn't feel ready.

"Ready to Engage"

OK, this was it, no turning back now, my mouth went dry.

"Engage"
"5,4,3,2,1, Engage"

The ship lurched forward, as if it was ready to stall, having used everything she had got just to give me this one chance. Then Boom into witch-space. I closed my eyes, images of friends and love ones back home flooded through my whole life set before me. Stories have been told of pilot entering witch-space and never returning... Perhaps this has why not enough fuel.

Then with a final lurch, Verity punched through.

"Warning Reserve tank at 1%,"
"Verity shut down everything except the fuel scoop"
"Shutting down all systems, excluding fuel scoop"

The heads-up display showed 10mins of oxygen remaining. I figured I'm dead anyway if I'm wrong about this star. I was dead in space, and drifting towards a bright yellow fireball, had it paid off will my forward momentum be enough. Was it the right class....

 "Oh Be A Fair Girl And Kiss Me" I whispered

Then the two words I was longing to hear

"Fuel Scooping"
"Verity, power up all systems, run a full diagnostics, fuel up and let's get out of here"

The sound of the scoops drinking in that Hydrogen from the sun's corona was music to my ears.

FUEL SCOOPING AN M CLASS 

"Fuel scooping complete","All systems are functioning within appropriate parameters"

I sighed a heavy sigh of relief, perhaps I had a chance after all to this, yet again my ship Verity had pulled me through,

"Fuel scoop disengage"
"Verity Set course for the Trifid Nebula"
"Course laid in, Commander"

Engage.