Ever feel like a Carthaginian?

While I've been working my way towards that elusive Sol permit, I've been busy soaking up every vid feed, holo-stream and data blast I can get my hands on relatiing to Sol and Earth. I read some interesting history about a place called Carthage. The Carthaginians were pretty bad-ass. Not quite as powerful as Rome but they gave it a good go. They even rode to war on ELEPHANTS! So why am I mentioning this? Well the federation military seems to have a lot in common with the Carthaginians.

You see, the army of Carthage was made up entirely of mercenaries. Foreign mercenaries. And that's JUST like how the Fed Navy feels. I'm not billeted anywhere. I don't collect a paycheque. Every so often while checking the bulletin boards I'll get contacted by some superior officer (a different one every time!) and given a mission. Some of them are nightmarish. Some of them seem easy. Some of them are downright illegal. There's something very unsettling about all of this. I try to ignore it and focus on the end goal.

Supposedly ferrying goods to commercial docks is a military matter...

After my latest mission, smuggling firearms into a prison colony (look, I don't ask questions, I just do the jobs, OK?) I got a promotion to Midshipman. I'm almost there. I'm just one promotion away. I find the work I do incredibly distasteful, but it's for the greater good. Well.... It's for MY greater good, at least.

But anyway, I found myself at a loose end with no contracts coming my way, so I ended up heading to the bar at Levi Strauss and contemplasting the massive journey I embarked upon just a couple of weeks ago, marvelling at how it all led to this point. The things I've seen, the things I've done... It's astounding. But the things I've yet to do are even more fantastic. It was here that I got into a lengthy conversation with one Commander Chris Simon.

Chris was a veteran commander who had seen for more of the galaxy than me. He smiled at my enthusiasm as I explained the tyrannic majesty of the White Dwarf stars I had seen on my travels.

"Yes, White dwarfs are utterly awesome, " he agreed, "but reserve your judgement on what you call majestic beauty until you see a Neutron Star."

It was like holding a candle out to a moth.

"Are there any nearby?" I asked. "Nearby" was a relative term, of course.

A slightly drunk commander who had been listening in chirped up with "FYI Jackson's Lighthouse is the closest neutron star," before smiling and collapsing to the floor. With renewed purpose I headed to the docking bay.

Just look at the average price of these things!

Jackson's lighthouse was some 176 light years away. With my current FSD it was going to take over thirty jumps to get there, but I was undeterred. However, I figured there was nothing wrong with turning a profit if I was heading that way anyway. On a previous military contract I had managed to... acquire an amount of rare Ophiuch Exino Artefacts. Supposedly alien in origin, although cheap fakes to my eyes, I'd heard people on the other side of the bubble pay handsomely for this tat. So I loaded up my hold, plotted a course and started the long haul.

The journey was uneventful. The sight that greeted me when I arrived though. I have no words, so here are some pictures.

 

Even photos do not do this justice. The swirling plasma jetstreams are hypnotic in their helical twisting. The star itself is so dense it's difficult to get near, but I flew as close as I could, before accidentally wandering into the jetstreams. My systems went haywire, my FSD started barking warning after warning at me, and I was shaken out of the trance I had entered while staring at the neutron star. I headed to the closest system and docked up.

After shifting the artefacts for a VERY tidy profit, I decided to grab a coffee before hitting the long road back to Barnard's Star. I explained to the bartender what had happened whe I got to close to the lighthouse's jetstreams.

"Ahh, trying to boost your frameshift drive were ya?" he asked.

Wait, what? I enquired as to what he was talking about. Appartently if you fly into these jet streams, and your systems DON'T get fried, it will overcharge your FSD allowing you to jump VAST distances in a single go. Four times your normal jump range, by the bartender's reckoning. Well, I thought, that would make the trip back a lot shorter.

I decided to try it. What was the worst that could happen? I mean obviously my ship could be torn apart by gravitational forces and I could be obliterated by stellar radiation... but I decided to try it anyway. Four times normal jump range? That was 60 light years in one go.

Each one of those lines shows a star that can be reached with my current jump range...

I fired up the engines and flew into the maelstrom.