The call of the wild

I really don't know why I bought that ship. I certainly didn't have any plans for it. At least that's what I thought at the time.

It was a strange day. A day of coincidences.

Bringing a mid-range explorer onto the market was a brave move by Lakon. They already have the high end cornered with the Asp, so this is now a decidedly modern take on an exploration ship that is also combat capable. It's becoming a more dangerous universe as the turmoil of powerplay takes its toll, and even the loneliest of explorers need to go armed these days.

But I still didn't actually need the ship for anything. It was just going into storage.

Of course there was a plan in the back of my mind to get back to exploration. An earlier jaunt out towards Barnard's Loop has given me a taste of the beauty of our galaxy and the sites to be seen. A steady trickle of explorers returning from the centre of the galaxy reported a super massive black hole known as Sagittarius A*.

Curiosity is piqued of course: a trip that should be made some time soon, to add to the body of knowledge about the centre of the galaxy, and have some bragging rights when I'm too old to fly and need a drink in a bar. But not today.

A chance contact with a fellow veteran from Quivira found he was preparing to go to Sagittarius A* though. He was placing final touches onto the ship and preparing to leave momentarily. Just as I was dismissing the trip myself.

Incoming message. A second veteran and a supporter of the Alliance also preparing for the trip. Neither knowing about the other and both equally surprised when they found out. A second strange coincidence indeed.

My fancy was tickled. Why not? I have nothing holding me here at the moment, and though the known galaxy has erupted into a powerplay of conflict there isn't much that I need to get involved with right now.

So there had been a reason for preparing the Diamondback Explorer after all. I'll file that under one of the universe's little mysteries.

Word spread and soon we were four: winging our way to the centre of the galaxy.

I'll get a chance to ponder the mysterious ways of the universe while I'm out jumping between stars. But for now I'm going to enjoy the fireworks, and the company on the journey to the lonely centre of the galaxy.