With a gap in Commander Altsain’s schedule after the push back against the twisted followers of Arissa Lavigny-Duval, it was obvious what she should do with her time – jump back into the cockpit of the Cosmic Flipper and restart its sightseeing tours!

With so many prospective clients all clamouring for a chance to ride in the Cosmic Flipper, the commander now has her pick of who is let on board, and the first to grab her attention was the CEO of an inclined helix manufacturing company, Theodora Bailey. She was after what amounted to a quick jaunt around the top end of the core systems, but the pay was handsome and some of the locations seemed interesting, so the commander welcomed her on board.

The first stop were ice geysers, which the commander is beginning to get a little tired of, truth be told, but there were some fantastic canyons nearby that were just begging the Cosmic Flipper to hurl itself down with its newly tuned thrusters (topping 400 m/s now!).

The last stop on that tour was a gas giant nicknamed Radioactive Green, due to the glowing life forms that soared in the upper reaches of its atmosphere in numbers vast enough to be seen in space.

However, the wanderlust for deep space was an itch the commander was feeling but not getting scratched by tours around the Bubble. So, she began looking for clients wanting to go further afield – not too far, but enough to wet the beak, perhaps 1,000 light years or so. She was soon contacted by an explorer, Reina Solomon, who wanted to take a trip under the galactic plane to a planetary nebula.

Commander Altsain had never seen a planetary nebula before (they are small, and do not show up on the galactic map), so accepted the commission without even glancing at the pay check offered.

As it turned out, a planetary nebula is worth visiting. Being so small, it really crept up on the Cosmic Flipper, and the ship was inside before the commander could blink.

Surrounded by blueness, with Bernard’s Loop just peeking inside from a thousand-odd light years away, it became apparent that planetary nebulae are interesting places. Inside was not just one star, but one really big star and a dozen others.

There were planets too – and there was no way Commander Altsain was not going to touch down on one. The planet selected was strange in that the side facing its star was actually the dark side/night side, as the massive central class B star everything was orbiting was much brighter!

If any other commanders want to visit this weird place, the commander recommends they enter CD-26 1339 into their navicoms…

This was not the only long-ranged trip the Cosmic Flipper undertook – almost immediately upon returning to Rhea, Commander Altsain picked up another charter to visit the neutron star at PRAEA EUQ RD-R D5-9, which is a mouthful however you look at it. Having never visited a neutron star, and with the trip weighing in at only 1,300 light years (these distances seem so small to the commander now!), she set off immediately.

If she were honest, Commander Altsain would admit to being tempted to trying to boost the Cosmic Flipper’s frame shift drive with the jets of the neutron star, but the explorer on board, one Homer Payne, was insistent that the ship not be risked while under his charter.

So, instead, the commander visited some interesting worlds on the way back, and discovered that gas giants also come in pink.

This particular one sported a moon that had its own very small and irregular (potato-shaped) moonlet that orbited very closely.

Two trips outside the Bubble, and the Cosmic Flipper was still back in time for tea! Commander Altsain has said it before and now says it again: if you want to see the sights of the galaxy, get yourself a Dolphin-class…

Or charter the Cosmic Flipper. The rates are not cheap, but they are jolly expensive.