Commander Altsain had been intending to put some time in serving Felicia Winters – hauling her propaganda across the stars, making sure the right side won in a few civil wars that were raging, and propping up some corporations sympathetic to the Federation. However, the call of deep space made itself felt, and the commander fancied a long voyage, travelling further than she had ever been before.

She was contacted by an explorer (Alan Robertson) who wanted to charter a ship to a mysterious place called the Eye of Fire, and was willing to pay MCr37 for the privilege. The commander had no idea what the Eye of Fire was, but could see it was close to the galactic core. This tied into a few other ideas she had been having, and a grand voyage began to take shape.

She knew that many, many other commanders had travelled the direct route between the core systems and the centre of the galaxy, so the first leg would be a 14,500 light year trip that was towards the core, but slightly off to one side. This would get her away from the beaten track quickly, and hopefully lead to lots of previously undiscovered systems.

The second leg would be towards a system that had been recommended to her by another commander (SHROGAEI UU-X E1-5269), that was apparently in the middle of ‘black hole country’. The commander had never visited a black hole before, and they seemed to be a fun idea.

Leg three would be to take Mr Robertson to the Eye of Fire, thus completing the charter. However, the commander would not be turning the ship around at that point…

The fourth leg would be to Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole in the centre of the galaxy. Visiting this had become a sort of rite of passage for ship commanders, and Commander Altsain was feeling left out.

Instead of heading straight back home after this, the commander thought that visiting Colonia might be a good idea, but first she would travel in a more lateral direction across the galactic core, to once again take her off the beaten track and increase the chances of finding more undiscovered systems.

The fifth leg would be to travel from that point to Colonia, while the sixth and final leg would be the long voyage from Colonia to the core systems, terminating at Shinrarta Dehzra.

All told, this would be a trip of well over 60,000 light years – Commander Altsain was well up for it, and selected the Anaconda-class Cosmos for the journey. One of its maintenance units was replaced by a first class cabin for Mr Robertson and, while he was paying top Credits for the charter, the commander was hoping the exploration data she gathered on the way would be worth far, far more…