There was a great deal of excitement in the run up to the launch of the Distant Worlds 2 expedition, though Commander Altsain almost missed it as she had been called to a Case Red for the Fuel Rats (the stricken commander was rescued though!). With just half an hour to go, she had been doing the final checks on her Beluga, the Queen of the Stars, only to realise that she had not yet swapped her docking computer for an SRV hangar!

A quick trip to Shinrarta fixed that little oversight, and then it was a few quick jumps to the staging point at Pallaeni. And what a sight awaited her…

The commander had never seen so many ships in one place!

Everyone was very excited as the minutes and seconds counted down to launch. There were several comms feeds active to give the countdown and, like the other ships, Commander Altsain plotted the first jump while keeping her throttle at zero so everyone could jump together. Which is when the commander realised she had a problem.

You see, the staging point was very close to a star and the Beluga is not exactly known for running cool, a fact the commander had admittedly made worse by tuning the power plant. Plenty of power, and plenty of heat.

So, she had to initiate the jump with just seconds to spare, but even this spiked the heat in the Queen of the Stars massively. Jumping with so many other commanders was certainly a moment she would remember, but arriving in the first system of the journey with sweat pouring off her brow and multiple systems failing might stick in the memory a little more.

While the other commanders were congratulating one another and plotting their next jump, Commander Altsain had to actually reverse her course to the nearest station for some very hasty repairs. While there, she did consider changing her mind over not having an AFM unit, but the Beluga simply does not have enough module slots when kitted our for mining. She had to make the choice between the AFM unit or a Fuel Limpet – and there was no way she was dropping her Fuel Rat duties.

Anyway, in a short while she was on her way again, and there were some astounding sights awaiting the Queen of the Stars after only a few jumps…