After a rather fraught departure, Commander Altsain soon settled into a jumping/exploring rhythm as her Beluga, the Queen of the Stars, left the Bubble and began the long trek of the Distant Worlds 2 expedition. The first waypoint was set as Omega Sector VE-Q b5-15, where the Distant Worlders would be mining as the first stage to building a new station in the galactic core, but the organisers had listed plenty of sights to see on the way.

First up was a visit to Shapley 1, a Wolf-Rayet star – a really big star that has shed its outer hydrogen shell and is now fusing Helium. The effects of this could be seen in a neighbouring system.

Up close, it was even more impressive.

This was a good start to Distant Worlds 2, but an even better sight was awaiting in the next system the commanders gathered at, HR 6164 – colloquially known as ‘The View.’ And it was well-named.

The first thing that entranced Commander Altsain (aside from the large numbers of other commanders in the system, which she had still not quite gotten over) was the massive Class O primary and a neutron star, blinking and hissing as it spun. She was so entranced that it was quite some time before she realised there was also a black hole in the system…

Taking a jaunt to the neutron star, the commander noted something a bit odd close to it, and moved to investigate.

She could scarce believe her eyes when she realised some nutter had built a tourist station within spitting distance (in astronomical terms) of the neutron star.

Some other commanders were present here, but she soon realised that many others were gathering on a particular planet in the system. So, she turned the Beluga and plotted a quick journey to see what was going on.

It was certainly a very pretty planet.

However, Commander Altsain soon realised there was a big problem – this world had a high gravitation force, coming in at 3.3g. All of a sudden, she felt every bit of the Beluga’s massive weight. Many other commanders had already landed (and, she would later learn, others had failed with explosive results), but they cheered with encouragement as the massive Queen of the Stars slowly – very, very slowly – inched its way down for a landing that was, on the whole, not too bad. She was certainly glad that she had insisted on Class A Thrusters!

As the dust settled (very quickly, under this gravity), Commander Altsain smiled as she saw a swarm of SRVs scuttle up to the Beluga to check it was still in one piece. Rushing down a few decks, she fired up her own SRV and went outside to join them. And what a sight awaited…

All manner of other ships were present, from the usual Asp Explorers and Anacondas, to a Mamba, two other Belugas – and someone had managed to get a Type-9 down to the surface!

All too soon though, it was time to leave, for there were many, many other sights to see in the galaxy. Commander Altsain could not wait for another system as good as this one. The departure was a lot easier than the arrival, especially with the Queen of the Star’s powerful engines.

The next stop on the route was Blu Thua GI-B b55-2, better known as Cycladia. Upon arrival, it took the commander a moment to see just what was of interest here, but her mouth fell open when she spotted it.

A ringed Earth-like world is rare enough, but as she flew closer, the commander realised that the inner ring was moving fast enough in its orbit that she could actually see it rotate around the planet. This was fairly mesmerising, and she debated about setting up a mining operation there and then. However, the nearest station to sell any minerals was far away, and there were yet more sights to see!

Plotting new coordinates into the navigation computer, the commander prepared herself for more wonders of the galaxy.