Commander Altsain learned that the Canonn Research Group megaship, the Gnosis, was planning to make an expedition into a remote area of space that had previously been cut off from exploration by a ring of permit-locked systems. This sounded like a fun idea, so the commander resolved to sign up – but what ship to take?

Initially, she thought she had several options:

The Kompensator (Federal Corvette): This was her immediate first choice, as she had been doing a lot of system-flipping and Fuel Ratting in it. However, rumours started flying that a load of gankers would be on board the Gnosis and waves of powerful Thargoids might be lying in wait at the destination – neither of which the Kompensator was equipped to deal with. The Auricwing (Type-10): A dedicated anti-Thargoid ship, and one that had soloed alien Interceptors – but it was useless against ganking ships and way too slow to get away from them. The Slippery When Ganked (Orca): A prime Fuel Ratting ship and one that fast enough and agile enough to be immune to ganking, for all practical purposes. However, it required a large-sized landing pad and the Gnosis only had one of those. A good choice of ship, but one likely to spend time in traffic jams outside the megaship. The Bonepicker (Cobra Mk III): Now this was more like it. This salvage ship had practically everything the commander was looking for on this expedition (light armament, reasonable jump range, good scanning suite, and an SRV). However…

Once the commander started considering the Bonepicker, she realised there was only one ship she should be thinking about taking…

The Cosmic Flipper!

The ship that really started her career as an independent commander seemed such a logical step. Plus, it had been a while since this Dolphin had really been put through its paces, and it is such as nice ship to fly.

However, it was not properly equipped for a long-term exploration mission and had received only a light touch of engineering. Commander Altsain promptly set to work outfitting the Cosmic Flipper and fine-tuning its components.

Utility Mounts

There are only three of these on the Cosmic Flipper, and one had already been taken up by a Chaff Launcher, a facility the commander elected to keep. Thinking about possible Thargoid activity, however, she had a Xenos Scanner installed.

The third mount she left empty – she had considered purchasing a Shield Booster but even an A-class would add very little to the Cosmic Flipper’s overall shields and it would simply consume too much power to be viable.

Core Internal

To the commander’s surprise, there was actually quite a bit of work to do here – the right modules had already been installed but, other than the Frame Shift Drive, they had received very little attention from the Engineers (which put into perspective just how long it had been since the commander had flown this ship seriously). She immediately set to work putting this right.

Lightweight Alloy Bulkheads: Already increased to Grade 4, the commander saw little reason to hunt around for enough Tungsten to improve this further.

4A Power Plant: Stripped Down and then Overcharged, rated for 19.20 MW of output.

5A Thrusters: These received some serious attention, being tuned to Grade 5 Dirty Drag Drive spec. This pushed the Cosmic Flipper to 419 m/s when cruising and a ganker-busting 587 m/s when boosting.

4A FSD: Already a Grade 5 Deep Charged unit, no additional work was needed (or, indeed, possible).

4D Life Support: Made Lightweight, reducing the unit to a single ton in mass.

3A Power Distributor: The uprated Thrusters meant this module needed to service the Power Plant more efficiently, so it was modified to be both Stripped Down and Engine-Focussed, in order that the powerful boost speed could be maintained.

3D Sensors: Made Lightweight, and reduced to 0.62 tons.

Optional Internal

Now, this is where things got exciting, and where the commander had to expend the most thought. The Cosmic Flipper was still in its sightseeing tour configuration, and this needed to be changed to deep space exploration.

First off, the single Passenger Cabin came out. There were not too many choices as to what could replace it but, in the end, the commander opted for a 32 ton Cargo Bay. While empty, this would not slow the Cosmic Flipper down and would give it more options when it boarded the Gnosis.

The Shield Generator was replaced with a Stripped Down Prismatic version, for no other reason than it was lying around in storage. Despite having Grade 5 Reinforcement, this unit still only generated 243 Mj of protection which, however you look at it, was not a lot. Still, better than nothing, and better than the original generator.

A Planetary Vehicle Hangar was a must, of course, and this was duly installed. The commander could not wait to try it out, and headed for the nearest planet to give the SRV a spin. She made sure it had a matching livery to the Cosmic Flipper.

The 4A Fuel Scoop was retained, but then the commander hit her first real dilemma. She wanted to install a Guardian FSD Booster – but she also wanted a Fuel Limpet Controller (she figured the more Fuel Rats on the Gnosis, the better), and the Dolphin just did not have enough module slots.

In the end, she went with the booster, giving the Cosmic Flipper a better than 50 light year average jump range, but also purchased a lightweight Limpet Controller, which she later had ferried to the Gnosis. Cheap to do, and it meant she could simply swap out modules if a Ratsignal was made in the area.

Finally, the scanner suite – the Cosmic Flipper had always had a fearsome set of scanners (the Detailed Surface Scanner having been boosted to +154% of original range), and the commander saw little need to further upgrade them.

Hardpoints

The Cosmic Flipper does not have a great facility for weaponry. In fact, it has spent most of its service life completely unarmed. However, the commander figured it should have at least one gun, and fitted a stripped down, lightweight Burst Laser. Weighing in at just 0.72 tons, it would barely effect the Cosmic Flipper’s performance.

But then the commander started thinking about Thargoids. The Tech Brokers had just unveiled small-sized Guardian Gauss Cannon, so she immediately scheduled a quick jaunt into Guardian space – which worked nicely as a shakedown cruise for all the Cosmic Flipper’s new modules.

Stopping off at a few alien structures and ruins (and desecrating a few alien graves, no doubt) allowed the commander to collect everything she needed. She was soon boosting back to civilisation with the required components.

The Gauss Cannon required a little more tuning on the Power Plant to get the required juice, but the Cosmic Flipper accepted this upgrade without complaint and, crucially, without undue overheating.

Journey to the Gnosis

With everything set, the commander took the Cosmic Flipper on another expedition to Guardian space as a final test and, happy with how everything worked, she plotted a route to the Gnosis, which already lay about 1,500 light years from civilisation. The permit-locked Col 70 Sector forced her to plot a bypass route, which took her almost to the Pleiades, but the Cosmic Flipper was soon on its way to the megaship.

Upon finally arriving, the commander was happy to see other ships already there, and soon got chatting to other commanders. The Cosmic Flipper received compliments as it neared the Gnosis (‘Nice Dolphin!’), though one commander did question its ability to face Thargoids. Commander Altsain had no idea what he was getting at.

After settling in (the commander had reserved a window-cabin in the Gnosis, but it was clear the megaship was pretty packed with adventurous commanders), she decided to take the Cosmic Flipper down to the planet the Gnosis was orbiting and do a little exploring.

As it turned out, this little rock was a good source of Selenium and, if nothing else, the commander planned to return to civilised space with her ship packed full of raw materials. In fact, she had already inspected the facilities on the Gnosis and noted that its Outfitting station contained all the modules needed to turn the Cosmic Flipper into a little mining vessel, so that may be a project she pursues when she feels like a break from exploring.

That is, of course, assuming the Gnosis does not immediately come under attack when it jumps…