For the most part the trip went really well though I soon learned not to land on planets without shields as I lost a fair few hull % points all for some selfies! What I didn't realise was that I sabotaged the trip early on. The first major obstacle I faced was the Formidine Rift and in attempting to cross it I managed to get myself lost (previously visited systems was not a thing at this point) and had to use my precious boosts to get out of trouble. I also ended up refilling my AMFU after several encounters with binary systems a few mishaps with heat! Without really realising I managed to use up my precious vanadium and was not able to cross the Abyss. I was within 5k ly of Beagle but could not get across but undeterred I sought a way round, finding a crossing some 10,000ly further round the galaxy. The journey was on again! Route plotting was slow and paths were winding out here but I was closing in slowly but surely until I was in spitting distance; but at 200ly away I stopped and could go no further. There was a gap of 33ly that I could boost over but I wouldn't be coming back. I sat and stared at the galaxy map for many minutes searching fruitlessly for some way around but finally admitted defeat. Without mining lasers or an SRV I had no way of obtaining the necessary materials and I cursed my stupidity. I was totally gutted.
I logged onto Discord and opened the EXO server to tell my comrades that I'd failed. Then somewhere in the back of my head an old story popped up.... I recalled that another CMDR had been stranded out here and someone had flown out to save him. Hope flickered. I searched the forums and found CMDR Macedonica's epic story and posted it to my EXO friends, not really expecting anyone to volunteer to do something so stupid. By this time it was 1am and I headed off to bed. Next morning I got a ping and realised my friends had been discussing how to help me. First CMDR Esquisite had volunteered to fly from the bubble but CMDR AVeryAverageGuy had his anaconda already out in Colonia. Within a day he was with me and the search for metallic rings began. A quick look on eddb showed us a system with metallic asteroids and ironically enough it was Vonrictofen's Rescue. Average began his mining and we settled in to pray to RNGsus as I needed two drops of vanadium to get to Beagle and back. The date was the 7th of August and after going round the 'roids (colliding with one and losing another 20% hull!) and trying some planetary rings nearly every day we had only had one drop. I have to say I was getting despondent; everything else had dropped and I had enough germanium to sink a battleship! And then yesterday evening it finally happened. Someone in our Discord server suggested a sacrifice to RNGsus and our Navy Squadron Leader CMDR Stormy Stephen was duly kicked from the server (not by me!) and instantly the vanadium dropped. Together, AVeryAverageGuy and I made the last few jumps and I finally made it to Beagle Point.
I cannot express enough my gratitude to Average for coming to my aid. He's a bloody hero.
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