19th Feburary 3264

  When you get to Quiness, you are starting to get to the western Edge of the populated galaxy. We were quite surprised by the lack of pirate attacks on our way in for a system this far out, only meeting three agressors. Imagine our surprise when we landed at Fortress Francis in New California to discover that this is a Federation system! It's separated from its fellow Federation systems by quite a large distance (the nearest Fed system to this is Eta Cassiopeia to give you some idea of how far out this system is).

  We found it to be pretty typical of a Federation system - the standard of living was good. The population of this system is big enough that they aren't reliant on trade from other systems to remain prosperous, rather like the Sol system in the 22nd Century. Don't carry your hand weapon into town with you; they are illegal and will be confiscated (fortunately we checked this before disembarking). It was also a relief to once again be at an outdoor world - and this time, with a reasonable amount of gravity.

  There's plenty to do on New California. If you want to go to any of the other cities, take a shuttle from Fortress Francis, since no other cities have space ports. We found the Quiness Federal Museum fascinating - there's lots of things about the original colonization of the system including the exploration ship with its first-generation hyperdrive that brought the first colonists to the system. Amusingly enough, the name "Quiness" is an accident of history - the person who lead the expedition came from an Earth nation state called "Ireland". Unfortunately, he was killed when his orbital shuttle crashed while trying to investigate the very-earthlike New California. His second-in-command, who was from a nation state called "Iceland" took over his job, and saw written on the folder that contained information about the system the word "Guiness" written in large letters. The Irishman put that on there just to remind him to bring a case of Guiness beer on his next trip. Unfortunately, the Icelander thought it was what the system was to be named...but mis-read the "G" as a "Q". The name Quiness stuck.

  Funny old Universe, isn't it? Especially since there's a Guiness brewery in Quiness!