LAST EDITED ON Nov-09-06 AT 07:47 PM (EST)
 
>the Andromeda galaxy, at ~250000 ly and 2,000,000 ly respectively.
>The first is only ("only", hah!) about twice the diameter of the Milky
>Way, which has already been crossed multiple times in-story, as it
>were. (Unless I'm misconstruing something and the Outer Rim
>territories are not at the, um, outer rim of the Milky Way).

What you're missing here is that Known Space as it exists at this point in UF is not the galaxy entire, but something more along the lines of a wedge of it. Yes, the Outer Rim refers to the outer edges of the galaxy, and yes, the Coreward Frontier refers to the core, but not the entirety of either. I'm pretty sure it's modeled fairly closely to the charted space in Star Trek, though it's not like we have a real solid reference map or anything like that.

>Ok, so, hard facts have no place in a story - this is Space Opera,
>dammit! - and I agree, to a point. But it's hard to believe that they
>can't hop in the saddle and hit the road just because of a piddly
>thing like distance. Anyway...

You're right! Only, which way do they go? ;) Our Heroes, much like the Russians, tend not to do anything without a plan.

	Chad Collier Smirking Kilrathi The Captain of the Gravy Train