Followers

Thursday, 8 December 2016

Dust yourself off and try again tomorrow, CMDR.

Ever have those days when absolutely EVERYTHING seems to go wrong? That was yesterday for me. I should have known something was wrong when I banged my head on the doorframe in the toilets in whatever run down station in Barnard's Star I had holed up for the night. I should have seen that it was going to be one of those days.

I think I even spilled my coffee on my lap at one point...
I've been flying around running missions for the Federation in the hope that they recognise me and see it in their hearts to grant me access to Sol. A crusty old space-trucker I met in a bar a couple of nights ago told me that you have to be pretty high up in Federation military ranks to gain access. He also told me that aliens built Antares though. Supposedly it's not a star, but a hyperdimensional portal or something. So I don't know if he was telling the truth about the permit.

Nevertheless, I've been flying courier missions all over the central Federation area. I got pretty bored though and decided to take on a more challenging mission: to assassinate someone. I didn't really pay much attention to anything other than the reward: over 100 grand! This would go part way to buying me a new powerplant (if I could find a system that stocked them of course!), but also I was hoping that it would let the Fed Navy see my exploits and maybe offer me a job.

I flew to Alpha Centauri and cruised the spacelanes for a bit, scanning every ship I came across. Then I found him, flying a Viper Mk IV. I throttled up and hit the interdictors, but my hands were sloppy as hell on the controls. Over a minute I spent trying to pull him out of supercruise, before he finally managed to shake me off and I droopped out with a shudder. Damn. Now I had to find him again. Once my FSD had charged up.

My window was rapidly diminishing. Once I hit supercruise I started frantically looking for him, scanning any and all Vipers who entered my scan radius. Finally I found him! I started accelerating, but I was going nowhere. I was too close to the damn planet and its mass was interfering with my drive! I watched in frustration as my quarry accelerated away from me.

Eventually I broke free of the planet's mass and started accelerating towards my prey. However after a few seconds he just vanished. He was too far away for me to see what had happened and it was going to take me several seconds to reach him. I searched and searched, but eventually the "incoming message" indicator lit up and I knew what was coming. I messed up. Mission failed. No money. I was pretty sure I had gone down in the Federation's estimation too...

On my way to Hutton Orbital
Oh well, nothing I could do to fix that, I thought. Seeing as I was in Alpha Centauri anyway, I thought I'd make the long trip to Hutton Orbital. I was stocked up on fuel and I was now well aware of how long it would take to get there. I checked my transation logs - I even had some data I needed to deliver there. This could work out well. The Hutton Orbital ceremonial mug I'd pick up there would look nice on my dashboard and would serve as a reminder of all I endured to get it.

Over an hour the journey took, but eventually I made it. Awesome. There's even a tourist nav beacon outside the station. I scanned it and docked, then handed over the data I needed to and claimed my reward. Things were looking good. I checked the bulletin board for any other missions, refuelled and headed out. I was halfway to Barnard's Star when I got the distinct feeling I'd forgotten something.
Made it!
I noticed I had a new message. I looked at it and my heart sank. "Don't forget to pick up your souvenir mug before you leave!"

I FORGOT TO BUY THE DAMN MUG!

I was livid. Nothing was going my way today. I flew a few more courier missions but just wanted to go to bed. I docked up in 61 Cygni and visited the bar for a drink before I hit the hay. Who should I see in there but the crazy old man with his rants about aliens! He looked different now though. Better dressed, more refined. He approached me and I offered him a drink. He declined.

"Son, " he said, "We've been watching you. you've certainly been racking up your fair share of kills on the bounty boards."

"Thanks," I said, grimacing into my drink, "I didn't get much done today though. Nothing was going right."

"Ah, we all have days like that. We could use skills like yours in the navy you know."

"Yeah, whatever, old man, I suppose you're an admiral; or something now? Did the aliens promote you or something?" I turned away, frowning into my drink, just wanting him to leave me alone so I could finish off and head to bed.

"Maybe we'll see you there soon, commander."

A thought occurred to me. Those clothes he was wearing. They DID look sort of military. And had that been an eagle on his arm? What if he WAS Fed navy? What if he could get me to Sol? I turned back round, a thousand questions forming on the tip of my tongue...

But the old man was gone.
 


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