So near, and yet so far

I'm amazed by the distance I've travelled in the past few days. Isn't it incredible what you can achieve when you give yourself a mission that you're determined to see through to the end? As I drained my coffee and prepared for the final leg of my journey to Sol, I looked out of the station porthole at the roiling mass of 5G Capricorni. I used to think all stars were the same. Now I'm slowly coming to realise that each is unique, each has its own personality, its own look, its own view of the cosmos. I smiled as I completed a purchase order for sixteen tons of computer components, vestigial memories of an ancient song running through my head.

When I reached Carener, my intended drop off point for the computers, I buzzed the Nav beacon. It's become a ritual of mine whenever I enter an inhabited system. Scan the nav beacon, take in the sights of the primary star... and wait for criminals to appear. Usually it's a mostly harmless petty criminal in a sidewinder. Occasionally there might be two or three of them in formation. Usually I consider my targets carefully. But for some reason tonight I was so hopped up on caffeine I was deploying hardpoints before I even stopped to think about anything.

My target: a master pilot in a Diamondback. I unloaded a capacitor full of beam lasers into his shields... and they were still fairly sturdy at the end of the barrage. OK, I thought, this guy's a little tougher than usual. Never mind, I'll just pump extra power to the weapons. A second pass took his shields down, but not without cost. A single salvo of massed fire from the Diamondback stripped my shields and knocked thirty percent off my hull integrity. This was not good.

I diverted all my power to engines and hit the boost. Once I'd put some distance between us, I flooded my systems power channels in the hope of getting my shields up, but I noticed some radar blips converging on my quarry's position. The feds? No way was I going to let them get all the glory, even if that WAS the caffeine talking!

Was too busy fighting for my life to get shots of the Diamondback, but here's a snap of a less implacable foe

I swung round and surged towards the Diamondback. the second my guns were in range I span up both barrels and watched them rattle into his hull. By judicious use of my manoeuvring thrusters I was able to stay behind him in his blind spot. He managed to get a snap shot off the second my shields came back online. I silently thanked the stars and pressed the attack.

Keeping this guys shields offline wasn't too difficult, but he must have had some military grade shielding; my shells were barely making a dent. I decided to power everything I had into the weapons and hit with a full, relentless alpha strike. Sweat poured off my brow as the cabin started to overheat.

Suddenly, the diamondback span round to face me. My shields were gone in seconds. My hull was taking a pounding. Every instinct was telling me to turn and run, but deep down I knew that would be suicide. I turned directing into his path and fired everything I had an a last ditch insane joust.

That bounty is not to be sniffed at!

I was on twenty three percent hull integrity when the Diamondback exploded into a white fireball just metres in front of me. At first I didn't think I was going to survive, but after a minute of stunned silence I glanced at my HUD... and was very pleased to see the value of bounty which had been awarded. I docked up, claimed my bounty and sold off the computer parts for a VERY nice profit.

At this point I had a fair amount of money in the bank, and I knew my ship was really not up to the task of repeated bounty hunting. I needed to fix her up somehow. I filled my hold with Progenitor Cells and headed to Stopover, a plan forming in my mind.

En route to Darkwater Station, I was ensnared in an interdiction attempt. I really wasn't in the mood for any fighting at this point, but fortunately I was able to evade the interdiction and dock with the station.

After selling the progenitor cells for a very respectable 10K profit, I headed to the outfitters. I was in luck. They had EXACTLY what I was looking for. Military grade composite armour. Sure, it was a cool 300 grand, but I figure that's an investment. There's only so much evasion I can do once my shields drop. In addition to the hull plating, I upgraded my power distributor and bought a shield booster. I felt more invincible already.

At this point there were only a few systems left to go through. There weren't many decent trades to make, so I decided to take a slight detour to carry out a courier mission to Tau Ceti. When I reached Lacaille 8760, I headed to the nav beacon as usual and was about to engage the enemy again. After all my ship improvements, survivability was at an all time high. I deployed my hardpoints... and panicked.

My whole ship shut down. Engines - nothing. Shields - nothing. I had five minutes of life support left. What the hell? I had seriously overestimated the power output of my reactor. I didn't want to be a sitting duck, so I frantically looked at my systems. I gathered my thoughts so I could think about what I was doing. The solution hit me like a slap in the face - disable the fuel scoop. I reached out and hit the toggle.

Instantly the lights came back on. My shields started recharging. I was moving again. Thank the stars. I made a mental note to improve my power plant at the earliest opportunity.

I headed to Tau Ceti to complete my courier mission. When I arrived, I thought back to my school days. I remember reading about this place. It was the first human settlement outside of Sol. Pretty much as soon as it was founded, the inhabitants declared independence from Earth. I can't remember all of it, but I do recall that this was basically the birth of the Federation. I never paid much attention in history class, but I found myself motivated to look around. I headed to Taylor colony and took in the breathtaking view, reading the notes in the tourist beacons to fill in the gaps of my knowledge. Then I got an angry message in my comms. The mission! oops! I docked and sheepishly delivered the goods.

Look at the majesty!

Another message appeared in my HUD. I'd received a rank promotion! Apparently I was no longer mostly penniless. I am now a bona-fide PEDDLER! I'm sure many people will sneer at me, but hey, I've come a long way from fixing vending machines. It was getting late and I wanted to get to Sol before I turned in for the night, so I plotted a course... or tried to. I don;'t have the Sol permit so I can't go there. hmph. I decided to head to the system closes to sol, Alpha Centauri. Maybe I could find someone there who would help me out.

I was so tired by the time I reached the Alpha Centauri system. I docked at al-Din Prospect, hoping to shift some of the masses of Tea I'd bought en route, but they weren't buying. There was one other port in the system, a place called Hutton orbital. I plotted a course and headed out.

I had been flying for an hour solid when I realised the little dot wasn't getting any closer. I checked my speed - 1500 times the speed of light. What the hell was going on? I checked my fuel - I was rapidly running out. I checked the distance to Hutton. 22 lightseconds. Huh. That shouldn't take any time at all. I checked again. Oh. Wait... Did that really say...?

Not 22 Lightseconds. 0.22 lightYEARS. This was an IMMENSE distance to travel, even in supercruise, but it was still too close for hyperdrive. I looked at the fuel gauge. It was running out. The last thing I wanted to do was get stranded here. I tried to lock a course for Sol... no joy. Feeling a little deflated, but unbelievably tired, I headed to the Barnard's Star  and docked at Boston Base.

Tomorrow I'll hit the bars and see if I can find anyone willing to sell me a permit.