Elite Dangerous: To The Ones Who Fall For Glorious Freedom

Sweet, Sweet Coffee

'Coffee ready Commander.' The piping hot cup of coffee slowly came out of the coffeemaker, and with a sharp ring, signaled it was ready for consumption. I stood, hunched over the counter dosing off in my arms. The coffeemaker rung again, and I shot upwards nearly losing balance from momentum. I grabbed the cup, and sipped it's contents, eyes closed and shoulders relaxed.

I really needed this. Nice move.

I made my way back to the canopy, and sat in the chair, staring out into the endless nothing. Thankfully, the ASP had a full window canopy, so I could stare into any direction and have a clear view of everything.

I checked the message board, only to see that I received nothing new. I sat the cup down on the console, freeing my hands for piloting. I grabbed the controls, and adjusted my course to be completely aligned with the destination. Two more hours I had to wait until I reached it. I would've been there ages ago, but the frameshift drive is malfunctioning. So normal engines will do. For now.

A sound grappled me out of my trance of seemingly endless waiting and space. A message from a man by the name of Epsilon Fontaine, came to me.

"CMDR Renjo Ferron, I am in need of assistance. Meet me at Givorian Orbital, Kalli 6 at 18:30 today."

I quickly responded to the message, realizing his deadline was far closer than I thought, as the time is 17:45.

"As much as I would like to, I cannot. My FSD is not operational. You'll have to wait until I arrive at a nearby station in a few hours." I read aloud my thoughts while I typed.

There was a pause of long silence. I expected an immediate response as he had just messaged me beforehand.

The response soon came, reading, "[Message Encrypted]" I ran a program to decrypt it, but the message disappeared after the program ran. It was soon followed by the noise of generators and the AI saying, 'Frameshift Drive, Online.'

I nearly jumped in rejoice, and suprise. Another message came through.

"Are you coming?"

I debateed on asking how he did that or just saying yes. I went with the latter. I changed my destination, and charged my FSD for system jump.

The noise of hyperspace disengaging resonated through my hull, telling me I have arrived. Another message appeared as soon as I entered the system. I opened it, but this time, it was a different person who was ready to pull me out of supercruise.

"Now what do we have here?"

Suddenly, the interdiction UI appeared in front of my eyes, beckoning to escape. I gripped my controls, ready to move, but to no avail. I was already pulled.

'Hull Integrity Compromised!' the A.I announced.

The FSD cried out into the hull, screaming that the sudden disengagement put too much stress on it. I began to spin into normal space, and soon became under attack. My coffee cup and its contents, had spilled down on my lap, and to the lower deck of the canopy and window, crashing down onto empty cans of energy drinks.

My pursuer however, didn't realize that I had big guns on my ASP. I reoriented myself, and engaged them with winning confidence and wincing while hot coffee burned my legs.

The dogfight lasted no longer than a few minutes. The pursuer cried for mercy. I showed none. His ship exploded, and a bounty voucher worth 126,780 credits soon appeared into my info panel.