You are certainly not led through a story/campaign in this game but I don't think you have to entirely use your imagination and make up your own story either. My experience has been somewhere in between.
I started out as a (small i) independent miner and trucker, not really paying attention to what factions were around me. I didn't venture too far from my starting point and began to feel like that system, and my station in particular, were home. Since I was getting comfortable, I wanted things to stay like that and began to identify with the (large I) Independent systems. I heard stories of others fighting for Lugh's independence and was inspired but still not brave enough to wander far from home. I did some hauling missions when they coincided with my trade routes for extra cash and, by chance, reached a point where my home station considered me an ally. Seeing green around me in space was great, it made me feel like I belonged to something and there were others around who had my back. Being greeted as a friend when I returned home was icing on the cake.
I began paying attention to the news and heard about the Federation declaring onionhead to be contraband and heard the voices of the farmers trying to make a living and believing people should be free to make their own choices. I read about the slave uprising in Sorbago and the Empire's offer to give them a life as slightly better-treated slaves. The succession of Duvall seemed like quite an ordeal. His son is stark raving mad and an illegitimate daughter has shown up. How salacious! All events that seemed far distant and had nothing to do with me but I watched them unfold day by day on the news while I went about my business.
Somewhere along the line, I had picked up enough missions to ally with one of the local minor factions which was a member of the Federation. Then one day, the Federation Navy took notice of me and offered me a job. I was intrigued and it was a delivery on my route so I took it. It couldn't hurt to have a military as a friend. They'd give me jobs from time to time to carry some cargo or maybe some documents and eventually offered me a chance to enlist. I had never thought I wanted to join the military but, like anybody, I felt good that my work was recognized and appreciated. I took the offer. I continued doing some ferrying of goods when opportunities arose and climbed a couple of ranks until I saw a different type of mission. I had received an invitation to Sol, somebody there had a mission for me.
I had never seen Sol and didn't even know which way to go. I pulled out the map and discovered it was over 80Ly away, almost four times farther than I'd ever traveled from home before. This was just the motivation I needed, though, to make that pilgrimage to see my ancestral home. I took my Cobra to the outfitters and started making some changes for the long journey ahead. Some upgrades to the drives and a scanner to make sure I could find a place to stop in an unknown system and a fuel scoop was a must-have. The trip to Sol was great, filled with exploring unknown systems and seeing things I'd never encountered. I looked forward to the jump into the next system to see what kind of stars and strange layouts would greet me.
Arriving in Sol, I felt like a tourist. It was so busy compared to the little backwater system I had come from. I explored around and visited some of the local sights and stations, keeping an eye out for any contact from the Federation. There was no contact right away so I split my time between local law enforcement and visiting some of the places I'd always dreamed of seeing, like Enceladus and the majestic rings of Saturn. I even spotted a blip on my radar, tiny and so very, very distant at 2.3 million light-years. My curiosity drove me to check it out and I discovered the Voyager I probe and heard its transmission of greetings in many different languages of Earth. I shut down must of my systems and quietly floated there in the dark, admiring the probe and listening to the messages again and again for, what must have been, thirty minutes. It was an awe-inspiring and humbling experience thinking about all the people who had worked to create this so long ago to send a message into the dark emptiness. A message to anyone else who may be out there that they are not alone.
I flew back to Galileo station afterwards and settled in for a rest. The following day, news broke of the Federations blockade of the Kappa Fornacis system enforcing the ban on onionhead. It was also the day I received the contact I had been waiting for. This time the request was a little different, this was a black-ops mission. A general was known to be an Imperial sympathizer and spy and they wanted him dead and they wanted me to do it. Outside of a little local police work, I was a miner and a hauler. With a promotion on the line I accepted the mission and went to figure out what I'd need.
I spent a day patrolling the system the general was known to be in. As I searched the system investigating USS's I would scan and go after the occasional pirate harrasing some poor hauler but only half-heatedly. I was merely playing the part of local law enforcement. In truth, I was hunting. When I came upon my target, I knew immediately I had found him. Several kilometres away and face to face and my scanner lit up wanted. Out of habit, I began to scan him but he didn't waste any time. He knew why I was there and he opened fire immediately. I knew the specs of a Federal Dropship but I'd never experienced one and I knew I had to get out of that line of fire. I fired off the shield cell booster I had thankfully added and rolled into a lateral movement to get out of the hail of projectiles and beams coming at me and try to position myself behind him. Slimming down the Cobra had paid off and I was able to get behind and above him and opened up four lasers on his back, out-turning him to keep my fire on target. His shields disappeared in seconds and my confidence soared but it quickly came back down as I saw how much slower his hull was coming down compared to anything I'd fought before. Even worse, he began to outmaneuver me and get some good hits of his own and there were only so many charges in that shield booster. It was an intense battle. When his shields went up I was able to take them out quickly enough but the hull was slow-going and he was giving as good as he was getting. I'm not sure who would have won that battle had the local security not turned up to provide a distraction. They were no match and no help in the fight but the extra targets my prey had to consider gave me the upper hand I needed and in short order, I had finished him off.
Half my hull full of holes and out of shield charges, I was battered and bruised but nothing was completely broken and I still felt fit to fly. Unfortunately, in my zeal to see his last 3% disappear, a stray laser beam had stuck one the local fuzz and their attention had turned to me. It was time to leave but not before stopping at a nearby outpost for repairs and to pay that fine. I had no beef with locals and certainly didn't need them shooting at me. Upon my return to Sol, I was awarded the promotion I had been after. I am now a Petty Officer in the Federal Navy and am on my way to Kappa Fornacis to do my part in enforcing the blockade.
My story is not the story I would have written for myself but I am loving it for that. The game has not led me along this story so much as given me nudges at certain times and places that has led me down this path. This style certainly won't be for everyone and it does take its time to unfold but for me, at least, it is so much more than just a handful of game mechanics in a beautiful environment. Hopefully this will give some people inspiration to find their story in this wonderful game.
CYA guys.
