I got bored the other day, and decided to write something. Writing stories is something that I rarely do, although I do have a few ideas on how I could build on this, but I am not sure if/when I will have the time to develop this into a more complete story. Feedback is very much welcome. Anyways, Enjoy!
Olivia Chesser was not having a good day. She had spent most of the last night cycle trying to sleep in her cabin aboard the Sapphire of the Abyss, to no avail. Normally she didn’t have any problems falling asleep, especially when she had an actual bed to sleep on. It may have had something to do with the slightly past-date food cartridges that she had gotten out of the chef the day before, or it might have had something to with the fact that she was only a few days away from the bubble after nearly 3 months in the void. More than likely though, it had everything to do with the condition of her ship.
Basically, she was screwed.
It certainly wasn’t her idea to circumnavigate the galaxy; she could blame her friend for that one. But after that misunderstanding with a squadron of Federal Agents, and the resulting half million credit bounty on her head, it seemed like a good idea. Go somewhere that the people who want you dead will never have even the faintest hope of finding you? Yes, please. Be gone long enough that the bounty on your head would expire and most people would forget why you were wanted in the first place? Even better. Make money while doing it and get a free permit to Shinrarta Dezhra? Absolutely.
About buying and outfitting an Asp Explorer and putting her python in long term storage, she set out on her journey. At first it was exhilarating, knowing that she was the first person to ever set eyes on the planets she discovered, and that nobody would ever set eyes on them again in her lifetime. But, after 2 weeks into the journey, she realized that she was not cut out for deep space exploration. She missed the starport controllers chastising her for clipping smaller ships into the sides of the mailslot when they refused to give way to her Python. She missed interdicting System Defence Force ships for fun, and then get away Scott-free when they realized that she didn’t have a single credit of bounty on her. Most of all, she missed seeing all the other people. Going months on end without seeing another person and constantly being confined to the same duraluminum can was unnerving. It just made the whole galaxy seemed lifeless, and made you feel that much lonelier.
After 3 months in the void, everything had become routine. Wake up, eat breakfast, plot a route for the day, make a dozen or so jumps, scanning and cataloguing everything she came across, stop for lunch, collect materials in the SRV, make another dozen or so jumps, have dinner, relax for a few hours, go to sleep, repeat. If there is one thing that is always true about routine, it is that it leads to carelessness, followed by mistakes.
The first mistake was losing the SRV one month into the journey. Without any way of collecting more materials for repairs, Olivia had to be careful not damage her ship too much. Naturally, that meant that she regularly flew into stars for the rest of her journey. The latest incident had left her without a fuel scoop or FTL communications. On top of that, she had already used up all of the materials she could have used to repair either of them. She had been sitting in orbit around a planet for the last 20 hours trying to think of a way to get back to the bubble alive. It’s not like she had anything better to do with her time.
Olivia ran through her options again. She couldn’t scoop more fuel, so that option was out of the question. Her FTL coms were down, ruling out the fuel rats as an option. She had no way to repair either her fuel scoop, or her FTL coms, so that only left her with the 27 tons of fuel she still had in the tank. How far could she go on 27 tons of fuel using an economical route? Not far enough.
It was kind of funny to think that despite the fact that she had spent the last 3 months running away from the people who wanted her dead, she was going to die anyways. Although instead of dying at the hands of a cutthroat mercenary, she was going to die cold and alone in some backwater system where nobody was ever going to find her.
There was still something she could do though. Nobody was ever going to find her in this system at least, at least not for another few years, but she still had 27 tons of fuel left. She could still get a few hundred lightyears closer to the bubble before she powered everything down and activated her emergency beacon. It might just mean that someone might find her before she ran out of food and water.
Resigned to her fate, she spooled up her FSD and prepared for the first of many jumps. If worst came to worst and she did run out food and water, she could always use the escape pod. It was probably going to come to that anyways. If it meant that she might stay alive, she would try it.
Maybe she wasn’t completely screwed after all.
Olivia Chesser was not having a good day. She had spent most of the last night cycle trying to sleep in her cabin aboard the Sapphire of the Abyss, to no avail. Normally she didn’t have any problems falling asleep, especially when she had an actual bed to sleep on. It may have had something to do with the slightly past-date food cartridges that she had gotten out of the chef the day before, or it might have had something to with the fact that she was only a few days away from the bubble after nearly 3 months in the void. More than likely though, it had everything to do with the condition of her ship.
Basically, she was screwed.
It certainly wasn’t her idea to circumnavigate the galaxy; she could blame her friend for that one. But after that misunderstanding with a squadron of Federal Agents, and the resulting half million credit bounty on her head, it seemed like a good idea. Go somewhere that the people who want you dead will never have even the faintest hope of finding you? Yes, please. Be gone long enough that the bounty on your head would expire and most people would forget why you were wanted in the first place? Even better. Make money while doing it and get a free permit to Shinrarta Dezhra? Absolutely.
About buying and outfitting an Asp Explorer and putting her python in long term storage, she set out on her journey. At first it was exhilarating, knowing that she was the first person to ever set eyes on the planets she discovered, and that nobody would ever set eyes on them again in her lifetime. But, after 2 weeks into the journey, she realized that she was not cut out for deep space exploration. She missed the starport controllers chastising her for clipping smaller ships into the sides of the mailslot when they refused to give way to her Python. She missed interdicting System Defence Force ships for fun, and then get away Scott-free when they realized that she didn’t have a single credit of bounty on her. Most of all, she missed seeing all the other people. Going months on end without seeing another person and constantly being confined to the same duraluminum can was unnerving. It just made the whole galaxy seemed lifeless, and made you feel that much lonelier.
After 3 months in the void, everything had become routine. Wake up, eat breakfast, plot a route for the day, make a dozen or so jumps, scanning and cataloguing everything she came across, stop for lunch, collect materials in the SRV, make another dozen or so jumps, have dinner, relax for a few hours, go to sleep, repeat. If there is one thing that is always true about routine, it is that it leads to carelessness, followed by mistakes.
The first mistake was losing the SRV one month into the journey. Without any way of collecting more materials for repairs, Olivia had to be careful not damage her ship too much. Naturally, that meant that she regularly flew into stars for the rest of her journey. The latest incident had left her without a fuel scoop or FTL communications. On top of that, she had already used up all of the materials she could have used to repair either of them. She had been sitting in orbit around a planet for the last 20 hours trying to think of a way to get back to the bubble alive. It’s not like she had anything better to do with her time.
Olivia ran through her options again. She couldn’t scoop more fuel, so that option was out of the question. Her FTL coms were down, ruling out the fuel rats as an option. She had no way to repair either her fuel scoop, or her FTL coms, so that only left her with the 27 tons of fuel she still had in the tank. How far could she go on 27 tons of fuel using an economical route? Not far enough.
It was kind of funny to think that despite the fact that she had spent the last 3 months running away from the people who wanted her dead, she was going to die anyways. Although instead of dying at the hands of a cutthroat mercenary, she was going to die cold and alone in some backwater system where nobody was ever going to find her.
There was still something she could do though. Nobody was ever going to find her in this system at least, at least not for another few years, but she still had 27 tons of fuel left. She could still get a few hundred lightyears closer to the bubble before she powered everything down and activated her emergency beacon. It might just mean that someone might find her before she ran out of food and water.
Resigned to her fate, she spooled up her FSD and prepared for the first of many jumps. If worst came to worst and she did run out food and water, she could always use the escape pod. It was probably going to come to that anyways. If it meant that she might stay alive, she would try it.
Maybe she wasn’t completely screwed after all.
