I'm now docked in Ehrlich Orbital after a relatively uneventful journey here. Well, except that there seem to be a lot of bite marks on the ship controls, and I've spotted some foot prints on the walls and ceiling, I don't recall being there before. Also the landing gear didn't extend fully when I attempted to land, earning the hull a few dings and scrapes, but nothing major. Apparently the hydraulic pressure was a little low in that system, for some reason. I had to pay a guy with a jack to get the ship on an even keel after the landing, and it's all fixed now.

But all that is utterly unimportant, because I have 10 t of 'Void Extract Coffee' in the cargo hold, a very big pad lock on the cargo hatch, and a working coffee machine. Also I'm drinking delicious hot coffee from my Hutton mug, with my feet resting on the console looking out at all those busy people working in the spaceport.

Life, the Universe and everything just added up to 42.

I'll be off for new adventures soon. Honk if you see me, and maybe i'll buy you a cup of coffee.

o7, Commanders!

NOOOOOO! NO NO...NO! They don't have any coffee in this stupid neolithic backwater dump of a soup can. Yeah sure they BUY coffee, but they DON'T sell it. Hoarders! Criminals!

747 cr later (RIP Piggy bank, Jr.), and I've had my new Hutton mug express delivered. Now I'll order a few tons of coffee to see me through the week. Easy peasy.

What?! Hutton Orbital is just a lousy outpost?!

Hmmm...actually this could work in my favour- it can be a real pain to squeeze your ship through a mail slot, and now I don't have to...but I still think it's just a tiny bit false advertising. Well, maybe its bigger on the inside...sweet coffee here I come.

The Fuel Rats didn't return my calls, and I seriously need some COFFAY right now! This is worse than Thargoids.

Hmmmm...I wonder what a mug of hot...black...hydraulic fluid would taste like....NO!...Must...concentrate..get..ship down...one piece....Only..few Mm left......

Arhh crap! When I jumped out after the encounter, the cargo hatch didn't close, so I have been seeding the Galaxy with a trail of my precious coffee. That means I have a 0.22 ly super cruise journey in front of me, and NO coffee!

I will have to call the Fuel Rats, and see if they can make an exception. This IS an emergency!

Well, how about that? Running from the Thargoids, made me an explorer; I have discovered a system, nobody has ever been to!

After the...ehm... encounter, I decided that it would be prudent to put a few extra systems between me and the Thargoids, so I just kept jumping to random systems for a while. Now I guess that I’ll have to add ‘famous adventurer and explorer’ to my business card. I think it still counts, even if I was completely lost, right?

I really need some coffee now, so time to plot a route for Hutton Orbital...again.

Is it just me or is traffic getting worse? Here I was on my merry way towards Hutton Orbital, and I get T-boned by a gaggle of oversized bottle caps in the middle of my jump. Their jump must have crossed my jump somehow, and we all just sat there and looked at each other for a minute. Then I politely honked to get them out of the way.

Next thing I know is they honk me right back, the Galaxy starts spinning and my ship goes dead. I was silently cursing Honest Joe for selling me a Krait of lemons, when it occurred to me that maybe those pesky Thargoids might have something to do with my predicament.

Luckily I got most of the systems online again, and I jumped out in a hurry. I emerged in the next system with an expression on my face, normally reserved for bugs on a windscreen.

I'll be sleeping in the ship again tonight because a certain luddite doesn't appreciate beauty if it landed on her head...also I have to stay and mop up some hydraulic fluid that keeps seeping out of the hose connectors behind the cockpit. The leak is a little too close to the CO2-scrubbers and coffee machine and I don't want to risk that either go tits up on me on the way to somewhere like Hutton Orbital.

Tomorrow I will go through all the systems and modules on the ship with a roll of duct tape and a large hammer, and then I'm of to...erm...well Hutton Orbital I guess. It will be a good test of the ship, and I still haven’t got a decent coffee mug. Since I lost my mug during that 'unauthorised exit', I've been drinking coffee directly from the coffee machine and even the blisters on my tongue have blisters.

So I went to 'Honest Joes' (by taxi, because who knows where my bloody Sidewinder was hiding again) to look at the Krait.

Well, it may have had one careful owner, but also a few less careful users as well. The 'unbelievable low milage' was certainly not believable. In fact the rest of the add should have read: ’Twice around the clock, drinks like a fish and goes like a tortoise. Full history (includes all original letters of complaint to the factory).’

While the hull looked solid, the rest of the ship had been gutted, and was probably on the way to be sold as parts. The modules that where left where E-class modules, it could barely lift it self off the ramp, and it had a jump range measured in ship lengths.

...so naturally I bought the ship. I couldn't help feeling sorry for the old pile of junk, and Honest Joe looked like he had won the lottery. I even got a good deal on some wing mirrors.

Now, I will have to think really carefully about what to tell the wife on the way back, but luckily the ship is plenty slow to allow me time to come up with some bulletproof arguments. Speaking of bulletproof, maybe I should wear something more...nah...I'm sure she’ll understand.