Can you think of something that happened, which was irrefutable proof that someone up there still loves you??
This happened a couple years ago, but I'll never forget…
I was in my (fairly) new, class D everything, except my 5A shield (or whatever the lowest allowed) Cutter with 700+T loaded up. I forget what the cargo was, but I know I sold a few ships to fill it, and I was nervous as hell (I did have, purposely, almost the exact amount needed for a rebuy). EDSM shows my largest trade transaction at 844M (wtf), and it might've been this day. The load was extra important, but I can't remember why.
I never use a docking computer, and wasn't about to now, but I was focused and could make it 2 jumps without dying. Worried more about pirates, I knew I just needed to get into the no fire zone. Come on, I'm pro. Surely, I can do that…
And I did! I got interdicted once or twice, but they're not hard to survive in the Cutter (submit, boost and carry on), so when I made it, I loosened up.
Ahhhhhhh…
Not very experienced with the Cutter, especially using the XBox controller and the Oculus (didn't have the HOTAS yet), I was bitching about why it couldn't have been 25. My landing gear wasn't yet deployed, and my muscles must've been tensed more than I realized, because as I was trying to maneuver to the center while simultaneously reaching for the button for the landing gear, I pressed the joystick in, and I felt the click underneath my thumb. 🤦♂️
12 thoughts of what I should do next, and they were all equally stupid. I saw my future in that moment, and it involved an Oculus Rift lodged perfectly within a hole in the wall.
As the Cutter sped up heading towards the back, I started to pitch up in the hopes of…um….maybe that sidewinder up ahead would break my 'fall'? And, as anyone who has flown a cutter knows…. they turn on a dime.
Still practically horizontal, ass end towards the ground a little, all of a sudden….stopped! I could hear the boost still going, as the nose was angling towards the ground, but still…not going anywhere…
Apparently, I must have pressed the boost a split second before the landing gear, and somehow the gear got caught on one of the lamp posts they place on the corners of some of the pads…
Shield was still at like 93%, and it took about 5 minutes before I realized it wasn't a direct display of divine intervention…Unable to get any altitude, it wasn't until I saw that my gear was down, before I smiled, retracted and succeeded in the next attempt.
