Commander Jameson’s starship has just been discovered in Elite: Dangerous! Elite: Dangerous is a space flight and combat simulator made by Frontier Developments, complete with its own story and famous figures. Elite: Dangerous is part of a series, starting with Elite, which was released in 1984 for the BBC Micro and several other systems. And before you ask, no, you do not need to play the previous games to fully enjoy Elite: Dangerous. 

For those who are unfamiliar with the amazing Commander John Jameson, he is the best Commander to have ever lived and known for many heroic deeds. He is most famous for ending the war with the Thargoids in the late 3100’s, saving systems all over the bubble of civilized space in the Milky Way. He was thought to have disappeared into the black until just today, where fellow commanders have discovered his derelict ship.

The remains of CMDR Jameson's own Cobra Mk. III vessel.

The remains of CMDR Jameson’s own Cobra Mk. III vessel. While the Cobra Mk. III is a dated vessel, it is still popular among pilots new and old as a trusty multipurpose ship.

CMDR Robbie Junior from the Canonn Research Group has managed to find Jameson’s final resting place on HIP 12099 1 B, which is in the same system as Taylor Keep, owned and run by Intergalactic Naval Reserve Arm, or INRA. Taylor Keep is one of INRA’s many secret bases used for unethical research on Thargoids and weapon development. Jameson’s own Cobra Mk. III has crash landed on the planet with his last four log messages stored onboard, addressed to his son. According to the logs, CMDR Jameson was on his way back from having set off an unidentified payload near a hive of aliens, called Thargoids. The payload, he believed, was only meant to disable their hyperdrives in order to keep them in their own little bubble of space, far away from civilization. Instead, Jameson totally destroyed the hive and committed mass murder of an alien species, potentially even genocide. Jameson learned of this only after the fact and already felt remorse as he made his way back to the Lave system. However, he was unable to return because his ship was tampered with as reports from not only CMDR Jameson’s ship logs, but also logs from Taylor Keep, state very clearly. It’s as if INRA thought no one would learn of their unforgivable sabotage. This tampering of CMDR Jameson’s ship has lead to his untimely demise on HIP 12099 1 B.

I’ll be honest, even though I’ve never played Elite or Elite: Dangerous enough to properly follow this story, it still brought a tear to my eye. May Commander John Jameson rest in peace despite his horrible end among the very stars he loved.

“People will talk about what I did, after I’m gone. The missions I flew, the things I accomplished. But there’s something I want you to remember. No matter what they say, whatever garlands they hang on my name, whatever they write on my tombstone.

You are the greatest achievement I have ever made. I love you, son.” – The late Commander John Jameson, famous member of the Pilots Federation.

The logs from Taylor Keep can be heard here, and CMDR Jameson’s logs can be read here and listened to in the section to the right.

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Charles Raven

Charles Raven