Bad Access: a short story about online gaming in space

Bad Access is a short story set in the Triple Strike universe, and while it's not necessarily canon to the actual light novel series, it's certainly not not-canon! The story features Colin Mitchell, best friend and investigative partner of Triple Strike's main protagonist, Alan Beringer, and it's born from the question, "how likely are you to meet an online friend in real life in some random part of the galaxy?" 

Equally important, it asks, "and what exactly did you talk about before you improbably bumped into them?" (In Colin's case, it was probably more personal details than he'd prefer to share!)

For the sake of the plot, I needed to describe at least one of the games Colin plays regularly,  and it ended up being a team-based shooter. From this, you can assume 1) quantum bandwidth is plentiful, 2) team shooters are still popular, and 3) the culture around them remains unreasonably toxic. 

If you enjoy the antics of BadAccess0x42069 and SoundlessWingz, let me know! I'd love to explore more about the still unnamed game they play, and their favorite characters in it if there's interest!