EVE Is a Cruel Mistress

EVE has not been good to me lately. After returning to New Eden from a small break of losing at FIFA 16, I went out looking for explosions. The day prior yielded a few good skirmishes where I was able to warp off in low structure, and a farmer kill to ease back into the groove of things. Afterwards, I tried to beat a Svipul + Hyena gate camp (I lost). Determined to bag me a decent kill I reshipped and almost got ganked by a number of frigates, but was able to escape. I was feeling confident, so I opened a novice and waited. All three entered, and my Rifter fought bravely. I was not to be deterred from my goal! Went back out and found a Condor nearby in a large plex. I died a slow agonizing death. Surely EVE was punishing me for playing a different game! I was happy when he finally exploded me so I could dock up and try again later in the day.

That Same Night

The calm ambiance of the station didn't interrupt my episode of CONCORD. I finished the episode and hopped in my Rifter as I slammed down a Quafe.

Alright baby, round three! Caldari space still felt a bit alien to me as I headed off into my usual route. One of our new Prospects, Alex Splinter was out and about looking for stuff to explode. We greeted each other in local and chatted a while as I scanned around and moved on to the next system. 

The constellation of Kurala is where I usually find a few fights without venturing far from home. This cluster of systems leads off into more low sec through Okkamon, and from there even more hunting grounds. I entered Ikoskio and scanned around and noticed something good.

[ 2015.10.09 07:34:00 ] Sem Skord > hey

[ 2015.10.09 07:34:03 ] Sem Skord > Ikoskio

[ 2015.10.09 07:34:06 ] Sem Skord > vexor at a belt

[ 2015.10.09 07:34:24 ] Alex Splinter > i can take a vexor ?

[ 2015.10.09 07:34:26 ] Alex Splinter > we*?

[ 2015.10.09 07:34:28 ] Sem Skord > yes we can

[ 2015.10.09 07:34:29 ] Alex Splinter > omw

Once I landed, through the floating debris of rocks the Vexor was sitting 200km off the belt. Ah poop. I scanned around some more and noticed an Orca out in space. It wasn't POS trash because I've never seen it on scan before, so I figured what the hell and scanned the planets. Once I pinpointed him, I warped off and loaded my Phased Plasma and Inferno rockets. I exited warp and was pleasantly surprised to land right on top of an Orca! What the shit!? Immediately I locked him up, scrammed and webbed the big beast and fired away! 

[ 2015.10.09 07:37:55 ] Sem Skord > xxxx

[ 2015.10.09 07:38:03 ] Sem Skord > Ikoskio V

[ 2015.10.09 07:38:05 ] Sem Skord > customs office

[ 2015.10.09 07:38:09 ] Sem Skord > planet V

[ 2015.10.09 07:38:11 ] Sem Skord > orca pointed

[ 2015.10.09 07:38:38 ] Sem Skord > cmon man!

[ 2015.10.09 07:38:47 ] Alex Splinter > omw

Alex landed on grid with his Incursus and we proceeded to chip away at the Orca's shield. Very slowly but surely we were doing enough damage to break his shields. 

Alex Splinter!

[ 2015.10.09 07:40:05 ] Sem Skord > once we punch thru his shields

[ 2015.10.09 07:40:08 ] Sem Skord > hes dead

[ 2015.10.09 07:40:39 ] Alex Splinter > why the hell is it here

[ 2015.10.09 07:40:57 ] Sem Skord > was doing PI maybe

[ 2015.10.09 07:41:05 ] Alex Splinter > ?

[ 2015.10.09 07:41:12 ] Alex Splinter > clear on dscan

[ 2015.10.09 07:41:29 ] Sem Skord > rgr

[ 2015.10.09 07:41:33 ] Alex Splinter > omg just overloaded -.-'

[ 2015.10.09 07:41:34 ] Sem Skord > planetary interaction

[ 2015.10.09 07:41:44 ] Sem Skord > watch the heat damage :)

[ 2015.10.09 07:42:26 ] Alex Splinter > is there anything i can do to repair here ?

[ 2015.10.09 07:43:11 ] Sem Skord > go 1 system over and rep at a station

[ 2015.10.09 07:43:17 ] Alex Splinter > yup

Even with just four of us in system, I continued to mash short scan and keep a nervous eye on who was coming and going in local. As Alex went a system over to repair his guns, a small spike of three pilots occurred. Oh no. Backup has arrived. I continued to mash short scan and to my relief saw nothing, but the pilots were still in system.

 [ 2015.10.09 07:44:18 ] Alex Splinter > whos angle?

[ 2015.10.09 07:44:22 ] Sem Skord > dunno

[ 2015.10.09 07:44:29 ] Sem Skord > not showing up on short scan

[ 2015.10.09 07:44:31 ] Alex Splinter > watch out

[ 2015.10.09 07:44:36 ] Sem Skord > rgr

[ 2015.10.09 07:45:07 ] Alex Splinter > all good ? just about to dock

[ 2015.10.09 07:45:11 ] Sem Skord > yea im good

[ 2015.10.09 07:45:27 ] Sem Skord > almost thru his shield

[ 2015.10.09 07:45:36 ] Sem Skord > just us :)

[ 2015.10.09 07:46:02 ] Sem Skord > shield broken

[ 2015.10.09 07:46:25 ] Alex Splinter > omw back

[ 2015.10.09 07:46:28 ] Sem Skord > rgr

The group had moved on and we were both shooting the Orca once again. Once the shields fell, the armor was crumbling fairly quick. 

[ 2015.10.09 07:47:37 ] Sem Skord > shoot it

[ 2015.10.09 07:47:40 ] Sem Skord > almost in hull

[ 2015.10.09 07:48:02 ] Alex Splinter > bulkheads

[ 2015.10.09 07:48:21 ] Alex Splinter > firetail in ystem

[ 2015.10.09 07:48:23 ] Alex Splinter > system

[ 2015.10.09 07:48:25 ] Sem Skord > rgr

A pair of pilots that had been chasing Alex entered system. One was in a Coercer and the other in a Firetail. We stayed on the Orca and watched short and long scan. The duo was on long, most likely looking for us but fortunately haven't succeeded. The Orca was now in half structure as its reinforced hull gave us trouble. I had gone through 3/4's of my shield ammo and rockets to break its shield, and was on the last two reloads of my armor to finish off the big beast. Ammo was running very low. Fortunately the Orca had no drones out (not sure if they can or not) so our only worry was having enough bullets to blow this bad boy up. Just then;

[ 2015.10.09 07:49:30 ] pugthetraveler Antollare > anyone want to help on gankers near V

Ah man! Almost three quarters of the way through his structure and he asks for help in local! Now the Firetail/Coercer duo know where we're at. Minutes later, both ships land on grid with us but 100km off. Not wanting to abandon this Orca, I extended a bloody olive branch.

[ 2015.10.09 07:51:38 ] Sem Skord > Help us kill it :)

The Firetail burned towards us at MWD speed. I informed Alex if he attacks one of us to focus fire on him. We continued to fire away on the Orca as the Firetail got closer and closer. At 30km I held my breath and waited to see what he'd do. 25km .. 23km ... 16km. The Firetail went suspect as his autocannons let loose on the Orca!

[ 2015.10.09 07:52:36 ] pugthetraveler Antollare > Rhight so you can take all the lot from others.  Piss ants.

[ 2015.10.09 07:52:48 ] pugthetraveler Antollare > Of course I was stupid to stay in system that long

[ 2015.10.09 07:52:50 ] Sem Skord > Ya'll can have the loot when he pops :)

[ 2015.10.09 07:53:00 ] Sem Skord > Just wanna see this guy explode

Yes! Happy that these fellas were helping us bring down this Orca faster, I told Alex to stay on his guard and get ready to warp off as soon as the Orca explodes. The Coercer was slow burning at afterburner speed towards us as we continued to fire on the ship. A couple minutes later the destroyer lent his guns to the destruction and I watched as lasers, autocannons, rockets and blasters came together for one glorious purpose. Pew pew! That's when Richard the Longshanks logged in.

[ 2015.10.09 07:53:41 ] Richard Averald > o/

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:03 ] Sem Skord > o/

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:03 ] Alex Splinter > o/

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:05 ] Sem Skord > shooting an orca

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:08 ] Sem Skord > Ikoskio

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:09 ] Sem Skord > Ikoskio V

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:25 ] Richard Averald > long left?

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:31 ] Sem Skord > quarter hull left

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:33 ] Alex Splinter > firetail and  Coercer

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:38 ] Richard Averald > nice

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:44 ] Alex Splinter > 2/3 intro hulll

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:46 ] Richard Averald > I'm shipless at Nisuwa

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:50 ] Richard Averald > have a ship in Okkamon

[ 2015.10.09 07:54:52 ] Richard Averald > coming



The Orca was approaching the last bits of life in its hull. Fire and smoke began to engulf the ship as I reminded Alex of the plan. I typed out a message and hit enter in corp chat, but got a weird ding sound. Maybe I'm typing too much. I hit enter again. Same sound. Hmm that's weird. I hit short scan again, and the Scan button stayed pushed down after I released the click from my mouse. No.

The Socket has been closed. EVE is kill. No. Not now! Not now!! Why EVE! WHYYY!!?? 

EVE definitely punished me for playing other games that night. I scrambled to log back in but was getting errors that connection wasn't there. I couldn't believe it. Seconds seemed like minutes as the launcher was back up and I opened up the exe file to log back in. Did Alex make it? I missed the Orca explosion. Is my pod ok? I probably got podded by those two. The character menu showed I was in a pod but still in system, so I didn't get podded. I entered space and landed on the Customs Office where the huge Orca wreck was floating like a fallen monument. The Firetail and Coercer were there with the engagement timer on 'em. I warped off to a safe.

[ 2015.10.09 07:57:49 ] Alex Splinter > sem ?

[ 2015.10.09 07:58:18 ] Sem Skord > Dam game D/c'd

[ 2015.10.09 07:58:23 ] Sem Skord > I got d/c'd

[ 2015.10.09 07:58:26 ] Sem Skord > in the middle of that shit

[ 2015.10.09 07:58:43 ] Alex Splinter > they both targeted so i warped and missed :@

[ 2015.10.09 07:59:00 ] Sem Skord > good job man

[ 2015.10.09 07:59:12 ] Sem Skord > im feeling mixed emotions

[ 2015.10.09 07:59:20 ] Alex Splinter > mmmm annoying. wanted kill

[ 2015.10.09 07:59:36 ] Alex Splinter > those two have been following me all day

But Richard the Longshanks wasn't gonna take this lying down. No. Because he is AutoKill Averald, The Face of Death. 

[ 2015.10.09 08:02:11 ] Sem Skord > well, we almost got an orca alex :)

[ 2015.10.09 08:02:19 ] Alex Splinter > richards aggressing

[ 2015.10.09 08:02:27 ] Sem Skord > im getting a firetail

[ 2015.10.09 08:02:35 ] Richard Averald > got both

[ 2015.10.09 08:02:41 ] Alex Splinter > richard...show off :L

[ 2015.10.09 08:02:45 ] Sem Skord > uwutm8

Richard had arrived to the battlefield in the aftermath, and with the element of surprise killed both the Firetail and the Coercer who were still at the wreck. Beautiful work! R1FTA VICTOR!

[ 2015.10.09 08:03:36 ] Sem Skord > Richard the Longshanks!

[ 2015.10.09 08:03:38 ] Richard Averald > Kill: Turok Alar (Coercer)

[ 2015.10.09 08:03:50 ] Richard Averald > Kill: Brayne Ded (Republic Fleet Firetail)

[ 2015.10.09 08:04:12 ] Sem Skord > fucking beautiful man

[ 2015.10.09 08:04:17 ] Richard Averald > we need transport

I was in another Rifter making my way towards the Orca wreck to see if I could get the loot from my destroyed Rifter; 

[ 2015.10.09 08:04:45 ] Richard Averald > golem entered

[ 2015.10.09 08:04:45 ] Alex Splinter > whats that ^?

[ 2015.10.09 08:04:51 ] Richard Averald > same guy

[ 2015.10.09 08:04:55 ] Richard Averald > want a golem kill?

[ 2015.10.09 08:05:02 ] Alex Splinter > i need ammo

[ 2015.10.09 08:05:02 ] Sem Skord > omw

[ 2015.10.09 08:05:12 ] Richard Averald > I need repairs

[ 2015.10.09 08:05:18 ] Richard Averald > going asakai to return

[ 2015.10.09 08:05:23 ] Richard Averald > he's at planet V

[ 2015.10.09 08:05:27 ] Richard Averald > probably taking loot

[ 2015.10.09 08:05:50 ] Sem Skord > yea omw ill help ya

[ 2015.10.09 08:06:49 ] Sem Skord > whats a golem?

At that point in time all I knew was that Richard was shooting a Golem at the planet where our Orca wreck was located. Alex and I were a couple jumps away burning towards him to help Rich out. By then Alex had linked a Golem ship in chat and all I saw was that it was a Marauder and its usually shield tanked. I loaded EMP ammo and Mjolnir rockets. We finally reach the system and land on grid with Richard and the Golem, and it seemed to be caught in the wreck of the Orca! Just as Richard had said, it was the same pilot! I locked him up and began firing away where his shields were falling relatively quick. I went to point and web him but got a message saying there was external factors preventing me from successfully carrying out those actions. What the?? Chat was fine since Alex and Richard were talking, all the numbers on the screen were good, nothing was freezing up or giving me the signs that I was going to get d/c'd again. I activated them again. Same message. Really odd. 

[ 2015.10.09 08:13:29 ] Sem Skord > i cant point him
[ 2015.10.09 08:13:42 ] Richard Averald > m,aybe he doesnt try to warp
[ 2015.10.09 08:14:30 ] Alex Splinter > we warped off for good ?
[ 2015.10.09 08:14:30 ] Sem Skord > thats so weird
[ 2015.10.09 08:14:34 ] Sem Skord > it wont let me point or web him
[ 2015.10.09 08:14:46 ] Richard Averald > hacked?
[ 2015.10.09 08:14:51 ] Sem Skord > maybe cuz the ship type??

The Golem was firing big missiles at Richard that would force him to warp off and repair. His shields were three quarters of the way gone. Richard warped off to repair and the Golem targeted me and the smoke trails of its delivery were heading my way. The explosion rocked my ship but the damage wasn't significant. My tank would hold for a good while.

[ 2015.10.09 08:15:04 ] Sem Skord > im good
[ 2015.10.09 08:15:07 ] Sem Skord > his shield is almost gone
[ 2015.10.09 08:15:13 ] Richard Averald > coming in again
[ 2015.10.09 08:15:15 ] Sem Skord > rgr

That's when Alex shed light on why we weren't able to point him.

[ 2015.10.09 08:15:21 ] Alex Splinter > Bastion Module I

That's why! Hey I'm just a frigate pilot! At that point we knew we would need something big and fancy to hold down the Marauder and take him down before he warps off. Problem was that it was only us three on in corp chat and we didn't have a bat phone to peeps who could drop the heat on something that big. Richard and I switched over to the Bastards public channel since they had some people online and calmly requested assistance.

[ 2015.10.09 08:17:48 ] Sem Skord > Golem
[ 2015.10.09 08:17:50 ] Sem Skord > pointed
[ 2015.10.09 08:17:53 ] Sem Skord > Ikoskio V
[ 2015.10.09 08:17:56 ] Sem Skord > need deeps
[ 2015.10.09 08:18:13 ] Richard Averald > golem pointed a planet V
[ 2015.10.09 08:18:13 ] Sem Skord > and something that can point it :)

Nothing. We continued to fire on it. Minutes later I had to warp off to repair while Alex and Richard took turns repping and shooting. I returned to the battlefield where the Golem was getting out of the wreck. My fellow Black Jackets were dry on ammo and in need of reps, so I was alone with the big ship. I had already gone through all my EMP and Thermal ammo and was firing my Fusion and Nova rockets at him. With the consistent stop and go of our fire, the Golem's shield had returned to full strength. Seconds later, it warped off.

[ 2015.10.09 08:21:42 ] Sem Skord > he warped
[ 2015.10.09 08:21:47 ] Richard Averald > noes
[ 2015.10.09 08:21:47 ] Alex Splinter > fudge
[ 2015.10.09 08:21:59 ] Sem Skord > lets loot the hazmat stuff?
[ 2015.10.09 08:21:59 ] Alex Splinter > take loot
[ 2015.10.09 08:22:03 ] Richard Averald > yea

There was 480 Hazmat Detection Systems worth 30 mil, so we began to fill our frigate hulls to the max with the stuff and ferry it a system over and repeat. We were only doing around 15-20 at a time.

[ 2015.10.09 08:26:23 ] Alex Splinter > is there a frighter or something in a local station ?
[ 2015.10.09 08:27:19 ] Sem Skord > you mean corp freighter?
[ 2015.10.09 08:27:25 ] Richard Averald > I can't fly anything like that
[ 2015.10.09 08:27:28 ] Sem Skord > same here
[ 2015.10.09 08:27:28 ] Alex Splinter > or a cheap industrial
[ 2015.10.09 08:27:36 ] Alex Splinter > itll easily pay off
[ 2015.10.09 08:27:47 ] Richard Averald > samanuni has badgers
[ 2015.10.09 08:27:54 ] Richard Averald > but that's highsec
[ 2015.10.09 08:28:13 ] Sem Skord > yea we'll get popped
[ 2015.10.09 08:28:23 ] Sem Skord > alex you can get away with it.
[ 2015.10.09 08:28:31 ] Alex Splinter > ill try

At this point Richard and I guarded the wreck as Alex was returning from high sec four jumps away in an industrial to expedite the process.

As Alex loaded the Hazmat stuff into the cargo hold of his industrial and ferried it back and forth, I went over what had transpired in an hour. It was awesome :]  It's pretty crazy how things fall into place or have that domino effect. The Orca pilot wanted to do some PI in low sec, Alex and I were roaming nearby, scanned down the Orca, pointed it, then two guys who were following Alex earlier found us, exploded the Orca, then Richard arrived and EXPLODED THEM! Orca pilot returns in a Golem, we do our best to fight him, he warps off, R1FTA pilots putting their heads together to get this loot out of the wreck and in our hands in a timely manner. Crazy!

Beautiful ain't it?

Alex loaded the last of the Hazmat materials into the cargo and ferried it to the station a system over. We sorted out the details on how to get it to high sec and were chatting about the events that just transpired when Alex shared an interesting piece of information with us.

[ 2015.10.09 09:01:35 ] Alex Splinter > err that guy we killed
[ 2015.10.09 09:01:45 ] Alex Splinter > hes lost 2 orcas now
[ 2015.10.09 09:01:46 ] Alex Splinter > :L
[ 2015.10.09 09:01:48 ] Sem Skord > lol
[ 2015.10.09 09:01:58 ] Alex Splinter > lost one on the 4th :L
[ 2015.10.09 09:02:01 ] Richard Averald > not learning the lesson

Hopefully we can continue to teach him >:]