Frustrating the Enemy

After spending the evening on Ops, I decided to call it a night. At the time, it was just after 10PM (Idaho Time), and we had an extremely successful night capturing enemy complexes deep in their territory.

Arriving back at our extended base, I decided to leave my EWAR Crucifier* behind and fly back in my capsule. It was relatively quiet, and I didn't think there would be a problem. Besides, all we saw was jBobj, who a single Matari militia, and I didn't think he would be interested in me.

I dropped off my ship and quietly slipped out of dock. No one was around, so I headed for the first gate. When I made it to the second gate, I noticed jBobj again. My initial reaction was just to wave to him, but we are under orders not to fraternize with the enemy. So I just moved on.

When I appeared from my next jump through a gate, I discovered to my horror that the system was full of Matari War Targets! Flying a capsule through low security space is much like running around in your "undies". There is not much between you and the outside. Needless to say, I made a run for it! While warping through the system, I noticed my buddy jBobj popped up on my Local Screen. Apparently he thought I would be an easy target to add to his kill board. I was betting that my pod's small signature and my ability to warp quickly would keep this sorry hide of mine safe. When I came sliding up to the next gate, there they were! All those war targets seen in Local. I don't recall exactly how many enemy ships were camping at the gate (mind you, I was quite busy getting my pod out of there before they would pop me), but from my small perspective, half of the Matari fleet was there and they were all staring down at my tiny little pod.

I jumped through the gate.

Have you ever heard the adage, "Out of the frying pan and into the fire?" That is exactly what happened to me! Thinking that I finally rid myself of all the nefarious cretins in the region, I jumped right into the lap of a bunch of pirates! This particular corporation of pirates had declared war against our corporation, but since we only consider Matari Militia as our enemy, we generally ignore them. Yet, keep in mind, I am only flying my capsule!

It's a good thing that when you come through a jump gate, you remain cloaked for about a minute. I needed that time to calm down a bit and assess my situation. Once a little calmer, I realized that most of these pirates were flying larger ships, so I knew they would not have an easy go at targeting me, so off I went again!

I only had a couple more jumps to go, so I was feeling rather confident of myself. Lo and behold, there was my good ole friend jBobj in local. One thing you have to hand it to him... he doesn't give up easily. Making it to the next gate, I jumped through, and once again found myself in the middle full of war targets.

Taking off, I noticed one of them, who goes by the name matt deamon toss of a little jib on local. "Run Gab [sic]. Run for your **** life." Now, if I were permitted to chat with the enemy, I would attempt to encourage him in two ways. First off, it's GABE, or actually my friends are starting to call me Gabby, not Gab. Second, I would strongly admonish him to kindly refrain from using foul language. You never quite know when there are ladies present, and to use such vulgar language in public is terribly inappropriate.

Well, I finally made it back home. Despite the rascallions in the poorer neighborhoods, I did not get my pod popped, and we captured five complexes. All in a night's work!

* An EWAR Crucifier is a small frigate fitted for Electronic Warfare. By itself it doesn't do much damage, but in a fleet, it really becomes a valuable asset.