012 - To 0.0 and victory! Or death, either way is cool.

InterStellar Kredits, or ISK, are a necessary evil of New Eden. I'd gotten lucky right out of the pod pilot gate, scoring a faction blueprint from a belt rat and an unsolicited yet generous donation from a helpful pilot. They expressed a wish to remain anonymous, apparently associating with an unstable individual, prone to random acts of violence, would reflect poorly on her within her current high sec missioning corporation.

Between frigate hulls, tech2 modules, faction ammunition, skill books and some bad investments, that ISK has been steadily running out. Perusing Galnet posts I looked for a viable method of making money, one that would be more entertaining than shooting Serpent cruisers in low sec.

I came across a post by an independent manufacturer living in 0.0, he was inviting pod pilots to his home system with the intention of helping them get on their feet and earning ISK, which in turn they he hoped they would use to buy from his market. The post indicated that anyone interested should send a mail for more instructions, I sent one off asking a few questions, and was a bit deterred when I received a seemingly generic response, with no answers to my few simple queries.

■■■

Invitation to 0.0

Hi, u responded to the forum, heres the reply

The location of the system is UF-KKH, u can attempt to jump there if u wish, U WILL COME UP AGAINST GATE CAMPS AND DIE.

the easiest way is as follows;

- get free jump clones, read this eve online forum:

http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=939710

- Apply to my corp its at MOTSU VIII - Moon 1 - Rapid Assembly Warehouse.

- Once in my corp set your clone to respawn at FV-SEB VIII - Moon 1 - True creations Logistic Support

- Leave my corp

- when your ready, jump into the clone u just created and self destruct your pod.

- u will spawn in FV-SEB **** YOU MUST UPDATE UR CLONE BEFORE U UNDOCK ****

-CONTACT ME BEFORE U UNDOCK AND JUMP 2 jumps TO UF-KKH

Be aware as people will try to kill u in FV-SEB

BRING FRIENDS

■■■

The easiest way is to pod myself? Since when did I ever want easy? ...Except for when shooting at new pilots, getting given a large sum of ISK, and free jump clones without a standing grind. Well not this time, punching UF-KKH into the autopilot revealed it to be over 50 jumps from my low sec home, more than 30 of them 0.0 space. Time to run headlong into one of those famous 0.0 gate camps, or land in one of those warp disruptor fields that had kept me from roaming 0.0 so far. But now I had a purpose, a destination, however I fully expected to be forcibly parted from my ship within a few jumps.

I cobbled together a new Incursus, fitting for optimal align time, a micro warp drive for speed and a prototype cloaking device. I was sure I would need the ability to hide in a safe spot for an extended period of time, without the risk of being probed out. I set off, cutting through high sec in my nimble frigate, too fast for the local authorities to lock down. Relieved each time I jumped back into the relative safety of low sec.

After an uneventful 20 odd jumps I arrived at my 0.0 point of entry, KBP7-J in the region of Providence, which I had heard was controlled by Amarr loyalist alliances, who did not take kindly to known pirates entering their space. Did that mean anyone with a negative security status? Or only those reported pirating in the region? I wasn't sure, time to start being extra cautious.

The star map showed no signs of an organised gate camp, with only the odd ship or pod loss registering along my entire route. I carefully made my way through Providence without incident, taking extra time to warp to celestials within scan range of the next gate if there was one, and making sure there were no active warp disruptor fields.

Several jumps into the next region of Catch, I was just thinking to myself how deserted it was compared to Providence when the local channel spiked. Twenty names suddenly registering in the solar system, I was caught mid warp to a planet near the only other gate in the system except the one I had come through. Quickly bouncing between another nearby planet, and cloaking in a safe between them. I watched my scanner as the Red overlord gang passed through, waiting a couple of minutes for any stragglers who may be lagging behind.

Jumping into the next system, a Taranis interceptor sat at 0km on the gate.

Shit.

I almost panicked and tried to warp to the next gate, catching myself just in time. I was still under gate cloak and had a few seconds to stop and consider my course of action. The interceptor would be able to lock me almost instantly, and even if he wasn't paying full attention and I did manage to get into warp, his ship was capable of beating me to the destination and locking me down if he saw where I went. Suddenly I recalled a little trick I'd been told about using a micro warp drive and a cloak, but this being the first time I'd ever fit either together before, I hadn't had a chance to practice. There is no time like the present.

Carefully adjusting my default warp range to 79,000km, I surveyed the celestials in front of me, selecting an asteroid belt with the closest range and that would require the least realigning of my ship. The Taranis still had not moved, my gate cloak would be ending any moment. I took a deep breath and ordered my ship to align to the belt, breaking my cloak while immediately firing the micro warp drive and a split second later activating the cloak on my ship, preventing the Taranis from getting a target lock. My Incursus leapt forward as it lined up perfectly to the belt, the micro warp drive boosting my speed temporarily before shutting off due to the cloak.

Toggling the cloaking device back off, I repeatedly ordered my ship into warp, the extra speed helping to propel me near instantly into warp. It worked! I think? Well I wasn't caught but I wasn't out of it yet. I marked a safe while in warp and used the same method to align back to the gate and warp to it in case the Taranis followed. He didn't, several minutes later he left local completely.

The Taranis turned out to be the closest call of my whole trip, a few jumps later I landed in a sling bubble with a couple of wrecks when I couldn't scan from a nearby celestial. Burning my micro warp drive and cloaking got me out it before anyone uncloaked or warped in.

GE-8JV appeared to be some kind of local hub system, with nearly 100 Against all Authorities pilots active but I had no choice but to pass through. Nearly soiling my pod goo as I warped at range to a planet with a strange factory looking structure, a Sabre, and a Nidhoggur.

Finally arriving in the region of Stain, I docked up at the first station with a medical bay and ordered my clone moved. Only a couple more jumps later and I was in “Hub Zero” designation UF-KKH.

Mdih Lihu > \o hub zero

nina tosspig > o/

Aaron > mdih o/

Nina tosspig requested a private conversation and welcomed me to Hub Zero as I got myself safed up, warning me there was currently hostiles in the system.

On scan a hostile damnation sat outside the station, a wing of fighters assigned to it from a carrier I couldn't detect in the vicinity. Nina invited me to their local intel and chat channel. Greetings were exchanged, but the locals had some concerns.

Radgette > -4.8 sec status naughty boy mdih :p

Mdih Lihu > but but... ok I don't have any excuses, I like blowing things up.

nina tosspig > yes well if u shot us i've afraid u would be out numbered :)

I did what I could to assuage their concerns, informing them I was here in the name of teamwork and ISK, mostly ISK. That Aaron's words of vast riches, constant explosions and the risk of death had appealed to me. Positive standings and friendly words were exchanged. I was asked how I tend to fit out my Incursus.

Mdih Lihu > normally 3 ion II's, scam, ab, web, dc and sar

silveward > dc? sar? i hope scam is a scram

Muffcobb > you haev a scam module on your ship?

Muffcobb > that is awesome!

Mdih Lihu > whups, yeah scram.. hey its 5am, gimme a break ;)

Docking up, I spent nearly all of my remaining ISK buying my first cruiser, a Vexor, some basic tech1 fittings, drones and ammunition. It was extremely late by this point and I collapsed into my bunk, thinking about how far from my low sec home, and how dependant I had become on a group of complete strangers.

TL;DR

I went to Stain.