A tale of two Orcas

With the Noctis popped and looted, the pilot vanishes. He isn't a local to the system, or to any of the current wspace connections we have mapped out, his corp ticker not matching up with any of the known stations. I pop out probes and quickly eliminate the known sigs, finding a new wormhole reasonably quickly. A corp mate jumps through to scout as our little group sits cloaked just off the new k162. The tower is found, the pilot and an ally sitting in Orca industrial ships.

Our scout reports they've both warped in the direction of the hole we're sitting on the other side of. We all hold cloak as both the Orcas appear on our side of the hole then jump back through. Go go! We give chase appearing on the other side with the two whales slowly aligning away. Points are spread and we have them both, the former Noctis pilot is called primary and I actually remember to overload my guns for once. Armor melts away into structure when both ships suddenly disappear, not warp away, just vanish.

There is much confusion and raging as none of us understand what happened, I even evemail the Noctis pilot to find out, normally people are all too happy to boast about their escape and I'll take that if it means learning and adapting to counter it the next time. People wander back to our home system dejected and a little annoyed at the unexpected turn of events.

A short time later while I'm just sitting cloaked at the hole, and my corp mates are again discussing running some sites, the two Orcas appear on my overview.

"They're back, quick back to the hole"

I try to initiate warp to the hole but it doesn't take, one of the Orcas has jumped through collapsing it and leaving our buddy the Noctis pilot trapped here in his Orca. I warp to the bookmark and land right on top of him, locking and pointing him again with another corp member who stuck around as the others start rushing back. We've got him to low structure and someone calls out for us to wait so he can get on the kill, other people are calling for guns to be turned off and against my better judgement I stop shooting...

This is the bit before the low structure bit, which I forgot to screen shot, so imagine this... but with some more shooting.

A few seconds later the Orca disappears... again.

Had we all kept shooting with overloaded guns, at the rate he was dropping I have no doubt we would have killed him. At least the pilot is kind enough to respond to my message (via Evegate).

After a bit of back and forth he went on to explain that if a pilot logs off before any aggression is taken, he will disappear from space after 1 minute no matter what. I had assumed (incorrectly) from reading recent patch notes that getting shot extends the timer by 15 minutes, so logging off isn't going to save your ship any more. However by logging off while still under the jump cloak, and no bubble to aggro him there was no way for us to stop him from disappearing. Which to me seems like a bit of a strange rule, but you work with what you've got, now we know for the future.

While we waited around for a while, it was pretty obvious he wasn't going to log back in any time soon, and we decided to call it a night.

So while it wasn't a happy ending for us, we played some small part in a happy ending for others.

Now I need to find a way back to kspace, I've got some interdictor related skill books to buy.

Not our Noctis

Retrieving the Tengu turned out to be easier than expected. A direct connection to low sec has spawned, the system a solitary low sec in the middle of a dead region. A corp mate scouts me in through the gate, the whole affair quite uneventful.

There is a gas mining operation getting under way, not having the skills (I'll be honest, or interest) in joining in I decide to sit off one of the holes cloaked, at least I can be a watchful set of eyes while we all have a bit of a chat on comms. Once again uneventful, its over sooner than I would have expected, the site completely cleaned out by the Orca boosted (from inside the POS) crew.

"Works out just under 100mil per person" says the man in charge of payouts. Perhaps I should re-evaluate my stance on mining, although there is something about just sitting there with a massive target painted on me, unable to even shoot back, that doesn't sit well with me.

I take a brief break and when I return there is talk of shooting at sleepers in our static c4. While everyone is getting organised I decide to take a quick jump in there with my cloaky Loki to make a few safe spots.

"Have you guys done any sites in here yet?"

"No, we're just about to"

"I see a Noctis and wrecks on scan"

I do a few quick warps around the system checking for other ships, the Noctis may be a great salvager but I'm sure it didn't create those wrecks by itself. I can't see anyone else in the system, and the Noctis is either in a despawned anomaly or a signature site. A corp mate is less than subtle, poking his non-cloaky ship through the wormhole and is painfully obvious on dscan, a few more corpies say they're on their way.

With the element of surprise already gone the instant the Noctis hits dscan, I quickly dump some combat probes and throw them roughly at the planet I think he is near. The wrecks are disappearing rapidly and my time is running out, the first hit barely registers the ship, a quick correction and its stronger but still not there, third times the charm and I'm warping to zero.

I drop cloak just before entering the site, priming my tackle and guns. Watching the ship speed indicator I hit lock as soon as I drop out of warp.

"Point, warp to Mdih"

I micro warp drive my ship straight into the Noctis, you never know when these slippery buggers will have warp stabilizers fit. People are all talking at once on comms, the snagged Noctis asking for a ransom in local and they're encouraging me to take it. I ask for an offer, and he comes back with a paltry 50mil, I counter with 100. Not being used to talking on comms, shooting and negotiating at once I only just manage to deactivate my guns in time, a sliver of structure remaining.

Now I don't know if Fromil had his guns primed already, or if he just doesn't believe in taking prisoners. He came screaming into the site and obliterated what was left of the Noctis with one shot.

The pilot warps out before I can snag the pod and disappears from dscan, now to find where he came from...

Making friends (and not shooting them)

Wandering aimlessly through space can be quite fun, recently I've been doing a fair bit of it.

I took a few Tenal treasure hunting trips inspired by this chap's post. Countless hours can be spent accomplishing nothing, followed by a single site making an instant multi-billionaire. Returning to empire I'd plink away at a few missions for research and development corporations, eventually setting myself up a small (very small) passive income. Then either head back out to Tenal or roam around the ever changing maze that is wormhole space.

The problem with being a solo cloaky wormhole multi-day tripper, aside from having to stop to breathe while saying that, is a lot of the time you don't have the right tool for the job. Hey look a solo Tengu in an anomaly, sure wish those wormholes links from yesterday still existed so I could grab a cap neutralizing gank ship, wait here is a high sec exit, how convenient- 27 jumps?! Screw this I'll just wait till I find a miner/hauler/senior to slap about and rob.

Deciding its time to get back into wormhole space on a more permanent basis. I found a friendly group of folks active around my peak pod time, and after the usual application formalities, API check, previous corp check, comms interview and some risque photos of me flashing a little knee, I was in.

Assembling a Tengu to the corps standard fit makes it the most expensive ship I've ever owned, hopefully the investment can be recouped before exploding gloriously. An entrance to my new home has been scanned out and I make the uneventful journey in my cloaky Loki. The w-space links are buzzing with neutral pilots and I decide to leave the Tengu for another day when I can scan out a less risky route.