The Respect of Wormholers

(TLDR: I find an off line Drop Bears POS, I explode some stuff, aDAMNPATRIOT jumps on voice coms with me and asks me to stop. I do.)

So I’m in my new corp Ducks for less than 24 hours and I’m sitting around my high sec base of operations. Its where I store all my stuff that I’m not either flying or in a wormhole somewhere. I figure I want to try out the ducks wormhole tracking software “dippy” or “Sippy” or whatever.. forgot the name. Still not used to using it.

What better way than to jump into some wormholes and see what happens.

For wormhole PVPers there are are a bunch of different ways we find targets. One is called “High Sec Diving”. This can be done solo, or with a group but the style is the same. Everyone starts from usually a trade hub and spreads out in different directions. Dropping probes in each system, looking for holes and jumping in them when found. We are looking for people doing sites, people bashing Pos’s, people hauling things to a trade hub, whatever, just something to shoot at. It’s a good way to pass the time.

Well that night I was solo(5 accounts) and operating from my high sec base of operations.

I come across a High sec to C5 connection 1 jump from my base. I jump in and hit scan. Nothing. I book mark the hole and proceed to warp around the system looking for people. Nada.

I drop probes and begin to resolve the system. This C5 was a C5 static C6, so I would at least be able to check one more hole before I moved along. I find this hole has 6 null sec connections and one static C6. I book mark everything and jump into the C6.

Nothing on scan. I bookmark the way in and  warp to the outer planet hitting D-scan the entire way.

I pass by something that I love to see.

Tower on scan. Ships on scan. SMA on scan. NO Force Field on scan.  

This means 1 of two things. There is a small fleet bashing an offline POS or this POS has been off lined for lack of fuel. Either way, I better move quickly to figure it out. I do a quick D-scan with moons and narrow it down which moon the POS is at. Its one of 3 moons, I don’t try and figure out which so I just warp to each of them at 100.

2^nd moon, I land on grid with a Drop Bears POS offline, with unpiloted ships floating around it. I book mark the tower and begin my looting process.

With offline POS’s you need to move quickly because sometimes the owner maybe on their way back, just logging in.

I scramble my other pilots. 1 pilot in a shield Talos that I happen to have lying around. Another in his pod. Another character in a scanning ship to watch the High sec hole in the C5. I’ll be making runs back and forth with haulers so making sure a fellow wormhole hunter doesn’t murder me while I run off with the loots is a good thing.

My talos makes it up the chain without problem. Still nothing on scan. The Talos lands on grid and blaps CHA. https://zkillboard.com/kill/39445504/

Cans start dropping, 1^st one I check, towers. More than 1. Random Modules and ammo. Some wormhole gas. But more strontium than I care to move. I start shooting the stront cans. I get my character in a pod to land on grid and hop in a fit Iteron 5. I scoop everything I can, blow up the worthless stuff. The itty 5 makes a run for it out to high sec.

I haven’t even started on the hanger when Fox (director in Ducks) says “Spear, are you fucking with Drop bears”. How in the hell did he know?! Did the kill mail post that quickly? I respond “Mayyybeee” and laugh. Fox says “I just got a ping from ADP asking why we are attacking his corp”.  Damn!!!  Well the tower wasn’t blue to ducks.. so fair game right?! I continue with the looting.

aDAMNPatriot jumps into the Ducks voice coms. Oooo dear this is going to be awkward.

ADP knows exactly what is happening and asks me to stop or something to that effect.

I asked him, “ADP, if you found an offline POS, I know your ass would blow it up without a second thought” He laughed and said ‘Of course but I’m asking based on our prior dealings to work with me on this’.

So, here I am a solo murderer being asked by a fellow wormhole inhabitant to cut him some slack. It clicked in my head for a second to tell him to get lost. But it takes more work to build a bridge than to burn it. Grrr fine, I agree. I swear, if it was ANYONE ELSE! I would have taken the kill mail and served a slice of harsh lesson on never letting your POS run out of fuel

I ask “What did you have in mind?”

He says, “how about we split what’s left in SMA” I said “well I get half no matter what right now”. “He says “I know, but you would have my gratitude”.

He would essentially get what would normally be exploded in the SMA. I still get paid, but he walks away with what would normally be destroyed.

I invite him to fleet and get him the high sec entrance.  

He then starts to send a steady stream of drop bears in through the high sec to C5 to his C6.

IF shit didn’t get weird enough, I’m sitting on this high sec hole in a pod and a uncloaked scout. Along comes a Hard Knocks scout and jumps in from the high sec. I say to ADP, “umm Hard Knocks” just found the wormhole. Turns out they actually had the C6 and the whole chain already scanned out because they warp directly to the C6 and jump in.

So I’m sitting in some one else’s C6 in a Talos, next to a bunch of shuttles/Pods of Drop bears guys at an offline pos next to a full SMA and Hard Knocks just jumped in. If they hit D-scan mid warp, they are going to see all these pods, ships, SMA and NO fucking force field on scan! WE ARE SCREWED!

Another Hard Knocks person jumps in from the high sec, I say in local chat “I’m not really sitting here in my pod on this C5” he responds with a laugh in local, then jumps in without a care in the world. ACK! Now there are two of them. We are really screwed.

We sit waiting in this offline pos while ADP travels to Amarr for fuel blocks to turn the dumb pos back on and get the ships out of the SMA. Meanwhile two different Hard Knocks scouts are passing us by. I’m freaking out! I don’t want to lose this offline SMA kill to Hard Knocks so I jump into the nearest combat ship that’s floating unpiloted in this offline POS.

Ooo a Zealot. SHIT! I can’t use T2 Med Lasers! I target the SMA and get ready to drop the drones it has. Maybe I can at least get on the kill mail with something before Hard Knocks shows up.

ADP shows up in the high sec in an Iteron filled with fuel. He starts his travel through the C5 then to the C6. The same chain and holes the Hard Knocks guys just went through. I’m like “dude, you’re going to die” “ADP just laughs”.

He makes it! He puts fuel in the tower and starts the onlining process. 8 minutes. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! We’re dead, we’re sooo dead!. I had moved my talos out to come back in a pod to help move the ships ADP is going to give me from the SMA. Turns out these 3 medium drones are not going to cut it when HK comes for us.

I get my Talos back to the POS and wait with guns over heated. There are Drop bears all over this thing, there are unpiloted ships all over the place. I get ready to just go ‘last star fighter, death blossom’  I’m getting on as many kill mails as I can before I go down. Drop bears, alts.. Don’t care its going to be amazing!

Those 8 minutes took forever! ADP pipes up and says “Orca and Scorpion on scan, now they are off scan”  O thank you BOB! They are rolling their hole. ADP gives me the force field password, so I don’t get kicked out when the force field turns on.

He tells me there are 8 smart bomb fit battleships in the SMA. He then keeps his word and removes the 4 battleships from the hole, taking to the nearest station system.

He one by one trades me the battle ships. Somewhere along the line, I told him I would swap out my Talos for one of his battleships, and as a departing request ADP says.

“Hey, where’s that Talos you promised me?”

I traded it to him, and said goodbye.

7o Mad respect aDamnPatriot.