Trial By Fire...

As I overloaded my afterburner and shrieked back towards the gate I had just come through, I couldn't help but think. "Well, now you've done it, you've gone and got them all screwed."

We had led some few members of Agony Unleashed on a bit of a merry chase through our usual stomping grounds, and in an effort to find a more plausible target for our small, six man fleet of frigates, we dropped into a dead-end system and swarmed upon the asteroid belts.

Our prey proved elusive, however, undoubtedly mooring up at one of the POS in system. Disappointed, but with no signs of the Agony crew, who we had run end-routes around several times, we headed back to the gate.

I jumped through first to get the lay of the land, and that's when the above thought landed in my head. A Drake, a Tengu and a Phobos, bubble deployed. Well, that doesn't sound too healthy.

My afterburner kicked in mightily to slap me back into a tight orbit on the gate as the jump system went to work, and I got back into our possible grave without a scratch. There was no answering flare from the gate to show pursuit, but we gave a bit of distance anyway.

After stewing and formulating our plan for a bit, we repeated the process, keeping everyone close to the gate while I went through to attempt to draw either their Phobos (unlikely, but we can dream) or their dps (more likely) into jumping through...

Turns out luck was very much on our side, the Phobos had warped away (briefly, he joined the following crew) and so the rest of the crew followed through and we zipped out of our dead-end spoke and back into open territory.

Our merry chase continued from there and we eventually lost our hangers-on, moving out of their hunting grounds and heading what I had arbitrarily declared 'north'. Skimming past another gate-camp, we eluded another set of pursuers with a bit too much firepower for our limited gang to handle and ended up sitting in wait on a relatively well travelled piece of the pipe.

Enter our new friend the Taranis. And his buddy, Taranis. And his buddy, Hurricane.

We dodged them at a gate, then held position while the two Taranis cruised in, and smiled when the first one jumped ahead of us. Rounding on the remaining Taranis, while aiming ECM at the Hurricane as it dropped out of warp, we demolished him swiftly. The second Taranis returned at this point, and it was then my inexperience showed. Knowing the difficulty we would have in disengaging, I called the Hurricane as primary, in hopes of getting our frigate sized hulls inside his guns, using tracking disruptors and high angular velocity to keep him at bay. This plan was proven ineffective as the Taranis, by far the easier target with our squad makeup, tore into our like-sized ships.

Our pods streamed for the far corners of the system before beating a hasty retreat. Pilot chatter was up-beat, as despite our ship-losses, we warped away having dropped a T2 interceptor with a gang of cheap frigates.

Three of us managed to stay on for another try. A much shorter roam with two frigates and my Hurricane battlecruiser, it ended in fire, our foolish plan to attack a lone bait-drake on a gate netting us a less than pleasant 'conversation' with a total of three drakes and two scimitar logistics. Yes, I hear you all saying 'OUCH' from back in your pods.

We called it a day on that note, and all in all, fun was had. I have another op scheduled soon. Cruiser's and below this time... Should be fun!

Fly straight, they'll never expect it!

Night before nerves..

In EVE, it's officially clocked over to 01/11/10. I'm an ITer of 2 years. In 14 hours, I'll be forming up a squad of ITer's and our allies and taking them out into the depths of space.

I've read a lot of guides, listened attentively to those with more experience than I, and prepared myself as much as possible. When the time comes, I realize I'm not allowed to express my doubts, or pander to my inexperience. Tonight is my night to express my nerves and to fret about what tomorrow will bring.

My monitor is piling up with sticky notes of important items. My overview has been adjusted countless times and I've familiarized myself with the numerous options available to a fleet-commander in the fleet interface.

So, this is me, signing off on my nerves, frets and worries. Tomorrow, I'm going to wake up and take charge of however small or large a fleet is available to me. Wish me luck tonight, because tomorrow, I won't need it.

Biting the Bullet

Today I sent off a Corporation wide mail informing people that I would be FCing an op in the near future.

This was preceded by a relatively lengthy conversation with one of our directors, as well as a conversation with Katt as to what time was both suitable to the corp, agreeable to her, and in any way practical.

Given that my experience as an FC has heretofore consisted of going out in a pair of Rifters with Katt and failing to find a fight, I'm a bit nervous.

Actually, I'm a lot nervous. I suspect that between today and the op I will worriedly be pouring over different notes and charts and the like and will end up needing whatever I did NOT prepare.

I will have my first opportunity to utilize the Eve Maps that Katt bought me for Christmas, and I've already got a few routes in mind. We'll be flying nice inexpensive ships, as a nod to my inexperience, but I'd still like for everyone to be able to have a good time and maybe, just maybe, score a kill or two.

More on my preparations as I do them...