Mike looked around the room and over to the holo-images that were people who wanted to attend but could not come in person. “Ok, I want to lay this out right from the start. I am working on the assumption of ‘relative security’ but I do not expect absolute. If you all could avoid handing the final game plans over to the other side? I’d appreciate it.”

Chuckles answered him and a few took drinks from whatever they had requested. In the distance the thump of a bass beat reached at the bodies of those present as the Party Boat was in full swing. “Yeah, I know, real subtle and below the radar, that’s me. But to business. I hope you all have done the reading I recommended. If any didn’t get the package . . . ”

“Yeah, about that. I saw that you included how to set up a gate camp. I thought we were going in a race?” Kotacko leaned back as he asked the question.

“We are and I know you probably have a fair idea of how to run a gate camp but I want some of the others to have a clue as to what they are up against. Simple details like how a bubble works and where we can expect to see them. Or how fast can a decent tackler get a lock.” Mike grinned around the room. “I practiced a bit with Mar, here. He had a ship set up and showed me in no uncertain terms that I either need to modify the Party Boat or accept the fact that I am gonna see some locks on me unless . . . .”

“No unless about it. If I can lock you then you have to figure there are gonna be a lot more out there that can do the same. You have a plan for that, don’t you?” Mar asked with a smile.

“Aside from the one you have already seen? Yes. I plan on being juuuust the right speed. The interceptors are gonna pull ahead leaving me in their dust. I hope they hit the camps first and ‘occupy’ the time of the campers long enough for me to slip past.”

“Security through obscurity?”

“Exactly. I will be low key all the way.” The door opened behind Mike and a dancer wearing little more than two dots, a dash, and a smile came in to hand him a drink. She then left, giggling. “Yup, under the radar and never doing anything that will make me stand out . . . that’s the plan.” He took a sip of the drink and grinned.

“We are so dead.”

Setting the drink to the side Mike clapped his hands once and said briskly. “So. To business. Aside from knowing how the gate camps might work I wanted to give some of you a few details about things you can do to help even from a distance.”

“Here it comes, he is going to ask for more isk.” Bob groaned to Marham.

Laughing, mike continued. “I need a few folks good at remote scouting, reading the maps and predicting choke points and possible camp sites. I am going to be running hard and trying to look ahead at the same time but there is only so much I can do. I want them looking at the stats for systems, the dotlan route planning, alternate routes if a really big camp is spotted. I’ll need good communications for ‘Friends of the Party’”

“I can help out there, maybe not with the maps but we will see about setting up a secure channel.” Bob said from the side.

“Excellent. I also would love it if some of you were willing to do some last minute scouting and making of bookmarks. We should soon have a clue as to the general region, a few nullsec safes in possible routes would be a nice thing. That being said there is also the more ‘fun jobs’”

“Here it comes.” Marham said to Bob.

“I want hunters. I want the people who think that the race is a rolling buffet to be a bit worried that it is THEM who are on the menu. The last minute nature of the race route should make them less organized, let’s take advantage of that. If I get popped along the way I may switch over to hunt mode and take in a ship or three to explain to campers that being stationary for two long is something I like in a target.”

“This is going to cost.” Mike didn’t see who said that but he nodded amiably.

“It is. No two ways about it. Some of you have already donated to the race fund and we got some major donations as well as offers of experience and advice from some old friends of mine. Aside from some large donation by Odessa Marie of the Evebowl I chatted with some educational folks. Black Claw of OUCH gave me some tips on lowsec survival as well as 30 million isk. Dee Carson, who was a mover and shaker in Eve Uni contacted me and told me to ‘pimp the boat’.”

“Judging from the dancers, I’d say you’ve done that.” Mar observed.

“No, he meant put some isk into it. He tossed 250 into the kitty.”

“That’s not much.”

Mike grinned wolfishly “250 million?”

Stunned silence filled the room. “Where do you meet these people?”

“I chat with a lot of folks, I write and listen to them . . .I did NOT have the guts to ask Chribba for a donation but I was tempted. Escoce contacted me. He is experienced at lowsec trading and he gave me a few pointers on fittings that I am still working on.

“So aside from the dancers, what sort of pimping did you have in mind?”

Mike laid out the blueprints of the party boat and they started discussing . . . .

**********************************

Lessons

1) The RACE is on, more than 40 signed up, from what I hear. Come on folks, join in or become part of the party crew. Betting for the distance the boat will make it will be posted later this week.

2) You can help even if you are not in the race.
a) Cheer on someone you know (or me)
b) Fly somewhere along the route and either shoot for or against
c) Fly with the racers but not be a part of it (If violence occurs there could be some wicked salvage left along the trail)
d) Drop Rixx a line thanking him for making this possible
e) Place your bets when it opens, will I make it through a single lowsec gate? Will I make it to null?

3) At least three bloggers are running IN the race. Come and be ‘famous’

4) Not too late to join the Friends of the Party. An easy way to be a friend is to NOT shoot me when I go by. Slightly more strenuous is to shoot the other folks who are shooting at me.

5) The ultimate would be someone who is along the race route and offers a boat switch when mine runs out. If I can get clear with a pod and someone is nearby then switch and continue without the trouble of jump cloning and rerouting . . . pony express racing.

6) I appreciate suggestions . . . most of the ones I have received so far have been great. Seriously. Black Claw? Escoce? These guys make me willing to even try this sort of thing. I am a carebear missioneer. I build ships and I mine and I do all those petty little things that the ‘real players’ sneer at. But when you read the blogs of the pirates, the ninjas, the null sec wars you get curious. There ARE folks out there willing to teach you, to welcome you to the bigger game. Just look around or ask me . . . for all that I am a carebear I am a well read one.

m

`. . . and so now we know what happens if you load depleted uraniums slugs into the pulse laser, not gonna do that again.

The Captain called an all-hands meeting yesterday. Seems he had already talked to the Dean of the University and some folks in another corp and he felt it was time to move on. So he is givin us the choice as to whether or not we will coming alopng or he will be paying us out. Some stepped up for the payout and will be coming home with the same ship that brings this note to you. I won`t be coming home right off. I am curious where the Captain is gonna take us next.

He said that we had learned a lot from our time with OUCH and that the lessons would be needed right quick as we are heading for Providence. Now I know what yer thinkin. I decided to sign on for anopthe tour with Jiorj because he does care about his people and tries his best to minimize the risks we face, even if he is taking us into lawless space. I talked with a few of the boys and they feel the same way so he isn’t going in there alone. By the time yer readin this we’ll be making the 25 odd jumps to our next base of operations. Jiorj himself took me to the side once I made the choice and had me choose some Blueprint Originals to bring along. I told him he was crazy to risk them in the 9 jumps through low and nullsec that he told us we would be making at the end but he just smiled and told me I was right to worry, cause that was what he expected of his Production Boss.

Ya, me. He is paying for any courses I can find to become a better factory floor rep and I will be working directly for him and with the blue prints. He says there are factories with a few slots where we are going and he wants us to be working with them once we get there. I think I am going to keep with what we know and go for some ammo.

Gotta sign off, ma, the captain is calling for us to ’saddle up’”

**************************************

Lessons:

I have had quite a few in OUCH and all of them were valuable. I’d like to thank all the members of that corp and highly recommend them to others who might be looking to get a feel for the more pvp aspect of the game. I think the funniest times are when we are being smacktalked by folks who are running from us. They look at our killboard and declare OUCH to be poor at pvp. This is true in the raw sense that we have deaths, it is part of the learning. But it is especially hilarious when the people deriding us for our stats are running or hiding in a station.

Black Claw, thank you. As I told you on the comms, I will come back someday (I hope) to help train rather than be a student. To the others I flew with . . . thank you even more. You were patient and I learned far more than you know.

Now, SIRadio, ready or not, here I come

j

If you came here looking for my statement of intent in regards to the CSM this is the post to read. If you have questions then post them here and I will answer them right quick.

To reiterate what I said on the candidates page. I don’t want to make sweeping changes nor am I pushing for the new shiny things (not that I mind them). I would like to see the things that we already have polished to a higher shine or made to work for us rather than against us. I have old eyes and I truly wish I could set the UI to accomodate me more than an A+ that makes it slightly bigger but, somehow, no more legible. So UI tweeks to allow me to make the ships fly and control more in the fashion I need/want.

What I don’t want is to force my design for a UI down your throat or anyone elses. My needs are different than yours . . . so my UI should be mine and your UI should suit you.

Some of the things I asked for in the last election are being worked on and some have even come to pass (or will by mid May). If you haven’t already you should send a word of thanks to the former CSM members for their hard work, but now lets let some new blood in, me. I have said before the CSM would best be served by a mix of experience and new blood to keep things active. Funny things is that I followed the last CSM closely, writing articles on the meetings for the Tribune and here in this blog. If you want to see some of that then click CSM on the search to the right and see what I thought of previous sessions.

As for who I am, beyond the pixels. I am a high school teacher of Math and Sciences. I have taught every grade except grade 3, kindergarden through college. I have sat through more meetings than I care to think of, brainstormed lessons, plans, and ideas with the best of them. I have handled difficult children and more difficult parents. I know how to wait my turn and I know how to make myself heard when the occassion demands it. if you elect me to be your representative then you KNOW you will have someone who can make the point and see the good and the bad of any proposal and weigh the merits fairly.

Within the pixels I have one character who is a mission runner, another who is training lowsec and nullsec with OUCH. I have lost enough ships to protect an outpost and I have been on pos shoots, lived and died in small gang battles, and I have chased and been chased, scouted and been the tackler, mined till my face gently came to rest on the keyboard. I have fallen asleep and awoken in a pod. I play for a few minutes or for hours on end. I have never been rich and have often been poor. If you read more of this blog you will know that I like to dream a story within this game and I play accordingly.

I’d like to think I am an average player but there may not BE such a beast. Worse, this mythical average player seldom votes. Percentage wise, hardly anyone votes. Those who do are ‘old players’ with tons of skill points, isk, experience. I’m not one of the old guard. Those people have allies and alliances and already know who they are voting for. I don’t blame them. But I am calling on you, the folks who are just starting out, you the people who don’t know the ‘distant gods’ of the game and just want things to be better, even if you are not quite sure what better is, yet.

I cannot end this without this one plea, from the heart. Vote. If you think I sound reasonable, then vote for me. But if I don’t sound like somoene you want representing you then look at the other 52 candidates in the deck. We have kings and queens, jokers and jacks. One of the MUST be the right match for you to vote for. This is a new era in the CSM process and I’d like to see it break the records for highest turn out in the polls. I think you should vote for me (but then I will admit to bias in this regard)and I ask you remember me, come election week.

m

. . .so working in a station isn’t that bad, especially compared to what the Captain has been doing lately.

He left most of us behind, like I told you before, to go deep into nullsec. Well he called us from a hisec factory a few jumps away and asked for a skeleton crew to meet him. We got a few of the regular gang together and went over to find him leaning against the hull of a stabber. Nothing loaded on it, just the basic ship itself. He told us that he was gonna fit it out on our own home hanger but we had to move the hull there. We set up started up the engines and off we went into space, as naked as a ship can get. (More so since even a brand new Stabber has that half-finished feel to it) He had set the course for the hanger where our gear is and off we went. Jiorj likes to keep the crew in the loop when we are out and he was in a good mood so he was joking, pointing out the sights as we warped to the first jump gate.

The mood shifted fast when we jumped through. Captain Jiorj muttered a cures that would have gotten him smacked by Ma if she heard it. There was one of the ‘wartargets’ on the other side of the gate and we all heard the klaxon as he started to lock us up. I will say this right off. The Captain may be chatty and easy going but he had us back into warp and shooting across that system before most of us even registered what was going on. Bang, we are at the next gate and through with the other ship right on our tail, always one step ahead of his locking us up. About the third system along he took a side step to try to throw the enemy off the track and get us some breathing room but that lil ship kept right on top of us.

Well all this time we can hear Jiorj laughing and giving a running account to other captains he knows but the wierd thing is he AIN’T asking for help. He just keeps warping and jumping and laughing like this is some sort of game or race. He would whoop and yell as each successive gate arrived and vanished in the light and we were on to the next one. But then he told us all, probably remembering for the first time that the in-ship communications were active. “I figure we should hole up for a bit. I am getting a few reports that more than this little racer are hanging about and I’d hate to run straight into a trap.”

With that he spun the ship and docked us at the next station. My buddy up in the communications told me what happened next. “Lordy” he says “The Local started spiking and damn if each one of them wasn’t someone who wanted us dead. Captain would have gotten us all killed if we had gone on one more jump but he knew when the race was run and done.”

Well I don’t know how he does it but he chatted with the guys after him and complimented them on the run. Told them he wasn’t partial to ’smacktalk’ whatever that is. They laughed and told him they would be watchin him and he laughed back and wished them better luck next time.

I don’t know. I think being immortal is kinda beginning to get to him cause I can tell you the lot of us were scared to the point of needing new pants after running a half dozen systems unarmed and being chased by folks who wanted us dead. He was laughing and bought us all a round of drinks. Told us at the bar that he was going to now keep two bases of operations running and we would be the hisec team. Not that that made us safe but he would jump over every now and again and we would keep the factory orders running. He is having us train in station trades and he hinted that biugger projects might be right around the corner. Then he finished his drink and headed off to the clone bays to do a different kind of jump, one we don’t follow him on.

*******************
Lessons: Travelling during a war is risky, travelling unarmed during a war is just plain stupid
Assume the othe side is talking and has some modicum of intelligence. You might be right, sometimes.
Yes, it was a frigate chasing Jiorj,. but unarmed and nothing loaded on the ship . . . the cruiser still would have popped right fast.
You don’t have to shoot or be shot at to get the juices really pumping

j

Shifting to low and null was stressful, but not so much as travel there once was. Jiorj reflected on his comfort level as he slid through systems looking for the new base and making a few bookmarks along the way. Local was an automatic glance as he entered system, a quick check to see what bookmarks he already had followed by the placement of a few more. Align, check, jump, warp and on to the next system. The Comms chimed and he slid to a safe spot and activated the cloak as he started to read.

“Huh.” He had known that it would be a very long haul to get to the point where the locals would trust him enough to allow him to install clone copies. He had made the long flight from the one clone center where he started his career, once, and was prepared to do so again, when the need arose. But this corp message told of an alternative path. If he joined Estel Arador Corp Services then he could swiftly have a liaison who would expidite the making of jump clones in the local systems.

Jiorj looked into the suggestion and found it to be true but he was very very loathe to leave the corp in the middle of a war. In the end he went to speak directly to Black Claw.

“I know that making the Jump Clones is a good idea but I do not want to presenty as being a coward or a quitter.”

Black Claws image smiled. “Jiorj, I do not think that is something I could easily be lead to think. You have told me why you are going and that you will return, that is good enough for me and if anyone asks, I will tell them what you are up to. You may want to shuttle a few ships why you are flying under the ‘new flag’ and the enemy cannot fire on you. We will be here when you get back.”

Jiorj thanked the leader of the School and logged off, sighed, and commenced the leaving of OUCH to make his clones. The process and searchig for apprpriate bases took a pair of days and he was soon back in OUCH laughing at the message he had received while on leave. . .

Hello! I have noticed that you have resigned from OUCH, as short as your term with them was, I would like to sympathize myself for your losses, as well as congratulate you for what could have been, the best decision you have ever, and will ever make during your time spent in eve.

Before this can be forwarded to anyone else in OUCH with misconceptions, I would like you to understand that I am completely sincere when I say that I sympathize towards your losses. I personally would not have stayed in a corp for so long with a CEO who holds his ego in higher regards then his members and their well being, and for that I salute you.

Fly Safe!

-dxrom

[06:58:49] Cellest Grendal > just thought you would be taking the heart beat of the corp and it’s members in consideration

[07:00:01] Black Claw > I don’t do what the corp wants. The corp does what I want. If they don’t like it, they’re free to leave. Most of them share my vision

“The thing is”, Jiorj mused softly to himself, “We do. Black Claw created a place to learn, to teach, to grow into more competent pilots by actually going out and doing things. We do share his vision, and his decisions are his to make as he is the founder of the school. He has let those who want to go, go. Those who have stayed do so on the belief that what we are fighting for is NOT a bit of territorry. It is making a stand against . . .against . . .against whatever the hell you want to call the opposition.” (Some of the terms he had used in corp chat were less than proper)

A School that had been created to help pilots learn to deal with adversity. This is the group that the enemy thought would pay a billion to end a simple wardec. Jiorj laughed. Perhaps it would be better if we asked them to set a class schedule. If they were going to become part of the curriculum at least they would have the decency to post classtimes. The laughter grew as he opened the comms and prepared for a nullsec roam, the class for the evening was in session . . . with the enemy huddling in it little hisec station camps wondering where all of that targets went.

*************************
Lessons

If you are making wardecs in a hisec bid for what amounts to extortion be sure you research your target first.
Spelling counts when making extortion and so does grammer. People lend more credence to somoene who doesn’t stutter, slur, or grunt.
If you are going to use quotes to try to damn someone, make it something out of context that doesn’t make them look like who they normally are.

j

Jiorj browsed through the active messages and then sighed, leaning back in his chair. Ouch had been at war for a few days now and the pressure was beginning to wear people down. He looked out at his own crew and realized he had not spoken to them since this war began. They had lost friends out there, not to the war but to where the war had taken them. He sighed and gathered his wits about him before heading out.

“Brothers, sisters, gather round if you will.” He waited while they moved closer. Many were faces from his village but there were faces missing and new ones in their places. He sighed. “As you know, we are at war. This has made space even more dangerous than it has been in the past. I do my best to keep us safe but ships . . . and lives have been lost.”

“Why are we fighting, sir?”

“I have made inquiries into that and the best I can tell is that the enemy seem to be what is commonly called griefers. This is not about money, territory, or honour. They hunt us because they think they can.”

“People are dying . . . sir the losses on our side in pure isk . . . ”

“Yes, I know. I am managing to keep us in the positive right now and am trying to get better at flying the frigates we take out. Our leaders are looking into ways to help us and they think they have come upon a solution. We will be moving our base of operations, soon. The griefers only go where they feel sure of having the advantage. They camp outside of stations waiting for someone to exit but it they are thenselves threatened they hide within the station until the danger goes away. So we are going to make the danger more omnipresent. We are moving into lowsec.”

Gasps and mutters filled the hanger as this news was absorbed.

“If this was a true war then the enemy would follow us. But if this is all about easy kills then these people will become hunted by the stronger inhabitants of our new base area. By going where it is dangerous we will, in effect, even out the playing field.”

“But not into nullsec, right? I have heard that is getting worse lately. The Providence region . . . ”

“THAT is ENOUGH of that.” Jiorj paused and let the echoes in the hanger dissipate. “Ahem. Do you know what the deadliest weapon in a war is? I will give you a clue, it cannot be mounted on a ship. Information. What we know and do not know is the difference between living and dying. What we say and think influences our knowledge. If we think all is lost then it is. If we worry about tomorrow and dread suiting up for the next flight we might as well retire now.”

Jiorj pointed up to the higher reaches of the hanger. “There are podpilots on the channels bemoaning how foolish this war is and how they plan on ’sitting this one out in Jita’.” Jiorj spat on the deck. “THIS for anyone who would think to leave his comrades behind and ’sit out’ a war. THIS for someone who would pollute the comms with defeatist talk. We are here to do a job and we will not ’sit it out’ nor will we leave OUCH while the war still runs. Cowards are as common as cockroaches and when light from the fires of war shine you see them scuttling away in the same fashion. Our people did not raise us to run home when the going got tough.”

He stopped and looked about at the assembled crew. “As for Providence. I am sure you have been following the news as much as I have. It seems this is the season for leaders to be suicidal and to take many people with them. Goonswarm is no more. CVA struck a cowardly blow in their ‘holy cause’ and failed. They were then rapped over the nose sharply by their neighbors. I do not know if you have read the most recent offer of peace and its refusal but for me, it beggars my imagination. How they could refuse the return of thier station and an offer of peace after it has been clearly proven that the alternative will be their destruction . . . ” Jiorj shook his head. “Madness.”

“I could never have predicted what those people would do, but I know what I am going to do . . . what WE are going to do if you are still with me. I have ships being made as we speak, some we will fly, others will support our losses. Many of them will be lost in this war, and some lives will go with them. I never fly to die but I hav eyet to shirk my duties. Black Claw has suggested that I might lead a Roam.”

“You sir? But . . . ”

“Yeah, my reaction was about the same. But I have been watching and learning from the other fleet commanders and I hope I have learned from both the successes and the losses. To fail to have done so would be spitting on the sacrifices and the losses we bore for those lessons. We will be going into nullsec, looking for targets. The trick will always be to tell the targets from the bait. We have lost ships to mistakes in that identification procedure. I will be taking us out to the edge of Providence if we can get that far and I expect the best we can get from all of you. I am not going to ‘fly till we die’ because I owe you better than that.”

Jiorj looked out at the worried faces and continued. “Now I expect that the enemy will be haunting the hisec passages looking for us to be making supply runs. One of our jobs will be to supply our fellow pilots.”

“At a profit?”

“Have I done otherwise? We will not be wartime profiteers but Black does not mind if I make a percentage. I have done my research, my homework and I know what is being used and will be moving those job lots to the top of the factory queue.” His comm chimed and he frowned, looking down at it. “There’s the, pack up people we are on the MOVE.”

“Where sir?”

Another voice from the crowd scornfully answered. “Ya ain’t heard of operational security? We will find out when we gets there.”

Jiorj smiled. “Actually we have a choice of destinations and Black is not too worried about spies anymore. OUCH is not hiding and is accepting new students again. We can go to losec or nullsec.” His smiles turned wolfish. “Guess where we are headed.”

A quiet voice from the back said, “We are so dead.”

**************

Lessons:

One nay sayer in a corp can kill more pilots than a battleship station-camping your home base
Realistic is nice, but most pessimists claim they are ‘just being realistic’
“And thereore those skilled in war avoid the enemy when his spirit is keen and attack him when it is sluggish and his soldiers homesick. This is control of the moral factor” Sun Tsu

The news ran through the comm channels . . . prepare for war. It is a semi-common thing for educational institutions to be wardecced and Black Claw was not truly surprised. He had instructions coming out to the students swiftly and reminders of how to spend the 24 hrs of peace before the shooting started was well used. War target members were identified and investigated and reasoning behind the dec was discovered. It was NOT a griefer corp (at least not in the usual terms) but someone who had a grudge against some of the volunteer instructors of OUCH who actually had their own seperate corp.

“So they do not attack the corp of the instructors but, rather, us. That makes no sense.”

The answer was easy . . . griefers do not attack competent enemies, they try to pad their killboards up with easy kills of relatively inexperienced players.

Withint ten minutes of the war going live Jiorj was a member of a fleet in home space hunting for war targets. A LOT of new ships followed them from system to system and were swiftly tagged as ’spies’ as they kept pace with the fleet until it decided that the enemy did not want a standuyp fight but more easy pickings. So the fleet went into 0.0 and were not followed to continue the normal routine of nullsec training (and dying, oh this time was a doozy of a fleet wipe to a cynoed fleet who arrived just for them . . . fantastic experience.)

The following day showed the strategy of the attackers in more detail as they camped Berta station and popped any of the OUCH members who came out. This was treated as another lesson and a breakout was successfully organized. Since then the opposition has pulled back and only seems willing to engage when nthey have the massive advantage. This is the right thing for them to do as it is an Eve truism that fair fights do NOT exist. Thr trick is to make sure you are on the winning side.

Jiorj listened to the more experienced members of the corp and waited for the right moment to make a last run into Berta and out again. Bases of operations shifted as the corp start to spread out denying the opportunity of camping one station for easy kills. Space is large and the lessons that may be learned, endless.

j

Place your army in deadly peril, and it will survive; plunge it into desperate straits, and it will come off in safety.
For it is precisely when a force has fallen into harm’s way that is capable of striking a blow for victory.

In OUCH we do not ask you to attend lectures, we do not tell you to read or inject knowledge. You will learn in the doing. Sometimes you will fail and the lesson will be hammered home even more, if you have the ability to learn from your mistakes. We have found that lessons you learn in the doing are FAR more apt to stick with you than lessons learned any other way.

Jiorj slid into the rifter pod and activated systems. A fleet was heading out and he planned on being with it. A pair of jumps and he was in orbit with almost a dozen other ships. Cro was the named FC even though there were more experinced pilots in the roam. He had lost a fleet earlier and was looking to redeem himself in a more successful run. Jiorj was happy to be greeted in a familiar way and smiled as they all sympathized with his slow comm systems. He was first to volunteer to take point and soon he and another pilot were springing ahead of the main fleet as they swept through lowsec and into 0.0

It did not take long. Outbreak patrols were still about. Cro bemoaned the fact that Outbreak had decimated his earlier command and the ships they flew were far and above those of this small fleet of tech 1 frigates. He tried to avoid contact but Outbreak was more than willing to give chase. The scouts had trouble keeping ahead of the fleet as the orders to warp/jump came fast and furious with a vagabond always just a hair behind them. “He is the one who got Me!” Cro exclaimed as the Vaga was visible just as the fleet leaped to the next system.

Again and again the systems changed and the long range showed that the Vagabond was not alone. The next system was called and questioned as some with maps wondered if it might be . . . . it was . . . a dead end.

The more senior pilot offered to take over and command was swiftly passed across. Keeves took up the challenge and the cornered fleet turned to face their pursuit. Jiorj wondered what went through the Outbreak pilots mind as he warped into the system to see the swarm of small vessels racing at it. Points were called and other electronic warfare worked its arcane ways on both his engines and his targetting systems. Then the fire began. Unable to return fire he was slowed to 21 m/s and could not escape. His compatriots arrived to lend assistance only to have their own targetting systems jammed and locked down and become but spectators to the demise of the 100 million isk vessel. Little frigates worth less than a 100th of the target swooped and soared as Keeves kept them on target and monitored the rest of the space about them. The Vagabond silently exploded followed in very short order by the pod of the pilot. No quarter was given and now the other Outbreak members realized that they had become prey.

Before the next hour was up a Megathron battleship had also fallen to the rejuvenated team. Keeves himself would alternate between lavish praise and scornfull derision as he commented on the fleets actions. He would NOT, for all his scorn, leave a ship behind and even fell while acting as the rearguard of a retreat. He directed a pair of killings of ‘old friends’ who were acting as cyno pilots and his giggles were infectious.

When Jiorj finally docked the vessel he had started with back in the hanger he breathed a sigh of relief and opened a file to make notes of the few things he had picked up on this trip.

LESSONS

A roam is motion. To stay in one place is to invite a planned and deadly attack upon yourself. Move or die.

You wait for commands to do anything up to and including engaging. Failure to do so can earn you (at least) the honour of being declared the next primary target.

Be carefull, when hunting, that you are sure you will be able to survive what you catch.

j

Jiorj scrambled the crew to the hanger desk and selected only a skeleton crew for the OUCH mission. “We are going into lowsec as a scout for the fleet. Scouts are . . . a high risk as we will be often on the outskirts and the first hint of something going wrong. We are the canary in the coal mine. So I want men and women who know the risks up front. If you are not willing to go today you will still be on my rosters, no shame, no recriminations. Oh, and this does count as hazardous duty, whether we see action or not, pay will be modified accordingly.”

They loaded up and transfered to the rally point where they switched to a new smaller ship, a Rifter. ‘I didn’t know we could shoot those . . . ” One of the weapons bay techs muttered as light missiles were transfered aboard.

“Not sure we can.” The other replied as they saw that the ‘LOAD’ light was not on.” (It was partway into the mission when the light did flicker then glow and they sighed knowing they could now shoot all weapons if push came to shove.)

They launched and were surrounded by other vessels, big and small, all glowing on the hud with the soft purple of fleet. The Rifter lept forward and raced about the near space first orbitting one then another ship as Jiorj got the feel for the small nimble vessel. Black Claw called for the chatter to stop and then began identifyine what ships he had to work with. Ships that could cloak were given systems to scout and sit in and were sent off. Bombers and probers vanished from the crowd around the station and then Black turned his attention to the smaller ships. Each was givena system to go to and they all warped off starting at the same gate but then spreading out to cover the systems along a general path and all the adjacent ones.

Jiorj called up a map and looked to see where ships were being assigned. Operational security meant that nobody was asking (or being told) where the station was going to be raised. But the maps showed the flow of the fleet into lowsec had a direction, a form, and a purpose. He didn’t know the exact system they were going to end in but he could see a direction from the fleet chatter and assignments. He was assigned to a chokepoint system beyond which no other ships were sent so he knew he was not on the main path but guarding the flanks. He listened as general orders were issued for the outriders to make safe spots and hold positions 200 km off of the gates.

With the latest technologies, Jiorj knew, safe spots were almost misnamed. But they were easy enough to make and he swiftly dropped three in system before returning to position off of the gate and watched, listening to the rest of fleet chatter. A gate camp was set along the first choice of paths but Black had alternative routes and the fleet confirmed that it was safer and proceeded. The POS was loaded and once the path had been confirmed the escorts ran out ahead, cloaked, and one watched the back door as the outriders continually updated Black as to traffic and populations on the side paths. The industrial carrying the large station slowly moved through the systems and settle, the construction began while all the guards watched and waited. When it was up a cheer went through the channels and the decision was made to continue the operation and make the station ‘fully operational’. Launchers and bays were loaded into the cargo vessel, the pilot Voltron, fretted, knowing that a mistake now could cost in excess of half a billion isk. The outriders were brought together as a fast response guard force and shadowed the load from the base to the station. It took long hours of stress and constant vigilance . . . this was not mining.

The fleet was amused when one ‘orange’ they were watching passed the ghost watchers in a Drake and returned a while later in his Pod. A few enemies who listed as ‘Red’ were seen here and there but they probably never had a clue as to the value of targest that smoothly went past them, an empress with her palace guards. Each step the ships moved a Black ordered, each in formation and reporting on the occupants of systems. They were his eyes and ears, his fingers across a dozen systems.

The station was built and armed, the ships returned to the rally point and then dispersed with a heartfelt thanks from their fleet commander. Back on the hanger deck the day ended where it had begun. Jiorj thanked his crew and assured them that they would be paid the full bonus in spite of the fact that not a single shot had been fired. He then returned to his studies as he continued to try to become a more usefull member of the OUCH team.

**********

Lessons

If the way is clear, you go for it. Strike with the whole set up if you think you can do it in one op.

Just because nothing happens does not mean we were bored. Watching and counting and scanning is a function of fleet as well

Use multiple channels so the chatter does not fill the operational commands, split the local off to the side so it is ALWAYS visible.

The more operational security you have, the less chance of a surprise ambush courtesy of some spy within the ranks.

If it is a one station system then lining the ‘guests’ up with local will let you see how many are out in space and how many are sleeping it off.