Well yesterday as I was quietly chipping away at a hidden belt full of nice Omber and Kernite rocks a great friend and mentor Fastercart radioed me with a strange and exciting message – “Hey Auto – there’s a Sansha Invasion event in Isamm!” All of us pod pilots have heard about these Wormhole fleet incursions into our beloved Amarr space with masses of evil Sansha ships boiling out and wreaking havoc on the locals. I pondered for a second and decided the Omber could wait. I let Conestoga Slim – my Orca Booster know I was dropping from fleet and quickly headed back to station to change ships.
Fastercart radioed again and asked if I was going and I replied in the affirmative, but was stuck on exactly which ship to take. He quickly suggested an expendable Cruiser or Battlecruiser Hull. Typical good advice - I grabbed a Caracal, checked ammo status, ran a quick repair, and set the nav to Isamm — a mere 10 jumps. Hey Evil Sansha Invaders – Not in my Backyard – not without a fight at least!
As I was un-docking, I contacted Rothschildia Cinctan, CEO of Hades Renegades for some advice. I felt that an accomplished PVP combat pilot to help steer me through the conflict would be helpful – it was a great idea as I was soon to find out.
I began the long trek to the target system with Rothschildia drilling strategy into my implants. “Enter at your optimal range, align – always align – watch local and load your combat overview settings”. I was steeling myself for the fight when Aura announced that our way point had been reached. I glanced at local and there were 87 brave souls in an otherwise quiet and sleepy system. The local channel bristled with X up requests and finally a reference to a battlefield at Planet VIII. I set my ship to warp to that spot at 30 and crossed my fingers.
As I dropped from warp I saw three things. The first was a massive enemy fleet commanded by a Chimera Carrier ( 50 + battleships, and countless cruisers, frigs and destroyers) – the second was a major wreck field – with dozens of wrecks and tragic losses and thirdly a brave and steadfast fleet of 45 or so still fighting. I scanned the battlefield and saw several enemy ships being primaried – so I quickly launched my Thunderbolt Heavies at them with total exhilaration. Rothschildia hummed in my ear to to stay aligned at my optimal – and pay attention for warp scrambling frigs. No sooner had he said that but a Paladin, who was Primary, went down for our side and for some heretofore unknown reason a majority of the enemy ships locked onto me and before I could warp I was locked down and starting to ooze. 50 plus ships targeted and opened fire. The sound was deafening – the light from the lasers and missile explosions was blinding and soon my Caracal joined the ranks of the other wrecks in the area. I warped out in my capsule and went looking for a local market with fresh ship, some fittings and chance for revenge.
I was able to get a Vexor but the available combat fittings were not optimal so instead I fitted some warp core stabilizers on it and a rack of Tech II Salvagers. I warped into the battle which was now almost done and started to salvage wrecks on the periphery of that wreck field. Some nice Tech II loots were obtained and soon the enemy was vanquished. Once the Carrier vanished the wholesale looting began. A fleet of Catalysts and Ferox descended and made short work of the wrecks on that massive field. Just rewards for the fallen == My own wreckage and its drops were scooped by another pilot while I was off refitting. After a short while I returned to home with a belly full of salvage and a great story to tell.
I will be better prepared next time – maybe talk Rothschildia into flying a Basilisk in with me . . . Hmmm.
Automerias Priore
Ornery Cantakerous Curmudgeon