Low Sec Space

When we lived out in Solitude, low sec space didn’t bother me. But out there, low sec was sparsely populated. And of course I didn’t go mining.

On the weekend, Robertt, Anthony & I went out mining in Haine. Rob with his barge; Ant & I escorting in Thoraxes. Things went well at first, but then local channel started showing other pilots arriving. So we decided it was a bit hot. We returned to base, and Rob changed into his Iteron to collect the ore – jaspet I think it was we did that day.

Warping back in to collect the jaspet,  there were some Serpentis ships there, so Ant & I got busy dealing with them while Rob picked up our takings. Once the Serpentis cruisers were dispatched, Ant & I pulled our drones in. Then we noticed a visitor – Islador.
Since we knew Islador as a comrade of RGPX, a local corporation Rob & Ant had done some work for, we didn’t react immediately. But he soon targetted me. I tried to warp. Scrambled.

A while back I learnt that the only response to being scrambled is to make a lot of noise. Mostly by firing off guns at whoever was scrambling me. So I did. I launched my drones and sent them against Islador as well.

In such a situation, there is enough I am doing in my own pod to worry about what the others were doing. I was praying Rob had got away with the jaspet. I was praying Ant was doing the same as me. Or running away if he wasn’t being scrambled.
It was reassuring to see CONCORD pounding Islador as well. So he soon died. But then another pilot was targeting me. Time to get out. I warped for home, and managed to get out. I presume Ant did the same, because he got home as well, although badly damaged.

Rob was disappointed he’d been unarmed when the fun went down. But getting him back to safety was the mission objective, and that’d been achieved. We got chatting to Islador later and he seems the type who alternates between “Sorry, I didn’t know” to “I don’t know you, I don’t consider you guys friendly, you’re fair targets”. So as a result, Islador goes on the list of people who are shoot-on-sight. At least in my classification. I think Rob took more reassurance out of the discussions held post-combat. But I don’t trust him. And I’m unsure about the viability of Haine as a base of operations. Probably because I haven’t had the positive interactions that Rob & Ant have had with the Haine locals.
The result though is that I’m basing in Ardene, while the others base in Haine. Corporate actions will be limited in the next week or two while Robertt is in Dublin. But we’ll see what happens when he returns.

Islador counted as a kill for me though. My second in my five months as a pod pilot. And in both cases, it was the same rule – when scrambled, shoot first and ask questions later.