I Came Here To Be Podkilled: Pride Goeth Before A Fall Edition

I've been riding high lately, pleased with my evasion of a gatecamp. This happened perhaps a week ago. I was in my Iteron V, with a cargohold full of POS fuel. That happens a lot lately. I loaded up in a station, where we keep the fuel, checked local and undocked. On undock, I started a warp sequence to the gate to the next system over, where the POS I was going to refuel was.

Now the intel channels had been showing some red activity in our space, but it was a small number, and in the other direction from the system I was headed to. I'm feeling a bit impatient, though, to get my chores over with and get on to other things. In the time while I was undocking, though, a red entered the system. I didn't notice right away, I had just checked local before undocking. So just about the time I entered warp, I noticed.

I hit control space frantically in an effort to abort, but it was too late. So the 20 seconds or so I spent in warp had me on pins and needles. When I hit the gate grid, my fears were confirmed, the red was there, and in a Sabre. As I come out of warp, a bubble goes up.

I announce my issue on my corp Teamspeak, in what I'm sure is a bit of an anxious voice. I'm advised to "get out of the bubble". I look around and see that while the bubble is still up, the sabre is gone, not visible on the grid. This gives me a moment to collect my wits, and recall some advice that a friendly reader had eve mailed to me, based on my last encounter with a Sabre.

I burn to zero on the gate and sit, waiting. Another blue transport, a Badger shows up, and is caught by the bubble. My fingers aren't yet working well enough to type the bubble/camp into the intel channel, and he was likely in warp before I could have finished it in any case. The Sabre reappears, likely it was cloaked. My targeting alarm goes off, he's targeted me. I take a deep breath, thinking "focus!". I check the outline of the sabre, it's blinking, both in space and on the overview. My shields are down a little. I jump through, knowing he can't follow me.

Local loads before the new system grid does, and there are two reds. Was this a trap? Have I gone from bad to worse? But the grid loads and I'm alone. I align for the pos with all haste and get into warp, seeing no one. I'm safe. The other two had gone via a bypass route, and were too slow to get me. It didn't occur to me at the time that the Sabre pilot had made it possible by aggroing me before his backup was in position. He's dealing with a lot, too, and wants to limit his exposure at the gate. His bubble will time out at some point. For all he knows, there's a dozen blues warping to that gate.

It's exhilarating to outrun someone in an industrial. I'm feeling good.

Nuke LaLoosh: Can't you just let me enjoy the moment?
Crash Davis: The moment is over.

-from Bull Durham

Which is probably why, when I finished my chores on Monday night and jumped into my Megathron to join corpmates in a ratting rampage, I took another risk with reds about. Or maybe it's just that I like the color red. It does look fabulous on hair after all.

A red gang had gone through my station system, and on to the next one, where the jumpbridge I wanted to use was. Intel showed that their scout, at least had gone on to the next system past that. And then there were several minutes of silence about them on intel. So I undocked, warped to the gate, and jumped through.

I instantly knew that i was toast. All six ships were there, including Vagabonds and Cynabals. I had no chance, they blew through my considerable tank like tissue paper. And so it was back to the station, feeling like a fool. I loved that ship, it had nearly doubled my ratting output. We estimate the loss at about 120 million ISK. I've been saving my pennies, being a miserly old elf, but as Meclin says, "It burns". Meclin, or as we call him, "Skippy", after his alt Scipia Mortalis (Or is that his main? I'm never quite sure), provided me with some new implants from spares that he had. It was probably time for me to upgrade them anyway.

Last night I began collecting the minerals to make a new Megathron. Time heals all wounds, even burns.