Failure to Communicate

The story you are about to read demonstrates the dangers of communication failures. You can always count on stupid. This is a old adage which is especially true in Eve.

We roll our static and jump into a fresh wormhole to find .... wait for it .... nothing! That is what we usually find in our static but we are always so optimistic.

The C4 is empty of inhabitants but the sleepers have decided it is a good hideout. There are 18 combat sites and 14 cosmic signatures. We resolve the signatures to find the usual assortment of gas, rocks and the outbound static to another C4. However, these is another K162 in the system coming from a C2.

I jump into C2A while another scout jumps into C4A. The C2 is a C4/HS wormhole and while there are several towers, there is no visible sign of pilots so I head back to join a fleet to kill the sleepers. The other scout reports a lone retriever in the C4A which is not at a tower.

Since it does not take 10 people to kill a retriever, the scout is cleared to kill the retriever if he can locate it without spooking the pilot. In this case, the pilot appears to have been AFK mining since he never responded. The Retriever and the pod are destroyed with relative ease.

By now, the plex fleet is now in the static running sites with about 10-12 pilots. The scout who killed the retriever has moved to the C2 when a second retriever from the same corp warps in from the high sec and jumps into the static. The pilot then warps directly to the C4A and jumps on contact. The scout was unable to chase him down before he is in the POS.

While the scout is sitting there debating the next step, an Abaddon from a different corporation warps in, followed by a Scorpion from the locals. We warp our plexing fleet to the C4A and jump to engage both ships. The Scorpion is killed and we pod the pilot. While we have no idea where the Abaddon came from, we kill him and send him back to hisec as well.

We assume the killing opportunity is over and the plex fleet returns to killing sleepers in the static. The scout is heading back to the C2 to scan down that chain. When he arrives at the C2A connection, the wormhole flares and an Occator jumps. He engages the Occator, but the extra scram strength of the ship allows the pilot to escape. Hold On! He just warped to the C4A connection where we still have an interdictor and a bubble. Sure enough, he lands on the edge of the bubble and is quickly locked down by the small party sitting on that wormhole. We kill the Occator and provide a free trip back to hi-sec for Tabitha.

When you see 20 ships on d-scan, you might want to reconsider transiting a wormhole in a slow ass hauler. When your team mates get owned on your static connection by a large fleet, you might want to hold off using that connection to haul in supplies. You might want to consider voice comms if you live in a wormhole. Or you could just provide us with a few minutes of entertainment.