A Return to the Pod

It almost came as a shock to me, the feeling of my consciousness rapidly expanding, my vision stretching from a limited cone to an all encompassing sphere. It had been months since I’d last been in pod, and I was certainly out of practice.

Take it slow, I thought to myself. I boarded a punisher, a battered old war horse that had survived since my PIE days, and slipped into space. I decided the best way to take it slow would be to ‘plex defensively, and so I slipped out Huola’s back door into Roushzar, heading into the relative backwater of Devoid. In short order I found out that most of the systems’ occupancy out here was contested, and that open control points littered them. I decided to secure a medium sized stronghold in Halmah, and made my way inside.

I found the place untouched; no wrecks of Amarrian naval ships or ships of any kind, and its secure status at zero, though it looked pretty secure to me with all of the golden hulls of the Amarr Navy floating about. I never understood why the navy present in these complexes couldn’t secure the sites and required a capsuleer enlisted in the militia to do so, but then, this entire war was being fought by capsuleers only, the navy only getting involved when an enemy capsuleer ventured into their territory. How endorsement and reward by the governments of their respective militias, who killed countless members of the enemy navy each day, didn’t translate into an actual war I’ll never know. As it stood, CONCORD, the governing body of all Empire-bound capsuleers, was also governing the wars between the nations.

After circling the beacon inside for some time, which had earned the jargon nickname of ‘button’ amongst militia community somehow, I must have fallen into some sort of light doze. The next thing I knew there was the sound of my ship targeting something, and a sudden bright explosion enveloped my ship. A crow, belonging to neither the TLF nor FDU, had opened fire upon me. The defensive fire from the navy did nothing, his speed allowing him to dodge all of it. I quickly sprang to action myself, returning fire with my lasers. The bastard got too close, and I was able to scram him. Unhindered myself by his mere disruptor, I kept him within scram range and made short work of him, my guns eating through him quicker than I had imagined. After his pod warped off I reviewed the info packet about the engagement, and found his fitting to be a bit subpar. I know, though, that if hadn’t gotten too close, it would have been me warping off in my capsule.

After that satisfying end to my first engagement since returning to the capsule after four months, I joined a fleet that was forming up. I found most of its members to be of the Knighthood, which gave me a small feeling of pride even though I know few and like even fewer. I quickly reshipped into something more fleet appropriate, my Ishkur. I’ve always had a tiny soft spot for some Gallente items. We shredded a few more Matari cruisers until they brought out battleships.

I docked back up in Huola and switched to my old Armageddon which had been gathering dust for months. Unfortunately, just like every other thing that’s two days from retirement, this would be its last flight. My long absence from the battlefield showed, however, as when the TLF switched their weapons to me, I did not ask for repair assistance. Under their combined might my battleship lasted perhaps only a minute before it was destroyed.

However, it was a triumph return to the battlefield, with 17 kills gotten and 3 separate fleet engagements won against the TLF…

Pirate Crow
Firt Fleet - Stabber
First Fleet - Hurricane
Second Fleet - Myrmidon
Second Fleet - Hurricane
Second Fleet - Brutix
Second Fleet - Drake
Second Fleet - Abaddon
Third Fleet - Megathron
Third Fleet - Dominix
Third Fleet - Abaddon
Third Fleet - Abaddon
Third Fleet - Abaddon
Third Fleet - Phobos Pod

…and an excellent weekend to celebrate my two year anniversary of becoming a capsuleer.

Reaper
Taranis
Stiletto
Firetail
Jaguar
Firetail
Jaguar
Hurricane
Cyclone
Retribution
Firetail
Rifter
Rifter