Diary of a Pod Pilot

I’ve been enjoying doing some legal agent work as of late, and I’d gotten an especially tempting offer from the Amarr Empire to go after a Nation trail running through their ranks. It’d involve a lot of combat versus Nation ships. Ah, if there is something I love, it’s turning them into scrap. So, I enlisted the help of Faber Demaunier, who’s always eager to salvage the battlefield after I’m done, and we went on our way.

Things went well, and as days proceeded, we were making good progress. We’d just ‘retrieved’ an important individual after dealing with the guards, and I was feeling fairly tired. So I hailed the crew and told them I was going to take a rest and so should they. Faber likewise took a rest, and good for her she did so outside of the battlefield. What happened while I was asleep — with all systems muted, because I was too tired to mute only selective communications and other interruptions — is that a backup wave of guards suddenly warped in on my location and opened fire.

Well crap. Not only do I awaken about half an hour later to see my camera drones showing a pod and I get to feel the awful pain in my brain coupled with the loss of a Tengu hull, there’s also this person on board who didn’t have access to the crew escape pods. It was also required for her to be dropped off alive in order to get paid and she’s vital to pursue this trail further. Luckily, a quick scan of the wreckage shows she’s in there somewhere and doing well enough. But I cannot get her out in a mere pod, and the guards will fire on anything bigger.

After informing the Ghosts presently awake about the ordeal, who quickly start to plan a SAR (search and rescue) operation, I decide to take my chance as they get over here and see if I can snatch the lady in a shuttle. Nice plan, but as soon as I slowed down the fragile craft literally evaporated around me. These guys were good with their beam lasers. Not good enough for plan B however.

Velarra asked where I had left the Basilisk previously used to support anti-incursion fleets with. Amarr, I responded, which was pretty near by. So with Nehebkau having his Machariel ready, and Velarra also being a star logistics pilot, we decided that what is good enough to survive the advanced technology of Nation incursions is probably good enough to fend off some overzealous bodyguards. Velarra ended up calling in a friend for aid, so we had a nice triangle formation going.

And we were right. The field was soon cleared and the captive recaptured. Deciding to waste no further time I flew her straight back in my Basilisk, while Faber recovered the remnants of my wreck together with the rest of the spoils.

As for the trail? That’s all been dealt with, as Jev North was kind enough to loan me a new Tengu she’d not be using for a while yet. Naturally, I’ve made arrangements to get her a replacement. While I had hoped to profit from this undertaking, at least the work paid off a good part of the loss, and I’ve learned that next time when there is no station to dock at, powering down at a safespot is not such a crazy idea even when operating in high security space.