It was one of those typical work weeks for this new capsuleer. You know what I'm talking about. The endless waiting in line for a security agent, twiddling my thumbs waiting for a mission assignment, a couple boring transport missions here, and a few scouting missions there. Nothing too exciting.
On a return trip from escorting VIPs I decided to dock in Luminaire for repairs and to pick up some more ammo. It had been a long day dealing with those high falutin, snobby Gallente upper-class 'VIPs.' I mean if I have to hear that stupid reference to an ancient Earth movie again....you know...'I will not be rescued in such filth!'....I may just depressurize my cargo area and float the whole lot!
I mean really. You can't just wander on to my boat and make snide comments about her...hygiene like that. She may not be the prettiest ship out there but she has always taken care of me.
But I digress. After inspecting and loading my ammo purchase I received an urgent message from a security agent out in Balle to meet up with her for an important mission. At first I was like 'Yes!' something different. But then I realized something. See, I've been running the shipping lanes in high sec exclusively. It's not that I'm paranoid to go below .6 rating. It's just I have a really weak ship compared to what I've seen out there. And the thought of death...well, it's just not me. Wait! Damn it, that's another reference to that movie!
Anyways, I figured it's time to go for some higher paying jobs and given the desperate nature of the message I received I knew I could pull in more isk with this job than 5 of these FedEx jobs I've been doing. That all but sealed the deal in my mind.
So, I refitted my ship and armored her up for any potential run-ins with any pirates, drones, or trollish types, plotted my course, and began my jumps. When I arrived in Balle I immediately warped over to the station and met up with the security agent. Turns out this wasn't going to be some grand adventure that paid oodles of isk. She needed me to mine ore to help with supplies for the engagements they have been fighting.
Are you freaking kidding me? She drags me all the way out here to the ghetto just to mine ore? And for shit pay, too! But I had to look at this over the long term. My days of running low level crap through high sec systems were coming to an end. So I needed contacts further out. If I played my cards right, this agent could be my first connection.
I accepted the mission then went to inspect my baby....my Catalyst. I love my ship. She has taken me through so many skirmishes with local pirates and drones. And she can really taking a beating, too, just like my third wife. I had to purchase a mining laser out here which sucked because it was expensive. But with everything in order I undocked and went about my mission.
However, I decided to mine a few systems away. When I entered Pettinck I did my normal scan and noticed a combat site. Curiosity got the best of me so I decided to check it out first then go mining. I warped over and discovered scout ships 30k away. Almost instantly they targeted me and began firing. I hit my microwarp drive, targeted two of the ships, and once I was in range of my turrets I unleashed a storm of antimatter charges. They began dropping like flies. But as soon as one ship went down two more would come out of warp.
This didn't concern me too much because I could just sit back and pound them from a distance. This was about to turn in to a painful lesson for this new capsuleer. Arrogance has been the downfall of a lot of new capsuleers and I was very aware not to fall in to that trap.
But I did.
After taking out a dozen tier I ships, another group warped in. The standard scout level ships in the vanguard and way outside of my turret range were two larger vessels that had no problems hitting me from their distance. I had no choice but to go full throttle to close the range gap I had. I felt I could fly right between these scouts, take them all out, and then focus my attention on those big guys in the rear.
My plan worked at first. I flew in and parted their formation then let loose with my turrets. I swear these scout ships were make out of glass because they just shattered to pieces with one shot at that range. I was coming out of what was left of their formation and in front of me were two large ship pounding my hull with their guns. I had to activate my shield generator because each hit from those large ships tore in to me hard. I locked on to the two remaining scout ships and opened fired but as soon as the first shot from my turrets went off a shit storm of incoming ordnance peppered my ship. I looked over at my screen and saw 8 more ships warped in and they were all firing on me at once.
Each time they landed a hit the concussion wave from the explosion thundered through my ship. My shield generator simply could not keep up with the incoming damage. I flew out of the scout debris field and targeted the two large ships. I had to take them out fast else I would not last long. The new ships were relentless in their attacks. But I knew if I could just get an orbit of 10k from those two big ships I could reduce the incoming damage from them. I had to close the gap between us and fast. So right before I activated my microwarp drive I hear...
'The capacitor is empty.'
Shit! The damage to my shields drained my capacitor! The two larger ships match my speed and kept me just outside of my turret range while the other 8 ships rapidly whittled away at my ship. So there I was, coasting between two giant asteroids, dodging ship debris all while being pounded over and over again like an amateur porn star from rural Couster. I hit warp to get the hell out of there but between the time I activated it and finally went into warp I watched all of my armor get blasted away and most of the hull integrity.
So because of that, I missed my bonus for the ore because it took so long AND I spent a lot of isk on repairs putting me even further in the red all because I was curious. Looks like I need to take a few more high sec FedEx jobs to cover the cost of my new armor.