And then things got interesting

While I was watching this whole confusing scenario unfold, many thoughts crossed my mind.  When the Vexor was solo, I wondered if I could gank him with a Claw or a Hawk.  That seemed like a tough proposition and would require a drone overview tab, so I went ahead and set that up just in case.  The thought of whether I should worry about ganking when I might get to steal more arrays eventually won out and I remained hidden.  But eventually I got annoyed watching the group of five.

At one point I decided to see how they would react to probes, since I hadn't seen any all day.  I warped to planet 10, off scan from everything else in system, and dropped core probes.  Then warped back to the on-grid safe and started scanning down the hole.  First a few probes appeared on d-scan, then eventually all of them.  The five didn't budge.  I finished scanning down the hole and recalled my probes.  A while later, even more bored, I went and checked my statics.  The C5 connection was new, I had woken it up.  It went to J155928.  There were some T3's on scan in there, but I didn't know if they were piloted or at a POS.  I lingered at the exit hole for a moment, uncloaked, to see if that drew any attention.  Nothing obvious happened so I jumped back and resumed watching them.  This was still before 6:30pm.

Just before 7:30pm I walked by the computer and noticed something was different.  There were only two or three ships on grid and they weren't Vexors.  I forget what was on grid and what was on scan but there was a mix of T3 cruisers and a Devoter in the area.  There were two wrecks, the Gila and the Navy Caracal, the latter of which had loot left in it.  It seems Greater Realms had found this little POS shooting party and caught them off-guard, killing one Vexor, the Gila, and the Navy Caracal, and all three pods.  I watched as the last few T3s left grid and eventually only a Legion or two remained on scan.  Once again diving from my on-grid safe, I warped to the Navy Caracal wreck.  It had 8684 Scourge Fury Light Missiles and some Cap Boosters.  Since I was still in the Cheetah, all I could take was the missiles.  Then I warped back to the POS, dropped off the missiles, and got back in the Prowler again.  Once again setup at the on-grid safe, I waited and watched.

Over the next 25 minutes, things got crazy.  Just as I thought Greater Realms was gone completely, an entirely new T3 fleet appeared.  Multiple T3 cruisers with an Ishtar, Vindicator, Navy Omen and a few Scimitars.  I decided to warp to the wormhole to J155928, thinking that's where G.R. came from.  It was, but they weren't there.  The new fleet was, and they were No Holes Barred.  I watched as they chatted for a moment.

[ 2015.01.03 00:50:01 ] etheris > tengu you guys want to brawl or no?

[ 2015.01.03 00:50:24 ] Avam TheRock > worried about rest of fleet

[ 2015.01.03 00:50:47 ] etheris > you have guardians, we have scimis

[ 2015.01.03 00:50:51 ] etheris > its an even brawl, your call

[ 2015.01.03 00:51:00 ] etheris > we're leaving in a few minutes. make your choice

[ 2015.01.03 00:51:10 ] Avam TheRock > had bad experiences lately with even fights turning into double numbers

[ 2015.01.03 00:51:22 ] etheris > alrighty, well fair enough



Thinking maybe the fight would happen or that the conversation might move to the other system, I warped back to the on-grid safe at the dead POS.  Not much was left that was worth messing with.  Greater Realms had saved the last White Noise Generation Battery from a worthless death.  NoHo was still on scan somewhere between 5 and 10 AU away.  I decided to chance a swoop in for the ECM array.  With a quick unanchor and scoop I grabbed it and then warped back to the on-grid safe.  Looking the field over, there were 3 Medium Pulse Batteries clustered together, next to a bunch of T2 drones.  I figured I'd take one more swoop for the guns and be done with it.

One array went in quickly, followed by another, then I tried to scoop a drone that was farther away than it looked.  The ship approached it automatically and I just went with it, tired, stupid, distracted... whatever.  By the time I got back on track and went for the 3rd array it was too late.  The Proteus was there on the overview, cross already flashing yellow.  I had been forgetting to d-scan, forgetting what I was doing, just falling apart.

[ 2015.01.03 00:53:45 ] (combat) Warp scramble attempt from Angelus Infirim [IXC]<NOHO>(Proteus) to you!

He held me there for a moment, until the others arrived, including the Flycatcher to make sure they got the pod.  I was calm, it happened almost too fast.  The time between when I panicked and when I knew I was hosed was so short that there wasn't much to react to.  I just had to watch and wait.  They popped the Prowler, and my pod.

[ 2015.01.03 00:56:28 ] EVE System > Channel changed to Local : Heydieles



My first thought was that Prowlers are expensive, and I had just gotten above breaking even for the month.  My second thought was to get on an alt and see what was up in the hole.  What I found is that a new K162 connection had opened up into us and that was where NoHo came from.  I watched them leave and then checked the dead POS grid.  My wreck was gone, that was it for the dead POS adventure.

I switched back to Niskin and headed to Jita for a new Prowler.  Then back to Charmerout for some fittings as I have tons of stuff sitting there.  Finally I headed over to Yulai to pick up some loot that was stashed there, and Pashanai also.  I'd have to take it to Jita to sell it, to help cover my losses.  But that would have to wait until the morning.

For the first time, I'd been podded out of my hole, and no good exits were presenting themselves.  At least I have the whole weekend to watch for something, and could run some errands in k-space.  I might even have to do some L4 missions as penance, the horror!  But one thing is for sure, I'll never hang a Prowler out there in d-scan range of a hungry PvP gang again.  Lesson, I should have already known, learned!