Timing is Everything

I woke up in Decon, having shuttled over there the previous night to sort through an enormous pile of ammo and modules purchased from a friend who had moved. Comms was *barely* logged in before an alliance mate said, "Mynxee, undock!!!" "In what?" I replied, curious at what was happening outside the station. "Anything! Just UNDOCK!" I happened to be sitting in Stinger, my Rifter. Wondering if my mates were bored and about to do something devious, I sighed and started the undock procedure. Once my systems resolved and I found myself in space, I had a good laugh as I joined the fleet. There they sat: Thanatos, Thanatos, Chimera, surrounded by a huge mob of fighters. And me in my tiny, tiny Rifter. Turns out they were waiting for a third-party hauler to bring fuel in and had decided to meet him at the gate to "escort" him. As we fleet-warped, I felt a bit like the toddler who gets to tag along with her big brothers...although this picture doesn't quite tell that tale:


The hauler was waiting on the Decon gate in Balle for his escort, but he had no idea what kind of escort. I'm sure he found it quite amusing when he jumped to see three flashy red carriers waiting on the gate for him along with my mighty Rifter. He proceeded to the station unmolested. And then the evening's first event of epic bad timing occurred.

The gate fired and what should jump in but a Megathron Navy Issue! I'm sure the inexperienced pilot had heartlock and brainfreeze at seeing this particular Decon Welcoming Committee. I pointed him immediately. I was doomed but so what! It gave the carriers time get their own locks and points on him before I succumbed to sentry guns about 5 seconds later. The Navy Mega evaporated seconds after that. He didn't drop much of anything, but the serendipitous good timing for us and epic bad timing for him had us cracking up on Vent. "Yeah," someone joked, "We don't gate-camp in Decon. We just telepathically KNOW when something good is gonna jump in and warp to it at exactly the right moment." The timing was entirely amusing.

I toodled around in my Hurricane picking up the wreck loot, shot a nosy Velator, waited out my GCC at a safe, and then parked outside the station to enjoy the view. There, I popped a Stabber and its pod after he undocked and just SAT there--or so it seemed. Maybe I just got him pointed faster than I expected. Almost got a Thorax that showed up, too but wasn't quick enough on the draw. I safed up again to wait out my criminal flag, then came back to watch my alliance mates put on a Ship Parade. One by one, they undocked all their cool ships (Abaddon, Armageddon, Nighthawk, Kronos, Phoenix, and others) and we shot at each other for the fun of it. Here are some pictures of torpedoes in flight and upon impact:



Then Local slowed down and I got distracted by other tasks, including spending a few minutes on alternate voice comms. The Navy Mega--being a pretty sweet (over)kill--would probably be the highlight of the night anyway. I failed to remember...this is Decon. Anything can happen here. So it should have been no surprise to scan channels a couple of minutes later and see "UNDOCK, CARRIER TACKLED!" WHAT! I almost had heartlock myself as I frantically got into my Tempest Eat My Rust, started undocking, and hastily returned to the alliance voice comms.

"You better hurry, Mynx, he's almost dead." someone noted cheerfully. DAMN!

Soon as my overview resolved, I attempted to target the Nidhoggur, but I never got a lock before it exploded in a brilliant flash of light. Talk about my own epic bad timing! DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN! Of course...it only took my mates all of about a minute to take the Nid out--turns out it wasn't exactly fit for survival and granted, the Doom Armada guys are good at what they do:

Jaden Kasan > 02:14:53 Combat Your Rift Torpedo I hits Oceandragon [PROMO]<IAC>, doing 17846.1 damage.

But darn...I didn't even manage to grab any pictures of it! On the bright side, one Hellcat did get in on the kill (and will hopefully post about it).

What a crazy, fun night! AND I'm below -9.0 now...finally got that coveted -10 in my sights.