Hunter being hunted

There's always someone stronger. It's the law of nature in EVE. You might be at the top of food chain as an entity, but as a pilot you will always be a prey, regardless how good you are. Despite my moderate success of avoiding traps and baits I always tread lightly. I know I can be killed at any time. I am solo player, after all.

On my way to a new c4 system I find a lone Drake doing anomalies.

An old school Drake. Ahhh, Drake. Before I started multiboxing and writing about my stalking adventures in this blog, I used to do solo hunting with Proteus. That sure brings back the memories. Back in the day all I could take on was a random battlecruiser. I was visiting c1-c2 wormholes and most often I encountered Drakes.

I do a quick research of the pilot's killboard. It looks very active and green. His kills are in low-sec. He has a few Drake losses in wormholes and I guess about to have one more. No need for the ceremony. I decloak and tackle him. Drake tackles me back. I'm not too worried. I have expected as much from a pvp pilot to carry a disruptor. Once Domi fleet lands, Drake is no more.

I proceed with my trip to the new c4 home. It has a corp 30 members large, that looks fairly active. System is clean and timezone looks suitable. I settle in.

Next day I do my usual scouting. I have all members added to watch list and I see a couple of them online, but nothing on d-scan at the tower. Whatever, I scan and jump in to the static, cloak up and hear an activation sound a minute later. Loki jumps in and cloaks up. Timing is just too big of coincidence. I am quite sure I have been spotted and they simply had scouts on the exit.

In short time I see more and more pilots start to log in. I have a bad feeling. A really bad feeling. My Domi fleet is on the other side and I just feel it in my gut they are waiting for me. I got no eyes to see what's going on, but I have a very strong sense that the other side is not empty. I do further investigation of killboard and start to realize that they have quite few kills and very few losses. Bloody hell, it's a pvp corp.

Nothing jumps through the wormhole. I could wait and just go afk, but if they suddenly start rolling the connection, my Dominixes will be stuck. They have probe launchers in their cargoholds, but it will be very tricky to leave in one piece. Corp now had around 7 people online vs initial 2 when I started scouting and more are logging in as time passes. I decide to go for it. I will try to go back before all bloody corp logs in and hope for the best, Approach the wormhole, jump.

Fuck. I fucking knew it. I did not need eyes to know I am being trapped. When you live in wormholes for this long, you start to develop extra senses. I set trajectory to approach wormhole by the side. I will try to burn out of bubble, but first seconds are the most dangerous. If I get decloaked I should be within jump range.

I avoid Sabre, but unfortunately I fuck up the alignment and get decloaked by approaching within less than 2km of the wormhole. I jump and instantly warp away. Phew, I am still in one piece. Now they know I know they have a trap. Anyone would normally give up as it's highly unlikely prey will be returning anytime soon. And it's true, I wouldn't go back, but I have Dominixes stuck on the other side. I'm not sure if they know it.

I decide to cool off and wait 15 minutes for my heart rate to drop along with polarization timer. Then decide to give a one more go. Perhaps they are not camping anymore. Here I go.

Jesus Christ. I had ships pass me as close as 3500 meters. My heart rate was going through the roof. I don't remember the last time I was so scared. Somehow I manage to slip by. I chose most remote bookmark in the system to align to, which was a gas site. Once I was in warp I started breathing again. There's no way I am staying in this system. Early next day I moon-walked right back out and did not relax until I was 5 jumps out down the chain. Good lesson for me that small corps are not always easy targets as you might expect them to be.