lørdag 2. august 2014

Storytime 7: Ouroboros

tl:dr new wh, new invasion
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That was the name we chose. A new wormhole. A new corp. A new hope. But most of the same people. A rather cumbersome name to pronounce on ts tho. But the new wormhole was empty so we could live with that. Once we bought the route to the wormhole we set up towers first thing. To mark our territory. Piss on the fence so to speak. To tell the world that we make claim to this system. We called this new home Ouruboros. I think that was Deathly's idea. The name that is. After wasting two days on choosing a name for the new corp we didnt bother that much with the name of our new home
  We did try a short attempt at faction warfare inbetween. It has been a part of the game that I never really tried out before even tho many people love it and take part in it all the time. I must admit I never really got the love for FW. Even when I tried it. My heart went back to wspace. The draw and allure of the unknown. Where you can hunt without the local intel. Such a small thing makes such a big difference. 
  
Ouroboros. The serpent that bite its own tail. Maybe there was a deeper meaning there that escaped us. A quote from the books by R. Jordan comes to mind as I write this:

“The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.”

And as we set out to again to settle in a new system history itself cought up to us. What had been would be again and as the dust settled in our old home (now baptised "Max" by the new inhabitants) the dust would now be stirred in our new home, a wolf rayet c5 with c3 static.

Soon after anchoring the first towers I was convoed by a leading member in Verge of Collapse. He was also trying to sell the same wormhole to a different person. Oh joy. Soon thereafter we got a application from NCC 1701E. His API revealed one of his alts already inside our new home. So this was the second buyer. His mails revealed they had already named our system so apparently an invasion was planned. After a short discussion we decided we would benefit more by offering them a friendly solution. So we accepted his app under the condition he kept his api active.

He spent his time with us soloing in lowsec and telling us how good he was. Not very impressive. One morning we were "informed" he had started moving capitals inside our wormhole. The lack of a certain direct lowsec that spawned the evening before confirmed this. So we stripped his roles and told him he would be booted. We also started making preparations for the invasion that was coming soon. Unlike last time these guys didnt look like having any proper way of calling reinforcements. He kept bragging about having been in Verge of Collapse, but when they connected to Ouroboros and closed again without seeding anything it didnt seem likely they would bother.

And true enough. One morning we woke up to one tower in RF. They didnt manage to RF the other tower due to neuting power. Really they did not have the manpower for this. Their corp Criterion was part of a c6 alliance called Laughing Men. Alliance killboard was anything but active. But we called in mercs anyway. The chosen merc to aid us was Surely Your Joking. At the possability of cap kills our friends in eve ryuken brought a 20 man fleet from ixtab aswell. Even SSC, through Chitsa, offered to bring people in to aid. But we kindly told them it might get a bit crowded with that many entities. We already had superior cap power initially and now also vastly superior manpower with both SYJ and ixtab. present aswell. It was no longer a question about if we could win but what way to destroy them would be best. 
 Leader of SYJ, Pell Helix, wanted to preferably do a pure blitz attack on the invasion fleet to wipe their capitals. But sensing a somewhat unrest in our corp due to the recent batphone to KILL turned up empty I asked for a controlled repulshion of the hostile forces.

On a spur I jumped into the Laughing men public channel and made insinuation that having Criterion in their members list could be a bad desicion. Told Bradford Clear what I did (he was our main contact in SYJ for this contract) and he did the same. No direct threats, just suggestions. But one thing you can always count on in wormholespace is peoples paranoia and stupidity. NCC had left his api on an alt active. We had access to all their corp and alliance mail. and the hilarity that assumed when Laughing Mens paranoia kicked in was worth every isk we payed for the merc contract. I will just say that moving all capitals to one tower when excpecting someone to rageroll and invade you is not a good strategy.

In Ouroboros however, Criterions tower was put into reinforced the very same day. They attempted to bump us but end result was still the same. They did not dare to attempt to reinforce our second tower. But when the timer on our first approached they made an attempt. Following Pells instruction we had set the timer to exit in us tz. Us having noone online made criterion risk it and put out capitals to kill our tower. The logged of SYJ fleet made quick work of one their Moros. A shame the others escaped. But this blow put them on the defensive. And accounting for offline fleets ready to log on gives their courage a push down. (Except for NCC who apparently still thought he could win this. Or so the rumors say). Criterion set up a new tower to delay us and make the contract more expensive, but we dealt with it on our own. Reinforce and bubble. As the day passed they anchored guns and shot down the bubbles. 

(In the middle of nowhere we suddenly get a whisper that TLC are on their way. We roll the entrance for safety but never get to verify if this was actually happening)

As the evening approaches we make ready the nightshift that will, togeather with SYJ, wipe away Criterions towers. And so it does. Criterion attempt to launch more towers but they die before they online.

The following day we rebubble the last tower and incap all their modules. As they start to selfdestruct stuff our victory for this round are confirmed. Tower is killed and as a final finish we set up flycatchers (towers without forcefield but online guns and bubbles around) where they logged off capitals.

Epilogue: 
Apparently SYJ liked flying with us and conversations about us joining them started up. We all wanted a somewhat easier life after the rollercoster of the last months. Being invited as a corp to join alliance let us stay togeather as a group aswell. We decided to accept the invitation and began the process of joining. As a nice finish to the conflict with Criterion we offered them to buy the wormhole from us. I think NCC didnt like to buy the wormhole he tried to take by force but after internal pressure they accepted the offer. Assets was transfered to them, and we joined SYJ and moved into their C6. Just to find that the majority of their alliance just moved out of it. Interesting. Not what we expected.