So one day about a year and a half ago, Kite Co. was hanging around, shooting the shit, and doing nothing in particular. Seeing that we had enough duders around to get a small fleet together, I called for everyone to get into ships and form up. Being the super-elite well-trained spec ops force that we are, Kite Co. formed up promptly and it wasn't long before we were undocking from our home station and rolling out.
We set out in search of something to shoot and kill, and we came across a few hostile ships that we dunked on, but we were having trouble finding anything of suitable size to sate our appetites. We jumped through a few more empty star systems before passing an allied fleet going the other direction. We greeted them in passing, lamenting our inability to find anything to shoot at. Our allies wished us luck and continued on their way, and we kept moving.
We made it a couple more jumps without seeing anything interesting, and boredom began to set in. Chatter died down and my commands grew lazy as our guards dropped, and I called for our scout to jump into the next system to see if there was anything worth chasing after.
"There's an Archon on gate."
His response was so deadpan— so completely calm— that its significance didn't even register at first.
If you don't play EVE, it's likely not clear why I should have been excited. An Archon is a carrier— a capital ship— and is a pretty big ship in EVE. It was even rarer to find one on a stargate (stargates are the means by which players travel between systems) since at the time, carriers could not use gates.
"Say again?" I managed to compose myself and ask for confirmation.
"Yeah, there's an Archon on gate with a bunch of dudes shooting it."
"Everybody jump jump jump, go now!" I called for our fleet to go through the stargate into the next system. Sure enough, when we entered the system, we were greeted by a carrier with a hostile fleet shooting at it. "Everyone on the Archon! Don't let it get away," I shouted as I scrambled to contact the friendly fleet that we had passed just minutes before. Our small fleet wasn't powerful enough to bring down the carrier ourselves— we would need help.
Our allies jumped at the chance at such a juicy kill, and I was assured help was on its way. With the cavalry not far behind, I turned my attention back to the fight and remembered that the hostile fleet was still on field. I contacted their leader and a temporary truce was agreed upon. As much as we would have loved to shoot each other, the Archon was a bigger target. With the other fleet on field now friendly, both Kite Co. and our ad hoc allies were able to breathe easier and focus on preventing the carrier from escaping. We did so successfully, and it wasn't long before the cavalry arrived and the large allied fleet we had passed jumped into system. With the extra firepower on our side, it didn't take long before the Archon was blown to pieces. Congratulations were exchanged, and all three fleets went back on their separate ways once more.
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