Back to the Beginning

I've heard stories, or perhaps tellings, of the original wormhole that brought our ancestors to Eve long ago. It's always been in the back of my head that one day I would like to venture to this system, New Eden, to see the collapsed portal myself. Yesterday evening I finally got up the courage to fulfill that desire. Myself and my CEO were talking about how we never really have ventured into nullsec before. We'd both made a number of excursions now into lowsec but never so far as to go into nullsec. So we figured, why not now. Grabbing a couple of shuttles and throwing on some disguises we then discussed where we wanted to go. Nullsec was a pretty big place and we really had no idea what there was to see, or even if there was really anything of great interest to see there. So I brought up the idea of going to the New Eden system. I thought it was a nullsec system but I was wrong on that account. If I remember correctly now, it was a .3 security system. So it wasn't nullsec but all the same it would be an entertaining little journey.

Setting our nav computers to the destination system, we discovered we really weren't all that far from it. About 29 jumps. Okay, so to some that isn't close but when your traveling in a shuttle, it doesn't take long. For the most part, the journey was pretty uneventful. We did happen upon one rather large gate camp, perhaps 15 to 20 ships (beginning to love those pretty red blinky lights they make on my overview) but either they weren't even interested in bothering with a couple shuttles, which is a good possibility, or as i suspected, the shuttles were just a little too fast for them. A shuttle can uncloak after a gate jump and be in warp before most can even scan their overview to see what just appeared.

The only other interesting event was when we picked up a tail about 2 or 3 jumps away from New Eden. He had us a bit nervous as he was traveling in an interceptor. The interceptor is the only ship I really worry about given how fast it is and often times can go into warp after you but come out of warp before you. Anyways, at first we thought it was just coincidence that he kept showing up at the same gates but when he started showing up at the planets we would divert to before going to the gates, we knew he was following us. We still made our way to New Eden and were quick to make a safespot but didn't want to hang out too long with what appeared to be 5 or 6 people in system along with our stalker. So we snapped a couple photos of the collapsed wormhole (which I'll edit into this post at later time once i get around to uploading it from my camera) and high-tailed it back out.

At this point, I have to say, New Eden certainly is a place I suggest everyone at some point should go visit. It's really quite magnificent...if you can get over the strange feeling of nausea you feel when you're in the system. It's like everything around you is moving, like a slow moving liquid. And when in warp, instead of the pretty blue-ish tunnel you usually see surrounding you, it's replaced with a strange black swirl that's sort of hard to describe.

So anyways, with the interceptor still on our butts, we set a course back to our HQ system. We got two hops out from New Eden and finally got aggravated. I mean this guy just wasn't quitting. So we decided to throw him off a bit. I quickly jumped from planet to planet, creating some safespots while my CEO jumped to the next system and did the same. And then we waited. Eventually the guy piped up in local comm. He claimed he was actually unarmed and was just doing a little recon on active corporations in those systems. I laughed and asked him not to feel hurt when I told him I didn't trust a word of that. He got a little chuckle out of that himself. It ends up he actually was a pretty decent guy, another from an industrial corporation based in high sec. It makes sense I guess since I can't imagine someone hunting solo in low sec in an interceptor. But still, I wasn't about to go over and shake his hand. (at this point we knew he was sitting at the gate between the system i was in and the system my CEO was in.) Anyways, we chatted a few more moments, said the usual parting "fly safe", and he moved on. My CEO confirmed he jumped into his system and shortly after into the next. I then jumped myself into the system where my CEO sat in a safe spot and we waited for some time to make sure the interceptor pilot had left.

In the meantime, we made a decision. Our original goal was to venture into nullsec and since we still had some time left, figured why not still go. So we did a quick search with the computers map system and found the nearest 0.0 system, locked it into our nav computers and headed out. Now maybe I'm wrong, but I was actually surprised to see the nearest 0.0 system we could find was like 20 some hops away. No matter, again being in shuttles, it didn't take long.

There was one rather nervous moment when we jumped into the first nullsec system. Sitting there was two ships gate camping, and a very short distance away, a warp disruption field. We quickly warped to a planet than made a beeline for the next gate. Once in the next system and realizing there was absolutely nothing to see, we decided it was time to dock and get some sleep. But unfortunately, after checking the map, without going WAY out of our way to get back to high sec to safely dock, the only way back was past that gate camp. Two ships were at the gate, but there was certainly more in the system. We talked it over for a moment and figured what the hell. We were both in clone disguises ((alts for the unenlightened)), both flying shuttles, and neither one really caring if we lost both our ships and our clone's lives. Shoot. If anything it would have just made getting back to HQ a LOT faster.

So we hopped back in system. At first we were going to make a beeline for the gate and just see if we could make it through but at the last moment, I made the suggestion we warp to the same planet we'd gone to when we'd first arrived, seen as we knew that would put us at a heading that wouldn't intersect with their field. Sure enough after warping from the planet to the gate, it bypassed the field. Actually, it was somewhat comical as it seemed they had set up a second field and we warped in right between the two fields and immediately jumped.

So all in all it really turned out to be quite an interesting evening and certainly something we'll be doing again soon. Who knows. If you see a fleet of gallante shuttles (our shuttles of choice) flying through a system near you, say hello. It just may be me and my companions in disguise out for a little exploratory stroll.

-ML-