When last we touched base, Solar Winds was wrapped up in operations against The-Express and <DUMPY>. Unfortunately dear readers, as is often the case in these sorts of situations, both conflicts ended not in a bang, but in a quiet whisper of "you win, we'll leave". Now of course, neither The-Express nor <DUMPY> said such - at least not explicitly. No one likes to admit defeat. But admit defeat they have - implicitly.
Both Athanors owned by The-Express and <DUMPY> sit fallow; their drills overline for weeks at this point. Neither group comes to the crown anymore. <DUMPY> tried one last time recently, and it went as expected:
One <DUMPY> member - Rockwell - enraged that I followed through on my word of camping <DUMPY>'s LowSec moon and not allowing <DUMPY> to mine anywhere in Solitude, decided to wage a one man war against Solar Winds and our friends in <WHBOO>, venturing into Toustain with a multiboxed fleet of Hecates to...
...bash POCOs.
But he forgot, or didn't know, that Solar Winds lives just next door. Aftering being shut down half a dozen times, he decided to stop bashing inanimate structures and go after players instead. And... it went predictably.
The interceptor is my favorite kill. As he was dying on station (after having rammed into the Orthrus), his fleetmates were jumping into system and warping to us. But they were just a touch late, because we were leaving grid as they landed. I wish I could have listened in on their comms. They were probably calling Rockwell an idiot, because he is.
And The-Expanse? They're not doing so good, either:
ZUG ZUG!
The fun never ends, however! Recently, a group known as "GF Company" (henceforth known as "Got Fisted") have been moving into Solitude, filling the vacuum <WHBOO> left behind. They have set up Athanors in Ogaria and Agaullores. They have Astrahi in Anckee and a few other systems. I didn't pay much attention to them. They seemed to be on friendly terms with Ancient Syndicate [AN-SY], a group out of Babirmoult that has never given Solar Winds any trouble what so ever.
But eventually they started sniffing around The Crown - trying to harvest our gas and run our anoms. I chased them out easily enough, but they just kept coming.
The Orcish Horde.
I told them several times, politely, that they have their area, and we have ours, and that if they stay out of our area, we will stay out of theirs. They did not respond. Every message went completely ignored.
Then I began warning them: I know where all your moon mining operations are, even your Aridia structures, and if you continue to provoke hostilities by tresspassing in Solar Winds territory and stealing our resources, actions will be taken that you will not like. Again, they did not respond.
They just kept coming.
They were warned. They didn't listen. And they took a big L.
While engaging in illegal acts of violence in The Crown, they took more Ls:
And then foolishly anchored an Athanor on a moon in Straloin.
A few days later, after running them out of a gas cloud in Ratillose, they decided to be spiteful and kill a couple Solar Winds gas huffers. The losses were inconsequential, just a couple of empty Ventures. But Solar Winds brooks no such disrespect. I warned the pilot to leave, as they were approaching "last straw" status, and Solar Winds would launch a full-scale campaign against their moon mining operations in Agaullores and Ogaria. He... did not make the smart decision.
I went deeper into Solitude, attempting to track down his gas huffers and harass them, but they must have been logged off or already back in Aridia by then. All I was able to find were [AN-SY] and their friends huffing gas. So I decided on a policy of collective punishment:
If one fucked around, the others would be subject to finding out.
And to rub some salt in the wound, I popped the wreck. And camped it for a further 4 hours.
More Finding Out
Logging in one morning, I put a scout in Agaullores. The night before I had done the rounds, checking their Athanors to see the status of the pulls. A moon on planet VI was looking pretty ripe, so I knew I should keep my eye on it. I thought it still had a day left, but apparently I was wrong: As soon as I jumped in, I saw a beautiful sight: 30 in Local, multiple Hulks, Retrievers, and Porpoises on DScan. I dropped combat probes and warped to my ping, just in time to watch the fleet warping to the safety of tether. There was some dancing as I got my Catalysts into system and set up my insta-undocks while Got Fisted tried blowing me up.
They managed 1 Catalyst on a gate, but I have Catalysts staged all over Solitude, left over from the war with <STFU>. So I just reshipped, and kept on keeping on.
Chasing me around system must have emboldened some of them, because they resumed mining as if everything was fine. They were wrong:
"Avada ice team" is their alt corp that mines ice in Avada and Got Fisted's R4 pulls in Haimeh and Chibi. Or maybe they're just friends. Or maybe who cares: they are guilty by association.
The response tickled me in places I dare not mention on blogspot:
The translation, according to Google, is "Xuixien, your name is D-O-N-E.", tac marks for E-M-P-H-A-S-I-S. L M A O. Zug Zug! Not likely.
I didn't bother translating this one. I think he was saying "Me busy, leave me alone!"
Based on the length of the pull and the number of rocks remaining on grid, the orcs must have just begun mining when I scouted them. Local began dropping once I entered system, but now currently sits at only 6, down from 30. I'm sure they will say "it was time for bed". Convenient how bedtime and getting rekt always seem to coincide, no?
All in all, I'm pleased with how this is unfolding. We've lost a Hecate, a couple of Catalysts, and 2 Ventures. Meanwhile, Got Fisted & Co are 700+ mil in the hole, not to mention 1.5 billion+ for the Athanor they dropped in Straloin that they will never get to use. And they must realize they can't use it, because it's been almost a week and they haven't started the drill yet...
The Lesson
There's a lesson here. A lesson about being good neighbors, and respecting other people's territory. Solar Winds rarely ventures south of Ratillose, and refrains from causing trouble for the other citizens of Solitude, unless we're given cause. The Crown is our home, and it's where we prefer to hang out and do our PvE. And we also never venture north of Eggheron, because we could care less about placid.
So when a Solar Winds represenative tells you: "Hey. This is our space, we would appreciate if we kept the peace by your leaving." - you would do well to listen. Because we do not make idle threats.
Until next time, dear leaders. Got Fisted seem the type of stubborn Zug Zugs to stick around and refuse to budge or accept terms. So this will likely be a long campaign that I am thrilled to chronicle for you. I haven't had a good fight in a long while and I'm hoping Got Fisted are up to the task.
Fly reckless.
This is Space Cat Xuixien, signing off for now.
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