Karen caught a shuttle across PS-94K to the Reactions structure to see what else was needed for the build. Looking at the manifest she pinged Abby that they needed:

10 Malachite Cytoserocin
10 Lime Cytoserocin
10 Vermillion Cytoserocin
24 Viral Agent
10 Azure Cytoserocin and some 24 Supertensile Plastics. She located a load of preservation seals in 1DQ as well and pinged them over to Abby on contract.

“Do you mind picking these up for me please?”

“Sure.” Pinged back the reply.

Abby got up from her desk, initiated Goonswarm security channels for Delve and initiated her SMT map overlay. The map sprung into life. All of the systems in delve were mapped out in two dimensions with links between each system where the gates were connected. She could see that there were plenty of alerts already for the time of day. She was heading to 1DQ which was only three jumps but still risky enough. This is why she was using her deep space transport ‘Othrunda’.

She went down to the bay where the ship is located and quickly checked that everything was okay. Once the checks were complete the ship slowly left the docking bay and exited the station. PS- 94K was fairly quiet in local. She aligned the ship to 39P checked the map alerts, everything seemed fine, nothing within 7 jumps. She hit warp.

The trick with a deep space transport, everyone knows, is to align and cloak simultaneously whilst waiting for the ship to gather speed from the Microwarpdrive pulse. In this instance Abby aligned to the anti-Plex that connected 39P to MO-G and hit warp just as the micro warp drive cycle was about to finish. The ship hit warp immediately just as it de-cloaked. Learning this had been a fundamental skill for living in 0.0 space. This and the combination of intel along with the SMT tool reduced the risk of running into gate camps significantly. It wasn’t completely safe but the risk was greatly reduced. Using this method Abby was able to get to 1DQ with relative ease.

Everything in 1DQ seemed to go well until it became obvious that the market was out of Vermillion Cytoserocin and Azure Cytoserocin. Such is the way. Abby settled in to wait at the station, she was going to be here for some time. She pinged Ekloke.

“1DQ out of Vermillion and Azure Cytoserocin, could be an opportunity for you?”

As she was heading towards a favourite restaurant in the keep star she received a ping back.

“Okay let me get in touch with my associate, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.” Such is the way.

Builds always require time. The golden rule of building ships is never to be in a hurry. If you hurry you can lose billions of ISK. You will not do the necessary scouting, or you will undock at a hub with too much cargo and get ganked. Never rush! This was a relatively easy acquisition, in the past the team had to face all sorts of difficulties just to build a few mining barges in 0.0. They were yet to lose anything significant but it had not been easy. There were times when the blockade runners had almost been destroyed.

Ekloke looked at the market data coming out of high sec. The market in Domain was not much more expensive than The Forge for both those gasses he pinged ‘The Associate’.

“Pick us up Vermillion and Azure Cytoserocin from Domain if you could please. I will rendezvous at the usual location.” He sent through an order for some further items and got up from his desk. He needed to go on a short trip. He boarded ‘Orlana’ in the dock, did a quick systems check and undocked. He opened up then map and initiated his SMT overlay. Then he initialised each of the relevant security channels. He set the ship to align to the out gate and watched the channels and the map for any activity. Once he was sure he had as clear a path as he could expect he hit warp and was gone.

In high sec The Associate was already on the way to their destination. This was going to be a quick job for their friend. New Eden works like this. Most of the economy operates on a patronage system. Capsuleer’s trade ships for favours and frequently provide material to each other for free in the understanding that the favour will be repaired at a later date. Ekloke had provided The Associate with the use of a very expensive ship and in exchange they were available for him whenever he called. They went to the trade hub, scooped up the gas for a reasonable price and headed to the rendezvous point.

Meanwhile Ekloke was leaving Delve on his way to high sec. as he travelled the security channels buzzed in the map led up around him. There were no neutrals in local and nothing seemed to get in his way as he travelled. It did not take very long to get to the rendezvous point. When he arrived in the station he settled in to the local coffee shop waiting for The Associate to arrive.

He had an excellent view outside of the station and watched as her blockade runner uncloaked at the docking point before she docked. He waited for the associate to come to the coffee room. She smiled cheerfully.

“Hey! How have you been?”

“Good!” He smiled. “Trade is good, and we are much more secure than Immensea.”

“That’s good.” She had been helping supply the team in their efforts to resupply the FI.RE coalition and that had been a tough ask. Getting stuff in and out of that area of null was a logistical nightmare. This was however a piece of cake.

“How have you been?”

“I’m good, high sec remains as crazy as ever. There is a lot of activity on the pipe right now.” The Associate operated a very patient approach to trade between Jita and Amarr. Takeing the back routes, avoiding Gankers and making ISK in the process. Ekloke had operated the same route before moving to Null. “I have paused trading. You know how it is these Gankers eventually get bored, you just have to be patient and give them no ‘content’.”

He smiled. Ekloke had prided himself in always being able to deliver courier contracts on time as well as having never lost a Freighter. Mostly because he was careful, very methodical. The Associate had adopted a similar approach and together they now had a trade route that extended from Period Basis to Jita. These Journey’s were, of course organised around their ‘couplings’. They liked to enjoy each other as much as the ISK from the trade. They left the coffee shop arm in arm and went to The Associate’s quarters for some fun.

———

The journey back had been uneventful until Ekloke got into YQX-7U when his local channels suddenly lit up with war targets and neutrals. He immediately checked his surroundings. He had come through an ‘AnsiPlex gate’, he could see on scan warp disruptor bubbles. He knew instinctively to avoid warping to his out gate. Instead, he scanned towards the nearest station and immediately hit warp in that direction whilst cloaking ‘Orlana’ there was no time for the Sabre he could see towards his out gate to react. He landed a hundred off the station fully cloaked and immediately warped towards the out gate at 70 km. At this point he changed the direction of the cloaked ship and started to keep eyes on the gate.

He reported to the Intel channels what he could see, in turn setting the map alight with reports of different ships jumping in and out hunting his allies. The intel was crucial, it allowed his allies to form a response fleet and for those travelling to avoid the area. He sat in space for over an hour reporting the movements of the enemy. This is why you never rush in New Eden. The buzzed through to Abby. “Could you pop along to YQX-7U and scout me home please?”

“On my way.”

Jumping through gate blind was always one way can get your heart racing but when you have a deadline to meet and some important cargo it is better to take your time and be sure that you can make it. There is no point feeding the sharks that like to circle looking for easy kills. Any ecosystem has it’s bottom feeders, and gate campers are just that.

It wasn’t long before Abby came through the gate in her shuttle. “It’s clear, don’t waste your time there is probably a cloaked Sabre on the other side. There are definitely two enemies and local and a further three neutrals. Proceed with caution.”

Ekloke was already aligned, he hit warp and ‘Orlana’ took off at warp speed. The ship landed and initiated the jump smoothly. Before long he was on the other side without waiting for any reaction he immediately hit warp to a station in a random direction away from the gate. He cloaked ‘Orlana’ at the same time and was warping within 3.5 seconds. Behind him a Sabre uncloaked and bubbled the gate. But they were both too late and the bubble was in the wrong place.

“I’m through.” Ekloke said calmly as ‘Orlana’ warped off to the station.

Meanwhile, in YQX-7U, Abby was returning to the gate she jumped through in the shuttle. The bubble was quite poorly placed, and on the gate was Don Hubba and the Sabre pilot W1star were at the gate. The shuttle was gone before they could react. Both Abby and Ekloke jumped through the AnsiPlex gate into one 1DQ. They delivered the package so the build could continue.