"Free Willy" or "The Desperate Flight of the Orca"

Thought I’d regale a crazy experience from earlier this week about a frantic escape from wormhole space with my Orca.

For back-story, my Corp (SAATF) ran a wormhole op into a WH system with a black hole, and nothing but portals outbound (and the single anomaly we hit up for loot). After the op, we were dawdling in system deciding what to do when we were ambushed. Long story short, half our crew got podded, and our center of operations, our Orca, remained cloaked in system alone, without a bookmark to either of our discovered WH exit points. When we hopped back through the WH to give the Orca a warp-to target, we appeared in an entirely different WH system. It was officially ‘Lost in Space’.

This saga begins roughly 6 hours later, on my Orca flying account. The Orca had a cloak, Salvager, and Tractor Beam fit.

2009.08.23 07:32

Finally got time to get back online after the op.

Checked status on E1024, and the abandoned drones from where we were ambushed were still in my scanner range, but nothing else.

I reviewed my skill table; by sheer chance and coincidence I had the absolute base skills needed to use probes and their launchers, my first turn of luck. Unfortunately I didn’t have the skills to board the scouting Buzzard that mocked me from the maintenance bay.

I asked if anyone was around in system….the ominous wormhole abyss only echoed my request, who would answer even if they were there?

Luckily we had the forethought to store spare probe launchers and probes, so I wouldn’t have the irony of having the only probe launchers stuck inside a ship I couldn’t fly. So, I attempted a slim-chance maneuver and tried to just fit the equipment straight to the Orca.

Of course, it wouldn’t let me, there goes the easy option.

I was left with a previously discussed dilemma: Either I have to find the system I was now lost in from the outside, barring the 2,500 to 1 WH system odds, I could ask some kindly soul to rescue me for a fee, or I could attempt to scan the system down myself, if the option to fit a ship was even available, while leaving my precious Orca to float like an asteroid.

So, I took the plunge, uncloaked, and jettisoned a probe launcher and probes. Then I launched the salvaging Cormorant I had stowed safely inside, and boarded it.

So far, so good….

I opened the can, and pulled out the launcher and probes; then clicked to fit using the Orca.

*BAM* Success!!!!! I was able to fit using an unmanned Orca! So, I loaded what I could into the launcher, and dropped the remainder (and my other equipment I had to relocate) into the can. I then swapped back into the Orca to see if there was a delay. None. Good.

Still shaking from the fright of leaving the poor Orca alone, I loaded the equipment back in, and hopped back in the Cormorant, and began my scan down, nervously (and futilely) spamming my directional scanner.

Immediately I found 3 signatures, and set to work on one. With low skills, it took a bit, but I tracked it to a nearby wormhole first shot. What luck!

I bookmarked the Orca…praying to the powers that be that the bookmark would be reliable. Bookmarked the exit, and warped to. All this time keeping a useless watch on my directional.

Upon arrival, I was in shock…..a wormhole to further deep space. CRAP!

I scurried back, thankful my bookmark worked, and began scanning again from the false security that being near the Orca gave (at least if it died, I’d get to see it go)

Once again, I started small, and began tracking a second signal. This one practically eluded me 3 times, as sensors placed it within a particular range, when in fact it was outside that range. After a VERY stressful 20 minute scan down, I finally had my prize, another wormhole.

I warped to it and found it was high-sec. What luck! Then I checked the far side (foolishly thinking I was in a FW corp, this character happens not to be)

So, I flew back to the Orca, hopped in, and hit warp. CCP created the 2-sec timeout on directional scans for just this occasion. My stress level as I awaited the 45 second warp process was intense, but finally the lumbering whale began to jet across the universe.

I hit the “Enter Wormhole” button as soon as I dropped from warp, but instead of a sigh of relief, received a heart-stopper: A warning message that said something to the effect of ‘This wormhole is not stable enough to use right now, please wait 2 minutes’.

WHAT!?!?!?!

So now, I’m stuck staring at safety 500m away in a giant floating bull’s-eye waiting for the door to open. I’m sure my heartbeat could be heard across the city.

Finally, and amazingly without any encounters, I was permitted to enter the safety of Amarr space, 17 jumps from home. Yes, an hour’s trip in an Orca, but a pleasant one in comparison.

Moral of the story: If you dislike unscheduled hour-long adrenaline rushes, forget to fit a probe launcher to your Orca when you venture into WH space.

~Ryokin