Hugs for a Fellow Capsuleer

Mona Liena

Editor’s Note: Signaleer Mona Liena shares their story this week on a recent visit to the Molea Cemetery. It’s an experience that humbles even the most hardened Capsuleers. I really appreciate the story and hope you will as well. For those that have gone before us… o7

Signal Cartel is not an alt warehouse, so in order to graduate to a full member, one is expected to write an application which shows how you’re engaged in exploration and the corporation. As I started summing up how I took part in corp life in my second month, one event stood above the rest: My first visit to Molea.

Credit: Gillian Venari

One afternoon as I was exploring Triglavian space in order to farm neutral standings, a fellow Signal Cartel member called for a hugs fleet in chat. The goal was to fly a ship fitted with a festival launcher in order to try and cheer up a fellow pilot. Often I have a hard time changing my plans, but ever since joining Signal Cartel I’ve been trying to live more in the moment. Unfortunately, having just used a filament to get into Trig space, I had a fifteen minute timer before I could use an exit filament. Then I’d still need to find my way from a random system to a ship with a festival launcher and actually get to the target system.

Credit: Sensa Skyward

Even if the event sounded like a great experience, I wouldn’t make it in time. Or could I if I really tried? I realized that since I had a clean clone I could take the pod express to Zoohen, grab a free T1 exploration frigate from our Corp contracts, some festive gear provided by our Quartermasters, and use the Gatecamp Check to plan the route to have a fighting chance to make it there in one piece and on time.

Credit: Sensa Skyward

I managed to reach Molea in time and I waited for our hugs target in space along with a fellow Signaleer. I had never been in the system, so I had no idea what to expect. I only knew that I was there to try and cheer up a person who had lost someone dear to them in real life. When our target arrived in system, we fleet warped to greet them – The Capsuleer Cemetery. My first reaction: It’s HUGE. Then I realized it’s made out of mostly hundreds of different containers. As we bombarded our target with hugs (fireworks), I read through some of the messages on the containers. There were plenty of funny or random messages, but there were also a ton of messages dedicated to real life people who were dear to the capsuleers who had anchored the containers.

Credit: Sensa Skyward

Reading all those messages made me feel connected to people I had never met in real life, and I grasped why our fellow member wanted to bring our target here. Being there, trying to cheer our target up in that location, felt like one of those once in the lifetime experiences, and I was glad to take part in it.

Around a week later, I noticed a new corp mail. We get them quite often, as it’s the policy of the Corporation to commend our active members for their efforts including e.g. Thera scanning and wormhole rescue team. This time around, I noticed the mail was about the event I had attended myself. The Signaleer member who called for the hugs fleet had let our leadership know what had happened. All the pilots who answered the call for the hugs fleet and managed to make it to Molea received a medal that said “For actions exemplifying our ideals of friendship.”

I love Signal Cartel.

Credit: Sensa Skyward

2 Replies to “Hugs for a Fellow Capsuleer”

  1. I made my first trip to Molea on this impromptu hugs fleet as well, and I was similarly awed and humbled by the sight. Like Mona, I am glad we made the time to help, and in that place I think we all knew right away that our efforts were worthwhile.

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