The Tender (a poem)


Felippe en Distel

Our Signaleers are pilots of many talents and some, while wiling away the hours deep in Anoikis, turn to verse. Felippe en Distel is one such Signaleer who has captured the life of the rescue cache tender:

The Tender

She drops a bookmark, warping off
the entrance hole; though she would scoff
at evermore returning there:
to retend caches lent her care?
No, onward she will surely go
To scan and map, to tend and sow,
And drive on into systems deep,
Forgetting food and drink and sleep.

To seek this cache, she bounces thrice,
Through planet’s sash of rock and ice,
And there and back again she’ll go,
’til canister on grid shall show.
That beacon (casting pilots’ fears
of losing probes and, stranded here,
be forced to self-destruct their pod,
their evening’s ratting gone to sod,
away) be now in sight, so near
To our intrepid Signaleer!

A warp, a check of d-scan quick,
A copy/paste of password, click,
Reveal a set of probes (expected),
Launcher mod; the goods inspected,
something’s missing… yes, a hug!
She taps her hold and drops a jug
of spirits into wanting can,
‘fore dropping her own probes to scan.

Red to green, her sigs progress,
with sharper signal, probe size less.
And noting wormhole type and class
of system, in this final pass,
She settles on an exit hole,
And splashes, reigniting soul
When Allison’s kind words implore
To tend again, to sow once more.

  • Fellipe en Distel

The Short Life and Triumphant Death of Rescue Cache J154733

Author: Lucas Ballard

YC109-Dec-15 was a remarkable day for one Small Secure Container floating in Anoikis, illustrating in just a few short hours the full lifespan of a Eve Scout Rescue Cache that was very well used.

Rescue Cache J154733 started its life being anchored by Signal Cartel pilot Rover Dog.  Just a box floating out in the black of Anoikis, waiting to be opened.

A few hours later a call came into the EvE-Scout Public channel from a pilot named <redacted> who had apparently become stranded within the system.  Signaleer and regular corporate fixture pris Naari played the role of Agent and assisted <redacted> in finding the Rescue Cache and availing himself of the equipment stored within.  <redacted> soon found his way out of Anoikis and out of danger, having used 5 Core Scanner Probes out of the 8 that had been placed there by Rover Dog.

Lucas Ballard came online from the captain’s lounge aboard Rescue Five, his brand new Enforcer Force Recon Cruiser, having received word of <redacted> predicament a short time earlier.  However he soon learned of pris Naari’s handling of the situation moments before.  So he made preparations for a long roam through the ever-changing paths through Anoikis, to begin searching for other pilots who were waiting for their chance to escape their own J-Space prisons.

Not 10 minutes later, a pilot by the name of <redacted2> reached out on the Public channel, looking for assistance.  He had become stranded in Anoikis while piloting his brand new (and freakishly expensive) Caiman, a Guristas Dreadnought.  Lucas stepped in to help, and learned that the pilot was stranded in J154733, the very system that <redacted> had just escaped from less than one hour before.  Lucas directed him to the Rescue Cache, and 15 minutes later, <redacted2> sent a terse message simply stating that he had gotten out of Anoikis.

Less than 15 minutes after that, <redacted> reached out again in the EvE-Scout Public Channel.  Grateful for the assistance he had received an hour earlier, he had decided to fly back into J154733 to return the Core Scanner Probes he had borrowed.  But upon arriving at the location of the Cache, he discovered that it was no longer there.  Someone had destroyed the container!  So Lucas sent a secure message to <redacted2>, to get more information about just what had happened, and 2 hours later, <redacted2> responded.  Shortly after getting the probes from the Rescue Cache, it turned out that he had been jumped by a Sabre pilot who tried to keep him from getting away.  However quick reflexes and some savvy flying kept <redacted2> from being pinned down by the Interdictor, and he managed to escape.  In their frustration over missing such a valuable target, the Sabre pilot and/or his friends apparently destroyed the Rescue Cache.

Thus ended the short life of Rescue Cache J154733.  But what a life it had!  The little box was a light in the darkness for not one but TWO pilots, before being destroyed less than 12 hours after having been anchored.  A short but triumphant existence to be sure.

That Small Secure Container manifested the Eve Scout Rescue motto perfectly:  Hope Comes In A Box.