What a bunch of [sov] noobs

As I mentioned last time, our illustrious leaders in A Band Apart decided to set up a nullsec outpost. Well, not Set Up an Outpost but rather to establish our good selves in a nullsec system with a pre-existing station to call out very own. They had made some sort of shady arrangement with a nullsec mob I'd never heard of (sorry FEIGN, please don't take it personally since I haven't heard of most nullsec entities, mobs or otherwise) to take one of their stations. We had been given the opportunity to take a couple of systems plus station without resistance (from the owners at any rate) in order to increase PvP content in the area.

I gave Innocent Scout and Zappity their marching orders and they quickly arrived due to the magnificent connectedness of Thera. The next day I logged in to the middle of a scuffle between the ABA guys (that's us) and some disgruntled locals who were being very mean, trying to switch off our station services. Apparently, they did not like the idea of a PvP group moving in. They had a nice, quiet ratting pocket next door and we're distinctly unimpressed with the idea of us sitting bored just a couple of brief jumps away.

We were at a distinct disadvantage since we were not nearly as prepared as we ought to have been. There were no hulls available in the station either on the market or on contract. Our logistics were not yet established, meaning that we didn't have any modules available either. So they took some station services offline while we cowered in station, unable to bring the fight and receiving only an IOU for future destruction as their reward.

However, later in the day I was present when we reinforced the station and took the Territorial Control Unit using entosis links, first on the TCU itself and then on the newly spawned command nodes. This was much more to our liking since these nodes and very much like ungated faction warfare plexes. It is a very troubling experience, sitting there on the mode and unable to exercise the capsuleer's natural right (namely, the ability to run away).

The requisite number of nodes were completed after about half an hour and the state of affairs inevitably progressed to the realisation that now we needed to deploy a new TCU. This was very amusing. We were clueless. Do you need roles to anchor the TCU? Do offline station services come back online when the station enters freeport? What about after the freeport? Is the timer exactly 48 hours? And so on and on.

Eventually we just decided to do it the ABA way and just try to do it. Someone dropped the TCU and was thoroughly confused by the option to 'launch for self'. Nevertheless, we persisted on the assumption for "How hard can it be?" and we're soon cycling an entosis link on the thing after alternative ideas (like shooting it) were exhausted. And so shortly we were proudly gazing upon the ABA logo as it circled the newly anchored deployable. I felt like someone should have made a speech.

We went through the same thing the new the day with the station command nodes. I had expecting resistance from our erstwhile persecutors and had spent a few hours bringing in lots of compressed ore for the production of Vexors (reasonably fitted) and logi (atrociously fitted because I haven't got a clue about logi). I also made a truckload of attrition destroyers and frigates, Thrashers and Catalysts as well as Mauluses and Griffins, in case we needed cheap ships to throw at our adversaries.

It was all, however, for nought, with not a single competing entosis ship making an appearance. It was a bit disappointing. Oh well, I'm sure the ships won't go astray. And the locals will no doubt come to visit after we kill them a few times.

Speaking of which, our motley crew of brigands demanded action before the station timer had started. One of the guys commented that there was a ratting Thanatos just one system over. He was not blue to us and we started getting ideas above our station. Or, to be more precise, ideas above THEIR station, ideas involving bubbles and lots of DPS.

It took about 20 minutes before the wormhole contingent of the alliance arrived in suitable ships, with the few of us already in null assembled on the gate awaiting the command. The wormhole Interdictor jumped into the system and made a beeline for the station. He quickly bubbled up before we all jumped in. The Thanatos ran for the station, straight into the bubble.

We warped to the Interdictor, arriving at about the same time as the doomed carrier. When I locked him up I saw that he was already in low armour (no repper?) and it only took us a minute to chew through his hull.

Thanatos: http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?eid=48752976

Now for some of you battle-hardened large fleet types this is, no doubt, not particularly impressive. But it was my first ever carrier kill and I was very proud of it.