So, since Jim was busy dancing with Vespa IIs (see below), I thought I ought to rondezvous in system with him, just in case he needed some extra firepower. I wasn’t far away, but the Sunday afternoon lag was terrible, and I wound up getting disconnected a couple of times on my way to the excitement. Finally got there (too late to be useful) and warped to the station we use in that system.

Uh, oh, it’s Eidelon again. Like the man says in the movie, “who are those guys?”

I’ll leave the timestamps up so you can enjoy the speedy lock he got on me (remember that I appeared on his screen without warning, so there’s human reaction time in there too):

[ 2007.04.15 18:49:33 ] (notify) Warping to [station name ] prior to making docking attempt
[ 2007.04.15 18:50:19 ] (notify) Requested to dock at … station
[ 2007.04.15 18:50:19 ] (notify) Setting course to docking perimeter
[ 2007.04.15 18:50:28 ] (notify) Requested to dock at … station
[ 2007.04.15 18:50:29 ] (combat) Eidelon [MK1](Rapier) misses you completely.
[ 2007.04.15 18:50:29 ] (combat) Eidelon [MK1](Rapier) lands a hit on you which glances off, causing no real damage.
[ 2007.04.15 18:50:29 ] (combat) Eidelon [MK1](Rapier) barely misses you.
[ 2007.04.15 18:50:29 ] (notify) Your docking request has been accepted. Your ship will be towed into station.

His salvos were “landing” within ten seconds of my appearance on the grid, and I was in a frigate. I know that’s not awesomely fast, but it’s the first time I’ve ever been locked during the time it takes to do an instadock, so it impressed me.

Plus, I had to look up “Rapier” just to find out what it was. (Yeah, after a year I still am a noob when it comes to combat ships, so?) Turns out it’s a Minmatar force recon cruiser, very expensive, very deadly.

Jim says he wants one, and why does this two-bit corp not have one sitting in the hangar waiting for him to learn to fly it?

I told him “bring home better salvage, and lots of it.”

On the bright side, The Rapier has bonuses for medium guns, and they don’t seem to have been landing very well on my disposable salvage kestrel.

Anyway, I’ll keep watching the rear view, Eidelon seems to get a little bit closer every time!

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