A short tale by EVE University’s Doctor Taunu – full credit to them.
The night was cold, but the will was strong. I ventured out in my basic to the bones Heron, into a wormhole. The nights before, no success. Enemies circled the sites. This evening was no different. Long scanning sessions revealed nothing of interest, but another wormhole within this one. Carefully bookmarking everything, I ventured deeper, comparing the visuals of this wormhole with their classes.
And yes, the scans delivered: all sites were ruined or central. Playing the hacking game, failing, succeeding: the cargo was nice and juicy, more than 70 million ISK. Not bad for a 4 million ship. Not bad for a new student.
Back I needed to go. Jumping back to the original wormhole, and then to my bookmark to exit. The bookmark was there. The wormhole was not!
The panic was as present as that orphaned bookmark, for surely my first haul would not go forgotten? I knew of other wormholes, and one led to known space. Null space. I jumped and jumped, frantically directionally scanning, frantically looking at local chat.
Null space was behind me, low sec, then high sec. Guristas had invaded! Luckily, I killed a singular drone in Pochven. I was merely a passerby. And passing I did by. I entered Jita’s system. I had my bookmark ready for a quick undock. The evening was a success.
The journey however is long. And it will be fruitful, with the occasional wreck. But I have enough to buy 15 more fully fitted ships. I am not scared.