There were 3 wormholes opened in Auner, all 3 were C3 and inhabited, scary looking large towers with active fore fields ruled out solo action so I digged deeper. After about an hour of scanning all 3, I have found entrance to null sec space, deep in the Immensea region. I have to admit, before that day I didn't even know such region exists in EVE.
In days when I was in wormhole corp, old guns were telling stories about deep null spaces full of incompetent carebears in ill fit Battleships. Since our wormhole had static to 0.0, for many days we were jumping in fast frigates looking for targets with very little to show, closest I have been to one of those legendary creatures was this poor miner.
Now in front of me was an entrance to really deep null sector, I should probably jump in empty clone but being smug and full of myself bastard, I decided to risk it with head full of chips. My frigate of choice for this expedition was to be Jaguar with passive shield tank, MWD, lots of guns and extra ammo.
There are various potential targets that can be found in deep null systems that can be unwilling participants in PVP shenanigans. Obvious ones are miners but there are also plexers, belt ratters etc. Due to changes in NPC aggro patterns attacking someone who is fighting NPC can be tricky but with a bit of luck fast hard hitting frigate can still take down battleship or battlecruiser without much problem, this is what I was hoping for. Doing deep null invasion solo has some pluses and some minuses. Pluses are that you are just one person and there is a chance that potential target won't notice you entering the system, minuses are by the time you check all plexes in large systems, targets are safely docked or wrapped in protective force fields of POS.
With cautious hope I entered the FYI-49 system and began my search. After searching few dead end pockets I was on my way back to FYI-49 and I was just about to jump to EA-HSA when I spotted Hyperion on scan.
Engaging this Hyperion in this situation seemed a bit desperate for many reasons, he can easily jump back through the gate without agressing me, There were NPC 3 BS and 3 Frigates, combined with his drones they can do some serious damage to my little ship. Always count on stupid as they say so without worrying about those small inconveniences I engaged my MWD and Hyperion was promptly scrammed, webbed and my 200mm auto cannons started plucking his enormous shield. Initially guns were loaded with EMP ammo to chew through his shield I intended to switch to plasma once I get through to his armour.
To my content pilot did not turn around towards the gate, but was going at steady speed of 70ms in unknown direction. He tried to shot me with 1400mm artys, since I was orbiting him in frigate at 500m I knew I have nothing to fear from his guns. I realised this is the creature of legends, clueless pilot in huge ill fitted ship.
My only concern was drones and NPCs. Hyperion had one Gecko and 2 Valkyries out and he recalled his drones, who were sent to kill NPC BS and directed them at me. This worried me a bit since I have lost couple of frigates to Geckos in the past, this time however I was in AF not T1 frig and I could only see one Gecko. This hard hitting tough drone was slowly ground down and removed from the field. As I was finishing Gecko NPCs decided to switch target and 3 BS and 3 Frigates directed their fire at my ship. Valkyries followed Gecko to the space scrapyard and it was time to deal with NPCs, My passive shield was all gone and they were chewing through my flimsy armour. Battleships were not able to hit me so frigates were the only concern. They annoyingly were orbiting me at 12km, Barrage was the only option, guns reloaded and frigates were quickly dispatched.
Combined assault of drones and NPC frigates decimated my shield and armour and I was about to hit structure when last NPC frigate disappeared from my overview, I knew I was on home run then. I reloaded to EMP and watched Hyperion shield slowly shrinking one red sliver at a time. When Hyperion shield disappeated, he sent 5 armor repair drones in hopeless attempt to extend life of his ship. Eventually all that left on the field was 2 ships, one was huge and helpless like beached whale other one was me. Now only thing that could safe him from inevitable doom was help from some third party that never came. Hyperion pilot was sober enough to warp off his pod immediately after his ship exploded.
That was my first successful solo trip to null sec, Admittedly pilot was not prepared for PVP, specially not ready for bloodthirsty pirate in small nimble frigate but hey this is exactly the target I was looking for. I will be back to 0.0 for more of the same for sure.
