2nd rescue! With the assist from Fred!
27 Jul 2015Latimer
Padded into the cockpit this morning, no tea, turned on the RatChatter, stared blearily at the screens.Sudden Ratsignal on chat, client was 8 jumps away from me. Fred Heisnberch, another Rat, was 5. Immediately I launched, headed toward the client's system. Fred offered to wait for me (which was a very stand up kind thing to do), but I told him not to, that the client comes first (insert heroic music). Winged up to them both without a problem, dropped in the client's system.
And found no one.
Fred and I could see each other just fine, but not the client. We jumped out, and reformed the wing again. When I dropped in this time I could see the client (gotta turn on those beacons!), 16,000 l.s. away, and started toward him. Fred came in about 50 seconds behind me. Go, Cobra, go!
But, alas, things get weird. Client dropped to normal space, I come right up to the wake, and nothing happens. I can't drop, it says, without scanning the wake. While puzzling over this, the wake AND Fred disappear from my scanner and sky altogether, leaving me with naught but blackness outside my cockpit.
Oh, crap.
When the client comes back to Frame space, I can see him (whew!) and cruise up to him, but Fred cannot see him. While puzzling how to drop on him, he says "Should I use my interdictor?" Running out of time and ideas, I say "Sure!" and turn my butt toward him. A few passes later I am interdicted, and drop in with client right behind me. "Don't hurt me!" I say. "I'll give you some fuel!"
While my first two limpets are on the way, Fred is able to drop into the instance now as well. After filling the client (a Viper with a *tiny* tank), Fred fires a few limpets at me, just for friend's sake. We help the client find a station actually within his jump range (How did he GET out here, anyway?) and he starts moving toward it. At which point I rapidly log because I am desperately late for my real job.
Lessons learned: Didn't know enough about Wing Beacons, and the setting to have it drop you automatically on your wing. Fixed.
Automatic Voice communications get set up as soon as the Wing is created. So I should stop making my own sound effects at that moment, or loudly humming Star Wars music.