What could have been

A month or so ago, I lost a Blackbird to a gate camp in the typical, larger than frigate ship undocks to several fastlocking gankship fashion.  I don’t typically fly ships larger than frigates anymore so I wasn’t particularly attached to the ship and considered selling it before moving to my new home, but decided to try and move it and see what happened.  I sat off, transited high sec and the first few jumps of low sec without issue.  I next jumped into the system that would be my Blackbird’s final resting point and there before me was lowsec gategamping in all its glory.  My overview lit up with flashes of red indicating that a Drake, Tengu, Loki, and Pilgrim where now staring my gate activation down with ill intent.  Now it was decision time.

I pondered my options for a few moments while my gate cloak was still active.  As I saw it I could try to enter warp which had about a 0% chance of working, or make a run back for the gate and try to jump through as all these guys would likely have aggro against me by the time I jumped.  I choose the latter and pulsed my mwd and made a run for it.  As you might suspect, the end result was an exploding Blackbird.

As I contemplated my recent loss, something popped out at me from the posting on the kill board.  I was faced with 2 Caldari ships, a Minmatar one, and an Amarr ship.  I looked back at my loadout and was equipped with 2 Caldari jammers, a Minmatar jammer, and an Amarr jammer and began to wonder, “Could I have fought these guys off and been on my merry way”?  Furthermore, I had defender missiles equipped to hopefully counter the missiles from the two Caldari ships.

My experience flying ECM ships is practically nil, so I’m not surprised that fighting didn’t really pop into my mind, but I can’t help but wonder what could have been.  While my ECM experience is next to none, I spent a few months a while back training practically every electronics skill up to V, so while I may not have made it out, I might have been able to get a few jams on these guys and turn an exploding blackbird into a “gf” in local.  I know some of you are wondering what in the world I’m doing training electronics skills up to V?  I was bored, they looked interesting and when you’ve played since 2003 there aren’t that many holes in your training so I figured what the heck. 

So as I look back on the situation, the phrase “coulda, woulda, shoulda” just keeps streaking though my mind. 

Could I have fought them and at least made it entertaining—You bet.

Would I have won and been on my way—Maybe I’ll never know.

Should I have given it a go—Definitely.

The take home lesson for me is that when you’ve considered all your options take another second to find the one you’ve missed, and even when outnumbered and seemingly outgunned a combination of wit, skills, and a touch of luck may not get you out alive, but should always end in a “GF”!