Kirith Kodachi, F.C.

I joined a fleet Sunday night that was offensive plexing next to our base in Nennamaila. It was a small fleet, no more than 15 as after an hour the FC was calling it quits and asked if anyone was going to carry on. A few of us said "yeah sure" and for some reason the departing FC made me fleet boss. Perhaps it was my charming personality or amazing blog writing  or my "B" list internet spaceship celebrity status (OK, maybe I'm a C-lister)1 but he chose me.

Immediate panic sweat.

PANIC!

You see, despite having played this game for over 6.5 years and participated in everything from solo PvP to largest fleet PvP and everything inbetween, I have never been a Fleet Commander or even a gang boss. I have severe leadership confidence issues in Eve despite being a capable team lead in my real life job. Ironically, it feels like there is more on the line with internet spaceships and I fear I will freeze up and/or panic in combat when a cool head and calm voice are needed.

That being said, one of the reasons I looked to join Aideron Robotics (an awesome decision BTW) was because I felt it was time to overcome my reluctance to make a fleet instead of simply joining them and a larger corp would be more conducive to that goal, and I had plans to start doing so after I had settled in and got to know everyone. Like in a month or two... or a year.

But there I was with 6-7 other pilots and fleet boss, so I decided to grab the reigns and make myself lead. The panic subsided as I knew what to do. No hostiles nearby active, so find plexes and run them. The nerves subsided and the lessons I internalized from every fleet in 6 years I attended came to the fore.

To be fair, it was a very quiet night with the Caldari staying away. The closest thing to excitement was when a friendly got in a fight with some neutrals in Nennamaila and asked for help. I led the fleet in a headlong rush to get in there and tip the scales in our favour. We got Enaluri up over 50% like the previous FC wanted and we called it a night.

It felt good, surprisingly so. I plan to continue my efforts to develop this underutilized part of my game. There is no way this could fail!

1 - Probably more to do with the respectable Corporate tag I have now.