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Posted by: Havohej : Category: ¶ I’m not dead yet. To the contrary, in fact. And I’ve finally been able to get away from the training simulators to fly an actual ship and fire my weapons in anger. Between training and politics (both within Anthrax Death alliance and without), I just haven’t been able to find the time to do much of anything, let alone record my experiences here.
¶ Tonight, though, I managed to get some pod time in flying first a Wolf, then my old Stabber (which I’d forgotten about), and then a couple of Stiletto-class interceptors.
From Bosena to Astabih
¶ For once, when I got to the hangar I didn’t have four different commlinks flashing for my attention, so I decided to read through the mail and make a run for it before anybody noticed I was active. As soon as I was sure that our corporation’s towers in WSK and NZW were online and in no immediate danger of running out of fuel, I undocked from NZW Whiskey and Hookers in a capsule and enlisted a fellow ANTX pilot to deliver me unto a new medical clone in Gulfonodi. One jump to Teonusude where my Wolf was waiting and I was off and running.
¶ A few circuits through the belts of Teonusude resulted in no entertainment, so after a bit of banter with the locals, I went into my favorite lowsec pipe between Molden Heath and Derelik, passing by a couple of ice systems and a couple of locations noted in DED’s database as Angel Cartel hotspots. Through each system, I kept an eye on the D-Scan, warping to various safespots to cover all of the belts but it seemed that everyone the gate logs had listed as in-system were either docked or involved in a mission for one of the various corporations of the Minmatar Republic. Finally, in Khabi, I found a mark.
¶ I could see on the D-Scanner that there was a Caracal hunting Angel Cartel pirates in the belts - based on distance, he couldn’t be anywhere else and there were several Angel wrecks visible. It didn’t take me long to narrow him down to a 4-belt cluster; I found him in the second belt. He was looting one of his kills’ wrecks, only 4 klicks from where I warped into the belt. My rack of T2 200mm guns were already spooled up, the ‘Arbalest’ Rocket Launcher was primed and ready, and my T2 Warp Disruptor was cycling in anticipation of a solid tone. It took my Wolf’s sensor array 3 seconds to achieve lock on the larger Caldari hull, and his shield was at 60% integrity after the first volley of Republic Fleet EMP S rounds. Then he warped.
¶ “He’s fucking stab’d…” I thought. “God damnit.” The major limitation of the Wolf is that it sacrifices tackling ability for damage output - only having 2 medium-power nodes into which you can fit a module means that you’ve got room for a propulsion unit and a warp scrambler and that’s it… it’s not like the tackling freedom afforded me by my Stilettos, with its 4 mids (then again, the Stiletto doesn’t do any damage worth mentioning, either). But I wasn’t willing to give up so easily. The nearest 2 point scrambler on the market was 9 jumps away, and I figured my target would be gone by the time I got back. I’d have to try to bump him and keep him bumped. It should only take 4, 5 bumps tops for my guns and rockets to rip his cruiser apart.
¶ Feeling secure in his safety, he continued about his business, hunting the Cartel through the belts. I kept an eye on him through the D-Scanner while I had the crew make any adjustments they could to achieve tighter turning radius - being able to turn on an ISK would be of utmost importance if I was to continually impede his ability to align for warp. After a few minutes, it was time. I cycled the Wolf’s offensive subsystems and jumped into warp, coming out of the tube on top of my target. Perhaps if I’d come out of warp with a bit of distance, I would’ve gotten more than 2 bumps on him, but just as his shield failed, he managed to warp off. I followed his path toward a nearby moon and was in the process of scanning to see if there were a POS there when suddenly a Flycatcher-class interdictor appeared on my overview - this target I KNEW wouldn’t be stab’d. Feeling confident that I could eat his shield-buffer before his Bloodclaw Light Missiles could take me down, I didn’t hesitate for a moment to engage.
¶ Much to my chagrin, however, Tactical indicated that I wasn’t being hit by Bloodclaw Light Missiles - I was being torn into by Thorn Rockets. With the Flycatcher’s design, a skilled pilot can get impressive range out of the normally short-range rockets, and he certainly was. My determination in this case proved my undoing - I refused to give up until it was too late. Seeing that his shield was nearly gone (around 15-20% or so, I think), he turned on the speed and before I knew it, he was 17km away and Thorns were still pounding my armor as my capacitor ran dry and the small armor repairer shut down and there was no juice left for the MWD to get me out of harm’s way. I’d allowed myself to be web kited by a ship that I expected to be fit for longer-range encounters.
¶ I warped the pod to a deep safe and proceeded to discuss the encounter with the A-War pilot. A-War is a corporation with its own reputation, and one with my full respect, so it was a pleasant experience to see n unusual loadout and discuss tactics with the more experienced capsuleer before flying back to Molden Heath in my pod. Good fight, Kibbler.
And Back to Bosena
¶ As I passed through Bosena, I saw DeathsEmbrace’s name on the gate log. He’s the CEO of another ANTX corporation, and someone I’ve flown with before. Tonight he was in a plate Rupture. I told him I needed to go put something together, having just lost my Wolf to a Caldari ‘dictor. When I got to the hangar to see what I had on hand and order a new Wolf, I saw my Stabber there on the pad, just begging to be taken out for a 3.7km/sec spin. A grin on my lips, I went right back to Bosena. After a few moments, DE and I were on the trail of a Manticore and a Celestis. Being fit for close range and speed, I wasn’t worried about the Gallente E-War cruiser’s sensor damps, I just knew I had to close on the stealth bomber before his third volley. What I didn’t know was how easy that would be.
¶ After chasing them around the belts (there are only 5 in Bosena) for a while, I finally managed to warp into a belt right on top of the Celestis and the Manticore just as it cloaked… then, as I engaged the Celestis, the Manticore decloaked 4km away. I immediately sought a lock, to prevent him from re-cloaking. It didn’t take long to rip him apart.
¶ Unfortunately, my Stabber being fit with a buffer-type tank and having no capacity for self-repair, the stealth bomber’s three volleys had me in a sorry enough state that the Celestis’ drones and missiles were able to do me in when I slowed down to fire on him - he’d moved away more quickly than my mate in his plate Ruppie could pursue, so I was largely on my own against him. As I went to go fit out an interceptor, though, DE managed to catch up and take him down. By the time I returned to Bosena, the same pilot had come back in a Vexor, whose Warrior II drones were able to catch up to me as I’ve no speed hardwiring implants, nor do I spend the extra 100M ISK to fit my ceptors with polycarbon engine housing rigs (yet - I just can’t afford them). The Vexor, though, was stab’d and escaped DE’s Rupture.
¶ Two kills, two losses, and 80% efficiency… not a bad night.
-Havo out.
