Drops and Deaths

Yesterday was a rollercoaster.

Started off with a bridge into an Ushra'Khan system of A-V. Our scout pointed a Raven and in we bridged. Second point was called from our Tengu... I started my neuts and burned towards him for the short point.

He warped.

Now, I am not the best carebear type out there... but I do realize that a Raven's lows usually have Ballistic Controls, Cap Recharge rigs and maybe a DC2 for that edge on resists.

But not stabs.

This guy had at least two, and I am genuinely curious if that was all or if he had more. So while he fails hard at ratting, it saved his ass this one instance.

The Dominix that was still running a Sansha Sanctum after 5 hostiles jumped into system wasn't as lucky. We warped in, pointed him and started pounding. He kept his reps up... until my neuts capped him out. Then his Dominix no longer had the green glow of armor repping... and blossomed into a fireball.

Local started slowly emptying... due to our presence. We were in a dead end constellation with one exit, and I assumed we were camped in.

So we Cov Ops bridged out.

About 4 jumps away we holed up, no one in local. Our scout at the end of the dead end constellation reported a lone Sabre in local. He started locking our Cov Ops scout, who bailed. I assumed he had backup, but that my Pilgrim and the Tengu that was with me would be able to drop him quick enough.

I was wrong.

I jumped in, and was immediately bubbled. He didn't even know what I was in, but bubbled. Second chance for me to be smart, and reapproach gate. But instead I decloaked, scrammed him and started neuts and put Hammerheads on him. Tengu jumped through and started hitting him as well. I started getting nervous when his tank didn't break immediately. I aligned out and kept neuting him, Tengu did the same.

He was sitting at about 10% shield when local spiked. Lots. Tengu warped out, and I kept burning out of the bubble. I kept my drones on the bastard, and he followed me out of the bubble. Neuts started dropping all around me, all in fast tackle. It was the gang that had been camping us in the dead end constellation.

As the Sabre exploded I pulled my drones in, and started aligning out. I misjudged the align time with a 1600mm plate and trimarks and cut it to close. Pointed by a Jag... and seconds later by the entire gang my Pilgrim exploded. I vainly attempted to point and neut a Crow so my Warrior IIs could get him before I died, but a ?rail fit? Demos and Cynabal took me down very quickly.

Looking back, I should have ignored the Sabre or brought more of the gang in. The fit wasn't unorthodox, but I didn't expect a DC2 in the lows. That and our Tengu was probe fit and cov ops fit. Which means 3 launchers. Shit DPS.

I re shipped and headed back to the gang, a bit angry.

Next target was a ratting Raven we found in a dead end constellation. Same story, scout drops cloak, points pops cyno and in we come. Raven died insanely fast.

We bridged out of system and the scout started moving towards our next constellation of targets. On the way there, however, he yelled on comms "I've got a Navy Vexor on the in gate!"

Quiet.

"See if he will agress. If he does pop cyno and point and we will come." I said.

"He warped to the outgate"

"Follow him! Same plan"

So in my scout went, after the Vexor. This time scout decloaked and pointed him. Vexor immediately aggressed and in we went. Scrams were on, neuts were on and he started dying. We shot him over and over, but bombers with torps are not pro against cruiser hulls, and without webs (we really needed a Rapier) he made it back to the gate in structure. Funny enough, this guys buddy in a Vagabond jumped into us right before his buddy jumped out. I was 2km from getting a scram on him, but with no scram, no Rapier and no neut range bonus (I love my Curse) he burned off the gate.

Damn.

But good old Xoo.... yeah his scout had jumped through to keep from dying. So it was waiting on the other side of gate... and pointed the Vexor as he jumped through. Vexor put drones out and aggressed, obviously thinking an easy kill. Xoo's scout was doomed. Right?

Wrong. Xoo popped another covert cyno and in came the Redeemer. Immediately Vexor de aggressed and reapproached the gate, but I was already in system along with the Redeemer (I had started de aggressing before the others in case he actually made it to the gate, which he did). With neuts preventing reppage, armor damage from the gang and Xoo's Redeemer pummeling him, the Navy Issue Vexor exploded. I was working my way back from that damn Pilgrim loss.

Gang disbanded at that point. I played with the Vagabond a bit more, but without long range webs and with my tracking disruptors it was a stalemate. He may have won in the long run, but after a couple minutes of playing around, him at 10% shield and me at 50% armor I took a momentary lapse of his point and warped off.

Static and myself, not ready to call it a night, hunted for another hour or so. We only got one kill... but it was worth it. We were searching a dead end constellation in Tenerifis when I entered a system with one neut in local. NPC kills in system were moderate over the past hour, and only 7 belts. Gate was 60AU from center of system.

I mentally gave up at that point but picked the middle belt and warped to it. As I neared the solar cluster I picked up a Raven on scan....

Eyebrows up.

I narrowed directional and picked out the planetary cluster in front of me... Still on scan.

As I flew past the planet and the lone belt loomed in front of me... he was still on scan with drones out.

Jackpot.

I landed in belt 13km off a Raven with rats in belt. I immediately de cloaked and overheated scram.

"Static get in here, warp to me!" In Static came.... "damn what a long warp" he commented.

Tank on Raven wasn't too bad... his reps were quite strong. Static landed and started dropping torps. My neuts finally did their job, and the shield repping stopped. His shields literally collapsed, armor and structure melted. As he entered armor he logged off.... but that didn't matter. The Raven exploded, and his killmail revealed an X-Large Shield Booster, two Ionic Field Accelerators and... a warp core stabilizer. Thanks heavens for a short point!

As we scooped the loot and were warping to the out gate, our friend logs back in. This is the transcript from the conversation:

[06:13:54] cabdog > :(

[06:14:04] Perseus Kallistratos > when u log bro
[06:14:07] Perseus Kallistratos > 15 min agro timer
[06:14:16] cabdog > my kid was ratting
[06:14:24] cabdog > he freaked out
[06:14:25] cabdog > lol
[06:14:32] cabdog > then came to get me
[06:14:38] StaticViolence > =(
[06:15:09] cabdog > i doubt he would have shot at u so no agro timer
[06:15:22] Perseus Kallistratos > when you get shot at it starts
[06:15:46] Perseus Kallistratos > unless he ctrl Qs before
[06:16:18] cabdog > he is 10
[06:16:26] Perseus Kallistratos > man
[06:16:33] cabdog > so brain doesnt work that fast
[06:16:36] Perseus Kallistratos > lol
[06:16:53] StaticViolence > its too bad his daddy uses him as child labor

At that point he left local, and we headed home. Good times.

That is all.