Last night I got home from work late (like every other damn day this week). Thunderstorms outside meant no riding. So I started a fleet, with intentions to move some assets for guys to a new staging area.
Until Kuzzi mentioned a wormhole in ZXB-. That went straight to low-sec Metropolis.
Jackpot.
So we took an RRBS gang out to play. The wormhole went to Frerstorn, and from there we camped a low sec pipe. I played pro bait, with my cov ops alt looking for targets elsewhere.
I wasn't familiar with the area--just looked at DOTLAN for jumps and took it from there. With the gang holding one behind I found a couple unsavory types in Hadozek. Playing the stupid noob, I went to a belt in my Armageddon and started ratting. Phobos on scan, I figured I would be taken. I couldn't even hit the rats they were so small, so I sicced my drones on 'em. I found the Phobos with my cov ops alt sitting at a station. Sure enough, he was an outlaw.
After a couple minutes of pretend ratting in the belt, he warped in at range on my Armageddon. By range I mean 70km off. I sat for a couple seconds, then pulled my drones and warped off to a planet at 0, in the hopes that he would land on top of me. Instead he warped back to the station.
I sat at the planet for a good 5 minutes within scan range of that station... but he didn't bite. So I warped back to the belt. Sure enough within 30 seconds the Phobos landed right on top of me.
I immediately pulled in my Warriors, started locking the Phobos, popped Hammerhead IIs and was already pointed by the Phobos when I finished locking him.
Scram + Web for the win. I switched to Imperial Navy Multifrequencies, and the Phobos started hitting me. My shields evaporated quickly, but once he hit the triple plated 2x EANM armor tank... his damage stopped. I called the gang in, and the Phobos' buddy in a Stabber landed in belt as well. I put my drones on him, but as my gang landed he burned off and warped away. The Phobos, however, could not retreat, and exploded in a ball of flame.
While this was going on I found a camp in the system of Evati, several jumps away. I moved the gang next door and scouted them out with my cov ops alt. 2x Hurricane, Drake, Broadsword, Harbinger, Dominix, Geddon. Well within our ability to take, especially since they were tanking gate guns. I saw a UFA Abaddon jump warp to the Evati gate... and jump through. I waited, and the pirate gang jumped with him... Yes! He was not friendly with them and this was our moment to attack, as they were aggroing an Abaddon, taking GCC and tanking gate guns!
I jumped in and warped to the out gate in Evati, landing amidst the pirate gang and the Abaddon. Sure enough, warnings flashed as the Abaddon was engaged. I called the gang in, and they warped to me. I aggressed one of the hostile flashy battleships. It was then that local started spiking with UFA. That UFA Abaddon that had warped into the pirate camp must have been bait.
"No one aggress, no one aggress!! All reps on PK!!"
At this point the pirate gang was dead, warped, or dying. I was pointed and deagressing, my gang put all reps on me. It wasn't enough to stop me from dying though, as hostile Abaddons filled overview and a UFA Archon was now on field. I popped, and Psycho was primaried next. Our reps were enough to keep Psycho alive as he de aggressed and he jumped through to safety of Todifraua. The rest of our gang jumped with him, except for our Onyx. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details but apparently he had aggro for some reason and he died. A Dominix jumped through with the last 3 battleships and I was worried he would point one of our guys but he warped asap. Up until this point I was a bit fuzzy on what had happened but as I scouted the aftermath with my cov ops alt I realized the truth: I had warped in at what I thought was an opportunity but instead was a UFA trap that happened to be bigger than ours (because of the Archon). What I would have given to have this fight closer to our space; two of the RRBS pilots in our fleet were titan pilots (on alts of course). The UFA laughingly left their Archon on gate for 5 min, presumably while it was capping up. If only we had a few more pilots in gang.
Had I engaged a few minutes before... perfect. A few minutes after... perfect. But we got in the middle of a 3-way clusterfuck.
I do look upon the experience as us getting lucky as well; we only lost my "bait" Armageddon and an Onyx. Had the UFA pilots been smart and had a tackler or two de aggress and wait on the other side they would have killed more. Had our pilots not listened distinctly to my orders... they would have died. So, as angry as I was at the outcome, I was pleased our gang wasn't annihilated.
We safed up, and watched as the Archon jumped out and the UFA gang moved on. As our exit gate cleared on both sides we moved back to the wormhole. We tackled a Maelstrom on the way home... but even double pointed he still warped. So he had at least 2x Warp Stabs in the lows. Laughable, but it did work as our Hictor died :(
I logged off in 5-C with a few apoligies to our gang for the unsuccesful roam. Psycho offered this phrase though "It could have been worse; you saw an opportunity and took it without hestitation. Thats what good commanders do. Sometimes it goes South, and thats when you learn".
I was still pissed, but I appreciated the effort.
That is all.
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