The Tuskers gathered in their home system of Hevrice early - 14 of them, including 2 friends. Standard protocol of ship checks were reported to the Fleet Commander - Wensley.
Ares, Enyo, Enyo, Incursus, Incursus, Ishkur, Jaguar, Keres, Kitsune, Retribution, Rifter, Rifter, Sentinel, Tristan.
We departed from the Station shortly thereafter, and proceeded to the first System Gate (jovainnon). I was assigned scouting & tackle duty and was sent ahead into the neighbouring system in my sexy Ares Interceptor.
As the intimidating force of frigates sat on standby on the Jov' Gate in Hevrice, i took no time in declaring the system clear. A full 360 omnidirectional scan of 15AU takes all Celestial body's within Jovainnon into account, and there was nothing to pounce upon bar the odd Industrial ship. Wensley ordered the fleet to jump the gate and to proceed and hold on the Gate towards the next Solar System en route.
This standard process of crawling towards our destination continued throughout, and no sooner than the fourth System in, i had called a 'point' on a blinky target sitting 100km off a Station - a Cerberus. As i maintained a wide orbit on the Heavy Assault ship, the rest of the fleet streamed into the system and warped to my co-ordinates. The Cerberus' shields evaporated within 20 seconds and it's armour and hull crumbled instantly in a spectacular display of fireworks. We laid points upon the resulting Pod, but he refused ransom and we showed him some love in return.
As i left to scout the next system over, the fleet struck lucky with a Ferox battlecruiser on their side. I acknowledged via voice comms its destruction, but at a cost of 3 of our own frigates.
Being so close to home still, our FC made the decision for a pit-stop at base to re-ship and take a short break. I took use of this time to scout around the neighboring systems.
I narrowed down a scan within Aeschee consisting of a Caracal cruiser and a Condor frigate within a belt, and warped in at 10km without delay.
As the warp bubble collapsed, i landed right on top of the Caracal in which i instantly pointed and requested back-up from anybody still present on voice comms. My call was answered immediately, and help was on its way.
I maintained my 15-20km orbit of the Caracal as the Condor burned his Microwarpdrive from 52km away to aid his shackled friend. The little frigate would cause a problem as my Railguns would not be able to track it at such a close distance. My MWD at this point was also futile as he had Scrammed my warp systems and in turn, prevented me from being able to escape also. All that was left for me to do, was to maintain my Warp Disrupter on the Caracal, boost my shields occasionally, and let off the micro smart-bomb when my capacitor allowed it.
He was not able to get my armour status down past 80% when the cavalry arrived. The condor abandoned his companion and escaped whilst the gang raped the Caracal. We suffered no losses and pleasantly received 10million Isk from the pod ransom. Very nice.
Whilst the fleet were sitting out our Global Criminal Countdown, i took the liberty of zooming around the system. Purely for the sake of it. In turn, i had scanned down an Ishtar at a 5 degree scan towards a station. I warped in at 100km for Intel on pilot and security status. No sooner had i left warp did i start taking sentry fire. "Shit!" In panic, i turned the ship around to return to the fleet, tail between my legs. I survived with a structural integrity of 15%. Don't you just love Criminal flagging.
As i rendezvoused with the gang, Wensley noticed the path of flame trailing behind my humble ship. Believing it to be the result of our Caracal-Condor engagement, he stated in Comms:
"Jesus, Caster. That was close."
"... Yeah." I responded, a wide smile stretched across my face. I didn't particularly want to embarrass myself at this point in time. I repaired my ship once GCC had expired.
As i set course for the next system en route, i blissfully landed on a blinky Dominix Battleship on the gate. However, it was Smart-bomb fitted and because of that the fleet lost its drones, and the damage dealing blaster ships could do naught but twiddle their thumbs. Wensley wisely called the decision to disengage.
My first mistake loomed round the corner as i had spotted a blinky Taranis on the far side of the Jov' gate in Muetralle. The opposing pilot was roughly 30km off, and i was ordered to engage. Mindlessly, i activated my MWD and approached. I noticed my mistake before it even happened. "Shit! I'm gonna overshoot..." I did. The Taranis also MWD'd toward me, and we clashed within 3 seconds. I was scrammed, webbed, and screwed. No MWD, no dps available, no drones. It was only a matter of time before my brand-spanking-new Ares was twatted before my comrades could reach me.
I reflected on this outcome as i fled in my pod back toward Hevrice;
Number 1: I shouldn't have stupidly approached the way i did. The 'ranis was obviously not in a hurry, and i should have drifted somewhat to see if it would come to me. In which case i would be in control and dictate the range.
Number 2: I'm a silly-billy.
I returned to the scene a few minutes later in a Taranis, pimped and ready to go. Egrat had switched from his Retribution assault frigate to an Amarr Interceptor - a Crusader - to take over as Scout and tackler.
After much patience and fleet discipline from all, Egrat skillfully caught a Vexor in Lisbaetanne. The fleet was onto it within seconds and after carefully dispatching its drones, proceeded to devour the Gallente cruiser.
The rest of the night (or 5am in the morning for some - i'm looking at you, Jolo) went by without much of an event. Until we stumbled upon a Vindicator Battleship. It was sitting 16km off a gate when we scram'd and web'd the Beast. A few of us sat on the other side to catch him if he jumped through. The fight was exhilirating, and we managed to get the thing down to 50% armour. Then the blob came. The blob of death.
The blob of 15 Battleships which ripped through space and time to serve us a volley of fat burning doom. Many of us lost our ships, the odd pod, and our virginity. We laughed and cheered all the way home. Good times.
2 comments:
Glad you enjoyed yourself, mate. We'll do another one soon. You should have a go at FCing... you can't lose :)
Hehe, give it a month or two and we'll see :P
Look forward to the next one!
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