Hey Mr.Jack or, damn, how drunk was I?

Thunder rolled. ... It rolled a six.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!)

There is nothing in the universe quite like the Rifter, the simple brutality of it still inspires me to this day. From my very first tackle and kill in 0.0 on an Omniscient Order Claw to my very first solo kill on a Cheetah in Delve, the Rifter has always been there for me.

So when I got back from the club, way over the limit, I decided to take my favourite ship out for a little dancing. Now there's only one place I go if the Bourbon has taken hold and that's Eifer and as such I took up a position between the clusters of belts to start scanning but it was quiet at first, just hauler traffic so I took the time to chat a bit in various channels, hitting scan every now and again.

A Thrasher appears and the hunt is on, quickly narrowed down to a cluster of belts I warp to the planet, another quick scan shows him in the third belt and off I go. I land about 30km off, curse my luck and start to close, maybe he won't notice the flashing red ship screaming towards him. He doesn't and shit gets real as I lock, scram and open fire. A short and unremarkeable fight and the Thrasher explodes in a flash of rather glorious fire. Pod is locked, scrammed and popped. I grab the corpse and the loot and warp off to a safespot. Not the most glorious kill but it doesn't matter, at this point I can barely feel my fingers.

I'm feeling rather light headed, the universe is swimming before my eyes and yes mom, I can now unequivicolly say that the universe does in fact revolve around me. However, inebriation is not going to stop the Rizzel tonight as a Vagabond appears on scan, I start to track his movements. He appears to be... Ratting! Well now, this could be an epic trap but what the hell, I narrow him down to a belt and warp in and just as I suspected, he was... Ratting! I start to close but he warps out, to another belt, I follow, setting warp to zero.

I land in the belt, half expecting the pilot to have warped at range and boy was I suprised when I landed right on bloody top of him. Most excellent, I initiate lock, it's quick and sure, Scram glows green as it goes active, webbed for good measure and I open fire, mentioning in a local intel channel I have a Vagabond tackled in a belt. Kashmyta jumps at the opportuinity to come join me and warps his Deimos in. The Vagabond melts as I'm being hit by his drones and he explodes, I quickly lock the pod and scramble it, I'm still being hit by his drones... Double you tea eff mate? I tell Kash to stop shooting as I'm ransoming, open convo with the pilot and deliver my terms, he accepts and my wallet flashes with confirmation. I break lock and ask Kash to do the same, which he complies and the pod warps out, with us left to gather the loot. I pay Kash his share and go to a safesot to bask in what was a rather epic tackle and delicious kill.

The Vaga pilot stays in my Ransom channel for a bit and we strike up a nice conversation, he was interested to know how I locked him so quick and why his MWD shut down, seems this ex Black Flag pilot has been on vacation for a long time and hasn't quite come to grips with the new technology. We chat for a while and then he goes on his merry.

I chill out, head still doing the Tango in my pod when a Claw appears on scanner, or maybe it's been there for a while, not really sure as time is rubber banding. Looks like first belt, I warp in but he's no longer there, seems he headed over to the V cluster, I warp to planet and start a scan, mmm, at a safespot between Vs and Emol stargate. Well, I'm just going to sit here, all quiet and innocent like at the planet and see if he comes to me.

Damn Kane, you are good, He warps in at 50km a minute or so later and I grin from ear to ear, Game on. He starts to close as I do the same, Scrambler and web set to overheat, same with the guns. He gets in range and it's on. Lock, scramble, web and ammunition starts flying, there was a firefight! My shield gets stripped away in mere moments and I start to dip into armour but my guns and rockets are doing a number on his hull at this point as my repper kicks in. He explodes in a satisfying ball of fire and warps his pod out rather sharpish. Good fight is shared in local and it turns out he's a regular reader of these here pages and just wanted to try his luck.

He opens a private convo and we have a good chat, turns out he's about to become a father and I congratulate Shadowforged on that but commiserate that his time to fly will be curtailed. Also turns out he's a regular in the Independence channel, well I've probably shot at most of them. :)

A good night but I needed to head back to Gus and dock up, I'm hungry, need a cigarette and could murder a cup of tea.

My head is going to be oh so heavy when I rise from the coma.