Screw Dust514, Rust is here and now

Slab: Jus' say "AarrghaarrghpleeassennononoUGH"

-- Detritus' war on drugs
(Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay)

The hangar is cold, too long have I been away. Tonight however I had a date, a date with explosions.

A few weeks back I was challenged to a duel by one Lau Wensink asking if I would be so kind to grant him a 1v1 duel. I agreed at the time but was unavoidably detained with other activities.

Yes I've been away and yes I'm rusty but there's nothing like violence to shake the rust off. The duel was to take place in Eifer, at a safe spot of Lau's choice, I always allow my opponent to choose the safe and form the fleet as it gives them peace of mind that no one will interrupt our little party. We had decided to use Battlecruiser class ships and looking over the assembled hardware in my hangar I was torn between my trusty Hurricanes, two different setups but both rather efficient, and the Harbinger, a brick of a ship but capable of a rather beautiful light show.

Well, Lau was on his way and I chose that age old method of choosing something when undecided, I tossed a coin, Heads it would be the Hurricane, tails, the Harbinger.

The coin spun in the air and took its sweet time to fall, reminds me I need to make sure the artificial gravity is reset in the hangar. I caught the coin and placed it on the desk, a certain unease came over me as I slowly lifted my hand.... Tails

I walked over to the Harbinger, named Sgt, Detritus, an absolute slab, massive armour plates and pretty lasers. My pod was set up nearby and I made preparations to be plugged in. Once inside the pod it was inserted into the Harbinger, systems coming online as soon as I was set. I ran through the installed modules, making sure everything was in order, that I had the correct crystals for the pulse lasers and everything was five by five.

Lau had opened comms with me and said he was in Eifer, I told him to set up a safe and we'll form fleet when I get there.

The long undock of Gusandall station is dark but it helps one focus on the task at hand. I started running through my mental checklists, wondering what I would face, what my tactics would be, finally the night sky of Gusandall greeted me, a fantastic site.

I warped to the Eifer gate and jumped through, automatically aligning and warping to a central safespot where I could scan most the system. Once there I was greeted by a Drake on scan. Interesting, a most formidable battlecruiser with a legendary shield tank. We formed fleet and waited a bit for Lau's capacitor to regen before I would warp in.

Once ready Lau gave the signal, we agreed beforehand the fight was to the wreck of the ship, no podding, suited me fine. I warped to zero, landing about 5 clicks off the Drake, warp trails still streaming off the Harbinger's golden hull as I swung her around and made a direct line for the Drake. Warp scrambler set to overload, stasis web set to overload, I locked the Drake and opened fire.

A flight of light ECM drones spewed out of the Drake's drone bay and it was then I deployed my own drones, a flight of Warrior IIs, chosen specifically to deal with the prospect of ECM. I locked each drone and set my own to deal with them.

The PvP rust was showing as I was neuting drones, webbing and scramming them and Lau got away from me for a moment, until of course I dusted the cobwebs from between my ears and got my act into gear. All the ECM drones were dealt with, but I had more pressing problems, Lau had stripped my shields and was slowly eating away at my massive armour buffer, I had closed the distance and had him firmly tackled, a medium energy neutraliser sucking the lifesblood of the Drake away, my lasers eating at his shields. I had started to overheat everything but neglected to turn off my MWD, my sig radius that of a small moon meaning Lau's Scourge Fury missiles had a whale of a time with my armour. Schoolboy error Kane.

I shut the MWD off, Lau wasn't going anywhere as he was firmly pinned down. My lasers and neut were overheating, climbing into the red, I stopped overheating the lasers as I broke through the Drakes imperious shields, not long now, his armour stripped away, hull venting gas and fuel into space and then my guns winked out, overheated beyond repair. Sweet zombie jesus Kane? What the fuck is wrong with you? I had left the neut running overheated and it did collateral damage to my lasers, burning them out. Lau, at most had 5% structure left and it was down to my flight of Warriors to finish the job and they did a fine job, heroes, each and every one of them.

Lau's Drake exploded, illuminating the expanding cloud of gas and fuel. A fantastic fight, really enjoyed it, burnt out lasers and all. I was at 27% armour when Lau popped, nice and close, just the way I like it.

We spoke for a bit after and then Lau went on his merry, slightly disappointed I think but he did very well and respect to him. This duel is only a small part of this pilots adventures and it appears he has taken it upon himself to challenge celebrities from around the EVE universe to duels, a fantastic idea and one I'm honoured to say I've been part of.

Take a look at Lau's blog for further adventures and you never know if or when he'll challenge your celebrity :P

I docked up in Gusandall, set the crews to knock the dents out of Sgt Detritus' armour and lit a cigarette... I'm back... Sort of.