I'll take those two and... oh bugger... I'm exploded

"It's going to look pretty good, then, isn't it," said War testily, "the One Horseman and Three Pedestrians of the Apocralypse."
-- The Four Horsemen of the Apocralypse encounter unexpected difficulties
(Terry Pratchett, Sourcery)

It's a curious thing, space, for all it's darkness and danger, it's unpredictable nature, it's just so comforting. The cold embrace, the stars, the planets, the auroras and flares... Home.

My Rifter, like a second skin, eases into the dark, systems primed, my senses honed through years of training and experience and every inch of the Minmatar starship an extension of my body. It's been too long my friend, far too long.

Moments earlier I was sitting in my hangar when word of fresh meat reached me via an intel channel, two Crow interceptors and a Retribution assault frigate somewhere in Gusandall.
The undock was long, it seems to get longer each time, a trick of the mind as it prepares for what is to come... Sweet violence.

My years as a Pirate make the task of scanning my prey intuitive, within seconds I have their location, moments after undocking I'm in warp to where my onboard scanner shows them to be.
I burst out of warp at the 1/10 DED Rated complex, hoping the targets would be there, new sensor recalibration meaning scanning is slightly more tedious than it should be and it adds even more suspense to an already dangerous situation.

As the warp bubble collapses the targets are exactly where they should be, in my crosshairs and about to be introduced to one Kane Rizzel. Two Crows, one Retribution, a tall order but I have my game face on, a massive grin. I close on the first Crow, all systems primed and overloaded, lock scramble, web and sweet death spits out of my guns. The first Crow goes down hard, his friend closing in to help, he's already locked, bits of Crow are raining against my Rifter as she opens up on the second, the Retribution closing, not much time but it doesn't take long and the second Crow is but a memory. I focus on the Retribution but it's not going well, it has a strong tank and I've taken too much damage, my beautiful Rifter no longer capable of containing the awesomeness that lies inside and my escape pod is jettisoned as she explodes. I warp the pod out rather sharpish, a good fight.

And it was thus I announced my return to Gusandall, my return to Piracy.

I docked at the station and grabbed the first ship I could, an Ishkur assault ship, I wanted another go at the Retri but he left in a hurry. I scanned a Wolf assault frigate in the 2/10 complex and made my way there. Warping in, right on top of him, the fight was on, however I was never able to close the distance sufficiently and as such my blasters were largely ineffective. I was taking massive amounts of damage and I decided to bail, not something I'm accustomed to but Keira would be most displeased were I to lose a rather expensive ship in a brash manner. As I entered warp I thought to myself "Kane you fucking idiot, this thing has drones"

Yes, I'm rusty, yes I'm an idiot.

Still, good wake up call.

I clone jumped to a combat clone, something better suited to the task at hand.

I would later fly a Taranis to kill a few Rifters and a Cyclone and narrowly missed out on a missioning Drake in Ingunn but all in all, I think I rather enjoyed myself and this is a good thing.

I'm still in space as I write this, all sneaky like in my Pilgrim, in desperate need of a cigarette and sleep but there's a Skiff that needs killing.

Edit: I got the Drake, he came back, they always come back.