Return of the Kane

The hippo of recollection stirred in the muddy waters of the mind.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Soul Music)

It has been a long time, the station has been refurbed and my hangar now has an office, not just a few crates for a desk and a makeshift bed in the corner. Someone has spent a lot of money on this and it all looks very pretty but somehow it's just... Wrong.

The Cunning Man floats above the docking platform, I ease myself into my custom built 'pod' and set about making my way into the black, Gusandall, it has been too long.

There's a few pilots showing up on the local comms net, but mostly in bigger ships and quite obviously together and possibly a little too much for a rusty old pirate.

There were a few frigates with them but soon they all jumped out, destination unknown, but I loitered at the usual haunts. A Malediction from the large group re-enters Gusandall, a scout no doubt, I wait for him in the first room of the 2/10 complex. A tech 2 Interceptor vs my Rifter... Well... I know how this was going to end but you got to let people think they're in it to win it.

As predicted, the Malediction appears on scan in the direction of the 2/10 beacon, soon he would be arriving, all systems primed and set to overheat from the get go.

Malediction comes out of warp only a few hundred meters away from The Cunning Man, targeting systems acquire the target, yellow box, then red as the Malediction pilot gets serious.

My guns spin up and ordinance starts flying, the interceptor at point blank range melting with every volley, it explodes, with my shields barely troubled by the missiles it had launched.

This was not about the hunt, as I was hunted, or the fight itself, as it was wholly unremarkable, but how knowledge of my surroundings and the predictability of others led to victory.

And just like that, Kane is back :)