Ego: The fallacy whereby a goose thinks he's a swan

Until an unfortunate axe incident, Gloria had been captain of the school basketball team.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Soul Music)

Sometimes ego is a good thing and others it's a downward spiral.

Last night Kenny was doing some stuff with the POS when he reported a Stabber Fleet Issue on scan in Gusandall, I quickly boarded what I thought would be appropriate for such prey, an Ishkur.

This particular Ishkur has been with me for a very long time, a veteran of some truly spectacular fights such as this and this. I was confident in my abilities and quickly warped to the Eifer gate, where Kenny had just reported the Stabber jumping through. I activated the gate and was launched into Eifer.

Once there, I spotted the Stabber decloaking, I broke my own jump cloak and moved towards it, initiated targeting systems and watched the Fleet Stabber warp to a cluster of belts. I followed to the planet at the centre of the cluster and quickly narrowed the Stabber down, I warped into belt 4-4.

The Stabber was a good 40 clicks off the centre of the belt, I had quite a distance to close and this was my downfall. I hit the afterburners, they glowed bright, the distance slowly closing, I activated targeting systems and the Stabber did the same, he deployed a flight of Warrior IIs, the Stabber's guns hitting me quite hard. My little Ishkur was not up to this and my ego landed me in my escape pod. I warped out rather quickly and shared a "good fight" in local but in truth it wasn't a good fight, I bit off more than I could chew and choked.

C'est la vie

An expensive loss and maybe the humility will temper my ego somewhat... We can only hope :D

I should know better, piloting the Stabber Fleet Issue myself to great effect and know full well its capabilities.

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.

[OOC] Infamous or Famous?

We took pity on him because he'd lost both parents at an early age. I think that, on reflection, we should have wondered a bit more about that.

-- Lord Downey reflects on Mister Teatime (Terry Pratchett, Hogfather)

It's of interest to me the notoriety I have achieved through this blog, whether good or bad is a matter of debate as I like to think my actions in game should speak loud enough for my ability. But it seems words are even more powerful medium for inspiration than mere pixels on the internet.

I logged in this evening after having been absent due to real life commitments for a few days, my covops friend checking on secure loot cans dotted around space (which due to me being scarce have expired and been removed by CCP) when she spotted a Thrasher in the direction of the 2/10 plex in Gusandall. I was docked in station and just happened to be in my Ishkur, knowing it a very capable ship and probably a bit cocky, I undocked and warped on over, thinking a Thrasher would be an easy kill.

I was about to be proven very wrong. I warped in and the Thrasher was not inside the plex but waiting about 45 clicks off the acceleration gate. From this could be deduced he was running artillery and I would have to close the distance whilst coming under heavy fire and so I did. I was painted by the Thrasher and he engaged, my shields stripped away in a single volley. I overheated my afterburner to close quicker but he managed to keep range very well, I never came within 9km as my armour took heavy damage. Once I managed to get him scrambled I let lose a flight of Hobgoblin II drones and they streaked across the void as my small armour repairer struggled to keep up, I overheated to get every last bit of repair as I was deep in structure with flames streaking from my Ishkur. The repper was clawing back armour as I continued to dip further and further towards oblivion when my drones finally finished the Thrasher off, the pilot whipping his escape pod off rather sharpish. I grabbed the loot and warped to a safe to inspect the damage.

19% structure, 19% is all that stood between me and a rather expensive loss at the hands of a very well flown tech 2 artillery Thrasher.

Kane Rizzel > nicely done
Zarnak Wulf > just wanted a one on one w/ the famous kane col
Zarnak Wulf > gf
Kane Rizzel > same to you, gf

Uma Thurman > gf zarn
Zarnak Wulf > gf
Zarnak Wulf > waited the last two days for Kane. Interesting journals mate
Zarnak Wulf > Shouldn't tell folks where you hunt though =)
Kane Rizzel > heh, been busy at work so no play for me
Kane Rizzel > dude, telling people where I am means they come look for me, means more fights :P
Uma Thurman > and some good blogs too ;)
Zarnak Wulf > =)
Zarnak Wulf > I emptied all 10 rounds of RFEMP into that thing and it wasn't quite enough
GOUSGOUNIS THEOS > lol i escaped in hull was so close =p
Kane Rizzel > the ishkur may or may not be overpowered in the right hands
Kane Rizzel > I was at 19% hull though, you kicked out some vicious damage
Zarnak Wulf > if they ever increase the clip size. =)
Kane Rizzel > I'd fly arty thrashers :P

Zarnak Wulf > another time kane. Got to go.
Kane Rizzel > fly reckless o7

Massive props to Zarnak, a good fight and a reminder to me to not underestimate prey or as the case was, the hunter.

I'd just like to point out that the Mean Corp pilots on the mail were from an earlier engagement with Zarnak and they weren't present for our little duel.

Boom I say, BOOM!

The Supreme Life President of Hell wrote: "What business are we in???" He thought for a bit, and then carefully wrote, underneath: "We are in the damnation business!!!"

-- (Terry Pratchett, Eric)

There's a new toy in my box of tricks and oh boy do I like it.

I christened yet another ship into the NovaKane fleet this evening, I had just got back from the pub and looked around my hangar for something sharp with which to hurt somebody, in a dark corner under some sheets was a frigate sized ship gathering dust, I had the deck crew assemble it and had some rather nasty looking weapons fitted. Eric was born and soon someone would be kicking and screaming in the dawn of a new day.

As with all ships on their maiden flight, I took Eric to see the sights and sounds of Eifer. There was precious little to see except for a Rifter... in a belt...

WARP DRIVE ACTIVE

As warp trails streamed off Eric's shiny exterior the Rifter calmly went about its business in harrasing a local Angel Cartel cruiser. Well, I could not stand for this kind of behaviour and started to close the distance, trying as hard as I could to remain inconspicuous. Fifty kilometres seperated us and Eric's afterburner hummed gently in the background as the distance became less and less. As I got into warp scrambler range I initiated lock, it resolved and the scrambler kicked in, blasters blazing hot death in the direction of the unfortunate Rifter who didn't have a chance to fight back, his escape pod jettisoned as the Rifter exploded, it was of course locked, scrambled and popped, another trophy for "The Morgue"

I scooped the loot and headed to a safespot to wait out my criminal timer, continuously scanning for any other prey. Nothing appeared so I headed back to Gusandall to offload loot.

I jumped through the gate and as is custom I hit my scanner while under gate cloak. A few targets in system and two caught my eye, a Crow and Thrasher in the direction of the 2/10 Angel complex.

WARP DRIVE ACTIVE

I burst out of warp on top of the ancient acceleration gate and was greeted by the sight of the Crow orbiting at 20km. Interesting, this should be fun and I started my tried and tested method of catching interceptors. Unfortunately Eric is a touch slower than most of what I fly and this would be a test. If the Crow pilot was half competent I wouldn't catch him but there was little he could do to kill me, he of course didn't know this.

As I started my "Crazy Ivan" routine, the Thrasher warped in, rather closer than was healthy for him but I decided to toy with both of them none the less. Crow engaged now that his friend was here and I locked them both up, making straight for the destroyer. My shields were stripped away in an instant as the Thrasher put out some very high damage, the pilot was familiar to me as it was he in a Sabre that destroyed one of my Jaguars a few weeks back.

The Crow continued to pelt me with missiles and the Thrasher's autocannons were trying to rip me a new one but my armour repairer was comfortably keeping up. I had gotten in range of my blasters and they bit hard and deep into the Thrasher's shields, a flight of tech 2 Hobgoblin drones swarmed out of Eric's drone bay and overwhelmed the Thrasher's rather strong shield tank. Once his shields were stripped he didn't last long and exploded, his escape pod warping out in an instant.

Now where did that Crow get to... Aah, there he is, comfortably keeping a steady orbit. I wouldn't be able to catch him with my scrambler and get in range of my blasters but that wouldn't stop my drones from causing him an emergency pants moment as his shields and armour were vaporised, his hull wouldn't last long but he had the sense to warp out and just in the nick of time.

Kane Rizzel > good fight guys
Tilburn > gf

A rather enjoyable fight in my humble opinion and a nice way to welcome Eric to my world

I headed to the station, in desperate need of sleep, I slump into my bunk and dream of merry violence to come.