The fall of Ars Caelestis

Harrow: "You didn't have to wound the man."

Mal: "Yeah, I know, it was just funny."

Time for some history. A while back I spoke of Ars ex Discordia [ARSED] and said I would one day explain how it came to be, so sitting here in my hangar I try and recall to the best of my memory the events that led to the fall of Ars Caelestis and the rise of Ars ex Discordia

You have to know where you are from to know where you are going.

Ars Caelestis was formed by pod pilots affiliated to Ars Technica , a Science and Technology website which I have been a member of for a very long time, seven years in fact and its gaming offshoot Arsclan. The majority of the members come from the two forums and so it was with me, I was introduced to Eve by two pilots of Ars Caelestis while chatting on the Ars IRC server one evening and have been playing ever since.

I joined Ars Caelestis when they were part of Huzzah Federation, I said goodbye to my friends in Ex Coelis, another Ars affiliated corp, sold all the assets that wouldn't fit into my Rifter and headed for Agil, where I would be meeting up for a corp op. The op was shrouded in secrecy but once everyone was there the first Ars Caelestis freighter was unveiled, a Charon and I was to be part of the escort down to Catch and my new home in V2-VC2. It was during this op that Ars' reputation for diplomatic incidents started to grow, a pilot blue to Huzzah but due to some misunderstanding not blue to us was bumping our freighter and the FC ordered us to lock but not fire, to which the pilot took exception and threw his toys out the cot to alliance leadership.

A lot of hubris later things calmed down but our CEO, Achilles Thorongmir was not best liked by the rest of Huzzah leadership and his abrasive manner rubbed people the wrong way but the rest of the corp tolerated it as he was ours and we always defend our own. Ars Caelestis had merged with the Organised Combat Consortium, another Huzzah corp and together put forward a candidate to take over leadership of Huzzah to try and fill the vacancy left by the departure of Hans Roaming to MC. Our candidate lost the vote and things were not kosher. A decision was made to leave Huzzah and during this time a rift was formed between us and the OCC pilots as it was revealed that they planned to pull out. Achilles flew off the handle and booted most of them, locking them out of the V2 station. The information passed down to us was one of betrayal and we stood firm behind Achilles. Huzzah were informed of our intentions to leave in a period of two weeks and within a week Catch was invaded by Against All Authorities. Huzzah didn't have the capitals to fight a POS war and our allies were hesitant to throw capitals in against the overwhelming force against us.

Ars pilots flew in combat gangs right up until our notice expired a week later, retreating to Agil to decide our future, Huzzah was kicked from Catch a short time later, not able to fight against the odds. From Agil we would run combat gangs up and down the pipe and camp HED-GP and during this time Achilles approached CYVOK of Ascendent Frontier for standings as we enjoyed flying with their pilots in the pipe and would prefer not to be shot at but shoot with. CYVOK came back with a counter offer of a place in ASCN to which the majority of pilots agreed, it was a good opportunity.

We moved en masse down to Feythabolis and set up our HQ in PMV, we were paired with a Capital corp in Darkstar1 and set about entrenching ourselves. Life was good, plenty of good ratting, the miners and builders got together for ops to supply the corp with ships and mods once more. Things were looking up, we did combat ops on regular occasion and were present for the unveiling of the Universe's first player owned Titan. We would run combat escort for freighters and even locking down systems for outpost deployments. Things were on the up and up for us, we were even in the process of deploying our own outpost when all hell broke loose and ASCN space was invaded by the mighty Band of Brothers. ASCN, as big as it was, was just not capable of fighting the well oiled BoB war machine, the alliance was bloated with carebears and the few combat corps like Ars tried desperately to hold back the tide, even to the point where we ran ops deep in Delve to try and disrupt logistics and ease the pressure on Feyth by opening another front in the war.

I had become very frustrated with the alliance at this time, trying to get ammo for my combat ships was getting very expensive as the T2 producers of the alliance were inflating prices, during a time of fucking war they were ripping their own alliance off. The ASCN empire was crumbling, CYVOK's Titan was destroyed and the carebear corps were fleeing to empire, the alliance leadership in disarray. Slowly the combat corps gave up, Darkstar1 had left overnight leaving just us in PMV, AZN had fallen and things were looking bleak. Eventually the decision was made to leave, pack up shop and evacuate what we could.

A freighter was loaded with what we could and an evacuation op from hostile territory was planned. We were approached by XirtamVOTF of Imperium Alliance, asking if we'd like to join and seeing as we had few options available we agreed. Xirt surprised and impressed us by organising an evacuation escort who flew all the way from their base in Great Wildlands to help us. The evacuation was tense and we were chased by BoB who eventually gave up when they learnt of reinforcements in the shape of Goonswarm coming down the route.

We eventually set up in E02 as part of Imperium Alliance which would soon become the reborn Curse Alliance under Xirt. Ars continued to grow as a corp, rebuilding from the ashes of ASCN which had taken a toll on us. The corp was near depleted financially from the war against BoB, our BPOs still stuck in PMV and the pilots fatigued from near constant war. We would rebuild with myself and others donating BPOs and ISK to the corp, doing what we could to get back on our feet. During this time we would still go out on combat ops, even aiding in the Lotka Voltera Titan abortion in JV1V.

Things took a turn for the worse when our CEO Achilles went totally batshit insane. I went to bed the previous evening drained from a combat op, I awoke the next day and all hell had broken loose. Achilles had taken exception to comments made to him in a leadership meeting to tone down his rhetoric on the Ars forums, he accused everyone of betraying him and kicked every member from the corp, we had 24 hours to get what we could, he had emptied the corp wallet, the hangars and our entire BPO collection along with the Maelstrom and Hurricane BPOs I had donated. He had taken the corp capitals and proceeded to laugh and antagonise us in corp chat. Achilles had made the biggest mistake of his life. He was kill on sight to the rest of the alliance and we were out to get him. One of our pilots popped his Rapier in his Vexor and people were clone jumping everywhere we had an office to try and rescue what we could, one of our enterprising industrial pilots even managing to eject ships from a POS whilst ramming his ship into the shields, wapa is a fucking hero. Curse Alliance helped us where they could but we were in dire straits, no ISK, no BPOs and no corp. A small shred of light shone as we were informed that Achilles was scammed out of a corp dread and a carrier with an auction scam.

Tessa Vaako had taken the reins and posted on eve-o about the betrayal and theft here
Achilles delusions of grandeur went further into the ludicrous with this thread on eve-o

Within 24 hours the exiled pilots of Ars Caelestis had reformed under a new banner, Ars ex Discordia was born from the ashes of Achilles betrayal. Contrary to what Achilles believed, a corp is not the leader, but the pilots who fly under its banner. Ars ex Discordia was better, stronger and with a new vision.

While trying to rebuild from this latest setback, Xirt had RL issues which stopped him from logging in and Curse Alliance started to fracture, Infinitus Odium and Black Omega Security had already left the alliance and soon ARSED would join the exodus. Our pilots financially depleted needed something but weren't prepared to go back to empire so it was off to the Free Trade Alliance, a project set up by Goonswarm for tenants to the recently acquired Lotka Voltera space where corps could join and use the space for ratting and mining along with defence. ARSED pilots started to rebuild even joining in Goonswarm combat ops where we could. Our battle hardened veterans earning a reputation which would eventually lead to an invitation to join Goonswarm.

ARSED has gone from strength to strength under the Goonswarm flag and continue to fight against old enemies like BoB and helping to kill Shrike's Titan. The corp has capital strength and a firm industrial backbone with dedicated pilots and I salute my old corpmates, you guys have done an epic job.

Alliance life was not for me however, so I left a corp I love to do my own thing, become a Pirate.
I left 0.0 after a year of fighting and struggling to become a better pilot. 0.0 doesn't allow for much individuality, you're just a very small cog in a very big machine. You're a number, a statistic, the only time your name is mentioned in a fight is when the opposing FC calls you primary or secondary. I didn't just want to follow the FC and punch some keys, I wanted to actually fly my ship, fight my way, pick my own targets, pick my own fate and solo Piracy in lowsec was the salvation I had been seeking, it has allowed me to become a much better pilot. I wanted recognition for my abilities, not to be "Oh, you're from X corp/alliance"

I would love to fly with my friends in Ars ex Discordia again, but I doubt it will ever happen, the political landscape, lag, blobs, caps and anonymity of 0.0 is just not for me.

Something wicked this way comes

Factional Warfare is upon us and with it I foresee more targets entering lowsec to be preyed upon by Pirates. While I'm not actually participating as I can't enter highsec I eagerly await to see what becomes of it and hopefully it takes off.

A frig in time

Mal: "Well they tell you: never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious."

Yvaine Bellatrix > if only goons and Kane could be friends, then together they could rule the galaxy as father and goon :P

That damn Raven got away, came out of warp over 50 clicks away. The Vexor however was closer and I engaged. Lock, disrupt, guns and drones. The Vexor melts under fire from my Sleipnir as the Raven warps out to safety.

Mission busting is something I really enjoy and is a team effort. Normally Keira would be doing the probing but she has taken her Command role in her stride, flying a Claymore commandship with skirmish gang and mindlink, giving me more speed and greater tackling range, something which aids in Piracy and helps me lock down targets. We have a new Covops pilot in our little team, not in NovaKane proper but an affiliated corp, her skills far outstrip Keira's and she is able to pinpoint targets with greater accuracy and in shorter time. Her name for now will remain a secret as she doesn't want to be named in this blog and also as not to tip off any potential targets.

The loot from the Vexor was poor but Keira warped into the mission plex and finished off the last rat, which dropped a +4 intelligence implant, very surprising and something which will turn a tidy profit in Rens. I cursed the Raven getting away but I can't kill everything.

Earlier than the Raven/Vexor mission jack I did catch a Kestrel running the 2/10 plex, warped in on him in the third room as he was finishing up, not yet able to scoop the loot from the overseers station, a full set of Gistii B-type mods mine for the taking.

Snake Boy > Kane doesn't look, he already KNOWS

I awoke today with a slight headache, something which I experience frequently and have learned to live with. I take a handful of painkillers with some Quafe and take a look around the hangar, a Dramiel Angel faction frigate catches my eye, it's sleek lines paint a beautiful silhouette in the low light of the hangar, it's not the best frigate I have ever flown but it sure is the best looking so I get setup in my pod and plug in. I always enjoy undocking, the unnatural light of stations giving way to the majesty of space, lit by a single star, the light shimmering off the angles of the Dramiel, I hit warp towards Eifer, time for some random violence.

Eifer is a violent system, it borders on high security Empire and has no station, lots of asteroid belts and is home to a bunch of crazy pirates who live next door, it's the first stop for many of the Evannater residents on any hunt and can be very profitable. Sometimes profit takes a back seat though and violence ensues for the sake of violence, exactly what I was here for. One other Pirate in system was flying a Vagabond heavy assault cruiser, a marvel of Minmatar engineering, very fast and very, very dangerous. This particular Pirate didn't worry me as he's a friend, one of the many I've made in my time. We exchanged greetings in a private Intel channel and kept to ourselves, both out for the pleasure of a solo hunt.

I spotted a Rifter below me in a belt from my scan safe and warped in 30 clicks above him, reason being I didn't want to warp into web range, a place where the fragile Dramiel would be very vulnerable as it relies on speed to minimise any and all damage. Exiting warp I saw the Rifter in the belt engaging Angel Cartel frigates and I locked and warp disrupted, settled into a nice comfortable orbit and opened up with the three tech 2 missile launchers and two autocannons. The Dramiel like all other Angel faction frigates having a split weapons system and strange bonuses. My orbit was large enough to negate any fire from the Rifter with my speed keeping me ahead of his tracking, my disruptor doing its job as intended, the shields of the Rifter being peeled away. This is where the fight gets interesting, an Ishtar heavy assault cruiser uncloaked a mere 20km above the belt and engaged me, launching a flight of warrior II drones and setting them on me. I took this as my cue to MWD in a straight line away from them and keep my distance, using my speed to make sure they didn't catch me and tear me apart. The Rifter strangely didn't warp out even as the Vagabond pilot entered the fray. Muhaar's timing as always impeccable. The Ishtar pilot now had a choice, he could try and take me out or get eaten up by the two of us and he chose to cloak and get out of dodge leaving the Rifter to pay for the mistake of hanging around. The Dramiel and Vagabond slight overkill but a kill none the less.

Ten minutes later and I caught a Slasher in a belt, it melted so quickly I was lucky to check my velocity and stay in range to snag the pod. Local was getting more interesting with an Anti Pirate blob swarming in from their High Security Empire haven. I warped to a safespot and waited out my Global Criminal Countdown not wanting to give them an easy kill. Once the GCC was up and I wasn't at risk of drawing sentry fire at the stargates I went back to Gusandall to sort through the loot, all of which was poor.

Almost an hour later and I hear Keira over our internal comms net, she reports a Stabber cruiser and Catalyst destroyer possibly ratting, I boarded my Jaguar and undocked, warped to a central scan safe and proceeded to sweep the asteroid belts. The pair weren't in any of the belts and weren't near a planet so I opened up my on board probe and scanned for Cosmic Anomalies, suspecting they might be inside one of them. I warped to my first hit, lo and behold, there they were, Stabber primaried and engaged, Catalyst warps out but the Stabber is going nowhere as my warp scrambler has him pinned down, I get in close and web for good measure, making sure he doesn't run as the Stabber can achieve some amazing speeds. This cruiser however didn't last long and exploded in a blinding flash which illuminated the night sky of Gusandall, my targeting systems quick to lock the pod, warp scrambler trapping it and my guns doing the rest. Some respectable loot and a bit of hate mail made the kill worth it.

I would later destroy a Rifter trying to run the 2/10 plex and caught a Breacher at a planet after he warped out of the belt I tracked him down to, both corpses now residing in "The Morgue"

Kill of the day was a strange one indeed. There was a Crow interceptor in Gus local and he was doing his thing so I decided to play a little game I like to call Dead Interceptor. I undocked and warped to the 2/10 plex Acceleration Gate, a place where the energy given off by the gate interferes with MWDs, not something I'm too worried about as I have an afterburner fitted. I was counting on the Crow pilot not being aware of this and as is the case so many times I was right, the lure of a lone Jaguar too much for him to resist. He warped in, landing right on top of the gate, me just over 10 clicks off as I didn't want to get jumped by the other ships in system which included at least a Cerberus. The Crow however started moving towards me, locked me and aggressed, three Bloodclaw missiles slamming into my Jaguar. My lock had resolved, tackling systems overheated and waiting for him to come into range, which he did, right at me in fact. Warp scrambler active, Stasis Web active and a Crow in deep, deep trouble. The fragile nature of the Crow and the fact it uses speed to minimise damage nullified by my web and the cosmic interference from the ancient acceleration gate leading to its inevitable death. The Crow disintegrated very quickly, the pilot probably wondering why he was so stupid, a mad grin across my face as my systems lock onto his escape pod and send him home via Clone Vat Express™
One of the most satisfying kills in a long time, always good to outsmart a target, using local knowledge and that of the ships they are flying against them.
Keira was at the ready to activate her Skirmish mods on the Claymore to give me extra speed and range on the web had I needed it and I think she was kind of disappointed the Crow died so quickly and wasn't needed.

I docked up, only to be called later by flashfresh saying that the Myrmidon pilot from a week back is in Eifer and in a Hurricane, the gank was on as a few other pilots expressed interest in a kill but it all fizzled out as he entered Gusandall, warped to the station and docked. I took a few shots at him when he undocked but the docking game that is so in vogue took precedence over a fight, even with me drawing sentry fire.

I docked up for the night, my headache seemingly getting worse and a throbbing in my right hand from earlier in the day when I took some aggression out on a punching bag. I take another handful of painkillers, these slightly stronger than earlier, well, actually a lot stronger. The numb takes over my body in short time.

Take me down to the POS bash

Mal: "Hey! How was your thing?"

Inara: "As advertised -- lots of needles and cold exam tables. I heard you had some excitement."

Mal: "Oh, nothin' much -- lotsa runnin' round, little gunplay...couple needles."

What a day, still feeling the after effects of last nights epic fight I was a bit groggy after a good nights sleep. I was sitting on the edge of my bunk trying to gather my senses when my local comms caught my eye, a pilot had entered system, a friend of the Wolf pilot from yesterday. I boarded Chaos™ a Jaguar class assault frigate and undocked. Allowing my systems to resolve I hit the button and it showed a Vengeance class assault frigate in the direction of the 2/10 plex, I imediately hit warp and loaded Phased Plasma faction ammo into the guns. The Phased Plasma is particularly effective against Amarr tech 2 ships.

I burst out of warp right on top of the ancient acceleration gate and was greeted by the Vengeance, I immediately initiated lock and primed my warp scrambler and web, it resolved and they kicked in, my guns spun up and started raining upon the trapped Vengeance, my rocket launcher adding the extra seasoning needed to complete this dish. The small armour tank was failing, my shields barely being scratched, I overloaded my weapons for that extra punch and the knockout came soon after, a beautiful explosion lit the Gusandall void, my tackling systems already primed and waiting for my lock to resolve on the escape pod.

SQUISH

...and yet another corpse gets added to "The Morgue"

I loot the wreck and dock up, a satisfied smile spreads across my face and I light a cigarette. My hangar crew busies themselves with offloading the loot and sorting through it for the Loot Hangar, ready to be moved to high security space and sold, it's getting full in there and soon Keira will make a run to Rens and turn a tidy profit, just the thing to fuel my voracious combat habit.

Huginn the edge

Later this afternoon I was contacted by a friend, Viper Sam and Black Flag had a POS coming out of reinforced mode this evening and he asked if I wanted some fun. Initial plan was to try and rep it but with Intel being gathered it appeared this would be futile, a large force was expected and another plan was formulated, by this time of course I had already purchased a Scimitar logistics ship and had my Hangar crew assemble and load it. Another time perhaps. I did however decide on the Huginn recon cruiser as I would be part of the anti support wing. Anti support was only one of the wings, we also had a battleship and ECM wing which would operate independently from us and all in all we had 12 combat ships and Keira in her Claymore sitting at a safespot.

We mustered in Aralgrund, a few jumpsout from the system where the POS was and away from our HQ as the gates into the POS system from there would most likely be camped. There was a long wait for the time to disembark and there was general chatter in comms channels but soon the time came and we all undocked into the dark.

Our Fleet consisted of 16 pilots from 5 different corps:
Armageddon
Maelstrom
Typhoon
Megathron
Falcon
Blackbird
Blackbird
Blackbird
Cerberus
Huginn - Me
Rapier
Rapier
Hurricane
Hurricane
Stabber
Vexor
Claymore - Keira

The hostile fleet consisted of 16 pilots:
Naglfar
Naglfar
Revelation
Armageddon
Dominix
Maelstrom
Megathron
Megathron
Raven
Raven
Raven
Tempest
Tempest/Vagabond
Purifier
Nemesis
Hound
Surprise Rapier

It was clear to me this was a suicide op, something I didn't expect to survive and I stated in voice comms to the rest of the support wing "If you get out of this in one piece, you didn't try hard enough" It was going to be epic, 5 different alliances arrayed against us, a motley crew of pirates out to save a drugs lab.

It wasn't until we warped into the fight that we knew exactly what we were up against and it quickly became evident we were out gunned but damn it we weren't going down without a fight. Our wing commander called targets and we went to work and boy what a fight, all hell broke loose. Our targets were called, Maelstrom, Megathron, Tempest, a surprise Rapier and a Megathron. They went down one by one but we were losing ships fast, the amassed fire-power against us just too much. My Huginn went down in flames, an honourable death for an amazing ship, my escape pod instawarping to safety. Probably didn't help that the POS was bugged and fired on me, c'est la vie

After the dust had cleared and the aftermath inspected it was clear we were spanked, 11 losses and 5 kills. The POS was destroyed and a minor inconvenience for Black Flag but something they are no doubt to bounce back from

A great fight and everyone was stoked. Only pirates of this calibre could come out on the losing side and still feel good about themselves, only pirates of this calibre would go into an engagement like this without regard for personal safety.
Most of us had no stake in the POS, but everyone was up for a fight and I have to respect and admire them for it.

I returned home to Gusandall, the op over and me in desperate need of something to drink and a cigarette, should probably eat something too.

Epic 1v1

Wash: "Hey, I've been in a firefight before! Well, I was in a fire." (beat) "Actually, I was fired from a fry-cook opportunity."

This evening was one for the books, it started off slowly with me setting up a new killboard, it's going to take me some time to move all my kill and lossmails over so please be patient.
Halfway through some uploading of mails I decided to undock and go check the local 2/10 plex, only to be greeted by flashfresh who was patiently waiting for some prey to return, so I headed to a safespot and watched the local banter between a Myrmidon pilot and some of the residents of Gusandall. I went back to the plex once more to check things out and spotted a Wolf class assault frigate on my scanner when all of a sudden my overview flashed with a target entering the 2/10, it was a Rifter and was very quickly dispatched and podded without much undue fuss. My real target was the Wolf and I warped to the 1/10 and activated the ancient acceleration gate. Bursting out of warp I was greeted by the familiar visage of the Wolf, about 30 clicks away from me. I hit the afterburner and closed the distance, the Wolf locked me and I returned the favour, once within range I activated my disruptor and stasis web and opened fire. I know from flying the Wolf that it's lack of midslots leaves very little options in tackling and he wouldn't have a web but it does pack a punch, more so than my Jaguar. I'm intimately experienced in both ships and have extreme confidence in my abilities and knew from the start the outcome and so it came to pass, the Wolf's armour tank unable to cope with the sustained assault from my guns and rockets, it failed and this resulted in a shiny explosion, the pilots escape pod instawarping out before my lock could resolve.

I returned to station to offload the loot, still watching the local comms with interest, it seemed the Myrmidon pilot was after a 1v1 but was being selective of who he'd fight. I offered a 1v1 against a Hurricane build I've been toying with but he left Gusandall before he could see my offer. It was however relayed to him by some other pilots and he accepted, I quickly boarded the Minmatar battlecruiser and undocked, heading for Eifer.

A gang was formed between us and once in system I warped in at 20 clicks, allowing me to dictate range to some degree. I had received Intel that his Myrmidon had a passive shield regen tank and was very tough, I loaded faction EMP rounds, locked and set myself to an easy 10km orbit, he locked me in return and the fight was on. His tank was very impressive and he launched drones, I in turn launched some ECM drones and set them on him but he recalled his flight to engage them, I recalled my drones and targeted his, trying to pop them. This was going to be a very tactical fight with drones being deployed and recalled. I was easily maintaining range as he had no web and the fight was going nowhere, I had dual NOS set on him to feed my tank, along with cap booster 800s. I overheated my guns and saw his shields dip somewhat but not fast enough and my guns came dangerously close to overheating and going offline so I had to repair them midfight. Repairing half the rack at a time seemed to take forever and it was at this time he asked me if I was cap stable stating "If you are this is pointless" but I'm a firm believer in finishing what you start, no matter the outcome. I had just run out of cap boosters and it was only the two medium NOS that were fuelling my tank, the endless dance of deploying and recalling of drones continuing. I was starting to struggle for cap, my medium armour repairer eating away at it like a fat kid at a candy shop, his cap must have also been low as the NOS had been sucking him dry but he didn't need cap for his tank. Mine started to fail, I was at zero cap trying to repair my NOS from overheating, desperately close to them going offline. My Amour hardeners turning off as my cap vanished, his shields still holding strong. I knew I had lost the fight and could have bailed at any time as he had no tackling gear on me but I don't run, not from a 1v1.

After about 25 minutes the fight ended, my Hurricane no longer able to withstand the battering it had taken, 53k damage and it exploded after having been on fire for what seemed an eternity.
An epic fight, an honourable fight and one I'll remember for a very long time.

Respect to Jax Savage, fucking epic.

I returned home, physically and mentally drained, it's very rare for a fight to go on so long and even rarer that it goes off without a hitch. I docked up and lit a cigarette, made sure to make a note for Keira to move some Hurricane hulls down to HQ for me and slumped into my bunk.
I could really do with a good nights sleep

POS Sieges and Ambushes

Wash: "Yeah well, if she doesn't give us some extra flow from the engine room to offset the burn through, this landing is gonna get pretty interesting."

Mal: "Define interesting."

Wash: "Oh god oh god we're all gonna die?"

Mal: "This is the captain. We have a...little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and then...explode."

Funny how things happen, You undock, you scan down a Rifter, warp in, engage and destroy, pod for good measure and then get convoed by the pilot saying what an honour it was to get killed by you.

Last night this happened to me and I had a pleasant convo with Malekar and found out he reads my stories on a regular basis. He also reads flashfresh's blog and due to these has decided to try out the life of Piracy and move out to the Gusandall area. I'm seriously impressed that our stories can move people in such a way.

A game of Pick Up

My day was pretty slow, Keira spent most of it moving some Tech 2 mods down to Gusandall for the market, an untapped resource and something that might supply some much needed income for our operation, the suppliers being some old friends of mine from one of my previous corps. This is something I'm keen to make take off and might be contrary to what Piracy is all about but different aspects of the universe need to be explored and Pirates tend to lose ships and replacing the mods is difficult at best for a lot of them due to being outlaws and not being able to go into highsec to shop.

Whilst sorting it all out and making sure the trader set the correct prices I was contacted by flashfresh asking if I wanted to come out and play. I asked what he would like me to fly and the reply was "Bring Karma"

Boarding my Hurricane class battlecruiser I got everything ready, checked my ammo stores and made ready to undock, flash had assembled a small gang to engage some hostiles in Eifer, however this fight was never to materialise as the hostiles went back to highsec after receiving intel on our movements.

We were however to get a fight tonight, it was reported that a battleship heavy gang was sieging a POS in a system next to Gus. A quick check of our resources showed we could take them on and the assembled pilots were all very keen to engage even though we were technically outmatched.

With intel being gathered it was ascertained that the POS belonged to Outlaw Star, a newish corp to the area and one I have set negative standings to as a result of them hunting in packs, something which a solo pilot like myself needs to be aware of as not to be ganked. Flash was called away due to some urgent business and FC of the gang was handed to me, still gathering intel. I opened up comms with one of Outlaw Star's pilots and asked what kind of defense they could muster and was told minimal at best, we hastily organised standings as we wanted to go in but didn't want to take fire from the POS guns. With most of the details ironed out we were told the POS had just entered reinforced mode and we would need to move quick, flash had returned and I handed FC back.

Order was given to jump in and warp to our recon pilot, as we entered we spotted a Rokh battleship on the gate and it was primaried. We didn't know if he was with the hostiles but weren't going to take any chances and he was introduced to his escape pod. That's when all hell broke loose, the hostiles warped in and the fight was on, the Rokh actually being part of the hostile fleet. Abbadon was primaried with Megathron as secondary and we went to work but the tide of battleships entering the fray pretty much washed us away. We managed to drop the Abbadon and the Megathron but sustained heavy losses and the order to disengage was given, it was however too late for Karma as she exploded under heavy fire, my escape pod instawarping to safety. It's difficult to determine what we lost due to the mixed nature of the gang but it was clear we got spanked. Still was a great fight and all the pilots in our pick up gang agreed it was worth it to go in.

I returned to Gusandall and docked up, adrenaline still flowing, I lit a cigarette and made a cup of Earl Grey. The pilots from Outlaw Star grateful for our help and impressed that a bunch of Pirates would be up for a fight such as that. But such is the nature of the universe that they may yet find themselves in the firing line of the very same Pirates.

My deck crew finish up putting together another Hurricane, Karma once again takes shape. As they leave I turn off the hangar lights, a mixed day but a satisfying one. The adrenaline of the fight now wearing off and sleep imminent, I slump into my bunk.

All things must come to an end.... well... for my victims that is

You don't have to be crazy to be a Pirate, but it fucking helps

Sometimes we make choices that aren't exactly healthy, engaging outnumbered is one of them but one that can reward like no other if succesful. Winning against the odds is still a thrill no matter how many times it happens and if you lose, well, it's one of those things.

It's not often I am confident enough to go in outnumbered anymore, there's just so many factors to consider:
Are there more waiting in another system to jump in and turn the tide?
Are they carrying EWAR?
Are the cloaked ships in system with them?
Will other Pirates jack me mid fight?

These along with other factors make the decision making tricky but sometimes you just have to say "Fuckit, let's roll"

I had been in Eifer for a bit in my Rupture, tweaking the new build, had already caught a lone Tristan pilot in a belt when a Typhoon was reported by my freind Jubes, him along with Prediction Pain were going to engage but as we were ready he warped to a gate to high security space. Jubes was still keen to engage as was I if he returned to the belts but I got distracted by a pair of cruisers that had entered system. I had narrowed them down to a belt and warped in, only to see them leave, the trails of hyperspace all that was left. I asked in the system comms channel if they would be interested in a 1 v 2 but they were hesistant that it would end up being a 20 v 2. Now, I am a man of honour, even though I am a Pirate and make my living off the misfortune of others. Honour is everything to a Pirate and moreso to me. My name and reputation mean everything and I would certainly not throw it away in such a cheap and underhanded manner.

I started to track my prey, warping to a planet near to the last reported sighting, setting my onboard scanner into a narrow arc, I zeroed in on their position. Patience, they had been in the belt for a bit and would soon warp out, the Thorax and Stabber class cruisers more than enough to deal with the local Angel Cartel. Sure enough the left and I once again narrowed them down, I activated my warp drive and headed on in, now or never, the Typhoon was going to have to wait.
Normal space enveloped my ship as I burst ut of warp and my systems resolved to show I had landed right on top of the two, "Excellent" I thought to myself and I activated my lock on both targets. Thorax was primary, the Gallente cruiser able to deal massive damage at this range and needed to go first. Locks resolved and warp disruptor and stasis web set on the primary, guns activated along with some energy warfare mods. I launched a flight of light ECM drones and set them on the Stabber and went to work. My shields failed and my armor started taking damage but the Thorax was going down, Shields gone in an instant, his armour taking some time, certainly fitted with a 1600mm armour plate and then he was into his structure. Finally he exploded and I shifted the tackling gear onto the Stabber who had stayed in close. Guns spun up and spat out Barrage rounds at a furious rate, my ECM drones finally getting a cycle, I was at half armour but the fight was over, the Stabber exploding in a brilliant flash.

Pleasantries were exchanged in local, a genuinely good fight.
One of the pilots left the system saying this:
Marrl Shadowfall > owned

I scooped the loot and returned to my safespot above the central belt, I was at half armour with no repair systems fitted. Jubes reported he was engaging the Typhoon below me and needed help, I naturally warped straight in. The drones of the Typhoon were causing massive damage to Jubes even though Prediction had the massive battleship jammed. I launched my ECM drones and set them on him, any bit would help. Jubes Hurricane was taking a pounding and I was sitting 16 clicks off firing round after round of Barrage into the Typhoons armour, it was failing and soon it would pop. A great kill and props to Jubes, the man is an awesome combat pilot, one of the best I have ever encountered and I have massive respect for him.
His favourite past time is killing nano HACs using his Hurricane which he does with alarming success.


The rest of the day didn't turn up much of note, a single Thrasher and then a Rifter and Slasher that had escaped me due to warp core stabilisers but were caught by a friend with a Stealth Bomber and I somehow made it onto the killmails.

Everybody was Kung Fu fighting

My night was completed when I spotted two plex runners in the Angel Complex, I know that one is in a Manticore and the other appeared to be in a Rifter. My primary target would be the Manticore who was no doubt cloaked inside. I warped in and took the bait Rifter on, waiting for the Manti to engage. The Rifter was fast and he easily kept range on me, making it difficult to get my stasis web on him to pin him down. He kept a constant 16km between me and him and I needed to think, Keira suggested undocking her Claymore, she had recently finished training for the Skirmish Warfare Mindlink and had just returned from having it surgically implanted. She undocked and formed fleet, warped to a safespot and activated her Interdiction Maneuvers and Rapid Deployment gang links on the commandship. By this point the dogfight had been 20 minutes of non stop action with me continually trying to intercept his orbit to get within web range.

With Keira's mods active the range of my tackling gear was increased as well as my speed, I was just as quick as he was now and I overheated the web for the extra range, once I had got within 16km it went active and it was all over in a flash, the Rifter unable to tank the damage even with a Complex shield booster. The pilot logged instantly to save his pod but was scanned out by a friend, unfortunately I was too high from the kill to think straight and waited too long to pod him and he vanished in space but was satisfied in an epic fight and kill. The Manticore never uncloaked

2008.04.29 22:33:00

Victim: Samosa
Alliance: Ultima Rati0
Corp: R.u.S.H. - Fanatics
Destroyed: Rifter
System: Gusandall
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 4120

Involved parties:

Name: Kane Rizzel (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Alliance: Derek Knows Us
Corp: NovaKane Incorporated
Ship: Jaguar
Weapon: 150mm Light AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 3986

Name: Gistii Thug / Angel Cartel
Damage Done: 134

Destroyed items:

Upgraded 'Limos' Standard Missile Bay I, Qty: 2
Creo-Synchronization Pass (Cargo)
Capacitor Flux Coil II, Qty: 2
Piranha Light Missile, Qty: 52
Overdrive Injector System II
Flameburst Light Missile, Qty: 466 (Cargo)
Piranha Light Missile, Qty: 819 (Cargo)
Proton S, Qty: 852 (Cargo)
Auxiliary Thrusters I
Polycarbon Engine Housing I, Qty: 2

Dropped items:

250mm Light Carbine Howitzer I
Gistii B-Type Small Shield Booster
EMP S, Qty: 1242 (Cargo)
Gistii B-Type 1MN Afterburner
Nuclear S, Qty: 90
200mm Light Prototype I Automatic Cannon
Nuclear S, Qty: 1957 (Cargo)
Domination Warp Disruptor

Some nice stuff dropped and I can now see why he was so much quicker

The loot was scooped and I docked up, desperatley needing a cigarette and a drink, the adrenaline is still flowing through my veins and I just know that once it wears off I will crash into my bunk and sleep a deep contented sleep.

Hangovers and explosions

"The real trouble with reality is that there's no background music"

My head spins, last night was a heavy session, Slivowitz will do that to you but I make myself a cup of Earl Grey and try to wake up. The intel channels are silent, in fact there's no-one about but soon the station comes to life and the locals start to wake up. The eerie silence is broken by ships systems onlining and work crews starting the daily grind.

The tea is having an effect and I get about getting some work done, I'm trying a new Rupture setup and I got my deck crew to get everything loaded. I also made sure they loaded the small ECM drones instead of the usual DPS that I carry. This setup would require a new way of thinking and engaging but I was keen to learn.

I went to Eifer to see if anything was about and soon tracked a Stabber to a belt, I warped in and he bugged out, a young pilot but one who wanted to learn, I offered a 1v1 but he was hesistant but wanted to see how he'd fare against an older and more experienced pilot. He offered terms of 10ml to the victor as long as we stopped in structure and I agreed. He warped back in at 100 clicks and I closed the distance, locked and waited for him to be comfortable and engage, he did and it was go, I acticated my guns, knowing full well the outcome of the fight as he had allowed me to get within web range. My shields barely dented when I deactivated my guns with him in half structure. My account flickered as the 10mil was deposited and I let him go, we chatted for a bit and I gave him some advice on fitting as I learnt he had too small calibre guns fitted. He went to highsec to refit and come back and try again, I agreed the terms of that with stopping in structure but no isk was needed thistime.
He came back and the result was the same, no kill but two fights with a keen pilot.

A while later reports filtered down of a Maelstrom entering system so I proceeded to try and track it down, there was a friend in a Vagabond in system with another a few jumps out but I decided to engage as soo as I found him, my cruiser against a battleship. I tracked him down to the first belt and engaged, deployed my ECM drones, webbed, scrammed and opened fire. He returned the favour and it was go, my shileds vapourising as his 800mm guns tore into them but I had started to crack his supposed shield tank, the most common for this class. I broke through his shields, much to my suprise, his armour taking significant damage too. All the while my precious armour was being eaten, unable to get speed up due to being webbed and his guns were tearing great chunks off, the structure took even less time and my escape pod jettisoned into space but I was already in contact with my deck crew to prep another Rupture ASAP, I returned as quick as I could to rejoin the fight but was informed as I undocked that the Malstrom had expired at the hands of my friends Vagabond and a Megathron. A fun fight in the end even though I lost a ship.

I later returned to Gusandall when Keira reported a Rifter class frigate in the Angel complex, I quickly boarded a Jaguar and warped in only to find it empty, I scanned the Rifter down to a belt, warped in and found it killing Angel frigates, I engaged in a short, unremarkable fight, snapping up the escape pod for good measure.

Next up was an Ishtar and Hurricane duo running Cosmic Anomolies in Gusandall, a small gang formed and we eventually found them in a 5/10 complex, i had boarded a Sleipnir and made my way there, having the deck crew fit an afterburner was a good idea due to the interference in complexes. Myself and deathstar warped in first and found the first room empty, we made our way to the second gate over 50 clicks away and warped in, the marks 50km off the warpin point and with our entrance they took it as there cue to leave. A missed opportunity and the gang disbanded and docked up.

Hanging around I got news of a Typhoon sitting still on a gate into highsec, another pilot had bumped him out of jump range but couldn;t engage, I boarded Karma and made all haste there, I warped in to see the battleship sitting still and engaged, in doing so criminally flagging myself to the gate sentries, I had broken through the shields of the Typhoon but had to warp out as my shield systems had failed under the sentry fire, my friends were in warp to the mark but my attack had woken the Typhoon pilot up and he approached the gate and jumped out, my haste causing us to lose a kill, c'est la vie. I can't help it others are sooooo slow :P

There was a bit of bait and blob going on in Eifer but no fight materialised and slowly but surely pilots were going off to do other things, I got busy in station having my deck crew set up a few more Ruptures to the new configuration when Keira reported a lone Hurricane moving between belts, I quickly boarded Karma and undocked. Coming out of warp where he was last spotted I saw him bug out and I left in the same direction, only to see him warp back to where I was. I decided to wait as this indicated he was hunting me. Sure enough he warped in right on top of me and I engaed instantly, warp disruptor kicking in as soon as my lock resolved, my 425s spitting out Barrage ammo. His shields melted and I was into the meat of the mighty battlecruiser, My energy neutralisers making sure any tank would be ineffective. It was only as he entered structure I realised I never deployed drones, and cursed myself but it didn't matter as his structure gave in, his escape pod being jettisoned amidst the flash of the explosion. My targetting systems locked it and the warp disruptor mae sure it was going nowhere, I opened comms with the pilot, exchanged pleasntries of "good fight" and then gave my ransom demand, which he accepted and paid, I deactivated the disruptor and he warped out, I docked up shortly afterwards, the loot of a good fight and kill in my hold. To the victor... the spoils.

A decent day, not epic in any way but a good time nonetheless, the last fight making it all worth it. I dock up for the night, Keira going through the loot from the Angel plex that she had been in.
I get the deck crew to unload the loot from my ships and dismiss them for the night, I power down the hangar and go to my corner of the world where a desklamp illuminates my bunk and desk. I light a cigarette and slump into my bunk, lying back and watching the shadows from the small light create sharp edges on the ceiling. I exhale a plume of smoke into the light and it drifts slowly across the hangar.

I love being a Pirate.