[OOC] An Update of sorts

- "You're Hells Angels, then? What chapter are you from?"
- REVELATIONS, CHAPTER SIX.

-- Death in conversation with a biker (Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens)

I'm out of game for the foreseeable future due to pressure at work and upcoming leave. I may from time to time log in just to check mail and the like but apologies to anyone who may feel I'm being rude by not saying hi.

There are many other blogs out there that are worth reading and you can find some of them linked in my sidebar.

Catch you when I get back :P

So Kane, anything exciting happen?

• Canis meus id comedit.
  My dog ate it.

A slow few days. Lost two Rifters, one trying to solo an Arbitrator and another trying to solo a Hurricane. Two Assault Frigates, three Frigates, two Cruisers, two Destroyers, two Battlecruisers, a single Covert Ops frigate and six pods killed. I don't count the few hundred haulers killed in two seperate gatecamps as they are just fluf and don't really count towards anything meanigful, I was bored and there weren't any targets around (None of the hauler kills were posted to my killboard)

No fight really stands out and I'm struggling to come up with something witty or clever to write, just thought I'd write a small update. Sorry to disappoint.

I highly recommend reading this blog post by San Rintu about a truly amazing kill for flash and his new corp mates, The Bastards. A kill all Pirates dream of, Faction ship with some juicy modules and most of the good stuff dropped. Flash's own account of their good fortune can be found here.

Right now it's time for dinner and maybe some movies, also need to get Keira to move some of this loot that's cluttering up the hangar.

I get knocked down, but I get up again.

In retrospect, Victor was always a little unclear about those next few minutes. That's the way it goes. The moments that change your life are the ones that happen suddenly, like the one where you die.

--Moving Pictures

"Sir"
"Yes, what is it now?"
"Well, there's a Rifter sir"
"A Rifter you say?"
"Yes sir"
"...and what about this Rifter?"
"Well it seems to be attacking us"
"ATTACKING US?"
"That is correct sir"
"Are we by any chance attacking back?
"Not at this time sir"
"WELL WHY THE HELL NOT?"
"It's a Rifter sir, it's not like it can hurt us, we are in a Raven battleship sir"
"Any details on the Rifter pilot?"
"He appears to be quite mad sir"
"He appears to be mad... Mad?"
"Yes sir"
"and how pray tell have you come to this astonishing conclusion?"
"He's in a Rifter sir"
"I think we've established that"
"and he's attacking a Raven battleship"
"Thank you captain obvious, I can see my money is well spent"
"Orders sir?"
"Oh I dunno, launch some missiles at him, that should scare him off"
"Aye sir"

...

"Sir"
"Yes?"
"Uhm... he's still attacking us"
"Have you tried warping to a stargate?"
"Aye sir, it appears our warp core is scrambled"
"Does he have any corp mates in system?"
"He appears to be alone sir, still firing on us though"

Meanwhile, aboard the Rifter:

"Is this thing on"
"What's up Kane"
"There's a Raven in Eifer"
"A Raven?"
"Is there an echo in here? Yes... A RAVEN"
"What about it?"
"I have it tackled"
"TACKLED?"
"yes, was wondering if anyone wanted a piece of the action"
"What are you flying?"
"A Rifter"
"A RIFTER?"
"Sheesh, this echo is annoying, I could use a hand to be honest, this guy can tank me all day"
"On our way"

Back on the Raven:

"Sir"
"What is it now?"
"It seems the local comms net has just spiked"
"And?"
"For a Captain of a battleship you sure do ask a lot of dumb questions"
"What?"
"See what I mean?"
"What did you just say?"
"Oops"
"What oops?"
"Onyx, Onyx, Onyx, Tempest and oh dear"
"What the hell is an oh dear?"
"It appears he has some friends... and they brought a Falcon"
"A Falcon?"
"Aye sir, it appears as if we are in a spot of bother"
"A spot of bother you say?"
"That I did"
"Wonderful, a few months out of the academy and I'm in a spot of bother"
"Systems jammed, shields failing"
"Great, just great"

...

"Where am I?"
"Welcome to the Quafe Company cloning facilities"
"Cloning facilities, how the fuck I get here?
"Now now, no need for that kind of language"
"Language? what's wrong with my fucking language? How the fuck did I get here?"
"It appears your escape pod was destroyed, hence you waking up in a cloning vat"
"UGH, headache"
"An unfortunate side effect but one that will pass, here's your bill, have a nice day"

Clawing my way back

Mmm, a Drake on scan, I narrow it down to a cluster and warp to the first belt at range.
Mmm, a Claw too, this should be interesting.
I engaged my warp drive to where the Claw appeared to be. Warp trails streaming off my Rifter as I entered normal space, the Claw over 140 clicks above me. I guess I'll just play possum and see if he bites.

Of course he bit, closing the distance quickly, very quicly. In the blink of an eye he was on top of me, the Drake warped in. Time to make a gracious exit.

"1v1 vs the Claw" I asked in local Comms
"Sure dude" came the reply

The Drake left the scene and I warped back in at a range of 100km. The Claw clearly confident closed quickly again, locked and engaged me. Kane being Kane returns the favour, web overloaded, waiting for that magic number to appear on the overview.

Claw is fast, over 6km/s, I'm patient though, at that speed he won't be doing much damage to me. He passes within web range but gains distance too quick for me to react. I make a straight trajectory at full speed, his orbit changes to compensate, I "Crazy Ivan"*, web goes active, distance is closed, at point blank range things go south for the Claw pilot. The cordial "GF" is shared in local as I allow the escape pod to warp out, something I tend to do with arranged 1v1s.

Props to both pilots for honouring the 1v1, I imagine it was difficult for the Drake pilot to sit in system as his friend was destroyed but they both earned my respect for that.

A good end to what had been a pretty bad day for me, as with all things it's how one reacts to loss that determines who he is. I returned to Gusandall, satisfied and in despearate need of a smoke and a cup of tea.

* Crazy Ivan as described in this tale.

Afternoons and Coffespoons

He'd never realized that, deep down inside, what he really wanted to do was make things go splat.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man)

Down to earth

I'm not as invincible as I like to believe, in fact, recently I've had pause to think about a lot of things but losing a ship brings perspective to life and my place in the universe. This afternoon I lost two.

I lost a Jaguar to another in my favourite hunting ground (A good fight and and props to Alex Medvedov), I then lost a Rifter whilst not paying attention.

As much as we build things up, as much as we train to better ourselves, as much as we spend to get that edge, it can all come crumbling down.

It's good to be humbled, it allows one the ability to pick yourself back up and work harder to be better.

Bloggers

There are other Pirates out their who share adventures and you would do well to peruse their blogs.

flashfresh: a friend and mentor. It was his writings that inspired me to start rambling on about my adventures. I've known him for as long as I've been a Pirate and my respect for him as a Pirate and a pilot are unsurpassed by any other.

Mynxee: A female Pirate... yes, you read that right, a FEMALE. She has embarked on a massive undertaking of starting an all female Pirate corp. Bringing death and destruction as only women can to a star system near you.

Spectre3353: A self confessed EVE noob but with a sense of humour and mean streak any Pirate would be proud of.

New Ink

A picture of my latest ink.


Work continues on my left arm and I'll post more pictures of that once it has been completed.

Ooh it's like a Pinata.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites)

OK, I'm on fire... Fire isn't good.

How did this happen? How did I let myself get into this position? Well, it's because I get big headed sometimes, I get greedy. I just can't leave well enough alone, I always have to take another shot at the title.

So it was that I chased the Jaguar into the 2/10 plex again, I had already killed him once today and I wanted the double.

The first fight was a good battle, both webbing each other, trying to maintain range, trying to keep transversal up. His tank similar to mine broke after a good 4 minute fight. This time however, I warped in right on top of him. I was locked, scrammed and webbed as I landed, I returned the favour but this time things went pretty bad for me, a close fight but he came out on top. I warped my pod out and docked up, no time to lick my wounds, I wanted to get out there and have another shot.

I grabbed another Jaguar , the corp requisition form will have to be filled in later, it was revenge time. 1-1, scores tied, there needed to be a winner. I undocked and warped to the plex, the red mist had descended, I wanted blood. Unfortunately the other Jaguar pilot decided that a draw was sufficient and docked up.

There was something else of interest, a Crow interceptor, in the top belt. Well time to play.

I warped in at zero, knowing full well the Crow would probably have moved off a bit and he had, over 120km, no bother, I hit my afterburner and started to move towards him at a liesurely pace. The Crow slowly started to bridge the gap and soon he settled into a lazy orbit around me, between 25km and 35km, peppering my shields with light missiles.

"Keira! You awake? Could use some of your magic."

It was clear the Crow didn't want to come within 20km of me, I don't blame him, so another tactic was required. I made as if I was aligning out, this choice would appear wise as my shields started to fail. I warped out to the planet and immediately set warp back to the belt. This short reprieve gave my shields a chance to regenerate. Once again we were separated by over 100clicks, once again I went through the motions to close the distance. The Crow now full of confidence did the same and soon we were dancing above the asteroids.

Deep in space a Claymore command ship uncloaked, it's gang mods activated.

"OK, you're good to go, don't lose another Jag, this could get embarrassing you know"

Well thank you Keira, so kind of you to join us.

Extra speed, extra range on the web, which was now set to overload. I made the motion to warp out again, lulling the Crow in. His orbit ellipsed and I did a Crazy Ivan.
Metal strained as the Jaguar fought the massive forces of the turn, my web set to overload and Keira's bonuses meant I was getting closer to the magic number. I kept a close watch on my overview and as he came into range it kicked in. I approached at full speed, ramming my Jaguar right into him. Webbed and scrammed, the Crow was vapourised in a flash.

Good fights were shared in local comms. Indeed it was.

Been a good day so far, even with the loss. A solo kill of a Rupture with my Rifter, a Wolf downed in a plex with my unfortunate Jaguar. Another Rupture using a Broadsword, then got a 1v1 offer from the downed pilot who brought a Burst to a Rifter fight (I let him get me to half shields before destroying him), then a suicide tackle on a Drake an Myrm with my Rifter, called in some friends for help, got the Myrmidon but Drake warped out (Need to share those points lads) and a good old fashioned Rifter vs Rifter fight.

I would later partake in a bit of a melee outside the station against pilots from Rage and Terror which ended 3 to 1 in their favour but interesting to be involved in.

Some good fights, an avoidable loss and fun all round, I retire to the comfort of my bunk.

It all adds up

All assassins had a full-length mirror in their rooms, because it would be a terrible insult to anyone to kill them when you were badly dressed.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Pyramids)

Contact

A Stabber class cruiser appears on my scanner, set to a 360 degree sweep it will pick up anything entering the asteroid clusters, I scan again to make sure the contact is in place and not just passing through. I narrow the arc to 90 degrees and scan the clusters, from my central position it's easy enough, second scan shows him at the V cluster and I initiate warp to the planet. I come out of warp and narrow the arc to 15 degrees. Belt one... Nothing. Belt two... Nothing. Belt three... Contact, confirmed Stabber class cruiser, ratting.

WARP DRIVE ACTIVE

Warp Disruptor is set to overload, it is primed, the prey is still in the belt as I spam the scanner. I burst out of warp and the prey is there, lock resolves and his day goes from bad to worse. He locks back and launches a drone, I won't need mine. Stabber loses shields, then armour and finally his structure gives way to the sustained assault, Republic Fleet EMP rounds overwhelm him. Bits of Stabber rain against Flubber™ even as the lock resolves on the pod, the unfortunate pilot sent home via Clone Vat Express.

It's all about the hunt

Sometimes it's not the fight that makes a hunt, but the hunt itself. Finding the target is the number one skill any Pirate should have, without it, well, you'll starve. It doesn't matter how good your skills are, how awesome your ship is, if you can't find prey it's all for naught. The Stabber pilot started having a bad day the moment he appeared on my scanner. He wasn't very experienced, a young pilot from the quick background check I was able to run but the loot will melt down nicely.

I scoop everything, it's how I make my living. Sure it's nice to get that faction drop worth millions but the small amounts gathered here and there make up millions, millions which fund me nicely.

Yesterdays loss still reverberates in the back of my mind, I needed to clear the cobwebs, focus on what I was good at and that is making the lives of others a little more exciting, if a lot shorter.
With this in mind I took Flubber™ out for a spin even though I have a massive headache, the Stabber made a nice entrée.

I sat at my safespot, reading the local comms chatter when a Jaguar appeared on scan. Time to introduce it to the excitement that is lowsec Piracy. I warped in and landed right on top of him, no bother, I didn't fear the Jaguar, I locked, tackled, shot and destroyed the helpless pilot, his corpse now residing in "The Morgue" A Deimos had warped in too and helped finish him off. A Rupture was about but it bugged out rather rapidly at the sight of a Fleet Stabber and Deimos.
The Deimos was a friend, hunting independently but a welcome sight. Unfortunately the Rupture wouldn't show himself again as he had cloaked somewhere in system, eventually leaving as more local Pirates came to Eifer.

I caught a Rifter ratting while I was waiting out my GCC, my hold now full of loot, time to go home.

Three kills, not very exciting but then not every hunt is. This was bread and butter Piracy, that which we need to keep the blood pumping and the ISK flowing. There's loot everywhere in the hangar, been a decent week even with the loss of my Broadsword.

I sit back and relax, music in the background as I light a cigarette and draw deeply. Piracy has it's ups and downs but I wouldn't want to do anything else, it's what I have become, what I am and it's so damn good.

Lost

People who didn't need people needed people around to know that they were the kind of people who didn't need people.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Maskerade)

It's not always easy losing ships, especially ones that have served me so well.

News had trickled down of a small gang consisting of a Curse, Ishtar, Vexor, Harbinger, Brutix and Falcon hanging about in Emolgranlan on the Eifer gate, I volunteered to bait so boarded my faithful Broadsword and said I would be the worm. I had set up in a belt but Intel reached us that they had moved off the gate so it seemed that the opportunity for a fight had passed but another mark had presented itself in the shape of a Dominix that never jumped into Eifer. Of course at this point I was on the gate when the Falcon jumped through and cloaked, followed shortly after by the Curse.

Curse immediately lit me up and closed the distance to tackle, Falcon de cloaked and jammed and the rest of them jumped in and proceeded to violence my boat.

xxxx > Don't fight on the gate

Well a bit too fucking late for that now, I was going down, no cap, jammed, webbed, tackled and no sight of any of my gang mates. Monstrous Regiment exploded, a ship that has served me so well just annihilated in the most obscene fashion.

This is what I get for flying with others.

I warped my escape pod out and headed straight back to Gusandall to lick my wounds.

I lit a cigarette and made myself a cup of hot chocolate, I needed something sweet.