Well What can i say as a pirate i get to blow up a lot of capsules, as do a lot of my co-pilots. and i started to collect them, leaving them all in a couple of hangers in one of my statiosn.

But where’s the fun in this?

I wanted to share my collection with the world, and so The Mortuary was born.

Each pilot gets his own stats page showing corp, alliance etc, there will be more stats coming to show total numbers for race, gender, corp etc but these are still being worked on.

If you would like to donate a corpse or if you would like to have your very own mortuary contact me in game on TheHermir or thehermit@the-bastards.com

So the plan was to get up early Saturday morning and take out a couple of Smart Bombing Rokhs and sit on a gate somewhere to pass the time.
I jump on and tibbs is already on, but local is busy fleets moving around all over the place so we put the rokhs to one side and look for something else to do.
Tibbs, doing as he always does sends the scout around the local area looking for anything of interest.And this is where our real story begins.
A wormhole in ofstold leading in to the heart of Russian drone lands.
Sending scouts round Tibbs finds a POS thats anchored but not online. This pos has corporate hanger arrays and a celestis.
And so we go in. Jumping in to 8-MXHA and warping to the POS location the celestis has gone so we start on corp hanger array.
As we start shooting the celestis drops out of warp right on top of us, switching fire we make short work of him but his pod escapes and he logs.

http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=21742

With the pod still agrod we deploy probes and we soon have a warp in on the pod.
With that out of the way we return to shooting the Corp hanger.
As it explodes 4 jet cans appear in space. Further examination reveals A LOT of drone alloys.
approximately 800 million isk worth thanks to this handy calculator

http://rsscp.ru/alloy/

Bringing the alts in we shuttle all the goods back to ofstold jsut as down time hits.
—— End of Part One ——–
Logging back on after down time the WH is still active and stable so i jump back through with my scout and go looking for more potential targets.
The plan here was for me and tibbs to jump in with a couple of T3′s and have a quick blast round.
while we move alts around and set up oour mains i jump in to the system next door and hit up my D-Scan.
Failing miserably at interpreting what i was looking at i almost gave up as a complete failure. But i still had some time to spare so i started warping to individual moons. and that’s when i found this….

Yep another Russian POS with no shield up. However this one was surrounded by empty ships and a Rorqual.
This was about the time i started shouting in every pirate / friendly channel im in looking for a Rorqual pilot.
Cyber Ten throws me a convo telling me he has one what do i need. so i explain and he starts to haul ass over to us and jumps on to vent.
35 jumps later and some fleets we get him in to system and he boards the rorqual.
But that’s not enough for us, as the rorqual warps away to a safe and cloaks up we start to shoot the 4 corp hanger arrays, the ship main array and the remaining ships. Tibbs boards a Tempest that was floating in space and uses their own ship to shoot the rest.
Once the arrays exploded they dropped more items and more ships in to space.Local was clear so we warp the rorqual back in and fill it up before getting it safely to a SS, shuttling the rest of the items back through the wormhole with the alts.
Thats pretty much where this story ends, the remainder is cyno jumps and jump freighters to get everything safely back to empire space.
The image below shows the dropped items not including

The Rorqual (1.4 bil on contract)

Hulk

several covetors

So thanks mostly to Tibbs and to cyber ten we managed to Rob The Russians of several Bil in Assets
:pirates:

So its been a while, and a lot has changed since i last posted.
Some of the highlights.

Now a director of The Bastards
Hulkageddon 2, 3 and 4
Lots of kills, a few losses and a lot of fun inbetween.

Gonna change this up slightly and try to add a mix of real content along with my fiction based on events stuff. So see how it goes.

The offices were reasonably quiet, still early afternoon an a saturday, most pilots were still recovering from the antic of friday night. Persephones birthday bash was a good event by any standards.

Waking early in the afternoon, i strolled around the station looking for something to do, my head still wasnt on straight enough to venture out in to space. The neural connectiosn between the implants and my higher brain functiosn still werent syncing properly. That would make for some silly mistakes.

Arriving at one of the local barsi met one of the pilots who i hire to scout and drop probes for me. it was a reasonable arrangemetn, i paid for his piltos license and he did all the mundane jobs for me, hauling crap in and out of Evati and what not.

Slumping in to a seat beside him we ran through the ususla pleasantries, hows the family, trade etc. it was then that he mentioned as he was passing through the system he had spotted a cane in a safe spot. just sitting there minding his own business.

This was an opportunity that i couldnt turn down, so i put him to work again.

leaving the bar we both went to our own respective hangers his was an easy choice to make. Buzzard the perfect shiop to scan down and locate the mystery Hurricane. for myself i had a choice, whilst most typically flying EW ships, the Rook would be well suited to this job, Perma jam the cane and enough DPS to scare him in to a ransom. However i was after a change from my usual EW flying and of recent had spent a lot of time flying the HAM drake, since improving both shield and Missile skills it had really come in to its own.

So the drake it was. i opened a comms channel to the Buzzard pilot so i could track in real time how the hunt was goign.

“Dropping probes now, shouldnt take me more than a couple of cycles.”

true to his word 3 cycles later he had a warpable location.

“undock now ill go to 100 and see whats happening”

The drake undocked as the Buzzard entered his warp tunnel. gliding gently out of the docking port, with a length of 726m the drake filled with shield generators and missile launchers cast long shadows over the station. i started to run the check list. pre active the hardners and damage control units, web and Disruptor were functional drive engines were stable, speed mods were primed and ready to go.

Im on grid the Cane is here and stationary.

My implants directed the warp engines to ignite, small port side thrusters manouvered my hulk of a ship in to the correct alignment and the warp tunnel formed.

damn it, shit…. i knew i shouldnt have undocked i was warping to the cane but i was warping to 100km well outside of point range and the hurricane was a faster ship than me i wold never be able to close the distance.

landing 100km away i watched as the cane aligned out to a celestrial object. I swung the drake round alignign myself to the same point.

Pulling up my overview a map of the solar system spung in to view. there were only 2 objects along this vector, a planet and an asteroid belt. a 50/50 chance. I warped to the Planet. entering warp a second after the cane i was away to the planet, and there he was. 5km away in range of everything i had. targetting the ship my warp disrupor and webs snaked their way over his hull, holding him in place and preventing him from escaping me a second time. My heavy assault missiles leapt from their launch tubes heading straight for the cane, the cane returned fire but my passive recharge rate was too high for him to do any seriouse damage.

Setting my orbit and keeping the dps on, his shields weakned and vanished, the kinetic warheads biting in to his armour.

Time for a ransom i thought to myself, But the cane pilot had beat me to it. A small beep in my ear indicated that the pilot was opening a communication channel, i accepted and offered him his ship in return for some ISK. the price started at 30 million. which i knew was high, and the negotiations started, getting down to a price of 20 mill i pulled DPS and kept a tight orbit on him.

The conversation continued with several typical questions.

“how do i know you wont pop me after i pay?” etc

as i was answering these questions my overview warned me that the cane had pulled out of web range. pulling the overview in to primary focus, vector lines, speeds and interception point sprung in to my mind. The cane had a lot more velocity than i had and i was on the wrong side of the orbit, i would have to spin 180 to chase after him. The cane was pushing out faster than i could keep up with him.

I posted the information in the Dbastards channel and Raven offered his interceptor should the cane make his escape.

Too late i replyed as the cane hit 30km and warped away. heading towards anher a high sec system. I hurridly urged the drake to follow.  i couldn’t jump after him through the gate, not with my criminal status but i was determined to chase him.

Then i got a surprise. the Cane pilot had just deposited 25,000,000 ISK in to my account. he had escaped me but still paid his ransom.

It was time. I hit the intercom button on the wall by the door, instantly connecting to the Hanger.

“Hanger bay” came the reply.

“Its me, is she there yet?”

“Yes sir. The courier dropped it off a few moments ago.”

“Excellent assemble the Hull and ill send down the fitting in short order. I want her flight worthy within the hour”

“not a problem sir.”

Releasing the intercom button I walked over to the main wall, the main wall was much more than a wall, it contained an interactive screen 6ft in diameter. this screen displayed all the information I would ever need. From here I could open the various communication channels I was subscribed to, access news from across New Eden, search market information, control all my assets and ships and along with that were the ship fitting subroutines allowing me to design my ship fits, that the engineering crews would assemble for me

I remember the first time I ever used one of these displays, I was like a child in a candy store experiencing something new and exciting for the first time. the screen was surrounded by sensors,of these sensors two were key to its use. the first was connected to my neural implants, the second were motion sensors that reacted to any movement my hands made.

instructing the display to access the skill set within my implants a list of viable modules appeared down the right hand side. a swift flick of my wrist allowed me to cycle through all the available modules. A similar list appeared on the left hand side displaying all the Hulls in my hanger, including the new hull the engineers were busy assembling. I made a grabbing motion with my left hand and dragged the image in to the centre of the screen using both hands i manipulated the image until it filled the screen.

and there she was. I had been waiting almost a year for this day, ever since i first started to train to become an EW pilot she was all i had wanted. The Caldari force recon ship. capable of cloaking and more importantly had superior EW strength to my BlackBird. it was The Falcon, a T2 variant on the BlackBird it was better in almost every way. the only exception…. the price. Now all that remained was to fit her out.

Adjusting the display to show fitting points and cpu/ Grid calculations. with swift calculated gestures of my hand I started grabbing modules from one side of the screen and dragging them in to  position on the image of my Falcon. catching a glimpse of myself in the screen reflection I was suddenly reminded of the classical music conductors of old earth.

Taking a step back I observed my handiwork. that fitting would work.  I sent the details down to the hanger bay ready for the engineers to finish putting her together. It wasnt long before the intercom started buzzing at me.

“sir she is ready”

“outstanding, im on my way be there in 10″

making my way though the corridors i remembered when i had first moved in to this station. it was massive and over 80% of the station was set aside to serve as docking platforms for the myriad of ships and guests passing through or coming home. and with this huge array of hangers came miles and miles of endless corridors. the closer to the central ring you were the easier it was to navigate, moving walkways took you wherever you needed to go, however the further out you got the more you had to rely on your own legs and direction finding abilities.

This is where I discovered the firefly’s, an aptly named device, a small glowing capsule that could be programmed with any hanger number and would float just in front of you showing you the route. this had saved me on many occasion from getting lost in the maze.

Thankfully I didn’t need this anymore, i had traveled this route often enough to do it blindfolded, although I would never risk that, the stations internal defences protected from most combat, but there were ways around this security measure.

Arriving at my destination I looked up at my new ship. it always amused me why these hulls shipped with an urban cam paint job, it’s not as if they served any use in space, I think it was more metaphorical more to do with its ability to interface with the covert ops cloaking device.

Shaun my chief engineer met me at the docking ring.

“sir, we are just running the final power simulations, they will be finished by the time your in your pod.”

“thanks” I replied turning towards the pod room

“one more thing sir… try not to pop her first time out please”

had it been anyone else saying that to me I would have taken a swing at them, but Shaun had done me well ever since I made the move to lowsec. he was the only one form my original crew with the balls to move with me and that earnt him some leeway.

The pods were a lot better since their overhaul a few months back. they no longer felt as confined. as the pod filled with amniotic fluid I initiated the neural links, exhaling the last of my breath I allowed the fluid to enter my lungs, filling them with super oxygenated gel. It was an odd experience, likened by many to drowning it took some getting used to.

I felt the pod shake as the mechanical bay arms lifted me in to position and lowered me in to ship waiting below. Electromagnetic fields established around my pod holding it securely in place as microfilaments wound their way around connecting me to the ship. I felt the flow of information enter my implants and performed the pre flight checks. 1,126 checks completed in a fraction of a second and I requested departure clearance.

The hangar doors opened exposing the falcon to the vacuum of space and the navigation routines in my implants kicked in accelerating me towards the insta undock point.

Now for some fun.

I felt the power generators cycle up as they took on the extra load, instructing the ship to engage the cloaking field. The falcon slipped through the distortion and vanished from view and from any scan in the system. I was well and truly hidden with one downside. once disengaging the cloak it would take 6 seconds to online and recalibrate the targeting systems. during an engagement 6 seconds could mean the difference between a fight or flight. well only one way to tell and thats to give it a live fire situation.

While i was waiting for the Falcon to be flight ready my prober had found a scan signature, some young pilot in an osprey had made his way in to the system and was running mission for one of the local agents, and more importantly had failed to get himself a Pass to allow him safe travel. I suppose I should really go enforce the law.

warping towards my target at a range of 10km I land cloaked just off an acceleration gate. things just got more tricky. if his scanners spot me before I enter the deadspace pocket he will have chance to align and escape. My implants started processing viable options before I found one that might just work.

Any object within 2km of me will destabilise the cloaking field and make me visible again. however the activation range of these old gates is 2.5km if I get it just right I should be able to activate the gate and warp to the deadspace without disengaging my cloak.

I start to position my ship constantly sweeping the scanner across his direction to ensure he hasn’t left. just a few more meters and I will be able to interface with the gate.

The gate reply s to my request and the warp field grips my hidden ship flinging it across space, timing it just right I deactivate the cloak mid warp so I land just as my recalibration finishes.

16km away and not aligned perfect. I activate my ships modules, first the warp disruptor ripples across space, disrupting the energy flow around his ship preventing him from forming a stable warp bubble. then the EW mods get to work on his targeting systems flooding space with gravimetric energy he is unable to switch targeting to me or anything for that matter. setting a tighter orbit to bring my guns within range i release the drones i have in my drone bay and instruct all offensive weapons to engage the target.

Keeping the damage on until his shields dissipate I pull dps and open the comms channel inviting him to yarrsom. Here I will give him the opportunity to save his ship for a small fee. He declines the invitation and blocks any further communication.

Well thats your choice i mutter to myself as the drones reacquire their target, watching his ship explode in a cloud of debris i switch my targeting arrays and warp disruptor to his pod. watching the timer count down to a successful lock seems to take forever. plenty of time for him to escape intact. To my surprise my systems indicate I have a stable warp disruption field on the target. i once again try to invite him to yarrsom but my communication ID is still being blocked by him. with no other choice I fire a few volleys sending him back to his clone station.

With a slight feeling of satisfaction I move my ship to within range of his wreck and grab what loot is left over, then re-enagaing the cloaking field I warp out to a safe spot to wait out my criminal status countdown. 15 minutes is a long time to wait in the grand scheme of space combat. The local channel and directional scanners find no viable targets so I use the time to check whats going on in New Eden, something on one of the channels catches my eye. Now this could be fun, lots of fun.

I open a comms channel back to Shaun in the hanger bay.

“sir, I see you had a succesful engagement we are receiving the telemetry now.”

“yes was not a bad first trip out, however I have something I need you to do.”

“yes”

“I need you to order me in as many destroyers and cheap fitting as you can find on the market”

“cheap destroyers sir? whatever for?”

“Hulkageddon is on its way old friend, Hulkageddon”

I walked in to the station promenade and had all my clothes on.

The world blinked in to existence, opening my eyes again the room drifted slowly in to focus.

Everything seemed so familiar, yet at the same time i couldnt place my surroundings.

I was lying ni a bed, machines surrounded the bed beeping at regular intervals, lights danced around the cases and phantom lines traced across the screens.

The machines were connected to me, thin wires snaked their way from outputs on the machines and disappeared under the covers that held me.

The room was barely large enough to contain me and the equipment around me, there was something odd about the walls. 3 of them seemed to move and to flow as if they were giant opaque sheets of water suspended from floor to ceiling. voices echoed softly on the other side of the walls, too quiet to make out what was being spoken.

The wall in front of me faded away and rippled as someone stepped through.

Then it dawned on me where i was… It was a hospital room, but i had been in too many and all alike i couldn’t tell which one i was in.

I could tell it wasnt empire. the machines reeked of age and misuse, that just left low sec and null sec.

The nurse who had stepped through started talking to one of the machines directing a series of commands, seemingly oblivious to the fact there was someone else in the room along with her.

i reached a hand across to my right cheek, and felt for the familiar scar, it was still there. A remnant of an old bar fight, on its own unimportant but it had a major implication. I hadn’t died. i was still in my original clone.

My subconscious searched for the implants and hard wiring i had installed, final confirmation i was still in my original body.

They were all there. implanted but offline. Memories started to flow back in to my mind, neural connections remapping themselves as i instructed the implants to initialize.

I remember the Griffin, going after a moa or a caracal in a belt, when we were interrupted by a harbinger pilot, who managed to kill me and the other pilot i was with, but form their memories seemed to merge past and present, it was hard to tell the order they were supposed to be in.

I need more information. And i knew exactly where to find them.

I start stripping the sensor pads from various parts of my body and jump out of the bed, scanning the room for some clothing, anything more practical than a hospital gown that barley covers half my body. opening a locker i find my kit and start throwing it all on.

This got the attention of the nurse who suddenly decided i need more attention.

” you need to get back in to bed.”

“the doctor has to clear you to leave”

i ignore her and continue to get dressed.

” i really must insist you return to your bed sir”

and with that said, i smiled at her and walked towards the wall, pausing to wait for it to shimmer, my sign i could walk straight through it.

Ahh Evati, i recognised the system. i was home, and it would be easy to get the information i needed.

I head straight for the Corporation offices. Theres no one around but i dont need anyone there the boards will show me whats i need to remember.

Walking through the office door i see the two large screens in front of me. The Kill Board and the Ransom Board.

Giving a quick once over i apply some filters, instructing the screens to show only those engagements i had been involved in.

2 losses, A Merlin and a Crow. The crow loss looks like a stupid school boy mistake, closing on the ship at the wrong range and loosing the use of my MWD. the merlin tried to take on more than it could handle.

And 2 kills, a Dominix and a Ranis.

More memories started to form in my mind. There was a BS roam i had gone out on, at its peak 24 strong, over half were Battleship class, the remainder in tacklers and scanners. but thats something for another day. Today i need to get myself back in to a ship, get myself back amongst the stars.

Round One

There was something important i needed to remember today, something i was supposed to say, somewhere i was supposed to be… But for the life of me i just couldnt figure it out.

Joining The Bastards Channel i look through the list of Members currently connected.

Ahh that was it.

Happy Birthday Avid.

Birthdays are a difficult concept when it comes to POD pilots, as no one chooses the same occasion to celebrate.

For some its their true Birthdate, After all we were all natural conceived and cloning is only a way to extend our lives, not create them.

Some how ever choose the day their first clone rolled of the assembly line, the day they became immortal.

Avid Nray was not one of the latter, She chose her natural date of Birth as her celebration, which was today. And to celebrate the occasion she would be leading any online members in a Roam she would FC herself.

The fleet invite arrives and i accept it.

You still coming? someone asks

Yes, of course i am, What do you want me in?

We are heading out to Amamke, A busy system and a dangerous one, so Frigates is the call. Specifically for me any EW frigate i can field.

I have a griffin prepped and ready to roll i reply, hastily keying instructions on the pad telling the hanger crews to get her flight ready.

The griffin is a hard ship to use in EW combat, with the BB my optimal has me out of range of almost all encounters. a healthy 86KM, and withe 6 mids assigned to Jammers i have plenty to go around.

The griffin is a smaller ship with a slightly larger bite, (with my current skill set)

But it is limited with its fit, Only having 4 Mids is hard to balance a racial fit, So its full Multi Spectral fit, This however lowers my EW power and my effective range. Down from around 9 points to 6 at 34 KM. Well within range of anyone with proficient drone skills.

The other problem i face, is a complete lack of any tank, not so much as a buffer. But i know my boats, i know how far i can push them.

So the fleet grows in size, Hellcats and Bastards alike.

Zode leads the way scouting us safely through the systems, reacting to Avids directions, There is nothing much to play with, until we reach Amamake.

Amamake is a Very busy system and it’s not practical to sit outside whilst scouts search and tackle inside. So everyone Jumps in and searches, Calling point if they get it. For me i am of no use to anyone till an engagement starts, so i set myself up in a comfy SS listen the comms chatter and align to various planets and belts as people call their locations.

And this is where things start to get interesting.

Now before i continue with this narrative i want to take the time to explain the role tacklers have, and how much respect they deserve for a difficult job.

Tacklers and the art of tackling.

Tacklers are arguably the most important part of any succesfull op. Without a tackler it makes no difference how much DPS you can lay down (with teh exception of alpha strike) as the target will just warp away if he feels he will loose.

So what exactly is the tacklers job, the tackler is responsible for the initial engagement, it is his or hers job to get in range, and ‘Point’ the target before the target has a chance to escape, He must then stay alive long enough for the remainder of the fleet to engage.

Sounds simple right?

Well not so much, The most succesful tacklers need to be quick. The quickest ships are typically frigates and their T2 Equivelants. This leaves the unfortunate downside to their strength.

Tackling other frigates isnt going to be much of an issue, but also doesnt require fleet level engagements. So the tackle we are concerned with is on larger ships. Which have much higher DPS.

So this can be split in to two sections.

1. getting that first point.

Quick frigates can usually get under the guns of larger ships, with a high transversal velocity. So where is the danger? It’s in the Approach. The shortest and hence quickest distance between any two points is a straight line, heading to a target in a straight line means 0 transversal, Means he is a lot more likely to kill you before you reach him.

To counter this tacklers will take a slightly longer trip to them approaching at an angle and altering their vector during approach. Or if time and location allows, they will try multiple warp in and outs, to land at that perfect range. This is harder and takes a lot of luck and skill to be succesful.

2. Keeping that point.

If the tackler successfully gets that initial point he now needs to maintain it. Keeping the target pointed requires power from your ships capacitor. Drones, Well tracked turrets and high missile skills will increase damage output on ships, so the tackler needs to stay alive, this requires the use of local tanks. These are typically active tanks and require capacitor use. High speed improves your chance of survival, but requires cap.  additionally the target may be using capacitor neutralisors. thus making it highly difficult to keep your mods engaged, so the tackler has to keep himself alive, whilst still keeping this lock.

You can start to see some of the complications involved here, balancing the cap while keeping your target and staying alive is a complicated process. Most tackers are resigned to the fact that they have a high chance of loosing their ship, and will often sacrifice their own survival, keeping that point in order that the rest of the fleet can arrive and get secondary points on. For this they have my respect.

So back to our tale….

A Vagabond has been located in a belt. vagabonds are frigate killers if fitted correctly. And this one was.

Lakasha Nachthexen makes the first attempt at tackling the Vagabond, and is unsuccessful, Dieing almost instantly.

http://hellcats.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=4933472

The 2nd attempt is performed by Avid, again unsuccessful, dying instantly.

http://hellcats.eve-kill.net/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=4933472

Both these attmepts used the direct aproach.

Zode not wanting to give up tries the 2nd approach, warping in and out untill he finds himself right on top of the vagabond. multiple attempts later and the others are refitted in ships, my Griffin is aligned to the belt and ready to go.

“What chance do you have of Perma Jamming the Vaga?” the message came from flash.

performing a statistical analysis of my jamming strength to that of the vagabond my answer comes back

” 90% chance of perma jam”

The numbers are accurate but i can only hold one target and intel reports others in the Belt, but they appear to bu uninterested in our attempts.

a few more attempts later and it comes in.

“Point, Warp to me”

Instantly warping to my optimal range i land a few seconds later. jammers primed and ready to go, I initiate the lock sequence. It seems an eternity passes before my targeting systems report a succesful lock. My jammers initiate automatically.

“jammed”

But it’s too late, Zode has lost his ship.

The others are also arriving so we may still have him.

Then my ship shakes under the explosive ordnance of a nearby ship, The other belt inhabitants want to join in the fun.

I dont have enough Power to Jam any more targets.

” Im taking heat i cant stay much longer”

“get out” was my only response

Holding my cycle as long as i could to allow the others escape options, i slip in to my own warp tunnel. Unfortunatly Fruchten who had also landed was also taking damage and had multiple points on him, There was nothing i could do. landing away from the engagement, i offer to come back

let me know who has you i should be able to get them off long enough for you to escape

But it was too late.

With our fleet in pieces scattered across an asteroid belt, the pilots who escaped intact head for home.

Arriving back at Evati i have some paper work to finish, so after some general conversation i disconnect myself from the NEOCOM and silence falls across the comm lines.

Part Two

After finishing everything i needed to do, i reconnect to The Bastards intel channels and see whats going on.

Venom has a scorpion and a retriever somewhere in Brin. i offer my services and fit my BlackBird to tackle Caldari Class Battle ships.

heading out towards Arnstur one jump out from Brin we are joined By Fruchten who after his earlier loss is re shipped and ready to engage. a short while later and there is no Joy on the scorpion. it had made its way to a POS and the pilot retired for the evening. With Venom called away to some Hellcats Business, it was only myself and Fruchten remaining.

D-Scan shows a Moa somewhere in the system so Fruchten heads out to investigate.

It’s not long before he is located.

“Got him pointed”

“If you need me call, otherwise ill stay here and let you take this on your own”

fruchten reports he is holding his own so i stay aligned just incase but wont get involved.

” He jammed me”

“say again” Moa’s dont usually carry EW modules.

” yeah he jammed me i lost my point”

The Moa pilot thinking he had the advantage now chose to stay in the fight

” I can stop him jamming you if you want me in”

“Yeah ok”

Warping in i already have the correct fit for this one.

Landing 45Km from the Moa I Jam him myself.

Moa Jammed

With the target now unable to get his own cycles on Fruchten Quickly re establishes his point we have him now dead to rights.

“Ransom?” i offer to my fleet comrade

“Sure”

Inviting our now disabled pilot in to the ransom channel negotiations begin.

“Onyx just landed.”

“The onyx has me locked.”

Missiles continue to fire at the locked and pointed drake.

“The onyx Popped Cyno. Everyone out…”

“The onyx has me pointed switching targets.”

“Align out burn away.”

My Drake is too slow to get out of range…

The Cynosaural field widens, Distortions ripple through space as the first ship starts to pass through the event horizon of the field. Designed as an anchor to allow carriers and capital ships, that can’t use gates, to leave their system of manufacture.

Its a Thanatos and its launching Fighter drones at me. The Cyno field pulses again as another carrier emerges… and another… and another… and another… and another.

4 Thanatos, Thanotos’s, Thanotos’, Thanoti? and one Archon Emerge from the Cynosaural field. The onyx and drake are still firing and somewhere out there is a rifter engaging. My overview is flooded with objects orbiting my rapidly decaying hull. fragments of my ship fall behind me as i desperately push the engines well past their maximum attempting to get out of range, But with that rifter on me its a moot point, i resign myself to the loss of a ship. My primary effort now is my pod. I start to disengage the Neural Interface with the sinking ship, the last thing i need is a Neural feedback loop interrupting my escape sequence, Warning symbols appear in my mind, The ship is warning me that no more than 5% structure remains. I sever all connections spare one, this last connection is tied to the structural sensors, i need to know the very second my structure expires.

There it is 1% and a millisecond later the final connection is severed and my pod is ejected several meters above my exploding ship, My mind floods the pods AI with warp commands, and my pod escapes before anyone has a chance to target me.

Safely docked at my station i strip myself from the pod, and retire back to my quarters. How exactly did i come to be in the middle of such a massively overbalanced engagement?

My story really begins a few hours earlier with some good news.

Logging on to my NeoCom i see i have a new Message From Flash, CEO of The Bastards, to which i have applied.

I had spoken with Flash and Happy San my recruitment officer over the previous couple of days and was aware that my application was in its final stage. Perhaps this was the answer.

But what was that answer?

I sat and stared at the flashing mail icon. Joining the comms channel i see the fleet has already set their channel and there is only Myself and venom in the lounge area. I start some conversation with Venom and we talk for a few minutes before we are interrupted by Flash.

“Have you checked Your Mail yet?”

“Not yet i have just logged on to my NeoCom i reply. Im checking now.”

With no other option before me i open the mail

“Great, thank you kindly i respond”

“You still coming on the roam?”

“I was going to but i was a little late getting here thought you would all be gone by now.”

“No where still here in Evati, how long to get ready?”

“give me 5 mins and ill have a drake ready.”

And so a few mintues later and im invited to the fleet undocked and joining my first roam as a real Bastard.

There is quite a gathering as i land at the Form Up Point with the rest of the fleet.

Drake, Drake, Drake Harby, Cane, BB, Broadsword, Scimitar.

Persephone flying the BlackBird this time providing EW overwatch.

As we sit here Flash starts to assign roles and priorities, im assigned the secondary point. Whoever is identified as Secondary, its my job to point him, still putting my DPS on the primary. This can start to become awkward if the targets are separated. But ill cross this bridge if it shows up.

Our destinatoin for this roam is Katugumur, a route that will take us back through Means Territory. Arriving one jump short of Gussandal our scouts start sending their reports in, Dominix, Hurricane, Megathron. Mean Corp all on a gate.

Our bait ship jumps in and waits for the inevitable aggression. It doesnt take long and we get the confirmation to engage

“Megathron is primary, Hurricane is secondary, Dominix Tertiary, Dominx Primary EW.”

The fleet jumps through and the aging Jump gates are pushed to stress level coping with the sudden influx of mass all wanting to be converted to energy, digitized and sent through subspace to teh corresponding gate, But it copes and everyone successfully reintegrates in Gussendal.

Primaries are already known and the fleet quickly gets to work,

points are called on all the target ships and DPS is going on the Megathron.

The Dominix is Heavy Neut fitted and Fennick finds himself at the other end of this, with his cap dead and all DPS on him he is unable to save his ship and looses his hurricane.

The loss of the cane slows the DPS slightly but not enough to change the inevitable outcome.

A Rook appears on the area looking to support our targets, But with a single volley of ordnance sent towards him he turns and escapes.

back at the primary engagement the megathron explodes in a rather impressive fireball, sending shrapnel and exploded mods in all directions.

http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=13449

“Primary Cane” as everyone switches fire to the new target.

With less incoming DPS and the EW providing support the hurricane starts to follow his friend in to armour,  in to structure and finally in to space.

http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=13450

this only leaves the dominix on the field, but everyone is warned we are in the Heart of Mean here, they can switch ships easily and can drop more on us easily.

Mean come to the conclusion that there is nothing more they can do, rather than risking more ships they choose not to re-enter the ‘War Zone’.

With the Dominix finally exploding all hands are set to collecting loot and drones that were dropped by both sides.

http://www.the-bastards.com/kb/?a=kill_detail&kll_id=13451

Updated orders appear over the comm.

“Burn back for Evati, we dont wont to out stay our welcome.”

And so the fleet turtles its way back home, heads held high at the victory. Messages of consolation are passed to Fennick for his Loss, but he seems unphased by the incident.

Arriving back at HQ all loot is passed to Flash ready for the Loot process, and congratulations are passed around. But theres to be no drinking yet, our roam is not over there are still some planned maneuvers to finish.

After a few miutes downtime to re stock ammo and re assemble the fleet we head out in to the void once more.

Otosela –> Wisk –> Katug –> Sotrenzur –> Evati.

The round trip is decidedly uneventful and even sticking our head back in towards mean doesnt elicit a response.

Arriving back in Evati slightly unsatisfied that there was no further action on the 2nd half of the roam.

The local comms channel lights up with a single comment

James Weir > need help in belt 3 1 to help kil a rat

obvious bait is just plain obvious but we have a half decent fleet here and thirsty fr death several of us go for the bait, expecting some support to jump in to help the stricken Bait drake, what happened next was defiantly not expected…”Onyx just landed, The onyx has me locked.”… and the rest you know.

So another succesful raid against Mean corp and the loss of the drake providing my first real engagement against carriers.

But the highlight of my night was the successful application to The Bastards. its good to be flying with you guys and the Hellcats of course.