Viper01, Cleared Hot!

Last night, me and a corp-mate were out in Josekorn doing some mining. We had been out in the belts for about and hour or so. I filled up my jetcan about halfway, and decided to go grab my Industrial from the dock and haul in the ore I had mined. I typically don't like to make alot of trips in the Badger so I normally don't fill my jetcan all the way before hauling my ore back to station. I reprocessed my haul and sold the Trit and netted approximately 1.3 million. I had mined off and on throughout the day so I decided to bring out my Rifter to play in the belts while my corp-mate continued to mine.

We were fleeted up, and as he is relatively new in the world of New Eden he doesn't really have the luxury of being able to mine, and provide himself protection against the rats in Josekorn. So, the plan was simple, I'd meander around the belts picking off the rats I came across and salvage the wrecks. When needed, my corp-mate would come across fleet comms and call me back in for support - I'd take out the rats pestering him so he could continue to mine without worry.

Things went very smoothly for about 45 minutes or so, I'd warped around through the belts slaying rats like the little bugs they are. I'd left several cargo containers floating in the belts after I salvaged the wrecks. I wasn't really interested in the loot dropped by the deceased rats, just the salvaged materials. Since I had watched over my corpy in the belt he was mining in, there was a high concentration of left-over cargo containers floating about. One capsuleer found the left-overs too enticing for their own good.

I was off in a belt several AU away from my Corpy when he came across fleet comms:

2lost: "uh, dude, there's someone here flashing red to me???" (As I said above, he is new and had never encountered this.)

Vasavia: "No prob, on my way!" (I knew exactly what it meant, someone was going through and "stealing" the loot I had left behind).

I quickly jerked my Rifter in alignment with the belt my corp-mate was in, flicked the warp drive active, and my little Rifter threw itself into warp.

I reloaded my turrets and rocket launcher so I'd be ready to engage for the duration of the fight.

I saw the belt come into view and my Rifter exited warp, and there she was in the over-view. The target was 13k away when I warped in, and within a couple seconds of me warping in she started flashing red to me.

The target was at my 2 o'clock low, and I threw the Rifter into a hard turn, pulled hard and started barrelling towards my mark. I flicked the AB and was Roaring towards her - I figured my intent was clear, and expected her to warp out.

I quickly checked info on the target - A Gallente Catalyst, a destroyer. I knew then I had to get extremely close and get under her to avoid heavy damage.

As I closed, I engaged the targeting computers and achieved lock in very short order. I engaged my warp scrambler, engaged my little battery of turrets and rocket launcher. The fight was on!

Adrenaline started racing through me to my arms. I didn't have much experience at pvp, and what little I did have had left me warping in my pod. So, I was nervous, and excited. I didn't really know what tricks to expect from the destroyer.

The first little sliver of white fell from her shield, and I thought there was no way I was going to be able to damage her enough to outpace her tank. It was early in the fight though, so I kept the pressure on. My shield was holding better then I thought it would under the guns of the destroyer, and before I knew it my target was down to half her shield. I still had well over half of mine at this point.

I got the destroyer a quarter into her armor tank, and I started to take damage to mine as well. I throttled my repper once and received a nice boost from it. My tank was holding well, the warp scrambler had her pinned, and my AB was doing it's job of making me harder to hit. My guns blazed, my rockets blew into her armor further. Before I knew it, the Gallente Destroyer was into her hull, and I still had 90% of my armor tank, and 80% cap left. I threw my arms into the air, knowing I had this destroyer - that this fight was mine.

Before long, the destroyer blew and I was blinded for a second from the explosion. The capsuleer's pod warped off. The fight was over, and it was finally my day to be the victor.

I came back over fleet comms - weapons on target, the area was clear.

I was so nervous, and so preoccupied with the fight I forgot to grab any screens. Very disappointed with myself for this - my first pvp victory and no screenies to remember it with. I'm sure there will be more opportunities.

The pilot of the destroyer eventually hailed me over private chat, and I obliged, half expecting to get bitched at. Much to my surprise, the pilot was very gracious about her lose and we had a very pleasant conversation about the fight, and EVE in general. We chatted about 25 minutes or so and I had to dock, and hit the sack for the evening. Never-the-less, this pvp encounter was an absolute pleasure because I finally came out on top, and because of the graciousness of my opponent. I enjoyed the conversation so much with this pilot I decided to help her with the remaining cost of after her insurance payout. I also did this because she was my first Kill.

Niamh, you have my respect, and hope to fly with you soon.