I've Been Baited!!

Directional scanner was sweeping Klingt for potential targets. I'd been hoping around the system for only a short time when I obtained a return that peaked my interest. Another Rifter in the system. I began to narrow my scan radius down. 180 degrees, 90 degrees, 60, 30, 15, and finally 5 degrees sweep. The Rifter was at a cluster of celestial objects less then 3AU from the safe spot I was quietly scanning from. I set the coordinates into the navi-computer, and checked local to see if there were any known pirates in system. All pilots in system were either friendlies to my alliance, or neutrals. I felt good about proceeding to engage this pilot.

The Rifter on my scanner was either orbiting a planet, at the station next to the planet, or in the single asteroid belt next to that planet. I decided to check out the planet first, and scan from that vantage point. I reset the navi-com to exit warp 20k away from the zero point of the planet and engaged the warp drive.

As I warped in, I double check my weapons systems and tageting computer to make sure they were in good order (something I should have done prior to initiating the warp to the planet - I know). My Rifter started slowing down, coming out of warp, space began to come back into focus. The planet grew larger and larger as I closed in on it. Just as I'd suspect, there sat a lone Rifter, orbiting the planet. I quickly engaged my afterburners, I needed to close distance between me and the other Rifter fast before he had the opportunity to align and warp away.

As I closed the distance I primed my tackling gear and my weapons. My scrammer, and webbifier were ready to pounce on my target the moment my targeting computer resolved the lock. My auto cannons and rocket launcher were ready to spool up and start throwing pain towards the other Rifter. I closed to just under 9,000m and commanded the targeting computer to lock on to the other frigate.

Target lock was resolved quickly and my target was pinned. The fight was on. My auto cannons and rocket launcher blazed to life. Lead and warheads screamed through space to their mark. The other Rifter pilot returned in kind. We both started to take damage. I was out pacing his damage though and felt confident, from the outset, this would not end well for him. Just as my fire had reduced his Rifter to half it's armor, in warped a Stabber.

"Shit! I've been Baited!"

Enraged by this, I decided to ignore the Stabber. I had the other Rifter pinned, he had me pinned as well. Neither of us was going anywhere. My only hope (despite knowing how slim the chances were) was that the Stabber pilot would honor the 1v1 going between me and the other Rifter - wasn't going to happen though. As soon as I was alerted that I was now being targeted by the Stabber also my rage at this other Rifter pilot reached new levels I'd not experienced before.

I turned all my attention to the Rifter pilot that had baited me, his armor was now almost completely gone. I pushed my Rifter as I started taking heavy fire from the cruiser and the Rifter. I pressed hard. I had accepted that my Rifter would never see a station dock again, but I'd be damned if I was going to let this chicken shit get out of here with his Rifter. Hell bent on destroying his ship before mine gave way to the heavy onslaught, and hell bent on trying to pod-kill the pilot inside I refused to go quietly.

It didn't take long to chisel away the little bit of the armor he had left. The other Rifter was into armor, and it didn't take long for me to melt away what little bit of structural integrity remained of his limping frigate. He soon exploded, and his pod ejected. I attempted to lock him up. I wanted this pilot dead. Absolutely dead. To hell with the security status hit I'd incur. It wouldn't be though as he managed to warp his pod away before my targeting computer could resolve the lock.

My own Rifter, despite enduring the heavy fire from other Rifter and this new Stabber that joined the scene, was down to a 1/4 of it's own armor. I prepared myself for the pod cruise I knew I was about to be forced to take as well. The Stabber had me pinned, and I couldn't warp away to save my Rifter. My frigate eventually blew, and up my pod ejected. Prepared for this, I quickly warped away, and set about fitting a new Rifter.

Despite the loss of my Rifter, I was proud of the fact I destroyed the frigate that baited me.

The next day, I set out. I had a new shiny Rifter. No blood and no wreckage to it's credit. I set out to hunt again. I jumped through several systems and had trouble finding anything to fight. Eventually, I found another Rifter. We both seemed to have located each other on our scanners. We jumped between two different planets back and forth for what seemed like 15 minutes. Finally, I found the frigate in a belt. A fight quickly ensued. 1v1 for this time. We traded blows back and forth. At times it seemed I had the upper hand, and then all of the sudden he would get in a sizable blow on my Rifter and I'd take some pretty heavy fire. So the fight went, both of us change lead in who was doing more damage.

Before long, I had him well into his armor, and then into his structure. I had just a sliver of armor left protecting my structure. Soon, the other Rifter's structure gave up and collapsed. The rewarding sight of an explosion in space. Legs of smoke arching out from the point in space the other Rifter used to occupy. This was a very satisfying kill against an opponent that deserved respect.

I hailed him over private comms and he obliged my invitation. We had a very pleasant conversation, and actually discussed the fight and over all tactics that we'd learned through our separate experiences. I honestly would love the opportunity to roam with this pilot some day.

The rest of the weekend proved to be pretty quiet from here on out. I went on a roam with a couple fellas in my corp. Unfortunately, the one target we found on our roam warped off before we could close in on him to get him pinned. He had gone off into safe spot so we didn't spend much time tracking him down. Despite not getting any kills with my corp mates, it was an enjoyable roam as it was the first time I'd gone out with Ochura and Hoarde. I look forward to the next roam with the guys.