The Quiet Subsides

Rifter spooling down after a successful patrol.

Its been very very quite over the last 5 days or so. I've been doing my daily patrols around the low-sec systems in Molden Heath, but there haven't been too many opportunities to score another kill. I've seen plenty of ships I have no business messing with in my Rifter, and there were a couple battles that ended badly because I either bit off more then I could chew, or made some rookie mistakes that ended up costing me my ship. All told, over the last week, I think I've lost 3 Rifters.

It all ended last night. The last couple days, my Rifter's auto-cannons sat on my frigates hull. Silent. Cold. Last night, as I patrolled MH late into the night, I picked up a potential target on my scanners in the Egbinger system. It was a ship I'd yet to tangle with - the Minmatar Scythe. I worked the scanner around, lowering its scan radius until I'd pin-pointed the targets location 3.0AU from my safe spot. He was either at the planet, or at the belt. I decided to check the planet first.

I punched in the coordinates to the planet and my Rifter quickly aligned to the planet. I engaged the warp drive. Almost as quickly as I'd entered warp the planet that had been just a blip on my overview was now, quickly, coming into view. My Rifter exited warp and settled into orbit. The area around the planet was clear. The Scythe was not here.

Reactivating my scanners, I quickly pin pointed the Scythe to the neighboring asteroid belt. "Gotcha!" I thought as punched in the new cords and initiated another warp. Knowing exactly where my prey was, my body quickly filled with the adrenaline that is becoming an all too common high right before the fight. My Rifter screamed into the belt, my auto-cannons that had for so long been sitting silent and cold were about to become very loud, and very very hot.

I came out of warp right in the middle of the belt, I reviewed the scanning system and overview. There he was, about 35k from my warp-in point. He was burning away from my position, being chased by and Angel rat to the perimeter of the belt. I aligned towards him and started my approach. My afterburner cooking. Disappointment started to prematurely come over me. As I watched the distance between me and this Scythe start to dissipate - my intentions had to be obvious. Surely, he wasn't betting on me coming to his aid. I'd followed him through Egbinger, and through a few more systems until we arrived where we are now...Untrek.

Nonetheless, I continued my approach, double checking weapon systems, propulsion, repper systems, and damage control. Everything was in order. It was just a matter of closing the distance. Once I was within 15k of him, I decided to hold off targeting his ship. He hadn't tried to warp away yet, "perhaps he doesn't realize I'm here to turn him into scrap???" I thought.

I continued to close, and once I was within 6,000 meters I activated the targeting computer. I immediately activated my tackle gear - warp scrambler initiated, statis webbifier active. Successfully pinned, settled into a close orbit around the crusier. The Angel rat was still plugging away at the Scythe, and had almost gotten my prey into his armor when I activated my auto-cannons.

They roared to life immediately, spewing hot EMP charges into the last little bit of shields this Scythe had left. Quickly, he was into armor and I continued the onslaught. His armor quickly melted, and I also made short work of structure. I really ship send that Angel pilot a thank you for his added DPS. This deadly dance was almost over.

I watched, with immense pleasure, as his proud Minmatar Scythe exploded in grand fashion. May auto-cannons, having seen their work complete, slow span silent. The pilots pod ejected as the Scythe popped, and anticipating this, I was already waiting to lock-on and apply the warp scrambler to him. My targeting computer achieved a lock very quickly, and I had the scrammer primed so it would immediately activate on the new target. "Gotcha, again!" I screamed in my pod. Now, he was really under my mercy...I could only imagine what he was thinking. My mind had already been made up before his former Scythe popped.

I didn't even bother to open comms with him. My corp has a policy against ransoming. We aren't really pirates - even though some would like to label our actions as such. We operate under Not Blue Shoot It policy, sure. That doesn't make us pirates though. So, there was no reason to converse with this poor-sap, floating helplessly in his pod. I reactivated my turrets, and watched the rounds pummel the shell of his pod. I had to chase him through 4 systems or so (I didn't really keep track) and for this he would pay for running. I also didn't have a pod-kill to my credit as of yet.

His pod exploded, albeit less dramatically so then the Scythe he was just in, and a new sense of combat euphoria came over me. It was a similar sensation as I experienced with my first ship kill. At about this point, a neutral Drake entered the belt over 70k away. Knowing I was flagged criminal, I didn't wait to see what this Drake pilot's intentions were. I quickly threw my Rifter's nose towards a safe spot. Engaging the warp drive, I quickly left the now quiet battlefield behind me. I stayed and waited for the criminal timer to expire before proceeding any further.

Eventually, I made my way back to the station I've been based out of. I docked up the Rifter, shut the systems down, unstrapped myself and lept out in celebratory glee. I made my way for the bar - time to celebrate a long overdue victory. I eventually sat down to review the killmail, and normally this is the exciting part, however, this time...I actually felt a little guilt over my actions.

According to the CONCORD killmail, this poor bastard was only fitted with 3 mining lasers, 3 cargo extenders, and one afterburner. [Insert sad face here]. I've since come to feel not quite so bad about it. What this idiot was doing out in low-sec, by himself, with no weapons, in a belt (did I mention with no back-up??) and not even 1 little light scout drone I have no idea. After waking this morning, I've come to the conclusion he got what he deserved for his foolishness, including being punished by the pod kill. And a little evil part of me sincerely hopes he had implants he lost as well.

While it wasn't a challenging fight, at all. *Shurg* A kill is a kill. Being so fresh to the game, I'll glady take what I can get. If nothing else, it was good practice in getting more experience with my Rifter and it's mods. Plus, I'm less and less jittery during the fight and much more focused then I first was.

So, I sat this morning, drinking my morning brew, reflecting on the recent kill. I caught up on some recent news in the system, and it hit me. I'd achieved something else and not realized it. I now get to fly around with a shiny new skull and cross-bones thanks to that Scythe pilot - he placed a bounty on me. Naturally. So, I feel slightly confirmed, almost like being baptised in the twisted world of New Eden. Now when I appear on someone else's overview, it will be immediately known - Yes, I am a Killer.