Trial by T2

Fangs out.

Yesterday I finally received my certification to use Tech 2 Auto Cannons. Finally, the added "umph" to my pew-pew I'd been waiting on. I checked out the market terminal in the station I'd docked in last night. I purchased a set of 3 new T2 Auto Cannons, but they were located in a different system unfortunately. Nonetheless, I was very excited about getting my new toys for my Rifter. I grabbed the bill of sale after acknowledging this order would be picked up personally, rather then waiting on delivery.


I slid into the seat of my Rifter's pod. I was becoming more and more comfortable inside her womb. I started running through my pre-start checklists. Everything was in order, and I powered up the Rifter's systems one by one. Once the navi-computer was fully powered up and aligned I punched in the cords to the station my new Autos were located at. Luckily, it was just a few jumps away.

I undocked my Rifter from where I'd parked her the night before. I moved into the traffic pattern, and slowly taxied out into the coldness of space. I aligned with the first jump gate, engaged the warp and started my journey. I would be passing through a couple low-sec systems in order to reach my destination, but it would be no problem - I wasted no time inside them. I'd jump in and immediately shoot off, warping to the next gate.

Once I'd arrived, picking up my new Auto Cannons was as simple as showing my Bill of Sale and the certification as proof I was "competent enough" with the weapon system to use it properly. The Autos were quickly fitted to my Rifter. Shiny, new 200mm T2 Autos just waiting to be spun to life. They wouldn't wait long. After finalizing all the paper work for the order, I headed back to the hangers. Sliding back into the Rifter, powering her back to life, I set out for the evening eagerly anticipating the new weapons' first test - it wouldn't take long.

I set a course for Illamur, just a few jumps away. I entered the system to find it fairly empty. Only a few pilots using/monitoring local comms channel, and nothing but abandoned drones appearing on the scanners - left overs from previous fighting. I continued on my roam and jumped into Atlar. Things got interesting here (see I told you it wouldn't take long).

I entered Atlar, and the system was slightly more busy then neighboring Illamur had been. I jumped around the system running through my scanning routines. Nothing of interest (read not a good idea to engage) showed up on the scanner. After running around the system a couple laps, evaluating the scanner returns over and over again. I decided it best to move on in my roam. Pointing my Rifter towards the Odde gate, I warped and arrived within a matter of seconds.

As my Rifter came out of warp I approached the jump gate ready to initiate the jump sequence. Once I was in range, I punched the jump sequence commands. The jump gate lit up prematurely. "What is this???" I thought to my self, curious indeed. Then appeared a neutral Rifter - Flashing red in my scanner overview...and then it happened. The jump gate ignited and I jumped into Odde.

"F-ing Shits!", I screamed. Perfect opportunity, probably gone now. I sat there for a few seconds debating about whether to jump back through, back into Atlar on the off-chance that flashy Rifter would still be sitting at the gate. I figured he surely would have moved. Being flashy, surely he wouldn't want to wait around to see if anyone noticed his presence.

I decided to check it out. A flashy Rifter was just too good an opportunity for me to ignore. I realigned with the jump gate I'd just came though and started closing back in on the gate. Just as I was about to get within jump range, that flashy Rifter reappeared on my overview! "Oh my, the luck!" I thought. I quickly spun my Rifter around as the other Rifter had jumped in behind my present position. I hit my Afterburner and start racing to close range, hoping on top of hope, that other Rifter pilot would see me closing and be bold enough to stick around for a fight with another Rifter. Sure enough, he was bold enough. Rax, the other pilot, and I began a deadly Rifter dance.

Once I was within range of my scrammer and web, I commanded the targeting computer to lock on to this rifter. The scrammer and webber, being already primed, came to life immediate once the targeting computer resolved the locking solution. I screamed to within my new T2 Autos' falloff range. Once I had my Rifter where I wanted her, my new toys roared to life.

The other Rifter quickly had my warp scrambled and webbed as well. In the little bit of distance between us, I could clearly see the fires of hate spewing forth from his auto's as well.

As my Auto Cannons did their work I activated my rocket launcher. The launcher responded immediately, hurtling sticks of Boom-Boom at the other Rifter. It wasn't long, and I had the other Rifter into his armor. I still had a little bit of shield left, but this fight was going to be close. At this point, it seemed like it was all about our individual Rifters' tanks and damage control mods doing their work.

My Autos and Rockets tore into the other pilots' armor. I could see he was trying to mitigate the damage by using his armor repper. I too was getting to the point where I needed to do the same. We continued this dance. The lead from both our Autos passing each other's volleys in space as they screamed towards their mark.

Soon, we were both into structure. Both Rifters leaving trails of smoke behind. His structure was in worse shape then mine and it was soon obvious this duel was about to be "Fin". He exploded, and my Autos and Launcher span down. Silent again. His pod had ejected successfully, and he quickly warped away. I approached his wreckage to look for anything of value to loot. We exchanged "gf" over private comms and I acknowledged to the pilot this was by far my best combat experience. Investigating his wreck I found a repairable T2 150mm Auto Cannon, T2 Afterburner, and a few other T1 parts and pieces. I looted what I could carry and set out for my home station to drop the loot off.

After dropping off the loot, I was about to head out again, but my Corp-mate Sigo stopped me in the hangers. He expressed that he wanted to test out a Wolf he had, but hadn't really been able to use quite yet. We agreed to set out together for a small roam.

We formed up, and set out. We passed through Illamur and Atlar. We pressed on, heading further and further into low-sec.

We had been roaming for about a half hour when Sigo came over comms and said, "Rax is in system". I'd told Sigo about my kill before we'd set out together. Sigo had picked up on Rax in the local comm channels now. I quickly checked out local comms for myself, and started scanning for another Rifter in the system. It didn't take long before one showed up on my scanner, and it didn't take long to pin point his location.

I pointed us to the asteroid belt I'd pin pointed the other Rifter in. We warped together, and landed in the belt not more the 5,000 meters from the Rifter. It was indeed Rax. "Holy shit!", I thought to myself. Rax was, again, flashing on my overview - flagged criminal again. I quickly initiated the targeting sequence in my targeting computer, and the lock was quickly resolved. Again, I'd primed my scrammer and webber so as soon as the targeting computer resolved the lock my target was pinned. Not going anywhere now.

Rax and I danced again. To save you from the long narrative, Rax popped again. After the engagement Sigo and I warped to a safe spot. My armor tank had held much much better throughout the duration of this engagement with Rax. I had changed up my orbiting range for this one though, so perhaps that's what made the difference.

I had to make my way back to home station quickly, as it was getting quite late and I needed to be rested for the following days work. Sigo decided to stay behind with another Corp-mate, Hsan. So, I wished them both luck, and started my journey back to the station.

Once I arrived, and had docked. I asked that the cargo hold be emptied of the modules I'd just scooped up from Rax's second wreck. They were repaired, and placed on the market. Hopefully these spoils sell soon. I wont get rich off of this stuff, but every little bit helps.

Currently, my alliance's killboards appear to be down. Once they're back up, I'll reference the killmails I received from CONCORD regarding these two engagements. Sorry I don't have them to reference at the time of this post.
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Update: Killboards back up and running. I've been able to link to the first kill I posted about, but the second one hasn't been posted by my Corpy who go the final blow. If I see it, I'll update this post again.