Low-Sec Stroll

This weekend was a fairly quite one for me in New Eden. Friday evening I sat down to get sometime in with my Rifter. I did some quick salvaging runs through high-sec to get some quick isk as I fully expected to be loosing my Rifter at some point this weekend, and I wanted to have some cash on hand for new modules when it happened. I'd had several successful engagements with my Rifter through the week, so I knew Lady Luck was about to piss all over me and end this Rifter's reign. There is only one guarantee I've found in the world of New Eden: Your ship will be reduced to a pile of scrap metal.

After finishing with the "garbage cleanup" around high-sec, I refitted my Rifter for PvP. I set for the first system of my evening solo roam. Navicomputer set for Illamur, and off I went to start my Friday evening hunt. Illamur, in true Illamur tradition, was dead. No one in system. For being a border system, I've always been surprised at how dead this system is. Anyway, I headed on to Atlar. Atlar was quiet as well. I pressed on into several other systems and it was dead everywhere. I began to question whether it was really Friday evening. Where was everyone? Suffice it to say, after roaming a couple hours, I docked up for the evening, disappointed that there was no pew-pew to be had.

I wouldn't be strapped back into my pod until Sunday morning. Family affairs kept me busy all day Saturday and Saturday evening. I set Sunday morning and mainly just stuck to some pve "care-bearing". My wallet was still feeling too light. After I'd had all the "care-bearing" I could stand, I docked up. More family affairs to attend to for the afternoon. Once those had been attended to, I planned for my Sunday evening roam.

I had finished training Hull Upgrades 4, so there were some new fittings I wanted to pick up for my Rifter. Items I hope will aid in it's longevity. I picked up a new armor repper, and new dmg control module. I refitted my Rifter with my new mods and set out for the evening. I hopped around low-sec. It was the typical roam path for me. Low-sec was much busier then it had been Friday evening, and I got a lot more practice at using the directional scanner - it really does start to become second nature rather quickly.

Most of what I was finding was too much for my Rifter to try to chew up solo. So, I continued on with the roam searching for other frigate pilots roaming about - hoping I'd scan down some poor frigate pilot foolish enough to by ratting in a belt, or sitting idle at a planet.

I completed my entire solo-roaming "circuit" without any potential targets popping up on the scanners. Disgruntled at how slow things had gone for me this weekend, I decided to turn in for the night. On my way back to my home station, I decided to give things some more time to heat up.

I found myself sitting in Atlar, sitting in a safe spot, I scanned down a couple other rifters in the system. Elated by their presence, I quickly tried pinpointing the location of the first rifter. I had his potential location narrowed down. This Rifter pilot was just passing through the system however, and I would not get to him before he jumped out of the system completely. I returned to my original Safespot, and started scanning down the other Rifter.

I scanned him down to an astroid belt that was very close to my safe spot. I set my navicomputer to warp me into the middle of the belt, in the hopes I'd find this pilot ratting in the middle of the belt. My Rifter threw itself into warp, and just as quickly as I'd entered warp I began to exit as the belt started to come into view.

My weapons, and tackling gear primed, I landed in the middle of the belt as planned. However, the other Rifter was fighting some rats off at the perimeter of the belt. I turned my frigate towards my prey, and hit the Afterburner. Just as I reached the full power of the afterburner the other Rifter warped out of the belt. My eyes followed him as he warped away. I had a pretty good idea of where he went - a station just a few AU from this belt we were in. I followed in pursuit (fully knowing I wouldn't be able to engage due to the sentry guns at the station).

I warped in to the station, and there he was, sitting right outside the station. I decided to orbit him just to see what he'd do. He very quickly docked up at the station though as soon he noticed my Rifter closing in on him - I expected nothing short of this.

I warped back to the safe spot I'd been scanning in. I was watching for him to undock. Eventually he reappeared on my scanner, but in a different belt then the one I'd found him in the first time. I warped to the belt, this time planning on exiting 10k from the middle of the belt - hoping this would put me closer to him as I expected him to be fighting the rats around the perimeter of the belt again.

Sure enough, as I came out of warp at this belt, I landed closer to his position, but he was still 15k away. "Damn it!" I shouted. I fully expected him to warp out of the belt before I could get my Rifter in range to tackle him. I had turned my Rifter to close in for the engagement. Again, tackle gear primed. The afterburner cooking behind me. Within a few more seconds he was with in tackle range. I engaged the targeting computer and they resolved the locking solution in short order - as they always do. He wasn't getting away free this time.

I closed to within falloff range of my auto cannons and started pouring lead into the other Rifter. The damage was minimal but I was still pretty far out of falloff range. I settled into orbit, just at my auto cannons falloff range. My targeting computer kept reporting minimal damage inflicted on the Rifter. "What the hell is going on" I thought to myself. I checked out my weapon systems. The other rifter had me webbed, and was firing on me now as well. Where I was once ahead in damage dealt, he was starting to catch up.

I quickly analyzed what my targeting computer was reporting, comparing it to my weapon systems set-up. "Holy F-ing Shit," I said as my face met my palm. I'd accidentally loaded Hail S instead of the Barrage S I'd had my orbiting range set at! "F-ing noob," I thought to myself as I quickly ordered auto reloaded with Barrage S.

By now, the other pilot was quickly gaining the upper hand. Just as I needed it, the auto cannons were finished reloading with Barrage S. I reengaged my turrets and they quickly span back to life. The Barrage S tearing deep into the other Rifters haul. "Now, that is more of what I expected!" I exclaimed.

In very short order the other Rifter was almost completely through it's armor. I still had over half of mine. For good measure, I throttled my repper once and repaired a healthy chunk of damage - that would be the only time for the fight I'd use it.

Within a matter of seconds, my prey was into structure, which quickly melted away under the onslaught of my cannons. The once proud Rifter exploded into that beautiful spider leg explosion us capsuleers love to see.

The other pilots pod quickly warped away and I moved into scoop up what was left behind in his wreck. There were a couple decent defensive modules that dropped so I scooped those into my cargo. Inevitably, I'll have to fit yet another Rifter, and at least I'll save a little isk since I can reuse these parts.

I offered "gf" in local comms to the pilot I'd just sent to shop for a new Rifter. Which, suffice it say, wasn't received well by the other pilot. He'd been ratting right before I jumped in on him, so his shields weren't at 100% integrity when I started to attack (his shields were down by about 25%). So, he didn't really feel it was a fair fight. Meh, whatever, it's what you risk by ratting in low-sec mate.

After this, I docked up for the night, satisfied that weekend had finally yielded at least 1 kill. Next weekend, I hope to rack up a few more.

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.