A few days previous…. 

You’ve got to love complexes haven’t you?  There’s always (well usually) someone wandering around there ready to be another victim at any moment.

I was fleeted (gang’ed/X’d) with a friend who was doing some ratting.  He’s not a pirate, but I was in the area and he needed a hand.  His corp was empty, so a message popped up.  I wasn’t doing anything particularly exciting or useful so thought I’d join him.

I arrived to find him having a little trouble breaking the tank of a couple of the rats.  He was obviously PVE fitted, and I was PVP fitted.  It meant whilst he had the comfort of distance and a PVE setup, I had to go roaring in at almost point blank range to be effective.  I wasn’t in my “usual” ship or setup.

Firing on the rats and quickly popping them I floated towards the acceleration gate to go through to the next pocket whilst he headed to the wrecks to salvage them.  The beams of the gate grabbed my ship like tenticles wrapping themselves around a helpless victim and then slung it through deadspace into the next pocket.

After a few minutes of slow-boating my way towards the rats in the next pocket I got a panicky and somewhat confused message.  What had actually happened is a guy in a T2 frigate (a vengeance) had actually turned up and had looted the wrecks.  He was now orbiting my colleague with weapons locked.

“Don’t fire, warp out and I’ll come take a look” I said calmly.  “Whilst you’re there, give me his name too” I continued.  I wanted to see who he was and what sort information I could gather on him.  The name arrived, and punching up the info channel I found out all that I needed to know.  He was about 3 months old, in an NPC corp and in a T2 frigate.  He also seemed to like provoking people into fights - nicely done

Quickly running figures through my mind (whilst in warp out of the complex) I deduced that if he was in a T2 frigate that would have ate up a lot of training time.  Which lead me to the further conclusion that his weapons and tanking skills probably wouldn’t be up to scratch.

I was in a T1 Cruiser, with rigs and T2 fittings - A Moa infact.  Now before you fall about laughing, this little lovely can tank sentry guns with enough time to shoot haulers, grab the loot and be home in time for breakfast.  Plus it recently received a nice pressie from the Devs - an extra high slot Thank you CCP!

As I arrive at the planet I’d warp to, I head back towards the complex.  I’m pretty certain he’s not going to be too much of a problem - and I always have a gang mate to help.

Heading through the next gate I see the vengence at about 30km.  He’s flashing, so he’s looted pretty much all of the wrecks, including the couple I’ve popped.  I immediatley head right for him at maximum speed, getting ready to hit the warp jammers and webbers once he’s in range.  Then I notice the distance closing down *very* rapidly.  A check the tactical systems and he’s heading right for me too.

“Confident so and so aren’t we” I thought to myself.  I say to my colleage “Get ready to come back in on my next shout”.

The two ships hurtle towards each other, the range ticking down quickly.  I must admit I’m a little concerned as to this guys confidence, what’s he hiding, does he have something up his sleeve?  However I quickly reassure myself, going over the fit and specs of my ship and knowing I have additional firepower waiting at a moments notice.

The distance now sufficient, I engage the webbers and warp jammers.  He also warp jams me - so it seems neither of us are going anywhere.  At a few km out, rockets and lasers speed and slice through space striking my shields causing some minor fluctuations, however they continue to drop slowly due to the almost constant laser fire.  The rockets are pretty quick firing too, so they don’t help either.

“Now” I say to my colleage and he quickly confirms he’s on his way.

I’m staying calm, and want to make sure my friend doesn’t get popped - he’s not that old.  I open fire with a single missile launcher and a single blaster.  They impact pretty well, but hopefully nothing to worry him too much.  I want to be the primary - not the newbie…. Who suddenly bursts onto the scene.  “Start firing” I say.  He’s out of harms way pretty much and can give support from a safe distance.

My shields enter peak recharge rate, and the tank steadies.  Missiles from the supporting ship streak past me, slamming into the vengence who’s shields are now starting to drop.  I’d guess he was about 70-75%.

“Now time to start shooting, he’s hooked” I think.  Powering up the additional weapons slots and activating my nos I settle into a steady orbit - or at least attempt to.  However he’s also doing the same so it’s more like a dance of death with a deep space background.

My t2 blasters, loaded with t2 void charges and the missile slot loaded with precision missiles are no match for his shields were are quickly reduced to nothing.  The supporting cruiser firing volleys of missiles from a safe distance, now slamming into the weakening armour of the ship.

Raw energy rips from the blaster turrents, it’s deadly void charges striking well and slowly eating through the sturdy armour.  A few rep cycles help to sustain the tank, but it’s broken for sure.  I’m guessing the nos isn’t helping his tank one bit.

Slowly creeping down into structure, the ship beings to break apart.  Flames and oxygen spew from the multiple hull breaches and seconds later another volley of missiles and hybrid charges put an end to it’s existance.

I let my colleage loot and salvage the wreck, as he probably needs it more than I.  It’s also a nice way to say thank you for his support.

So all in all, not a bad fight at all.  His tank was certainly impressive for a young character, and he was indeed gutsy to throw himself headlong into a fight.  It’s one of the things you can quite ascertain for sure, your opponents strengths and weaknesses apart from throwing yourself in and finding out.

A good fight was had by all