Lose Some, Win MOAR!

It seemed like a good idea, to tackle the aggressed battle ship on a gate. Or, it did until my capacitor suddenly spilt out into open space, until the Warrior II's slid into the silent void, searching for me, until my Taranis imploded 100m away from being within range of the gate.

I was safe from those two huge, lumbering minmatar Battlecruisers. Even if they could hit me, I'd just dock. Oh, they've started to stick a bunch of drones on me. Simple, I'll just dock up; MWD'ing into range... In range! Why don't they hail my docking request? Suddenly, my Ishkur disintigrates beneath my feat, as I warp away in the pod, I take a look at the station so I can have the station controllers fired. That will prove to be a difficult endevor, seeing as it was actually an abandoned station. -_-.

Quote from the Cartel forums:
Topic: I'm stupid because...

Lanissum: I'm an idiot b/c I've tried to dock at abandoned stations...
Blammo: I'm an idiot because i followed you

Attacking the dueling Battleships seemed like a good idea, until they stopped dueling, and a bunch of reds blobbed me and the unfortunate few who followed me to our collective doom.

Pirating can, at times, be a discouraging profession. This is especially true when one loses something to the tune of 140m ISK in the span of 7 days. Although my wallet doesn't feel it, I like to lose ships as much as the next guy.

On the other hand, such defeatist thoughts quickly leave one's mind when they are agressed by a Raven on a gate. Finding that he did little damage to me, I opted to return fire, and settled into my optimal orbit. Screaming in comms on my catch. As the Raven and I dueled, neither deagressing and jumping, my corpmates ganked a comorant who was foolish enough to aggro them. In the meantime, my speed tanked Vexor was in armor, but so was the Raven. As it entered hull, the Raven, although flown by a two year old capsuleer, split asunder into space.

However, my corpmates had done a minute amount of damage, at the end thus robbing me, and my KB central mind, of a sweet solo kill. After I expressed my ire at certain, un-named corpmates, Kazaji stated:

"Yeah, yeah, sorry about stealing your 'solo' kill. Shouldnt have screamed "Raven autopiloting to Dantumi come!" "Hes engaged me COME!" Ect. :P Good fight though."

The other day, I noticed a noob in system, being the pirate I am, I socially engineered him into a belt with me for 'isk opportunities'. However, our mutual seminar was interrupted before it began, by a Tristan which soon payed the price for interrupting my class in the ways of EvE (Everyone vs Everyone). Then, another Tristan warped in and met a similar fate to my Ishkur's flurry of drones and blasters. Then, I finally got around to the silly little Ibis, who thought I was putting on a show for him or something.

Later, during one of the few roams where I was FC, we probed down a Brutix and Caracal missioning together. As Andrea Skye warped onto the mission gate, and got a point, the rest of us arrived and finished him and his pod, while I ordered Skye enter the mission to get a tackle on the Brutix within before it could escape, after hearing the pleas of it's friend. That done, the Brutix soon fell to our combined onslaught.

On another note, the Cartel has picked up a few new members. One of which is yourownguns. He's only been with us for a few days now, but he's already racked up 30+ kills, using just Incursii and the Thorax. Even an Incursus vs Claw kill too, Python is all the better off for getting new members of this calibre.

Speaking of calibre, I shall be flying my first HAC, a Deimos, in 2 days time. Although some call it the 'Die-most', I would certainly like to see how HAC's perform. Especially since I love assault frigates, in a manner similar to Spectre's love of the Taranis. Obviously, flying them in a gang would be dumb, as they'd just get primaried and destroyed. But for solo work... a Deimos would certainly be a fearsome ship. At any rate, HAC's would at least cost something, as opposed to the pocket change of insurable T1 ships and T2 frigs.

Shiny Toys!

In 12 days, I will have been a capsuleer for 1 year. In 12 days, I will be able to fly HAC's [Just a coincidence]. In the mean time, I've learned how to fly several t2 frigates, including interceptors, stealth bombers, covert ops, and assault ships.

I thought stealth bombers were OK, but they're definitely a gang ship, especially now that they use torps. I still need to do about 500k of missile skilling before I'm willing to actually use them in combat.

Covert ops, kinda cool, but I'm not that great at probing. Next...

Assault ships. God, I love my assault ships, once I get in under the target's guns, the only thing that can hurt me are their drones. Once those are down, it's just a matter of keeping up my transversal with an AB.

The Enyo is currently my ship of choice, it can put out the hurt, and maintain a good tank to boot. Especially since it's so difficult for larger ships to hurt me. The only problem with said Enyo is that it has only 2! Midslots. So, I'm basically limited to a warp scrambler and AB II.

Then there's the Ishkur. It can dish out 200DPS, with a decent tank, and has the flexibility of 3 midslots. It makes an excellent ship, it can maintain a good 2 KM/S speed, and it's drones can catch up to almost anything.

Then there are the interceptors. I've never had great luck with them. My first one died in a fiery explosion whilst going in for the tackle. My latest one was murdered by an Ishkur before I could get out of warp scrambling range.

I recently tried to give them another go, at the behest of my fellow pirate, Spectre3353, who is very good with them. With something like 270 kills for 30 losses, using a taranis, "you just can't argue with results" and I would tend to agree with such logic.

But I don't feel comfortable with such a paper thin hull beneath my feet. The taranis has an insanely small sig radius, as do my assault ships, and has a very good pointing ability. Against larger ships, like cruisers, both the taranis and AF's are on fairly equal terms.

But I think the problem is with smaller ships, once the interceptor's MWD is down, it's a sitting duck, waiting for the drone swarm to finish it off. And it just can't outlast an AF, like the Ishkur in toe to toe combat. [The Ares is probably more survivable, imo] .

It just seems to me that flying into warp scram range with an interceptor is just a Bad Idea. But it's obviously not the ship's fault, just mine.

If you fly the Taranis [especially the blasteranis], what do you do to get those kills? And I'm not talking about big ships, which are easy to avoid/kill. I'm talking about that Ishkur which ambushed me, took out my MWD and shredded me with drones.

Against the Odds

As the last tendrils of the warp stream slipped away from the hull of my Vexor, sensors registered a fleet of 5 frigates. Further examination revealed that it was composed of an Incursus, Punisher, Merlin, and two Inquisitors.

Moments later, they all entered the stargate into Dantumi. I immediately gave chase, they proceeded onto Mara, where we played a game of cat and mouse in the asteroid belts. Then they went to Passari. As my frustration at not being able to get a point on one of them mounted, I goaded some of them in private channels. That failed too.

We were playing cat in mouse in Passari, with a great multitude of reds in local. Time and again, I warped into a belt to only see them warp away at 100k.

But then I noticed a pattern in their movements and warped in right on top of them.

Alarms blared as the enemy fleet materialized all around me, too close for comfort with my speed tank... but a pirate never runs!

I immediately began resolving locks, and let my drones go out to play. But the enemy were already warping away. I counted the seconds for the locks to resolve, slowly ticking by as one target at a time warped away.

Lock resolved. Point acquired.

I sent my drones to the now solo Merlin frigate. In short order, it died in a fiery explosion.

But then his buddies began to arrive in force, they were all too close to me, there was no way for my cruiser to outrun the nimble frigates. I began to resolve locks once again and threw out my drones at the first targets.

My untanked armor was already beginning to crumple, I could feel the shuddering of my ship beneath my feet. The Hobgoblin II's reached an Inquisitor, whose shields were obliterated.. but his armor took a bit longer before finally giving out and imploding.

Now, some of the native rats were shooting at me too, my hull was taking direct damage. Ironcially, my hull was also the best tanked part of the Vexor, thanks to a DCU II.

The Hobgoblin II's reached the enemy Incursus which, under their unwelcome attentions, quickly yielded to open space.

My hull was almost critical now, there remained only the enemy punisher. The Hobgoblin II's finally reached it, but it seemed to be a particularly hard nut to crack. The drones fired salvo after salvo at the little ship, while mine was already disintigrating beneath me.

Suddenly, the Punisher imploded in a fiery explosion. This last enemy pod was able to escape, the others left while I was too busy killing their allies. At any rate, my structural integrity was only 48%, there was little point in staying around risking another fight.

As I initiated docking procedures, I announced a new name for the now battle scarred Vexor, which was still venting atmosphere into space. Previously, it had been named 'II' for it's prior two kills in battle. Now, it would henceforth be known as 'VI' for it's kills.

Turning the Tables

Captain's Log- Lanissum
--------------Session started: 5632.04.20 22:01:14-----------

It had been a slow day that day. Frustrated after gaining no kills, fights, or even losses, I proceeded to dock my ship. Of course, I did one last scan for a new pilot in a big ship.

As I proceeded back to his quarters, he kept on thinking about newer pilots and big ships. When a ship is picked up on a scanner, it returns it's transponder identification signal. By default, this signal consists of the pilot's name and ship type.

Suddenly, I realized the seemingly obvious idea that the name of the pilot on the transponder signal didn't have to be the pilot flying the ship.

As I made my way back to the dock, I opened my com and instructed my crew chief to pick a suitable name from the local chatter for my Myrmidon Battlecruiser. Moments later, I was sitting in an obvious belt 'ratting'.

Within a minute of landing at the belt, a Thorax warped in; followed by a Hound stealth bomber. They were both experienced pilots, the Hound was out of my engagement range. But I decided to engage the Thorax anyways.

As soon as a lock was resolved, my blasters spun up, drones went out, and the enemy ship's warp core was disrupted.

But they engaged me even before my locks were resolved. I could feel my ship shudder as the first salvo of warheads hit the Myrmidon. The shields were going down faster than I'd hoped, I engaged my armor tank, in preparation for the incoming damage.

The Thorax and my Myrmidon seemed about tied for damage, our respective ships taking the same amount of damage. But then the Thorax began to gain vast quantities of distance on me. He was MWDing away from me. Belatedly, I realized that I'd pointed him with the warp disruptor and not the scrambler that I also carried. Now, he was out of range of most of my damage, save for my drones. But still able to keep me in place while the SB fired salvo after salvo upon me.

The torpedoes took to take large chunks of my armor. I engaged overheating upon my tank, in an attempt to prolong the seemly inevitable demise of the Myrmidon.

As quickly as the Thorax gained range, it came back, apparently to get in on the kill. That was the last mistake for him. I immediately spun up and overheated my blasters, knowing that it was kill or be killed.

His armor took a critical hit, the Thorax began to loose large chunks of it's hull. I began to align for an attempt to warp out. Another salvo of torpedoes, and both of our hulls were well below 50%.

But my blasters managed to score a hit upon the now MWDless Thorax, resulting in a fiery explosion.

Another salvo of torpedoes quickly knocked me out of my triumph. I wasn't out of the woods yet, my Myrmidon had been knocked out of alignment by the battle. I began the warp out procedure. It was a race between the next salvo and the warp procedure.

Torpedoes incoming...
15% thrust.... 25% thrust...50% thrust...
I could literally see the visual radiation from the torpedoes' propulsion systems.
Warping to Mercantile Bureau Station.

The crew cheered, they had survived the battle.
I relaxed and shuddered as I took another look at the ship readout:
16% hull integrity had remained after the battle, the armor was already on it's way to full strength again. Almost every lower module was offlined by the damage sustained during the fight, but overheating had definitely won the day today. I therefore ordered every man in the splended engineering department of my ship a few free rounds at their favorite station-side establishment.

Low Sec Shananigans

The kid was walking home from school again, when he saw Lanissum walk out into the docking bay. Watching the holo-screen, it was clear that the pirate was getting ready for a flight. Remembering how often he had seen Lanissum recording the affairs of his work on a PDA, a plan began to form in the kid's mind.

Many people regarded the crypto-pads which guarded the captains' quarters to be impervious. Strictly speaking, the were right, but that was their weakness. Earlier, the boy had easily gleaned the pad's combination by watching Lanissum enter and exit. Now that the pirate was gone for the day, the boy easily entered the room and found the PDA. As soon as it booted up, he opened the earlier log entries.

"After losing my Thorax earlier, I decided to go out today with an Incursus of mine. Intel channels indicated low activity in the systems surrounding Aurohunen, thus my best chances of finding a fight would be in this system.

Thus, I began my normal routine of scanning out belts, but failed to find anything. Fearing a boring night, I warped to a station, where I sighted two frigates."

The PDA prompted the boy to place his thumb on a glowing button to access a "visual net recording." Doing so, he suddenly saw and felt everything that Lanissum had on that day.

"The ship shuddered, sensors indicated that the Kestral was already attacking. Checking the ships' transponders, it was apparent that they were in the same corporation and thus docking would be the wiser choice.

The shuddered again, under a particularly violent missile strike. Where was the enemy Rifter? There was a large amount of static from the explosion... the Rifter had docked!

Now was the time to strike! Yet again, the Incursus shuddered, but this time it was recoil from outgoing blaster fire. The Kestral lost a large portion of it's shields. At the same time, the lone Hobgoblin II drone of the Incursus slipped into the darkness of space and began to hunt it's target.

The Kestral launched another missile salvo, penetrating the shields and nicking a bit of the armored hull. A blaster salvo missed the Kestral, checking the sensors again... my transversal is too high. Opening navigation... Ordering a direct approach at full speed.. the Incursus shudders as the afterburner kicks in again.

Suddenly, the Kestral explodes, inundating the sensor's with static. At the same time, the Rifter undocks, in a belated attempt to aid it's fallen comrade. Unheeding, the Rifter streaks towards me. As the Rifter gains CONCORD aggression, the Hobgoblin and blasters return fire.

The two ships enter a lethal dance, each attempting to maintain their optimal range and transversal. The Rifter enters armor, as does the Incursus. Suddenly, the Rifter scores a critical hit, stripping all the armor off of the Incursus.

Again, Lanissum orders a direct approach at full speed. In a race of who can do the most damage blasters will win if they can get close enough. Holes begin to appear in the Rifter's armor. Checking sensors again, the Rifter is actually losing huge amounts of hull integrity... but so is the Incursus.

As the Incursus reaches 35% integrity left, the Rifter explodes in a fiery display..."

Glistening with sweat, the kid eagerly searched the logs for more, he opened a more recent one...

"Myself, Kaz, and Lachesis set out for a roam in a Brutix, Rifter, and Thorax respectively. I had purchased this triple rigged Brutix from a corpie in need, as I don't normally like to rig ships.

As our home systems were devoid of activity, we set out deep into the battlefield of Black Rise. Our target system was well known for it's carebearish inhabitants. Anytime an outlaw entered the system, the entire corporation which inhabited it would dock up.

As usual, they followed this time honored tradition when my gang entered the system. We almost got a Raven in a belt, but were unable to get it this time. After ascertaining that everyone except ourselves was docked up, we decided to hit back at these carebears. We started to rat, in 'their' system.

The three of us were trying to pilot our ships through fits of laughter at the irony of carebears docked up while us pirates ratted. Eventually, a few others entered local. We managed to get a point on a Drake in a belt. We figured that it wasn't bait, since it was in a separate corporation.

We figured that, until our long range scanners began to light up. I immediately gave the order for my gang to warp out. I began the procedure myself, until I realized that the Drake had me pointed too. Realizing that there was no way we could destroy the well tanked Drake in the time allotted to me by fate, I ensured the survival of my pod.

To it's credit, it took the enormous enemy fleet some time to destroy the triple rigged Brutix."

The Boy checked his watch, and was alarmed at how long he had stayed there. Turning off the PDA, he turned towards the door, only to run into Lanissum.

And (Green) Blood Shalt Be Spilt by the Heathen!

The wary man in a trench coat nervously tapped away at the terminal's keyboard. Suddenly, the man gave off the briefest of smiles before walking away, unawares that he was being watched. The intelligence officer approached the terminal, and inserted his cybernetic interface. In the blink of an eye, he saw with horror the scope of the crime's committed by the mysterious stranger.
A conversation recording came to him, between the stranger and a victim. Oddly, it appeared that the scammer's name had been censored, as well as select portions of the transcript.
Channel ID: 2141666520
[ 2009.03.25 00:23:10 ] ME > back
[ 2009.03.25 00:23:22 ] ME > You still want one?
[ 2009.03.25 00:23:34 ] Count Requiem > yea
[ 2009.03.25 00:23:46 ] ME > Righto, I'll throw 1 in when you're ready
[ 2009.03.25 00:24:05 ] ME > Rdy
[ 2009.03.25 00:24:36 ] Count Requiem > its unrigged right ?
[ 2009.03.25 00:24:41 ] ME > Yeah
[ 2009.03.25 00:24:48 ] ME > No mods or cargo either
[ 2009.03.25 00:24:53 ] Count Requiem > kay
[ 2009.03.25 00:25:03 ] ME > Though if it was rigged, it'd be boon for you lol
[ 2009.03.25 00:25:08 ] Count Requiem > yea ahah
[ 2009.03.25 00:25:18 ] Count Requiem > thanks anyway
[ 2009.03.25 00:25:20 ] ME > Righto, I've got 4 left; sure you don't want em? I'll even sell them for 50m each
[ 2009.03.25 00:25:57 ] Count Requiem > well i'd maybe take one other if you make it a 40mil :PP so that would end up 2 for 50m
[ 2009.03.25 00:26:06 ] Count Requiem > up to you
[ 2009.03.25 00:26:10 ] ME > hmm
[ 2009.03.25 00:26:26 ] ME > so, you want 1 for 40m; or 2 for 50m (each or total?)
[ 2009.03.25 00:26:35 ] Count Requiem > just one 40m
[ 2009.03.25 00:26:42 ] ME > kk, I can live with that
[ 2009.03.25 00:26:54 ] Count Requiem > after that id be out of my money limit pool
[ 2009.03.25 00:27:03 ] ME > gotcha
[ 2009.03.25 00:27:22 ] ME > by two for 50m, you were including the prior purchase
[ 2009.03.25 00:27:27 ] Count Requiem > yea
[ 2009.03.25 00:27:30 ] ME > Which is 100m for 2 :)
[ 2009.03.25 00:27:34 ] ME > Rdy, btw
[ 2009.03.25 00:27:37 ] Count Requiem > yea
[ 2009.03.25 00:27:43 ] Count Requiem > maths and time
[ 2009.03.25 00:27:45 ] Count Requiem > not my stuff
[ 2009.03.25 00:27:45 ] Count Requiem > ahah
[ 2009.03.25 00:27:48 ] ME > same same
[ 2009.03.25 00:28:00 ] Count Requiem > well ty

However, the victim soon realized their mistake, and began a litany of pleas for mercy...

[ 2009.03.25 00:33:32 ] Count Requiem > come on, cant you take them back ?
[ 2009.03.25 00:33:44 ] Count Requiem > im new to this game, started a few weeks ago
[ 2009.03.25 00:33:44 ] ME > mm, how much isk have you got left?
[ 2009.03.25 00:33:46 ] Count Requiem > and really
[ 2009.03.25 00:33:51 ] Count Requiem > im out of isk now
[ 2009.03.25 00:34:00 ] Count Requiem > please :(
...
[ 2009.03.25 00:38:35 ] Count Requiem > well, ok im willing to believe you are a fine person
[ 2009.03.25 00:39:36 ] Count Requiem > please id be eternally gratefull if you didnt ruin my game experience
[ 2009.03.25 00:39:38 ] ME > Tyvm
[ 2009.03.25 00:39:52 ] Count Requiem > I mean its alright to scam rich people
[ 2009.03.25 00:39:55 ] Count Requiem > but noobs like me
[ 2009.03.25 00:39:56 ] Count Requiem > meh
[ 2009.03.25 00:40:01 ] ME > You got that right
[ 2009.03.25 00:40:05 ] Count Requiem > you can look my history
...
Channel ID: 2141667737

[ 2009.03.25 00:41:35 ] ME > Yes?
[ 2009.03.25 00:41:43 ] Count Requiem > so, when can i have them back ?
[ 2009.03.25 00:41:51 ] ME > Um, nevar?
[ 2009.03.25 00:41:55 ] Count Requiem > come one
[ 2009.03.25 00:41:58 ] Count Requiem > please
[ 2009.03.25 00:42:00 ] Count Requiem > im begging you
[ 2009.03.25 00:42:09 ] ME > You're begging?
[ 2009.03.25 00:42:16 ] Count Requiem > yes
[ 2009.03.25 00:42:17 ] Count Requiem > really
[ 2009.03.25 00:42:28 ] ME > Sorry, no can do
[ 2009.03.25 00:42:37 ] Count Requiem > ...
[ 2009.03.25 00:42:44 ] Count Requiem > why have you yo be so mean to me
[ 2009.03.25 00:42:53 ] ME > Good question
[ 2009.03.25 00:43:02 ] Count Requiem > i need my money
[ 2009.03.25 00:43:05 ] ME > So do I
[ 2009.03.25 00:43:16 ] Count Requiem > don't you have even one little bit of compassion ?
[ 2009.03.25 00:43:33 ] ME > Already spent it on my dog, sorry
[ 2009.03.25 00:43:59 ] Count Requiem > i mean
[ 2009.03.25 00:44:13 ] Count Requiem > if youd give me it back id even be earger to give you it more afterwards
[ 2009.03.25 00:44:17 ] Count Requiem > its just i need it to trade
[ 2009.03.25 00:44:19 ] Count Requiem > and make money
[ 2009.03.25 00:44:24 ] Count Requiem > or i have no base to play at all
...
Channel ID: 2141667901
[ 2009.03.25 00:47:14 ] Count Requiem > id send you real money for 100mil
[ 2009.03.25 00:48:09 ] ME > Sorry, I don't do that
[ 2009.03.25 00:49:04 ] Count Requiem > well what can i do so ?
[ 2009.03.25 00:49:09 ] Count Requiem > i got nothing left now
[ 2009.03.25 00:49:11 ] ME > Go away... and cry?
[ 2009.03.25 00:49:31 ] Count Requiem > why won't you make a good deed today ?
[ 2009.03.25 00:49:32 ] Count Requiem > just for once
[ 2009.03.25 00:49:36 ] Count Requiem > even if you don't know me
[ 2009.03.25 00:50:01 ] ME > Already spent it on my food
[ 2009.03.25 00:50:07 ] ME > wait.. that would be me, eating the food :)
...
Looking into further transcripts, some scams took 4 minutes. Greedy victims borrowed cash from their corporations so they could get in on what they thought was a great deal.

Then, he discovered a fairly disturbing conversation.
Channel ID: 2141671158
[ 2009.03.25 02:32:49 ] ME > Would you like any?
[ 2009.03.25 02:33:36 ] Alastier > what do they do? can't find 'em on the market
[ 2009.03.25 02:33:45 ] ME > One sec, brb
[ 2009.03.25 02:36:03 ] ME > Back
[ 2009.03.25 02:36:17 ] ME > They're not market items, contract only; cost about 90ish mil
[ 2009.03.25 02:36:23 ] ME > [normally]
[ 2009.03.25 02:36:44 ] Alastier > and what exactly are they good for?
[ 2009.03.25 02:37:02 ] ME > Missioning/ PvP; they're much better than the normal THING
[ 2009.03.25 02:37:40 ] ME > Do you even have 60mil?
[ 2009.03.25 02:38:18 ] Alastier > I'm around 1,170 mil
[ 2009.03.25 02:38:59 ] ME > as in 1.170 BIL?
[ 2009.03.25 02:39:09 ] Alastier > yeah
[ 2009.03.25 02:39:19 ] ME > 14 day old with a billion isk?
[ 2009.03.25 02:39:47 ] Alastier > sold some time codes for 600 mil each
[ 2009.03.25 02:40:00 ] Alastier > I've played before, just felt like starting a new toon
[ 2009.03.25 02:40:18 ] ME > I see, anyhow; suffice it to say [kk] that I'm selling THING's for a low price due to time pressures
...
The attacker moved in for the kill, netting 345 Million isk from that naive capsuleer, the only thing that stopped him getting more was a lack of 'stock'.
Digging further into the system, he found that some of the victims tried to threaten the scammer.
...
Mail: No Subject
From: Jin Adam
To: XXXXXXXXX
2009.03.25 04:35
you can either return my money or i will put a bounty on your head!!!! lol

2009.03.25 14:37
oh yes and my warning runs out at 2200hrs GMT today 28 March
...
The intelligence officer was flabbergasted at the stupidity, naivety, and their propensity for meaningless threats and abuse. Then he found a transaction log, hidden at the end of a conversation transcript:
**BEGIN TRANSACTION DATA, ISK IN MILLIONS**
345 ------ Alastier (Loaded Newb, 17 Minutes)
267 ------ Fitius Pandemon (Rigged Myrmidon & Megathron, sent ships before even seeing the goods)
120 ........... Duygu Lyn (6 Minutes)
120 ------- Arubak (6 Minutes)
110 ............ Black Sabbath (4 Minutes)
100 ------ Count Requiem (Beggar, 23 Minutes)
60 .............. Gareth Mythros (3 Minutes 30 Seconds)
60 -------- Garrik Doran (2 Minutes)
60 .............. Jin Adam (Empty Hatemail, 11 Minutes)
60 -------- Aetec Raa (9 Minutes)
50 .............. LT Reed (4 Minutes)
50 -------- Crazy4Swazye (10 Minutes)
30 .............. Dessich (7 Minutes)
28 -------- chemi (Fastest, 3 Minutes)
1,460,000,000 ISK -------- TOTAL HAUL in 4 Hours 30 Minutes
**END TRANSACTION DATA**

Realizing that he had enough to put the scammer away for a long, long time, the intelligence officer reached for his com device. Turning away from the terminal, the last thing he ever saw was the barrel of a blaster.

Roaming and Idiot Removal Operations

Thrashing in his sleep, Lanissum kicked over the nightstand. The resulting crash rudely woke him up from his dreams. Dripping in cold sweat, he bent down to clean up the mess. Picking up his PDA, he developed an inexplicable urge to describe the recent events that kept intruding upon his sleep. Letting out a sigh, Lanissum activated the PDA...

"I was engaged by a Drake at a belt, only moments before I had been hunting a different target in my Thorax. Unfortunately, the Drake had been hunting the same vessel, but had deemed me to be a suitable target.

I could literally feel the hull disintegrating beneath my ship, I had forgone armor in lieu of offensive weaponry. Recalling how I had escaped from an unfavorable engagement with a drake months ago, I threw out my ECM drones.

Suddenly, silence ensued. I gave the order for the drones to return, but before they did, my ship was again being pounded. The situation was now critical, I threw out the drones a second time, they quickly jammed the Drake. This time, I opted to leave them, as I doubted that my Thorax could survive any more damage. As I hurtled through space, we exchanged pleasantries."

Lanissum paused briefly, as he listened to a sound outside in the hallway, before resuming his monologue.

"There was a call for a corp op down into the war zone of Black Rise, Tama. It was recommended that we bring small ships, but I opted for a Myrmidon. We sniffed around the systems that we traveled through, but didn't make any kills until we reached Reitsato.

There was a small gang on the gate there, including a Vagabond. A very still Vagabond. A very close Vagabond. Which quickly became a very dead Vagabond. I was only able to get my drones on it before it died, but as it was aggressed, we received no CONCORD response.

Quickly proceeding to the Tama gate in Kedama, we found a Cerberus. It was a very quick affair, as it was apparently outfitted purely for offensive use. Such a ignominious fate for a tech 2 cruiser. This time, I only managed to get a point on it, and thus elicited a CONCORD response.

As I searched my scanner input in an attempt to nab the pod, I had trouble focusing on it, as there were a great number of ships clouding my sensors. My camera drones soon confirmed what my instincts had already known, we were now on the business end of a factional defense fleet.

I initiated the procedure for a warp out as ships began to appear all over the place and the alarm was raised over the voice coms of my fleet. As my Myrmidon hurtled into space, my sensors picked up the explosions of our Vexor (Spectre3353) and Rupture (Golden Helmet).

When the enemy fleet left the system, the remnants of my gang regrouped and waited out my GCC, as I was the only survivor who had aggressed on the gate. We decided that our group was no longer combat viable and began the long trek home..."

The PDA prompted Lanissum with an "Out Of Memory Error." He fumbled in the darkness for a new memory chip, before finally finding one near the sink. Wondering if it had been damaged by moisture, he popped it in and smiled as the error message disappeared. He once again resumed working on his entry.

"Coms went out with a report of a Drake, missioning in Aurohunen. As our prober worked his magic, we prepped our ships for what would be a grinding fight, as we had only 1 cruiser and my Myrmidon on hand for a scramble.

As soon as our prober got a hit, we warped as a fleet to the indicated spot. Only to land upon a gate. We took this opportunity for our prober to get his own cruiser. When he returned, we sent the Thorax (Lachesis) through. In an attempt to trick the Drake into a fight, if he was too far away to get a point on.

Unfortunately, the Drake warped off to a station. The Thorax followed, so as to keep tabs on it. The Vexor (Nemain Darru) and I stayed on the gate, as the mission was far from complete. Soon, the Thorax reported that the Drake had left the station. Under my orders, Lachesis stayed docked until I picked him up on my scanners.

The Drake soon arrived, and was promptly ganked by our combined firepower. Unfortunately, we failed to nab the pod.

Not too long after, more of our corp undocked. There was a raven sighted in Dantumi, ratting. In a belt. It was already engaged with a Harbinger, which had similar aspirations to ours. We burst upon the scene, pointing the Raven but primarying the Harbinger.

The Harbinger wisely decided to cede us his prey. But let us know of his displeasure.

[ 2009.03.22 20:26:04 ] Mazzarra > he was mine :(
[ 2009.03.22 20:26:09 ] Lanissum > sorry
[ 2009.03.22 20:26:10 ] Spectre3353 > you were ours :/
[ 2009.03.22 20:26:13 ] Lanissum > lol
[ 2009.03.22 20:26:23 ] Mazzarra > lol

We quickly destroyed the Raven, and the subsequent pod, before quickly leaving the scene of our crime; lest we follow the Raven's footsteps. After our GCC's expired, we noticed a pair of battleships floating around a station in Dantumi. We engaged, but were outclassed, as we had only a Dominix and a few cruisers, including my Thorax; which died bravely-- frantically pleading with station control for docking permission."

Lanissum paused briefly for a drink of water, before finishing his report.

"After the loss of my Thorax, many of our members took a breather. I was left working on my now battle scarred Myrmidon. As I briefly checked the station guest manifest, I noticed that the Drake pilot who we had previously destroyed was back, with a new Drake. I looked out my port window, which overlooked the docking bay, to see that very Drake in the process of undocking.

With a speed not seen since my old Python days, I screamed at the master chief to prepare my battle cruiser. I quickly followed the Drake outside. Opening communications with the Drake pilot, I attempted to gain his confidence. I had to get him off of this station, as I would not be able to beat both him and the station guns.

He proved to be surprisingly credulous, joining my fleet after I solemnly assured him that:

[ 2009.03.22 22:06:03 ] Lanissum > If we fleet up, we can do the mish together; we don't shoot at gangmates
[ 2009.03.22 22:06:18 ] Lanissum > [or corpmates, lol]
[ 2009.03.22 22:06:45 ] Snih > :) i knw, I lose 30M for my ship
[ 2009.03.22 22:07:10 ] Snih > temporary?
[ 2009.03.22 22:07:14 ] Lanissum > Yeah

Shocked that he had placed his ship's computers under my control, I quickly warped us to an out of the way spot in space. After a prolonged fight, due mainly to the Drake's natural tanking abilities, I had my way with both his new Drake and pod."

Lanissum put down the PDA, looking visibly relieved. He briefly checked his surroundings for anything out of place, and went back to bed.