Frigate Wolf Pack Packs A Mighty Punch.

The power of the rifter and her variants (Wolf and Jaguar) is a wonderful sight to behold. Yes, they are held together by duct tape and spit but when they come screaming into you and unleash hell. You know it.

I was out in the Metropolis pipe helping out a few friends and was warping back with an eye for some calculated violence. I wanted to bring out the wolf for a spin but I do miss the jaguar - lost to a vagabond from Havoc Inc a few weeks back. As always, I keep a keen eye on local and can usually spot the newcomers from the usual industrial farmers. So it was, two new faces in local in Gultratren. A rookie and an 18-month player. A quick scan and I see an osprey and a thrasher. Based on the names, the rookie was in the Osprey.

Pausing in my journey home, I warped to a scan spot I had in the system and hit the scanner once more. Indeed, they were in the belt - either ratting or mining or both. Making sure that it wasn't a trap; I jumped in with the warp tunnel enveloping me like an old friend. I knew I hit jackpot when the GUI took a little bit longer to load. The welcome blue squares appeared on my GUI and I instantly locked the thrasher. It was more of a threat due to the pilot's age. I then hit him with my trusty 150mm AC II and the fight was on!

The thrasher pilot locked me back and hit me with a combination of howitzers and auto-canon and missile fire. A bit of a mix of hostile ordnance but my shields held, just. I chewed through his shields in short order but then he started to tank the damage. Damn, I thought. My shields disappeared and I was into armour too. The Thrasher is tough when piloted correctly.

The osprey, not too sure what to do - just sat there.

Meanwhile, I was adjusting my orbit and got into a better range and started to score more devastating hits. My armour repairer was flashing away - patching the holes as fast as they appeared.

The osprey pilot, finally deciding that he wasn't going to help his thrasher friend, scooped up his drones and GTFO. Some gang mate huh? The Thrasher pilot soon died and flames erupted from it's shattered hull. I was getting ready to snag the pod and ransom the pilot. In a burst, the thrasher was reduced to an expanding debris cloud. I had the pod and opened up a conversation with 'Haruchain' the egg-bound pilot.

Flashfresh: 5 million to let you go.
Haruchain: No. Fuck you.

He then got popped though he stayed in my ransom channel.

His loot was disappointing but I did pick up some much needed ammunition. My ransom channel blinked as the podded pilot wanted to chat. Overcoming his shock and anger, we had a nice chat about 'stuff'. It was his first ransom and he was a 2006 player. Probably first time in low-sec then.

Concord confirmed the kills:

2007.09.26 07:15
Victim: Haruchain
Alliance: NONE
Corp: GeDunk Industries
Destroyed: Capsule
System: Gultratren
Security: 0.3

Involved parties:

Name: flashfresh (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Independent Pilots
Ship: Rifter
Weapon: 150mm Light AutoCannon II


2007.09.26 07:13
Victim: Haruchain
Alliance: NONE
Corp: GeDunk Industries
Destroyed: Thrasher
System: Gultratren
Security: 0.3

Involved parties:
Name: flashfresh (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Independent Pilots
Ship: Rifter
Weapon: Gremlin Rocket

Destroyed items:
Bloodclaw Light Missile, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Bloodclaw Light Missile, Qty: 960 (Cargo)
280mm Howitzer Artillery I
280mm Howitzer Artillery I
Salvager I
200mm AutoCannon I
Depleted Uranium S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
EMP S, Qty: 540 (Cargo)
Fusion S, Qty: 4122 (Cargo)
Titanium Sabot S, Qty: 2330 (Cargo)
Ballistic Deflection Field I
Smashed Trigger Unit (Cargo)
Charred Micro Circuit (Cargo)
Carbonized Lead S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Medium Shield Transporter I, Qty: 4 (Cargo)
EMP S, Qty: 47
Titanium Sabot S, Qty: 7
Titanium Sabot S, Qty: 7
Bloodclaw Light Missile, Qty: 34
Proton S, Qty: 27

I waited for my criminal flag to expire when I was convo'ed by my friend 'Viper Sam' - there was potential prey in his sights and he needed a gang. I was three jumps from home so agreed and warped in, my bloodlust still not quite sated.

The gang was Jubes, Viper Sam and me. I switched to my wolf as Viper Sam had spotted some Omega Alliance ships in Eifer, a celestis and a stabber. Been seeing more and more of these Omega Alliance guys in Heimatar and Metropolis.

I jumped into the same system as Viper and Jubes and went to a deep safe spot. Viper was in his Jaguar with Jubes in his wolf. A mean, hard hitting gang. Unlike last time, when we were gate camping, this engagement would play to our strengths: speed and hard hitting DPS.

Viper Sam was bait and went to the top belt and hoped that the two Omega Alliance pilots would come in. We waited and kept chat to a minimum apart from deciding that the celestis would be primary. Minutes crawled by, local population fluctuated a little but the two potential marks were still there and on scanner too. Probably discussing how to best tackle Viper Sam. Since me and Jubes were all in different corps - it would prove to be difficult to work out if we were all ganged (we were of course). This should therefore work to our advantage.

Moving to the IV cluster, we re-aligned to the belts; Jubes and I waiting patiently for Viper to call us in. Then the channel started to blink.

'They're here!' Shouted Viper Sam. I aligned and hit full speed to his current position as, no doubt, was Jubes in his Wolf. 'Wait, let them open up first....' Viper Sam was making sure of the tackle. Got balls that man.

What seemed like a minute rolled by, slow as treacle.

'Go! Go! Go!' Yelled Viper Sam, now sure of the tackle. I hit the warp to gang member option and I leapt into warp instantly. My heart now hammering away in my rib cage, I tried to quell the excitement and channel it into improving my focus. Both Jubes and I burst out of warp and landed about 20-22km from Viper Sam. Frigate warfare is fast and long warps could entail that gang mates land a fair distance away due to the continuous movement of the adversaries.

I locked both the celestis and the stabber.

'Am damped to shit!' Yelled Viper. 'Can't hit anything. My tank is holding.'
'Celestis is primary.' I replied and hit the afterburner.
'Roger, Celestis is primary.' Confirmed Jubes as he too, vectored into the deadly Gallente cruiser. At 20km I hit the warp scrambler and at 12km I opened up with my lovely rack of x4 150mm AC II. Jubes did the same. Fiery ordnance spat across the void and ripped into the celestis. The shields flared and died in the first salvo. At 9km my rocket launcher opened up as my ACs cycled into their fourth or fifth volley. The firepower from two angry Wolf-class assault frigates devastated the celestis, too eager on Viper Sam to send a riposte in kind to me and Jubes.

Meanwhile, the stabber was hammering away at Viper Sam's webbed and damped, jaguar. Viper's shield tank is a monster of a thing. Little did the stabber pilot know that it would take a hell of a lot of firepower to knock down the shields.

A final volley from my 150mm ACs II and the celestis blew apart in a glorious burst of colour, sound and debris. The pod was insta-warped out of there so Jubes and I could not lock it.

Switching our hungry attention to the stabber - Viper Sam, no longer dampened; got angry with the now webbed and scrambled and soon-to-be-dead, Stabber. It would take a big tank to stop three, angry, kill-hungry, Minmatar assault frigates.

The stabber was thrown around as our ordnance buffeted it like a rag doll. We blew it apart with gusto and also snagged the pod. The stabber pilot was blasted into flash frozen gobs of organic matter. We all howled in delight at the kill.

It felt very good. So good. I love New Eden.

I managed to get the killing blows on both the celestis and the stabber:

2007.09.26 08:27
Victim: Hun Jakuza
Alliance: Omega Alliance
Corp: Imperium Galactica
Destroyed: Stabber
System: Eifer
Security: 0.4





Involved parties:

Name: Jubes
Security: -9.8
Alliance: The Church.
Corp: Mean Corp
Ship: Wolf
Weapon: Wolf

Name: flashfresh (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Independent Pilots
Ship: Wolf
Weapon: 150mm Light AutoCannon II

Name: Viper Sam
Security: -9.9
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Sissy Boys
Ship: Jaguar
Weapon: Jaguar

Destroyed items:
Alumel-Wired I Sensor Augmentation
'Arbalest' Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I
220mm Medium 'Scout' Autocannon I
Warp Disruptor II
Gyrostabilizer II
220mm Medium 'Scout' Autocannon I
220mm Medium 'Scout' Autocannon I
220mm Medium 'Scout' Autocannon I
Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Overdrive Injector System II
Terror Assault Missile, Qty: 32

Here's the second one:

2007.09.26 08:27
Victim: pusm alterego2
Alliance: Omega Alliance
Corp: Hungarian Riflemen Regiment
Destroyed: Celestis
System: Eifer
Security: 0.4





Involved parties:

Name: Jubes
Security: -9.8
Alliance: The Church.
Corp: Mean Corp
Ship: Wolf
Weapon: Wolf

Name: flashfresh (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Independent Pilots
Ship: Wolf
Weapon: 150mm Light AutoCannon II


Destroyed items:
Beta Reactor Control: Capacitor Power Relay I
Remote Sensor Dampener II
Advanced 'Limos' Heavy Missile Bay I
250mm Prototype I Gauss Gun
Beta Reactor Control: Capacitor Power Relay I
'Malkuth' Heavy Missile Launcher I
Dual 150mm Carbide Railgun I
Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile, Qty: 173 (Cargo)
Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 953 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Widowmaker Heavy Missile, Qty: 1000 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Missile, Qty: 27
Federation Navy Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 27

Well fought by the two Omega Alliance guys though - Hun actually came back in his Drake ten minutes later but we smelt a trap and let it slide.

The loot was decent: faction ammunition, warp disruptor II, micro-warpdrive II, gyrostabiliser II and some named 800mm plate. All to be sold and split between us. However, it's the kill that's important.

Viper Sam and Jubes - well done.