May we live in interesting times.....

Indeed we do so. I was away on personal business for a few days and when I came back - a few, important things had changed. Much to my surprise ; the M34N Pirates have set their corp standings to RED to Black Flag. Most of the other M34N pilots weren't even told that this had happened, certainly there was no votes or anything and there many a frantic call from them to us on private channels asking for clarification. Most were as surprised as we were. In response, least we get ambushed and with reluctance, Viper set M34N to RED as well.

So now what? I spent the first morning catching up with Viper and others. I needed to gather the facts and sift through them and not get caught up in the spin. I feel it's partly my job to seek clarity and to audit what we do. It appears that this standings change stemmed from our decision NOT to set up any more corps to BLUE, regardless of how close we have worked with them. This has been a founding principle for us, we are a zero-political corp (well almost zero) that want to keep as little in the way of blue corps as possible. It keeps things simple to us. Any blue standings will be done on an individual by individual basis. This was the status quo and while not ideal, it was a practical solution to a complex environment but our conduct since the corp's foundation speaks for itself. We have not broken our word on any occasion and we have not shot at anyone who we've had friendly dealings with....unless they deserved it.

Tempered Steel Legion (TSL) are an industrial corporation that I have had friendly dealings with before I joined Black Flag. A corporation that managed to find a niche in supplying ships to low-sec corporations such as ourselves. Some of their pilots are ex-M34N and we've flown with a few of them. Competent and quite friendly, and not to forget, suppliers of fine hardware. Some are regarded as pirates with negative security ratings, lighting up people's overview in blinking red when they arrive.

TSL supplied ships to us (as well as to M34N and others) and we were happy to purchase them at very competitive prices. A good working relationship for all concerned. TSL are blue to M34N and WayCharles, a pilot that I have known ever since I came to Gusandall and before I joined Black Flag is a senior director there. He is also ex-M34N but apparently left under clouded circumstances. He had asked for his corp to be set to blue to Black Flag and we have informed him of our policy standings and declined his offer and said that we would maintain personal good standings with just a handful of TSL pilots. Pilots that we have got to know over time and who we have flown with in gangs. He appeared to be happy with this, at least initially but continued to press the issue.

We were, however, forced to make a choice a day ago: M34N corp (on behalf of TSL) demanded that Black Flag change our standings for TSL to blue and if not, then they would consider us hostiles with immediate effect. There then followed some heated words between the two parties, which polarised the two sides even further. Am sure the chat logs will be very revealing, if I manage to get hold of them.

However, we were shocked by this sudden turn.

No corporation can exist as a self-serving entity if it does not exercise its own free will. No corporation can exist if we draw a line and then allow someone to step over it. Even if we accepted all demands made by M34N and set TSL to blue...I doubt that relationships would remain between that of equals. We would have lost our sovereignty as a corp in the process of regaining half-friends who apparently do not respect us or our wishes. (from Viper Sam's internal memo to us, he said it so well, it's included.....)

The choice was simple and was made within seconds of the demand. It was a no.

M34N then set us immediately to red after this conversation where Viper wouldn't comply with their demands on OUR corp. We would never demand M34N to do something like that. It's madness. As soon as this happened, Hellequin corp ([JOKER]) another M34N ally, performed the same standings change. But chatting to a Hellequin pilots this morning, they too were surprised by this unilateral decision. There was no corp mail, no announcement, no vote, just the realisation that we would now be marked as red on their overviews.

Black Flag pilots understand now where we stand and it is far better to fight and die for your own principles than it is to live by someone else's. We've had our internal discussions, calmly and without much shouting. We're not happy that this is over something as small as a standings issue. Our conduct over the last three months speaks for itself. We're sad to lose fellow pirates but we respect their choice. We're getting ready to fight now. Just when there are a load of anti-pirates gunning for all of us, we end up in this. We kindly request anti-pirates (yes, am looking at Rhericlya and DeltaUK1 to name two) to sit back and watch from afar. Black Flag will prevail. I've spoken to nearly all the corp members and all is well.

Pirates. Love'em.

To all the independent pilots in the INDEPENDENCE channel, please be contact me or Viper Sam for more information or clarification. The channel will always remain open to EVERYONE. However, be a bit more careful for the next couple of weeks if you are around Gusandall and Eifer; you're neutral to almost everyone (including to each other) so be on your toes. Mixed gangs will still run but there will be less. However, this shouldn't stop some of you bad boys doing solo work though or ganging up with BF or M34N as required.

RL intrudes

My gf is ill at the moment so play times will have to be curtailed so apologises but the entries here will be a bit more sparse. However er, something has happened in the last 24 hours that I need to get a handle on quickly. So need to log-on and found out.

EVE + GF + Real life = problems!

Thanks for the evemails btw from peeps who knew about this beforehand - appreciate the support but am sure there is nothing serious with gf. She's a tough one.

F

New Movie Introduction

BLACK-FLAG • View topic - BLACK-FLAG's Movie Intro Complete

Nice introduction here. Hope we can see more.

Black Flag has a new Forum and I encourage all those who want to find out more about Black Flag to register on the forums. We're quite new corp and I am loving it. Been providing me with the best materials for these here Blog entries. Long may they continue.

Am interested in seeing what ship load-outs people have and there is a public area where one can show us.

OK, back to work.

F

Rhericlya (laid the final blow)

Rhericlya (laid the final blow)

Yes indeed. Rhericlya did it again to me. Those five words reverberate around my head as I stare at the wreckage of my hurricane, so soon after the myrmidon and arbitrator kill. Rhericlya was in his megathron and I was in a gang of five. DeltaUK1 was in a falcon and we engaged each other in Eszur, just as the fleet was on it's way back. Knowing the setup of the megathron, very very tough armour but no active tanking, I made sure I was out his web range and using barrage ammo. However, Rhericlya's megathron was bumped towards me by one of my fleet mates, desperate to keep Rhericlya off the gate. The megathron got a speed boost unlike anything it would get from even a micro warp drive. I was 12km from the megathron and then suddenly, I was staring down the barrels of seven neutron blasters. I did not last long as I was blasted to scrap.

Good move Rhericlya who has a very positive K/D against us. I have to congratulate him, nice setup, one of the best in fact. Of course, the hurricane was never meant to go toe-to-toe with this monster but we had the advantage of numbers. We did make the falcon the primary but very skillful piloting by DeltaUK1 meant that he eluded us.

2008.01.28 15:36

Victim: flashfresh
Alliance: None
Corp: BLACK-FLAG
Destroyed: Hurricane
System: Eszur
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 29430

Involved parties:

Name: Rhericlya (laid the final blow)
Security: -1.4
Alliance: Capital Storm
Corp: UNITED KINGDOM MAYHEM
Ship: Megathron
Weapon: Neutron Blaster Cannon II
Damage Done: 20436

Name: Minmatar Sentry Gun / Republic Fleet
Damage Done: 8994


Destroyed items:

425mm AutoCannon II
425mm AutoCannon II
EMP M, Qty: 95
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Overdrive Injector System II
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Barrage M, Qty: 466 (Cargo)
Core Defence Field Extender I, Qty: 3
Hornet EC-300, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)

Dropped items:

425mm AutoCannon II
425mm AutoCannon II
425mm AutoCannon II
Large 'Atonement' I Ward Projector
EMP M, Qty: 155
Salvager I
Warp Disruptor II
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Overdrive Injector System II
Overdrive Injector System II
Hail M, Qty: 356 (Cargo)
EMP M, Qty: 1073 (Cargo)
Phased Plasma M, Qty: 500 (Cargo)
Vespa EC-600 (Drone Bay)
Hornet EC-300 (Drone Bay)

A Cap fight that never was and a dual-ship meal combo.

The Cap Fight that never was...

"What the hell?" I muttered as I read the fleet manifest from Dogz. I stared into the crab nebulae, it's colours soothing my frayed nerves. I was in deep space, my crew racing round due to the yellow-alert condition on the ship. I glanced down at the manifest and fired off an encrypted message to Kane Rizzel.
"You see this? Flying with REDS?" I spluttered.
"Weird. Should be interesting." Kane replied smoothly, his hurricane class a few jumps ahead of me and making our way to the rendevous.
"What the FUCK is going on?" That was Grunanca, his angry voice bursting into the conversation. "We just killed some of these guys a couple of days ago. Hell, we killed Mirabilis' maelstrom less than 24 hours!"
"And they've been killing us," added Kane. "Quite successfully too."
"Dunno Grun buddy. I thought we were going for the POS op but all the caps have been switched over to a new mission according to the update. Once they're finished; they'll cyno into the POS and blast that."
"Okay but there are reds here in this fleet."
"I know. I know. Not my fleet but we need M34N's caps with us - so helping them finish off this operation will mean that they can come back to the POS and continue with the POS bash mission tonight."
Grunanca seemed to digest this a little.
"Also Grun, I think M34N are getting paid for this?" I checked the update again, it was kind of vague.
"Yeah Flash, but they are and half this fleet is red to us, it's gonna be very confusing tonight. Better not be any friendly fire."
"I hear you."

Dogz and 50FreeFly were only a one jump from the capital ship mustering point, about five jumps away from me when a Dogz sent out a fleet warning.

"May-day. May-day. Hostile camp in Orfrold. Hostile camp in Orfrold. Two Astarte and a hurricane and others!" We were entering into hostile territory and the support fleet was stretched out over ten jumps, all the way back to Evati, making us very vulnerable to roving gank and camp squads.
"Engaging but am going down. Need immediate assistance!"
"This is 50FreeFly. On my way. Hold on."
"This is Flash, am on my way. Five jumps."
"This is Redbad. Six jumps."
"FC! FC! - send fleet to Klogori. There's a camp there and it's preventing support ships coming to assist." I said, urgency clear in my voice. Fleet Command was with Mirabilis and there was no immediate reply. This was looking very bad for us as the voice comms with Dogz was now starting to break up. I saw on the star map the locations of the the main fleet ships and 5OFreeFly was now in the same system as Dogz. However, Dogz' ship icon blinked once and was gone.
"Dogz is down. Dogz is down."
"Where the fuck is the fleet? The camp is one jump away from them!" Cried out Grunanca angrily. I activated the gate jump sequence and was closer.
"This is Flash - two jumps out." I set red-alert for the entire ship and prepared for battle. Mentally checking the ammunition levels and the status of the engines. Also, in times of battle, I like to be on the bridge even though I was still inside the warm embrace of the capsule, my avatar was materialised on the bridge. My avatar's eyes scanning the bridge crew. A good bunch, not as neat and tidy as a Navy crew but much more effective. Some even salute me, but for those crew members, naval tradition is hard to forget. Standing by was my executive officer and he had a worried luck on his face.
"Sir, we lost Dogz and now it appears that 50FreeFly is also engaging and losing. There's a falcon at the gate camp and 50 is jammed." Falcons are bad news. I made a decision to stop and dropped my ship into a safe spot.
"Navigation, keep an eye on the scanner." I then fired off a message to the fleet. "Flashfresh standing by in Orfrold."
"Roger that. Get away from the gate. Am going down. 50 is going down." There was a hiss and pop of static and then the voice of 50FreeFly came through again, angry.
"50 is down. 50 is down." There was a chorus of angry shouts from the fleet channel demanding to know where the support was. A camp like that could be blasted into oblivion easily enough. There was a communication problem, that was clear.

Concord recorded 50's ship loss......

2008.01.27 19:15

Victim: 50freefly
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Mean Corp
Destroyed: Megathron
System: Klogori
Security: 0.3

Involved parties:

Name: Doc Banshee (laid the final blow)
Security: -3.1
Alliance: Enuma Elish.
Corp: Seven.
Ship: Astarte
Weapon: Heavy Neutron Blaster II

Name: pornopelle
Security: 0.2
Alliance: Enuma Elish.
Corp: Seven.
Ship: Astarte
Weapon: Astarte

Name: Paris Melchior
Security: 3.0
Alliance: Enuma Elish.
Corp: Seven.
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: Hurricane

Name: ProtalisK
Security: -0.5
Alliance: Infinite Innovation
Corp: THE IRIS
Ship: Drake
Weapon: Havoc Heavy Missile

Name: InAkTiV
Security: 4.5
Alliance: Enuma Elish.
Corp: Seven.
Ship: Falcon
Weapon: ECM - Multispectral Jammer II


Destroyed items:

Dropped items:
Neutron Blaster Cannon II, Qty: 7
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge L, Qty: 560
Quad LiF Fueled I Booster Rockets
Faint Warp Prohibitor I
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Medium Capacitor Booster II
Cap Booster 800
Damage Control II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II, Qty: 3
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I, Qty: 2
Medium C5-L Emergency Shield Overload I (Cargo)
Medium Modulated Pulse Energy Beam I (Cargo)
Local Power Plant Manager: Reaction Shield Power Relay I (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge L, Qty: 756 (Cargo)
Cap Booster 800, Qty: 14 (Cargo)
Armor Thermic Hardener II (Cargo)
Null L, Qty: 1005 (Cargo)
'Arbalest' Standard Missile Launcher (Cargo)
Power Diagnostic System I (Cargo)
Reactor Control Unit I (Cargo)
Trimark Armor Pump I, Qty: 3
Ogre II, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)
Berserker II, Qty: 3 (Drone Bay)

Now, there was some anger and confusion at the poor organisation but then again, in mixed gangs this is inevitable and I don't fancy the FCs job in this. After some hasty last minute diplomancy - the anti-pie gate camp moved on. Part of the support fleet was now in Orfrold with me and one red as escort. There was finally some action one system away but the enemy capital ships were not coming out to play. In Orfrold local, it was clear that the targets had their own spies, reporting on our movements. Hours later, nothing much happened and with some relief, the fleet was ordered to make their way to Eifer to bust the POS there.

It was at this time, that I got a hasty private message and I made my excuses to leave the fleet ahead of time. The remaining fleet, after much shouting and cursing, re-organised in Gusandall and steamed into the POS.

Dual-ship meal combo

Several hours later, the anti-POS fleet was still in Eifer smashing down the POS's weapons when I got a call from one of my spies: there was a pair of ships in Sotrenzur. They were apparently weapons' testing and were gleefully throwing drones at each other. There was so much activity, that the energy signatures were being broadcasted across the entire system that it was a simple case of scanning for drones and finding their spot. I took the remainder of the call in the private offices behind the Independence bar. Tapping the message console, my eyes darted up and down as the intelligence reported scrolled before me. Grinning, I had their co-ordinates and the ship types. A myrmidon and arbritrator class ships. Drone boats certainly. I tapped a few hyper links and accessed the pilot biographies and chuckled. Only the myrmidon pilot was experienced and he would be my primary. Having only 30 minutes to spare before another appointment, I had to be quick.
I raced towards my hangar, taking the turbo-lifts down to the appropriate level. My hurricane-class battle cruiser filled the hold, my crew all ready. I got into the pod and within seconds was inside the ship, neural linkages jacking themselves into the ship. I toggled the internal communications network and spoke to my executive officer.
"XO. This is the Captain."
"XO here."
"Status report?"
"All systems green. We're ready. Destination Captain?"
"Sotrenzur. We have two marks. A myrm and arbitrator. Prepare Hail rounds."
"Desintation, Stotrenzur. Hail rounds to all weapons systems. Aye aye sir." Outside, the docking clamps dis-engaged with a hiss of compressed air and the ship slid out of Gusandall and into the inky blackness. I accessed the private message, complete with the co-ordinates of the myrmidon and arbitrator and added their locations to the navigation computer. I sent my avatar to the bridge. I moved to the Captain's seat, sitting down I addressed the crew.
"All hands. This is the Captain. As soon as we arrive at the Sotrenzur gate; we jump on contact. Make the necessary arrangements. Once we're in Sotrenzur, I will hot jump the ship directly into the marks." I turned to my tactical officer. "Myrmidon is designated as target Alpha. Arbitrator is designated as target Beta."
"Aye aye sir! Myrmidon is Alpha and arbitrator is beta! Alpha is primary, Beta is secondary."
"ECM Drones on the secondary tactical and ensure that we have an even spread of fire from the 425mm on alpha."
"Aye aye Sir!" The tactical officer, a young Brutor spun on his heels and started to direct his sub-section. I turned to my left and addressed a sinister looking Gallente man.
"Get your boarding party ready." With a curt nod and no reply he turned and disappeared through into the remainder of the ship.
"Approaching Sotrenzur gate. Gate command has given us authority to jump."
"Very well. XO, red alert and jump when ready." My executive officer, a capable ex-Fleet man grinned, the scar on his face, twisting like a snake.
"All sections red alert and report readiness." There was a chorus of affirmations and the countdown to the jump began. "We will jump in five, four, three, two, one - jump." The ship was pulled across space and time by the star gate and we appeared millions of kilometres in Sotrenzur. The bridge was a flurry of activity.
"Tactical! Make ready! Astrogation, scan for the ships - are the marks still there? Engineering, full power to the shields."
"Tactical here. All weapons systems ready, targeting computer has signatures for alpha and beta locked in." The ship lurched forward as it locked onto the distant co-ordinates and sent the ship into warp.
"Astrogation here. Myrmidon and Arbitrator-class ships on scan."
"Excellent." I felt the fury of imminent combat build up inside me as the ship raced towards our victims. The rest of the crew also felt the build up and the tension was building with every kilometre that we traveled. The hurricane materialised in a flash 1.5 km from the myrmidon. Our spy in their corp was pretty accurate with the location. Now took over the ship weapons and engines in it's entirety, the crew having a secondary support role. The hurricane slid to one side and the warp disruptor spun into life, locking onto the warp core signature of the myrmidon and disrupting the containment fields of it's engines, rendering any escape impossible. My mighty 425 mm auto canons opened up a deadly broadside, smashing apart the shields on the myrmidon. The drones from both the myrmidon and arbitrator locked me, flashing red in my tactical overview and attacked me, my shields dipping a little in response. No matter, my own ecm drones slid out from the small drone bays on the side of the hurricane and locked their hungry little eyes on the arbitrator.
The myrmidon shook as my rounds (a mix of EMP and Hail) brushed past the shields, half my gun then turned off as the ammunition hoppers were changed to Hail. The other guns, already loaded with Hail bore deep into the armour of the myrmidon. One side was now on fire and it started to spurt out gases and fire. It was dying. I sent my boarding parties over and gave them five minutes to steal any valuables. I then dispatched the arbitrator in three concentrated salvos. Turning my attention back to the myrmidon, still hanging on, I made sure the boarding party were back with their booty and then I reduced the myrmidon to scrap. We failed to capture the captain's pod but no matter. We got what we wanted: booty and loot.


My 30 minutes was up and my evening's pirating would be coming to an end. I turned the ship towards home.

A most excellent catch and a good way to end the day.

BALLS

BALLS

Fire, Death, Loot up for sale and a well-executed trap

Plenty of Fire and Death

I decided to do some solo work as the Black Flag operatives all had their own thing on. I grabbed my things and locked up my room - still a mess from a few weeks ago when I trashed the place in a drunken rage. I was angry at something but now, I can't remember. Maybe it was the size of my bank account. Who knows?

Nothing works out frustrations like a good hunt and the resultant kills. Even after almost two years of pirating, the thrill is still there. Most of the pirates I first flew with are still doing their thing; so something is right. I have to admit, pirating has made me millions of isk and lost me just as much. However, I am still more or less intact, mentally and still love roaring out of the space dock into a sea of reds. Well, maybe not a sea of reds.

Over the next hour or so, I got some nice kills that dropped decent loot. Around 01:19 New Eden Standard Time, I was in a mixed gang that was pursuing some known anti-pies. However, as the fleet moved, we all got split up and I found myself on my own. I had a megathron in front of me and three more ships of various classes behind me. As I approached the gate, ship shuddering as I slowed the battle cruiser down, a cerberus popped up behind me. He landed 17km from me and I was just about to give the order to activate the gate. I paused for only a second when I moved the ship from yellow alert to red alert, battle stations and then locked the cerberus.

"Cerb at the arnstur gate in Gult. Am locking and engaging."
"Roger - we're en-route." Said 50FreeFly. Yes, 50 was an anti-pie that we had fought but he has crossed the divide and joined up with us pirates, now flying with M34N. The cerb fired and it was game on. I nudged the micro warp drive and closed the gap while the cerberus let loose with a stream of missiles at me

2008.01.26 01:32

Victim: Lomong
Alliance: Fate Weavers
Corp: Void Spiders
Destroyed: Cerberus
System: Gultratren
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 9239

Involved parties:

Name: flashfresh (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Alliance: None
Corp: BLACK-FLAG
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: 425mm Medium 'Scout' Autocannon I
Damage Done: 8752

Name: 50freefly
Security: -9.9
Alliance: None
Corp: Mean Corp
Ship: Deimos
Weapon: Deimos
Damage Done: 487


Destroyed items:

Caldari Navy Terror Assault Missile, Qty: 49
'Arbalest' Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I
'Arbalest' Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I
'Arbalest' Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
True Sansha Reactor Control Unit

Dropped items:

Caldari Navy Terror Assault Missile, Qty: 12
'Arbalest' Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I
'Arbalest' Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I
Large Shield Extender II
'Anointed' I EM Ward Reinforcement
Warp Disruptor II
Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Invulnerability Field II
Terror Assault Missile, Qty: 4943 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Terror Assault Missile, Qty: 1889 (Cargo)

That was a good kill but the Cerb pilot was doing a lethal amount of DPS. Over the next few hours, I killed a vexor, an incursus, a rupture, a rifter, a raven and a maelstrom. The latter was racing in to help his friend in the raven. Unfortunate enough to be caught outside the station by some pirate battleships and making the mistake of engaging us. Fairplay to the maelstrom pilot though.

A well-executed trap

Disaster struck however. I made the mistake of engaging a lone caracal slow-boating towards a gate. I locked and fired on him and then suddenly, a ship appeared (de-cloaked?) and scrambled me. Then within seconds my overview was filled with hostiles. I decided quickly to deagress as the sentry guns were beginning to hurt me. I could not leave the confines of the gate due to my being webbed nor could I warp out. I was also being hit by some of the assailants. They had me good and proper but eventually, gate command decided that I had waited long enough and I was allowed to jump. So I did but the tacklers came through and got me as I tried to leave the destructive embrace of the gate guns.

Great job by Dohle and Tatzu. They missed my pod though.


2008.01.26 20:56

Victim: flashfresh
Alliance: None
Corp: BLACK-FLAG
Destroyed: Hurricane
System: Gusandall
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 8994

Involved parties:

Name: Minmatar Sentry Gun / Republic Fleet
Damage Done: 7444

Name: dohle (laid the final blow)
Security: -1.9
Alliance: None
Corp: Cataclysm Enterprises
Ship: Sabre
Weapon: Sabre
Damage Done: 1529

Name: tatzu
Security: 4.5
Alliance: None
Corp: Cataclysm Enterprises
Ship: Stiletto
Weapon: 250mm Light Artillery Cannon II
Damage Done: 21


Destroyed items:

425mm Medium 'Scout' Autocannon I
EMP M, Qty: 87
Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator I
425mm AutoCannon II
Phased Plasma M, Qty: 162
Large Shield Extender II
Warp Disruptor II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Phased Plasma M, Qty: 3129 (Cargo)
10MN Afterburner I (Cargo)
J5b Phased Prototype Warp Inhibitor I (Cargo)
Core Defence Field Extender I, Qty: 2
Hornet EC-300, Qty: 3 (Drone Bay)

Dropped items:

EMP M, Qty: 43
425mm AutoCannon II
425mm AutoCannon II
425mm AutoCannon II
425mm Medium Carbine Repeating Cannon I
Medium 'Gremlin' Power Core Disruptor I
Large Shield Extender II
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Gyrostabilizer II
Overdrive Injector System II
Overdrive Injector System II
F85 Peripheral Damage System I
Carbonized Lead M, Qty: 700 (Cargo)
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator (Cargo)
EMP M, Qty: 1155 (Cargo)
Vespa EC-600 (Drone Bay)
Hornet EC-300 (Drone Bay)

Lost the Wolfie and my trophies

There was an itch this morning and I had to scratch it. The itch was the desire to kill someone, anyone. I went in the wolf to do the deed. Does this make me a psychopath? Loot and riches was a distant second. All I wanted was to hunt someone down, see the mark in my gunsights and kill him.

So I roared out of Gusandall in my faithful wolf class assault frigate and did a quick local scan. Nothing around but not too surprising due to the time zone that we were in. I went into Eifer and my scanner picked up the unmistakable signature of a hurricane-class battlecruiser. I checked local and it appeared that the mark was probably 'Ovip Lokos'. A name that does ring a bell for me but wasn't too sure where. Jubes was the only other Black Flag corp member online and I fired up the comms to him.

"Jubes bro' you there? " There was a moments pause before the distinctive rumble of Jubes' voice came through.
"Hi - am here. Bit busy at the moment."
"I have a possible at IV-3, Eifer. Hurricane." I then fired off the name of the pilot to Jubes. As I aligned to the belt and got ready.
"Getting ship and will be there soon."
"Okay hurry, I don't think he will be hanging around." I hit the scanner to make sure he had not moved and no, he was still sitting around the IV-3 belt area. I hit the afterburner to get more speed and then jumped to the belt. I had a 24KM warp disruptor on and was going to sit around an orbit of 14km and keep him pointed. I landed in the belt and there was the Hurricane. It was looming and angry looking and know full well the intimidating effect the hurricane's clean, deadly lines has on opponents. Ovip Lokos did not hesitate to lock me, I was only 6km from him and whipped the assault frigate away from him, my afterburners glowing brightly. I had him pointed and was now moving into an orbit.
"Jubes: Hurricane pointed." I said and prepared to settle into an orbit. Except the hurricane was closing the distance to me. Was it a nano-cane? I was then locked and webbed. Out came his drones: hobgoblin tech 2 drones. Oh dear, I thought. This would hurt.
"Am on my way!" However, once Ovip's drones were on me, I couldn't get out. My capacitor disappeared and I was helpless. The drones ripped my wolf to fragments. I got the pod out. The engagement lasted all of 15 seconds. Jubes was on the gate and was activating it as my pod flashed out from the belt.
"Get him Jubes. Kill him! IV-3. He should be picking over my wreck now."
"On my way. Guy is dead." Answered Jubes and I full well believe my fellow pirate. As my pod raced back towards Gusandall, Jubes came back to me, his voice thick with disappointment.
"He's gone. He isn't in belt." There was a pause. "He has left local too."

Bah. Down on wolf and no kill either!

2008.01.25 09:05

Victim: flashfresh
Alliance: None
Corp: BLACK-FLAG
Destroyed: Wolf
System: Eifer
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 3841

Involved parties:

Name: Ovip Lokos (laid the final blow)
Security: 0.9
Alliance: Legion of xXDEATHXx
Corp: The xDEATHx Squadron
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: Hobgoblin II
Damage Done: 3841

Name: Domination Depredator / Archangels
Damage Done: 0

Destroyed items:
150mm Light AutoCannon II
150mm Light AutoCannon II
150mm Light AutoCannon II
150mm Light AutoCannon II
Hail S, Qty: 160
EMP S, Qty: 80
Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
'Grail' Regenerative Plating I
Small I-a Polarized Armor Regenerator
Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 435 (Cargo)
Thorn Rocket, Qty: 103 (Cargo)
Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 261 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

EMP S, Qty: 80
Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 30
'Limos' Rocket Launcher I
Warp Disruptor II
Gyrostabilizer II
400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Barrage S, Qty: 1000 (Cargo)
Hail S, Qty: 299 (Cargo)
EMP S, Qty: 1764 (Cargo)


Anyway, on a separate note, I was checking my assets and inventory when i realised that I had a hidden room off the bar. I checked it and the sign on it read, 'Trophy Room'. The trophy hall is a dirty little secret of mine. I keep all the bodies of my kills in a cryo-freeze chamber. After a pod kill, my ship automatically scoops the body up into the hold and then freezes it and transport it back to this room. It is entirely automated and to be honest, I don't pay that much attention to it. No idea why I keep them here but it's a shame to dispose of them in space. For one thing, they would be a navigational hazard! There is a pilot who, for a slack handfuls of isk will 'bury' corpses around a system in an small anchored can with a suitable epitah.

Right now, I can't recall this pilots name but he definitely has a website available that one can use to search and index corpses. Nice idea and these corpse, while victims of mine, I will respect and I will see what can be done for them.

POS Bashing, A thorax in hull and their blob and EWAR is bigger than our blob.

The POS Action

Back in the Independence bar, I sat in the private member's lounge that only had Black Flag, M34N, TSL and Hellequin pilots in there. Kane is an honorary member of BF and has membership but apart from him, no one else is allowed in. Gulping down some bitter coffee, I looked at the morning's tasks. Being a Pirate Captain is increasingly turning out to be a full time job, I have a 1000 odd crew members to pay, house and feed. A hangar-full of ships to repair and numerous bills to pay, mostly to the authorities due to the antics of my crew. Beginning to sound like a legitimate businessman aren't I?

I noticed someone quickly coming into the bar and make a bee-line straight for me. It was Jubes.
"Jubes. You're up early."
"I haven't slept." Replied Jubes smoothly, not betraying any tiredness. I pulled up a chair for and prepared to call over the bar man when Jubes stopped me.
"Bro' can't hang about - we need some firepower; we're going to cause some pain for the new POS owner. The fleet is a bit thin at the moment." He pushed a thin plastic card to me. "The co-ordinates are there. Dogz and Grun' already in the system. Am going there in 'cane. See you there. Soon." Without even waiting for a reply, he turned and stalked out. I slipped the card into the data reader built into the table and scrolled through the contents. A few hours before, Dogz and Grun had popped a hauler bringing in ammo to the POS; then it was obvious that they started to fire on and take down some of the weapons batteries and the POS owners came out to repair the shields. This resulted in the POS owner losing a scimitar, to the same pair.

It appears that between Black Flag and M34N we had three ships in total. Who had ever heard of a POS blockade with only three ships?

Soon to be four, I thought as I made my way to the hangar, striding through towards the turbo-lifts that would take me down the where I had my ships. I would bring out my newest addition to the fleet: 'Paths of Pain', another hurricane-class battlecruiser. Slipping out of the space dock I punched the co-ordinates into the computer and was on my way. I had a smaller crew today as I was not expecting too much ship versus ship combat.

I called ahead to the fleet and ensured that I was heading in the right direction and that there were no operational scrambling or webbing batteries. They would hurt and cause me too much pain. Arriving at the POS, I saw Dogz and Jubes firing at the AC batteries, taking them down so they offlined. Grun was in his rapier, lurking. I could see a Jaguar and an Abaddon inside the pos, drifting inside the POS shields. A lot of the AC batteries were now offlined and by the time I had locked the AC battery - it too went off-line. We switched our attention to the webber battery, blasting it at close range and taking it's shields down. Even so, the prize would be the ships inside the POS. Sooner or later, they would be coming out. Grunanca was ready with his rapier. The Abaddon was piloted by an Inferno Inc pilot going by the name of 'Dronius'. He drifted his 'Abad up to 500m of the shield boundary and stopped. Not too sure what he had in mind but whatever, we were all ready.

Dronius drifted his Abaddon closer to the shields and after reducing his speed to 3m/s and 15 minutes later, the majestic form of his ship exited the shield.

"Abad is out of the shields. Abad is out of the shields. Lock and engage!" I said, I was 39km away, Dogz was 45KM and Jubes was even further. No matter, I hit the MWD and tore myself over there.
"He is locking me. No laser fire but he has locked me." Said Dogz, sounding entirely unconcerned. Dronius launched his drones and then his engines flared and he popped back into the protective embraces of his POS shields. The drones, obeying the last set of instructions, sped over towards Dogz and attacked his typhoon. We laughed as the smart bombs popped them all.

The next hour or so had this cat and mouse game where Dronius would stick his nose out and then duck back in. Was he trying to bore us? Also, we were surprised that there were no new friends coming in to help him. The scimitar pilot, someone called 'Sansey' - came back online and undocked in a typhoon class battleship. Now we had two battleships and an assault frigate inside the POS. Outside, we had three Black Flag ships: me and Jubes both in hurricanes, Grunanca in his rapier and one M34N corp member in Dogz in his ever-dependable typhoon.

The Abaddon and Typhoon both started to slowly power themselves towards the shield boundary; after two hours of messing around, it appeared that they felt confident enough to take us on? I started to ping both ship with my target locking but each time the POS shields prevented it however it was clear they would be exiting the POS shield in under a minute.

"Guys, hostiles about to exit shields. Get ready." I said.
"Grunanca: ready. They'll be dual-webbed and fucked."
"Jubes, ready."
"Dogz, ready."
"Primary will be the 'abad then the phoon. Leave the crappy Jag 'til last."
"Roger."

The abaddon was out a fraction of a second before the typhoon and they both locked Dogz' typhoon. We replied in kind and fired up our drives and closed the gap.

"Webbed and drones are out." Informed Grunanca as he shifted his rapier into an optimal locking and firing position. I closed the gap and locked both ships then opened fire. My hurricane shuddered as the gyrostabilisers strained to spread the recoil of my six auto canons. Nex to me, Jubes and Dogz also opened up and the deadly broadside began. It was clear from the first salvo that Dronius was horribly outmatched. Our munitions smashed gaping holes in the golden side of the abaddon. Fearsome as it was, it was webbed and could not turn round and get back to the safety of the POS shields, a mere one kilometre away.

Bright lances of light streaked out from the Tachyon lasers and touched Dogz but the tremendously thick armour of his typhoon class shrugged off the damage. Fires were now visible on the sides of the Abaddon as internal explosions ripped the shipped apart from the inside out. There was a plume of fire jetting out from it's starboard engines as some energy containment field failed and the abaddon, dipped to it's side like a drunken sailor. The explosion was tremendous and incinerated all the life pods that were streaking out. Dronius survived and zipped back inside the POS shields. We didn't care as we locked and did the same to Sansey's typhoon.

The loot was quite poor to be honest.

After another hour, we disengaged - there was no more help today to add to our four ships attacking the POS, but no matter. We had dreads and we would bring them in when required. Today was quite a profitable morning I thought as I docked up and had to take care of some important business.

Thorax down to hull

Later on, there was another Black Flag gang in place with Yoshi ( a BF prospect) in his thorax and Dogz in his typhoon. It was formed in response to some intelligence reports we had of a small (4-5) battlecruiser gang in eifer. While I was sifting through the reports, trying to ascertain on the accuracy of the intelligence, Dogz had already undocked and was on his way to Eifer!

The first that anyone knew of this was Dogz informing everyone that he was at the top belt and was scanning. Scrambling, the fleet bolted out of space dock and got to the Eifer gate just as Dogz had located the enemy battlecruisers and was en-route to them.

Our fleet comprised of:

Gwendoline - Ishtar (the source of the original intelligence.)
Dogz - typhoon
Yoshi - thorax
Krypt - hurricane
Flashfresh - hurricane

"Contact. Contact!" Yelled Dogz as he had obviously found the mysterious battle-cruiser gang. "There's only three of them. Two drakes and a brutix. Warp to me! Warp to me!" Okay, not a gang of five then.
"All ships: warp to Dogz. Primary is the Brutix, Dogz and Gwen points on the brutix. Krypt, Yoshi and me will point the drakes in alphabetical order. All DPS on the brutix. Then we process the drakes in alphabetical order. Clear?"
"Roger!" Chorused the reply as the Eifer gate flared up and gate command shot us through into Eifer. As soon as we arrived, we aligned our ships, located Dogz' location and then jumped to his position.
The warp tunnel wrapped itself around me and the hurricane was set to red alert, already, my tactical computer was picking up weapons' discharges that were distorting the local gravitational patterns.

The Brutix was already into armour as I put my points onto a Drake. This Drake-class ship was called 'Unbreakable'. We shall see. My guns opened up with HAIL that tore through the Brutix's thick armour. It shuddered and died. However, it wasn't going all out way as Yoshi in his thorax was being hit hard by the missiles from the drakes as well as the surviving drones. He was down into armour but holding. I checked the overview and saw that Kyrpt was frantically repairing Yoshi's shields and keeping him in the fight. I was too far away to do the same as I locked and proceeded to exchange hostilities with the 'Unbreakable' drake. Yoshi had to warp out but he was alive thanks to Krypt's work. We love our hurricanes!

With a Brutix down and only two drakes, we had the upper hand however, our overviews suddenly flashed as the ships detected increased with another three ships, all flagged as red, materialising some 150km from our current position. They were from Capital Storm Alliance, an anti-pirate alliance that we had many engagements with.

The odds were shifting against us but we focused on the job in hand. If these CS guys warped in, then we might be in trouble. Maybe they were frantically trying to contact either of the pilots of the two drakes and attempting to form a gang with them and then warp to them? Who knows? Who cares?

'Unbreakable' proved to be very breakable and popped, showering us in debris and bits of killed crew. The last Drake also blew up in a most satisfying explosion. The three new hostiles did not engage but disappeared from Eifer, leaving the field to us. The loot was okay - plenty of ammo mainly.

Our Kills: Brutix, Drake (No 1) and Drake (No 2)

Here's a picture of Yoshi as viewed from his cockpit GUI. He was down to hull and his near full shield was thanks to Krypt. Good job by Yoshi for rolling with us.

Their blob and EWAR is bigger than our blob.

We did eventually engage Capital Storm. It was a well-executed trap with some assistance from the sentry gun fire. Early in the engagement, we saw two Cynabal class cruisers in Gusandall local and we liked that immediately. It was flown by Dohle and Soraji and they moved freely between Eifer and Gusandall. We tracked them and tried to hunt them down but they were good and kept moving. They were also near the Emol gate with Gwendoline buzzing them in her Taranis - goading them into engaging us. We then saw DeltaUK1 in local and knew that there was also now a falcon, lurking and ready to engage. When we see DeltaUK1, there is a good chance that either Miriablis or Solon or Yoriks would be close by. More or less the same bunch we engaged yesterday.

We baited but they were not biting. All we could see were the two-Cynabal cruisers, a hyena and an unknown Cerberus near the gate. Yoshi was scouting in Ingunn and spotted a Rokh but it was unknown whether it was part of the hostile group.

Some 'pleasantries' we're exchanged in local between Dogz and the anti-pies. All fun and banter really, it comes with the territory. We saw two cynabals, a hound and a cerberus camping the gate.

Dogz, in his Typhoon was sick of the waiting in a belt and barelled into the gate with a 'YAAARRR' (or should that be 'LERRRRROOOOOYYYY!!!!'? He was on his own but we couldn't leave him there could we?

"Dogz engaging. Rokh there. Engaging. Yarrrr!!!!"
"All ships warp to Dogz. Primary is Dohle, Secondary is Soraji." I said, confirming the details we discussed before. However, from the reports there were an awful lot of ships there and all hostile. By the time I arrived, I landed in the middle of a much larger than expected fleet. It now included a Rokh (Yoriks), Cynabal (Dohle), Cynabal (Soraji), maelstrom (Miriablis), arazu (tatzu), Hound (Solon), Hyena (Stan G), Cerberus (Gladstone gander) and Falcon (Deltauk1).
"Primary is Soraji. Dohle is too far." It was Dogz, remarkably calm as he was being in the middle of a hostile crowd.
"Roger. Soraji is primary. Chasing." I replied as I hit the micro-warp drive and chased the speedy cruiser. It was down into armour and was racing to get out of scramble range. It was fast and even though I was running at 1000m/s it was moving away from me. It warped away when I was 50km from gate and he was 80km when he warped.
"Crap. Am perma jammed guys." It sounded like Krypt.
"Jammed too." That was Dogz. I desperately hunted for the Falcon and saw it: about 90KM from me. I was then jammed. Deltauk1 was doing his job very well. Too well and the fight had definitely shifted.
"Everyone, disengage and jump. Get out." Our ships all tried to turn but Krypt was in trouble. I watched with alarm as his shields disappeared and then the damage biting deep into his armour.
"Get out Krypt. Get out!"
"Too late. Abandon ship." There was a burst of static. "Krypt is down. Krypt is down."

I warped out as well and the pirates dis-engaged. We lost this one. Krypt was hit by nine ships as they (correctly) primaried his ass. Later in the evening, Dogz once more charged in but got his ship shot out from him by more or less the same group. Details are here. Dogz's single Typhoon versus 3 BS, a falcon and an inty. I didn't even get a chance to change ships before Dogz' ship loss was made known.

Not funny

Looks like my blog has offended someone who reported me to BLOGGER for 'objectionable' content. If it means a a kill mail with your name on it, then boo hoo.

Sorry to all my readers, some peeps are just asshats.

Will try and challenge this and get the annoying window removed.

Flashfresh

Hit and Miss

A new POS has appeared in Eifer and there was much discussion over who should go over there to remove it. I was all for it, even if I could only bring a hurricane to the fleet but with enough numbers one could knock the POS into reinforced mode and then try to destroy / off-line the weapons and eventually, destroy the POS. However, the gaggle of pirates clustered in the bar could only agree that it was a bad idea for there being a POS and that Dreadnaught classes would be required. Meanwhile, a number of battleships would have been enough to disrupt the anchoring process.

In the end, nothing was done. The POS now has a webber and some auto-canon batteries in place. We definitely need a dreadnaught (or two) to take this POS down. Hope we do it soon. POS bashing is boring but in this case, a requirement.

A fleet was set up as a Capital Storm Alliance crew was spotted: a maelstrom, raven, hound and basilisk. There was a fifth pilot, 'DeltaUK1' and therefore one could add a cloaked falcon to the mix. We scanned down the group and bookmarked their position. It was clear from how they were aligned that they were expecting a visit from us.

A mixed pirate fleet was in place led by Hellequin corp with some M34N and Black Flag pilots making up the rest. Kane Rizzel was also in the group. Due to the different engagement protocols between the corps, it was unclear to me whether our rapier had decloaked and locked and pointed a target and therefore provided our first warp in point. It was not until I heard Muhaar speak that I realised that it was game on. I hit the warp drives and jumped towards Amber in her rapier. The fleet had selected the basilisk as primary and by the time I arrived, it was scrap. I was 7km from the maelstrom, 34km from the raven and hound and right on top of a ball of sputtering ship wreckage, the basilisk I believe. The raven was next and I locked and hit the micro-warpdrive, eager to get into the fight. I put a point on the maelstrom just to be sure.

Our own brutix was being pumelled however and soon it popped too - I had now got within decent weapon range of the raven and unleashed EMP rounds at it.

"Maistro down. Maistro down." Said the Mean corp pilot as he whipped his pod out of the fight. We were awfully spread out however, due to the spacing of the raven and the maelstom and then DeltaUK1's falcon uncloaked some 80Km from me. The deadly recon ship would be locking us all and then jamming us. We had to take it out.

"Falcon has decloaked, 80km!" I warned.
"Falcon is primary - get it. It needs to be taken out. Shit. Am jammed." It sounded like Muhaar.
"Am jammed too. Damnit. Aligning." Not too sure if that was Amber. The Kane spoke up just as I aligned to the falcon and hit the micro-warpdrive. It was still far from me and it reached out with it's ECM and knocked out my target locks.
"Kane is on the falcon."
"Flashfresh is on the falcon." My micro-warpdrive pulsed as my ship hit over 1200m/s and closed the distance to the target. Kane in his hurricane was a little ahead of me. We had over 50km to cover. My heart was thumping hard as my overview updated with tactical information. We were holding our own but so were the raven and maelstrom, we could tank their damage but we could not lock them due to the falcon. The Falcon had to go.
At 38km distant, the falcon seemed to shimmer and then wink out of existence as it engaged it's cloaking engines, disappearing off all out sensors.
"Falcon has cloaked." We informed the rest of the fleet, now very spread out. I decided to warp out and warp back onto Muhaar's position as did Kane. When we emerged, Muhaar was already warping out to get new cap boosters - Kane was selected by the raven and maelstrom as primary and was blasted, I got hit as well and then the Falcon re-appeared - jamming us once more. Stalemate though Kane was taking a tremendous hammering and was down to hull when the order came through:
"All ships dis-engage. All ships dis-engage." Kane pushed his ship out of warp disruption range and hit his warp drive. I was not scrambled and hit my warp drives as well.
"Muhaar dis-engaging."
"Kane dis-engaging."
"Amber dis-engaging."
"Flash dis-engaging."

So the engagement had ended. The tally was as follows:

United Kingdom Mayhem, Capital Storm Alliance.

Raven
Basilisk
Maelstrom
Falcon
Hound

They lost a basilisk.

Pirates

Hyperion
Hurricane
Rapier
Rupture
Brutix

We lost the brutix.

It was a fun fight though inconclusive. The falcon was the force multiplier and showed just how deadly EWAR is when used properly. We all retired from the fight while the CS Alliance pilots all left the system.

latest loot from kill today in Gus

Post in comments what items you want ok?

Angel Rats Suck Ass Big Time

Lost my hurricane today; just recently commissioned too. I had a shake down cruise only a day ago and was eager to get some kills in it. The fit was still a bit experimental but what the hell. Instead, the ship and most of the crew is in bits floating around the Gusandall gate in Ingunn.

A mixed group had spotted some Firestorm Projects pilots around Ingunn, a hyperion and a raven. Nice duo for us to take down - or so we thought. Tenchu was in his stabber, hovering near the gate when the hyp engaged him and the tremendous firepower killed him. The pirate gang was already in warp to the gate to assist but this was when disaster struck. First, the fleet numbered nine vessels, now eight due to Tenchu's loss, but only two or three appeared at the gate and they all took on sentry fire. The hyperion was chosen as primary but it had a tremendous tank with the FP Raven further out from the gate, about 32km away. Worst thing was: I wasn't even there. I was unable to engage my warp engines. Due to the noise and shouting over the fleet channel, I could not hear ship's computer informing me that 'you're unable to warp due to you being warp scrambled'.

Instead, I thought I was caught up on the belt and had to get myself clear from the rocks before I could fly. However, it was my XO who corrected my false assumption.

"Captain, we're being warp scrambled. Check your overview. The warp core is unable to stabilise long enough to for us warp. " I glanced at my overview and it was clear but I ordered the camera drones to zip out and give me a full 360 degree view of the hurricane. As the drones sped out to a range of 9km, I saw them: Arch Angel hijackers. Cursing, I flipped my overview from a purely ship-only configuration to include the local pirate factions and once enabled, three icons appeared on my overview, all moving at speed. I was a complete fool and I quickly ordered a target lock on the irritants. Meanwhile, the fight was going badly for us, the number of ships we had available was adequate for the task but for some reason, we all entered the fight in a staggered fashion. From the reports the Hyperion had taken down one ship, was in the process of demolishing another and it's armour tank was holding. The enemy raven was sitting at range and providing long range cover for the hyperion.

As the last of the Arch Angel's blew up, I aligned the ship towards the gate - the fight was getting worse and I ordered maximum burn towards the Gusandall stargate. The ship was in red alert and I had this horrible feeling that this lovely hurricane was about to meet its end. The GUI shimmered as energy discharges from weapon's systems washed over my ship as it burst out of the warp and into the fight. I was 12km from the gate, 24km from the Hyperion and 34km from the raven. I hit the micro-warpdrive and powered my Hurricane towards the hyperion, my locking computer picked up that the hyperion was at 55% armour but it was not dropping.

"I have a feeling we shouldn't have picked Hyperion as primary." Observed someone, it sounded like Deathstar but I wasn't too sure. My 425mm auto canons started up and threw EMP shells towards the Hyperion. EMP shells were horribly inappropriate when I had HAIL ammunition so I switched half my guns to the HAIL type, while I continued to fire EMP with the remaining guns. The armour on the hyperion started to drop but the raven had taken notice of me and had locked and started to hit me. I managed to web it so that the others could shoot it but we had precious little to reply with.

I engaged the hyperion up close, suicide really as the hyperion was designed for in-yer-face combat but I managed to get the ship down to hull but it's damage controls were first class and held the ship together long enough to see mine to explode.

"FlashFresh down. FlashFresh Down." I said as I got my capsule the hell out of there.

Good job by the FP guys, I did not return to the fight as I was out of suitable ships but we eventually killed the raven, the hyperion docking up on fire.

2008.01.20 14:17

Victim: flashfresh
Alliance: None
Corp: BLACK-FLAG
Destroyed: Hurricane
System: Ingunn
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 18374

Involved parties:

Name: Yoriks (laid the final blow)
Security: 5.0
Alliance: Capital Storm
Corp: Firestorm Projects
Ship: Hyperion
Weapon: Modal Mega Ion Particle Accelerator I
Damage Done: 11865

Name: narsci
Security: 3.9
Alliance: Capital Storm
Corp: Firestorm Projects
Ship: Raven
Weapon: Juggernaut Rage Torpedo
Damage Done: 6236

Name: Arch Angel Hijacker / Archangels
Damage Done: 273


Destroyed items:

Small Energy Neutralizer I
425mm AutoCannon II
425mm AutoCannon II
425mm AutoCannon II
425mm AutoCannon II
EMP M, Qty: 122
Warp Scrambler II
Medium F-RX Prototype I Capacitor Boost
Damage Control II
Gyrostabilizer II
Armor Explosive Hardener II
Cap Booster 800, Qty: 8 (Cargo)
Barrage M, Qty: 1500 (Cargo)
EMP M, Qty: 1260 (Cargo)
Hail M, Qty: 1500 (Cargo)
Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Trimark Armor Pump I

Dropped items:

425mm AutoCannon II
425mm AutoCannon II
Small Energy Neutralizer I
EMP M, Qty: 141
10MN MicroWarpdrive II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Armor Thermic Hardener II
800mm Reinforced Crystalline Carbonide Plates I
Medium Armor Repairer II

Chill brother - we'll kill them Vexors....let us finish our poker game first....

Still nursing a head-ache due to the violent re-cloning last night, I left my plush quarters in the Gusandall station and made my way to a small bar that I own on the seedier Brown-level 27. It is called, 'Independence' - a place where pod pilots and non-eggers can hang out, have a drink, chat to the exotic dancers and leave all the corporation and alliance political bull-shit behind. Besides, the door-men that I employ ensure that order is maintained even amongst the most un-ruly. Un-officially, the Independence bar is nicknamed the 'Podded Pilot' a nod to the unofficial pod kill scores scratched onto the back wall that the resident pirates here keep update with an almost religious fervor.
I greeted some of the residents: Muelac, Viper Sam, Way Charles and RedBad - there were a few others dotted around. Hustled around their drinks. Most of the regulars were in the back corner and there was a poker game being played. The air was thick with smoke and the exhausted extractor fan whirled as it tried to clean up the air.

"Fuck - these cards are shit." Muttered Viper and threw his cards on the table in disgust.
"Deal some better cards will ya WC?" Growled Muelac, not entirely happy himself. I approached and Viper pushed out a chair with his right leg.
"Yo."
"Yo." I replied and a drink appeared on the table as I sat down, from a new bar-maid called Marisa. Pretty little thing too. I settled in and looked at WayCharles. "Deal me in, next round." Redbad scrutinized his cards and threw on some more gold coins, they tinkered as they settled on the ever growing pot.
"10,000" Muelac raised an eyebrow and inhaled on a massive joint, almost as thick as my wrist. "I will see ya 10K." WayCharles also matched the bet with a nervous lick of his lips.
"Call." Hole cards were revealed and it was Redbad who chuckled as his full house, beat Muelac's three of a kind and WayCharles' two-pair. He reached over to claim his pot when there was a commotion and Corlone FinceMoar, a pilot with Hellequin Corporation came over, his excitement clear in the big grin on his face and the energy radiating off him. With almost imperceptible nods, we greeted each other. WayCharles then dealt the hole cards to the players, once the ante was put forward.
"Guys, two vexor-class cruisers in Gusandall! They've been here a while, a source told me that they're running some juicy mission. I have the pilots information too. Nice marks!" He said as he dropped two hard copies of the pilot's bio. Two veteran pilots from the Bayan-Aenedite Exxon Synergies Corporation. Never heard of them.
Corlone FinceMoar licked his lips and looked around at all of us. He frowned as we all intently looked at our two hole cards, Viper sighing loudly. I had an Ace and a King. Not bad and good for the next round.
"Guys? There are two marks in local...." Started Corlone.
"Shhhhh." Said Muelac as his meaty closed over a pile of chips and deposited it into the pot. "We're busy here."
"What?" Spluttered Corlone, quite shocked at the idea of pirates forgoing a kill. "The vexors are running missions in deep space, we need probers. They're veterans so they could be tech-2 fitted." WayCharles dealt out the flop. An ace of spades, three of hearts and a king of diamonds. Nice.
"10,000." Said Viper, quite intent on the game in hand. I raised Viper and was myself raised by Muelac and WayCharles.
"The vexors....." Said Corlone and he gave up and went left the bar. We had no intention of letting kills go but man, this game had to finish. I tapped a short-cut command that got my Wolf-class assault frigate ready. My last one was still scrap somewhere in Gusandall, Yoshi had apologised already and to be honest, it was funny. My re-cloning had got rid of my sprained ankle and I felt great if not a bit fuzzy headed. The game finally finished an hour later and I made ready to leave. I got into the wolf and was soon out into the quiet of space, the afterburner flaring as it nudged the deadly ship towards the belt clusters. A quick scan and it revealed nothing, no vexors but i wasn't too surprised. What we didn't tell Corlone was that Kane Rizzel had managed to smuggle on a positioning unit onto one of the vexors and we knew that both ships were in Auren. It was a neighbouring system. I set course and approached the gate, having requested a jump before arrival, I was instantly sling-shoted into the Auren system. Corlone was there in his crow. He wasn't moving either, a 10km holding position. A quick scan confirmed that the two vexor-class cruisers were in Auren. So what was Corlone doing here? He couldn't tackle on a low-sec gate in his crow-class interceptor?
"Corlone? You there." No reply. I tried again. "Corlone. Corlone. Do you read?"
Nothing. Christ, he hadn't decided to unjack his pod from his ship? He was a sitting duck if he was stupid enough to do this and would deserve his fate if some trigger happy pilot came through.

I moved off the gate and there was a beep from my communication unit, it was my bar back at the station and they informed me that Kane Rizzel had entered the bar. Good timing as always. I quickly opened up channel to him, my avatar appearing in the bar and chatting to Kane directly. He was only in the bar to conclude some business but he convinced himself that the two marks in Auren would be a good way to end his day. It was his work that allowed this to happen. He agreed to join up with me. I also got Muelac to join our gang. It was then that Corlone finally came back online - quite shocked that he and his ship was still in one piece. There was some interface malfunction that rendered him unable to communicate with anyone for over 15 minutes.
"Gentlemen. Situation: Two Vexors in Auren. Pilots: Riskin Mons and Orobas Wats. We have their locations. Get to the Auren gate in Gus and stand-by. Muelac, bring your 'cane."
"Roger."
"I will be bringing mine too." Said Kane as I jumped back into Gusandall and waited. Corlone in his crow then joined me on the gate. Muelac's hurricane loomed up alongside and then Kane appeared.
"Pilots, status please." I said.
"Muelac, cane, on Auren gate. Ready."
"Kane, cane, on Auren gate. Ready."
"Corlone, crow, on Auren gate. Ready."
"Flash, wolf, on Auren gate. Ready." Satisfied, I turned to Kane's avatar. "Kane - activate the homing beacon on the vexor. Give us a warp in spot please."
"Roger that." I checked the weapons and ammunition and made sure that the ammunition hoppers were full of the right types of EMP and Barrage munitions.
"Muelac and Kane, I want you two to get points on Riskin Mons. Me and Corlone will get points on Orobas Wats. Riskin Mons is primary and will get all our DPS. Clear?"
"Roger." Replied Muelac.
"Understood." Said Corlone.
"Clear."And Kane added, "Activate gate and warp to target. Now!" The gate flared as the ships jumped in. I punched the warp engines and my wolf surged ahead. The crow was behind me and one hurricane behind him.
"Shit. Shit." That was Kane cutting through the communications network. "I had my auto-pilot on and I warped to the wrong goddamn gate!" I chuckled, easy mistake I suppose.
"OK Kane, make your way to Auren asap. Muelac and I will point Riskin. Corlone, one point on Orobas Wats. Riskin is still primary. Clear?"
"Roger." Replied the pilots as we raced towards our warp in point. I pinged the scanner ahead and the vexors were dead ahead of us. Kane's hard work in locating the Vexor meant that we landed within 2km of the Vexors. There were no drones out, so we caught them hopping. I locked Riskin and hit the warp disruptor.
"Point on Riskin." I said.
"Point on Riskin." Said Muelac.
"Point on Orobas Wats." Said Corlone. So we had both ships locked tight and our guns spun up and spat out EMP rounds. The Vexor's shield went down very quickly and his armour repairer flashed up, repairing the damage we were causing on the thick hide of his ship. He fired back
with heavy blasters and clamped a nosferatu on me. No matter, minmatar ships can always fire without cap due to our use of auto-canons, weapons that still use a mechanical method of firing. Under our combined fire, Riskin died and he didn't even get a chance to throw out any drones. It looked like both vexor pilots were not communicating and did not concentrate their fire on any one of us. Their split firepower caused us little concern. They should have thrown all their drones at me and then Corlone; while trying to tank the hurricane by moving away from us. Instead they sat there and tried to go toe-to-toe. Once the expanding gas that was Riskin's vexor had dissipated, Orobas was next and he too met the same, fiery demise.

We checked the loot and we were greatly disappointed. Very basic gear and for the age of the pilots, we were greatly surprised. No tech-2 stuff either. Just some named gear and lots of wrecks - that we ended up salvaging for some nice compounds.

It was a slightly disappointing kill, we expected more from Vexors to be honest. However, a kill is a kill.

Satisfied, I returned to the station and went back to the bar. WayCharles was still there dealing himself a hand. Redbad was there also, supping a wierd looking mix of blue and purple liquid. I pulled up a chair.
"Deal me in."


Concord KillMail.


The First Vexor

2008.01.17 23:19

Victim: Riskin Mons
Alliance: None
Corp: Bayan-Aenedite Exxon Synergies
Destroyed: Vexor
System: Auren
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 26668

Involved parties:

Name: Enforcer Alvatis / Unknown
Damage Done: 22924

Name: Muelac (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Alliance: None
Corp: BLACK-FLAG
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: 425mm AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 2233

Name: flashfresh
Security: -10.0
Alliance: None
Corp: BLACK-FLAG
Ship: Wolf
Weapon: Wolf
Damage Done: 1490

Name: Corlone FinceMoar
Security: -7.0
Alliance: None
Corp: Hellequin Inc.
Ship: Crow
Weapon: Rocket Launcher II
Damage Done: 21


Destroyed items:

Heavy Ion Blaster I
Medium Nosferatu I
Thorium Charge M, Qty: 240
10MN Afterburner I
Cap Recharger I
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane I
Energized Reactive Membrane I
Iron Charge S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Proton S, Qty: 200 (Cargo)
Alloyed Tritanium Bar, Qty: 5 (Cargo)
Small Energy Transfer Array I (Cargo)
Widowmaker Heavy Missile, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Shield Recharger I (Cargo)
Angel Ship Log 583225679 (Cargo)
Precious Alloy, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Beta Hull Mod Inertial Stabilizers (Cargo)
Inertia Stabilizers I (Cargo)
Tracking Disruptor I (Cargo)
Gyrostabilizer I (Cargo)
Charred Micro Circuit, Qty: 9 (Cargo)
Thorium Charge M, Qty: 1489 (Cargo)
Sheen Compound (Cargo)
Proton M, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Hammerhead I (Drone Bay)
Berserker I, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)
Hornet I (Drone Bay)

Dropped items:

Heavy Ion Blaster I
Heavy Ion Blaster I
Salvager I
Thorium Charge M, Qty: 120
'Langour' Drive Disruptor I
Medium Armor Repairer I
Damage Control I
Lucent Compound (Cargo)
Smashed Trigger Unit, Qty: 6 (Cargo)
Gleaming Alloy, Qty: 4 (Cargo)
Condensed Alloy, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Tripped Power Circuit, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Dark Compound (Cargo)
Crystal Compound, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Miner I (Cargo)
Titanium Sabot L, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Broken Drone Transceiver, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Heat Dissipation Field I (Cargo)
Explosion Dampening Field I (Cargo)
Overdrive Injector System I (Cargo)
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher I (Cargo)
Wrath Cruise Missile, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Phased Plasma S, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Fried Interface Circuit, Qty: 4 (Cargo)
Scourge Heavy Missile, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Contaminated Nanite Compound, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Berserker I (Drone Bay)


The Second Vexor

2008.01.17 23:20

Victim: Orobas Wats
Alliance: None
Corp: Bayan-Aenedite Exxon Synergies
Destroyed: Vexor
System: Auren
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 6427

Involved parties:

Name: Muelac
Security: -10.0
Alliance: None
Corp: BLACK-FLAG
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: Hurricane
Damage Done: 3305

Name: Corlone FinceMoar (laid the final blow)
Security: -7.0
Alliance: None
Corp: Hellequin Inc.
Ship: Crow
Weapon: Thorn Javelin Rocket
Damage Done: 2181

Name: Shatter Alvior / Unknown
Damage Done: 941

Name: flashfresh
Security: -10.0
Alliance: None
Corp: BLACK-FLAG
Ship: Wolf
Weapon: Wolf
Damage Done: 0


Destroyed items:

Thorium Charge S, Qty: 80
250mm 'Scout' I Accelerator Cannon
250mm 'Scout' I Accelerator Cannon
150mm Railgun I
Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 40
Cap Booster 400
Cap Booster 400
Medium Capacitor Booster I
Azimuth Descalloping Tracking Enhancer
'Malkuth' Heavy Missile Launcher I (Cargo)
Dark Compound, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Medium Hull Repairer I (Cargo)
Precious Alloy, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Small Armor Repairer I (Cargo)
1MN Afterburner I (Cargo)
Nuclear M, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Condensed Alloy, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Thunderbolt Heavy Missile, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
200mm AutoCannon I (Cargo)
Sheen Compound, Qty: 18 (Cargo)
Passive Targeter I (Cargo)
Crystal Compound, Qty: 7 (Cargo)
Gleaming Alloy (Cargo)
Hornet I (Drone Bay)

Dropped items:

Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 40
150mm Railgun I
Medium Shield Extender I
10MN Afterburner I
Medium Armor Repairer I
Reactor Control Unit I
Precious Alloy, Qty: 14 (Cargo)
Motley Compound, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Thorium Charge S, Qty: 146 (Cargo)
Lucent Compound, Qty: 8 (Cargo)
Defender I, Qty: 100 (Cargo)
Condensed Alloy, Qty: 3 (Cargo)
Passive Targeter I (Cargo)
Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 303 (Cargo)
Sheen Compound (Cargo)
Gleaming Alloy, Qty: 10 (Cargo)
Crystal Compound, Qty: 5 (Cargo)
Cap Booster 400, Qty: 10 (Cargo)
Miner I (Cargo)
Dark Compound (Cargo)

Kane Rizzel

Kane has a blog. It's a good one too - read it here.

For those of you who don't know - Kane is a pirate and a damn good one. Don't let that thin pointy Sebiestor face fool you. He'll kill you and your ship stone dead.

Known Kane for a while now along with Lucius Cain and Rakanas (now no longer with us). I think I introduced myself to Kane via a burst of 150mm AC fire. He then replied in kind.

I think he killed me.

Anyway - he's good and his blog will be excellent to.

Go to it. Often. And leave comments. Or threats. Or both.

Teamwork FTW!!

I might give up putting myself forward as bait. Twice I have baited for a fleet / gang and twice I got mauled because either the gang wasn't paying attention or they were positioned too many jumps away and thought I was next door.

No matter, I fly only what I can afford to lose but still, I want to be in on the kill.

There was a lot of fun today however, Tsuyoshi Takeru is a new-ish pilot interested in join Black Flag and he has been flying around with us in mixed gangs. A decent thorax pilot and one hopes he moves across into the Hurricane and Claymore class ships. We are sorely in need of more ships like this.

He helped me tackle down a couple of marks in Eifer yesterday and he was around today. Heinz was around today but had to bail. So I was moving around the local systems, chilling out and chatting to other pirates. I was in my slasher - love it 'cause it's fast and nimble. I saw an old foe (almost a friend now) in local, OriasV. He was now in Katugumur and he undocked seconds after I had docked. I sat in the docking bay getting new ammo and then, I too undocked. OriasV was outside in a Jaguar-class assault frigate. He obviously locked me but I was already in warp before he completed his cycle. I made a mental note of this and wanted to come back in a rupture to kill him.

When I docked up in Gusandall, I noticed that OriasV was there in local. I doubt very much he followed me but then again, who knows? I reckoned he was probably going to the angel complex entrance. That complex is like a magnet for many pilots so all things being equal, I reckoned he was en route there. Being a smaller 2/10 class complex, it could not accept a rupture-class ship so I downgraded to a wolf-class assault ship and undocked. Hitting the scanner, I confirmed that the Jaguar was jumping around, maybe ratting but more than likely checking out the local belts for something tasty to snack on. I warped straight to the angel complex entrance and waited.
Tsuyoshi Takeru was still in the station, prepping his thorax-class ship while I knew, just knew that OriasV was now closing in. Maybe he scanned me to the entrance and wanted to kill me or may be not, no matter - I was there waiting for him.

The fight was exciting though I was on the other side of the gate and I bumped into it a few times. He was fast with a fantastic shield tank. It was a very close thing however, I had broken his tank but I had to pulse the afterburner to ensure that I could keep the Jaguar within my optimal. To be honest, OriasV had the upper hand right at the end and had killed me a fraction before he went down.

However, it's what happened after the fight that had everyone else in the Independence channel laughing.....


The transcript follows:

[Accessing Voice Logs. Pilot: Flashfresh. Location:Gusandall.Date: 2008.01.17]
[Accessing......]
[Parsing.........]
[Encrypting for FTL transmission....]
[..]
[..]
[Received and de-crypting]
[..]
[..]
[Spooling to chosen audio device]

[ 2008.01.17 16:13:32 ] flashfresh > OriasV, hmmmm he is fast.
[ 2008.01.17 16:13:38 ] flashfresh > I need a webber on this thing...
[ 2008.01.17 16:13:49 ] flashfresh > hmmmm.
[ 2008.01.17 16:15:13 ] flashfresh > I am going to wait around the 'plex entrance.
[ 2008.01.17 16:15:22 ] flashfresh > Should be fun.
[ 2008.01.17 16:15:34 ] flashfresh > Yoshi - come out in 'rax and sit near the gate angel plex.
[ 2008.01.17 16:15:42 ] flashfresh > Am sure that OriasV will come here.

Sound: Idle chat and music in the background; suddenly - there is the faint but distinctive sound of a claxon blaring away as an enemy ship comes into range.

[ 2008.01.17 16:15:56 ] flashfresh > <RED ALERT! CONTACT! CONTACT!>
[ 2008.01.17 16:15:58 ] flashfresh > To me yoshi!
[ 2008.01.17 16:16:05 ] flashfresh > To angel plex in your rax
[ 2008.01.17 16:16:16 ] flashfresh > Anyone?
[ 2008.01.17 16:16:27 ] flashfresh > I have him pointed!
[ 2008.01.17 16:16:29 ] WayCharles > i am too far sorry
[ 2008.01.17 16:16:45 ] flashfresh > Yoshi!!!!
[ 2008.01.17 16:16:59 ] Tsuyoshi Takeru > omw
[ 2008.01.17 16:17:06 ] flashfresh > Angel plex
[ 2008.01.17 16:17:44 ] flashfresh > Point him - my cap is running down.
[ 2008.01.17 16:17:46 ] flashfresh > Web him too.
[ 2008.01.17 16:18:02 ] Lucius Cain > Need a hand?
[ 2008.01.17 16:18:35 ] flashfresh > FUCK!
[ 2008.01.17 16:18:37 ] Tsuyoshi Takeru > webbed and pointed
[ 2008.01.17 16:18:48 ] flashfresh > fuck
[ 2008.01.17 16:18:51 ] flashfresh > get his pod
[ 2008.01.17 16:19:05 ] flashfresh > not mine!!!
[ 2008.01.17 16:19:08 ] flashfresh > not mine.......
[ 2008.01.17 16:19:13 ] RayTruz > lol

Sound of a squish and then static...
There is a groan as someone wakes up with a splitting headache in a cloning vat.

[ 2008.01.17 16:19:21 ] flashfresh > Idiot.
[ 2008.01.17 16:19:57 ] Tsuyoshi Takeru > Did I get you ?
[ 2008.01.17 16:20:00 ] flashfresh > That was one major stupid there Yoshi
[ 2008.01.17 16:20:06 ] Tsuyoshi Takeru > jesus.
[ 2008.01.17 16:20:06 ] flashfresh > You podded me. Idiot
[ 2008.01.17 16:20:12 ] Tsuyoshi Takeru > fuck.
[ 2008.01.17 16:20:13 ] Lucius Cain > ???
[ 2008.01.17 16:20:17 ] RayTruz > No implants right?
[ 2008.01.17 16:20:18 ] wrecklessintent > :(
[ 2008.01.17 16:20:23 ] Tsuyoshi Takeru > I thought i got him, what the fuck?
[ 2008.01.17 16:20:24 ] flashfresh > I said lock HIM not me.
[ 2008.01.17 16:20:30 ] flashfresh > Can't you read?
[ 2008.01.17 16:20:33 ] Tsuyoshi Takeru > How much do i owe you for the implants?
[ 2008.01.17 16:20:40 ] flashfresh > GET MY WRECK
[ 2008.01.17 16:20:46 ] Tsuyoshi Takeru > i got your wreck
[ 2008.01.17 16:20:54 ] flashfresh > Now I am going to have OriasV laughing at me.
[ 2008.01.17 16:20:54 ] Lucius Cain > You might want to remove gang mates from your overview mate.........
[ 2008.01.17 16:21:11 ] Tsuyoshi Takeru > oh shit man im so sorry...
[ 2008.01.17 16:22:03 ] wrecklessintent > big deep breathes so you dont pass out lol

Sound: Lots and lots of people laughing so hard they piss themselves.


Concord Killmail:

2008.01.17 16:19

Victim: OriasV
Alliance: None
Corp: Sacred Shadow Legion
Destroyed: Jaguar
System: Gusandall
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 7844

Involved parties:

Name: flashfresh
Security: -10.0
Alliance: None
Corp: BLACK-FLAG
Ship: Capsule
Weapon: 150mm Light AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 6397

Name: Tsuyoshi Takeru (laid the final blow)
Security: -0.1
Alliance: None
Corp: Perkone
Ship: Thorax
Weapon: Hammerhead I
Damage Done: 1447


Destroyed items:

Hail S, Qty: 69
Rocket Launcher II
150mm Light AutoCannon II
150mm Light AutoCannon II
150mm Light AutoCannon II
Medium Shield Extender II
Medium Shield Extender II
Faint Epsilon Warp Prohibitor I
Shield Power Relay II
Shield Power Relay II
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Fusion S, Qty: 318 (Cargo)
Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer I
Anti-Kinetic Screen Reinforcer I

Dropped items:

Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 25
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 40 (Cargo)
Hail S, Qty: 760 (Cargo)
EMP S, Qty: 1500 (Cargo)
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 420 (Cargo)

Victim: flashfresh
Alliance: None
Corp: BLACK-FLAG
Destroyed: Capsule
System: Gusandall
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 442

Involved parties:

Name: Tsuyoshi Takeru (laid the final blow)
Security: -0.1
Alliance: None
Corp: Perkone
Ship: Thorax
Weapon: Heavy Electron Blaster I
Damage Done: 442

DUDE - WTF! Where's your face?

Got killed

My faithful rupture was blasted apart by a cerberus and curse. Wasn't too pretty but the rifter tackler managed to get out. Yarr.

Jubes eventually got the cerb and killed him in a 1 v 1. I wonder if a 1 v 1 allows for pod kills?

Update

Updating blog and such. Been busy.

Feast or Famine

++Feast++

Piracy in New Eden is feast or Famine for many: some weeks there is a bonanza of loot and ransom and then there are weeks and weeks of nothingness. The last few days has been just that. I was idling in the 'Podded Pilot' supping a drink when Jubes paged me, he was outside and hunting and killing and generally making isk from other people's misfortunes. He managed to track and kill a myrmidon outside Gusandall when his mate, 'Gonzattack' appeared in a dominix and engaged. Jubes had to disengage but I undocked and engaged his dominix with my hurricane. I also asked a friends from Omen and Hellequin to assist in his megathron and once Jubes came back, we finally killed it. The kill mail revealed that Gonzattack had strapped four 1600mm plates onto his dominix. Giving it a massive HP buffer. He tried to de-agress and dock up but we killed it. Also, Gonzattack had actually killed me before - when his corp was still with Kraftwerx, they appear to have left this alliance but they are still red to us in Black Flag. Also, the megathron that Arzal piloted reminded me a lot of Rhericlya's megathron, the ship that kicked the crap out of three canes. Read it here.

However, it looked liked we managed to ambush him and kill him. So it took a few of us and we out-ganked him. We're pirates right?

Anyway, back to the Dominix kill and the CONCORD killmail.

2008.01.11 13:52

Victim: GonzAttack
Alliance: None
Corp: Bad Passion
Destroyed: Dominix
System: Gusandall
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 58672

Involved parties:

Name: Arzal (laid the final blow)
Security: -1.2
Alliance: Triumvirate.
Corp: omen.
Ship: Megathron
Weapon: Neutron Blaster Cannon II
Damage Done: 21382

Name: Jubes
Security: -9.9
Alliance: None
Corp: BLACK-FLAG
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: Hurricane
Damage Done: 19252

Name: flashfresh
Security: -10.0
Alliance: None
Corp: BLACK-FLAG
Ship: Hurricane
Weapon: Hurricane
Damage Done: 10060

Name: RealZonk
Security: -9.8
Alliance: None
Corp: Hellequin Inc.
Ship: Tempest
Weapon: Valkyrie I
Damage Done: 7978


Destroyed items:

Void M, Qty: 126
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Phased Weapon Navigation Array Generation Extron
Heavy Capacitor Booster II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
1600mm Reinforced Steel Plates II
1600mm Reinforced Steel Plates II
Armor Thermic Hardener II
Armor Explosive Hardener II
Armor Kinetic Hardener II
Void M, Qty: 1551 (Cargo)
Trimark Armor Pump I, Qty: 3
Berserker I, Qty: 3 (Drone Bay)
Warrior II, Qty: 5 (Drone Bay)
Praetor I, Qty: 4 (Drone Bay)

Dropped items:

Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Void M, Qty: 252
Quad LiF Fueled I Booster Rockets
Warp Disruptor II
Cap Booster 800
1600mm Reinforced Steel Plates II
1600mm Reinforced Steel Plates II
Null M, Qty: 1200 (Cargo)
Cap Booster 800, Qty: 8 (Cargo)
Praetor I (Drone Bay)
Valkyrie II, Qty: 10 (Drone Bay)
Berserker I, Qty: 2 (Drone Bay)

++Famine++

The next few hours were then boring, a loose, mixed gang went out hunting in Eifer. We dropped probes and baited and waited but nothing. Nada.

Not even a shuttle or a rookie ship.

Zip.

We traveled along well known lines of communication and nothing. After five hours of searching, we called it quits. A bit disappointed as after the Dominix kill, we were hoping for more. A famine indeed so I docked up and did something else.
++Feast++

Kraftwerx Alliance has been around Eifer and Gusandall for a while and Bad Passion corp (the last Dom kill, now an ex-Kraftwerx corp) are around. Anyway, I found myself drinking in the 'Podded Pilot' and swapping stories with other pirates at the bar. Once again, I was paged by the corp. Our intelligence sources had spotted a Kraftwerx duo coming into Eifer. We intended to welcome them. My hurricane was still in space dock after my last fight. Holes and leaks now had to be looked at. I had to be battle worthy so I picked my trusty rupture, now fitted with T2 weapons and able to pack a punch.

A fleet was scrambled that included Dogz (typhoon), Viper Sam (hurricane), Krypt (hurricane) and myself.

The duo were a drake and a thorax, easy meat but they were hugging a gate into high-sec and well, who knows what was on the otherside? It was Krypt who arrived first and was locked by the drake. Then he was locked by the thorax, I arrived along with Viper and Dogz and we locked and engaged. The fight was over quickly with the Kraftwerx Drake and Thorax being reduced to atomic dust. I even did the most damage on the drake.

Once my flag was gone, I went back to Gusandall to drop off the loot. I undocked and spotted a wolf and rifter and decided to check it out. Using the scanner, it was clear that the wolf and rifter were both in safe spots but no harm in the checking the nearest belt. So I went there and a minute later, a rifter came screaming in. I locked, scrambled, webbed and popped the rifter in a volley and a half. Checking the kill mail and then the local chat, I realised that the rifter pilot was screaming that we were blue. I checked my standings with his Corp (The Metafarmers) and no we were not blue and never have been. The Metafarmers are pirates too and have touted themselves as macro and farmer hunters. Fair enough, I have respect for Stakhanov (metafarmer CEO) and he is blue to me on a personal basis. I always leave them alone if I know they are station camping and blasting farmers to scrap. Hell, I might even join them.
However, anything in a belt gets popped. There were no farmers in the Gusandall belts, only me in the rupture so the Metafarmer rifter was a little bit out of the way and bad luck to him.
Despite this, regrettably I may have created a bit of a diplomatic issue for Viper Sam to sort out. Still, our policy is to keep our blue list as lean as possible.

Pirates! Bah.

My hurricane was finally ready and it came at a good time, as Viper called a fleet together to tackle a rokh and rupture and others he had spotted. The fleet assembled on a gate and we waited for the signal with Dogz powering in to make the tackle in belt 1-1; he reported that he engaged the rokh but that it had left for Emolgranlan. We followed in, now eager for the kill and we all jumped to the gate. The Rokh made the mistake of firing its guns at Dogz and made it impossible for him to activate the jump gate to escape due to the build up of electrical energies on his weapons interfering with the jump gate's systems.

Physics lesson over, we pummeled the rokh and then the rupture into fragments. Adam and Krypt had joined us by now but both were under sentry gun fire though that did not stop them from getting onto the kill.

++Famine++

Then came the famine. With Viper now unavailable, I reformed the fleet and answered WayCharles' call for assistance. Some VETO corp ships were around and he tracked them in his Cerberus but by the time we were ready; the ships were long gone. According to WC, these Veto ships were fast. Probably nano'ed.

The fleet by this time was quite large and we roamed for a couple of hours with little or no action. The closest action was when the fleet was on the other side of a bubbled gate camp; Prediction Pain going in first and picking targets but she was unfortunately taken out. The rest of the fleet, now blind, jumped in but we were rumbled. The camping ships had high-tailed to a POS and sat there. We destroyed the warp bubble anchored near the entry point.

We also entered E0A-ZC but found nothing there just three wrecks of rookie ships. Pickings appearing to be quite slim even for the gate campers?

So we turned the entire fleet around and decided to head to Aedald.

++Feast++

Three jumps to Aedald we caught up with the two VETO corp ships but we could not catch them, after they engaged Dogz we all jumped in but with no rapier in the group; there was no way we could catch them. The VETO guys were nano'ed and ran circles round us and we left them behind us. We can't kill what we can't catch. Where's a rapier when you need one?

The clock was ticking for me and I decided on returning to Gusandall. I made this announcement and Kane Rizzel decided he wanted to join me. So we zipped back - just as the rest of the fleet decided that they too, were going to call it a night and head home.

As I zipped a head, I landed in Aralgrund and did a quick scan. The rest of the fleet was strung out behind me over a four system train. My scan revealed something of interest: two ravens, a rokh and an onyx. The latter was a new ship type; something that I had not seen before and I really wanted a closer look. Maybe our roam tonight could end up with some nice scalps. My scanning told me that the ships were either at the IV cluster, the top three stations or the Roniko belt. I toggled on the fleet chat.
"Gentlemen, I am in Aralgrund. I see two ravens, a rokh and an onyx on scan. Stand by please." There was a chorus of approvals from the fleet and a sincere wish that I could spot them. I needed help though and some bait without tipping off the pilots. I already knew that they were all pilots from SMASH alliance.
"Send Dogz in."
"Roger that. Dogz is en-route. All ships, form up on me on gate." Said Viper, bringing together the fleet and organising them. Dogz jumped into the same system as me in his Typhoon and continued to scan and agreed that the ships were somewhere over in the IV cluster. We both jumped over and continued to scan. I checked the stations while Dogz went over towards the Roniko belt. Due to our positioning, a lot of celestial bodies were in line with each other and we had to work quickly.
I landed on the stations but it was Dogz who was fortunate.
"Contact. Contact. Hostile ravens and friends on Roniko gate. Preparing to engage."
"Roger. Black Flag fleet, this is Flash. Are you all in position?"
"Affirmative. Dogz; give us the word."
"Engaged. Warp to me. Primary is the Rokh." Replied Dogz, his reply stuttering, probably due to the tremendous energies of the weapons' exchanges now being played out around the Roniko gate.
"All ships warp to Dogz. Primary is the Rokh." Said Viper, calm and under control. "All ships load up on EMP based ammo. Those are Caldari based ships and will be shield heavy."
"Roger that Viper. Emp ammo loaded." Hissed Muelac.
"Bring 'em on!" Yelled Krypt.
I warped into Dogz, delayed because I got caught up in the station undock but arriving I saw the four hostile ships being engaged by a fleet of hurricanes.
"Xmay is Primary." I said, identifying the Rokh. It shuddered as the hurricanes and others threw EMP based ammunition at it. Meanwhile, Viper was carefully allocating targets to the other pilots, we all had primaries - ships where we would focus our fire but we also needed to split our warp scramble and disrupt points onto the other ships; ensuring that none escape.
"Muelac and Krypt: points on the 'Nye2K'. Flash and Adam, points on 'The Equinox', Kane and the rest, points on 'Percival79'. Primary is Xmay - I have points on him. Secondary is Nye2K."

Xmay's rokh was atomised with no loss of ships on our side. It went down as the fleet focused it's fire on it. Muelac took some slight damage while Dogz was into 45% armour. We started to repair Dogz as the fire power switched over to Nye2K's raven. The Raven did not last too long either as the EMP ammunition proved to be too much and it too, disappeared in a bright blossom of fire and debris. The killmail revealed that this raven had a cloaking device fitted, but it did not survive the fiery demise of the ship. The second raven, piloted by 'The Equinox' was next.
"Good kill. Primary is The Equinox and secondary is Percival79. Flash, Mue and Kane - points on the raven. Rest get points on the Onyx. Fire at will." Said Viper as we switched our attention the the remaining two ships. Dogz was the enemy's primary target but he had cap booster aplenty and we also managed to remote rep his battleship keeping it in the fight long enough for both the remaining raven and then the onyx to succumb to our fire.

We cheered as the onyx was cut into three pieces by our weapon's fire, the three pieces all spinning off into space. Kane and I even managed to pod the pilot.

The loot was excellent though the killmails revealed that a lot of decent tech 2 gear had been destroyed but that's the way the cookie crumbles, I guess.

At last, the fleet decided to head home and it was only a three jump trip. As Kane and I entered into Gusandall, both ourselves and our crews physically exhausted with the extended foray - our sensors picked up the presence of a known pilot and victim. It was At1as and possibly a friend. I killed his ishkur while he was in the Angel Plex and it appeared he might be there again. I opened up fleet chat to Kane, the only other pilot in Gusandall - the rest of the Black Flag Fleet was strung out one to three jumps behind us.

"Kane. Are you seeing what I am seeing? I think At1as is back and in an enyo. With a friend."
"Confirmed Flash. What do you think?" I knew exactly what that wiley Sebiestor pilot was thinking and my avatar grinned back at Kane.
"Shall we?"
"Hell yes. Am going out in my wolf. Race you to the entrance." Challenged Kane as he and his crew transferred quickly to his waiting assault frigate. I was a touch slow as I needed to load up on ammunition and upon undocking from Gusandall, I realised that I still had some armour damage from some previous engagement. No matter, it would be two enyo-class assault frigates versus a wolf-class and jaguar-class assault frigate. Should be an interesting mix as the Enyo's could be set up for range with tech 2 rail guns. Or indeed, they could be blaster-based Enyo's and the fight will be up close and very nasty.

"Kane: are the marks still in the 'plex?" I asked, anxious that they had not been alerted to our presence.
"Affirmative Flash. Two Enyo's waiting for us. I think they like the 'plex there!"
"Primary will be At1as. Let's kill his ass." I replied, chuckling.
"Roger that. At1as is primary." Once I was at the acceleration gate, I did a final check and activated the gate, a fraction of a second behind Kane. How come he is so much faster? Anyway, no time to ponder as our ships were whipped through into a deep Angel-held complex. The first thing that my scanners picked up were wrecks - so many that it obscured everything on my overview.
Shit I thought, I had not adjusted the overview to show ONLY enemy ships. Vital seconds were lost as I hastily flipped up a new screen. Kane was a lot more professional than me. Lucky for us. "At1as pointed." He said, I locked both Enyo's and decided to add a second point on At1as. He could be stabbed and we did not want our prize to escape. My instincts then took over: locking the second enyo and firing on the primary, adjusting orbit, pulsing the afterburner, maintaining the orbit and keeping the target in my kill zone. Kane's wolf was taking the bulk of the fire and his shields winked off and then he was into armour. The Enyo's were close to us and scoring hits so this meant they were blaster fitted and no doubt tech 2 versions with tech 2 ammo. This would hurt then, though I wasn't too sure if the enyo's had a webber. Doubtful, with only two slots - one would be some afterburner and possibly a scrambler. No, there was no webber here.
"Damnit, those enyo's hurt!" Yelled Kane, I checked the damage readout and he was being pummeled into hull by the enyos.
"Adjust your orbit Kane. They're using blasters with no webber. Move out to 5km orbit. I will move in closer and take the fire."
"Roger - primary is almost down anyway." Indeed, At1as was reading 50% armour damage and it was falling quick - a testament to Kane's immense gunnery skills. I moved close and switched orbits with Kane and since we were both using auto canons, which had far superior fall off, we continued to hit the Enyo. At1as tried to maintain his fire on Kane but now he was presented with a choice: should be continue to hit Kane, now into hull but further away or switch to me, much closer but shield tanked with 85% shield left?
The choice was a horrible one and it was even worse when the second enyo turned and warped out; leaving At1as alone with two blood-thirsty Minnie assault frigates. The enyo tried to stay in the fight but it was blasted to scrap soon enough. We missed the pod though.

The kill mail revealed some goodies on the ship and like before, this chap loves his T2 gear.

2008.01.12 02:41

Victim: At1as
Alliance: None
Corp: Children of Thermonuclear Synthesis
Destroyed: Enyo
System: Gusandall
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 9047

Involved parties:

Name: Gistii Thug / Angel Cartel
Damage Done: 5751

Name: Kane Rizzel (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Alliance: Derek Knows Us
Corp: NovaKane Incorporated
Ship: Wolf
Weapon: 150mm Light AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 2133

Name: flashfresh
Security: -10.0
Alliance: None
Corp: BLACK-FLAG
Ship: Jaguar
Weapon: Jaguar
Damage Done: 1163


Destroyed items:

Void S, Qty: 197
Light Neutron Blaster II
Warp Scrambler II
1MN Afterburner II
Power Diagnostic System II
Capacitor Power Relay II
Small Armor Repairer II
1st Tier Overseer's Personal Effects (Cargo)
Null S, Qty: 1500 (Cargo)
Void S, Qty: 3806 (Cargo)
Anti-Explosive Pump I
Hybrid Collision Accelerator I
Hobgoblin II (Drone Bay)

Dropped items:

Light Neutron Blaster II
Light Neutron Blaster II
Light Neutron Blaster II
Void S, Qty: 67
Small 'Knave' I Energy Drain
Damage Control II
5th Tier Overseer's Personal Effects, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
2nd Tier Overseer's Personal Effects (Cargo)
3rd Tier Overseer's Personal Effects, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
4th Tier Overseer's Personal Effects, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Angel Ship Log 141490454 (Cargo)

Exhausted, we collected the loot and docked up. A magnificent end to the day.