28 Feb 2009

EVE Pirate Speedlinking Feb 2009


I believe Love was in the air....what did YOU do on the 14th February?

Oh, an article penned by yours truly has made it into print for E-ON #14. Read Crazy Kinux's account of this issue.

Now, onto the existing Pirate Bloggers what have they been up to?
  • A most audacious Rorq kill with frigates is recalled with the usual smooth writing skills of Mynxee and her Hellcats. A new Hellcat was being put through her paces and what an introduction to pirating! Even everday stuff; there's always something to write to about so it's not all continuous pirating. Mynxee has time for other more refined things. Not for long, even when not pirating Mynxee is active (wink) and she's been successfully exploring hidden sites around New Eden and she's been lucky enough to get some nice loot. As Mynxee says, 'it's not all about the yarr'. Finally, I have to tip my hat off to Mynxee for starting up and maintain her excellent discussion series, now onto her fourth topic. Do drop by and leave a comment on mentoring and training in New Eden.
  • Jorge Belda has come back to The Bastards after wandering solo for a few weeks. I suppose the calling for the yarr was too much. However, I strongly suspect that he has his eye on lovely, deadly, man-eating Shae. Jorge's excellent Dark Omen series (now chapter 3) raised an eyebrow or two.
  • Kane Rizzel continues to be the best solo pirate bar none in New Eden. This is not just my own opinion but that of other pirates and pilots alike. In his post, 'The Sun doesn't always shine' - Kane reveals a day in the life of. While he is disappointed with his kill / loss ratio (I wouldn't!) one can see the professionalism and dedication in the pilot as he continues to cut his own bloody path through New Eden. A week earlier, he managed to kill nine frigates, four destroyers, two interceptors and eight pods....all for the cost of two rifters! Now that is solo god hood in itself. Kane reckons that he had help from the voices say kill. Who is to argue? I have said it before; for anyone who wants to fly solo, check out Kane's blog. This guy is awesome-sauce.
  • Ever seen a battle badger or a killer mammoth? Industrials can be slow and unassuming but they can be modified to be armed and very dangerous. Hallan joined some friends on a pirate industrial prowl and his account is fun and exciting. Pirate Hauler Roams coming to a system near you. However, it was this powerful post that I wanted people to read and to digest. We're now at war with GIS and friends and Hallan sums up our mentality in the last couple of lines in 'this is where we fight...' and well as this stirring post in who you should always stand beside. Epic and stirring stuff. THIS-IS-HALLAN and don't you chaps forget it.
  • Now why do I wear shades? It's because I like them not because through some inbreeding I have ended up being cross-eyed! However, Shae's cat managed to run off with them a couple of days ago and somehow, Shae managed to get a picture of me groping around the bottom of the table. I do like that picture though. Well done Shae and I spent the rest of the day with Asa on my lap purring away. She's kinda adorable. However, Shae is without doubt one of the better writers out there and she was invited by EVE-Mag to submit a piece. I loved it and so will you, 'Basters at Twenty Paces' indeed. As one of the more busier bloggers - she and Mynxee (to name two) has taken the group-story-blog approach and weaved it into a gripping and coherent tale. Reading Jorge's 'Dark Omen' series and Shae's accompanying 'Dark Omen' post to see how the story unfolds.
  • Ka Jolo's recounts in some detail a recent roam with his gang and based on the comments from his readers, he's done a fine job with The Tuskers and I especially enjoy the smaller scale fights they get into and he lastest entry (about 4 weeks ago I might add) is called 'Yo-Ho'. A tale of a small fleet killing a ton of other bigger ships.
  • Biz Quick indulges in some enjoyable RP, tipping his hat to Mynxee and Sard.....in Sort of Drunk.
  • 'Armor plates and Smacktalk is a funny account by Marleus of Ironfleet zips around in his crane and hovers up wrecks all around New Eden...much to the chagrin of aggrieved care bears. Marleus is a pirate at heart but instead of blasting people to scrap, he cuts them up through witty ripostes and steady nerves.
  • We all thought that he would be gone for good but no, Spectre3353 is back. Some odd non-EVE postings but I can't argue with his kills as of late. In his latest post he tells us of his 'escape'. He continues with a new post on just why, Spectre is an inspiration. Welcome back you scurvy sea-dog.
  • Pirates do shoot each other and even the pirate bloggers, who I respect right across the board, should shoot each other. As I did with Avan Sercedos, who's latest post is a fun treatment of the joys of the ECM Drone. He recently joined The Tuskers too so hats off to you!
  • I love rifters and no-one else (bar Kane) pushes the twin-hulled frigate as had as Wensley, if you want to be enthused over why this T1 frigate hull is the best in it's class, read his post: the frigate that can not die.
  • Not too sure whether Cussbeard has embraced the yarr but yes, skill training is still required. A short post by CB.
  • Venom has a short burst of posts just to tell peeps that she is around but should be landing in Evati soon.
New (well to me) Pirate Blogs:
  • There will be Pew is a new blog entry for a pirate calling himself Kor Anon; a very good report on his yarring antics here in his first week report.There is also a link on his blog to his first yarring video. Of course, his name has already generated a couple of comments relating to copyright - there appears to be a fair few 'Kor Anons' and close variations of this name.
Finally, there's some wonderful changes coming now in New Eden and look at the new ship fitting screen....


26 Feb 2009

Some applicants are dangerous to your health...


"Thank you for your time, we will be in touch...." Said Flash, a smile plastered on his face like a death mask. As the fifteenth candidate disappeared out of the door; Flash slumped against it and rubbed his temples.

The Bastards have been processing applicants from would-be pirates for the last month. It was exhausting work. A large number of speculative candidates had been making their way through the various back doors and moneyed middle-men to final make contact with one of The Bastards recruitment officers. Their journey itself was a testament to their willingness and desire for pirating through their handing over of quantities of isk to unknown and most likely unsavory people, avoiding CONCORD informants, honey-traps and other organisations eager for new blood.

Flashfresh was a pirate for many years now and took the job of recruitment officer seriously. However, some days it was damn tiring. Candidate eight-two was a part of the reason for his tiredness this morning. Voluptuous, full-lipped with a cleavage you can park a tempest battle ship in, she was very keen to make an impression on him and with a grin, Flash touched the scratch marks on his chest and stomach where through her over-excitement and exertion she had reached back and round and dug her nails into him and screamed 'you Bastards, you utter Bastards!"

Interrupting this most pleasant memory, a red light on his communication pad winked on. He thumbed it.

"Yes Macy?"

"Candidate Number 52 is here. He's early." Stated Macy, the serious minded, knife-throwing assistant, her accent clear cut like crystal glass. Flash looked down at the candidate and quickly absorbed the data. The force-fed-learning implant throbbed slightly as tera-bytes of data streamed into his short-term memory. The candidate's mental profile, employment history and bits of dirt dragged up during the initial application process streamed into his mind.

"Send him into the office in two minutes. I need to take a leak." Muttered Flash as he ambled off towards the ablutions room. A long stream of urine later and the pirate was back in the office. Candidate 52 was already seated and ready. A tall, bald headed Amarrian. He turned at the sound of Flash's entrance.

"Sir." He said, inclining his head slightly. Flash nodded back, reached out and offered his hand; Candidate 52 looked at the hand and glanced at the ablution block and back again and gingerly held Flash's meaty fist. He made a great effort to hide his discomfort. The shake was as enthusiastic as a dead fish.

That's one strike against you thought Flash as he sat down. A pirate need not be squeamish. Flash then scanned the documents in silence and allowed the quiet to stretch out. Candidate 52 shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Flash did not say a word, just muttered to himself a few times and nodded to himself. Candidate 52 shifted again and nervously cleared his throat.

"Sir? When will my interview start?"

Flash looked up.

"It started the moment you entered this station."

"Oh, erm...." Candidate 52 shifted once more and a sheen of perspiration slowly appeared.

After a lengthy, meditative wait. Flash looked up, the reflection of the Amarrian staring back at him from Flash's matte black and very expensive shades.

"So you want to join us and be a pirate?" Asked Flash.

"Yes sir. Yes sir, it's what I have always wanted to do. Empire space is boring. I want to make isk and be famous." He paused for dramatic effect. "I want to be as famous as you Mr Fresh."

Oh please.

"Your application is very good: experience in all the right areas, very good employment history. Credit line is worthy and no inflammatory posts in any of the GalNet forums." Reported Flash, reciting the information from his enhanced short term memory.

"Yes sir. I have no dirt and come with excellent references."

With a squeal of the chair; Flash stood up and back. "I like your honesty Candidate 52."

"My real name is -" Flash raised his hand quickly and put his fingers to his lips. His eyes flashed dangerously. "I don't want to know your name. You're Candidate 52 for now and that's all there is to know."

"I want in with The Bastards, I want to be famous and - " Flash firmly focused on the loquacious individual.

"Have you ever held a cruiser class steady under continuous sentry gun fire while tackling a target? Do you know how to properly fit a cruiser to last a minimum of ten seconds for this scenario?"

"Yes, I think. You will need to weld one no, two 1600mm plates and -" Flash cut him off with a sharp gesture.

"How do you scan down multiple targets in a cluster of five to six belts under three seconds?"

"Er, you - revise your overview settings and adjust the gamma settings-"

Flash leaned in closer. "Maelstrom-class, artillery or auto-canon fit?"

"Sir, please slow down."

"When your pod is about to pop out - what's the best strategy to save it?"

Candidate 52's mouth flapped with no sound, like a grounded fish. Flash clamped both of his hands on the shoulder's of the young Amarrian and leaned in close; voice hard as flint.

"You know the theory but you don't have the experience. You've read the books and the 'casts but you have never done it. Not for real." The would-be pirate tried to look up but Flash moved his hands to either side of the Amarrian's cranium and held it firm. Directing his gaze to the blackness outside, Flash continued. "Look outside with your eyes. Your real eyes. Your destiny and fate is out there. So is your death. You may be a capsuleer but that only means that you can sleeve yourself into a new meat sack when the old one dies. Do you know what happens to you when you get reborn? Have you ever been podded? It's not pleasant and you always die just a little, after repeated rebirths - some pilots go insane."

"I, I." Gulped Candidate 52 and he tried to get up. Flash held him down firmly.

"The life of a pirate is about being one step ahead of the bullet with your name on it. You can kiss the cozy empire life good bye but you gain freedom, absolute freedom to realise what you were meant to be. Thing is, are you brave enough to find out just how good you are in the grand scheme of things?"

"My destiny is to be a famous pirate!" Candidate 52 blurted, finally finding his tongue. "I have a ten million isk bounty, didn't you know?"

"That may be, but you have to start somewhere. We need our pilots, even the youngest ones to have experienced the low-sec life already. You, I am afraid to say, haven't." Flash's expression softened slightly. He continued, "Look - I advise you to try and sign up with EVE-Uni or Agony Unleashed and get some basic experience in fighting against other capsuleers. Get some kills under your belt, and the bounty amount means nothing. Do you understand?"

Crestfallen, Candidate 52 sat there, all the air out of him but he nodded.

Feeling foolish, Flash tried to sound cheerful. He even considered patting the poor fellow on his back but quashed this feeling instantly.

"It's not the end of he world, we're just not suitable for a pilot of your experience. You will not enjoy it. Tell you what: I will hold this application and will fast-track when you re-apply later this year. How does that sound?"

Candidate 52 only responded with a grunt.

Flash led the failed applicant towards the door and slid it open. With a gently push, Flash bade Candidate 52 a farewell. Flash exchanged a glance with Macy who was sitting there manicuring and preening herself. She did look attractive, in the same way that one would appreciate the sleek functional form of well-used hand gun.

"Candidate four is in the toilet; I will send her in when she's out." She paused long enough to electronically send the full file of the next candidate to Flash.

"Thanks, give me a minute okay?"

The door slid closed and Flash rubbed his temples more. As he made his way back to his table he reviewed candidate four's details: decent application with some very impressive skills in Gallente ships. Flash paused and looked out through the plasteel viewing port at the undock ramp of this station. There was knock on the door and the door slid open. With his back still turned to the entrance. Flash motioned vaguely to where the chair was located.

"Sit down candidate four and relax."

"Thank you very much." Said a man's voice; deep and rich.

Flash started to turn and caught himself. Candidate four is a woman. Too slow, Flash's expensive sun-glasses flew off his face in one direction while his head was cracked the other way from a well placed haymaker punch. Momentarily losing his balance, his world exploding in shock and pain, Flash crashed back into his cabinet - unable to focus at all. His assailant was on him before he had completely fallen onto the floor, hauling him upright and raining blows on his head and face with his fists.

The air exploded out of Flash's lungs from a well placed knee and he tasted blood in his mouth. Feebly putting up his hands to protect his face, the assailant changed attack and kneed and kicked the lower half of Flash's body. Fighting against this lightning strike, all Flash could do was to hurl himself backward out of the way...and crashed through the thin door of the toilet. He found himself sprawled with his right arm in the toilet bowl. Part of him was glad that he flushed but before another thought appeared, the assailant had grabbed Flash by his ears and smashed his head on the toilet bowl rim. There was a dull thunk and Flash gasped as his vision was lost in an explosion of pain. Dimly, he could hear his assailant yelling something. Losing a tooth and spitting more blood out, Flash flailed randomly and managed to connect both of his hands around the neck of this unrelenting attacker. He squeezed and tried to rise up. It was at this time, that Flash realised he was taller and bigger than his attacker and, blinking blood out of his left eye, pushed himself and his attacker back into the main room. The chair they landed on splintered into matchwood.

Rolling around, Flash managed to get on top. He didn't release his strangle grip on his assailant nor did the attacker let go of Flash's ears. He gurgled out a stream of words.

"-bastards! your ruined me! you said I was good to join and then rejected me! REJECTED ME!"

It was candidate seventeen. Flash remembered him, 'Bradley' was his call-name and he had passed the interview and checks but eventually rejected after a two-week probation for insubordination and general stupidity. What was his real name thought Flash, now eyeing this rapidly expiring man underneath him.

"Let-go-of-my-ears!" Yelled Flash, as he continued to throttle Bradley whose eyes were now starting to bulge out of his head and veins starting to throb on is forehead. "My ears you son of a bitch....."

The grip on his ears slowly released as impending unconsciousness slowly crept over Bradley. As soon as he could, Flash let go of his strangulation hold and quickly rolled off him. His head throbbing, lungs heaving and blood in his mouth, Flash staggered off towards his desk and pulled out his hand gun. Pointing it unsteadily at Bradley, still lying on the floor and gasping for air. Flash cocked the gun and glanced around the room. He saw that a chair was jammed against the door handle and there was a thumping sound from the other side. Staggering over there but keeping an eye on the still gasping form on the ground. Flash unjammed the door and was almost hurled back as Macy, followed by two burly guards barged in. All were armed, Macy with a wicked looking stiletto.

Flash just pointed towards Bradley. Taking a look at the Flash's face and the ruined room, Macy figured out quickly what was to be done.

"Take this gentleman and throw him out of the nearest air lock."

Grunting, the two guards picked up Bradley like a sack of potatoes and made their way out.

Flash sat down, gun still in his hand and eyed Macy warily.

"How could you let this man in? Candidate Four is -"

"A woman and now lying dead in the gent's toilet." Finished Macy. "That chap must have been waiting for his chance to get back in and to get revenge. He wasn't such a good pilot anyways and cost us a potentially new one too."

"A woman you say? Damn, Mynxee will be pissed." Muttered Flash as he groped around for something to stem the bleeding cuts on his face. He found a hand towel and put his gun away.

"Macy, please can you hold all further applications from psychopaths, the mentally unstable, the wannabe pirate and the clinical insane nymphomaniacs." Flash sat down heavily, pressing the towel to his face and pouring a sizeable measure of spirits. Slurping noisily, he sat back and reconsidered. "Actually, that last bit sounded quite good. Only nymphomaniacs need to apply, at least for the next couple of days."

"Flash, I think you need to get back into space and fly a real space ship not that desk. You haven't been space-side for almost a month. When was the last ransom you were in? Last ship you solo'ed? Besides, you're a right pain in the ass when you're stressed." Said Macy as exited the office and before Flash could reply, the door was closed.

"Nymphos and exotic dancers! Macy, you hear? Only let in nymphos and exotic dancers!" Flash slumped back into his seat and wondered just when he could undock and do some pirating. A winking 'new message' icon flashed up, insisting on his attention and knocking back the drink, he reluctantly checked the message. The message was simple and to the point:

'C*cksucker. Gonna kill you. I know where you live. It will be REDRUM for you.'

Wonderful. Another stalker. Sometimes, recruitment isn't all that fun you know?

22 Feb 2009

New Cheetah, Old Cheetah

"But sir, the cloak hasn't been engaged yet...."

"What?"

"We had to drop them to launch a recon probe and you didn't give the order to engage the cloak sir!"

"Wha?"

The harbinger lit up on my overview, the white brackets flashing orange as the pilot started to lock me.

"Raise the cloaking device! Raise the cloaking device you fools!" With me being the biggest fool of them all.

The harbinger flashed red as his pulse lasers taught me the error of my ways.

"Oh shi -"

And so, the shake down cruise in my new cheetah ended rather abruptly. I warped to a gate (uncloaked), intent on using my new found ninja skills but my wonderful red flashy status allowed anyone with brains an opportunity to destroy me. One volley later and I was fleeing back with my tails between my legs.

Well, it's nice to be back.

WTB: New, rigged cheetah please.

15 Feb 2009

On leave

Just a quickie: am on leave to eastern europe for a week so will be back to yarring on friday or thereabouts.

See yas

F

12 Feb 2009

Frigates are deadly

Battlecruiser roam. 20:00 ET. RD
That was the message of the day on the main corporation chat channel. After the alliance tourney had completed with PL victorious; it was business as usual for The Bastards. Nothing like a battle-cruiser roam to start the ball rolling. With new recruits all lining up to join in; it was important now to get some momentum going with the corporation. I flipped open my ship inventory and scanned the war-machines available to me. Five hurricane-class battle cruisers glowed a welcoming green, indicating their ready status. All fuelled up with a full complement of ammunition and drones. Too many times we have had pilots spending time fitting and re-fitting ships when they should have been undocking and roaring to action. I have vowed to avoid this as much as possible.

"All fleet assemble at undock point in three minutes." Said RoninData; our FC for tonight.

Slipping into the pod and linking into the ship was completed in less than a minute and I was out in the familiar Evati sky.

As we ambled through into and then through Egmar we loitered on the gate; checking intel and communication channels when there was a gate activation. Whoever it was, held the gate cloak for as long as possible but then physics kicked and a lovely Nighthawk de-materialised right in front of us.

I got a point and barrelled into it.

"Point!" I said as my ship went into red alert. Already my crew were preparing to swap the ammunition hoppers from the ever reliable Rep Fleet EMP to the more specialised Hail ammunition. My 425mm auto canons spun up and belched out the deadly ordnance, as did the rest of the fleet. The Nighthawk is a specialised command ship with the typical Caldari top-of-the-range shield systems. It didn't stand up to the massive punishment dished out by this battle cruiser gang. Within another 15 seconds it was down to a sliver of hull and then it disappeared in a blossoming ball of debris as our fire power pulverised the once deadly ship.

We killed the nighthawk but should have moved on - however the presence of a Fed Navy Megathron was just too juicy to avoid. It screamed 'trap' but we went in anyways and would have killed it if it wasn't for....another Fed Navy Mega and an oneiros with friends...oh well.


Frigates can still kill you!
However, with great pleasure that later on I read a fantastic account of how a Bastards Frigate gang with some potential new recruits tackled and killed a rorqual just outside of his POS! Mynxee was in on the action and her recounting of the tale 'tis a fun read indeed!

New recruitment is open!
Yes, the pool is now open and many thanks for all your patience. In the space of a week we've had over a dozen apply; in addition to the applications we had to put on hold. Of note we have had an application from the famous Caldari Piratess herself, Alia Xi as well as some long term residents of the Independence channel in 3Jayne and others. A strong crop indeed and already, a couple have been involved in some hilarious kills. Just to show you that a recruit can have an immediate impact: Hera Darkthorn (time in corp: one month) has been top of the killboard for weeks and has generated some of the best responses....

Hera Darkthorn > hey g***a
Hera Darkthorn > 50m for the pod
G***a Lucifer > you stupid c**t. i am on a f**king trailaccount... go f**k yourself you f**king idiot bastard motherf**kker... my every demon in satans legions f**king kill you in your sleep.

Please note that this individual came back to grab his loot and was promptly podded. Am sure the rant continued. He was in low-sec and no doubt disregarded the Aurora warning.

So please keep the applications flowing in and you might get your own stalkers and fans. Haven't been on many more fleets due to processing the applications but I don't mind!

10 Feb 2009

Raven kill but it was a TARPPP...

I love piracy but sometimes the lure of isk and the prospect of loot drops get's the better of my more refined tactical instincts. We had successfully ransomed a deimos and harbinger class ships, both running an agent mission in nearby Lasleinur (thanks to Cooch for the probe) when one of our fleet pirates yelled out:

"Raven pointed in top belt in Evati!" It was Mahn in his drake.

"Roger that. One jump - what the hell is a raven doing there?" Mused one pirate as all our ships whipped around and fired up their engines. I continued my conversation with the deimos and harbinger pilot as, despite the successful ransom - he had not moved but merely continued with his mission. I was negotiating with him to purchase a week-long 'Bastard Pass' from us.

We realised quite soon that it was bait as it's shields went down awfully quick but it's armour held. It held for a long time and then, his friends arrived. We still managed to pop the raven and get out. Only Mahn succumbing to the enemy fire.

The Killz



So, for your information - here's KoHfNryPAT0P and label him as 'bait'.
2009.02.09 20:42

Victim: KoHfNryPAT0P
Corp: School of Applied Knowledge
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Raven
System: Evati
Security: 0.2
Damage Taken: 30772

Involved parties:

Destroyed items:

Shock 'Limos' Siege Missile Bay I
Shock 'Limos' Siege Missile Bay I
Shock 'Limos' Siege Missile Bay I
Caldari Navy Mjolnir Torpedo, Qty: 11
ZW-4100 Siege Missile Bay
Caldari Navy Inferno Torpedo, Qty: 22
Quad LiF Fueled I Booster Rockets
Scan Resolution
Medium Capacitor Booster II
Cap Booster 800, Qty: 5 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Inferno Torpedo, Qty: 892 (Cargo)
Ballistic Control System II (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Medium 'Arup' I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Medium 'Arup' I Remote Bulwark Reconstruction
Shock 'Limos' Siege Missile Bay I
ZW-4100 Siege Missile Bay
Caldari Navy Mjolnir Torpedo, Qty: 11
Caldari Navy Inferno Torpedo, Qty: 22
Warp Scrambler II
Warp Disruptor II
Supplemental Scanning CPU I
'Langour' Drive Disruptor I
Cap Booster 800
Damage Control II
Type-D Power Core Modification: Reaction Control
Voltaic Nanite Kinetic Hardener I
N-Type Explosive Hardener I
1600mm Reinforced Crystalline Carbonide Plates I
Caldari Navy Mjolnir Torpedo, Qty: 944 (Cargo)
Cap Booster 800, Qty: 9 (Cargo)
Hammerhead I (Cargo)

6 Feb 2009

Back with a bounce.

"Time for a roam and blow some cobwebs out!" I said with some glee. The Alliance had returned from our jaunt in the Alliance Tournament - we did not make the next round as we didn't score enough points. Our win against KIA Alliance had helped us increase our profile and garnered us a lot of praise and notoriety. Certainly, the various email and evemail boxes are quite full and I have a long (but enjoyable) task ahead of me in sorting them out.

Oh, before I forget - those who sent in applications before the christmas break; so long as it wasn't rejected; you've been held in limbo all this time and I can only apologise. I have sent an email to each of you explaining the situation and how we best go forward. We were very busy with the alliance tournament preparation and we were trying hard to minimise any espionage and spying. Now that the Alliance Tourney is over for us; it's back to pirating. We had to say good-bye to a few pilots as they delayed their departure to assist us Bastards in preparation and training and we thank them and wish them the best of luck.

We will find you.....

With some hardware and software problems; I had trouble linking into my pod - the technicians gave me some gibberish about something needing new firmware etc. I just decided to sit back with a fine bottle of brandy, a good book and no disturbances.

However, I was able to test out the upgrades last night - leading a small assault frigate gang into a low-sec pocket. Maltrox is a gank magnet and within seconds of entering a system the communication link went wild.

"I have a hit on a dominix and warping in!"

The frigate fleet was split across three systems in order to find targets so we raced towards the gates to rejoin with Maltrox. We shouldn't have bothered.

"Crap. He was stabbed." Said Maltrox; his voice thick with disappointment.

We tried to chase but the dominix pilot wisely slunk his way around the gates and stations; with the sentry guns offering him protection. The frigate hulls would have been pulverised by them if we wanted to initiate hostilities within range of them.

The first part of the roam was over as we returned to base for a refit.

"Five minutes and we roll out. Get a bio-break, a snack or a ship refit." I said to the fleet now docking up.

Once the five minutes were up, the fleet was re-organised and zoomed out into the black and soon; we had scanned out a missioning tempest. Like a pack of rabid animals, we warped to our covert-ops and then unleashed hell. Our frigates (basic and assault variants) buzzed around the huge form of the tempest spitting our fury. The pilot was clearly bemused when we ransomed him - he accused us of using some sort of hack to prevent his ship from escaping. We laughed and asked for some isk to let him go. The ransom went well and reasonable and we each in the fleet became 10million isk richer. Some would say we should have went for more but meh; 10million is 10million!


We then moved on, the hunt continuing with a few more kills and ransoms before our return.

Another frigate roam a few days later involved me, Hera and Fenneck. Kerblammo was also with us in a double-plated Maller but he followed some jumps behind and as luck would have it; it was Blammo who found targets. He was first ambushed by a rapier than an inty and finally a 'cane. We were too far away to assist but Blammo just thought it was fun as his hastily patched together maller came apart around his ears.

Without the irrespressible Kerblammo we continued down and bumped into a massive tribal militia force; I warped towards the top planet and a caracal (not attached to the militias) - he landed on top of my rifter. I called my two companions to assist as I snapped on the warp scrambler and started to cycle up my auto canons.

I had the caracal down to 1/3 shields when Fenneck and Hera warped in with their interceptors. I then warped out my armour smoking. My two friends took the rest of the caracal apart. Chancing my luck, I went to another planet and orbitted it. This time, I attracted a wolf-class assault frigate.

Not good. The firepower of this beast is legendary. I snapped on my webber and held him there as I tried to get out it's way. I failed as his first volley took all my shields off and then bit deep into my armour. My response wasn't too shabby either; the triple 150mm auto canons speaking back with EMP.

Then the wolf pilot drew out his ace: a falcon.

The much feared EWAR recon cruiser decloaked and his powerful jammers avalanched over my puny systems. I was rendered blind and the only option was to run however, the fall off of the wolf's weapons enough to clip my port-side engines and shatter it. I spun helplessly as the wolf then helped himself to seconds and utterly destroyed my rifter.

Fenneck and Hera had come in and ran for their lives as more ships warped in; Fenneck just getting out with no armour and near hull breach in several locations.

I whipped my pod out and quickly docked up - fully intending to rejoin the fight.

It was at this time that the GalNet comms channel went utterly mad and I could see why:

'Band of Brothers Alliance had been disbanded'

All thoughts of continuing with the roam ended as I sat back down and ordered room service and a high-bandwidth news feed. The news was quite shocking and while the corporation and pilots that made up BoB were still active, the alliance (and hence sovereignity) was now, to all intents, dead. This was a massive shake-up of nullsec alliance and the power-blocs there.

It would be interesting to see how this plays out. The Goons, to ensure that there would be maximum pain gained at the expense of BoB; created a corp called Band of Brothers - thus preventing any new alliance to be created (or recreated) under that name. However, the corporations that were members of BoB could easily reform under the banner of a new alliance and then attempt to kick out the interlopers.

Anyway, we all are living in interesting times....