There She Blows

It was Saturday 8th December. I was bored out of my mind and feeling a little depressed due to the losses I've suffered that day with only a shared Vengeance kill to show for it. First I lost a Malediction at a gate while my attention was diverted. My pod also followed. Then I decided to take on a Hookbill with my Atron. The loss wasn't really any surprise. My next fight was a bit more memorable.

A Tusker flew into Hulmate, sporting a Condor. Not knowing what to expect from the revamped ship, I decided to engage him where he was waiting at sun. I was flying a Malediction, brawler fit, and soon it was apparent that I was being kited. Having recently read some guides on how to catch a kiter, and having all the time in the world to try thanks to the armour repper on my Malediction, I started maneuvering so I could catch me a kite. 14km! So close to web range! I was getting excited, this fight could still go my why and I flung my ship around once more. Then after hearing the most terrible sound, my speed grinded to a halt. My afterburner melted! Full knowing that I was now but a fish in a barrel, I managed my cap use so my repper could keep repping. I was hoping for his cap to run out, a long shot I know, but the only thing I could do at that moment. It wasn't to be as pretty soon my cap gave in due to the heavy use of the repper. Farewell my lovely Malediction! A very educational fight though, as most fights are versus Tuskers. Good Fight!

I decided to buy some more of the Ammarian beauties, having found a wormhole leading close to Rens earlier that day. While waiting for my Maledictions to arrive I was hailed by Kortes, a resident station camper. He asked me for backup against a Vengeance outside station and I obliged with my Rupture. I pointed and nueted him and Kortes did all the damage. While killing the Vengeance a Hurricane undocked, arty fit. Kortes ran but I had other plans. I tried getting in under its guns but alas, my Rupture exploded.

Right, so back to the story I wanted to tell, I was bored and depressed after my losses. I hopped into a Rifter, deciding not to fly the more expensive stuff to its doom for the remainder of the day. I was half paying attention in a safe when suddenly, Derka Miller started talking in local chat.

Derka Miller > start with 1st belt then work way down
Derka Miller > mining
Derka Miller > err wrong chat

I laughed, was this for real? Was it a trap? I located top belt and pointed my D-scan towards it. Kortes's Tornado was there with a capsule. That was fast I thought, but there was still a Hyperion there. The Tornado left, leaving the Hyperion alone in the belt. Waiting for a few moments I was surprised to see that no one was jumping the battleship. I warped to the belt in my Rifter, upon landing I noticed it was Derka Miller himself flying the battleship. He was a two months old pilot, how great can he be? ATTACK! I tackled the battleship, fully expecting that I wouldn't be able to kill it alone. I was ready to call in some help, but his shields were dropping steadily. His oversized weopons was littering space with oversized bullets, but none could track the speed of my Rifter.

Could this be my white whale? The Moby Dick of space ship combat? My d-scan button was being abused, but no ships appeared. His shields dropped, surely his armour is tanked, I thought, you wouldn't fly a Hyperion into low sec if it wasn't at least tanked...right? Nervous laughter escaped my mouth as I wither away his armour. More abuse to the D-scanner followed, but still nothing showed up. It was taking much longer than the shields though, and I started to overheat the autocannons just to speed things up a bit.

After a reload and some more shooting, I hit his structure. This was it, I thought, I have you! His weapons stopped shooting, it seemed as though Derka also realized his impending doom. A glorious explosion lighted up the asteroid belt. I locked up his pod, and sent him back to hisec.

RIFTER > BATTLESHIP !!!

Looking at his...interesting fit on the killmail, I noticed the cargo. I realised there were plenty of modules looking suspiciously like battle loot. I checked his killboard, nope, no kills. Two losses though...seems like five hours later, he decided to try again...in Old Man Star. I also noticed a lack of any miner modules, leaving me confused at what he was doing. Was he baiting? Was the convo in local a trap? I guess we'll never know.