Earlier this week I found a couple fights on a roam. Although it was late and I was sure I wouldn't find who I was looking for at this hour, I still wanted to cause some explosions *smile* I settled on a quick route through the Jove pipe that leads to Heydieles, where it "forks" off into Black Rise, or through a pocket of low sec systems where a lot of FW occurs, or loop back around through Old Man Star/Ladister/ then Aeschee and back home to Adirain. Two jumps into my route, a scan of the system reveals a Slicer on scan. It's just myself and two others, one of whom is ViRtU0zone.
He greeted me in local with a wave and I returned it, and began searching for the Slicer. After a few minutes, he was on scan at a large plex. I loaded Fusion ammo and Nova rockets hoping to land right on top of him. I exit warp and he was about 8500 meters away from me! Turns out to be ViRtU0zone himself as I spam target lock and activate my modules so they're hot and ready to go. I see his speed hit the high 1,000's as he pulls range. Just as I complete the lock, he successfully evades my scram range. Damn! He lands two solid hits that eliminate 3/4 of my shield as he orbits 16km away from me and I scratch his shields with my autocannons. I continue firing my autocannons as I align towards the sun in hopes of sling shotting him. Moments later I'm in half armor as my SAAR is on its last few pumps. I watch his speed waiting for that moment to overheat my afterburner and burn towards him. He maintains a distance of 14-17km with speeds in the low to mid 1000's. My guns are landing but the ammo I'm using isn't enough to break through his shields. At this point I determine he's shield fit, but with my repper out of nanite and the Slicer down to 3/4 shield I decide to not reload to Barrage and stay on him. My afterburner is close to burning out as I begin to take structure damage. The Slicer gracefully maintains his distance while landing devastating hits with his lasers. As I entered half hull, the Slicer burns in towards me well within my brawling range. I punch through his shields and I land solid hits to his armor. My afterburner had burnt out at this moment, but I think it wouldn't have changed the outcome. I get my pod out of there and throw a gf in local. As I warp to the safe, the could of, would've, should'ves enter my head. Should've switched to Barrage as soon as he escaped scram range! You could of got him if you landed that point! Ah well, lesson learned for next time! Afterwards he politely returned my loot, and took off in search of more targets. Pretty cool :)
After I reshipped in Adirain, I went down the same route with no targets along the way. I reached Muetralle and saw a Caracal on scan towards a plex. Why not? I warped towards the plex, guns ready to go and myself eager to explode something. The Caracal was 20km away from me, motionless. I burned towards him, but still no movement from him. I landed my scram and web and fired away. It was like throwing grapes at him because his shields were barely taking damage. I decided to stay on him since he still hadn't locked me up, and after a few moments he yellow boxes me. I was pointed (long point) and immediately get rocked by some missles. Light Missiles.
I burn towards the sun, overheat my web to extend its range and deactivate my guns. My Rifter is falling apart as my SAAR struggles to repair the incoming damage. I get to 15km when I see the Caracal close distance. Ah man. MWD. I fire my guns and rockets, overheat everything and go down guns blazing. Even though I had no chance, I throw a gf in local and it's returned. In retrospect, the pilot was negative security status (-9. something) in an FW corp, and it was probably a fight I shouldn't of taken. *shrugs* I head back to Adirain and jump into another Rifter and head back out one more time. I make it to Heydieles without losing my ship or exploding someone else's. I head back to Adirain via Old Man Star and Ladister, but no luck. Ah well, just one of those days.
Fast forward a couple days. Now in order to prepare myself for my goal, I ordered some Rifters tweaked slightly from my usual version. I knew that Crake and his companions flew all kinds of frigates with unconventional fits, so I had to take that into consideration. I fit up my new Rifters, and set out. It was mid afternoon for me at home, so I figured the UK contingent would be out and about. I head down the Jov pipe towards Oulletta with hopes of finding more frigate action. I reach Oulletta, and there he was in local.
My heart beat increased, my hands began to get clammy. Calm down! I control my nerves and formulate a plan to engage him. I warp to a safe and scan the system, revealing a couple other frigates including a Rifter. That has to be him! I wasn't sure about the intentions of the other frigates, but I might not get another opportunity like this. I figured if myself and Crake do end up fighting and another ship interrupts, we'll just get rid of him and any other intruders. I warp to the novice, and just as I take the acceleration gate inside the plex ... his Rifter lands! It was too late to stop the ship, so I waited inside for a few moments, hands beginning to tremble a bit with excitement (lol it still amazes me the physical effect this game has on me). I check short scan and no Rifter. I increase the range to five AU and he was still out and about, so I scan the other plex's. Nothing. Then it comes to me. The sun. I scan the sun, and Crake and his Rifter were there. Damn this is gonna be awesome. I take a deep breath and warp towards the sun.
I checked to make sure all my modules were overheated and I had the correct ammo loaded. Check and check! I hit short scan as I get under 1 AU of the sun and see a Merlin on scan. Ah damn! I exit warp and no Merlin. I land right on top of Crake, as I lock him he's already 2,000 meters away and increasing as he pulls range from me. We fire our guns and receive damage at the same time, his doing a significant amount more. He burns off in a straight path away from me and I follow suit. Rockets and bullets race between our ships as we exchange gunfire. I activate my repper as I land a devastating hit bringing him into half armor. Oh shit! I reach half armor and land another big blow as he's a sliver away from hull! I notice his ships speed is faster than mine as I get him into structure. He's at 8200 meters and close to evading my scram. My armor is holding up at half as my repper is able to tank the damage. Just as I overheat my scrambler, I lose point! Noo! His repper brings his armor back to life as he enters deep hull. My afterburner is taking heavy heat damage, and my guns are close to burning out as well. Crake still hasn't warped off, I don't know if it's because he hasn't noticed or is gonna fight to the end. Our intense firefight continues as I enter deep armor. I overheat my scram and regain point. My repper pumps out it's last rep, and I land another blow that leaves him with the smallest amount of hull life i've ever seen! His armor repairs some more of his ship, he's right above 9,000 meters away and about to evade my point again! I land one big volley and his Rifter explodes. My afterburner burnt out as I sat there in disbelief. I must have been holding my breath, my heart was beating out of my chest and a slight tremble took over my body. I did it! I managed to throw a good fight in local as I raised my arms to the ceiling and let out a quiet Yes! I sat there with a huge smile on my face until I realized I was sitting at the sun not moving with no afterburner, no nanite reps, and heavily burnt guns! I looted the wreck and warped to a safe, still in disbelief as to what I had just accomplished. Crake returned and we chatted it up in local for a bit:
[ 2015.04.09 18:52:28 ] Sem Skord > gf
[ 2015.04.09 18:52:31 ] Crake Gaterau > gf mate ;)
[ 2015.04.09 18:52:38 ] Siuil A'run > rip
[ 2015.04.09 18:52:46 ] Sem Skord > http://i.imgur.com/hdCgXNp.gif
[ 2015.04.09 18:52:53 ] Crake Gaterau > Hahaha
[ 2015.04.09 18:53:15 ] Sem Skord > I feel like i just won my first solo pvp fight
[ 2015.04.09 18:53:18 ] Sem Skord > my hearts beating lol
[ 2015.04.09 18:53:43 ] Crake Gaterau > Figured I would duel you in a Rifter. Seemed the right way to go :)
[ 2015.04.09 18:54:09 ] Sem Skord > I appreciate it man :)
[ 2015.04.09 18:54:19 ] Crake Gaterau > A good fight :)
[ 2015.04.09 18:54:24 ] Sem Skord > Hell yea man
[ 2015.04.09 18:54:41 ] Sem Skord > i have your loot
[ 2015.04.09 18:54:49 ] Sem Skord > Ouelletta II - Federal Defense Union Logistic Support
[ 2015.04.09 18:55:12 ] Crake Gaterau > All yours mate. Fair and square ;)
[ 2015.04.09 18:56:06 ] Sem Skord > Very well :]
That gif I linked was the best way to represent through gif's what I was feeling lol. The fact that he chose to engage me with a Rifter was pretty badass, and his space bushido by allowing me to keep the loot is pretty cool too.
I was on cloud nine as I left the system. I saw he had just killed a Kestrel and the pilot's pod as I checked d-scan one more time. I set my destination to Adirain to dock up as RL was encroaching into my EVE time. To be honest I was speechless, and for the record that fight is the most fun and intense one I've had! That was just one fight of many between Crake and I throughout my short time in New Eden, with him as the victor in all of our previous fights. Each time I learned something from him and the fight itself that helped me grow into a better pvp'r. Even as I'm writing this I still don't know what to say! Very good fight Crake, thanks for the help and tips you've shared with me along the way!
Black Rebel Rifter Club has declared war on Screaming Hayabusa so hopefully we have more awesome fights such as this one in the next few days. Gotta go for now, hope you guys enjoyed it!
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