The Dogs of War

Haven't had much time to fly around and look for fights in a Rifter, which is unfortunate since we're currently at war with two corps! *woot woot* On one front we have Screaming Hayabusa in Gallente space. The war with them is going well, they're up by a couple kills! On the other side of New Eden, Ke$ha's boys Dirt 'n' Glitter have declared war on us in the Metropolis region and the we've yet to score a kill on them, but it'll come soon :)

I haven't left Adirain since my last time out. I check out my Rifter to ensure it's fully stocked and ready to go. I've completely run out of Quafe in Adirain, so any kind capsuleers want to donate New Edens favorite soft drink to the Sem Skord Quafe Foundation please do so! Ammo is loaded, rockets aren't missing fuses or have dents in them, and nanite paste is all present. And my merry crew, they must have been living it up the past couple days. Mount up!

I roam the Jov pipe in search of more SKRMR pilots. So far it's only been a couple Black Jackets fighting 'em so I wanted to help in the war effort! I pass through a few systems with no luck in finding anyone to shoot. I reach Heydieles, and decide to try again by heading back the same way instead of through Old Man Star to Ladister. I arrive in Costolle, and spot Nuke Cave in system along with a couple other people.

Neatly combed hair meant to throw you off guard!

My heart beat increases and my hands get a bit sweaty, knowing I'm going to be in for one hell of a fight when I go against these guys. I warp to a plex and wait outside the gate. I still had Phased Plasma and Inferno rockets loaded from a previous engagement and debated on whether to go EMP or Fusion when Nuke's Tristan warped in about 5,000 meters away! No time! Fire! I lock him up and unleash a torrent of nervous gunfire right away bringing down his shield. His drones enter space and immediately take out 3/4's of my shield. Another volley of fire puts the Tristan in deep armor while I haven't entered armor yet! In the midst of the gunfire I see that Nuke has rails fitted, so I overheat my afterburner and burn towards him to negate the damage. He pulls range as well and his drones begin to work on my armor. I activate the repper as Nuke enters hull, but not in a good way! He's hull tanked, and then his armor begins to repair! He's now near 6,000 meters away and I'm already in half armor struggling to tank the combined firepower of his drones and rail guns. I continue to fire away as I enter deep armor and watch as his speed is significantly faster than mine. I can't close distance quick enough nor break his tank, and my Rifter goes out in a quick violent explosion. Exchange gf's and I get my pod out of there. I race back to Adirain to reship hoping to catch him again.

I warp through systems like a bat out of hell back to Costolle. I didn't have to go far because Nuke was in Hevrice. I warp to my safe and scan around and narrow down a Slasher in a novice plex. I over load everything, load up my EMP and Mjolnir rockets and warp to the plex ready to dish out some payback. My Rifter exits warp and Nuke is there in a Slasher 8,000 meters away. I lock him up, scram and web and fire away. He begins to lock me in return as his Slasher enters armor, web n scrammin' my Rifter along with a tracking disruptor. My guns feel the effect of it and miss a few volleys, but enough bullets get through to put his Slasher into armor while my shields are still holding up! Going very well! My autocannons break through his armor and begin working on his structure, when a wild Kestrel lands on grid with us! What the! Who invited this guy! He lands 20km away and Nuke's repper patches the armor on the busted up Slasher back to life as I hold my orbit and wait for the Kestrel to make his move. The Kestrel continues to sit there so I bring my focus back to Nuke and the fight we're in. I switch to "Keep at Range" to help my guns track a bit better and mitigate the TD Nuke has on me, and I deactivate my guns to switch to Fusion ammo and Nova rockets to greet his armor tank. The ten seconds of not firing is always a great risk, and the Slasher now has full armor while I'm on my last few pumps of nanite in half armor. My guns are nearly loaded, I overheat them and fire away. The TD is doing great work messing with my autocannons as my guns miss most of its shots while Nuke is hammering away landing solid hits. Keep at range isn't working, so I align to the sun to maintain a high speed and again to assist my guns track better. Another volley lands and tears away at my armor, as my guns return the favor and bring him into half armor. My repper pumps out its last nanite rep as I enter deep armor. The Slasher lands another good volley, but my naked SAAR is holding my Rifter together! I land a solid volley and bring him into hull! Oh man! Oh maaan! At this time I noticed the Kestrel was about 45km out watching the fight because he types  :O in local and has us yellow boxed. Another volley rocks his structure but he reps his armor to about half. I haven't entered hull yet so I'm still in the fight! The gunfire continues as I have a sliver of armor left and my autocannons land a huge hit that puts him in deep hull! Nuke stays on me as I slowly chip away at the remainder of his Slasher, but one volley sends me into half structure. Uh oh. At that exact moment, my guns land one final volley and the Slasher explodes! Wooo! Gf! Gf! With the Kestrel still on grid combined with the Shakes I warp off without looting the wreck. But man! What a fight!

I docked up and repaired the damage and decided to return to the battle field and loot the wreck. Nuke was still in system, and when I reached the plex he was in a Rifter (the Krusual version). Here it is, the tie breaker! I await at the wreck and moments later he lands about 5,000 meters away. We lock each other up and I burn towards him. The two Rifters exchage gun fire but his rocks my ship. Artillery! 280's!! The fight was very fast and frantic, I was in half armor, and he was already in hull! Our repper's kick in just in time for me to repair a huge volley and Nuke's Rifter gets out of hull, bringing some armor back to life. I burn towards him in a straight line but his Rifter is faster than mine. The fire fight ensues, and my SAAR is doing great work tanking the damage. The Arty Rifter is going back and forth between half structure and breaths of life into its armor. Each consecutive volley from his artillery rocks my Rifter, but my guns reach out far enough to break through his armor tank and damage his structure. Now .. for some reason I decide to break off the angle I had on him that was working, and align towards the sun. I think I was trying to redo the Slasher kill tactic. I went from 6,000 meters to 8,500 meters bringing my autocannons well into falloff range and right in the 280's sweet spot. My SAAR runs out of nanite reps as his Rifter continues the deadly dance between deep armor and deep structure, so I burn towards him hoping to land a solid blow. I see he loses point but I decide to stay and go for the kill. Another artillery volley rocks my ship sending me into hull. I land a solid volley that brings him into deep structure again, but his artillery was too much. Oh man! Another close fight! We exchange gf's and I get my pod out of there.

We fought one more time after that, his Tormentor against my neut Rifter .. but it wasn't a close one.  As I watched the video from our Rifter fight, I kicked myself for aligning towards the sun at a point in the fight where the range was good enough for my autocannons to land solid hits. Watching it a couple times I believe if I stayed on him and never aligned to the sun I would've won. Blah! Coulda, woulda, shoulda right! It was an afternoon of good fights and more experience for me to build on and take forth, and that's a win in itself :)