Nomad in a Rifter

Although I enjoy the look and feel of the Neighborhood when I fly around in my Rifter, lately the fights have dwindled to almost nothing. After a couple days of roaming the area, all I had to show for it was a Thrasher and three cyno's. A couple corp mates have been telling me that the area out near Essence/Placid has been prime hunting ground lately. The decision was made without much fuss. I restocked my Rifter with ammo and paste, ensured I had my Quafe, smokes and trusty sidearm, and sped off into the vastness of space towards Yvangier.

The trip there was uneventful as space went from the rusty red tint to the cool blue of Gallente space. I arrived in Heydieles, where the roads split off into different directions. I had entered through Old Man Star, which led towards Aeschee and Adirain. One route will take you to Black Rise via Abune and Oinasiken, and further down the pipe through Indregulle and Murethand you'll hit Verge Vendor and Placid.

When I roam this area I usually branch off into Ouelletta from Melmaniel and hit the constellations there. Let's see what this land has to offer tonight!

I reach Ouelletta without incident. I scan around and find a Merlin at a novice plex. I warp off with EMP and Mjolnir rockets at the ready, all my mods overheated and ready to roll. I enter the plex and the Merlin is on grid 20km away. I burn towards him as his speed shoots to 2k m/s. Moments later we're in brawling range as I land my scram and web first and let loose with bullets and rockets. I begin my orbit outside of his blaster's optimal and comfortably enjoy the show. The Merlin's guns are shooting off into space unable to hit my Rifter. Once I break through his shields, the Merlin fell apart as the guns and rockets tore into the hull. A few seconds later the Merlin exploded. Gf! Loot 'n scoot, dock up, drop loot, repair, slam some Quafe and head back out! I hit D-scan and spot an unnamed Algos. I check the name and sure enough, young player in a NPC corp. Probably ratting. He's in a belt. My mouth waters as I warp towards the belt. Through the debris of the belt I spot the Algos 20km away going to town on an innocent rat. My Rifter closed the distance quickly and pounced on the destroyer with a barrage of Fusion ammo and Nova rockets. I stayed at 5,000 meters incase he had blasters. The Algos doesn't lock me up, even as he enters low shields. As my guns blast into his armor I orbit closer tearing apart his ship. The Algos enters deep armor and still no response from him. I go in for the kill and close in at 500 meters. Seconds later the Algos explodes in a beautiful explosion. Taking advantage of the ratter's state of shock and surprise, I scram his pod and explode that as well. I salvage the good loot from the wreckage and retrieve the corpse to add to my Crypt, dock up and repair my Rifter. Man! So far so good! Only been here for half an hour and already finding more fights than Red Space! I undock and head to Loes.

I enter the system, and as soon as I warp off to my safe a flashy Tristan lands on the gate! Damn! I arrive at my safe and immediately warp back towards Ouelletta hoping to catch the flashy Tristan. He leaves system by the time I arrive at the gate. I jump back over and warp to a safe. He's still here, and d-scan tells me he's at the Melmaniel gate. I wait a few seconds to see if he jumps, but he lingers. I search around for a novice plex, warp to it and wait inside. A couple tense minutes go by as I continually spam scan on the gate while switching from 5 AU to 1 AU to see if he's gonna fight. Alas, scan informs me he's not at the gate anymore .. but 1 AU from me. Let's do this!

I overheat all my modules and sit close to the warp in beacon waiting for him to show up on grid. The Tristan warps in and I immediately burn towards him and orbit at 5,000 meters. That way if he's rails I close width, if he's blasters I'm already outside his optimal, and if he has neuts I'm good as well. Three volley's from my guns bring down his shields as they begin punching holes into his armor. Through the gunfire I notice he has rails, so I overheat my afterburner and close the distance. His Drones enter the fight and take down my shields. Ouch! With my Rifter about to enter armor I activate my repper to begin the rep cycle's as his ship does the dance between half armor and deep armor. My tank holds steady as another volley of projectiles and rockets take a nice chunk of metal out of his structure. The timing on my SAAR activation was golden (for once!) as the Drones did their work and the trio of trusty 200mm Autocannons  punched through the Tristan's armor and put the finishing touches on it's hull. I also managed to catch his pod. Man on a roll tonight!

I left the system and continued on my route through the rest of the constellation. The rest of the systems turned up nothing, so I pushed into Ostingele and roamed the constellation there. Again same story. I entered Uphallant, EVE Uni's low sec hang out and found a Caracal at a belt but he was too far off and warped away. I circled back and decided to call it a night. When I entered Loes, I spotted an unnamed Catalyst. Oh yea! I found him at a small plex, warped off with guns ready to sing! He was on the acceleration gate as I locked, scrammed and webbed. I unleashed the torrent of bullets and rockets as the destroyer entered half armor. His rail guns weren't doing enough damage as I held a tight orbit and continued to fire away. Seconds later the young faction warrior's ship was a floating heap of smoking metal as he joined the vast darkness of space.

I continued with my return to base when the Tristan pilot from earlier flags me down in local.

 Cheradenine-Zakalwe Amtiskaw > SEM WHERE WAS SHE, i WAS HUNTING HER DOWN?
 Sem Skord > who?
Cheradenine-Zakalwe Amtiskaw > OH, I guess it wasn't you
Cheradenine-Zakalwe Amtiskaw > <1 week player in a vexor
Cheradenine-Zakalwe Amtiskaw > went flashy, then you showed up
Sem Skord > where'd you spot her?

Just as I said that, a flashy pilot entered system. I checked out his info and sure enough, it was a young pilot in a Thorax. Cheradenine confirmed this with

Cheradenine-Zakalwe Amtiskaw > that one

With some quick d-scan work I get the Thorax down to a belt and warp towards him loading the appropriate ammo. I land in the middle of the cloudy belt but no Thorax. I check scan again and he's at a different belt this time. I turn my Rifter around and warp towards the belt. This time the Thorax is there as I land right ontop of it 6,000 meters away. I lock him up, scram and web and fire away. I see a large group of drones out in space but neither moving nor orbiting the cruiser so I continue to focus my fire on him. Within seconds the Thorax's shields have fallen as I spam short scan waiting for any backup. The Thorax locks me up and fires rails at me, missing completely. I'm under it's guns not taking any damage and no drones out. My heart is beating fast as the shakes enter my body. I spam short scan waiting for that backup of his to arrive. The guns and rockets scream as they fly with bad intentions towards the Thorax, now putting holes into it's hull. Tristan on short. Stay on him! The Tristan lands 50km off! I continue to fire on the Thorax, and moments later it explodes in a glorious flash of light! I grab his pod, loot what I can fit in my Rifter and warp off! I drop off all the loot, repair my lovely frigate and continue on home.

Man what a roam! I went from dying of thirst from lack of kills, scraping by off of cyno's to violencing space boats in belts and plex's! Gonna stick around here for a while :)