End It With A Bang

The New Year is upon us! And before we begin another year in New Eden, I had to hop in my Rifter and get some end of the year fights!

Ishomilken
Ishomilken has proven fruitful in fights. This was one of those nights. Right off the undock, d-scan showed two Firetails at the same novice plex. Gonna grab something with a bit more oomph! I docked up, hopped into my Comet and warped off to the plex. The pair of Firetails were still there. It was weird not flying a Rifter; when I fly something else to shake things up, I have a tendency to think throughout the fight "Oh if I had a Rifter I'd do this!" so adjusting is a bit difficult. I'm just set in my ways I guess!

I land on grid and was greeted by the sounds of battle. I lock up the closest Firetail, scram web and fire the blasters! Oh yea I have drones! I let the little guys loose as my blasters tear apart the Firetail. Man these things pack a punch! The other Firetail had broke off and warped away, leaving me and the faction frigate alone to our dance. My blasters were ripping into his armor as the drones followed up with their guns. The Firetail was in deep armor already taking damage into his hull when his reps kicked in. The neut hit me and his autocannons were hitting my armor but I was tanking it comfortably. It was too little too late for this pilot. The blasters fired a few more volleys to explode the ship. Man this Comet! I was impressed with the amount of damage these blasters could do! I looted 'n scooted and docked up to repair. The other Firetail was still in space, so I switched into a Firetail of my own and met him at the novice.

I landed my webs and point on him and went in for my close orbit, but I was moving at a snails pace. I looked at my speed and saw I was dual webbed as well just as my frigate was rocked by a huge volley. Arty. Ah man! I began my evasive maneuvers as another round of artillery blasted through my shields and sent me into half armor. My plan at this point was to rely on my reps long enough to get me outside scram range and warp off, he had range on me and although I was hitting him with my autocannons, I was outgunned in this fight. 8,000 meters, 8,500 ... c'mon! At around 9,500 meters I spammed warp. I was choking out enough reps to keep my smoking and flaming Firetail together, and to my dismay I saw him closing in. You fought well my dear Firetail. You fought well. I threw a gf in local and docked up to hop into my Comet. It's a fight in Isho gentlemen! A couple minutes passed and I saw his Firetail back on d-scan. I waited outside the novice as he landed on grid. I spammed target lock and just as I was about to point him he warped off to a different plex. I chased him and he warped back to the novice as I landed on grid. Damn! The battle was now in his favor as he would be inside the plex at a favorable range for his arty's, meaning I'd have to work a bit harder to get my blasters on his ship. I took the gate and he was about 2,000 meters away. I land my scram, web and fire away. The dual webs hold me down nice and steady as he glides to a comfortable range outside my blasters. Now remember when I mentioned I have a tendency to revert to my Rifter skills/knowledge when I fly a different ship? Well I did exactly that, except times ten and with a dose of panic. I activated my reps when I was at half shields, wasting a precious amount of cycles. I continued to fire at him with anti-matter ammo, forgetting I had null in my cargo hold. I aligned to the sun and immediately began to evade, not even attempting to launch my drones. I lost my shit!

The Comet was tanking his arty volleys for a good while. When I broke out of my funk, I loaded Null and launched my drones but continued to align towards the sun. My SAAR was pumping out empty reps, but my hull was tanking very well to my surprise. The Null ammo switch had worked and my blasters were reaching out far enough to blast his ship and bring him into hull as well. Oh shit! The life in my hull was keeping me in the fight as his reppers patched up his armor. He was doing the hull/armor dance and my structure was holding strong. My blasters landed a solid blow and he joined me in deep hull. Oh man! OH MAN!! I was staying in the fight by a sliver of hull left, but me losing my shit early on cost me dearly in the later rounds. Gf!! I warped off in my pod as we chatted a bit in local:

[ 2015.12.31 07:15:51 ] Sem Skord > wow gf
[ 2015.12.31 07:16:05 ] Cosmoseal > very gf
[ 2015.12.31 07:16:23 ] Sem Skord > i burnt out all my mods
[ 2015.12.31 07:16:26 ] Sem Skord > wasted my reps
[ 2015.12.31 07:16:32 ] Sem Skord > didnt switch to null till late in the fight
[ 2015.12.31 07:16:51 ] Cosmoseal > was close
[ 2015.12.31 07:17:00 ] Sem Skord > yea
[ 2015.12.31 07:17:04 ] Cosmoseal > befor i forgot to reload my reper ^^
[ 2015.12.31 07:17:40 ] Sem Skord > haha
[ 2015.12.31 07:17:43 ] Sem Skord > well
[ 2015.12.31 07:17:46 ] Sem Skord > gf anyway man
[ 2015.12.31 07:17:54 ] Cosmoseal > u to
[ 2015.12.31 07:21:03 ] Cosmoseal > ^^

I learned a lot from that fight, and that's the key! Gotta learn something from each loss and victory to improve. Thank you Cosmoseal. I had no more faction frigs and hopped into a Rifter to see if I could do something against his Firetail, but I met the same fate even faster. Alright! Time to head outside of Isho and get some kills to end the night on a good note!

On the road again!

Uuna
One system over in Uuna, d-scan showed a Tormentor and an Executioner at a novice plex. It's been a while since I had a nice 2v1, so I overheated everything, loaded my Fusion bullets and Nova rockets, and warped to the plex. I began to go over a plan of attack in my head. Tormentor has drones, Executioner doesn't. Shoot Torm first, then Executioner. Sounds good! Both frigates were waiting for me right on the beacon as I locked up the Tormentor and charged straight at it firing everything. As my guns broke his shields, I was locked and scrammed and webbed by both parties. Lasers and drones began to redecorate my hull as I zig zagged towards the Tormentor to give my autocannons a chance to do their holy work. The Torm was in half armor as my shields broke. I activated my reps and continued my attack. The Tormentor pilot was gaining range on me but he was in deep armor! My tank was keeping me in the fight but the lasers and drones had me at half armor. The Tormentor continued to gain range as my autocannons brought him into structure. I was now into structure with a couple nanite reps left, so I made up my mind to take this Tormentor down with me! I cut my zig zag and went into a straight approach towards the Torm bringing him into a sliver of hull left as he choked out his last rep! I coughed out my last rep in hull as his Torm exploded! Oh shit! The Executioner was still nearby shooting at me, and I wasn't out of the fight yet. All my modules were close to burning out, I switched my fire to the last Amarr frigate and within a few volleys he was in half armor! I had about 1/4 of my hull left as my afterburner burnt out. Keep firing! Keep FIRING! Another volley sent him into deep armor, and Saint Wensley of Rifters was with me this day, as another volley exploded the Executioner. Oh man! Oh man! Gf! GF! I was psyched! During the fight I was calm and my nerves were steady, after the fight the shakes took a hold of me and my heart was racing! My heart's beating, my hearts beating MY HANDS ARE SHAKING!

I looted the field, returned a system over to Isho to rearm and repair. I went back over to Uuna and saw a Tristan on scan. My autocannons were spinning and my rocket launchers were ready to fly. Forgive me because I didn't record this fight and I don't recall much detail except he got outside my scram range in the beginning and pulled range forcing me to align to sun and take out his drones. As I was working on the last couple drones, with a couple nanite reps left and my Rifter in half armor, the Tristan went in for his kamikazee charge and began to neut me. I said screw the drones and focused everything on the Tristan! With some hull life left, and the help of Saint Wensley (blessed be thy name), I exploded the Tristan. Gf! Loot 'n scoot, to Isho rep and rearm, head back out!

Manjonakko
At one point in the night, an old friend returned from the abyss.

Darth Terona. The Blood Red Wolf.

Former CEO Darth Terona was back! Him and I go way back as Black Dragons, earning our Black Jackets and climbing up the ranks to run the corp. Darth did a lot for R1FTA to keep us alive in our dark days.

The Executioner and Tormentor pilots I encountered earlier were flying a Coercer and Tormentor. I asked Darth if he wanted to join and I followed them as he caught up. The duo met up with some friends, a Thrasher and a Catalyst. Ehhh .. gonna need a bigger boat. That's when R1FTA Vice Prez Amand graced us with his pretty mug!

And another Black Jacket logged in as well.

The Astero Pirate.

Nyar Darkfire, Amand, and Darth! A nice four on four! We were in different parts of Black Rise but were burning to my system to take down this gang. After some chasing and baiting up and down the Isho pipe, the Destroyer gang went back to Manjo to a novice plex. Darth and Amand had entered system as I landed on grid and took the gate, so we could gather ourselves. I checked short scan, and the gang had got Amand's Rifter. Damn! Darth made it inside as we waited for Nyar to arrive with his Jackdaw a couple jumps out. Amand went back to Isho to reship. The Destroyers were still outside, and that's when a Stay Frosty, Ciba Lexlulu, landed with his Svipul. Darkfire had just entered system and warped to our position. It's about to be a fight. The destroyer gang had warped off all save for one who got caught. Darth and I warped to a nearby celestial to get on grid with the fight outside the plex. I landed on grid just as the Nyar and the Svipul were duking it out in their T3 Destroyers. Alright, we got this. I fired away and began to work on his shields, that's when Nyar exploded. What the!! He had mentioned it wasn't a pvp fit but we weren't expecting a Svipul to show up. I held point waiting for Darth to arrive with his Rifter. I aligned towards the sun as my armor began to take damage and the Svipul's shielding were at half strength. Darth's Rifter landed on grid. My Rifter was about to go boom as I got outside scram range and warped towards the sun with Ciba at low shields. Hold on Darth! I'm coming back! I landed at the sun and immediately warped back towards the novice plex where Darth was holding down the Svipul. I landed on grid and fired away. In those seconds I was warping back and forth, Darth's Rifter had taken a lot of damage. His Rifter exploded valiantly. I held point and kept shooting, we were almost through his shields! I activated my reps to time his guns breaking through my armor, tightened down the strap on my helmet, and braced for impact. The Svipul's autocannons were peppering my hull but I was holding. My guns returned the fire as he was in the very last slivers of his shield.  Cmon baby! Cmon! I saw another Rifter on short scan. It was Amand. The Cavalry was coming! My last two nanite reps patched up my armor as the Frostian's shields fell! Amand landed on grid and I began to pull range to get outside the autocannon's falloff. I got out to 15km, projectiles zooming past my Rifter as Amand's Rifter tore up the Svipul's armor. I circled back around to help Amand finish off Ciba. His armor was falling apart and shortly he entered hull. In one glorious explosion, the Svipul was a smoking wreck in Manjo. Oh man! GF! We've encountered Stay Frosty from time to time and they always give a good fight. Be on your stuff when you fight them!

[ 2015.12.31 08:31:09 ] Ciba Lexlulu > gf

[ 2015.12.31 08:31:12 ] Sem Skord > gf

[ 2015.12.31 08:31:13 ] Darth Terona > gf gf

[ 2015.12.31 08:31:21 ] Amand Caldurik > gf

[ 2015.12.31 08:31:36 ] Ciba Lexlulu > very nice guys

[ 2015.12.31 08:31:48 ] Darth Terona > that was some tank :)

[ 2015.12.31 08:32:05 ] Ciba Lexlulu > actually i burned one of my extender

[ 2015.12.31 08:32:52 ] Sem Skord > took two of us with ya man

[ 2015.12.31 08:32:58 ] Ciba Lexlulu > Kill: Ciba Lexlulu (Svipul)

[ 2015.12.31 08:32:59 ] Sem Skord > thumbs up :)

[ 2015.12.31 08:33:04 ] Ciba Lexlulu > i jackdaw with you?

[ 2015.12.31 08:33:07 ] Sem Skord > aye :)

[ 2015.12.31 08:33:12 ] Ciba Lexlulu > ah

[ 2015.12.31 08:33:23 ] Ciba Lexlulu > gf gf

[ 2015.12.31 08:34:03 ] Nyar DarkFire > gf

BAH GAWD! High octane adrenaline pumping action tonight! We looted the field and handed back the loot to my fellow Black Jackets as I headed back to Isho for the night. Most fun I had in a good while :) Looking forward to 2016 for more explosions, more adrenaline, and of course, more good fights.

CONCORD is on!