From the East out to the Western shore
Where many men and many more will fall
But no angel flies with me tonight
Till freedom reigns on all
And curse the name for which we slaved our days
Till every man shall his kingdom come
Flogging Molly - What's Left Of The Flag
I was spending a bit of time sending another Guristas pirate to his just rewards, when I heard about the roaming enemy fleet. A mixed fleet with a few Hydra Reloaded was moving through eastern Vale. The FC had already formed a fleet, and I joined up as soon as I'd docked my Nighthawk.
I switched to one of the 4 Drakes I had available and began to move towards TVN. Already well trained in the use of jump bridges, I covered the 10 jumps with one bridge and two gates. I was in TVN in no time, ready and formed up on a gate. Our targets had decided to start camping stations, and they were waiting in ZLZ-1Z. By the time we'd begun moving, the enemy camp had moved up to 5t-KMT station, and we moved in quickly. Disappointingly, the enemy fleet dispersed as soon as we entered local. Well, except for this genius.
So we caught the direction they were headed, and began to move ourselves. The enemy jumped into B-E3KQ and set themselves up off the gate. They had plenty of time to get to whatever range they needed. We were a bit worried about that, but the FC decided to risk it, and we jumped into them.
I had no idea if I was going to live or die, but the FC started to call targets. I noticed a Zealot firing at me, but that was it, and it seemed like the enemy wasn't immediately focusing it's fire, but that soon changed. Our first target was an enemy Tempest, and I took part in it's swift destruction, while our secondary turned tail and ran, but slowly we whittled down their fleet, and 15 ships later, the enemy gave up and warped out.
At this point they were broken, but still dangerous. While the enemy retreated through Tribute, we hatched a plan to catch them again. We took a jump bridge backwards near TVN, and moved up towards Tribute, coming at them in the direction they were plunging headfirst.
Our fun was only slightly ruined once we realized a blue fleet was already camping them in from WH-JCA. We decided to take yet another jump bridge to circle around them and get to IMK-K1.
Essentially they were trapped in W6VP-Y, with no hope but to wait us out. Our probers started to get us warp ins on them, but they dodged us pretty effectively. So we went back to IMK and waited some more.
Then yet ANOTHER blue fleet came down on the gate. After they threw up their own bubble, our FC told us to jump in system again. The probers had a good warp in this time, and they enemy tried to fight a bit. Again things went poorly, and they disengaged a bit more quickly this time.
As far as they knew, our presence meant that the IMK gate was unguarded, and they tried to punch their way through. The blue fleet there caught them, and we managed to get on a few more killmails, as the enemy fleet was effectively obliterated.
After that I went back to carebearing, picking up a Dread Guristas X-Large Shield Booster.
A good day.
Where many men and many more will fall
But no angel flies with me tonight
Till freedom reigns on all
And curse the name for which we slaved our days
Till every man shall his kingdom come
Flogging Molly - What's Left Of The Flag
I was spending a bit of time sending another Guristas pirate to his just rewards, when I heard about the roaming enemy fleet. A mixed fleet with a few Hydra Reloaded was moving through eastern Vale. The FC had already formed a fleet, and I joined up as soon as I'd docked my Nighthawk.
I switched to one of the 4 Drakes I had available and began to move towards TVN. Already well trained in the use of jump bridges, I covered the 10 jumps with one bridge and two gates. I was in TVN in no time, ready and formed up on a gate. Our targets had decided to start camping stations, and they were waiting in ZLZ-1Z. By the time we'd begun moving, the enemy camp had moved up to 5t-KMT station, and we moved in quickly. Disappointingly, the enemy fleet dispersed as soon as we entered local. Well, except for this genius.
So we caught the direction they were headed, and began to move ourselves. The enemy jumped into B-E3KQ and set themselves up off the gate. They had plenty of time to get to whatever range they needed. We were a bit worried about that, but the FC decided to risk it, and we jumped into them.
I had no idea if I was going to live or die, but the FC started to call targets. I noticed a Zealot firing at me, but that was it, and it seemed like the enemy wasn't immediately focusing it's fire, but that soon changed. Our first target was an enemy Tempest, and I took part in it's swift destruction, while our secondary turned tail and ran, but slowly we whittled down their fleet, and 15 ships later, the enemy gave up and warped out.
At this point they were broken, but still dangerous. While the enemy retreated through Tribute, we hatched a plan to catch them again. We took a jump bridge backwards near TVN, and moved up towards Tribute, coming at them in the direction they were plunging headfirst.
Our fun was only slightly ruined once we realized a blue fleet was already camping them in from WH-JCA. We decided to take yet another jump bridge to circle around them and get to IMK-K1.
Essentially they were trapped in W6VP-Y, with no hope but to wait us out. Our probers started to get us warp ins on them, but they dodged us pretty effectively. So we went back to IMK and waited some more.
Then yet ANOTHER blue fleet came down on the gate. After they threw up their own bubble, our FC told us to jump in system again. The probers had a good warp in this time, and they enemy tried to fight a bit. Again things went poorly, and they disengaged a bit more quickly this time.
As far as they knew, our presence meant that the IMK gate was unguarded, and they tried to punch their way through. The blue fleet there caught them, and we managed to get on a few more killmails, as the enemy fleet was effectively obliterated.
After that I went back to carebearing, picking up a Dread Guristas X-Large Shield Booster.
A good day.
I really like the format of this post. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would like to see more posts like this. It was exciting and gives those of us stuck in high-sec a glimpse of what it's like for a normal person living in nullsec. Regular feature please!
ReplyDelete