Crime & Punishment

Before I threw myself into the comforting embrace of the mighty space potato’s leather recliner, I took a moment to recall the previous night’s efforts. They came to me awash with a mixture of feelings, on the one hand I was satisfied with the carnage my vessel had wrought, on the other I knew all good things must end. I was panged by a sudden sadness as I realised that tonight we may part, never to see each other again amongst the black.

You see whilst wise Capsuleers view ships as expendable, they would do well to remember that individually they deserve our respect. Tirelessly they offer their lives, shielding us from the harshness of space and asking for little more than to be fed with ammo, drones and cap boosters. We watch in awe as everyday they forge stories of victory or defeat, often burning brighter than the many suns of New Eden, before we invariably extinguish them in fire. All too easily we forget the individual trials and tribulations they endure to the ravages of time, our only ongoing memory to their boundless exploits a cold calculation of monetary cost.

Undeterred and thankful for his service, I called for “Domi” to begin the undocking process. Flanked by my ever faithful Raven and joined by a stalwart Typhoon, we warped off to once more together to wander aimlessly amongst the stars.

Our forward scout had reported heavy gang activity all around the neighboring Amarr area. Disliking the odds we requested a wormhole to be found to a more palatable location, and soon one was plotted which would take us to infamous Black Rise cluster. As is often the case the grass is rarely greener, and we soon found ourselves preparing to fight a twenty strong gang of destroyers.

They landed like a swarm of locus and our Typhoon felt the full brunt of sustained and co-ordinated fire. The initial Alpha volley proved too much for his active tank and he succumbed, his lower resist profile than that of our Raven proving to be his downfall. Furious as we watched our friend envelop in blinding light we began tearing thrashers off field, only slowed by our struggle to lock onto their low signature radiuses.

Quickly losing count of the Thrashers that we left smouldering before us it was not long before they warped off to regroup. We made a decision at this point to remain on gate as all of the points dropped of us, defiant to the risk. Fresh destroyers shortly swarmed in alongside logistic repair ships to sustain the larger vessels now being thrust upon us.

Like a bastion of strength in the darkness the Ravens tank held against the onslaught and soon beady eyes turned to my Dominix. They tested his tank and found it wanting. The armour buffer held well enough bolstered by the ancillary repair that worked tirelessly to mend the incoming fire. But it was a mere matter of time before the inevitable core breach.

Opening communications I informed the Raven I would not last much longer and he informed me he had a small window of opportunity to leave grid.

“Agreed get out if you can, I’ll hold them off” His micro warp drive spooled up and I grinned as his ship flew through the twilight to safety, leaving me alone to my fate.

The sound of artillery rounds cascading violently against the reinforced steel plating grew louder, increasing to a roaring crescendo. Alarms screamed as the proud battleships armour failed and rounds streamed onto the hull directly, the end was near and i had but a moment to say a parting word.

"Goodbye my friend"


https://zkillboard.com/kill/46330238/

Docking up in a nearby station I scoffed as I was handed a repair bill of 18 Million. “This is ridiculous it’s barely a few scratches”

“Sir, your ship is on fire”

Conceding his point I handed over the money and waited patiently for the repairs to finish. Thankfully they did not take long and as my fearless scout was mumbling something about a Tornado on scan in the neighboring system, so I stumbled out once more into void. I ended up catching him red handed at an Amarr FW mission site and my flight of heavy drones dismantled him with ruthless efficiency.

Tornado: https://zkillboard.com/kill/47126900/

Bumbling back to Kourmounen I chanced across another Tuskers pilot who was putting his newly concocted artillery Scythe Fleet Issue through its paces. I opened up a communication link and was met with hysterical laughter as he called out seemingly arbitrary numbers in the low thousands. At first I thought space had finally addled his mind but it was actually the damage a poor Federation Navy Comet was enjoying.

We formed up a rag tag fleet and were joined by another Tuskers member who was out causing grief in his Malediction. As we sat around regaling each other with stories of our nights solo endeavors, a Dominix Navy Issue popped up on directional scan.

“He’s landed 90km off me”

I aligned ready to use my jump drive but soon found myself webbed and scrammed, he had beaten me to the punch with his own jump drive and the brawl was on. My capacitor reserves dumped as he fired up 4 heavy energy neutralisers. Activating my capacitor booster I staggered my own neutralisers back at him and called for our interceptor to hold point, whilst I wrestled to win the capacitor war. I watched as he struggled to maintain his modules and they fell off one by one, the extra time taken to stagger mine had done the job. I regained point not a moment too soon as the enemy Dominix erased our malediction from the sky.

“This is going to be a close one, if I go down send him to hell with me”

Our structure tanks held neck and neck with barely a percent between them, his higher ehp value making up for our higher dps. As we approached the end a neutral Talwar landed on grid and fired a single whoring volley into our foe before taking it on himself to kill Geckos. It turned out that some Talwars just want to watch the world burn and we ignored his religious crusade to rid the world of the Gecko menace.

It was as I approached 5% structure our foe finally succumbed. We breathed a sigh of relief as we looted our formidable enemy and thanked him for an excellent fight.

Navy Domi: https://zkillboard.com/kill/47129291/

[Dominix, Bad Moon]
Damage Control II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II

Pith X-Type X-Large Shield Booster
Heavy Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 800
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Warp Scrambler II
500MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive

Heavy Unstable Power Fluctuator I
Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M

Large Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer II
Large Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer II
Large Anti-Thermal Screen Reinforcer II

Ogre II x5

Notes: Invul can be swapped out for another cap booster if you are expecting more than 2 heavy neuts or a Curse etc. Lack of web is an issue with this setup. Does just shy of 1200 dps with antimatter. Obviously run with Crystals/Blue pill.