Crime & Punishment

It was a trap, of course. My poor Enyo took over 8000 damage before surrendering my capsule to the inevitable vacuum of space. As I retired from the field to the nearest station, I pondered my options. Primarily, did I want to risk my 400M ISK Gila against two very tanky opponents who were pvp fit and potentially had more friends waiting? I quickly worked out that it was probably just the two of them, as nothing else had showed up to hop on the Enyo killmail despite having ample time, and that because they'd gotten a kill already and had seen me dock the Gila earlier, they were probably already safe inside the station, ready to gloat. I didn't see either pilot listed in guests so I brought out the Gila anyway and warped back to the belt, knowing full well I was wasting my time.

I landed in the belt about 3000 meters from the barge and the battlecruiser. I was in a hurry to possibly exact vengeance on fleeing foes so I'd warped to zero before Dscan informed me that they were still there, waiting. Being webbed and scrammed in close proximity to a blaster fit battlecruiser might have brought my Gila to an inglorious end, but fortunately the Ferox pilot was asleep and the procurer decided to tackle the nearest asteroid instead. Habit, I suppose. I flipped on my MWD and was over 10k off when I was snagged by a web and a warp disruptor from the barge. I won't lie, this was a terrifying moment. I was going to fail again and on an epic scale this time. I fought panic long enough to realize that my MWD was still active and carrying me away from the hostiles at a steady 500 meters per second. And the Ferox was clearly NOT packing a microwarp; he was barely moving and his blasters were hitting nothing but empty sky. The warrior IIs were upon me but my Gila's prodigious shield buffer was untroubled.
I activated my warp disruptor on the barge, reasoning that he was more likely to try and run and I knew he liked to pack the occasional bling. I had a cap booster to keep my MWD running as the Gila's cap life is **** (keep in mind if you fly one) and I settled into a comfortable 20k orbit as my augmented Hammerheads and light missiles began ripping into the Ferox. The game, as they say, was afoot.

I'd chosen to engage the battlecruiser first. He was unable to hit me from so far away, but I didn't want to face those blasters at close range if I screwed up and got tackled or he remembered he had a microwarpdrive. And I hoped he would be packing the the highsec standard tank of meta 0 shield extenders and the odd civilian booster. It was not to be, the Ferox clung to life for entirely too long and as I switched my disruptor to keep him from warping off, the procurer was able to escape. All told the battlecruiser soaked up around 50k damage, and I assumed that would be it for the day. Barely a fair trade for an Enyo unless he was packing shiny mods, and not really worth risking a Gila for.

Of course the entire time my drones were eating the Ferox I was watching Dscan and waiting for the other shoe to drop. But apparently the other local do gooders had logged off. The procurer pilot was kind enough to return to the field, still in his frigate slaying barge fit, just as his battlecruiser escort became one with the void. I pointed up the barge fast as I could, and that vicious pair of augmented drones shredded him in a matter of seconds, revealing the weakness of using up that vessel's mid slots for tackle mods. And that was that, or so I believed. A cursory check of killmails revealed caldari navy power diagnostic had dropped from the Ferox and a Fed Navy web from the procurer. An acceptable 180M or so worth of carnage. All that remained was to crack open the MTU which had been busily vacuuming while the battle raged. I wasn't leaving 100M worth or green mods sitting in the belt. The cloud of Warrior drones would remain as a monument to my glorious triumph.

And then I noticed something on d scan, within 1 AU, that hadn't been there before. A Vindicator, probably the one that was trying to station camp the local ganker earlier, landed on grid about 30k from my ship. It was decision time. I'd had a good run and if this guy wasn't a baby seal and had faction webs and an MWD fitted, I was going to die in a fire. Then I realized it was the Ferox pilot reshipped, I still had an engagement with him, and assuming nothing else showed up this was going to be a really good day.

I pointed the Vindi and settled into a 20k orbit while my drones and light missiles started to deplete his surprisingly thick shields. And I kept a wary eye on dscan, praying that the procurer pilot was out of the fight permanently and that Bob would allow me this gift. And then I noticed that the Vindi wasn't the only one losing shield at an alarming rate. His blasters were GRAZING my cruiser for 400-800 per volley at 20k. This was getting to look entirely too much like a fair fight, and assuming he was running the standard armor tank, it might be curtains for my battle worn Gila. The strength of his shields suggested he might have undocked his incursion boat however, and while I could have disengaged at any time, I stayed on field even as my ship's shields failed. I was sitting comfortably at about 35% structure when that monster finally died, and I whispered a silent word of thanks to whoever coined the saying "never leave home without a suitcase." Damage Control II saved me in that last tussle.

My scanner was clear, except for a few barges in surrounding belts that had been there from the outset. I scooped the rest of the loot, cursed the Vindi pilot for being the ONLY Vindi flying carebear in highsec without bling in every slot, waved to the neutral Enyo that had stopped to watch, and ran to the nearest station as my hull trailed fire behind it. A billion ISK in carnage, 100M in loot, and my dearly departed Enyos avenged.

+1 would read again

^^ Loosing ships is a very important part, maybe even the most important part of the journey.
It makes the inevitable win epic and makes you crave more content, interaction, fun, ...

Enjoy it while it lasts and don't let the belvars and doofuses of this universe rain on your parade.

D.

Great story!

Don't worry about your ships going boom, that's their job. That is why it's fun.

Just think how much fun it would be if more miners fought back.

Fascinating!

Ugh wall of text, I'll have to read this later. Too busy right now.

very well written, was almost late from lunch.

Indeed, quality story. More please.

Only if you lose them the same way over and over again