Hyperion and what strange company we keep....

Arzal and I are enjoying our new office in Helgatid and one aspect is the prospect of some PvP. Of course, one can get more PvP (ganks really) by being a pirate and hunting down noobs who are so clueless as being unable to defend themselves.

PvP in low-sec is tricky for those who are not criminally inclined as one has to balance out CONCORD and engagement rules. Certainly, anyone who is classed as a criminal (-5.0 security rating or below) is automatic KOS. I have seen a fair few outlaws but most travel in packs of 3 or more or are aligned with other similiar characters. Picking on single outlaws is nigh on impossible. Finding single or duo outlaws is hard too. Most pirates are actually -1.0 or thereabouts so they will get the benefit of sentry guns around installations if we engage them first. One can also act as bait in a belt and hope you get ambushed only to turn around and spring a trap.

Also, most pirates are decent PvPers with fair ship setups. After all, they have had experience in killing peeps now haven't day?

Altogether, trying to engage outlaws in low-sec is a worthy challenge.

So, me and Arzal were starting our roaming when we hit the beginning of a well travelled route. I was in my trusty thorax-class cruiser while Arzal was in his Ishkur. He lost one the day previous to a combined M34N and DOOM gank. However, he was kicking the DOOM pilot's ass before help was called in. So well done Arzal!

As we powered our way through the systems, I got ahead of Arzal (who was nominated the scout) and I entered yet another low-sec system. On the exit point of the gate were two outlaws. Wrecks were already littered around the gate and it was clear that they had been busy. The outlaws were 'Reynard Davion, The Fifth Seal Corp' and Csaky, Bushido corp. The former was in a drake, probably set up for tackling and the latter in the mighty Hyperion.

I was still under the gate cloak and looked for a spot to run to. Telling Arzal to halt his progress, I explained the situation:

'SHITE. Pirates at the gate. Drake and Hyp. Do not follow. Get your mega!' I said. There was a pause from Arzal. No doubt checking his insurance policies.
'Sure Boss, turning round.' Arzal zipped the five jumps back to where his megathron was parked. I then hit the micro warpdrive and jumped into warp before Reynard could get a lock. Local, at this time numbered seven.

My safe spot was too deep and I lost track of the two pirate ships. They were still in local however and I hoped that they would stay. Meanwhile Arzal was making best speed back to where his megathron was parked. After a few minutes, the outlaws left local. Frowning, I hit the warp drive and got back to the gate. I could see wrecks and curiosity got the better of me and I went over to check out the wrecks. As I approached it, the gate fired and the Drake class battlecruiser appeared. I quickly aligned and warped as the pirate started to lock me, the sound of his locking computer pinging at me. I hit speed and warped out just before he acquired lock.

Quite possible he was moving between gates or had an alt who spotted me close the gate. No matter, I updated Arzal on the situation. My corp mate was in the mighty Megathron-class battleship and was making best speed towards me. I warped out again but chose a close scan spot that kept the gate and the Drake on scanner. Moments later, the Hyperion came back. Excellent.

I checked with Arzal and he was now only two jumps away - we chose the Hyperion-class battleship as primary and I aligned to the gate, checking that all the ammunition was to hand. Arzal jumped and locked the hyperion. He was rewarded with returning locks and both the Drake and Hyperion opened fire on the megathron. The robotic sentry guns opened fire in response to the hostile action by the pirates and battle was joined.

Bursting out of warp, I locked the looming hulk of the hyperion and the drake. My drones screamed out of the bay as my hybrid blasters spat out antimatter rounds at the hyperion. My drones screeched over to join the swarm of Arzal's drones around the Hyperion. I was rewarded with returning locks by both pirates.

Oddly, the drake started to hit me with missiles. I would have assumed that Arzal's megathron would have been chosen as primary. Splitting fire was dangerous but may be the pirates were confident of taking us out together?

My shields disappeared in a flash and the heavy missiles ate deep into my armour. I hit the armour repairer while my hardners strengthened the resistance of my plate. However, the drake could switch ordnance very easily if the pirate was smart. My armour repairer worked well however as I tanked the drake's impressive output. Arzal then shouted out in alarm:
'Rook! Shit. Rook on scan.'
Indeed, there was a deadly ECM boat about 40km away. It was not an outlaw but the pilot was -1.0 - however, he did not initiate any hostile action. Maybe he was watching.

The fight continued with the hyperion pulling back an impressive amount of armour that was blasted off by me and Arzal. I was tanking the damage from the drake in my thorax as I fired cap boosters off to replenish my capacitor. So long as I had boosters, I could do this.

Then my boosters ran out.

SHIT.

I had enough in the tank to continue the fight and convinced that I had more boosters, I risked a quite glance at my cargo and indeed; I had enough. What happened was that I packed a different sized capacitor booster into the hold than what was being used. I wasted precious moments as the new booster was loaded. My armour repairer was working hard, possibly smoking now as it was starved of energy.

The hyperion however was struggling under our onslaught and it dropped into hull even though it was repairing furiously. I decided to send my drones over to the drake who was still pounding away at me with his missiles. The cheek.

Arzal did a magnificent job as no doubt he was scoring some tremendous hits at close range. The hyperion was now dying, unable to soak up the damage and as it dropped to 10% hull I angled towards the drake, who was about 11km from my position. I had a two-point, 7.5km warp scrambler on and needed to quickly make up the distance. I also assumed that the drake had points on him already from Arzal.

As the hyperion popped the capsule appeared, I had a split second to decide if we wanted to pod the pirate. However, I elected to immediately concentrate on the drake.

As I aligned to the drake, bumping into wrecks and other debris, the drake was already aligned. It was leaving? A few seconds later, I saw it warp away. I was only 9KM away and could not scramble it.

There were cheers in both my and Arzal's ship at the kill. The loot was good and the Rook actually played a key role as it delivered the killing blow on the hyperion. Arzal, crazed with bloodlust had forgotten to get a point onto the drake. We didn't communicate who had what points on whom. Oh well, a wee bit disappointed that we could have killed the drake we grabbed the loot and decided to head back home.

A good night. Makes it all worth while and a great kill from Arzal who did the lion's share of damage.


2007.09.18 22:45

Victim: Csaky
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Bushido Corporation
Destroyed: Hyperion
System: Egmar
Security: 0.3

Involved parties:

Name: Arzal
Security: 0.7
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Union Aerospace Corporation
Ship: Megathron
Weapon: Megathron

Name: Amarr Sentry Gun / Republic Fleet

Name: votrian alpha
Security: 1.6
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Union Aerospace Corporation
Ship: Thorax
Weapon: Thorax

Name: deltauk1 (laid the final blow)
Security: -1.8
Alliance: THE V I G I L
Corp: UNITED KINGDOM MAYHEM
Ship: Rook
Weapon: Scourge Heavy Missile


Destroyed items:

Quad LiF Fueled I Booster Rockets
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Warp Disruptor II
Damage Control II
Large 'Accommodation' Vestment Reconstructer I
Large 'Accommodation' Vestment Reconstructer I
Prototype I Sensor Booster
Modal Mega Ion Particle Accelerator I
Modal Mega Ion Particle Accelerator I
N-Type Kinetic Hardener I
N-Type Thermic Hardener I
Hammerhead I(Drone Bay)
Federation Navy Antimatter Charge L, Qt 624

A day later, we received a communique from M34N corp, who Arzal had tangled with briefly. Looks like we have a mutual enemy in Havoc Inc. We'll be blue to M34N for 28days from today.

So we're allying with one pirate corp in order to tackle another - strange company we keep but needs must.