Rifter Drifter

Fan mail: “Do you even PLAY the game anymore? You never login. How am I supposed to pod the ‘Hero of the Republic’ if he has no balls to even leave a station? – Not Wensley

Oh puhlease Wens. Everytime I login and ask if you’re ready, you cry how you’re on the other side of the galaxy somewhere and it would take too long to get to me. Heard of jump clones there, ya yarrin bastard? Get yourself to Dal, and we’ll duke it out. Nuff said.”

(Via Roc’s Ramblings.)

Oh Colonel, you really shouldn’t have said that. It turns out that I have a jump clone sitting in Amamake for just this purpose. In fact said clone has spent the last three weeks carving your name into every round of Barrage ammunition in my hangar. You see the thing about soldiers is that they can’t see that they’re just like us. Sure they talk about higher purposes and honour and preventing tyranny but at the end of the day they get off on exploding other people’s ships. I feel as strongly about the freedom of my people as any Brutor but being a capsuleer makes things different. Immortality changes things. Its only when you accept this and embrace that lust for violence that you see the depths of your own soul and become truly divine. Hmmm… where was I going with this? Oh, right, I was going to make that damned grunt eat his words by feeding them to him from the barrel of an autocannon.

On Sunday night the Colonel hailed me again. As usual he spewed his anti-pirate rhetoric but I recognised it for what it was; the usual military pomp and bluster that goes with the uniform. I’d had enough of his taunts and left my business interests in Hevrice behind. Upon waking in Amamake I leapt from the clone vat and stormed to my hangar. I keep my ships in a constant state of readiness and I was soon in space and burning towards the Dal stargate. If he wanted a fight he was going to get one.

As the glow of the stargate faded behind me I checked my surroundings. This was Roc’s home turf and I needed to be cautious. I headed for a safe location and told the Colonel to come and fight me whenever he was ready. He didn’t take long and before I even realised what was happening he had me targeted and taking damage. The sneaky bastard. That’s my trick. Told you we were the same. I’ve done this before, though, and I didn’t panic. I calmly returned his lock while getting in close to his ship. My rounds of Republic Fleet EMP ammunition began to chew rapidly through his defences as my overloaded guns span into life. First his shields and then his armour crumbled while my own armour maintained good integrity.

This was an arranged fight and terms had been agreed. I ceased fire once his hull began to take damage and smugly looked at my own readouts. I had enough armour left to fight him again and still win. He was impressed and so was I. My scans of the intelligence database had shown that last time he flew a Rifter he’d opted for a shield tank and hence I’d decided to get in close and fight at point blank range. It turns out he’d been reading my advice and fitted the same way as I had. Further conversation showed that we actually had almost identical skills. My decision to go point blank and his failure to counter it had been the deciding factor in this fight.

Humbled he asked if he might try another ship. I agreed and shortly he returned at the helm of a Republic Fleet Firetail. This ship embodies all the design characteristics of the Republic with speed being its main strength. It was by no means as good as an interceptor and could not maintain capacitor stability with a microwarp drive but with an afterburner would prove to be a troublesome foe. Approaching this like so many fights I burnt towards the Colonel as fast as I could. I needed to get my stasis webifier on his ship if I was to have a chance of destroying it. He knew this too and evaded my thrust. We then settled into a steady orbit as I tried to approach and he chipped away at me with artillery and missiles. Realising I couldn’t catch him I decided instead to minimise his damage and turn the fight into a stalemate. I commanded my ship to counter-orbit his at the current range and the transversal velocity of our combined speeds meant his guns could no longer hit me while I could easily tank the damage of his missiles. Eventually he switched off his afterburner to try and get hits on me again. I pounced and my Rifter streaked across the space between us looking to get up close and personal. By the time he reactivated his microwarp drive it was too late and I had removed his shields and was already working on his hull. Once again I stopped before destroying his expensive faction frigate.

As I spoke to Roc after these fights I realised that my initial assessment of him was wrong. The pomp and circumstance didn’t sit comfortably on him and he was an honest man trying to come to terms with the destructive forces he could unleash. Rather than following his ego and seeking fame and fortune like so many capsuleers he was desperately clinging onto his mortal life. Somehow I don’t think it will be long before he leaves the theatre of the Empires and moves out into capsuleer space where he can find a stage fitting for his talents. Until then we have agreed to do this more often. Not only will he learn more about the art of frigate combat but I will be able to test new ships and tactics against a well-matched opponent.

I salute you Colonel Wieler. Well fought, sir. Well fought.

Edit: You can read Roc’s account over on his own blog.

After our engagement and a few quiet beers in station followed by quiet a lot of much louder ones I got some of the Dal locals to pod me home so I could take part in Ronan’s drunken nano op. Ronan wasn’t drunk but we sure as hell were. Caster has all the gory details.

Fan Mail: A Response5.053

Related posts:

1. There’s No Place Like Home
2. Last Week: Part Four
3. Divine Intervention
4. Heimatar Is Where The Heart Is
5. The Little Frigate That Just Won’t Die