Rifter Drifter

Its been a while since I was out in a Rifter and it felt good to be back behind the controls of my favourite ship. Even though I was now living out in null security space I’ve stuck with the same fit I used in low sec. Most people out here say that a microwarp drive is mandatory but I think an afterburner is enough to keep me out of trouble most of the time and the advantages it gives me in combat are well worth the added risk. Of course, as I spend more time out here I might change my mind but for now I’m sticking to what I know.

My plan for the evening was pretty simple, I was going to harass Libertas Fidelitas. I’d just got back from a long range HAC roam that had turned out to be pretty uneventful even though I’d only caught the very end of it. We’d tackled a Proteus but it was able to escape our gasp and there seemed to be nothing else on the horizon. I swapped ships in GE-8JV and headed back to D-GTMI. From D-GTMI I set my destination for 5KG-PY, the deepest system in LFA’s pocket of Providence and I set off to find some trouble.

I’d already taken the opportunity to make myself on grid bookmarks at every gate so I was able to move through the pipe towards PI5-39, LFA’s key system, in relative safety. Once there I proceeded to make some scan spots and prowl the belts and planets. It was like the good old days in Hevrice. Pretty quickly the skills that I’d let go rusty over the last few months started to come back and I was getting proficient with the scanner again. As well as the planets and belts I made sure that I used my onboard scanner to check for any interesting anomalies that might harbour juicy targets.

My trip out was pretty uneventful and the only ship I came across was a Rapier that appeared to be scouting a hauler. I easily evaded him but I was unable to pin down the hauler.

In 5KG-PY I finally got a sniff of action. There was a Cerberus ratting in one of the belts and I instinctively warped in, switching my guns to EMP ammunition in the process, as I landed my tackle systems were primed but I was devastated to see that my target was 160 km from me. Despite this I began to burn towards him but, predictably, he warped off and I was unable to find him again. There were a couple of battleships in system and a pair of Sansha Sanctums on scan so I checked them out to no avail. Oh well, time to head back.

On the F-DTOO gate I found a Raven but he warped off to a safe spot before I could take a proper look at him. Never mind. While I was considering my options an Enyo jumped in and my eyes lit up. This was the perfect target. I set my navigation computer to maintain a wide orbit and waited to see what he did. He aggressed me and it was on! With Barrage loaded I could easily outrange his blasters and the inevitable microwarp drive would mean that his tank would struggle for capacitor unlike the tough Enyos I met in low sec. To my surprise he was hitting me, and pretty well at that. I checked my logs and saw that he had fitted 75mm railguns. A single command later and my orbit tightened and I began to circle him at close range. Now he was barely hitting me and I was able to power my way through his armour while I took very little damage myself.

As he hit structure a Nemesis stealth bomber decloaked. I quickly locked him up and put my warp scrambler on him while I moved to intercept. The assault frigate went down and I shifted my focus to the stealth bomber. The next thing to decloak was a Blackbird and, with the Nemesis about to break, he quickly locked and jammed me. Damn. A Taranis quickly joined the club. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem for me and would just mean another kill but with the Blackbird jamming me there was no way I could keep the interceptor at range. Instead I made the most of my forced deagression and burnt back to the gate. By now a Drake had joined the club and when I finally managed to jump out I had just 85% structure remaining. I warped away from the gate to safety and kept an eye on my scanner while I repaired my armour and fixed the heat damage to my weapon systems.

By now it seems that LFA had woken up and I was being chased by a couple of Crusaders and several more Drakes as well as the original defence gang. With the Blackbird there I didn’t have a chance, even if I could split the interceptors up. After getting lost a little bit I eventually made my escape, going via QO-SRI rather than adopting a straight line. They didn’t follow and I made my way back to QBL-BV where I decided to camp the PI5-39 gate. If only I’d brought a small bubble along with me.

It didn’t take long before a Claw jumped in but he didn’t seem interested. He warped off to the station without engaging and I settled back into my vigil. A couple of minutes later the Claw came back and I locked him up. This time he wanted to play and I applied my tackle modules while rounds of Republic Fleet Fusion tore into him from close range. He was fit with artillery and it didn’t take long to kill him. As he was going down a Brutix jumped in and I decided not to hang around.

I warped back to a spot a few hundred kilometres from the gate to see that the Brutix had now been joined by a Stiletto. I was in the mood for more kills so I warped down to 100 km from the gate and I was rewarded by the sight of the interceptor burning towards me. I powered up my afterburner and told my ship to approach him directly. He seemed to hesitate but kept approaching me. Lock, web, scram, autocannons. You know the formula by now. One dead Stiletto was the result.

This time I did hang around to loot and suddenly the reason that he seemed to hesitate dawned upon me. The Brutix was almost upon me. I tried to warp off but he had put his scrambler on me. Now I had two options, I could try and fight or I could attempt to burn back to the gate. This was a mistake. If I’d stayed to fight I could probably have got myself under his guns and at least killed off his drones. Instead I burnt off in a straight line and paid the price for my folly. What I should have done was apply my own web and scram, align to a celestial, and overheat my afterburner. I would have got out of range of his blasters in seconds and been able to warp to safety. Still, you live and learn – or at least die and learn – and two interceptors and an assault frigate is not a bad return for a Rifter.

Providence looks like it could be a fun hunting ground. In the future I’m going to take advantage of our new outpost in D-GTMI and set up a forward supply station with ships and ammunition. I’ll be back soon doing what I do best.

Up To My Old Tricks Again5.052

Related posts:

1. Fighting for Fun
2. Back With a Bang
3. Normal Service Has Been Resumed
4. Divine Intervention
5. Last Week: Part Four