Faceplante

Boring Introductions

About a year and a half ago, I entered the universe of Eve. Destiny did not take long to materialize for within a couple weeks I had pretty much devoted my career to PvP and lowsec piracy. I based myself out of the Sinq Laison/Heimeter region and flew around in a poorly fit Incursus and Vexor, learning the ways of combat and getting myself killed. A lot. One of the systems I was told to fear was that of Egghelende. The gates were often camped, the belts were rarely safe and missioning in the system was basically suicide. I did not pay a lot of attention to the names of the corps that roamed and owned specific systems but I know now looking back that several of the ships I lost to the bigger, badder pirates in Egghelende were destroyed by the pirate corporation of Eternal Perseverance (furthermore referred to as "EP"). I saw them in big ships I couldn't yet imagine of affording (or flying) and acting with a swagger of confidence that I had yet to develop. It was a harsh and cruel place for a newb to learn but I made it through regardless.

Not long after this early stage of my career, I joined The Python Cartel and we moved out of the area for quite a long time. My memories of Egghelende, its residents and my encounters there began to fade. I grew in both experience, confidence and capability greatly over my time away and today I like to think that I am now far better off then I was back then. A few months ago we decided that we wanted to move back into our old region, only a few jumps from Egg. Myself and my corporation began roaming our new region and wound up in Egghelende quite often. We became friendly with several of the locals, including some of the members of EP. We flew with them many times over a period of weeks and for the most part we considered each other allies and did not hunt each other down or try to initiate combat like we normally would against other neutrals. As far as I was concerned, we were treating each other as blues, or allies, so why not make it official? I got in contact with EP's CEO and boss, a most interesting fellow named Ken Plante (furthermore refered to as "Kenny") and asked if he would like to discuss adjusting our corporations standings to each other.

Serious Business

The response I got was something I was not really expecting. Ken did not want to blue us because he did not want to share his kills in Egghelende and because he did not want to teach us for free. Teach us for free? Teach us? It isn't like we were born yesterday. I was coming to Ken with an offer to help make things less confusing and enhance the fun for both parties and instead I was insulted by this arrogant ass.

Over the next few weeks and months, things only degraded further. Ken refused to fly with any of our corp for the most part and even ordered his corp members to never fly with us as long as he was around. We would be ganged and enjoying ourselves when they would suddenly bail and leave fleet as soon as they saw their CEO log in. Why anyone would ever want to be part of such a group where their boss dictated who they could fly with, what ships they should use and how they should fit?. Ken even gave his pilots a considerable amount of flak over losing ships and one of his pilots defected and joined us as a direct result. Our feelings towards Ken became less and less friendly and more and more angry and annoyed. This guy was a dick.

Ken Killing

One thing that Ken seemed to be most proud of was his stellar effeciency. Rarely losing ships, killing many every day. It probably was not too hard to do seeing how Egghelende is a significant lowsec mission hub and EP spends a lot of time taking on these almost completely defenseless PvE targets. Even in situations where Kenny was against opponents fighting back, he often used very low risk ships (nano/ranged recons and sniper battleships) backed by a tons of support that most other pilots don't have (an alt that can probe, an alt in gang in a command ship running gang links, billions worth of implants). He would be a very tough nut to crack but I wanted badly to kill him. Our chance came during a roam to Egghelende when Kenny basically waited for our cruiser gang in a belt, challenging us to engage his solo Dominix with our forces. I was reluctant, thinking that a solo Dominix in the right hands was more than enough to beat off a gang of T1 cruisers. Regardless we did engage. After quite a long battle and a couple losses, Kenny's Domi was destroyed and we celebrated a hard fought victory as he made some whiny excuses in local about how it was six-vs-one.

Thinking Bigger

Kenny has been known for flying the Curse recon ship quite a bit over his career. According to his killboard, he has taken part in well over 1100 kills with the ship. On a slightly related note, I had been training for the Curse for a while and recently purchased my own which I had been flying around. One day I flew my Curse down to Egg, looking for some targets when Kenny must have seen me on scan:

[00:34:21] Ken Plante > imitation the sincerest form of flattery
[00:34:40] Spectre3353 > you act like i was able to train for this in a week
[00:34:49] Spectre3353 > took a while
[00:35:21] Ken Plante > yup ok
[00:36:00] Spectre3353 > if i was trying to imitate you, id be arrogant and robotic and nobody would like me
[00:36:09] Ken Plante > true
[00:36:18] Ken Plante > but atleast u could killsomething by yourself
[00:36:24] Ken Plante > lolumad?
[00:36:45] Spectre3353 > probing out newbs in battlecruisers with your t3 ship with ganglinks running is solo?
[00:36:48] Spectre3353 > keep telling yourself that
[00:36:54] Ken Plante > and making ur entire corp run for months
[00:37:03] Ken Plante > you suck i hate to be the bringer of that
[00:37:11] Ken Plante > but keep tellingurself ur hard
[00:37:21] Spectre3353 > i dont know how to break this to you
[00:37:23] Ken Plante > because i so care about having internet spacefriends
[00:37:26] Spectre3353 > some of us play eve for fun
[00:37:30] Ken Plante > as do i
[00:37:34] Spectre3353 > not because we are trying to prove how awesome we are
[00:37:35] Ken Plante > but i enjoy being good
[00:37:46] Ken Plante > lol
[00:37:54] Spectre3353 > i hope you feel special in your moms basement
[00:37:56] Spectre3353 > living alone
[00:38:00] Ken Plante > haha
[00:38:03] Spectre3353 > because your killboard stats are awesome from popping mission runners
[00:38:05] Spectre3353 > cya buddy
[00:38:07] Ken Plante > lol u r reaching arnt u spec
[00:38:12] Ken Plante > lolumad
[00:38:16] EVE System > Channel changed to Siseide Local Channel

Moments later he opened a private conversation to make sure he got in the last word:

[00:42:07] Ken Plante > hey whats up
[00:42:09] Spectre3353 > sup ken
[00:42:12] Ken Plante > i was fuckin with you
[00:42:20] Spectre3353 > no worries
[00:42:22] Spectre3353 > i dont take this game too seriously
[00:42:23] Ken Plante > but i guess u really are a fuckin joke
[00:42:26] Ken Plante > lol

Another thing that seemed to fit perfectly with Ken's arrogance was his affluence. He has alts, rigged battleships, faction cruisers, a dreadnought, high-grade implants and what I could only assume was his pride and joy, a faction fit Proteus tech III advanced strategic cruiser. We saw him start bringing it out quite often to kill mission runners so it was obvious he was not afraid to use it in situations he felt were safe.


I don't remember exactly when the plan was suggested or who was the first to suggest it, but we began thinking and discussing about how we could bait his Proteus into certain death and then possibly even pod him. We would need a mission running alt to get probed out and then have the proper modules to tackle and tank him until a hidden gank fleet could arrive to finish the job. What if he brought friends? What if he simply nano'd away? What if we couldn't get him to arrive at the mission in the right ship in the first place? There were many things to consider and some luck would be absolutely required, but we had to at least give it a shot. The final plan was to put Skye's mission alt into a Raven fit with a big armor tank, lots of EWAR and a number of neuts. If he warped into the mission, our bait could lock him down, neut away his cap and then tank him until help arrived.

To avoid letting our plan somehow slip to any members of EP or Kenny himself, an operation was scheduled and described as "Super Sekrit!". No one knew why we were assembling a fleet of battleships, just that they should show up ready to go. The super secret part must have enticed many members of the Python Cartel for when the day of the operation came, a significant chunk of our pilots showed up and embarked out with the largest battleship fleet we have ever amassed. The bait was set and our fleet waited. Several false alarms were called as other members of EP probed down our Raven until finally, Ken's Damnation alt undocked and his Proteus was spotted in space. I was not there for the encounter but I almost pooped my pants when I saw the kill on our boards that night. Kenny's Proteus had been mauled and destroyed by our fleet. The pod got away but his ship was destroyed and it was fit chockful of expensive faction mods. Our plan had worked? No way! Our plan had worked!

Moving In

With our confidence high and the urge to keep our unofficial war against arrogant-pirates-who-take-Eve-too-seriously going, we decided immediately to move our entire corporation into Egghelende. Into the very same station as Kenny and his corp. It won't be easy. We may have a slight advantage in numbers but they will make up for it with their superior skillpoints, resources and tactics. Only time will tell if our attack upon Egghelende will be succesful but I do know that in the first few days we have destroyed a very large amount of targets in their system, taking food directly from their mouths.

...and so starts a new era. The Python Cartel living in the very system I used to view with such awe and fear. The Python Cartel fighting against a pirate institution of much greater power and renown. The Python Cartel in Egghelende.


See Also:

- Our thread on the C&P forums about Ken's Proteus assassination.

- Helicity Boson's blog post on the Proteus kill.

- Xiphos describes the operation.

- Some random crap from Kyle Langdon.

Making A Name (Part IV)

Back To The Front

It had been several weeks since the incident. My confidence sunk. My determination drained. My willpower gone. I hadn't even showered or shaved since that day and the smell must have become quite overwhelming as Mrs Pilkins the pony refused to even sit with me. How could I go on being taken seriously? How could ever again prove that I truly did not suck? It was pointless.

I sat sulking to myself as usual on my bunk when the terminal rang:



"Hello old chap."

It was Skye. He had been missing for months and now out of the blue, he wanted to fly. I made my whiny excuses but he was not taking no for an answer.

"We need to whip you back into shape. Fit and prep a Taranis... we are going back to Delve."


"What a womanly looking man" I thought to myself before his words sunk in... wait... Delve!? Back to Goonswarm space again? The lifelessness and lethargy of the past weeks began to seep away at the thought of striking an even more deadly blow to their alliance. "I'll be there" I said and disconnected from the line. I winked at Mrs Pilkins and got myself prepared by shaving off the scraggly beard and giving myself a badass douchebag pirate goatee.

This was going to be awesome.

Project: Rape Delve: Part II: First Blood: The Killinating

We gathered several other members of our group and set out with myself, Andrea Skye, Kerblamo and Helicity Boson. Our fast moving frigate gang was made up of my Taranis, a Hound stealth bomber, a Sentinel electronic attack ship and a Crusader interceptor. We entered from the same entrance as my last trip, via the Khanid system of Kaira. The going was quiet and lonely as we made our way through the region of Querious until we caught site of a lone battleship traveling past us down the pipe.

We quickly turned around to corner the Abaddon and caught him as he jumped through a stargate. Blasters, lasers and torpedos smashed into his ship, quickly destroying his shields and armor and blasting into his hull when the ship simply VANISHED. Somehow out of thin air his ship had completely disappeared! My gang began to rave over our fleet channel about the lameness and ridiculousness of his "logoffski" but I simply had no idea what they were talking about. How could a ship just vanish while it was scrambled several times and nearly destroyed? What in the hell was a logoffski? What had happened to the laws of physics since the last time I had flown a ship? Baffled and annoyed we continued on our trek...

We made our way into the very center of Goonswarm space, only a couple jumps from the heart of their empire in the system of NOL-M9 when I discovered a number of ships meandering around as I scouted ahead. Soon we had a fight with a Vengeance, Sacrilege and Rupture on our hands and while we were able to take down our initial target, half of our fleet was destroyed and myself and Skye were forced to flee from the battlefield. Tired and defeated, we turned to head home...

Say Hello To My Little Friend (And His Torps)

On our way back we decided to take a slight detour and come out in a different part of lowsec. We noticed a bit of traffic coming through one of the systems enroute and stopped to watch the gate for a few minutes when we saw one new pilot enter local. Within moments a Megathron battleship was on scan, landed on the gate and jumped on through. I scrambled to jump through as well and point the pilot before he could warp off...

"Point!" I screamed at Skye. Mrs Pilkins neighed in excitement. I managed to disrupt the battleships engines and began drilling into his ship with my blasters. Skye's Hound uncloaked and I was momentarily blinded by the massive explosions as a volley of torpedo's rocked the battleship. My vision came back to me just in time to see hammerhead drones firing upon my ship. It was then that I noticed the alliance tag associated with the drones and their ship... Goonswarm? This was it! Two tiny frigates against the incredible might of a battleship from the massive empire that I wanted to destroy. Now I would get my revenge. Now I would bathe in their blood. Now I would make my name.

The drones beat through my shields and seared my Taranis's armor down to scraps very quickly. I wanted this kill so badly but it was certain death if I hung around any longer. I turned my ship away and burned away at full speed from the battle. Skye continued to fire upon the battleship and I couldn't help but be amazed at the amount of damage his frigate was doing to a hull many times his size. I turned around again to warp back into the fight just our target jumped into warp towards another gate. I cursed and aligned for warp to follow. Again I tailed him through the gate and again I was able to lock him down before he could get back into warp. We unleashed the full brunt of our combined damage together this time and there was no stopping it... a final volley of torpedoes struck the battleship and it was obliterated. As icing on the cake we scrambled the pod and sent Tokclik back home on the express train.



Victory!

We had done it. We had struck an absolutely massive blow to the Goonswarm alliance. It would surely ripple through all levels and locations that one of their mighty battleships had fallen in combat to our lowly frigates. I could only assume that Tokclik was a high ranking officer and his death would be crippling to the leadership. Who would have thought we could have such an effect on 0.0? I did not until this wonderous day had come.

Jubilent and excited we continued home and were nearly out when I decided to engage a Hurricane at a planet. What could possibly go wrong? We were invincible!

Woops.

I listened to the some bizarre words of advice from my killer as I waited for the self-destruct on my pod and said a prayer for yet another dead pony:

[16:40:53] W3st > noob
[16:40:57] Spectre3353 > NO UR A NOOB
[16:41:27] Adriano EIM > what was in your mind to do that?
[16:41:52] Spectre3353 > my frig could solo you easy
[16:41:55] Spectre3353 > taranis > everything
[16:42:05] Spectre3353 > i just had something in my eye this time
[16:42:30] Adriano EIM > i tought you don't want do that, but some voices from your head tell you do proceed like this
[16:42:50] Spectre3353 > dont you dare talk about the voices in my head

Meh. I can't win them all.

Capital Gain

We set out again last night with the intent to replicate the fun and relative success of our roam the night before. Another group of T1 cruisers made up of a couple Stabbers, a Vexor, a Rupture, two Blackbirds and my incredible, awesome and powerful Moa. We began heading back towards the area of last nights action by setting destination to Resbroko but were quickly rerouted by intel coming in from one of our z3r0 gravity friends, CrazyDragoon. Apparently there was a mining op of Hulks going on in Olfeim and it was being protected by multiple Command Ships. Instantly we all agreed to go throw our cheap cruisers at their op and turned around to get there as soon as possible.

We sent our two Stabber pilots through first to scout and tackle and soon after they were able to locate a number of ships in a belt. An Absolution and then an Astarte were tackled by Griznatle and Andrea Skye and the call was made to funnel in to Olfeim. Our gang entered the long 75 AU warp and we could only patiently wait and grimace as we heard the screams of the crews on those cruisers ships. First Griznatle's Stabber was torn to shreds by the Absolutions far reaching lasers. Soon after, Skye's ship was bleeding into structure and also struggling to survive the onslaught. Finally we were able to land and take over for our brave tacklers and both ships were neatly locked down with their targeting systems disrupted by our lame Blackbird pilots.

The Astarte was primaried first, followed by the Absolution and then a Drake that decided to show up and provide us with yet another free kill. Elated and feeling lucky after being handed some very expensive kills, we moved on to a spot out in deep space to regroup and wait out our timers when information came in about yet another ship in the belt we had just left. A Nidhoggur? A Minmitar carrier had arrived in the belt. Excited voices shouted out that we needed to tackle and engage but I felt it was a stupid move... what were a few cruisers going to do to a carrier? It could tank us all day long and simply pick us apart with its drones and fighters. Completely ignoring my concerns, Aric Oz tackled the carrier in his Jaguar and Golden Helmet called for us to engage. I sighed and turned to join the crazy idiots.

Into the belt my Moa warped and immediately I saw the giant hull of the Nidhoggur 40km from me. A shiver went down my spine at the sight of the beast as we added tackle and destroyed the few fighters he had deployed. I called out on several different communications channels for help to come as I assumed we did not have the DPS to break a carrier. A number of our pilots that did not have global criminal timers returned to pick up battleships or their own capitals but it was all for naught... the carrier had initiated self destruct. What a douchebag. I opened a chat to try and convince him to pay us to keep his ship, or at least to delay him long enough for us to bring in firepower:

[ 02:36:55 ] Zordon > sup 
[ 02:36:57 ] Spectre3353 > hey
[ 02:37:01 ] Spectre3353 > cancel the self destruct and we can discuss a ransom
[ 02:37:06 ] Spectre3353 > and you can leave with your carrier
[ 02:37:18 ] Zordon > like what 
[ 02:37:23 ] Spectre3353 > cancel and we can discuss it 
[ 02:37:25 ] Spectre3353 > otherwise you lose your ship 
[ 02:37:42 ] Zordon > I canceled it... check again 
[ 02:37:49 ] Spectre3353 > k 
[ 02:37:52 ] Spectre3353 > 800 million isk
[ 02:37:54 ] Spectre3353 > and your ship can leave 
[ 02:38:04 ] Zordon > not worth it... I make it cheaper
[ 02:38:13 ] Spectre3353 > 700 is as low as im going to go 
[ 02:38:27 ] Zordon > I'm ready for the loss

...and with that he left our conversation. With self destruct re-initiated we had no choice but to try and destroy him within 120 seconds. Our gang of cruisers and frigs piled every bit of damage they could muster and surprisingly his shield melted and his armor peeled off at a dangerous speed. This carrier was unfit and had no tank! He was partially into structure when the self-destruct countdown completed and the Nidhoggur exploded into an enormous fireball. Feeling cheated by the SD, we simply generated our own killmail to celebrate the destruction of a capital ship.

[ 02:41:02 ] Andrea Skye > self destructors are fags who deserve to get testical cancer

What was his explanation for stupidly pissing away his carrier? Let us see what his friends and the pilot himself had to say:

[ 02:43:59 ] Aric Oz > Serious. Why were you in a belt?
[ 02:44:09 ] Admiral Eos > we're on chat right now
[ 02:44:12 ] Admiral Eos > and just chilling out
[ 02:44:23 ] Aric Oz > No, why did he bring a carrier to a belt?
[ 02:44:26 ] Admiral Eos > and then ickle tells us "I wanted to see how long I'd survive"

[ 02:46:34 ] Zordon > I wanted to see how long it would take to drop one... You solved my problem by being willing to fight

He just wanted to see how long it would last? What the hell?

Faggy Gank

Pirate Tears

As the corp has grown and evolved, a good chunk of our old base has taken a break from the game, quit it altogether or simply become a bit less active. Fortunately, the gap has been filled with some fine young recruits that keep our killboard filled, day in and day out. Last night we formed up an old school T1 cruiser gang that for the first time in a long time, was mostly composed of pilots from The Python Cartel Mk I (what we call the period of time before Python dissolved and was reformed). It was a blast to the past as we sent Andrea Skye ahead to scout in his Thorax and follow along with the rest of the gang in a Thorax, Vexor, Bellicose, Blackbird and two Ruptures. I called for our gang to hold on the Hadozeko gate as Andrea Skye informed us he had located a Phobos Heavy Interdictor on one of the lowsec gates in system.

"Try to get him to engage" we encouraged, trying to force the expensive cruiser to commit to a fight before we poured in to punish him for his mistake. Skye circled, scrambled, webbed, shot and did everything he could to silently taunt the ship but he simply tanked the damage with what was obviously a number of armor repairers and continued to passively hold on the gate. We would have to make the next move.

We sent XTCFreq in next in his Bellicose to fly directly to the Resbroko gate and jump through, so that the blinky red Phobos would be stuck no matter which side of the gate he jumped to. It would also give us intel as to whether or not he had friends ready to assist. Next we jumped our entire blob into the system and flew to meet our scout... with half of our gang on each side of the gate, he attempted to flee but was caught once and then twice on both sides. Finally, with no where to go, we whittled him down and finished the job. With a single kill our entire roam had become cost effecient... seven tech I cruisers where worth less than the single ship we had just destroyed. We gathered the loot and warped off when the pirate decided to break his silence:

[ 03:02:28 ] NCC 1701E > faggy gank

A pirate, sitting on a gate in a Heavy Interdictor, was complaining about fairness? No way could we let this one slide:

[ 03:02:57 ] Spectre3353 > wahhhhh
[ 03:03:00 ] Lovely Lily > lol
[ 03:03:02 ] Spectre3353 > sum1 keeled my ship wahhhh

Moments later we were informed that the pilot had commented on the loss on his own killboard as well, adding even more bitching and blatantly exaggerating the ships we had brought to the fight. Apparently we had a Falcon? News to me. What a whiny bitch of a pirate.

Big Meanies

Moments later we prepared to continue on our journey when Golden Helmet, the very man himself, appeared like magic to join us in one of the most useless vessels ever designed (yep, the Caracal). I asked him in all his glorious glory to take over the gang and lead us into battle and into battle he did lead. As we jumped into the very next system we proceeded to pounce on a poor unsuspecting traveller. He was most upset and begged for us to spare his ship:

[ 03:28:05 ] Taletha Rex > noo
[ 03:28:09 ] Spectre3353 > YESSSSSSSSSSS
[ 03:28:13 ] Taletha Rex > ug
[ 03:28:22 ] Taletha Rex > ransom?

It was then that an enemy gang was spotted in system! Mean Coalition was flying around Orfrold in a cruiser gang as well. Unfortunately, they were not sporting the basic T1 variants that we were. Instead their gang was made up of several T2 cruisers, a battlecruiser and even a couple faction cruisers.

Do we engage a gang knowing that it is certain death? Why do we even ask such a question when Golden Helmet is in charge? We gathered ourselves together and began warping towards the planet where we last scanned the Mean gang and landed just as they were taking off, probably hoping to warp in on us in the same fashion. Fortunately for us, one ship was left behind and we were able to just barely kill Sarvic's Broadsword before the rest of his gang had time to turn around and engage back. Outnumbered and outgunned we targetted the most expensive ship in range, hoping to come out on top in at least the ISK killed column by the end of the fight. In my gank Thorax I was the first primaried and destroyed but I watched that Vexor Navy Issue taking heavy fire as my pod warped away. In the end we lost seven cruisers and only killed two, but the ISK loss was quite lopsided. A very fun fight indeed and props to Mean Coalition for bringing a fight and flying ships you don't normally see being put at risk.

Making A Name (Part III)

I hung far above our station in Gulmorogod. Perched in my cloaked ship, observing the light traffic and browsing the nets. This was my down time. A time to reflect and rest and discover unique and exciting pornographic material. It is amazing what will pop up when you type "Donkey Show" into the most popular search engines. I tilted my head sideways to try and figure out how those three guys and their four legged friend were able to connect in such a bizarre manner when an alert flashed on the side of my screen. A new message. I clicked it and began to read...

"I know now that Spectre sucks."

"You suck and that's sad."

"I'm throwing down the gauntlet."

With a slap in the face, I had been called out by one of my former associates, Hallan Turrek. My blood boiled as I read the unwarranted, unprovoked and unabashed attack upon me. What disrespect! I would gladly accept his challenge and with my victory I would only further prove what most reasonable pilots already knew... I DO NOT SUCK.

Seriously, I don't. I really mean it.

Within moments, a new message came across from my new nemesis: "Rifters. One-versus-one. Ardar. 0500. Be there." I gritted my teeth and replied with the only thing I could. I would be there.

I docked up and began prepping my ship. I called over all the mechanics and crew on duty to make sure that the job was done quick and done right. Guns, rockets, armor plating and an afterburner. Something was missing... after a few moments I realized what it was. I gathered up a portion of the crew helping me and bribed them just the right amount. Soon they had murdered the rest of their co-workers and strewn their mutilated bodies all over my ship, tying them down with barbed wire. As a final touch we added splashes of red paint and decorated the autocannon on the top of my ship to be even more massive and intimidating than normal. We stepped back and admired the wonderful monstrosity that would win me my respect:

Perfect! It was time! I undocked in my personalized Rifter and began piloting my way to the system in time for my showdown with Hallan. This Rifter felt better, bigger and badder then any I had ever piloted before. Like a leaf on the wind she glided through space on towards our date with destiny. Finally I arrived in Ardar, just moments before my opponent and I prepared myself. Soon, Hallan Turrek in his very own Rifter, landed 30 kilometers from my location. Our eyes locked. My lip snarled. A tumbleweed floating through space, directly in between us... and then it began.

I went immediately for the pounce, trying to get into point blank range for maximum damage with my overheated guns and rocket launcher. So many flights in command of Gallente blaster ships had made this an instinct I could not resist and it steered me wrong. Hallan dropped into a medium orbit at several thousand kilometers off and peppered me with Barrage as I struggled to move in closer and douse him with my Republic Fleet EMP. With my guns working above their maximum effeciency and my armor repairer pushed to its very limits, I was just barely able to hold my own, with both of our ships breaking into armor at nearly the same pace. With my weapons nearing their limits and my ships energy grid unable to keep up with the demand to run all my modules, Hallan finally stopped kiting and moved in for the kill. My guns tore into his structure. His guns tore into mine. With both our ships now slugging it out and only a few seconds remaining before someone would be victorious, I overheated my guns for just one more cycle... I needed that extra boost...

My ship shuddered and I felt several smaller explosions to the aft. I had just blown out my guns and the hull was about to cave in. My weapons destroyed, my ship about to pop and my ego damaged beyond anything I could handle, I screamed into the air in excruciating pain as my pod was ejected and the fight was over... I had lost! Against all odds and expectations, Hallan Turrek had defeated me in a duel to the death.


I did suck.