He laughed to himself. Lex and Cyber had managed to bring a whole cargohold full of Federation Navy Comets down to system this morning and they were itching to try them out. They wanted to know if he'd like to come along. Next to, "Would you like a Beer" that had to be the most obvious question in the universe. He had never flown a Comet before into combat, years ago he had bought a couple, moved them a few dozen jumps and sold them for profit, but that was the extent of his experience with the ship. Lex contracted one over, really little more than a Taranis on steroids, and they undocked for a quick roam.
Two Comets and a Taranis (Along with cloaky Loki support) headed out into the heart of Syndicate. At this time of day most of the surrounding systems were empty or blue, but you never knew when you'd stumble onto something. Or something would stumble onto you. They chased a few things around and just missed out on a few kills, before the Loki pilot reported a small red gang in the next system. Before they could get there they ran off, they outnumbered us by 3 to 1 and still they ran away. Rixx shook his head, some things never change.
That's when the Flycatcher jumped into them. No one flies a Flycatcher solo thru zero space, but no other ships appeared in support, apparently they had managed to find the one guy who did. They had all burned off the Gate in anticipation of the coming support which didn't appear. Rixx decided to go ahead and make a safe spot above the Gate, while Lex and Cyber went back to it at zero. That's when the Arazu jumped thru. They engaged and Rixx warped back in support. As the other ships started to get into trouble, Rixx overheated and caught the Arazu in his web. This time however, the pilot did have support. A Stabber, Cane, Drake and Rapier jumped into them and started ripping them to shreds. First Lex then Cyber and then Rixx felt the wrath of their guns and webs. It isn't reported on any killmail, but the Arazu refused to die easily and Rixx stayed on it, despite being killed himself, until the damn ship exploded. By then it was too late to burn away, so he aligned and got his pod out safely. They all did.
They all laughed on Comms, they'd had a blast and managed to get a few kills for it. The way back was clear and Rixx knew that the paperwork waiting back in the Station wouldn't seem as dull as before. A little spilled blood clears the day.
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He'd been listening to his Corp m8s shredding the enemy gang and anticipated what was coming next. Listening to battles on Comms is no fun, especially when you can't do anything more than listen. Sure enough the blob came and his m8s scrambled for their getaways. He knew once they returned to the Station they'd be done for the night and off to one of the bars to get wasted and chase some much needed tail.
But he wanted more action. He talked Angor into undocking with him and hunting down some passing neuts. They chased some crap around, but no one wanted a proper fight tonight. Angor did manage to catch a Noob ship, for what that was worth. Still, a kill is a kill.
They decided to head up to some known ratting systems and see what they might be able to catch. Sure enough they found a Rupture in local headed to a Gate. After a few moments of warping to opposite Gates, the Rupture landed on the Gate next to Rixx. Angor landed and jumped thru after him, Rixx stayed put in case the pilot decided to burn and double back. Angor called point and Rixx jumped after him in his Dramiel. The Rupture, somehow, had already chewed Angor's Ares to pieces and warped away. Warp Cores?! Maybe. Angor warped after him and the chase was on. Again they were surprised that the Rupture made it to the Gate ahead of them. Something odd was going on.
They gave chase and after a few jumps managed to once again catch the Rupture off the Gate. Angor's job was to simply hold the ship long enough for Rixx to get his scram on him. Rixx had to watch his Microwarp usage, as a blooming sig radius could be deadly against the obviously mid-range enemy ship. Sadly, the little Ares couldn't hold out long enough and it exploded. This time however, Rixx had scram on the Rupture and he wasn't going to get away this time.
Rixx's fingers drummed over the controls of the Dramiel in practiced grace as he managed the modules, the Rupture was trying, using its Neut to suck the Dramiel's cap dry. But by relying on the Afterburner and pulsing the Scram, he managed to keep the much bigger ship in range of his Autocannons. They had already killed most of the Rupture's drones in a previous engagement, so the bigger ship only had one left. Rixx's Warriors made quick work of it and then added their damage to the fight. Despite a pretty resilient shield tank, once it was destroyed the rest went pretty fast. The Rupture never even managed to touch the Dramiel.
Good fight on the local open channel and off they went back to station. Angor had shared a new Ferox fit Rixx was anxious to try. All in all an excellent day of good fights and good times.
[ Lucifer's Hammer is currently recruiting pilots that want to fly like this every day. If that sounds like something you'd be interested in and you have at least 20m skillpoints, talk to us on LUCRH HAMMER TIME channel and we'll see if you have what it takes to fly with us. ]