So yesterday I get a ping from Brrc Flynn of Average Pilots about a mining fleet he's spotted a few jumps over from Murethand in a Low Sec pocket a couple of jumps through High Sec. About 4 Orcas and a few Hulks going to town mining rocks and whatnot. Y'know, whatever it is that mining ships do. Unfortunately at the time no one else was active in Stay Frosty, everyone else was either afk or not answering. I even convo'd Nuke Cave of the Tuskers to see if he wanted to help us out, but he had to go get work done.
No worries. We had to move fast because we had no idea how long they had been working this field. So I made the call to jump into a couple of dps Cruisers, I took an Omen Navy Issue and Brrc jumped into a Cynabal. And I started burning over to Murethand to meet up. There were a few neutrals causing trouble on the Murethand station, but they kindly warped off as I landed and we quickly headed to the out gate. We are both effectively -10 so High Sec is not a kind place for either of us. Which is one major reason why we brought Cruisers instead of anything bigger. Plus that added agility might come in handy depending on whatever response fleet might be showing up.
I think we caught them completely off guard. We randomly picked an Orca to tackle and started burning it down. Once it was secured I switched tackle to a nearby Hulk to hold it down. Between his Cynabal and my ONI the first Orca was going down pretty darn fast. And it wasn't long before it exploded. And we quickly started shooting the Hulk, while Brrc managed to grab tackle on yet another Orca. About this time is when the mining fleet started waking up and getting some drones on us, but what we were most concerned about was the nearby Athanor. But so far it had remained silent. The Hulk went down quickly and we started working on the other Orca. The other two Orcas remained on the field but they were further away, the closest one was about 60k off. Just as we started considering one of us burning for it, it finally aligned out and warped away. The other Orca exploded.
At this point local had spiked a bit and we had already noticed more ships on scan. So we both bailed and I went to Station to rep some of my OH damage in case we had another fight coming up. By this time we had been joined by Stay Frosty pilot Lufax in local as well. Needless to say local was alive and the hornets were swarming. It was then that I noticed that my friend Ashterothi was in local and that somehow this mining fleet was connected to him somehow. I later learned that it was also connected to Hateless Gaming as well. Either way we decided that we'd done enough for one day and should leave on a positive note. We said our farewells in local and burned back home.
Special thanks to Brrc for bringing this to my attention. I really enjoy operations like this as it is just pure, old-fashioned piracy in action. I hope we created an exciting event for those in local and something they won't forget anytime soon. Space is dangerous my friends and full of terrors.
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Later when I had more time to play I started flying a bit in my Astero. I managed to catch a Tristan and a Rifter without too much trouble. At this point she had 15 killmarks on her already. And that's when I spotted two ships in Hevrice local. An Algos and a Venture.
Just a quick note here about two things I'd like to mention. One is, Karma is a bitch. And the second is that I never, ever hunt Ventures. Ventures are simply targets of opportunity, if one is in local and nothing else is going on - I'll try to catch it. But I never waste time hunting one.
So I went for the Algos. What you should know is that an Algos kill in my Astero is not a sure thing for me. Especially with these monster hull-tanked Algos around. And while I can sometimes manage to disengage, for the most part once I am committed I'm committed to the bitter end. The operational range of this tiny little Frigate is close. However, despite a valiant effort from the Algos pilot (well done), it still exploded.
At this point I had 3 Nanite charges left in my repper and some heat damage on some of my mods. Normally at this point I should dock up and get reps. But that darn Venture was still on scan in the belt. Now my Pirate-Sense was tingling hard at the back of my neck and I should have listened, it usually keeps me from doing risky things. But, as I often do, I ignored it and went for the Venture without getting reps or thinking about why it had remained in the belt despite the Algos dying in local.
And yes dear reader, this was a tarp. The Venture died sure. But then a cloaky Stratios appeared on my overview. In classic small fish eaten by a bigger fish fashion I was doomed. And my poor Astero exploded under me. Those with a keen eye will notice the Reaper on that km and don't ask me how it got there because I don't know.
Ships are fitted to explode. For miners and Pirate Lords. I told the Stratios pilot in local good fight and well executed trap. Because it was. Wether it was on purpose or if I just happened to get into the middle of someone else's effort to sneak up on a Venture cloaked - either way, well done.
That's Eve for you.