Vengeance et alia v Jaguar et alia

The hunt:

I had been out on a roam with Kishin and Khronin, who often seem to be on at the same time as me. The blobs were out in force in Aeschee and Old Man Star, so we had decided to head up towards Anamake to see if we could find something our frigates could handle. Kishin was in a Hawk, Khronin in a Rifter (with tracking disruptor) and I was flying my Vengeance.

Our trip to Anamake was not as eventful as we had hoped; there seemed to be a large gang coming down the pipe behind us and nothing up ahead. By the time we finally reached Anamake, it was late and we were spoiling for a fight.

Kishin was most familiar with the area, and he saw a Jaguar and Ares working in tandem. From their corp he knew that they would also have backup nearby, but we agreed that if we worked fast we might be able to get in and get out before backup could arrive.

Kishin waped into a belt, and waited for the locals to show up. It did not take them long; the Jaguar and the Ares both warped in, and he signaled for us to join the fight.

Kishin called primary on the Jaguar; the Ares seemed to know his stuff, and was keeping well out of range while keeping me locked down. Ordering an immediate overheat, we burned the Jaguar down.

2011.07.12 20:14

Victim: SithLordSidious
Corp: Failed Diplomacy
Alliance: B A N E
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Jaguar
System: Amamake
Security: 0.4
Damage Taken: 3894

Involved parties:

Name: Kishin Hattori (laid the final blow)
Security: -10.0
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Ship: Caldari Navy Hookbill
Weapon: Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket
Damage Done: 2073

Name: Taurean Eltanin
Security: -9.5
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Ship: Vengeance
Weapon: Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket
Damage Done: 1175

Name: Khronoin
Security: -9.4
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: None
Faction: NONE
Ship: Rifter
Weapon: Rifter
Damage Done: 646

Destroyed items:

150mm Light AutoCannon II
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 35
Republic Fleet EMP S, Qty: 435
Gyrostabilizer II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 269 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet EMP S, Qty: 1981 (Cargo)
Small Core Defence Field Extender I, Qty: 2

Dropped items:

'Arbalest' Rocket Launcher I
150mm Light AutoCannon II, Qty: 2
1MN Afterburner II
Medium Shield Extender II
Warp Scrambler II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Damage Control II
Barrage S, Qty: 2500 (Cargo)
Republic Fleet Fusion S, Qty: 2378 (Cargo)

Ever since my first flight with Kishin I have been impressed with his skills as a pilot. On this particular roam he also impressed me with his skills as a squad leader; in addition to fighting his ship and acting as FC, Kishin was also conducting short range scans of the area, so he was able to warn us that a Bellicose would be landing momentarily. I have difficulty simply maintaining all my modules under pressure, and I'm not afraid to admit that multitasking at that level is beyond me.

Sure enough, though, just as the Jaguar started venting atmosphere, a Bellicose landed. Kishin called the Belicose as the new primary, and we went to work. The cruiser and the Ares decided that I should be primary, probably because I was the only T2 frigate. That worked for us, though, as I also had the best tank.

In addition to taking dps, I was also being neuted. It was only a single neut, though, so I was able to keep all my modules running, including my repper, with a little effort. Kishin and I began clearing the drones while Khronin hit the Bellicose with the tracking disruptor.

It was slow going on both sides. They couldn't break my tank - I was hovering about half armor - but the Bellicose seemed to be fit like a brick wall. The shield was no problem, but the armor gave way with agonizing slowness. So far from home, time was not on our side.

Finally, though, the armor gave away, and we started on the Bellicose's structure. Unfortunately, we were struck by a double disaster. First, Kishin and I needed to reload, which meant a ten second dps stop. And just as we started reloading, Kishin reported a Cynabal on route.

The fight looked pretty unwinnable at this point, and Kishin gave the retreat order. As the Ares had me pointed, and the Bellicose had Kishin pointed, this really meant telling Khronin to save himself.

When the Cynabal landed, it added it's own dps to the Bellicose, who was no longer suffering from the tracking disruptor. My rockets started firing again, and it was a race between my armor and the cruiser's structure.

Sadly, it's a race I lost. The Jaguar pilot had managed to reship and landed on us in a Hurricane. Vengeance was his, so to speak, and we were unable to take the Bellicose with us into Hades.

2011.07.12 20:17:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin

Corp: The Tuskers

Alliance: Unknown

Faction: Unknown

Destroyed: Vengeance

System: Amamake

Security: 0.4

Damage Taken: 3621

Involved parties:

Name: Anabaric

Security: -10.0

Corp: Heretic Army

Alliance: B A N E

Faction: NONE

Ship: Bellicose

Weapon: Bellicose

Damage Done: 2456

Name: claire xxx

Security: -2.3

Corp: Heretic Army

Alliance: B A N E

Faction: NONE

Ship: Cynabal

Weapon: Cynabal

Damage Done: 1040

Name: Endureth

Security: -10.0

Corp: Heretic Army

Alliance: B A N E

Faction: NONE

Ship: Ares

Weapon: Ares

Damage Done: 125

Name: SithLordSidious (laid the final blow)

Security: -10.0

Corp: Failed Diplomacy

Alliance: B A N E

Faction: NONE

Ship: Hurricane

Weapon: 425mm AutoCannon II

Damage Done: 0

Destroyed items:

Damage Control II

Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2

Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)

Foxfire Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)

Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)

Small Anti-Thermic Pump I

Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)

X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator

Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)

Small Capacitor Control Circuit I

Adaptive Nano Plating II

Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 36

1MN Afterburner II

Dropped items:

Small Armor Repairer II

Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2

Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 200 (Cargo)

Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II

Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)

Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)

Phalanx Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)

Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 992 (Cargo)

Caldari Navy Phalanx Rocket, Qty: 108

J5b Phased Prototype Warp Scrambler I

Afterthoughts:

Wow, what an awesome fight! While we were (willfully) deluding ourselves that we were ever going to be able to take out a Jaguar and a kiting Ares before their backup arrived (could any of us even catch the Ares?), we did not come out too badly, trading two ships for their one.

We came tantalizingly close to taking the Bellicose with us; I've talked about flying the Vengeance at 90% efficiency in the past, and how much difference that last 10% can make. This was a perfect example of that in action; with just a bit more dps, things could have turned out very differently.

It's also worth noting that the Cynabal had no neuts; if we had finished off the Bellicose, my tank would have been back to full almost immediately, and we might even have given him a run for his money. Right up until the  Hurricane landed, that is.