Taurean Eltanin v Darius Carnifex (part 2)

 

The hunt:

The next time I saw Darius, I had just jumped into Vif, looking for targets. Not seeing anything of interest in system, I burned back to the gate to continue my roam.

Just before I hit the gate, two ships landed. The first was Darius in his Dramiel, and the second was a neutral pilot in a Loki. Because they had clearly warped in together, I assumed that the Loki was a boosting alt for Darius.

Darius jumped through the gate, while the neutral Loki engaged me. I had to smile. There was no way I could kill the Loki, but if I engaged then I would be unable to jump out when Darius jumped back in. And if I just jumped through, Darius could try to catch me. Cute.

Of course, I jumped. I knew from past experience that Darius was no real danger in his Dram, and I could either warp away or burn back to the gate before the Loki was able to join him. I also put the word out on vent; perhaps someone nearby would like a shot at the Loki.

However, as I loaded grid I saw that Tawa had landed on the gate in his Jaguar, and had engaged Darius. I moved to assist, but the two ships were much faster than me, and so it was a hopeless act. I turned and started heading back to the gate.

I must have lost track of time, though, because the Loki jumped through much earlier than expected. He immediately pointed and webbed me and opened fire. I overheated my repair system, but exploded about 1km from the jump radius of the gate.

2011.10.08 18:08:00

Victim: Taurean Eltanin
Corp: The Tuskers
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Destroyed: Vengeance
System: Ladistier
Security: 0.3
Damage Taken: 1994

Involved parties:

Name: F3mm3 F4t4l3 (laid the final blow)
Security: 3.7
Corp: Acephalia Inc
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Loki
Weapon: 220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II
Damage Done: 1555

Name: Darius Carnifex
Security: -6.2
Corp: Acephalia Inc
Alliance: NONE
Faction: NONE
Ship: Dramiel
Weapon: Dramiel
Damage Done: 439

Destroyed items:

Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 50
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Coreli C-Type Small Armor Repairer
Small Anti-Thermic Pump I
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Adaptive Nano Plating II
Small Bay Loading Accelerator II
1MN Afterburner II
Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket, Qty: 540 (Cargo)
Phalanx Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)

Dropped items:

Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 150
Rocket Launcher II, Qty: 2
Damage Control II
Warp Scrambler II
Thorn Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket, Qty: 548 (Cargo)
Caldari Navy Gremlin Rocket, Qty: 480 (Cargo)
Foxfire Javelin Rocket, Qty: 600 (Cargo)
Gremlin Rage Rocket, Qty: 800 (Cargo)
Foxfire Rage Rocket, Qty: 392 (Cargo)

Unfortunately, Tawa was also unable to escape, as the Dram kept him pointed until the Loki was finished with me (unlike me, he had aggressed, so burning to the gate was not an option).


Afterthoughts:

I messed up pretty badly here, and I'm not afraid to admit it. I was in no danger at all until I burned off the gate (knowing there was a Loki waiting to jump through), and even then I would have been fine if I had remembered to either a) keep better track of time, or b) overheat my freaking afterburner.

So yeah, I earned this lossmail by snatching defeat from the jaws of... warping away.

However, I now understand why Darius was trying to goad Wolf and I into hanging around after my first encounter with him: he had his neutral Loki on the way! When he saw that he could not break my tank he probably powered up the alt and tried to keep me in play until the Loki got their.

Glad I warped away when I did, then.

I have to admit being surprised by the aggressive use of the Loki, though. There are one or two boosting alts in the Tuskers, but they tend to be used primarily to scout, probe, or boost. I don't think I've ever seen them used in actual combat. But then, we're space poor pirates that can't afford to risk massive isk investments like that. That said, the Loki was clearly in no danger engaging a couple of flashy assault ships on a gate.

Still, this loss, which Tawa and I stumbled into, probably explains why we acted the way we did when we encountered Darius again later that day...