Interrupting a POCO Bash

It is about time for me to log for the night when a scout reports an Abaddon and a Talos attacking a POCO a few jumps out. I guess I will trade sleep for a kill as I head toward the target system. The fleet is only 1 jump out, when the scout reports the appearance of a Proteus on d-scan who launches probes and scares the ships back to their tower.

We setup our fleet in the neighboring wormhole and wait for the Proteus to come to us. However, he must rate as the worst scout ever. Nearly 30 minutes elapse and he is still moving probes around and has yet to re-appear.

He eventually reappears on d-scan and then vanishes. We wait several more minutes and then our scout puts out probes and finds a new C4 sig. He heads upstream and reports finding a Double Down pilot just before our second scout still in the target system reports a Cheetah, followed immediately by an Abaddon and Talos reappearing on d-scan.

The danger has gone (or so they think) and they head back to the POCO. Our first scout returns and both scouts move into position. They decloak and tackle both ships while the fleet jumps and warps to the gank.

Both the Talos and the Abaddon go down very quickly. We lock Abel Sandoz's capsule and provide a free trip to the cloning vat. Next up is the capsule of MM3 McKee. Once the battle is over, we pull up the kill reports and almost fall out of our chairs laughing.

Pro Tip for MM3: If you are going to POCO bash in a half fit ship, leave the expensive implants at home.

Ratting Paladin

I am paying less than half of my attention to Eve when an unusual scouting report comes in. Scout 1 reporting that I have a Paladin ratting in a C2 site. Say that again, please! I have a ratting Paladin in a C2 combat site. Oh whew! I thought for a minute that you had a Paladin running sites alone in a C2 combat site. I do! Why? Who knows but lets kill him!

We scramble the necessary jumps and make it to the system before he finishes the site. The scout tackles the Paladin and the fleet jumps and and warps to him. The Paladin goes down very quickly but we are dissappointed in the tech 2 fit. The pilot was probably underwhelmed with the performance against our fleet as well.

Thanks to the heavy interdictor, we capture the pod and make sure everyone gets on the kill. We clean up and loot the wrecks before clearing out and heading back home thinking this was the end of the story.

Later in the evening, we are stalking someone else when one of our directors reports that the pilot we killed, Lead Faith just placed a bounty of 20M on our corporation. We laugh and discuss this for about 60 seconds when someone suggests that we return the favor and place 20M apiece on him.

If you happen to run into Lead Faith, he was sporting close to a 300M ISK bounty the last I checked.

Trade: Loki for Tengu+

A scout has found an active system with 5 pilots moving around in various combat ships. We form up and move into position. I leave the non-cloaky ships C2A while the cloaky ships move into position on the C4A to C2B wormhole. The targets are in the C2B and have moved a Naga into position around 190km from the wormhole.

Our scout tackles the Naga with his Anathema! Go Jeanne! I send the Loki forward to assist with instructions to let me know when he wants me to move the Guardians forward. He engages and they warp a Talos, Hawk, Scorpion and a Tengu forward.

I make the call for action. The cloaky fighters (including me) jump the wormhole and immediately warp to our Loki friend. It is apparant while I am in warp that I made a mistake leaving the Guardians back what is basically 2 jumps.

As we are landing, I call primary on the Talos and secondary points on the Tengu. Two of my corpmates then ask what Talos? I do not see any Talos. I recheck my overview and since I have a Talos locked and pointed, it is a pretty fair assumption that they have forgotten to adjust their overview settings.

The Loki pilot holds out for a surprisingly long time at low armor, but my initial assessment during my short warp was correct. In spite of the efforts of our Falcon pilot, the Guardians land just as we lose the Loki.

The Ferox, Hawk and Scorpion bug out leaving us to kill the Talos, Tengu and a late arriving Tornado. Yay for 40km points! Good fights are exchanged in local and we loot sufficient items to pay for a new Loki for our friend.

Stalking a Domi

We are waiting to see what the Vigilant pilot from the previous post will do, when we notice a couple of Domi's appear for a short time on d-scan. We throw out probes and scan down the new sigs but it appears we are too late. I land on site with the last sig to find nothing but empty space.

Wait a minute, one of the Domi's appears for a short time and then disappears again. Maybe one of them got stuck. We move an Onyx to the high sec and I reship to a dual webbed Loki. In a bit, the Domi reappears and launches probes confirming our suspicion of a trapped pilot.

We play games chasing the pilot for a bit before he finally warps into our trap at the high sec. However, our trap is pretty fail as the Domi pilots turns around and warps off before anyone gets a disruptor on him.

I am outside the bubble so I chase him immediately to planet 11 custom office while another pilot goes to the planet at zero and 1 more at 100. I land on him at the custom office but before I can gain a lock, he is in warp again toward the cluster of planets near the sun. I make a guess and immediately chase, but evidently I chose wrong becuase he is not there when I land and before I can warp somewhere else, he drops off d-scan.

Wow! That was a fast Domi! I have never seen a shield fit hole roller but there is no way he had plates given his speed and how fast he was able to turn and get to warp. In the end, we give up the chase. His patience was better than ours and we have another scout with a more promising target.