I wasn't on much lately, even though we are involved in 2 wars. The people wardec'd us and still they don't show up, and if they do it's almost always an interceptor or recons that sit 150k out and sensor dampen but do no shooting. This coupled with the fact that I just purchased a new motorcycle and have been riding it non-stop isn't conducive to my being on Eve.

So here I was, sitting in the station with only 2 other corp. members... fun times as everyone was afk. TeamSpeak added some help to the situation and I grabbed the two corp. mates in voice asking what was going on. Of course, as always, nothing was happening, there was 1 war target on but he was 20 jumps away - not chasing someone 20 jumps to have them sit in a station. I figured what the hell, I'll undock and amuse myself.

I am most certainly not a pirate, but I do like to PVP - having said that, flipping cans contrary to what most miners think is very profitable if not fun. I could use a new BC, I only had 2 and both were already battle scarred. I went in search of some full cans of omber to flip and manufacture a new BC, one that I wouldn't mind playing around with a little more dangerously. I set my sights for a .6 system and did a quick scan... 2 cans, that's it. I scan them down and find them to be in the ice belt - of course - and attributed it to macros. But what the hell, I'm already bored maybe something will come out of it (after all, it was raining and I didn't feel like getting soaked on a joy ride).

As I came out of warp in my somewhat new looking vengeance, I noticed that both cans belonged to nicely sized mining corps... and one of the corps had some friends in local... this could get interesting. I call for one corp. mate to get in a blackbird and sit at the warp in spot to the ice field. He was more of a distraction that really a player in this setup - he could jam, but was really meant to be the main bait. I go over and flip the first can, my heart starts beating faster. Slowly my pulse climbs and the first can is flipped, it's not omber but ice sells for a decent price so add 4 more pieces to my wallet.

I slowly flew over to the over can and looked in, 8 more pieces, yay! That's an easy mil for 3 minutes worth of work, not too bad. Aurora kept telling me that I had to wait, an additional 25 seconds until I was able to jet another can... why does it always seem to last forever? 20 seconds later, a nighthawk warps in right on top of me... damn not enough time to flip it and get out in one piece... A nighthawk is a scary ship, it doesn't matter how long you have been playing - they have one of the best tanks in the game. Obviously a measly assault frig isn't going to be doing any hardcore fighting against a command ship... but a battleship and a battle cruiser would! A light bulb went off in my head and I quickly formulated a plan.

I started speaking over comms and laid down what was to happen. A fleet was started and people were put into their respected positions - having 8% more armor always helps, especially in this situation. The nighthawk pilot was chatting up local, I paid no mind to it - I don't smack, I fight. Rather than quibble over threats to each other, we both remained civil and I started the plan in motion. The nighthawk pilot flipped the can back - this would turn out to be a most unwise decision. I quickly hopped back to the station and switched to my Harbinger - she might not be the best looking ship, but she does the job! Knowing that there was a very high chance that I would lose my ship I double checked the insurance and made sure that if I did lose it, at least I'll get something for my troubles.

I let loose over comms ordering everyone to take their position. The blackbird still sitting in the ice field, waiting. The other corp. member I had get into his Tempest - it's not everyday that an Amarr pilot and a Minmatar pilot work together, especially since the faction wars, but today was one of those occasions. The Tempest, fitted with autocannons and a single remote repper would soon turn out to be the best thing I could ever ask for.

With some warp dancing going on, I get the nighthawk pilot where I want him - he notices the blackbird is there as well, and doesn't think twice about engaging but does make it known that it is 2v1. Yes, he didn't spot that I had a 3rd friend in local - this plan just might work after all! The blackbird pilot's job was to make the nighthawk pilot feel easy about killing me... it worked. As the nighthawk comes out of warp, I target, scram, web, and start the circle of death dance around him at 6k. Drones away! I sent my Hammerhead II's after him, hoping that they would have more of an impact than just my lasers. This wasn't the first time I had a run in with a command ship, but this was nor ordinary pilot either. Having become a pod pilot in 2003, he was obviously one of the first on the scene to New Eden and knew much more than I about the way these things played out. In the slow dance of death my laser fire and his missiles collided in what would look to be fireworks of the gods. He quickly chewed through my shields in 2 volleys - this couldn't be an ordinary fitted nighthawk, he was packing quite a punch for missiles, even if they were faction missiles. I started my armor repper late as I seriously misjudged the amount of damage pouring out of the nighthawk; he was tearing me to bits! I signaled for the blackbird to do a quick jam, but unfortunately aggro ran out and much to my surprise (and the surprise of the BB pilot, as well as his overview) concord came and quickly dispatched of him.

With my jammer gone, I could do nothing to keep myself repped against the nighthawk's barrage of missiles. I watched helplessly as my armor was blasted with ungodly force from my hull, exposing various parts of my ship. Down to 50% armor and I haven't even made it 30% through his shields; this isn't going the way I planned at all! I quickly called for the tempest to come in and remote rep me, hoping that the medium remote repper he had would stem the flow of my waning armor. It was but a stopgap measure at best. I was still losing armor, down to 35% and dropping... this isn't good... I'm going down! 30%, 25%, 20%... I continued to bleed away armor and thought all hope was lost - I was only 50% into his shields and wasn't making a single dent more. He had a well rounded shield tank for sure, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't break. When I hit 18% armor, the Tempest pilot called for me to warp out... Yes, why didn't I warp out?! I quickly checked my overview for any signs of EWAR and sure enough - having all of his mids devoted to his tank, he didn't have a scram on me! I thought I might just be saved - I quickly aligned and warped out, leaving my drones behind... a small loss compared to a T2 fitted ship.

About the time I came out of warp yelling from the Tempest pilot flew over the comms - the nighthawk was attacking the temptest! Could this be true? I gave my repper some time to catch back up to 50% armor and with my cap injector running at full capacity I warped back into the fray. I quickly came out of warp and targeted the nighthawk. With the sig radius of a small moon, it didn't take long before my lasers were back on him and this time, making their way through his shields with the help of the autocannons from the Tempest. I re-gained control of my drones and added them to the fight once more - always eager to do their commanders will.

The nighthawk quickly switched targets back to me, still only being half in armor, I was easy prey. I got within the area of the Tempest to receive some remote love from him and quickly deciding to overload my own medium repper I committed myself to the fight until someone lost a ship. I was once again bleeding armor too quickly and with his shields at 20% I didn't think I'd make it. Heat started to build up in my modules and the damage was being done to them. I couldn't keep it overloaded for too much longer, possibly another 30 seconds until my armor hardeners would seize up and break to the heat - it was a dangerous game to play. I decided enough was enough - it was now or never. If I'm going to lose the ship, I'm going down in a blaze of glory! I did a quick check of my cap - 5% left, not enough to keep a web and scram plus lasers and reppers going, I had to inject cap faster! I overloaded the injector and prayed for my lasers to not turn off... I was down to 35% armor. It still wasn't enough; the nighthawk was hovering around 5% shields - just a sliver of grey stood between me and the kill that I no longer deserved. I made a split decision to overload the high rack - all 7 lasers. They wouldn't last too long, maybe 50 seconds, but hopefully it would be enough to blast through the last little bit of shields.

The blackbird pilot communicated back to us that he had reinforcements on the way - a maelstrom and a yet unidentified ship entering local of a nearby star system. I had to hurry, there was no time for fun and games now - it was a race against the clock. Would his backup arrive in time to blow the Tempest and I into small pieces of space debris, or could we possibly take the nighthawk down and make a clean getaway?

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, every seconds seemed like minutes. My cap was still hovering around 8% and heat damage was prevalent among my hardeners as well as near the dangerous level in my lasers. Finally, a chunk of armor was fused to the hull as my lasers cut into his ship, completely eating through his shields! Time was still dragging, getting worried about his backup, I shouted over the comms to put every last bit of damage you have to him. With the nighthawk's tank broken and autocannons and lasers chewing through his armor, the feel over victory was sweeping over me... just a few more seconds. I checked my modules once more, stopping the overload of my lasers for fear that with almost 90% damage, they may break. With modules about to break, he entered structure as I was sitting at 15% armor.

In a single volley from both the Tempest and myself, we popped the nighthawk - the ordeal was over. With my hands shaking from the encounter I quickly went over to the wreck to take as much as I could and still get out in time. News came that his friends were just coming out of warp at the stargate to the system.

When I opened the wreck I was given one of the most beautiful sights ever - the fruits of the labor and risks... Inside I found 2x Dread Guristas Balistic Control Units, 4x Dread Guristas Heavy Missile Launchers and a T2 PDS. I quickly warped away to a station to repair the damage to my modules as well as to my armor. I too this time to look at the kill details - lost to the void was a Pith A-Type EM Hardener, more Dread Heavy Launchers, and some T2 shield extenders. The rush of adrenaline was complete and I now needed to take a few moments and let it all soak in.... I took a deep breath and let it out slowly... this was the best rainy day on Eve I've had!

Still in local, the nighthawk pilot and I, along with the Tempest pilot gave each other gf's, and I told the nighthawk pilot that he had indeed kicked my ass. There was no getting around it, I would have been dead 3 times over if it wasn't for the remote repping help as well as damage of the Tempest pilot. I felt like a sham, admonishing myself for having to warp out once and then come back into the fight - running away, turning my back... but in the end it was the best decision for me. When it was all said and done, the nighthawk pilot lost a total of 1,155,000,000.00, that's almost 1.2 billion isk - and it was worth every isk of it, tanking a BS and a BC for what felt like an eternity but was closer to 4 minutes.