Ice fishing in high sec - the one that got away

It was a fine evening for ice fishing. I had found plenty of phish (pharmers) feeding on an ice belt in a 0.8 system, however the catch was poor as the phish seemed to become rather well adapted to dealing with standard tactics. They wouldn't nibble on bait-n-switch, in fact they stopped using haulers altogether and began to make the tedious trips back and forth from belt to station each time their cargo holds filled up.

Then I spied a jetcan and when I checked, sure enough it contained quite a few pieces. Unfortunately it was owned by the pilot of a Ferox. Seeing as I had only a Thrasher and a hauler in system, it seemed I was in for an unprofitable night. Now my hauler alt is on a second account, so I can and do run both my main and alt at the same time, my alt also flies a Exequror remote repair support ship. Now I figured my Thrasher with Exequror support could deal with a barge using t2 drones, or maybe even a Vexor protecting an ice mining op, still a Thrasher versus Ferox seemed to be a bit too lopsided.

But if I was playing it safe, I'd still be hanging out with care-bears or have found another hobby due to complete boredom. So I sent my alt off to grab the Exequror. When he returned I set him to orbit my Thrasher at 15km and all ready to play combat mechanic. Back to the Thrasher, I jettisoned some garbage and transfered the ice from the Ferox pilot's can to my own. He replied by warp scrambling me and the fight was on.

Between the t2 drones, heavy missiles, multiple medium nos, and warp scrambler it looked grim for my little destroyer. My 1500 or so hp of shields evaporated way too fast, and I frantically began remote repping as quickly as I could. Now, high security pvp is as much a game of managing aggression rights as it is ship to ship combat so knowing (I thought) the ends and outs of the system, I expected my Exequror to get flagged - it didn't! Apparently my Exequror could remote repair and eccm boost my Thrasher all day without the Ferox being able to do a thing about it.

Had I known, I'd have gotten more out of the fight than a left behind pair of t2 drones. It seems a Thrasher with a cruiser caliber armor tank (even if most of it is on another ship) is a bit more of a chunk than a Ferox can bite off easily. My armor never went below 50% and I had him well into structure before the Exequror had to start cap boosting. If only I had known that the Exequror was immune to non-suicidal attack, a well timed bump or two would've kept the Ferox from warping out with about 25% structure remaining.

But then, I'd have had to find another title - this is about the one that got away.

Cleared for publication by: Ander