Q-ship Pirating

I have heard about a certain fellow named Murder One. His exploits inspired me to take action of my own. You see, Murder One had converted a badger Mk. II into a lean, mean, fighting machine. The stories of unsuspecting, defensive miners getting a nice little shock when that ore thief just popped their barge along with their can touched a special place in my heart. I decided to emulate Mr. One's actions and try this little mini-profession of high security industrial piracy myself.

I looked at my list of skills first to see if I had what was needed of me, but alas I found my Caldari Industrial skill lagging behind the rest at a low but healthy level 0. So I decided to try the next best thing; I converted my old Bestower, the Saxosus, to a deadly hardened vessel of my own; complete with a nice Medium Pulse laser, full propulsion and target jamming equipment, and three layers of resistance plating.

With my new Battle Bestower I undocked from my station and, like a newborn Slaver Hound, set out on trembling limbs into this new world. What challenges awaited me amongst ancient asteroids I would meet head on. I started off small; scanning my local system for any unsuspecting asteroid-killers from the parent planet of the asteroid belts. After a few empty scans I smiled as I saw my scanner fill up with entries: two Covetors and an Iteron Mk. III. Oddly enough they had their personal names registered as the ships themselves, allowing me to locate them in the local comms channel. The two Covetor pilots were unaffiliated, thus making easy targets.

I warped to the asteroid belt and hit the afterburners with a vengeance. They continued mining, oblivious to the foreign industrial vessel rocketing towards them. As the jettison containers came into range I deftly scooped the contents into my own hold. Seconds seemed like minutes as the time past with no reaction from the miners. Were they blind? Were they daft? I had just pilfered their hard work and yet they remain still. I waited around the belt for a few minutes more until, dishearten but not completely discouraged, I set course for the nearest planet swarming with asteroid belts.

You'd be amazed at how many people are content with letting you sweep up their rock collections.

A change of scenery would be good, I thought to myself. I made my way over to the neighboring system. With any luck I would find a willing mark there. Unfortunately the same scene played out before my eyes many times: miners continuing on with their business all the while ignoring the diminishing contents of their cargo containers. However, a few situations of note did occur. A miner got off lucky when his accompanying industrial ship tractor beamed the cargo container away just in time to avoid being sucked into the cavernous cargo bay of my ship.

In one occurrence I had decided on a change of tactics. After scooping up the ore I jettisoned it from my cargo with an apologetic note attached hoping the miners would take back their precious shiny stones, all the while oblivious to the heavily armed vessel sitting next to them. This tactic did bear fruit after a lengthy wait. The hauler accompanying the miners took back the plundered ore and the battle was on! I begged for my targeting scanners to lock onto the vessel before it made it's exit, but alas as I was about to activate my warp scrambler the Iteron Mk. V warped away to safety.

After a long night of baiting with no bites I decided to dock for the night. The next day would be successful.

Upon taking command once again after the nights slumber I set my sights for my home system. Once arriving I spied a small mining operation: two Covetor Barges and an Osprey mining cruiser, all of which belonged to the same corporation. After saying a silent prayer upon exiting warp I set my sights on the nearest container. This time would be different however. The Covetors pilots immediately unleashed their drones. That, however, did nothing to impede my charge to their precious ore. The container imploded as the contents were scooped to my cargo bay and before you could say gank the fight was on! The miner’s drones swarmed around the Saxosus and pelted my shields with their pesky fire as I locked on to the nearest barge.

I opened up on the unsuspecting ship with my Medium Pulse laser and reveled in the carnage I wrought. The Covetors shields melted away and its armour soon followed. The Saxosus was not being spared from the destruction however; the drones orbiting my ship numbered 15 and they were quickly overcoming the hardened shell that is the Saxosus' armour plates. My hands shook as I watched both the Covetor and the Saxosus bleed into structure. I quickly took into the account of the situation and decided it was best for me to retreat to lick my wounds. I would be back to show these miners what a Bestower can do.

After docking and paying the friendly station manager to overlook the cause of damage to my vessel I set out looking for more targets. Once again the fish refused to take the bait time and time again. But just as I was about to warp out of the asteroid belt after yet another unsuccessful attempt a lone Bestower warped into the area. Upon calculation the trajectory of the ship it became clear that it was heading directly to a cargo container of my own. Perhaps I could bait the victim to initiate his own doom, instead of forcing their hand. I waited in complete stillness until my container imploded, and then sprung the trap. The offending industrial was locked and scrambled within mere seconds. Like a spider I had him caught in my web and was moving in for the kill. Shields gave way to armour, and armour gave way to structure. I chuckled as I saw a cargo container being jettisoned from his ship full of the ore he stole from me.

It was then I decided I would let this little fly the chance for escape. I deactivated my laser battery and requested a private conversation. I waited and waited until a message had popped onto my overview. The little rat had refused my mercy and went as far as blocking me! With no reservation I opened up on the trapped vessel once again and delighted as the remains of a once operational ship filled my field of view in a wondrous explosion. That should teach the ore thief. I collected the remains of his vessel and was on my merry way to unload my new equipment.

It was in another neighboring system where I would find my next victim. I had scanned the rather highly populated system for any unsuspecting miners as usual and came across a large scale mining operation. Six mining barges and 2 industrial haulers. The fresh events of my last encounter with the previous mining operation played through my mind. Should I risk it again? I shrugged off the thoughts of worry and warped into the asteroid belt the miners called profit and was delighted to see a lone Covetor split off from the main group. It was at least 30 kilometers from his friends. I set my sights on the isolated member of the herd and began my prowl towards it.

His cargo container imploded just as countless others before it have. There was another one belonging to the same individual a few hundred meters away from the first, so I scooped the contents into my hold. I had expected another puff of smoke but it seems the cavernous depths of my ship had been stuffed to capacity. I jettisoned my ill-gotten cargo and transferred the remains of the miners haul into my own container. Unfortunately this group, despite having the numbers to overpower my ship, refused to bite like so many others.

Suddenly an new entry filled my overview. Perhaps the miner had called in friends? I selected the new entry and discovered it to be a small Executioner frigate, surely no match to the might of the Saxosus. My heart began to race upon closer inspection however; the frigate was armed with powerful tech2 Medium Pulse lasers. I collected my thoughts and looked over the ECM module equipped to my ship for just this sort of encounter. the Executioner was on a direct course towards my ship.

I took a second look at the vessel to be certain of its pilot. It turns out the pilot of the Executioner was unaffiliated with the miners currently in the asteroid belt. That served to calm my nerves, but only for a second as I saw the Executioner drop a cargo container of its own and transfer over the contents of my own container into his. I couldn't let this opportunity to go to waste. I finally had a real fight on my hands. Doing just as the offending Executioner pilot had hoped for I locked onto his vessel and opened fire. I wish I could have known what the pilot of the small frigate was thinking as a seemingly unarmed industrial ship tore into his ships armour. The Executioners frightful tech2 weapons were rendered useless as my ECM jamming module kicked into effect and broke his ships target lock. He was dead in the water and his ships hull buckled under the repeated strikes of my own weaponry.

Once again a ship was spread across the sector and the pilot left to float through space in his capsule as the last remnants of the Executioners hull gave way. I collected his ships remains and was delighted to find that one of this might tech2 Medium Pulses survived the ordeal. Seeing as how my cargo was full from plundered ore as well equipment, as well as the mining operation disbanding some time during the firefight, I set course for the nearest station. A good day got even better as I discovered my freshly looted tech2 Medium Pulse could be equipped onto the Saxosus with powergrid to spare.

Cleared for publication by: Ander