A Young Pirate's Tale

I was going down to lowsec today, no matter what. It was time to begin the career that I had wanted to pursue the moment I joined Eve. It was time to become a pirate.

Ironically enough, my first kill in Eve also turned out to be a pirate. Here's how it happened.

I was browsing the forums, when I came upon a post created by a random carebear proclaiming that "anti-pirates" were needed in Hysera. Reading this, I assumed that Hysera was loaded with carebears, which was why pirates were having a field day down there. I vowed to hunt down some carebears of my own.

Unwilling to risk my more expensive ships, I fitted a dinky thorax with subpar equipment and rushed down to the stargate. My new career was about to begin.

A textbox sprung up, proclaiming that I was engaging in a dangerous act, and that Concord would not be around to protect me. I eagerly pressed ok, and prepared for the wonders on the other side.

Half-expecting to be welcomed into my first foray into lowsec by a gatecamp, I was surprised to find that local only had 6 people in it. Interestingly enough, 4 of them appeared to be pirates. Apparently the carebears had already fled. Dejectedly, I warped to the nearest station in the hopes that some targets would jump in soon. As I broke out of warp, a flashy red icon sprung into my overview. This was my first contact with my first kill of Eve. :)

He was roughly the same age as me, at about six months old. He was hugging the station in his Brutix, as I creeped warily towards him in my dinky little thorax. "Perhaps I could get him to shoot me and take him with the station guns," I thought. Unfortunately, he was impossible to provoke. Then, he invited me to a gang. His intentions were obvious enough. I knew if I accepted, I would be gangwarped into a safespot and meticulously dismantled. And then, the plan was hatched.

Kaunokka was only three jumps away, and I had my fully fitted myrmidon sitting happily in its perch at one of its stations. Perhaps if I grabbed it and jumped back soon enough, I could trick him into thinking I was still in my thorax and take him down! I told the kind pirate that I was bored of the locale, and hurried to go grab my myrmidon. I fitted it out using the best of my knowledge, eager to win my first PvP experience. My skills were rather mediocre, but at least I could fit T2 armor reps. After my quick fit, I hurried back to Hysera, hoping that the pirate was still there.

As I jumped into Hysera, I was ecstatic to see that he was still in local. I promptly said in local, "Hey, still hugging the station?" Conversation ensued.

Me > still staring at the station? :P
Z*** > that i am
Z*** > no lol
Z*** > care to duel?
Z*** > i'm quite bordd
Entity One > a rax vs. a brutix doesnt sound very fair. :<
Z*** > faction fitted rax (I had joked that my thorax had 5 small faction reps fitted while I tried to taunt him into shooting me ) vs T1 fitted brutix
Z*** > sounds plenty fair

My plan had worked! He still thought I was in my thorax! I promptly invited him to a gang and said,

Entity One > my rax is fully insured anyway
Entity One > and you wont catch my pod in a brutix
Z*** > sounds good
Z*** > tell me when t warp
Entity One > whenever
Entity One > seeing as how you have such a huge advantage. i trust you wont call in help. :<

He accepted! I chose a safespot I had chosen in my previous foray into the system, and clicked "gangwarp." My first true Eve Online PvP experience had just begun.

I came flying out of warp, and he dropped out of warp right behind me. I immediately started jamming on the lock button, cursing at the "Target is invulnerable" messages. Finally, I managed to get a target lock, and I activated all relevant modules. At that moment, Hammerhead IIs came pouring out of the Brutix, and raced towards me. In turn, I released my Ogre I's, and went to work on his shields. I started feeling the first twinge of fear, as his blasters tore through my shields in no hurry at all. However, that was nothing compared to what happened next. Out of stupidity, I had forgotten to pay attention to my drones, and he managed to pop one of them. A good portion of my DPS had just been knocked out of the fight, and I hadn't even broken his shields. Cursing at my own stupidity, I scooped all my drones immediately and released them just as fast. The 3 second delay wasn't helping either.

By this point, I had gotten my act together. I knew he was probably having trouble locking thanks to my dampener, but I repeatedly returned my drones just in case. I was totally unwilling to lose another. By this point, I knew I had him. My cap was holding fine thanks to the 4 medium noses and my cap booster, and he was unable to break my tank fast enough with my dual T2 med reps, three hardeners, and DCU II. As a blasterboat, his DPS was rather painful but my drones were working him over at a faster rate. More importantly, he was unable to kill my drones now that I was actually paying attention. However, I knew this pirate was in a pirate corp, and my fears were now directed at local. Surely enough, another member of his corp jumped into Hysera just as I was breaking into his structure.

[IMG]http://www.eve-pirate.com/uploads/evepic1.JPG[/IMG]

Swearing, I prayed that the Brutix would go down before his friend jumped to our location. His structure dwindled bit by bit, as his armor rep still periodically cranked out armor. I noticed the pirate slipping out of my gang, clearly creating a new one with his buddy. Just as a Drake landed right on top of me, the Brutix exploded into a beautiful blue ball of fire.

[IMG]http://www.eve-pirate.com/uploads/evepic2.JPG[/IMG]

By this point, I was afraid. I had used up half of my 800 boosters, only had 4 heavies, and knew from personal experience that the Drake's tank was probably unbreakable for me if it had a half decent passive setup.

Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a tractor beam attach to the Brutix's wreck and the Drake started fleeing away. Apparently, he was fitted for mission-running. While his T2 Lights and missiles were hammering into me, they were still unable to break my tank. I skirted with the idea of killing him, and sent my heavies after him. Surely enough, his tank was rather strong, and while I felt confident I could break it, I was unwilling to be tied down. I hadn't podded the Brutix pilot, and if he had another ship within reach I was in trouble. Curiously, the Drake didn't have a scrambler fitted (odd seeing as how he was in a pirate corp) and I promptly warped to one of my safespots.

As I sat in my safespot spamming my scanner for scan probes, I realized just how "on edge" I was. My hands were shaking, and my heart was beating at a rate that it rarely achieved sitting idle at a computer desk. I was experiencing the "rush" that I had heard about, and I loved it. Another member of the Brutix pilot's corp jumped in, and the three of us had a rather pleasant conversation. The pilot was a good sport, even though I had tricked him into fighting me in my myrm. Since he had called in a Drake despite saying no help would be coming, we called it even. We both told each other good fight, and once my aggression timer was up I warped to the gate to calm my nerves back in highsec. I have nothing but respect for this pilot, as he took it all in stride. I promised him that we'd meet again, and eagerly opened my first solo killmail.

2007.04.27 02:26

Victim: Z***
Alliance: ********
Corp: ***********
Destroyed: Brutix
System: Hysera
Security: 0.4

Involved parties:

Name: Entity One (laid the final blow)
Security: 1.5
Alliance: NONE
Corp: Enlai
Ship: Myrmidon
Weapon: Ogre I

Name: Guristas Despoiler / Guristas


Destroyed items:

'Langour' Drive Disruptor I
Anode Ion Particle Cannon I
Anode Ion Particle Cannon I
Energized Magnetic Membrane I
Voltaic Nanite Reactive Membrane I
Anode Electron Particle Cannon I
Anode Electron Particle Cannon I
Anode Ion Particle Cannon I
Anode Ion Particle Cannon I
Medium Inefficient Armor Repair Unit
Anode Ion Particle Cannon I
Cap Booster 800, Qty: 2 (Cargo)
Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 96
Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 46
Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 46
Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 47
Antimatter Charge M, Qty: 48

So there you go, my first solo PvP kill in Eve Online. I was close to quitting, bored of mission running and ore thieving, but my boredom has now subsided. My only regret is that my first kill was a fellow pirate rather than a carebear. Nonetheless, I've finally gotten into my dream occupation in Eve, and I'm never going back.