YC115 – 11/17

Captain’s Log

As I was running low on mineral reserves, I decided to hop in my [shipinfo]Procurer[/shipinfo] and mine some ore asteroids. Hostile activity in the region was low, so I felt confident I’d be able to mine in peace for a while. After traveling around the different asteroid belts and ore anomalies, however, I couldn’t find the ore asteroids I wanted to mine. I started to get a little frustrated, but then scanners detected a new Ice anomaly in system, so after a quick trip to the starbase to refit my mining barge with an ice harvester, I started my ice mining operation.

After about an hour of mining and compressing ice in system, I was engaging my warp drive to jump into the starbase with a full cargo of ice when the intel channel announced a hostile entering the region, with a path that would probably lead him to our system. As soon as I got to the starbase, I docked the barge and boarded my [shipinfo]Caracal[/shipinfo] cruiser. Intel reported that the hostile was one system away from us. After alerting other pilots in the mining fleet and sending a system broadcast, I executed a jump towards the entrance gate in hopes of catching the hostile as he entered the system, but scanners indicated his arrival even before I was in hyperspace. One pilot in the fleet hinted that the enemy might be a cynosural operator, and since I wasn’t in the mood for losing a ship today, as soon as I landed on the stargate I set course for the system’s station.

Communication from the fleet members, however, corrected this assumption and also alerted that the enemy started engaging a Procurer whose pilot had probably fell asleep at the controls. I set course for the ice anomaly and emerged from hyperspace just 18 klicks away from the hostile pilot, who was flying a [shipinfo]Retribution[/shipinfo]. I immediately proceeded to lock the target and prime the disruptor and missile launchers for attack, as well as launching my drones. I projected an orbit around the frigate at 20km, just enough for my disruptor to keep his warp drive jammed. As the lock was acquired, the disruptor went into work and the Inferno light missiles started flying towards the enemy. When he realized he was being attacked, he set a course away from me, probably in the hopes of exiting my warp disruptor’s range and fly away, but I engaged my microwarpdrive and I was able to keep him in range long enough for the missiles and the drones to do their work, and after what seemed like an eternity but it was probably only a couple of seconds, I see a group of missiles take out the last bit of his armor and his structure in one fell swoop. As the frigate exploded and the capsuleer ejected, I felt the exhilaration of having my first unaided successful attack on a hostile. The enemy and I exchanged courtesy system broadcasts of mutual respect, and even though I tried to acquire lock on his pod, he flew away.

Analysis of the fight thanks to CONCORD’s information on the target’s loss lead me to believe that fortune was smiling upon me that day. The fact that I missed the hostile at the entrance gate and my initial hesitation in engaging the target allowed him to focus his attack on an innocent miner, which probably depleted the enemy’s capacitor into the low reserves as his laser tried to break the Procurer’s shields and armor. If the miner had decided to use a different barge, like a Retriever, the enemy would have probably finished the job even before I landed on grid.

Furthermore, I set course on the general direction of the anomaly, not knowing exactly where to land, but my cruiser landed less than 20 klicks from target, which allowed me to use the disruptor on him before he attempted to run away. If I had known exactly which miner was being attacked I could have set the course to land directly on him, giving me a better chance to be in range of the enemy target.

Also, because his capacitor reserves were probably low, he didn’t have enough energy to engage his microwarpdrive, which would have given him enough speed to break away from me. Even though I was shaking with excitement, I still managed to focus my attention on the enemy’s distance from my cruiser and engage my mwd as his distance started to increase. I did forget to overheat my disruptor, and the enemy got as far as 23km away before my acceleration was enough to decrease the distance and keep him in range. An overheated disruptor would’ve made this easier, but like I said, I got lucky this time.

In conclusion, good fortune and some preparation provided for a great experience and a happy outcome in defending the region.

End log.