Last night felt like a good night to go out hunting in the Catch region. I knew without a doubt that I could depend on Braves and their allies to do what they do best — mine. Thus, I set a course to unearth some of their mining holes where I could potentially find some juicer targets.

I started my hunt as I do always, with a frig and a warp bubble. I take this approach to scout out in a smaller agile ship as well see if I can discover any common pathways of miners, ratters, and industrial pilots. My setup was simple, a 150 KM drag bubble behind a gate with a can popped in front of the apex to hopefully decloak any stealthy sneaks.

As I warped to the align gate to warp back and test the drag, I immediately warped onto a Nemesis that had just been decloaked by the fresh clan that I had placed (just for him technically). I was so excited, like getting a bite on a hook and feeling the tug of a fish on the end of your line.

I immediately lock the ship up. No time wasted. It’s a stealth bomber, so I didn’t risk waiting for a ransom. I overheated and went in deep into the hull. This ship was going to be space dust and I was going to enjoy selling his Tech II modules that I know is fitted on the back of this space rocket.

As I ripped through the shields and into the armor, I knew this was going to be an easy fight for me even if I was way to close for my beam laser. Stealth Bombers have no real defense and it was only a matter of time before all that space loot would be tucked way in a container within my pirate ship.

The fight was only a brief one, but a good one. This pilot didn’t bow down nor give up. Everything this ship had was given and I salute the effort.

Set Backs

After a good kill, I decided to pack up and change spots. This is the benefit of having a Mobile Small Warp Disruptor II versus the Tech I versions. You can deploy a Tech II extremely fast where the Tech I’s take around 120 seconds or so to deploy. For a pirate on the move, Tech II’s are the way to go if you can find them cheap. Unfortunately, so many are not as so many pilots in New Eden are using Interdictors.

I had two major set backs after the Nemesis kill. I ran into a Cyclone that surprisingly did amazing damage with a target painter and while fighting a baited Wreathe, Goons blobbed us both — essentially killing all content in the area as they hurled on through. These are the moments I dread the most in New Eden. Big space alliances killing everything in their way with quantity versus quality.

Mining Hole

With two set backs under my belt, I set out in the arty Wolf with a offlined probe launcher. I decided to break from more bubble action and set a course to find that honey hole that I originally wanted to find.

After examining the maps carefully, I noticed a system with a lot of pilots in space and a lot of jumps to it. I figured I would check it out to either see ratters, miners, or combat pilots. It’s always good to check, rule on it, then move on or stay depending on what you find.

Upon landing to the system, I am immediately greeted by a lovely little barge at the gate. Again, I become extremely giddy. I lock the barge up and begin the ransoming process. I of course and denied my conversation and start to rip away at this barges shields.

Once engaged, the barge deploys drones. I set out to orbit a bit to try to avoid these suckers and figure out how I would approach this. There was around 25 pilots in system and I started to worry about a response fleet. But, that was put to ease when I saw my scans showed nothing but mining barges within the range of my scans — YESSSS!!!

After destroying the barge, I quickly loot and get to a neighboring planet. I knew I had to be quick. There is barges on scan and one lonely Vexor Navy Issue off in the distance. I begin to scan specific areas in space. Belt, after, belt. Then I spot the Vexor at a known pirate camp in system and I quickly warp right in.

This is going to be a tough fight for me. I’m just a paper Wolf that no only will have this Vexor after me, but I’m sure the pirates as well. We could both lose our ships right here and right now. Thus, I waste no time and immediately begin to engage the Vexor right away.

I lock the Vexor up, warp disrupt and begin to orbit the ship. Drones are already deployed and I do my process of defanging this sucker as I know without a doubt, his ship has no other offense other than these pesky annoying little drones.

This is getting sporty. I’m ripping apart these drones, I’m keeping my eye on the scan, and keeping my eye on these pirates who are far enough away to miss my smile fierce Wolf with every shot they take.

As I begin to destroy the drones, I feel confident that I will survive long enough to issue a ransom. A convo is struct, a price is set, but as expected, a decline is returned. This pilot rather lose the ship rather than help feed me, my 3 wives, and 12 kids… And, I’m the scumbag here???

Seems that crime really doesn’t pay, but I was not going to let that get me down. I overheated and sunk my fangs deep. The shields were gone, only the armor and structure remained. If I’m not getting paid, I’m going to loot your soul and sell you back to the fat rich miners who live in this region.

Just when I thought everything was going right, with the exception of my ransom of course, I see my overview light up. A response fleet warps in… I panic a bit. I was so busy with the ransom and being pissed my kids were going to starve, that I wasn’t paying attention to my scans. Fuuuuuu….

I quickly look towards my warp points and get in an alignment until I notice what this first wave of response fleet actually is… OH MY GO….

To be continued…