Venoms Bite

08.17.09
Constellation Aldodan
Metropolis Region
Evati System

After losing a duel to Lau, Venom needed time to think and allow the adrenaline in her system to dissipate.  A long time student of meditation, she headed for her quiet corner to reflect and train her mind to be still.  Yet this time it would prove to be too difficult, the frustration of losing to a Kestrel with 3 ECM mods was too much for her mind to quiet.

“Xandie, ready another Rifter, I’m going out”

“On it Venom, give us 5 minutes”, was the reply from the Crew Cheif, Venom needed just that to slip back into a pod and enter the ship.

As Venom sat in her pod, waiting on the last few minutes of preparations on the Rifter class vessel, her mind wandered to just finding something to kill, anything.  Small or large, whatever crossed her path would find her guns laid on it.  Her pod eases into the ship and her arms and legs meld into the metallic structures.  She’s one again with her ship, causing a complete feeling.  Venom often wondered if in the manufacture of clones they were created in some way to facilitate this feeling, something left out that only feels complete when melded with a ship.

The Rifter class vessel eased out of the docking clamps and glided towards the station exit, soon as she was clear of station interference she brought scanners online and started searching for something to quench her blood thirst.  This part of her personality fits her profession as a pirate, often she can feel endorphins rush through her body, creating an almost animalistic frenzy to watch things die.

Initial scans show a Kestrel in Evati. Perfect, vindication, be it Lau’s Kestrel or not, this ship would die, she thought to herself.

The Kestrel was in a belt, Venom willed the ship to land at zero and charged all combat mods.  Coming out of warp the Kestrel was 9,000 meters away, the targeting system resolved the lock and all mods started to engage.  There would be no ransom, no inquiry, nothing; this ship would die for the sake of dying.

A third of the shields of the other frigate were already down and Venom started to pop holes in what remained, eventually the same was done to the armor and structure. The ship popped in a brilliant explosion.  The pod that remained also was locked and dispatched back to the clone vats.

A small smile rose from Venom’s lips, ahhh that felt good.

Nothing else on scan, Venom waited silently and patiently in a safe spot for her GCC to end.

After 15 minutes, the Rifter class vessel was willed towards the Ofstold gate in hopes of finding ratters to ransom or kill. It was a fine line sometimes, between being a pirate and seeking Isk as payment and just satisfying a blood thirst.

Upon entering Ofstold, Navitas and two Reapers on scan.  The Reapers being small ships, Venom would ignore unless they decided she was an easy target, if they knew better they wouldn’t try.  Immediately scanners indicated the Navitas was in a belt not far from the gate.  The Navitas class frigate is a small ship, not very good for combat and usually used for mining, it didn’t matter, it was there and worthy of a look.

Coming out of warp, the Navitas was 6,000 meters off the warp in point, mining away with it’s one mining laser pointing towards an asteroid.  With intentions of teaching this new pilot a lesson in how to deal with pirates, Venom only scrammed and webbed the target while setting into a tight orbit.

“Navitas class vessel, this is the Rifter class frigate “Tart”, you are unable to warp away or move, deposit 100,000 isk to my account now or your ship will be destroyed”, Coms didn’t respond back for quick some time to Venom.

“Hello, paying seems the way to go”, the Vessels Captain said in the private channel.

“It makes sense, you will be not bothered by me until the next downtime, you will be free of my harassment for a while”

Venom notices that this is taking more time that normal, the newness of the Capsuleer could be the issue, “Time is of the essence, deposit the money now or you ship will be destroyed”.

No answer

Venom offers one final thought for the new pilot, “Low sec space is dangerous, it’s full of people like me who want to take your things, learning early that paying a ransom will save you money and time, this is the key, you will not be given the same chance on your pod, it will be destroyed as well”.

No answer

Venom’s guns all engaged and the Navitas was turned to a mangled heap in two volley’s.  The pod was now locked and standing by her word as she always does, the pod was sent to the clone vats.

Space was empty in Ofstold, Venom awaited her GCC in the belt.

Persphone appeared in Alliance coms channels, “Venom, what’s up, stirring up any trouble?”

“Hey Perseph, yes, I am pissing off every Noob I can find to satisfy my need to kill, what’s up?”

“Wanna head up towards Egg with me”, Persphone asks, “You bet, it’s been a long time since you and I have roamed together”.

“Destinations set, let’s go, my GCC will be finished in less than 2 minutes”, Venom reports.

“Roger, I’ll start scouting ahead and you can join me”.

The road was quiet and eventless until the two Capsuleers reached the Ontorn System.

“Perseph, two Rifters in system, let me see what they are up to……huh, they are at the Minmatar Minor Compoud, let’s go”

Arriving at the gate, “Oh no, I’m in a Taranis, my ship class can’t go through the gate”, Perseph was frantic in her discovery.

“Shit, ok, let me go look and see what we got, maybe I can just take care of it”

Coming out of warp, the two Rifters are about 60 kilometers off Venom, she wills her afterburners to engage and head right for them.

“Perseph, I’m going to try to take them on myself, standby”

“Good luck Venom, on standby”, Perseph had a sound of disappointment in her voice, Venom too was bothered to leave a fleet mate out of the fight.

At about 20 kilometers the first Rifter started to lock Venom, she returned the same.  They were trying to get closer to each other, this would be a 2 v 1 fight, no way around it.  The adrenaline pumped through Venom and her focus increased.

“Locked and firing, I’m engaing”

In just that moment both Rifters had Venom locked and were firing but she kept cool and kept focus on one ship at a time.  The first Rifters was going down rather fast under overheated guns, it eventually popped but Venom was badly damaged and into armor when she turned on the second Rifter.

“First one down, going for the second, it’s not good, I’m at a major disadvantage with damage, standby”, Venom reports.

The second Rifter starts to rip into Venom, she returns the favor.  It’s a race at this point, Venom coming from behind.  She sets a tight and close orbit, gives it everything this ship has to offer.  Just then she notices that this fight is going in her favor, she is putting out enough damage to overtake the Rifter and overcome her weakness in damage.

“Holy shit the second Rifter just popped, I’m at 10% hull and I made it”

“Wooot, nice job Venom, wow, way to go”, Perseph offers her support but Venom wished she shared in the kill with her.

“Ok, looting and awaiting GCC, go ahead and look around, no need to wait for me, I’ll catchup to you”

“Roger, I’ll scout for more”, Perseph left scan and headed out of system.

After GCC is up, Venom notices a Blackbird Class cruiser on scan.

“Perseph, we have a Blackbird on scan, wanna try”, Venom asks.

“You bet, they are paper thin if we can get in and get a target”.

“Perseph, he is salvaging in a belt, I’ll await your entrance to the system and we can go in together”

“Roger”

Venom keeps an eye on the ship as she awaits her fleet mate to arrive.

“I’m here Venom, in warp to the belt”, Persph reports.

“Roger, I’m in warp as well”

The Rifter and Taranis com out of warp with the target close, points are placed on the ship and both start to melt the shields, stopping into armor to see if a ransom could be had.

Perseph opens a com channel to the target, “Blackbird class ship, please stop firing, you are beyond getting out of this, 15 mil and you are free to go”.

“No way, kill me, I don’t care”

“Let him have it Venom, he’s not going to do it”

The Taranis and Rifter dispatch the ship to the stars. “Venom, drop point and get ready for the pod”

“Pod is pointed”, Venom states.

“Blackbird Pilot, same deal for the pod, 15 mil or you are back to the clone vats”, Perseph as determined to get this ransom.

“I don’t care, kill me”

“You know the drill Venom, let’s kill him.

Somewhere in New Eden he awoke, startled.

“Check, Check, Perseph and Venom this is Ard, we have a major fleet near Evati, any chance you two could come back and join the fleet?”, Ard is a Bastards Director, if he needs help, he gets it.

“We have 10 minutes left on a GCC, then we will scream our way back”

In route, the bigger fleet couldn’t wait, several battships and other ships were doing a plex, some of their ships were moving, the Bastards had to make a move.

By the time everyone arrived, the only ship left was and Occator, he’s life ended.

After some time waiting around, someone spots a Hurricane in Akkio and the team heads in to get points.

Venom and Perseph arrive in time to see the first tackler pop under the bigger ships guns.  Both get their points on the ship and try to hold the Hurricane class vessel until the calvary arrives.  Venom holds as long as she can but is quickly voided of capacitor by the ship. Eventually she pops.  The rest of the fleet eventually take the Hurricane down.

After a long day of fighting, Venom wills her Rifter class vessel home to Evait and docks up.  She’s tired, slips from the pod and showers the pod fluid from her body.  Just another day in space.

08.17.09
Constellation Aldodan
Metropolis Region
Evati System

The message icon blinked on Venom’s datapad, she slowly rose from bed and headed straight for a real cup of Gallente Espresso.  Venom’s quarters at the Kaalikiota station were stoic to most but actually rich in art and half finished projects.  Most of the art lining her walls or surfaces were Minmatar spiritual in origin, she still used them from time to time for special Minmatar holidays.  Living a young life on a moon in a mining slave camp taught Venom how to fix and tinker with just about everything, the fight between her and the engineering crew was ongoing and just part of the job if on Venom’s crew.

The rich espresso coursed through Venom’s veins, she felt more awake now.  She grabbed her datapad and checked messages.

Insurance ending

Corp Ops

Private Message From: Lau Wensink

Afternoon Vemon, I was wondering if you were interested in a duel

Venom’s eyes got big, she never has liked pre-arranged 1v1’s, her experience was that most were not able to keep to the terms and always brought friends.  It’s the price one pays for being well known, not to mention her corpse can get a few isks on the open market.  Her instincts told her this one would be different, some research showed that he had dueled some other more well known pirates in New Eden, and kept to the terms, why not.

With a few buttons, a new message windows opened up on the datapad.

To: Lau Wensink

Sure, 5 hours from now, in Evati

___

By the time Venom returned to base 5 hours later, Lau was already in station and ready for that fight.  Venom noticed from coms that this pilot had already had a few fights today with one of her brothers, Mon, of the Bastards.

Kestrel, one ECM Mod fit, no problem, he will get a few jams but I should rip him apart.

Venom’s coms channel blinked, a channel was opening between her and Lau.

“Hi Venom”, Lau offered in the open window, “ready for that fight”?

“Of course, but some ground rules first; no podding, to the death, at a safe, frigates”, were the terms Venom offered.

“Perfect, I’ll come to you when you are ready”, the pilot Lau was very eager.

If Venom were to say she hadn’t thought about the fight all day, she would be lying, she researched any losses this pilot might have had as well as checked any fights he might have had with Mon.  It would seem that he and Mon had been playing all day but from all losses, it still looked like a Kestrel with one ECM and something she could take in her Rifter.

“Xandie, get the crew ready, you stay in station and monitor coms”, Venom’s orders hit the crew coms channels.

“Will do Venom, crew is standing by”

Venom undocked her prized Rifter class vessel and willed it to a safe spot in Evati, upon landing she signaled to Lau it was time to come in.

Venom kept moving around the warp in spot, ready on all fronts to point and melt this pilot.  He arrived, started locking and Venom did the same while closing into a tight and close orbit.

Fuck, he got a jam off right away, no worries, it should end soon……WTF, another Jam, shields going down…..5 more seconds and I can lock….oh no another jam, he’s into my armor, this won’t last much longer, surely I can get a lock after this unless he has more than one ECM mod…..5 seconds….4….3….2…1, Fuck, another Jam and now he’s getting close to my structure.

Venom thinks fast and realized that to have 3 ECM mods he couldn’t have any extra speed, she willed the ship away and hit all thrusters.

Venom sits at 60k from the target and wonders what to do, she seems to be perma-jammed and can’t get a lock at all, she’s badly damaged and another few volley’s and she will be dead.

Venom accepts her fate and honors her fights, even if to the death, she wills her ship towards the Kestrel and wills the ship to go at max speed, in hopes to catch him off balance and get at least one shot on him.

Within locking range, she makes the attempt, only to see she is jammed again.  She keeps trying to the end but the ECM is just not something she can overcome, her ship flashes in a brilliant blue explosion.

“You going to tell me what you have on that ship that kept me jammed the whole time”, Venom asks in the open coms channel.

The pilot smiles and says, “3 ECM mods, it was the only way to beat you”.

Venom could feel her face flush with some anger, that was indeed the only weakness to exploit, by getting rid of all other mods and fitting the ship with all jamming equipment.

“Fair enough, you found the hole, well done”, Venom wasn’t happy.

“I feel like a coward for doing this”, the pilot offered.  ”You are kidding right, all is fair in love and war, you found the weakness and exploited it, yea it wasn’t an equal fight but a good one”, Venom replied.

Venom willed her pod back to base, she was right, the fight was good and he exploited the means needed to kill her but she still felt a bit cheated.  She wondered how much of the fights with Mon had to do with her loss, maybe Lau learned too much from her brother, if that was so, he did his job well and came to win.

“Lau, I hope you are up for a rematch”, Venom asked.  ”Of course, that would be great Venom”, was his reply.

When Venom returned to base, showered the pod good offer sleek body, something caught her eye on the datapad news feed:

“Caldari Pilot Offers Challenges Across New Eden”

___

Lau’s Post on the Event

The concept of  Celebrity Death-match is great, well done Lau, I hope the project has been fun.  I enjoyed but still a bit red faced I lost.  I think Roc got off easy being one of your earlier fights, seems you brought all your toys to the table for me, with that I’m honored.  Yea, it wasn’t entirely fair but it also was very fair, ECM is a great problem to solve in the game and I don’t find it lame.  On the other hand, 3 ECM mods on a Kestrel, well, it’s lame.

08.15.09
Constellation Aldodan
Metropolis Region
Todifrauan System

“Venom, hostile in Todi, Sarvic is with Mean”, Jaxxon was calm and determined when his news hit the coms channels.

Jax broadcast to all alliance and corp channels: “We have hostile targets in Todi, one Myrm and one Maller on scan, get fleet and get in system”.

Venom was already on patrol when the alert came, she was in her Rifter “Tart”, and ready for a fight.  As she entered system, it was confirmed, the hostile targets were still on scan.

“Is that Sarvic I see, hell he joined Mean”, Venom asked in coms

Fuck, Sarvic is blue to me but now he’s in Mean

Venom opens a direct channel to Mynxee the Hellcats CEO, “Mynx, Sarvic is now with mean, do I have clearance to engage?”

No answer came.

“Alright guys, I’m in, no clarification on the blue status but now that he’s in Mean, he’s red to me, let’s go”

Perseph, Jax, and Nova of The Bastards all sat in system with Venom, looking for the targets.  Nothing was coming up but we all could see them.

“Hey, I got a punisher, piloted by Kadonite in a belt, no way, I have killed that guy too many times already, I think he doesn’t know how to use the d-scanner, I’m going in, maybe Mean will follow and attack me”, with that Venom willed her Rifter towards the belt.

“He’s here and I’m engaging, stand by incase Mean drops in on me”, Venom informs the fleet.

Jax in his Lachesis hovered close just in case.

“Point and shields down, he’s going down”

After the brilliant flash in space left a mangled heap of metal, Venom hung in at the belt for a few minutes before the belt rats had too much fire on her.

“I gotta get to a safe, the belt rats are on me, shit I forgot the loot his wreck, I’ll go back”

“Shit guys, he’s come back in another Punisher to get his stuff”, Venom laughed in coms.

It’s all Tech I crap, if he can get it, he can have it.

“I’m back in the belt, Punisher is locked down again and going down fast”, Venom checked her d-scanner, “Guys, I think the Maller is making his move, stand ready”

Just as the Punisher popped in a brilliant flash, the Maller came in and aggressed Venom.

“Maller is pointed and his shields are going down, get in here, the rest of their ships look to be in warp to me”

Venom’s Rifter was already battered by the belt rats, Kadonite and now this Maller, the ship and it’s crew blew up in a bright flash.

“He got my ship, my pod got out, I’m getting something bigger, back soon”

In the meantime, Persph in her Blackbird, Jax in his Lachesis, and Nova in a Rupture continued to pound anyone entering the belt.

Sarvic’s Vexor went down.

The Maller I originally pointed, went down.

An Omen dropped in, and went down.

Another Vexor with Mean comes in, and goes down.

(Meode arrives in a Stilleto to give some support (KM Whore!))

Venom burns her pod back to Evati for a Hurricane, Sarvic arrives in a Myrm, all points are on him.

“It’s Venom, Jax, I’m here and I got point as well”, Venom gives her report.

“Damn, Sarvic’s tank is nice”, someone adds in coms.

All ships are on the Myrm, as another shows up.

The second Myrm has nothing on Sarvic’s tank, he goes down fast.

“This is Venom, I gotta bolt, I’m in a glass cannon Cane, not a tank, he’s going to pop me”, Venom is tense.

Fuck, all propulsion burning, I gotta get out

“Venom is almost down, repeat, Venom is almost out of the fight”

Almost as if by the hand of God himself, Persph gets a jam on the Myrm, his grasp on Venom is released and she hurtles away from the belt with only a third of her structure left.

“I got out, I got out, Persph, you are my Heroine!”

While Venom is repairing and getting ready to get back into the fight, Sarvic becomes space dust.

Another Maller comes in.

And we send her back to the stars.

“All this and we only lost a Rifter, fucking great job everyone!”

(Note the first time Venom ever showed up as “Killer of the Day” on the Bastards KB, it’s a first and memorable yet thanks has to be given to Nectar for finding a dumb Megathron in a mish earlier, so damaged there wasn’t time to ransom, so we killed it. None-the-less, I punched necks and got in as Killer of the Day, it’s sad though, this Hellcat wishes she could be displayed next to her brothers on the Bastards KB, notice the stats on the right, no Venom. =\)

Sorry Mynx, no extra tats but does it mater?  More to come.

08.07.09
Constellation Aldodan
Metropolis Region
Evati System

“Venom, that Thrasher from yesterday is back, in Evati this time, ratting just like he was before”, Venom jolted from a small daydream about a Pirate Chick pinup pic she recently saw.

“No way, won’t that guy ever learn?”

“Let’s get him Venom, eventually we kill enough of his Thrashers we get a nice payout”

Venom checked the scanner, there he was, in a fight with the Archangels at the first belt of planet VI. She eased the bow of the Rifter class vessel towards that cluster and willed the ship to warp to zero.

“Xandie, we are going in, either he learned from yesterday or it’s going to be a repeat”

“Roger Venom”

The “Garbage Can With Teeth” named “Tart” as Venom so lovingly referred to her Rifter, came out of warp at the belt, the Thrasher was 5,000k from the zero point.  With tackle mods and guns charged, Venom came out of warp and within a few seconds had the Thrasher pointed and it’s shields were melting.

She would have to share this kill with the Archangel, he already had some of the shields dispatched.

It was clear, this Thrasher would again fall to Venom’s guns without a problem.

Coms lit up and the pilot of the Thrasher initiated communication this time.

“Ransom?”

Opening a private channel to the Thrasher, Venom thought she might give him a chance to play the game as it should be, Give the Pirate your stuff.

“5 mil and your ship and pod are let go”

“1 mil, the Thrasher isn’t worth 5 mil”

“Sorry, 5 mil or you will be sent home in goo”

“Stop firing at me”, the Thrasher was frantic in coms.

“I have stopped, you will have to tell the NPC to stop”, Venom returned.

“Again, 5 mil and you go free”

“1 mil, it’s more than you will get off my wreck”, the Thrasher was starting to get smug.

“You have 5 seconds to transfer 5 mil to my account or you will be sent home”

“No”

“No it is, enjoy the explosion”

Venoms guns started to fire again, it wasn’t taking long to melt the rest of the shields, armor, and finally in a brilliant blue flash the ship blew up.

Within seconds the pod was locked and Venom opened the coms channel again.

“Tell ya what, same deal for the pod, 5 mil now or you head to the clone vats”, Venom informed in the ships coms.

“No”

As the pod fluid floated into space next to the frozen corpse, Venom wondered how long it would take for this pilot to learn how it really all works.

“Venom, salvage list shows one mod we can sell for a mil, looks like we got that mil he offered anyway.”, Xandie always did have a smug tone about her when she was rummaging through other peoples stuff.

08.06.09
Constellation Aldodan
Metropolis Region
Evati System

Venom sat at her diamond plate workbench at the main base, Moon 1 Planet VII Evati, pouring over intel maps and route possibilities.

It’s time to mix some things up and wander to areas where we are less known.

“Venom, we have several possible targets in the Ofstold System, looks like it could be a Rupture class vessel as well as a Thrasher, I think they are relatively new Capsuleers, shall we take a look”, Xandie’s voice came blaring over the datapad sitting on the workbench.  Xandie has been one of Venom’s longest standing Crew Chief’s, Venom has often thought on how much her services will be missed on some fateful day when she will lose her life in a fight.

“You got it Xandie, gather the crew, let’s take a Rifter, I’ll see you onboard”

Venom quickly left what she was doing and was racing to the hangar bays, passing Shae in the Corp Lounge, “Where you going Venom?”.

“Crew found some new Capsuleers in Ofstold, I’m heading over to take a look”, Venom said in a hurry, “Warm up the tea pot, I’ll be back in no time.”

The lockers at base were always kept too cold, Venom often wondered if The Bastards did that on purpose, today was no different as Goose Bumps ran up and down Venom’s skin as she shed her clothes.  Standing naked in front of the pod hatch, soon Venom would feel warm and at ease in her pod fluid as if caressed every part of her body, a synthetic womb.

As she entered the Rifter class frigate, “Tart”, the ship systems all came online and she felt her arms and legs almost melt into the tungsten plates around her ship, this is where she felt the most graceful and alive.

“Ready to go Venom, everyone is standing by at combat stations”, Xandie alerted.

The Rifter eased out of the hangar bay and into space as it has done countless times.  Venom willed the ship to point towards the Ofstold gate and entered warp.  Loaded Barrage ammo and set the best orbit distance on automatic, the cargo also had an allotment of Republic Fleet EMP just in case she needed to get in close.

Ofstold gate on visual, the ship jumps through the gate.

From inside Ofstold, Venom notes the Rupture and it appears to be ratting in a belt.  Computer intel says the pilot is very very young, with that this should be a piece of cake.  Still deadly but most likely not experienced enough to know how to get out of a fight and most likely it’s fit with artillery to dispatch the belt rats.

Scan shows the Rupture in belt one of planet III.  Venom wills the ship to the belt, set to land at zero.

During warp the Rupture didn’t move, Venom’s adrenaline started to spike, this is where she feels alive!

Coming out of warp the Rupture is 9,000m meters away, tackle mods and guns were charged in the warp flight and it didn’t take long for the Rifter to resolve a lock and stop the ship from moving.

“We caught the bastard salvaging it’s Archangel kills”, Venom reports to the crew.

After a few second the pilot wills the Rupture to lock Venom, one shot fried the small Rifter’s shields to 1/4.

“Xandie, the ship is arty fit, change out the ammo to EMP, we are going under the guns and fry the fuck out of this ship, not sure if we can squeeze a ransom or not but this ship is ours!”

The Rifter easily slid into a tight short orbit around the Rupture, there was no way for the pilot to do any damage to the small ship at this point.  The 200mm AutoCannons ripped into the shields of this much bigger ship, small holes in the armor started to be visible.  The pilot of the Rupture was was equipped with an armor repair module and started to use it.  Local was empty save one pilot, which must have been the Thrasher pilot seen earlier, so long as a careful eye was kept, this could go on all day.  Yet it didn’t have to, the Rifter’s AC’s did just more damage than the repair mods could take care of, slowly the Rupture dipped into 1/4 armor.

“Rupture class vessel, this is the Pirate vessel ‘Tart’, you have two choices……….”, blink, the Rupture pilot disconnected his capsule and disappeared.

“No shit Xandie, the pilot just disconnected his pod, we have the ship all to ourselves, no ransom but let’s scuttle it”, Venom informed the Crew Chief.

Guns blared and the Rupture died in a flash.

Venom eased the ship towards the wreck so Xandie and the crew could salvage what they could.

“Venom, it’s crap loot, it will refine nice for Rouge but, sorry, it’s just crap”, Xandie reported.

Fuck, but shit, my adrenaline went through the roof, Venom thought with a big smile on her face.

Scans showed a Thrasher still on scan, with the crew finished with salvaging, Venom swung the bow of the ship around and narrowed down the second ship at a belt near the planet VI cluster.  Picking the top belt, the small but sturdy ship was hurdling itself towards what was hoped to be another great kill for Venom.

Out of warp the Thrasher was 15k off the bow, in a fight with some Archangels.

No fucking way is that Angel gunna get that ship

After burners on, targeting resolving a lock, just inside 10k Venom wills the tackling modules and guns to fire.  With luck she still had Republic Fleet EMP in the guns and the auto orbit set to a close range.  Within seconds the ship was locked down and in a fight with Venom as well as the Angel.

“Archangel, stop firing and leave this cluster or you will be destroyed along with this Thrasher”, all coms were silent, the message was either heard or not, it made no difference.

The rifter punched holes in the side of the Thrasher and she dipped into armor. Venom stopped the guns from firing, targeted the Archangel and started to pound the ship to pieces.  Once the Angel popped in a brilliant blue flash, she turned back to the Thrasher, still locked down and nowhere near range to do damage.

“Thrasher class vessel, this is the Pirate ship ‘Tart’, we are prepared to spare your ship and your pod for a small ransom”, Venom stated in coms directed to the Thrasher.

“Eat me”, is all that returned.

“Ok, we will”

Within a few seconds the ship exploded in a bright flash yet the pod warped away.

Again the Rifter was eased close to the wreck to get the salvage.

“Venom, got what we could, some ammo, cheap mods and a few skillbooks, heh, one is ‘Negotiations’, too bad he hadn’t injected it before this flight, he might have been smarter and just paid”.

“No shit, wow, even with those low end guns he could have sent us into space”, Venom commented.

With everything tied up and cargo stowed, Venom willed the ship back to the Evati gate, time to head home.

07.09.09

Constellation Aldodan

Metropolis Region

Evati System

“Chirp, Chirp” alerted the datapad sitting on the brushed metal table where all items were collected, whenever Venom returned to her quarters….”Chirp, Chirp”.  Venom slept sound and often didn’t hear alarms such as ones coming from her datapad, she used her intuition to know when to arise or when to be anywhere.  Her senses didn’t wake her for this alert, instead the caller just left a message.

Venom often had violent dreams, full of symbolism and pattern, a way for her mind to sort out events even when her conscious wasn’t awake.  She used these messages as a way to guide her, confident that as her tribal spiritual leaders had taught, there is message and meaning in everything.

After a few hours, like a starship coming online, Venom’s consciousness came into focus and she arose from sleep.  Her quarters in the Kaalakiota station, orbiting the first moon of Planet III, were rather metallic to most, a comforting home for any starship mechanic most would say.  Brushed metal and diamond plate workbenches line the three rooms that she called her home; datapads, computers, tools and tribal spiritual items lay haphazardly on every surface.  All parts of projects in partial completion, spending more time in the space lanes than she does in her quarters won’t allow her to finish anything.

As always upon arising from any sleep, Venom stumbled to the kitchen area to make a strong pot of Gallentian espresso, favoring the natural stimulants to ones injected into artificial neural connectors in her brain.  Maybe not as pointed and potent, she always preferred her stimulants to have flavor.  She reaches for her datapad sitting on the cold metal table and scans the screen for any pressing messages she must tend to:

Hellcats Email – 5 Messages

Alliance Email – 2 Messages

Personal Inbox – 2 Messages

Crew Inbox – 10 Messages

Shit, ten messages from the crew, what could be so important? With a few screen clicks and finger motions she discarded the barrage of junk advertisements that always followed any lengthy stay in station, to come to the directory of crew messages:

From: Mechanical Crew

Venom, just got a communication from the factory, our new Vagabond-class Cruiser should be ready for delivery in a few more weeks, of course I’ll need a bit more time after it’s arrival to fit all the “other” toys you like.

Excellent, I can’t wait to take our new baby out on a prowl, she thought to herself. Fuck, nine messages from the Crew Chief, what does she want?

From: Crew Chief

Ven, you’ve been sleeping too long, the rest of us either want to get out into space and hunt or get drunk, either way, let us know if we can stand down.  All Rifter-class Frigs have been fit per your liking as of this afternoon, we also had another Hurricane-Class Battlecruiser and a few more Rupture-Class Cruisers delivered.

From: Crew Chief

For fucks sake Venom, are we to stay on alert all night?

And so on, I have got to get her to stop sending me messages, she knows the crew can stand down but has to be ready to go at a moments notice, fuck she pisses me off. This crew has been with Venom for longer time than most, when a ship is destroyed and Venom’s pod escapes, the crew on the ship at the time rarely survives.  It’s one of the hazards of working for a Capsuleer, but a hazard many take on in their lives; the pay is extremely good when working for a pirate.

With a few more finger strokes, Venom contacts Xandra her Crew Cheif:

“Xandie”, the Chief answers, “It’s me Venom, apologies for leaving you all hanging, you know the rule, stand down when you see fit but be ready at any time we have to spring into action, why must we keep doing this”, Venom asked?  “Sorry Ven, you were out for a long time, we were all starting to worry”, the Chief conveyed with voice tone and words.  “Yea, yea, yea, I needed to catch-up on sleep”, Venom added, “Right, well, let’s get the Rifter crew going, I want to leave for a hunt inside of 10 minutes”, she commanded.  “You got it, crew mustering as we speak, out”, and the coms went silent.

Venom enjoyed the last few ounces of espresso as it slide down her throat.  She slept in her clothes from the night before, no need to change, soon she would be warmly naked in her pod, warmed by the fluid the cradled her in flight and also allowed her to become an extension of her ship.

She made her way down the long halls of the station, not many of her mates were around; they were either asleep, drunk, or out in space.  It always felt good to slide into her capsule, being connected to her ships were the only way to truly feel alive for one who spent all their time in space.  As she entered the hangar she didn’t waste any time to shed her clothes and place them in a locker, fluidly moving towards the pod door she pressed a button and a hatch opened.  Crawling in head first, the small portal hatch closed behind her and pod fluid began to fill all the spaces around her.  The last moment of air always gave her human brain and lungs a scare, something she could never get over but it didn’t last long as the euphoric effects of the fluid took hold at the same moment her lungs let go of the last bit of air.

The Rifter class frigate came alive with the addition of it’s human brain.  Venom’s mind becomes one with the ship and only requires she think as opposed to mechanically piloting the ship.

“Venom, all the crew is aboard, systems are online, and everything is a go”, reported the Crew Chief.

The Rifter has always been a favorite of Venom, beautiful in it’s garbage can looking construction and capable of destroying any other Frigate in space, not to mention ships much bigger.

Slowly the docking couples were detached and Venom eased the ship out the launch tube and into space.  Willing the navigation systems to warp the ship to a handy scanning spot in the middle of Evati, from this spot she can monitor just about the whole system.

Coming out of warp, Venom sees another Rifter class frigate on scan, this one appears to be in a belt and she’s not alone.  Also on scan, an Angel Impaler, most likely another Pirate from the Archangels.  The space in and around Evati is not only a home to the Hellcats but the Archangels have spread their wings across a big piece of New Eden.

If I don’t act fast and take a look, I might miss an opportunity.

“Xandie, we are going in, everyone to combat stations”, Venom calmly announced over ship coms.

Willing the ship towards the cluster of asteroids, Venom charges all combat mods, hopefully giving valuable seconds in locking the target down should she chose to engage.

Venom’s frigate comes out of warp……100km…….50km……10km.

Fuck, the Angel is here and he has the other frigate locked, fuck that, no way you’re going to get that kill.

As the ship settled into a close 500m orbit, targeting systems resolved a lock and all combat mods started to fire; locking the ships engines with a warp disruptor, a webber to stop the ships velocity, and a few 150mm Autocannons to start ripping into the armor already being burned.

The Angels were notorious for locking and firing on several targets at a time but this was a race, the first one to break this ship would have a chance at the other.

Venom willed her weapons to overheat and produce more damage per second.

It didn’t take long for the Rifter to melt under the combined guns of two ships.  Soon as the initial flash of a dead ship hit the scanners, Venom turned her targeting computers on the Impaler and started working on dispatching him with what she had left on guns already overheated.

With a flash the Impaler exploded as well, leaving a mangled mess of metal and corpse.

“Xandie, fights over, get the crew ready to salvage from the wrecks, soon as you are done, we gotta go back to base for repairs”, Venom commands, “Got it Ven, we are on it, just get us close enough”.

The agile frigate moves closer to the Rifter wreck, getting just close enough to pull salvageable gear from space, “Xandie, when we are done, send me a complete list of what we got off these two wrecks”.

Both ships are picked clean by the crew and Venom wills the ship back towards station, just a quick stop to offload loot and make some quick repairs.

Loot Report

Xandie, Crew Chief

Small Nosferatu I

200mm AutoCannon II

Warp Scrambler I

Stasis Webifier I

100mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plate I

Barrage S 420 Units

“Well, that’s a bunch of crap, no wonder he fell so fast, I wonder if he even used his repair mod, Xandie, keep the Barrage for stock, the rest just reprocess and give it to Rouge for new ship building”

Last night I was on scheduled patrol duty out of Kourmonen, with small numbers for the operation, I had to ensure I was there.  Mynxee was already on route and heading to our outer patrol point.  As I entered the hangar in Kourmonen, the usual salute and shuffle started, I entered my pod, received my ship report from the crew master, and started to fire up systems for launch.  Being in a hurry to catch up to Mynxee, I admit, I cut some checks short; things like ship configuration.  The Rifter just feels good to sit in, it’s like home.

With all systems a green light, launch sequence was initiated and I was out in space.

Nav systems are a go, I head to the first gate of my mad dash to catch Mynxee, Kamela.  I come out of warp on the gate, just in time to see a 30 ship Faction Warfare gang sitting on the same gate.  Quickly I jump and warp away from the other side.  Somewhere in mid warp from that mess, things start to go wrong.

“blip”

My comms are down, I’ve lost audio contact with my team.  Text chat is still online but I have no voice comms.  Quickly to a safe spot, my crew is already on the issue and looking for the solution.  It’s an error in the main processing core of the ship, the only solution is a hard reboot in space.  Sigh…

“click”

Everything is black.  For 20 minutes we are completely offline, barely working on emergency backup systems with their own processors.

“Beep….Beep….”

Systems are back online, all safety checks completed, we are ready to roll.

Nav computers are back online and we are in warp to the next gate.  We jump…

Systems are flashing, red target Tristan on the other side of the gate.  I was already in warp away when I saw him, I stopped all orders and headed for the target.  He had a few seconds on me as I was stopping warp and changing direction.  We target each other, all guns glazing.

Then it dawns on me, he’s armor isn’t going down, he’s repairing.  I too am slowly being chewed away at and I reach for my repair mod, only to see, it’s not there.  >.<

I’m pounding away, getting in close, he’s doing the same, his tank is better.  He’s repairing, I’m not. Poof, he has us, we warp away in our pods.

I brought comms up, gave him a “gf” in local, shaking my head though and in disbelief that a Tristan got me.  In local I say, “Armor tank?”, he says “Yup, plate and repair”. Sigh…..I look down at what my ship was fit for: speed.

Either my crew didn’t get the memo about putting repair mods on the ship, not to mention dump that stupid small nos and get my rockets back online, or, I had them prep the wrong ship.  Either way, they are to be punished, the flogging will start immediately!

Comm channels are lit up as the Hellcats gang has met some trouble a few jumps ahead, it’s confusing but it appears that a few ships are lost and they are coming back this way.  I point my pod towards home and fix my poorly fit Rifter issue.

I’ve been spending much time at the Hellcats second base, working on my solo and extra small gang skills.  It’s a nice location, close to Siseide and Amamake when one wants much action.  Most we have to contend with is staying out of the local Faction Warfare tribe and their frequent gate camps.  They leave us Pirates alone for the most part, we do the same to them.  Who wants to waste a good GCC?

Lately I’ve been running a path from Kourmonen to Saidusairos, about 8 jumps out and 8 back.  What I’ve discovered is that for a bunch of low sec systems that just about all also enter hi sec, it’s a quiet area.  Often I roam and see just a few ships, mostly ratters and a few mish runners.  I need to remember to bring a prober for those tough to reach areas.  Space in this area is littered with POS’s and ships behind big guns and towers.  

Tonight I got to Kourmonen with the intention of running a quick solo roam up the Said pipe when I noticed a friend in system, Ksyuwythe Dak.  Dak and I go back a ways though several hi sec corps were were in or in alliance with, he’s a good pilot and a good friend.  I was excited to see him in system and immediately hit him up to roam with me.

As usual, not much is seen on the way out, we trapped a few ships and tried to lure a few out of hiding but nothing was getting fights started.  On the way back to Kour we entered Sahtogas and found a Harbinger on scan.  Dak says he’s got him at a belt or a planet and he might be ratting.  Dak hits warp and heads in to tackle and I am shortly behind.  Dak gets the point and launches the drones in his Ishkur, the Arbi sends his drones on Dak but his lasers can’t hit him.  I land on top of them, lock, point and star shooting and for the heck of it, I activated a small Nos.

Round and round we orbited and fired, noticing the target had a nice armor tank, it took us a while to break him.  The whole time we are scanning and we are sure one of his buddies will come to help as we get him to structure.  Nothing….

The ship pops after what feels like forever and his pod races away.  We opted for a kill since things have been dry and slow, besides, he was a noob.  We should have ransomed his ass, if we had just brought a ship scanner.  Grabbing his loot, I’m sure to give a “gf, nice tank” in local.  He replies with, “what, I fought?”  It’s the tank that counts mate.  After looking at the KM, I notice I didn’t change ammo, I had Barrage S on him the whole time and wasted some damage I could have done with Fleet EMP ammo.  Oh well, we still killed him and did some nice damage.  Fully rigged and even using a Sansha Armor mod, all in all a nice kill for a couple of small ships.

We got a kill, that’s all that mattered, feed the thirst.

Sometimes New Eden just likes to hang you by your toes and spank your ass, I think it’s a rather new feature, maybe from the last patch?  This weekend has been a rough one, on most of us in our little corner of New Eden.

It seems that we are surrounded by large groups who want to chase us or just be on every gate with 15+ ships waiting for us.  Let’s look at some of the losses (granted my losses are not huge but couple them with others in our group having big losses, well):

Stabber (Took them forever to bring in the big ships, like megathrons)

Rupture (What? In the 10 seconds the scouts went through, 15 of them showed up on the gate our cruisers were going through?)

My Pod (Yea, my pod, I think due to lag but whatever, they got my pod, fresh with new implants, sweet!!)

We lost various other craft on that same gate as we jumped into that hornets nest. Like: Omen 2x, Jag, Thorax, Taranis, Enyo, Rapier, Vagabond, Vexor, Rupture, and I think a few others, just in the span of a few engagements. =\  All big gangs, all on surrounding gates. This was all Friday night.

Then yesterday, not much going on, I’m out solo hunting when I find a rifter hanging in a belt in Evati, we can’t have that, I go in to see.  I point and fire on the neutral rifter, noticing not much in return fire at first, then his armor reps and he starts firing on me.  To little too late, gone, he’s dead. Either he was a noob as the toon says or an alt, either way, I sent his pod back to where he might have come from.

Then I got this evemail, and a little smack:

Did I miss that part of my pirate training where I need to ask permission to kill someone?

XXXXX: 2009.05.17 02:56
You’re lucky I was taking a piss when you attacked me…I guess your low class parents didn’t teach you what honour is. I’ll see you around you silly faggot.

(and with that “honour” we know he’s not from the states)

I had to reply:

Venom: I’m sorry, you were taking a piss? I did notice a small appendage protruding from your ship, I figured it was too small to be a penis. Then again, I figured nobody was dumb enough to go AFK in a belt.

How’d you know I was gay?

XXXX: faggot

(I then grew bored)

I figured that little bit of hell for him was enough to make recent losses just that much not so bad. But for me it got worse, I must not have had my head in the game.  I’m awaiting a GCC and there is nothing on scan, I’m hungry, so I figure I’ll just go dock and come back later.  In a rifter, docking with a GCC, what was I thinking.  Rookie!!!  It’s been so long since I did a bonehead move like that.  Poof, I’m now looking for a new ship.  I hope in my given noob ship and head back to base….wow, still got a GCC, poof, back in you go Venom, and don’t come out until we say so.

Really?  I blew up two ships due to GCC and station fire.  I logged…….

With the amount of targets in the last week it’s been hard to update daily the events of the various roams, many kills and many losses on my part; saying it’s been a busy week is an understatement.

Before I start a run-down of roams and events, some posts by my brethren Pirates need to be mentioned:

Venom