We have had some personnel attrition within the OEC, but have joined in our alliance with MK to have new brothers in arms. We have formed a new Mercenary Alliance named “Legionnaire Services Ltd.” with tags of
First and foremost we must find our synergy between corporations. While largely independent in operations up until now, the two corps must find ways to actively work together…both in combat patrols and in industrial operations. I will work with Lord Dynastron in getting some common short term goals up and going. My hope is that things will come naturally and not forced.
Being back in the pod feels good after a hiatus, and I am ready to get into the thick of things once more. LSD already concluded one war declaration that was issued to us by Privateers Alliance. They rescinded it a few days later as CONCORD is issuing new war charter rules to all pod pilot alliances that will make it too expensive for PA to operate. We still enjoyed the ‘tune up’ against them, and I think we are almost ready for a moderate Empire contract soon.
And then there was the pirate CNR fight.
On a routine patrol through the south of Genesis, OEC pilot Blitza Ling and I were looking to bust pirate gate camps. I had my an Abaddon bait ship, while Blitza ran his Megathron. In Antem we spotted a active local pirate and when my crew completed the system scan a blinking red “Caldari Navy Raven” was up on the HUD. Now I have never personally tangled with a CNR before…such ships are generally the luxury of very rich pilots and brigands (and this communiqué is named “fighting broke” for a reason). We decided to conduct our anti-pirate operation regardless and I warped to the first belt to set the trap.
While there were other pilots in the system, they all looked to be part of a industrial corporation with high concord standings. I was still suspicious however on why they would be in the same system as the CNR pirate. I was even more alarmed when two of the industrial ships warped in at 100km from my ship in an obvious scouting trip. It was not long before the CNR warped in 3km off starboard and the scrap ensued.
I quickly locked down the CNR with a warp disruptor, webifier and heavy nuetralizers…so he responded in kind with a broadside of advanced torpedoes…quickly stripping me of my shields. I ordered Blitza into the system and ordered the execution of our plan. Blitza’s Megathron dropped out of warp 4km from the CNR just as the last bit of my shields were vaporized. My tank was activated and I am sure the CNR pilot realized the gravity of the situation at this point. Sure enough, the ‘industrial’ corporation that had been watching suddenly jumped into the fight with a few battlecruisers and one frigate. However, there seemed to be no coordination (or lack of experience) between them as they targeted my Abaddon and not the Megathron. The CNR quickly switched targets to Blitza, but launched drones against me to keep me busy. Two quick pulses of my large smartbombs cleared that nuisance and I launched my own maintenance drones to help Blitza’s quickly dropping defenses.
Blitza had no real active defenses in the Megathron’s setup…typically slang for “pure gank” configuration. He was absolutely ripping the CNR, but the defenses on the pirate ship were so impressive it was scary. We quickly figured it was a 50/50 dice roll on who was going to win this little engagement. The Megathron was down to 25% armor when the CNR’s tank finally broke (unscrambling me in the process) and we got him to armor. While the CNR’s armor was dropping at a good rate, if he had a Damage Control system installed we would still lose the fight I figured.
A second pirate CNR then warped into our battle, so that made our decision farily easy and we prepared to withdraw (these guys had seriously deep pockets it seemed). Facing 2 Caldari Navy Ravens along with 3 support ships was not going to go down well for us…luckily either they forgot to turn on their disruptors or I had capacitor drained the only one with such electronic warfare equipped. We both warped out…with Blitza nearing structure damage and the first CNR at 50% armor.
I think it was a lesson learned on both sides of that engagement. The CNR is a much tougher ship than expected, but don’t get to cocky in it.
We made up for it breaking a pirate gate camp in Gondista, killing a Hurricane while its pilot was pleading to pay us a bounty. “Son, this isn’t one of those types of operations.” I stated right before he lost his ship and crew. Sometimes you have to pay for crime, however rare that really is in the Eve Cluster.
