Arriving at the right time

23rd June 2013 – 3.02 pm

It's kinda late by now, but I think I can afford to poke my prow through our static wormhole, just in case a soft target happens to present itself. And although a Navy Megathron and Navy Dominix are hardly soft, that they actually appear to be doing something catches my interest. There is a tower visible on my directional scanner too, and a pod, but the active drones and Sleeper wrecks strongly indicate that the pair of Navy Issue battleships are active. The lack of anomalies makes them difficult to find, though, as I'll be looking for a radar or magnetometric site which will need to be resolved with probes.

Before I look for the battleships I locate the tower. The pod isn't there, oddly, but I can tag the corporation so that finding the battleships will let me know if they are local or not. That may be important. The information would be more important if I thought I could engage the battleships by myself without dying horribly in flames, but if the pair are offering me an opportunity to practice hunting with d-scan I may as well take it. The worst that happens is I scare them off with my probes, I suppose. That is, if I can launch the probes covertly in the first place.

The class 3 w-space is pretty small, and the site the battleships are in seems fairly central. Luckily, one planet sits just out of range of the site, letting me launch my probes without being spotted and also giving me a better idea of the site's position in the system. Probes launched and hidden, I warp back towards the ships and start looking for them with d-scan. I get a good idea of where there are too, and I arrange my probes around their position. And I don't think I'll actually scare the battleships away just yet.

I realise that I've been watching the combat using d-scan, and more and more Sleeper wrecks have been appearing all the time. The ships aren't salvaging as they fly, which means a salvager will be brought in at some point. I think I can wait for that and cause some actual mayhem and destruction, instead of simply spooking some ships. And on the assumption that the ships aren't local, and that I'll have a little time as the battleships leave the system to swap to a salvager, I use a minimal-range cluster for my probes. I'll need their maximum strength to resolve weak signature of the site quickly.

My plans change again. Aii comes on-line at just the right time. I give him a sitrep and ask him to prepare our ship-killer Legion, the strategic cruiser having proved itself before against a Navy Megathron. I think it's worth taking a poke at the ships, as they are unlikely to be fit with warp disruptors when engaging Sleepers, so if it all goes horribly wrong we should be able to escape. Well, maybe not if it goes horribly wrong, which would have the battleships fit with warp disruptors and having active friends nearby. But we should be fine if our ambush goes just a little bit wrong.

With Aii getting the Legion to our static wormhole I adjust my probes a little bit. I adjust their range back up a notch, weakening the return strength but giving a bigger margin for error. Now that I'm scanning for the battleships, and their much fatter signatures, I can afford that margin of error. I warp towards our K162 as Aii is ready on the other side, and I check my probe positions from a second location. The triangulation looks good. Let's do this. Aii, jump and hold.

Scanning the radar site in class 3 w-space

I see Aii's transition in to the system and, as his session change cloak holds, call my probes in to scan. It's a good result, perfect on everything but the site itself. The pod is easier to scan than a class 3 w-space radar site, apparently. I recall my probes, send our two ships in to warp, and bookmark what I can of the scan results for reference. The Navy Megathron is primary, the Navy Megathron is primary. I know we have a chance against that, whilst the Navy Dominix remains a rather more unknown and dominating presence.

Dropping on a Navy Issue battleships in w-space

Curiously, we drop out of warp a fair distance from the site, but still on top of the battleships. It looks like they are taking a breather, licking their wounds, as the pod sits ninety kilometres away and closer to the Sleepers, unthreatened. The Navy Megathron is our first target, which I think I mentioned, so all of our offensive systems are aimed its way, and it is well and truly targeted. The pilots aren't absently oblivious either, as the Navy Dominix starts a slow turn away from us, entering warp about as quickly as it can. I'm initially glad that we won't be feeling its damage, just as our distance from the Sleepers prevents their ruining our ambush too, but maybe we should have stopped it running.

Dunno what the pod's doing over there

I cautiously watch d-scan for any ship change the Navy Dominix pilot makes as we focus on his floundering friend, but he's not coming back to help. It's just us and the Navy Megathron, and it melts. Really, it melts. There was some residual damage from the Sleepers, but the faction battleship should put up much more resistance than it does. The ambush is short and sweet, as the Navy Megathron explodes barely even having time to lock us back, let alone retaliate. I make a snatch for the pod and get a positive lock, my warp scrambler and guns activating immediately to rip out the corpse inside. Job's a good 'un.

Destruction of the Navy Issue Megathron

Wreck and corpse of Navy Issue Megathron

We scoop, loot, and shoot, the pod near the Sleepers only now reacting to get clear. I was wondering if I'd be able to get close to it, but didn't really expect to. I warp the pair of us back to our K162 and we jump home, as I marvel at the pitiful loot I recovered from the wreck of the Navy Megathron. Basic Tech I and low-meta modules. The kill report for the ship shows that it was fitted very cheaply indeed. What a waste of a faction battleship. If I had known how the ship was fit I'd have stopped the Navy Dominix from leaving the site too. Then again, if a ship's first reaction is to run away, maybe it would nearly always be a good idea to stop it. I'll know for the next time, not that these opportunities come up often. Still, a Navy Megathron kill ends the evening very nicely indeed.

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