Not So Blinky Blinky

Welcome to Providence!

2009-04-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

Ah... so relaxing. Just a day ratting in Providence. Just arrived yesterday, giving up the old life of piracy. Jump through into next system, find a BS rat on the gate. Smiling knowingly, I begin to approach it at an angle that will minimize damage to my rupture's armor when there is a gate activation behind me.
A Sev3rance Jaguar decloaks. OK, not hostile...
...
Is he targetting me? Shit!
Scrammed, webbed, fuck fuck, not prepared for this. Recall drones, start a convo with the pilot. Only yesterday I had asked a sev3rance pilot whether or not I was red, and had been informed that I, in fact, was not red. Sev3rance is part of the Providence Holders, a NRDS coaliton. So, I shouldn't be getting shot at... right?
I tell him that I don't think that I should be getting shot at, so, he ceases fire for a moment. I'm already back at the jump gate and able to jump out at any time, but I figure that jumping out while he's confirming whether or not I am KOS is something only the guilty would do, so I stay. After a short pause, he resumes fire, stating that since I'm in a one man corp, and my previous corp, the Tuskers, is red, I am therefore red. Well shit. Activate jump gate and warp to the (-7- owned) outpost in system and find that I am still able to dock, so I do so. I go about asking how I can get set blue, and it appears my options are to join a blue alliance or corporation or remain red...
...
I wait and listen to an NPC corp pilot complain about similar treatment, until a portion of the -7- and friends pilots camping my station dock in it, then leave my rupture. Poor guy. In my pod, I make for freedom. Only two jumps to high sec and safety. A couple of ships outside the outpost, a SeBo'd bellicose and a stealth bomber of some design. I warp straight to the gate that will leave me one jump from my escape... No bubble! But mr stealth bomber has followed me. Jump into the next system, visual interface loads.... no bubble! YES! Warp for the high sec gate, and freedom... flip on directional scanner, aim it at the gate. Eris-type interdictor on scan... FUCK. I am so screwed, gonna lose my pod, nooooooo-. I land, already signing my last will and testa-... no bubble? But the eris is right-... suddenly, a freighter lands. It clicks, there's no bubble because the eris pilot didn't want to force the freighter pilot to land off the gate as well. Hah! Jump out to high sec where the police give me their standard greeting, and start warping around, thinking about my options. I just made this new corp, and I don't wanna muck up my employment history.
So: Fuck being blue, I'm not one of their slaves.

Prince of Pod-Air

2009-03-27T19:12:00.000-07:00

Now this is a story all about how
My Rifter got flip turned inside out
And I'd like to take a minute
Just sit right there
I'll tell you how I took a ride in Pod-Air

In the belts, born and raised
I killed a caracal without so much as a graze
On GCC, relaxin' all cool
And all restin' in a SS, bein a fool
When an anathema, who was up to no good
Pointed and jammed me like some punk from the hood
In came one little drake, and my ship got scared
And said fuck you, you're taking the goddamn Pod-Air

((Also, props to the guy who probed me out, he's far better at it then I am.))

Divine Grace II: Origin

2009-03-27T17:32:00.000-07:00

OOC:

((Two things.
First, I had this typed up about two and a half weeks ago, but never posted it for some reason.
Second, I ask you now to forgive any weeabooness that may occur. It's just in my nature, having been born in Japan))

-Log Begin-

False alarm. I will begin now.

I was not born on a planet. No, I came around on the small monastery-station of Otaan, home to an order of monks with the same name. Otaan was located in low security space, within a deadspace area. I think that I never learned the 'official' name of my home system; we knew it as Suiretsu. My search of all logs have revealed no system of that name, so I have come to believe that Suiretsu was its name only to the Otaan.

I was born Avan Otaani, or Shadow. To the Otaan, this means that I was born in a manner deemed unfit. My mother was member of an Otaan sect that valued honesty above all else, or at least was supposed to. My father was a member of another sect, one which required all of its members to take a vow of celebacy. See the problem?

Once it came out who my father was, he was unceremoniously kicked out of the monastery on the next supply shuttle to the planet which Otaan orbits. To suitably punish my mother, they took me out of her. Being a test-tube child is not something that is uncommon for the Caldari in general, but the Achura of such origins are far less common. They took great care to tell me all of this, that I may learn from it, all the way up until my thirteenth birthday, or about twelve standard years.

To the Otaan, the moment an individual became thirteen, they become responsible for all of their actions. I won't go into great detail about this, but I was involved in some choice vandalism. I was quickly taken planetside from the hidden station, where I stayed for about a year.

Now, I must break for a real meal, instead of this pod ooze.

-Log End-

My screen

2009-03-03T16:51:00.000-08:00

This one's for Mynxee

Divine Grace I: Foreword

2009-02-28T12:21:00.000-08:00

((OOC: I've decided to change a few things. Previously, when I've done "in-character" posts, it's just been me speaking through Avan, so he seems a little schizophrenic. To this, I say 'No More!' So, I present Divine Grace, the story of Avan Sercedos.))

-Log Begin-

A recent epiphany by myself has created some doubt in my mind as to the immortality of us pod pilots. Even if we do not mentally perish, our old bodies do. In my meditations, I questioned, what does the stress of being repeatedly torn from the body have on the mind? What effect does it have on the spirit? I am not speaking in terms of having an inadequate clone like that buffoon Fatal.

I do not think that I can summon the words to explain my feelings here, so I will simply say this. If my spirit is ever lost to the void, I would want somebody to be able to understand my motives. I am not egotistical, I just know that I personally hate loose ends, and I would not want to put their burden on anyone who follows me...

Ah, a target. Excuse me.

-Log End-

Buffer tank: Failure

2009-02-22T17:14:00.001-08:00

Don't get me wrong from the title, I love me my buffer tanks. But before I had ecm drones, I ran into a problem flying the thorax: interceptors. See, I always used medium drones, because all I wanted was more dps, because who flies the thorax if you DON'T want dps? Of course, the fact that now I can use ecm drones, coupled with the nerf to speed in general, means that this situation is far less likely. Of course, I haven't had this situation come up since the speed nerf, so that's just an assumption... but before, this happened to me multiple times.

Oh well vOv

180

2009-02-20T22:06:00.000-08:00

Alright, time to change my tune. I'm not gonna explain it all here, but basically, I am now a Tusker.

To make it up to anyone who reads this (lol) allow me to present you with this image.

Only someone who has flown the incursus into combat against a competent rifter would understand... ((or maybe I'm doing it wrong))
There will be more to come, hopefully with more updates more often.

Why, hello there! & How To Fit Hyperions, 101

2008-12-28T20:16:00.000-08:00

"
Amidst the black void, a link from past to future. The sheltering wings of the protector...
"
Adapted from AC4

Chin in hand, I judge the fellow across the holoscreen. He's a Minmatar of the Brutor variety. Just for you, I will upload a picture of his visage here for you now.

His codename, Sir Fourhead, seems fitting in some way, though I can't quite place it... hmm...
Anyways, this fine fellow offered me an equally fine proposition. No, not like that, you dirty dogs. I would invest various amounts of ISK into his ventures, and in return, I would receive 100% of his reapings, in addition to my investments being returned.
As he put it, he was just in it for something called the 'lulz'. I looked up a contract to see how much this 'lulz' would cost, but unfortunately there were no available contracts. Very disturbing.
After applying gel to my hair (it wouldn't stay that way without some help), I accept his offer.

Spinning around on my spinny spin spin spin chair, I am met with a cold stare from a very serious looking man.
As he put it, the Caldari Militia was "getting their ass handed to them by those FOOM bastards." I frowned. I hate the Caldari Militia, but they just killed my Ares (RIP) FOOM killed my Thorax, and whether the man realised it or not, he had just complimented them by calling them bastards. What the hell did this guy want?
So I asked him.
"What the hell do you want?"
After a great deal of sputtering, and some redness appearing on his cheeks, he offered to 'overlook' my status as an enemy of the State and let me join up with the Caldari Militia.
I confess, I almost ended comms with him right then. Before I reached the hang up button, he said something that caught me completely off guard.
"You can shoot shit on gates and stations."
In an amazing feat of agility, if I do say so myself, I diverted my hand from the 'hang up' and 'self destruct' buttons (why the hell are they so close together???) and slammed the accept button so hard that there was an airlock breach on the other side of the station. Then, I hit the hang up button.

Flashback to about a week ago, the event that earned me this opportunity to shoot shit on gates. I am floating about in my Thorax in the fine system of Vitrauze. Three pilots in local, one of them me, one of them a one month old pilot, even compared to me, and another one of those strange fellows who have taken a crusade to deliver dolls to poor innocent children in shitty lowsec stations. Resting about 50 kilometers off of the main planet of the system, around which most belts and stations are centered, I see something on scan.

Hyperion.

Battleship, oh shit, gtfo-- wait. There aren't any threatening pilots in local... there isn't any sort of POS gear on scan... it's at a belt... there's a rat wreck?

Wait, what?

Adding one and one, I realize three things that are horribly wrong. First, there is a hyperion solo ratting in low sec. Second, the only viable pilot for said hyperion was one month old. Third, I didn't have enough gel.

I gather myself and scan him down to a belt, my eyes glittering with the hope of one of THOSE kill confirmations. You know, the ones that make you go "Damn, now those were the good old days..." So, I warp in, 20km off of the poor fellow just to see him finish off a Serpentis frigate. A battlecry upon my lips, I burn at him, and get my warp scrambler on him. Turn on blasters... wtf, a neut? Oh crap, this is my frigate killer thorax, oh well, too late now... hobgoblins?! Good god, this could be ugly for me. As I lay into his shields with four blasters, three hobgoblins and two hammerheads, he finally achieves a lock on me, and fire his slow, cumbersome large turrets and looses his medium drones... all of which hit me without fail. WHAT THE HELL? What was I doing wrong? Orbiting at 500m... those big guns shouldn't be able to even come close to me!

Then, in the ultimate 'doh' moment, I realise that I have left my microwarpdrive on, killing my cap and indirectly affecting my health for the worse. What's worse is that he was at half shields, on an armor tanking ship, as I was dipping into structure. Intending on getting my pod out, I spam warp to nowhere in particular. I wind up warping at 10% structure, my drones collected and him at 60% shields. Crap. Epic fail. Normally, that would've been the end of that, but the red haze had overtaken me. I did what I had to do. I //admired// him in local, praising his tank and commenting how I would never mess with him again. I believe that this boost in his ego/confidence was absolutely critical, otherwise he would've been gone. I warp to a station, a dark plan hatching in my head. I completely repaired my ship, and receive a message from someone asking where the hyperion pilot was. I respond with "I don't remember" ((I didn't really)) and undocked with my GCC, warping before the sentries got their chance to lock on me.

I cursed myself as I realized that I had forgotten to change to a proper fitting, but it was too late. I landed at 0 at the planet where I had originally seen him on scan.

Oh.

My.

God.

He was there, in his now red flashing to me glory, at 75% shields. The red haze once again rising in my eyes, I settled into a tight, mwdless orbit as he expressed surprise in the local channels. I was taking much less damage this time, the explosive damage drones he was using were having trouble with my shields, which held up despite my being armor/hull focused. As the last of his shields finally vanished to my four blasters and hobgoblins/hammerheads, I prepared myself for the real battle to come: breaking the hyperion's impressive tank. That battle never came.

You have to understand, I presumed that my missing blaster and crap drones were resulting in making even the paper thin shield buffer that all armor tanking ships have into a bit of a beast. I was wrong. Oh so horrifically wrong.

As soon as the last of his shields faded away, he absolutely MELTED. In a short moment too fast for me to recall, he was in structure, then, with a great blue explosion, he became a pod and a myrmidon almost silently adding itself to my tactical overview. I celebrated then, early, as the myrmidon locked me. Well shit.

I died.

But I killed a freakin' Hyperion in thorax solo! I promptly checked the fellow's fitting on my kill confirmation, and I almost facepalmed my left hand through my forehead. In case battleclinic's layout disgusts you, I'll provide you with his... choice fitting here.

[Hyperion, Failures.]
Thermic Plating I
Large 'Accommodation' Vestment Reconstructer I
Internal Force Field Array I
Auto-Gain Control Tracking Enhancer I
Mark I Generator Refitting: Diagnostic System
Cross-linked Bolt Array I

Quad LiF Fueled I Booster Rockets
Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Large C5-L Emergency Shield Overload I

'Arbalest' Siege Missile Launcher
720mm Prototype I Siege Cannon
720mm Prototype I Siege Cannon
200mm 'Scout' I Accelerator Cannon
200mm 'Scout' I Accelerator Cannon
200mm 'Scout' I Accelerator Cannon
200mm 'Scout' I Accelerator Cannon
Drone Link Augmentor I

Capacitor Control Circuit I
Capacitor Control Circuit I
Semiconductor Memory Cell I

Sigh...

((bak))

Humble Beginnings II: Epic Fail

2008-10-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

" Amidst the black void, a link from past to future. The sheltering wings of the protector... "

Adapted from AC4

I stumble out of the station bar, then make my way back to my hangar. With a stupid grin, I slide into my pod. The goo surrounding me makes me think of an ant caught in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

My camera drone zips between my ships... Taranis. Why the hell do I have an industrial like that in my hangar? Ugh. Caldari Shuttle? A fearsome fighter, but its autocannons could have a tough time destroying sentries... hmm... Heron?

Why do I have one?! I can't use lasers!!!

Then, I see it.

BRUTIX.

Why the hell do I have a Titan in my hangar?

Screw it.

I hop in and undock. Another Brutix is sitting on the undock, and this station is looking pretty big. Could be rough, but the other Brutix docks. Neutral Ishkur warps in at 30 clicks and starts to close distance.

I try to use my DDD, but it turns out to be a dud. Just makes a bunch of blue circles start coming out from my Brutix.

Ishkur hits ten miles. Screw it, I'm in a Titan, I can tank sentries!

Web away! Blasters on! Target shields vaporize, but armor proves to be tough.

Damn reps. Damn AFs. Oh well, I could be here for hours tanking sent--
Wait.

Why is there a stream of gas shooting out of my Brutix? Must be my DDD finally going off.

Why is my Brutix gone? DDD musta backfired.

Pod escapes. Good.

GCC fades, grab a one of those damn industrials. Seems to be moving fast today. 600 m/s. 4km/s with mwd...

Watching local. Ishkur pilot finds Brutix pilot... ratting?

Ishkur pilot engages Brutix despite a local Scorpion pilot's warning that he will assist the Brutix. I start bouncing belts to find the fight. I want revenge.

I arrive at the costume party just as the Ishkur goes pop.
Damn, Scorps OP. Killed a Titan-killer before it could kill a Titan. Must be a Titan-killer-killer. Pretty sweet.

Ishkur pilot's pod warps out. I decide not to stick around either. Titan and Titan-killer-killer versus industrial just isn't fair.

Pick a random planet, turns out to be Planet I. Warp to 0.

Warp fades away.

See Ishkur pilot's pod, he must be typing something in local.

Lock. Scram. Web.

He comments that his day has just turned sour. Should've told him to join the club, but my itchy trigger finger gets the best of me, and I bid him farewell.

With Blasters.

Hiccuping madly, I grab the corpse and return it to station, then follow the local Titan-Brutix around as it obliderates the Serpentis. I fall asleep behind the pod and vanish into space.

I need a new Brutix.

Moral of the Story:

Sometimes dumbasses can get rewarded.

Humble Beginnings

2008-10-12T16:57:00.000-07:00

"Amidst the black void, a link from past to future. The sheltering wings of the protector..."
Adapted from AC4

I sit here, recording this now as I take a break from studying various electronic upgrades, in the hopes of flying a Helios-class frigate... eventually.

My name is Avan. A few months ago, I graduated from the Caldari State War Academy. Since then, I've done quite a bit. I started my career working for the Hyasyoda Corporation, as a sort of consultant. The corporation from which Hyasyoda 'hired' me changed several times.

For a week or so after I graduated, I worked for Hyasyoda. I made a friend, and this friend taught me a tactic allowing for legal combat in high security space that does not require a formal war declaration. He called this 'can-flipping'.

After my first can-flip, I received three kills with no losses. My hands were shaking with the adrenal rush. Then, my corporation decided to formally declare war on another corp. As far as I know, my killing of a Cormorant Destroyer with my brand new Caracal was the only action of the war.

Once the war came to pass, I found myself in a new corporation, where I taught myself the art of the 'suicide gank', an attempt to destroy another ship in high security space without provocation, and do so before CONCORD arrives to break up the party.

I learned quickly that such a tactics requires organisation and precise timing, neither of which were had by my allies or me, at least at the time. I moved to yet another corporation, and with that move came another to null security space for a short stay. I returned to high security space, disillusioned with the sorts of lopsided battles that my corp, as well as its alliance, had to deal with.

I stayed in the corp as I cleaned space with salvagers and continued can-flipping. Eventually, I decided to leave the corp.

Then, I had an idea. For times since my graduation, I had read the chronicles of pirates such as this and this. I figured, why not join them among the stars?

So, I set about liquidating the salvaged I had procured around the Forge area as my training in Gallente interceptors terminated.

As I lumbered about in "Wtfmate?", my microwarpdrive equipped Badger-class industrial, I examined various low security regions to which I could move.

My eyes glittered as they found a word that spoke volumes to me.

Essence.

During my rush to move into my new home, I warped my little probe-Heron to a low security gate. What I wasn't expecting was a burst of lag, then to find myself suddenly in a station again, implantless, and in a new body, victim of a smartbomb camp.

Damn.

Well, it's a cruel world, and I'll give it a little shove further in that direction, and maybe even get some revenge.

Moral of the Story: Don't warp to 0 in fragile ships if local is high.