FNF: Thanatos Down!

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"EVERYONE WANTS A CAPITAL SHIP KILL MAIL. Remember that, EVERYONE wants one. FREAKIN EVERYONE! If your grandmother that doesn’t play Eve heard about their awesomeness, she’d want one too."

Logging in around 01:15, it's quiet. No fleets up, no serious reports in Intel or Alliance chat. I say Hi to Illauron and Jack, both of whom are online. Within minutes, there is spam in alliance chat from Chad VanGaalen requesting DPS for a carrier kill. Everyone wants a carrier kill in their logs, right? I hop in the best BC I have (actually, the only BC I have in 4C at the moment), a Neutron Brutix, and undock, join fleet and get the destination from Chad's current location. 18 jumps out... ugh, OK fleet is forming up but we are short an FC. I warp to the LGUZ gate, and as I land there is a neut frigate there. I spin up the tracking boosters, start targeting, get set to release my drones...oops. I've undocked without any drones. I still target him, and unload a couple rounds (missing as I am fit with T2 Heavy Neutron blasters and am still 8k away from a frigate) as he jumps back out of the gate. I head back to the station to correct my drone mistake as the fleet continues to build.
Undock again, and head back to the gate, and finally an FC calls and we are to hold on LGUZ until the fleet is ready. At this point Chad is getting a little nervous about how long it will take us, the Thanatos is doing a plex and is almost done. Chad tells us to "burn burn burn" best speed to 00GD-D. There are about 10 of us on gate, as we jump into LGUZ (still without a scout) and we start running for Fountain. The fleet continues to grow as we make our way down the Sword pipe in Outer Ring, and after 3 jumps we've got a scout moving +1 then 2 systems ahead. As all pilots are burning best speed, the fleet is staggered across multiple systems, which (in retrospect) may have helped us. Just as we are approaching Fountain Chad informs us that the Thanatos is aligning out, and has finished the plex. The FC calls for him to tackle and the fleet to move as fast as possible. The actual destination is posted, with directions to avoid the IT station system next door, we are headed for CHA2-Q. Chad is holding the carrier in his Tengu, steady at 90% shields, we are burning as fast as our Battlecruisers will take us ignoring everything (including neutrals on gates) in an effort to get to Chad.
"There is a Paladin on the field" Chad reports "I'm being targeted."
Fo Shizz (FC) tells him to hold on as best he can, and our logistics and interdictor to burn ahead and get support as soon as possible. We are still 8 jumps out.
"1/3 shields" Chad's voice is a little nervous - he's in a Tech 3 cruiser and will lose a ton of skill points if he gets popped. "I have to warp out - and the carrier is warping out too."
The fleet continues to move, forming up on the C1XD-X gate in 00GD-D. Scout goes +1 again, as we now sit on gate, 17 Battlecruisers deep in IT/BLAST territory, waiting as Chad smacks in local with the carrier pilot.
"I've got him convinced I'm alone. He's headed to another complex" Chad reports. "I'm scanning him down now. I've got him - warping in."
We jump into C1XD-X, now two jumps out and aligning to B32-14 as Chad comes back up "Crap. He's warping back to his POS." The fleet stops two jumps out, on the B32-14 gate in C1XD-X, as Shizz comes up on comms.
"Everyone log out now. Log out, log back in to the character screen and stare at your pretty picture. DO NOT click any further. Log out NOW."
A tense few minutes follow as we sit blind, on vent, waiting for instruction. Shizz begins instructing us on the procedure to follow. "Ok - when we log in, jump, warp, jump, then join fleet. Do NOT join fleet until you are in system with Chad, then warp to him."
There's a lot of chatter on Vent now.
"Fleet comms guys. I'm going to mute people if you don't shut up!" barks Shizz.
"Ok" Chad speaks up "I've got him pointed again"
"Everyone log in and jump jump jump!" commands Shizz.
"The Paladin is back on the field" reports Chad.
We are auto-warping back to the gate. A fleet invite pops up on my screen. I click at it to make it go away.
"I'm at 50% shields" reports Chad.
As I land on the B32 gate, I start spamming the jump button. You cannot complete this action due to fleet smacktalk Crap. I clicked the join button on the fleet. 30 seconds of waiting before I can jump. I kick myself for explicitly doing what Shizz warned us not to, but since I'm stuck I go ahead and add Chad to my watch list. Smacktalk ends (the longest 30 seconds of my day) and I'm able to jump - warp - jump into CHA2-Q. Chad is now getting reps as the logistics and dictor have landed on the field. We target the fighters and drones first, Chad has to warp off to break target locks and repair up, everyone lays damage on the Paladin, which pops fairly quickly, then we start in on the carrier, which has entered Triage. Armor tanked carrier takes no real time to go through shields, but he's got a good tank and great repping, as we can't break his tank. Everyone is unloading everything we've got on this Thanatos, and we can't get him below 50% armor. There is some discussion of overheating, but we are waiting. Local starts to climb, and our scout goes to G95F-H to make sure an IT fleet does not drop on us and ruin our day.
The carrier goes into another triage cycle as we continue to unload our ammo into it, still not breaking the tank. Now our fleet has grown to 26 as we continue to unload into the carrier, now in it's third triage cycle. Suddenly an Iteron is on the field, headed for the carrier.
"Target the hauler. Target the hauler. They are attempting to re-stront the carrier!"
4 guys pop the Itty, and the can, and the wreck, before the carrier can re-stront. I check my hold. I have 4 rounds left in the hold and 23 rounds in my guns. I cycle down the guns, unload to the hold, and ungroup my weapons. I'm going to run out of ammo before we finish this, and there's a fight brewing on the way out! I get the guns reloaded and start them firing again, just as we break the tank a support gang finally arrives. We start targeting the support gang under orders until the FC realizes we have broken the carrier tank.
"All DPS on the carrier - All DPS on the carrier - overload your weapons - DO NOT burn them out" orders Fo Shizz, as we continue to unload on the carrier, his support fleet (which has been jammed beautifully by King Voodoo) warps off, realizing we have won the carrier and they will be cannon fodder in moments. My guns are cycling empty. I have one blaster with 23 rounds left as space fills with a bright blue explosion and the carrier ceases to be.

FNF: Central Serpentis Sparking Transmitter

Friday Night Flights (FNF)
(originally posted Sept. 12, 2009)

Friday seems to be the best night of the week for me to log in and fly, and I've managed to have two exciting ones in a row. Mr. Teu asked me to fill out the report for our evening's adventures. Enjoy...

Life in 0.0 is new, and seems to involve a lot of cloaking, which makes me happy that the first ship I had out here was a scouting Helios. Friday night starts out quiet. Andro Missle from PoV is playing games in A2 when I log in - Vinny, Cracy and Mr. Teu are playing right back. Andro is in a Manticore, but with suddenly 4 of us in system, he decides to log off. Vinny gets some bookmarks set up out in A2 and logs as well, leaving Cracy, Teu and myself alone in A2 to do some ratting. I borrow a Brutix from Teu (thanks!) as I don't have anything larger than a Cruiser down here yet. We start hopping belts, looking for a good set of Serpentis Admirals on patrol, when Pascal Mage logs in. Now Pascal Mage is a serious warrior. He has over 400 kills logged in his two years of flying, many of those in a Gallente Megathron. We all quickly switch back to our ASSHAT ships, taking up position around PoV's Starbase, watching. Pascal first bops around in a capsule (oh, the wish to have a way to penetrate those shields!), then hops into a shuttle. Thinking he's going to make a run out to C4, I leave my station observation post to a random spot in the system, and drop a set of scan probes, in anticipation of having the system to ourselves. I instruct Aura to reactivate my cloak as I return to my idle spot above the PoV Starbase, and bring up my system scan grid.

"Sweaty - get out" exclaim's Mr. Teu tersely.
"Don't worry about the probe's I dropped them to scan" I reply, thinking he's concerned about the new scan probes in system
"No - you're not cloaked - GET OUT!"
I check my command consoe, and sure enough, I'm sitting 300k from the PoV station in a paper thin Helios - visible to anyone who's looking. I quickly warp to a spot about 100k from anywhere in system, reactivating my cloak.
"He's hopped into a Rapier" Mr Teu informs us.
"i'm sorry - I don't know why my cloak didn't enable. I swear I warped away, launched my probes, then came back cloaked" I apologize, cursing myself for not double-checking the status of my cloak.
"Don't worry about it. Let's get back to the POS and put up a show of force. Make him log off or leave. Everyone get into the biggest ship you can fly, even if you can't run any of the modules" replies Teu.
As we warp into the POS, I find myself boarding a Dominix class battleship for the first time. "Well, I can actually run everything fitted here except the remote reppers" - I guess I'm close to flying a battleship, I think happily.
Suddely Andro Missle logs back in. Teu's angry voice crackles over comms "Dammit. They've called our bluff. They've got a Manticore and a Rapier - we can't take that."

Still sitting safe inside the POS shields, I'm still basking in the excitement of flying a battleship as Teu tells us "put the big stuff away - they've called our bluff. We can't take them. Get back into your cloakies, warp to a safe spot and go get a beer - we'll try to wait them out."
Cracy laughs " That's a good thing, I couldn't run anything on that Battleship except a couple of the mids"
Teu laughs as well. "Well sit them out. Don't log off, we don't want them to know what hours we are on" I look quickly at the clock - 23:05. Hmm. Well, it is Friday. I can sit it out for a while. I hop back into my Helios and warp out to a safe spot in system, just as Teu's voice comes back over the radio "They are leaving the POS - everyone make sure you are cloaked up and deep safe!" Just as we check our status, both Andro and Pascal reach the Stargate and exit the system.

Taking my chance, I uncloak, drop 4 probes, recloak and warp to another location - checking that my cloak is active before activating my scanner.
"Well, I'm going to get back to ratting," says Cracy. "I really want an officer spawn."
"We'll support you on that" says Teu. "Sweaty, hop into a cruiser - I want us mobile in case they come back"
"I"ll be there in a few minutes - just want to scan the system and see if there's anything fun to do" I reply.

Aura quickly informs me of two signatures in system. One is a known Serpentis Port. I warp to it, recognize that it's mostly frigates and cruisers. As I continue to scan down the other site, my curiosity is piqued when i find it is a radar site. After some pinpointing, I discover that our system houses a Central Serpentis Sparking Transmitter. I report that over the comms.
"We'll probably have to wait for Pierre" says Teu "we don't have the ships to take something like that"
Disappointed but understanding his desire to keep the young pilots under his wing alive, I begin a search on the anomaly. Aura quickly recognizes a similar site in Guristas space:

A myriad of technological marvels inhabit this area of space, the physical guts of a powerful and well protected computerized network. A codebreaker module will be invaluable in uncovering the secrets that are likely hidden here, locked away inside data vaults and heavily encrypted digital networks.

"Teu, accoding to what I can find, it's got 12 missile batters, a pair of Battleships, and is a hacking site. I've warped in at 100, and that's all I see. Aura reports that when you approach within 30k it only spawns a wave of 8 mixed crusiers and frigates"
"Really? Can you use a codebreaker?"
"Yeah - I've done it a couple of times in losec"
"OK, let's formulate a plan"
Minutes later Cracy has a flight of drones destroying the missile batteries, one by one, and Teu is leading the two admirals far from the transmitter. WIthin a few more moments, the admirals ships are floating wrecks, and I move in to the transmitter, activating my codebreaker.
From datacenter to mainframe to communcations tower, I move through the 5 structures with my codebreaker, acquiring the secrets of this Serpentis complex. After hacking into the databank, I am excitied to find a collection of high-tech ship invention tools and components.

Collecting our rewards, we head back to the starbase, reveling in the possibility of tens of millions of ISK in sales from our discovery. Tired, I am ready to fly to my safe spot and sleep for the night, when Cracy's voice comes back over comms, somewhat excited. "I have a Triple Admiral Faction spawn here - there's a Shadow Serpentis admiral in the belt!" The sounds of explosions echo over the comms "Man they can hit hard too" he says, somewhat nervously.
"We'll be right there" replies Teu. "I'll borrow Deka's repper - Sweaty get in my Brutix and get out there"

We quickly warp to Cracy, finding him holding somewhat steady while dodging most of the fire from the three admiral's battleships. WIth our arrival, they refocus their attention on Mr Teu, as the battleship he has borrowed suddenly is the target of three angry Serpentis officers. Unfortunately, they have neglected the flights of drones released by Cracy and myself, and let Cracy get in close with his blaster-fit Brutix. Moments later the battleships are falling to our assault, one by one. Excited, Cracy reminds us both "I get any faction modules - I found them!" Just as reports come in of multiple PoV pilots two systems out, in YVA.
"Crap" says Teu. "I'm not letting them have this stuff. Sweaty get in there and loot the wrecks. Cracy, if you can get into a salvager we want to get that battleship salvaged" I'll guard for their arrival - if we don't get it all before they get here I'll pop these wrecks myself"

A tense 5 minutes follows, as we quickly move from wreck to wreck, gathering the remains from the destroyed ships.
"We have three Shadow Serpentis Modules here and 1000 rounds of large ammo - it's all your's Cracy" I report on the officer's wreck. Cracy whoops lightly, as we continue our work. FInally, just as the clock chimes two, we have recovered all the salvageable components from the wrecks, boarded our covert ops ships, and flown to our respective safe spots. As we all settled in for a well-earned rest, visions of ISK and advanced ships floated before my eyes. All in all, a very profitable and exciting Friday Night Flight...