As I mentioned in my last post, I was jumping back into the Thorax cruisere to go out hunting. I did that, fitting it for tanking, and went cruising around lowsec looking for a fight. As you do...
Well, it was reasonably busy, which was surprising, and there were so many 'younglings' out and about. I was trying to scan them down, but they were all hiding in their stations. Smart.
I quickly realised I was being followed by a pirate, birdog, when he kept on appearing in every system I jumped into. He never appeared on any scans, however, so he was obviously flying a cloaked ship. I knew I would have to be careful.
Eventually I found a Vexor pilot ratting in a belt, and I warped in at 100km to study him. As I watched him finish off some rats with his drones, I brought up a display of his history. He was only a few months old. A worthy challenge for someone with my luck!
I activated my MWD and started moving towards him. I know I could have warped out and back in again at a closer distance, but I went with the slowboat. I wanted to see if he would warp out or engage, to determine whether or not he had some courage.
It seemed that courage was something he didn't have, and he warped off to another belt. I followed him, just in time to see him disappear from the overview, and I didn't catch which direction he was going. So I scanned a nearby gate, and saw him arrive at it and then leave the system. The game was on!
I followed him into the next system, and it looked like birdog did the same with me. I quickly scanned the Vexor at a nearby belt, and warped in at 0km, arriving only 9km away from the Vexor. Again he had his drones out, picking off the rats.
I didn't waste any time, knowing that birdog was around somewhere, and immediately engaged the Vexor - I wanted a kill before the pirate arrived! I suspect the poor Vexor pilot didn't know what was happening, as he didn't start to fire back at me until he was at about 50% armour.
Unfortunately, birdog arrived before I could finish off the hapless Vexor. Seeing the flashy red Arazu appear 43km away made me realise I needed to get out, and I needed to get out now!
"All hands, get us the frak out of here!" I yelled at the crew. With the Vexor at about 20% hull, I skedaddled, making my way to a gate and then to a safe spot! I left the drones behind, as there just wasn't any time to wait for them.
I guess birdog was surprised I got away from him, because he asked me in local comms if had stabs on. I told him I didn't, that I was just prepared for any surprises and managed to get away quickly enough.
I also congratulated the Vexor pilot on his survival, which he seemed thankful for.
And then it got interesting.
Birdog asked me if he could have a conversation with me, which I agreed to, so we had a bit of a private chat. Turns out he was interested in joining my corp!
Why would anyone want to join my corp? I'm not actively recruiting, as I'm just enjoying having me, myself, and I - and a couple of real friends - to hang out with. But he was looking for a small, casual corp, and was impressed to see that I was solo hunting, just like him. A kindred spirit. There's so few solo hunters these days, so he wanted to join up with me.
He flew an Arazu. He'd been a capsuleer for about 4 years. He had a lot of experience, and he seemed like a genuinely nice guy.
So after answering a bunch of my questions, and passing the 'gut feeling' tests, I let him in. Welcome to Scorpion's Sting, birdog!
I can already tell it's going to be good having him around. He's a capable hunter that I can group up with, and whom I can learn a lot from. He's also introducing me to 'plex's, where there's a lot of money to be made... I'm going to give it a go, and have fitted an Incursus frigate for it.
I have to go now, there's a 'plex to raid!
