Confidence is key, overconfidence is a busted lock! Embarrassing image included...
21 Feb 2021CMDR CWolfXUK
I have missed this, I mused to myself as I pulled the WolFX17 around to target another pirate on the run. The thrill of finding a good bounty myself, taking them out and moving to the next. For the last two years I have been alternating between fighting in a war and doing very specific assassination missions. I have not really had the time to go into a Rez site and just hunt. Yes, I have mentioned visiting Res sites after gearing up a new ship, however, those times were just quick practice runs to work out the subtle changes of my flying capabilities. With this in mind I have decided to work on my ratings a little and make some good profit at the same time.
Flying through the new wreckage I scanned the area for another good hit. I checked my own ship systems; shields at two out of three rings and charging nicely, multicannons at two third ammo capacity, plasma accelerators both humming and the double modified special missile rack still fully loaded. Today was going very well. I saw beams of energy piercing the blackness in front of me as a large craft opened fire on one of the mining ships working the rocks, I powered up my engines and swooped in to check out both ships. The miner, as expected, was legally clean and just trying to survive. The other was an anaconda class with a pilot that lit up as Elite rated on my data screen. I looked over my systems again and decided that this would be a good fight. Swooping in I unleashed my plasma bolts and multicannon rounds into the larger battleship. I watched my scanner happily as the target lost a ring of shields completely, the second also starting to fail. This was going to be easy. My next volley took him down to a single ring of energy between me and the hull. Then a pulse wave surrounded my opponent as he launched a shield cell to rebuild these walls, opening fire on me as the nose of the 'conda turned to face me. I boosted past the ship, hitting it with my weapons as I did so, flipped as I passed it and started firing on the now exposed engines. Overpowering the shields I started to hit the hull, slowly damaging the immense armour plating. Suddenly I was thrown sideways in my seat as well aimed turrets managed to get a good aim on me, the damage appeared minimal, my shields down to a ring I fired off my own shield cells and watched it rebuild. Lining up for another assault I dodged the next raking shots and fired again, only to hit shielding - the anaconda had been engineered to regain shields quickly. I pitched to the side, aiming to pass the ship and hit again from behind, unfortunately the other pilot read my move and boosted into me. The ram made contact and my shields failed completely, eliciting a curse from me. I boosted away, activating my missile rack and putting all power to the weapons. With all guns and launchers blazing I took out his shields, making the match more even and getting a critical hit, partially through luck, on the anaconda's main reactor. This was going to be a fantastic win.
My chieftain with it's sixty percent hull versus the anaconda, now with fifty percent hull and a weakened power core, this was to be a fun time indeed. I boosted around the larger craft and smiled as the shield systems came back online. Newly bolstered confidence took me over and I powered toward the apparently crippled ship, firing again and again I watched armour and hull plating spin off into space. My shields dropped again yet I took no heed, there was no way that I could lose this. No way, that is, until the other commander fired his boosters, lining up to ram me again. I dodged and would have narrowly missed except the blinding blue glow of recently re-ignited force shields on the anaconda filled my cockpit. I was hit by the wall of solid energy, scraping a furrow in my own hull and destroying an alarming number of internal systems. It was time to go. I switched all power to the drives, retracted the weapons and pressed the boosters. Nothing happened. My hull warning went off, the Remlock survival system kicked in and I was jettisoned from my exploding ship like a cargo pod. I felt the jolt of the escape thrusters as I was sent blasting through space back to the station, the rebuy already being processed and a new ship being put together for me - with the help of my insurance company and the confidential blueprints they held.
What did I lose? Twenty four million credits plus all of the bounties I had collected, my overconfident pride and a few hours of flight time. I gained old wisdom, or rather regained it - know when not to be
overconfident!