Report from OPSRD0109
“Incursus on scan, it appears to be the same one that was with the small gang that we passed earlier.” The navigator called out the new contact that had arrived on D-scan in the system of Tannakan, and waited for Jon to make a decision on what to do. The enemy gang consisted of at least two frigates and two tech3 destroyers, including the recently released Caldari one, known as the Jackdaw.
“Align to the sun, we’ll fight them there.” The sun was further from the gates than the large outpost in which Jon’s Bellicose found itself in, and therefore gave more time to burn down the Incursus tackle before his friends arrived. The 1600mm plated Bellicose hauled itself around to enter warp, engines shuddering due to extra weight, likely unanticipated by the engineers that designed the ship, from the armour plating. This ship was not fit like your normal Bellicose, instead it was a fit that Jon had designed himself to catch enemy pilots unaware. The standard shield tank had gone out the window, and a 1600mm plate was squeezed on with a rack of TPs and webs. Rapid Light Missile Launchers and a flight of Warrior II drones provided the DPS.
As the Bellicose entered warp, the Incursus landed in the large compound. Noting the name of the pilot, Jon was certain that it was indeed the tackle pilot of the gang spotted earlier. As the Bellicose landed at the sun, and aligned back to the large compound, the Incursus landed within 5 km and engaged, scramming and webbing the Bellicose. “Lock up the Incursus, launch drones and pre-activate the TPs, web, point and launchers. I want this ship off grid ASAP.”
“Local spike, we have three new pilots in local. We have a Jackdaw, Confessor and Punisher on scan, looks like we’ve got a party about to start.” Navigation shouted out the warning as the Incursus got one armour repair cycle off, throwing it’s armour back up.
“Heat the launchers, I want this Incursus dead now. Gunnery, get ready to lock up the Jackdaw when it lands, that is going to be the next target. It’s new and unknown, I want to get a feel for how it fares in combat. All crew, the likelihood of surviving this fight is low. Once we enter structure, I want all crew to prepare to get to the escape pods. Hopefully we take down this Jackdaw before we die.” Jon’s orders echoed through the ship, causing crew to look up and mentally prepare their escape route.
The heated launchers punched through the Incursus’s attempt at repairing its armour, with only three cycles of its ancillary armour repairer occurring before dying. As the Incursus exploded the Punisher landed and engaged, scramming down the Bellicose once again. Without the web of the Incursus being applied the Bellicose sped up, pulling some range on the Punisher while waiting for the Jackdaw and Confessor to land.
“Jackdaw on grid, locking them up.” The navigator called out as soon as the Jackdaw landed, and shortly had it locked up and ready to engage. “It has engaged with light missiles, and is attempting to pull range.”
“Web it, point it, and light him up. Overheat the launchers and set the drones on him. Let’s see how good this fabled beast actually is.” Jon grinned as the e-war of the Bellicose was successfully applied to the Jackdaw. The shields of the Jackdaw began to falter as light missiles began to spew forth from the Bellicose’s launchers, smashing into the side of the Jackdaw while Warrior II drones circled it at great speed, strafing the Jackdaw from all angles. Shield boosts were observed from the Jackdaw, but they only lasted a short time before stopping.
As the Jackdaw plunged through armour, heading straight into structure in one deadly missile volley, the structure alarms of the Bellicose started sounding. While Jon had been watching the Jackdaw fall to his Bellicose, the Confessor and Jackdaw hadn’t been idle themselves. The Jackdaw may have stopped trying to run, but it’s missile launchers still worked perfectly fine, and it was firing volley after volley of light missiles back into the armour plating of the Bellicose. The Confessor on the other hand had pulled range and was firing lasers into the other side of the Bellicose, smashing through the armour plating there.
“All crew, the Jackdaw is about to fall and so are we. Make your way to the nearest escape pods.” The last round of missiles fired off as Jon finished his announcement, tearing through the last vestige of structure remaining of the Jackdaw. The Jackdaw, little more than twisted metal at this point, exploded in a ball of flame and debris which rained down on the Bellicose and Punisher, which had managed to close range again during the manoeuvres with the Jackdaw. “Drone crew, if you are able please set the Warriors on the Confessor, and make your way to your escape pod.” Jon’s last act before boarding his escape capsule was to send a simple message in the local communications channel, simply saying ‘Good fight’.
With the last remaining crew members ejecting from the Bellicose, and Jon safely aboard his capsule, he waited for the last shred of structure holding the ship together to get melted by the Confessor’s focused laser beams. Just before the last shot came hurling through space into what remained of the Bellicose, Jon sent a message to the Sisters of Eve, asking for them to send some ships to the location of the battle to pick up the escape pods of the destroyed ships. While they may not hold Jon in great esteem, the crew members have done nothing to anger the Sisters, and a confirmation message came back instantly. The Bellicose’s twisted body was suddenly torn asunder as Confessor landed its final hit, with the ship snapping in half, melted metal twisting and turning before freezing in the vacuum of space while explosions from the engines and on-board electronics rocked the wreck. Jon’s capsule flew out of the wreckage, and Jon urgently sent instructions for the capsule to warp to a random planet. Making a bookmark on the way, as soon as the capsule landed Jon turned it around and warped back to the bookmark in the middle of space while waiting for his aggression timer to disappear so that Concord would allow him to use the gates again.
“Thanks for the fight guys” Jon sent another message in the local channel, before engaging warp to the gate that led back towards the system of Amarr. A ‘gf’ was given by the enemy gang in the channel, and then the black tunnel from using a system gate appeared in Jon’s vision and he was catapulted into the nearby system of Anka. Setting the navigational computers to Amarr, Jon lay back and sighed.
****
I had a few days during my studying for exams where I just wanted to blow some spaceships up, and I had been playing around with the Bellicose. Getting a TP onto a shield fit is a bit tricky I feel, so I decided to see if I could fit a 1600mm plate onto it. I’ve got a few different fits that I have tried out, and have kept fiddling with the original fit. It’s not a normal fit, but it’s worked well for me so far and gives me the element of surprise in the fight.
Incursus killmail: https://zkillboard.com/kill/47067379/
Jackdaw killmail: https://zkillboard.com/kill/47067386/
Bellicose lossmail: https://zkillboard.com/kill/47067387/
Roam the skies,
Jon
Exploring Eve Online 