Close Encounters of the Fight Kind

The message was short and sweet - new Rifter is ready. Starwalker stepped out to the balcony to be greeted by the beautiful lines of the Rifter floating in the space station dock. The symmetry of the ship design blended seamlessly with the armaments and the autocannons looked ready to spit fire and death. This was a ship that demanded to be flown to the edge, beyond it and back. It was time to take it on its maiden flight.

Old Man Star beckoned and the call was answered. Starwalker’s Rifter jumped into system and darted to an asteroid belt. The directional scanner started listing the ships in system and the usual array of assault frigates and battlecruisers populated the list. Starwalker headed to the next belt, checking the console and sound of the engines everything looked and sounded good. Time to check what this baby could really do, afterburners on and the Rifter accelerated. The speed climbed smoothly to over 1000m/s as the Rifter tore along the line of the belt.

Quick check of d-scan and nothing, hold on a moment – a crow and gaining fast. It was a micro warp drive fit and only 38km away. Starwalker did not hesitate; he immediately banked towards the nearest stargate and hit the warp button. The crow, piloted by Volos, would no doubt be fit for a range fight and Starwalker was fit for in-close combat. He also knew that his dogfighting skills were simply inadequate at the moment to be able to get in close unless he got lucky. But it was too late. The crow had closed the distance in the time it took to realign and had locked incredibly quickly and applied the warp disruptor.

Bloodclaw light missiles slammed into the shields and Starwalker immediately applied the lock and tried to scramble but the crow was around 16km away and out of range, including of the autocannons. Starwalker approached the crow to try and get in close and apply some hurt but the crow was moving away again fast. It was surprising as the Rifter was going to be in trouble but the reason became obvious a Claymore had arrived on the scene. Starwalker aligned and warped before the Claymore could get a lock, even though it landed only 3km away.

A couple of close encounters but the Rifter was still intact. Burn marks and a few dents now adorned the ship but no doubt it would acquire more of those before it too became a fireball and died in a blaze of glory.