Shortly afterwards a Slasher arrived - and stayed. Starwalker burnt towards it changing his ammunition to null as he expected to be kited but was hoping to avoid being pecked to death. If he could get close he would surely decimate the Slasher, so as the distance closed Starwalker tried to move in to point blank range.
Surprise! The Slasher also wanted to fight at point blank range, so Starwalker engaged scramble, web and overheated his neutron blasters. He now had the wrong ammunition selected but it was too late to change it. The incoming damage was reasonable but the ancillary shield booster easily dealt with it. In return the blasters were tearing away the Slasher shields and armour and it was clear what would happen - the Slasher exploded. Again, Starwalker missed the pod.
As Starwalker idled at a safe with his GCC ticking away, Nogusha noted that he was being kited by a Caldari Navy Hookbill in his Rifter but that it was a stalemate. He could not get close to the Hookbill and it was not breaking his tank. Nogusha was calling for help in Moclinamaud and since no one else was nearby Starwalker offered to jump clone to the region and help - he would just wait out the last few minutes of his GCC.
Whilst Starwalker was waiting out his GCC John Valentine in local noted that he could not break the tank of a Hawk and he needed help. So Starwalker joined fleet and warped in, along with another Rebel - 3D Horrorshow, in a Rifter. The Hawk pilot, Kushanar, was also calling in friends and just after Starwalker arrived so did a Slasher and an Incursus.
Starwalker targeted the Hawk first as it was probably already in the most trouble and it did the highest DPS - it went down quickly. It was now three Rebels against the two remaining ONI Industry pilots, it did not end well for them as the Slasher and Incursus withered under the combined fire.
Unfortunately, Starwalker's GCC was reset to 15 minutes but he decided that he would jump clone anyway to Covryn and head to Moclinamaud as his Hawk could active shield tank the gate fire for a short period of time. Nogusha had been waiting for a long time already and Starwalker had offered to help earlier. So, Starwalker had jumped and flown to Agoze and was only three jumps away when Nogusha's plucky little Rifter finally succumbed, after 50 minutes and taking more than 25,000 damage, when a Thrasher arrived to finally help the Hookbill complete the kill.
It was a shame and if Starwalker had come earlier it might have been different. However, no point in speculating on what might have been as Starwalker noticed an Incursus on scan and decided to investigate. It was at an acceleration gate with a Rifter and Starwalker went in hot. However, things did not go according to the master plan - kill the two frigates - as fourteen pilots piled into the fight.
Starwalker was pointed at close range, so with no chance of escape he overheated his rockets determined to take at least one and preferably more with him. The Incursus started to run but went down anyway as the rockets went through its structure 8km away. Before he could take down the Rifter too the Griffin jammed him. Now helpless and not even able to fire, Starwalker's Hawk disintegrated and he warped his pod to safety, and returned to base.
This was not quite the outcome he had envisaged when jumping to Placid but EVE could be a harsh mistress and very fickle. Losing two Drakes and a Hawk recently may be a reason to get back into a Merlin but Starwalker was also looking to experiment a little with more expensive ships and inevitably they would be lost.
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