100 Kills and Top Ranked

Yesterday, Starwalker had passed a personal milestone of more than 100 kills in a month. On Monday, he had hit 90 kills when he had joined Patrick Kasper's themed "Firetail" roam, with a shield extender and MWD fit. The fleet had spotted another fleet of destroyers and assault frigates in a complex and whilst outgunned that was no reason to not engage.

The fleet warped in and the 2 Coercers, 2 Hawks and 3 Harpies were clustered around the warp-in point. The immediate action was to burn off to get some range and then regroup, from there the fleet flew up to get above the targets and to decide on the priorities: Coercers, Hawks and then Harpies. The rationale was simple: Coercer damage was extremely high and Hawks were easier to kill than Harpies.

The fleet, then swarmed in from above with the full knowledge that it was unlikely if anyone in their Republic Fleet Firetail would survive. The carnage began:

1. Hereric Miz's Coercer had the dubious pleasure of being first and it soon exploded
2. Patrick had called the next target but it was obvious that Khaos Hakomairos's as the remaining Coercer would be the next to die
3. As the second Coercer went down Patrick had already called for the next target: Tujiko Noriko's Hawk and it too succumbed to the R1DER fleet. But the R1DER fleet was also getting smaller as the opposing fleet had gone to work on their targets too
4. Patrick called the last Hawk as primary and to get out if possible. Tristan daCuhna found himself shipless and Starwalker warped away

Starwalker had been lucky, 9 R1DERS had entered and only he had left with his ship still intact - it had not even taken any fire. He had gotten lucky with the order of the opposing fleet's targeting, the timing of the destruction of the last Hawk and the fact that they had not spread points at the end.

Starwalker's luck continued last night as he headed back to Adirain in the same Firetail:

• Crispy Orlenard in his Incursus had engaged hoping for the best but he exploded and was too slow escaping with his pod
• Zenith Askold in his Firetail had the right fit to win the fight but had used the wrong tactics. He stayed in close when he could have used his range control and tracking disruptor to establish his superiority. Given that he stayed in close he was destroyed
• Hasim Abdul in his Merlin was looking for a fight and the Firetail struggled in the brawl to overcome his shield tank. Finally, with his Firetail in deep armour the Merlin erupted into flames. But it wasn't over as a Condor and Tristan landed and before Starwalker could escape he was scrambled. Given no choice he opened fire on the Tristan on the basis that it was closer and represented the greater danger. The Tristan proved to be very weak and exploded quickly
• What had started as a gank was now a 1v1 and Noxam Sherei decided he no longer liked the odds and ran away in his Condor. But Starwalker had the last laugh as a few minutes later the Condor was caught and destroyed, with Starwalker on the killmail
• Starwalker did not want to out stay his welcome in Flosewin and decided to move on, especially as it was getting too busy with destroyers and assault frigates. In Aset Elmi Aihaken led him on a merry chase around the system and he wondered if he was being setup for a trap. Elmi decided to fight and Starwalker took some time getting through his shields whilst scanning local but the Tristan was destroyed - no one had come to his aid. Perhaps he had just wanted a little foreplay before getting down to business
• Johannes DeRupescissa in his Slasher was doing well in the fight but when his shield buffer finally gave way he was decimated
• Starwalker had no idea what Caladri Joans was doing in a complex in a Magnate and was surprised when it engaged. The Firetail's MWD came in very handy to catch it though and once caught the Magnate duly crumpled into wreckage

In the space of 30 minutes Starwalker had had 7 engagements and killed them all - most unusual and most productive. Those 7 kills had also contributed to his personal record of over 100 kills in a month. That record had been helped by recently having more time in space and he doubted if he would be so lucky in future.

Very satisfied with the events of the night Starwalker docked up in Adirain and awoke the next morning to find that he was Top Ranked in Battleclinic. Being Top Ranked might be only temporary but he would enjoy the moment whilst it lasted.