Kestrel Finds Ratting Tempest

Starwalker was roaming through towards Adirain in leisurely preparation for Patrick Kasper's Rebel Roam themed around the Moa. He was looking for distractions as he was going as he had plenty of time to get there and there was no hurry. He noticed one other pilot in local and a Tempest on scan.

Starwalker checked the pilot information and saw that he was less than a month old. It seemed too good to be true as he scanned the Tempest down to an asteroid belt near the sun. It would be an excellent kill for his Kestrel if he could do it and there was only one way to find out.

As the Kestrel landed at the belt he was within 10km of the Tempest and immediately Starwalker applied the web and point. The Tempest had been ratting with some beaten up Hobgoblin Is and these were turned onto the Kestrel but they were easily dispatched. The Tempest was getting some glancing blows with the Kestrel orbiting by default at 7km and Starwalker tightened the orbit to 2.5km.

The meagre incoming damage disappeared and the Kestrel rockets slammed into the Tempest's shield whittling them down very slowly. Starwalker had to reload his rockets when another pilot appeared in local, and he wondered whether that pilot had come to assist the Tempest. He kept an eye on the directional scanner but nothing came in to assist.

The Tempest pilot initiated a conversation but Starwalker could not understand the Cyrillic characters. The Tempest desperately released two more drones but they also were destroyed and it was clear that the Tempest was helpless against the Kestrel that had now reached its armour defence. The pilot decided it was all over and initiated self destruct.

Starwalker had to reload yet again and he tried to overheat his missile launchers to get the kill before the 120 second self destruct completed. The Tempest went into structure and at 50% its self destruct blew it apart. The killmail was still very sweet and was accompanied by the pod too. A solo battleship kill in a T1 frigate - it was a great feeling.

Afterwards, Starwalker found out that he had been awarded a medal for that sensational kill - Black Rebel Torpedo. It was the icing on the cake, especially as this was the first time he had killed a battleship solo and in a frigate as well. This was the stuff that dreams were made of but the killmail proved it was no dream. Starwalker was one very happy pilot.