“I’m in a safespot in Dal, ready to begin our duel anytime you are, Colonel.” the pirate Wensley said over our secured comms. Little did he know I was already coming out of warp on top of him. 

I locked quickly, taking advantage of his surprise, and quickly unleashed three 200 mm vulcan autocannons against his Rifter, complete with small Barrage ammo. My rocket launcher screamed as it cycled through high yield EM rounds. I had him scrammed and webbed; he was mine.

He recovered quickly, and I expected him to retreat to a slightly safer orbiting distance, to regain control of the situation. Instead, he came in point blank; his weapons stripping away my shields far too quickly. 

Aura identified the ammo type as Republic Fleet EM; that made me frown in annoyance, but was something I had grudgingly accepted long ago; the black market trade of military surplus was something that simply would not change.

I had assumed my skills were more proficient; my experience in small ship military skirmishes to my benefit; I was wrong. We each started tearing armour plating from the other, but his repair teams were efficient at managing the damage. I had opted to forego repair capabilities in favour of the heavier autocannons; my mistake.

As my ship’s hull began showing through, Wensley ceased fire, as did I. 

“You know, I really didn’t expect things to go that way.” I said, feeling a little meek. 

“Neither did I honestly.” Wensley replied. 

He wasn’t a typical pirate. He was Brutor, through and through, only flying Minmatar ships, specializing in hit and run tactics designed to build his reputation amongst his enemies. He didn’t attack civilian vessels; he didn’t attack industrialists. If anything, he served the cause of all Matari in his actions, hunting pirates and other potential threats to the Republic.

The only real difference between Wensley’s war and my own was the strict code of ethics I adhered to; the order imposed by the Tribal Liberation Force to maintain peace within Republic space. 

Wensley answered only to himself, and while that could be liberating (I had spent years as a freelance capsuleer prior to enlisting in the war effort), it also could change you. Having nobody to trust, nobody else to rely on could leave you a paranoid shell of what a true capsuleer could be.

The military instilled discipline and comraderie. There was always someone to cover your wing. It was a team effort.

“Thought I was going to blow my cannons against you, had them overheated so much.” Wensley said. My mouth hung open at my own foolishness; I hadn’t overheated. What an idiot! That was clearly the decisive move in our engagement.

“Gotta admit, Wens, you know your Rifters.” I said with genuine appreciation for the man’s ability. I quickly had Aura do a military scan of Wensley’s record, bringing up his known skills. We were, in fact, fairly evenly matched, him having a slightly better understanding of turret tracking speed optimizations, me understanding how to get the most punch from my weapons. 

“Want to do this again against my mainstay ship?” I asked.

“Sure thing; this is good fun. Let me go pay for some repairs and we’ll do this.” Wensley retorted eagerly.

Twenty minutes later, the Renegade launched against his Rifter.

I played with him for a few minutes, easily keeping out of his reach, my afterburner not even breaking a sweat. The problem with the Firetail was damage output. His rep teams could easily withstand my artillery and standard missiles, and eventually I would run out of ammo.

“Well, I think you can see now why I fly these, Wens. She makes for a great tackler. Not as thin as an inty, and still packs some punch.” I said.

“Yeah, I’m impressed.” Wensley said. 

I decided to show him why speed and range were the only options for a Firetail and turned off my afterburner, slowing down to 700 m/s, still mighty impressive.

He quickly closed range and webbed me, his autocannons quickly chewing through my ship. I think it surprised him as he nearly tore through my hull before interrupting his weapon cycles.

We had some more small talk before he had to leave on corporate business. He promised he’d leave a clone in Dal so we could do this more often.

I welcomed it.

PS. For a distorted view of the truth of our encounter, visit Rifter Drifter HERE.