A day to remember

My arch nemesis, the Vagabond

“We need to get to bed, we have a long drive tomorrow.” Those were the parting words of my fiancée as I nodded and continued to listen to ventrilo with increasing anxiety. We were driving for four days, clear across the country from Miami to Spokane, WA, for our wedding. I was just supposed to be changing my skills to account for my month of absence from New Eden. Instead, a fight was brewing, and I wanted to be in it before I took off with her, the dog, and a few pairs of clothes on my latest adventure.

There was a small gang of Vagabonds and interceptors harassing people in Pure Blind. That was what convinced me to stay on. I hate Vagabonds. I hate them, their pilots, and their silly design. Every time I see a Vagabond I want to fly straight into it Clear Skies style and stick a ship right up it’s happy arse. My favorite moments in EVE Online occur as I watch a Vagabond get scrammed, webbed, and loose drones just before their shields vanish, exposing his paper thin armor and hull. Once that happens, a Vaga is screwed, and the ship melts like hot butter spread over warm toast. Having a chance to smack a few of them was not something I could pass up.

A small Agony Unleashed gang formed and off we went, eager to hunt our prey. Since I had been absent for a few days, I was brought up to speed on the pilots we would be facing. They were tough, nasty, and had an endless supply of tricks and traps to spring. This encounter would be no different. They had a plan to catch us, but we were more than willing to fly directly into their meat grinder.

Our tackler had their Vagabond bait pilot pegged and soon we flew in for support. Their trap was sprung as interceptors and Vagabonds appeared and began to release drones. They started to circle us and hit us at range, trying their best to speed tank us and wear us down one by one. Our own pilots responded brilliantly, timing their orbits to catch ships just at optimal web/scram range (with overheats if need be). Our tackler went down, but no matter, the first vaga was a pile of scrap metal in a few seconds afterwards.

We destroyed another of their vessels as an interceptor got too close to one of ours and found himself scrammed, webbed, and sprung upon by our gang. We were thirsty for their blood due to the damage we had taken over the past few days. My adrenaline was pumping as my Vexor, specially fitted for taking damage, absorbed hits and dealt out punishment with a full compliment of T2 drones. Soon, the battle was even handed, and we pressed on despite the loss of our primary target caller.

Someone else stepped up, her skills and patience always pay off, and a crow that had slipped up became the focus of our fire. He had slipped up in an attempt to power within range of me. Though he had succedded, he was going down hard. At that moment, another Vagabond came screeching toward me. I could not believe my luck. He was trying to get a second tackle on me before his friend went down. He overshot and I watched with glee as my overview put him at 9,000 meters distance. Scram, web, and the best part was that his momentum carried him into optimal range of my blasters. I broke protocol, called my intent, and went right in for the kill.

He was well tanked, his shields dipping slowly, but they were dipping. My armor was depleting at a similar rate, so I ignored his drones, ignored his friends, and overheated everything. I was going down, but I was going to take him with me. The slugfest went on for a minute before, finally, his shields cracked. I was into structure, but I would last much longer than he with the pitiful armor and hull of a Vagabond. Three salvos later he exploded into a puff of debris. His friends were on me though and I soon followed.

The engagement ended there as our enemies called in more help and we were down to a point where any DPS we could muster wouldn’t crack their shells. So I called it a night and thanked everyone for the fight. I bagged two Vagabonds and couldn’t be happier. I would trade a Vexor for a fight like that any day. It was certainly a day to remember.