Kill #2: Half-fit in Low-sec

After taking my time in Mercomesier to make sure the local authorities wouldn't be on my tail from my last kill, I continued roaming in Placid. It was getting late by the time I made my way to Aubenall, but it turned out Local was bustling with pilots there. There were even members of some of the more infamous pirate groups there, including pilots from the Black Rabbits and MOD. There were some younger, unaffiliated pilots around, though.

Previously, I would have been wary of hunting in such a bustling system. With so many pilots around, any potential target is much more likely to have friends waiting in the wings. But with my confidence up after my recent kill, I began meandering among moons and planets, just to see. I scanned down a lone Catalyst-class destroyer, and I decided to tempt fate. I tend to think that destroyers get a bad name - everyone says they're terrible in real combat. But pouncing on a well-outfitted Catalyst was bound to send me to my capsule from a hail of blaster fire. Lucky for me, this was no such Catalyst.

I dropped in on the destroyer, who was already tangling with a local Serpentis ship. I warped in 20 klicks off of his position, and I only had an afterburner. I threw my rifter into top speed, and held off on targeting him until I was in under 10km, hoping he was too focused on the Serpentis ship to notice my arrival. My gamble worked. By the time he had targeted my ship, I was through what was left of his shields, and his armor was taking a beating. He must not have equipped any defensive modules, because he exploded within a few seconds. He did almost no damage to me, which was curious. I jammed his capsule's warp drive while I dispatched the Serpentis ship, but as I did so, I stretched my range too far and he escaped. No matter, he was young enough that I wasn't going to try ransoming him anyways.

There was one question still plaguing me as I arrived at the wreck of his Catalyst, and therein lied the answer: it had been fit with nothing but two tech-2 mining lasers, and afterburner, and a single gatling pulse laser. Now I know why destroyers get such a bad name...