Fear the Ferox!

Last night I got on for an hour and at the start I was sitting in my 0.0 hanger wondering if I should jump clone back to empire or stay there and do some more ratting. Then my CEO's voice rings out on vent, "Anyone for some PVP?"

Perfect timing. Of course I have to waste 6 minutes waiting for the jump clone to be ready, then I have to bus up from my secret base to the muster point, but the op is already underway when I get there and we begin the hunt.

We didn't have a lot of luck finding targets. They either were running missions or running scared and we didn't have a single scan probe between the four of us. We kept looking and just as it was getting time for me to log off I got lucky.

We were doing the scatter-search thing where we all warp into a system and spread out to different parts to do directional scans. I was alphabetically highest so I went to the inner planet and scanned outwards. I picked up a Dominix and Catalyst and proceeded to nail down their location.

It became obvious the Dominix was off in safespot or mission, but the Catalyst showed up in the area of a single asteroid belt and a planet. I figured I'd warp to the belt for a quick look and if nothing was there I was log off and call it a night.

The warp proceeded and I kept hitting "Scan" to see if the destroyer would drop off. The planet passed by and the Catty was still there. The warp bubble started to collapse and the Catty was still there. The asteroid belt loomed onto screen and the Catty was still there.

An experienced player who is ratting in low or no sec follows three rules:
1) Keep an eye on Local chat so when it jumps you can be ready to warp.
2) Stay aligned to a warping target so you can warp almost immediately.
3) Move away from the warp in point of the belt so if someone warps to it they are not right on top of you.

The Catalyst pilot was obviously not experienced. I came out of warp 14 km away and began locking and approaching within seconds. I had him scrammed and was telling the gangmates to warp to me as I pressed F1, F2, F3, F... what the hell?! He exploded!

I noticed as I locked him his shields were gone and armour damaged so my initial shots blew him up something fierce. The rats he was hunting were apparently giving him a run for his money and left him weak enough for an insta-pop by my rails. The gang arrived but with nothing to engage except the frigate rats. I collected my meager loot and logged.

It was a bittersweet victory. On one hand I had gotten my first solo kill and indeed my first kill in a few weeks. On the other hand it was against a fairly new pilot in a damaged ship that was already two classes smaller than mine. I almost feel bad for the guy but if I hadn't killed him it is a sure bet someone else would have.

Regardless, its done. Time to figure out a ship build with a recon probe launcher on it.