Pilot:
Chigurh Friendo
Tango:
Sasawong
Sheltering Sky
For those of you unaware, Sasawong is an ECM Thrasher pilot who, long ago, after first kiting me with an Arty Thrasher inside a minor plex, would later reship to a devious ECM Thrasher of the same name and viciously kill my prized Hookbill. The stunning nature of this defeat would present me with a genuine dilemma: given his refined combat algorithm... how was I to deal with an opponent such as this? At first, I had been remiss to figure out an answer to this question. Nonetheless, upon further reflection, it had dawned on me that utilizing electronic warfare of my own might afford a solution to the problem at hand. Moreover, since it was my ultimate goal to kill Sasawong and exact my revenge, it is Sasawong, himself, who deserves credit for driving me to explore the possibilities offered by specialty ewar-based fits. The fruits of such endeavours have been plentiful, but, after our most recent fateful encounter, I can finally say that I feel validated in my ship design. Even so, as the story I'm about to tell will relate, the lead up to my victorious outcome was not one without its trials or perils.
As a pretext to my story, allow me to say that Sasawong and his alt are no strangers to me. Ever since I have made Amamake my second (fourth, actually) home I have encountered him on a regular basis. Most often, Sasawong will flee at the first sign that his opponent is a kiter. Nonetheless, I had, on occasion, managed to secure tackle against him before he (or his alt) could warp off. Regardless, these encounters tended to be little more than exercises in futility and frustration... that is, until today. To put my eventual defeat of Sasawong in context, however, one must first understand the nature of the battles preceding it.
The first of our engagements saw me tackling a Cormorant that had been perched on the landing beacon within a plex. Despite a promising beginning, I would ultimately find myself forced to flee the field in the face of enemy landers. My tackle, you see, had prompted the arrival of not only his alt but had also rallied other locals sympathetic to his faction warfare camping cause. This misadventure was merely a setback, though, and I was convinced that I could still come out on top if only I could engage under the right circumstances.
Thus, a day or two later I was excited to see that Sheltering Sky was stationed at a plex in Vard. However, as I will soon relate, this was an encounter so frustrating that it nearly dashed my hopes entirely about whether killing him would be possible whatsoever. This time, our engagement began with me tackling his Cormorant on the plex-gate grid, itself, but I was soon dismayed to see that after I had given my 'x' in fleet, it was his alt who spiked local first, not my own fleet mates. Furthermore, his alt had a shorter warp distance and was certain to land faster than my own backup would arrive. I knew that I was probably going to have to abort this battle, because I feared that his Hookbill alt lander would chase me away and thereby terminate my point. What happened next, however, was even worse. Not only did the Hookbill force me to drop longpoint, it shut down my locks and ewar altogether. The damn Hookbill had ECM jammed me! Thankfully, by this time I was already burning well away from the Cormorant, so I was in little risk of being alpha'd. Nonetheless, I was deeply distraught. Given the coordination demonstrated and the nature of his helper alt's support fit, I could scarcely imagine how it would be possible to kill him without a significant amount of backup of my own. Certainly, it didn't seem possible to solo such a frustratingly crafty opponent.
Thus, I wasn't even really searching for Sasawong when I found him on the plex-gate grid preceeding our final battle. I had been chasing other Coercer and Cormorant pilots around the minor plexes of Dal. However, it was Sasawong's Thrasher that I watched warp into the site upon my landing. I knew that he would either be a fast-lock Alpha Arty Thrasher or an ECM Scram Thrasher. Nonetheless, I entered the plex clinging to the hope that a pre-overheat on my MWD prop mod might give me the momentum needed to soar out of scram range and thereby re-engage before he could either flee or snare me in his dastardly trap. What's more, I knew that even if I were to prevail in our initial exchange of blows, that his alt would surely spike local and come to his aid. Thus, prepared for the worst, I warped into the site. As expected, Sasawong was stationed right on top of the beacon at zero. In a flurry of motion, I spammed my modules and set my little condor into flight, dashing away from my foe, firing missiles and lighting my ewar, hoping against hope that my little vessel would survive Sasawong's fury. To my amazement, my Condor had done it! Hurtled by its momentum, the Condor had been scrammed and then drifted past the edge of scram, enabling me to not only re-engage my MWD, but also allowing me to break my opponent's lock with ewar of my own. I was now in position to kite my enemy to death, but I wasn't out of the woods yet. I had to ensure that I would hold point whilst avoiding swings, all in the face of an enemy who was rabidly overheating his prop mod. We carried on like this for a while. Sasawong would burn at me and then burn away, but ultimately, these spurts and spats proved too much for his propulsion module to bear and it sputtered to a grinding halt. With Sasawong's propulsion module seemingly extinguished and my own orbit stabilized, it appeared that my victory was safely in hand. Just as I was taking toll of my dominant position, however, my attention was drawn to the local channel accompanied by a sinking feeling in my chest. Lo it was Sheltering Sky "plus one", and I was in a race against time, now more than ever. Overheating my missile launchers, I hammered dscan and watched Sasawong's health diminish in the face of my sheer determination. This time, it was another Cormorant that was coming to join the fray, and I would be hard pressed to deliver the killing blow before its arrival. As my missiles discharged, each volley brought me closer to the inevitable. Either I would be scattered into space as derelict debris... another frozen corpse floating in the ether... or I would return the favour in kind to my underhanded enemy. With the last bit of thermodynamics management that I could muster, I hurtled a barrage of missiles so fierce that Sasawong's bulkheads burst asunder. With his vessel destroyed and capsule jettisoned, I would watch my opponent fly off and I would make my hasty retreat while evading his backup's arrival. Clear through the heavens, I would set my course for the sanctity of Uplingur; my coffers full of precious technology and my spirits bolstered by the knowledge of my miraculous fortune in light of a cunning victory and harrowing escape. And so ends this chapter of my tale: a recount of savoury revenge; of just desserts; of payment in kind.
Chigurh
cass
