Operation Kent: First Blood

Posted by prometheus09 on September 22, 2009

The Captains Log 22/9

With Operation Kent now in play I decided it was time to go and chose a ship and get it in position to deal some damage to the Proviblock alliances. After some deliberation I decided to use my Manticore for this operation, so I took a noob ship over to the Sys-K Stain Region staging point, picked it up and took the Jump Bridge network to empire, where I sat out side a providence entry point.

While waiting, intelligence reported that there was a gate camp one jump into Providence that had a Eris in it. Perfect. Another chance at a bombing run to try and take out a Interdictor after the failed attempted on the Goonswarm Sabre that resulted in the destruction of my Hound. Now if only I had a bomb launcher. I raced over to nearest system with one for sale, picked it up and fitted it to my ship.

Once in Providence I decided to warp immediately to the gate and hope I entered warp before the Eris got its bubble up, thus putting me within striking range. Unfortunately, the bubble went up first so I got caught in it. My brilliant piloting skills though got me out of the bubble, so I started to drift into a bombing run position behind the gate. Before I got into position though a UK vagabond (who I’m blue too) jumped through the gate, prompting the Eris to put up its bubble and for the whole gate camp to rush into the bubble.

Now this was problematic. I had the perfect opportunity to use my bomb, but I was not in position and it would therefore take me my full align time before I could warp out. Additionally, I was not quite in range as I was 40km out, meaning any target had to be within 5km of where the bomb exploded. So throwing all caution into the wind and ignoring my own advice on how to use a bomb, I decided to go for it.

I hit approach on the Eris, uncloaked my ship and launched my bomb and watched it fly across the void towards its targets in eager anticipation of the resulting carnage. The sound of lock alarms though brought me back to the real world as my overview indicated that a Brutix was establishing a lock on me. Sweat began to pore down my head and my heart began pound. If this guy managed to lock and tackle me this operation would be over. I was half way aligned when his lock resolved and hybrid ammunition began to pound into my shields. Then it happened, my Manticore finished aligning and entered warp just as the stargate was lit up in enormous flash as my bomb exploded.

Checking my log it turns out the Brutix that was shooting me was utilising railguns, giving it a sniper fit. Also my bomb had failed to kill anything and only damaged a Proteus that had being sitting on the gate. Ah well there will be more opportunities in the future.